The Outer Demon that disturbed my precious time with Irina was much like the many others I'd encountered thus far. It measured over four metres long with one central eyeball that seemed to span its entire width. Dozens of tentacles wiggled around in a disgusting manner while its putrid mouth spewed out a green breath.
However, unlike the other Outer Demons, this one seemed a little special. Without any limbs or wings, it defied the laws of gravity by levitating in mid-air.
"Luminita, what's that?"
"A Kouthus, Master Jin," Luminita answered my question succinctly. In fact, her face betrayed the ample amount of surprise and excitement that came with being an Outer Demon nerd.
"What powers does it have?"
"A Kouthus is a demon that specialises in using teleportation. It can often teleport away to safety or teleport its opponents away. Not to mention, they could teleport objects to fall on their enemies. It's a tricky opponent!"
"Hoh?"
Teleportation? I have yet to learn a spell regarding teleportation, but I'm certain that I could take this menace on. Cracking my knuckles, I stepped forward and told the rest to stand back.
"Let's see how strong your teleportation really is."
I raised my right hand and summoned the Soul Armament that had already been familiarised with my body. Almost instantly, the ring on my middle finger glowed with an azure light as I could feel my power bind the good-for-nothing in place.
The Kouthus struggled for a moment, its tentacles flailing about like a baby throwing a tantrum. However, before the force of my telekinesis could crush it like an aluminium can, the beast disappeared entirely.
"Hoh…"
That teleportation occurred in less than a second. It reappeared a couple of metres away, this time with a face that seemed to taunt me. Its tentacles pointed in my direction, and its creepy mouth broke into a smile. It even made a sound similar to that of a giggle.
You crazy little bastard, I was already in an irritable mood, and you're trying to annoy me once more? Fine, I'll kill you without mercy.
Once again, I directed all of my magic power toward the Kouthus and bound it under my control. Its entire outline was constricted by my power, and telekinetically, I made sure that it didn't have any chance of escaping. However, just like before, the Outer Demon disappeared entirely and transferred a few metres away.
And as it did that… The space around the Kouthus warped ever so slightly.
"Wait a minute…"
It was very slight, and possibly no one other than me would have noticed it. But I knew that space was being distorted. The power of the Kouthus wasn't anything special as it could only move around like an annoying bee. But what really got me was…
"Again!"
My telekinetic ability locked in on the Kouthus again, crushing every corner of its body. But this time, I primarily focused on the Outer Demon's eye. Just like before, the Kouthus teleported away before I could crush its guts out of its mouth. However, as I'd surmised, the space around the Outer Demon warped ever so slightly, with the biggest depression being near the Kouthus eye.
Again and again, I experimented. Each time it teleported, I noted down the amount of space that got warped and whether it fit the amount of force that I put it. And after five additional times, I finally came to a realisation.
"I see now…"
"Brother… Is it too hard for you? Do you want me to take him down?"
Irina, who had seen the Kouthus slip through my fingers every time I tried to control it using telekinesis, misunderstood that I was struggling against the Outer Demon. Seeing her pumped-up face that seemed ready to tear the Kouthus apart for pissing me off really brought warmth to my Vampiric heart.
But alas, I wouldn't be a man if I made my sister fight my battles for me.
"No, you've misunderstood Irina. I was just experimenting."
"Experimenting?"
"Yeah, you see… I'd always thought that there was something different about my awakened power. While everyone told me that it was telekinesis, I'd always thought that it didn't quite fit that description."
When Variel told me that my ability was telekinesis, I knew something was missing. That doubt only grew after discovering that my telekinesis was far stronger than the average Vampire's, and it would take my opponent ten times the amount of magic power to break free. And as time went on and I continued to test and train with my Soul Armament, I realised that there was a missing piece of the puzzle.
And after fighting the Kouthus, I finally realised what the missing piece was.
Seeing that it was the perfect chance to pounce, the Outer Demon teleported five metres above me and attempted to throw bits of rock down on my body. The pieces of debris fell rapidly, with each one deadlier than the other. If nothing was done, my body would be crushed, and the Kouthus would have finally taken out its first prey of the day.
Alas…
"Stop."
I raised my hand above my head, and instantly, the world froze. Everything from the Kouthus that flew overhead to the sharp rocks that wished to prey on my flesh. Everything had fallen under my distinct control.
The Kouthus smiled again, thinking that it could break free from my control once more. However, as it attempted to teleport away…
Creeeeee?! Creeeeeeee?!
It was befuddled. It couldn't understand why its innate power, which had never failed to activate before, finally malfunctioned. No matter how hard it tried, no matter how loudly it cried, no matter how much magic power was resonating in the air… There was nothing that the Outer Demon could do.
"H-He stopped… a Kouthus from teleporting?!"
Luminita's jaw dropped, and her eyes bulged out from their sockets. It did look amusing, the way that this normally professional-looking maid lost all sense of her composure. And it wasn't just her; even Variel had begun twitching his eyebrows.
"B-Brother, what did you do?!"
Irina held herself back from running into my arms as we were still in the middle of a battle, but I could tell that she desperately wanted to. Goodness, why is she so adorable? Let's conclude this battle quickly so that I can fulfil her wish.
"You see… You guys thought that when I control the movements of an object, inanimate or otherwise, it's because of telekinesis."
That was a natural conclusion. I was even tricked that my power was telekinesis, the ability to control another object or person. However, judging by how space itself distorts whenever I use this ability…
"But that's not true. Not true at all. My power isn't telekinesis… But the power to control space."
"Y-You're joking."
If that's the case, then everything makes sense. There was a reason why it was so difficult to use magic to escape from my telekinesis and a reason why thousand-year-old Blood Servants could do nothing but watch as I wrest control away from them.
When they attempted to break free from my telekinesis, they weren't just fighting against my magic power. They were fighting against space itself.
"That's why the Kouthus could escape from my control so easily. It could just teleport away from the space that is distorting it. However, its teleportation comes with a limit, doesn't it? It can only teleport to distances five metres away from itself. And so, if I control space within five metres of its body…"
Clenching my fists, I moved the Outer Demon right in front of us, all the while making sure that it couldn't find a single area to teleport to.
"Thank you, Demon. If I hadn't met you, I would have continued the misunderstanding of my power. So, I shall kill you with my most powerful attack as a parting gift."
I stood tall as magic power condensed from my inner core onto my right middle finger. The power that was being channelled started to shake the Earth as rocks levitated all around me. The rocks began spinning, and they congregated at one point as a ten metres tall structure.
I willed for the gigantic rock to turn into a shape that I was most familiar with, and my control over space moulded the boulder into a giant fist. Clenching my own, I moved to a stance that I was most familiar with and stamped my feet firmly on the ground.
The Kouthus was flailing about, terrified about what was going to happen to it. And well, it was right to be afraid. I'd yet to release control over the space that surrounded it; if anything, the force I generated had almost tripled. To ensure that nothing would go wrong, I compressed space into a single corridor where only me, my giant rock fist and the Kouthus existed.
There was no escaping. No hiding. No blocking.
The only thing that the Outer Demon could do… was face my attack head-on and pray that it would survive. But that's a big if.
I pulled the fist all the way back, stretching the compressed space as I did so. Like a slingshot, the giant rocky fist stored up potential energy as space itself started to distort. And like a kid testing out his new toy, I experimented on the limits of my power. More and more energy was being stored within the fist until eventually…
BOOOOOMMM!!!
Flying at over ten times the speed of sound, the ten-metre tall fist came crashing back, accelerating every second that it distorted the space around it. All at once, the stored potential energy turned into pure kinetic energy, causing the simple rocky structure to seem like a meteorite falling from the skies.
Well, it might have been since the moment the Kouthus came into contact with the fist, it collapsed right into the floor and created an impact crater twenty metres in radius. Space itself returned back to normal, revealing my fatigued and sweaty body.
"Brother! Are you alright?!"
"Y-Yeah," I panted softly as I tried to catch my breath. At the moment, I'd felt like I had done a full exercise routine that included a high-intensity cardio session. It was an uncomfortable state of exhaustion, but it wasn't something that I couldn't handle.
"I'd just pushed myself a little, that's all. Give me a few minutes, and I should be fine."
"Geez, you should leave small fries like this to me next time!"
"Haha, duly noted."
Small fry, huh? Irina was right; this Kouthus was just a weak Outer Demon that was cannon fodder for the youths of the Everwinter House. Defeating it was to be expected. But still, I had to thank this small fry for opening my eyes.
Now I'm one step closer to fully awakening my potential.