While the meeting was taking place, Demon decided to walk the streets of a place he used to call home. The streets were busy.
Sherpas and students hurried to different parts of the city while the fresh midday meal aroma filled the people's lungs. Perfectly cooked meats, sweet treats made from fruits, and the fine smell of freshly harvested vegetables.
All of it brought light to a portion of Demon's memory that has long been dormant. He lingered on memories of his early and mid-childhood, before remembering he has not even reached full adulthood.
He slowed his walk right beside a restaurant. The sounds of busy workers moving around inside and the gentle chewing caught his attention.
Two Ferals shared a meal with a young Yomie and much younger Feral. Despite their natural differences, they were carelessly enjoying their meals together. They watched other Variants move along the busy streets from their window side seats.
Unknowingly making eye contact with an entity standing between Koroth and the Nine's domain. Demon looked at the table. Plates full of food steamed silently as the Variants laughed and talked.
In his mind, he remembered that same place. Same seat but different time. It was raining and cold. The streets were still and calm, a perfect day for the silent memorial of a fabled hero.
That day was a day off for Divinity, and they decided to share that day off with Splintered. The siblings met with the triplets then walked over to the place Alise ordered to have built.
Ether and Enes thought of each other as their opposites. The same figure in different bodies. Both Variants talked about their relationships with other fellow students, while Jakery and Troni shared legends with one another.
And then there was Demon and Menkas. A Zesher who would find himself to be the killer of a Thawed's family. They talked about how crucial accuracy was during combat, further feeding to Demon's desire to learn how to knife-throw.
The group got up and walked out the door. Demon silently watched as they did so. In his mind, those were his brothers and Splintered leaving for the party they and several other teams were going to.
He turned to look at the glass once again, when he locked eyes with himself. A different face stared at him. A blank mask with a black cloak replaced his reflection.
With that, someone touched his shoulder. Demon turned to look at who it was, but when he turned, there was no one there.
[It appears there is a challenger for that apex predator title, Servant.]
The voice of the Third Rule said to him. He turned to face the opposite direction, but there was no one there. At least, no one that paid attention to him. Everyone else rushed by without paying any attention to him.
"What does that mean?" Demon thought to himself.
The Third Rule heard his question. And decided to answer.
[Corrupted creations seek each other out. Not for power, strength, or envy. It's because they care for those that are not. Whoever that was isn't a Servant like you. But they are ageless.]
Upon hearing the response, Demon understood they were holding back information. Clearly, someone with power to rival him was present at the same time. But they didn't want to spoil it.
So he ignored it. Instead of dwelling on the idea, Demon turned to face the arena. His eyes stared at the mighty stone beams reaching up and claiming the skies.
Dust consumed his entire body, sending him inside the arena. He shook off the strange feeling of leveling into another reality plane, taking a step, and coming back to his former.
"Papa, will I be as big and strong as you?" A little girl's voice asked.
Demon turned to look at Kas and his family. The tyrant stared into the arena, a smile plastered over his usually rough face. Instantly Demon knew, this was a different side of Kas.
"Bigger and stronger, my little one," he assured his daughter.
She looked up to her mother after hearing the response, hope bursting out of her eyes and smile wide enough to house entire regions inside. Her mother looked back at her with matching energy.
[Is this the joy of family?]
Demon spoke to himself.
[Hello? Who was that?]
A voice reached out to him. They sounded off, as if they were in great distress. Labored breathing interrupted their every word and a haunting silence cluttered the empty, silent spaces between sentences.
[The better question is, who are YOU?]
[Y - you talk. Yes! You talk, you talk, you talk... L - listen, it may sound shameful, but I am captured and need to return to the Nine. Perhaps that's why you're here, correct?]
Demon paused. He ran through the possible options of who this could be. Perhaps a fellow Servant, maybe the same one who he saw earlier, or a Willed spirit.
[Voice so desperate and cold. What are you?]
[I am Delheer, Sixth's Agent. I have been down here for so long, far too long. The call of my master pleas for my return, but I am unable to grant that desire.]
[A Servant...]
[Y - yes, I'm the Sixth Rule's Servant. And you are?]
[I am the Nine's Servant. While you bow to a master, I bow to several. Now, how did you get captured?]
Silence. Demon turned to look into the arena. Dust settled as warriors got into positions behind their respective elites. Many faces he has never seen before. So many that he has yet to corrupt.
Just as he was forgetting about the odd interaction, Delheer reached out again.
[It's a tale I have told Six since the day I was captured. Several of those... 'Ferals' summoned me. I foolishly arrived, thinking time has been disturbed. Only to have my vessel held prisoner after they held me down.]
[You're a being of immense power, why didn't you fight back?]
[You must be a new Servant... if we were to use our full strength, Koroth would be wiped out as we know it. And the Nine don't want that. Not when it feeds Omniton-Ock and Digatracus.]
A black mist blurred Demon's vision, it was him entering what he called 'prowl.' Instead of standing on two feet and being humanoid with heavy armor, he became a small quadrupedal manifestation of Distortion.
This transformation allowed him to crawl under the arena to the source of the call. Deep below the arena, along the thicker layers of rock, was a small black room.
Where he thought darkness would reign, bright lights took over. Chains emitted a heavenly glow, turning the whole room a bright white color. In the center of that room, a defeated Delheer rested.
He was wrapped in chains, head bowing down. White crystal-like hair covered his head, hiding the injured vessel's shamed face.
Upon getting closer, Demon noticed some more features. Delheer was naked, and for a reason. Those chains had hooks tied to their end, piercing its skin and keeping it pinned in the middle.
[I can feel your energy... yulfinmiered, right?]
[Guess you can call it that. I have been tainted and eventually succumbed to the Broken Melody. The Nine brought me back as a vessel to spy on a conflict.]
Syndicate Dust sharpened and hardened around the chains. The weightless dust applied no more pressure to the already damaging anchors.
After being secured, they snapped the chains. They rattled after crashing onto the floor, a chime that meant freedom to the Servant.
"So long - so, so long. I feel odd, I can't remember when was the last time I was free. Thank you..?"
"Demon."
"Demon, right. Well, Demon, you found an ally in me. Thank you so much," Delheer brought a fist up to its shoulder. "You seem like a reliable Servant. I will tell the Nine about you."
"My pleasure... and stay safe out there. Don't let this happen again," Demon concluded.
Delheer crumbled to dust. Leaving Demon alone in that room. The light from the chains was absorbed by the pitch black nothingness of his helmet.
There, he realized he wasn't the only one under the Nine's grasp. There were others under their direct command. If this encounter has taught him anything, is they don't know much about Koroth.
Something he could use to his advantage. But they knew about two new spaces he has never heard about until then.
If Koroth was the Nine's testing grounds and the information from this was fed to two other realities, what did they do with it? Were they stored forever? Left somewhere else for future creations?
[Little, little pawn. My Servant has arrived safely. Perhaps one day you will return to us. But for now, you will continue to be our vessel.]
Syndicate Dust covered his body. Lively corruption brought him under the Nine's blind eye, allowing him to catch a breath from all the duty he has been up to.
"When I return I expect to be freed," he sharply said to no one.