"So you're the guest that boldly barges in here, a demon at that too…How reminiscent."
Staring straight into the demon's eyes, the estranged human boy uttered. His eyes were glazing with intrigue, having not seen anybody visiting his "world" in this fashion in a long time.
On the other hand, Fier was baffled at the scene present before him.
Usually, whenever he took over a human body, its Ego would instantly collapse from the overwhelming pressure from his Ego. Even if the Ego didn't collapse, it would be barely holding on.
And yet...and yet the human boy's Ego seemed to be doing completely fine, and that was not including the strange manifestation of a pasture. And despite being caged, the boy was wearing an oversized T-shirt and short pants as if he was chilling at home.
His instinct, for whatever reason, was screaming for him to get out of there as soon as possible.
'I need to leave!'
The situation was undoubtedly absurd. Even that seemingly all-knowing master of his had never mentioned anything like this to him.
The thought of being stuck somewhere he shouldn't be sent chills down his spine.
'[Dispossession]!'
...Nothing happened.
'[Dispossession]!'
A moment of awkward silence ensued...
'No, no, no, no, why is it not working? No...It must've been a fluke! A fluke, indeed! How can such a weak human beat me at this?'
In disbelief, Fier focused himself and cast [Dispossession] for the third time...
...But to no avail.
"..."
The boy, witnessing Fier's hopeless attempts, slightly shook his head.
'Tch! It seems I've no other choice.'
Fier had to resort to his hidden cards sooner than he thought, and that was to engage with the boy in front of him. He wished to save his all for the Hero, but it didn't look possible at this point.
"Blame yourself for resisting this much, o human child."
"Hm?"
Truthfully, he was always confident in going against any human Ego. Every single one he has used this on was easily squashed without exception. Most often ended up spiritually broken beyond fixing while some would instantly die on the spot, and that applied to even the toughest will, let alone a weak human child.
Nonetheless, even if it was a gut feeling...he couldn't help but feel something super ominous about the grassland and the boy...ominous enough to make his blood run cold.
"You are me. I am you-"
"Don't try anything stupid."
SNAP!
A loud snap reverberated, silencing everything.
At that moment, Fier's mind blanked as every ounce of demonic energy he gathered dispersed into the air in an instant.
As his mind came around, only the sound of slight breezes could be heard.
He was, once again, seated in front of the boy.
Something was wrong. Too wrong.
What he saw in front of him was nothing more than a feeble being. A being that could break with a mere touch of his.
"No way! There is no way youuuuuuuuu..."
Fier began gathering demonic energy again as he rose from his seat, this time even more intense than the last. Crimson auras swirled violently around his body, producing growls comparable to a salivating beast threatening to tear apart everything. This was the strength and effort he held great pride in, one that even his master acknowledged.
It was the first time he ever brought out this much power.
"O human child, be honored that you forced me to bring out this muc-"
"What did I say?"
SLASH!
It was that same absurdity again. With a mere flick of a hand, all of his limbs twisted and exploded into rains of blood, leaving his sole torso lying on the ground as he limped from excruciating pain.
"Wake up. We still have unfinished business, little demon."
'Agh!'
A chilling voice forced Fier up, and it was the exact same seat that he found himself on. Seeing the boy again, he instinctively tried to muster demonic energy...but stopped as his body shook intensely. It was the same sensation he felt on that fateful day when that giant man coldly delivered an axe down his tiny body - Absolute Pressure
He didn't want to believe that all those years of training would go to waste like this, but his body resigned before he even knew it. As much humiliation as there was, he was feeling an equal amount of fright.
"Still up for more?"
Fier shook his head in defeat. The boy wasn't very surprised, feeling glad that the trouble resolved itself.
"Sit around for a bit more, won't you? I wouldn't want to be labeled as an incompetent host."
"Wha..."
Shocked as Fier was, he only now realized his gut feeling was on point. He was currently at the boy's complete mercy.
"[Absolute Corruption], was it? A descendant of Lavey? So you're indeed the reason why this thing shut off."
'That...huh?'
What the boy showed in his hand was a cracked glass orb. What's odd, however, is the fact that he could feel the energy of an Ego emanating from it, something the boy was lacking from the beginning.
"Even if it's an imperfect substitute, isn't this a bit too much...ah?" The boy, who was frowning, suddenly got a revelation."I see..."
What the boy realized was that humanity's collective unconscious no longer considered [Demon] a threat at all. The proof lies in the Ego's reaction toward the demon soul, which was rather impassive.
Worse of all, it wasn't that humanity was overconfident in beating demons, but rather that it had completely forgotten about [Demon]. The fundamental concept that once made their relationship "special" was now gone.
From the beginning, [Human] and [Demon] were supposed to be concepts that specifically counteract one another, which was what connected them in the first place.
With it now gone one-sidedly, [Human] was no longer on equal ground with [Demon]. While humans no longer held a natural hatred for demons, the same couldn't be said for the latter. Similarly, the current state of humanity is severely vulnerable to demons as the removal of that sole concept has taken away their specific resistance compared to other races.
"How unfortunate. To think this was the reason why even "he" was done in so easily. You played well, Descendant of Lavey...Though, I must also thank you for granting me a reason to check up on this thing."
What he found out was that his synchronization rate with the Ego had shot up by an absurd margin, peaking at 80%. Normally, he only kept it at a maximum of 30-40% because any further would allow the Ego to overwhelm him as a "self".
'That makes sense now. Thinking about it, that "me" does seem a lot like that.'
"W-What are you even talking about?"
At this point, Fier's mind was filled with questions: Where was he? What was the boy's identity? Why does he know about his authority?...etc. There was no end to his ponderings at all.
"You have a lot of questions, I see. Hmmm...How about this? As a token of gratitude, you can ask away, dear guest. Just expect that not every question will receive an appropriate answer."
Right as the boy finished, Fier felt a pang of pain on his right shoulder, as if stabbed by a holy weapon. He'd have passed out had he not gone through some intensive training with his Master.
'Shit! I feel...light-headed!'
Before he noticed it, his mouth began to move, uttering words he didn't intend to let out.
"Who are you?"
"Me? Ah right, I didn't introduce myself yet. How rude of me." The boy stood up and bowed "It's our first time meeting, Descendant of Lavey. My name is Jun Kether, and I'm a human who is no longer one."