The Great Demon System

Regrit did not want to meet their gaze, he knew who it was just by the voice and presence alone, the sense of foreboding emanating from them was more than clear. But, in order to not make himself look initially guilty, he forced himself to look them in the eyes.

Just like he expected, it was non-other than the principal's iron gaze that met his vision, and he felt his life flash before his eyes. The previous adrenaline in his heart was gone, now replaced with panic as his mind spun in circles coming up with an excuse or escape from his predicament, only for him to find there to be no way.

But, in the madness that laid under his poker face, he heard a sound come from his side.

"Yes, of course, ma'am, I shall answer you all that you need. I'm extremely sorry for this…" He looked over to his side to witness a bowing Moby, and he decided to follow in his footsteps to show the proper respect to his superior before it was undoubtedly too late.

"Very well, I'm glad to see you are so cooperative!" She nodded to herself. "So, I'm gonna get right to the point, explain to me why you're here and what you were doing in the quickest way possible. Be specific in the parts you deem necessary. But first, answer me this… Were you at the mammon's den earlier today?" She spoke, and she did not hesitate to pull out a lie detector crystal from her storage ring.

And, if Regrit did not know already, he certainly did now… It was all over, and there was no way to escape. That fact was now jammed down his throat, and he prepared to choke and die by the hands of that crystal she just pulled out.

Moby took a deep breath as he lifted his head up with confidence, ready to respond.

It seemed like he was the one to put the final nail in their coffin.

He took a second to think to himself before he let out his answer. "The mammon's what? I've never heard of that in my life,"

'YOOOOOUUU FUCKING IDIIOOTTTT!!!' Regrit inwardly screamed, his poker face breaking as his eyes immediately grew wide and nearly bloodshot.

His heart began beating faster than before, and time felt twice as slow. His life was over… And Moby ruined it… No! There was still a chance! As long as he told her the truth, he wouldn't have to be punished by association, his words did not have to represent him too.

But, when he panned and over and opened his mouth ready to speak, his eyes grew even wider seeing the lie detector crystal in the principal's hands glowing a bright green, meaning that what Moby said was the truth…

'W-what's going on…'

"Me Regrit and Hikari just went to explore the city a bit, we were just at the Shaq shack not too far away from here a few minutes ago. I was trying to get along with him but, things got heated and I accidentally cussed his mother, which escalated things into a fight… We are deeply sorry for this ma'am. We promise it will never happen again…

As Moby continued talking, the crystal's green glow remained and was not diminished. And, as he finished his speech, he bowed once again, the blood on his face dripping down the gravel below. And, without even thinking, Regrit followed suit by bowing even deeper trying to hide all the sweat on his face.

"HAAHAHAHAHAHHA!" The woman looking over them's tone immediately shifted into uncontrollable laughter that caught even them off, guard. "You had me worried kids, I thought you were in that mammon's shit hole gambling all of your points away under my nose! I just caught like a hundred students in there all because of the special signal programmed on your watches telling me that you were fighting in there. I guess the pinging wasn't exactly 100% accurate, but all ended well! If this was any other time I would have lectured you big time and given you a big punishment, but since I'm in such a good mood and because it seems like you've learned your lesson, I'll let you off with a slap on the wrist just this time!"

"Thank you very much ma'am! We are honoured to be given such an opportunity, we promise it will not happen again," Regrit finally spoke for the first time, and he received a smile from the still chuckling principal.

Her giggling echoed in the alleyway, and was only interrupted by the sound of one of her men speaking, bringing her back to her more serious tone.

"Ma'am! We went across that secret tunnel and found there to be no sign of the mammon! The exit is just out there!"

"Damn him! How the hell did he escape this time! I thought we had him for sure!! Order five soldiers to scout the area for any signs of him! And order five others to search the tunnel for any other exits! I refuse to believe he'll get away! If he gets away too far, it's all over! He can pretty much blend perfectly in any crowd! Hey, kids! Did you see an old man run in the alleyway within the past few minutes?"

"No, we didn't… But, we had our back turned to it the entire time, there might have been someone there but we were too busy here to notice..." It was Hikari's turn to answer this question.

"Damn!" She cursed once more. "Okay, you kids are off the leash now! Go back to school, your curfew is very soon. Stay out of trouble! In the meantime, I'm gonna be searching for that damn mammon!" She spoke her final words and finally left, blasting off in the air, blowing away everything underneath her as Moby and Regrit shielded their eyes. And, when they dropped their arms, the principal was nowhere to be seen, she and all of her soldiers.

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere was unnervingly silent as the three stood alone once again, two of them with bloodied, battered faces.

It was Regrit who finally spoke to break that unnerving silence.

"Explain yourself… How the fuck did you get past that lie detector?"

"Huh? Isn't it obvious? I just told the truth!"

"DON'T BE SHITTING ME NOW KANE!! What the hell is going on!!"

"Just like you have your secrets that you refuse to share, I also have my own…" Moby smiled at him less than innocently, before he began walking forward. "I have faith in you Hikari, but I trust that you Regrit, will keep this all a secret… If this got out, then my words wouldn't be trusted and they would reinvestigate and find out we did go to the mammon's den… And you don't want that to happen now do you?"

"..."

"Anyways, I'm sorry for what I said, I just had to get a genuine reaction from you or else it wouldn't have looked convincing, and from the principal's story, you now know why running away was never an option… They knew that we fought and exactly where we did it… And all of this is your fault! If you weren't stupid enough all for a chance to fight me, none of this would have happened! And even despite your efforts, you were left on your back feet against me in that final exchange!"

Regrit felt a stinging pain in his heart, like thorns, were growing on it from the inside. He bit his lower lip and tightly clenched his fists knowing that every word Moby spoke now was the truth, he had absolutely no rebuttal to anything. It was all true, if it weren't for him… If it weren't for him, he wouldn't be where he was right now.

"Okay… Fine… I get it… I was kinda selfish… It's all my fault and... you did beat me…" Regrit's eyes felt watery as he looked down in depression… However, that was when he remembered what he was truly fighting for and the purpose for his struggle. BUT! I'm sure you won't be saying that again the next time we fight! I'll train one thousand times harder and I'll put you in your place properly! BUT! Most importantly I will climb my way up and prove myself as the strongest and most capable in the entire school by any means necessary!! JUST YOU WAIT!!" Regrit's expression immediately shifted, there were still remnants of water on his eyes as he smiled brightly and pointed at Moby's back who was still walking away.

"We'll see about that… Anyways, let's get back to school before it's too late just like principal Davis said."

"Hey! By the way! What happened to all of the points? Did you just completely lose everything?" Regrit ran to Moby's side, and Hikari decided to follow suit.

"I managed to salvage some here and there… Don't worry, I'll give you your cut when I get things sorted out."

"Huh? How? Is this another one of your secrets?"

"Maybe…"

"Okay! But you can keep your dirty money! I don't need your charity!"

"So you don't want free points? What happened to getting to the top by any means necessary?"

"Fine! Give me the points! It's the least you could do after you wasted so much of my time!"

"But you were the one who fucked it all up and tried to waste all of my points…"

"Sh-shut up!"

'So… Is this what it's like to be part of a friend group?' Hikari who was standing back could not help but chuckle. She had not felt this warm on the inside in such a long time. She was happy to see that Moby and Regrit were no longer fighting and seemed to be getting along with each other much better than when they first arrived.