Chapter 698: Finding You-IV

Esther was certain even if she had warned Asmodeus that Ian won't care about her death other than Elise, the demon wouldn't care. His eyes was clear in stating his deep hatred against Ian. No matter how small her life was in front of Ian's eyes, and how petty it would look to Asmodeus, the demon would still do it out of spite.

This was how demons were. Selfish, greedy, and petty to the core, thought Esther to herself before curling her lips close. 

Esther pulled herself together. In the end nothing would matter if she win. Asmodeus had promised and demons could never go back against their own promise made by their rule.

She left Asmodeus side, walking toward the opposite side of the demon. Once she arrived, her eyes fell to the cushioned red seat that was place near the railing. Asmodeus had sat on his own chair which was colored in black, the opposite color of their perspective pawns.

"If you are ready, you should take a seat, milady."

Esther was disgusted with the politeness and took a seat with a hmph. When she sat down, almost immediately her hands were pulled to the armrest and a black leather strap appeared to bound her wrist to the wooden log at once. The same was done to her leg, surprising Esther.

"You—!"

"Chill down," Asmodeus shushed her as he placed his hand to the armrest for a black leather strap to cover and bound his wrist as well. "This is a measure for neither of use to interrupt the pawn's movement when the chances is up."

It was fishy, thought Esther. Asmodeus had given her too much handicap which was too nice to be true. She could only guess that half of the advantage she gained was due to the demon's overconfidence.

"You can move your pawn first, milady," offered Asmodeus and Esther stared back at him with her eyebrows furrowed. 

Her eyes then fell to the humans who were placed like a real pawn. Each of them held and worn staff or hats to symbolize their speciality in the chessboard.

Compared to Asmodeus's pawns where almost all of them appeared like a fallen warrior, her pawns were mostly consisted of old men and women, even children who was her king.

"F4," started Esther. She wasn't well versed in game of a chess to make her feel confident like Asmodeus but she wasn't the worse at the game as well. Considering Asmodeus was a veteran in gambling, however, Esther wasn't certain if she would come out of the door alive.

"F3," continued Asmodeus with a smile.

The beginning of the game started slow and even serene. Neither of them began the attack as most of the time in the game of chessboard. The first few minutes were only laying ground work.

"I am curious, however, Lady Esther. I want to know why you are searching of Beelzebub," said Asmodeus. "Don't vibe wary. The only demon I hope to kill is Asmodeus and I don't have any interest on Beelzebub much less harming him. You can speak to me peacefully."

"I came only to finish and unfinished business with him," replied Esther which wasn't a full lie but it wasn't the truth as well.

"Unfinished business?" Asmodeus poked an interest which Esther didn't want to fill in. Seeing this, the demon smiled, "Well, if your unfinished business is similar to the one I have with Ian, I think you don't need to find him, milady."

"E8," Esther's eyes then looked up with a frown. "What do you mean that I don't have to find him?"

Asmodeus watched the pawns on the chest. His eyes were unlike Esther, watching the humans as a mere object, without bothering to go on defense to protect his own pawn.

"He is succumbing," answered Asmodeus. "His curse is currently eating him alive. It's also the reason why he hadn't been seen for a long time now. He's secluding himself for his own sake."

Esther felt her heart submerging into a cold icy water. "Succumbing? His curse eating him alive? What are you saying?"

"Oh? You don't look happy. Maybe you don't want to kill him? If not it's still too late. You know how curse affect each demons in Hell, don't you?" Asmodeus started with the basic. 

Esther nodded her head as she needed the answer from Asmodeus.

"There are many cases of this curse causing deaths to the demons but around three fourths of the deaths caused by the curse is when they succumb to their own curses. There are many examples to this case but most famous is Veriousis."

"Who's that?" Esther asked. She was away from Hell for decades, not knowing some of the most famous history that occurred in Hell during her absence.

Asmodeus tapped his chair with a silent smile. "She is a high demon, a fallen one. Most known for her beauty and her fondness of taking married human men for her amusement. Behind all her wild and notorious fame, however, she was also known for her deadly curse. She was cursed to be in love with herself."

"It doesn't seem like a terrible curse," Esther replied.

"Perhaps not but our curses are evolving. Deep inside, these curse affecting us are growing an an amount which differ for different demons. Some demons have their curse growing and an unprecedented rate, some are rather slow. Veriousis's curse affected her so much that she was head over heels for herself."

"What happened to her? How could her curse eat her?" Esther couldn't understand how such a curse can kill the demon. What could excessive love of oneself bring?

"Of course it doesn't sound bad. It didn't until it reached to the point where she wanted to have herself for her own self. In the end, that intense love caused her to torn herself into two," as Asmodeus spoke, Esther felt a chill crossing her back.

"You mean to say that Beelzebub's curse is affecting him at the same rate as Veriousis?"

"Correct," Asmodeus snapped his finger. "His curse is to become greedy. While Veriousis was in mad love to herself, I am very intrigued to know who or what Beelzebub is greedy for. It could be power and it could also be… a person."

Esther went into a deep thought of the help which Beelzebub might be needing at the moment was about the curse. She wondered if he was now in a state where he was suffering to the point of unable to move. Thinking that, caused her heart to ache.

"It seems I have taken one of your pawn," then came Asmodeus's voice and Esther snapped out from her brief daze.

She nodded her head, thinking that the human who resemble the pawn in the chessboard would be placed outside the checkered floor now that she lost one of her pawn when red crossed her eyes.

Esther's gazes widened when she found the human who was standing on the floor was cut into halves by Asmodeus's pawn.

"I forgot to mention," added Asmodeus after a while. Esther was still in state of momentarily shock where she stared at the body that now sprawled on the ground, unrecognizable from how they appeared before. "When your pawn dies, the human reflecting them will lose their life as well."

Esther's guard went down the moment Asmodeus spoke about Beelzebub that she had forgotten she was in the middle of a deadly game. The death awoke her in a way where she felt her heart jump. 

Esther's hand on the armrest slowly tightened. She remembered once again the truth about demons, their heartlessness toward humans who they perceive as a being lower than them.

It was true humans were much weaker, powerless, and stupid in comparison to demons who had accumulated years of knowledge due to their long lives.

"Angry, lady Esther?" Asmodeus asked, his smile remaining the same, wretched even to Esther's eyes no matter how handsome he appeared to people's eyes. 

"Continue," she demanded. The lives of the humans on the chessboard could be felt weighing heavily on her shoulder.

In a quick twisted turn, the game that started without blood now had rivers of red lines on the chessboard. Esther tried to control herself with more losses of people from her side. 

When she had taken a few pawns from Asmodeus's side, she could see how the warrior was scared for their impending death. The woman in front of him was given a sword to cut down the warrior in front of her but the woman was too scared to take life. 

The warrior wasn't one to stay low on the face of death and rushed forward to escape when the statue that stood next to the floor had minced the human into cubes.

The sight chilled everyone's blood, Esther was no exception.

"Don't worry, milady. I play my game fair," stated Asmodeus.

"Fair? I can be more than certain you are blind," replied Esther, gritting her teeth.

While they were on their chessboard game, the man with the black cloak had taken the consciousness of the demon guards standing in front of the door's room.