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"Today was shit."
THUMP.
"This whole week was shit."
THUMP.
"Last week was shit, and next week will probably be shit too."
THUMP.
"Fuck... I hate it here! I work my arse off all year and I can't pass a single fucking exam!"
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
"Argh, fuck it!"
Aaron throws his arms in the air, panting as he does. Then he slumps into a large beanbag on the floor of his dorm room.
"Fuck it all! I never should've enrolled at this stupid college."
He sits for a while with his eyes closed, stewing on his frustrations. A minute passes as he catches his breath, until the anger on his face has subsided. He sighs.
"At least I've got you, I suppose. You're the one good thing that's come out of this."
A groan of defiance reaches Aaron's ears. He opens his eyes to look over at the target of his earlier outburst: a demonic, male humanoid. The creature is held above the ground by invisible shackles around its wrists and ankles, securing them in place and forcing its limbs spread. Glowing green patterns adorn its coal-black skin, every inch of which is bare, revealing muscles that exude an inhuman amount of strength. Its exposed penis is rigid, the tip glistening with a bead of wetness. The creature has pointed ears, large canines that protrude from its lower jaw, and the remains of a central horn that appears to have been broken off and sanded down. As it hangs limp, the demon's tired, red eyes remain focused on Aaron, staring at him with a mix of loathing and trepidation.
"Bad days don't seem so bad when I can take them out on you." Aaron gets up from the beanbag and walks over to his toy. He gives the creature a few hard pats on the stomach. "You're a good pal like that."
The demon grunts. It shuffles with what little movement the restraints allow, making a half-hearted attempt to pull away from Aaron before falling limp again. It mutters quietly.
"Mau'wa... mau'wa na umi'pa..."
"I don't know what the fuck you're saying."
"Gol zio... hav'ja gol—uff!"
As his fist collides with the creature's firm abdomen, Aaron can't help but laugh at the stupid noise it makes. He withdraws his balled hand, then pretends to throw another punch, stopping himself at the last second and causing the creature to flinch. Aaron laughs again.
"Man, you're so much fun!"
He moves closer to the restrained male until their bodies almost touch. Then he brings his hands up and places them on the creature's chest. It watches him through gritted teeth as he begins to cup and squeeze the large muscles.
"Hav'ig... t'vir..."
"I wonder how strong you'd be if I let you use these. Could probably rip me apart like a daisy." One of Aaron's fingers flicks absent-mindedly back and forth over the creature's nipple. It lets out a subdued growl.
"Hav'ja gol ig'na!"
Aaron's other hand reaches round to cup the creature's rear. "I bet you've imagined that, yeah? Ripping me apart. In fact, I bet you've imagined doing much worse to me. You must fucking hate me for everything I do to you."
The creature closes its eyes as Aaron continues to touch and squeeze its body, feeling the girth of its arms and shoulders, the curve of its back, the stumps that might once have been a pair of wings and a tail. It begins to struggle again, flexing and straining against the immovable restraints. The effort is futile. Aaron licks his lips as he caresses the bulging muscles, working their hardest to free the creature from its unbreakable prison. When his hands are satisfied, they return to the creature's chest to play with its nipples some more. It growls and shakes its head.
"T'vir... viod jeph'na... t'vir!"
"You should be used to this by now, silly. How long has it been? Fifteen months? Or is it sixteen?"
Tired eyes glare at Aaron. He smiles back.
"Do you still remember the night I found you? I do."
"Hav'ig'na, gol zi—hhk!"
A firm tug on the creature's right nipple cuts its sentence short. Its balls tighten, and another trickle of precum escapes its quivering erection.
"I wasn't finished," Aaron hisses. He glances back at his desk, ignoring the quiet groan coming from his abused plaything. Sitting at the back of the wooden frame is a pale diadem, worn and bent by the ages, with a black stone at its centre. The edges of the stone reflect no light at all, while the inside shines with a myriad of colour.
"When I first summoned you, I was scared shitless. Who would've thought some battered old crown from an antiques fair could have a monster stuck inside it?"
A hand trails down the demon's abdomen, over flesh still tender from its earlier pummeling, stopping to rake and grope the tired abdominal muscles.
"And how was I to know that wearing it would release you? It's funny, you looked just as confused as I was, standing there on the opposite side of my room. Next thing I knew, you were lunging at me with your teeth bared. Do you remember that?"
The other hand squeezes the demon's chest greedily, digging into the flesh. A finger and thumb return to the creature's nipple and pull on it.
"I remember thinking that that was it – I was dead. Even if I screamed, there was no way someone would reach me in time. I could only pray that you'd stop before you reached me and sunk your jaws into my skin."
Twist.
"Nngh!"
The demon's penis throbs in tandem with its grunt.
"Of course, luckily for me, you did stop. When I looked up, your body was completely still, frozen in place like a statue. I could still see the fight in your eyes, but there was nothing you could do about it. I'd never felt so relieved in my life. Relieved, and excited. You were trapped, defenseless, unable to move an inch – and somehow I knew that was because I had willed it."
The roaming hand arrives at the demon's manhood, wrapping around the length and gripping it tightly. A stifled moan escapes the creature's throat.
"And that was just the beginning. Now I understand how the crown works, I can make your body do anything I want it to, make it feel anything I want it to feel, just by willing it. Even…"
Aaron withdraws his hand from the demon's chest and balls it into a fist.
"... Even force you to get off on your own suffering."
THUMP.
"Hrff!"
He feels the demon's manhood convulse in his grip, before releasing a long, sticky strand of precum. It dangles from the tip, stretching down towards the floor until the weight balances with the elasticity. Aaron grins.
"And yet, in all this time, I haven't let you cum once."
The demon's nostrils flare, eyes drilling into Aaron with frustration. Despite its resolve, it makes a subtle humping motion into the hole provided by Aaron's hand. The string of precum smears across the back of Aaron's thumb. He releases his grip, wipes the mess onto the demon's body, then brings his hand down to cup the demon's plump balls, massaging them between his fingers. His other hand returns to its chest.
"You know what else is funny? When I froze you back then, it looked as though you were reaching for my head. Were you trying to get the crown away from me before I could use it?"
The demon doesn't respond. A grin spreads across Aaron's face.
"Well, that makes it all the more ironic – I might never have realised how it works if you hadn't forced my hand."
The creature lowers its head, avoiding Aaron's gaze as its balls are fondled and its chest is groped.
"... T'jiom fwa... lem'af zio..."
"Do you regret that decision now? I bet you spend every day playing it back in your mind, wondering how things could've gone differently if you hadn't been such an idiot."
The demon keeps its eyes averted. Aaron stops playing with its body and brings his hands up behind his head.
"Well, at least I've had a lot of fun with our arrangement. I wouldn't say I'm bad looking, but there's no chance I could've got myself a guy with a body like yours. You're stunning. And now, thanks to a bit of good luck, you're mine."
"Hi'gol ziostam! Cutvas!"
Aaron smirks.
"Anyway, I've got some studying to do, so we should finish this off."
The tension in the demon's body eases a little, until it sees the glint in Aaron's eye.
"Oh no, you're not getting off that easily. I'm still feeling royally pissed from every exam I've fucked up this past month, so..." Aaron walks over to his desk, picks up the diadem, and returns with it sitting crookedly over his head. "... I hope you're ready for me to go all out. Might even experiment a little."
When the creature sees the diadem, its eyes ignite with fear, and it thrashes with vigor far greater than its previous struggles. Aaron watches gleefully, enjoying how the muscles of its body fight and strain as its dick remains rigid.
"R'mauta! R-r'maut—AHF!"
The creature makes a sound like a deflated toy as it attempts to endure Aaron's punch. As his fist sinks into the flesh of its abdomen, Aaron imagines the force of a baseball fired from a pitching machine. The black stone shimmers, weaving his desire into something that, for the demon, is indistinguishable from reality. The creature's muscles tense hard against the impact.
"Fuck, I needed that."
Aaron withdraws his knuckles, after which the creature makes a pained gasp, trying its best to draw back the air that was knocked out of it. Its attempt is cut short by another fist to its gut.
"OOF!"
This time Aaron imagines the impact of a cannonball. The torso of the creature is knocked backwards, limbs stretched to their limit as its hands and feet remain fixed in place. Before its body can fall, Aaron slams into it again. Then again, and again, and again, then twenty more times, upping the power of each blow as they come. The final punch hits with the conceived strength of a truck travelling at the speed of a bullet. As Aaron's knuckles bury themselves into the creature's abdomen for the twenty-sixth time in succession, its stomach clenches with an agonised grunt. Then it falls completely silent, with no air left in its lungs to even attempt making a noise.
Aaron withdraws his hand. He stops to catch his breath as the creature flops forwards, gasping for oxygen. A new string of precum leaks from the tip of its member.
"Phew... it's... it's a good thing I can't injure you by doing this... or you'd probably be dead by now. Ha... aren't you lucky?"
The chests of both males heave in unison, the demon's chest more dramatically so as it wheezes in pain. In the time it takes to get his breath back, Aaron imagines the demon in a different position – arms and legs held together and stretched out above and below the rest of its body. Despite the immense pain still coursing through its nervous system, the creature wriggles frantically, trying to break free as its body is pulled like a puppet. It splutters as it tries to speak.
"P-pi... n-nis-s-sa...!"
"Yeah, I should get more creative, shouldn't I?"
Aaron brings his hand to his chin and pulls an exaggerated expression of thought.
"I wonder what it feels like to be stung by a bullet ant."
"D-Dumac..."
"I know, that's too simple. What if... what if you were strung up in the humid heat of the jungle and covered in bullet ants from head to toe? Crawling all over you, stinging you, injecting their venom into your skin – venom that, as I recall, feels more painful than being shot. Might take your mind off being my punching bag for a while."
The creature goes silent. Its mouth moves as if trying to find words that will convince Aaron to stop, even though none exist, even though Aaron wouldn't understand anyway. With a smirk, Aaron allows his imagination to run wild. The stone shimmers. The creature tries to shout something, but the attempt is cut off by the inhuman howl forced from its throat.
"A-ARRGHH!! AAUURAAAGHHH—UHFK!!"
Aaron delivers another blow – a blow with the power of a meteorite, that breaks right through the remaining strength of the creature's abdominals and sinks into its stomach. A choked noise leaves its mouth as the air it tried so hard to gather is knocked back out of its exhausted lungs.
"God, you're loud today. What a pity no one ever hears your screams. Whoever made the crown must have thought of that."
When the fist withdraws, the demon inhales greedily, only so that it can scream anew at the pain of being simultaneously stung across every inch of its skin. Its penis throbs aggressively, unwilling arousal spurred on by the sheer amount of agony coursing through it. Aaron rolls his eyes. Another astronomically powerful punch reduces the creature to silence. This time, Aaron leaves his hand embedded.
"I wonder..." he ponders. Before he allows the creature to draw another breath, Aaron visualises the inside of its throat. He conjures up an image of its epiglottis – the flap of cartilage that allows air to reach its lungs – then imagines the flap closing over its windpipe.
He withdraws his hand.
Instinctively, the creature tries to inhale. Its attempt results in nothing but a sickening wheeze. It stares at the diadem with horror as it realises what Aaron has done.
"There, that ought to shut you up."
The creature opens its mouth again to scream, but the sound it makes is little more than a rasp. Its chest spasms as it makes attempt after attempt to draw in air, unable to get enough to breathe but unable to ignore its body's demands. Its pleading eyes bore into Aaron, begging for him to stop, begging for an end to its suffering.
"Don't worry, you've survived everything else I've put you through. At this point, it would surprise me more if you could die."
Tears stream down the creature's gasping face as it flails, dripping onto a towel below where a small puddle of its precum has now collected. Aaron watches delightedly. He leans against the demon and runs his hands across the smooth, onyx skin.
"Look at that – you've worked up quite a sweat. Must be that jungle heat."
Despite the agony of the ant stings, the horror of choking and the immovable shackles holding the demon's extremities in place, its struggles are more powerful than ever. The muscles in its limbs bulge as they tug and strain with urgency, its penis surging as its body twists from side to side. Aaron continues to grope the demon until the sheer strength of its writhing knocks him back. He frowns, then retracts his arm.
"Stop."
THUMP!
"Fucking."
THUMP!
"Squirming."
THUMP!!
Saliva flies from the creature's gaping mouth as Aaron batters it senseless. Despite the demon's immense physical prowess, there's nothing it can do to stop him: it can't fight back, can't protect itself, can't even scream. Its outstretched abdomen can do nothing but tense, which does little to protect it from the world-shattering punches colliding with its body.
Even after enduring the unrelenting abuse, the demon's muscles still spasm and twitch beyond its control. Aaron sighs.
"If you can't follow a simple instruction, then I'll make you."
With a pout, Aaron concentrates on the creature, imagining it suspended by a rope around its wrists. He then imagines a 500kg weight attached to its ankles. Its body goes instantly taut. It tries to cry out at the sudden, excruciating pain of being pulled apart, but doesn't manage even a whimper. Aaron's hands return to where they were, molesting the creature's overworked, but still, torso with glee.
"That's much better. Now, since you were so reluctant to let me touch you, I think you're due some punishment." A finger trails innocuously down the demon's abdominal muscles, following the glowing green patterns on its skin. "How about a classic – the one where I make my touch as hot as a branding iron? Seems a fitting reminder that I own you."
The demon can barely bring itself to react. Sweat rolls off its body and onto the floor, mixing with its tears and the precum that now leaks down in a continuous stream.
The stone within the diadem shimmers.
Aaron grabs the demon's chest with both hands and squeezes the muscles. The demon doesn't even flinch – it can't, despite the searing heat on its skin, added to the pain of hundreds upon hundreds of stingers still injecting venom into its bloodstream and the agony of being stretched with so much force that its body should have been torn apart. Hands continue to explore the demon's form, grabbing its thighs, its obliques, its ass, all with feverish greed and a touch hot enough to melt skin. They trace their way over every inch, exploring every curve, every muscle, everything that the demon's flawless figure has to offer. Its erection throbs wildly.
"This is your own fault really. Bodies like yours are made to be worshipped – worshipped, and pushed to their limits."
Aaron withdraws his hands and kneels down onto the floor. He leans forwards, inhaling the creature's masculine scent as he presses his face into its pubic region, then he opens his mouth and takes the demon's member inside it. Every tendon in the creature's thighs bulges as its manhood is consumed by unbearable heat. A tongue rolls around it, tasting it, flicking it back and forth, running all the way up the length and back down again. As he licks away the demon's pre-seminal fluid, Aaron feels heavy teardrops land on his head. He pulls his mouth away momentarily and looks up at his stress toy.
"Stop crying, you pathetic piece of shit."
As the words leave Aaron's mouth, the demon’s tears cease and its red eyes go dry. Aaron wastes no time in resuming where he left off. He continues to suck greedily, all the way from the tip to the base, grabbing the demon's balls with one hand and placing his other on its stomach. In the back of his mind, he wills the demon's body not to climax – even an orgasm forced by torture might bring the creature a modicum of pleasure, which would ruin the fun.
The creature's penis smacks against the roof of Aaron's mouth as it convulses. He yanks on its balls, causing it to throb even more aggressively. There's nothing else it can do to convey the pain.
When Aaron has had enough, he pulls his head away and gets back onto his feet. Then he takes a step back and adjusts himself as he tries to accommodate for his own arousal.
He stops to admire the sight in front of him.
"Fuck..."
It's almost too much to take in: huge muscles held rigidly in place, straining under a force stronger than they should be able to endure; the look of absolute desperation on the creature's tortured face as it wheezes faintly for air, knowing that any hope of mercy is futile; its erect penis throbbing despite – and because – of everything the demon is being put through, despite how utterly afraid it is and how much it wants this all to end. For Aaron, the knowledge alone that everything happening is under his control makes him giddy. He closes his eyes as he feels his dick surge in his pants.
"Fucking hell... I can't wait any longer."
Aaron begins to undress himself excitedly. The demon can do nothing but watch through dry, bloodshot eyes as it continues to choke in silent anguish. When his clothes are off, Aaron forgets about the weight – allowing the demon a brief opportunity to thrash like a wild animal – then mentally moves the creature so that it lies on its back in the air, legs raised and spread apart. He imagines the creature's torso and head trapped in place, mouth wide open with its arms by its side. Its body goes still again, save for the trembling of its outstretched legs. Aaron positions himself against the demon's rear and grabs hold of its waist.
"Heh, I bet you're used to this by now. Do you remember how tight you were the first time I used you? I do. Actually, I think I preferred it like that."
The demon's hole clenches tighter at Aaron's command, just in time for his manhood to slam into it. It presses against the entrance like a battering ram, smearing precum across the closed orifice as the creature's toes splay from the heat.
"Come on, let me in! I'm so fucking ready for this."
Aaron's penis hammers into the tight ring of muscle with lecherous aggression, until the head finally breaks through. He moans, gripping the demon's waist tighter, then plunges the rest of his length inside.
"Fuuuck."
The demon wheezes as it tries to howl in pain. Aaron relishes the noise. He begins to move his hips, pulling out then shoving his way back inside the demon's still tight hole.
"God, you feel so good!"
THRUST.
Aaron moves slowly but powerfully, willing himself to resist the urge to shoot his load immediately. That would be too soon – he wants to enjoy this for as long as he can.
THRUST. THRUST.
A few more pitiful gasps escape the creature's throat. Aaron smirks.
"Still got some, ha... air left in your lungs? Allow me... to change that."
No sooner than Aaron has finished speaking, an imagined cannonball – one with the mass of a small star – materialises above the demon and plummets into its gut, crushing its abdominals as if they were clay. The creature manages a final splutter, barely audible, before falling completely silent. As the cannonball retracts, Aaron plunges his length back into its hole. Then the cannonball slams back down again, embedding itself so deep into the battered flesh that it becomes half-submerged in the demon's stomach.
"There we go. I'll just... keep that thought in the back of my mind while I... aw, fuck!"
The cannonball retracts once more.
THRUST.
SLAM.
The demon's glassy eyes stare into the ceiling, its mouth held open in a perpetual, unspeakable scream. With barely a thought, Aaron imagines a cock twice the size of his own and stuffs it into the open orifice. It pounds down the demon's throat, filling the space so entirely that the demon wouldn't have room to breathe even if it still could.
THRUST.
THRUST.
SLAM.
Hands return to the demon's body, exploring the muscle that is trapped completely in place, burning the skin with scarring heat as they caress it. Once more, Aaron grabs hold of the creature's manhood. The relentless arousal-pain has forced it to produce a puddle of precum on its lower stomach, so full that it has overflowed and now drips steadily onto the floor. He tugs viciously up and down.
"Y-you... are so, f-fucking... hot!"
The demon's mind is too overloaded to react – overloaded from the stinging ants, the inability to breathe, every single impact against its stomach, the raping of its throat and the burning hot length invading its hole, pounding it and searing it from inside.
THRUST.
SLAM.
"You... ah-are... mm-mine..."
Aaron pants. The demon's erection continues to spurt precum.
THRUST.
"You'll... b-be mine... forever..."
THRUST.
Aaron imagines a new 500kg weight and attaches it to the demon's balls, then another rigged to a pulley system from its nipples. Its legs shake violently.
SLAM.
"I'll nn-never... let you go... never let you die... no one will ever... hff... f-find you here..."
THRUST. THRUST.
SLAM.
THRUST.
"A-ah... oh fuuuuuck!!"
Nails dig into the demon's skin as Aaron shoves his member deep into its hole. Then he holds himself inside.
Semen explodes from his tip.
"Hnnghh!!"
As he moans in overwhelming bliss, Aaron unloads everything he has into his unwilling fleshlight. Rope after rope of ejaculate leaves his body, carrying with it the frustrations that have accumulated over the course of his week. The demon can do nothing but take it, face frozen in a look of unimaginable anguish as its body is tortured beyond comprehension for its captor's pleasure. Finally, Aaron releases a heavy sigh and pulls himself out, panting as he does.
"That... that was... fuck."
He removes his hand from the demon's length, just in time for a single drop of semen to dribble from the tip. Aaron doesn't care. He slumps back into the beanbag and laughs. Cum drips out of the demon's used hole and onto the floor, into the towel holding the pool of fluids that have already accumulated.
"God... I am... so fucking lucky!"
Aaron looks back at his prize. The demon's legs still tremble, toes curling while the rest of its body is still, save for the repeated tensing of its stomach and bulging of its throat. Its balls and nipples are tight from the impossible strain they're still enduring, while its penis remains rigid and throbbing, held on the very edge of an orgasm it cannot reach. With his frustrations vented, Aaron chooses to free the creature's body, removing the weights and the cock from its mouth and releasing its epiglottitis. He braces himself for the scream that follows the urgent heave of its lungs.
"—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!!!"
The sound that the demon makes doesn't come close to conveying the agony of every torment that has been forced upon it, nor does it come close to conveying the pain of the army of bullet ants still plunging their stingers into its skin. With its torso now free to move, it thrashes violently, throwing itself around as far as the immovable shackles on its wrists and ankles allow, until the cannonball crashes into it once more.
SLAM.
"—UHLCK!"
Instead of allowing the cannonball to withdraw, Aaron chooses to leave it embedded in the abused muscle. The creature rasps breathlessly.
"God, you're such a wimp. But fine, if you can't handle some ants and a bit of gut-punching, I guess I'll take those away too."
The stone shimmers as the remaining torments are removed. At the same time, the shackles that hold the demon reposition themselves to bring it back to its original upright position, allowing its exhausted body to slump forwards once more. Its penis quivers, the single drop of cum still running down the head that is slick with pre. Aaron picks at the dirt under his fingernails as he ignores the creature's violent breathing.
"I did warn you I'd go all out today. I would've thought a big, tough guy like you could take it, but I suppose—"
"AAAAAAAAURRRGHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Aaron's body jolts at the sudden, primal roar that tears through his room.
His head snaps up to look at the demon. The eyes that stare back are wild, filled with rage, fear, misery and despair, boring into him with unbridled hatred and absolute desperation. Its teeth are bared and every muscle in the demon's body is tensed to fight, straining to reach Aaron, to pull him apart, to tear the diadem from his head and finally be free from all the torture and rape it has been forced to endure. It releases another peal of raw emotion as it tugs and kicks and thrashes and writhes with everything it has left. Then it stops – its roar cuts to a scream and its muscles spasm as the pain of a lightning bolt crashes through it. Finally, it falls limp in its restraints.
Seconds pass in silence.
The demon begins to sob.
Aaron breathes through his mouth, ignoring the pounding of his heart against his ribcage as he tries to regain his composure. He gets to his feet and straightens up. A quiet sigh of relief escapes him, then he grins.
"Ha... that outburst of yours reminds me of our first meeting." Aaron walks over and places a hand on the creature's stomach, causing it to wince. "You really are beautiful, you know – especially when you show off those big, strong muscles." His other hand reaches over to the demon's penis. He presses the head down with a single finger, then watches it flick back up when he withdraws. "I sometimes wonder who you are, what you are, even. Some kind of magical creature, I presume. A being from another plane of existence? A prisoner? Someone's pet? Did you have a life before this, or were you born into being a torture vessel? I don't know which would be worse really."
The demon's mouth moves, uttering words between sobs that are barely audible.
"D-D-Dumac... Dumac... Dumac..."
"I could ask you, I suppose – I'm sure the crown could translate for me if I wanted, but perhaps it's more fun not knowing."
"Du... m-mac… tuwa n-n-na…"
"You keep saying that. Is that your name, "Dumac"? It sounds just as stupid as everything else you say."
A tiny spark of anger flickers in the demon's eyes. Aaron's expression drops. He glares at the creature, then hits it with another bolt of lightning, then another, then three more for good measure, then draws his arm back and strikes it so hard with his fist that its muscles cave from the impact. As it tries desperately to get its breath back, Aaron pictures the creature tied to a target board, held in place as a volley of arrows descend onto its naked form. It roars. Aaron sends another volley into its bare flesh, then imagines the creature trapped inside an iron maiden as the doors close on it, rusty spikes stabbing into its body. It tries to shout something. Aaron cuts it off by resealing its throat, then imagines the metal chamber filling with liquid steel. The demon's body shudders with vile, wretched convulsions as it writhes helplessly.
Aaron's heart beats faster. He feels hot streaks of semen hit his torso. It doesn't matter any more.
He waits until the maiden is full, then holds the image in his head for another thirty seconds, until the demon's expression goes completely hollow. Then he exhales and dispels the thoughts from his mind, satisfied that any fight still left in the creature has been well and truly shattered. It collapses in its bonds.
Aaron mutters under his breath.
"You won't make a fool out of me again."
He doesn't get a response.
The creature's body is completely still.
Aaron raises an eyebrow, then jabs the demon's stomach with his finger. It groans and coughs.
"Oh, good, you're still with me. For a second I thought I'd finally finished you off. What a shame that would have been."
The demon remains slumped, almost motionless, save for its ragged breathing.
"Well anyway – that was fun, but I need to go study now. My next exam is Monday, so you might see me then, depending on how it goes. Wish me luck."
The creature says nothing. It lifts its head very slightly to stare at Aaron. There is nothing left in its eyes, no hope, no belief that its torment will ever end. Just abject terror and the wish for death.
The stone shimmers a final time, and the demon is gone.
Aaron uses a fresh towel to clean himself up, then picks his clothes up off the floor and redresses himself before walking over to his desk. He returns the diadem to its original place, then pulls open a drawer and grabs a textbook from inside. He opens it to a bookmarked page.
He sighs.
"Hope next week goes better."