After a few hours of walking and us taking hidden paths marked by strange ruins, we made our way through this corridor to a humongous hallway, and all while we were, he was asking a bunch of questions, talking to me.
I spoke back to him and we conversed, I know he knew I was uneasy being here and around him, and he spoke about it, and when he did, he didn't deny anything or try avoiding any of it, he admitted to his past faults, and told me that if I was still mad. He wouldn't have blamed me at all for feeling like this. Being targeted, getting snatched out of my original realm, and being forced into soul synthesis.
And as he was still talking, all while Izumi and her... Ugh, her generals were following us along with his two, those two, the black knight and the ape, and the spirit, I said...
"It's fine, honestly I'm over it!" I said back, but thinking it through, I'm not, it hurt me years ago, but not anymore, I have already let go, or at least, I've learned to adapt.
After all, these lands aren't just some strange dream?
And it's in no way some fantasy either... We had it easy.
For people like them, they need everything they can get.
So darting my head back to Asmodeus, "But, until we go on a proper adventure together, let's say, we're kinda on natural terms for right now," I said and he just grinned.
"Ah, now you're speaking my language~" he's a child at heart, most of his honest intentions are pure. Yet then again, he has a warrior side to him, but that's not now.
Asmodeus is someone who just wants to have fun and be with the people he cares about, forget everyone who says otherwise. As someone who wrote about him for god, I don't know how long, if what I know about him is matching, then he's exactly who I think he is right now.
Then again, I shouldn't push him, he's still a Demon... Demonoid.
Or Behazmeth? Honestly, I can't tell the difference???
No, like in the myths of demons, we control souls. . .
But after that, I don't know if there is a difference.
"It's going to take a while for Asmodeus to be set free. We're still working on it," I heard the liches say.
Looking back at Izumi, Asmodeus said, "Yeah, Lizzy is working with my friend Zimmy and the others to help me!" he said happily, but I couldn't just ignore that one.
"By killing millions in the process?" I openly said back at her.
And not looking at me but forward, "Yes," and it pissed me off that she said that, "Disgusting ghoul," I openly said back again, and it had the liches turn fully hostile.
But speaking back to me, "At least what I'm doing gives those who die the ability to reincarnate like how you did, but what you and Asmodeus do is truly what's evil, you don't even give them that chance at a new life, you just devour and completely obliterate everything that lives"
She spoke about devouring souls, and she's not wrong.
But at the same time, I don't do that, and he's, the man next to me wouldn't hurt the innocent if he wanted, he's not the sort. If anything he'd only kill... Fuck, I don't. . .
Grabbing the right side of my face, my head hurts, I'm thinking too far into my past life, I can't think at all now.
"I'm nothing like you or him, I'll never hurt a pure soul..."
"For now..." she said, forcing me to bite my tounge in anger.
But as I did, and I felt a tug on my sleeve, I looked to Asmodeus who was begging me not to argue with her by his expression, but I didn't want to stop, I just want...
I want a reason, I want to know why she's invading. . .
Trying to calm down, I looked past her to the spirit who walked with us, "How long do I have left before I need to return," I asked, and smiling the spirit simply said back.
"No need to rush, I converted the dark realm's time into this realms the moment we got here, 12 days in here is equivalent to a single day in the dark realm," he said but does that mean, he changed the whole world's time???
"You can manipulate the world?" I asked in pure shock.
It even gathered the attention of everyone with us.
"I can if you'd like. I'm stronger than the system of your world alone, it's merely the fifth realm child, that is all"
And getting everyone in the hall to stop and look at him, even the liches who're indifferent to almost everything...
He looked around at them all, even me, and chuckled.
"Yes, that also means I have the capability to destroy all inside this space, this world, and this realm as of today"
Man's didn't even say it was possible or it'd be fucking tough, man's literally just said he could wipe us all out!
"...Who are you again?" Izumi gulped before speaking.
And smiling at her, "Child, I am no one important, just a Guardian Spirit here for transportation," but looking at him, he winked at me, and focused back on her.
Why's he lying, does he not want any of them to know?
You know what, I'm not interfering, it's all his business...
"Anyways, now on to pressing matters, I'm interested in what you're going to teach the young Behazmeth~" Asking, Asmodeus looked at him strangely, "What's that?" telling the spirit that, he responded simply to the bigger question.
"It's your race's name. Firstborn of the Behazmeth race, Ashmedia, lord of the dark realm, and emperor of the–"
But as he was talking, "Yeah, this is getting weird, let's... Just continue," Asmodeus said, and grabbing his arm, I gave him a nod of thanks and he nodded agreeing to it.
Moving on from the spirit's omnipotent god-like self, we made it to the boss room where the doors were opened by this colossal cyclopsed, red fured, giant beast like thing. And letting us in, he held the door open for us. Gee, He's big?
. . . . .
Making our way in, "We should test his strength," I heard Izumi say, an I really didn't like her, but she's not wrong, I have no clue where I'm at; My progress with strength.
"Then let's test it out," I said balling my fist and opening them with black daggered claws showing, and when my claws came out, I flinched as if time suddenly stopped.
Life, death. All flashed before my eyes as I felt every single piece of my flesh being cut off and peeled back as if I were a fruit, and then slowly, I was torn to pieces.
Suffocating, I grabbed my chest as time resumed and the blackness hazing with my claws retracted, turning them back into normal nails and hazy-covered fingers.
But feeling as I forcefully pumped air into my lungs, in a sharp breath, what was that... No, I know what that was, it was my body, telling me what would've happened.
Glancing back, looks like attacking her is a no-go. . .
But then as I was slowly, and secretly panting under my breath, I heard, "No need, it's a cool function to the skill scroll I found a while back for my status scan, I can scan him for his bodily structure, and maybe even some skills too!"
We heard Asmodeus say as he jumped around and his human form started disappearing as he had ram horns on the sides of his head, and bat-like wings popped out.
He's excited I guess? And looking at him, he must have no clue how dangerous this girl is with us, more or less the ones with her, should he be revealing his true form?
Walking up to me with his whitish-blue armored tail fully wiggling all over the place, "You gonna put a leash on it," I jested, "Funny, now pop disperse your magics" he said.
But shrugging, I looked back to Izumi and the others, and Asmodeus sighed, "Dispell," he said even though I was unsure of this and going to ask him if it was wise...
Looking at him, a light blue sprung from his fingertips in a glowing orb, and looking at myself, I felt as my form was fully dispelled, and I was now walking around naked.
With two sets of horns growing in, no wings, a long thin tail, and then with all these features and these oversized clothes, it was getting really hard not to think like that.
"Wow..." I was sarcastically dumbfounded by this.
"Sorry, too excited. Anyways, let's get a look at you!"
Swiping at something invisible to us, he then opened his hand and pressed it against something, vibrating the air and displacing the transparency into a bright blue color.
Floating in front of him was this blue display surface.
And unable to read it, even though it was backwards, I thought I might get a glimpse at his true strength, but it wasn't something I could read... No wait... It's all in Tet?
Oh, I get it now, It's a reflection skill that showcases his power in what he knew, and three or four hundred years ago that's all he knew aside from speaking common.
That makes more sense, but why hasn't it converted?
I was thinking, but in doing that, got sidetracked as he began to speak. Looking at his panel and telling us.
"Hm let's see, Name: Aster De Hiragi, Race: blank?, Sex: Male, Level: 27, Status: HP: 2,692 MP: Unknown STR: 17, AGI: 23, DEX: 187, INT: Unknown, VIT: 120, and CHA: 19"
He said and I was baffled, HE CAN SEE ALL OF THAT?!
"And your skills consist of 3 sets? But I'll just go through them: Suppression: Level 5, Shapeshifting: Level 5. Then there's Mimic: Level 10, it's maxed and you have 3 extra descriptions, Instant Casting: Mark 1 and then Mark 2, I can't read what they say, but one's man and the other is a beast form, then we have Blazing Gloves: Level 10, it's maxed, Great Fireball: Level 6, Flair Set: Level 12, you've got Particle Flair, Flair, and Collosal Flair, then, Shadow Claws, Create Darkness, Shadow Bolt, Dark Tentacles, and Create Darkenbeasts, all don't have a level scale, and then you have, Incantations: Level 8, Magic circles: Level 7, Hexes: Level 2, Curses: Level 2, you have a few Demonic Skills but I'm not going to say them, then you have Proficiencies in the Sword and Mace, along with, ugh, why do you know Balor Martial Arts? Never mind, after that, you have a few charm skills, and Magic Arts Cultivation Techniques including Nature Absorption and Generation, along with Concentration, and a bonus skill to Meditation?... Wow, these really are nice for a kid~"
Saying all of this I didn't even stop him, because I want to know. Those old status scans are super useful. Only if I got my hands on one, it'd be easier to track my skills.
Crossing my arms, "That checks out, those are indeed my abilities, but what do you mean for a kid?" I asked.
And closing the display, the atmosphere of the room shifted into one more serious, and looking at me he said with a stern voice, unlike the mousy one he spoke in "I'm saying that because you seem to want to memorize all the skills you come across, sure you have some fire attribute and you're more suitable to negative magics, but it's too... It's too disproportionate, back when I was an adventurer, I saw many like this, gathering everything fast, learning as much as they could in a short time without mastering the fundamentals... You're going to die again if you keep this up. You have no protection spells, or even enchants, you're too focused on attacking and running that it's all you know. You need a balance, or you're no more than just a kid, sorry, but that's the only way I know how to put it"
He said and I got it, I never had the time to learn that. And I don't remember putting any effort into it, because what I used to do as a witch can't be done as an Incubus.
And if I try to justify a reason, it's going to backfire on me, mainly because of how old I am, 20. They're hundreds of years old, and all have different experiences and capabilities.
"Then what should I do, I lost my Rank as a Rank 4, and I'm back to Rank 2, is it even possible to restart?" I ask because they're the literal powerhouses of their era.
And none of us can compare in this new age, maybe a few, but do they really have the discipline like they do?
And smiling at me Asmodeus went on to say... But then Izumi pushed the smiling Asmodeus out of the way and said, "Of course you can, all you have to do is work for it, but no mortal wants to accept that, so they'll say no" she stated and walked over to me, looking dead but saying.
"What we are going to do, is not listen to Asmodeus for a little, because first is teaching you the fundamentals, and then choosing what you want to work on first"
Hearing it, my face dropped, "Huh?" I sounded brainless.
"Honestly, you can work on your demonic powers on your own, since it's more for your survival and I think you can do that on your own without our help, as for those other two, you need to choose, fire magic or shadow magic?"
I don't know why, but my brain just stopped working.
And then Asmodeus stepped in, "What about using fire for attacking and then using his shadows for straight defense, and we can add something else in for support"
But hearing the both of them as they turned to each other and then started discussing this in front of me, I wanted to say something but I couldn't.
And then "he" came.
Lowering his hood and revealing his skilled face, Hoctus, that bastard, stepped forward and said, "My lords, I suggest creation magic, fire magic is a part of the destruction school of magic, and shadow magic is a part of Shar's class of shadows, which varies since its a combination of different schools created in shadowfell. But if we focus it towards alteration, then I suggest using it as a support and restoration mix, like-" But as he spoke, "How about the power over souls..." I mentioned.
Looking right at him, calmly wanting to crush his soul.
And hearing me and I guess ignoring my intent, Izumi rubbed her chin, and Asmodeus jumped, "Yeah! That sounds like an awesome idea!" he glimmered at it.
But my intentions were clear enough and I don't care if they knew, because I'll kill Hoctus one of these days. And that's a promise, "Yeah, it really does, doesn't it..."