《Truth and Myths - Awakening》 Prologue - A sea of red He was at a vibrant ball, surrounded by people. More precisely, a humanoid race that gave off a vibe completely different from any humans he knew. Somehow, by instinct, he knew that they were demons of the Marturion race, a peaceful race of demons that possessed extremely high perceptions of magic that lived secluded from other demonic warring states. ¡°Lord ______, is something wrong?¡± asked an angelic voice to his left. This turned his head to see who it was. It was Mira Vassago, the daughter of one of the ruling families of the Marturion race. She was a beautiful young woman dressed elegantly in a green dress, wearing a tiara decorated with a huge green emerald on her head. Furthermore, as if naturally, she had her arm coiled around his, it was obvious from first glance that she was his date for this ball. ¡°Lord ______, shall we?¡± she asked, pointing to the middle of the hall where many are dancing. ¡°Ahh, yes. Lady Mira, may I have this dance?¡± He hesitated before turning to her. ¡°It would be my pleasure,¡± she blushed, and held out her hand. Leading Mira by her hand, he took her to the middle of the dance floor. There they danced naturally. He questioned how he was able to dance for a brief moment, but he couldn¡¯t think of an explanation for it. His body moved instinctively, in synch with both the music and Mira¡¯s movements as if they had practiced together for years. Their movements were perfect, even though they were surrounded by many who have learnt how to dance from a young age, their movements stood out from the rest. Soon, every one¡¯s attention was on them. ¡°Lord ______, this is getting a bit embarrassing. It seems like everyone is looking at us..¡± Without replying, he merely smiled at her. A dashing smile that seemed to captivate her heart. That seemed to somehow calm her heart down, and they continued to dance until the end of the next song. When they stopped, the entire ballroom was filled with claps. Many were walking up to the pair, praising how amazing their dance was. ¡°That was an amazing dance with my daughter, Lord ______,¡± said an old man with a croaky voice. He was Duke Aodhan Vassago, father of Mira as well as a well-known magician throughout the entirety of the demon race. He was a middle-aged man, just past his prime, that towered over others with a physique that would not have suggested to others that he was in fact a magician and not a swordsman. Although his family was originally only of the Marquis rank, through exceptional achievements in the advancement of magic, the Demon Kings had granted him the title of a ¡°Duke¡±, holding a rank just below the Princes and the Archduke. ¡°Would you like to join us for a drink?¡± Then turning to Mira, he chuckled and said, ¡°Sorry Mira, I would like to borrow Lord ______ for a while.¡± Hearing Duke Vassago¡¯s invitation, for some reason, he could feel a smile upon his face, ¡°Then Lady Mira, shall I see you later?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Mira replied, instantly turning away and leaving in grace towards other young people that she was acquainted with. Unbeknownst to him, she was blushing heavily, exactly how a maiden in love would when the man of her dreams invites her out for a date. ¡°Then Lord ______, let us proceed to the next room. Both Count Furcas and Earl Decarabia have also arrived,¡± said Duke Vassago. If he could recall correctly, Count Furcas was originally a Knight that had gathered a lot of merits, an abnormally among the Marturion that loved peace. He was a Spellsword, a Magic Knight that commanded several legions of demons. One of his most outstanding achievements was the subjugation of a Greater Sphinx, that was said to be born once every century, it was a creature that possessed extremely high intelligence and could cast spells on par with a Great Wizard. In fact, the last subjugation of a Greater Sphinx was lead by the current Great King, and even his army had suffered quite a few casualties. He¡¯ll make a good sacrifice. Wait what? Why did such a though pop up? There was no reason for him to possess that kind of thought towards Count Furcas. He couldn¡¯t understand his own thoughts. On the other hand, Earl Decarabia was another outstanding individual, who specialised in healing magic. Due to this, he was one of the court healers for the Demon Kings. On that thought, he saw Duke Vassago walk away, so he quickened his pace to catch up. Together, they left the ballroom, and walked through a long corridor, decorated with paintings of famous events that have occurred. The wall was pained red like roses. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. And like blood. Once against, he decided to ignore the peculiar thought that seems to have popped up in his mind. He followed Lord Vassago and entered a large room, where a dozen people had already been seated around a large rectangular table with 2 seats left empty. At the head of the table sat Duke Anzu, an elderly man that seemed to radiate confidence. It appears a troublesome fellow is here. Just as that thought popped up, Duke Anzu began to speak, ¡°Greetings Duke Vassago and Lord ______, please be seated. Although do relax, we¡¯re all here to enjoy ourselves and make small talk. There is no need to be overly formal here.¡± It shall begin. As he and Duke Vassago seated, everyone began to talk about different things. Like Duke Anzu had said, nothing about it was too serious, nothing concerned politics or the fate of the world. All they talked about were their hobbies, their travels and their families. You could see that they were all truly at ease. But he was not, his head hurt. His thoughts were clouded. Ahh, finally let it begin! He could not comprehend his own thoughts at all. The headache he feels made him use his hands to hold his head. ¡°Lord ______, are you feeling unwell?¡± asked the person, no demon, beside him. Let it begin! His hands moved by themselves. With trained movements, he used the nail on his thumbs to make a cut on the tips of all his fingers. Blood began to flow out at an astonishing rate, like he was forcing the blood out with magic. ¡°What? A magic circle?¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± Accept who you are. Obtain what you desire. ¡°From blood to blood, my blood is black¡­¡± The blood began to move on the floor, flowing out in different directions, and it began to form the shape of a magic circle. Words began to come of his mouth, to him it sounded like a chant, ¡°Defile. Corrupt. Tarnish. It is the beginning of the end.¡± I shall leave no trace¡­ ¡°I shall leave no trace¡­¡± You fools shall perish. ¡°You fools shall perish.¡± DIe. ¡°Die.¡± ¡°Stop this at once, Lord ______!¡± People rushed towards him, many of them conjuring weapons that were only used onto the battlefield, others began to chant their spells. Despite all that, he still continued to chant. To protect him, red tendrils of blood from the ground wrapped around those rushing towards him, squeezing the life of them. He paid them no heed. He continued to chant, and the red tendrils continued to kill. Soon, not many were left. Count Furcas stood before him, having cut down many of the tendrils that tried to restraint him. He finally stood up from his chair, but he didn¡¯t stood chanting. A blade materialised in his hand. Count Furcas raised his sword high. It was too late, as he began to loose his consciousness, he clearly saw that Count Furcas was already dead. Screams filled the air. ¡°Please¡­ I¡­ I love you¡­¡± When he finally regained his consciousness, a sea of red was in front of him. He was no longer in doors. He could see the night sky that was filled with stars. With moonlight, he gazed far into the horizon. All he could see was red. Red like roses. Red like blood. Somehow, he felt different. Something changed. He had succeeded. At last he obtained what he desired. ____________________________________________________ Author''s Note: I hope you have enjoyed this prologue to what I hope will end up being a great story. The prologue itself is very vague and the person whose the POV belongs to is not very clear, but it won''t be like this for the rest of the novel. Chapter 1 - Orcounter ¡°Ahh, I had another one of those dreams again,¡± said the young man as he finally woke up. Since he was barely awake, the young man didn¡¯t hurry to get dressed or anything, instead laid lazily on top of his bed. ¡°I really do wonder why I keep having those weird dreams. But I suppose it''s less bizarre than the one asking me about my desires.¡± The young man in question was David Ng, a 17 years old from Hong Kong. He wasn¡¯t really anything special, black hair, brown eyes, only slightly taller than average. If there was one thing special about him, it was that he didn¡¯t really stand out too much in the crowd. That and the fact that the dreams he remember about tends to become real life. Just last month, he had a dream that his girlfriend had been NTR¡¯d from him, and that exact thing happened a week afterwards. ¡°Oh shit, I just realized, it''s Monday, not Sunday!¡± David jumped up from the bed, grabbed his uniform out of his closest and got dressed in record time, before grabbing his bag and rushing out of his house. He didn¡¯t bother saying good bye to his parents or anything, only because they were on a business trip as usual and wasn¡¯t home. One day, I¡¯m going to find out what the heck my dream were about. He promised himself as he ran to school, the dreams were really starting to get to him. It wasn¡¯t so much as they frightened him, it''s just that having an unexplainable dream for someone with his ¡°ability¡± just really disturbed him. When he reached the school grounds, it was already 8 o¡¯clock, and without thinking, he dashed through the school gates, up the staircase and ran towards his form room. Just as he was about to twist the doorknob, the door opened, and that made David lost his balance, falling face-down onto the floor. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re late,¡± said his teacher. As if on cue, the entire class laughed at this situation. David could feel blood rushing to his cheeks, he wasn¡¯t a shy person, but it didn¡¯t mean he doesn¡¯t feel embarrassed. Due to this, he quickly got up from the ground and rushed his seat at the back of the room, away from the sights of everyone, allowing him to get lost in the Book of Revelations. Although David himself was an agnostic and didn¡¯t believe in any religion himself, he did find reading various religious as well as mythological texts very interesting. Perhaps it was due to these interests that urged him to recreate the summoning of a demon like in the myths several weeks prior. The results of the summoning? It was a failure like he expected. It wasn¡¯t like he didn¡¯t believe in the existence of demons, rather, he didn¡¯t believe that summoning a demon would be so easy that would allow him to succeed on his first attempt. Soon, registration was over, and upon hearing the bell, David rushed straight to his first lesson. Thankfully, nothing special happened with him unlike in the morning. ¡°Dae! Comon, comon, have a taste of this. I made it last night!¡± said a girl, holding out a box of amazingly made chocolate chip cookies in front of him. She was Helaine Papadopoulos, David¡¯s childhood friend. Helaine was of an average height at 168 cm, with a body that made her look far more mature than she really is. Since the school they went to didn¡¯t have a school uniform, she was wearing a tank top with a jacket that bared her midriff, showing off her thin waist, and her skin-tight jeans also showed off her rather long legs. In short, she was a head turner and many times, men on the street would eye David with jealousy whenever they went out together. What made her even more outstanding was that she was extremely talented in both, singing, dancing as well as cooking, often entering competitions and coming out with prizes. ¡°Ehh? Again? Didn¡¯t I already help you taste cookies for the past month already? Could you cut me some slack for once?¡± replied David. He really wasn¡¯t too bothered trying out the cookies, most likely because he have been her guinea pig even since she found her interest in cooking. ¡°But this one is different. It¡¯s not just any normal chocolate chip cookie though! I actually used a different type of flour for this one and I even used your favorite dark chocolate for the chocolate chips! So try one!¡± ¡°Instead of asking me to try a cookie, couldn¡¯t you just let me have a peaceful break¡­¡± ¡°Get a room! Seriously, you two need to figure what exactly is going on between the two of you,¡± interrupted a third person. He was Joseph, one of David and Helaine¡¯s close friends. He was somewhat of a genius at sports, being simultaneously the captain of both the school soccer team and basketball team. Other than that he also practiced Muay Thai. It was at the Muay Thai dojo that he first met Helaine and David, who were both disciples there, but unlike them, he continued on even if high school, where academics seemed to matter more. ¡°Helaine and I already sorted it out ages ago. We¡¯re just good childhood friends. And she¡¯s also my important person.¡± Helaine was actually also David¡¯s ex-girlfriend, they started dating at the beginning of high school, however due to various circumstances, they ended up apart. For several months, neither of them knew what to say to each other, but realizing that it was childish of them to ignore each other, they reconciled and have returned to being good childhood friends. ¡°You know? That sounded like a proposal to me,¡± responded Joseph. He wasn¡¯t going to let such a good opportunity to take a mickey out of the pair go. David outright ignored him and walked off. He knew that was the best course of action. If he replied, Joseph would have just used whatever he said and twist it against him. It was because of that, which made him just outright ignore Joseph and walk-off to his next lesson, where he would probably get lost in his own thoughts again, since he found the content they were studying in school far too easy for him. ¡°Wait! You still didn¡¯t try the cookies!¡± Why have you called? What do you desire? _______________________________________________ The bell rang, signalling the end of school. Students rushed out of the school grounds, happy that they were free to do whatever they want. David was not an exception. Waiting at the school gates was Helaine, and when she saw him, she immediately ran up to him and said, ¡°Come over to my place today? Since you parents aren¡¯t here, you might as well have dinner with us.¡± To everyone else, this was exactly like a girl love trying to find an excuse to spend time with the boy she likes, but for the two of them, his was only normal. They have known each other so long that their parents treats the other like another child. ¡°I¡¯ll swing by for food later. Baldie said he got some interesting stuff, so I¡¯m going to his place first to check them out.¡± The ¡°Baldie¡± that David referred to was a middle-aged man that loved to shave his head bald. He was the owner of a knife store that David frequented. Knives was the other things that David had a huge interest in aside from book. To him, they held a special type of beauty that few could understand. In his perspective, knives were like pieces of artwork that should be treated delicately and people that was able to perform tricks and shows with them elegantly were the pinnacle of executants. With that, he ran off towards Baldie¡¯s shop. This was one of the rare times where David would show so much enthusiasm towards anything. ¡°I wonder what he has to offer this time, aside from the switchblade, everything else was rather lackluster,¡± _______________________________________________ ¡°Here they are. 8 brand new knives straight from their makers,¡± said Baldie with a large smile on his face that would give most people creeps. He was an ex-Triad member who managed to get out after massacring anyone that pursue him, rumour had it that the Triad only stopped pursuing him to cut their losses after losing a tenth of their main members. Although, to David he was just an old busybody that shared his passion. ¡°Hmm, aren¡¯t you treating me like an idiot? Apart from this one,¡± David retorted, aiming the only ballistic knife at the shopkeeper. ¡°All of them are third tier knives that are mass produced.¡± ¡°Oi, oi. Don¡¯t point the blade at me, if you fire it at this distance, I have completely no confidence in getting out unscathed. But as expected, you managed to see through these in an instance.¡± ¡°Hurry up and show me the masterpieces you talked about.¡± ¡°Ahh, yes. Here they are. Aren¡¯t they just beautiful?¡± asked Baldie, taking out a closed box. When he opened it, David was amazed. In front of him were a balisong, more commonly known as a butterfly knife, with extravagantly decorated handles; a Sgian Dubh with a blade that could reflect even the smallest detail; as well as an Athame, whose black handle was carved with a strange pattern. Each one of them could indeed be called a masterpiece. He took hold of the Athame in his hand first and look a closer look at its handle. The patterns seemed to depict a strange snake-like create with 3 heads. What truly amazed him were the details on the creature¡¯s body, that showed even the scales. Carefully placing it back down in the box, he took the Balisong in his hand. Flicking it around a few times, David could already tell that the craftsmanship was first class. He turned to Baldie and asked, ¡°This one, I really want this one, so give me a discount on it?¡± ¡°Ohoho, although we are both knife enthusiasts, business is business you know? ¡°So? How much are you asking for?¡± Baldie lifted 2 fingers. ¡°2,000 HKD? That¡¯s not too bad I suppose.¡± ¡°Ohoho, nope. 2,000 USD.¡± ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± ¡°You can tell its first class can¡¯t you, it shouldn¡¯t surprise you that much right?¡± Hearing that, David didn¡¯t know how to retort. Indeed, just from flicking the balisong around, he knew that it was truly well made, with the blade flickering through the air. He could also tell from the sharpness of the blade tip that it was carefully sharpened, most likely by its maker and not Baldie, since it was sharpened in a unique way that its edge wouldn¡¯t be seen when you were flicking it around unless you were to look very closely. ¡°I would be willing to give it to you for a discount though, only because you have something I¡¯m interested in as well.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess I don¡¯t have a choice¡­¡± They continue to barter for a while, and without noticing, darkness had fallen. David did finally manage to barter the price of the balisong down to 2,000 HKD, only because Baldie desperately wanted a Shiv that David showed him a while back. David promised to bring the Shiv over the next day, and Baldie being Baldie, he allowed David to take the Balisong home today. _______________________________________________ The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. SMASH! David was on the way over to Helaine¡¯s home when he heard the sound coming from the alleyway. It piqued his interest. Common sense dictated that he should¡¯ go in there, since it was probably dangerous, but for David, satisfying his curiosity was more important. He walked into the alleyway. SMASH! David walked deeper into the alleyway. RAWRRRRR! David saw a silhouette of a being that towered over 5 metres. SMASH! David¡¯s body was sent flying before he even noticed. He fell several metres from where he was. Pain seared through his body. It was the kind of pain that he hadn¡¯t felt for a long time, not since he stopped sparring with his father, who loved martial arts. The silhouette approached him. By chance, moonlight shined onto the silhouette, revealing its grotesque figure. It had a humanoid shape, but nothing about it made it seem remotely human. It¡¯s four limbs were as thick as the trunks. In its right hand, it held a large club. On its head, a face filled with anger was seen. Two large canines from the bottom of its jaw stuck out, covering the two sides of its nose. No, more correctly speaking, it didn¡¯t have a nose, only 2 large nostrils in the center of its face. It glared down at David. A high orc huh? David was scared. Yet at the same time, he was strangely calm. ¡°So this is what it feels like to know that you¡¯re going to die. I¡¯m calmer than I thought I¡¯d be.¡± He stood up slowly from the ground, ¡°I guess running is futile. It¡¯s a long alleyway without a place for me to hide.¡± Calmer than ever, he slowly took out 2 knives he had in his pockets. In his left hand was a switchblade that he always carried around with him which made him feel at ease, in his right hand was the beautiful balisong that he only just came to possess. ¡°Che, looks like this is my only option. I¡¯m not sure if I even stand a chance, but I don¡¯t want to die without trying to survive,¡± within David¡¯s eyes, there was no trace of fear or despair like you would find in most people¡¯s eyes if they were to be caught in a situation like this. In the first place, his entire reaction wasn¡¯t normal. Any normal person would scream for help or run away, or more likely both. David didn¡¯t do either. He calmly analyzed the situation within his head and took the course of action he saw fit. This was only thanks to the multitude of martial arts training that he had been through, he knew that in a situation as desperate as this, running would only decrease his chances of survival, realistically, his only shot at surviving this abnormal situation was to deal with the monster in front of him. Kill or be killed. By this time, the orc was already slamming down its club towards David. Unlike before, this time it didn¡¯t make contact with David. He had jumped slightly backwards, just out of reach of the club. As soon as the club made contact with the ground, David rushed forward, and attempted to stab his switchblade into the orc¡¯s right hand. SMASH! Before he could succeed, a fist collided into his body. The orc had swung its left arm towards David. David was once against sent flying several meters back. When he once again made contact with the floor, he felt as if several bones in his body had already been cracked. The shadow of the orc moved closer. David could barely move his body, but still he tried to give up. He realized that he didn¡¯t want to die. No, he was scared of dying. Even though he could calmly assess the situation a few moments prior, his mind was now running wild when he realized that there was a less than 1 percent chance of survival, in fact the exact chance was closer to 0. Heh. Was he going mad on the verge of death? Or was it the orc sneering at him? Could it be that you can hear me now? The contract I offered before still stands valid you know? Yeah, he was going mad. Wait¡­ Contract? Could the voice be talking about that dream? In the dream, a similar voice had offered him to make a contract, it had asked him for his desires Once again I shall ask. What is your desire? He wanted to go back to his normal life. No, not that. He wanted to had never stepped foot into this alleyway. No, not that either. He had one wish. He wanted to survive. What is your answer? David¡¯s thoughts were in shambles. He was almost ready to cry out that he wanted too just get away from here, no mater the cost. Yet, at the conner of his mind, he desired for slightly more than that. He desired to possess the power to never be in this situation again. ¡°I want power. Power to overcome this. Power to never fall into this situation again.¡± Power always come at a cost. What you desire, I can grant, but it will not be cheap. ¡°Whatever the cost. I¡¯ll pay. Whatever you want. I¡¯ll give. Grant me my desire, whoever you are!¡± shouted David. He was becoming desperate at this point. His calm demeanour was gone, he figured that since he was about to die, taken a leap of faith and trusting in a hallucination might not be the worst idea. You shall become my host. David could feel a subtle warmth covering his body. When he looked down, he could see a large circle around him, almost exactly like the one he had drawn for the failed summoning he attempted. ¡°Although, I have granted you power, I have no intention of aiding you further than this. Your right for survival must be grasp by your own hands,¡± a voice resonated in his head. It was the same voice that had offered him a contract, the same voice that he had just pledged himself to. It was the voice that had made him its host. ¡°Lucifer. Be honored human, it¡¯s not everyday that I respond to a human¡¯s summoning.¡± David was baffled. Did his summoning succeed after all? No, this was not the right time to ask such questions. He was on the verge of death. ¡°The enemy in front of you is a high orc. Although less, it no doubt possesses intelligence. Imagine, human. Use your mind to conjure up an image of your weapon. The current you is capable of doing so. I had no wish for you to die right now, so your wounds have been healed. Show me, David, that you have the right to become my host!" David slowly stood up. Imagine huh? He could do something as simple as that. Right now, all he could do is place his faith in this suspicious deal he made. As the orc charged towards him, ready to finish him off, David manifested his weapons. Twin both of his hands. They weren¡¯t weapons that should be called practical. It was something that had left an impression in his mind from one of his dreams. Each weapon had a double-edged blade on either ends, with one side longer than the other. Between them was a simple handle with a ring on either side. The entire weapon was pitch black, darker than even the night¡¯s sky. It seemed to be made of a metal that David could not name. Instinctively he placed his index finger and forefinger on both hands into a ring of the blade. His middle fingers stood straight, touching the surface of the longer blades. The thumbs and little fingers wrapped around the sharpened edges of the shorter blades, but somehow they didn¡¯t cut him. ¡°Those blades?¡± muttered the voice in his head. David ignored the voice. He knew what must be done. He took a stance, and as soon as the orc once again smashed down its club, David jumped to the side. Again he rushed forward, anticipating the swing of the orc¡¯s left hand. Like he had predicted, it came swinging towards him. David crouched down just enough to have it swing over his head, and rushed even closer to the orc. This time, he wasn¡¯t aiming for the right arm. He armed straight for one of its legs. The blade cut cleanly into the orc¡¯s right leg. It howled in pain. Letting go of its club, it attempted to use its right arm to grab David. David was ready this time. He swirled his body around, turning his right hand¡¯s weapon towards the incoming right arm, meanwhile he used his left arm¡¯s weapon to make a clean cut on the wrist of the orc¡¯s left arm. It yielded an unexpected result. The blade glowed black when it came into contact with the orc¡¯s skin. And the glare enlarged, somehow allowing David to slice of the entirety of the orc¡¯s left hand. The orc howled in pain again and staggered back. Not missing this opening, David turned around once more and jumped, using the turning force of his body to slice at the orc¡¯s neck. The orc tried to raise its right arm to block it. Too late. It had lost its head. The orc was dead. David landed onto the floor. He hadn¡¯t exactly expected the blade to glow once again and cut threw the orc¡¯s neck. It didn¡¯t matter though. He had grasp victory. Seeing his opponent dead on the floor, he let out a sigh of relief. He managed to survive. After making sure the orc wouldn¡¯t rise up again, he slowly walked towards the main road, feeling immensely fatigued, ¡°I guess I should head straight home. I¡¯ll apologize to Helly tomorrow or somethin¡­¡± He collapsed had onto the sidewalk. ____________________________________________________ Author''s Note: I hope you have enjoyed Chapter 1 of the story. Quite a bit different from the prologue. Many of you are probably confused about the relationship between the prologue and the chapter, but I promise it''ll all tie together. At last you have met David, our protagonist of the story. Was he what you expected? What are your impressions of him? I want to hear it all, so please leave a comment below. Chapter 2 - First Experience ¡°Dae! Is he alright? Where is he?¡± ¡°Wait you can¡¯t go in there, the patient is still in a coma.¡± David slowly opened his eyes. He could see that he was no longer on the sidewalk. A ceiling? Was everything a dream? ¡°Finally awake?¡± asked a voice in his head. ¡°So it actually happened?¡± asked David, he recalled that the voice in his head seemed to have identified itself as Lucifer. Although that immediately led David, who read a bunch of religious texts to associate the voice with a name, it could easily just be a coincidence that their names coincided. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°The fact that I can hear you¡­ I suppose it means that it must have been true. I have several questions for you.¡± ¡°We have time, as long as the questions aren¡¯t absurd, I will provide you with an answer.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I told you before. I¡¯m Lucifer. Lucifer Morgenstern.¡± ¡°As in¡­¡± ¡°As in the fallen angel, the Crowned Prince of Pride. Yes I am Lucifer Morgenstern, the one that is known to humans commonly as the Devil.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t believe me, do you?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious? Why would such a famous demon written down in history take an interest in me? From what I know, demons summoned are usually weaker ones, especially the ones that respond to a simple contract.¡± ¡°Demons don¡¯t lie.¡± ¡°But they can. Demons don¡¯t lie under circumstances they would benefit them to tell the truth.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a bright one aren¡¯t you? Not taken every word I say at face value.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Trusting a demon could very well lead to my own death. But I can see this is getting us nowhere. So next question,¡± David stopped asking, he could tell that the voice in his head was unable or unwilling to show him proof of its identity. Instead, David could only guess that the voice at the very least was telling him the truth about it being it demon and that he had made a contract with it. ¡°What were the terms of the contract?¡± ¡°You asked for power. I gave it to you. In exchange, you are now my host,¡± the demon said calmly. It, no he, didn¡¯t even stutter a bit. For some reason, David felt like there was no reason for the demon, Lucifer, to lie about it. David was curious about one thing though, a demonic host held many meanings, he wasn¡¯t sure to what extent was he a host. ¡°A host huh? So what would that involve me doing?¡± ¡°As a host, all you need to do is fulfill tasks which piques my interest. This is in exchange for you becoming a meister of my powers.¡± David was at a lost here, that description sounded too easy to be true, ¡°Tasks that piques your interest? For example? And a meister of your powers. What kind of power will I actually wield? ¡°Hunting and artifact seeking. That¡¯s about it, although speaking of tasks, there¡¯s a place I want you to check out right now.¡± ¡°Now? Are you serious? And you didn¡¯t explain anything about powers yet.¡± ¡°If what I can sense is right, the place holds the same trace of magic as the high orc you killed. And powers, I will explain them on the way of us going there.¡± ¡°You should have said that earlier!¡± David exclaimed, jumping out of the bed he was in, and rushed towards the door. He did notice that he was actually in a hospital earlier, since he was wearing a hospital gown. ¡°Dae! You¡¯re awake! What happen?¡± As David rushed out of the room, he saw the surprised look on a nurse¡¯s face as well as a concerned Helaine demanding to know what happened. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later!¡± ¡°Wait¡­ Where are you going now?¡± Helaine shouted as David ran off, towards the exit of the hospital.
David ran in the direction Lucifer was telling him, all the while listening to an explanation of what he was capable of. ¡°The reaction is coming from the top of the building.¡± ¡°The roof of the Museum of Art? That¡¯ll be a bitch, but whatever. Let¡¯s test out this .¡± ¡°Focus on a still image of the place you want to go.¡± David pictured the emergency stairways within the building. There was no way he could just walk into the building, even under the guise of night. In fact, it was because darkness had already all onto the city that he couldn¡¯t do so, or else he was sure that he would be deemed a suspicious person. ¡° .¡± A black space slightly over 2 meters appeared in front of him. It seems like the spell succeeded. David hesitated a bit, he did read a lot of stories where a character got into a malfunctioning portal and got into un-needed troubles. Yet somehow, his instinct told him that it was safe. Thinking to it, there really doesn¡¯t seem to be mind reason for Lucifer to trick him either. It¡¯s not like it¡¯ll benefit him in any way. That was enough to for David to convince himself to step into the portal. He took a step through. Nothing happened. He took another step. He arrived exactly where he had pictured, right by the emergency staircase of the top floor of the Art Museum. He looked around to make sure he made no mistakes and he had indeed arrived at where he wanted. Seeing that there were no mistakes, he immediately rushed up the stairs. Midway he started to sense something amiss. Was this the feeling of magic? He quickened his pace. Soon, he bursted out of the door to the roof. A wave of nausea engulfed him. David felt sick, his entire body screamed out at him. What he saw in front of him was a red robed figure holding a large sinister staff in front of a huge magic circle. He was surrounded by many disfigured torsos, and another one was rising out of the magic circle. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± shouted David. ¡°Take heed, the enemy should be a dark attribute summoner,¡± warned Lucifer. David¡¯s shout startled the figure. It turned and faced him, David saw that the fact under the robe was a man not much older than himself. The man glared at him and laughed, ¡°What the hell? I already used an human clearing spell. I suppose that means you¡¯re an enemy aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Be on guard, he could send an attack your way,¡± Lucifer warned him once more. David manifested two blades in his hand. The same two blades that he used to kill the orc. ¡°You¡¯re that bastard kid? Shit, if the fucking police didn¡¯t¡­ No matter. You¡¯ll die right here,¡± Then turning to the monsters surrounding him, he utter a command, ¡°Kill him.¡± The monsters rushed towards him with their limbs, some on 2 legs, some on their hands and feet. ¡°Lucifer, anything special I should know about those things?¡± asked David while taking up a defensive stance. ¡°Ghouls, mindless creatures that obey simple commands. Your blade will tear through them. Although this number¡­ It really is a bit too much to handle with just that.¡± ¡°I guess now it¡¯s a good time to try it out. ¡± Everything 5 meters in front of David came to a halt, frozen, completely still. This surprised Lucifer a lot. Although wasn¡¯t a novice spell, but an intermediate one, it shouldn¡¯t normally freeze everything in front of David. Frost Nova would freeze ghouls, but the stronger ghouls would actually be able to break out of it. Also, Lucifer noticed that even the floor was covered in ice, this was not the effect of Frost Nova either, ¡°An aptitude in ice. It certainly fits the bill.¡± Since he couldn¡¯t make out what Lucifer had said, David ignored him and dashed forward, slicing apart the frozen ghouls along the way. The robed mage stood still, shocked. He did not expect his ghouls to be dealt with in such a short period of time, un-sure of what to do, he conjured up a sphere of dark magic and threw it at David. Seeing the incoming projectile, David took a leap to the left, dodging it. Then another was sent his way, followed by another, and another, and a barrage. ¡° ¡± A huge wall of ice appeared in front of David, blocking off all of the magic blasts. Meanwhile, the wall of ice continued to thicken, and a thin layer of ice seemed to cover David. is an intermediate-tier magic that like its name suggests, create a barrier in front of its user out of ice. is another intermediate-tier magic that can be used to support by covering the target in a thin layer of ice to protect them. What David did was merely cast followed by on both him and the barrier created with the former magic. ¡°What is this person? Chanting Omission?¡± The robed man once again had a distorted look on his face, but for some reason, it turned into a large smile. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. In a few moments he¡¯ll be dead anyways. Just like an ant on a sidewalk!¡± David managed to stay safe from the magic blast and was prepared to charge towards the robed figure when he felt an ominous presence. It wasn¡¯t overbearing enough for him to be scared out of his wits, but he did felt pressure from it. A slender form was rising out of the magic circle. David guessed that it was some sort of demon, but not any that he would have imagined. It was a beautiful woman. She was dressed in a red strapless dress that amplified her voluptuous breasts, displaying her cleavage. Her skin was fair and smooth like something you would see on the heroine of a movie. Possessing red hair that matched her dress and emerald eyes, she gave off an aura of grace and divinity. The only things that were out of place were the wings on her back. Two large bat-like wings of a dark shade of red. Without them, she would have been able to convince others that she was only a goddess among men. ¡°Obey my commands succubus. Slay the imbecile over there!¡± the robed figured shouted, finally clearing his head. The demon in front of him was what he was trying summon. A succubus. The succubus looked at him, her face was filled with contempt. ¡°Obey my¡­¡± His sentence stopped midway. He couldn¡¯t speak. He could only scream. The reason for this was that he was enveloped in a green flame that was quickly burning him away. After a few seconds, nothing was left. David could only stand there baffled. Although the robed man seemed to be hostile towards him, he didn¡¯t expect the situation to turn like his. He wanted to beat up the magician and then question him about the matter of the orc. It was impossible now. The succubus turned towards him. Hoping that the succubus wouldn¡¯t hear him, he muttered, ¡°Lucifer, would my magic work on her?¡± Before he heard a reply, the succubus spoke, ¡°Is this the one? For you to take notice of a human like this¡­¡± She stopped, pondered a moment and spoke once more, ¡°Human, think of this as an introductory gift. I don¡¯t know why he has chosen you, but take my advice. Become strong, or you won¡¯t survive what¡¯s coming.¡± With that, she disappeared in a gust of black smoke. It seemed all too surreal. The only thing that would prove that the things that David had witnessed was the magic circle on the ground. ¡°Asmodeus¡­¡± Lucifer finally spoke after a long silence.
Author''s Note: Hi everyone. It''s the second chapter of the story. Is it getting slightly more interesting? Do you enjoy the dialogue more than action? Or is action better? Please leave a comment below to tell me your thoughts. Chapter 3 - The Next Day It was the next day. David was back home and not in school. He was glad that the doctor¡¯s note had said that it was recommended for him to rest for a day at home before going back to school. After witnessing what he saw, he had tons of questions piled up, and this time he was determined to have them answered. ¡°David, I¡¯m sure you have a lot to ask. I did not expect this to occur at all. Although before asking, are you sure that you are sufficiently rested?¡± Lucifer did not sound like the previous day, he sounded genuinely concerned for David¡¯s health. After the incident, David had been in complete shock, he was barely able to move his body back home before collapsing on his bed. He didn¡¯t utter a single word to anyone. Despite having just contracted with him, Lucifer had watched over David and offered him a contract time and time again, all the while observing his behaviour, he could already tell that his actions were clearly out of character. He knew David had a lot to ask, and he wanted David to be in the best physical condition before answering the questions. ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m fine,¡± David hesitated, he felt fine physically, but a lot was going through his head. It was truly fortunate that he was still logical enough to know that only by asking Lucifer all of the questions on his head, he would be able to relieve himself of his worries. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°My name is Lucifer Morgenstern. I was once the right hand of god. It was in heaven that I was given the name of Morgensern, a name meaning morning star. When God had asked us to bow down to men, I refused. Not only that, I convinced others to follow my lead. I did not understand why God would have asked us to bow down to these mortals, so I had hope to ask God to retract his command with all my companions. But I was betrayed. Betrayed by the one who I thought was my closest friend and brother. It was Michael that betrayed me, he framed me for rebellion and for this God had casted the Grigori and I down from heaven. We fell for seven days and seven nights before landing in Hell. It was there that the Grigori left me, many cursed my name. I was left alone. I had no idea what to do, I had hardly anything left, my wings were black, my soul was hollow. It was in my despair that I lost control of my powers. Perhaps it was always hidden in my subconsciousness, my magic casted a spell which transformed me into a demon. Following that, Leviathan found me. Despite my looks changing, she recognised me and attacked. Somehow I had fended off his attack. Perhaps it was out of pity that she finally stopped and asked me about my situation and I spilled it to her. She convinced me to continue living as a demon. Eventually I grew to become more famous within Hell and fed up with the way the society worked with the hierarchy of the 72 scriptures, we started an actual rebellion. It was through this method that I eventually ascended to the throne, claiming the Throne of Superbia, becoming the Prince of Pride. That¡¯s about it, would it be sufficient?¡± Lucifer replied. ¡°As I said before, can you prove it?¡± David asked, he was more keen to believe Lucifer now after what happened the previous day, but he still held his doubts. It was then, David¡¯s view turned black, then grey, then finally white. He was surrounded by white, but he wasn¡¯t too surprised. He had been here before in his dreams. It was here that the voice, now Lucifer, had offered a contract to him. Before him stood an dignified man with long blond hair with fair features. On his back was a pair of large bat-like wings that was pitch black, the only thing that gave him away as a demon and not an angel. David could guess who he was. The being standing before him had to be no other than¡­ ¡°It is the first time you have seen this form of mine. Once again, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lucifer Morgenstern.¡± It was like he expected, the being was Lucifer. ¡°David, is this enough proof?¡± ¡°For now. I don¡¯t believe you 100%, but for now it¡¯s good enough. Next question, what happened yesterday?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll assume you¡¯re referring to what he was doing and what happened to him right?¡± ¡°That and also who that succubus was.¡± ¡°Judging by the looks of things, it would appear that the magician yesterday was attempting to summon a succubus, it¡¯s actually quite evident from the magic circle he used that you probably noticed on the ground. The man succeeded, or actually overachieved himself. If it was a weak succubus, the magic circle would have done its job and restrained her. Oh I should explain about demons first. Demons are split into very many different races, just to name a few of them: imps, succubi, incubi, rakshasas. And unlike popular belief, the term ¡°Archdemon¡± does not refer to a specific race of demons, but refers to a demon that possesses immense power. I would be one of the Archdemons, but in terms of the demon race, I would be an unique existence, one of the only two demons that was transformed into a demon by a spell casted by themselves. Going back to the topic of yesterday, the demon that came out of the portal was Asmodeus, not a succubus. Asmosdeus is the Princess of Lust, the one that holds the Throne of Luxuria. Although somewhat akin to a succubus, she is not one herself, but the one who created them in the first place. What she did to the man was merely combust his entire being alongside the spirits of the dead he seems to be using. The magic she used should be . As for why she was here, if I was to actually hazard a guess, it would be because of our contract. It¡¯s been a long time since one of the Seven Princes of Hell formed a contract with anyone, even longer that we have had a host and a meister. My last host was during the Arthurian era.¡± ¡°What did Asmodeus¡¯s words mean? She specifically told me to become strong or else I wouldn¡¯t survive what was coming. What exactly is she referring to?¡± Lucifer smiled wryly, ¡°She¡¯s referring to fate. My hosts generally did not have a long lifespan. All of them have died before their time came, for one reason or another.¡± ¡°For what did they die for? What exactly hunted them down? Fate? That¡¯s too vague.¡± ¡°They were all the type of people to live and fight for their ideals. Taking my last host for example. He was a hero among men, and he fought for his country and his people. He died trying to fight for what he believed in. Those are the types of hosts I have had in the past.¡± ¡°Then why me? Out of everyone, why take notice of a young man doing his first summoning that he wasn¡¯t sure if it will succeed or not? Why offer me salvation against an orc? What caught your attention?¡± ¡°Your affinity with magic, your aura. All of them resembles my last host. In fact, it feels identical to his. That kind of desire, to fight for what you believe in. Even willing to turn against the entire world for the sake of protecting the people important to you. That also resembles him. Among the people that conduct summonings to try and summon me, you are the sole person in the last few hundred years to have this level of resemblance to my past host.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Che, your past host huh? Who was he?¡± ¡°A man who loved his people more than himself. A truly selfless one, who has been unjustly recorded down as a villain.¡± ¡°Name?¡± ¡°That I cannot say, out of a promise. It is to honour his memory, for us who are immortal, he will live forever in our memories. My only hope was to find someone like him to be my host and wield my strength as your own. That is the reason why you were chosen.¡± David wanted to ask about the name of Lucifer¡¯s past host once again, but he realised that any more, and he would be acting completely insensitively. He didn¡¯t want to be that type of person, even against a demon, he believed that one must maintain a certain level of common courtesy at all time. ¡°It¡¯s fine if your unwilling to answer me. It¡¯s not like its really relevant to the topic at hand anyways. So essentially you chose me and not anyone else due to my semblance to your past host. I¡¯ll get more out of you later. So right now, tell me about what the magician meant by ¡°Chanting Omission¡±? I can guess the general gist of it, but I want to hear it from you.¡± ¡°Chanting Omission is essentially the ability to cast spells without chanting the spell words. Most magicians require a chant in order to use magic. As a person gets more familiar with casting, they are able to shorten the incantations, omit it altogether or cast it silently in their heads. What you did was omit the incantation. However it wasn¡¯t a simple or , but intermediate-tier spells, to omit the entire incantation and to just fire off the spell through uttering the name of the magic is something only a very accomplished magician can do. The fact that you were able to shows the high levels of aptitude you have for magic, something that is not exactly common.¡± ¡°And why am I able to do it so naturally? You told me that to use magic, I would only need to visualise the image in my head and then chant out the name of the magic. Why did you tell me any of this earlier?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t deem it necessary. You are someone born with an immense amount of mana already, and you are able to host my power without any drawbacks. I simply judged that you were capable of castings spells without chanting.¡± ¡°Then to what extent am I able to do it? Is it possible for you to teach me some form of higher-tiered magic?¡± ¡°Most things are rather simple. Like I have explained before, magic is separated into a lot of categories: Fire, Water/Ice, Wind, Light, Dark, Earth are some examples of non-unique magic.. Under these categories, they would be further distinct by their usage: offense, defence, enchantments et cetera. Most mages would learn magic through the use of spells that have been used over and over again. The name of the magic is merely a way for us to focus magic. It doesn¡¯t actually matter if was called , , or whatever you can think of. It is only a means for the user to focus on the point of the magic. If it was tied to a name, then people with difference languages would not be able to cast the same sort of magic. However, it is very common for mages and magicians to stay with the conventional name of a magic, mainly because it would allow them to visualise the effects properly and focus their magic into achieving the target. That is the underlying truth behind magic. You want to learn of stronger spells to test your limits. For now, I would recommend against it, If you were to strain your body, then it might cause you more harm than good. It will not be difficult for you to learn these magic, so rest yourself for now.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Now onto the next question then. What are the exact effects of being a meister? What additional power will I be able to weird in comparison to a normal mage?¡± ¡°Being my meister and my host, you should be able to borrow some of my mana to cast spells and use magic unique to me. Generally, contract with a demon also involves the strengthening of one¡¯s body to a greater level.¡± ¡°Is that so? Hmmm¡­¡± David pondered, even without him asking, Lucifer had answered many of his questions. ¡°Last question. Yesterday you talked about the place having the same trace of magic as the orc. Were you lying? And I¡¯m pretty sure you talked about high orcs?¡± ¡°I was being truthful, it did hold the same trace of magic as the high orc you killed. If I were to guess, the magician probably summoned the orc as a test to see if his summoning was working properly. The magician did mention that he recognised you right? Most likely he also wanted to use the orc for something. As for high orc, they was the type of orc you killed. High orcs are orcs that have evolved, gaining a bit more intelligence and improved physical stats. This is the same for most of the races humans refer to as monsters, fairies and demi-humans.¡± ¡°I see. Your guess is probably right on target, it does seem to make quite a bit of sense,¡± David answered. ¡°Is there any job for me to do today?¡± ¡°Just take a rest. It¡¯s not like things will continuously happen here everyday. I rather not overwork you.¡± ¡°Heh, fine. I suppose this is where I say, please take care of me.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be a pleasure to work with you,¡± Lucifer held out his hand. David took it in his hand and shook. The scene before him started to fade away, and once again returned to the familiar scene in his room. Now that he thought about it, the situation just now was rather surreal, if the last 2 days didn¡¯t happen, he would have taken what he saw as a dream. Since he had sorted out his emotions through asking Lucifer a bunch of questions, he felt rather calm, only realising one crucial thing - He had forgotten to get back to Helaine about everything. Knowing her, she was probably quite stressed out about him. He decided to call her. ¡°DAE!!! Where have you been? You ran off yesterday and never answered your phone! I went around your house and other places you could be looking for you! Just what happened?¡± David could hear Helaine shouting anxiously at him from the the other side of the phone. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I see you? I¡¯ll come over now if it''s alright?¡± David replied, it would give him a while to get there, especially if he went over to the convenience store to buy something along the way.
Author''s Note: Hi everyone. This chapter has completely 0 action, but I hope the dialogue is up to your satisfaction. Hopefully this chapter has also made the world of Truth and Myths - Awakening a bit more clear and exciting for you all. Chapter 4 - Normality Articus, It¡¯s been a while since we have last met. How are you doing? Don¡¯t worry about me at all, I¡¯ll come back alive. When this is done, I shall hand over to you a brand new world where you shall be free to pursue your dreams. We shall not follow these false leaders, weak and foolish, we will be led to ruin at this rate. Those of heaven have moved against our race, our leaders are nowhere to be found. We shall use this chance to strike down our foolish kings and build up a new empire. As I¡¯m writing this, the preparations in the human world have begun. The seeds we have planted several decades ago are ready to harvest. This shall be the place where we shall start to obtain everything. That was all what I wish I would tell you about. But the truth is, its not going so well. We have made some preparations that seems to be going smoothly, but the whites are not cooperating much. That Zarachiel, who does he think he is? Does he not realize we¡¯re going up who could possible be some of the strongest beings in the worlds? Out of the ten, we have 3 of them as our enemies. That false demon of the fallen, that bewitching slut, and that girl who has looked down on us since forever. I suppose its a good that the whites and the dragons of the ten will not oppose us. The human most likely won¡¯t either, although I still think he¡¯s either lying about being human or he just doesn¡¯t exist. Then there¡¯s the other three. The red one and the one of shadows never intervened with any of our wars, so I suppose all is well. The problem is the black one. He¡¯s been missing, no one knows where he is and that¡¯s a problem. We¡¯re too afraid to make a big move. You probably think of your older brother as pathetic right? Scared of a myth. The problem is that he¡¯s all too real. I still remember that dominating power he used to wipe away half of our army and half of the whites. We were truly powerless against him. He had done it just to deter us from affecting him in anyway or form. It was only due to that, that we had stopped the war. Then these fools took over and we¡¯re here. I want our race to be strong once again, not under these false prophets. Even if we have to cooperate with the whites, I shall gladly do so for my dreams and my ideals. I will create a world where you need not worry no more. Take care, Atticus
¡°You¡¯re telling me that you didn¡¯t know why you fainted the first time. Then you were hungry at the hospital, so you rushed out and then was extremely tired so you went back home?¡± ¡°Ehhh¡­¡± David didn¡¯t know what to say at this point. He knew it wasn¡¯t a good excuse, but he couldn¡¯t think of a better one, and telling her the truth would only make him seem like he¡¯s lying even more. This was the only possible way, he should be fine if he was to make up a slightly realistic lie, and then confess the ¡°truth¡± afterwards. This way he doesn''t have to tell the actual truth, which other people will most likely find crazy. ¡°Just tell me what really happened, Dae. I¡¯m really worried you know?¡± Helaine was looking at him with tearful eyes, it made David feel quite bad about himself, making such a beautiful girl cry. However, before worrying about that, he needed to get through this first, Helaine wasn¡¯t someone he should mess with. Knowing him as well, or even better than himself did, she would continuously pester him until he eventually gave in. If that ever happened, David wasn¡¯t sure how she would react. Being treated as completely crazy was one thing, but if she was somehow dragged into this mess¡­ David didn¡¯t want to think about the circumstances. ¡°Che, you saw through me like a piece of glass huh?¡± ¡°Of course, I have known you for ever 10 years.¡± ¡°Well, I honestly don¡¯t remember much about what happened when I fainted. But I ran out of the hospital because it was the last day for sending off this research hypothesis to this research organization, since I needed to edit some parts of my proposal, I didn¡¯t have time to talk to you at all. Then I fell asleep, so I didn¡¯t know you came over.¡± Helaine stared at him for a bit, her eyes seemed to silently question him before finally relaxing. ¡°Are you okay then? Wait¡­ You must be hungry, let me make you something, it¡¯s about time for lunch anyways.¡± Helaine got up from her seat and walked out her room to the kitchen. It seems like David¡¯s plan worked. He felt kinda bad for lying to her, but it can¡¯t be helped. With that thought, he followed her to see what he could help with. Around an hour later, they managed to finish food preparation. Although it was both of them that worked to cook, David only managed to help by chopping up meat and tomato for the Bolognese sauce. Aside from that, everything else was done by Helaine. ¡°Mhmm this is great, did you change the Bolognese sauce from usual? It taste somewhat different, a little bit more fresh.¡± ¡°Haha, you noticed! Yep, This time I mixed in oregano when making the sauce, do you like it?¡± Helaine had a huge smile on her face, a pure innocent smile that was completely natural on a teenage girl. She gave off an atmosphere that was completely different from the one David had experienced the previous day. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s great.¡± David felt relieved, it seemed that despite experiencing the surreal situation, he is reminded that it was more or less a one time thing, he was still a high school student, and would still experience a normal highschool life.
A week passed by without any incidents. David had developed a new schedule for himself to prepare for the unexpected. He would now wake up 5 o¡¯clock in the morning, practice magic, get something to eat, then go to school. After school, he would go to the Muay Thai dojo along with Joseph and spar for a few hours before having going home to practice with the pair of blades that he is now able to conjure and dismiss at will. Apparently it was a type of spatial magic called , and depending on the user, could allow them to equip different sorts of items stored within their or a set location. For David, it seemed to be the latter, although neither him nor Lucifer could figure out where it was stored. In addition to all this, David would also listen to Lucifer lecture him about the different races he might encounter whenever he had free time. Generally, they would be classed into groups: humans, demons, angels, demi-humans (i.e. beastmen), Dragons, Reapers, Fairy-kinds, undead and the so-called monsters. Humans are a group of races that have the least variety among the different races. Aside from different base specs (i.e. speed, agility, strength, stamina and magic affinity etc.), humans are more or less the same. Demons are what most people would expect. Many of them have been recorded down in human history and mythology. They are a group of races that resides in their own realms. Within this group, races can differ a lot, some are extremely intelligent beings, others much less so, and would act like mindless beasts. Different from humans is that the majority of them are capable of manipulating magic of one kind or another. Angels are a race created by gods, in this world, they were created by the Christian god to act out his will. They can be divided further into Grigori (fallen angels) and the ones that did not fall, and also depending on their hierarchy, they would possess different levels of strength. On top of the ones that did not fall would be the seraphim, followed by cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels and normal angels. The Grigori, on the other hand, did not lack such distinctions, but could also be classified like those that did not fall as they lacked no distinction from them outside of having fell from heaven. Demi-humans are a race similar to humans, both possesses traits that normal humans don¡¯t possess. Lycans and lizardmen are good examples of such races. Since it was a wide classification, demi-humans did vary a lot. Furthermore, orcs, goblins, trolls and ogres also fitted into this category. Due to their various differences, they also possessed a lot of variety in terms of their abilities. Mermen would be also to swim well, but would be at a massive disadvantage outside of water, whereas races like harpies would be helpless underwater despite their advantages against enemies in the air. Dragons are a dominating race. Commonly speaking, massive amounts of mana circulated within a dragon¡¯s body at any given time. Even the a wyvern hatchling, which would be one of the weakest draconic races, had the mana capacity of ten demi-humans. However, it seems like most dragons liked to keep to themselves, away from the outside world, so it was relatively unlikely for David to encounter one in the near future. Fairy-kinds incorporated many races, from dwarfs to elves to faeries and pixies. They are a group of races that, like dragons, hold tremendous mana within their bodies and were tied much closer to the existence of magic and mana than anything else. Furthermore, they were after tied to nature as well, with dwarfs favouring the mountains and naiads loving rivers. Undeads are a classification for anything that was ¡°living¡± yet should be dead. Liches and zombies are two examples of such. Although they could form naturally, undeads are generally summoned or created through the use of magic. Necromancy in particular is able to do this with relative ease. However, most undeads also have the weakness of light, making them relatively easy to defeat as long as one is prepared. Lastly, it was the classification of races known as monsters. It was like demi-humans, an extremely broad classification that included anything that was not classified elsewhere. Essentially it included races from phoenixes to slimes. It was David that pestered Lucifer to lecture him on these topics. He wished to be prepared for any situation that could be thrown at him. He was determined to continue to live his normal life, while being Lucifer''s host and surviving the "fate" that Lucifer claimed his host had. Chapter 5 - The Fool Part I Hi everyone, Selutu here. It''s been a busy week for me since I have been revising the upcoming mock exams. I''m still going to to post 2 chapters next week, but if I don''t that''s because I''m super busy doing real life stuff. Here is something nice for you guys, especially in the future: Truth and Myths - Awakening Character Sheets It''s rather bland at the moment since we don''t have that many characters, but as the story goes on and more characters get introduced, new sheets will be added. The sheets will also be updated to reflect their abilities/skills displayed up to the latest chapter. So check it out and give me some feedback on it. If you have any questions regarding it, ask away. I''ll try to answer all of them.
¡°¡± A large ball of water shot towards the branch, the impact of which instantly breaking it, causing it to fall towards the ground. Seeing this, David was rather pleased with himself. In just a week¡¯s time, he has already improved the effects of his spells greatly. Initially, he had found that aside from an affinity with ice magic, he was also capable of using fire magic to a decent level, while his water, earth and wind magic usage was quite poor. He found that it was rather difficult to construct a solid image of exactly what he wanted in his mind. Right now, he has managed to train himself to form a clear image for the basic spells , and , although not on the level of a prodigy of magic, it does reflect on his affinity for magic. ¡°Dae! You here?¡± David could hear Helaine looking for him at the front of the house. It was very fortunate that his family was relatively rich, so they could afford to buy a house on a mountain near the seaside. This offered him the perfect place to practice his magic without anyone seeing him. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m in the backyard. Let yourself in, I¡¯m going to take a shower real quick then get changed.¡± If anyone that weren¡¯t familiar with them saw this scene, they would surely mistakenly assume that the two of them were an item, but for them, this was already a daily occurrence. If it wasn¡¯t Helaine that came over for David, it would be David going over to her house to find her. They truly treasured each other.
It was lunch time, and David was bored out of his mind in the Common Room. Registration and the first three lesson had passed by quickly for David. It always felt this way considering how easy he found the topics he was studying quite easy. ¡°Ya there! Who da fuck do ya think ya are?¡± ¡°It appears like there was another idiot here¡± was what David thought to himself. ¡°Listen to moi ya, faggot!¡± David narrowly dodged a pen stand that was suddenly launched at him. He looked up. The loud idiot shouting was Enzo. He was a relatively new student in David¡¯s year that only enrolled last month, standing at 198 cm, he towered over most of the people in the year. ¡°Ya listenin¡¯ now?¡± Enzo glared at him. it was obvious that he was furious for some reason. David had no idea of the reason, he didn¡¯t think they got off the wrong foot, in fact as far as David could recall, they hadn¡¯t interacted much at all, mostly because David thought that Enzo had seemed like a relatively troublesome person. ¡°What do you want, Enzo?¡± David asked. ¡°What¡¯d ya think bitch? Get da fuck away from her.¡± ¡°What?¡± David was confused, he had completely no idea of what Enzo was talking about. He didn¡¯t think that he was close with girls that was on good terms with Enzo, certainly not his girlfriend or anything. ¡°You heard the man. You understand punk?¡± The one who said this was Alessio, one of Enzo¡¯s cronies and one of the students that enrolled with Enzo. Apparently Alessio has been Enzo¡¯s lapdog in his old school, like how his father works for Enzo¡¯s father. There were rumours that Enzo¡¯s father had ties with the Italian mafia, but David couldn¡¯t really care less. ¡°Get da fuck away from moi gal,¡± Enzo walked closer. ¡°Can you just answer the damn question? Who are you even talking about? I barely know Cassia,¡± David was annoyed now, Enzo had come off as a muscle head, but David didn¡¯t expect that he would be so hard to talk to. He and Cassia, who is Enzo¡¯s girlfriend, never even talked to each other despite being in the same school for 3 years. ¡°Stop acting, I¡¯m talkin¡¯ ¡®bout that slutty brunette. Ya lil piece of¡­¡± ¡°Are you talking about Helly?¡± David glared at him. David thought Enzo was a troublesome person and so avoided him, but he wouldn¡¯t let him go if he insulted Helaine, who had been with him through thick and thin. ¡°So what?¡± Enzo reached out his hand towards David, but right before he made contact with the scruff of David¡¯s collar, his arm was grabbed and twisted, then before he knew what was going on he had hit his face onto the table. ¡°Enzo! Are you okay?¡± Alessio, quickly helped Enzo up. ¡°YA DARE TO TAKE DIS OUTSIDE?¡± Enzo¡¯s face flushed red. Being very muscular himself and often intimidated other people with his build, he didn¡¯t expect himself to be humiliated by David, who was a good 18 cm shorter than him. ¡°Heh, why not?¡± David agreed. He could tell that this was the best course of action to take, he could tell that Enzo wouldn¡¯t let him off if he just said no. The other people in the common room started to look at them, and when they heard David¡¯s reply they gasped. Enzo interpreted this as them thinking that David was foolish to agree to this. However, unbeknownst to him, since he was relatively new to the school, David was one of the people you don¡¯t want to pick a fight with. Although he acts calm and civilised, everyone knew that David didn¡¯t have a particularly good temper. Furthermore, it¡¯s also a widespread rumour that David had single handedly beaten up a gang of 5 armed robbers that had targeted him. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. David walked out the building to the back of the school. Enzo and Alessio, alongside the crowd, soon followed. As soon as Enzo reached where David was, the crowd encircled them. In Enzo¡¯s eyes, David seemed vastly unprepared. His hands were hanging by his sides, he seemed to be full of openings. Enzo smirked, during the last few minutes he managed to convince himself that David was just lucky earlier. He charged towards David, swinging his fist wildly. It didn¡¯t make contact. He swung again, once again it missed. David easily sidestepped all of Enzo¡¯s punches. The speed of it was nothing compared to the high orc he had fought a few days ago. Additionally, his body had also been strengthened after becoming Lucifer¡¯s host. David was not threatened at all. After 5 more swings, Enzo took and step back. ¡°You done?¡± David asked sarcastically. Enzo hadn¡¯t been able to even graze him a tiny bit, and it was clear that this frustrated Enzo to no end. This provocation added fuel to the fire in Enzo, ¡°Alessio, give it to moi.¡± ¡°Boss, are you sure about it? We¡¯re at¡­¡± ¡°Just fucking give it to moi!¡± Enzo shouted, causing Alessio to jump up. He reached into his jacket and pulled out something that a normal student shouldn¡¯t have. It was a black Beretta 90two. When Enzo saw it, his face twisted into a dark smile. It was as if all logic had left him. He grabbed the gun from Alessio and pointed it towards David. ¡°Just fuc¡­¡± Enzo was shocked by David¡¯s actions. David had lunged towards him and before Enzo had finished his sentence, landed an uppercut below his chin. Then David kicked the side of his head. He attempted to defend himself by raising his arms up instinctively. David grabbed the left hand that held the gun with his own left hand, then used a palm strike towards the back of the elbow. Crack! ¡°AHHHHHHHHH!¡± It was as if everyone heard the shattering of Enzo¡¯s bones alongside his screams. The gun dropped to the floor. Many of the crowd were wide in shock. They didn¡¯t expect the situation to turn like this. They had expected them to go at each other like high school students, but what they saw was David being completely unscathed, Enzo pulling out a gun and David breaking Enzo¡¯s arm with 1 palm strike. Enzo fell down onto the floor. It seemed like he had fainted from the pain. David glanced down at Enzo, disinterested. It seems like he should have hold himself back just a little bit. ¡°David, he¡¯s being influenced by a something,¡± Lucifer suddenly said. ¡°It¡¯s trying to escape now.¡± David looked down, and true enough a small worm-like creature had crawled out of the back of Enzo¡¯s scruff and was crawling away. Instead of catching it immediately, David decided to keep an eye out of it and silently made a note to capture it once it was out of sight of other people. ¡°Dae! Are you okay? I just heard about what was going on here!¡± David immediately raised his head up to see who it was. Expectedly, it was Helaine that rushed towards David, and due to this, he had lost sight of the strange creature. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about it, the aura radiating from its body might be weak, but I can still manage to trace it to where it is,¡± Lucifer said. It seems like he could tell that David was going to have hard time getting away from this one.
¡°Thanks,¡± said Helaine as she nudged David with her shoulder. They were sitting side by side on the roof of the sports hall. It was time for after-school activities, she was supposed to be in cheerleading practice, but she didn¡¯t feel like going right now. David reached over and caressed her head with his right hand, which she wasn¡¯t leaning on, ¡°Once again I overreacted didn¡¯t I?¡± Now that David had time to calm down a bit, he did feel like he might have gone overboard, despite his foe holding a gun in his face. He probably could have held back a bit and subjugated Enzo without breaking his arm, instead knocking him down and disarming him might have been the more appropriate reaction. That would have also allowed him to question him to see if he knows anything about that strange black creature. Right now, Enzo had fainted from pain and was delivered to the hospital, so there was no way of David could question him within a suitable time frame. Helaine looked up at David, ¡°The fact that you got angry for me¡­ It makes me happy you know?¡± ¡°I did promise that I¡¯ll protect you from everything,¡± David replied. It was a cliche line, but when he made the promise to her, both of them were really young. Helaine quickly turned her head away to hide to face, she was blushing redder than the sun itself, ¡°Stop saying that, people will misunderstand!¡± ¡°Heh will they?¡± David chuckled, he did mean everything he said, but there were times where he just didn¡¯t consider how other people will react upon hearing his conversations with her. ¡°Humph. I going to practice now,¡± He;line stood up and elegantly walked to the stairs of the roof. ¡°That¡¯s a nice relationship isn¡¯t it?¡± Lucifer suddenly asked. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s one of the few people I would give my life to protect,¡± David meant everything he said. To him, Helaine was an irreplaceable existence. ¡°But what¡¯s more important here is where the trace of magic leads to.¡± ¡°Back mountains, the magic trace seemed to have stopped for a while now, probably with another magician or something.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go. Although I do wonder what is it with these magicians. And honestly what did Enzo get himself into?¡± Chapter 6 - The Fool Part II It didn¡¯t take long for David to arrive at the back mountains, it was only a 20 minute walk from the school gates, 10 minute since he ran. At the foot of the mountain, he began to feel something uncanny. It was similar to what he felt on the roof of the Art Museum and it made him want to throw up. He suppressed that feeling and walked up the mountain. Right now, it was of upmost importance to investigate what the source of that feeling was. ¡°Lucifer, can you tell what magic it is?¡± ¡°Most likely some form of necromancy, you can start to understand right? Different types of magic causes you to feel something different. In this case, necromancy causes a small tingling in your soul, making you feel unease.¡± ¡°Are you saying that creature affective Enzo was an undead?¡± David asked. From his knowledge, necromancy was a type of magic that mainly dealt with decreased spirits or the undead, and the creature from before definitely felt like it was a parasite of some sort, rather than an actual spirit. ¡°No, it appears to be a demonic spawn. Either that or a magically created dark-attribute parasite.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± As David ran up the mountain, the feeling of discomfort became stronger, despite being suppressed. David could tell that he was getting closer and closer to the source. ¡°Stop here, its coming from the right,¡± Lucifer said, just as David felt something strange. It wasn¡¯t something he had experienced before, nor did he had any idea about what it was, but it was like his body understood that there was an antagonistic source around and he had to prepare for anything that comes his way. ¡°Understood.¡± David ran through the forests at a rapid pace, somehow he felt that if he didn¡¯t, then something terrible could easily happen. Not long after, he arrived at an opening. It seemed like the source of his unease was here, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡°¡± David conjured up a thin layer of ice around him. It was fortunate that he had done so because the moment the spell had been casted, multiple daggers flew towards him, but were blocked by his . David looked around to find the source of the ambush, while also quickly repairing his using magic. At that moment, he made a quick decision. ¡°¡± Fire flew out in all directions. was a intermediate tier magic that would envelope the area around the user in fire, while leaving a small space so that the caster would not be scorched. This was a bold move by David. Although it was very likely that the forests would catch fire, he thought that it was the best choice to take despite the risk. From the looks of the ambush, it seems that whoever he was supposed to find here had anticipated his arrival and hid himself. The ambush merely seconds before was a solid proof that it was someone hostile. In this forest, it was unlikely for David to be able to find his enemy before the enemy wore him down, especially since his experience in magic was surely far lower than that of his opponents. The gambled paid off. A darkness surrounded the area, then as quickly as the fire appeared, David¡¯s was nullified. It wasn¡¯t a waste though, because David was lucky to spot the spot where the magic came from out of the corner of his eyes. Without wasting a precious second, he dashed towards the place, conjuring up his blades in the process. Suddenly, a figure popped into his view. David instinctively sliced his blade. It went straight through, almost too easily. David looked at what he had cut. ¡°Kakakakakaka. Try again,¡± was what the box said. More precisely, it was the sound of a recording in a huge jack in the box that he had just sliced apart. This was the reason why the blade had passed through with no resistance, since all he sliced through was the clown. ¡°Try again,¡± a voice said behind him. David turned back, and swung the blade in his right hand. It didn¡¯t make contact. David saw that on the branch of a tree 10 metres away was a thin man crouching down.The man had a painted his face to resemble a clown¡¯s, even going as far as sticking a red nose on himself. ¡°Kakakakakaka, it seems like you found me,¡± The man jumped down from the tree, and taking an exaggerated bow, ¡°Emmet Wayne Gacy, at your service.¡± Now that he was on the ground, David could see the man more clearly. He was around 190 cm tall and was dressed like a Victorian gentleman with a gothic suit and waistcoat. ¡°Do you recognise him?¡± David muttered in a low voice so that only Lucifer could hear him. ¡°I¡¯m not certain, his aura feels nostalgic, but I¡¯m sure he¡¯s not someone I met before. But I can say with certainty that he¡¯s a demon, that is unmistakable.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Kakakakakaka, don¡¯t look at me with those eyes. I¡¯m a clown you see? A harmless funny clown,¡± said Emmet Wayne Gacy, then took another exaggerated bow. ¡°A clown? Don¡¯t kid around. You¡¯re clearly a demon aren¡¯t you?¡± David chuckled. ¡°Kakakakakaka, to have seen through me so easily. Yes I am a demon, a demon clown. Kakakakakaka.¡± Emmet laughed, then pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket to seemingly wipe away his tears of laughter. This action puzzled David, and so he focused his eyes. He saw the same type of black parasite that had clung onto Enzo previously, ¡°So you are the perpetrator. There¡¯s no use denying it, you¡¯re holding the parasite in your handkerchief.¡± ¡°Kakakakakaka. So you followed this child here? It was fun wasn¡¯t it? That fool tried to beat up someone he couldn¡¯t even touch. Kakakakakaka.¡± ¡°So it was you,¡± David glared at him with eyes full of hostility. ¡°Kakakakakaka, why are you so angry?¡± ¡°What is your purpose?¡± David was trying hard to ignore the annoying demon in front of him. ¡°Kakakakakaka,¡± Emmet suddenly flung the parasite from the handkerchief at him. ¡°¡± David blew the parasite away from him. Somehow, it landed perfectly on Emmet¡¯s handkerchief once more. Seeing this hostility, David took a few steps forward and tried to use his blade to slice Emmet. It passed through cleanly, all too cleanly. Emmet fell onto the floor. ¡°Kakakakakaka, that was quick human. I didn¡¯t see you for a second. Kakakakakaka.¡± David looked towards the source of the voice and found himself facing Emmet once more. ¡°Kakakakakaka, don¡¯t look so confused. It¡¯s a clone you see? A clone. Anyways, it¡¯s a pleasure meeting you interesting human. Adieu. Kakakakakaka.¡± And with that, Emmet disappeared. ¡°Lucifer¡­ what was that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still thinking, but it seems like he used something akin to . He definitely wasn¡¯t a normal demon, most likely a servant of a demon royal or even an archdemon.¡± ¡°Were¡­ were you able to analyse anything else?¡± ¡°I never said anything about helping you defeat the ones you¡¯re frustrated with.¡± ¡°Just answer the question¡­¡± ¡°Heh, aside from what I said earlier¡­ That was most likely a demon that was created from a mana source. He seemed like an assassin or an observer to me, as opposed to a demon that stand on the front lines. The parasite was definitely not of his magic, despite him showing affinity with it. Furthermore, the clone and the jack-in-a-box you slashed apart both seemed to be more technological items. Either his own or given to him by another servant demon. There is no way this demon was a normal one.¡± ¡°How was he able to nullify ?¡± ¡°I would hazard a guess at that being the ability of an item rather than his own magic. It seemed to be a dark-attribute spell that held similar effects to that of which is an alchemic ability. Oh, he also seemed to be conducting an experiment of some sort. Or was monitoring someone.¡± ¡°Could it actually be me?¡± ¡°I doubt it, you hold traces of my magic, but it is not on a level where demon of that level can detect. Furthermore, your magic don¡¯t hold any trace of my magic either, which although is weird, makes it even less likely for you to be a monitor target.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± David thought about what this implied, before going back home.
When he arrived back home, David lied down onto his bed almost straight away. ¡°Hey Lucifer, tell me about this world.¡± ¡°Why the sudden curiosity?¡± ¡°I need to be prepared for anything. Today¡­ Even though I got out unscathed, I barely understood what was going on. I was played like a fool, both in terms of fighting capabilities and¡­ in the short conversation. I want to know more, understand more. Then maybe I can react to situations in a different manner, be more calm and analytical about situations. I lost my cool twice, only because I could¡¯t even hazard a guess at what that demon was going to do.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an interesting host you know? Fine, I shall entertain you. What do you want to know?¡± ¡°Everything. But start by telling me about the strong, someone I can strive to become¡­ Someone who will never lose. Because I understand now, I understand that in this world, losing can mean losing your life. That demon¡­ Emmet could have easily killed me today. I don¡¯t want to be in that predicament again.¡± ¡°Then I suppose I shall tell you about those who are said to be the strongest in the worlds, and a tale of one of them who has been recorded down in history as a being, neither a hero or a saviour, but someone who had the resolution to exchange his life for his people¡¯s.¡± Chapter 7 - Lucifers Tale ¡°Since many of the beings on the list have never fought against one another, we cannot truly determine the rankings, which is why we classify those within the strongest five hundred beings of the worlds as extremely powerful beings. They are often gods or demons that holds tremendous power and can easily defeat an army or two by themselves. The current you wouldn¡¯t be able to even survive a fraction of a second against them,¡± Lucifer began. ¡°Hmmmm¡­¡± David wasn¡¯t surprised, he didn¡¯t expect himself to be very strong. Certainly he was considered to be somewhat of a prodigy when it came to combat and martial arts, but it was only to a level in comparison to most people, he wasn¡¯t someone who could fight a martial arts expert and come out on top. ¡°Above them are the top two hundred, which could be compared to the power levels of entire countries or empires, depending on circumstances, they can be stronger, many of the gods that you know of would be in here: Ares, the Greek God of War; Thor, God of Thunder and Battle; Nergal, God of Plague and War; Seth, God of Chaos et cetera. Many of them are gods that are related to combat in some way or form. Stronger than them are those within the strongest hundred, who can essentially wipe out entire continents. Zeus, God of the Sky; Susanoo-no-Mikoto, God of Storms; Indra, God of War; Lilith, the Witch Queen; Duke Astaroth; Huanglong, the Yellow Dragon of the Centre; and Trahern, the Force of the Mountains, essentially beings that possessed unparalleled strength, are all among those who are included within here. Many of them are those who have left their name down in history as supreme heroes, gods or creatures of unimaginable power. The top fifty would then be a class above them, they are beings that under a very specific circumstance would be able to rival those who are considered the strongest in the world. They are beings that possess powers that could wipe out an entire world. However, these are beings that are generally unwilling or unable to unleash their full powers in order to not destroy the entire world. Ones you may have heard of are Beelzebub, the Prince of Gluttony; Gabriel, the Power of God. Others are ones you probably have never heard of, since among these would be beings that may have never even set foot upon this world, since they see no reason to. The top twenty could be side to rival those at the pinnacle of the world. They are ones that are considered to be a dimension-wide threat, and could easily be in the strongest 10 in the world given a little advantage. The ones you have heard of would probably be Incubus, the King; Azazel, the Arrogance towards God; and Gadreel, the Wall God. Finally, there is the strongest ten in the worlds. Among them are the three sons of Death, one dragons, three demons, one angel, one god and one human.¡± ¡°A human..?¡± ¡°Yeah, a human who has reached the pinnacle all by himself. A warrior that is unrivalled among mankind. But let¡¯s not talk about him, as his personality is truly the worst among the worst.¡± ¡®Three sons of Death?¡± ¡°Aye, the triplet sons of Death and Andronea, perhaps the strongest dragon to ever live. Their children are truly monsters, although it may not really concern you all that much, since you may never meet them.¡± ¡°Where do you reside on the list? From the way you¡¯re speaking, you are probably within the strongest ten aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°You guessed right. But it really isn¡¯t anything to boast about. This list is only a rough list that many use, which is then altered depending on one¡¯s knowledge on them. For us the Seven Princes of Hell, this is what we have categorised, but there may very well be many other beings that would rank highly on the list. Perhaps one day you would too.¡± ¡°Heh. What about Death and Andronea, was it? If their children are so strong, surely¡­¡± ¡°Dead.¡± ¡°Death¡­ died?¡± ¡°Surprising isn¡¯t it? I never saw it happen, but I have full faith in the one who told me. After all, he was one of the sole witnesses of the event.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Anyways, now you know about the kind of outrageous monsters out there, listen carefully to my tale.¡± David was deep in thought right now, he was trying hard to process all the information that Lucifer had just given him. At least 500 outrageous beings were out there, and from the way Lucifer spoke, it didn¡¯t seem like Emmet was among them either. David didn¡¯t really wanted to believe it, but yet he get like Lucifer wasn¡¯t lying. There was no reason for him to, he would gain no benefits from it. ¡°The tale is of someone who loved his kingdom more than himself. Let¡¯s call him M. He was born of nobility and was meant to be the next in line for the throne after his father¡¯s death, but it all changed when he decided to secretly visit the village where the one of the kingdom¡¯s treasured swords was kept. When night fell and everyone was sleeping, he sneaked outside in order to try to lift the sword. The sword was enchanted magically and could not be wielded by anyone that it did not recognise as a true hero. When he tried to lift it, he failed. He was displeased by this, but he accepted it quietly. He didn¡¯t think he had the composition to be a hero in the first day. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. On the next day, just as he was about to leave, he saw someone lift the sword up easily, as if it was designed for them. The person in question was A, a young man about the same age as himself. He was surprised at this, and so were the rest of the people that witnessed this. It was a sword that had been left there for almost fifty years, and no-one had been able to wield it. The fact that someone had achieved this feat was astonishing. He walked up to the A and asked if wanted to become his companion and fight for the kingdom. A instantly agreed, it has always been his dream to fight for his kingdom. As time passed on, the two grew closer and became more or more like brothers. As A did not know his parents, he was never given a surname. Knowing this, M decided that A should bare the same surname as him, signifying their undying bond. On the battlefield, A piled on many achievements, and after a few years M could see that he was a rue hero for the kingdom. After the King died, at M¡¯s coronation, he made a surprising declaration. He declared that he would abdicate the throne and A would be king. He believed that the kingdom deserved a hero as its king. Feeling safe that he kingdom was in the right hands, M set out to traverse the world. Several years later, he heard the news that shocked his years. His kingdom was waging war against countries, one after another and were continuously victorious. Unsure of what to make of it, he went back to the kingdom. It was there that he discovered the tragic lives of the peasants. A had made the country a power to be reckoned with, but at the same time, destroyed the lives of the people. M was furious, and when he attempted to talk with A about this, he was shunned away. In hope for a chance to talk with A, he took away the sword of the kingdom. The same night, he was attacked by soldiers that had surrounded A. He fought desperately and managed to get away. It was at that moment that A appeared before him and told him to either accept what he was doing to make the country strong, or leave and never return. He said that this was the task that an angel had charged him with. M was shocked. He didn¡¯t believe that the angels of his religion would have wanted this. But he had no way to fight against A. When A appeared before him, he could already tell that A wasn¡¯t telling lies. That¡¯s when he decided to turn away from his faith. He sold his soul to a demon who rivalled the angel in order to procure enough power to oppose A. He stayed quietly in the country, and peasants rose to this side. Soon, even some worthy knights began to support him. When he had enough of an army, and he was certain that A was going after him, he started the rebellion. The rebellion waged on for several years, neither side coming any closer to wipe the other out. It was then, M challenged A to a final battle to end the suffering of the people. He knew that the war had caused even more suffering to the people than A¡¯s reign did, and he wanted to end it all. At the final battle, they went at each other. Sword against sword, magic against magic, until A used an underhand tactic and took a hostage. M was unable to raise a hand against A, and he was defeated. But knowing that A would not rest until he is truly dead, he took a leap into the lake. Upon seeing this, A immediately followed as he believed that there was no way M would die from just that. After this, the kingdom was in chaos. Nobles rose to power to take over the kingdom, and eventually another king ascended o the throne. But M¡¯s sacrifice was not in vain, he had managed to end the suffering of his own people, at the cost of his own life¡­¡± Lucifer stopped there, and seemed to reminiscent about something. ¡°He sacrificed his own life for greater good huh? If I was to put in the same position, would I be able to do the same?¡± Lucifer silently chuckled upon hearing that, despite only having known David for slightly more than a week, he was sure that David was someone who could have easily been the protagonist of the tale he just told. That was just the kind of person David seemed to be, it was obvious that he wold go to all extents to protect someone he cares about, and admitting his own inferiority is exactly what M had done when he chose for A to be king instead. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about such worrisome things for now. Hone your skills more, both physical and magical. Train yourself so that you would be able to survive in this world. The demon Emmet seems to have somewhat of an interest in you, and similar to any demons, they will come for you eventually. Ensure you are prepared by then. That is your priority isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I suppose it is. If I want to defy the so-called fate, then I have to be strong enough to stand up on my own two feet!¡± Chapter 8 - Tomb of the Unliving Part I Over the next two weeks, David resumed his normal life, going at the various trainings with more resolve than ever. He was slowly coming to grasp with exactly what was needed to use magic. By clearly focusing an image of what he want to achieve in his head, then manipulating the mana in his body to help the image take form, he was now able to use a far higher number of spells than he had been able to before. Going to the dojo with Joseph after school had started to pay off as well. Although not being anywhere close to dominating his teacher, he was now able to keep up with the moments, and very occasionally throw in an attack or two. This was a large improvement from three weeks ago, where he got beaten senseless by his teacher without even a proper chance to defend himself.
David woke up to the sound of his alarm. Even on the weekends, David had started to wake up very early to in order to have more time to train himself. ¡°David, you should be about ready to work again right?¡± Lucifer asked. ¡°Yeah, did something come up?¡± ¡°I want you to start honing your skills in actual combat, so I want you to spend the next two days hunting.¡± ¡°Wait, for what?¡± ¡°Not demons, so don¡¯t worry. I want you to start by hunting some undead. Mostly ghouls or zombies.¡± ¡°And where would I find those? They don¡¯t really just appear anywhere right? After all, if they did then surely people wouldn¡¯t just regard them as stories.¡± ¡°Cases like these are usually handled fairly quickly, mostly by exorcists or ghost hunters that may not may not be related to different religions. I want you to hunt down the preys before they are gone.¡± ¡°Hmmm, that sounds rather interesting. So where are they?¡± ¡°A cemetery in New Territory.¡± ¡°Which one? There are loads.¡± ¡°It¡¯s private. The reason that undead are starting to spawn there is because of the owner of the grave. Before he died, he researched extensively in the field of undead creation and summoning, and his aptitude for dark attribute magic was also very high.¡± ¡°And you know this how?¡± ¡°He was one of the mages that had attempted to summon me in order to make a deal. I never answered his summoning, although I did observe him during his entire life.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that these undead are his creation? Why haven¡¯t they attacked anyone yet?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because he had respawned into a Lich, or more accurately his body had respawned itself as a Feijiang.¡± ¡°You mean the kind of Jiangshi that is said to have trained for many years, practicing their spells?¡± ¡°Yes, they would also have superior intelligence compared to that of normal Jiangshi. And they can fly. What I want you to do is simple. Eradicate the entire horde of undead as quickly as you can. That¡¯ll give you a good amount of combat experience, something that you lack right now.¡± ¡°I suppose I don¡¯t truly have any say in the matter?¡± ¡°You¡¯re only fulfilling your side of the contract so¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, okay I get it. Should I go now?¡± ¡°Go at the afternoon, there really isn¡¯t a point of arriving there before sundown anyways.¡±
David arrived at an eerily looking cemetery at 5 o¡¯clock. The sun had started to set, but night hasn¡¯t fallen across the entire land yet. The cemetery he was at is a traditional Chinese one. It was hard to imagine that someone that is buried here would have tried to summon Lucifer, a western demon. It was much more fitting for them in David¡¯s mind to summon someone like the Yanluo Wang, or King Enma. As he was pondering this, he was preparing himself both physically and mentally for the action that would soon follow. ¡°¡± David casted one of the most basic Light magic spells to test if it was working. And just as he expected, it was functioning fine. did like its name suggested, conjuring up a small sphere of light that could be used to light the area around it or as an offensive magic. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°If you¡¯re worrying whether your magic will fail you or not, then the answer is no. Your magic is fine here,¡± chuckled Lucifer. ¡°Yeah I know, I¡¯m just double checking. There isn¡¯t really much else to do until sun down. Or would you not mind if I started before?¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t a point of you destroying now right? Let them all be wide awake first.¡± ¡°Heh. Oh by the way, is there a reason why this place haven¡¯t been exorcised yet? You said there¡¯s a large amount of undeads here, then shouldn¡¯t they have been discovered already?¡± ¡°Like I said before about them being led, generally exorcists and the likes aren¡¯t able to actually find the locations of undeads very easily. It is only through reports from people hat are being attacked or an exceedingly high concentration of dark attribute magic that they can predict the location of undeads. The owner of this grave has been smart enough to build up the undeads in secret and the tomb I want you to enter is heavily warded, preventing the magic used inside from leaking out easily.¡± ¡°I see. Realistically speaking, what is the possibility that I can actually kill that Feijiang?¡± ¡°I would say you have a good chance of doing so. With and you should be able to deal with it easily.¡± ¡°You¡¯re still convincing me to use I¡¯m not falling for that bait. The strain on my body is just too great and unless I have to, I don¡¯t want to use it.¡± ¡°Then you may struggle against it. The Feijiang would be relatively skilled in dark attribute magic as well and if you need to deal with the rest of the undead as well, then you¡¯ll be in a tough spot.¡± ¡°I suppose then I¡¯ll use at that time.¡± ¡°Do as you will. We should get going,¡± Lucifer replied. The Sun had set, and the night had fallen across the land. It wasn¡¯t pitch dark, so David could still see the way. He slowly followed Lucifer¡¯s direction to find himself a particular large gravestone. On the gravestone was written ¡°×Ô×÷Äõ, ²»¿É»î¡±, literally translated to ¡°The evil we bring on ourselves is the hardest to bear.¡±
In a dark room, a Feijiang could be seen sitting calmly on a throne of some sort. In front of it was a swarm of more than 300 undeads. There weren¡¯t just Jiangshi, but also a mix of Zhiren, E Gui, Difuling, ghouls and zombies. At the two sides of the throne stood 2 guards, a Mezuki and a Gozuki, both over 3 meters tall, and wielding a long pole arm that was around 2 meters in height. This was a scene out of a horror film with the antagonist evil overlord calmly sitting on a throne in front of his huge army of evil that threatened the existence of the world. For experts on undead, this could be seen as a rather unusual site. Normally, these lower ranked undead would be all over the place, but at that moment, they were all bowing down in front of the Feijiang. They seemed to obey his every command. The Feijiang itself gave off an imposing aura. It was dressed in an exquisite qipao, ones that was worn by government officials. The skin was it pale and wrinkled, the flesh was rotten to the point that you could see that some of it actually about to fall off. However it sat formidably on its throne. It¡¯s eyes glared at the horde in front of it, almost like that of a ruler looking at its people. In its right hand was a long staff decorated with many jewels. At the tip of it was a black ruby that seemed to radiate evil. A spectre flown over to its side and seemed to have whispered something in the Feijian¡¯s ear. Upon hearing it, a subtle sneer appeared on its face. A foolish human had found its way into the tomb. It was only right for the human to serve as food for its ever hungry undead. It raised its bone-like left arm and pointed towards a large door behind the swarm of undead. It swung open with a gust of wind and the swarm rushed out into the dark hallway. Soon only the Feijiang was left in the dark throne room. Isolated. Alone. Undying. Chapter 9 - Tomb of the Unliving Part II David found himself in a long corridor after the descending down the stairway he had discovered at the grave. Lucifer had detected an area with more dark magic leaking out of the ground than the surroundings, and after further inspection, David had found the dark staircase. There were no torches on the walls, so it was only after David casted that he could finally see. He saw that the corridor seemed un-naturally wide, especially considering it was underneath a graveyard. The walls seemed to be made out of stone, with moss growing in-between the gaps of each stone. There were also some sinister markings on them, which were runes as explained by Lucifer. Moving along the corridor, he eventually came across identical doors. One on his left and one on his right. He was curious of what laid within. Just as he was thinking about which door he would open, something rushed at him. David barely managed to throw himself against the left wall to dodge it. He turned around and saw a spectre. ¡°¡± David created another and made it fly towards the spectre that was about to rush at him once more. When it made contact, the spectre fizzled, then disappeared into nothingness as if it had never existed. ¡°I suppose the owner of the tomb has detected your presence, there¡¯s an whole swarm of them coming.¡± David send his down the corridor. Sure enough a horde of undead was swarming over. Even in this rather wide corridor, the undead were bumping into each other as they swarmed towards David. ¡°¡± Seeing the horde of undead headed his way, he casted , an intermediate light magic that sends out light in a selected direction. Through injecting more mana into the spell, David was able to improve the damage it was dealing to the undeads. Although it was unable to destroy all of them them in one hit, it was able to damage them severely, slowing down their movements. Many of the undeads in the front that took the full brunt of the spell had been destroyed, and the now non-moving corpses blocked the charge of the undeads behind, tripping many of them over. David conjured his blades into his hands once more and moved forwards to meet the undead horde face on. Seeing this, the undead charged forward with more enthusiasm. Even though they witness first hand that many of their brethren had fell by the human in front of them, to them, a human was just a human. They didn¡¯t expect the human to fight back.This was a poor judgement on their part as they soon found out. The first undead to actually reach David was an E Gui, thinking that being a ghost made it totally intangible. David slashed down at it, and before the E Gui noticed, it had turned to dust. Normally speaking, it wouldn¡¯t have been possible to actually cut it, but David had already pestered Lucifer a lot about the different types of undead, he knew that the easiest way to deal with ghost-type undeads were actually to fill their weapon with mana and use that as a catalyst to allow the supposedly intangible enemy to be damage. ¡° ¡± Seeing that his earlier actions had been successful, David casted once again to clear more of the swarm, and decided to use as well in order to slow down his enemies. After confirming that they were successfully casted and their effects started to show, David run towards the horde himself. A slice of his right arm bisected a ghoul, a backswing from his left hand knocked a jiangshi away. Three zhiren came at him together, noticing this, he utilised , and covered his blades in fire. Upon seeing the flames, the zhiren seemed to hesitate a bit, but resumed their charged when they were pushed in the back by the rest of the horde. David easily sliced through them like paper. Confident that he could deal with the rest of the horde just as easily as he did his initial enemies. David lunged toward, and in a flurry of motion, he was able to exterminate around 30% of the swarm. Although that was an impressive feat by itself, it was by no means enough. If he were to continue at this pace, he would definitely be overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. David smiled wryly. He could tell that using large scale fire magic in such a small space was definitely a bad idea. That left him with only two options. And on of them was to use >. He ran backwards, pulling a distance of around twenty meters between him and the undead swarm. Only then did he turn around. ¡°!¡± The temperature around David dropped. Pieces of ice appeared by his side, shaping into multiple icicles. When the number of icicles formed were numbering too many to count, David flicked his wrist. The icicles fired towards the incoming horde and an incredible speed. Many were impaled. Many were torn apart from the storm of icicles that approached. In a way these undead were pitiful beings. Having stayed in the tomb for a large majority of their ¡°lives¡± they had never been harmed. Even those that were occasional sent outside of the tomb to hunt had not come across anyone that opposed them. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Now, without understanding. These undead were ripped apart by the brutal magic that David had casted. This was an advanced magic that David had manage to learn recently. For the current David, this magic alongside and , could be called his trump cards. Seeing the results of his spell, David was extremely please. The remaining undead were only ones that had used the corpses of multiple undead in front of it as shields. They didn¡¯t numbered less than fifty. He bolted towards them, a gleaming black blade in each hand. Upon witnessing this sight, a small portion the undead finally noticed the danger to their ¡°lives¡±. They turned around, away from David and started to run away as fast as they could. David became the one giving chase. In less than two hours upon arriving in the tomb, David had already exterminated the majority of its inhabitants. In Lucifer¡¯s point of view, he was very happy. His current host possessed the qualities he had looking for. Not only that, but he was also someone who had great talent. Just like him. The choice of weaponry, and choice of magic were both the same. Perhaps, just perhaps, he had found who he was looking for.
The three of them approached the tomb. Why did they need to work today out of all days? They had only just arrived in Hong Kong not too long ago. Having been dispatched from the Vatican 2 days ago, and when they reported that they found the location of the feijiang, the higher ups had screamed at them for even reporting it in. Hikari couldn¡¯t understand the reason for the higher ups¡¯ outrage. Even though they were only mobilised for things that seemed to have a higher threat level than B, the so-called threats they had been ordered to deal with had never been overly troublesome. Hikari believed full-heartedly that this time would be the same. Especially considering the fact that Guang and even Lux had been dispatched along with her. With such reliable comrades, nothing will become an issue. It was because of this that she didn¡¯t understand the higher-ups¡¯ outburst. ¡°Nee, Guang, what do you think the target is like?¡± HIkari likely nudged Lux with her elbow. ¡°It¡¯s a feijiang, so it can probably use magic and fly.¡± Gang replied. ¡°Hikari, why is it every single time we get sent for a mission, you ask me what the target is like? Don¡¯t you ever read the mission material?¡± ¡°Ehhhh, you¡¯re so mean! I do read it, but none of it ever makes sense. The letters are wiggly and weird you know?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t read it properly and scribble on yours before actually reading whatever is on it,¡± replied Guang. Having been partnered up with Hikari extremely many times, he knew that Hikari never bothered to actually read her mission material, instead constantly relied on himself to explain everything. ¡°Oops,¡± HIkari stuck her tongue out at Guang. The two of them were on good terms with one another, having worked together a lot. Guang was the one who had been taking care of Hikari ever since she was introduced to the team. She was something like a little sister to him. If only she acted a bit¡­ no a lot less like an idiot and used her brain slightly more. ¡°Guang, you can¡¯t possibly be thinking something bad about me right? Right? RIGHT?¡± Hikari moved closer to Guang. ¡°Errr, no I wasn¡¯t thinking anything like that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lie. You were thinking about something mean!¡± ¡°No really I wasn¡¯t.¡± ¡°What was it? Split it out you meanie!¡± ¡°The two of you. SHUT UP!¡± Lux glared at them both with an immense killing intent. ¡°We¡¯re on a mission, so act like it. You can mess around in your own time, just don¡¯t do it now. Especially since the tomb is right in front of us, so prepare yourselves.¡±
David arrived in front of a black metal door. The design on it was the same as the tomb, giving off a western feeling mixed in with an asian one. On it were similar markings to the ones on the wall of the corridor. An baleful aura seeped out from behind the door. It seemed like this was where the feijiang was. Chapter 10 - Tomb of the Unliving Part III ¡°¡± Hikari, Lux and Guang descended down the dark stairways. From their research beforehand, they already knew about the entrance to the feijiang¡¯s tomb. Allowing their to illuminate the path before them, they soon found themselves in a long corridor. But something was out of place, corpses were scattered along, and the walls seemed to be smeared with fresh blood. ¡°What¡­ what happened here? Did the feijiang lure that many people in and killed them!!!?¡± exclaimed Hikari immediately upon seeing the sight before them. Guang and Lux both went forward and gave the corpse in front of them a closer look. Initially it had looked like a normal human¡¯s, but after seeing it up close, one could see that the skin of the corpse was wetter than normal, the neck of it was twisted in an unnatural manner and it had a terrifying facial expression on its face. Seeing that parts of its flesh was rotting away, it could be concluded that this wasn¡¯t a body that had been freshly killed. At least not when it first died. This was more than likely an unanimated ghoul. However, what was interesting was the cause of death of the ghoul. It had died from various holes across its body, each one spanning a radius of 10 cm. It was impossible to imagine what had been used to kill the ghoul. Seeing as the insides of the holes were still wet, it can clear that these holes were what killed the ghoul the second time. Normally, in order to kill a ghoul, either light magic or fire magic would have to be used. It was possible to kill it by chopping off its head as well, but ghouls beING killed through creating large holes in its body has never been heard of. After all, they are undead which have a particularly high tolerance for pain and could move move even taking large amount of damage. ¡°So, what happened to these poor people?¡± Hikari asked impatiently. Since she didn¡¯t go for a closer look, she hadn¡¯t realised that the corpse was ghoul. ¡°Lux-sama, what do you think happened here?¡± Guang asked, completely ignoring HIkari right now. He was quite concerned about the scene before him. If this corpse was a ghoul, then it wouldn¡¯t be too surprising to assume that the rest of the corpses were some form of undead as well. ¡°It couldn¡¯t be a local exorcist could it? Even though we didn¡¯t confirm with the local church, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone that is capable of doing this from there either.¡± ¡°Hikari. Guang. Prepare your [Divine Revenant]. Although the undead has been eliminated here, we have no idea if it was a friend or a foe that did this. It¡¯s better to be more cautious about this.¡± Lux commanded. Although experienced, she has never experienced a situation like this before. It wasn¡¯t just the unnatural death of the undead, but the fact that some of the undead where bisect, which is most likely what caused the walls to be sprayed with blood. ¡°Wait what? What happened? Why are we preparing our [Divine Revenant] all of a sudden?¡± Hikari was confused. Since she wasn¡¯t paying attention, she didn¡¯t really understand what was going on all of a sudden. Being ordered to prepare her [Divine Revenant] is akin to saying that there is a true monster up ahead. ¡°The corpses here are undead. All killed in an unnatural manner. What¡¯s more is that the death seems to be rather fresh, so whoever did this probably haven¡¯t left yet, or at least haven¡¯t gone too far away yet, ¡° Lux replied impatiently. Hikari looked hesitantly at Guang. Sure she admired Lux like every other member of their corp, she still couldn¡¯t believe that she was being asked to prepare er [Divine Revenant]. Only when she saw that Guang had already started to chant the aria for release without hesitation did she comply Lux¡¯s orders.
David was standing before the feijiang, who was also the owner of this tomb. The two of them stared at each other silently, trying to measure each other¡¯s capabilities. It was like one of those games where the first person to blink would lose. On the side of the feijiang were a mezuki and a gozuki, guarding him as bodyguards would. In the end, it was the feijiang that gave in first, ¡°Human, what reason do you have to be here, disturbing my domain?¡± ¡°I came here to exterminate you,¡± David replied coldly. ¡°Unless you can give me a reason not to?¡± He didn¡¯t give out his actual reason to be in the tomb for two reasons. Firstly, he had a sneaky suspicion that the feijiang in front of him was responsible for the horde of undead rushing at him. Secondly, he didn¡¯t want to expose anything about Lucifer. He may not trust Lucifer fully, but there ought to be a reason why he was told to exterminate the feijiang and the rest of the undead, aside from just training. Thirdly, he needed to place himself in a more favourable position where the enemies would be afraid of him. On one side of the feijiang was a mezuki, and a gozuki stood on the other side. Just from the aura and Lucifer¡¯s earlier warnings, he didn¡¯t think he could achieve victory without using . Therefore, he had to buy as much time as possible to come up with a plan in case he could need to have. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Exterminate me? You plan to exterminate me? The great me who¡­¡± the feijiang passed there, and began to cough loudly. ¡°The great me who has achieved immortality? What a joke. Seize this foolish human at once!¡± Upon the feijiang¡¯s command. The mezuki and gozuki charged towards David brandishing their weapons. The mezuki swung its halberd around, aiming the tip directly at David, while the gozuki leaped into the air, raising its hammer up high. In response to this, David jumped backwards, at the same time, conjuring up his blade in his left hand to parry the incoming halberd. He landed just outside of the gozuki¡¯s hammer range as it came crashing down on where he originally stood. If he had reacted a second too late, he would have been smashed into a smear on the floor, unrecognisable by anyone or anything. Although he had dodged the first attacks of the feijiang¡¯s guards, he wasn¡¯t in anyway safe yet. The mezuki and the gozuki took upon an offensive stance and came charging at him once again. ¡° ¡± A huge wall of ice shot up from the ground, just underneath the feet of the gozuki, knocking it off balance, while also blocking the path of the mezuki. Seeing the obstacle, the mezuki tried to move around it, but was assaulted by a barrage of that David casted. While the mezuki was struggling to make an advance towards David, the gozuki got back on its feet. Picking up its hammer, it gave out an earth-shattering roar and glared at David with its eyes full of hatred. Swinging its hammer, it leaped into the air, above the wall of ice, and tried to smash David once again. This time, David rolled to the side, dodging the gozuki¡¯s attack again. However, this caused him to stop assault on the incoming mezuki, allowing it to charge right at him. Having been given no time to muster up any manner of defence, David had no choice to take the charge head on, using his blades to guard himself and soften the blow. Even so, he was knocked back several metres. A jolt of pain surged through his forearms, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. Taking this as an opportunity, he took a step backwards. ¡°¡± Just like before, numerous icicles formed beside him. He fired them towards the gozuki and mezuki. Unlike the mindless undead, they did not stand there to be pierced and instead rotated their weapons around to block some of it. Just as David felt that he was finally safe to go onto the offensive, he instinctively crouched. He saw a stinger s swung over his head. Turning around. He saw a manticore behind him. It had snuck up on him while he was fighting the mezuki and gozuki. ¡°¡± David casted once more. This time, his target was the manticore. would have been the more appropriate choice, but in this enclosed environment, he had no way of ensuring that he could avoid his own spell. Since the manticore was close-by, many of the icicles pierced into the manticore¡¯s body. It let out a large roar and took a leap towards David. David reacted by once again trying to roll out of the way. But this time he did not manage to remain unscathed. A front paw of the manticore managed to scratch his arm. Seeing David starting to become more and more cornered. The feijiang laughed maniacally. It started to chant, ¡°Oh glorious dark god. Let loose your wrath upon these foolish mortals. Eradicate the living, Blacken the light. Pierce through every obstacle with your darkness! !¡± A huge ball of darkness flew towards David on the floor. The mezuki laughed. The gozuki laughed. The manticore howled. The feiajiang laughed. Chapter 11 - Tomb of the Unliving Part IV ¡° !¡± A black flash covered the room. In the place of the human, there should only be a hole in the ground, nothing else remained. That was what the feijiang had expected. But that wasn¡¯t what he saw. As the smoke began to clear, a figure could clearly be scene through the smoke. The figure was not the same as that of the human before though. Not fully. Large feathered wings the colour of the night extended out from its back, two grey horns grew out from his head. His clothes were in tatters, allowing you to see the runes that seemed to cover his entire body. The entirety of his body was now covered in a dark aura. ¡°Phew. I can¡¯t believed I was forced into this,¡± David remarked. With no other choice, he decided to use to utilise more of Lucifer¡¯s powers to nullify the sent at him. Although he succeeded, he wasn¡¯t happy about it. After all, this allowed Lucifer to read his thoughts far easier. ¡°Heh, instead of getting annoyed, you should probably focus on the battle,¡± Lucifer laughed. Ignoring Lucifer¡¯s comment, David turned back to the battlefield. The mezuki, gozuki and manticore seemed to be ready to attack at any time. The feijiang was glaring at him with a surprised look on its face. ¡°Surprised?¡± David chuckled. Hearing that, the feijiang indicated with its right hand for two undead as well as the manticore surrounding David to attack. The gozuki was the first to attack. It charged towards David like a mindless bull, raising its hammer high up in the air. The manticore flap its wings and raised high up in the air, before taking a dive towards David. As the hammer smashed down, David focused his mana, causing the black aura around him to thicken. Instead of crushing him, the hammer did not seem to be able to bypass the aura, The gozuki placed more strength into the hammer, but it didn¡¯t seem to let it damage the aura surrounding David. David wasn¡¯t even paying attention to the gozuki. Instead he wrapped his blades up in the same aura that surrounded his body, then slashed at the manticore coming down at him. The blade cleanly sliced through the manticore¡¯s stomach. Blood gushed out and splattered over David and the gozuki. ¡°One down. Three to go,¡± David muttered. The mezuki tried to use this chance to put down David, thrusting its halberd out towards his abdomen. Having noticed this, David used the blade in his left hand to parry it, and utilising the motion, he stabbed forward with his other blade. It penetrated the mezuki¡¯s shoulder. Instead of retreating, the mezuki moved forward, allowing causing the blade to penetrate into the flesh more. It was determined to hold its enemy in place so that the gozuki would finish him off. The pain in its shoulder was trivial compared to the success of the elimination of the target. David wasn¡¯t flushed by this at all. Letting go of his blades, he turned around, and spin kicked the mezuki¡¯s head, knocking it to the side. A ¡®crack¡¯ could be heard as parts of the mezuki¡¯s skeleton shattered upon impact. The effects of depended upon the powers of the soul used. Lucifer¡¯s seemed to increase his physical capabilities further and also granted him a greater mana pool to use. The mezuki stumbled backwards. Not missing this opportunity, David quickly leaped towards the mezuki with the aid of his wings, and brought his blade down. It sliced cleanly through the neck of the mezuki, beheading it instantly. Blood spurt forth as the body dropped cold onto the floor. Seeing two of its servants fell, questions began to fill the feijiang¡¯s mind. At first glance, the human before it did not seem to be anything special. In fact, making it there was enough to raise suspicion about that person¡¯s identity, but the feijiang had disregarded this earlier suspicion after seeing the human¡¯s struggle. Yet, the being in front of him did not seem like a human any longer. It was something far more, nearly resemblance to a demon, yet not being a demon. It was enough to cause the feijiang to actually fear for its own immortal life. It decided then, instead of watching its servants fight, it would enter the fray. Perhaps through a combination of , and , the enemy before it would¡­ But it didn¡¯t even get a chance to finish the thought. It was surrounded by a firestorm. It tried to assemble some form of defence, and tried to casted several advanced and saint ranked water magic to nullify the firestorm surrounding it. and did not seem to lessen the power of the firestorm. It desperately casted the monarch ranked , butt even that had no effect. Seeing this, the gozuki rushed to the feijiang¡¯s side and started pouring its mana into an attempt to extinguish the firestorm. It was a futile attempt. Instead, the gozuki began to heat up and became engulfed in the expanding firestorm. The firestorm burned quickly and wildly. The flames seared everything in its surroundings. Some of the flames came close to David, but it did¡¯ burn him at all. The aura of darkness protected him. As he watched the flames flicker, he let out a sigh, ¡°It¡¯s finally over.¡± ¡°Well done. You have performed splendidly,¡± Lucifer congratulated him. ¡°Did it all go according to your plan?¡± David commented, while breaking of the . ¡°Well, you did defeat all of the undead here. So good job. Now¡­¡± Lucifer paused for a moment, as if considering something. ¡°Time to get out of here.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. David walked towards the large metal door that he used to enter the room. ¡°Not that way. Use to get above ground, then leave quickly.¡± ¡°Lucifer, is something wrong? ¡± Despite being confused about Lucifer¡¯s sudden request, David still listened to it, reasoning that Lucifer must have had a reason to do so. Casting David visualised the place where he entered the entrance of the tomb. ¡°So, what was it? David asked. ¡°Exorcists. Right now, you¡¯re not in any condition to deal with them.¡± ¡°Would they really attack? I just did their job for them¡­ Unless its because of you?¡± ¡°Better safe than sorry right? And these exorcists seemed to radiate a celestial light.¡±
A loud explosion was heard, startling the three of them. They rushed alone the corridor. The trail of bodies seemed never ending. Every step they took, the ground was covered with puddles of blood, flood or corpses, it seemed that stepping on them were unavoidable. ¡°What was that?¡± Hikari exclaimed. This mission definitely wasn¡¯t going the way she had expected it to. She had presumed that it¡¯d be a breeze in the park, followed by a few nights where she could relax and go out. Perhaps even hit the clubs or something. Instead they seemed to have been just a step behind a potential threat. ¡°Not sure, but judging from the sound, it definitely seems like a fight might be going on ahead. We should get going,¡± Guang replied. ¡°Wait a minute!¡± ordered Lux. ¡°Do you have any idea of what enemy you might face? Do you understand the dangers you¡¯re stepping into? Don¡¯t act so care free! First of all, the target this time is not a normal feijiang, but one that has risen from the body of a powerful mage. Secondly, a lot of the corpses we have seen all seemed to have a pool of water around it. This indicates the use of water or ice based attacks, neither of them are what is commonly associated with the elimination of undead. Telling you two to prepare [Divine Revenant] was definitely needed. The possibilities that the one responsible of eliminating the undead being hostile is not low. If they were not, they would have likely be local, and that we would have known about them. The fact that we have no idea of what could be ahead suggests heavily the dangers involved. So now stop acting like idiots and act like the exorcists you¡¯re supposed to be!¡± Hikari was surprised. To her, Lux had always been the cool older sister type of person that she admired. She believed that with Lux, anything was possible. For such a person to lose their temper and become worried, just how serious was this situation? ¡°Yes.. Understood¡­¡± Guang and Hikari answered. Although Hikari had doubts on her mind, she still obediently apologised. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up.¡± The three of them ran past several doors, but they ignored it. The explosion hadn¡¯t come from behind one of those doors, but further down the corridor. As they further and further, they noticed that the atmosphere had changed. The three of them could feel an intimidating and oppressing aura seeping out from the darkness. It didn¡¯t take them too long to arrive in front of a large black metal door. Yet when they arrived, the oppressing aura had disappeared. Was it a fragment of their imagination? That would be impossible. It was not possible for three strong-minded exorcists to be influenced so easily. This had to mean they truly felt the aura. What was the source of it? Questions filled Hikari¡¯s head. Lux slowly pushed open the metal gate. The three of them stepped inside the room. The smell of burnt flesh filled their nostrils. Before them, was death. A dead manticore was lying on the floor with its stomach cut wide open. A mezuki had been decapitated. Near the throne-like chair, a badly burnt corpse could be seen. On the throne itself was a charred skeleton. The flesh on its bones seemed to have burnt away. The scene in front of them contradicted everything else in the corridor before. It was as if a fire magician had arrived and burnt the 2 figures to dust. This sort of scene would have only been possible if there was a team that had arrived before them. ¡°Powerful fire magic as well as weaponry..?¡± Lux muttered. ¡°This can¡¯t be the act of a single person. But the ice before¡­ I suppose being proficient in both ice and fire magic is unlikely but not impossible¡­ Just what is going on here?¡± Guang was also dumbfounded at the scene. In no way did he expect to see a scene like this before him. Masses of undead destroyed, a mezuki slain. Even a manticore, a ferocious beast that could endanger a small village as a cub, dead before his eyes. He had expected the person or group before them to be a rather powerful group, but to have slain such dangerous monsters and the disappeared before they arrived. It was unthinkable. Hikari was raking the mind to see what she could think of, but nothing. She didn¡¯t know what to say at all. The mission hadn¡¯t just turned serious. It turned completely dangerous as well. An unknown possible threat was loose onto the city, and they had no clue about it. ¡°Hikari, Lux. Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll go and report the situation to the headquarters, then pour our efforts into finding whoever did this. They are far too powerful to be able to walk freely without us having any information on them. We need to understand everything in order to keep the people in this city safe. It is out duty. As followers of God almighty and his angels. As exorcists.¡± Chapter 12 - First Impressions David was in the middle of an exam. He had absolutely no time to revise for it at all, having spent Saturday eliminating the undead at the tomb and Sunday resting. The exam was really the last thing on his mind. He looked around the room, his classmates were all concentrated on the exam, he was the only one that was looking around. He looked at the paper. Mathematics, he was truly thankful that he had looked over the chapter by himself before and was already relatively proficient in it before the teacher had taught it. He opened the test paper and started to do it. After about 45 minutes, he looked up again. People were still focusing on their exam. He was the only one that seemed to have finished. Although there were a few problems here and there, he managed to do most of the questions. Doing a rough calculation, he estimated that he would barely scrap an A for the exam. Not too terrible and since it wasn¡¯t the real thing, he had plenty of time of improve. The teacher might get annoyed at him for achieving such a ¡®low¡¯ grade, but it doesn¡¯t matter. He noticed Helaine waving at him and returned the greeting with a smile. Seeing that, she turned back to her exam paper. His life hadn¡¯t changed all that much after becoming the host of Lucifer. Sure his schedule each day changed and his priorities have changed a bit, but the rest were still the same. There wasn¡¯t any drastic changes that took him away from his normal life. He thought about the ¡®exorcists¡¯ that Lucifer had mentioned being there on Saturday. As they were returning, Lucifer talked a bit about the structure of the church and were exorcists fitted in. The Christians that were involved in the supernatural were plentiful. The church had the Pope at the very top, followed by Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and Priests. Exorcists may are usually Bishops, Priests or even less than that. From his knowledge, there seemed to be various groups of exorcists just within the Roman Catholic Church. Unsurprisingly, other sects of Christianity also had their own groups of exorcists. Furthermore, exorcists did not even have to be religious in the first place. That was just a stereotype often used nowadays. Despite that, the ones he had sensed that day seemed to be religious. Form which sect he was unsure, but they were most likely Christians. If David wasn¡¯t the host of Lucifer, he doubt anything major would have happened, but being the host of a demon, it wasn¡¯t surprising for him to be targeted. In the first place, Lucifer had not expected him to run into exorcists there. It was purely coincidental. ¡°David, the exorcists from before, I can sense them nearby,¡± Lucifer suddenly said out of nowhere. ¡°Wait.. What? Are you certain?¡± David muttered under his breath, he didn¡¯t want to seem crazy and out of place. It was already easy to notice him seemingly talking to himself since the entire classroom was in exam conditions. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m positive. They¡¯re close, but they don¡¯t seem to be specifically targeting here. While not using you don¡¯t radiate or even leave a demonic aura, so you should be fine here.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°And time''s up. Students, please remain seated and quiet while I collect in your exam papers. After I¡¯ve collected them in, you are free to go,¡± The teacher said. David looked at the clock. It seems like the exam and subsequently school was now over. He packed up his stuff and walked towards the common room. ¡°Dae~ How did you do just now?¡± came a voice beside him as he walked out of the classroom. Helaine had waited for him, probably to leave together. ¡°I think I did okay. Scrapped an A, but anything more than that is impossible.¡± ¡°Ehh, that¡¯s really good already. I think I only got like half of the questions right. I actually had to skip some! ¡° ¡°You couldn¡¯t have done that bad, and its not like your grades are terrible anyways right? So don¡¯t fret over it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Wait for me just a little. I¡¯m going to grab my bag, then let¡¯s go,¡± Helaine said, before sprinting off to grab her bag from the common room.
Around ten minutes later, they were walking out of the school gate. ¡°Dae, what do you plan to do in the future?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know right now. A businessman? To be honest, as long as I can earn lots of money and live comfortably, I¡¯m fine with anything. What about you?¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Is that so? I want to become a celebrity. Maybe a singer or a dancer?¡± ¡°That¡¯ll suit you, you are good at dancing after all,¡± David said. It was then that he saw three people walking towards them;. Those three people were deep in conversation, and were all wearing crosses somewhere on their body. ¡°They¡¯re exorcists, probably the same as the ones on Saturday,¡± Lucifer suddenly said. Upon hearing this, David took a closer look at them. They were two young women and a young man. The young man looked Japanese and was slightly shorter than him. The young man had a dignified expression. His hair spiked up and coupled with his dark brown eyes and solemn expression, he gave off a cool atmosphere. He wore a white shirt that left the top 3 buttons unbuttoned, revealing the simple cross around his neck, and black jeans. On top of the shirt was a white trench coat embroidered with gold. He was someone who could definitely cause a few heads to turn. Both of the women were beauties. One of them looked Japanese as well. She was around 160 cm in height, not yet reaching David¡¯s shoulders. Deep brown eyes and clear feature. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, giving her somewhat of a stereotypical look of a Yamato Nadeshiko. She wore a cream coloured cropped sweater alongside with black skirt and knee length socks. She looked rather cute. The other young woman was a different kind of beauty. She possessed a more mature charm, similar to that of Helaine¡¯s. With long wavy blond hair and clear emerald eyes, she looked European. Her body was a stark contrast to the other woman¡¯s. While the other woman had a childish charm, this woman had a mature body. Her long fitting dress certainly reflected this, showing off her long legs and small waist. She was wearing two earrings in the shape of a cross. After burning their image into his head, David turned away. As he was doing his, his gaze met the second woman¡¯s. He nodded her head in greetings, and she nodded back.
When the couple walked past them, Lux revealed a perplex expression on her face. ¡°Lux onee-sama, what¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Hikari. She was quite sensitive to the feelings of people in the team, having know both of them for a long time. ¡°The guy looked at us for a while. It¡¯s strangely disturbing,¡± replied Lux. All of the warnings in her body was screaming out at her, but she couldn¡¯t place her finger on the reason. ¡°Well, he was just entranced by your beauty right?¡± Hikari half-jokingly asked. ¡°The girl beside him doesn¡¯t lose out to Lux-sama though¡­¡± Guang half-jokingly muttered. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that sort of look. It was more like¡­ It felt like he was observing us. His gaze seemed to penetrate into the body, as if he was trying to pry out our secrets. It¡¯s like the gaze of a warrior on the battlefield,¡± Lux replied. ¡°EHHHH! Did Lux onee-sama start to get interested in someone? That guy was kinda cute, is Lux onee-sama interested in that kind of guy!¡± Hikari exclaimed loudly. ¡°Ouch!¡± The reason for the shout of because Lux hit her on the head, ¡°It¡¯s not that. And you¡¯re too loud. It¡¯s probably nothing, so let¡¯s move on.¡±
David turned his head back to look at the people that walked past. ¡°They sure look friendly huh?¡± commented Lucifer. ¡°Yeah, isn¡¯t that nice. I hope there¡¯s no need get into a quarrel with them,¡± replied David. ¡°Dae, did you say something?¡± asked Helaine as she suddenly wrapped her arms around him. ¡°Ahh, no its nothing.¡± ¡°You were totally looking at that European. She¡¯s your type. Here here, it¡¯s okay. You can tell me everything,¡± Helaine whispered in his ear on tip toes. David lightly pushed Helaine away, ¡°It¡¯s not like that. It¡¯s just rather uncommon for there to be foreigners here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a foreigner though.¡± ¡°I meant foreign tourists. They aren¡¯t students at our school and there isn¡¯t much tourist spots here.¡± ¡°I suppose, anyways Dae let¡¯s go quickly. Don¡¯t you have to go training today?¡± asked Helaine as she grabbed David¡¯s hand and ran forwards. David looked back one last time, but he couldn¡¯t see the exorcists anymore. Somehow, he had a strange feeling that they would meet in the near future¡­ Chapter 13 - Danger? Hikari was getting impatient. For the past week, her, Guang and Lux have been searching around the city for clues about the mysterious people who finished their mission for them. The Vatican didn¡¯t know anything about it, nor does the local church. The only unusual thing that had happened were several areas that had an abnormally high trace of demonic magic. Those were the places they first investigated, and out of the ones that stood out were a mountain beside a school, the art museum and a back alleyway. These places only stood out because it was unknown who had dealt with these high levels of demonic magic, which usually indicated the existence of a demon in that area. These three places were the only places that did not have their case resolved by someone known. All the other ones were either resolved by local exorcists or were the results of the experiments conducted by local magicians. However, despite knowing this, it didn¡¯t put them any closer to identifying the mysterious person. They could not connect any dots between these three places, and the traces of demonic magic was also different in each place, so the mysterious person being a demonic being or a person that had access to demonic magic was unlikely. ¡°Have you found anything yet?¡± Hikari asked Guang who was on several laptops at once. He was once again running through the current information they had on multiple databases across several different servers at once. Using Lux¡¯s authority, they also acquired full cooperation from the local church in this man hunt. ¡°Still nothing,¡± Guang replied. He was visibly stressed, he seemed thinner than before and his hair was a in mess. This was the result of his heavy sense of duty, and wish to uphold his believe of exorcists being the shield of man kind against all kinds of evil. Although the mysterious people had completed their mission for them, eliminating the threatening feijiang, there was no information on them. If they were to turn the power against the people¡­ Guang dreaded the consequences. ¡°Lord Guang! Lady Hikari! There¡¯s an incident,¡± shouted a voice from outside the hotel room door. Hikari went and opened the door. It was a young priest that they had met several days prior when they went to the local church for more information. They had left instructions for the three of them to be informed of any abnormal incidents going on. ¡°What is it?¡± Hikari asked. ¡°There¡¯s an abnormal level of demonic magic, the precise address is written down here. I have already informed Lady Lux just now and she asked me to inform the two of you,¡± the young priest frantically replied. ¡°She also asked that you start to prepare.¡± ¡°Prepare for wha..?¡± ¡°Yes I understand. Thank you for informing us,¡± Guang covered Hikari¡¯s mouth and took the piece of paper that the priest held out. He nodded with a slight smile on his face and closed the door. Hikari shook free of his hand and turned annoyingly to him,¡± What was that for?¡± ¡°Start using your brain okay? It¡¯s obvious that Lux-sama had been deliberately vague with the priest. She couldn¡¯t have revealed any information about [Divine Revenant]. Anyways, let¡¯s hurry up and get to the address.¡±
Lux was standing in front of a civilian house. That was the location which the address the priest had given to her pointed towards. It didn¡¯t seem like the priest was lying. She could clearly feel the tingling on mana in the air. It was something she was familiar with. There was a demon within the house. Whoever was inside had probably summoned a demon in order to form a contract with it. For what she wasn¡¯t sure. But this had to be stopped. Demons were not trustworthy beings. They were cruel and vicious. They would often twist the truth in such a way that makes people want to form a contract with them. But the truth was the the contract isn¡¯t going to help the person at all. In fact, it would cause the person to fall into despair without any real gain. Demons were filthy beings. She firmly believed that. She was only in this situation because of a demon. If that didn¡¯t happen twelve years ago¡­ No she couldn¡¯t let her mind wander. The resolution she has will not waver. Her [Divine Revenant] was being prepared. It¡¯ll probably be ready when Guang and Hikari arrive. So around ten minutes later. She just continue waiting here. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Although she would love to ran into the house and cut down the demon, it was better to play it safe. The contract would probably not be signed too soon. Most demons would take at least several hours to convince their victims to sign the contract. She had enough time to remain patient¡­
David was taking a break after practice when his phone ran. He checked caller. It seems like it was his mom calling. ¡°Hey mom. What is it?¡± ¡°Ahh good. You finally picked up. Anyways, its Easter next week right? I called the school earlier so you don¡¯t need to go this week.¡± ¡°Wait what? Why?¡± ¡°Well Mike and your dad were talking over the phone the other day and they decided for both you and Helaine to skip a week of school. We registered you two for a 2 week long camp thing. Originally Mike was only going to send Helaine there, but its always nice to have company right?¡± David could hear his mom laughing from the other side of the phone. Mike Papadopoulos was Helaine¡¯s dad, and he was good friends with David¡¯s own dad, both having similar mindsets and interest. It seems like his dad did something unnecessary again. ¡°Can¡¯t you cancel it?¡± ¡°Well we could, but we don¡¯t want to leave you alone for so long. Your dad and I have decided to stay here for another month for a holiday this time. And so yeah, I¡¯ll send you the details later through email. Don¡¯t starve okay?¡± with that his mother hung up on him. David sighed. His parents were always like this. They were good parents, but acted on the whim a lot of the times. Just like this time. ¡°David, something¡¯s amiss, we should hurry,¡± Lucifer interrupted his thoughts. ¡°What is it? And where?¡± David asked. He jolted up from the sofa and walked towards the door, grabbing his jacket on the way. ¡°A demonic reaction. I may be mistaken, but it seems like its coming from that girl¡¯s place.¡± ¡°Girl¡¯s?¡± ¡°The one you spend a lot of time with.¡± ¡°Shit!¡± David ran out the door and didn¡¯t even lock it. Right now, his mind was only worrying about Helaine¡¯s safety. She, who¡¯s been by his side through thick and thin. She, who cared for him and encouraged him when he felt like all was lost. She, who he has shared many important memories with. He sincerely hoped that Lucifer was mistaken. But deep in his heart, he had a sneaky feeling that Lucifer wasn¡¯t, and that Helaine has been dragged into something beyond her imagination. Something that David didn¡¯t want her to become involved in.
Seeing Lux in front of them, Hikari and Guang stopped running. It seems like they arrived at the destination. ¡°Lux-sama, is this the place?¡± Guang asked. Although the two of them had ran thirty minutes without stopping at a speed of approximately sixty miles per hour, neither of them were even breathing heavily. This was the effects of that was applied on their entire squad of exorcists. ¡°Can you not feel it?¡± Lux asked absentmindedly. ¡°Feel what?¡± Hikari replied, she, not surprisingly did not know what Lux was talking about. Lux sighed, ¡°It seems like the two of you can¡¯t feel it. The swirling mass of demonic magic inside. The disgusting feeling of a demonic portal.¡± She turned towards Guang and Hikari, then summoned out her holy sword. It was an estoc that was radiating holy magic. Although thin, the blade gave of a feeling of being able to cut through anything. The hilt of the estoc was gold and embroidered with a large blue sapphire. She faced the house once more and pointed her estoc towards the house, ¡°In the name of our Father, our Lord and his Holiness. Let us save the lost lamb and exorcise the snake of temptation.¡± But at that moment. She noticed a person at the corner of her eye. A young man with black hair, slightly taller than average. A civilian? No that was too much of a coincidence. Especially since she remembered that she had seen him once before, when they were going to investigate the mountain beside a school. The same young man, whose stare she had felt disturbed by, was now standing right in front of them. Chapter 14 - Worries David ran towards Helaine¡¯s home as quickly as he could. He was desperately hoping that he would be on time to save Helaine from whatever could happen. ¡°David. There are exorcists up ahead,¡± Lucifer warned him as his mind was going wild. ¡°WHAT? What are they doing there?¡± David asked bewildered. It seemed like there was something unexpectedly troublesome up ahead. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure, you can asked them yourself.¡± David stopped in his tracks. He saw the three exorcists in front of him. The European one was holding an estoc out and pointing it towards Helaine¡¯s house. She turned towards him, and their gaze crossed each other. Neither of them made a sound. They only silently glared at each other. The silent glare lasted around 30 seconds. During that time, no one uttered a sound. It was so quiet that the sound of a piece of leaf falling from a tree onto the ground could be heard clearly. ¡°Ehhh! Aren¡¯t you that guy that Lux-sama was starting at?¡± It was the Japanese girl who finally broke the silence. A fist came crashing down on her head. ¡°Shut up idiot,¡± the Japanese guy reprimanded her. Hearing something so out of place and could easily be served as comic relief, David annoying glared at them. Then he looked by at the woman holding the estoc. ¡°Exorcists. What are you trying to do?¡± Seeing a potential serious threat in front of him, David calmed down a bit. He realised that he had to remain logical. If he didn¡¯t, he might lose the time he would need to save Helaine from whatever is going on within her home. ¡°You. Who are you?¡± the European girl pointed her estoc at him. David could tell that she was wary about him. He pondered for a moment, then replied, ¡°Excuse me, my friend¡¯s inside the house. Could you let me pass please?¡± He took a step forward, ¡°That¡¯s a cool cosplay.¡± ¡°Answer my question.¡± David took another step forward, ¡°I¡¯m the friend of the person living in the house, I came here to see her. Could you please point your blade slightly to the side so I can go past?¡± She didn¡¯t bulge and just repeated what she said, ¡°Answer my question.¡± The young man and the Japanese girl walked closer to them. The young man placed his hands on the European girl¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Lux-sama, please lower your sword. Don¡¯t the issue within the house take priority?¡± She looked back at him, then thought for a moment, ¡°Yea you¡¯re right.¡± Turning back to David, she lowered her estoc and asked, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you said your friend was in there?¡± Seeing her change in demeanour, instead of being relieved about it, it had the opposite effect. Something fishy was going on, ¡°Yes, so if you were excuse me.¡± He tried to move past her from the side. But she blocked his way, and raised her left hand, ¡°And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal¡­¡± Her hand began to glow Sensing something bad about the situation, David crouched down and knocked her hand away as she finished her sentence, ¡°proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.¡± Not expecting this, she seemed to lose her balance. Taking this chance, David didn¡¯t look back and rushed forwards, getting to Helaine¡¯s door. A sinister aura stirred behind the closed doors. He could feel it creeping up at him. There was little time. Knowing that, he opted to kick the door open instead of bothering to ring the bell. The moment the door swung open, pressure overwhelmed him. ¡°Lucifer, are my intuitions correct?¡± David asked, he had felt a similar feeling before. The very same feeling had made him feel powerless. But no longer. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yeah, its the demon from before,¡± Lucifer replied as David stepped into the house. He looked around .Nothing seemed out of place, but the aura seemed to surround the entire house, as if it had been trapped here for a long time. ¡°HELLY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?¡± David shouted. The only reply were the echoes of his voice through the large dark house. It wasn¡¯t even night, but the interior of the house was already pitch dark. The light from the open front door did not seem to penetrate through the darkness within. Having no other ways to gather information, he turned his head towards the exorcists that were coming into the house. ¡°How long have you been here? Do you know what happened?¡± Before any of them could answer, a loud crash was heard. All four of them looked up. David¡¯s worries began to show on his face. Did something happen to Helaine? Her room is upstairs¡­ David sincerely wished that nothing happened. With that thought, David ran up the stairs, with the exorcists a few steps behind him. David couldn¡¯t care less about their purpose right now, it didn¡¯t matter to him at all. What mattered was finding out what the hell was going on. With each step, the pressure on his body seemed to increase. With each step, the nausea he had grew stronger. He couldn¡¯t push it all away. He was starting to remember the horror of helplessness. Emmet Wayne Gacy¡­ He could still remember that tall demon¡¯s jester-like face. The ways that he was made insignificant, played like an idiot. His mind was beginning to waver. ¡°Don¡¯t lose focus here. Remember your purpose,¡± Lucifer¡¯s voice pierced through the mist in his mind. It was a voice of reason, unlike his continuous stream of thoughts. David once again focused his thoughts as he reached the top of the stairs. Turning right, he saw that the door to Helaine¡¯s room was closed, but it was rather obvious the the sinister aura was leaking from within. He slowly approached her room. Time seemed to slow down. In a way, David didn¡¯t want to open the door, to see what was inside. He was afraid to see Helaine hurt or harmed. He was afraid to see the truth. But he fought back those fears. Things like that was always a possibility, but if Helaine ended up like that because of him hesitating here, he could not forgive himself. He turned the door knob and opened the door. The first thing he noticed was a demon dressed in a suit. The demon had the face of a clown with a large red ball for a nose. Although the angel it was bending at made the top hat it was wearing cover the upper half of its face, there was no doubt. David was sure of who it was. He conjured up his blades and leaped towards the demon. The demon didn¡¯t flinch, but reached out to grab someone beside David. He turned his head, and seeing it was Helaine, he tried to use his blades to slice off the demon¡¯s hand. But he just wasn¡¯t fast enough. The demon, Emmet Wayne Gacy had already disappeared into a ripple in space that was concealed behind it the entire time. What David had come to do.. He had failed. He let Helaine get dragged into this mess. There was no other choice. If that¡¯s the case, then he had to save Helaine from the clutches of the demon. He ran towards the portal and leaped through. The last thing he heard before passing through was from within his head. Lucifer had screamed, ¡°WAIT!¡± Chapter 15 - Arrival David found himself in a foreign land. ¡°HELLY! ANSWER ME IF YOU CAN HEAR!¡± he screamed and frantically looked around. He was unable to see either neither her not the demon. ¡°They¡¯re gone,¡± Lucifer¡¯s calmly said. ¡°What? How is that possible? We were seconds¡­¡± ¡°It is possible, the moment the demon pulled through, he most likely used some form of acceleration magic. It¡¯s not that difficult.¡± ¡°Then I can too.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t even know where they went.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you sense the demon?¡± ¡°I could, but the trace is weak and being here, its rather difficult to accurately pinpoint their location. I could do it in my own body, but not like this.¡± ¡°Here? Where are we? And what do you mean about your body?¡± David frantically looked around, hoping to even get a glimpse of where the demon took Helaine. All he saw was a a road surrounded by wilderness¡­ And the three exorcists. The three exorcists were glancing around just like he was. It seemed like they followed him through the portal, but the portal had closed itself behind them. Noticing his gaze, the European exorcist he had pushed outside Helaine¡¯s home asked him, ¡°Do you know where we are?¡± ¡°No,¡± David replied. At the back of his mind, he heard Lucifer¡¯s chuckle. The exorcist looked at him for a moment, then seeing he wasn¡¯t going to continue, turned to her fellow exorcists and bowed, ¡°This incident is my fault. It was upon my leadership and judgment that we ended up here. Although we should abide by the Lord¡¯s teachings, there are times that sacrifices should be made. I will do all I can to return us to a familiar place, after that I shall ask for both your¡¯s and our Lord¡¯s forgiveness.¡± ¡°There is no need to overly humble with us, Lux-sama. It was our decision to follow you. Although those old men back at Vatican may feel like its foolish, I agree with the notion of saving everyone,¡± the Japanese boy glanced down at his hands. ¡°I wish to save everyone with these hands. I shall the same feeling as you do. And no matter how little, a life is a life. I do not think this was a wrong decision made by you to try and save this innocent person and the girl grabbed by the demon.¡± ¡°I agree, like Guang said. Lux-sama is right. I don¡¯t think any of us could have made a better decision,¡± the Japanese exorcist girl added. Hearing this exchange, David started to walk off. He had no interest in the affairs of these exorcists. His priority right now was finding Helaine. Anything else didn¡¯t matter one bit him.
Seeing the young man they had followed through the portal had begun to walk away, HIkari cried out to him, ¡°Hey wait up!¡± The young man turned back and gave her a cold stare, ¡°What?¡± ¡°Where are you going?¡± She asked, despite the cold stare, he was still a human, he didn¡¯t seem hostile either. ¡°Does it matter? I¡¯m going to save Helaine. She¡¯s the girl that was grabbed by the demon,¡± he answered naturally. Hikari was rather surprised by this. Although he seemed to know about exorcists and demons, to challenge a demon all of a sudden was too ridiculous, ¡°You need help don¡¯t you? Since we followed you all the way here, we¡¯ll help you.¡± She felt Guang¡¯s hand gripping her shoulders, supporting what she was saying, ¡°Exactly. Like us you don¡¯t even know where we are right? So at the very least let us help you. We are exorcists, so we would be able to protect you. It is, after all, the teaching of our Lord.¡± The young man seemed to think for a bit and muttered to himself. Then decided, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll gladly accept your offer.¡± Hikari smiled. It was nice having someone accepting their help. She looked at Lux, who had stayed silent during this exchange. Lux returned her gaze and smile weakly. From the looks of it, it seems like her mind was still burdened by the seemingly wrong decision she had made, and was still a little wary of the young man in front of them. ¡°So shall we do a simple introduction about ourselves first? It¡¯ll help since we¡¯re going to be together for the near future,¡± Hikari suggested with the intention of helping Lux feel at ease. Although it was Lux that had made the call for them to go through the portal, both Guang and her agreed full heartedly on that decision, so it couldn¡¯t be said as her fault alone. ¡°I¡¯m Hikari.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Guang,¡± Guang said, while extending out his hand. ¡°David,¡± the young man shook Guang¡¯s hand. Then indicating to Lux, he asked, ¡°And this is..?¡± ¡°Lux,¡± Lux replied. ¡°Hikari, Guang and Lux huh? I guess its only naturally that you wouldn¡¯t tell me your real name here. But you could have been more creative you know? You three names practically have the same meaning,¡± David laughed. Hikari puffed up her cheeks, ¡°HEY! That¡¯s mean you know?¡± ¡°We weren¡¯t lying about our names. The teachings of our Lord does not permit that. This name was given to us by his Holiness. To become the light of the people and guide their path, it is only fitting if you were to be named such, was what he had said to us,¡± Guang explained. ¡°I see. Then I apologise for my rudeness,¡± David said.
After discussing with each other and scouting their surroundings, they followed the road towards where the sun seemed to be setting. As the sky darkened, David couldn¡¯t help but wonder where exactly they were. Also, unlike what he expected, the exorcists seemed rather nice and they didn¡¯t seem to have noticed that he was Lucifer¡¯s host. ¡°This is where humans sometimes call Hell, or the Underworld. This is where I was cast down to all those years ago. I suppose it¡¯s about time I say it. Welcome to my realm David,¡± Lucifer said out of nowhere, as if reading his thought. ¡°I see¡­¡± Seeing the exorcists in front come to a halt, he asked, ¡°Why are we stopping? Did something occur in front?¡± ¡°It¡¯s getting dark. We should make camp, and that clearing under the tree seems to be a good spot,¡± the one called Guang replied. ¡°You and Hikari go over there first, Lux-sama and I will scout the surroundings.¡± ¡°Yeah okay,¡± it seems like the exorcists didn¡¯t fully trust him, hence why they¡¯re leaving him here with one of their own. David and Hikari walked over to the clearing. She had tried to make conversation with him earlier, but after expressing the wish to be left alone to think for a while, she gave him some personal space. When they arrived at the clearing, Hikari skilfully began to set up a camp fire to keep them warm. Although it wasn¡¯t too cold right now, the temperature had already dropped from when they arrived in this land. So setting up a camp fire wasn¡¯t the wrong decision to make. Since he wasn¡¯t too sure on how he could help, David just quietly watched Hikari work. She gathered dry branches around the shade and stacked them in a little conical structure. After surrounding it with large pieces of rocks, she asked him, ¡°David, can you use fire magic?¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. David thought deeply before answering. Should he reveal that he was capable of using fire magic? How much would that reveal about him? Although they seemed to barely know anything about him, perhaps it was just an act? Was it possible that this was a test? Only after considering various possibilities in his head, he answered, ¡°I can try, but I¡¯m not too confident in spell casting.¡± ¡°Let the source of all life take shape. Manifest thyself to create warmth! .¡± David casted the most basic fire magic spell he could think of, while also controlling the spell so that the Fireball produced would be quite small. He deliberately chanted out the first ¡°incantation¡± he thought of in his head. It was better to not reveal what he was capable of right now. Despite the exorcists appearing rather friendly, they could suddenly turn hostile. ¡°A unique chant huh?¡± Hikari asked. ¡°Yeah, that chant is the only way I can focus. Using the regular chant doesn¡¯t allow me to focus my mana enough for the spell to work,¡± David replied. He had expected Hikari to asked him such and prepared an answer when he chanted. It seems like he wasn¡¯t being overly cautious. Hikari looked around, and seeing that the others weren¡¯t anywhere close for the time being, she asked, ¡°So, who was that girl that the demon grabbed? She seems important to you for you to dive through something like a portal.¡± ¡°She¡¯s.. a childhood friend. We¡¯ve known each other since forever,¡± David replied coldly. He didn¡¯t really want to talk about it right now. It would have been better if she just stayed silent and falls asleep. That way he would have some time to converse with Lucifer about some stuff before the other exorcists return without being suspicious. ¡°I see. Guang¡¯s more or less my childhood friend. My parents died when I was really young. It was supposedly due to a demon attack. I was taken in my the local church which runs an orphanage. When I turned six, a Cardinal came to our church to preach and for some reason I caught his attention. Then a lot of things happened, and I ended up meeting Guang. He was really nice to me from the start and took care of me. He¡¯s kind of like an oni-chan, which I never had.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°So I kind of understand how upset you are. You¡¯re worrying about her and I get that. That¡¯s why I¡¯ll try and help you to get her back. So try cheering up and stop being gloomy?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I suppose I¡¯ll try.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good enough for me,¡± Hikari giggled. She didn¡¯t expect her words to reach the bottom of David¡¯s heart since they had just met, but since they¡¯re going to be stuck together for the near future, she wanted to him to cheer up somewhat. ¡°Why exactly did you three follow through the portal? It was of no relevance to you, was it not?¡± ¡°We are exorcists, aides of God who helps those in need. Especially when its a supernatural related incident. In your case, the demonic origin of the situation was what caused us to arrive at the scene. But we helped because we wanted to. To become a saviour of the people is what we wish for.¡± ¡°Truly naive words you know? The world doesn¡¯t work like that. What we wish for, what we hope to achieve, I don¡¯t think its that simple.¡± ¡°But we can still try and strive to work our way towards our goal. If we do, then one day it¡¯ll become reality.¡± ¡°Heh.¡± ¡°I promise you, I¡¯ll do everything in my power to help you save your friend. I¡¯m an exorcist and God must have brought you before us for a reason. I believe that reason is to save you and your friend. So please believe in me!¡± Gazing at Hikari who became rather energetic about the situation, David couldn¡¯t help but laugh inside. How was it possible for her to land him a helping hand? Was it some cruel joke of fate? He was the host of a demon, in fact he was the host of the Devil himself. Exorcists helping him would be the last thing he expected. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me right?¡± HIkari asked, sensing David¡¯s doubt. ¡°I¡¯ll prove it to you through out the next few days that I¡¯ll definitely fulfil my promise!¡± She did seem like a nice person. But to David it wasn¡¯t what he was looking for right now. He was looking for a way to save Helaine from the clutches of that vile demon.
Guang and Lux left Hikari alone with the young man called David to scout their surroundings. Well that was only an excuse, the main objective was actually to observe David from afar. Lux didn¡¯t trust him fully and thought that he had hidden several things. After all, he had stopped her memory altering spell and knocked her off balance at the blink of an eye. Neither of them had realised it until he had ran past them. Then there was also the fact that he seemed to have a weapon, but the next moment they looked, it had disappeared. This was a good opportunity to see if he would do anything. They were close enough so that they could see what was going on and go to Hikari¡¯s aid if anything happened, but far away enough so that they wouldn¡¯t be easily noticed. They could have left him all alone, but then if he was really innocent, having Hikari there would buy them so time if anything hostile was to approach them in this foreign land. As they watched, they could see Hikari and David setting up a fire, then chatting away. It didn¡¯t seem like David even attempted to do anything either. ¡°Lux-sama, should we not return and rest now? That person doesn¡¯t seem that dangerous,¡± Guang enquired. ¡°Wait for slightly longer. He doesn¡¯t seem dangerous, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be safe. I¡¯m still not very trusting of his intentions as of now. The only thing I can be completely sure of is that he seems to actually acre about the girl that was snatched away,¡± Lux replied with her eyes fixed upon Hikari and David, watching for any minute small movements that he might make. The two of them continued their observations for twenty odd more minutes, but he didn¡¯t do anything special. All he did was just sit there quietly pondering, occasional making some conversation with Hikari. Lux raised her eyebrows. She genuinely believed that David would have made some sort of move. She was so sure of it, but yet nothing happened. It seemed like she was at least temporarily proven wrong. Seeing the darkness about to cover the land, she turned to Guang, ¡° Let us return, the perimeters seem safe as well. But make sure that you are vigilant. He is almost definitely hiding something.¡± Chapter 16 - Mana and Succubus When Guang and Lux returned, they found Hikari already asleep. No wanting to disturb her, they decided that they would leave her to sleep while the two of them and David takes turn keeping watch. Initially David had offered to take the first shift, but after getting refused by Lux, he took the opportunity to take a rest. He felt like Lux didn¡¯t seem to trust him yet, but after Hikari¡¯s speech and actions yesterday, he was fairly confident that Lux wouldn¡¯t actually do anything while he was asleep. The last thing he saw before he entered the world of dreams was the wilderness around him, lightened up slightly by their small camp fire.
He woke up around from the sound of something walking by his ear. It was only an insect. Having the urge to return to sleep, he looked at his watch. It was still ticking, and it seemed like three hours had already passed. David looked around and saw that Lux, who was still keeping watch, sitting on a large boulder. He called out, ¡°Lux, was it? Take a rest, its my turn to keep watch now.¡± Lux looked back at him. She hesitated a bit, before quietly complying by leaving the boulder, and taking up the space David was on. She leaned back onto the tree and closed her eyes. David looked at her for a while. Although he tried to analyse her a few days prior, this was a different case. She was a beautiful young woman similar to Helaine. She was the type of woman that can easily bewitch any men with a ease. The overall feeling she gave off was rather mature and slightly mysterious. She was the type of cool beauty you would find people looking up to, but often too scared to approach. Helaine used to be like that too before David had convinced her to brighten up and let herself be more approachable. As his mind drifted back to Helaine, his worries began once more. Why was the demon there? Why did he grab Helaine away? How did he find out about their relationship? Where are they now? Is she alright? Piles of questions surfaced in his mind. ¡°David, walk slightly further away from them,¡± Lucifer¡¯s voice resonated in his head. David had gotten used to this sudden intrusion of his thoughts, Lucifer seemed to do this a lot. David took several steps away from where the exorcists where sleeping and asked, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°There¡¯s several things. One, I can still feel the general direction that the demon and your girl is in, Two..¡± ¡°You can feel them? Which way?¡± David asked desperately, he had assumed that Lucifer had no idea, but since he could then all the more reason to rush to Helaine¡¯s rescue. ¡°Two, I wouldn¡¯t recommend you to find her yet. Well although you could probably go there rather quickly using several enhancing spells, that would reveal you to the exorcists. And since they seem to be willing to help, use them. Travel along the road, they are in that direction after all. And lastly, before you go find Helaine. I just want you to know something." ¡°What is it? Spit it out?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a succubus.¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯m sorry?¡± ¡°Your friend Helaine is a succubus.¡± ¡°What? You must lying. There is no way Helly would be involved in this insane mess from the start. There¡¯s no way she¡¯s a succubus.¡± ¡°Have I ever lied to you so far?¡± David could not think of a rebuttal. Indeed it was as Lucifer has said, he had never been lied to. But was that possible? Helly¡¯s a succubus? The Helly that had fell in love with? The Helly that means more to him than anything else in the world? The same Helly he was trying to save? ¡°David, I¡¯m not trying to drive you insane or anything. I need you to know what you¡¯re getting into. If you truly want to, there¡¯s a method of returning back and leaving this place behind. It¡¯s not too difficult. Trust me and let me take over your body for a while. You have the ability to open a portal to return home, but you lack the necessary skill and focus right now.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Telling me that right now. Are you trying to convince me to turn back and return?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m just giving you the option.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not returning. At the very least I want to save Helly, then I want some answers from her. But before then, I¡¯m not returning.¡± ¡°I guessed that¡¯s what you¡¯d say. So for the time being, close your eyes and try to feel the mana flowing around your body. Let it circulate and not move in an erratic manner. Then slowly manipulate the mana around you to do the same. Since you¡¯re here with exorcists, it¡¯s more or less the only way you can train your magic without revealing yourself.¡± David complied and did as Lucifer suggested. His mind was still all over the place. Hearing that Helaine was a succubus. That wasn¡¯t something he could even imagine. Sweet beautiful Helaine. He will rescue her. Then only then, he¡¯ll find out the truth directly from her. He felt the mana moving around his body rather erratically. It moved around without a direction, like a torrent of energy without any purpose. He tried to feel through his entire body for mana, but he only felt it on an outer layer, the closer to the middle of his body, the less mana there seemed to be. He treated it as a normal occurrence and imagined the torrent of mana in his body circulating around his body like blood does. It wasn¡¯t easy. Focusing his mana and shaping it to cast spells came rather naturally to him, particularly fire and ice spells. But manipulating raw mana and making it circulate around him body was far more difficult than he imagined. Every time he tried to focus on even a small amount of mana in a specific spot of his body, they just seemed to move away instead of circulate like he wished. No this wasn¡¯t the time for it. He should think of a way to get to and save Helaine. No, first he has to find her. Lucifer had said follow the path and that he could sense her. Where does the road lead to? How long did he have? Ugh, but he can¡¯t do anything right now, or was there something he could do? ¡°Lucifer, have you manage to think of where that demon might have taken Helly? There¡¯s limited places around here right?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve even been in this area. I¡¯m still trying to figure out whose territory is it. Even in this world, us Demon Princes of the Seven Sins don¡¯t rule over anything. We hold authority over most of this dimension, while the rest is under the authority of the demon nobles.¡± ¡°Demon nobles.¡± ¡°The more traditional of the demons. Well, the demon nobles that chose to end the demonic civil war that waged between the original demon nobles and us. They are most well known for having the methods of their summons recorded down in the Ars Goetia.¡± ¡°Ars Goetia? As in the Lesser Key of Solomon?¡± ¡°The Ars Goetia is the original grimoire, while the Lesser Key of Solomon is merely replica of it. But yes. Those demons as well as their descendants. I¡¯l continue to ponder about our whereabouts, focus on survival and gaining the exorcists trust. In this land, they may become some of the most valuable allies you can get. You better stop talking, the exorcist girl stirs. She seems to have started to awaken from her slumber.¡± David turned around to look at who Lucifer was talking about. It seemed like Hikari was going to wake up soon with her rubbing her eyes. Lucifer had told him to not think too much about Helaine. But that wasn¡¯t possible. He was determined to find and save her at all cost. That was the most important thing right now. He wasn¡¯t about to let anything deter him from that. Chapter 17 - Barghest When Hikari opened her eyes, she could feel someone¡¯s gaze upon her. She surveyed around, and saw David¡¯s glare, ¡°Good morning, David~¡± ¡°Good morning,¡± David replied. ¡°Did you have a good sleep?¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks. Wait did you stand guard all night? I¡¯m so sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m seriously sorry. I think we were talking.. and then I fell asleep. Uwahhh.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, its not like I was on guard duty all night either. It¡¯s just been around 4 or 5 hours since I switched with Lux. But shouldn¡¯t you be a little bit more quiet so the two of them can rest properly? They did go search the parameters for any signs of danger, so they deserve the rest,¡± David said. He wasn¡¯t naive enough to believe that Lux and Guang had actually gone off for so long solely to search the parameters. More likely, the main purpose was to set a trap for him to see whether he was hostile towards them or not. If he was in their shoes, he would do the same thing. He completely understood that he came off as a rather suspicious person to them, but there was no helping it. If he was to reveal that he was Lucifer¡¯s host¡­ They would turn into enemies, and that would slow him down on finding Helaine. ¡°Was there anything during your guard duty?¡± ¡°Nothing. It was rather peaceful,¡± replied David. It was only peaceful on the outside. David¡¯s mind was in chaos right now, he was still struggling to come to terms with everything Lucifer had told him. He didn¡¯t want to believe it. Yet he sensed that Lucifer wasn¡¯t lying. ¡°Yay, isn¡¯t that great?¡± Hikari cheered and proceeded to sit down on the boulder beside David, who merely stared into the horizon, thinking about what he could do for Helaine.
Merzula ran across the fields, it was her and Mazul¡¯s 4th birthday today, so they were allowed to go out of the village to play in the fields outside. The weather was great and the temperature wasn¡¯t too hot, there was also a small breeze, causing the day to be ideal for children to play out doors. ¡°Mazzy come here and see this! Isn¡¯t this flower pretty?¡± Merzula stopped in front of a small white flower. It was a delicate little flower in the middle of the wilderness, making it stand out. Its five petals where white as snow, the bright yellow stigma stood out from the whiteness, decorating it with a hint of brightness. Mazul ran over and bent down to admired the flower next to Merzula. It was rare for such exquisite flower to grow at such a place. It was truly something wonderful. ¡°Mazzy, can we take it home and grow it in a pot?¡± Merzula asked Mazul, looking at him with eyes fun of expectation. ¡°Of course! Go and get a flower pot from home. I¡¯ll stay here and make sure nothing tramples it,¡± he replied. Being the older twin, he decided to stay here. Although it seemed like a calm day, there may always be demonic beasts nearby that may accidentally or intentionally trample such a small flower. These demonic beasts were dangerous, so there was no way he was going to let Merzula stay and watch over it. ¡°Okie,¡± Merzula replied, running off towards the town. Marzul sat down onto the floor, next to the flower as he watched Merzula hurry back to the village. It was very amazing that it wasn¡¯t running today as opposed to the previous. The sky was clear of any clouds, showing the blood red sky. He was very excited for later today. He had saw his parents preparing a cake for his sister and him, although they made him promise not to tell his sister, he was looking forward to the cake. It was quite rare for them to have a cake these days due to the decrease in the frequency of merchants coming. His parents had gone into the nearest town to buy the ingredients used to make the cake. He saw Merzula turn around to wave at him again. He waved back and shoo¡¯d her to go back to the village to get the pot faster, but instead he saw he standing there trying to shout something to her. Since he was so far away he couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying, so he asked loudly, ¡°Mer, what are you saying?¡± She pointed towards him. Or rather to something behind him with a look of sheer terror that suddenly appeared on her face. Marzul turned around to take a look at what she was pointing to, surely it couldn¡¯t be anything truly terrifying right? He was mistaken. What he saw was¡­
When Lux and Guang awoke form their slumber, they decided to share the little amount of food they had between all four of them. Although it was a small amount, the food entering their empty stomach was definitely better than nothing. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Having decided on the direction they were going to go, they continued to travel down the dusty road. Guang and Lux continued to walk in the front like they had the previous day, while discussing something, while David and Hikari stayed behind them. For several hours, there was only awkward silence between Hikari and David, at least looking at it form Hikari¡¯s perspective. David didn¡¯t walk much and he brooded a lot, often answering Hikari¡¯s attempt to start a conversation with a one-word answer. From David¡¯s perspective, he wasn¡¯t being anti-social at all. It¡¯s just that he wanted more time to think and ponder about what the future lies. He had a complete goal in mind, but he needed to figure out the paths to it. He could follow Lucifer¡¯s sense to find Helaine. But what then? Right now, he has no method of actually defeating that Emmet demon for sure. He could either ask the exorcists or use them to do so, but it wasn¡¯t a good idea. He can¡¯t completely trust someone he just met. As he continued to wonder what his next steps would be, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud roar. Hearing it, Lux and Hikari unsheathed their weapons. A estoc for Lux, a rapier for Hikari, while Guang summoned out a broadsword. David didn¡¯t conjure up his blades, but he stays on alert. Unless he was forced to, he wanted to conceal as much about himself as possible. Just after they took out their weapons, a scream could be heard from not far away. With look at each other, the three exorcist sprung towards the source of the scream. Having no choice, David followed as well. It appeared that the source of the scream was young girl. However, she wasn¡¯t human, at least she possessed features that distinguished her from normal humans. Her skin was a light shade of purple and a small horn pointed out form her forehead. She also had a pair of small wings on her back that was flapping furiously, trying to speed her up even a little. She was being chased by a large Barghest, a large demonic beast that appeared like a black dog. It¡¯s bright yellow eyes were focused on the small girl like she was food. Large droplets of drool were dripping down from its open mouth that revealed its insanely sharp teeth. Seemingly tired, the young girl¡¯s speed started to slow down. As if sensing its prey¡¯s weakness, the Barghest crouched down and prepared to pounce onto the girl, and rip her to pieces. Having noticed this small detail, Hikari ran forward and grabbed the young girl. She was just in time, as moments after she grabbed the young girl in her arms and leaped away, the Barghest jumped into the air. Instead of allowing it to pounce on Hikari and the girl after it lands, Lux leaped up and slashed down her estoc toward the Brashest¡¯s head. Blood spurted out from the wound inflicted by the estoc that Lux had imbued with light magic. The Brashest howled in pain as it fall back onto the floor. Lux landed gracefully directly in front of the beast and pointed her estoc at it, provoking it with her hands. Having noticed something a little distance away, Hikari something to Guang. Upon hearing it, he immediately ran off. The Barghest and Lux continued to glare at each other, neither willing to make their first move. As if it was impatient, the beast howled towards the sky. At the same time, Lux ran forward as she couldn¡¯t wait any longer, stabbing her estoc out in front of her as she ran. It pierced into one of the Barghest¡¯s eyes, once again causing it to howl in pain. David watched the situation in front of him unfold in silence. It didn¡¯t look like the exorcists needed any help with the demonic beast. But that thought was like a jinx. Not long after the thought popped up in his head, a horde of Barghest could be seen coming in from a distance, chasing after Guang who was holding a limp figure in his hands. As if noticing its comrades, the Barghest tried to back off. But it was the wrong decision. Lux¡¯s estoc flashed out and pierced its sides, and before it could recover, she kicked its right hind leg, causing it to collapse onto the floor. Then using this opportunity, she beheaded the demonic beast. HIkari, Lux and David looked towards the distance. The horde of Barghest chasing Guang was soon going to be upon them. They had only several crucial seconds to decide upon what to do. Chapter 18 - Blunder Seeing the stampeded of the barghest, Lux turned to HIkari and said, ¡°Protect the child, I¡¯ll go and help Guang.¡± ¡°Yes, Lux-sama,¡± Hikari complied. Confirming that Lux had begun her protection of the child, Lux ran towards the stampeded of Barghest. ¡°I beseech thee, thy celestial self. Grant onto thy servant thy holy blessing to vanquish thy foes,¡± Lux chanted towards the heavens as ran. Almost immediately, a pale white aura began to surround her. It was a blessing from heavens. A sign of her being ¡°Heaven¡¯s Beloved Child¡±. Her guardian angle answered her request immediately. The aura would guard her, protect her. It would empower her to fight against God¡¯s foes. As she charged into the horde of barghest, her blade fluttered out into her foes. barghests howled in pain and she wounded them with her estoc. She nimbly dodged the attempts of the barghest to leap onto her. Hikari stared intently at Lux with wide-eyes, and beside her the young girl did the same.The battle goddess that Lux looked like right now was what had caused Hikari to look up to her and admire her so much. The imagine of her running into the enemy horde was reminiscent of her younger self in the past. She was the one who had saved Lux from the clutches of demons that were let loose upon her city. With her parents killed during the incident, Lux had reached out a hand to her. The her back then, a stray lamb, had been saved. It was only natural for her to admire her saviour and benefactor. That was one of the reasons why she had wanted to become an exorcist. To be like Lux and reach out her hand to those in need. Hikari turned to the girl, ¡°Stay here for a while okay? I¡±ll be right back. Onee-chan here is going to help Ane-sama.¡± With that, she too, ran towards the horde of Barghest.
David watched as Lux, then later Hikari ran towards the horde of demonic beasts. The situation had escalated quickly. It had turned from dealing with 1 demonic beast to an entire stampede of them. ¡°Lucifer, these are?¡± David asked, pointing towards the demonic beast horde. ¡°Barghests, I suppose you could say they are demonic dogs like hellhounds,¡± Lucifer replied curtly. ¡°I see¡­ The exorcists seem preoccupied, so answer some questions will you?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Has there been any change in Helly¡¯s location?¡± ¡°No change that I can sense, the direction she is in remains the same. And I still aren¡¯t sure of the exact location of where we are.¡± ¡°I see,¡± David looked towards the fight, all three exorcists where enveloped in a pale white aura that seemed to protect them. ¡°What has the exorcists used?¡± ¡°Technically speaking, they haven¡¯t used anything. They merely asked for blessing from heavens to protect them and angles had answered their plea. Although, I do have my suspicions that the European one¡¯s is slightly different from the other two¡¯s. The speed at which her request was answered was far too quick. It wouldn¡¯t be strange to assume that she has a guardian angel.¡± ¡°Guardian angel huh¡­? If we had to fight, would that pose an issue?¡± ¡°Assuming you gave me reign during it¡¯s not an issue.¡± ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a hundred percent convinced that you¡¯ll be fine. Let¡¯s just put it that way.¡± ¡°What would be my chances of winning?¡± ¡°Against that blessed child, it would be around sixty -five percent? As long as you listen to my guidance and still use . Otherwise it would be lower than forty-percent. If you¡¯re asking about all three, then it would be less than twenty percent.¡± ¡°I see, I suppose its better to continuously lower any suppositions they have towards me¡­¡± David replied as he sense a presence creeping up to him. It wasn¡¯t too close yet, so he could just run away, but that might cause the brashest behind him to leap at him. That wasn¡¯t too convenient. It would be better to hope an exorcist sees this and come help him.
Hikari looked around her. There are several barghests dead already. Only a few more than half remained. This was going to be over soon, since Guang had dropped off the unconscious boy to the side and had joined Lux and herself fighting the barghests. She was somewhat disappointed that David hadn¡¯t joined them, since it would have been a good chance to see aside from what he could do. But he might just have a little knowledge of magic and can¡¯t actually fight all too well. That¡¯s why, she¡¯ll protect him and help him find his friend captured by the demon. She looked towards his direction. David was standing calmly away from the fight beside the young child HIkari had left behind, and was surveying the situation. It was good that he wasn¡¯t in danger. Wait¡­ No, something was behind him. ¡°David watch out! Behind you!¡± Hikari shouted.A wounded barghest seemed to be creeping up to the unsuspecting David after backing away from the three of them and noticing the easier prey. She begun ran over with all her might, hoping she would be on time. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. But she wasn¡¯t going to be. ¡­ The barghest leaped up onto the air and landed on David. It¡¯s powerful jaws torn apart David¡¯s neck. Blood gushed out of the wound. With a fear inducing glare, it glared at Lux and howled, challenging it to another fight after killing one of her comrades. ¡­ That was what she expected to happen. But in reality, as the barghest leaped towards David, he spin kicked its side, knocking it onto the ground. Then with a swift motion, he dashed towards it and kicked its jaw, not giving the barghest any chance to recover. After that, he reached into his back pocket and took out a switch blade, which he flipped out with a fluid motion, using it to stab repeatedly into the fallen beast¡¯s face. After multiple stabs that caused the beast to cease its movements, he stopped. Hikari was both surprised and overjoyed. It was great that David was capable of protecting himself. It was even better that he was safe. it would weigh terribly on her conscience if he had been ripped apart by the demonic beast that they left without slaying.
On the other hand, Lux knitted her eyebrows after witnessing what just happened. Something didn¡¯t add up. Barghests were demonic hounds that could stealthily approach the prey when required, and that seemed to be what that dead brashest did. But David¡¯s reaction to it was far too quick. It was like he already knew the beast was behind him. Also when dealing with the beast, he didn¡¯t seem to have use any magic at all. That was beyond bizarre. It simply suggested to her that he definitely isn¡¯t a normal person. He dispatched the beast with far too much ease and in to short of a time frame. If he had struggled a bit and used magic, it probably wouldn¡¯t have been so suspicious to her, but slaying the barghest, even a wounded one, without any use of magic at all was unbelievable unless he was extremely gifted in this regard.Something was definitely off here. She was more sure than ever that David was hiding something from them. It definitely wasn¡¯t something small either. Her thoughts came to a stop when another barghest rushed at her. Charging her estoc with light magic, she sliced down the demonic beast easily. She looked around. It seems like Guang and Hikari have extinguished their fair share of barghests. Only a few more remained. This would be finished quickly.
As the exorcists finished off the rest of the barghest horde, David silently swore at himself. He had gone overboard when dealing with the barghest just now. He subconsciously used it to let off some steam and forgot about the need to hide as much about himself as possible. Now he could only hope that the exorcists did not see anything. Although that¡¯s a futile thought. He noticed that both Hikari and Lux had saw him dispatch the barghest and it seemed to trigger more suspicion on Lux¡¯s part. This wasn¡¯t good or ideal, but there was nothing he could do about it at this point. He could merely pretend that it was the extent of his abilities for now. He looked at the young girl. She wasn¡¯t all too fazed by his actions just now. Rather, she was looking at him with some sort of admiration. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He asked the girl. ¡°Ummm.. Ehhh? Are you talking to me?¡± the girl stuttered. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Ehh, I¡¯m okay. Thank you for saving us!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really me that saved you. If you want to thank you should thank them,¡± David pointed towards the three exorcists walking towards them. They had killed the rest of the braghest pack, and also seemed to have woken up the child that Guang had held in his arms previously. ¡°Mazzy!¡± the young girl exclaimed and ran towards the other child. ¡°Merzula, don¡¯t worry. This person saved me,¡± the other child happily said as he indicated towards Guang. ¡°Thank you!¡± Merzula took a deep bow towards Guang, showing her thanks. The young boy ruffled Merzula¡¯s hair and turned to David and the four exorcists, ¡°Thank you very much for saving me and my sister! I¡¯m Mazul, and this is my sister Merzula.¡± ¡°Your welcome, that¡¯s just what we do,¡± Hikari replied with as mile. ¡°If you can spare some time, please come to our village, mama and papa will surely give you some tasty food! Especially since it¡¯s our birthday today,¡± Mazul invited. Hikari looked towards Guang and Lux to see their reaction. They shrugged their shoulders, indicating that they didn¡¯t mind. She then looked towards David and saw him smile at her. ¡°Sure! Let¡¯s go!¡± Then she pushed the children in front for them to lead the way to the village. Chapter 19 - The Childrens Village Part I As they followed the children to their village, Lux whispered to Guang, ¡°Did you see what happened with David?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Guang replied. He wasn¡¯t too sure of what Lux was talking about. He had, after all, concentrated solely on the elimination of the barghest. ¡°The way he dispatched a barghest. It was far too unnatural. Normally, one would only be able to survive using magic. He didn¡¯t use any magic to do so. He dispatched it through purely physical means and was extremely fluid in his motion.¡± ¡°Well isn¡¯t that great? We don¡¯t have to spend too much effort on protecting him.¡± ¡°But it does give some validity to my suspicion. He is definitely hiding a lot from us. And for what reason? I cannot be sure. But it cannot be good.¡± ¡°Then what shall we do, Lux-sama?¡± ¡°We would first need to determine his secret and objective. The fact that he was near the mountain that we investigated and it was also his friend¡¯s house which served as the location of the incident is too much of a coincidence. It is highly likely that he is related to the group which we are searching for.¡± ¡°Could he be a local exorcist that was new to Hong Kong?¡± ¡°I highly doubt it. If he was he would have nothing to hide. And yet he has been secretive and brooding. Especially his abilities are definitely a notch above average.¡± ¡°Wait.. Lux-sama, could it be possible that the friend has was referring to was his female companion that we saw him with near the mountain side?¡± ¡°Hmmm, that is a possibility¡­¡± ¡°Now that I think about it though, despite it being a potential possibility. That girl seemed like your run of the mill high school girl, so perhaps its just baseless speculation?¡± ¡°Most of what we¡¯re going at this point i near baseless speculation, but as exorcists we have to trust our instincts until we¡¯re proven wrong. If we worked like lawyers and the police, acting almost purely on complete evidence, then we cannot save everyone.¡± ¡°I understand¡­ But should we just continue to observe for now?¡± ¡°I think that would be the best course of action while we also keep an eye out for a method of returning.¡±
While the two exorcists in front of him were deep in conversation, David could see a village slowly come into view. It was a simple village with wooden houses. Wooden fences with pikes surrounded the village and acted as its only line of defence against any wild beasts. This was truly something straight out of a medieval movie. As they approached the village, he could began to make out the figures standing near the gate. Those figures wore shabby clothing, but each had a long scimitar hanging from their waist. It seems like they acted as the guards for the village. ¡°Daddy!¡± Merzula exclaimed as she ran towards one of the guards, and seeing her actions, Mazul followed suit. The guard bent down and opened up his arms wide as he welcomed the two children that ran towards him. Having a happy expression at the sight of these two children, he kissed their foreheads and picked them up, then turned to David and the exorcists. He noticed that the people accompanying his children were complete strangers, he turned to his children and asked, ¡°Why are you with humans?¡± His tone was rather cold, which sounded like complete distrust towards them in David¡¯s mind. Although, it wasn¡¯t too surprising if he was the father of the two children. Seeing your children with complete strangers would naturally cause you to become more wary. ¡°Daddy, they saved us from a horde of big bad dogs. I was so scared when they appeared behind Mazzy. Then another one chased after me, so I started to run. Not too longer after when I was getting tired. Poof! This older sis caught me,¡± Merzula said as she pointed towards Lux. ¡°Then boof! The bad doggie was dead. And then bang! And boom! And ya! We were safe,¡± Merzula continued as she waved her hands around excitedly. ¡°Oh also this older brother went like dumf! And chop! And another bad doggie behind us died!¡± Hearing her explanation, the man¡¯s glare softened. ¡°It seems like you saved my children. Thank you very much. Would you care to come into the village and stay for a while? Let us offer you some food and drinks, it is these two children¡¯s birthday today and it¡¯s the least we could do to repay your kindness.¡± As he turned to speak with them, David observed his appearance. His clothing was something like cheap peasant clothes that would be seen worn by the villagers in movies, but what was different lied in his physical appearance. Although he wasn¡¯t very tall, he had well developed muscles that could be seen from underneath his shirt. HIs skin was a much darker shade of purple compered to his daughter and he had two horns on his forehead, just like his son, except much larger. His black hair was shoulder length and fell neatly across his shoulders. He was definitely a demon, of that David had no doubt. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. However, he was surprised that the exorcists haven¡¯t reacted violently yet, especially in front of these beings who were clearly demons. They were rather composed for the most part. Only Hikari was glancing at the man¡¯s horns with wide eyes, while Lux had her hand clenched up in a fist the moment the she saw the guards. Before Lux could say anything, Guang placed his hand on her shoulder and stepped forward, ¡°We¡¯ll gladly accept your offer.¡± ¡°Then follow me,¡± the father turned around and entered the village, indicating for them to follow. As he passed by the other guard, he whispered something to him, to which the other guard nodded and returned to his post. Seeing the exorcist follow after a bit of distance, David complied as well. The village didn¡¯t seem like it was going to be too dangerous, and if worst comes to worst, he still have .
They were taken to a small hut on the other side of the village, the interior of it was extremely simple, there were just several chairs, a table and a large bed inside. When they arrived, Merzula and Mazul immediately jumped onto the bed and rolled around, just like the children they are. Seeing the children so happy and relaxed, Hikari couldn¡¯t help but let out a smile. Seeing happy children always brought a smile to her face, especially since she never had a true childhood. She doesn¡¯t want anyone to lose their childhood like her, it would be good if all children to have, at the very least, a happy childhood. Even if they were non-humans. Hikari was sure that both Lux and Guang had noticed that the children they saved were non-humans, most likely demons, but she couldn¡¯t bare herself to let them die. It is true that they were demons, but they still revealed the innocent smiles that only untainted children have on their faces. As they came here, Merzula, and Mazul¡¯s father, introduced himself as Matire, and asked them to wait with the children while they prepare the food. It was lucky that they had arrived at this hour, which was when they were preparing lunch. It would only take a short while before there was food. Hikari sat down onto the floor and saw Lux staying confused at her own hands. She moved to ask her what was the issue, but was intercepted by Guang, who told her to leave Lux by herself for a bit, saying that it was essential.
Lux sat by herself in the corner of the room. She had arrived in the village of the demon children which they had saved. Actually it was Hikari and Guang that did the saving. If it were only up to her, then she might have left nature take its course. Demons deserved to die. That was hardwired into her brain. The only reason she had been keeping her composure was because she needed information and she destroyed the village, no information would be gained. From the looks of the village of demons, were they perhaps in another world? Was that even possible? They had followed through the portal of a demon and arrived here¡­ But where was here? That she wasn¡¯t sure. She didn¡¯t think too much about it before, and had secretly hoped that they were merely transported to another section of the world, but it seems like they found themselves in a completely new one. What was she supposed to do? Things escalated far more than she imagined. She was confident that she would be able to return them quickly back home, only to be thrown into the fact that they¡¯re in a whole different world. Additionally, she now faced a dilemma. She had always assumed that demons were mindless evil beings. When she was younger, she had a period of time when she thought that some demons could be calm and kind, but that na?vety was gone now. Yet she had sure actual innocence from the two children they had saved. What was she to do? Why is this even happening? Also, how is David tied into all this? He doesn¡¯t look faced at all. He seemed to be rather calm, accepting things the way things are. Is he just this kind of person? Then why was he able to deal with the barghest without using any magic. Even Lux herself had to draw out a weapon to deal with the first barghest, David only pulled out a knife to finish it off, he gave off the feeling that if he had so wanted to, he could have killed it with his bare hands¡­ Chapter 20 - The Childrens Village Part II After an hour in the room filled with an awkward atmosphere, Matire returned to tell them that the food had been prepared. Upon hearing that, the children rushed out of the house, and beckoned the three exorcists and David to follow. Following the children, they arrived at the centre of the village square, where several tables were set out and many villagers had already sat down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if this seems weird, but in our village everyone eats together,¡± Matire explained as he pulled out a chair for Lux. Lux glared at him for a moment, then sat down. David did not miss the look of contempt that flashed across her face. Does she despite demons that much¡­? Why did she even help save the children then? A sense or duty? Commitment towards her comrades? As these questions flashed across his mind, he followed the rest and sat down at the same table at Lux. ¡°Ausina kar mesukinatas. Evicteran liminore asinaga timora,¡± said a villager that looked rather important as he stood up. ¡°Ausina mekar,¡± replied all the other villagers as they raised up there glasses. David looked at the three exorcists, it seems like they didn¡¯t know what was going on either. Seeing their confusion, Matire asked, ¡°Ah do you perhaps not understand M¡¯longkar? It is the common language around here.¡± The three exorcists looked at each other, but none of them seemed to have knowledge of this ¡°M¡¯longkar¡± language. ¡°M¡¯longkar is a demonic language, it¡¯s not extremely widespread, but many demons do understand it. It also means that this place is¡­ This is the territory of Mephistopheles,¡± Lucifer¡¯s voice rang out at his time of need, giving David some sort of idea of what was going on. Mephistopheles huh? It wasn¡¯t an unfamiliar name to David. From what he knows, Mephistopheles is a powerful demon that is often depicted as a servant of Lucifer, yet from Lucifer¡¯s tone, it didn¡¯t seem like the case. There was some sort of worrying tone behind his words. He will ask about that when he gets an opportunity. Meanwhile, Matire has begun to explain to the exorcists about the village. It seems like this was a village of the M¡¯zakrean Imps, who in general bare a more humanoid shape compered to the ¡®imps¡¯ that are referred to by a lot of people. There were about sixty people in he village, so it was by no means a tiny village. They have lived here for centuries in peace undisturbed by wars or plagues. ¡°¡­ And so that¡¯s more or less the basics of our village. Although, I would like to know what is your purpose of being here. Initially I had assumed that you all were magicians that were looking for a demon to form a contract with¡­ But the fact that you do not know M¡¯longkar makes me wonder,¡± Matire probed into their affairs. ¡°Of course we¡¯re not magicians. The three of us are exorcists,¡± Hikari blurted out proudly before anyone could stop her. The rowdy village square suddenly turned silent as villagers turned and stared at them. David could tell from their expressions filled with fear and disgust that Hikari had said the wrong thing. Exorcist was definitely not connoted with anything pleasant for the villagers. ¡°Exorcist¡­¡± ¡°¡­Exorcist¡­?¡± ¡°Exorcist???¡± Countless whispers could be heard as the villagers stared at them. It was as if the entire town had found out a huge secret. A secret that should never have been revealed. One by one, after recovering from the initial surprise, they picked up anything they could find and threw it at David and the exorcists. ¡°Leave!¡±¡°Get out!¡± ¡°Why are you here!?¡± the voices of contempt from the villagers filled the air. This reaction was to be expected. There was no way that an exorcist would be easily accepted in a demon village. They are the bane of demon kind. Yet Hikari didn¡¯t seem to understand. ¡°Wait.. Why are you doing this?¡± Hikari tried to ask weakly, just as an egg hit the side of her head. None of the villagers replied, all they did were continue to throw things at them while cursing them in various languages. The exorcists sat there unmoving for several seconds. Hikari was looking around to try to solve her confusion. Guang sat there silently, watching the situation. Lux sat there, immersed in her thoughts. Seeing that they were going to do anything. David stood up. He wasn¡¯t going to continuously endure this kind of humiliation. He tapped HIkari¡¯s shoulder then pulled her arm, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Ahhh wait¡­¡± As she started to leave, she called out, ¡°Lux-sama, Guang.¡± Guang was clearly just worrying about Lux, while Lux sat there brooding, and did not pay the slightest attention to her surrounding situation. Having noticed Guang and Lux¡¯s lack of reaction, HIkari called out once more, ¡°Lux-sama, Guang.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. This time Guang reacted, appearing slightly startled. Seeing that it was Hikari that called him to leave, he tapped Lux on the shoulder, breaking her out from her ¡°trance¡±. Pretending that nothing had happened, Lux calmly looked around and walked over to David and Hikari, then said, ¡°Let us be off. This place stinks of demonic trash.¡± Her words only seemed like it infuriated the villagers even more. More things were tossed at them, more curses were shouted at them. But Lux paid it no heed. She proudly walked out of the village square. At the edge of the square she turned around, and declared, ¡°Feel relieved that the Lord as mercy upon your wretched existence, for we shall show you mercy today. If you had shown such disrespect towards God Almighty, we will strike you down.¡± Her gaze as she said that was one full of fury. This startled the villagers, considering how she seemed like she had quietly taken their curses and insults while she was sitting down. The truth was just that she was so lost in her own thoughts that she neglected to pay attention to her surroundings. With that, Lux turned away and walked off, with the others soon following suit.
When the four of them had left the village, they looked around for a while and after they decided their direction, they continued to walk following the nearby road. ¡°What was that about¡­?¡± HIkari asked, she was still shocked at the villagers had suddenly turned on them and didn¡¯t think that they did anything to offend them. ¡°I presume it¡¯s your answering of being exorcists,¡± David replied. ¡°It was relatively obvious that it was a village of demons, was it not?¡± A hint of anger could be sensed in his voice. That much was only natural, after all they had been chased out of the villager due to carelessness. ¡°Ahhh, but¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Staying any longer in that filth would have been terrible anyways. It¡¯s better this way,¡± said Lux.. ¡°My my, you must hate demons,¡± David answered sarcastically. ¡°What about it? Are you telling me your a demon sympathiser? And don¡¯t take that tone with me!¡± Lux immediately stared at him in vexation. ¡°Demon sympathiser or not, why do you think I¡¯m taking this tone with you all? We could have stayed there, gathered information and provisions. But yet the two of you had to blow things up. We hardly know where we are. My priority is saving Helly, aside from that everything takes second place. The two of you got in the way of my goal. And demons or not, does it matter? They didn¡¯t harm you at all!¡± ¡°Stayed? In that hellhole? The demons turned on us immediately after knowing we are servants of the Lord, this already proves that they would have been hostile anyways.¡± ¡°Or maybe they¡¯re just terrified? They don¡¯t seem like particularly strong demons, so of course they¡¯re react in fear towards the term exorcists. Also, we might have been able to cover up for Hikari¡¯s mentioning of exorcists, but then you had to make a scene and threaten them.¡± ¡°Lux-sama, David. Please don¡¯t argue¡­¡± HIkari tried to intervene weakly. Now that David mentions it, she felt terrible for agitating the villagers, what David said made sense. However, she didn¡¯t want to see Lux-sama argue with anyone. The always calm and cool Lux-sama. This was the first time Hikari had seem such anger and annoyance portrayed across her face¡­ ¡°Let me get this straight. You want to get along with demons when a demon was what took your friend away? Is that what it is now?¡± Lux completed ignored Hikari and asked. ¡°That demon and those villagers are completely different. Those villagers were nigh helpless, they¡¯re no different from people, and they have not harmed anyone. So yes, I would have liked to get along with them to gather intelligence to achieve my goal. What is the problem with that?¡± David replied, he was already starting to get fed up with the attitude Lux had taken towards him. ¡°Heh, you¡¯re so na?ve. You really think that demons can be trusted?¡±
Author''s Note: How are you liking the story so far? Also, did you see my new cover? Here''s the full size image. I hope you guys like it too. Chapter 21 - The Childrens Village Part III The young man in front of her, David, was far too na?ve. Trusting demons? What a joke. Lux understood herself that demons cannot be trusted. They are lying creatures of evil that would turn on you the first chance they get. That¡¯s what happened to her parents. It was a dark evening, she could still remember clearly. She found it difficult to breath, and she knew her time was coming. Her parents tried to hide it from her, but she had known the truth. It wasn¡¯t hard to figure out if all the doctors and nurses looked at her with sorrowful and pitiful eyes. They had tried everything from various treatment techniques to medicine from all around the world. Noting worked. It was as if God has abandoned her. Although her parents were both devoted believers of the church, they¡¯re love for her was far greater than their belief. On that night, they summoned a yellow eyed demon to save her life while they thought she was sleep. After a long bargain, the demon came to her side, and placed its hand on her forehead. At that moment, something seemed to have been removed from her body. She found breathing to be a bit easier and less painful. Yet, the demon had a sinister smile across it¡¯s face. It turned towards her parents¡­ Her father tried a cross against it. but it was to no avail. His head flew up into the air, and landed by her side. She didn¡¯t know what to do¡­ She was terrified, and could only look helplessly as her mother backed away from the demon. She had shut her eyes for a moment to wish that it was all a dream, but when she opened her eyes once more, her mother was dead on the floor. The demon moved towards her, its yellow eyes glowed in the dark. Every second felt like an eternity. She had escaped death just moments prior, but it all seemed like a cruel joke¡­ Until a silver blade stabbed out from the chest of the demon. Recalling up to this point, Lux looked at the young man in front of her once more, he looked angry. For what? Because she had spoken the truth? The information they could have gotten from the demons would have been lies anyways. ¡°I don¡¯t fully trust demons. I know I have to take their words with a grain of salt, but does it really hurt so much to pay them the minimal amount of respect and earn at least some information? Any information is better than what we have right now!¡± David questioned her back, his eyes unwavering. To be honest, that wasn¡¯t the answer she was expecting. She had expected a speech about trusting demons because thy had saved the children or because they seemed like nice people. But he¡­ His answer was full of bitterness, and showed wariness towards the demons. Now that she come to think about it, he had a point. Any information is better than none. Was she perhaps too clouded by her own disgust? No. That couldn¡¯t be it. The young man in front of him must know something more. That¡¯s why he¡¯s willing to gather information from those vile fiends. ¡°What do you know about this all?¡± she asked. There was no point in asking in a roundabout way anymore. Asking directly would be the better choice here. ¡°¡­ What do you mean¡­?¡± he replied. He clearly hesitated there. ¡°You¡¯ve been hiding something important. Spill it out,¡± she continued to question him. Her intuition couldn¡¯t have been wrong, especially with those traces of evidence supporting her. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. Hiding things? What makes you think that? I really want to save Helly,¡± he replied calmly with his demeanour changing back to the pro calm one he had before they had left the village. ¡°Who exactly are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m David Ng, someone whose trying to save Helly.¡± ¡°More?¡± ¡°I¡¯m seventeen, nearly eighteen. I¡¯m a high school student and I¡¯ve known Helly pretty much all my life.¡± ¡°So how did you come to know magic?¡± ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡± ¡°It¡¯d be a start to prove that you have nothing to hide.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± David seemed to hesitated for a moment before replying. This definitely added to his suspicion. ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°Hi-kaa-rii-channnn!¡± Before David could finish his sentence, a girlish voice ran out from behind them. The four of them turned to look at the source of the voice. It was Merzula and Mazul alongside their father. Tch. And she was so close to getting some information out of David. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
When the children and their father got to them, David was extremely surprised by their actions. All of them had prostrated themselves onto the floor in front of them. ¡°I¡¯m extremely sorry for what happened back at the village. he way we have reacted was certainly uncalled for, but please forgive us,: Matire said sincerely with his head out and neck exposed. ¡°I would be willing to pay for it with my life. Just please spare the children.¡± An awkward silence filled the air for several seconds. It was once again Hikari that tried to dispel the tension, ¡°It¡¯s okay hahaha. Please stand up.¡± As Hikari spoke, she reached out to help Matire and the children up, but that action was stopped with a glare from Lux. Without anyone helping them, the demons remained prostrated onto the ground. Seeing this, David walked over and reached out a hand,¡± It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry too much about it. The fear and disgust for exorcists is only natural. I can understand that much.¡± Matire lifted his head up and looked at him, but didn¡¯t get up. Instead, he reached out his empty palm as if waiting for David to do something. ¡°Slice the palm of his hand with a knife, make sure he bleeds. Or burn his palm. It is their tradition,¡± Lucifer said to David, explaining Matire¡¯s action to him. David followed Lucifer¡¯s advice and pulled out the knife from his pocket, and lightly sliced the palm of Matire¡¯s hand, but still ensuring that it was deep enough to open a bleeding wound, ¡°It¡¯s okay. Please stand up.¡± Matire did stand up afterwards. It seems like Lucifer was not mistaken and that was what he was looking for. ¡°I thank you for your kindness and understanding,¡± he said as he took out two large rucksacks and handed them to David. ¡°Inside are provisions that should be able to last three days as well as a bit of money. It¡¯s not a lot, but it¡¯s all we can manage right now. Please accept this.¡± David took them in his hands and then handed one over to Hikari. They looked inside. Within the rucksacks were various neatly wrapped packages that smelled really nice. Inside the rucksack that Hikari held was also a large chunk of smoked meat, and within the one David held was a fancy pouch. He opened it to see what it contained. It was a pile of small golden coins. ¡°We cannot accept this,¡± David said as he tied up the pouch once more and handed it to Matire. Matire pushed it back away from him, ¡°This is all we can offer you, therefore please accept this. It was wrong of us to show such hostility when you have saved my children.¡± ¡°Even then we cannot accept this,¡± David looked towards the three exorcists to se their reactions. It seemed like Hikari thought the same as him, while Lux was reluctant to accept anything from demons. She was still sceptical of him considering that the demons had coincidentally interrupted them just as he was about to explain. Guang was the only one who merely silently watched the exchange emotionlessly, as if it doesn¡¯t concern him at all. ¡°Please do not refuse any more. We will not take back the reward we have given out, as it is the least we can do for our saviours,¡± Matire replied firmly. Then turning towards his children he said, ¡°Thank them once again.¡± ¡°Thank you for saving us!¡± Merzula and Mazul said energetically. David was at a lost here. He wanted to stuff the money back to Matire, but it seems like he was all too determined to have them keep the rewards. It would instead worsen his mood if David was to refuse any more, and if his mood was refused, he was afraid that it would hurt his side of the argument against Lux. This essentially left him with no choice. He thanked Matire and placed the pouch back within the rucksack and said, ¡°Thank you for everything.¡± ¡°No, thank all of you for saving Merzula and Mazul.¡± ¡°Yes, thank you for saving us!¡± Merzula and Mazul said once more. ¡°Then, allow us to wish you a safe trip. And may fortune be with you,¡± Matire said before leading the children and leaving. David turned to Lux, and saw that she had a complex expression on her face. Although she originally had a disgusted expression, the expression on her face now was nothing like that, it was more akin to confusion¡­ Intermission 1 - Blood and Flames He stood alone on a cliff watching an entire army that was matching forwards in a foul mood. It was foolish of them to have sent such a large amy here. Although these dragons were powerful in a lot of standards, they were just easy pickings for him. Did they truly think that it would go unnoticed? Some were in their dragon forms, others as in a dragonoid or humanoid form. Such a large army had ¡®sneaked¡¯ into their world and proceeded to cause trouble to his people. It was unforgivable. Reapers suffered because of them. No, more precisely, it was because of this feud between their races. This feud that can be traced back for generations after generations is something that they have recognised as permanent. None of them questioned it. None of them understood why it was there. They have been taught form al young age to treat it as it is. He did not wish for it to be so. He wasn¡¯t afraid of them, but he found it pointless. Weaklings fighting against each other. What was the point? In the end both will die. Only death is eternal. The army in front of him continued to match towards him. They probably didn¡¯t notice him at all. Even if they did, it was already too late. There was no reasoning with these barbarians. They were fools that trespassed into their realm and terrorised its citizens. This alone was unforgivable. He would show them the flames of hell. Only then would they repent their actions. When the army was approaching the cliff, he jumped down directly a hundred metres in front of them. Landing on his two feet like it was no big deal, he stood bravely in front of the entire army.
Seeing a figure suddenly appear caused the general of the army to halt their steps. ¡°Who goes there?¡± the general of the army shouted. The general was in his dragonoid form, with emerald green scales and wearing a traditional full plate amor adorned with various magic crystals. Judging from his posture, he was clearly a noble without much experience in warfare. He stood proudly on his chariot, as if believing all will go right in the world. He sword was sheathed too far to the right, and it was of a truly unpractical size if he was even to attempt to draw it in the chariot. The figure that landed turned towards them. He was relatively tall, but his face was obscured by the large red cloak that covered his entire head and body. A lone man landing in front of an overwhelming army, what was he thinking? The man merely stood there, silently facing them. He didn¡¯t even utter a sound. ¡°He¡¯s not responding sir, what should we go?¡± asked a soldier beside him. ¡°Get out of the way!¡± the general shouted once again, ¡°Otherwise, we will trample you.¡± He was somewhat creeped out by the hooded man who merely stood there. The moment the man had landed, it was as if the temperature in the area had coincidentally increased. He seemed to be emitting a dangerous aura. The man looked up, and when the general saw his eyes he trembled in fear. Blood red eyes. No, that wasn¡¯t that accurate. His eyes were more akin to a searing flame that threatened to burn through all. His piercing gaze shook the general to the core. Just who was this man? ¡°Heh. Trample me?¡± the man laughed. ¡°Foolish dragons. Turn back. Scramble back to your backwards world. That is how you will survive. By trespassing into our world¡­¡± ¡°Continue forward,¡± the general issued his order. He has no time and interest in what this hooded figure was about to say. It didn¡¯t matter at all. One man cannot do anything against the entire army. The army continued to move forward, towards the hooded man. Yet he shows no signs of bulging. He stood there calmly, far too calmly, almost like it was a trap. When they were less than fifty metres away from each other, he finally made a move. Grasping the a side of the cloak with one hand, he lifted it off. As the cloak fluttered away in the wind, the figure hidden was shown. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. A tall man with fiery red hair. His rather muscular body was cladded with a red clothing baring resemblance to a military uniform. His blazing eyes shown no hint of fear despite facing off against such a large army, instead, a smirk could be seen from the corner of his mouth. ¡°Then I shall show you the flames of death that were destined to engulf everything.¡± Hearing this, the general tensed up. Of course he would, that line reminded him of a very specific warning which he had received. ¡°There are three people that you cannot engage at any cost with the army. The flaming son of Death, who rules over the realm; and the shadowy son of Death, who ruled over magic. Either one of them will wipe you guys out.¡± Was the man in front of him one of them? No, there was no way a single person could wipe out their entire army. They were one of the twenty four armies of empire, there was no way that they would lose to a single individual. Moreover, the chances of the fool being someone with the capabilities of wiping them out was astronomically low. Those were the final thoughts of the foolish general who had underestimate his enemy. Everything was enveloped in flames. The general and many of the soldiers surrounding him had suddenly be enveloped in flames and were burnt to death within seconds. The other soldiers were at a lost, one moment their general had issued them orders to march forward, the next moment that general had been burnt to dust. This was far too bizarre. They turned towards the lieutenants for orders and explanations, but it never came. The lieutenants were equally as shocked at them. Only a chuckle could be heard from the originally hooded man. ¡°What did I say? You truly are fools.¡±
He flew across the battlefield, leaving destruction in his wake. Several soldiers tried to surround him, but with his bare hands, the tore apart every single enemy surrounding him. Whoosh! An arrow flew towards him, normally speaking, it would have been way too difficult to avoid it. However, he was far from normal. Slightly sidestepping the arrow, he lunged towards the archer with a ball of flames in his hand. The moment he touched the archer, the archer was reduced to ashes. Other soldiers rushed at him, but it was to no avail. Like a firestorm he caused a catastrophe across the entire dragon army. Everything that came remotely close to him was died in the matter of seconds. Not even any of the lieutenants or the general himself had lasted any longer. There was no difference between talented and not, no difference between those with anger or fear. The only constant was death. As he ripped out the heart of the last of his foes. What laid around him was a field of corpses, either teared apart or burnt beyond recognition. The ground was burnt pitch black, causing it to be infertile, the areas that seemed untouched by the flames instead had their soil dyed red. Those foolish dragons had invaded his realm and terrorised his people. There was no way he could forgive them for that. As the ruler of this realm, who had inherited his father¡¯s mantle in the absence of his two brothers, he was responsible for all of this. For his deceased parents, for his brother, and for his people, he took upon the burden of the country and led it to prosperity among the millions of danger. Oh right, wasn¡¯t there rumours that Lucifer seemed to have found a new host hasn¡¯t he? He was someone picky, and he chose his hosts based on certain equalities. It has been a long time since he had chosen a host. Finding it now of all times, it seems like the gears of fate had begun moving once more. Chapter 22 - The Town of Enox Part I After Matire, Merzula and Mazul left, Hikari finally asked the question on her mind, ¡°Was it really alright of us to accept their gifts like that?¡± ¡°I think it would be okay,¡± Guang replied. ¡°Judging from their attitudes, they wouldn¡¯t have left and would continue to pester us to take it.¡± ¡°But more importantly,¡± Lux¡¯s eyes turned sharp once more as she looked towards David. ¡°How¡¯d you come to know about magic? The demon interrupted us, but you also did sometime strange.¡± ¡°That was¡­ the only way he would have felt forgiven. It is simply their tradition,¡± David replied as he silently cursed the situation. ¡°As for how I know about magic, continuing from where I left off, I learnt magic from my parents, who are both mages. They taught me magic since I was thirteen, after I witnessed them using magic for the first time. Is that information?¡± ¡°Then how do you know about what you claim as the demon¡¯s tradition?¡± Lux continued to question further, she did¡¯ fully buy into his story. ¡°They were demon hunters,¡± David promptly replied. That was the first thing that came into his mind, and he blurted out the answer without much though. He didn¡¯t want to look any more suspicious to Lux than he already does. ¡°Is that so¡­ But being hunters, why are they familiar with demonic traditions?¡± ¡°If we do not learn about their traditions, it could potentially put us at a disadvantage at times. Knowledge is power after all. Is this enough information?¡± ¡°Last part. Who is that demon which took your friend away?¡± ¡°Emmet Wayne Gacy, at least that is what he names himself. H¡¯s a demon I¡¯ve met once before on job, but as you can see I obviously failed. I have no idea what he was doing in Helly¡¯s room, but I intend to find out. Then I will kill him.¡± ¡°So that is your motivation. I suppose it would suffice for now,¡± Lux replied, she wasn¡¯t happy with David¡¯s answers, her intuition screamed at her that something was out of place, she just couldn¡¯t put her finer on it. Also, since she was unable to think of any more questions to ask David with, it was better to just accept it as things are and continue to monitor his every movements. There¡¯s no way he¡¯ll be able to keep up the facade for a prolonged period of time. ¡°Now, seeing as all misunderstandings have cleared up, shall we continue our journey?¡± Hikari asked brightly, she was happy that the tension had somewhat been reduced. It wouldn¡¯t do for the person they¡¯re trying to protect didn¡¯t get along with them. ¡°Although I have to say one thing. Since it looks like we¡¯re in a land of demons, the next time we arrive at whatever sort of civilisation, don¡¯t. I repeat DON¡¯T, mention that you¡¯re an exorcist. Likewise, I will refrain from mentioning that I¡¯m a demon hunter as well,¡± David warned, he didn¡¯t want a repeat of the previous situation. That would only hinder his progress of getting to Helaine. ¡°Humph, fair enough. I see where you¡¯re coming from,¡± Guang answered. ¡°Then shall we?¡±
The four of the continued down the road, and eventually saw a another settlement from afar. This one was more like a town, larger than the previous village. They could see a large major road that the road they were following led to passing right by the front of the town. The inhabitants of the town once again looked like demons, confirming what David had said to the exorcists. They were mostly likely in the land of demons. ¡°So what are we going to do?¡± Hikari asked. ¡°We¡¯ll enter the village, is there any of sections to that?¡± David replied. He was keen to get more information and also hopefully find an inn to stay. That would offer him the much needed privacy he needed to converse with Lucifer. ¡°Yes that would be fine. Let¡¯s find an inn,¡± Guang agreed. David eyed Lux. She was keeping rather silent after their conversation, seemingly deep in thought. She didn¡¯t seem to show any objection either. ¡°Then shall we decide upon a story first?¡± David asked. ¡°A cover story if you will that we¡¯ll stick to at all cost to avoid attracting attention. The three of you being exorcists and I being a demon hunter is not exactly going to be particularly welcome around here as we have seen previously.¡± ¡°Then.. Then you can be oni-san, while Guang and I will be your younger brother and sister. And Lux-sama can be your wife. That¡¯s a great story right?¡± Hikari suggested enthusiastically. Guang responded to her by hitting her on the head, ¡°Don¡¯t be a fool. That would definitely not be believable. David seems to be around the same age as us, and a family? A human family on holiday in a demonic world is hardly normal. Instead we claiming to be magicians would probably be a better choice. Perhaps travelling magicians in seek of strong powerful demonic beasts?¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. Although that may cause it to be inconvenient to ask about that demon joker¡­¡± David expressed. ¡°We could always see if there¡¯s any rumours about a human girl being caught or something around here. What¡¯s more is that the guise of being magicians would allow us to see if we could find any temporary work while we stay here.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Then if the town, shall we split up each day and go around town looking for clues and information? Also, I suppose I¡¯ll instead go with the story of being a vanguard accompanying you guys, I¡¯m not too confident in my magic after all,¡± said David. ¡°Fair enough. Then let¡¯s move,¡± Guang agreed, before the four of them walked towards then into the town.
¡°Two rooms for two please,¡± Guang asked the innkeeper. They had arrived into the town and asked around for an inn. According to an inhabitant of the town, there were two inns in the town. One was the ¡°Domus Diaboli¡±, a higher class inn often used by rich merchants in town. The other was the ¡°Azureus Terra¡±, an inn used by those who cannot afford to go to the Domus Diaboli. The inn the four of them had chose was the Azureus Terra. Mainly because it would save them some money, prevent them from standing out while also allowing them to listen to many gossips. It was decided that Lux and Guang would also go to the Domus Diaboli to see if they can gather any information there. ¡°Boy, that¡¯ll be 4 silvers for both,¡± the burly innkeeper replied. He was a tall mezuki, towering over Guang at a hight of over 2 metres. His arms had bulging muscles that were more akin to two thick trunks. ¡°What about with food?¡± Guang asked. ¡°That¡¯ll depend on the meal. Breakfast is 25 coppers, which is bread and broth that will be delivered in front of your door each morning. While lunch and dinner are either 30 coppers or 50 coppers. the 30 coppers will include either pasta or rice, the 50 coppers will be a fillet of the day with some soup and rice.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll stay for a week and take the breakfast each day as well as tonight¡¯s 50 copper dinner,¡± Guang said. ¡°Boy, are you messing with me? All together that¡¯ll be 37 silvers. Can you even pay that much?¡± the innkeeper shouted annoyingly. ¡°Here,¡± David walked up and took out 1 gold coin. He assumed that 1 gold coin would be enough seeing as the total was 37 silvers, meaning that the meals had cost 9 silvers. Considering 7 days of breakfast for 4 with a 50 copper dinner each tonight was 900 coppers, this meant that 100 coppers would equate to 1 silver. Thus it was only logical to assume that 1 gold equates to 100 silvers. The innkeeper looked at the coin and then back at them. He then reached out and took the gold coin from David, and returned 63 silver coins. ¡°Ho? You do have enough to pay for it huh? I won¡¯t say I¡¯m sorry thought since I¡¯ve been getting a lot of younger folks wanting to stay here, but lacked the money to do so. Since you have the money, I won¡¯t ask where you got it from. But one advice from the host to the customer. Don¡¯t flaunt gold coins around like its noting.¡± ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± David thanked the innkeeper and quickly put away the 67 silver coins. Meanwhile, Guang received 2 sets of keys from the innkeeper. ¡°Your rooms are on the second floor, the ones on the far right after going up those stairs. Rooms 207 and 209. You¡¯ll see that they¡¯re beside each other,¡± indicated the innkeeper. ¡°Thank you.¡± Walking up the stairs that the innkeeper had pointed out to them, David, Guang, Lux and Hikari arrived in front of their rooms. Guang opened the room 207 and walked inside with the rest of them in toil. Inside the room were two single beds, a table and a chair. He sat down on a bed, and Hikari sat beside him. Lux chose to sit down on the bed opposite. Seeing their actions, David immediately took to the chair before placing the rucksack he was carrying onto the table. Likewise, Hikari took off her rucksack and passed it to David, who proceeded to also place it on the table. Seeing that everyone settled down, Guang asked, ¡°So what''s next?¡± Chapter 23 - The Town of Enox Part II After a long discussion about what to do. It was decided that Hikari, Lux and Guang would venture out into town to look around the town itself, taking note of specific places they would need to visit in order to gather information. On the other hand, David volunteered to stay in the inn and go to the bar in order to see if he can learn anything from there. When the three exorcists finally left and didn¡¯t seem to be returning, David let a a sigh, ¡°This is so stressful. Lucifer, have you remembered anything important yet?¡± ¡°Like I said before, this is the territory of Mephistopheles, an archdemon. I¡¯m unsure of the name of this town, but if I remember correctly, this town is one or two days away from a Rurnne, one of the major cities in the area. It is famous for being a city that merchants frequents to trade. There isn¡¯t much else I can think of off the top of my head.¡± Lucifer replied. ¡°What about Mephistopheles? What kind of demon is he?¡± ¡°He was, once upon a time, one of my retainers alongside Lucifuge. However, ever since I left and took upon hosts, against his advice, he has left my service. He has an unhealthy obsession with retaining the so called ¡®strength¡¯ of pureblood demons.¡± ¡°Could he be related to why that joker kidnapped Helly?¡± ¡°I cannot be certain. I would have suspected that the succubus girl might have been a spy ordered by an archdemon to watch over you, but that¡¯s unlikely since you¡¯ve known her for a long time and your family doesn¡¯t seem to have any outstanding qualities that would attract demonic attention. And a demon kidnapping another demon in their home is just bizarre. Do you think that there is even a distinct possibility that they could be working together?¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Helly would never do that!¡± ¡°Is that so? Then I can¡¯t think of a logical reason for your succubus girl to be kidnapped.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°You say that Helly¡¯s a succubus. Why have you never mentioned it before coming here? Did you not notice? Or was there some other reason?¡± ¡°I noticed alright. But did it matter before now? I think you would have eventually found out soon enough even if this incident didn¡¯t happen. I only old you because I would you to know exactly what you¡¯re getting into.¡± ¡°And what am I getting into?¡± ¡°Emptiness. War. Fate.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re still worried about that fate, I promise you. I will write my own destiny. I may not be powerful enough now, but one day I will be. I don¡¯t intend on dying to find Helly. I intend to rescue her and return home.¡± ¡°Just like Prince Charming.¡± ¡°Not exactly. More like family.¡± ¡°Is that really the case? How do you feel about her?¡± Hearing Lucifer¡¯s question, David wanted to immediately answer, but he found that he couldn¡¯t. How exactly does he feel about Helaine? She was important to him, since a long time ago. Yet after they broke up¡­ Did something change? She¡­ Just who was she to him? A childhood friend, and irreplaceable person. That doesn¡¯t fully describe it. She was also his first love, and he still love her as a family. It just wasn¡¯t like how it was before. The feelings he had towards her had changed. It¡¯s¡­ David couldn¡¯t place his finger on it. There was a special tingling feeling that he couldn¡¯t describe whenever he thought of her. It was nothing like the new love they had for each other when they first dated. Nor was it anything like the pure innocent friendship. It was something complicated, nothing like what he¡¯s ever felt before. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t really know,¡± David answered honestly. He¡¯s always avoided that question, it was something that he had subconsciously ignored. Now that he was confronted with it, he had no idea of how to respond. ¡°Think about it, but don¡¯t let it get to you. If she¡¯s important to you, then that can be enough. Don;t think too much into a feeling that isn¡¯t there. Instead, focus on what is here. What you can achieve. Seeing as this is the only time we¡¯ll be able to talk for a while consider ing those exorcists are around, just make sure to continue to try and control your mana. Aside from that, I don¡¯t let your movements become dull. Keep your blade sharp. In this land, you¡¯ll need it.¡± ¡°Oh, what about the direction that Helly is in? Has it changed?¡± ¡°From what I sense, she hasn¡¯t moved far away from where she was before. She¡¯s still in the same general direction.¡± ¡°What lies in that direction?¡± ¡°Major cities, and Mephisto¡¯s castle.¡± ¡°Are you implying that the joker is serving him?¡± ¡°Truth be told, I don¡¯t know. It is a possibility that you should not disregard though.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± David looked outside the window. The sky was starting to turn dark. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll go and see what information I can gather.¡±
¡°Hikari, what are your opinions of David?¡± Guang asked as they walked along the busy street. There were stalls lined up on both sides. Many of them were manned by demons selling all sorts of food. The rest were mainly a mix of accessory shops and cheap clothing. All around them, demons of all kinds were around them, acting like normal people would on a shopping street. They didn¡¯t pay any attention to the three humans exorcists. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°He¡¯s nice. Quite moody, but that¡¯s probably because his friend was kidnapped. Why?¡± Hikari replied. ¡°Aside from that? No suspicions?¡± ¡°Not really. Why should I? He¡¯s the person we¡¯re trying to help right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so na?ve. He¡¯s pretty obviously hiding something dangerous,¡± Lux cut in. ¡°And the fact that he managed to dispose of the braghest without any magic what so ever was far too weird.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t it be a magic dagger or something?¡± ¡°That dagger didn¡¯t seem too special when he pulled it out to cut the demon. nor does it being magical explain how he managed to react so well to a braghest. A braghest isn¡¯t a common demon to be summoned, so the possibility of him being familiar with them is rather low as well,¡± Lux continued. ¡°But since you aren¡¯t suspicious at all, I suppose that¡¯s good too. I may just be over paranoid.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Lux-sama. I doubt he¡¯s someone dangerous,¡± Hikari smiled, trying to lighten up the mood. ¡°Just keep it in mind. Although he¡¯s someone we¡¯re supposed to be protecting, it doesn¡¯t hurt to stay vigilant. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes Lux-sama.¡± ¡°Now that we¡¯ve gotten that out of the way, shall we explore the city a bit further?¡± Guang asked. The three of them walked around the streets of the town, noting down anything that they felt that should be remembered, from where specific shops they may need to look at, to where they would be able to find some job, to bars and other places where they could hear rumours. Hikari hadn¡¯t had such fun in a long time. Although this outing had started in a more serious mood, she was still happy to walk around town. This was perhaps a once in a life time chance to go around a town that wasn¡¯t on Earth. After they find a way to save David¡¯s friend and return, they would probably never come here again! She was happy to see that the clothing which the people wore here were no different to their own, many of them wearing similar types of battle-orientated clothing. However, there were also plenty of people who wore other things like just tunics, robes or even for formal shirts and trousers. The image it formed looked like a scene from some sort of ¡°medieval meets modern¡± movie. Truly a once in a life time experience.
Back at the inn, David had gone down to the bar that also doubled as a dining area. Greeting the innkeeper as he sat down at the counter, he asked for a pint of ale. ¡°Here you go. Just don¡¯t get yourself dead drunk here,¡± the innkeeper said as he handed David the pint. Taking a small sip, David replied, ¡°I won¡¯t. Thanks for the advice.¡± The ale was not as sweet as he would have imagined, although the alcohol content was about it same as ones he had tasted back in Hong Kong. It went down his throat rather nicely. ¡°So what brings you children here to Henes? You can¡¯t be here for a vacation right?¡± the innkeeper asked him. Since the tavern wasn¡¯t that busy yet, the innkeeper struck up a conversation with David. ¡°Nothing much really, we¡¯re just stopping here to earn some road fees so we can get by in Rurnne.¡± The innkeeper chuckled, ¡°Road fees, from that coin you pulled out, money hardly seems like an issue to you four.¡± ¡°A bit more never hurts,¡± David said, taking another sip of the ale. ¡°Any particular reason to visit Rurnne with four magicians?¡± ¡°Three. I¡¯m not a magician, my companions are. I¡¯m merely a swordsman accompanying them.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you the humble one? Then you must be a magic swordsman with that huge amount of mana within your body. You can¡¯t hide it from my cursed eye you know? Hohoho¡± the innkeeper chuckled loudly. ¡°Heh. Cursed eye?¡± ¡°Yeh,¡± the innkeeper pointed to his left eye. ¡°Well I say cursed eye, but its the side effects of the curse, which cause me to only be able to perceive the mana within all. It¡¯s not the worst curse in the world.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°So like I asked before, what are you children here for except to earn some money?¡± ¡°Well, the three of them are in search of powerful demonic beasts to take in as familiars, which is the whole reason we¡¯re going to Rurnne.¡± ¡°That sounds like fun. No wonder you human children are here.¡± ¡°Why? Are humans visiting Rurnne really that uncommon?¡± ¡°Rurnne seems to be a popular place for human magicians, but humans visiting this town is very uncommon. But that¡¯s probably because there¡¯s nothing to attract them here,¡± the innkeeper chuckled again and moved off to tend to a table, leaving David alone. Right after the innkeeper had walked away, a slender young lady sat down beside David¡­ Chapter 24 - The Town of Enox Part III David didn¡¯t pay much attention to the slender woman that chose to sit down beside him and merely drowned himself in his thoughts of what was the plan in the coming days as well as how he was going to rescue Helly. He could rely on Lucifer¡¯s sense, but it wasn¡¯t going to tell him where she was until he gets there. She must¡¯ve been kidnapped for a reason, so its unlikely that wherever she¡¯ll be is going to be without any guards. At least, it would have that joker demon that had kidnapped her. At worst¡­ David didn¡¯t want to think about the worst case scenario. It was far too painstaking to think about. The glamorous woman beside David sighed loudly, breaking David¡¯s concentration. He looked around before looking at her, what he saw was pretty surprising. All of the men in the room was staring at the woman, even though she was not outstandingly beautiful. Seeing this, David recognised what she was. Unless she was someone extremely famous in this area, she was a succubus, emitting her pheromones, intentionally or not David did not know. He was rather curious as to why he wasn¡¯t affected though, but that may be due to Lucifer¡¯s influence. ¡°You alright?¡± David asked casually. He figured this would be the normal thing to do in a bar, especially considering the person sighing was a beautiful lady. He didn¡¯t want to look out of place by ignoring her. The lady looked at him and smiled mischievously. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Thank you for asking,¡± then it her expression changed to on of surprise, ¡°A human! what a rare sight around here.¡¯ ¡°Anything troubling you?¡± David followed up. ¡°I felt like I smelled another succubus¡¯s scent, but¡­¡± she passed right there and leaned closer to David. ¡°It seems like I found it.¡± Her eyes seemed to radiate the happiness of a child. ¡°Phew, I was worried that another succubus was coming for me, but it looks like it¡­ Wait, speak the truth, are you serving anyone of the succubi?¡± she suddenly stood up and looked at David sternly. ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I came here with my three other companions that have gone to explore the town. All of us are human,¡± David honestly replied. She could smell another succubus on him? He didn¡¯t come into contact with any except¡­ So she really is one..? ¡°Hmmm whatever you say. As long as you aren¡¯t after me I don¡¯t care. It¡¯s a shame though, since you are my type,¡± the succubus said and reached over to caress his cheek. David quickly grabbed her hand, ¡°Please don¡¯t touch me like that, we just met.¡± ¡°Haha, I¡¯m sorry,¡± the succubus giggled, ¡°It¡¯s just that there is something about you¡­¡± Seeing David¡¯s glare at her, she changed her tone, ¡°¡­ But I¡¯m just kidding. I¡¯m glad that I found out it wasn¡¯t a succubus after me. So anyways, what¡¯s a human doing in this small village?¡± David looked at the succubus and thought about how to answer. Thinking that there was no harm in telling her, he said, ¡°Im here with my companion magicians that are looking for their own familiars. They wish to get something powerful, so we¡¯re travelling to the city.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool, any specific they are looking for?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not so sure on exact species, but I think powerful demonic beasts would suit them.¡± ¡°Then why stop at powerful demonic beasts, they should tame a dragon!¡± the woman giggled. ¡°Oh by the way, I¡¯m Misuara, but you can call me Mira.¡± ¡°I¡¯m David,¡± David replied, introducing himself. ¡°Oh yeah, speaking of powerful things, have you heard about those weird rumours?¡± ¡°What weird rumours? I probably hadn¡¯t since we only just arrived here today.¡± ¡°Ahh. Well apparently something seems to be stirring, I heard that there are figures of powerful aura constantly going in the direction of Lord Mephistopheles¡¯s castle!¡± Mephistopheles? Lucifer had mentioned him as the ruler of this area, it seems like he wasn¡¯t wrong. Was this connected to Helly somehow? ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you Mira,¡± the innkeeper said, noticing Mira had taken a sea beside David. ¡°That¡¯s not the weirdest thing though. Demonic beasts have also been quite restless recently. The mayor has even issued a subjugation quest to deal with the Strix population that have appeared out of nowhere.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°No one is stupid enough to take the quest though. They aren¡¯t particularly strong, but I¡¯ve heard that the numbers this time are extreme. So unless you are a mage that can wipe them out quickly, they¡¯re going to overpower you.¡± ¡°How many of them are there?¡± David asked. ¡°The quest says several hundred, which is seriously ridiculous. Boy, you can¡¯t be thinking of taking the quest right? I know you guys need money, but this is just way too dangerous. If the Strix flock starts to become a danger, then the nobles should send someone over,¡± the innkeeper warned. ¡°Although the reward is based on number slain, so if you can catch a small number off guard, that¡¯s entirely fine.¡± ¡°I see, I would have to ask my companions,¡± David replied.
When the three exorcists returned to the inn, it was already nighttime. They found David sitting by the bar chatting away with a beautiful woman as well as the mezuki innkeeper. Seeing them, David beckoned towards them, indicating them to go over. Hikari was the first one to go over, showing him a local assessory that she bought. It was necklace with various types of beads on it, each made of a different material. They ranged from animal bones to small rocks, wood or even small gems. Seeing her like this, David laughed, ¡°Looks like you had a great time, ojou.¡± Hearing these words, more specifically the term ¡°ojou¡±, Hikari was shocked. This felt way too out of character. Before she could utter a reply, David grinned and said, ¡°It is good for ojou you to enjoy the tour around the city, but shouldn¡¯t we prioritise on gathering funds and information on powerful demonic beasts fitting to be your familiar?¡± David looked at him, this demeanour was far too weird. It was as if he was a completely different person from the gloomy and serious individual that he appeared to be. ¡°He¡¯s playing his part, so we should do well to do the same,¡± unbeknownst to her, Guang had already walked up beside her and whispered in Hikari¡¯s ear. Ahhh, so that was why David was acting like that. Hikari finally understood. She had almost completely forgotten that they had agreed to act as three magicians and a swordsman accompanying them in search of powerful familiars. The woman beside turned around and looked at her. ¡°Ahh, allow me to make ann introduction. The one beside me is Mira, she¡¯s a succubus,¡± David introduced naturally, while the woman gave HIkari a light nod. ¡°I¡¯m Hikari. Nice to meet you!¡± Hikari replied enthusiastically. ¡°I¡¯m Guang,¡± Guang replied promptly. ¡°Lux,¡± Lux replied. ¡°Boy, would you like to have your dinner now?¡± the innkeeper asked David. ¡°Yes, we will have it now.¡± ¡°Since the counter is so crowded, move over to the table over there,¡± the innkeeper said, pointing towards a far to the side of the inn. David swiftly stood up and walked over, with Guang and Lux following after. Hikari though, stayed on spot first and asked Mira, ¡°Would you like to dine with us and tell us some stories?¡± Mira looked at her and smiled, ¡°It would be my pleasure.¡± Hearing her reply, Hikari dragged Mira by her hand towards the table where Guang, Lux and David had already sat down. When she did so, a look of surprise briefly flashed across David and Lux¡¯s face. Only Guang, who knew Hikari better than the other two, let out a sigh. ¡°Mira¡¯s joining us for dinner,¡± Hikari informed them and pushed Mira to sit down.
Author''s Notes: Here''s the next chapter. Sorry for the delay, exams season now. Anyways, tell me in the comments before on what did you think about the intermission chapter before. ~Selutu Chapter 25 - The Town of Enox Part IV As Mira sat down, she was met with three distinct expressions. A look of annoyance flashed across Lux¡¯s face before it was replaced by a seemingly forced smile. David had a questioning look on his face. Guang merely looked at her with a blank expression. The innkeeper walked over and asked, ¡°So, what would you like to order?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just have whatever they¡¯re having,¡± Mira replied, chucking a silver coin to the innkeeper. She could sense some sort of awkward atmosphere, but she didn¡¯t may much heed to it, she was actually quite thankful for Hikari inviting her so she wouldn¡¯t have to eat alone. And the young man, David, intrigued her. He had a powerful aura was being suppressed around him, so he definitely wasn¡¯t the ¡®normal¡¯ swordsman he claimed to be. Even if she could not feel that hidden aura, the reaction he had gotten from heating about the Strixes was too little. It was common knowledge that Strixes were dangerous beasts that soared through the night sky. They may not be the strongestt demonic beasts individually, but as a flock they were extremely troublesome because they would often work together, complementing each other. David¡¯s reaction to it was far too little, which would either mean he¡¯s very foolish or very powerful. Mira, believed this to be the latter, mainly because a fool would not even other to come to this inn. Additionally, his companions also looked quite capable. Both Lux and Guang possessed very sharp eyes and all of them had a very fit body despite being magicians. ¡°So David told me that you all are here to earn a bit of travel expenses towards Rurrne where you plan to look for powerful demonic beasts to become familiars?¡± Mira struck up a conversation. ¡°Yes,¡± replied Guang. Hearing that, David let out a sigh of relief. Mira did not understand the reason for it, but it was because David felt that it was fortunate for the exorcists to have heard about the city of Rurrne during their tour around town. They might have guessed what it was, but this way it didn¡¯t make him seem suspiciously knowledgeable about the area. ¡°Is there any particular demonic beasts you had in mind?¡± Mira inquired further. ¡°I suppose it depends more on the affinity than anything, but other than that¡­ We¡¯re didn¡¯t really limit ourselves to demonic beasts, magical beasts like wyvern are totally fine too. I do hope for a powerful being like a cerberus or a qilin,¡± Guang replied. ¡°Wow, the wyvern aside, those are some powerful beasts you have in mind!¡± Mira exclaimed. ¡°Actually even the wyverns are powerful beasts in their own right.¡± Yep, they definitely are powerful. Mira thought to herself. Judging from the way they portrayed themselves, they didn¡¯t seem to be like na?ve idiots. So the only conclusion was that they were truly powerful enough to at least try to attempt to contract with a magical beast of the caliber of a cerberus. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s what we¡¯re aiming for,¡± Guang replied with a chuckle. ¡°But first, we got to earn a bit more money from the road. Do you happen to know anyone that has been putting out requests?¡± ¡°As a matter of fact I was actually just telling David about it, it¡¯s the subjugation of a Strix flock.¡± ¡°Oh? Could you tell us a bit more?¡± ¡°It¡¯s apparently over a hundred Strixes. I¡¯m not completely sure we can handle it,¡± David interrupted. ¡°Although, if we do manage to handle it, the payment is quite good.¡± ¡°It definitely is! 1 silver per Strix, if you manage to kill the whole swam, that¡¯s more than 1 gold!¡± Mira exclaimed. More than anything though, she wanted to see the four of them fight. Her demonic instincts seemed to tell her that it would be very interesting to see. Aside from the three magicians, she was intrigued in how David would fight. He said he was a swordsman, but how skilled was he? And why could she smell a succubi scent from him? She was curious to find out. ¡°What do you guys think?¡± Guang looked to his two female comrades. ¡°I think it¡¯s fine,¡± Hikari said. ¡°We are pretty strong after all.¡± ¡°Yeah, if it¡¯s Strix¡¯s then it shouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue. We should scout ahead first, and see if we can ambush the flock somehow,¡± Lux replied. ¡°Then when are you guys thinking of going to scout?¡± Mira asked. ¡°We¡¯ll probably go tomorrow. Why?¡± Guang answered. ¡°I want to come along, if you don¡¯t mind. I won¡¯t hide it, I could use a bit more money. I would consider myself strong enough to deal with 2 or 3 Strix¡¯s at a role. Since you guys seems to be interested in it and appear quite confident, I was thinking that joining you guys wouldn¡¯t be so bad,¡± Mira replied. Obviously she didn¡¯t mention about her just being interested in seeing them fight, that would have caused them to instantly reject her proposal. In this world, unless you¡¯re an idiot, you wouldn¡¯t want to reveal your fighting style to others, especially to a complete stranger. even if you do, you wouldn¡¯t reveal everything, just the bare minimum to allow others to understand your capabilities. By only telling them about her financial interests, they would be more incline to agree, since she would seem far less suspicious. David looked towards Lux. As did Hikari and Guang. It appeared that out of the four of them, Lux is generally regarded as the leader, at least subconsciously. ¡°That¡­ That¡¯ll be fine,¡± Lux replied. ¡°Then shall we meet here tomorrow at sunrise?¡± David suggested. ¡°Sure.¡±
When the food arrived, David was extremely pleased with what he saw and smelled. The fillet they had ordered looked quite tasty. According to the innkeeper, it was ogre meat. When David had first heard that, he was quite hesitant to eat it, but after seeing the three exorcists tuck in without any reservation, he decided to give it a try. He wasn¡¯t disappointed. The texture of it was rather chewy, and had a unique taste. It didn¡¯t take long for him to finish the fillet and rice, and moved onto the soup. The soup was some sort of orange-brownish colour, giving of the smell of various spices and herbs. If he was to describe what it smelled like, he would say that it reminded him of the smell of the large variety of spices used in southeastern Asian countries. After taking a sip of it, David decided that it wasn¡¯t too bad. He wasn¡¯t too fond of the large amount of spices used, but he couldn¡¯t really complain about it. Actually, it was more like any complaint was pointless and would only sour the mood. ¡°Mira, tell us something interesting,¡± Hikari asked, trying to make small talk. ¡°Hmmm, I did tell a bit to David already. What kind of things do you want to hear about? Rumours or stories?¡± Mira replied with a smile as she placed a small piece of ogre meat into her mouth. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Could you tell us some rumours flowing around here?¡± Guang asked. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve mentioned to David that apparently there were several powerful auras going towards Lord Mephistopheles¡¯s castle. This is really surprising since there has hardly been any major trouble in the recent years, thus making all sorts of theories about it pop up,¡± Mira started. ¡°Mephistopheles!? Mephistopheles as in the powerful archdemon that rivals the 72 scriptures?¡± Hikari gasped. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s the ruler of this land,¡± Mira reacted, ¡°Surely you know¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, we know about it. Hikari is just surprised at a rumour surrounding him. Since for what we know, there haven¡¯t been any news of him in the last 200 years, at least not to our knowledge on Earth,¡± Guang quickly said, preventing Hikari from leaking unnecessary information. Even after the incident at the village, she still seemed rather careless and this was evidence of it. ¡°So what kind of theories are there?¡± Lux asked. ¡°There are several. The first of them is that Lord Mephistopheles maybe plotting some form of military campaign in preparation, just in case the stirring of the stirring of the demonic beasts escalate. The second is that he may be plotting a revolution or something. However, I think that¡¯s really unlikely seeing as that would go against his belief in pureblooded demons. All seven of the Demon Princes of Hell are pureblooded demons in one sense or another, there¡¯s just no reason for him to go against them like that,¡± Mira said. ¡°The last of which is a bit weird, but I think it is certainly possible. It is quite a widely known fact that Lord Mephistopheles was a powerful follower of Lord Lucifer. Since recently, there has been news of Lord Lucifer¡¯s disappearance, it is entirely possible that Lord Mephistopheles would have assembled talented people all around in order to search for him.¡± David¡¯s eyes widened upon hearing that. Was this rumour related to Lucifer and himself somehow? Despite Lucifer being a Demon Prince, David never truly comprehended how significant the contract with Lucifer was, and how rare it was. As a matter of fact, he was still unable to. ¡°Such a significant thing happened!?¡± Guang exclaimed. He looked towards Lux to see if her reaction would reveal that she had some sort of information about this. However, her reaction was rather similar to his, her mouth open in shock for a moment before closing. ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s only a rumour. Lot¡¯s of stuff like this gets around, so it¡¯s really not too surprising that you humans haven¡¯t heard about it,¡± Mira continued. ¡°Even then, that¡¯s a really big deal! It concerns on of the Demon Princes!¡± HIkari exclaimed. Mira giggled, ¡°I can truly tell that it¡¯s your first time coming to this land. Here, rumours about the Demon Princes spread around quite often, I think just last week there was a rumour regarding Lord Beelzebub¡¯s actual abilities and magic.I suppose this is different in that it¡¯s saying that Lord Lucifer has gone missing, but you get the idea.¡± ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. If it had some form of truth behind the words, I¡¯m sure we would have heard about it back home,¡± Guang nodded. ¡°Then, is there any other rumours aside from that?¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s also been an increasing amount of people talking about stirring up trouble for the Demon Princes. Most of these are by less influential nobles, most likely not happy with their positions. There¡¯s even been a bit of talk about an all out revolution, but it¡¯s rather tame at this point. I personally doubt it¡¯ll escalate to anything beyond that, simply because it¡¯s crazy. Even if I was very powerful, I still wouldn¡¯t accept any idea of a revolution, since that¡¯d mean we¡¯re placing against ourselves again true monsters that destroyed the majority of the original seventy-two scriptures and a large number of other archdemons that held equal power to them¡­ It¡¯s unbelievable that some would even be foolish enough to consider that idea. And aside from that¡­ There¡¯s also the matter of the stirring of demonic beasts all across the world. The Strix flock is an example of such. Essentially, in the past 2 months or so, there¡¯s been an increase in demonic beasts going out of their natural territories. It¡¯s a really bizarre situation, considering the numbers that have appeared out of their natural habitat is also a lot more than usual. It wasn¡¯t too unusual to find one or two strays, but in the past two months there has been entire hordes and flocks. Some people are speculating that someone is controlling all these demonic beasts, but that¡¯s impossible right? There is any too many, and if the person was, the demonic beasts wouldn¡¯t be so unorganised either.¡± ¡°Could they just have been ordered to cause chaos and confusion?¡± Lux suggested. ¡°Unlikely, since the demonic beasts have just been annoying. It isn¡¯t powerful demonic beasts rampaging across the land, but it just been a continued annoyance of usually weak demonic beasts in such large numbers that we can¡¯t do that much about it. I do think they were driven out of their own lands by something, but I have no idea what that could be considering there are all types of demonic beasts popping up in weird places and they don¡¯t all belong to the same habitat.¡± ¡°Has the nobles looked into it?¡± Hikari questioned worriedly. ¡°Such an abnormal incident bound to have triggered some kind of explanation from them right?¡± ¡°No idea, it seemed like some nobles had recently started looking into it, but we haven¡¯t hear much about it. Truth be told, it really isn¡¯t that worrisome, considering that it¡¯s easy money if they were picked off. The only reason the Strux population hasn¡¯t been dealt with is just because our town is no exactly a frequently visited place, but once news about the Strix flock gets out, people looking for earnings will arrive.¡± ¡°I see. So that¡¯s why you want us to take the quest? So that you can tag along with us and hopefully get some of the rewards before other people come to claim it for themselves.¡± David said uncaringly. ¡°Haha, you could say that. It¡¯s not a bad idea for someone that is in need of money right?¡± Mira laughed off the accusation like it was nothing as she finished the lasts of her soup. ¡°Fair enough. We¡¯ll decide if we¡¯ll take the question tomorrow after scouting. So, just to double check. We¡¯re meeting here at tomorrow sunrise, there¡¯s no problem with that right?¡± ¡°No problem at all.¡± Chapter 26 - The Town of Enox Part V Author''s Note: Here''s the next TNM chapter. I know some of you might not like the fact that the story has slowed down a lot, but don''t worry, action will come soon. So stay tuned. Enjoy the chapter! ~Selutu
Mira, David and the three exorcists chatted leisurely for a while before finishing their meal and returning to their rooms, or her home in Mira¡¯s case. Once they got back to the rooms, Guang indicated for David to come with him to HIkari and Lux¡¯s room. As he entered, he saw that both of the girls had taken off their armor and were wearing what was essentially T-shirts and shorts. He once again sat down in the chair as Guang chose to sit on the side of Hikari¡¯s bed. ¡°Let¡¯s share the information we found out today,¡± said Guang. ¡°First of all, the name of this town is Enox, we¡¯re around a two day ride from the city of Rurrne, one of the major cities in the area. Judging from everything that we have learnt so far, we can confirm that we are indeed in the land of demons. That really puts us in a position where we cannot lightly reveal out abilities, since many of the will essentially tell people that we are exorcists.¡± ¡°I see. That¡¯s pretty much what I¡¯ve learnt as well. The rest, you¡¯ve already heard from Mira,¡° replied David. He didn¡¯t wish to tell them about Mira smelling the scent of a succubus on him. It wouldn¡¯t help him in anyway and would only potentially lead to discord between him and the exorcists. Although he would prefer to look for Helaine right away without doing anything else, he couldn¡¯t help but feel like working together with these exorcists here would be the smarter choice. Abandoning them was not an option. ¡°I am curious about one thing though. Lux, why did you agree with exterminating the Strix flock? It would only waste time and cause trouble unto us.¡± ¡°It is a good opportunity to see what these demons are capable of. As much as I hate to admit it, we have to get along with these demon filth for now since we¡¯re in their lands. Slaughtering every single last one of them is not an option right now. Therefore, especially since the succubus had suggested it, we shall use her as a small indicator of the strength of the demons here,¡± Lux replied. ¡°However, doesn¡¯t force us to show her our own abilities as well. Unless you have ways to fight as a magician without revealing that you¡¯re exorcists. I don¡¯t see how we can accomplish the quest,¡± David pointed out. There were two major problems with doing the quest. Firstly, like he had said, the exorcists revealing themselves would not be a smart move and could lead to unnecessary trouble. Secondly, it was that he didn¡¯t want to be forced to show his own abilities. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would be forced into a situation were he needed to reveal himself as Lucifer¡¯s host. It was better to just avoid battles as much as possible and not draw any attention to himself what so ever. ¡°We¡¯ll be able to hide our abilities well enough,¡± Lux confirmed. ¡°Is there anything else that you found out? Or shall be retreat back to our rooms?¡± Guang turned to David and asked. ¡°There isn¡¯t anything else,¡± David replied as he walked over to the door with Guang swiftly in tow.
The next morning, David awoke before sunrise. He looked around the unfamiliar room and saw Guang still sleeping on the other wooden bed. The bed itself wasn¡¯t too comfortable and it made him wish he could sleep in his own bed, but it was far better than sleeping outside like he did the day before. It was hard to imagine that two days prior he was still living a relatively normal life, and now he was in the middle of the demons¡¯ world, searching for his childhood friend. He dampened his footsteps and grabbed the clothes that Guang had gave him last night off the table. As quickly as he could, he walked out of the room and towards the bathroom. The bathroom was a shared one at the end of the hall. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.As soon as he got into the bathroom and made sure that he was out of earshot, he quietly asked, ¡°Lucifer, was there any change in Helly¡¯s location?¡± ¡°There actually has been. She now seems closer to where we are, but the demon is still with her. At least she¡¯s still alive right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± David let out a sigh and started to change. ¡°Have you thought of any possible reasons why she might have been kidnapped yet? Or any other useful information?¡± ¡°Well. Remember when I told you that this was the land of Mephistopheles? That clown demon also gave off a similar aura. I wasn¡¯t too sure at first, but I did sense Mephistopheles¡¯s aura near the demon and the girl. It is merely a thought, but he might have wanted her for some reason. The exact reason though? I have no idea. She didn¡¯t seem like a special succubus. Aside from that, there is the matter of how you are going to fight today. What are you planning to do?¡± ¡°Since I¡¯ve shown my physical capabilities, I¡¯m going to resort to that as much as possible. If I have to, I¡¯ll use fire magic. But that¡¯s it, unless I¡¯m in a life or death situation.¡± ¡°Hmmm. I suppose there is not other way. It¡¯s a bad idea to use spatial magic that simply and we don¡¯t have time to find you another weapon. So I suppose you¡¯ll have to stick with your two knives for now.¡± ¡°I have no problem with that,¡± David replied. Ever since he became Lucifer¡¯s host, David had trained quite a bit. Although he did only go to the Muay Thai dojo to train with his teacher, he did train in weaponry by himself under Lucifer¡¯s guidance. It didn¡¯t seem too stellar of an idea at first, but his opinion quickly changed. He had allowed Lucifer to take control of his body through the use of [Possession] temporary and show him the movements required to optimise his use of the blades and knives. Compared to before, he has made a huge progress, with his reaction speed being faster and his stamina increasing. He was quite confident that if there Strixes were demonic beings around the level of a Braghest, he would be alright even if he to fight completely void of any magic.
Mira arrived at Azureus Terra exactly at dawn. She saw that the four humans were already sitting in the tavern waiting for her. She gave a little wave, to which nods were returned from three of them and Hikari ran enthusiastically towards her. ¡°Good morning Mira,¡± Hikari said. ¡°Good morning,¡± Seeing such an excited reaction, Mira couldn¡¯t help but let out a little giggle. ¡°Shall we go now?¡± ¡°Please lead the way,¡± Guang said respectfully. With that, Mira led them out of the town. It didn¡¯t take long for them to arrive at the foot of a small hill. ¡°Is this were the Strix flock is supposed to be?¡± asked David. ¡°Well rumours have it that they do fly past here quite often. I don¡¯t exactly know where the flock rests,¡± Mira replied hesitantly. She had assumed that finding a huge Strip flock that was starting to cause trouble for the town would be easy, but it seem that it wasn¡¯t so, seeing as they hadn¡¯t even seen any Strip, despite having arrived in the rumoured area. As if she jinxed it herself. A loud caw was heard, causing the five of them to look up towards the sky. From out of no where, a flock of Strixes appeared. Mira bit her lips. This was far too bizarre, there were no signs of the Strix flock anywhere previously, and yet they suddenly appeared? How did they happen? Normally, she was able to sense the presence of others to an extent, why was it that the presence of the Strix flock appeared out of nowhere? What Mira didn¡¯t notice was the abnormally large Strix that flew at the front of the flock. It¡¯s brilliant gold feathers shimmering in the sky, giving a sense of royalty. That was not a normal Strix that they were prepared to hunt. That was a Grand Strix. Chapter 27 - Strix Hunting Strixes are may look like a slightly weird owl with their large eyes and sharper than normal beaks. However they are actually demonic beasts that have been recorded down in mythology, namely in Greek and Roman mythology. They have been said to be descended from Polyphonte, who was transformed into a strix by Hermes and Ares for her half-bear sons¡¯ cannibalism. She became a strix ¡°that cries by night, without food or drink, with head below and tips of feet above, a harbinger of war and civil strife to men.¡± However, that is merely a myth and nothing more. Strixes have existed long before as savage birds that hunt unsuspecting prey. They were not extremely terrifying demonic beast and usually an average demon would be able to easily deal with one, but the only problem was that strixes often moved in small flocks of between 5 to 10 strixes. This increased their threat by several times over. On the other hand, the existences known as Grand Strixes were different. These were strixes, yet at the same time they were not. They were a higher tiered existence compared to those Strides that wouldn¡¯t cause much trouble alone. For someone who didn¡¯t understand, a Grand Strix was only a slightly larger Strip. However, that wasn¡¯t the case, a Grand Strix was an avian that could wreck havoc wherever it went. Although not as terrifying as a mature Dragon, it was still an existence that one needed to be wary about, not only because of its physical prowess, but also because of its cunningness. The being that Mira saw was such an existence. Seeing it, Mira shuddered. Why was there a Grand Strix here? She didn¡¯t hear anything about it. If there was a Grand Strix here, the mayor should have notified everyone. What was going on? She looked to the side, towards the four humans. They didn¡¯t seem too surprised, shocked or worried at all. A calm demeanour appeared on their faces.
¡°Heh, a Grand Strix,¡± Lucifer said in David¡¯s mind as David noticed the abnormally large Strix in the sky. ¡°That¡¯s a higher tiered strix, similar to how the High Orc you fought was a higher tiered orc. Same idea here. The Grand Strix is a more intelligent and powerful strix. Well to be precise, a more intelligent and powerful High Strix. You get the idea. The appearance of one is actually not all that common, and now it makes somewhat sense that there is such a huge flock of strixes here, since there is always such a huge flock accompanying a Grand Strix.¡± Hearing that, David grimaced. Then as if noticing David¡¯s expression, Lucifer continued, ¡°But don¡¯t worry. It shouldn¡¯t be that troublesome. A few intermediate level spells should be enough to take it down. And you can handle it since your agility is not the worst in the world, especially after becoming my host.¡± At the same time, the three exorcists also seemed to have notice the strix flock. ¡°What do you think?¡± Lux asked Guang. ¡°I think we should be able to handle it, even if we pretend to be magicians,¡± Guang replied. ¡°If we keep up the disguise, we¡¯ll cast several spells from here to take down some of them, then David will start guarding us as we adopt a hit-and-run tactic in pairs. Although I¡¯m not certain of exactly how capable he is, guarding one of us should be alright. Then I can just guard either you or Hikari if needed. As for the succubus¡­ We¡¯ll let her do as she sees fit. There does seem to be a Grand Strix there, that could prove troublesome, but it should be fine for you to handle. Would that be alright?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°That is what I would have suggested,¡± Lux nodded. It was more or less the same as what she had in mind. This would also allow them to gauge both Mira and David¡¯s capabilities. With David in the vanguard, he would be in more danger even if h only need to fend of attacking strixes, and Then turning to Hikari and David, she asked, ¡°Did you hear Guang¡¯s plan?¡± ¡°Yes, Lux-sama. I think it is fine,¡± Hikari replied. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s fine,¡± David agreed. He didn¡¯t see any reason not to, since this plan does allow him to hide his ability to use spells as much as possible. He already determined that using fire magic before was a mistake, he didn¡¯t want to show any more than necessary. ¡°Mira,¡± Guang called out to her. ¡°We¡¯re going to deal with the Strix flock here. We¡¯ll first try to strike as many of them down as possible from here, then we¡¯re going to adopt a guerrilla tactic in pairs. That means we¡¯ll leave you alone to your own devices. Is that okay?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll do the same as you guys,¡± Mira said. Seeing that Mira agreed. The three exorcists immediately begun to cast spells. ¡°Drawing upon the fire of the world, engulf my foes in flames!!¡± Both Hikari and Guang casted, immediately after, a blaze of flames surrounded many of the strixes, catching the surviving ones to turn and look around for the culprit. ¡°An imitation of the heavens, tear through my foes, strike fear into their hearts! !¡± Just as the strix flock noticed they were under attack, Lux released a huge surge of lightning in the shape of a dragon towards the strix flock, electrocuting many strixes as it passed through them, causing them to drop dead towards the ground. As if not wanting to lose to the three, Mira also begun to silently cast. David couldn¡¯t hear her chant, but he recognise it as a dark magic. After letting it charge up for around 15 seconds, she released the bolts of dark magic in her hands onto the incoming strix flock, instantly shooting down quite a few of them. He looked back at the exorcists, to see how the partnering will go. It seemed like they have already decided on his partnership with Hikari, who smiled at him, ¡°Shall we?¡± David nodded and indicated for her to start running, as he pulled out the two knives he had in his pocket. Just as they started running, two strixes dived down towards them. David turned around and covered his knives with mana, sharpening and lengthening them to the length of a short sword at the same time. Like the blades he usually summoned, the knives now gave off a blackish aura. He raised the blade in his right hand to parry off the talons of one of the strixes to the side, then ducked as another flew in aiming for his eyes. As the strix flew over his head, he tried to slash its stomach, but only managed to leave a small wound that wasn¡¯t too deep. ¡°Oh heaven¡¯s flames, shoot through your enemies. Burn them to dust! !¡± Behind him, Hikari shot a fire ball at the strix that David injured, setting it ablaze. It shrieked out in pain and fell onto the ground, trying to roll around in order to douse the flames, but it was already too late. Taking this opportunity, David grabbed Hikari and started running. He didn¡¯t want them to be trapped in such a disadvantage location while fighting against such a large number of enemies. Intermission 2 - A Meeting at Rurrne ¡°My lord, Lord Gacy has returned and he requested for an audience,¡± a servant said to him while kneeling down on one knee. Sitting alone on the throne was a figure that clearly displayed an air of nobility. Dressed in extravagant clothing that displayed his wealth, he beckoned to the servant, ¡°Allow him to come in.¡± Upon hearing his orders, stood up, bowed once again before hurriedly leaving. Gary was back, I wonder if he has achieved his mission this time? The man on the throne thought to himself. Moments later, a tall man wearing a black suit entered the hall. On his head was a tall exaggerated top hat that was reminiscent of Victorian Britain, while on his face was a mask that felt very out of place, yet very natural at the same time. More precisely, it was a clown mask. This demon was Emmet Wayne Gacy, one of his most trusted retainers. Gary was a capable demon that had come under his service several hundred years ago, long after he had left the service of his king. Gary was a particularly powerful demon, possessing might that would rival many of the lower of the 72 scriptures. Recently, due to a certain rumour regarding a powerful demon, Gacy had been ordered to make contact with certain individuals on Earth, understanding who they are and how powerful they were. The origin of the rumours was the voluptuous young woman standing beside the throne, brown hair and green eyes, she could easy attract the attention of many males. This much was evident as she has been the focus of attention for many of the guards. Her real name was Cecilia despite her frequent usage of another name. Having found out about her secret, she had become a useful pawn to gather intelligence. ¡°I have returned, Lord Mephistopheles,¡± said Emmet when he was closer to the throne. He took an exaggerated bow that looked somewhat silly considering he was wearing a clown mask. ¡°Oh, fate has favoured us greatly this time. It seems like the host is on his journey here.¡± ¡°Well done Gacy. As always, thank you for your hard work,¡± Mephistopheles said to Gacy. ¡°Were there any incidents at all?¡± ¡°None at all, sire. From what I have gathered, they are staying in the town of Enox, around two days ride from here. Accompanying him is the three exorcists that I¡¯ve encountered when I brought her here,¡± Emmet replied, indicating towards Cecilia. ¡°Regarding bringing me here, no kidnaping me here. Lord Mephistopheles, you still have not informed me of my purpose,¡± Cecilia sneered. Mephistopheles replied with a chuckle. ¡°Oh have I not? You¡¯ll understand soon enough, you¡¯re not a dumb girl. I¡¯m sure you can figure it out yourself,¡± he said as he lifted up her chin with his hand. ¡°Please stop that Lord Mephistopheles,¡± said Cecilia. ¡°Lady Asmodeus will¡­¡± ¡°She will what? Tear me to pieces? Cecilia, we all know that it¡¯s not going to happen because you won¡¯t tell her a thing. If you were going to do so, then you would have done that from the start when I suggested this¡­ cooperation. But because it was your mistake that caused this in the first place, there is no way you can go running to that old hag,¡± sneered Mephistopheles. Cecilia was unable to retort, and only gave him a death glare. Despite how much she wanted to refute everything, what he had said was t he truth. In her current position, she couldn¡¯t go and seek aid from Lady Asmodeus. Obeying Mephistopheles¡¯s orders was her only option right now. ¡°My lord, Lord Bael as well as Lord Legion has arrived,¡± the same servant that passed on the message before kneeled before the throne and informed him. With a wave of his hand, Mephistopheles replied, ¡°Let them in.¡± A brief moment after the servant ran out to relay his lord¡¯s message, 2 figures entered the room. One of them was a very tall middle aged man, standing well over two metres. On his face was a thick well groomed beard, which combined with his stature and the thick amor that he wore, gave off a powerful atmosphere. This was Recklem Bael, the current head of the house of Bael, the house of one of the strongest demons in the 72 scriptures. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The man beside him was obviously Legion. Or rather, they were Legion. Legion were a peculiar group of demons, who never once moved alone. They always moved as one, always occupied one host. They were Legion. The body they currently inhabited was that of a handsome youth with grey hair of average height. He wore a small smile on his face as he walked together with Recklem Bael. ¡°Mephistopheles, for what business have you summoned us today? We are busy people, I as one of the leaders of the 72 scriptures and Legion being Legion. This better be important,¡± Recklem asked impatiently. ¡°Ahaha, it¡¯s good to see you too Recklem,¡± Mephistopheles chuckled. ¡°How do you do, Legion?¡± ¡°We are good. It has been a good time for us,¡± Legion replied. ¡°However, it is as Recklem Bael has said, what have you summoned us for? I hope it was well worth our time, Mephistopheles.¡± ¡°It is definitely worth your time. Now Gacy, since everyone is here, why don¡¯t you recount everything from the beginning, including what you know about the host.¡± Hearing his lord¡¯s command, Emmet took a deep bow,¡± Then I¡¯ll start from the beginning. Several months prior, His Majesty Lucifer disappeared. Regarding this, nobody knew where he went. This by until recently, where a trace of his magic was sensed in Hong Kong, an offshore city in China. Initially we did not notice it, and did not pay any attention to it. However, our source, Miss Cecelia that was there informed us of the sudden foreign trace of demonic magic. I was then sent to investigate the matter, and discovered the traces of contract magic having been used. His Majesty Lucifer had always been cautious about forming contract with humans to our knowledge. Due to this, I was ordered to investigate further. Eventually, after several difficult weeks, I was finally able to locate the contractor, who turned out to have become His Majesty¡¯s host.¡± ¡°OH? Mephistopheles, are you sure your servant is not crazy? Ahahaha,¡± Recklem pointed towards his own head. ¡°It isn¡¯t good to make such absurd claims about the Throne of Superbia, you know?¡± ¡°Rest assured, Recklem Bael, he speaks the truth. I would not be as foolish as to make him make such claims without any basis. If there was no truth in his words, I would not allow him to speak such words about His Supremacy Lucifer,¡± Mephistopheles said, and turned towards Emmet, ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°As I was saying, I have already confirmed that His Majesty Lucifer had chosen a human contractor and that human has become his host. The host initially appeared rather normal, but it would seem that he is indeed somewhat capable,¡± Then be took out a stone, which projected the image of a slightly taller than normal black hair youth. ¡°This is the host. David Ng, 17 years old. I cannot be completely sure of his magic affinity right now, but he clearly possess an affinity in fire magic. HIs physical capabilities appear to be above average as well. However, that¡¯s the extent of his notability.¡± ¡°Now, that is certainly interesting. But what do you want us to do about it? Mephisto?¡± Recklem laughed. ¡°Nothing, Recklem Bael. Both you and Legion are ones who share my belief of ensuring the our race is strong. I merely wanted to inform you of this, so you both will turn a blind eye to whatever might happen. I will bring His Supremacy back, and he shall lead us to victory.¡± ¡°Heh, so what you¡¯re asking for is simply for us to watch and not interfere right? I can do that much. What about you Legion?¡± ¡°It is not within our jurisdiction to do anything. For that reason, we will not interfere in any way. Do well to remember that, Mephistopheles.¡± ¡°As this exchange happened, No-one paid any attention to Cecelia who stared wide-eyed at the conjured image of Lucifer¡¯s host. She wasn¡¯t even sure of who to react. Cecelia was only able to utter a single name. ¡°Dae.¡± Chapter 28 - Thunderlords Decree Meanwhile, Lux and Guang had already arrived at the other side of the hill when Hikari and David were attacked by two strixes. As they took a look towards the sky, it seems their sudden movements had caught the majority of the strix flock¡¯s attention, including that of the Grand Strix. ¡°Heh, just as planned,¡± Guang said. as he chanted again. ¡°An imitation of the sacred flames, burn my enemies dust, create havoc in the name of the lord! !¡± Instead of using , Guang chose a more appropriate spell that wouldn¡¯t affect Hikari and David that were fighting below his targets. The flames surged out from behind him in the form of a dragon, engulfing many strixes. Searing them completely black. Similarly, Lux also chanted once more, ¡°An imitation of the heavens, tear through my foes, strike fear into their hearts! !¡± A dragon-sharped lightning flew towards the strix flock once more, electrocuting various unsuspecting strixes, but as they seemingly understood that they were under attack, many more strixes were able to fly out of the way. Seeing many of its kins fall, the Grand Strix shrieked out in anger, then suddenly flew upwards into the sky with many strixes following its lead. In the matter of seconds, they disappeared in the clouds. At the same time, the other strixes dived towards the two exorcists with their sharp talons in order to avenge their fallen kinsmen.
As Mira unleashed various dark magic spells at the strix horde, she glanced over at the 2 pair of humans. Lux and Guang appeared to be extremely capable, with each of their spells almost instantly taking down several strixes. With the other magician girl, the first barrage of spells they casted had already downed thirty odd strixes, nearly a third of the horde. However, David wasn¡¯t to be underestimated either. He seemed to have cladded his knives in raw mana to lengthen them and didn¡¯t even let a single strix get near Hikari, completely fulfilling his role as a vanguard. What caught Mira¡¯s attention was the way that David was fighting. His movements were fluent to a degree that seemed he had some sort of military training, which was not something she expected from the way he appeared. In a way, it reminded her of the one time when she and other succubi were visited by Lady Asmodeus and Prince of Pride Lucifer. David¡¯s method of fighting was reminiscent to the method that His Majesty had displayed to them in a spar with several of their finest warriors. This certainly was something that would be worth finding more about. With that thought, she snickered and charged up fired several more spells a the falling strix flock. With these four humans, they would be done with this quest in no time, and even if she could get a fifth of the rewards, that would still be 10 gold coins. Wait¡­ Where was the Grand Strix and the other half of the strix flock? Weren¡¯t they just flying overhead a while ago?
In another corner of the battlefield, David was guarding Hikari from several incoming strixes, while she chanted various spells behind him to shoot down the ones flying overhead. Their cooperation could be said as pretty good despite it being their first time partnering up. Both of them kept out of each other¡¯s way as they did their jobs. Thus soon there were only less than ten strix left in their sights. These strixes were the smarter of the bunch and avoided grouping up too closely together, learning that grouping up would be easier for Hikari to shoot them down. Six of the strixes glided down towards them just as David dispatched one in front of him. Their razor sharp talons aiming straight for him. Since he only noticed at the last moment, he opted to dive onto the ground, causing most of the strixes¡¯ talons only to miss by a tiny margin. However, he didn¡¯t come out unscathed. One of the strixes caused a large tear across his back. Although it wasn¡¯t very deep, it was deep enough to cause blood to seep through. ¡°Taking form to protect the heavens, scorch my enemies to ashes in the name of Christ! !¡± Seeing David get hurt, Hikari immediate released a chain of fire towards the strixes. Since they weren¡¯t flying too closely together, only four of them were hit by Hikari¡¯s spell. The other circled overhead as if looking for another moment to strike. At that moment, a screech rang out above their head. Hikari and David glanced up in the sky towards the source of the sound, and saw the Grand Strix with the rest of the strix flock, dive down towards the unsuspecting Lux from behind.
A loud screech rang out over their heads, but neither Lux nor Guang had the luxury to see what it was. They were only able to focus on the incoming strixes. The remaining strixes seemed to be slightly smarter than the others, and flew much closer to the two of them compered to the other ones. This severely limited both of their ability to cast the highly destructive spells they had casted previously. With the additional limitation of unable to use any magic that may indicate their true identity as exorcists, they were left to use weaker spells that would take care of the strixes one by one. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Allow the world to ignite the world, reveal the source of all life! ,¡± at the same time that Guang threw out a fireball towards a strix, he felt a fierce killing intent behind him. Although he knew that Lux was covering his back, he still couldn¡¯t help but to take a look at the source of that killing intent. What he came face to face with was the talons of the Grand Strip that had disappeared previously. Guang instinctively raise his arms to shield his face, but the impact of the strix¡¯s talon was enough to send him flying back. It was fortunate that he subconsciously raised his arms to block, otherwise, he would have been completely blinded in the best case scenario. In the worst cause scenario, he would have been killed on spot. However, although it was said to be fortunate, he was not unscathed. Quite the opposite, blood was seeping out from the long lacerations that could be seen along his entire forearm. Ignoring his wounds, Guang tried to stand up to continue to fight. ¡°Ugh,¡± he grimaced in pain as he placed his hand onto the ground to push himself back up. Before even pushing a part of himself up, he collapsed once more, his arms unable to support him. Guang could only smile wryly, it looks like the wounds were far deeper than he had imagined. He didn¡¯t feel like it had hurt that much initially, but thinking about that now, it would most likely be due to his training to endure pain kicking in. All of a sudden, Guang realised the abnormality of the situation. Since he was down and looked rather defenceless. Why didn¡¯t any strix attack him? With that in mind, he look around, seeking for an answer. It didn¡¯t take him any more than one moment to find his answer. Lux was drawing the attention of the strixes to herself. Seeing this, Guang immediately raised a feeble hand to throw out another fireball at the strixes that were furiously attacking Lux. ¡°Guang, don¡¯t do anything. I¡¯ll handle it!¡± as if noticing his intentions, Lux shouted at him without even turning her head to look. As if trying to refute her point, the Grand Strix dove towards her. Lux didn¡¯t even flinch, instead she stood calmly and muttered several inaudible words. Although Guang was unable to perceive what she was saying, he understood what she was going to do. . That was the magic Lux was about to invoke. It was a monarch class lightning magic that most people could not even imagine invoking. The fact that Lux was able to invoke it could only display her outstanding talent as a magician.
A moment later, a humongous flash of lightning struck where Lux and Guang were fighting. That flash of caused David and Hikari to be momentarily blinded. It was truly thanks to good fortune that they had already dispatched all the strixes around them, or else they may have fell prey to the sharp beaks and talons of the strixes in that second. Or actually, the strixes would have been blinded as well. ¡°What on earth was that?¡± David asked to no one in particular. ¡°¡± Lucifer answered. ¡°¡± almost at the same time, Hikari also gave him her answer beside him. ¡°A monarch class lightning magic that Lux-sama is well versed at.¡± ¡°I see, that is certainly impressive,¡± David answered absentmindedly as he watched the scene unfold. As the scattered dust began to clear, he was saw Lux standing beside Guang, who as lying on the floor. Around them were corpses of the strix flock that had been assaulting them, including the Grand Strix that had disappeared for a while. ¡°One shot¡­¡± David muttered. He had assumed the Grand Strix would be a relatively troublesome monster to deal with, even if it will not cause him too much trouble by himself. However, he didn¡¯t expect it to be a monster of a caliber that would die to one spell. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Even among monarch-class spells, is one that holds the position as one of the most damaging spells. In an essence it is not too surprising considering it is a full offensive spell,¡± said Lucifer calmly. ¡°Nonetheless, it does shine some light onto who our exorcist companions are. Considering their names as well as one of their ability to cast monarch class magic, I think it can be safe to assume that they are the Stella Brigade.¡± ¡°Stella Brigade? What is that?¡± David muttered under his breath. As if she heard David¡¯s almost inaudible mutter, Hikari asked, ¡°Huh? Did you say something?¡± ¡°Ah. No, it¡¯s nothing. Let¡¯s go over to Lux and Guang.¡± Chapter 29 - Reinstead Uphir ¡°The Stella Brigade is a battalion of the Roman Catholic Church that consists of exorcists. They are all powerful magicians in specific areas. Among the strongest of them, I have heard that one of them has even been caused ¡°Heaven¡¯s Favourite¡± or something like that, so the person probably has access to some form of holy magic as well. As a battalion, they deal with stuff that normal exorcists can¡¯t handle on their own. That¡¯s the gist of what I know about them,¡± explained Lucifer as David and Hikari walked over to Lux and Guang. As they neared the pair of exorcists, Hikari ran over enthusiastically, ¡°Lux-sama. That was amazing! As expected of Lux-sama.¡± However, instead of any positive reply, Lux looked back towards her with a grim look, stopping her in her tracks. Sensing the negative atmosphere, David looked around, and saw that Guang was on the floor. He wasn¡¯t resting there like he had first assumed, it was more like he was unable to push himself off the floor, due to the injuries that could be seen on his arm. Blood seeped out from the long gashes that ran down both of his forearms. As if noticing it as well, Hikari ran over to Guang¡¯s side and looked at his wounds. ¡°Don¡¯t move. I¡¯ll have it¡­¡± Just as she raised her hands towards the wounds, probably intending to cast some sort of healing magic, she was interrupted by Lux, ¡°Hikari, don¡¯t do anything unnecessary.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Lux-sama is right. The wounds aren¡¯t fatal anyways, so they¡¯ll heal in time,¡± Guang gave a weak smile. Then lowering his voice, he continued, ¡°Besides, the succubus is here. I don¡¯t want my wounds to compromise our identity.¡± ¡°Still¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, these wounds will heal by themselves. Taking into account our constitution, it¡¯ll take only around 2 weeks or so. We¡¯ll also be able to heal it once we leave the village, so don¡¯t worry too much about it.¡± ¡°Mhmm okay,¡± Hikari resigned.
That pillar of lightning¡­ What was that? Mira had assumed that these humans were strong, but to think that at least one of them was able to use a spell that could kill a Grand Strix in one hit. A Grand Strix¡¯s magical defence was nothing to scoff at. Normally speaking, even if it was somehow by itself, it would take at least 3 magicians to continuously throw spells at it to eventually breakthrough its magical defence and kill it. Yet, one of the humans, Lux, possessed a spell that finished it more or less instantly. No, she would have time to think over all of it later. Mira decided to stop thinking about it went over to where the four humans where standing. ¡°That was impressive, a spell able to instantly kill so many strixes,¡± she said to Lux. ¡°Ahh, it was something like a trump card.¡± ¡°Naturally, but it was still impressive nonetheless. Anyways, let¡¯s return to confirm the competition of the quest. We can leave the corpses here for the mayor to confirm and deal with.¡±
¡°Mira, forcing your way into my office. What is the meaning of this?¡± The one who shouted from his table was Reinstead Uphir, the current Mayor of Enox. In front of him was Mira, a frequent ¡®annoyance¡¯ that he has gotten acquainted with over the past years, and behind her was a few new faces that he has never seen before. ¡°Ahh, sorry. You see, it¡¯s because they didn¡¯t let me in. Ahahahaha,¡± Mira laughed. ¡°Just¡­ Whatever, even if I tell you not to do it again, you¡¯re not going to listen are you?¡± ¡°Ahahah, maybe. Probably not.¡± ¡°Then, what is it?¡± ¡°We finished your quest.¡± ¡°Heh? You finished the quest?¡± ¡°Yep, we killed off every single strix in the strix flock. The corpses are still by the hill on the right side of town.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no reason for you to lie since I¡¯ll know immediately. I¡¯ll send someone over there,¡± replied Reinstead as he conjured up a magic circle and spoke towards it, ¡°Send a group of people over to the hill on the right side of town to collect strix corpses.¡± ¡°You probably should get them to bring quite a few carts as well, there¡¯s probably well over a hundred strixes. And there also a Grand Strix.¡± ¡°Wait what? Grand Strix!?¡± Reinstead stood up from his chairs in surprise. ¡°Why wasn¡¯t I informed of there being a Grand Strix in the strix flock!?¡± ¡°How should I know? Anyways, get them to bring a few carts, or else they¡¯d start complaining you know?¡± Reinstead couldn¡¯t retort, so he conjured up the same magic circle again, ¡°Bring quite a few carts as well, you¡¯ll need it for carrying the corpses back.¡± Then he turned back towards Mira and asked, ¡°So are you going to introduce me to your companions today?¡± ¡°Ah yes, they¡¯re travellers that worked with me to deal with the strix flock. I would do introductions right now, but Guang¡¯s injured, so could you help patch him up first?¡± Mira indicated towards Guang. Reinstead immediately walked over, and noticed the wounds on his arms. Indicating towards the five of them, he said, ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll patch up your wounds.¡±
¡°He¡¯ll be alright. I put him to sleep so he can recover his wounds quicker,¡± Reinstead said as he walked out of the room. He had just patched up Guang¡¯s wounds on his arm not too long ago. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Thanks Rein!¡± said Mira. ¡°No problem, but isn¡¯t it about time for you to introduce your friends to me?¡± ¡°Ahh, right! These two are Lux and Hikari, The two of them are magicians looking for a powerful familiar,¡± Mira indicated. ¡°The one in the room is Guang, he¡¯s also a magician. This last one is David. He¡¯s a swordsman. The four of them and I met yesterday and we decided to take the strix flock quest since we need money.¡± ¡°You only met yesterday?¡± Reinstead raised his eyebrows. ¡°Yeah, I met David when I went for a drink yesterday. We got a long pretty well, then Hikari invited me to dine with them as well for dinner. We decided on taking the quest then,¡± replied Mira, then turning towards David and the exorcists, ¡°This one is Reinstead Uphir, he¡¯s the village mayor and a good doctor.¡± ¡°Uphir?¡± Lux twitched her eyebrows. Why did the name sound so familiar? ¡°Ah you noticed,¡± Reinstead smiled wryly. ¡°Lady Lux was it? It is as you presume, I am a member of the Uphir family.¡± Uphir family. David started to remember the name from somewhere, but he wasn¡¯t sure of where exactly. Before he could figure it out, Mira begun to explain, ¡°Rein is a descendant of Uphir, the famous demon doctor. That¡¯s also why you shouldn¡¯t worry about Guang, since he did get the best non-magical treatment there is in the area.¡± ¡°Non-magical treatment is better for muscle wounds like his. Although magical treatment can heal him instantly, allowing his body to repair the wound naturally with the aid of herbs would allow his body to strengthen as well, which is beneficial even to magicians.¡± ¡°I see, that¡¯s why the Uphir family name was so familiar. Uphir is that legendary demon physician,¡± David nodded. ¡°Thank you for treating Guang.¡± ¡°No, I should thank the four of you for dealing with the strix flock, and also protecting Mira.¡± ¡°No, Mira has been very helpful to us during our guest. She eliminated quite a few strix by herself. It was also thanks to her that we managed to locate the strix flock so quickly,¡± David smiled. ¡°Somehow that sounds more like it is ou of courtesy,¡± Mira comments. A magic circle appeared beside Reinstead, ¡°Lord Uphir, we have located the strix flock. It is as Lady Mira said, the strix flock corpses are here. There are more than a hundred strix corpses here, and there is even something that looks like a Grand Strix corpse. I¡¯ll report to you after it is brought back to town and confirmed. However that would take a while since there are just way too many corpses here.¡± ¡°Yes do that. I¡¯m at the office,¡± Reinstead spoke into the magic circle. Then he turned towards David, Mira, Lux and Hikari, ¡°I just received confirmation that the strix corpses have been located. Thank you for your hard work. Let us talk more back in the office.¡±
¡°Rein and I are old fiends, so feel free to treat this place as your home,¡± Mira said casually as she sat down on the sofa. Reinstead smiled wryly, ¡°Although it is not really right for it to have come from Mira, it is as she says. Feel free to treat this as your home. Mira has been crashing here for several years now, and since you¡¯re her friends, feel free to use this place as you please. Now, I want to thank you all once again for completing the strix flock quest. Our town don¡¯t issue such large scaled quests often, so we¡¯re very thankful for your help in dealing with them. Although news have been sent to the lord, it was estimated that it would take them at least several more months to arrive since we¡¯re of a rather low priority compared to the cities. The quest is also a local one since we couldn¡¯t afford to spend a large sum of money at the Adventurer Guild to have it be made regional. ¡°You do say that, but Mira seemed to handle herself just fine. Surely a few more people with Mira could have done our job just fine?¡± Lux raised her eyebrows. ¡°That is unlikely. Mira could be said as the strongest member of our town. Although there are other locals of the town that can fight on Mira¡¯s level, they are either unsuitable to hunt strixes in such a large group, or have already gone out to other towns to deal complete quests there since we rarely have large scaled profitable quests.¡± ¡°I see, but Mira could have just gone with a few weaker people and hunt the strixes over a longer period of time. What¡¯s more, being a member of the Uphir family, surely you possess the ability to at least deal with some of the strix flock.¡± ¡°It is as you say, but that would have been too dangerous for them. It was much safer to simply wait for another capable people to take the quest. As more me, I¡¯m just a physician, not a fighter. It¡¯s also because of this that I¡¯ve become the mayor of a small town instead of being with my family.¡± ¡°That explains it.¡± ¡°Now that you know a bit about me, how about telling me a bit about yourselves, as well as what you¡¯ve come here for. Since I¡¯m the mayor, I might be able to help you since you have helped us a lot by eliminating the strix flock.¡±
Author''s Note: Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I have been really busy with exams. They''ll return to normal after my next 2 exams are over. Chapter 30 - The Journey Begins ¡°So you¡¯ve spent so much effort in looking for powerful familiars. Wow, you really are dedicated!¡± Reinstead laughed after hearing Hikari, Lux and David¡¯s words. ¡°But losing a magic item that allows you to return, that¡¯s really bad luck!¡± ¡°Yeah it is, we intended to look for another item that would help us do so during our travels, but Guang is injured now, so that is going to have to be postponed,¡± said David. ¡°If you want, you can leave him here to be treated while you go look for the item in Rurnne. That way you don¡¯t need to waste so much time. I know for sure you wouldn¡¯t be able to find anything like what you¡¯re looking for here.¡± ¡°Thanks, we¡¯ll take that into consideration, so please give us some time to think about it,¡± Lux smiled awkwardly. Somehow, she didn¡¯t think that this Reinstead Uphir was lying about anything. Forcing herself to suppress her hate of demons, Lux pretended that the ones they were dealing with were humans. For some reason, that wasn¡¯t as hard as it seems to her. ¡°Naturally,¡± Reinstead replied as he looked out of the window. Dust had already arrived, ¡°It¡¯s getting late. Would you care to stay for dinner?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll gratefully accept your offer,¡± David nodded.
After dinner, David, Hikari and Lux retreated back to the tavern to rest, since Guang had to remain back at Reinstead¡¯s mansion for treatment, David was able to have the room all to himself. ¡°Is there any changes to where Helly is?¡± David asked once he ensured that there were no one around. ¡°No change for now. They are still in the direction of Rurnne, they haven¡¯t moved around for a while, so it¡¯s safe to assume that they¡¯ll stay there temporarily. What are you planning to do?¡± Lucifer quickly replied. ¡°What am I planning to do..? Leave town, find Helly and save her of course, what else?¡± ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll be that simple?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll be that simple? Assuming that I¡¯m right and she is in the clutches of Mephistopheles, do you think you¡¯re capable of saving her?¡± ¡°I have you as my trump card, isn¡¯t that enough?¡± ¡°You are no where near powerful enough to even fight against Mephistopheles. You¡¯ll die.¡± ¡°But I should be able to buy enough time for Helly to escape.¡± ¡°Escape, and save her. Heh. Don¡¯t you at least want enough time to ask her questions?¡± ¡°Am I truly that powerless against Mephistopheles?¡± ¡°Aye, he¡¯s not someone you should even think about fighting.¡± ¡°Not even with ? You are more powerful than him aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll die if you even try to host enough power to even defeat Mephistopheles, let alone kill him. You are a normal human after all.¡± ¡°Then what about Mordred? He was who you were talking about before right? He was your previous host. Was he able to wield your power freely?¡± ¡°That came at a price that you can¡¯t pay.¡± ¡°And what was that price?¡± ¡°Everything.¡± Upon hearing that, David wanted to say something, but then stopped himself. Everything. He was willing to give up everything to save Helly, but then what? Where would that leave him? ¡°What do you mean by everything?¡± ¡°He gave up everything he had to host my power. His body, his soul, everything. That is a price that you can¡¯t afford to pay¡­¡± ¡°I can pay the same price, if your previous host can, I don¡¯t see why I can¡¯t. Hello¡­ Helly¡­ She means everything to me.¡± ¡°Let me finish. Don¡¯t you at least want to talk with the girl? Ask to tell you what you want to know, and spend some time with her? If she truly means so much to you, do you really don¡¯t mind leaving her?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°Exactly. You cannot pay the same price the Mordred did. You cannot, and I won¡¯t allow you to. I¡¯ve come to understand you somewhat as a person and despite how much you are willing to give up, you¡¯re going to end up with regret. What¡¯s more is that I may have an idea of why the succubus was taken.¡± ¡°Then stop wasting time and tell me!¡± ¡°It may have something to do with me. As I¡¯ve said, Mephistopheles has always been obsessed with the power of pureblood demons. In particular, he despises demons taking on hosts and labels that as weak. He isn¡¯t entirely wrong as we are unable to exert our true power a lot of the times, this is especially true for demons of our caliber. This isn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing either since we cannot easily enter into other worlds without consequences. What¡¯s more is that a truly comparable host can bring to surface more of the demon¡¯s power than they can themselves.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°What does this have to do with Helly?¡± ¡°You¡¯re my host.¡± ¡°No¡­ You can¡¯t mean.¡± ¡°It is entirely possible that Mephistopheles found out about this somehow and is merely using your succubus as a bait. Other than that, I can¡¯t think of any other reasons aside from her being in league with him.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s all the more reason that you should be careful. It could all be a bait.¡± ¡°Even knowing that, I can¡¯t stand idle now that I know where Helly is.¡± ¡°I understand.¡±
David got up the next day even earlier. To be more precise, he didn¡¯t even sleep properly, stressed the entire night about what he was going to do. In the end, he decided to go directly to Rurnne, now that Guang was being treated here, it was a good way of him to separate from the watchful eyes of the exorcists. His thoughts were filled with what he would do when he approached Helly, and scenarios that may happen. In one of these situations, Helaine was kidnapped due to accidentally summoning Emmet, in another Helaine had been turned into a succubus while she was younger and she didn¡¯t know how to come out to him. All of these possible scenarios in his head had one thing in common - Helaine didn¡¯t betray him. That was his undying faith in her. He was certain that she would never betray him, no matter what. ¡°David!¡± Hearing the shout in his ear, David was brought back to reality from his thoughts. He turned around to see who it was, and to his surprise he saw Hikari glaring him. ¡°Where are you going?¡± she asked. ¡°Rurnne,¡± David didn¡¯t hide his destination, he didn¡¯t have to. Lying for a simple question like this would be pointless. ¡°Why?¡± David turned back around and continued walking without answering her question. ¡°You¡¯re acting weird.¡± ¡°Sure, but so are you,¡± David retorted. He wasn¡¯t in the mood for simple bickering with the exorcist. ¡°You¡¯re going to see her aren¡¯t you. Your friend. You managed to find some clues to her whereabouts didn¡¯t you? So let me help.¡± David looked at her with his eyes wide open. Was he that easy to read? ¡°You¡¯re probably thinking if you¡¯re that easy to read right? Right now you are. Worry is written right on your face, all you lack now is a sticker on the forehead saying ¡®Worried about missing person.¡¯,¡± Hikari giggled. ¡°Hypothetically speaking, if you are correct, then what?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m going with you.¡± Once again, David didn¡¯t reply. They¡¯ve known each other for barely a few days, what was she saying?¡± ¡°Lux-sama is going to stay with Guang, they¡¯ll catch up once Guang is healed.¡± ¡°Why not just stick with Lux and Guang instead of going with me? I¡¯ll just check out Rurnne then return, this isn¡¯t about Helly.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to hide it, it¡¯s plenty obvious that this is about the girl. You dived into the portal without much thought, and I¡¯m sure that you probably just got a little news that is possibly related to her, that¡¯s why you¡¯r setting off so early. As for how I know? Call it a woman¡¯s intuition.¡± ¡°Ahaha a woman¡¯s intuition is a terrifying thing indeed,¡± Lucifer¡¯s laugh echoed within David¡¯s mind. ¡°What should I do?¡± David asked Lucifer. ¡°It¡¯s your choice, but you won¡¯t outrun her unless you use , and she seems quite certain of your objective,¡± Lucifer replied calmly. ¡°So you might was well let her tag along for now. It doesn¡¯t really increase your odds against Mephistopheles, but she could act as an extra pair of eyes and that can come in handy.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± Seeing Lucifer¡¯s reaction, David smiled wryly towards Hikari, ¡°I can¡¯t get rid of you somehow can I?¡± ¡°You can try,¡± Hikari stuck her tongue out. She really is a childish exorcist, David thought to himself. Whether it is an act or if she really is like this, he didn¡¯t know. But that doesn¡¯t matter, what matters was Helaine and only Helaine.. ¡°Then let¡¯s go,¡± David beckoned helplessly. At least he isn¡¯t going to get too bored on the journey¡­ Chaper 31 - Rurnne David and Hikari arrived at the city of Rurnne three days later. The journey took them longer than expected due to bumping into several demonic beast hordes along the way, causing them to need to circle around them. The two of them could most likely dealt with the demonic beast hordes, but that would have caused them to take unnecessary injuries. This was even more true for David, who was rather certain that he would have to face a notorious demon in the near future. The city itself was a sight to behold on the outside. The city wall of stone towered over people, and on top of it, guards were regularly patrolling. David and Hikari lined up behind a demon at the end of the long queue of people that were waiting to be checked before entering the city. After waiting for ten minutes or so, Hikari begun to assault David with questions about himself. ¡°How old are you?¡± ¡°What are your hobbies?¡± ¡°How did you react when you first found out about magic and demons and the like?¡± ¡°Do you have a lot of friends back home?¡± ¡°What¡¯s it like living in Hong Kong?¡± ¡°What types of girls are you into?¡± ¡°What¡¯s school like?¡± David answered each and every one of those questions in the least number of words possible, but when it came to the last question, he frowned and looked at Hikari. He had expected to see a mocking life, as if that question was a way to make fun of him, instead he saw genuine curiosity in her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s just like school everywhere. Boring for the most part, but it is fun while I¡¯m with friends. As for the academics part, I find it alright, since I am pretty smart, even if I do say so myself. But that also make lessons much more boring for me, since a lot of the stuff is simple to understand, and sometimes I even wonder why does it need to be explicitly taught. Why do you ask?¡± Hikari smiled wryly, ¡°To be honest, I never went to school before. I always wondered what a normal life would be like. For you who does to school, lessons might seem like a boring studious task, but for me, your type of lessons are things to yearn for. I¡­ I live a life unlike others, for us exorcists, especially for those of us that belong to a specific organisation, we can¡¯t life normal lives. We spend night and day learning to fight and kill. The closest to normal for us is the learning the teachings of God, and hearing the preachers of the priests. That¡¯s why, whenever I go on missions, everything seems so surreal to me. Seeing couples on the street, hearing people laugh about random things, pointless chitchat that people indulge in to pass time. It doesn¡¯t seem like it is something that would ever come into my life. It¡¯s like I¡¯m watching a movie, I¡¯m so far detached from it all. Moreover, the auxiliary members that aid us don¡¯t help things get better either. They usually are all to live rather normal lives, and I just want them to share it with me, and help me do things that girls my age would do. But it never works. They know who I am, and permanently treat me with respect, always keeping me at a distance. That¡¯s why I want to know. I know it seems like I¡¯m pestering you, but please answer my questions in as much details as possible. You¡¯re the first person I¡¯ve met outside the organisation that has treated me like a normal person, and is willing to answer my questions.¡± David nodded. He didn¡¯t really know how to react to what she had said. What he felt right now was pity, and a bit of guilt. He had treated her like an annoyance, and had kept her at bay, assuming that she was chosen to keep an eye out on him, but she seemed to be facing him with genuine intentions, wishing to help him, and hoping to understand about the ¡°normal¡± life. Fortunately, just as he started to feel awkward about not replying to her, the guards at the gate beckoned the to go over. ¡°Name and purpose?¡± one of the guards asked while eying the pair of them. ¡°I¡¯m Adrian, and that¡¯s Jane, my sister. We¡¯re human magicians that have come to Rurnne after hearing about the opportunity to purchase powerful familiars here,¡± David answered quickly as he felt a shiver down his spine. He looked around, but didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. However, instincts told him that something was watching him, and he didn¡¯t think it was just baseless paranoia, there had to be something there. What he wanted to do most right now get into the city as quickly as possible without much trouble, and get way from the gate. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The guard nodded, not having found anything too suspicious with David¡¯s answer. Although humans were infrequent visitors at Enox, at larger cities such as Rurnne, there were quite a lot of human visitors, most of them being magicians that have come to trade goods, or even to visit. After getting searched by the guards, David and Hikari entered the city, and immediately found, then settled down in a cheap inn. The layout of its interiors were plain and nearly identical to the Azureus Terra, which they had stayed in for a night at Enox. ¡°David, what are we going to do next?¡± asked Hikari. ¡°Gather information for now.¡± ¡°But you know where she is don¡¯t you?¡± David didn¡¯t reply to that. Hikari was right, after they neared Rurnne, Lucifer had already pointed out where Helaine was. He sensed that Helaine was in the fortress at the centre of the city. After hearing that, David had impulsively wanted to go directly there, only to be stopped by Lucifer, who pointed out that the fortress was very well guarded and although he could fight his way in, he would end up in no condition to escape. Instead, it was far more appropriate to rest for a bit, then find a method to sneak in. ¡°She¡¯s in the fortress. It¡¯s my gut feeling, and that hasn¡¯t been wrong.¡± ¡°Then what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go and inspect the area for now, and see what we can find.¡±
Within a large throne room, the man sitting on a throne smiled sinisterly. ¡°Has he arrived?¡± asked the clown-faced man in a suit. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s here. Gary, go and fetch him.¡± ¡°As you wish, my lord,¡± after taking a deep bow, Emmet Wayne Gacy turned and walked off. ¡°Now, now, Cecelia, don¡¯t give me that expression. Shouldn¡¯t you be happy that your friend, ah no, your love is here?¡± Mephistopheles chuckled. The only other person in the room replied to his question with a glare, ¡°Leave him out of this. You wanted information, so I gave it to you. Can you just leave David out of this?¡± ¡°You finally admit that you know Lucifer¡¯s host?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know that David was Lucifer¡¯s host. Just please, leave him out of this, I¡¯ll find a way for them to break the contract, so call Gacy back.¡± Mephistopheles chuckled, ¡°You won¡¯t find a way. The contract can only be broken by Lucifer himself. I won¡¯t hurt the human, he isn¡¯t worth the trouble. All I want is to talk to Lucifer.¡±
After several hours, David and Hikari returned to the inn. They didn¡¯t manage to find anything too helpful, but that wasn¡¯t too surprising. Expecting to find a method to infiltrate into a fortress at the centre of the city was easier said than done. The only useful thing that saw was the guards changing once. It implied that the guards did have a fixed schedule, and with a bit of luck, that a way to infiltrate into the fortress might be able to be found with that piece of information. Of course, that that piece of information wasn¡¯t enough alone, but Hikari managed to convince David to gather information for a few days first before acting. As the two of them walked up the stairs to their room, David sensed something amiss. The inn was far too quiet. Unnaturally quiet and empty. It was as if everyone had been chased out of the inn by something¡­ or like if everyone had died. David reached into his pocket and held onto the knife. Then he turned to Hikari. It seems like she noticed the abnormality too, and was looking around alertly. Clearly, being an exorcist was not just for show. When they arrived in front of their room. David didn¡¯t immediately open the door. He noticed a familiar tingling. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant feeling, it was something that David had subconsciously remembered. Both times he had felt this, he had felt completely and utterly helpless. ¡°It¡¯s the clown,¡± Lucifer said. That confirmed his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, David entered the key into the keyhole and signalled Hikari to get ready to attack. He twisted the key and pushed. Chapter 32 - The Clowns Invitation ¡°Kakakakakak,¡± the laugh resonated in David¡¯s ear the moment he opened the door. Hearing that, David frowned. Although he knew that the clown demon, Emmet Wayne Gacy was within the room, there was a part of his mind that desperately wished it to be a lie. When the demon had took Helaine, he was determined to face it and take her back, but now that the demon was right in front of him, his heart begun to waver. ¡°We meet again, David Ng. It is a pleasure as always. The same can be extended to you, exorcist¡± said the clown demon as he stood up to take a deep bow. ¡°We did not have the chance to speak last time, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯re full of questions. Let me answer the simplest of them all before I state my purpose.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± HIkari blurted out from the side. Emmet looked towards David as if asking to see if he should answer Hikari¡¯s question. ¡°The first time we met, you said you were Emmet Wayne Gacy, nothing else. Are you going to say things more clearly from now on?¡± David returned his look with a fierce gaze. ¡°Kakaka. To be honest, everything will become clear in the next few hours. But if you insist,¡± Emmet laughed, and sat back down. ¡°Have a seat.¡± Seeing that neither David nor Hikari did as he said, and instead became more vigilant, meet shrugged, Then do as you please. I suppose I will redo my introduction. My name is Emmet Wayne Gacy, widely known as the Purple Viscount. I have been retainer of Lord Mephistopheles, before that I worked as the head of the now eliminated mercenary group ¡°Expressions¡±.¡± ¡°Emotions¡­¡± Lucifer muttered the name. ¡°Do you know something?¡± David immediately asked him surprisingly in his head. Thankfully, he remembered the situation he was in and managed to retain his normal expression a split second later. ¡°Expressions was a mercenary group renown for their war potential. Instead of having a lot of people, Expressions was a group made up of six members core members, and a seventh that was said to be a legend. As opposed to being a mercenary group consisting of only demons, they were one of the few that were made up of mostly demi-humans. If I recall correctly, 5 out of the seven were demi-humans. The two other members were a dragon and an undead. The mercenary group was finally hunted down by the Phoenix tribe, and was never heard from again. If the clown speaks the truth, then it would mean that they weren¡¯t all killed, and he was turned into a demon after the incident. That¡­ sounds too suspicious. The Phoenix tribe isn¡¯t known for their mercy, nor are they ruthless. To them, criminals will wash aways their sins with the fire of life. That is their way of doing things. Alas, things may have changed, I don¡¯t exactly put much effort into keeping watch over the Phoenix tribe,¡± Lucifer explained quickly. Hearing that, David nodded and glared at Emmet once more ¡°Then one more question. Where is Helaine? She¡¯s the girl you took.¡± Emmet matched David¡¯s gaze for a while, before finally breaking away from it, ¡°Then I suppose I¡¯ll tell you my purpose.¡± ¡°Answer the question first!¡± ¡°I came here on behalf of my Lord, Lord Mephistopheles. He has invited you, David Ng, to the fortress. That invitation is extended towards you, not as a mere human, but as the host of His Supremacy Lord Lucifer. Additionally I have been authorised to use force if you were to resist.¡± David¡¯s expression immediately darkened. How did he know about me being Lucifer¡¯s host? I definitely covered my tracks well enough. These questions popped into David¡¯s mind. He looked towards HIkari to see her reaction. She looked back at him with a look that seems to say ¡®I demand some explanation¡¯. He conjured up both black blades. ¡°I have said it already, I am authorised to use force.¡± With that, the surroundings seemed to darken, and became more threatening. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question yet,¡± the intimidation didn¡¯t seem to make David back down, instead it was as if it was unaffected by it at all. Hearing that, the corner of Emmet¡¯s mouth turned up, he could tell that David didn¡¯t refuse him, ¡°The girl is in the castle. If you wish to see her, then accept Lord Mephistopheles¡¯s invitation now. I can assure you, my Lord will certainly answer all your questions during the meeting.¡± David pondered for a moment and looked towards Hikari to see what her opinion would be. She merely looked back at him as if awaiting his decision. ¡°Allow me to consult it with my companion,¡± David finally said. ¡°That would be fine. Lord Mephistopheles has foresaw this, and merely asks for your attendance tomorrow at dawn. That is all for now,¡± with that, Emmet took a bow and begun to walk out of the room. ¡°We shall await your presence.¡±
Hikari watched as the clown demon walked out of the room. That was the demon which they caught a glimpse of back at David¡¯s friend¡¯s house. The one that abducted his friend. The intimidation that the presence of the demon gave off was far more than anything she has hunted. That was to be expected though, since the strongest thing she has hunted was the Grand Strip. However, this meant that the demon was at least a middle class demon, and retainer of Mephistopheles¡­? That implied a lot more. Mephistopheles could be said as one of the strongest demons there ever was, they were taught to not fight against him, and merely try to escape. As a retainer of such a powerful demon, that was a clear display of the clown demon¡¯s strength. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She looked towards David. What did this young man get himself into? They had assumed the girl David had chased after had summoned a demon either accidentally or on purpose, then was kidnapped du to the inability to fully secure the demon. Now it seemed like something else. Mephistopheles awaits his presence? Lucifer¡¯s host? Wait¡­ Lucifer¡¯s host. He can¡¯t be talking about the demon of pride, Lucifer, can he? ¡°David, can you tell me about what¡¯s going on?¡± Hikari asked. She could tell that David didn¡¯t want to talk about it, but she wasn¡¯t going to let him keep it a secret. This was something way beyond the head of a single person. And now that she has been dragged into it somewhat, she deserved answers. David looks down to the floor, and stowed away his weapons somewhere. Was that weapon merely a manifestation of magic? Or was a some sort of spatial magic? ¡°If you don¡¯t want to talk about it right now¡­ Then listen to me first. Tell me everything afterwards,¡± Hikari said. She knew that forcing him wouldn¡¯t exactly work. She had to convince him to tell her willingly. ¡°Sit down first. It¡¯ll take a while.¡± ¡°You know that we are exorcists on a mission. The truth is when we went to Hong Kong, our mission was to kill off a lich that was becoming more and more powerful. It was supposed to be a simple mission despite how powerful the lich was supposed to be. But we failed. We didn¡¯t kill the lich, it wasn¡¯t that we had mercy on it or anything, it was because we couldn¡¯t. When we arrived at the scene, what we saw was disaster, all that was left was evidence of a fierce battle that had taken place there. After that, we looked for clues as to who did it all over the city. The only things that could be called as clues were the irregular number of situations where powerful demonic magic was sense. One of these situations involved a hill behind a school. It was on our way there that we first met you, at the time you were with your friend that has been kidnapped. At the scene, we were able to find residue of magic that pointed us to two different demons. One of the demons was the clown demon. I guessed so when we got to your friend¡¯s house the other day. Now after hearing what the clown had said¡­ The other one was you right? You¡¯re the one that faced off against that clown demon on the hill behind that school. If I¡¯m not wrong then you¡¯re also the one who killed the lich.¡± She paused for a bit and waited for David to reply. After a minute or so, seeing that he wasn¡¯t going to reply at all, she continued, ¡°Well what happened after that was essentially the three of us going around the city to look for clues that might point us towards whoever killed the lich. That was all in the name of ensuring the people¡¯s safety. However, the truth wasn¡¯t isn¡¯t like this. I may not be the smartest person alive, but even I could tell that the higher-ups were scared of an unknown threat. The lich was a powerful enough being that led to Lux onee-sama being dispatched alongside Guang and I to eliminated it. That along tells me how strong the lich was. Hence, the higher-ups were scared. Guang followed the orders like he always did, he thinks of the orders of the higher-ups as absolute, even if he disagrees with their judgement at times. That¡¯s why he complied. Lux onee-sama complied because she truly hoped to wish the best for others. What we did only in name, she acted on it. As for me¡­ I looked because I had a wish. We were almost certain that whoever killed the lich wasn¡¯t belonging to any organisation that we knew off, if they were then we would have already found out. Organisations like ours don¡¯t tend to withhold information about finishing off prey, especially such a menacing one. That meant that the person or people that did it were alone and un-affiliated to any society. That meant that they were able to experience normal life and even live a normal life most of the time. That¡¯s why I wanted to find them. I want to ask them what it is like. Like I said earlier today, ¡®normal¡¯ has always been distant from m. But living in this world of bloodshed, I wish for it, I desire it, and I want to touch it no matter what. Now that I finally have, even for a tiny bit¡­ I don¡¯t want to let it go. So please, David. Allow me to help you, please let me understand what is going on. The only intention I have is to help you, and that is purely for my own sake. If you were to die, then my only thread to normality would disappear into thin air. I don¡¯t want that!¡± When she finished, tears flowed from her eyes. She saw David finally look up at her, but she couldn¡¯t stop herself from crying. A normal life was all she desired. Even if she wasn¡¯t able to live one, she wanted to know about it, and now that the only person that was able to talk to her about it was in deep trouble, she wasn¡¯t going to stand idle while he gets lost. If not for his sake, then for her own, she was determined to help him. Chapter 33 - Lucifers Suspicion ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right¡­¡± David said with a hint of hesitation. He didn¡¯t truly want to tell Hikari what was going on, despite her helpfulness, he couldn¡¯t trust her completely. Yet he didn¡¯t have a choice, she¡¯s seen too much for him to shrug everything off as a coincidence. ¡°I am the host of Lucifer, the Demon of Pride. About the lich that you mentioned before. I was the one who killed it. The magic and demonic trace left at the top of a hill was also by me from a skirmish with that clown demon. Is there anything else you want to know?¡± ¡°When and how did you become Lucifer¡¯s host?¡± ¡°Does that change anything?¡± ¡°Not precisely, but it would serve as a way for us to estimate your power, and decide upon a plan.¡± ¡°Over a month ago. I was able to conduct a summoning ritual that I had intended to summon a random demon, but nothing seemed to come of it. It was only afterwards that I understood it didn¡¯t fail, rather Lucifer had chose not to appear to me at the time, and only do so when we made the contract.¡± ¡°Wait a second. You make it sound like as if Lucifer approached you to make a contract for you to become his host¡­¡± ¡°Because that¡¯s what happened. Why¡¯s your expression like that?¡± David asked. Hikari¡¯s expression was clearly dumbstruck for some reason, her wide open eyes were staring at him like he was some sort of freak. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll react like this. Do you not understand the significance of this?¡± ¡°Not really.¡±.¡± ¡°More often than not, it is us humans that approach demons to make contracts. In order to make demons take the initiative and approach humans for contracts, that is very very rare. Even if they were interested, they would mostly normally hatch plans to convince the humans to approach them instead. What¡¯s more is that your contractor is Lucifer, the Demon of Pride, one of the seven Demon Princes. I¡¯ve never even heard of Demon Princes sharing their own power with others, let alone letting someone host their entire selves. You must have some sort of quality that makes you stand out so much to make Lucifer approach you to make the contract! So, what is it that you can do which made Lucifer interested in you?¡± At that moment, Lucifer chuckled loudly in David¡¯s mind. David twitched his eyebrows, partially due to Lucifer¡¯s chuckle, and partially due to Hikari¡¯s question. He didn¡¯t really know what qualities Hikari was talking about, but he was certain that the personality that Lucifer had mentioned her possessed was not what Hikari was referring to. Was there something special about him like she said? Or did Lucifer truly chose him just because of his personality? ¡°I¡¯m not too certain. I do know that I have an affinity in both ice and fire magic, and is also able to cast other attribute magic.¡± ¡°Although that is a little special, with a bit of practice, most magicians are able to utilise magic of all attributes. Dual-affinity isn¡¯t too special either. It¡¯s not as if you are an all affinity magician. That would actually be something spectacular. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. But never mind that, if you can¡¯t think of it then don¡¯t force yourself. The main thing to do right now is save your friend. In order to do that, you will have to meet with Mephistopheles, or sneak into the fortress and save your friend. I would suggest to you that meeting with Mephistopheles might be the better option, unless we are able to come up with a method to get into the fortress stealthily before tomorrow. Being a magician with light affinity, I won¡¯t be able to offer much help in regards to sneaking into the fortress, and storming it down from the front gate isn¡¯t the answer either. Just from the pressure which the clown demon gave off, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll make it to your friend before dying. That¡¯s pretty much why meeting with Mephistopheles would be the superior option right now.¡±
Later that night, or rather it was very early morning the next day, when Hikari finally fell asleep after a long discussion with him on what he would do, David stood by the window gazing out of it. His mind was wandering all over the place. Most of all, he was worried about Helaine, even though it seemed like he was the target of the demons all along. ¡°Lucifer, why does he want to meet?¡± David asked Lucifer as quietly as possible as to not to disturb Hikari. ¡°The fact that he addressed you as my host, it probably means that it has to concern me, and not just you. With that said, there¡¯s only one reason. He wants your and in extension my power for something.¡± Lucifer replied slowly. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure what he hopes to achieve by that though.¡± ¡°Then where does Helly fit into all this? Why didn¡¯t he just contact us directly?¡± ¡°Bait. And by taking your friend, it¡¯s ensures that he has the initiative in any discussion and you won¡¯t be able to refuse him. But I have to say it now first, before tomorrow, your friend, Helaine the succubus, she might be working for Mephistopheles. I had assumed that she was one of those succubi that were sent to the human world to find seek out what Asmodeus wants, but capturing even for Mephistopheles, capturing a succubus of Asmodeus is insanity. The succubi are her daughters, and she cherishes them like a mother would their daughter. This only means one thing¡­ I know you¡¯re not stupid David, you¡¯re able to put two and two together.¡± ¡°Helly wouldn¡¯t do that!¡± David shouted out involuntary. He couldn¡¯t stop himself, there was no way the sweet Helaine that meant everything to him would be a tool, and would pretend to be kidnapped in order to lure him out. That is not who Helaine is. ¡°I¡¯m just stating that the possibility is there. I pray that what I say is untrue, but it is likely that is it¡­¡± Update Well, I''m back. But for the new chapters, I will be only posting on Re-Library from now on. So please go tohttp://re-library.com/2016/10/29/tnm-the-awakening-chapter-34/for the new chapter. There will be no more updates on RoyalRoad or anywhere else except Re-Library.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.