Vicar
He could always feel them moving around him.
The sigil of Ahha was set in silver lines on a tablet of lead set around his neck, the greater demon Ereshaill confined within it. He had recently forged the amulet within what demesnes were still safe to him.
The bubble of apotropaic magic extended ten paces around him, though it felt smaller every day. No magic or demon lesser in power than Ereshaill could breach the domain, and he was confident that the cur Ramses had no power over any sort of demon lord. Yet, at least. If Ramses could do so, Euclid would have already been dead at his feet.
The watching eyes spun violently around him as he neared the doors of the throne room, thin films of ice forming where he could see their phantasmal forms intersect the walls of the hallway. The tablet, fist sized and already chilly against his skin, fell a few further degrees in temperature.
Euclid strode quietly through the anterior doors of the throne room with confidence he did not feel. The king and queen presided over some sort of peasant collective, while the cabinet of advisors stood watch in the eaves of the throne room where Euclid entered. Even now, the bitch Ramses stood smugly in what was obviously the spot for the foremost witch, despite possessing no true competence with the demonic arts.
Euclid moved to take a stand behind Ramses. He was forced to stand in the third row, the enchantments on Ramses' jewelry causing painful flashes of heat on the amulet beneath his robes.
Someone coughed as Euclid glared at Ramses, the idiot not even acknowledging him with a glance.
"Euclid," the person said loudly.
This fucking misanthrope. Euclid prepared his wand of blistering rash and turned, only to come face to face with the solemn gaze of the king.
"Ah, Daniel," he responded, tucking the wand discreetly back into his belt.
"Your Majesty," the king said slowly.
Euclid wave his hand and turned again to point at Ramses, "Has the time come to finally bring this shameful mockery of my profession to justice?"
"Euclid, you are to stand in the petitioner's area."
He moved eagerly down the stairs to the side to the area. This was it! The king and queen had finally seen reason about Ramses, and now Euclid would personally get a chance to bring him to justice.
It was only when he got to the dais below the throne that he realized it was just him walking down to the floor.
"Dani-"
"Silence!" The king bellowed. Beside him the queen put her head in her hands, clearly embarrassed by her husband's irrational behavior.
"Your Majesty, I am glad to see that-"
Ramses made a quick gesture with a wand, and the sounds coming out of Euclid's mouth were muffled as they reached the edge of the amulet's protection.
"You... Euclid, I didn't know what to do with you for so long. You were a good man for a long time, but something has changed within you. Did you know I once thought you could be the godfather of my child?"
The king stopped for a moment. Tears welled in his eyes.
"What you did was unforgivable. And yet, I tried to forgive you. 'It must have been a mistake', 'it was an unintended side effect'. But I see you wear that vile thing around your neck each and every day, and eventually I realized that you just never cared. All I was, all my son's memories of his grandparents were, was just a source of ritual ingredients for you to flagellate yourself on your own power."
The king paused again. At this point, the queen was bawling visibly, the advisors shifting their gazes away from the hall.
"You- You did all that just to consort with demons? Just to beg and slave for them like they were your family? Ramses tells me-"
Euclid breached the silence spell for a moment with a hastily crafted apotropaic charm constructed in the last minute, powered by the last of the lead dust he carried on his person. "Ramses knows nothing about demons! The fucking shitstain has never even smelled a demon lord in his life! I—me, your rightful vicar of magic, not that poseur—I have weaseled the sign of Ahha out of demon lords, the most valuable artifact of their allegiance! He knows nothing, he is-"
Ramses waved the wand again and the violently yelled rant receded back into murmurs once more.
The king just stared silently at Euclid, a sad look on his face.
"I don't know why I'm surprised, at this point. You were already irrational."
The king looked away and waved a hand at where Euclid was standing, "Ramses, do it now."
Ramses made a cross with his hands, and pulled up with it.
Euclid knew this as the filth's chosen sign of demon calling, and smiled widely as he realized he had the whole monarchy fooled. They tried to end him, but they had no idea just what his amulet actually did. No demon of Ramses could do anything to him.
Euclid strode forth even as a massive serpent two meters across and more than twenty long slithered down in from the skylights at the top of the room. Clearly an illusion-focused demon, as the form he could see was larger than any greater demon. They thought tricks could stop him, but he had them all fooled.
The serpent wrapped around the apotropaic bubble, the amulet flash-froze with ice on Euclid's chest, and then there was nothing.