Chapter 34: You're Gloria Cottonfluff, right? (1)
With enough will and determination, anyone can reach miracles.
The hidden route to the core of the chasm was the demons' wonder and their only hope. It was shaped from the convenient coincidence that the foolish human had given to the demons, and their combined hatred, perseverance, and hunger were the hands shaping their route outside.
One does not need skills to shape the world.
But one does need a lot of luck to achieve it.
And luck is also a part of one's skills which are determined by origins.
Thus, it wasn't surprising that the demon's feelings had reached the world.
And as Beelzebub had said before, all possess a soul. Even a speck of dust has a little of a soul, so what about the land with a chasm stretching far and wide: a chasm that is a scar left by the clash between heavenly lineage and demons?
What kind of souls could be found inside, outside, and around the chasm?
As the saying goes, the victors write the history.
This saying can be applied to this very soul concept.
The heavenly lineage had shaped the scar into a prison through skills, similar to alchemists mixing and shaping many ingredients into wonders of their choice. But their skills weren't perfect, and a few flaws(impurities) had inevitably hidden themselves across the chasm.
And what was a flaw for the heavenly lineage was the helping hand for the demons.
All they needed was a lucky chance… which they had received.
Beelzebub was now on this wondrous path, going down the rough slope. It was quite steep, but that was to his advantage, as Anador had thrown many juicy hearts this way. All hearts had precisely landed at the chasm's feet, notifying many high-level individuals of their presence.
In their eyes, weaker demons had teamed up to hunt as many humans as possible during their plan to kill the village head, gleaning a lot of hearts to cajole their leaders.
Indeed, even the prison had its own hierarchy.
Beelzebub slid on the nearly vertical wall and finally found himself at the chasm's feet. He instantly noticed various demons circling around the hearts, with the bulkiest ones ordering their lackeys to pick them up and transport them to their rooms.
The strongest demons had humanoid forms with jagged pants covering their crotches. One of them had a stylish gray scarf made out of demons' fur. Another dude went as far as making an entire jacket out of his kin's fur, and another one was fine with only a vest.
Their eyes were lively and shone brightly with an insatiable hunger. The corners of their lips were curved up into wide sneers, and their impatience promptly made them lick their lips and swallow their saliva.
'Though I don't see a difference between a demon and a human, wearing their kin's fur is so demonic-like…' Beelzebub could only accept the flaws in his reasoning while silently making his way past the gathering of the demons…
…which was as easy as waking up.
No one paid attention to the demonic soul, for the abundance of hearts had stolen everyone's attention. Moreover, the weaker demons had no strength to resist the allure of the food, let alone means to give them some of their strength back.
In this chasm, hearts weren't only food but also a resource needed to create projections to leave the prison to hunt humans.
The route back had many limitations put on it, and no indomitable will could have changed that.
It explained the reactions of other demons whose emaciated and debilitated bodies were put in the proper place by the suffocating and heavy presence of the strongest demons.
Beelzebub ignored that and headed to his destination.
He stomped on a rough and littered with pebbles path. Glancing up, David saw never-ending darkness, which induced more coldness in this prison. This particular element hovering above him like a blanket of the night also reminded Beelzebub of someone powerful and the concept he failed to understand.
A particular woman once told him that his soul doesn't have any shadow. To this day, David couldn't solve that riddle and what exactly she meant.
He just knew that her interest in him was crazy because of it. That resulted in him clashing with her a few times, but who at the top hadn't clashed with the demonic alchemist?
Shifting his attention to protruding and stretching forward bulges, which had sharp and long stalactites threatening to pierce every prisoner below them, to forget about the past, Beelzebub studied a few houses of the demons.
The demons lived in the grooves of the walls, with bulges like their porches. A few of those dwellings had a scent of blood drifting outside, disclosing the well-being of their owner.
A lot of humans' hearts must have been eaten in those houses…
'It's so cold here that their meals must be awful.' Beelzebub jested to merry his mood, bringing himself even closer to the cold environment.
At last, after jumping over many rocks and hurdles, Beelzebub caught a glimpse of the ice tomb. It took David a few more leaps and steps to catch the sight of his maid in its entirety…
But now that he did, he couldn't help but reminisce about his first meeting with her.
The sleeping and serene self confined in the ice prison didn't suit her at all…
-
[Thousand and two years ago.]
A peculiar race enjoyed the attention of the world from both players and residents.
Their men were proficient in battles, dealing with their enemies swiftly and aptly. Wielding various types of short and medium-ranged weapons, they were recognized for their unique battle style and skills to strengthen their bodies and senses.
Those towering muscles had forced many ladies to join their knees.
And their women were known to be playful and lovely existences willing to give any man a chance to tame them. Their beauty had a unique charm that won over many people, and their friendliness surely played a huge role.
They were so versatile that their beauty could be sexy, adorable, and more. Even better, their fighting prowess was unique as well, relying on enchanting magic to enchant everything they desired.
They were foxes, a branch of demi-humans.
Far away from their populated and crowded tribe, perched by a cliff, was a small wooden house in which an ostracized and lone woman lived her miserable life.
Shunned by her own family due to her differences that strayed away from what was known to be a woman of the fox tribe, a white-haired fox woman silently cooked her own meal.
And as the appetizing fragrance wafted over to the doors of her house, someone knocked on them.
The woman threw her sharpened eyes over to the sound, then made her way to answer the call, her steps causing the wooden floor to creak.
She opened the doors, finding a man in emerald long robes standing in front of her.
Behind him stood at least sixteen feet in height meatball.
Well, it was a round woman with two blonde twin tails and bulbous cheeks, which were bulging out more because of her eating her snacks.
"You're Gloria Cottonfluff, right?" The man's soft voice grasped the fox woman's attention.
And as she looked at him, his dark abyss eyes never allowed her to take her eyes off him. He came here with a clear purpose, aware of her existence.
She faced him with her sharp red eyes flashing as though brimming with killing intent. "I am."
Thus, the meeting between the demonic alchemist and the odd fox woman began.