Looking away from Neimu as she stumbled and scrambled off, the clown stretched his arms overhead.
"From here on out, I'd like the two of you to make this place your base, keep up the rituals, and replenish our Evil Army."
"Got it. And? What about the sacrifices?"
Yawning widely, the boy etched with crimson geometric patterns asked.
"In this land, there is an entire army of sacrifices called the demon race. If you run short... well, you can always raid the monsters to the south."
"Monsters? Are those things even good for sacrifices?"
Asura, the three-faced demon, voiced his doubt with a grimace.
"Well, yes. They may be monsters, but some were on par with local deities. Who knows, you might even stumble on a rare find."
"Local deity class, huh? They're small fry either way, ain't they?"
"Well, from our perspective, everything is small fry. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Can't argue with that. Still, if someone like you calls 'em a rare find, maybe the rest of our guys can manifest early too."
At Asura's muttered thoughts, the boy spoke up.
"Leaving aside us summoning the Evil Army, what are you gonna do?"
"Naturally, I'll tail that demon called Neimu and round up the rest of the demon race to restock our supply."
"Ah, you were spouting that creepy garbage about a reward, so I wondered what you were playing at. Makes sense now."
As Anra, the patterned boy, nodded in understanding, Asura chimed in with an obvious question.
"Why go through all that hassle when we could just torture it out of her?"
"Don't be stupid. There's no way bad taste incarnate over there would think of something so straightforward. It just means whatever he's planning will be far worse for that insect, right?"
"Who knows?"
The clown curled the corners of his mouth. One glance at that wicked grin made it clear Anra had hit the nail right on the head.
"Well, the more food, the better. Make sure you replenish the humans too. Manifesting into this world worked up a nasty appetite."
"Leave that to me. I'll bring some over when the time is right."
The clown clapped his hands twice.
"Now then, let the game begin. Shall we all do our very best to commit every evil imaginable?"
With that, he began to slowly stroll away.
—Indeed. This was certainly a game. However, its true nature was nothing more and nothing less than a loser's bracket with a foolish prince's life on the line. Even if these chieftains of evil killed the foolish prince and exhausted every wickedness imaginable, they would only be dragged down into the depths of hell by an existence of even greater evil than themselves.
Yes. Their defeat was already written in stone. Still blind to that truth, they began to dance ludicrously in the palm of the worst monster of all. And the destination of their dance was a journey into a nightmare far more agonizing and terrifying than death itself.
Ignorance is bliss. At that moment, the gears of the game embodying those very words began to slowly, creakingly turn.