The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 500: Epilogue

"Can’t catch me~!" Attika teased her friends as she floated around the corner and up the stairs.

"Hey, flying’s not fair!" Beryl shouted after her, with a cohort of demonic siblings, six in total, chasing after Attika’s tail.

For a ten-year-old, Attika was considered precocious in magic and immature in everything else. Why did she have to be serious when she was so much more capable than almost everyone? But her parents - all eleven and a half of them - insisted she play with her siblings, half-siblings, and friends when she wasn’t studying or meditating with her dad. Or getting disappointed sighs from her mom for not being a big, muscley demon by now.

Her favorite game was hide-and-seek, but with everyone chasing after her because no one person would stand a chance. Also, it got everyone running around the manor, which played havoc with her parents.

But her parents weren’t home today.

They were all at something that happened in the city. Some big to-do that had everyone rushing out the door early in the morning with looks of concern on their faces and formal clothes.

And, as the oldest ones left in the house, it fell to Stella’s kids to take charge... which largely meant wrangling their own siblings and Attika’s while Attika got away with stuff she couldn’t do while her parents were at home.

Stuff like using Dad’s vault as a "hiding spot."

After rising up to the third floor - stairs were for people who liked using their feet to walk on dirt, in her opinion - she hovered out of a window and down to the ground, circling around to the angled doors that led to Dad’s workshop.

One quick peek was all she needed to open the magic lock. But the real challenge lay inside.

Well, almost a challenge.

"Hello Attika. Are you here to play again?" The innocent voice of her only metallic sibling asked, with its resonant undertones.

"Sorry, Moon. Not today. I’m here to, uh, look in the vault for a thing Dad wants!"

Moon looked like a sheepkin, but really he was a very advanced construct made of living metal. Her dad claimed he looked like an old friend, and also that he’d been a sword before becoming a part of him... until he decided to make the sword into Moon. It was a very confusing story and Attika hadn’t heard it in a few years. Not since the day Dad introduced Moon to everyone, saying to treat him like a son.

People got a bit weird around Moon though, just like they did with Attika only differently. Neither of them really needed to eat, and while Moon liked walking, Attika didn’t blame him for being heavy, even though he was probably as skinny as she was underneath his kiralloy wool. It looked black and fluffy, with a slight, dark-blue hue to its outlines, and it was until anyone tried to pull on it or stick their fingers too deep.

"Sorry Atti. I have to guard the vault today!" Moon said proudly.

"No fair. I’m older than you, and they don’t let me guard the vault!" Attika complained. "You’re only three!"

"Actually, I’m four now!" Moon beamed a smile at her, his smile silver amidst the grey metal skin of his face, looking at her with midnight-blue eyes. "And I’m sure they’d let you guard the vault if you didn’t keep trying to steal things from it." His voice was so sincere and trusting, it hurt Attika a little to think she was about to trick him into letting her inside. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"I’m not here to steal anything. I just... need it to hide! Everyone’s playing hide and seek with me, and now they’re using fire to, uh, try to smoke me out!" What was it Stella always said? The best lies are mostly true? Well, at least half-true, in this case.

"Oh," Moon raised one of his little fingers to his lips. "That sounds, um... very..."

"Dangerous, yeah! So, please let me in? Pretty please? I promise I’ll just stand around and not touch anything." She put on her best pleading face, the one that always got Aunty Valeria to roll her eyes, and before giving Attika what she wanted anyway.

"I don’t think I’m supposed to open the door if I’m guarding it..."

"But they asked you to guard it, not to not open the door, right?"

"I guess..."

"So you can guard it and open the door!"

"I suppose so... but-"

He was wavering. It was time for Attika to deploy her secret weapon. "I’ll give you some tin!"

Moon’s face lit up. He loved chewing tin, heating it with his bites until it grew hot enough to shape into anything.

"Okay... I guess I could open the door and guard it." Moon clanked on his little metal hooves to the door, and after Attika used her Dad’s password on the magic lock, the little metal being easily pulled the massive object open to let her inside.

"You know, you could also close the door and guard it," Attika grinned as soon as she was standing well within the vault. She could do it herself, but that would mean landing on the ground, and she wasn’t wearing shoes.

"Uh... what if someone needs you?" he asked.

"Don’t tell them!" She said quickly. "I’m supposed to be hiding, remember? Just make sure they don’t use fire in the workshop. It’s like dad always says-

""Never start a fire you can’t put out!"" they said together.

Attika giggled, but Moon just looked at her with variations on a smile. He was a bit self-conscious about laughing, since it tended to make his vocal cords - literal metal chords - shriek.

As soon as the door closed, Attika hurried to the back of the vault and found the thing she was after. The little ball of deep-blue soulstone encased in a barrier so complicated, no one could open it without extremely precise control of their magic.

Fortunately, Attika had that in spades. She practically was magic, at least according to her parents.

As soon as she had the seal partially open, a voice bloomed in her mind as she made contact with her mana.

"Hello Attika. It’s been a while..."

"Sorry about that, Teacher. The last two weeks got all crazy. But I guess you already know that, since you can read my past and all, right?"

"Indeed... What do you want to learn today, child?"

"Hmm... I was kind of wondering about you actually. What are you?"

"I’m your secret Teacher, remember? But I suppose you’re growing old enough for me to trust you with a few secrets of my own..."

Attika’s wings, angelic ones with shades of purple, just like her hair, perked up.

"Before I tell you, though... I’d like you to promise to do one thing for me. I have an old friend in that city... If you could take me to him, just for a few moments so I can speak with him..."

"I can’t take you out of the vault, or Dad will be angry..."

"He doesn’t have to know... Just promise me and I’ll let you in on a little secret..."

Attika thought about it. Dad was nice, but when he got angry, he got angry. The practice range outside their mansion, and the destroyed ground near the barrier, were proof of that. But at the same time, Teacher had showed her so much magic that Dad said she wasn’t old enough to learn...

"I guess... Alright, I promise," Attika said, making up her mind.

"Very good. I’m so glad I’ve earned your trust," Teacher said with a smile in his voice. "When the time comes, my friend’s name is Jeviel."

"Okay, but I want to learn about you!"

"Me? Well... I’m an angel. But not just any angel... a High Seraphim, sealed against his will..."