(You may not want to read this part. I'm just finally writing what's inside the Mc's head. It's not pretty and some people with more sensitivity to the topic probably shouldn't read it. For theirs sake. I can't really stop you with more than warnings though. For the more RPG (and safe) part of this just skip over till you see the system messages.)
*****
"Do you understand now?"
'Please, say yes! It hurts, let me cry! Stop letting her go! Just die! She cannot leave. She is ours. Shut it.'
"What the fuck is this? This contract is ridiculous" 'It hurts, let's just sleep. Beat her until she can say such... I must explain.'
"It is so the gods do not have the authority over any kind of information that they should not have while trying to respect you as someone that... Respecting you."' 'Just die, the XP would be good for her. I'm sure Xera would get a nice skill for it too. Maybe burning alive would be good training.'
"This isn't about..." She stopped and breathed deeply before slowly exhaling. "What is this clause saying you can only use mind magic on me if I agree to it?" 'She saw it, ki... I shouldn't have let this be.'
"Something for a moment like this." 'I was right yet again. I'm not good enough to be married.
"Why?" 'Worthless. Maybe I can resist the pull of...'
"Because there's other clauses that would allow me to ignore that one. This is the worst case situation." 'Worst. Expected.'
"In which you still love me? Is that it?" 'Maybe she will... Useless.'
"So I want you to be able to properly forget and keep living your life, yes."' Useless husband. Your fault. Let me out. Fix it.'
"I need to think about this." 'Of course, you deserve better.'
"I understand, I will stand outside, out of view." 'Coward. Can't even pleasure her right! Should find Xera a husband.' *Cracrack*
Looking up, Mari didn't see Aki bleeding, but she saw a drop of his blood on the floor before he turned invisible outside and picking his molars with his fingers before growing new ones and gulping the blood and teeth shards.
The pain allowed him to stop thinking. Instead he focused on sound. He'd need to be able to hear Mari, if only to wipe her memory.
There was only sound, he did not, need to ex *cracrack* Nothing exists but Xera and Mari. The sound of their blood, lungs, steps, thoughts and feelings was all that mattered. He needed to dissappear to properly wait for her answer. He needed to d...
"Aki."
"Yes?" 'Decision? Execution?'
"Are you bleeding?" 'Yes'
"No, why?"
"Then what is that in you mouth?" 'Caught? Escape! Stupid! Incompetent!' Touching his chin, Aki noticed he'd not actually been getting rid of all the waste he'd produced.
"It's blood. No need to worry, it's not poisonous to you." He said, trying to hide his bloodied teeth. 'Dirty. Die. Run.'
"Idiot. Let me have a, did you just gulp it? Spit it out you fool!" She exclaimed, quickly getting up.
"No." He said, trying to keep the blood and bone down while projecting the sound and not touch her.
"I forgive you, so just vomit it!" She tackle hugged him, getting the blob back up to his mouth with strength her slender arms should not have. Which he dispensed inside his storage.
"Done, it's inside..."
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" She slapped him. "Never do that again!" She cried.
"Yes ma'am, I love you." He blurted out, getting even redder as tears started falling again. "Sorry."
"Don't begin again. What even is this? How would someone as stupid even be a demon? Ok, let me try this, why do you even want to make a company and amass military power?" She complained, putting her head against his chest.
"So i can protect me and mine without having to always run myself ragged. To have more time to spend without worrying. To satisfy that little voice in my head that says i need to be a respectable menber of society. To be a better husband and be able to give whatever the people i love want even if i'm not going to because it is not healthy or..." He was going to continue saying more stuff, but Mari scopped his face and had a serious look on her face that suggested she wanted to say something.
"You are the worst fucking idiot, you know that? Don't say yes." She corrected. "You've been worried like this all the time?" He nodded. "Fuck this feels awful. We're talking to Xera. Don't look at me like that, it's not negotiable." Holding his left hand, she wiped her tears again, pressing her lacrimal ducts, then she poked her head out and looked around, finding Xera patroling, though she quickly looked back to her. It didn't take long for her to get there. She also didn't interrupt until Mari said she suspected Aki of being a demon.
"That is impossible. Grandmother likes him, and she is a demon hunter." She explained, raising a hand to stop her there.
""SHE IS A WHAT?!"" Exclaimed both snot nossed idiots.
"When we get back home you're telling me all of Mara's stories. That would've been great to know before i had a meltdown and if you excuse me i need to explode this dungeon to aliviate my wrath." He growled.
"NO! You're staying here and we're telling her the whole, STOP HITTING YOURSELF!" She exclaimed as he suddenly turned arround as if to backhand her and a ice spike joined his now penetrated right forearm to his side.
"I don't want to hit you." He softly said, the tears that hadn't stopped starting to overflow again. Xera just ripped the thing off from him and knocked him out.
"What in the nine hells was that?" She asked, seeming quite close to going crazy too if the tears in her eyes were any indication.
*****
Waking up to two beauties hugging his sides while crying didn't make Aki happy. He wished that was so, but it was very hard to lie to himself so badly. He quite enjoyed their crying faces, which directly made a freezing coldness reach his mind.
It'd be fine if he just made up story and wiped himself from this world as well, right? He'd train a bit more and throw himself at the center of the galaxy and look for something. Neither geas nor the slave contrat were not strong enough to stop him, not at all. Yet he couldn't.
He had been weak. That was not allowed.
He'd been indecisive when Xera had knocked him out. That was not allowed.
He'd made those he loved sad. That was not allowed.
[Self-enhancement: promise is now Lv 5.
Self-enhancement: promise is now Lv 6.
You have obtained the unique skill Pride.
Self-enhancement: promise is now Lv 10
Self-enhancement: loyalty is now Lv 9
Self-enhancement: courage is now Lv 10
Limit break is now Lv 7
Limit break: Fear is now Lv 10
Limit break: Love is now Lv 10
Limit break: Healing is now Lv 7
Limit break: Body reinforcement is now Lv 7
CONGRATULATION! The skill Mental resistance Lv 10 has advanced into Mental nulification Lv 1]
Aki fully expected to suddenly pass out from some pain from seemingly nowhere.
Turns out, Mental nulification did more than just it's strange name said, it aparently made it so he was unable to pass out from shock. This allowed him to raise Pain resistance to level 10, because for some reason the system decided that he'd just liberated a lot of his body's potential or something along the lines of an anime character, because if he was reading this right, his body was being greatly enhanced. Including his Jr. Aparently, it wasn't just the initial skills that were getting an upgrade, because his enhancement skills suddenly grew to a ridiculous degree. Which actually increased his pain when 'augmented touch' fused with the others and evolved into 'Greater enhanced five senses', but it was apparently not enough to evolve the respective resistance.
Noticing how this could end up badly, Aki ussed life magic to make sure his lovers were asleep. He'd report this when he was not in a state of extreme pain and even worse looks.
For now, he had an insanity inducing long amount of time in his hands, so he'd at least catalog the changes caused from unlocking the 'Demonic lord of Pride' Job. And try to speculate what the skill itself did.
A lot of time later.
"Hey, can you two wake up, please?" Aki tried, but in not succeeding, he proceeded to execute plan A. Lick their nostrils. Which obviously woke two grumpy women.
"What the hell?" Mari imediatly let go of him, trying to clean and dry her nose.
"Aki, I told you not to, what the fuck is wrong with your face?!" The former lizard woman tried to reach for her muzzle, but imediatly stopped when she noticed her lover's face was dark purple and his sclera was dark.
"Apparently I am now a candidate for the position of demon lord of Pride, with a capital P, but this is just some magical make up to fuck with Mari." He said, the illusion dispersing and Aki looking dead beat tired being revealed to the now sitting woman. "Seriously though, I am clearly transforming, and it's been four hours. My head is the only part that doesn't hurt damn it. I can't move a muscle." He explained, getting a guilty and a worried look. "Not your fault, it's the skill I got after promising myself I'd be better for you guys. It just says 'Pride'. Like the sin. And if it affecting my mental state then it is quite weak, because I feel the same as ever, and I've had plenty of time the think. You guys should probably go see the situation outside. Let the others have a break? No, seriously, I don't want you guys seeing what's going to happen when the lights go out. When I sleep. I'm well enough to not do too many stupid things, just let me sleep for a couple of hours and things should be fine. They will be, one way or another. I'll even make that a geas if you want." Neither women seemed to know what to say, just exchanging worried looks, eventually caving in to his determined looks and leaving in silence.
Aki imediatly knocked himself out with magic, opening his eyes to a completly white space where there stood a tall man with golden hair, hard features adorning his slender body, and a eastern stile of clothing in gold and white that gave him a heavenly aura.
"This petitioner greets the great judge." He bowed deeply, holding his hands in front of him. His voice was an echo of many versions of himself speaking at the same time, and despite noticing he had pure black skin and what he could only describe as a crown of horns, Aki refused to perceive anymore of his soul's representation.
"I am unfamiliar with the greeting, but it is certainly more respect than I expected when the only candidate to the throne of Pride prayed for my intervention." Comented the God of light and justice. "What would you call me for? Redemption?" Curiosity clear in his ethereal voice as he asked.
"Redemption would need regret. I simply wish to be rid of this skill so I can live with those I love in peace. I'm no demon lord." He pleaded.
"It would be meaningless." The god shook his head. "Even if you do not fight me as I purge the fell out of you, it would still come back as long as you posses that which brought it to you to begin with." The sadness in his voice was contaminating, and it'd have many a man in tears.
"Could I take a vow to never assume my appointed throne? Would it be useful to placate those who fear what I represent?"
"Many would. Others would not. It would be, however, a honorable sacrifice that would make your relation with the sinful very complicated. You see, only one may posses the Pride skill at a time. They will try to kill you for it." He pointed out.
"That changes things." Aki smiled. His mouth made a full half circle, five rows of pearly white shark teeth visible on the disgusting mass of flesh.