Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 107: Darkness in Lune
There are up to 15 chapters ahead of update schedule at [email protected]/theogbasilisk
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- Felix -
After finally coming to an agreement with Damrada the two of us sat back down as I opted to inquire a bit more about Damrada as a person as well as what his life was like.
He was one of my newest subordinates, one of my few direct subordinates, so I wanted to get to know him a bit. I could probably put Damrada under one of my direct subordinates but I feel like that would be a waste of resources.
Damrada's loyalty was all but guaranteed with the contract he made with me and the control circuit in his Alternative. Treating him with suspicion at this point could only be detrimental.
I already had some understanding of Damrada as a person, but I'm sure there was more I could learn. Lots of that would come with more time together, but some of it I can learn now. I did genuinely try my best to be a good "Lord" or whatever you want to call it. Getting to know one's subordinates was only a basic thing that should be done, yet most nobles in most kingdoms from my understanding failed even this basic right.
Rimuru got to know hundreds of thousands of his subordinates and made the effort to greet each new batch of subordinates he got. If he could do that much with his busy schedule then surely the nobles who sit on their asses can do the same. But indulging in the seven sins was a staple for Humanity, in this case slothfulness.
Though speaking of Sloth I do still wonder if anyone has its Unique or its Ultimate Skill variation, or maybe neither, it could still be floating around in the cycle waiting to find a master.
Hopefully it turns up at some point, I want to complete my set of Sin Series Skills. I'm just missing Sloth and Envy at this point now that I got Guy's Lucifer, Lord of Pride.
No idea what I'd do with the complete set, but at this point I just wanted to collect them all for the sake of collecting them.
"So you said that you specialize in martial arts? No weapons?" I asked. I already knew he was damn good at hand to hand combat, the guy recreated Galaxy Impact in a burst of inspiration. But I didn't know everything about him and how he fights.
Damrada shook his head. "While I am capable of using most weapons to a proficient degree." Damrada raised one of his fists. "I far prefer using these to defeat my foes."
I nodded. "Fair enough." I was one of the lucky few that was talented in both martial arts, and swordsmanship, whereas most would have talents focused in merely one of those categories.
Martial arts went really well with Limitless, and now Ouroboros since I could use Blue and Red to mess with my enemies and put them on the back foot. But swordsmanship went just as well with a bit of creativity.
Damrada went on to tell me a bit more about his past that I didn't already know. He said he was born into the Nasca Kingdom's nobility, his father was only a baron, but nobility was nobility in this world, even back then.
The nobles were far above the commoners in status and privilege and it showed. Damrada grew up in a privileged and spoiled life, in his teens he met Rudra and something about Rudra just had Damrada infatuated. Not in a romantical way but I could say for certain that even now, Damrada loved Rudra, as an Emperor, as a brother, and as a friend. Lover was pretty handy for picking up emotions, even nonromantical ones.
After that meeting with Rudra, Damrada worked his ass off, he joined the royal palace's political climate, he went through many backstabs, he backstabbed others, but eventually he rose to the position of Prime Minister for the former king, Rudra's father. Rudra's parents must have had some crazy good genes, because their son ended up as the strongest Human alive, while their daughter somehow attracted God himself.
Once Damrada became the Prime Minister he didn't see Rudra again for years as Rudra had left for an adventure or something. Rudra and his sister returned for his sister's marriage to Veldanava which Damrada attended.
That's where Rudra and Damrada got to know each other a bit more. At this point Rudra left for another two years and learned under Veldanava some more. Eventually shit went down with Veldanava dying as well as Lucia. At this point Rudra returned, became king, went through his phase of depression and whatnot.
At some point Guy met with Rudra in private which lit a fire under Rudra as Damrada described it. In Damrada's own words it was like the Rudra of the olden days was back, Rudra began by testing all of his close subordinates, Damrada included. He tested them by exposing them to his Hero's Haki, most crumbled under the pressure but Damrada fought back. This ended up being enough for Damrada to evolve into a Saint from an Enlightened.
It was pretty crazy to think he became a Saint just from Rudra's Hero's Haki, but something similar happened to Hinata, and she went even further than that becoming a Divine Human.
When Damrada evolved is when Rudra began to look at Damrada in a more serious light, Rudra gave Damrada some more personal training, and introduced Damrada to Velgrynd. Rudra began conquering the neighboring Kingdoms and whatnot, growing the Nasca Kingdom into the Empire it is today.
Damrada sighed as his lips twitched. "I eventually encountered a rather troublesome Daemon, but I wouldn't have grown to the level I am at today without that Daemon's rivalry." Damrada said in amusement.
He seemed to hold no hate for the Daemon he was talking about which was pretty odd seeing as he was Human. In my experience most Humans by default disliked if not hated Daemons. Though the Daemon race had earned that reputation, it's not like we were being discriminated against for no good reason.
The majority of my kin were bloodthirsty, deceptive, selfish, and all around not people you want to associate with as an average Human.
"Which Daemon?" I asked. "Perhaps I know them." For them to have been able to challenge Damrada they must have been a rather powerful Daemon.
Damrada's lips pursed. "Hmm, he had no name as that is incredibly rare for Daemons, but he was strong, very strong. I know not which "rank" he would be in going by the Daemon nobility system, but I imagine he was on the higher end of that range."
Daemon nobility was generally categorized by age, as the older you were, the more contracts you had made, and the more time you had to grow your fighting experience and magical knowledge. All of that in general made for stronger Daemons. The stronger the Daemon was, the larger their playground in the Daemon realm was.
Chevaliers were the lowest of the low in the Daemon hierarchy. They were known as the Late Modern Species of Daemons who were aged between 0 and 30 years. They are all firmly Lesser Daemons unless something incredibly rare like someone reincarnating into a Daemon occurs, though even then they could remain Lesser Daemons like I did. It took an appropriate amount of stimulus for me to evolve from a Lesser Daemon into a Greater Daemon.
Technically this is the rank I should possess, at least when it comes to Daemon nobility, but I'd say I'm a special case. I was very young, all things considered for the level of power I held.
There was that Daemon under Rimuru who was in a similar situation, Venom. He started as a Greater Daemon from the start so he was fortunate at that front, I was less fortunate. But I did have powerful Skills so I suppose that makes up for my starting level.
Then came Baronets who were known as the Modern Species of Daemons. They were around 30 - 100 years old.
Then the Barons who were also known as the Early Modern Species and were around 100 - 400 years old. These could generally be strong Lesser Daemons or lower level Greater Daemons.
Then comes the Viscount rank which is where the real power within Daemon kind begins. They are known as the Medieval Species due to being around since the medieval times of this world. They're around 400 - 1000 years old.
Arc was a Viscount himself in his current incarnation, but according to Arcueid, Arc had been serving her for over 20,000 years. He just got killed 300 years ago so he had to start over when it came to ranking.
Agera is also a Viscount, though his otherworlder status is what allowed him to fight above his weight class and get Megumin's attention. Esprit also falls under this ranking. Megumin preferred to recruit the Daemons she thought were "interesting" in her own words so they tended to not be that strong, they did all have potential though.
Viscounts are straight up Calamity-Class beings, capable of destroying entire cities with ease, even if the majority are still Only Greater Daemons.
The techniques they have refined over the long period of time they've been around is enough to differentiate them from the Barons. I knew this personally since I tried to be a good boss, even to the Daemons under me so I did try and get to know them whenever I saw one.
Most weren't exactly good people, but I wasn't either. What mattered was that they were doing their best for my own interests, the least I can do is respect them for that, even if their worship and loyalty was a caveat of my strength.
The same held true for Arcueid, Megumin, and even Lalatina. These women, each exceptional in their own way, were drawn to me not by chance or whimsy but because I possessed qualities that stood out.
In this case my rapid rise to strength is what got the three of them interested, they were Daemons, they knew how long the process took for Daemons to rise in power so they knew just how odd it was that I was as strong as I was when I wasn't even half a decade old as a Daemon.
Without something unique about me, a strength, a charm, or an ability, I would have been beneath their notice. That much was natural. Exceptional individuals are often drawn to others who, in some way, complement or match their own uniqueness. It wasn't an idea rooted in arrogance, but rather in the nature of social interaction in general.
Even back on Earth, society operated in much the same way, with people gravitating toward those who fulfilled certain unspoken criteria or expectations. Those of similar social and financial status gravitate to one another, and only in rare scenarios did someone marry up in the "hierarchy".
In the end, what mattered was that I was who I was, every kind of relationship came with their own caveats.
Someone wealthy generally isn't going to fall in love with someone who is poor without something to bridge the gap between the two vastly different social statuses such as ambition, or charm.
Someone attractive generally won't fall for someone unattractive unless the unattractive person brings something to the table, such as being funny, or having a good career lined up. At their foundation, all relationships begin with mutual interest, an exchange of qualities or characteristics that both parties find compelling or desirable.
Once that foundation is laid, however, what happens next is what truly matters. It falls to both individuals to cultivate a deeper bond, to nurture the relationship until it becomes more than just plain old superficial attraction or transactional benefits.
In doing so, affection and love can grow into something genuine and enduring, perhaps even unconditional. That, at least, is how I see it. Relationships require effort and intention, and love is rarely a gift that comes without strings at first. It must be earned and developed through time, shared experiences, and mutual understanding.
"I didn't know you had a PhD in Philosophy Master!" Othinus' teasing voice echoed in my head.
I rolled my eyes but didn't bother responding, though Othinus was right, those were some super wise thoughts!
"Mou! And after I went and helped Hinata out for you!"
'Oh? What did you help her with?'
Hinata's evolution would mostly take care of itself. Her body was just getting used to the new power within her.
"Her Unique Skill: Vendetta was gearing up for an evolution unconsciously. It would have taken some time for the process to occur on its own so I assisted in the process."
'Seriously?'
"Seriously." Othinus said smugly.
Vendetta alone was an honestly pretty strong Skill, at the Ultimate level it would be even more troublesome. I'm sure Hinata's happy, though it's nothing that I can't handle.
I accessed the Skill database I had in Brahma and quickly sorted through them to find her new Ultimate Skill, Nemesis, Lord of Retribution.
An oddly fitting name. Its sub-skills are fairly powerful, each was a buffed up version of her old sub-skills. Retribution's Wrath is new though. Plus Penetrate sounds really annoying. If Hinata has enough energy even my barriers would be helpless against it. How troublesome.
Though she was far from being able to power through my defenses when I was actually focused with the reserves she had.
I did have an idea though.
'Can you use Adapter to adapt me against the penetrate attribute?' I asked Othinus.
"Unfortunately no…" Othinus said in disappointment, disappointment in herself.
'No need to be upset, though how come? I thought Adapter was explicitly for things like this?'
"It is because I have been using Adapter in overdrive in the background."
'You have?'
I didn't feel anything different about myself. Just what was Othinus trying to adapt me against?
"I have been using Adapter to strengthen your soul Master, at first it was to adapt against the strain of more Ultimate Skills, but the Dragon Factors strengthened your soul to a significant degree making it so you are capable of handling more. The issue is that it is not enough. I have run various calculations and simulations, the Ultimate Skill I am designing requires you to have an extremely powerful soul, on the level of a True Dragon's soul in fact, which you do not have."
'A True Dragon's soul!? Just what kind of Skill are you making!?'
"Your soul does not have to become that of a True Dragon's, it merely needs to reach a similar stage of existence. I have been using Adapter to strengthen your soul in that fashion using data from the Dragon Factors you have incorporated but it will take time. It would be quicker to become a True Dragon, but something like that is not simple."
'I see. That's fine then. It would be useful to adapt against Penetrate but I have a feeling that being ready for this new Skill of yours is a far more useful expenditure of resources.'
Still, a True Dragon's soul was no joke. My soul was pretty damn strong, but even with the Dragon Factors it wasn't at that level. The strength of the soul didn't directly relate to how strong you could be so my soul wasn't limiting me there at least. But I was beginning to look forward to the new Ultimate Skill Othinus was designing. She was hyping it up a lot.
"I will endeavor to surpass your expectations, Master. However, it will require time."
'I'll look forward to it then.'
I wasn't unused to Othinus working on things behind the scenes, even as Odin she would do that.
I was digressing though. After the Viscount rank is the Count rank. These guys are known as the Ancient Class since they are basically ancient.
They are from 1000 to 3000 years old. This is when the difference in age shows up even more than before. At this level Daemons tend to be on the higher end of the Daemon power hierarchy.
Generally Arch Daemons are at minimum are Counts. From what I learned from my own Primordials, being a Count was the minimum requirement to serve a Primordial directly unless there was something special about you, like Arc. At least normally, Megumin tended to ignore that unofficial rule and do whatever she wanted.
The territory of a Count in the Daemon realm was massive, generally their playground was about as large as the entire Kingdom of Farmenas. Farmenas was one of the biggest kingdoms in the Western Nations and was about as big as a good third of India back on earth.
Then came the really big names in the Daemon Realm. Marquis, Duke, and Arch Duke were all considered Prehistoric Species. They were all 3000 years old at minimum.
Zonda was a Marquis, Veyron was a Duke, and then finally Moss was an Arch Duke. The only Arch Duke in existence, in fact, Moss had not died a single time in his long existence. That's how he rose up to be the strongest Daemon around bar the Primordials, at least until I came around and powered up a bit. Veyron and Moss used to spar quite a bit from what I knew, those spars all ended in Veyron's death.
"The rankings of Daemons vary quite a bit, but if he managed to give you a challenge even when you were a Saint, then I'm betting it's one of the Prehistoric Class Daemons." I responded to Damrada.
Damrada nodded. "That is what I suspected as well. While I have not encountered that Daemon for centuries, I do know some things about him if you would like for me to share."
I raised a brow. "Sure, if you wanna meet this guy again I don't mind helping."
Damrada shook his head. "That is not it. I merely believe that he could be a good subordinate to assist in your goals. As I am your subordinate now I will do my best to ensure your desires are met, as well as ensure that I am doing my part."
I stared at Damrada for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "Ghahaha!"
Damrada's brows furrowed. "Did I say something amusing?"
I shook my head as my laughter calmed down. "No, no. I just think me and you are going to get along just fine if you act like that."
Damrada nodded with a pleased smile on his face. "You may not be the first Lord I have served, but I do have pride in myself. I will not dishonor you or my previous mentors by failing in my duties."
I leaned forward. "Alright, I'm all ears then. Tell me a bit about this Daemon."
Damrada nodded, he quickly went into detail about the features the Daemon most commonly assumed as well as the general fighting style and personality of the Daemon he used to fight.
"So you're telling me he is under the lineage of the Primordial of White… he often appears like a shota, has ash-gray hair, and black sclera?"
Damrada nodded. "It did always confuse me which lineage he was under as his black sclera often hinted towards being from Noir's lineage."
My lips twitched. "I do believe I know the Daemon you are talking about."
Damrada's brows shot up. "Truly?"
"Yeah…"
"An enemy?" Damrada inquired. "That Daemon always used to be quite smug, I imagine that he has made many enemies for himself."
I shook my head. "Not quite, a subordinate actually."
Damrada's lips quirked up. "Huhaha!" He laughed. "I look forward to meeting him again then! I still have some misgivings to settle with him!"
I rolled my eyes. Even Damrada had a shonen rival? Where was my shounen rival?
Though in a fight between Damrada and Moss, I really wasn't sure who would win between the two of them. Damrada had more energy, plus he had grown stronger from his fight with me. Enlightenment tended to do that, but Moss was absurdly skilled. I had seen him spar with Arcueid before, and he managed to keep up for a little bit before Arcueid began taking him more seriously.
"He's a subordinate of a subordinate." I explained.
Damrada tilted his head. "You have someone powerful enough under you to reign that Daemon in?"
My lips quirked up. "You don't even know half of it. You'll just have to wait and see for yourself." Despite everything, Damrada shouldn't know just what and who Arcueid, Megumin, and Lalatina are. The only people who know are close allies of mine, otherwise it's kept mostly private.
"I'll look forward to that then." Damrada said before he continued. "After that the years just went by." Damrada said with fond reminiscence. "More Champions appeared, such as Granbell. Granbell was taken in as a student of Emperor Rudra's and was trained until he was capable enough for the Emperor to begin trusting him with certain tasks."
I raised a brow. I didn't actually know that Granbell had any relation to the Eastern Empire. Luminous hadn't mentioned it, neither had Chloe or Hinata so I'd say they didn't know either.
"Granbell was one of Rudra's students?" I asked.
Damrada looked at me with a raised brow. "He was, I imagined that you would have known that."
I shrugged. "Never heard of that. If he was one of Rudra's students, then why was he out here in the West? I imagine with his strength he could have become a Single Digit eventually."
From what I knew, Single Digits lived extremely luxurious lives. They were given God Grade equipment just to start, and were all rich as hell due to the good pay. The only caveat was that their lives were Rudra's, which to some was an okay sacrifice.
Damrada's fists clenched before he took a deep breath. "Granbell was one of the individuals Emperor Rudra trusted most. In fact it was an almost implicit trust which is why Granbell was trusted to conduct an operation that would later be key to the Eastern Empire's expansion."
Damrada went on to tell me what exactly Granbell was tasked with. Granbell was supposed to make a name for himself in the Western Nations which he managed rather well.
After that he was supposed to strategically weaken key infrastructure in the Western Nations to prepare for an invasion. With all those key facilities weakened, the Eastern Empire would have an easier time taking everything over.
"None of that happened though." I stated. If it did, I would have been in a completely different world by now.
Damrada nodded. "Indeed, though Granbell did have a rather difficult task ahead of him. Luminous Valentine alone caused him trouble, not to mention the fact that he got married. But what was unforgivable was him completely betraying the ideals he once stood for. He allowed power to get to his head." Damrada said with a sigh. "The Granbell that I once considered a friend is long gone I suppose."
"Maybe, maybe not." I went on to tell Damrada about Granbell's final stand if you could call it that. About how it seemed like Granbell had already given up on taking over the Western Nations, about how he was just looking for someone who had the best interests of Humanity at heart, so that he could die in peace.
A small smile grew on Damrada's face. "At least he died with dignity then."
"What happened after Granbell left?" I asked.
I was pretty interested in Damrada's life in the Eastern Empire. Perhaps something he'd tell me would contain useful information on the Eastern Empire, information that may not seem significant to Damrada but could be something I didn't know beforehand.
Plus I was pretty curious about the Eastern Empire in general. Ignoring the fact that the Empire would become an enemy according to Chloe and Damrada, the Eastern Empire was widely considered a paradise for otherworlders in this world. Where resources were made available to any and all otherworlders so they could thrive in this world. There was a reason the Eastern Empire had the largest concentration of otherworlders.
Maybe someday I'll get to meet some otherworlders from the Empire and hear it first hand. To be honest if I wasn't blessed with the Skills I was, I'd have considered migrating to the Eastern Empire to grow my power base there since I wasn't going to be content with just being mediocre.
That also meant that we had to prepare for enemy otherworlders, if the Eastern Empire was going to launch an all out offensive, they would use their massive force of otherworlders. Otherworlders that could have a variety of Unique Skills that could prove troublesome.
"After Granbell left, I felt content to allow myself to slowly fade away from the Eastern Empire's public eye. I resigned from my position as Prime Minister as I trusted Granbell to be there to support Emperor Rudra." Damrada explained. "That is when I began actively making an effort to keep my promise to Emperor Rudra as I realized that the Single Digits would not be enough. For one they were a known factor to the Emperor, he knew their abilities so knowing him he would already have measures in place to neutralize them if needed."
I nodded. "It's only practical." I agreed.
Damrada nodded. "Indeed, not to mention none of them even met the minimum standard or had the potential to meet that standard to even touch Emperor Rudra. Each Single Digit is monstrously strong, but Emperor Rudra is on an entirely different level."
"I realized this so I began searching for people outside of the Emperor's influence. I continued for centuries, finding Champions in the making yet they were all lacking in some aspect. Each grew up to be truly remarkable individuals, but they were not what I was looking for." Damrada said with a sigh.
"But then you found Yuuki."
Damrada nodded. "But then I found Yuuki. He was a rather different man compared to how he turned out, he had the ambition, he had the will, but he did not have the power to accomplish his dreams, and perhaps that was his downfall, for which I suppose I can be blamed for."
I shrugged. "He dug his own grave."
Damrada ignored my words and continued. He explained that he first encountered Yuuki during an operation in the black market of the Eastern Empire, this was decades ago, around when Yuuki first appeared in this world. To the wider public Yuuki had only appeared in this world within the last decade, that's what I believed until I found out otherwise.
Damrada was simply making a deal with Yuuki as Damrada was already a merchant at that time. Yuuki had a relatively small organization behind him, less than 30 people answered to Yuuki at that time which was a large step down from the tens of thousands that answered to Yuuki just before his death. The Guildmaster of the Free Guild had a lot of resources.
Yuuki was trying to negotiate for the right to take on a contract for a very well off noble in the Eastern Empire. The noble wanted some… assets fetched and delivered to a location of his choosing, in the blackmarket many "companies" tended to negotiate for the right to take on these contracts or else there would be chaos with each faction fighting for a single contract.
Damrada thought it was amusing how Yuuki was trying to outplay him so he decided to allow Yuuki to take the contract, it wasn't really anything special in Damrada's eyes so he was more than willing to lose the contract just to see what Yuuki would make of the opportunity.
At this time Yuuki had almost none of the resources he had at the time of his death, there was no Cerberus, no Moderate Harlequin Alliance, just him and Kagali who was inside of him. Looking at it like that, it really is impressive just what he managed when he started from almost nothing, though Creator and Anti-Skill more than made up for that.
Yuuki managed to successfully complete the "job" which was enough to pique Damrada's interest. From there they maintained a friendly relationship for a little under a decade, Yuuki kept building up his power base in the Eastern Empire, becoming a relevant force in the Eastern Empire criminal underworld.
Over time Damrada found himself comparing Yuuki to Rudra, he found more similarities than differences. Eventually he reached out to Yuuki on his own, offering to partner up. Yuuki agreed and that's when their cooperation really began.
Fast forwarding a bit, the partnership went well, Damrada ended up swearing loyalty to Yuuki and was brought in the loop about Kagali. Damrada agreed to help Yuuki with his dream of taking the world for himself as Damrada knew that would bring Yuuki in conflict with Rudra.
By this point Damrada knew about Anti-Skill which was why he was so committed to Yuuki. He genuinely believed that Anti-Skill was the answer to all of his troubles, and I could see his point of view. Despite my own personal bias I could admit that Yuuki was a fascinating specimen.
In most cases Anti-Skill alone would win Yuuki 99% of his fights, it would even allow him to fight Saints and win against them if the situation lined up properly. At lower levels Anti-Skill is fucking broken. Most of this world isn't even capable of understanding the basics of a single Law that this multiverse is governed by, let alone multiple which is what is required to deal with Anti-Skill.
It's not exactly easy to figure out why your attacks aren't actually affecting your opponent, many would misunderstand and lose hope, and as a Spiritual Lifeform something like that would doom you to defeat from the start.
Yuuki just specced too much into one stat, leaving out the others. Yuuki was just unlucky enough to be up against multiple people with obscene levels of analysis so he was going to lose from the start.
And that's how Damrada's journey with Yuuki began.
I was glad me and him had this conversation even if it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I felt like I understood him a bit better than before. In the end Damrada is just a pitiful man trying to fulfil his best friend's dying wish, and was willing to do almost anything to fulfil that wish. I could honestly respect it.
As we continued to chat, I stiffened as I felt a familiar presence appear nearby all of a sudden. What was he doing here?
Damrada seemingly noticed my hesitation as he raised a brow. "Is something the matter?"
"You could say that. A rather troublesome person just showed up in Lune." I sighed. I suppose that expecting him to stay out now was a bit too much, I was glad he stayed out of things during the attack itself and only showed up now after the attack. If he showed up in the midst of it… well I have a feeling things would have gotten a bit more complicated.
Damrada's back straightened. "An enemy of yours?" He inquired with narrowed eyes. "For you to be wary… not many are at that level." Damrada said as he repeatedly tapped a finger against the table. I suppose that was his way of showing his nervousness.
I shook my head. "Not quite an enemy, but not a total ally either. He shouldn't be here to cause any trouble, at least I hope so." You could never know with him.
"Who is it?" Damrada asked.
"Guy Crimson."
- Guy Crimson -
Guy wore a carefree smirk as he appeared in the middle of Luminous' capital city, Lune she called it. The barriers had been disrupted by the attack making them easier to slip by, not that they could stop him even at full strength if he really tried.
His presence was mostly concealed, Rain had placed an illusion over him since she was pretty good at those. But he allowed some of his Aura to leak, enough that those who were worthy of notice would make their ways to him.
Was this the wisest move? Perhaps not, but he had been rather bored recently, perhaps someone interesting would come to meet him if not Luminous. Though he expected her to greet him soon enough.
He casually walked through the streets of Luminous' city. He had agreed to not interfere with the chaos occurring in the West, but now that the chaos was over he was free to explore and see what had happened. Despite giving Felix his word he didn't leave everything to Felix, that would be irresponsible. He gave his word to Velda first and so he would keep his word, he would be the Mediator. Though it seemed like his interference would be unnecessary this time.
He had subordinates of his own that he scattered around the Western Nations to monitor the situation so that in case things deteriorated he could take proper action. Said action would likely be a full frontal assault from his Daemons from the Ice Continent. Something to give Humanity a reminder that they had no time for infighting with him and the Nine Sovereigns around.
It's what he had been doing for millenia, small repeat reminders of his presence as Humanity tended to have a rather short memory. The threat of his mere existence tended to be enough to get Humanity to unite itself if only temporarily before he ordered his forces to pull back and they began their political wars once more.
Despite all that, he could see what Velda saw in them. They were truly a rather miraculous species that tended to defy the odds.
He had observed some interesting times when he had to take action in the past, it wasn't like he hadn't given Humanity a few reminders in the past.
Whenever he did there was always a good amount of evolution within Humanity's ranks, many Enlightened were born and perhaps one or two Saints would be born if he was lucky.
They were always a treat to observe, though in the end most of them ended up dying. Rain and Misery had even killed a few of them when they had gotten it in their heads that as Saints they were "strong" and "unbeatable".
In the Western Nations they were practically gods, not many could oppose them, certainly no Human could, so arrogance was natural. They merely took it too far, that is what happened when one had no competition and had yet to see the true depths of power.
He was guilty of something similar in the past, it was only due to Velda's personality that he remained here today., for Velda had him dead to rights.
Of course the delusions of those Saints were quickly corrected by Rain and Misery. While they weren't Devil Lords at that time they were still powerful Daemon Dukes with eons of combat experience, they could easily deal with the average Saint.
He raised a brow as he looked at the almost perfect looking city. A subordinate of his had told him that the city was rather worn out after the attack it just suffered. Buildings had collapsed, Monsters were roaming about, though there were no civilian deaths surprisingly. He didn't believe his minion had lied to him, he was a dependent of his, and he would know better than to lie to him as Guy would destroy his core if he dared to do so.
No, something else had happened. Guy felt a faint tingle of magicules humming in the air, a higher concentration than what was natural but that could be explained by the multiple fights that had likely taken place in the city.
But he wouldn't learn anything from mere observation. His gaze wandered to the various Paladins that were roaming the streets. Some guided civilians around while others served as guards meant to maintain order. If there was one thing that Guy could give Luminous, it was that she knew how to properly tame her Humans. She understood their nature well.
"Ooh! Look at that Lord Guy!" His annoying maid shouted. She was also of course under an illusion.
He turned to look at what she had been pointing at only to raise a brow at the corpse of a Hydra. He hadn't seen it before because he hadn't been explicitly searching for it. It was surrounded by a few Paladins who seemed to be attempting to relocate the corpse as it was in the middle of the street.
The heads had holes piercing through it. Someone seemed to have destroyed them all at once or else the heads would have had a chance to regrow. It was possible to prevent the Hydra's regeneration if one cut off one head and then swiftly cauterised it with fire. That did not seem to be what happened this time.
He turned to look at Rain with an unimpressed stare, he still did not see the point in her interruption. Sensing his stare, Rain pouted. "Mou! You're no fun! Aren't you curious how those weak Humans managed to kill a Hydra?"
He raised a brow at Rain's surprisingly intelligent inquiry. Those were rare.
"Hey! Did you just think something bad about me!?" Rain yelled as she placed a hand on her hips.
Guy rolled his eyes. He still wasn't quite certain how Rain, Misery, and even Velzard could know when he thought such things about them. It must be some Skill he had yet to analyze.
He gestured for Rain to continue her point.
Rain's pout didn't diminish but she knew not to test his patience. By this point a few eyes were on them but neither he or Rain really cared. Both of them were above such things. "Hydra's are pretty strong no? Disaster Class or something, so someone had to have taken it out. Plus you see the holes in the heads? Looks like they were all taken out pretty swiftly, not many in this area of the world can do that. It's not particularly impressive in the grand scheme of things but it is interesting!" Rain finished with a smug nod.
He nodded. "That is true. If you are curious feel free to look around." He said, waving her off. Hopefully that would get her out of his hair for a little while so he could have some fun of his own. She was a Devil Lord now, she would be fine. Probably.
Rain grinned. "Yipee!" She said as she jumped a little. "Thanks, Lord Guy! I'll see you later!" She waved off without hesitation. She was probably trying to come up with a way for him to dismiss her anyway, she may not have acted like it but she could be scheming on occasion.
As Rain skipped away he shifted his gaze away from her and resumed his walk. His and Rain's conversation was hidden under yet another illusion so none of the Paladins seemed suspicious, they likely only seemed like eccentric civilians.
Even the demonic aura he was unleashing wasn't enough for the to know his true nature for he was releasing so little of it that one needed to truly focus to even feel a hint of his aura. Most lacked the sensory capabilities to do such a thing.
He casually looked around as he thought back to Rain. As a Devil Lord her usefulness had increased massively, and for that he was grateful to Felix. Though it wasn't like he hadn't paid back his debt to Felix. He wanted the data on his Ultimate Skill: Lucifer, Lord of Pride, and so Guy gave it to him, no matter how reluctant he was.
In the end he was not the strongest because he had Lucifer, Lord of Pride. It was because he was the strongest that he had Lucifer, Lord of Pride. Even without Lucifer his combat ability wouldn't drop at all.
After all, without his own analytical capability, Lucifer would be useless.
Rain had gotten rather uppity since her Awakening, but he beat that arrogance out of her and Misery right after so that had gone back to being rather tame. He had some new Daemon Duke subordinates as well who were receiving more direct training from Rain and Misery. Previously the two had neglected their subordinates, now they were actively training them which was good.
He had a feeling the war with Rudra would be starting sooner rather than later. Especially since he didn't doubt that Rudra felt the Awakening of Rain and Misery.
He and Rudra were more in sync with the world than most, they could feel the subtle shifts around the world. Two individuals Awakening was most definitely something to be concerned about. It was why he was wary of Felix and Rimuru at first. In fact he was still wary of them, just not as wary.
He allowed himself to grin as he felt a moderately large aura, at least for this era, unleash itself from the north. Various buildings were in the way but he could feel that someone rather strong was approaching at a significant speed.
"It seems someone was able to feel me." He mused. He hadn't felt the presence of Luminous or Felix in the city, meaning the two were elsewhere. He wasn't expecting there to be someone else that would detect him.
In the blink of an eye a man holding a sword slashed towards him.
"Amusing." Guy muttered as he didn't bother moving. An invisible barrier formed in front of him, completely blocking the blow.
"Now who are you?" He said as he eyed the Human in front of him.
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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:
Heyo, back with another chapter of Daemon. Not too much happened this chapter, we got a bit of an info drop on the start about daemons since I haven't explored that nearly as much as I thought I had. Find out that our boy Moss was once Damrada's shounen rival, and we learn a bit more about Damrada's history.
Then for some reason I was feeling philosophical when writing this and that ended up finding its way into this chapter.
Oh also some Rain bullying, she's just too easy to mess with.
Thanks for reading, peace.
Thanks to @Salante and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.