"Your so-called divinity? It does not stain me—no, no, it stains them. And I, herald of inversion, have come to return the favor… with interest and entropy," the daemon spoke again as it came to a stop just before Bastion.
However, the danger alarms that were once blaring in his mind seemed to be gone. The creature before him didn't—or no longer—pose a threat.
"For a daemon, you speak a lot of lies. The illusions were your work, were they not?" Bastion asked as he sheathed his sword.
He didn't know if he was correct or not, but if he could remember stories from his past life,
demons in general do not lie… Not due to a moral code or something like that, but because their very nature doesn't allow it. Of course, this doesn't mean that they don't lie.
It's just rare. For a demon, a lie is a stupid thing to do because it could be easily disproved and shows you exactly how desperate they are. However, a half-truth, a twisted truth, is always the greatest lie ever told.
"Draw your sword, charlatan. I shall not take this insult," the daemon proclaimed as it raised its sword, but Bastion just remained standing.
Simply raising his hand, the daemon's sword was caught in his grasp. The attack felt weightless, as though it was just the sword falling on its own rather than being wielded by a being that stood several centimeters above him.
"From what I can tell, you were invited to this battlefield or invaded it. Who set the stage for you?" Bastion asked, expecting nothing in reply.
"You did," the daemon said as its beak twisted up into what Bastion couldn't even recognize—but it was a smile.
"I see. Then it was one of my enemies… somebody who would have unparalleled access to heretical devices and such a level of control to do this overnight," Bastion said, but the answer was already there in his mind.
The daemon stood, looking at the man before it. Never in its many years of existence had it witnessed such a bizarre existence.
His presence glowed even brighter than the stars, and yet he was nonexistent to them.
In his presence, the world felt bare, empty, and barren. The song burned from the air.
His existence—a bright static to daemonkind.
"You are not a saint. You are an agent of stagnation…" the daemon spoke in labored breaths.
Bastion saw this and stood watching with great interest. This was the highlight of whatever power it was he had over Chaos.
"Took exactly one minute to reduce you to this level, huh?" Bastion said but continued watching.
The creature's wings, which once stood high, now flickered in and out of existence.
Its feathers shed as though pulled off by force. Its skin was damaged despite no attacks from him or any other.
Its form seemed to be fading, but its expression told a tale of resilience. It was fighting to hold itself together.
"You are the eraser, the unmaker. You have unmade the stage upon which we dance. However, do not forget—I may be gone, but the answer that questions itself, the Great Change, will remember this crime, and it shall be paid for in blood and soul," the daemon said before finally fading away.
However, Bastion paid attention to none of the things it said later on. Rather, his mind caught onto the words it spoke earlier.
"I unmake the stage upon which they dance?" Bastion thought to himself.
The brain that had spent only a week to figure out the entire periodic table worked, but he couldn't make sense of it.
Well, he did understand that he was removing something crucial for a daemon's existence, which explained why the Greater Daemon weakened so dramatically as it got closer.
It also explained why the cultists seemed to avoid him. Whatever it was he was erasing was the stage, the daemon was referring to here, but his understanding of the Empyrean or the magical side of this world wasn't complete wasn't full enough for him to figure this out.
However, the fact that his presence completely denatured Chaos was more than enough for him. With a smile on his face, Bastion drew his sword again, and with even greater vigor, he hacked and slashed his way to what he believed was the source of the entire incursion.