Niten explained what he meant when he said that even if people found out about me, I wouldn’t be hunted down.... he thinks.
The crux of the matter is, that we really don’t know what’s coming in the future, especially now that it’s become apparent that there are bigger dangers waiting outside the old bounds of our world.
Those occupying places of power in the continents are being forced to ignore internal problems, and look outwards to the unknown threats now before us. In this situation, my rise as an additional bastion of strength would be welcome, since we need all the strength we have, just in case.
Though, Niten also voiced that even the addition of a Demon Lord amongst the continents might not be enough strength. While it is true that little is know about the new world waiting beyond the borders of our land, all the old books and legends agree.
Our nations are but little children before the might of whatever waits out there. Our armies are made of tiny tin soldiers, and our powerhouses know the basics, but no more.
The summit of nations is to gather our strength, and know all the cards we have available. After all, most of the nations have strong forces pulled into reserves, to continue giving them the element of surprise. And, most of those who have gained the greatest strength tend to retreat from the world, leaving affairs of state to whatever descendants or vassals they have. There really is no way to know how many of such people have hidden themselves from the world, unless they were all summoned to a summit like this, where their presence might be the difference between the continents falling or weathering whatever comes.
If they found out that a new Demon Lord has been born, then they would accept it. Sure, they certainly wouldn’t be happy about it, but again—I would represent more strength for the continents. Not only that, but the existence of a Demon Lord would help gather demonic strength, since that continent tends to always be chaotic, ruled mostly by warlords and local tyrants. Only overwhelming strength is able to tame them, and create a fighting force so formidable that none but people summoned from outside this realm could stand against them.
That’s what the coming of a Demon Lord represents. It’s not only personal strength, but also the strength of the entire demon continent, ready to bear down on whatever lay in it’s path.
Though, I would still prefer to lay low. I mean, if Jasper were to find out that I was already advancing to Demon Lord status, he would simply dump any work he’s done on me, instead of finishing it himself. Right now, I’m sure he feels responsible for the demon continent, since he counts among it’s most powerful members, and the one closest to becoming a Demon Lord. As soon as he finds out about it, he’s just going to become lazy again. I already know that he only broke out of the seal imprisoning him due to that feeling of responsibility, and even then he had delayed it as much as he could, so he might be able to live freely for a while longer. Ironic that he felt the best way to continue doing whatever he wants lay in a prison of sorts.
Still, regardless of what Niten thinks about the whole situation, or my fear of Jasper finding out about my class changes, I’m going to be leaving the academy in about a week, when I would still have time to reach a place to level up safely. I like attention sure, but having so many eyes on me in the academy while I become a Demon Lord is a bit much. Something like this is better done in private.
Plus, I have no idea what becoming a Demon Lord entails. Well, I at least know that I would become even more powerful, and gain some special abilities to go along with the power-up.
But, I don’t know how it happens.
Will I be in as much pain as I was when becoming a Quasi-Demon Lord? More? Will there be physical phenomena involved? Will my body change even more that it had before? What sort of complications can I expect?
All of these questions are swimming around my mind as I contemplated what’s to come. And, I can’t answer any of them.
I even looked in the academy library, sneaking books about past Demon Lords by Gaby, who had made the building her second, de-facto home.
All the books said, is that Demon Lords come into being in unique ways, and tend to gain unpredictable abilities along with the raw power shared by most of them.
So, I have no way to prepare for it either.
I found it even less reassuring when I found out about the mortality rate among Demon Lords. It’s very rare for them to live long, since they tend to be targeted by the elves and the humans. Let’s hope Niten is right, and that I don’t have to worry about that particular problem, no?
Other than worrying incessantly about my coming change, I kept training the heroes. If you could call it training. To me, and undoubtedly to an outside observer, it simply looks like I smack them around quite a bit, dealing ever more heavy blows to them, while they desperately attempt to counter.
It’s working though. They’ve been able to last just a little longer each time, and their combat potential only grows as the days go by. And, Arthur has changed. Not a whole lot, but he’s no longer so haughty. I could consider it a small miracle, but I know it’s mainly due to him being smacked around by a little girl every day. Plus, I make sure to deal him a little more hurt that the others. I call it character building, instead of the obvious beat-down it really is.
And, after one particular dinner, I confronted Harving about his lack of commitment when fighting me.
As it turns out, he’s more of a softy than he would appear.
Or, just more human.
The story he told me, voiced in surprisingly few words, went something like this:
Harving, as a growing boy, was given a little sister by his parents. She was unusual, with overly curious eyes of differing colors, and silver hair. It was clear though, that she would grow up to be a beauty, so the parents took care to pamper her, as to improve their standing through marriage. None of that mattered to Harving, though. He simply enjoyed the company of his new little sister. And, as the years past, she proved to be a good friend and co-conspirator to Harving, along with being his sister. He said that she was too smart, and often taught him more than he did she. However, the inevitable happened.
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After she turned twelve, she caught the eye of a wandering noble, who carted her off with him. The parents raise no complaints, since the noble paid money before leaving. Harving, on the other hand, was extremely distraught, having lost his sister and closest friend. He was even more distraught when her body was shipped back to the family, a bare month later. The state it was in had been unspeakable.
Naturally, that sent him down the path of revenge.
The point of all this, is that I remind him of his sister in more ways than one. I have silver hair, a face generally like hers, and a mind that doesn’t match the age of my body at all.
This is why he’s unable to use his full strength against me, since the trauma of losing his sister in such a way hasn’t yet gone away, and likely never will, especially since my face practically forces him to remember it.
That was why, after that night, I would always go to the sparring lessons with my mask on—the same one I had used while in the human continent. Harving didn’t have a problem after that, and the other heroes started having nightmares about that mask.
I’ve seen Hogvir a few times since walking way from him. Of course, I could see in his eyes that he wanted to talk to me, and find out what he had done wrong. Unfortunately for him, I’m still not ready to see that fear in his eyes again, as he looks upon me. It just makes me feel sick, to know that the prejudice against the demon races has run so deeply, and that the superstitions about them has infected people so badly.
Perhaps later, Hogvir.
Now, back to the heroes.
I’ve asked Niten to take care of them for however long I’m gone, to see that they are able to continue having quality lessons at the academy. I don’t want them to encounter another teacher like Cait, after all. They would be completely out of their depth, and experience zone. And, while I have ways to improve them, most of them were learned from experience with Niten. In fact, my style of teaching thus far could be considered soft, compared to how Niten handled me. Gods above, I still remember that damn cave in my bad dreams. And the bugs. That was probably the worst part. No, wait. There were also the baby snakes. Those were worse, so much worse than the bugs.
Well, his teachings would probably build the heroes strength even faster than the astonishing rate that they already grow at.
It was a little troublesome to convince him to teach them, though once I threw his own words back at him—that ‘strength will be greatly appreciated in the coming years’, he folded, acknowledging my arguments, and the heroes’ potential.
Just wait heroes…if you thought I was a tough opponent, just wait until you meet the monster that is Niten. The worst is that he keeps you coming back to his ‘lessons’, turning you into some kind of training masochist. The distance between the kindly old grandfather that he normally seems to be, and the…thing he becomes during training is impossibly large. I wish I could see the looks on everybody faces as his true self emerges.
But, of course, by then I’ll be on my way to become a Demon Lord.
Oh well, I’ll have Niten recount the whole story sometime later.
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It happened.
The time came for me to leave.
I could defiantly tell that I was reaching a fundamental change soon, since I felt full of restless energy, and the rate at which I gained levels increased. Now, I’m at level ninety-eight, and only have two or three days left before I reach one hundred.
There hadn’t been any fanfare while leaving the academy, and nor did I tell the heroes about the whole thing, though I definably suspect that some are close to sussing out the truth. I did see some suspicious faces after accidentally releasing my aura, with the energy of a Quasi-Demon Lord mixed into it. It would be too much to hope that no one noticed it.
Niten will also probably fill them in on it, leaving out some small details, like how I’m going to become a Demon Lord, or how I’m basically the person they were summoned to kill. Oh well. Small details, right?
Oddly enough, those thick black lines that appear on my skin when using〖Demonic Transformation〗started showing up on me with increasing darkness. I took that as a sign that it had been a good idea to leave when I had, since this was just blatantly obvious.
I had to cover up my skin, to prevent anybody I met from asking questions about it. Plus, they seemed to begin giving off a malevolent feeling after I had passed the last gate before reaching the place where I had decided to undergo the process of becoming a Demon Lord.
It was a desolate mountain range. Why there was a gate nearby eluded me, though it perfectly suited my purposes.
With no cities or villages nearby, the chance that my change would be noticed is reduced.
Also, the place was heavily wooded. Gods, it’s like it was built for me or something.
On top of all that, there was an air of peace and tranquility all around me.
It helped me to immediate fall into meditation, and I watched as I leveled up only once within three days. I barely noticed the time passing, though.
And then, the big one finally came.
Level one hundred.
It seemed a little anti-climatic at first, actually.
Then it was just plain painful.
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