Afterwards, we left the place to search for my friends.

The bloody red skies still remained, but at least it wasn't that severe anymore.

Heart revealed to us that the "Bloodlust Forest", is what she called it, isn't actually a disaster caused by the Blood God, but rather a strong spell of Soul-attacking magic casted into the atmosphere.

For those with a weaker soul, they will quickly fall victim to the Bloodlust Forest, turning into abominations, or simply passing away.

Unaffected creatures, whether they just didn't catch it, or because they had a stronger soul, will have their souls slowly deteriorated, slowly becoming more and more...

Angry. Mad. Hostile. Violent. Until they become monsters, the usual horrors of this apocalypse.

"Rabbit you say? The Rabbit of Earth huh..? Unfortunately, that name has never existed, never in the entire history of this world."

Heart replied, after I asked her about Rabbit.

It seems that the flesh was merely just a barrier, protecting the soul from harm.

My memories have been altered. My powers have been sealed. But by who?

"This is Ziio. Anyone still there..?"

Ziio from the Fanine Clan had no idea about what happened to everyone in his clan.

It was only a few days ago. After the Fanine Clan got destroyed, Litharin Fanine was eliminated by Sundown Lighter and his body was later found by the Giant Ants.

"Hello..? Is anyone there..? Are the radios broken?"

"Give it up, Ziio. Even in this apocalyptic nightmare... I'm sure that those guys survived, somehow!"

Says Gray while Ziio continues trying to fix his radio, which receives no signal.

"Don't forget, everyone. We're the demon's, and humanity's last hope in defeating Tsuchikonoko. Arisa Skarret has also been revived, and she agreed to help us for a while."

"Wait. Isn't it "Tsuchinoko" instead of "Tsuchikonoko"?"

"My my. You managed to figure it out, Maire. Took longer than expected."

I've been thinking about it for a while now... I thought it was actually called "Tsuchikonoko" in this world, so I never even said anything about it.

"Huh? What's a Tsuchinoko? I know that Tsuchikonoko is one of the Pillars of Creation, but I've never heard of Tsuchinoko before."

"It's folklore. Don't worry about it, I just made a little test. It's originally from Earth, and it's story is now held in the library of sharks."

It's a well-known story in Earth, but I can see how it was taken into this world. The Ninth Polar Heaven does connect to the Nightmarish Mortality, which is the gateway to Earth after all.

Though, if Tsuchinoko exists as a Pillars of Creation in this world, does that mean that the story of Tsuchinoko has been here for a long time now?

"So Tsuchinoko is just a title, or a nickname for the 2nd Pillars of Creation then? No way that a being that old was named after a new story."

"Correct. We named her "Tsuchinoko", or "Tsuchikonoko" as a joke, another reason is that it's because she's a snake. A serpent, a master of lying and deceiving."

"I haven't heard of it's story before, but I'm pretty sure that the Tsuchinoko is not always a liar..?"

"Well. There are a lot of Tsuchinoko in this world too, we just labeled the liar as "Tsuchikonoko"."

Eventually, we stumbled upon an abandoned town. There are a lot of monsters and corpses, but no signs of my friends anywhere.

It was already nighttime, so we went into a safe building and slept until morning.

"Zzz..."

.....

Apparently, Divine Intervention matches with the strength of the user's soul.

Fiya is currently holding Divine Intervention. It solves the problem of me losing the ability to talk, and the problem of Fiya being in danger due to the lack of any forms of defense for herself.

"Yawn... What a beautiful day- oh... There's no sunlight, and there's no sun to see... I forgot..."

When morning rose, we left the town to continue on our journey to find Tsuchikonoko and my friends.

Once I find them, we can finally resume our mission to head into the Temporal Spatial Pyramids and meet that Salmon Shark.

....

13 days later...

We couldn't find anyone from the new Hero's Party.

Everyone might've been scattered everywhere, on Earth, on the Demon Realm, on Cvvoer, and on the lower Realms.

We were still on the land close to Rintan's kingdom. Heart was familiar with this place, and the roads leading into her kingdom.

In a few months, an important speech with the demons and the humans, where they will come into an agreement, will begin. We were told to arrive at Rintan's kingdom, where it'll take place in, so I can be the representative of the humans.

"How did you become such a terrifying monster..? I can sense something familiar within your soul..."

Soul..? Liand appeared behind me as I was sharpening the blades on my body.

"Hm? Liand was it? What do you mean by that? I'm not a monster. This is merely just an armour, I'm still a human in the inside."

"A shell? No no no... Tsuchikonoko has taught me how to use Soul techniques, and an Abyssal Magic spell I can barely use... These techniques allows me to see one's inner self... And I can definitely tell that you're not a human in any way possible..."

"Soul techniques? Can you teach me soul techniques as well? How do you even know Tsuchikonoko? Also, this transformation was kind of unnecessary now that I think about it."

"You needed to survive right? Heart told me the story. Arisa Skarret has been administered into your soul the moment you entered Heart's 5th dimensional gates."

"What? Hmmm... I see... It wasn't just a random demon I picked to imitate, I know... But for Arisa to actually choose me..."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There were many other Crimson Blood Demons, yet I still instinctively chose Arisa... It wasn't a coincidence huh..?

"If you didn't transform into Arisa Skarret, would Cat be able to kill you at that moment?"

"Hmmm... Unlike humans, Beastfolk and other creatures like her adapts quickly to the situation. It was the same thing I've experienced with an ant... Cat could've gotten rid of me if I didn't turn into this. Even a 1 second difference would've left me a corpse..."

I could've done something else to defeat Cat at that time. I only casted [Benevolent Blood Eagle] to ensure my victory... I didn't think about the consequences huh..?

It appears that in this world, humans aren't that good at adapting anymore, compared to other creatures.

Well. At least Cat didn't get to adapt to my new "Crimson Blood Magic", she has already adapted to Vixen's Blood Magic, they'll be useless against her now.

....

A few more days have passed, we arrived at the Kingdom of Hreamlea, where the Beastfolk commonly resides.

It was quite a surprise. The people and everything else in here has actually survived this apocalypse.

"G-gah..!"

Heart was also surprised. It was the first time I've seen her this surprised. Heh. Did the demons underestimate us humans? Or rather, Beastfolks?

Beastfolks and humans live in this nation as one, in peace and harmony.

"W-woah..!! I-It's such a lively place!"

"They actually survived..? These guys really are tough huh."

"Yeah, they're tough. How'd they even survive?"

"Is there something surrounding this place like a dome? That would explain how such weaklings survived."

Everyone looked like humans, but me being part of this group really made it clear that we're actually demons.

The guards runs up to us, pointing spears and swords.

Of course, we could easily just wipe them all out, but that would also destroy all information that they had in this place. Our current mission isn't to eliminate enemies, but to find my friends.

"Demons!! Watch out! These things aren't Cursed, they're pure blooded, actual demons!"

"Man the cannons! That one's big!"

"Prepare the crossbows, they're not attacking yet!"

They defend the gates, going into a formation, preparing to strike us down.

There were cannons on the walls and soldiers on the ground, their weapons were all aimed at us.

"Wait wait wait!! I'm from the Fanine Clan situated on Terui! We've come in peace! There're no reasons to fight!"

Ziio yells at the soldiers, but it seems that they don't want to listen to us.

"Silence, demons! This place is sacred..! Demons aren't allowed here!"

Eh... It's fair. The demons are still at war with humans. Even when it's finally announced that we can now unite as one, some kingdoms will still hate demons, especially during this apocalypse.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of this."

Says the heavily armed knight menacingly walking out through the gates.

"Piercing Light."

A beam of light shoots into my hand, which forms a small cloud, clearly showing no signs of damage on me.

"Huh?! Arisa?! That demon is back?!"

"Fear not, everyone! I'll-"

"Stop it already! We're not enemies! Fighting at this time..? Shouldn't we negotiate first?"

Negotiation..? Sigh... Maybe we should've just used [Conceal] and sneaked in.

"I'm from the Fanine Clan! Cease this violence immediately!"

"What weak response, for someone from such a deadly group. I don't believe you, you might just be another demon."

"We're just trying to settle things peacefully. We could destroy this entire city right now, but we need more information on how you guys survived."

"Threatening us now? We are the people of god. We shall not abide by any demon. Prepare to die, monster."

Huh..? What's this..? A strong surge of magic is being pulled into the knight's hand.

Wait, holy magic..? It's a Holy knight?!

Holy knights are small groups, specialized forces. They're one of the main sources of power for the Holy kingdoms.

They specialize in destroying demons. Unlike other knights, holy knights carry a special form of magic, Holy Magic.

Before, I didn't have any worries about them, since I was just a human, but in this body... In Arisa Skarret's body... Who knows what will happen to me if I was hit with Holy Magic.

"Holy Light. Cross body manipulation."

The embodiment of Fate..?

Before I even realized it, a gaping hole in my stomach had blood rushing out profusely.

"Hah...... H-Heart....!?"

The pain was unbearable. I was about to pass out again, when suddenly, I heard a telepathic voice echoing in my head as if there was someone talking right next to my ear.

"Oh Vixen.... The path for power.... Or the path for wisdom...?"

Who was that?

My blood wouldn't stop pouring out.

Smokes are erupting from my injuries. Everyone has panicked, trying to figure out a way to heal me.

Meanwhile, Heart continued staring at me with that smirk. That ominous, evil smirk.

"Let's make this quick... Resurrect me... And you will live...."

The actual Arisa Skarret?!

Something has been combined with that attack. Everything that my body has instinctively tried in an attempt to stop this injury and fix itself has failed.

"Currently.... There are more of you than me in my own body.... Since you won't accept my deal.... I'll give you more than half of my soul, but that means I'll awaken too, alright...?"

It was a terrible idea for sure. Resurrecting an ancient demon, just so I can live...

Seems like Heart has planned all of this. She knows about this place and these roads, yet she still chose to come here.

How annoying... I guess I'll have to go along with her plans for now.

....

My body wasn't moving, blood continued dropping into the ground.

Fiya was crying, a sad sight to see.

When I finally accepted Arisa's deal, a full transformation occured.

The moment I've used [Benevolent Blood Eagle], the output was only below 80%, but it was still enough to get a part of Arisa Skarret's soul into this body.

Magic in the mortal realm works differently in the demon realm. Heart must've planned it so that I would transform into Arisa Skarret while I was still the Ninth Polar Heaven.

So is this why they called me "Arisa Skarret" instead of "Vixen"?

"Finally.... Arisa Skarret is finally free!!"

A vibrant, colourful and shiny thick armor surrounded her body, as if it was diamond sprinkled with red and blue coloured powders.

The colour of blood, faintly mixed with her new colours, hardened into her fleshy limbs.

Her teeth were exposed, showing a permanent smile. They were wide, sharp, and extremely dangerous.

She had metallic and dark red, smoothly textured scales.

Non-organic wings erupted from her back, all bloody and red, along with sharp, and tall claws replacing both of her hands.

Her already existing blades extended, becoming over 3 meters tall. They also became retractable.

The blades, which were on the back of her forearms, on the back of her elbows, on the back of her legs, and on her claws, all became shiny, reflecting light like a mirror.

Her limbs had no skin, no scales, only muscles and red, bloody flesh.

It was beautiful, wonderful, and terrifying.

"Arisa...?"

"Vixen..?"

"V-Vixen?!"

Fiya wasn't supposed to say that.

Arisa takes a step forward, instantly turning every human 890 meters near her into a puddle of blood, slowly gathering towards Arisa's back, in between her wings.

Only the Holy knight survived, thanks to their quick response to the danger.

"Demon blood and human blood differs from each other. Not just because of their colour obviously."

"I know- oh... It's you... Keh. It's been a while since we've last met. It's a pleasure to meet ya, but we'll talk later, alright?"

Heart and Arisa knows each other? Well. They are demons after all.

The holy knight then shows an expression of horror and disbelief, quickly closing their helmet before sacred writing began glowing from their armour.

"Demons... I can't believe it... You monsters waited for me to attack huh..?"

"Correct. A troublesome friend here wouldn't let an old friend wake up from their long nap."

"The Beastfolks are still alive. Most of my soldiers here have died, but I'm not like the rest of them."

"There's a Holy Barrier..? You holy knights always rely on your God for such simple abilities... I don't think your god would like that."

"What do you know about our god? Die, for real this time.

Holy Thunder-"

"SUPER THUNDERBLADE!!!"

A flash of lightning passes through the knight's body, making them vomit blood.

Was that a rock..? Did Heart just threw a rock at them..?

"Super Thunderblade converts anything into a blade by electrifying it and following through like thunder. A good way to use Lightning Magic, am I right?"

"Heart..! I thought we were here to gather information! What's with all this unnecessary bloodshed..!!?"

"Stand back, everyone. You know why we took you guys with us. Fighting won't be necessary, okay?"

Heart crosses her arms, giving the dying knight a smug look as they try to stand back up using their sword.

"Blguahgk..!! Hah... Hah... You foul monsters... I-"

The [Holy Barrier] that the knight casted broke. Blood rushes out due to Arisa's [Automatic Killing Range] skill.

Eventually, the knight was turned into another puddle of blood.

My body has been taken over, I can still control it, but it's kind of difficult trying to do so. I've been trying this entire time since I've accepted the deal with Arisa.

"Vixen Vixen... Stop tryna wake up right now. I'm actually a friend ya know? Your soul's been damaged by some strange..... I don't know... But I've been tryna fix it 'n get rid of that annoyin seal restrictin' yo powers!"

My powers..? So it wasn't her who sealed my powers?

"Seal? Vampire, what does she mean by that? You've never told me anything about seals."

Well. I don't even know how I got these seals in the first place.

I guess I can let Arisa heal my soul for a while. Those seals, my senses tells me that it would be dangerous if my powers become unsealed but I've also been feeling more tired before I even transformed into Arisa Skarret.

Whoever she is, she's probably an ally, just not too friendly towards others though...