Chapter 127: Punishment
Morbius’ breath was ragged by the time he reached the chambers of the demon king, he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely, partially due to being strangulated by Jirin’s shadow.
"Master! Master!" He called out many times as he burst in tbriugb the doors of the demon king’s chambers, still calling out to him.
"Morbius! You insolent fool! How many times have I told you not to barge into my chambers!" The demon king’s voice bellowed through the walls and shook the building.
Three small demon maidens wearing nothing but cloths wrapped around their body quickly dashed out of the room, slipping past Morbius who didn’t really pay attention to them.
Even though the demon king was focused on escaping Helmand as soon as possible, he would not hesitate to have his way with his servants.
"Whatever you have to say better be worth sacrificing my play time you bastard! Speak before I silence you forever!" The demon king spoke, still not revealing himself to Morbius.
"Master! I had a altercation with the human you sent me to watch!" Morbius revealed, but the demon king neither acknowledged his words nor made any remarks.
When Morbius noticed that the demon king wasn’t saying anything, he decided to continue. "A-And you were right, sire. He is exceptionally strong, his power might even rival yours my master! He has enslaved Jirin and Jaran too, I’ve never seen anything or anyone like him."
"Hmm. You mean to tell me, that this mere human is on par with me in terms of power and he also has his own army of enslaved demons behind him?" The demon king responded as though he was pondering Morbius’ words. "He’ll most definitely make a great replacement."
"R-Replacement, master?" Morbius inquired in a confused tone, he couldn’t understand what the Demon King was talking about.
But his words were true, in order to escape Helmand and walk freely on the upper world, then he would need to have someone replace him, to take the curse in his place.
That way he would be able to slip under the god’s radar and do whatever he liked, it was the perfect plan and everything was falling into place smoothly. All that was left was to implement it.
"Morbius, this is the first time you’ve brought helpful news to my doorsteps—" the demon king started, causing a smile to form on Morbius’ face as he received the praise with an open heart and mind.
He longed for uplifting words from the Demon king for as long as he could remember, and now that he was finally receiving them, it felt like a never ending bliss, one which was forcefully cut short when... "—but regardless you have interrupted my play time, an act which is unforgivable as you’ve sent my toys running away. For that singlular act of petulance, and your sheer lack of respect for your maker—you will hang for three days in the gallows." The verdict was harsh, firm, and unwavering.
It was clear through the demon king’s words that he had made up his mind. He appreciated Morbius’ feedback but there was no excuse for repeatedly refusing to adhere to instructions.
"My liege! P-Please, d-don’t do this to me! I’m sorry—I apologize, I’ll do anything... I’ll kiss your feet! PLEASE!" Morbius cried out for help and mercy but the demon king was cruel, and it was the law of Helmand that whenever verdict was passed out, then it was final.
Before Morbius could even say another word, he was dragged out by two hefty guards called the Omni Demons, they were very large grotesque looking creatures.
Morbius’s pleads for mercy echoed throughout the halls as the demon king paid a dead ear to him, three days would certainly feel like three years in the gallows of Helmand.
The chains for one, would deplete Qi gradually, rendering the subject weaker with each passing day. The corner in which Morbius would hang was directly facing The Abyss, which meant he would get to witness unimaginable things for three days.
"It’s not fair! No one has been more faithful than me! I have served for you years! You punish me the most! Why! Why!" Morbius yelled and yelled uncontrollably, expressing his absolute discontent at the decision of his master.
"Noudas!" The demon king called out to one of his guards with a soft bellowing voice.
"Yes my liege!"
"Fetch me some more toys to play with, do not disappoint or I’ll feed you their heads whole!"
"Understood my liege." Noudas acknowledged and ran along.
Morbius was put in shackles and suspended in the air, held by those same shackles, each one connected to a limb.
He groaned as his life force was being slowly drained from his body, the wails that emanated from the abyss hit his ears, it felt like a wave of cold passing over him.
He could not believe the kind of harsh punishment that his master just gave to him, if he ever made it out of here, he would never make that mistake ever again.
He felt more sorry than he felt angry, Morbius had been a servant of the demon king from birth, he had practically been raised by the demon king, if what he experienced in his childhood counts as ’raising’ a child.
He was beaten, abused, terrorized, and punished. Now he was being punished again, his only crime was wanting to do the demon king’s bidding, he had only ever wanted to prove his worth but it always ended the same.
He hung there for a moment until soft sobs could be heard from him, not only did he have nothing to show for his five hundred years of service, but he was still useless.
Useless to tbe point that the demon king could not even entrust serious missions to him anymore, he cried and cried, until his cries finally turned into wailing.
At this point he could no longer control himself, emotions that he thought were long buried finally resurfaced again.