*Thunk Ting Thunk Thud*
The sound of Joey's amour bangs against the metallic ladder that descended down to what seemed to be an abyss of darkness.
" Suck in your gut, you're making too much noise."
Philomel whispers from below as she nimbly slid down the ladder without any noise. Keeping a short distance away from Darzirak who was currently her complete opposite.
" I can't, this place is too narrow and I'm already pushing the amour's limit. Especially around the waist."
Darzirak whispered back as he lean away from the ladder just for his back to hit the wall behind them.
" Make your neck longer then. No one is looking at you, you don't have to keep a human shape."
Philomel suggested as she held her place and did her best to suppress the urge to slide all the way down, gather all she needed, and come back up instead of waiting for Darzirak.
" Oh, yeah... Now that you mentioned it."
Darzirak muttered in realization as he flattened the bed sheets and blanket within his belly. Moving it to fill Joey's booths and pants and moving his body out from those areas by stretching it out from his neck. Little One, let out a soft confused sound as he could feel himself moving higher but since it was pitch black, he couldn't see anything.
" Ok, great now just slide down the ladder like me."
Philomel orders and immediately Darzirak slides down, instantly falling onto Philomel. Luckily for Philomel, Darzirak's weight was slightly more than the armor he was wearing and Little One's weight. Joey's booth and pants were filled with the bedsheet and blanket. Philomel felt like a big pillow hit her right in the face.
" Idiot! Wait for me to slide down first!"
Philomel scolded in a harsh whisper but since the pillow-like amour was right on her. Darzirak could only hear a muffled sound and slight vibration coming from his legs.
" Eh? That's strange I didn't expect to hit the ground so fast."
Darzirak said loudly in confusion as he stood up properly on Philomel. Completely oblivious that he was currently standing on her shoulders.
" You think that the back wall here would open up and lead to an open area but it doesn't. All I feel is the wall."
Darzirak said in awe as he touches the wall behind him.
"...."
Philomel fell speechless as she look up at Darzirak feeling out the wall behind him. Silently wondering why a demon that could see in the dark and see through the shadows would choose to use his normal eyesight in a place like this. Philomel let out a long exhausted sigh before letting go of the ladder and sliding down with Darzirak on her shoulders. Darzirak immediately panicked above her at the sudden drop like that. As soon as Philomel's feet touch the bottom. She used both her hands to hit Darzirak's ankles, making him step back onto the ladder before bending down and moving backward.
Philomel pulled out the magical stone from her stomach amour using its dim glow to look for the nearby torch before lighting it.
" Uuu whoa!"
Darzirak exclaimed as he fell off the ladder, his long neck soon filled the armor back into a chubby state. He grumbled softly under his breath for not being able to see with his head so high up and his body so low as he slowly stood up. Philomel ignored him as she waves the torch around the room, scanning the area.
The room was clean and had all sorts of armor, shields, swords, cannons, spears, magical weapons, and many more, all neatly arranged in a room that was as big as a ballroom.
" Holy hello... Is he trying to defend a village or storm a kingdom? I have never seen this many weapons since the God War and even then the weapons were in bad condition. Heck, the production of magical weapons was extremely new and rare back then to the point, not even kings could afford them. Yet there's half a ballroom of it... right here..."
Darzirak exclaims as he picked up a magical lighting blaster. Pulling out the mana potion that was locked into the ammo chamber. The potion was such a dark shade of blue that it was almost purple at a certain angle.
" Hey... this doesn't look normal... this feels like..."
" The Movement of Lexi. Lexi the fallen God..."
Philomel whispered out softly which made Darzirak turn his head just to find Philomel standing in front of a banner that had the glowing image of Lexi rising from the earth and back to the heavens.
" Lexidashus... Wow, you think that these people would give up after all these centuries but no! Here they are still running as strong as ever. Still doing all they can to make Lexi the one True God. You know I can't help but wanna root for them after seeing this even though I absolutely despise them."
Darzirak chuckled before raising a toast to the banner and drinking down the mana potion in hand. Darzirak bit his lip as he held back a terrible cough. He glances back at the empty bottle with an extremely shocked expression. He drops the glass bottle, and falls to his knees, coughing terribly.
" Darzirak?! Are you alright??"
Philomel asked as she kneels down next to him, patting his back. Darzirak started turning back into liquid, leaking out of the amour and onto the floor. Forming a huge pool of black liquid before suddenly returning back into the amour and forming his body back.
Darzirak trails off as he covered his mouth like he was going to vomit. (Mana + 9268) Darzirak's capacity (red zone overload) Magic discharge into his body. Darzirak's body slowly grows back to the size of a common wolf. (Magic still red zone) Magic discharge into the air.
Darzirak frowns as purple sparkle comes out from him and disappears into the air. Making the air in the basement as fresh as the air you'll find near the Grand Tree of the light elf holy lands.
"If only Amon had a stronger bond with me, this would be more than enough for me to have a human form."
Darzirak silently thought to himself.
" Darzirak?!"
Philomel exclaims in confusion when she saw the purple sparkle coming out from him.
"* Wheezing* That ... *clears throat* Wasn't a mana potion... That was someone's actual mana * cough* uhh... "
" Someone's actual mana? ....."
Philomel wondered out loud for a moment before realizing what Darzirak meant. Mana potion is normally distilled from a rare fruit that helps a person's bone give out more mana for a short burst of time. Having something like that come from someone meant that was someone's bone marrow.
" Oh... ohhh...."
" Yeah... one that has been aged for centuries."
" You want some water to wash out the taste?"
Philomel asked as she pulled out her water satchel from her belt pouch. Darzirak gratefully accepted it from her and started gurgling the water in his mouth before spitting it out on the ground.
" Why would anyone?"
" There was a time before the discovery of mangos and their unique power of mana regeneration. Back in the dark ages (50 years before the God war when the sky and the earth reflected the animosity that the gods has against each other), this was how they made mana potions. "
Darzirak informed as he kept sticking out his tongue and gritting his teeth, trying to recover from the foul taste.
" Is it... Uhh... effective?"
" As effective as fermented mana potion. I can feel my body burning bubbling with mana. I never had this much mana within me since I first became a demon. But my god... the taste. Whoever's bone marrow was that must have been very loved by the gods to have so much mana in his blood and it ferment here for centuries.
Heck! If any human drank this, their body probably melt from the sudden increase in so much mana. If their souls survive that then another high-level demon like me is born."
" Doesn't seem very loved to me."
Philomel softly stated as she stared at the same small glass bottles sitting within a huge crate, her eyes then drifted past all 10 crates that had the same label as the first crate.
" Hmmm... Probably been tormented for decades to come out with this amount or maybe they had more than one person? "
Darzirak theorized as he opened another crate and noticed it was all the exact same color.
" Maybe twins? triplets? Meh, either way, they are definitely long dead by now."
Darzirak shrugged as he closes the crate back.
" Darzirak..."
Philomel softly called out his name as she stared down at her reflection in the broken glass bottle that Darzirak dropped.
" Yeah?"
Darzirak prompted as he snoop around the magical weapons section.
" Was it... was it painful becoming a demon?"
" Ho! Unbelievably painful. Your soul gets torn apart and sewn back together to form the mark of Helder. The Survival rate is 1 out of a million. Your soul must have more than the will to stay alive. More than!"
Philomel interrupts Darzirak but her soft voice wasn't even a challenge to Darzirak's exclaiming tone. Even so, Darzirak immediately stopped.
" And what drove you to survive it? To hang on?"
Philomel asked and Darzirak fell silent. Whatever chippy attitude in Darzirak faded in an instant.
" I don't recall..."
Darzirak said with a grin wishing that it was true. Wishing that he didn't remember what his soul cling onto. What he so desperately struggled to stay alive for.
"It doesn't matter now."
Darzirak told himself even though deep down his heart was still unable to give it up.
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