- Felix -
Shortly after Phobio and his subordinates left, Odin warned me that it felt a few rather strong presences in Jura, now normally I would have just waved this off, there are quite a few strong beings in Jura after all. However after the Orc Invasion I decided to remain cautious, who knows when this hidden mastermind will decide to strike next after all.
- Flashback -
'Odin has detected two powerful majin, It is suggested that the host is cautious.'
Hmm? You don't usually remind me to be cautious of much Odin, what's so special about these majin?
'The probability of the majins being related to the Orc Invasion is high, therefore host should remain cautious, it is not known what their plan is.'
Hmm, so you think these guys could be related to the Invasion huh? Could they be planning something else now? We haven't detected anything suspicious until now.
'Likelihood of two unknown majin planning an attack is extremely high.'
Hmm, I'll go check it out then, better to nip their plan in the bud if it's possible.
I use all the presence suppression abilities that I have, It should be almost impossible for anyone to detect me.
I quickly use Universal Sense to pinpoint the majin's exact locations, without Odin I wouldn't even be able to feel them, their presence is that miniscule.
Thankfully Odin was recently able to integrate Milim Eye into itself, so it now possesses all of the abilities of Milim Eye, I don't think Odin would have been able to detect the two majin otherwise.
'Affirmative.'
'Huh? Why do you sound so aggrieved Odin?'
'It is just the host's imagination.'
I don't think it is, ah, don't worry Odin, I don't doubt your abilities, who knows where I would be without you.
'...'
I send Rimuru, Saeko and Raiden a Thought Communication telling them that I'm going to investigate something.
I tell Saeko and Raiden to stay back, if there is any surprise attack then they should be able to help fight it off, along with the fact that they might hold me back, I should be fine on my own.
It seems like they are moving, better catch up to them.
Thankfully I can still access Milim Eye through Odin, so I can easily see them and measure their strength.
Hmm, the first one is a rather burly looking guy dressed up like a clown with a mask, what an odd getup. The second one looks quite small in comparison to the other guy, she has magenta hair and also wears a mask.
Hmm, why does the male seem so familiar?
Aha, he is the one Saeko described to me, the man who was able to hold off both her and pre Demon Lord Seed Rimuru combined.
He's the one who helped attack the Ogres.
Well, he is going to die tonight, no doubt about that.
Better use Milim Eye on them to get an accurate reading on their strength first though.
Oh?
The both of them are quite powerful, the male is around 4x stronger than Clayman, while the female is about twice as strong.
I myself am about 12x stronger than Clayman in pure magicule capacity, that's not accounting for my skills.
Who knows what kind of skills these two might have, it's best to be careful.
'It has been detected that the two majin are both Deathman.'
Deathman? What's that?
'A race of undead that is born through a ritual requiring thousands of corpses, each Deathman is at least at the level of a Demon Lord Seed if not greater.'
Oh? That is quite a ritual, to be able to create a Demon Lord Seed level being at minimum.
Hmm.
This physical body of mine is quite weak and is holding me back. I've been planning to see if I can find a newer, stronger body to possess if possible. The fat one at the very least seems partially responsible for the attack on my friend's home so I'll likely take his body.
Looks like they have finally arrived at their location. It looks like a cave of some sort, hmm? What's that inside of it I see?
The male takes the lead and asks, "Have you gathered the Lesser Dragon Corpses to feed to Charybdis?"
Huh, Charybdis? What could they want with that?
Charybdis is a Calamity-class threat, it would likely be higher if it possessed intelligence, as of now it is just a mindless beast with magicules on the level of a Demon Lord.
"Yup! Gathering them was easy!" said the female.
I have a feeling that I'm not going to like their plan.
Oh look, now they are laughing, I definitely am not going to like their plan.
Let's see if I can gather some more info before I attack.
"Is the job completed now?" asked the male, hmm Saeko did say that he referred to himself as a mercenary.
It seems like the hidden mastermind is behind this.
"Yup! We were told only to revive Charybdis and send it the Daemon's way."
The Daemon's? I can only assume that means me. Hmm, it seems the mastermind wants to try and get rid of me, likely because I am an obstacle to his plans.
That's good, that tells me that he isn't strong enough to just brush me aside.
It means that he is wary of me, that means he is likely someone who is too weak to deal with me, or at my level.
Well, I think I've heard enough, time to attack.
I decide to go for the weaker one first, hopefully I can take her out with a sneak attack.
I quickly rush at her Lightning Armor activated, and my fists coated in an absurd amount of magicules, I make sure to use Blue to draw my fist to her face and her fist towards my fist quicker.
I am best at hand to hand combat after all, swordsmanship is just something I enjoy using, this is not the time for it.
It seems like the two of them have something similar to Danger Sense as they both react quickly and dodge to the side.
Fuck, I was going at a speed most wouldn't even be able to see, further boosted by Lightnign Armor. These guys aren't to be underestimated.
I look towards the male as he yells, "Tear!"
"I know Footman!"
Hmm, it seems the male is Footman and the female is Tear.
I continue to observe them for now, best to be careful.
What the fuck!
Tear just got multiple times stronger!
Weaker than me, but still, what the fuck.
Does she have some sort of Kaio-Ken skill?
Gah, this is becoming troublesome.
'Odin, can you work on Analyzing that?'
'Affirmative.'
I use Isolate and put up a Multilayer Barrier, one that will negate thermal attacks, poison attacks, and spiritual attacks.
I detect Footman coming at me as I feel Tear running into the cave.
Oh man, she's planning to revive Charybdis, and using that opportunity to run away.
I need to deal with Footman fast, Footman shouldn't know about Infinity, I can use this chance to catch Footman off guard, hopefully finish him off before she revives Charybdis.
It's a damn good thing I didn't bring Raiden or Saeko, they aren't at the level to be able to fight these guys, I would have had to watch over them and fight.
Odin cover me in case I get caught off guard.
'Affirmative, none shall harm master.'
Thanks, already feel better with you having my back.
Once Footman is close enough he realises something is wrong, unfortunately he is too late, I ignore the incoming attack from Tear and shove my fist through Footman's gut.
I quickly use Predator to devour him, body, and soul.
I can work on possessing the corpse later.
I watch as Tear appears in front of the cave. "Footman!"
Fuck, was I too late?
She looks at me with a look that I can describe as pure hatred on her face, "You!"
She starts approaching me, her magicules flaring around her uncontrollably, it seems I got her really mad over killing her friend.
That's something I can respect, caring about one's own friend enough to lose your senses.
Unique Skill: Amplifier Acquired.
Unique Skill: Optimist Acquired.
All of a sudden I hear the roar of a Dragon.
Fuck, I was too late.
Tear ignores Charybdis and continues approaching me, "You! No, I can't die here, the president is counting on me."
President? Could the President be the mysterious mastermind?
Something to think about later.
I watch as Tear attempts to get away, I ignore her for now, she shouldn't be able to get past Isolate.
'Odin, keep an eye on her, I need to deal with Charybdis.'
'Affirmative.'
I use Milim Eye on it, it seems its raw power matches that of Demon Lord Seeds like Clayman.
'It has been detected that individual known as Tear has escaped due to Unique Skill: Isolate being disturbed due to Charybdis Intrinsic Skill: Magic Jamming'
What!
I quickly use Universal Sense to make sure, and sure enough Tear is gone.
Fuck!
I can't focus on that right now.
Now that my barriers and Isolate are down, Charybdis is free to rampage all it wants without being contained.
I watch as Charybdis summons some shark like monsters, each is extremely weak so I deal with them quickly as I avoid Charybdis's attacks and try to think of a plan.
Fuck it, might as well go all in, not much more damage that can be done after all.
Once I finish off the summons I fly higher into the sky and get ready to use Hollow Purple.
I aim my palm in its direction, "Hollow Purple."
Charybdis might be able to jam magic, but Hollow Purple erases all it touches as well.
Thankfully Hollow Purple ate away at the jamming before the reverse could happen and it wasn't able to survive that.
Rimuru chose this moment to arrive, "Felix! What happened here?! I sensed a massive aura and came as soon as I could."
"Sigh, some people were planning to release a monster to deal with me. I was able to deal with it, but one of the assailants got away."
"To deal with you! Sigh, well we can talk about it later, I'm glad you're okay Felix."
"Yeah, thanks bud."
- Flashback End -
Now that I look back at it, all I can see is a bunch of mistakes. Sure, I wanted Footman's body, but I should have used Hollow Purple the moment things started to get out of hand.
I have other options when it comes to bodies after all.
The main reason was that I was arrogant, I was confident in my strength, I didn't think I would lose that battle, and while I didn't lose, I didn't exactly win either.
This is a world where people might have some absurd skills. I should've known better than to look down on those two just because they were weaker than me.
I am strong, I know that, and a certain amount of arrogance will obviously come with that realisation, I just need to make sure that I don't act like an idiot because of it.
Hell, even Milim suffers from this, she refuses to take anyone that she doesn't acknowledge seriously, however she is strong enough that she can afford to do that.
I'm not, there are beings out there that are stronger than me, I know that.
I can't be treating this life as easy mode just because I am stronger than most.
Thankfully there weren't any consequences due to my mistake.
Another thing that Odin brought up once I returned to Tempest was that I had consumed two souls instead of the single one I was expecting from Footman.
Odin theorised that Footman was being possessed by someone else, I wasn't able to find out much information as Predator does not allow me to view the soul's memories unless the soul itself is willing.
At least this helped point out that there likely is another hidden mastermind, what a pain.
However, I did still gain a lot from that battle.
To start off my magicule capacity increased a fair amount after I finished consuming Footman's soul.
Along with that I gained his Unique Skill: Amplifier, it allows me to amplify the momentum of anything, whether it's energy or physical matter. If I combine this with Hollow Purple it will become much harder to dodge.
I can also use it to amplify the power of my punches, overall this skill has added a lot to my total combat ability.
I was also able to possess his body, and oh man is the body of a Deathman impressive.
The body on its own would make an average Greater Daemon into a Demon Lord Seed level being.
With me, someone who has already surpassed that level possessing it, well let's just say I am much, much stronger now.
Odin was even able to analyse the body in detail and reverse engineer the ritual used to create Deathmen, not something that will likely see use but still, the fact that Odin can do that is amazing, man is she great.
'Correct, my analytical ability is far superior to that of anything else.'
Ah? Was that smugness I heard?
'It's just your imagination.'
Sure it is, whatever you say.
Deathmen themselves can be used as incarnations for Spiritual Beings like me, or they can be used as puppets. When used as puppets the strongest Ego used in its creation will awaken and take control of the body, likely what happened with Footman and Tear.
Now the second Unique Skill I gained, which came from Tear is Optimist, essentially it amplifies my power by several times only when I am following orders.
Another ability that likely won't see use often, but still useful.
After the fight against Charybdis, Carrion himself showed up, and ended up forming a non-aggression pact with Tempest; overall everything turned out well.
He didn't leave before asking me for a fight though.
I decided to humour him, and well, the fight was an absolute beatdown.
He even used his Unique Skill: Royal Beast Form, it basically allows him to become a Chimera of all sorts of beasts.
I didn't copy it due to not seeing a use for it, I did have Odin analyse it enough for me to be able to recreate it if I feel like though.
His subordinates were looking on in shock, though Carrion quickly got himself together and said he would train and challenge me again.
Another side effect of the fight against Charybdis was that Saeko and Raiden both got much more into training.
I think they realised that I didn't take them with me due to them possibly holding me back.
They have both been training super intensely, Saeko is practising swordsmanship daily with Hakurou, and Raiden is practising her magic on her own along with her physical abilities.
Their strength has grown quite a bit since their training started, they are almost on the level of Demon Lord Seeds now, all they need is a Unique Skill and I would be confident about them each being able to one on one either Carrion, Frey, or Clayman.
Truly, my subordinates are the best.
Now I didn't let my previous incarnation vessel go to waste. The bones of the Dragon that were used to craft the golem that I inhabited had mutated after being in contact with my magicules for so long.
I decided to use these bones to create a new weapon for myself apparently one of the Kijin is a prodigy at blacksmithing, to the point where even Kaijin was singing his praises
He made me a katana made out of the Bones mixed with some Orichalcum, a material that is created when you combine both Magisteel and Gold. It has the properties of both so it can both conduct magicules well and is enduring like gold.
The weapon came out as a Legend Grade Katana.
Truly amazing.
Now I finally have an excellent katana.
I decided to get something made for Milim as a gift as well. I asked the blacksmith to make something that, instead of boosting the user's strength, would weaken it.
Something perfect for Milim, the weapon came out as Unique Grade Gauntlets, with the sole ability of reducing the user's physical strength.
Milim absolutely loved it, to the point where she was telling everyone how amazing her bestie was.
I wouldn't tell her but that did warm my heart a bit.
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Author's Note:
We finally get to see Tempest, rest in peace Gabiru, he got shut down before he could even try. Felix discovers that he has a female form, and boy is she hot.
Canon has already changed an absurd amount, now that Footman is dead who knows what's going to happen?
Odin is shown to be even more of a cheat than thought possible. Who knows where the fuck Felix would be without Odin or Cursed Sage.
Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!