After regaining my composure from the jab Hali had thrown at Odysseus and the fact that she too now manifested the crest of my family, I started to approach the jet Aaron and the other were hiding.
The first thing that welcomed me was an exited Aaron asking what kind of spell was the orb Hali and I had produced.
"Well, it's not properly a spell, just think of it as our combined effort. Either way, let's go out. There are a few thing we need to tell you all."
I was already moving to get out when Sarah's voice came through.
"So we are now taking orders from this stranger? Father! He clearly isn't Klaus!"
I couldn't quite blame her, as of now, I had regained my body, who they saw was Dimitris, not Klaus, but I couldn't care less, and neither could everyone else.
"Sarah, he may appear different, but even of he wasn't Klaus, that man saved our lives? Why are you so resentful towards him?"
Yudher was, for the first time, making some sense. Mana might have cleared their minds on what and how they acted, but not everyone was good natured, far from it. It seemed Sarah was one of such type of person.
I paused on my track and looked at her directly in the eyes.
Hate, jealousy and resentment were clearly displayed on her gaze.
"I don't care Sarah. I merely made a suggestion since the informations we are going to provide might result to be beneficial for you all, but by all means, you do you girl."
Giving my piece of mind, I removed myself from their family squabbling and got back to Odysseus.
I was exhausted, to deal with House Damocles seemed to be draining my entire energy reserves. I needed to recharge.
"Thanks for the elven queen circuits…"
Odysseus broke my train of thoughts, I knew he was thankful, but I honestly just tried to fuck with the demons, if they wanted to mess with me, that'd be a two way relation. What I didn't expect however, was to get double fucked by those bastards.
"The circuits you have… they are from…"
Odysseus stopped me and nodded, he didn't care, but I still felt somewhat conflicted. Asmodeus had given me the circuits of a king from another dimention since I refused to get those from Circe.
And now, those same circuits were engraved on Odysseus.
I sighted and waited for everyone to show up, which they did, even if Sarah was trying to hide herself.
"You know what, suit yourself Sarah, at this point I don't give a fuck."
Odysseus got before me, I had asked if he could do the explanations, I needed to take care of someone else.
I blinked away, leaving everyone speechless and started to work on my own problems, I did hear Odysseus reassure everyone though.
I reached a far enough spot to not be disturbed and found myself in front of someone I didn't really want to meet.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, demon king Asmodeus?"
____________________
-Odysseus' POV-
Dimitris run away who knows where and I was left dealing with his family. Something I was looking forward.
"I don't like you. At all. In fact, I despise you. I would've usually killed you on the spot for everything you have done to your own son. Alas, he seemes to value your lives enough to save you."
Everyone stayed silent, their heads low, as they should.
"What we just defeated was a group of Elves, yes, the same elves present in your fantasy novels. Dimitris briefed me in and they are suspiciously accurate, with an important difference."
Hali completed my explanation from my left.
"They sacrifice humans in the name of nature."
A series of gasp followed her revelation, but there wasn't time to waste.
"That's the gist of it, the real problem is their absolute control over mana. Dimitris and I have no problems dealing with some of them, but anything above the 5th circle would be impossible for even us to defeat."
"If you can't defeat them, what are we supposed to do?!"
"Good question Aaron, extremely stupid, but good."
How does Dimitris cope with such ignorance.
"As you might have forgotten, the Akashic Records, even if weakened, have imposed rules and as of now, no creature above the D rank can enter this world."
Once again, Hali, preventing stupid questions and saving my frail control, interjected.
"For mages, the limit to D rank is the 4th circle, the moment you form the 5th circle your body goes through a qualitative change to support the amount of mana present in your body."
Silence reigned supreme once again and I was starting to doubt these family was the king of the underworld here, but Yudher immediately proved me wrong.
"Then, since almost everyone in our family is a mage, we can study those creatures while fighting and master mana ourselves."
Aaron then nodded vehemently saying how studying patterns and the enemy's tendencies was a child's play anyway.
I shouldn't have doubted them so easily.
Juna, Dimitris mother, then interrupted again.
"Shouldn't we scout and study them beforehand? Maybe we'd be even able to glance at their mana breathing technique!"
What the fuck?
They were competent, understanding of the situation at hand and already planning their moves.
However…
"That will not be possible. Unlike Dimitris', your stealth techniques are not made considering the presence of mana, it took him a lot to adapt his body. The Elves will immediately notice us the second we reach their senes confines."
"Then why don't we send Klaus?"
Yudher, adamant of calling Dimitris with his old name, suggested and I couldn't help but chuckle. A chuckle that later exploded in a full on laugh.
"Oh you fools. Dimitris will not partake in this hunt, this is for Hali."
"Exactly, Dimitris could render the elves friendly with a few explanations and something he has possession of, but this is my vengeance. So he supports my decision, but refuses to claim lives uselessly."
"Then why are we here?" Aaron asked genuinely confused.
I took a step forward.
"Because you all are weak, and if things don't change, this world is doomed. The only way to grow stronger is with experience and Aaron…"
"Yes?"
"I think Dimitris wishes for at least you to survive, stand by me during the fight. Ask everything you want to, after all he still sees you as part of his family, ergo you are my family as well."
I blushed at my own words, but I wanted the message clear for everyone and Dimitris wasn't here to deny it. Aaron froze on the spot and tears started to flow from his eyes, he run in my direction and hugged me as tightly as he could.
That was so unexpected, both Hali and I exchanged confused looks and waited for explanations.
"Th-th-… thank you…"
His sobbing voice came from my chest and I understood everything.
This man loved his brother, and after everything that happened he thought he had lost his chance to clear the situation forever.
"Enough Aaron, it's time to go."
We moved through the forest with Hali as our vanguard, no traces of Dimitris could be found, but thanks to the artefact Merlin had created, I knew he was following us from far and that gave me some solace.
The mana in the forest was dense and every little sound made Hali flinch ever so slightly. It was clear that whatever had happened with elves in the past scarred her very soul.
But if she didn't wish to tell, I would definitely it ask.
"Hali! Does since you have the family crest can I call you sister?"
Aaron was making light of every situation. I was starting to get confused, at times he felt like the most foolish of them all while in moments like these, it felt like we were just dancing at his commands.
Hali laughed wholeheartedly at his seemingly naivety and nodded, my gaze now focused on him.
What's his game?
As if sensing me he turned to look around and winked, he then covered his mouth from Hali and without words he mouthed:
You can't fight with a heavy heart.
I was astonished. He didn't know anything, yet simply watching our behaviour and adding the few clues we had given he was able tu discern the problem and act to cushion it.
With his stupidly harmless comment, Hali's tremor ceased at once, the air grew warmer and every symptom of trauma vanished like it never existed in the first place.
This man is dangerous.
"Don't bother with Aaron."
Yudher, beside me, had noticed my stare and simply shrugged it off.
"Why shouldn't I bother, someone with his abilities is one of the scariest enemies. To be read like a book and feeling like dancing in his palms is not something I wish for."
Yudher sighted at my remarks.
"That would be true if Sarah or even Maria had his abilities, but that kid… he really is a fool."
"…"
"He has never manipulated someone's emotions for his personal gains in his life. He only does so when he senses someone is struggling."
"Surely you jest, someone that pure doesn't exist."
"You sure? Has Klaus ever lied to you?"
"…"
He never did, even if it would have been extremely beneficial for him.
"Exactly, those two hate exploiting others."
That was something to take note off, commendable, but stupid nonetheless.
The rest of the walk continued in absolute silence and soon enough Hali and I made everyone stop. We had reached their village.
The masters of mana were just ahead of us.
______________________
-Dimitris' POV-
"Ow, you don't need to be so formal with me Dimitris!"
"Well, the fuck do you want Asmodeus?"
The demon king in front of me chuckled gleefully and I was also starting to get frustrated. Could constellation descend so easily? I remembered mother had to face severe consequences to accomplish such a feat, yet this demon was right in front of me, like nothing could bother him.
"This is not my real body you fool, if that was the case you'd have already exploded from the pressure."
I believed him. I knew for a fact that being a constellation couldn't be something anyone accomplished, and considering they were basically gods… I shuddered.
"This is merely an avatar I created, it basically holds 0 powers, you can compare it to a camera."
"Ok, again, what do you want?"
"Just as I remembered, I quite like you Dimitris…"
His face was blushing and his eye didn't even try to mask his intention, he was the demon king of lust for a reason, but I really had no desire to entertain this demon any longer.
"I'll just leave then."
"Wait wait! I do want something!"
"Then make your fucking demand and leave."
"Damn, you cheeky brat… anyway. As you might have understood, our Emperor was the first to introduce Spirit arts into your dimension and he was quite proficient at it-"
"Asmodeus, I really don't need all the backstory."
"And they call me Demon King!"
"…"
"Fine, we want you to develop spirit arts faster, we also want you to send us all the cursed souls you can reap."
What is this bastard talking about? Cursed souls? They want me to actively kill? How the fuck dare they?
"No Dimitris, I'm not asking you to kill, of you had listened to the whole story… whatever…
You need to know, that although the line between good and evil is thin and at times even imperceptible, there are some actions that are inevitably evil."
I nodded for him to keep going, either way it seemed I had no leeway to interrupt anymore.
"One of such actions is to corrupt the world tree of whatever planet you inhabitate, even of you do it unknowingly."
"So you do want me to kill senselessly."
"Let me finish, you bastard."
"…"
"As I was saying, souls that keep repeating evil action accumulate corruption, that corruption can be transformed in a cursed souls through demonic arts, NOW, I know you can't perform demonic arts, that's why I brought this body here, to help you summon a demonic familiar with the ability to store corrupted souls and send them to our realm."
A demonic familiar? But the real question…
"Why? Why do you need cursed souls?"
Asmodeus' face grew darker and darker.
"I'm sure you know Ars Goetia is not the only circle of demons, in existence."
"Yes, but I'm also pretty sure you are in all the circles I know of."
"That… is a much more complicated matter, you just need to know they are different me, kind of like your father and Jupiter, they really are 2 different entities…"
My brain started to work at full speed, almost threatening to shut down, but then I remembered how Merlin was adamant about names.
"Asmodeus, Asmoday, Ashmoday, Sakhr… the importance of names is… fuck."
"Hahahahahah Dimitris, I love working with smart people, as for why we need those corrupted souls."
I gazed at Asmodeus' black eyes with expectation.
"They are at war."