Demonic Devourer's Development

Aivena huffed. "You think a demon like you has any right to tell me what is right or wrong? Don't tell me you are going to preach to me about how unnatural my experiments are, or how it's a sin to even consider them. Now that would be a joke! A demon preacher."

A bark of laughter escaped me. "Right! It would." I sobered. "I'm quite a bastard myself, but that doesn't make other people any bigger or lesser assholes. You, I'm going to hate one way or another. For obvious reasons." I gestured around me. "Unless you want to let me go?.."

"Do I look like an idiot? You will stay right where you are, Devourer, until I decide that it's time to give you over to my bosses. Enough chit-chat. Your conversational capability doesn't interest me."

'Master, I will have to restart the poison delaying spell soon. I hope you thought about what you will tell this hag about it, because otherwise…' Pest trailed off.

Well, I knew about it. I narrowed my eyes. If I came up with some way to explain this, maybe an ability I didn't actually have, then… It wasn't a stretch to suppose that Aivena had her own spells against poison. Her arsenal until now was big enough. Maybe I can just make the venom in my veins her problem. And I even had an idea for a lie.

"Now, as you didn't reply earlier, I want you to tell me at last what creature you took your sliminess from, Devourer."

"Sure, but one more thing first. If you intend to keep me here for long, I hope you know some way to deal with a mantichora's venom." At Aivena's surprised expression, I smirked. "A familiar creature, eh? I got unlucky enough to get hit by one's stinger. Its venom is still in me, and when my resistance gives up… Let's say I won't be able to reply to you questions in that state. And by my approximation, it will come on me again, and soon."

"Mantichora's venom? It would kill a grown man in minutes. And for how long did you survive it?" Aivena shook her head in disbelief. "If you aren't lying, this is amazing. Luckily, this is easy to confirm. Detect Toxins."

Pest abandoned me on the second 'e' in 'Detect'. My body numbed and burned at the same time, turning into a puddle of goo at the bottom of my cage. If there was something to feel from Aivena's spell, I missed it while trying to distance myself from the shittiness of my state. The action came with the ease born from tons of practice.

I didn't hear if Aivena commented on this in any way, either, because of my current lack of ears. In the quiet and darkness, I counted seconds I could live without air. On count sixty-four, a gentle wave passed over me, taking away the pain and numbness.

I felt alive again. After a second to gather myself together metaphorically, I gathered myself together literally and morphed back into the form I was in before this incident. Aivena lowered the finger she had been pointing at me.

"Interesting. Your anatomy was inhuman enough that normal 'Neutralise Poison' spell didn't work on you, but 'Cleanse' worked just fine, and didn't destroy your body in the process. This is a curious fact, even though it's not in the main line of my work. I have to write it down and think about the possible meanings of it…" Aivena trailed off and suddenly glared at me. "But you ate all my writing tools! Fine. Now that you won't die on me and won't escape, I will just resupply. Your answers can wait."

She turned on her heels and with the words of "Greater Teleport" vanished from thin air with only a sound of magic. Something like "whsip".

I was left alone. Free to express my frustration without antagonising that bitch. "That bitch!" I punched the barrier, even though it did as much good as it did the first time. "I swear, I will gut her. Tear her into pieces and strips, and then ask Bishop to cook them! Not Risha… Risha would cook them better, but I can't really make her cook an angel, right?" I paused and sighed. "Risha, Rosha, Yvenna… I wonder how you are doing out there, my girls. I and my cock are missing you."

I shook off my sudden melancholy and focused on other things. Mainly, my secret weapon. 'Pest, are you still alive?'

'Yes… Surprisingly. For a moment, I was afraid that this gorgon's spell will cleanse me, too, but nope. And since you are standing on your feet without my help, I assume it dealt with the venom.'

It certainly did. I flexed my claws and smiled, suddenly feeling much freer than before, even though my cage went nowhere. I would've much preferred to hunt and eat a green dragon instead of living through what I did and who knew how many tortures and humiliations to come, with a perspective of ending in the Twelve Bastards' clutches… But there certainly was a bright side in my position.

Namely, now I wouldn't have to count time until the next venom attack. Now I will just have to count time until whatever Aivena was planning for me.

I needed a plan. An idea… Well, lowering Aivena's suspicions was as good a start of a plan as any. Don't act too nice, but show signs of giving up after some time… Don't act too smart on her, either. How smart was too smart, though? Maybe the fact that I didn't know meant that I wasn't in the danger of that… Maybe not.

Then, since it seemed like I won't have as much opportunities to let out my rage in the near future as I'd like, I stood on all six and began to try ramming my way out of my cage with the anger from my past, present and future.. A lot of future anger.