Return of the Runebound Professor

Dozens of gazes all turned in Noah’s direction as one, joining Matis in staring at their balcony. Pirren tried to sink even lower in her chair to avoid being noticed. It was far too late, and there wasn’t anywhere to properly hide on the balcony anyway.

“Pirren. There’s a face I haven’t seen in a while,” Matis said with a sneer. “We didn’t miss you, coward. I’m surprised you had the gall to show yourself again. It’s no surprise that you keep the company of those too scared to show their own face.”

“That’s an odd way to concede the bid,” Noah said, entirely unperturbed by the taunt. “Stop wasting my time. Either raise your bid or shut your mouth. You and Fibog already spent more than enough time yammering for everyone here to get bored of you.”

A few chuckles rose up from the other demons. Lines of fury etched themselves into Matis’ expression and he bared his teeth in a snarl.

“Do not presume to speak to me as an equal, coward. I respect Fibog’s blubbery ass more than you. At least he’s bold enough to arrive in the auction under his own power, but that balcony belongs to Pirren, doesn’t it? How pathetic can you be, entering the auction under her banner? I raise the bid to 160. Don’t speak again if you value your—”

“180,” Noah said, stretching his arms over his head and cracking his neck. “You call Pirren a coward, but her runes are worse than yours. Being weak isn’t cowardice. Preying on those who can’t fight back is. You were correct about one thing, Matis. We aren’t equals. You are below me.”

The Slaughter Demon stepped forward, his massive claws flaring as they caught the light. Noah was pretty certain that the only reason he hadn’t tried to do anything yet was that he hadn’t fully recovered from the damage Fibog had done to him.

Even though Noah was standing in Pirren’s balcony, Matis didn’t know how strong he was. The demon might have been an arrogant asshole, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. Charging into a fight blind was rarely a good idea — but Noah got the feeling that would only go so far. Arrogance tended to be blinding after a certain point, and demons were far from avatars of self-control.

The other conversations in the auction house started to peter out as more and more attention turned toward Noah and Matis. Nearly everyone was watching them now that it was becoming clear that a fight was inevitable.

“Have nothing to say for yourself, Pirren? What, did you scrounge all the trash you had together to hire some demons from another city to fight your battles for you?” Matis snarled. “You’re even more pathetic than the last time you came. Do I see two children in your party? What are they here for? Could you not afford adult mercenaries? I raise to 190. Stay in the mud where you belong, snake.”

Sinclaire’s brilliant red lips twisted in a smirk at that, and more than a few demons chuckled. Pirren definitely didn’t have much support from the crowd, and the way she was acting wasn’t helping.

All the confidence she’d had back in her mansion had shattered. She was completely out of her element. The auction house was clearly bringing back so many bad memories that she just couldn’t maintain her façade.

Her failure to respond was only making things worse in the other demons’ eyes. Matis basically had a free punching bag that wouldn’t strike back. It made them look weak — which was exactly what Noah needed. Weak targets were easy prey, and easy prey made for complacent predators.

“200,” Noah said flatly. “You seem scared, Matis. Perhaps you’re worried that the children here are stronger than you are? Have you ever tried fighting someone that could hit back? Or do you exclusively pick fights with demons more concerned with their next meal than who you are?”

Firbog’s eyes narrowed at the stray insult, but the other demons around him all snickered. Noah was starting to get a pretty good grasp of how these auctions worked. They were more than just demons bidding over runes.

The whole thing was a live show. Nobody actually cared who was fighting. They just wanted to see a fight. It didn’t matter who won. It didn’t matter who was the target. As long as there was blood, everyone else had fun.

“220,” Matis said as he bared his teeth. “You’re out of warnings, mercenary. I have no interest in killing someone as unimportant as a hired blade that would debase themselves to fighting alongside the pathetic company you keep, but if you say one more word, I’ll rip your throat out and bleed you over the audience. You’re nothing but a bug, but if you keep buzzing around my head, I’ll end you.”

“Do it!” a demon yelled.

“My money’s on the mercenary,” another said from a balcony nearby. “He’s baiting Matis. 50 gold on him.”

“Done deal,” the demon on the balcony below said, leaning over to look up at the one that had just spoken. “The mercenary is bluffing. He’s got fucking children in his party. Pirren probably had to lick their shoes to get them to come. Look at her. She’s about to start shedding.”

Yoru tapped Pirren on the shoulder. The snake demon flinched as if she’d been stabbed, then jerked her head over to the smaller demon.

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“Get up,” Yoru said, pointing at the ground in front of her chair. “And stand over here.”

Pirren jerked upright, moving to follow Yoru’s command without an instant of hesitation. She moved like an iron rod had been planted in her back. Noah ignored them. He had his own problems to deal with.

“I have a question. When I kill you, does the price go back down to the original one?” Noah asked, tilting his head to the side.

Matis broke. Evidently, he kept his promises. He leapt from his balcony in a blur of motion and launched for Noah, claws carving through the air with a shrill shriek. Despite all Noah’s insults, Matis was no pathetic opponent.

The demon was incredibly fast. He moved faster than Noah’s eyes could have ever tracked — but Noah didn’t need to move as fast as Matis. He already knew where the demon was going.

He flicked his hand forward, almost lazily, as he summoned the bow of his violin and pointed it before him. At the same time, vines erupted behind him. They raced past his sides and rose up around him, flowers sprouting all along their surface.

A powerful force slammed into Noah’s arm. Matis slid to a stop, his arms pinned back by the vines and the bow of the violin impaling his chest. The demon’s eyes were wide with fury and disbelief.

Noah ripped the bow free and tilted his head to the side. “Now that was painfully obvious, wasn’t it? I can’t say I expected any more from a demon that fed on something as worthless as slaughter.”

“Coward,” Matis snarled, jerking in attempt to rip himself free of the vines, but they held him as tight as stone. It didn’t matter how sharp his claws were when he couldn’t actually reach anything with them. He may have been a Rank 5, but Moxie’s Rank 4 Rune was flawless — and it was quite clear that his form focused on speed, not power. “Fight me!”

You know, Moxie’s plants are strong, but they aren’t that strong. This guy was shitting all over Pirren, but he’s hardly any stronger than she is. Arrogant prick.

“Fight?” Noah let out a burst of laugther. “Why would I fight you? I already told you, Matis. You’re beneath me. There is no fight. There’s nothing you can do to hurt me. Aylin, would you come over here?”

The boy rose from his seat and walked over to stand beside Noah.

“You want me to fight the child?” Matis asked, his lips curling in derision. “Or are you just so scared to fight me alone that you have women and children do your combat for you?”

“Let’s find out. Tell the truth, Aylin. Am I scared of the coward before me?”

“No,” Aylin said.

“And what about the coward? Is he scared of death?”

“I fear nothing,” Matis snarled. “I am death!”

“Lie,” Aylin said, and Matis drew in a small breath of surprise as pain flickered across his features. Noah’s lips pulled back in a smile. Matis’ runes were weak enough that Aylin was able to eat from him.

Isn’t that ironic? A Flawless Rank 3 can hurt even a shit Rank 5. I wonder if willpower has a measure of play in this. Matis is just a prick that preys on the weak. That doesn’t make for a very strong mind. I’ll have to test Aylin out on some other Rank 5s to see what his limits are.

“What was that?” Matis demanded. “What did you do?”

“Death? You?” Noah asked, ignoring Matis entirely. “I didn’t even need Aylin to know that’s a lie. But you’re scared of more than just death, Matis. You’re scared of me.”

“I do not fear a mercenary that cowers behind—”

“Lie,” Aylin said, and Matis dragged in another pained breath.

“I suggest against that. It’s easier for him to eat you when you lie,” Noah said with a smile. He tilted his head to the side as if in contemplation. “Though truth does seem to work just as well. It’s just less fun. But I digress — we’re having too much fun to get caught in semantics. Next question. Are you scared of the mere child standing before you?”

Mantis lurched forward, but all he did was jerk helplessly against Moxie’s vines. He was stuck fast.

“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill every single one of you,” Matis spat, spittle flying from his lips.

“Lie,” Aylin said.

Noah was pretty sure a threat didn’t count as a lie, and he caught a small grin on the boy’s face. Aylin was playing it up for the crowd. Noah almost burst into laughter on the spot, but he managed to keep his composure.

“No you won’t,” Noah said. “I’m losing my patience with you, Matis. Don’t you do anything other than threaten to kill me? Can’t you be a little more creative? There has to be more in your repertoire.”

The demon’s muscles trembled in fury, but there was nothing he could do but sit there. Murmurs passed through the auction house as the other demons realized that Matis wasn’t just playing along and was legitimately stuck in place.

“Hold on,” a scaled demon from the balcony beside them said, rising from his seat and thrusting a finger in their direction. “A Knowledge Demon brat and a demon that wears storm wrappings for no reason. That’s Spider.”

A flicker of recognition passed through Matis’ eyes. Noah’s eyes crinkled as his smile grew behind his face wrappings.

“Have you heard of me, Matis?”

“As if I’d have heard of a coward like you,” Matis spat. He barely managed to force the sentence out before he let out another pained groan. Evidently, he wasn’t smart enough to figure out that speaking in front of a Knowledge Demon that could eat from him was a poor idea.

“I see,” Noah said, with a disappointed shake of his head. “Well, I think we’re done here. You full, Aylin?”

“I am sated,” Aylin said with a nod. “Thank you, Spider.”

“No problem,” Noah replied. He nodded to Aylin’s chair and the boy headed back over to it, sitting down without another word.

“Don’t ignore me!” Matis screamed, jerking his arm against Moxie’s vines. “Let me—”

Noah’s violin bow flashed. It carved straight through Matis’ neck, severing his head from his body in a single motion. Energy poured into Noah in a river, flooding into his runes. Blood splattered across the ground and over Pirren, who stood between Yoru and the splash zone.

Whoops. Sorry, Pirren.

“I think we’ve all had enough of his yammering,” Noah said. He flicked the blood from the bow and let it fade away. Moxie’s vines released Matis’ body, dropping it over the edge of the balcony where it plummeted to land on the ground with a splattering crunch. For an instant, the auction house was silent. Noah picked the dead demon’s head up by the hair and tossed it over the balcony to land beside the rest of the demon’s body, then wiped his hands off on his jacket. Then he cleared his throat. “So, did anyone else want to bid on my Rune?”

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