Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 68: An Alternate History
Up to 15 chapters ahead area available at p@treon.com/theogbasilisk
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- Felix -
"Alright, now that we have all the backstory, why don't you tell us all you know about our future enemies? If the Eastern Empire consistently invades in all these timelines, I doubt they won't do so in this one."
I had honestly considered just taking the fight to the Eastern Empire, but honestly, that was a really risky plan. We didn't know much about the infrastructure of the Eastern Empire. Most of the spies I had Lalatina send there didn't return with much useful information.
I had no idea what to expect if I wanted to go solo in the Eastern Empire. I knew I was stronger than most, but I didn't want my arrogance to blind me from the possibility that the Empire might have something that could deal with me. I just didn't have enough information. They had a True Dragon for one, one that used to slap Veldora around even if Veldora's perspective may be a bit biased due to trauma, a True Dragon was still a very dangerous existence.
Even the information about the other timelines wasn't that helpful.
We had learned a lot about some of the other timelines. For one, Hinata was usually sent to Tempest as an envoy from Ruberious, which was meant to see if Tempest truly wished for peace. From there, Tempest would grow closer to Humanity with Hinata's endorsement, and things would only grow from there.
It was pretty interesting to hear about a "What if?" about myself, but I didn't think too much about it. In the end, I wouldn't exist if all those other versions of me hadn't been erased. I could empathize with them because they were a version of me, but in the end, I'm selfish. I'd rather I exist than those other versions of me existing, and if those guys were really me, then I'm sure that they'd feel the same.
But there was still more I wanted to hear about these other timelines, like all the information Chloe and Hinata had on the Eastern Empire, and my actions after Rimuru's death. I wanted to know everything.
Information was key in war, after all. The Eastern Empire had made themselves out to be a threat, and while I had always known that they would likely attempt to expand outwards, I didn't think it would be so soon, and I didn't think we would lose.
It seems that I had underestimated the Eastern Empire.
Earlier, I had simply taken the conversation off track since I could tell that Rimuru needed some time to think everything through. Even with Thought Acceleration, he still needed a few moments to himself.
With my earlier sentence, the cheerful mood vanished. Chloe and Hinata both nodded.
"Right, if I died in all these other timelines, the likelihood that the Eastern Empire was behind my death is pretty high, isn't it? They did invade during that time, right?" Asked Rimuru.
Chloe nodded. "Maybe, I always had a suspicion that the same person who killed Hinata was the one that killed Rimuru. From what I understand, there are a lot of powerful people in the Eastern Empire. Maybe you were defeated by a single person or maybe a group of people."
I nodded. "Rimuru likely wouldn't have been that strong back then. Even with the added five years he had, it was probably still possible to gang up on him, let alone the fact that an Ultimate Awakened would probably beat him."
The difference between post-Harvest Festival Rimuru and pre-Harvest Festival Rimuru was just that vast. He attained Divinity and three Ultimate Skills in a single night and then further went on to develop a fourth Ultimate Skill shortly after.
Rimuru couldn't even manipulate the Laws of the World to a high degree before his Harvest Festival. He would get slapped around by an Ultimate Awakened or someone who could manipulate the Laws of the World.
Rimuru nodded. "Yeah, if someone was able to kill Hinata instantly, then they would probably be able to beat me, too." He was probably remembering the ass-kicking that Hinata had delivered to him before his Harvest Festival.
"There was a flash of light that I couldn't follow, and then Hinata was just dead." Chloe explained. "The person who killed them was either a very powerful Saint, or they had some very high-tier Magi Tech."
"Magi Tech? Like what Sarion does?" I asked curiously.
The Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion was a Dynasty focused on development. They tried to combine technology and Magic without pushing the boundaries too much due to the Angels and their regular attacks.
Fuck those pigeons.
Chloe nodded. "Sorta, but they are a lot more advanced. Magi Tanks, Air Ships, guns."
Magi Tanks sounds interesting.
But for the Eastern Empire to possibly have Magi Tech, which even Chloe could not perceive, is dangerous. I don't doubt she was quite weak back then. She was likely around the Disaster Class range, I'm guessing, even if she was likely on the lower end.
That kind of weapon might not be a threat to me or my direct subordinates, but an entire military armed with that would destroy the Western Nations military.
I guess I'll finally be putting Sasha to use and see what Magi Tech she can whip up.
"They aren't afraid of the Angels?" Asked Rimuru.
Chloe shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? I was always helping fight off the Angels during the Tenma Wars in the past, so I'm not sure what the Eastern Empire was up to during those attacks."
Rimuru nodded. "Well, we will have to be careful in that case. Even if Felix and I are Demon Lords now, we don't know how strong the Eastern Empire is."
I nodded. "We do know they have a True Dragon of their own, Velgrynd the Scorch Dragon, so they have some serious firepower."
Rimuru nodded. "Right."
"I recall a battle between Velgrynd and Veldora long ago. It took place on Leon's continent far before he even made a name for himself. That continent is the way it is now due to their battle, the volcanoes, the constant eruptions, all of that is the effect of Velgrynd's lingering Aura." Informed Luminous.
"Yeah, True Dragons are fuck off levels of strong." I mused.
"You both are right. When Rimuru died, there was a brief period of time when Veldora was rampaging without anyone there to counter him. During this time, someone from the Eastern Empire showed up and managed to stall Veldora enough so that Veldora wouldn't immediately start destroying the World. I didn't get much of a look at the battle itself since I was busy dealing with Ifrit, who was also released." Chloe chatted out.
"Dang, if they had someone that could fight Veldora, then we really gotta take them seriously. And it wasn't Velgrynd?"
Chloe shook her head. "No, the Scorch Dragon did not show up at that point, I could recognize her Aura, at least."
I nodded. "I see. What happened after that?"
"After that, Felix-nii sorta went on a rampage too. Though a more controlled one, unlike Veldora's, you knew friend from foe, so you decimated the Eastern Empire's army and quickly underwent your Harvest Festival. You didn't even need to sleep, you instantly got your Energy under control and went off to fight Veldora as he was causing damage to Tempest and killing a lot of civilians." Chloe said.
I didn't even have to sleep, huh?
'How is that possible, Odin?'
The entire reason one goes to sleep when undergoing a Harvest Festival is to basically fight off the resentment of all the Souls used for the Harvest Festival.
'It is likely that Odin had come up with countermeasures to skip this process.'
'I see.'
Even in another timeline, Odin is overpowered. I wonder what Skills I got in that Harvest Festival? I'm guessing it went similarly to my own in this timeline. My alternate likely ended up getting Ouroboros, and with Odin's help that allowed me to hold off Veldora.
Though I doubt I got Planeswalker, I highly doubt my desires at that point in time were aligned enough for that, so perhaps that Ouroboros was slightly different than my own.
Oh well, no point dwelling on it. It's not like I'll get an answer.
But man, I seriously haven't gone to many other worlds since I returned from the Jujutsu Kaisen world, have I? Quite a lot has happened, Yuuki and his bullshit, and now Chronoa. It's hard to find a good time to leave, even if I can return to the moment I leave, I don't like leaving things half-finished.
After all this is over, I definitely need to go to another world to relax a bit.
"But before that, you Summoned a Daemon." Continued Chloe.
"Oh? I guess this is when I first meet Arcueid then."
Chloe shook her head. "You did not summon Blanc. You Summoned Jaune."
I raised a brow. "Huh, that's weird."
"You had said you wanted to bring despair to the Eastern Empire for what they had done, and so Jaune answered your calls. She had said it sounded interesting. You gave her a vessel and the name Aponia." Informed Chloe.
"Aponia, huh?" I muttered. What a fitting name.
"What does that mean, Felix?" Asked Rimuru.
"You never read anything that took place in the DC Multiverse?"
Rimuru shook his head.
"Right then, Aponia was the name of the Personification of Despair and Hope from DC. I really went all out on the symbolism, huh?"
Aponia is a pretty cool name, good work alternate me! It was chuuni, but chuuni was good in this world!
"The DC Multiverse?" Asked Luminous.
"It's a fictional, or maybe not so fictional, Multiverse that we had comics based on back in our old worlds. The power levels of those comics could get crazy real quick, from wall destroyers to the Endless who could erase entire Multiverses on a whim."
Luminous's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "I… see. I suppose Human creativity is as boundless as ever."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." I muttered. If worlds I believed to be fictional actually existed, who's to say that the other worlds I've read about don't also exist?
"What was that?" Asked Luminous.
I shook my head. "Nothing, it's not a topic to bring up now."
Luminous nodded.
"After that, Felix-nii sent Aponia to cause mayhem in the Eastern Empire's forces as you dealt with Veldora. In total, Felix-nii, Veldora, and Aponia caused the deaths of approximately 1,000,000 people." Chloe continued.
My eyebrows shot up. "One million?!" Even if I logically knew I could indeed kill that many people, that doesn't mean I'd ever do something like that.
That's a fuck ton of people to be responsible for killing, but I guess my alternate wasn't in the best mental state at that time. Though I didn't kill 1,000,000 people alone, I'm sure Veldora and that version of Megumin got a lot of those kills themselves.
"You really fell off the deep end, didn't you, Felix?" Rimuru remarked.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't ask me. I don't know what my alternate's thought process was. It's not like Veldora has a smaller kill count with all his rampages throughout history."
Rimuru winced but nodded.
Chloe, seeing that we were done, continued. "While Felix-nii was dealing with Veldora, Luminous showed up with Hinata. They, along with the help of some of Felix-nii's and Rimuru's subordinates, began mitigating some of the damage from the fight between Veldora and Felix. It was during this that I saw a flash of light pierce through Hinata, killing her and sending me through Time." Chloe finished.
"I see. That's all you have, Chloe?" Asked Rimuru.
Chloe shook her head. "That's as far as my memories of Chloe go, but Chronoa has more." And then, in front of our eyes, Chloe's form shifted back into her mature womanly form.
"Are you Chronoa now?" Asked Rimuru.
Chronoa smiled charmingly. "Yes! I'm Chronoa! Chloe is letting me use her body to tell this part of the story. I know a bit more than her since I hadn't gone back in Time at that point. I was more of a Spirit and wasn't bound to her."
Rimuru nodded, and Chronoa took that as the cue to begin. "After Hinata's death, things became even more chaotic."
"Shortly after Hinata died and Chloe was sent back in time, Demon Lord Milim Nava made her appearance." Said Chronoa.
"Milim?!" Rimuru exclaimed.
"I bet she was pretty pissed, this was after five years, so I'm sure she got quite the taste for Tempest's cuisine and probably became friends with you as well, Rimuru. She would have probably gone on a rampage since one of her friends was killed."
Rimuru winced. "Ugh, this other timeline is looking worse and worse the more I learn."
I nodded. "Yeah, it seems to be a certified bad end, or at least close enough to a bad end."
"A bad end?" Asked Hinata, though I noticed Luminous was also looking at me curiously.
These two need to become more enlightened!
"A bad end is a term that describes when someone finishes something but does not achieve the best possible outcome. It's primarily used in video games and generally describes the worst possible ending possible." I'm looking at you, Shirou!
Both Hinata and Luminous nodded in understanding.
"Your world had the oddest terms." Commented Luminous.
"If it's one thing we have over this world, it's entertainment, we had plenty of that."
Luminous nodded. "Indeed, that picture book you gave to me, Naruto, was fairly intriguing. It was quite amusing to replicate some of the so-called Ninjutsu they made use of."
Rimuru, Chronoa, and I all looked at Luminous, aghast.
"Picture books?!" Rimuru yelled.
Luminous tilted her head. "Yes? What else would those be? They seemed to be picture books meant for children."
"Well, I guess that's just another reason you and Veldora aren't compatible." I muttered.
"Ignoring Luminous' heretical words, I'll continue now." Said Chronoa. "After Chloe was sent back in time, Milim made her appearance and made her anger known. She joined in against the fight with the Eastern Empire and began obliterating the various cities and towns in the Eastern Empire's territory. However, before long, she was interrupted. Demon Lord Guy Crimson showed up, and so the two had their rematch."
"Why would Guy fight Milim off?" Rimuru asked while looking at me. Even Chronoa was looking at me.
"Why do you all think I'd know?"
Rimuru looked at me like I had said something dumb. "You've been to his continent a few times and seem to get along. Even one of his maids likes you!"
Chronoa nodded. "Indeed, even in the other timelines, you and Guy Crimson usually got along quite well."
"Huh, well, that's interesting to know. Well, I'm not exactly sure why Guy would interrupt Milim's rampage, but my best guess is that she was threatening the safety of the World. Guy has a vested interest in making sure the Cardinal World isn't destroyed."
Perhaps Milim lost herself to her rage? Stampede is pretty hard to fight off when you lose yourself too much, it's why I'm always very careful when I use Satanael higher than 40%.
"That does make sense. Milim Nava did not seem to be in the best state of mind. She had transformed into a combat mode of sorts. She had donned powerful armor and was preparing some kind of attack to wipe the Eastern Empire off the face of the map. Even the Scorch Dragon Velgrynd was completely slapped to the side by Milim when she was in this state." Said Chronoa.
I nodded. "Yeah… Milim is crazy strong when she gets serious."
At least that gives me a somewhat decent indicator of Velgrynd's strength, which is a very, very vague indicator, but any information helps.
I already asked Veldora, but he wasn't able to give me an accurate assessment due to his trauma clouding his perception of Velgrynd.
"Remind me not to piss Milim off! I knew she was strong, but to be able to brush off a True Dragon is still pretty crazy." Said Rimuru.
"Well, she is the daughter of God. What can you expect?"
Luminous nodded. "Indeed, Milim Nava is a force almost no one can match when she truly lets go of her restraints. The fight between Guy and Milim two thousand years ago was more than enough to tell the world how powerful those two were." Luminous said. "Though I highly doubt that Milim's rampage would be enough to destroy the World."
I quirked my eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"
"This is a World created by Veldanava himself, the very World he resided in. He had created quite a few artifacts meant to reinforce the structural integrity of the World. Without destroying those, it is impossible to destroy the planet." Informed Luminous.
I nodded. "Right, that makes sense. With all the destructive Spells unleashed on the planet over the years, of course, there would be some built-in protections. Otherwise, Megumin alone could destroy the planet with her Nuclear Magic."
Luminous' brow shot up in surprise. "I was not aware she was that powerful." She muttered.
I shrugged my shoulders. "She's been training, and Nuclear Magic is the most destructive of all."
Luminous nodded.
Still, if Guy and Velzard managed to shift the axis of the Cardinal World with their fight, even with these Holy Artifacts then their fight must have been something to witness.
I, of course, knew their battle was likely universe-shattering. For the World to be able to handle that much power and brush it off, with only a shifted axis to show for it? That's some defense this World has on its side.
"What are these artifacts that protect the World from destruction? It would probably help if we know about them so we can make sure they aren't destroyed." Asked Rimuru.
"The only two remaining are the Heaven Tower, which resides in Dagruel's territory, and the Divine Tree, which is currently housing the Capital of Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion." Luminous informed.
"The Divine Tree must be seriously big to be able to house the Capital of Sarion." Rimuru muttered.
Luminous nodded. "Indeed, it is approximately large enough to house a small country. Destroying it will be very difficult. Not to mention that is not the sole countermeasure present to prevent the World's destruction."
"Oh? What else is there?" I asked.
"Long ago, the World had created a being meant to act as its protector. Of course, this protector quickly began rampaging around, overwhelming the entire World with his sheer power before Veldanava split that being into three individuals, the three True Giants." Said Luminous.
My brow shot up in surprise. "Dagruel is the counterforce?!"
"The counterforce?" Luminous asked in confusion.
"The protector of the World, I mean, he's meant to defend it from any threats?"
Luminous nodded. "He is one part of Ashura, the being the World created to defend itself. Though I doubt he would do much to fulfill his duties at this point, after being separated from his other parts, Dagruel was quite taken with Veldanava and decided to serve him."
"Huh, does the World have some intelligence then?" I muttered.
Luminous looked at me like an idiot. "Of course it does. The World is often responsible for reinforcing the structural integrity of this reality. It quickly repairs any disruptions to the natural order. The fight between Guy and Milim would have been even more destructive if the World was not attempting to ward off the worst of it."
"Dang, we even have a Gaia?"
This World was just getting weirder and weirder. A Counterforce and a Gaia?
Even Rimuru seemed to be shocked. "Are we secretly living in a Light Novel?"
I rolled my eyes. "Probably not, but if we were, we'd probably have some dumbass long name like 'That one time I got reincarnated as a slime.' for you. Maybe something like 'I'm a Daemon, so what?' for me.."
I noticed Hinata taking a moment to take all that information in, heh. Even when she's over a thousand years old, she doesn't know everything, huh?
I leaned back against my chair. "Well, thanks for the info dump, Luminous. But if the destruction of the World isn't why Guy intervened, then he probably intervened due to the threat Milim's rampage posed to Humanity. The entire planet would be contaminated by Milim's Magicules, and 99% of Humanity would be dead just from that."
While everyone processed that, I reached out for a cookie. "Man, Gunther can really make some good cookies."
Hinata lightly slapped me on the side. "Do not talk with your mouth full… idiot."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
We all took a quick snack break before Chronoa continued.
"At some point, Dagruel and his forces attacked Ruberious, resulting in a Holy War starting between the two Kingdoms, one that brought further chaos and destruction to the World." Stated Chronoa.
Luminous was glaring at nothing. "Dagruel attacked, hmm?"
"Why would he attack you, Luminous?" Rimuru asked in confusion.
She scoffed. "Dagruel has always eyed my lands with greed and interest. Due to the fight between Guy and Milim, his land's fertility was lost, and natural resources became scarce. His people are now barely surviving as it is."
Rimuru winced. "I see. Maybe if we can help him out, then we can get rid of a potential enemy in advance?"
"That's a good idea, Rimuru. A Holy War between Ruberious and any other powerful Kingdom will always mean death and destruction, mostly for the common Humans." Hinata said with an approving smile.
Rimuru nodded. "Right."
"I can probably do that, I have Dagruel's three sons working under me, and I can easily transfer natural resources with some massive Teleportation Circles." I offered.
Luminous nodded. "That is a good idea. However, that may not be the only reason for his hostility. I had killed the True Ancestor, Twilight Valentine, he and Dagruel were quite close, so that further increased Dagruel's hostility towards me."
I sighed. "Right, well, I'll still try anyway. All the shots you don't shoot miss."
Luminous nodded carelessly as if she wasn't partially responsible for Dagruel's possible future hostility. Damn hag.
"Sometime after the Holy War began, you managed to beat Veldora Felix-nii. You trapped him in a seal of some kind that isolated Space and Time from the rest of the World." Chronoa informed.
That sounds like Isolate to me.
"After that, you left Veldora sealed and went off to stop Milim's rampage. At this point, Guy and Milim's fight had derailed, and the World was in shambles as various Kingdoms were completely destroyed, both Human and Non-Human."
I guess without peak Spirit Queen Ramiris to help contain the fight, it spread… a lot.
"Huh, Velzard didn't show up to try and help or anything?" I asked.
Chronoa shook her head. "No, I had not seen the Frost Dragon once."
I nodded. "I see."
That was something to consider. I would have thought Guy would have enlisted Velzard's help to help calm Milim down, and if not that then at least for her to maintain some Barriers so the World her brother created wasn't in shambles.
Something probably happened to her during this period of time then.
"One thing I don't get is why would Guy care if Humans are harmed in his fights?" Asked Rimuru.
I don't think Guy was really keeping his reasons secret. It was more like no one bothered to ask, so I don't think he'd mind if I told Rimuru a little bit about his reasons.
"He was told to protect the races of this World from destroying themselves."
"Who could tell that man what to do?!" Rimuru asked in astonishment.
"The Star King could." I responded.
"The Star King? Ah! Veldanava?!"
I nodded. "Yeah, Veldanava himself assigned that duty to Guy, and he's been doing his duty for a long, long time now."
Luminous nodded. "Indeed, Felix is right. Guy was established as the Mediator long ago."
"So Guy was fighting Milim to fulfill his duty to Veldanava. Now that we've established that, can we continue?" Rimuru asked impatiently. It seems he was rather nervous about everything, which was understandable.
Chronoa nodded and continued with her story. "I was also rampaging, killing, and destroying everything in my path. I was rampaging all over the Western Nations and the Eastern Empire until eventually I was stopped."
Just from that tidbit alone it was pretty easy to tell that Chronoa was an entirely separate persona of Chloe, more of an alternate personality. However, with the look she was giving Rimuru, it seems there was some emotional bleed-through.
I raised a brow. "Oh? Who could have stopped you? Even before those two Hero's Eggs Awakened, you were quite powerful." Not unbeatable levels of strength, but even Luminous would lose against her. Chronoa had the energy of countless loops within her, It's safe to say she's had a long time to stack up her EP.
"Demon Lord Guy Crimson showed up and defeated me." Chronoa said with no emotion in her voice.
"But I thought you said he was busy handling Milim?" Asked Rimuru.
Chronoa nodded. "He was. However, from what I am aware, Felix-nii left the main battlefield to handle Milim and try to calm her down. I hadn't seen Felix-nii again, but I had felt both his and Milim's Aura clashing even from hundreds of kilometers away."
I guess I wasn't able to calm Milim down easily, right? She rampaged for Gaia's death, so I guess it makes sense she would lose control of herself when another one of her friends dies.
And I came to offer Guy help, and he just chucked Milim at me and left? Not cool, not cool at all, Guy.
"So Guy basically used me as a distraction for Milim so he could deal with you?"
Chronoa nodded. "That was the conclusion I had come to."
"Dickhead." I muttered under my breath.
"After that, my memory got hazy. The last thing I remember was my body being cradled by someone as a Spell was being cast before I completely lost consciousness." Continued Chronoa.
"That's… odd." I muttered.
Chronoa nodded. "I thought so as well. The next thing I remembered was appearing in the Dwelling of the Spirits and possessing Chloe."
"That was when you took the kids there, right Rimuru?"
Rimuru nodded. "Yeah, I remember seeing Chronoa appear."
"I see, well it's safe to assume that Spell that Chronoa remembers being cast sent Chronoa to the past, though I wonder who cast it?" Rimuru mumbled.
I shrugged my shoulders. "It doesn't really matter. That is another future; it's pointless to try and figure out the identity of this person at this point."
Rimuru nodded. "That's true. Oh well, it doesn't matter all that much what happened to me in that timeline. We just need to make sure that events don't repeat themselves." Rimuru said firmly.
"Right, as much fun as fighting the Eastern Empire would be, I don't really want to deal with all the after-effects that would cause."
Rimuru sighed. "Of course, you would see that as fun."
"Hey, I love a good fight." I defended myself.
Hinata hit me on the thigh. "Stop taking things so lightly."
I rolled my eyes. "Would you stop hitting me?" I couldn't actually feel anything from her hits due to Physical Attack Nullification, but it was still annoying.
"Perhaps when you stop being foolish." Retorted Hinata.
I rolled my eyes. Hinata was radiating a lot of brat energy. She needed a good spanking, just like Luminous! "We have a few problems we need to deal with then." I mentioned. "Chloe is here now, so we don't have to worry about a rampaging Chronoa." I said while giving Chronoa a side-eye. She simply looked at me sheepishly.
"Veldora is with us already, so we don't need to worry about him rampaging, and I can take care of myself. Then, we only need to worry about Dagruel and the invasion of the Eastern Empire. I'll try to take care of Dagruel myself."
"If you need my help with Dagruel, let me know, Felix, and I will be there." Said Luminous.
I nodded. "Right, I'll call you if I need you." However, I have a feeling it would probably be best if Luminous isn't involved.
"I will also take care of protecting the Western Nations in case a war with the Eastern Empire truly begins." Said Luminous.
Rimuru nodded. "Great! I'll leave that to you then."
The Western Nations was basically Luminous' domain, and with her religion being so widely spread in the West, her influence could do just about anything within the bounds of the Western Nations.
"Though there is something I am suspicious about." Muttered Luminous.
"Oh? And what is that?" I asked.
"You said that Dagruel's children are under you, correct?" She asked.
I nodded. "That's right."
"Then it would be quite odd for him to attack us during such a critical moment. From what I know about him, he truly bears some affection for his children." Said Luminous.
I shrugged my shoulders. "All of this took place in an alternate future. We can't really say anything for certain; we don't know his circumstances on that timeline."
Luminous nodded. "You are right, but it still struck me as odd."
"Well I'll keep it in mind when I'm dealing with him then."
Luminous nodded, a satisfied smile on her face since I had taken her warning to heart.
"We don't really need to worry about Guy since he only intervened when the World was threatened. I'll go talk to him if he is being bothersome."
Everyone nodded.
"Was there any other useful information that Guy shared with you?" Luminous asked.
I tilted my head as something came to mind. "He told me a bit about Rudra's skill set. Rudra should have Michael, Lord of Justice. Michael was once Veldanava's personal Skill but he traded it to Rudra for one reason or another. Guy said it had abilities closely related to the concept of domination."
Luminous looked thoughtful before nodding. "I see."
Rimuru sighed. "That doesn't tell us much, but it's something, I guess."
I shrugged my shoulders. "I only know as much as Guy told me about Rudra. It's not like I was personally around back then."
Rimuru nodded. "Right. If there's nothing else, we're finally done, right?"
Everyone nodded, causing Rimuru to smile.
"Finally, now that's all done, let's eat!"
Luminous smiled. "Gunther, bring out the food!"
A moment later, a few maids entered the room, each pushing a cart filled with food. Gunther led them and began serving each of us a variety of dishes.
Once the maids and Gunther left, Hinata asked me a question. "So what was that ability of yours that let you fight Chronoa in another Dimension?"
I noticed Chloe, who was back in control of her body, was now looking at me as well.
"I have a Skill that lets me travel to other Dimensions."
Hinata's lips twitched. "Of course you do."
"Woah! That's a cool ability Felix-nii! You can get infinite otherworlders that way!" Chloe exclaimed.
I nodded. "Yeah, I could."
Perhaps I could somehow mimic what happened to Otherworlders as they were brought to this World. While they traveled to this World, their bodies were basically rebuilt from the ground up to be far stronger than the norm, even in this World. They were bombarded by Magicules, and so they were basically forcefully strengthened to the point that their bodies would break down if they kept all those Magicules inside of them for too long. And then on top of that they also usually developed a Unique Skill.
Otherworlders were powerful. There was a reason they were desired so much.
I noticed Chloe had a calculating look behind her innocent facade. She was likely trying to think of a way to make use of my ability in the most useful way. After so many bad ends, I wouldn't be surprised if she thought about running away to another Dimension should the worst happen in this World.
That was a plan I was also going to leave as my backup, in case even with all the information we have, we still end up overwhelmed, we can always run to another Dimension and recuperate.
It seems Chloe had become a bit of a schemer over her long, long life. I'd at least hear her out whenever she decided to talk to me about it. I was fairly certain she was on our side, even with everything that had happened.
Still, I couldn't help myself from rolling my eyes as I continued to eat.
At the very least, at the end of this entire mess, I got to eat some good food.
- Leon Cromwell -
Demon Lord Leon sighed as he finally finished making preparations for his departure. He was a very active monarch. He made sure everything was in order with his people and had to make sure everything was well defended in the case of an attack.
His subordinates were very powerful, so he trusted them to deal with any threats that they could.
And now he was going to go meet someone he truly wished he did not have to see for a few more decades.
Dealing with the Divine Empress could be very tiring.
He turned to Claude. "I will be leaving now, Claude."
Claude bowed. "I wish you well travels, my liege."
Leon nodded and then vanished in a flash of light, appearing in the Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion's Capital in an instant.
He looked up, the Divine Tree's branches hung over him. Even though he had been here multiple times before, it was still quite something to see the Divine Tree.
He was currently standing at the entrance to Elmesia's palace. One of the guards had spotted him and immediately went to call someone. Leon hoped it would not take too long.
"Lord Leon!" He heard someone call out. He looked back towards the palace and nodded. "Erald."
"Lady Elmesia is already waiting for you. I will guide you." Said Erald.
Leon nodded and began to follow Erald.
Leon took in the sights as he made his way through the palace. It felt like just yesterday when he was here learning from Sylvia.
He shook his head, now was not the time to get lost in his memories.
It didn't take long for Erald to guide him to Elmesia's personal lounge. Leon took a look around the room, not much was different from the last time he had been here.
Erald had already left, while Elmesia was sitting on a luxurious couch, her pale blue-silver hair cascading down behind her.
"Leo!" Elmesia called out excitedly.
He sighed. "Do not call me that."
Elmesia pouted. "I see that you're still no fun, Leo. It's been so long since you visited me! Even Mother was complaining that you hadn't spoken to her in so long."
He ignored her words and sat on the couch across from her.
Two maids appeared, served them both tea and placed a plate of sweets on the table in front of them.
Elmesia eagerly grabbed a cookie of some kind and began eating it happily. "Ah, these are really good! You should try them, Leo! An Otherworlder is the one who made them. Apparently, the techniques from his world allowed him to make sweets that are on a completely different level!"
He humored Elmesia and took a cookie of his own. He raised an impressed brow. "This is quite good, you are right."
"Hehe! I knew I could win you over to the sweet side! Join me! We have cookies!" Elmesia said with a grin.
He did, in fact, join her. The sweets were quite delicious. "Where did you acquire these? I may send someone to get me some of my own." Leon asked.
Elmesia preened. "I tried to get the baker to come here and set up shop, but no matter how much gold I waved in his face he wouldn't budge! Something about the environment of Tempest promoting more growth and competition."
"So Tempest is where you got these from? It seems I will have difficulty procuring more of these then." Leon muttered.
Elmesia rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't have this issue if you were more open. Everyone always misunderstands you because of how cold you act!"
"It is fine." He looked down at the teacup in front of him, steam still trailing up from the cup.
Elmesia was one of the few individuals he could consider a friend, and he was fine with that. He had known Elmesia since before he even became known as a Hero, back when he was a simple kid training to reunite with his childhood friend. Now, he was stronger, and yet he still had not accomplished his goal.
As he was brooding, the maids brought out a cake. "Ooh! This one is really good. Try it, Leo!"
He obliged and took a slice of cake. They both sat in silence while enjoying the sweets.
Once they were done, Leon sat up. "Now, we might as well focus on the reason I am here."
Elmesia quirked her eyebrow. "I was waiting for when you would finally talk about why you're here. You never visit me! You only do it when you need something from me!" Elmesia said with a pout.
"I am busy with my Kingdom." Was the only reply he gave her.
Elmesia rolled her eyes. "Just throw your work to your subordinates!"
"I am not like you, I wish to actually run my Kingdom properly and make sure everything is going as it should."
"Suit yourself." Elmesia shrugged. "Now what did you want?"
"One of the people I dealt with has cut contact with me for the foreseeable future."
Elmesia raised a brow. "Was it one of those Cerberus people?"
Leon looked at Elmesia strangely.
"Don't look at me like that. Of course I know about them. That organization is quite well known in the Eastern Empire. Taking down Echidna alone got them some reputation. I had heard some of their higher-ups had been spotted in the Western Nations over the years. Damrada of Gold, Misha of Love…." Elmesia trailed off.
"Yes, it was them."
"You were using them to reunite with your childhood friend?" Elmesia asked him, though she already knew the answer.
Leon still nodded. "Yes."
She sighed. "Of course, you would continue with that." Elmesia muttered to herself.
Leon did not want to argue with Elmesia right now. They had many… discussions about his release of a lesser version of the Otherworlder Summoning Ritual to the public, as well as his active support for Summoning Otherworlder children. While he personally always asked permission before summoning children, the same could not be said for others who got their hands on the ritual.
But Chloe was out there somewhere. He would Summon her and protect her, no matter what he had to do.
Elmesia eventually looked back to Leon. "So? What did you need me for? I had nothing to do with them cutting contact with you." Elmesia declared while looking into his eyes as if daring him to argue.
Leon shook his head. "That is not why I am here. I already know the reason why they had done what they did."
"I see, then why are you meeting me? I would have thought you would have gone to deal with whatever is threatening you from failing in your goals." Elmesia said.
"The organization I was sourcing Otherworlders from had said the reason for their retreat was due to Tempest and Demon Lord Rimuru's crusade against the Otherworlder Summoning Ritual. I cannot go to Tempest myself as Demon Lord Rimuru seems to be quite hostile towards me, probably due to one of my previous subordinates getting something in his head." He spoke.
Elmesia nodded. "Right, I am aware, the Conqueror of Flames, was it? She is quite a famous Champion."
Leon looked at Elmesia curiously. "I was not aware you knew of my relationship with Shizu. It was meant to be highly classified."
Elmesia scoffed. "As if you could keep something like that hidden from me, though I imagine things could have gone differently if you didn't act the way you do. You make having misunderstandings too easy."
Leon scoffed. "I do not care for more friends. I don't deserve any, either. I know what I've done. I know that I've sacrificed a shit ton of people for my goals, but as long as I can see her, it will all be worth it."
"You are one troubling boy, Leo." Elmesia sighed. "Now you were talking about Rimuru's attempts at barring the Otherworlder Summoning Ritual affecting you?"
Leon nodded.
"I see. That does sound like Rimuru. He seems to have a good heart, not to mention he is quite close to some Otherworlder children himself, he likely did not want to see their situation repeated."
Leon was fully alert as he heard Elmesia. "Otherworlder children?!"
Elmesia looked at him weirdly. "You are making me quite suspicious about your true motives for these children, Leon. Anyone would misunderstand you for having other kinds of… interests."
He visibly cringed in disgust. Elmesia laughed seeing his state. "I was just teasing. Yes, Rimuru seems to have taught some Otherworlder children some time back, he saved them by having them contract Elementals, balancing out the rampant Magicules in their young bodies."
Leon nodded. He did not like hearing about the tragic fates of Otherworlder children, partly due to knowing he was partially responsible for each and every one of their deaths.
But he would bear that sin for Chloe.
"One of them even has the potential to become a True Hero."
Leon looked at Elmesia in interest. "Is that so?"
Elmesia nodded smugly. "It is so! I will even be taking Kenya in as a student soon enough! Rimuru wanted to give him some time to adjust before sending him to me."
Leon nodded. Kenya, he would keep that name in mind.
"I will have to send Demon Lord Rimuru an invitation sometime soon, it is best to solve this misunderstanding."
Elmesia nodded. "That is wise. He is powerful, his friend Felix is also not to be underestimated."
"The Usurper of Black, huh?" He voiced out. He had not thought much about Demon Lord Felix since their interests did not cross paths. He was thankful that he took Jaune out of his hair however, even if he questioned the man's sanity for the very same thing.
"Felix was the one to defeat the Chaos Dragon with The Destroyer's help." Said Elmesia.
Leon nodded. He assumed Milim likely did most of the heavy lifting. The Chaos Dragon was not a difficult foe for him to defeat if he did not have to worry about collateral damage, but he would still not take it lightly.
"Both have Ultimate Skills." Now, that caught his attention.
"Truly?" He asked.
Elmesia nodded. "Both of them admitted it to me. I do not think they will mind me informing you of this either."
That changed things. Ultimate Skills were true game changers, any who had it he had to take very seriously.
"Do you know their nature?"
Elmesia shook her head. "I may, but it is not wise to disclose this information to you. I owe Felix multiple favors and do not wish to betray his trust."
Leon nodded; he did not hold it against her. "Very well. Now, may I ask why you choose to ally with Tempest and Azeroth?"
Elmesia took a sip of her tea before nodding. "Both Kingdoms have very useful resources that I will be trading for. Tempest's food is quite delicious, and they have their hands in almost every single field, such as farming, crafting, blacksmithing, and various other fields. Having them as allies can only be helpful. It's not like I mind dealing with Demon Lords, and these two seem to be more agreeable than that Harpy and that Lion."
Leon nodded in understanding.
"Not to mention the raw power both bring to the table. Not considering Felix and Rimuru, both possess very powerful subordinates, I am sure you are aware that Felix and Rimuru both have Primordials under them."
Leon's lips twitched. "I was aware of Blanc and Jaune serving Felix thanks to Guy, but I did not know that Rimuru also had a Primordial under him."
Elmesia nodded as if she had expected his answer. "Rimuru has Noir under his command and has named him. Felix also has Violet under his command."
Leon took a deep breath. "Then that is all the Primordials accounted for."
Elmesia nodded. "It is, and even excluding the Primordials their other subordinates are no slouches either."
"I will keep that in mind."
Elmesia nodded with a satisfied smile. "Good. Now, if only Rimuru would hurry up and send Kenya here, I would want to teach my cute student already!" Elmesia whined. "But he's still held up about one of his friends going missing." Elmesia sighed.
"One of his friends went missing?" Leon asked curiously.
Elmesia nodded. "Yeah, Felix told a quick white lie apparently, but the kid can tell that something was off, and so he's been a bit distracted, so Rimuru has been distracting him with fun stuff in Tempest, but hopefully, he will arrive soon."
"Which friend of his? Perhaps I can help." Leon always had a soft spot for Otherworlder children, if he could make up for his sin in some small way, then he would.
"Hmm? The girl's name is Chloe."
All of a sudden, Leon froze. "...Chloe?"
Elmesia looked at him weirdly. He jumped and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You said, Chloe?! Describe her to me!"
Elmesia yanked his arms off her shoulders before sighing. "Fine, I have a feeling where this is going anyway. She has black hair, blue eyes…." Elmesia went on to describe the details she knew of while Leon just sat frozen.
Could it be? Could he dare to hope? He had never told Elmesia of Chloe's name or features; he hadn't felt a need to after all, but perhaps he should have.
Leon took a deep breath. "Was she well?"
Elmesia shrugged her shoulders. "I heard she was, but then something happened. I have not heard what exactly did happen."
Leon clenched his fists. If something happened to Chloe due to Demon Lord Rimuru or Demon Lord Felix, there would be hell to pay.
He got up and prepared to leave. As he was leaving the room he turned back to Elmesia. "Thank you, Elmesia."
"Fufufu, if only you could always be so straightforward. Now, shoo, don't you have somewhere to be?"
Leon nodded. Soon he would see Chloe, soon his lifelong dream would be complete.
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I am highly motivated by your guys' reviews and likes, so do that! I'll probably keep writing or something.
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Author's Note:
Sup everyone, things are finally picking up. We get to learn a bit more backstory about everything, Chloe is scheming, and Leon is busy being a yandere.
Poor Leon, he is destined to be heart broken, but the fucker deserves it. Hopefully you all like the little meeting between everyone, I tried to make it entertaining.
Anyways, thanks for reading, peace!
Thanks to Bro @Bonvoyage, @Salante, and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.