Chapter 197 - A Small Lie
Chapter 197: A Small Lie
Nags opened his previously closed eyes, taking a quick glance at the new arrivals before nodding to himself, closing them once again.
Ignoring Nags for now, Moby walked right past him, his 3 friends still on his back as he headed straight for the 3 bunk beds of the room.
Smoothly and steadily Moby put each one of them on separate bunk beds, Ray at the bottom where he usually slept, Alex in the middle, and Jayden on his routine bed at the top of the bunk.
He knew that due to their demon regeneration, Alex and Jayden should wake up very soon. As for Ray, without proper healing, he would need days or maybe even weeks to completely heal. So, he would have to wait until Jayden woke up to heal him.
Earlier, he had asked Avilia if he had any slots left to turn more people into demons, to which she responded by telling him that he had only one remaining.
This meant that if he really wanted to, he could just turn Ray into a demon at this moment which would both boost his power and fully heal him at the same time. Yet, he was very reluctant to do so since he would not know how Alex would react to him doing such a thing, even though that was exactly what had happened to him.
But currently, he did not have any time to ask for permission about such things and he really could not care less in his current predicament. He needed as much help as possible and he felt like Ray would be able to provide much of that help in the form of his brain.
Even if Moby asked him and he rejected, he would be forced to turn him anyways. Ray only really had 1 choice, to conform, there would be no way to really hide his secrets from him anymore and he needed consent to be able to manipulate his memories. And, Even if he wanted to die Moby would not allow him to.
Also, as for the inevitable lie detector test the next morning, if he left Ray as he was now, he would not be able to bypass the lie detector test, meaning that it would ruin all his plans as he would be forced to expose everything that had transpired.
At times like these, Moby needed to think rationally in order to come to a compromise between sides, he needed Ray turned into a demon no matter what but he also did not want Alex to go on his bad side, especially in a time where they should all be united to fight against a common enemy.
With only a bit of thought, a large smile of satisfaction appeared on his face as he managed to come up with the perfect compromise, a small lie to bring everyone together.
Without a moment of hesitation, Moby crouched down to Ray's eye level at the bottom bunk and gently put his hands on his forehead.
Before injecting him with his demon energy, he made sure that he was completely unconscious, because if he were not then he would have to suffer the unbearable, soul-crushing process of evolution which was something that he, of course, did not want to burden him with.
Moby's demon energy flowed and spread from Ray's head into every organ in his entire body, Moby stopping when he felt like he had expended enough.
When he lifted his hands from Ray's head, he noticed that the transformation process had already slowly begun as Ray's body began to tremble and shake fervently with the few low sounds of cracks filling the air which were the first few steps and signs of a person's transformation.
Moby knew that the transformation would be extremely messy and rather loud, allowing his next-door neighbours to hear him, but he was fully ready to take that risk since there was really no better place that he could do the transformation process.
He stood back up on his two feet and stared at him along with Jayden and Alex with a warm yet stone-cold smile on his face before turning around and walking towards Nags and Jason who were both, just like he ordered, sitting on the rather large table in the centre of the room.
As he was walking towards them, he noticed that Jason had also already changed back from his battle suit into his school uniform. On his right hand was a storage ring which was probably what he used to change his clothes which all but confirmed one of his questions.
Moby also decided to do the same, his bulky armour was starting to get rather bothersome so he also decided to switch back to his school uniform for something more casual and comfortable, using his inventory instead of a ring.
Moby sat down on the opposite end of the table, he was on one side while Jason and Nags were sitting next to each other on the other.
Jason's face had very visible droplets of sweat as he looked at him with shaky eyes like he was trying his best to seem confident.
As for Nags, his eyes were also wide open looking at him yet he had an air of calm intrigue and curiosity, a definite contrast between the two.
"M-my lord… If you don't mind me asking, d-did you just turn that bra- *Cough* *cough*, brave soul into a demon as well? And are all of your friend's demons just like us?" Jason immediately asked using mind-link as soon as Moby sat down, Nags looking at him with a nod of understanding like he also seemed to be interested in that question, still not saying a single word.
"The answer to both questions is yes, Ray was fatally injured and with no healing or medical assistance to be found, I was forced into doing it. As for the others, don't even compare or put your selves on the same levels, right now both of you are just my slaves and nothing more," Moby confidently replied, implanting the lie in their mind.
"I fully understand… I promise what happened to Ray was completely out of my control. I-I had no way of knowing what he wanted to do... Thank you so much for your response, my lord… I promise to redeem my previous self's actions and prove my loyalty to you and earn my right to live…" Jason replied, lowering his head, gulping a clump of saliva that Moby somehow managed to pick up on.
"If you don't have anything more to say, then I am going to be asking you various questions about your gang, I know if you are trying to lie or deceive me so tell the truth if you value any sliver of your lives," Moby added, his dominant air filling the table and the entire room as an extension.
Then, suddenly, Nags who looked as calm and tranquil as a lake slowly lifted his hands in the air, almost like a student raising his hand to ask a question to his teacher.
That action somewhat confused Moby, making him raise an eyebrow before he immediately noticed what was going on, making him feel rather incompetent for forgetting.
The order for Nags to stay silent was still in effect for that entire time and he had yet to revoke it.
"Yes Nags, you may speak," Moby said, using his authority over him as his master.
"Thank you for that boss. First off I would like to say that I am not some brainless idiot like my previous actions would suggest. I sincerely apologize for my earlier unsightly outburst, I let my emotions get the best of me when I thought that you were a Shalker."
"Now I fully understand that I was wrong and that you are much more than that, when you called me a demon I didn't take that literally as I should have. You are, no, we really are all demons, I thought those things only existed in myths but here I am proven wrong."
"Me and you are more alike than I had first assumed in more ways than one. That order you gave was a wake-up call for me to understand the full predicament I was in so I thank you for that, And you keeping me silent, not allowing me to argue allowed me to think and take things in clearly again. You're truly wise for your age, all your actions had a deeper underlying meaning. The mind of a pure demon seems to be far greater than that of our own. I know the extent of your power over me, I fully know what will happen if I do something wrong or try to deceive you so I am not dumb enough to do that."
"Anyone who had experienced your absolute control and power over them first hand would be foolish beyond belief to go against you. You are now my new boss, my new lord which is something that I can't change but for some reason, I don't really mind," Nags said with a clear conviction in his voice, making Jason who was sitting beside him shudder and awkwardly smile.
Moby looked at Nags with a hint of uncertainty, using his emotion sensing to see how he was feeling, only for it to show up that he was calm and slightly content which was not much to go on.
He still had no idea how his demon transformation had affected his mind or if he was trying to manipulate him with his sweet talk, he saw Nags as a much larger threat than Jason could ever be yet he also knew that he was much stronger and more vital to his plans.
However, other than him overthinking and overanalyzing his actions, he felt like he did have some truths in his words. Moby felt some sort of weird sense of familiarity coming from him. He felt like he might prove to be a great asset and a welcome addition to the new team if things don't go wrong.
"Nags, were you being truthful with all of your words? Moby asked, exerting his irresistible authority on Nags.
"Yes, I was," Nags calmly replied, making Moby's unease lessen considerably.
"I see, I am glad you understand, I hope you serve me well. It's nice to have someone like you as a subordinate, the next days will be extremely harsh so both of you could prove yourselves th-" Moby said before being abruptly cut off by an abrupt yet fully expected sound coming from behind.
"GGGGRRRRRR!!"
The sound of cracking and painfilled growling filled the ears of everyone in the room, making them all instinctively take a glance at Ray who was no doubt the source of such sounds, blood flowing everywhere as it dyed the bedsheets red and dripped onto the wooden ground below.
Moby inwardly sighed, knowing that there was not much that he could do about it, refocusing his gaze to Jason and Nags to ask them his first of many questions that he had been saving in order to try and get to the bottom of things. They still had plenty of time before Alex, Jayden, and Ray woke up and fully recover so allowing them to speak was not a hindrance to him at all.
"Let me help you with that," Nags suddenly spoke out of nowhere, putting his hands out in front of him with a familiar green glow, creating a small barrier that began to completely surround Ray.
Considering that Moby had already given them the order not to hurt his friends and the fact that he sensed no ill intent or ulterior motives coming from him, he decided to let Nags continue what he was doing.
When the barrier was fully erected, the sound of Ray's anguish disappeared along with it. It was some sort of sound-cancelling barrier, making Moby inwardly smile and nod as he had no clue that Nags possessed such a thing.
"Impressive... Thanks for that, that's actually really helpful,"
"No problem, boss," Nags naturally replied with a nod.
Now that he thought about it, he had only seen a few of Nags's special shields and there were a lot more in his repertoire, the sound cancelling shield sparking his curiosity yet he fought himself back from asking him about them now as there were far more urgent and pertinent things to discuss, the more time they wasted the more they kept Abby waiting and suffering who knows what kind of anguish. He needed to get to the bottom of things and quickly, despite the fact that he knew that there would likely be a school-wide secure school, forcing everyone in their rooms and not allowing any of them to leave under any circumstance.
"Okay, no more wasting time. I have many questions to ask you so let me just get to the point and get the big one out first... Who is the leader of the Zexis gang?"