Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 44: Back To the Past! Part 2
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- Felix -
Rimuru and I processed the story we had just been told.
"So Chloe and Hinata are… in the past?" Asked Rimuru.
Luminous nodded. "That is correct."
Who knew that Hinata and Chloe would together become the being known as Chronoa? Not much is known about that Hero, but it is confirmed that she existed. She is the one who had sealed Veldora after all.
Chronoa has been responsible for the demise of multiple Demon Lords as well. I imagine all of this was done to maintain the timeline, to make sure nothing changed so they return to the same future they left.
Rimuru turned to look at me. "Why don't you seem to be that surprised, Felix?"
"Because I already suspected it."
Rimuru's eyes widened. "What?!" Rimuru shouted.
"Yeah, ever since I first met Chloe, I knew she had an unusual ability. I knew she was likely capable of traveling through Time."
Hearing me, Rimuru looked at me with betrayal in his eyes, which did make me feel a bit bad.
"Then why didn't you tell me!?"
I sighed hearing him. "Because I did not know if that would change things. At the time I did not know how exactly her ability would work, if it took her to the future or the past. If it took her to the future then no big deal. But if it took her to the past…."
Rimuru looked at me with understanding in his eyes. "Then just you sharing that information with me might have changed things. I may have acted differently, I may have kept Chloe hidden somewhere, and then she would not have been with Hinata during the attack. And so Hinata would truly have been dead, and Chloe would not go to the past. And if that happened…."
I nodded. "If that happened then a lot of things would be very very different. Our present selves wouldn't exist."
Rimuru sighed. "Fine fine, I forgive you. But tell me important stuff like this from now on! I'm not as emotional as you think I am!"
Even though Rimuru said that I knew he would feel the sting of betrayal for some time, even I am self-aware enough to know that what I did was questionable.
The best I could do was continue being Rimuru's friend, hopefully, he'll come around.
Hmm, maybe I can make a copy of that super sexy lingerie Saeko wears sometimes and pass it on to Shuna.
"Alright fine I'll do that."
Seeing as our conversation was done Luminous looked at me with curiosity in her eyes. "I was not aware you could immediately know of someone's abilities."
"Well, it isn't something I share with many people."
Luminous nodded. "Understandable. I would do the same in your position."
I nodded in response. "It is a useful ability, it's how I knew to take you seriously from the start, one does not hold one of the Sin Series Skills without having some monstrous potential."
Luminous' eyes narrowed once she heard me.
Even Mariabell had that potential if she had the time to grow. A single Sin Series Skill was just that monstrous, the same with the Virtue Series Skills.
And that was true, there was Rimuru himself who had Gluttony. Milim I assume had Wrath, and then Luminous who is a True Ancestor herself with Lust. Of course, Mariabell has Greed.
That leaves Pride, Envy, and Sloth missing.
I'm not sure what it says about Rimuru that he has two Virtue Series Skills and a single Sin Series.
Dude is certifiably broken.
Well even I awakened Uriel before it evolved into Ouroboros. I assume that is fairly uncommon for a Demonic aligned being like myself, I'll just chalk it up to my previous two lives as a Human having some influence.
"Eh! I didn't know Luminous had that Skill?!" I rolled my eyes hearing Rimuru, I'm honestly surprised that he even knows what a Sin Series Skill is.
He can be clueless about things that he has no right being clueless about. In fact he didn't even know who or what Diablo was until I brought it up.
Luminous pursed her lips. "I see, thank you for the… compliment then Felix."
I tipped my nonexistent hat to her which only seemed to annoy Luminous.
"Heh, I wasn't wrong for that belief either, not just anyone can evolve their Unique Skill on their own." I had the assistance of Odin while Rimuru had the assistance of Raphael, I imagine it is normally far more difficult to acquire an Ultimate Skill. There is a reason it took over a thousand years for Luminous to gain an Ultimate Skill.
She needed an appropriate stimulus as well as sufficient willpower. Willpower truly separates the weak from the strong in this world.
Luminous sighed hearing me. "Of course, you know about that."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Practically anyone can tell something happened to you just by a quick glance." I pointed to Rimuru. "Only this guy is dense enough not to notice."
"Hey!"
I ignored Rimuru's shout and continued. "Though do be careful of Guy. Once he realizes your Skill has evolved he may… become more interested in you."
Guy becoming interested in someone is normally enough to terrify someone. His reputation is well-earned after all.
Guy's standard for determining if someone is worth his time is based on if they have an Ultimate Skill, if you don't have one you don't matter in his eyes.
Luminous cringed slightly. "I see… thank you for the warning Felix."
"It's no problem, Luminous." Heh, I scored some affection points!
The moment I finished those thoughts, Luminous' eyes narrowed."Whatever asinine thought you are having, cease thinking it."
I pointed to Luminous shocked. "Is this the… dreaded woman's intuition?!"
Before Luminous could retort, Rimuru interrupted with some exasperation. "Uhh, guys, can we please stay on topic? Worried teacher here. In fact, you should be taking this more seriously, Felix."
I probably would if I hadn't heard what Odin had to say, as well as Luminous. But with both of their words, I was fairly confident that things weren't as dire as they could have been.
We got lucky this time, but it served as a wake-up call. I'll have to up Hinata's training when I see her again. No student of mine will get beat by a mere base level Awakened Demon Lord opponent!
Laplace's EP wasn't all that much greater than Hinata's but Hinata still lost, likely due to Laplace simply outskilling her.
Hinata was a genius, but she wasn't the best out there at this point.
Well… maybe that standard is a bit too high, well, Hinata can worry about that later. She'll basically have her entire life ahead of her, after all.
Admittedly, it was a bad matchup in the first place. The Clown likely had a good idea of Hinata's abilities while she knew nothing, I'm sure she was protecting Chloe in the midst of the battle too.
Not to mention the Clown's Unique Skills were impressive, Seer as well as Falsifier made for a deadly combo. Hell, Falsifier basically let the Clown pull an Aizen.
"Now that I know Hinata and Chloe are safe I can relax a little bit. I'll trust in Luminous, I'm sure she would have told us if there is something urgent we need to do."
Luminous nodded in response. "He is correct, Rimuru. We have some time. But I do believe we have veered off topic. Let us continue with our previous topic."
"Ah, before that, I have a question. So if Hinata and Chloe are in the past, then why aren't they here right now? Wouldn't their loop be completed the moment present Hinata and Chloe had gone to the past?" Asked Rimuru.
Luminous sighed, a faint smile appearing on her lips as she remembered everything. "I shall continue my story then. By the end, you shall understand."
- Kagali -
Kagali was currently in the famed city of El Dorado, Demon Lord Leon Cromwell's territory, more specifically Leon's castle which was located at the center of El Dorado. As she looked at all of the golden halls she had to hold back her rage, not letting a single emotion show in her face.
At the moment, they were following one of Demon Lord Leon's Knights, Claude, as he led them to the throne room.
Yuuki had ordered them to politely terminate their business relationship with Leon temporarily as the Slime was cracking down on Otherworlder Summonings. Thankfully, since Rimuru was messing with them, they would be able to try to subtly place Rimuru in Leon's path.
The best-case scenario was Leon becoming one of Rimuru's enemies due to Rimuru's wish to stop Otherworlder Summonings.
Anything that can weaken those who would end up being in the way of Yuuki's dream would be a step in the right direction. As Yuuki always said, Rome was not built in a day, his plan required a perfect step-by-step process where their hand is not revealed too early.
Besides, It's not like infighting was outlawed among the Demon Lord Council. She knew that firsthand..
Guy often looked on with cold amusement whenever a fight broke out among the Council. He would barely bat an eye when, by the end of the Walpurgis, they were down a Demon Lord.
He was not the only being that was not a True Dragon to receive a Catastrophe Class rating for nothing after all.
The Lord of Darkness was the standard for a truly powerful Daemon, even his kin were wary of him. And practically no one was capable of reaching that standard he had set… that is, until recently, it was not even one of his fellow Primordials at that.
Kagali shook her head. Now was not the time to think about that particular… mess.
She would trust in Yuuki to come up with a plan like he always did. Not to mention her Unique Skill: Planner would assist in that endeavor.
At this point, the attack on Tempest should have been complete or already underway. She would have to wait to get back and hear about what Laplace had to say. Laplace was incapable of projecting his thoughts over such a large distance, not to mention the Demon Lord Leon may pick up on it.
It was safer overall to just hear about everything that happened once they were back at their base.
Kagali had to carefully control her expression and body language as she stared up at the figure looking down at them from his golden throne.
The sheer rage she felt when looking at his figure was almost all-consuming. But Kagali did not get to where she was because she was losing control over herself.
She was sure she would feel something similar when looking at the Daemon responsible for the deaths of her dear Clayman and Footman.
Both Demon Lord Leon and Demon Lord Felix had earned her undying hatred.
Yuuki would get Kagali her well-deserved revenge. She had absolute faith in that.
Kagali and Tear both kneeled in front of the Demon Lord.
Normally Kagali would have sent Laplace, Footman and Tear together for this kind of task, she trusted Laplace enough to reign the other two in while also negotiating.
Unfortunately, Laplace had another mission while Footman was… indisposed. So the mission fell to her and Tear to complete.
Even as weak as she was due to her vessel limiting her power she met the Demon Lord's eyes, refusing to completely submit.
She may have only been as strong as a mere Greater Majin, far from her strength at her peak due to this weak Elven Homunculus, but she was an Ex Demon Lord. She refused to give in to the man who had killed her.
"Is this not the second time we have met?" Leon asked, his tone as cold as ever. "I was under the impression that we would keep our relationship as secret as possible. More meetings will counteract such a wish no?"
Kagali took the lead. "Indeed. I apologize for showing up so suddenly Demon Lord Leon. But a bit of a complication has appeared."
"A complication?" Leon raised an eyebrow.
Kagali nodded. "Indeed. Demon Lord Rimuru Tempest has been introducing new policies to the Western Nations. His influence is slowly growing large enough that certain countries have begun cutting down on Otherworlder Summonings due to Demon Lord Rimuru's well-known dislike for it."
If Rimuru Tempest's plans succeeded he would soon join the Western States Council vastly increasing his influence. It will be far harder to sneakily summon Otherworlders at that point.
His influence would expand to almost unseen levels in the West due to the sheer technological advantages Tempest could offer, not to mention his power.
"Rimuru? The Slime that looks like Shizu huh?"
They already knew of Rimuru Tempest's relationship with Shizu Izawa, so it was not a surprise that Leon had some sort of suspicion as well. Yuuki had informed them of Leon's relationship with her.
"That Slime? You are willing to cut off relations for me out of fear… for a Slime?"
She could tell Leon was getting upset. "Please see things from our perspective Lord Leon. That Slime had been amassing an overwhelming amount of political influence ever since he became active. The Armed Nation of Dwargon is willing to stand by their side, and recently the Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion has also allied with him, not to mention Demon Lord Felix and the various other Western Nations that have started forming a relationship with Tempest."
"Elmesia too?" Leon's whisper caught her attention. Did he have some sort of relationship with the Empress of Sarion? That was not something they knew, she would need to have someone do a far deeper investigation into Leon's relationship with Sarion. Battles were not won through power, but through information in this world.
"This will not be permanent though Lord Leon." Kagali appeased.
"Oh?"
"We plan to move our base of operations to the Eastern Empire soon, once there we will get our operation underway again and be able to summon Otherworlders more discreetly as Demon Lord Rimuru's influence there is nonexistent."
Currently they are Summoning Otherworlders through the Rosso, but in the East they will have to gather the resources to do the Summonings themselves, something that will take time.
Their secret organization, Cerberus, has already established itself in the East thanks to Damrada's connections, in fact, they primarily operated in the Eastern Empire's Criminal Underworld. They just need to finish up their business in the West and then they can move and continue to build up their power base.
Hinata Sakaguchi was one of the last obstacles to be removed before they left for the East. Of course they would not be abandoning their foundation in the West, Kagali herself was going to be staying in the West along with Laplace.
As the Vice Master of the Free Guild she would be next in line to take over once Yuuki leaves allowing them to maintain and expand their power in the West as well as the East simultaneously. The plan was for Laplace to stay with her as protection.
Leon nodded with a satisfied smile. "Very well then. Contact me once you are capable of resuming the Incomplete Summonings."
"Very well. We do still have one more shipment of children that we had brought with us Lord Leon."
Leon nodded and turned to the Black Knight Claude. "Deal with that for me."
Claude bowed to Leon. "As you wish, My Lord."
Seeing such a thing even made Kagali feel a bit uncomfortable. The amount of loyalty Leon was able to instill in his subordinates was astonishing.
He was a former True Hero, so it wasn't too unnatural for him to have that charisma in him.
One does not become a True Hero easily. The exact condition was unknown but Kagali assumed that in order to match the might of an Awakened Demon Lord there were extremely difficult requirements.
Leon felt even more powerful than he was back then… when he killed her.
Not to mention, the Black Knight Claude was powerful. Even Footman and Tear together likely wouldn't be capable of beating him, putting him above even a normal Demon Lord Seed level being.
Truly a monster.
"I'll lead you to the merchandise, Claude!" Said an enthusiastic Tear.
Claude bowed slightly. "Very well, thank you for the assistance."
Kagali internally sighed. She was almost done dealing with this man, and then she could leave scott free.
She still had some work to be done, Yuuki had her discreetly prepare a new base that only the two of them knew about, he wanted her to move most of their important assets to it, something that would take her some time.
- Hinata Sakaguchi -
Hinata watched as the years passed by. Almost a decade had slipped away since they had arrived back in the past. Hinata occasionally took control of Chloe's body to let loose a little bit and kill some trouble makers, but for the most part, she was content to sit in the back seat, only guiding Chloe from time to time.
Shortly after bestowing the name of Chronoa onto Chloe, Luminous had to go to a Walpurgis, and seemed to have come back incredibly annoyed.
Luminous eventually shared that some newbie Demon Lord had tried to show off by bringing hundreds of his subordinates to the Walpurgis, Luminous who had just lost Night Rose was enraged and killed the newbie Demon Lord and his subordinates off causing Guy to instate a rule that one can only bring up to two subordinates to a Walpurgis.
Speaking of Chronoa, ever since Hinata bestowed the name Chronoa on Chloe, she had noticed something was different. It didn't take her long to find out what had changed.
'I still find it quite odd that I lost my Skill from bestowing the name of Chronoa onto you Chloe.' Hinata commented.
"Ehe, sorry about that. I didn't know that would happen. Usually I would inherit all of your power anyways, but it has never happened like that before."
'It's fine. I'm sure you'll put Usurper to good use.'
"Yes! I'll continue to use your power to help people! Though I'm sure that this Skill would be useless on the truly powerful foes as it is. To get the most out of it I need to be powerful as well."
'That is correct Chloe. While it is incredible that you are capable of using Usurper against Luminous to a certain extent, something even I was incapable of when I was alive, it will still most likely not work on either Felix or Rimuru.'
"Mhmm, I'm sure about that. Felix-nii is beyond the current me, at least in raw power, I am not sure about how well I would do against Rimuru. Even if I did grow to match them I'm fairly certain it still would not work on Felix-nii, he specializes in stealing other people's work after all!"
Hinata noticed Chloe sounded rather pouty at the end when she was talking about Felix.
'Stealing other people's work?' Hinata asked, the puzzle pieces finally clicking into place.
"Ah, he hasn't told you? Felix-nii has the ability to Copy Skills, Magics, and Arts."
'What?!' She shouted in her mind.
What kind of cheat is that!?
"I know! It's not fair!"
No wonder he was able to seemingly easily replicate all of her attacks, even her swordsmanship was easily dismantled by him.
How was she supposed to beat him if he could take her Skills and make them his with a single look?!
That was just plain cheating!
She knew she wasn't one to talk, her Usurper allowed her to do something similar, except there were certain requirements that needed to be fulfilled making it quite difficult to use against truly strong opponents.
It didn't even work on Felix and Luminous, and while Chloe has grown strong enough for Usurper to be possible to use on Luminous she still has not used it on her.
One of the requirements is to be opponents after all, along with the requirement of being weaker than your opponent, though Hinata had long since found a way to bypass the latter downside.
'Still, I imagine he would be fairly secretive about that kind of ability. How did you find out?'
"Uhm, I don't exactly remember. Some of my memories are still a bit mixed up, the only reason I could recall that was due to how unfair that ability is. But I imagine I learned it when I was observing one of his fights." Chloe answered, furrowing her brow as she tried to jumble through the mess that was her mind.
'I see. Give him a piece of my mind when you see him next, then.'
"Eh? You can tell him yourself." Chloe said with absolute confidence.
'I'm already dead. My time has passed, Chloe.' Hinata reminded her softly, she had enough time to accept her death in the past decade.
"Hehe, I don't know about that. I don't think Felix-nii will let you die that easily. Knowing him, I'm sure he has already figured out a way to save you!" Chloe reassured her, smiling brightly.
'Who knows, that man can act in the most odd of ways.'
"Ah, don't be so pessimistic! It's a waste of your beauty! No one will fall for you like that!" Chloe teased, sticking her tongue out playfully.
'No one will fall for me, huh? Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I don't think I was ever built for romance.' She mused, feeling slightly regretful.
"Ehhh! I was joking Hinata-nee! I know! How about I be your wingman or rather wingwoman when we get back to the future?!" Chloe offered, her eyes shining with excitement at the idea.
'Wingwoman?'
"Hehe, yup! So who are you interested in, is it the calm and collected General, Benimaru, the sneaky Assassin, Souei, or maybe even the beastly Carrion? Ah, Rimuru is off limits by the way." Chloe giggled, her imagination running wild as she envisioned playing matchmaker.
Her mind drifted to Felix, the saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder does have some truth to it.
'Fel- no, it's fine, Chloe. There is a chance I may not even be with you in the future.' Hinata was well aware that the chances of her making it back were very low. Even if Chloe made it back that did not mean something would not happen to her.
"Eh?! Were you about to say Felix-nii! Woah! I didn't know that you liked him!" Chloe's eyes widened in surprise.
…. Just how oblivious was this girl? Did she not realize what the relationship between her and Felix was back in one of the previous timelines? She practically admitted that they were lovers? Was Chloe this hyper-focused on Rimuru?
Hinata did not think that was healthy at all.
"I see, I see! Don't worry Hinata-nee! I promised that I will be the best wingwoman ever! Umu! Felix-nii and Hinata-nee would look good together! Yes! I am now personally invested in this project!"
Was Chloe always like this?
'Fine, fine, whatever you say.' Hinata said partially to get her to shut up, and a hidden part of her deep within that Hinata would never admit to having was hoping for Chloe to be successful.
'Enough talking now. You have a Monster to slay.'
"Yes!"
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"Hinate-nee, I want to teach you something new!"
'Something new?'
"Yup! It's an Art that Felix-nii taught me in another timeline, one that I think he came up with!"
'An Art that Felix came up with?!'
"Yup! I imagine even the current timeline's Felix-nii could perform it with relative ease, this was an Art that Felix-nii made before he became an Awakened Demon Lord, so he probably doesn't even have a reason to create it in this timeline, or else I'm sure he would have already taught you it, he taught it to the other you after all."
Hinata was quite curious about this Art Felix created, and slightly envious of her other self.
Hmm? Could she perhaps wish Felix to create art for her? Perhaps that was why she was feeling envious of another version of herself.
She had been examining these odd feelings she had found within herself, she found it helped her make sense of them.
'Very well then, I am listening.'
"Hehe, this is a really powerful Art you know!" Chloe grinned.
'I imagine it is, Felix doesn't create anything mediocre.'
"Ah! Is that pride in your voice?! Hehe, so I was right about you liking Felix-nii!" Chloe teased, her eyes gleaming with mischief.
'Shut up, just teach me!' Hinata shouted, feeling slightly embarassed.
"I was right~ I was right~ I was right~!" Chloe sang, doing a little victory dance.
Hinata internally sighed. Chloe could be incredibly smug and annoying at times. Still, she could tell that over time Chloe was opening up to her more as well as acting more like she did when she was in her child form.
It seems even Chloe was beginning to feel hope, hope that her cycle would soon end.
Once Chloe was done with her victory dance, she finally began explaining things.
"The Art I am going to teach you is Distortion Field, an Art that Felix-nii created when he was looking to create an impenetrable defense. He failed in that endeavor but he did still create an incredibly powerful Art."
'An impenetrable defense, huh?' She mused.
"It is incredibly difficult to learn, and it requires a high level of proficiency in Spatial Manipulation."
'I was never all that talented at Spatial Manipulation.'
"Eh, really?! Then why do I sense Felix-nii's Blessing on you? It drastically increases one's affinity with Space-Time."
'What?!'
The only being she recalled that Felix had Blessed was her Elemental of Space, Aether, but as far as she knows, she lost the contract with him when coming to the past.
"Perhaps the Blessing transferred from Aether onto you. Blessings generally follow the will of the person providing the Blessing. He likely Blessed Aether with the intention of giving you a better protection, since Aether failed in that the Blessing transferred itself over to you."
…..
Hinata did not know how to react to that. She did feel a sudden burst of affection for Felix bloom in her chest but she quickly pushed it away.
'Felix Blessed Aether to protect me?'
"Eh? That's obvious, isn't it? I've learned over time that Divine Beings do not hand over their Blessings lightly."
'I see…. Thank you for informing me of that, Chloe.'
"Uh huh, no problem."
'Do you think it is possible for me to learn this Art with the help of the Blessing?'
"Yup! It should be possible." Chloe answered with a confident nod.
'Very well then, I am willing to learn.'
"Alright! Distortion Field envelops the user's body in a Spatial Distortion by severing the Space around them. This practically nullifies all kinds of attacks, even attacks that affect Space-Time. Physical phenomena will have an incredibly hard time bypassing it, and emission-type attacks will practically evaporate on contact."
'That's….'
"Super broken right!?" Chloe grinned. "Felix-nii really outdid himself with this. I don't even think I could create something like this from scratch as I am now!"
Even Felix, before he was Awakened, was a monster, huh?
To create something like this… if he offered this to any nation in the West, he would be made a Noble immediately, no matter his status as a Daemon. They may even make an exception and directly make him a Duke, a rank usually only reserved for relatives of the Royal Family.
This Art sort of reminded her about that odd Spatial Distortion that was always present around Felix.
He seemed to be able to control it as he wished, but as long as he willed it, nothing could directly touch him.
Perhaps he used that as inspiration?
"It isn't unbeatable, though! Spiritron based attacks can still bypass Distortion Field. Attacks against your mind and spirit also won't be blocked."
'It is still an incredibly powerful technique.' Hinata acknowledged.
"Yup! So listen closely while I teach you kay?"
'Yes, yes Chloe I am listening.'
Chloe was really milking teaching her something for once. The brat.
___________________________________________________________________
Hinata casually deflected the Majin's strike in front of her.
She was currently outfitted in her full armor and the Anti-Magic Mask, her blade was already ready to strike down her foe.
"You wished to become a Demon Lord? You announced yourself to the world as a Demon Lord when you are this weak?" Her words, filled with mockery, only made the Majin angrier.
Her mocking words had a hint of truth to them. This Majin was barely at the Demon Lord Seed level, an opponent she could have easily beaten even before she died. A mere Demon Lord Seed stood no chance against a Saint unless they had God Grade Equipment or something of similar power.
And even then, they would need an appropriate amount of skill to wield such high-tier Equipment. Not to mention there is a chance for the Equipment to reject the wielder.
Safe to say, this Majin stood no chance.
Hinata had already defeated and killed all of this Majin's subordinates, she was not impressed. When compared to the subordinates of individuals like Felix and Rimuru, she found this Majin's subordinates to be… lacking.
Perhaps her vision had been skewed slightly due to those two. Most Demon Lords do not have as many Demon Lord Class subordinates as those two do, not to mention those Primordials.
But even when compared to Luminous, this Majin was lacking. Luminous still had Roy and Louis, after all, each at the higher end of the Demon Lord Seed class, and once Roy's power was transferred to Louis, Louis shot up to the Awakened Demon Lord Class.
Perhaps her standards were a bit too high.
"Grrr shut up! I'll show you! I'll show you all! Even Guy Crimson will have to bow down before me!" The Majin roared.
Hinata had to stop herself from laughing at the Majin's delusions.
The Lord of Darkness, Guy Crimson?
This man wanted to overthrow that Guy Crimson? The only being to have received a Catastrophe Class Ranking other than the True Dragons? One of the strongest Daemons in existence with an uncountable number of years under his belt?
One of the few beings Felix was not sure he could beat? Felix had once said one needed literal universe shattering power to have a shot at Guy Crimson, this Majin would never make it that far.
"Ah, the novelty of this has worn off. It seems I will have to finish you off now," Hinata commented.
"Wha-"
Before the Majin could finish what he was saying, Hinata dashed forward breaking the sound barrier multiple times over and appeared behind the Majin, she was going far too fast for the Majin to follow, and she was done toying around with this wannabe Demon Lord.
She pierced her blade through his heart. She could only lament that this was a waste of her previous blade's ability, staining it with the blood of someone so insignificant.
The Majin did not even have any sort of healing Skill to quickly heal his wounds so he simply fell to the ground clutching his chest in pain as he clawed for any way to survive. His eyes filled with panic as he realized that he was dying.
Hinata knew she had become a bit more brutal over time, but she accepted that part of her long ago.
"How boring." She commented, turning to walk towards her next target as she saw the Majin finally die.
Hinata had hoped to let loose a bit, she did feel a bit trapped constantly being restricted to Chloe's body, taking control and fighting did help relieve that feeling.
Unfortunately, there were not many who could give her a good fight at this point, perhaps only some of the Demon Lords and beings around that level.
Hinata however could not fight them, that may change the future after all, so she would just have to bear with it.
"Nice work Hinata-nee!" Chloe's voice echoed with genuine admiration.
'Thank you, Chloe. You said Guy Crimson would not intervene?'
She had just taken down a Majin who had recently declared himself a Demon Lord. She was not sure whether the current Demon Lord Council would take offense to such a thing.
"No, he won't." Chloe reassured her. "This wannabe Demon Lord likely would have been taken out by someone else if we had not done the job. When it comes to self-proclaimed Demon Lords, they are usually tested. If they fail the test, they die and do not become recognized as a Demon Lord. In this case, this Majin failed the test. He failed to beat all challenges sent his way. Even if he was an officially recognized member of the Demon Lord Council, they would not bother with him. If he was killed, then he was too weak. The Demon Lords at this point in time could not be considered allies."
'I see, very well then. Let us return to visit Luminous now. It has been some time since we last saw her. I am certain that she must be expecting us.'
"Alright, that sounds good!" Chloe replied enthusiastically.
It didn't take them long to arrive at Luminous' palace. Hinata had handed off control of the body to Chloe before they arrived.
The guards at the entrance quickly bowed and opened the gates. Ever since Luminous had declared them her "friend" the guards as well as Luminous' regular subordinates had become extremely respectful.
It was quite odd, seeing as she remembered how arrogant some of these subordinates had acted to her in the future. Of course, that was before she beat them up.
Chloe made her way to the throne room with Hinata watching from within.
The large double doors opened in front of them; Luminous was lounging on her throne in the center of the room.
Luminous turned to look at them with a smile on her face. "Ah Chloe! Or is it Hinata? You seem to be Chloe, but it can be quite difficult to differentiate between you two."
Chloe gave Luminous a cheerful smile. "Ah, I'm Chloe right now, but Hinata is also here watching."
Luminous nodded. "I see." Luminous' expression then changed to a pout. "I have been waiting for your arrival for quite some time now. Why have you taken so long to come and visit me?"
Chloe chuckled nervously. "Well, you see…. Hinata can answer for me!"
And with that, Chloe shoved control of the body to her.
Hinata looked around in confusion before sighing in resignation. Hinata turned to look at Luminous.
"Hello, Luminous."
Luminous smiled warmly before playfully speaking. "Why hello there, Hinata."
"Sorry about her. That girl is a bit of a handful." Luminous sighed, hearing her.
"It is no problem. I know how bothersome Chloe's antics can get."
"Hey!" Chloe's voice echoed indignantly in their shared mind.
"Why don't we continue our conversation in my study?"
Hinata nodded, and they made their way to the study where they took a seat directly across from Luminous. With a snap of Luminous's fingers, her butler, Gunther, appeared almost instantly.
"My Lady." He greeted. He gave a polite bow to her as well, one she returned with a nod.
It was quite interesting getting to know these individuals she knew in the future once again.
"Gunther, prepare tea for myself and our guest." Ordered Luminous.
"As you wish, My Lady." And with that, he vanished.
Luminous folded her hands on the table. "Now, I have heard quite a bit about this new Hero. One who was helping anyone who wished for help, slaying Dragons and Demon Lords alike."
Hinata laughed lightly. "Chloe and I have been going around and helping those in need. Though those Majin should not even be considered Demon Lords."
Luminous nodded. "Indeed, while there have been officially recognized Demon Lords that do not meet the mark, they usually die fairly quickly. I am fairly certain Guy simply accepts them into the council for his own amusement."
Hinata nodded in response. "From what Felix told me about Guy, that would fit his personality."
"Demon Lord Felix, huh?" Whispered Luminous. For some reason, she sounded rather annoyed by him.
Hinata did not know how it was possible for Felix to get under Luminous' skin when they hadn't even met yet. But knowing how much Felix liked to annoy Luminous, she probably could feel how annoying he could be.
It seems Felix was just incredibly well suited to annoying Luminous, even throughout Space and Time.
"Still it is quite impressive that you made such quick work of them. Some of them from what I have heard could be a potential match for Louis and Roy." Added Luminous.
Hinata shrugged her shoulders. "Possibly, those two are fairly weak as they are now."
Luminous nodded. "They are a match for some members of the Council that have not yet Awakened, but they would stand no chance against a True Demon Lord. Not in their current form." Added Luminous.
Hinata pretended to be confused. "In their current form?"
Luminous nodded. "Indeed, Roy and Louis were once a singular being that I split into two. It seems I did not share such information with you in the future."
She shook her head ."No you did not." Which was technically not a lie, as Hinata had found out about Roy and Louis' condition after Roy was killed, she was not directly informed of the matter by Luminous.
Gunther appeared with the tea Luminous asked for, he quickly served the both of them before vanishing.
Luminous took a sip of her tea. "Now, what have you two been up to recently?"
With that, they continued their conversation for hours on end.
…..
…..
…..
Hinata made her way to the room Luminous had assigned to her.
"Wow, we were talking for a long time, huh?"
Indeed, both Chloe and Hinata swapped out multiple times during the conversation so they could both talk with Luminous.
'Indeed.'
"Well I guess that's normal to do with friends!"
Friends huh? Could she consider Luminous as a friend after their prior relationship?
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"It's about time to seal Veldora now huh?" Said Chloe.
"What?!" Luminous exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.
'Ah, it is, isn't it? We still have about 300 years until we return to the time we left from, so it is around this time period that Veldora should be sealed.' Hinata confirmed.
"Yup!"
"What do you mean seal Veldora?!" Luminous demanded, her voice laced with concern.
"Ah, it is something we must do to maintain the timeline. I have already gained the sufficient Skills necessary for the task." Chloe declared confidently.
Indeed, Chloe with her help had managed to gain some Skills that would prove to be a key part in taking down Veldora, such as the Unique Skill: Absolute End.
With Absolute End, it was possible to harm a target through severing Space itself, such an attack was both a magical and physical phenomena. It should theoretically be possible to harm a True Dragon such as Veldora using it.
Hinata had also managed to become proficient in Distortion over the years. It was a very difficult Art to use; in fact, it took her over a decade to learn it properly and then decades to truly master it.
Both Chloe and her now knew Distortion Field and were capable of using it in the midst of combat.
With Distortion Field, Veldora will have a difficult time harming them. As far as she knew, the current Veldora did not have as much technique as he would have in the future. He had no mental attacks to make use of and was unable to manipulate Spiritrons to a high enough degree to penetrate Distortion Field.
Though Hinata did not doubt he could quickly learn how to do so, Veldora was extremely talented from what she had seen.
Luminous looked at them with worry in her eyes. "Are you capable of beating the Lizard as you are now? I know you are powerful… but even I must admit Veldora is not a foe to be underestimated. True Dragons are forces of nature. They may as well be natural disasters that cannot be stopped."
'Why don't you let me fight Veldora? Back in The Dungeon, I had fought him fairly often, I have most of his attacks and general combat style memorized. I should be able to take advantage of his flaws. Not to mention, I got him to show me all of the Skills he had. I know what sort of abilities he has and will have in the future.' Hinata suggested.
In fact Veldora should be weaker than he is in the future, in the future he learned to control his power, at this point he is just an idiotic berserker.
Felix even said that Veldora was capable of Probability Manipulation, but he also confirmed that Veldora did not have that ability for long. If Veldora was capable of that, then she would have a far more difficult time.
She would have her revenge. She clearly remembered all the taunts Veldora had used on her, she would make sure to get some pay back on Veldora.
He even said that Felix's students shouldn't be so weak.
If she was so weak, then why was he going to be sealed by her then?
"Hmm, okay then!"
"Eh, it should be fine. Hinata says she can take him."
Luminous sighed. "Very well, I know it is pointless to convince you against this course of action. It is necessary to keep events the same, correct?"
Chloe nodded.
"Very well then. I wish you luck. It will be quite enjoyable watching that Lizard get taken down a peg or two."
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Hinata approached the rampaging True Dragon, who was in the process of returning to his well-known territory in the Great Jura Forest.
He had just returned from rampaging in one of Luminous's border towns. Along with that, he had recently repelled the Eastern Empire's forces that had invaded the Great Jura Forest, and he was quite angry at their audacity.
He was an intimidating sight, his massive frame trampling over the trees while breathing fire in every direction.
Thankfully the inhabitants of the forest were quickly evacuated by various Dryads, so Hinata did not need to worry about any collateral damage.
Veldora's eyes soon locked in on her.
"Ghaha! Has another weakling come to face me?!" Questioned Veldora.
Hinata's face twitched beneath her mask, but she kept her emotions under control.
Drawing out her God Grade Rapier, Moon Mistress, Hinata began to approach Veldora. The beautiful weapon began to glow a warm golden light. Once the attack was fully charged. Hinata looked at Veldora before vanishing, her speed unparalleled as she appeared in front of Veldora in an instant.
"Melt Slash!" Hinata shouted, releasing all her pent-up anger from her last fight against Veldora in this attack.
Veldora, who was always overconfident in his own strength, hadn't even bothered to dodge this attack. Giving Hinata a clear shot at his torso.
The rapier coated in pure rampaging Spiritrons focused in one single spot. Piercing him directly through the torso and leaving a massive wound that continued to rampage even as Hinata jumped back to prepare for her next attack.
"GUWAAAAAAHHHH!" Veldora shouted in pure shock as he felt the pain begin to eat away at him.
Hinata took pleasure in Veldora's suffering. This beating was a long time coming.
However, the downside of Melt Slash quickly became apparent as Veldora began gathering a massive amount of Magicules in his mouth.
Melt Slash could only do a significant amount of damage if her Melt Slash completely consumed the target, against larger targets it was impossible to consume the entire target with her Melt Slash, making it so that she only severely wounded them rather than erased them.
It didn't take long for a massive torrent of fire to make its way towards her.
Hinata casually walked towards the fire, trusting Felix's technique, Distortion Field, to deal with Veldora's fire breath. In an instant, the entire area around her became coated in a storm of Black Fire.
The fire burned and consumed everything in its path. Yet it couldn't reach her through the Distortion Field.
"W-What! How!" Veldora shouted as he saw the fire begin to die down, only to reveal Hinata walking menacingly, her rapier glowing brightly once again.
Using his own surprise against him. Hinata vanished once again, the fire around her extinguishing from the burst of wind she left behind.
Appearing behind Veldora, Hinata's rapier which was imbued with Absolute End struck Veldora's back, leaving a massive gash in his large frame.
"UUWHAA" Veldora shouted, feeling slightly panicked as he felt true pain for the first time since he had last pissed off his sister.
Unable to shake off the bad memory, Veldora stopped holding off. Releasing his entire Haki to try to pressure down Hinata. His Aura alone was enough to casually level an entire Nation, but Hinata continued to move unbothered by it. Veldora was far too sloppy at the moment, and this sort of brutish release wasn't strong enough to slow her down.
Had he focused his Haki solely on her, Hinata would have been in trouble. But this was a Veldora who hadn't met Rimuru yet. A brute that only knew how to use pure power to defeat his enemies.
Thankfully, she had placed a Barrier around them before the battle started to prevent any collateral damage, a Barrier that was being maintained by Luminous.
Thunder clouds began to form all across the battlefield as Veldora began to roar. Black Lightning flashed and shot toward Hinata in an instant, yet it never reached her. Felix's Art was truly bullshit, and the fact that he probably had a better version now only made Hinata more determined to grow stronger.
Veldora went berserk as he continued to swing his tail in an attempt to hit Hinata. Lighting and Thunder continued to echo across the entire forest, shaking it into silence as the destruction continued.
Hinata had fought Veldora enough times that she had memorized all of his weak points. Now, those weak points were far more noticeable. Almost as if he hadn't ever bothered to block in his life.
Hinata couldn't help but smile as she continued to vanish from place to place, moving in a weaving pattern and slashing at Veldora. She was an entirely beast now compared to their first fight.
She could see the end drawing nearer with every slash, though she couldn't hold back the beautiful yet terrifying smile on her face as she finally found the challenge she had been searching for this entire time.
Landing on the ground after using Absolute End once again, she looked on as Veldora began to slow down.
It had only been a few minutes since the battle had started, but Veldora was already starting to strain the barrier she had put up.
By this point, the storm above them had turned into an absolute catastrophe. Lighting crashed every second, trying to strike down Hinata. Sharp winds and small tornados tried to cut her up. Yet they were wild and uncontrolled, so as long as Hinata kept an eye out for them, she would be able to dodge them easily and reposition them.
"It's too late either way." Hinata muttered. She felt like she had weakened Veldora enough to use Infinity Prison on him.
Looking at the wild Storm Dragon trashing about trying to hit her, Hinata raised her rapier, taking a deep breath as she channeled a large portion of her magicules into this final attack.
As countless magicules began to charge on Veldora's mouth, Hinata pounced for the last time.
Veldora tried to swing to smack her out of the sky, but in one elegant movement Hinata landed on his hand before jumping and stabbing right through the heart of the True Dragon.
"GUWAHHHHHHHHRGHH" Veldora shouted for one last time, taking a step back from the shock of the pain.
Landing on the ground, Hinata raised her free hand and activated Infinity Prison. In one final attempt to fight back, Veldora's magicules burst with their full strength. He fought as best as he could against the Prison forming around him but it was too little too late.
With the dragon captured, she would take him to the cave in the Great Jura Forest and seal him within. All so that he would meet a certain Slime in 200 years.
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Author's Note:
Hello everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon, we learn a bit more about what's going on in the past as well as the present.
One thing I wanted to add was that obviously Felix and Rimuru do not know what Hinata was doing in extreme detail like you, the readers do. I just did it from Hinata's POV to help showcase the past a bit more as well as explain things properly, as this Time bullshit has confused me on numerous occasions. Felix and Rimuru do not know about all the failed timelines, the potential futures, etc, they will find out about that later. Right now Luminous is just giving them a run through about what Hinata and Chloe got up to in the past.
Hopefully you all didn't mind the POV switches, I wanted to showcase what was going on in the world as well and not just stay locked into Felix and co as events are still taking place behind the scenes.
We should be going back to a primarily Felix POV in a chapter or two.
Anyways, thanks for reading, see you all next time.
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