Author Note: The First Book / Arc of this story: "The Turning" will end around chapter 30.
——————————————————————————————
A sigh graced the shattering air, causing the molecules in it to tremble from the force of the creatures charisma, before falling into its will, and freezing. The creature sighed, again, pale white eyes gleaming like starlight as they walked at a slow, quiet pace.
The grace of the creatures prowl was akin to a waltz; it danced to a silent song only it knew, as no one in the whole world could ever have any hope of comprehending the magnitude of having the things it most cherished slip through its fingers.
If one were to observe the figure of the creature from afar, one would be struck by the loneliness of the posture, the silence that crackled in its wake, and the tears that graced their expression of nonchalance. Pure sorrow saturated the air around them, shaking the fabric of the world asunder, and forcing it all to freeze.
The creature continued its slow walk as the frost overcame everyone in the market; now, only a graveyard of statues existed, sculptures frozen from the indescribable cold in various positions and postures, expressions that ranged from calm, happiness, and enjoyment to fear, terror, and hopelessness adorning their stiff faces.
The cold creature sighed again, the sheer cold from itself causing mist to arise in the comparatively warmer air. The creatures was tall and lean, limber in his stride and movement, and so, so slow. It did not care for much it seemed, nor did it like any intrusion in its silent vigil; it wished only to walk the Earth in utter silent solemnity, though it was not sure why it had chosen the path of eternal loneliness.
Was it a deep desire for repentance, the longing for atonement of the creature's sins, all so that they may acquire salvation from its dying, crying soul?
Perhaps it was to act as an atonement for hurting the one whom it cared for most in this lying world; the creature wasn't sure, it only knew that it was consigned by its own will to wander for an unmeasured eternity.
The creature in question was a being who inhabited the body of the Newborn High Demon, Ryosei, and as such carried features that were identical to his own, save for black sclera, and long, ice white horns that crested his brow with a length of 10 inches.
The tears that fell from its eyes continuously were also a defining feature, as Ryosei was a man who seldom cried unless he was under great emotional duress; even if he were to be abused in the worst manner, he would not shed even a tear.
But this creature could not help the tears that slid from its trembling, crystalline lashes—the sorrow that felt bared its fangs so vicariously, it could not help but mourn for the wretched soul that laid sleeping within itself.
It was a tragedy really; the creature had greatly desired to help its dearest master many times in the past when its master, Ryosei, had suffered all manner of afflictions, but every time it had been restricted by the one whom it had desired to protect own hand.
Now, as its master lay dormant and sleeping in the dearest of dreams, it could not help but feel a deep happiness in finally being permitted to carry out the desires of its most precious master.
'"I don't care whether I live or die—I just want everything to disappear, to stop, to freeze. I don't want to have to deal with this pain anymore, just please, please, everything, please, stop!"'
The creature closed its eyes, its hand rising to its chest as it tilted its head to face the now white sky, and with a voice that was like the winter's sigh, whispered in the too-still air, "As you wish, my dearly beloved Master... If it's for you," it extended its other arm elegantly, frost condensing and spreading outward from its thin, pale finger tips, "I will turn the very existence of everything white and still..."
The world turned white.
"Rest easy, Master, rest easy..."
◆◇ⅠⅠⅠⅠⅠ◇◆
{[ Notice: Original body of [ Lower 7th Dimensional Being: Eika ] is too powerful to inhabit the [ 3 Dimensional Plane ]. Now allowing [ Soul Corridor ] of Named Homunculi, [ Alice ] to be established between [ Lower 7th Dimensional Being: Eika ].}
"... Gosh, trucking damnation AGHHH! You stupid-*ss, useless-*ss, dumb*ss Truck-kun worthy-*ss World! Be useful for trucking once—IS THAT SO HARD YOU WH*RE??! AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! DO YOU WANT ME TO SAVE HIM OR NOT, FRICK!!"
◆◇ⅠⅠⅠⅠⅠ◇◆
Rurielles was restless.
Ever since Verkoria froze up in her room before screaming, Rurielles had been worried sick about what was happening outside; it only got worse when her workshop began to shake and some of the more magical creations became... unstable. (i.e. they blew up.)
So now she was pissed—I mean, seriously! She'd been cultivating those ice-crystals for 80 years now, and she was finally prepared to start the process of making a homunculi with not only an ice-crystal as a core, but the ability to manipulate elements like the ice. She'd been working on it for centuries now, all for the sake of helping Eika with her homunculi since Eika had to literally convert her own soul energy into raw energy—
A shiver ran down her spine.
'Wait... the ice-crystals? Ice... Ryosei's main elemental attribute is ice, right? Then, does that mean...'
"Oh no," she whispered, her emerald eyes wide and fearful, her golden pupils shaking, "Then that means... Ryosei... has started the Class Up, or rather, the real Turning..."
The Turning was something that Eika had once told Rurielles about one night when she'd gotten drunk—a nigh-impossible feat for a demon, but hey, Eika was impossible in general so it honestly hadn't surprised her much. Come to think of it, it was a good thing she'd been drunk—she would've had a breakdown had she been in her right mind to tell her about it; that's how bad the Turning was for her.
The Turning was a process that was split into two parts for newborns like Ryosei—people who were changed into demons in a process called Conversion—but only one part for naturally born demons like Eika, as their bodies are genetically superior to mere humans.
The process that they both experienced was called Immersion, otherwise known as the Class Up ever since the implementation of the [ System ] by Satan, who was the Father of the Demon Race. Immersion was the process in which the psyche of the demon is lost or overwhelmed by their power due to an intense emotional or physical breakdown—however, this was not a coping mechanism, but rather it was a way for the demon to empower themselves.
Immersion essentially drops the psyche of the demon into their soul world, and it is there they face a trial: for some, they relive their worst nightmare; for others, they are transported into a time they long to go back to; or for other's still, they see a future or event that they fear.
The main thing is, the demon who goes through Immersion must conquer it, or else they could lose themselves to their powers completely; however, the flip-side is that if the demon conquers it, an exponential increase in power, spirit, and body is given, and they are assigned a special, evolvable [Class] by the [ System ].
But, from the sounds of it... Ryosei was losing himself...
It was then Verkoria, who Rurielles had laid down on a futon that she kept in her workspace for catching some sleep during long, time-consuming experiments, shot up, her expression panicked, but her gray eyes entirely blank, devoid of feeling or thought.
"Go," she whispered in a hollow voice, the voice of fate that echoed in the silence. "I must go. The boy:
"The child of the world falls apart because of another child..."
"Salvation of him by an unlikely world ally will lead to tragedy..."
"An invisible bridge that will take time to cross..."
"Longing of the spirit of the moon for the daughter of the storm..."
"A kiss of the scythe of he who treks eternal loneliness..."
"An endless dream of love and hell..."
"The insanity of freedom by the owl will snap the two red threaded fares apart..."
"Salvation lies within a single blood stained thread and the endless eternity that stretches behind the two in their intersecting shadows..."
"Salvation must be offered to the midnight frost by the trekker of the damned..."
Verkoria rose, wearing nothing but a blue dress and a shawl before running, her hollow gaze fixed intently upon an eternity that Rurielles could never know, never see, for Rurielles could only see what was behind, not ahead.
But she could follow it.
She stayed silent, knowing that interrupting the threads of fate that acted as a puppeteer to her little sister's body could have dire consequences, such as restarting their own threads of fate, or even twisting the fates of others. That was why she could only follow—she didn't want Eika to suffer any more...
◆◇ⅠⅠⅠⅠⅠ◇◆
The creature seemed to dance in the white world, its gate the slow waltz of winter, every slow and creeping as the ice it commanded, but with savage elegance of the blizzard that overwhelmed and desolated everything in its wake. It closed its eyes, the garden of ice sculptures securing its surety that all would be well; its master would no longer be harmed by these infuriating creatures.
It was then an unusual life-form approached its beloved master's body, for it was one that did not freeze beneath the density and weight of its power. It tilted its head, and expression of blank curiosity greeting it as it turned to see the figure of a girl running towards it.
The girl was a dark, midnight blue color, with blank silver-gray eyes and long, wavy black hair that fluttered in the cold breeze; a gray shawl adorned and covered her pale blue summer dress that peeked out from beneath her shawl. She seemed to float above his eyes, walking on air, her movements too smooth to be a humans jerky walk.
The ease of her movement and the aura she released of eternal knowledge and nothingness made the creature be on edge, its muscles bunching and its body tensing; the creature did not wish for its beloved master to be troubled, it desired only that he sleep off the pain of the present until he was ready for the future. Until then, the creature would wander this world eternally, until its master was free from the pain.
The girl stopped 10 feet away from him, the blankness of her eyes causing it to feel uncomfortable; within her eyes was a void he had no desire to see. She tilted her head, her mouth opening as a detached, empty voice flung itself from her throat violently, "How terrible... You've suffered for a long time, haven't you, Ryosei?"
It was then the creature sensed something he did not yet desire, something that ran contrary to himself. The sleeping master stirred, his now icy blue eyes opening a crack as a sense of him came to, his brow twisting and his voice crackling as he whispered within himself, as he was enclosed by the creature, "What... Verko... ria...? Ei... ka... where's...."
His voice faded, alleviating some of the anxiety that had been swept up by the wind of the infernal child's voice from within the creatures chest. She was dangerous, it determined grimly, readying the frost to kill her; she was a nuisance, waking his master from his much needed rest.
It was then another voice entered its ears.
"Oi, Ryosei! What are you doing?! Wake up! Eika will beat your fuxxing *ss when she sees you rolling over like a dog!"
The creature narrowed its eyes at the people whom disturbed its master's beloved rest, raising its arm and explaining monotonously, "I'll need to silence you now; you're waking up Master, and I don't like it. Die—"
"Hey, you blithering fuxxer! Ryosei, don't you dare do sh!t like that, you hear?! I don't care if Eika likes you or not—if you threaten my little sister, I'll have to beat you to your home country and back if you do threaten my sister, understood?!"
Its reply was uncaring to Rurielles' outburst; "Silence" was all it replied as it let lose a flurry of icicles towards the siblings.
Of course, Rurielles grabbed her little sibling, launching herself to the side and sliding behind a couple statues that would provide sufficient cover for the time being. She released a huff or annoyance and anger; whatever was possessing Ryosei was pissing her off.
As such, she grabbed one of the mana stones she'd created via alchemy—a mana stone in which Eika had personally placed her flame in. A smirk overcame Rurielles' face; oh, this was gonna hurt him. And who wouldn't be hurt by Eika's flame? She was the daughter of Satan, of course her flames would be detrimental to ice-types like Ryosei.
As such, she chucked it towards him with uncanny aim before gathering up Verkoria is her arms and sprinting across the clearing to the alleyway between some of the more permanent buildings, her expression fierce. The mana stone exploded right when it got between three feet of him, a storm of flames engulfing Ryosei, eliciting a screech of anger.
Rurielles had miscalculated.
Before, the creature had merely been full of sorrow, and as such passive within its attacks, but Ryosei was dual-natured; the other part of him only occurred when he was wrathful, and Rurielles chucking a flame mana stone that gave both the creature and the sleeping Ryosei flashbacks of their early morning wake up call from Eika pissed them off immensely.
As such, the creature roared, its body being engulfed in icy armor and gauntlets of ice before it created a sword of gleaming white, a sword that was in the shape of a katana. Crouching, it dashed forward, its legs finding purchase on the ice as if it was concrete as it shattered it in its wake; the creature was beyond mad—that insignificant being dared to hurt its beloved master!?
It ducked as another mana stone of the similar red variety hurled toward it, crouching low to the ground as it chased after the fleeing Rurielles, fury pumping through its veins like a cold river.
If it was the last thing it would do, it would kill her, that woman who deigned to oppose its beloved master's much needed rest—that it swore to itself. It screeched, the air surrounding it freezing in a sphere before exploding outward, flash-freezing the area within 100 meters.
Rurielles managed to find enough cover and to travel enough distance to barely escape the damage. She panted, her sweat frozen from the marginal distance between her and Ryosei's blast; a mere six inches separated them. Six inches, and she and her little sister would've had to restart their reincarnation cycle. It sent shivers down her spine.
Six inches to death was a margin she didn't care for, especially with her little sister in tow.
Her breath released themselves from her lungs in huffs of steam, her body trembling with adrenaline as she lurched to her feet again before running full speed away from the monster wearing Ryosei's pretty face; she was never looking at him the same way again after this, that she was sure.
◆◇ⅠⅠⅠⅠⅠ◇◆
It had been 30 minutes since she'd started running away from the creature who'd overwhelmed Ryosei's mind, and her breath was still coming out as mist, leaving her to believe that it was still following her. She ducked for cover as she heard footsteps, readying yet another crimson mana stone—her last one.
She peeked to aim, her arm cocked to throw it—if she was going back into reincarnation with her sibling, then she was going to give it her best shot. She only hoped to maybe mar the kid's face—seeing the creatures twisted expression marring Ryosei's usually stoic but kind face made her annoyed.
The footsteps increased, and Rurielles readied her stone—if she was lucky she could knock some sense into his insufferable face.
But, before she could do so, Verkoria who laid in her grasp and was still possessed by the spirit of fate whispered with a gentle touch, "Wait. Another child of the world comes, but it is not the wrathful frost, but a sorrow-tinged soul instead."
It was then a whirl of long black hair and ocean blue eyes greeted her gaze, a familiar fusion of American and Japanese features that reminded her of Ryosei greeted her, but that was not the only thing; when she'd shaken hands with Ryosei when they met, she'd seen visions of his past, a little girl who'd been covered with a mother's blood and her own tears, crying for Ryosei to save her.
The name came to her lips unbidden, sprouting from knowledge from a past that should be foreign to an eternal such as herself.
"Fuyumi... what are you doing here?"
The girl's eyes widened, and in a panicked voice she replied, {"W-Who are you? How do you know me?!"}
{"That doesn't matter now, you're brother is—"}
"Fuyumi."
A shiver ran down the spine of Fuyumi, her eyes widening at the iciness of a no longer familiar voice; it was dark, and cold, and so, so empty. There was no affection, no love, and no care in his voice—only a deep wrath.
She swiveled to face her, her expression troubled as she whispered, "Nii... chan?"
The creature that possessed Ryosei's body titled his head, the voice monotone as it replied coldly, "In a manner of speaking, but not quite; a mere spirit such as myself could never match up to my illustrious master—the master whose heart you broke."
Fuyumi flinched back, her expression mortified as she whispered, {"W-What? Brother, what do you... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I was... I was overwhelmed, and scared, and I hurt you, I am so, so sorry. Please, please, I am so sorry. How can I make it up to you, how can I make amends? Brother, please, how can I make you happy?"}
The creature tilted its head the other way, its expression twisted into a show of thoughtfulness at her remarks. A cold smile overcame his face, and damning words that sent a wave of fear over all who were gathered resonated in the silence.
"Well, I suppose you can die, no?"
The creature raised its arms to create a projectile to murder the girl when he froze up, its expression contorting painfully. It trembled, and one of the black sclera's bled to white, and the halted words of, "Don't... hurt... my.... little... sister..." was heard.
"Nii-san!" "Ryosei!" "World's Child!"
The eye shifted to face Rurielles before muttering in a strained voice, "Run... save... her..." A tear fell from the exposed eye, and more words followed, "Save her... hurry..."
Rurielles grimly nodded before turning to grab at Fuyumi, dragging her away with Verkoria in tow, her expression fierce. Meanwhile, Fuyumi struggled, calling out to her brother like she did so long ago, when their mother was murdered.
{"Brother, brother! Big brother Ryosei, please! What's happened to you—was it because of me?! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry; I'll never bother you again, so please, please come back to me safe! Promise me! Promise me!"}
A sad smile adorned his face as he whispered, {"I'm sorry. I love you, Fuyumi."}
The sclera bled black, and the screech of the creature drowned out Fuyumi's tears and cries for her brother. She'd never felt so hopeless... until a voice that was like a seraphim's greeted her.
"Oh dear, it appears I'm rather late; stupid World—next time I'll kick its *ss properly..."
It came from a 5-foot tall girl who had to have a rather unusual case of albinism and heterochromia; a girl with one red eye, and one black eye in which a golden star dwelt within. Between her countenance, her expression, and her coloration, she was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen.
Not even her late mother could compare to her, an opinion in which she had the oddest feeling her brother would agree with.
It was then Rurielles' eyes widened with hope as she yelled the name of the only one who could save them:
"Eika!"
Bathed in an ambient glow, the daughter of Satan smiled; she was back. Now, to deal with the troublesome problem child...
———————————————————————————————
Alternate title(s) for this chapter: 1st one: "Ryosei, that's illegal—" and
2nd one: "Six inches from death."