Honesty is the Best Policy {Comic Edition}

Chapter 40: Mephiles has Joined the Party

(Originally Published Halloween 2022 [how fitting])

"Send me back."

Honest, Scourge, Scream, and whatever the anti-Vanilla's name was just stared at Mephiles as he stood in front of Shadow and stared back at them all.

"Uh... how do you reverse the spell?" Scourge asked.

Meanwhile, the anti-Vanilla looked excited as she ran forward and attempted to shake hands with the "demon".

"Wow! I've never accomplished a ritual this advanced before! What sort of horrific task do you have for us??"

Mephiles's hand melted into black sludge before the rabbit lady could shake it. He looked much more displeased than when they usually saw him. However, he didn't say anything. Shadow was still slumped over in the chair behind him. Mephiles turned around and laughed. 

"The great Ultimate Lifeform reduced to a mere ritual object. How ironic."

"I didn't know a 'simple element of nature' could be summoned by amateurs like this," Honest told him, laughing a normal laugh not accompanied by piano and reverb.

Upon hearing Honest's voice, the embodiment of darkness looked over his shoulder and his expression softened. "Miss Author." He turned around fully and pushed past the anti-Vanilla who was beginning to look annoyed that she was being ignored. Mephiles stopped in front of the blond feline and the rotten green pineapple beside her. "Maybe it's destiny that I was summoned just now. Do you perhaps require any assistance in completing your mission here?"

Scourge put his hands in his pockets, obviously feeling unnerved by his proximity to the demonic hedgehog just then. "Is it okay to accept help from him?"

"Of course," Honest told him, smiling, still looking up at Mephiles. "Let's see..." She tapped her chin. "Do you think you can intimidate Fiona?"

"Do I think I can intimidate that red fox girl?" The scheleras surrounding his slitted green eyes turned red for just a second, and Honest and Scourge swore they saw a haunting grin get stitched across his face for a moment as well. "You underestimate me, cat."

Scream got a bucket of water and a sponge and started scrubbing the circle of chalk off the floor while her mother, the anti-Vanilla, collected all of the blown-out candles and put them in a beat-up cardboard box. Scream accidentally bumped the chair Shadow was sitting in and woke him up. He went "What?" and Scream reacted by, you guessed it, screaming rather shrilly. Both Honest and Scourge jumped in unison.

"You... don't want anything in return?" Scourge asked Mephiles as Honest left to go fill Shadow in on what had happened.

"No... why?" Scourge was startled by how normally and, well, non-demonlike he had spoken. Mephiles's arms hung loosely by his sides. "Honest has already given me much more than I could ever want." Scourge made a confused face, but Mephiles didn't make any attempt to elaborate further.

"So how did he get here?" they heard Shadow say. 

Looking up, Scourge saw that Shadow was now standing up and pointing fiercely at Mephiles as he stood with his back to him. Scourge noticed the personification of the absence of light bristled a little as if he were annoyed by Shadow's sudden switch to wakefulness. He then spun around on one foot and held his arms out as he walked over to Shadow. "Ah, Shadow! My faithful partner has awakened! Are you prepared to assist me in bringing this planet to its knees as well?"

Shadow dodged out of the way, hiding behind the chair. Mephiles jumped up into the chair and sat on his knees, peering over it with his elbows resting on the wooden back and his head in his hands. "This zone surely has a future I can disrupt, too. Perhaps even its very own Iblis to join with. It's a pretty romantic thought at least, right?" Shadow just reacted with fear and disgust.