“Hey boss! Wait a minute!” I walked backwards upon seeing him on to his demon form.

“Tell me the truth then,” he said as he bared his long claws.

“As I was saying-“

I was not done speaking when the boss tried to slash my face. Luckily, I was quick enough to arc my back. He quickly followed it with another scratch from his other hand. I jumped back to avoid it and to put a distance between us as well.

“Time out boss, time out!” I called out but he was not listening at all.

He quickly chased me and continued his attacks.  His long claws were a pain to avoid since it increases his reach even further. He pressed on the attack as to not give me any time to think. Unlike the lesser demons that I fought before, his attacks were not easy to figure out.

As I was focusing mainly on dodging his claws, he suddenly mixed a kick in which hit me directly in my abdomen. The force was not enough to send my flying but enough to make me flinch.

The boss took that opportunity to slash me with his claws. As I was not able to react in time, all I was able to do is block it with my arms.

“Argh!” I groaned in pain as my arms were inflicted with lines of wounds.

What should I do? Is he really dead serious? Will he actually kill me if I do not confess?

I was about to jump back again to flee when he suddenly pointed his palms towards me. I halted my movement upon seeing his palm. It would be bad if I got trapped on a portal and lose a limb or two.

As I stopped moving, the eye in his palm did not open. He attacked me with a sweeping kick instead which knocked me down to the ground. He lunged towards me as he thrust with his claws. I quickly rolled to avoid him then activated my curse.

I partially tapped the power of my demon causing marks to appear in my skin but not enough to transform.

“Are you underestimating me? I said transform.” He raised his palm towards me again.

Even with my enhanced physical ability, I was helpless against his power. He can make a portal out of any space where I was headed. If a part of my body goes through it, he can close it as he wished which could cut it at the border of the portal.

“I cannot do that!”

Upon hearing my words, the boss attacked me again. He slashed at my face which I dodged by moving sideways. He then followed it with a kick which I avoided by jumping back. As I was in mid-air, he pointed his palm towards where I was supposed to land and then opened a portal.

I spread my legs as I landed so that I won’t land at the portal which was between my legs.

“Will you at least give me time to talk?” I asked as I try to balance myself.

“If you won’t confess, then no.”

The boss jumped then attempted to give me a drop kick. I crossed my arms and met his foot from above. I made sure to steel my legs so that I will not fall on the portal below me. After I blocked the kick, he followed it with a thrust with his claws.

I ducked to shrink myself and avoid his hand. After dodging, I tackled him with the force I can muster until I pinned him on the terrace fence.

“Ngh!” The impact made him groan.

I quickly disengaged as my back was wide open for his free hand to thrust in.

“The reason I cannot transform in front of you is because I cannot control it!” I tried to convince him.

“I can’t believe you if I can’t verify it myself.” He uttered as he stood up.

“That is not even an option! I might kill you!” I yelled.

“Isn’t it a bit overconfident for a lowly employee to say that to his boss?”

“But it is a fact!”

“Then should I call the others so I’ll have additional hand if ever you go into a rampage?”

That is even worse. I cannot let even more people see me in that form. Having many people know my secret increases the chance of others knowing it. The more people know it, the higher the chance that I could get targeted by the other kings.

“Fine! I admit it! The demon inside me is not Forcas, it is Ziminar!” I reluctantly state the truth as I clenched my fist and cancelled the curse.

“It wasn’t that hard, is it?” The boss also reverted to his human form.

“Chief! What was all that noise?” Keen asked in a voice filled with worry as he arrived with Miss Barbara.

“Cray! You’re bleeding!” Miss Barbara gasped.

“Um… er…” I stuttered.

I was not able to think of a convincing excuse. Shall I say that a demon appeared and attacked us? That would cause panic due to our hideout being discovered. Should I say I inflicted them myself? That would make us even more suspicious.

“I just wanted to see his demon form that we ended fighting.” The boss answered with a straight face.

The boss was amazing! He actually covered it up without actually telling a lie to Miss Barbara. What a man! Although I was actually threatened a while ago, my admiration for this man is just growing bigger and bigger.

“Not fucking fair, chief! I want to fight with you too!” Keen proposed.

“Do you even know what time it already is, Jo? It is already deep in the night! What if other demons sensed you? You even hurt Cray!” Barbara shouted without hiding her anger.

“Sorry, I got carried away.” The boss replied without batting an eye.

“Sometimes I can’t just understand you! I can tell that you are always telling the truth but why is it that I also feel like you are lying? You feel so distant from me, but why do I still…” Tears stained her cheeks as she let her emotions run wild.

After pouring her heart out, she quickly ran back inside the building.

“Can you go to her side for me, Keen?” The boss said.

“Yes, chief!” Keen enthusiastically replied before she followed Miss Barbara.

During moments like these, I can really picture Keen as being an obedient dog. Always ready to do what his master orders him to.

Since both of them left, the boss and I were back to being alone. Although I was still a bit uneasy with being alone with him, I also felt that his previous hostility was gone.

“Looks like your plan to keep her away is proving to be effective, boss!” I teased with a smile.

“This is your fault for not telling the truth earlier.” He produced a cigarette from his pocked then lit it.

“But you already know the truth without having to corner me, right?”

“I already do.  I was not trying to make you confess so I can verify the facts.”

“Then why did you have to do that?”

“It is to know if I can trust you or not.” The boss then blew smoke from his cigarette.

“So you were seriously trying to kill me just now until I spoke up?”

“That’s about it. I cannot trust someone who refuses to tell me the truth.”

His words sent a chill to my back. I know that what he was saying is logical but it was still scary to hear those words from his mouth.

“How did you even know that I possess Ziminar? What gave me away?”

“I already know something was off from the start. Forcas is the name of Damien’s demon, the mark in your hand is also exactly the same as his.”

“You know him?” Sweat streamed down my forehead.

“We were both factionless demons who were sniffing stuff up. We met during encounters a couple of times. The documents you got was his, correct?”

Dammit, he knew that far?

“Yes, I went to his room last night and I saw all those files.”

“He really is darn impressive, if only he was not weak hearted.” He took another smoke.

“Are you not going to ask me why I killed him?”

“It was self defense. I know that he was already running out of time. I also know that you are the type of person who only fights when necessary.”

“I was playing right into your hands, huh.” I rested my arms on the terrace fence and looked at the sky.

“I don’t like to phrase it that way.”

“I have another question, how did you know that it was Ziminar who was inside me?”

“At the bar, I was not actually asleep.”

“You are not?” I uttered in surprise.

“I was able to activate my curse without transforming just before the song put me to sleep. I pretended to sleep so I can attack them by surprise but you were there to do all the fighting. The last words you whispered were…”

“I am not trash like you for I am the great Ziminar.”

“I see, you still remember.”

“So you actually seen everything including that inexcusable mass murder I just committed?”

“I’d call it self defense but the difference in power made it look that way.”

All along I thought I was able to do everything smoothly. It did not even occur to me that he already knew.

“So what is your plan now, boss? Can I even call you that?” I seriously asked.

“I won’t fire you if you intend to stay.”

“Are you sure?”

“But I have to ask first, what do you intend to do as a king?”

“I just wanted to live in peace so I avoided every conflict that I can. But upon hearing that there might be a way out without killing a lot, I decided that I want to help you with that.”

“You can stay then, but…”

“But?”

“Since you are still my employee, I’ll make sure to put your power to use.”

“That sounds kind of scary. I thought that you already know that I cannot fully control my power?” I asked.

“You do become more violent but still rational. At the bar, it seems like you can still identify which is the foe and which is not.”

“How can you say that?”

“Did you kill anyone else aside from the ones who tried to kill you?”

“N-no…”

“I want you to come with me tomorrow night to investigate something.”

“Only me? Tomorrow already?”

“You don’t want to? Are your wounds that deep?”

“There is no need to worry about my wounds! Just a slither of my saliva will fix it!” I sticked my tongue out and pointed it with my thumb.

The boss did not respond and just slowly shook his head with a slight sigh.

“Why are we going to a place with only the two of us? Why not just bring Keen along?”

“I think we are walking to a trap so I’d like to have Keen stay watch in the office.”

“A trap?”

“Barbara got this intel a few days ago about Gaap’s hideout. It specifically says that tomorrow night is the time when there will be less guards on the place.”

“That indeed sounds like one, so why are we still going?”

“When Barbara told me, she clearly was not herself. If my intuition is correct, they threatened her. Worse is that there might even be a hostage.”

“Are you sayng that if none of us appear, something bad might happen to Miss Barbara? It is more like an indirect invitation then.”

“That’s it. Their target will be either us who are going to the location or the office while we are away.”

“I see, so that is the reason why Keen will not be coming along.”

Miss Barbara’s burst of emotions must be mostly because of that then. She was already under so much stress and the boss just landed the final blow causing her to pop. If he already knew she was threatened, he should have just went along with the party!

“Do not tell Keen anything about what we discussed tonight. He does not know about it, I’ll just ask him to watch the place tomorrow under the excuse that I’ll be away to do some sort of business.”

“He does not know anything? Why? I thought he was the ultimate super hero sidekick!” I jokingly said.

“If I did, he’ll insist that he’ll be the one to come instead of you.”

“The dog follows his master everywhere! But why not do that then? I don’t mind being the house dog even just for tomorrow.”

“He’s too earnest. I rather not drag him too deep on how I do things.” The boss threw the cigarette stick to the floor then stomped at it to extinguish the cinders.

“What does that make me then?” I pointed at my chin with my index finger.

“Do I still need to say it?”

“You do not need to. In fact, I think my heart will break if my beloved boss will call me cunning, deceptive, and manipulative.” I emoted as I held my chest with my right hand.

“Those are your words, not mine.” He smiled.  “So, do you accept?” The boss asked

“Yup, I’ll go with you!” I extended my fist with a grin in my face.

“A fist bump? Are you aware that I am still your boss?” He chuckled.

Despite his hesitance, he did it anyway.