“...and we are happy to welcome all the new children from across the entire american union one final time on your path to become heroes.” the Hero Academies dean said.
Clapping from the tens of thousands of students was like inside a sports stadium of tens of thousands or a concert of similar proportions.
The students walked around with holographic screens guiding them with a map.
The gamer space and the digital world had a pretty good synergy and the digital goddess was as able as Gaia to do little things with the systems.
The result was a more active use of the minimap projected like a hologram but it had other benefits. The digital realm didn’t need machine projectors for screens, as such the things here felt more advanced than outside by virtue of benefits that the digital world was innate built for.
Beyond the children, a number of Spec model digital spawn were running around with large books of data. They were the academy's little helpers and many student’s tutors because they are very effective at teaching.
Like always, there was a heroics and civilian branch and all of it was either direct heroics or military division.
With so many people, clubs were much harder to spread as well but like every year the Civilian Power Research Division gained a boost and the many of them this year around wanted to help in the Robin’s direct research of powers but it was half divided in people who wanted to help with proper activation of powers and the other that were especially curious about the gamer traits, the interaction of traits and such.
The core group however were shining because they had grown during the summer.
Ruth had long broken free of her past and had begun to transform her body with Life essence.
Each one had broken their limits over the summer and they were all smiles and talking.
“Hey hey! Over the summer I worked really hard training and I’m just about to summon Lily fully!” Lola said while wiggling happily.
All around her was mania, her original five demons.
Robin did not say anything but looked at Lily without letting Lola notice anything strange but his look attracted her eye and her brow twitched because she felt Robin knew something.
“Congratulations, I’m sure once you can merge with the nucleus of your hierarchy, your power will really grow with your contract transforming.” Shoji said with claps.
“You feel different…” Milo said, as he looked at him.
“I should say that about you.” Shoji said.
Milo smiled because under his robes was a figure that you wouldn’t expect from the previously scrawny and weak necromancer.
“Of course, during the summer, I completed three Rituals of Necrotic transformations. It’s a ritual and potion used by mortal necromancers to develop their body extensively to handle ever growing pressure from death mana and enhance both resistance and affinity to death energy. I was finally able to support all the feedback from Scar, the death knight captains and the five death mages. Honestly I was able to support it after the first one, the other two monthly rituals were to keep expanding.” He said proudly.
“Isn’t that supposed to be super painful?” Robin asked.
“Yep, normally necromancers would typically need month's to recover but my life essence radiates my resistance and affinity and deflects a big part of it while making sure my health doesn’t dip heavily.” He said.
“Oh, that’s why it was a one month ritual.” Robin said.
He nodded happily and conjured a tiny bit of death mana and it was dense and thick before it shifted to green as it shifted and back a skeletal head appeared, “I’ve also been able to finally gain control of some of these.” He said as streams of green smoke came out and flew around it.
“What are these?” Lola asked.
“Specters, undead ghosts.” Milo said. “I can see what they see and they can be invisible from most senses.” he said and suddenly it all went invisible.
Shoji, Robin and Ruth tried to find it with their psychic energy and frowned a bit before the twins both quickly extended their arms and in their hand a stream of green appeared.
“Wow, that was hard to spot.” Robin said and let it go.
“Yeah, it’s like trying to find smoke 1 kilometer from its source.” Ruth said.
“So what happened to you?” Milo asked Shoji as he unsummoned the specters.
“After a year of trying, I finally succeeded in merging with my Life power construct as well as infusing psychic enhancement into myself through him. The price of that is the number of biological traits so my body could support the impact. No direct change to my strength though but my body can support the boost.” He said.
“How big is it?” Robin asked.
Shoji explained the multipliers involved with each one and how they stacked.
The psychics that were in the club froze and looked at him like he was a freak.
“H-how did you get such a big boost?!” One of them asked, “I also learned to make Life power constructs but the gamer system said it was barely x1.5 boost.” he said.
Shoji looked at him, “Uh… have you mastered making the construct? Before I got life power I had focused on psychic and mental enhancement traits so I could control my energy better and efficiently. I’ve also mastered building and using it. If I wanted, I could stand back and have the life power construct fight in my place while I use psychic energy from the background to support it.” he said.
The boy’s face clenched because it was obvious he had not done as much as Shoji.
“Don’t tease him Shoji, everyone knows it's because of your discipline and dedication that you’ve developed so much.” Robin said.
Shoji just smiled and didn’t say more but looked at the twins. “And you two look more monstrous than before. Like two wolves in sheep's clothing.” He said.
They rolled their eyes but everyone in the entire club and probably the original hero academy knew it was hard to beat Robin, the older students even felt the same.
“Summer break was a good time, now I have to worry as a big brother with Judith in the academy now.” Robin said and looked at the smiling younger sister talking to the other 9th graders.
“She stayed pure hardening, right?” Milo asked.
“Yeah, over the last few years I’ve been helping her and the two brats buy traits that would help out. For instance, unlike when she started, she can harden but still move. Her joints are specially made so that they properly harden like the rest of the body but they have flexibility so she doesn’t have to stop and take blows. Her heart and organs are the same, originally if she hardened entirely, it actually lowered her heart rate, honestly she’s even had a few embarrassing cases where she clenched too hard and uh…” Robin said but Judith turned and glared at him and he felt it.
“We get it, so despite hardening, she is able to maintain normal bodily functions. What about physical strength?” Shoji asked.
“Judith is strength orientated but we’ve just given her the basics along with the triple flow meridians, same with the boys. Their ability to unlock it will have to depend on their training. If not for her decent growth with just gravity weights, she would have probably been placed in civilian classes actually.” Robin said.
“Hey! I’ll have you know that I am as strong as you were when you got into high school!” She said.
“We know, I still have my notes with my original stats.” Robin said.
She got huffy after that but couldn’t do anything against him.
“Do you have plans on how you want to grow?” Lola asked her.
“Not really, I never had access to the shop directly so I’m excited to explore the shop. Still, Robin and Ruth are holding the exp crystals and money over my head for expensive stuff.” She complained.
“We’ve told you we will help but you have to have a clear vision of what you want.” Robin said.
“Yeah Judith, there are a lot of things so we aren’t going to give you extra money to buy random things and screw yourself over.” Ruth replied.
She pouted and stomped off making the group laugh.
“So what do we expect this year?” Milo asked, more serious.
“The typical braveman academy would typically have a lot more internships but with so much going on…” Robin said.
“I’m expecting that we will be joining the union clean up throughout this year and next year.” Shoji said in a quiet voice.
The group sighed and agreed, the danger of doing this, however, is much greater now since there are supervillains free and who knows what ‘he’ will do.
“What we should focus on is getting our energies to the next level, we only need a minimum quantity to change the quality, the heroes have started but even they haven’t achieved the transformation despite having several forms since I’ve gotten the techniques and passed it on.” Robin said.
“I’m curious but with the death mana method, should Vincent return to hero rank?” Ruth asked.
“No, he is already over 150 years old, unless there is a major transformation of his mana, he isn’t regaining much health regardless.” Milo said.
“Are the necromancer teachers not growing?” Robin asked.
“They are basically as advanced as us students. Most of them didn’t have advanced necromancy to begin with until Vincent’s naturally formed biology and power formed the necromancer class. Even then they only have a fraction of what I have and don’t gain feedback. In terms of mana quality, I’m probably equal to the necromancer teacher already. They are just better because of time studied and trained.” He said.
“Right…” Robin said as he looked slightly into space.
His eyes moved a bit.
“Looking for something?” Ruth asked.
“I’m checking for major events that happened this year in the original timeline that haven’t already been taken care of.” he said.
They were curious and so were the others, the 9th grade student asked what that was about.
The, now, 10th graders explained that it was something that happened after the time incident which allowed Robin to see a closed off branch of timelines they aren’t on but of events that would have happened.
The group waited, “In the union… only the upsurge of undead because there was no longer a blockade for the most dangerous undead.” Robin said.
Everyone knew why.
“So a peaceful year… maybe that is good for once.” Milo said.
“Well, not actually peaceful, it’s peaceful in the American Union, I’m sure you can guess it’s not so much in the other unions who are still in the planning stages of their hero academies, they have the same infiltration problem as we do so…” Robin said.
“What happens?” Shoji asked.
“African union gets five super villain attacks this year, asian union will face a major attack caused by internal problems. Villain’s will also aim to cripple their food market this year causing two, maybe three years of problems due to food shortage.” Robin said.
“Do they know?” Ruth asked.
“Obviously, as soon as the event took form I reported it ahead of time. As they got clearer I’ve also pointed out key figures and Server Admin will be taking a division of gamers to Asia, going around the area the suspects command and getting the system to spy on them and confirm suspicions. It already knows the presence of the parasite so it will immediately identify it if they have it or are working with eggs of it.” he said.
The club sighed in relief that it was already under control.
“Oh right!” Milo said and suddenly he got very excited, “Let me show you guys something I got the day before yesterday.” he said and stood up.
He focused as Death mana flowed and he pushed into the air. It was very similar to what Vincent did and he grabbed something pulling a long polearm and smiled proudly as he held it.
“What do you think?” He asked.
Shoji looked at the head, “Is that a War scythe?” He asked.
“Yep, although I know that Vincent used a normal scythe, I’ve read that it basically doesn’t matter what a Lich uses. The death mage generally condenses a bone staff and then have to forge and condense death mana within while forging that staff into a more powerful weapon to evolve into a lich but mortals can’t do that. Instead we need to forge a powerful weapon and magically bind it.” He said.
Robin looked at the head and body, “That’s a dragon bone war scythe forged with Digital Iron.” Robin said.
“You can tell?” Milo said.
“Bone metal doesn’t shine but digital metal gives off a specific feeling.” Robin said. He got up and got a close look, “It’s actually scary, the edge feels like it’s sharp enough that it would literally slide through anything it passes through.” Robin said.
“I know right, Techno only recently started to come out with technology to forge digital metal and he found that simply smelting any extra impurities into the cauldron of metal will make different stuff so he’s actually reforged Vincent’s scythe as a test. Students with actual death mage and at least 1 Ritual of Necrotic Transformations were allowed to pick a weapon and forge digital bone metal.”
“Does it change much?” Ruth asked.
“Yes, the storage this was in is actually inside my mana pool in my head. I have to build a network of channels with death mana. Even now it is already helping to purify and condense my death mana but once I do that and constantly channel and develop the channels, the quality of my mana will eventually reach the standards of a Lich which is a higher evolution then a Death mage. That said, there is also the actual channeling technique that Robin brought us which is doing the same thing so if you add them together, I think it will allow us to finally reach the unreached potential of Elder Lich.” He said.
“What does death mana become?” Lola asked.
“Death Aether.” Robin said, “Mana in general becomes Aether, also known as the essence of the universe or ‘the 5th element’ of the magic system that runs on fire, water, earth and air magic as the basic types in fantasy.” Robin said.
“Is it that much more powerful?” Ruth asked.
“Oh yeah.” Robin said, “I’ve told Milo already since it is his future, there are only 5 futures he succeeds and they are all futures he ignores the lich transformation ritual. In these futures he achieves Death Aether and is able to enter the Nether world with his physical form and becomes a Demigod of Death. When he returns after that, he actually goes on and closes the Rift in Mexico, alone.” Robin said.
The club went silent with shock and awe.
“He also goes on to fight and kill Vincent’s biggest enemy, Tartarus who returns to earth and actually takes over the Land of Death to draw power from it. Both incidents happen at the same time in every timeline.” He said.
“How long from now?” Shoji asked.
“15 years from the time incident.” Milo said, “That’s how long I have to get it closed but I’m not the only necromancer now so I’m not worried.” He said.
The group laughed but the club was still shocked.
“Are you guys looking into any digital metal weapons?” Robin asked.
“I want to but the technology is too premature. I want a sword with natural psychic affinity. I also need something stronger because my current peak strength puts stress on it so I’ve already gone to the development division to look into it.” Shoji said
“Oh I know! How about we go test the punch machines. It’s been so long since we’ve tried that!” Lola said.
They laughed but Robin waved it off, “I don’t feel like it. It’s good for weaker people who still don’t have control but I would rather not charge my full force against school property.” Robin said.
“Hey, how strong was your punch? My entrance exam had me doing that punch test and I got 6,000.” Judith suddenly asked.
“Ah… the last punch test I did at the start of last year I think. It was… 200k.” Robin said uncertainty.
“I remember that result at the end of our 9th grade wasn’t it? It was to see the result of a year of specialized training under a hero.” Shoji said.
“Right, then it became the hero academy last year after the Tempest healed the first time.” Robin said.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Hey, what do you normally do in clubs?” One of the 9th graders asked.
The core group turned and they started to explain the general things they do in their off time.
One of the biggest study subjects is focused on two groups, civilian students and disabilities. They were granted special permission to files compiled by Techno’s scans of every student pertaining to their powers and could submit input after going through the gamer space and understanding their powers. The other is disabilities where they did similarly but the ones they got here were disabilities that the gamer space could not resolve with the triple flow or genetic.
It was more like Mr Atlas who had specific growth patterns.
They would get a file and a list of all the things already done to try and have to work from there.
Students that wanted to could directly go to the institute of disabilities and spend time with the patients and lighten their mood. It was something the core group loved to do to relax though it might not be the same for everyone.
“It’s so different from the other clubs based on this, they are all about technology to improve or studying traits that would make strong powers bloom or how to do it naturally.” Judith said.
“Yeah, that's why we made our own club.” Robin said.
“Speaking of clubs, Rudy isn’t here.” Ruth said.
“I think he is with Blue Phoenix. The phoenix gene is still very cryptic and hard to identify even after they were both analyzed as deeply as what I did for the sick people. I’m not sure but Blue phoenix opened up his own division of teaching based around winged, feathered and elemental powers since this seems to be the closest correlation.” Robin said.
“Now that I think about it, how is elemental energy trained? I remember that Rudy’s storage is on the back of his spine instead of his lower belly.” Shoji asked.
“His biology changed when he fully became a phoenix. The tail node extended to the lower belly but they actually discovered that they had a severe lack of any system. We had assumed he had a fully developed system but actually both of their abilities channeled elemental energy through their bodies directly depending entirely on their innate powers. Besides the nodes that held their source of powers of course. They added the triple systems after they realized that.” Robin said.
“Yeah, that is what they used to fill up the new division. After all, once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern.” Shoji said.
They all nodded, the strangest ability in Robin’s opinion were emitters, powers which produced substance or effect with no apparent energy source or control mechanism connected to biology.
“What happened after they added it?” Ruth asked.
“Head and lower storage instantly filled up and their life force rapidly condensed in their heart.” Robin replied.
RING!
Everyone looked and then looked at the time. It was the first bell which was to alert the children to get moving.
“Alright, we should get to class, we can show the new members what we do tomorrow or later on.” Robin said and everyone agreed that they should set up club activities but class and training was the most important.
In the first PE class, all the heroes were present with a large number of classes, hundreds in fact. The Gym was built at the edge of a massive field that took up nearly ¼ of the entire school’s grounds and it was filled with thousands of training tools and dozens of tracks for everyone to run.
Mr Atlas was among the teachers again and he almost matched up to Chasm Might in physical development.
The year of training had done well for him and he grew extremely fast. He wasn’t so caught up that he could do like Robin but he had hit level 150 before the end of the school year and with constant stat stimulation he was able to unlock the other energies. That said it went to show how biology worked, he needed 300 wisdom to condense Psychic energy and 1,500 constitution for his life force to become life essence.
That was a far cry from Robin who needed 100 for life essence and 120 for psychic energy.
Regardless, his strength began improving with leaps after that and it showed.
“Alright, now most of you children are from braveman academies and likely aren’t used to how things are done. You’ve all had summer break to look through the booklet with vital information you will need. Many of you didn't use all your stored up potential and that is fine, we will start off the year by using up what you all have. The kids who already were part of the academy, you don’t need that since you are well aware of your potential and growth. Those from the original hero academy who were given a golden band, proceed to the fighting arena at the center. The rest of you, this is your mission for today.” Chasm Might shouted and snapped his finger.
All of Robin’s classmates had missions appear and quickly proceeded to do them.
He looked and saw that it was a physical evaluation to test both their physical development and their abilities development and see if they couldn’t do more.
The ones that had a gold band around their wrists proceeded to the large field and naturally there was a save point.
Everyone unconsciously saved because they knew the danger of entering the fighting arena without doing that.
From the club, Robin’s childhood friends were there, also the twins and Kevin. Marcus and Silk were obviously there and many other students from their school.
Soon the heroes arrived and looked over.
Vincent was, surprisingly, among them and looked at Milo.
“Alright children, we’ve seen you had a pretty major growth spurt during the summer so besides just stats, we will be testing what you children can do one at a time against us directly.” Chasm Might said.
“For a few of you, it could mean a class upgrade into official Hero disciples.” Vincent said, specifically towards Milo.
The others looked and wondered if this was okay. Finally Milo stepped up, “I’ll go first then.” he said.
The elder nodded and he looked at the orb in thought before saving in case his age caused problems.
Vincent did not hold back at the start and directly pulled his staff while Milo drew his war scythe and the old man looked at the blade, “Seems you don’t like the symbology.” he said.
“Practicality is more important when it comes to weapons.” Milo said as his body began to radiate a strong feeling of death mana and kept gathering and instantly Robin knew what he was going to do.
An opening formed behind as a long winged arm came out and Scar came out.
The rest instantly jumped in fear because the 12 meter long dragon was not so small anymore. It roared, causing the air to literally vibrate as its figure of nearly 30 meters in length came fully out of the portal.
The black scales shined in the light and a low growl from the dragon made everyone on edge because it clearly underwent a major growth spurt. Size, for sure, was not the only thing it gained because its bright green eyes were focused and filled with intelligence in them as it focused on Vincent.
“Master…” It spoke, even taking Vincent by surprise.
“We are testing our power against him.” Milo said.
“Understood.” He said.
Milo suddenly jumped and landed on the dragon’s lowered head before it raised.
Death mana gathered at Milo’s feet and held him firmly on the dragon’s head as he kneeled and placed his hand against the head and the dragon’s death mana was instantly driven by Milo who used it with much greater proficiency and channeled it until the dragon roared.
An inferno of nether flame blasted out and Vincent sliced and split the wave but Milo waved the scythe and shockingly the flame turned and converged on the old necromancer from behind but he just waved his hand and smashing the flame and extinguishing it before jumping up from the torrent.
“You’ve got to do better.” He said.
Milo looked but the mana’s movement changed as the flames began to move strangely before exploding upwards.
“Hellfire tornado!” Milo said.
SHING!
Suddenly the tornado was cleaved and all the flame down to what the dragon was constantly producing was extinguished and a deep cut hit the dragon’s snout causing it to roar in pain. What was shocking was that black death mana surged out and the flesh began to wiggle and fuse before the hide and scales closed around it.
“That healing…” Vincent said in the air as the dragon looked at him.
Milo smiled, “Since the Gamer space analyzed Disaster, I decided to see how his healing worked and infused part of it into Scar to make him much harder to kill.” He said.
Vincent looked surprised and in his mind he smiled, “Hmm, if I was to try and make such a powerful healing ability in a death dragon, just getting the dragon to adult stage would be difficult and then the hundreds of rituals required to enhance the biological healing factor. He simply used natural abilities scanned in the system… so this is how he is developing. He would need to do things the old way otherwise but he doesn’t ignore the resources he has.” he thought. “What else do you have besides fire?” Vincent asked.
“This.” he pointed.
Vincent looked down and under him, somehow, Milo had summoned four bulky zombies but they looked weird, they had machine attachments on their back and arms and looking up, their eyes glowed yellow.
Thump!
Suddenly the machines embedded into their backs pulled out spinning and suddenly they were releasing lightning and they each raised their arm.
He instantly felt danger and moved with full speed as an electrical burst shot up at him but missed because he moved quick enough and appeared on the ground and looked at the zombies that turned to him.
“What the fuck are those?” He shouted, distressed that an undead could generate and guide lightning.
“I call them Biotech zombies. I made them after I talked with Techno about his Biotech ability. I spent a lot of money to infuse that ability into these four so that they could be outfitted with biological tech without compromising their undead nature. I’ve also given them natural affinity and resistance to lightning, as a result they are able to channel lightning.” He said.
“Why did you make something so contrary to undead?” Vincent said, almost shouting.
“Their purpose is to counter lightning users. Specifically, they generate a very strong electromagnetic field so they act like lightning rods so that other undead do not have to fear lightning as much.” He said.
Vincent blinked and looked at them and moved rapidly because they aimed and shot at him. Appeared like a shadow before closing the distance moments before hulking zombie appeared and transformed as his body hardened and formed a powerful carapace that Milo was channeling Death mana into.
BANG!
Vincent was mid swing and struck the zombie to pierce his scythe. The impact produced a shockwave and sent all five zombies flying back and a deep wound was on the shell but as it got up, not even bone was visible.
“That is a Tank.” Vincent said.
The carapace vanished and death mana gathered on the wound and slowly closed.
“Hard durability and healing factor.” He said.
He turned and blocked suddenly as Scar’s massive dragon tail, coated in death mana, came crashing into him and was stopped as a thick bone pillar got in the way and was supported by Vincent himself.
On the side of the field, the childhood friends looked, “Just like we always said, Milo’s talent for making undead is so disgustingly broken with his ability as it is.” Shoji complained.
The other nodded, it might have been weak at the start but as soon as he started to generate actual followers that could produce medicine to grow, he blossomed in his own way.
Among the heroes, they admired the boy’s summoning speed, calculations and strength.
“What a fierce child.” Esper said.
“No joke, although they aren’t at the point of truly threatening a hero but with such variety, especially the lightning zombies, he could put up a good fight against a weaker braveman.” Blue phoenix said.
Chasm Might watched and then looked up.
His look caught other’s attention and they looked up as well and their faces showed shock because a black cloud had formed and they finally sensed that it was coming from Milo.
“Wait, is he summoning undead and distracting Vincent while simultaneously casting a big spell?” Bookkeeper asked.
In the fight, Milo was groaning as he summoned Bargo and unsummoned a few others. The black armored skeleton rushed out swinging and clashing, almost being tossed off his horse as the weaker of the clash but he soon attacked and went head to head.
Milo was quietly chanting while the cloud thickened and when he finally struck the war scythe on the head of the dragon, causing a resonating knock, Vincent kicked the death knight away and looked up.
“From the depth of the underworld, heed the ancestral pact and deal with my enemy, come to the eternal call, Spectral Hell Reaper!” Milo said and from his robe, he pulled out a black bullhorn and blew.
Visible ripples of death mana surged up and smashed into the clouds and forced an opening that sent a cold into everyone’s back.
A large, spectral bone arm appeared instantly and the ground began to shake as a giant skeleton appeared from the hole and roared before all the mana in the clouds gathered through his body and turned into a massive beam that came down upon Vincent who instantly summoned the Lich Val’ric and both of them instantly built a bone barrier.
Everyone’s jaw dropped but as the beam vanished, the crust of bone was still there while all the undead were unsummoned and Milo was sweating while he landed, almost falling and barely able to get up.
“That…” Chasm Might muttered and looked as the bone barrier broke and exploded out.
What came out was Vincent but like never before, his eyes were glowing a bright green and he was grinning wide.
“Call of the Spectral Giant Skeleton, to think I would live to see the day a child a tenth my age could successfully summon it forth where even my disciples of decades have failed.” He said while his body radiated a joy that the normally dark moody aura would permeate.
The most shocked people were the necromancers because they all knew exactly how hard that was.
“W-when did he see that spell! We haven’t even had a single class with such advanced magic?!” one of the necromancer teachers, Vincent's oldest disciples, said.
“He got it from the netherworld.” Robin said. They looked and Robin smiled, “Just like he got the recipes for developing a skeleton, he got knowledge from the netherworld.”
The others in the group nodded because it was pretty obvious.
Milo straightened himself and looked at the bone but he groaned, “That barely seared the surface of the bone barrier.” He complained.
Vincent’s grin broadened, “Yes, this is how a necromancer should be, never satisfied, always seeking to improve!” he said and laughed a loud bellow laugh that few to none have heard in public.
Milo and Vincent withdrew but it was clear what had happened, Milo had proven himself what Vincent searched for in a disciple and inheritor.
The others were more excited to go after that thrilling fight but Mephesto walked out, “Girl, how far are you from summoning your primary demon?” He asked.
“Oh… I’ve trained hard during the summer and have used most stats to enhance my constitution…” She said and summoned Lily.
“How far is she?” He asked simply.
Her face hardened, “She can just barely summon me but I should warn you, summoning my true form is not like summoning Yez and the others. As soon as you form a complete vessel at my full power, my true body in the demon realm will be summoned into the form.” she warned.
“Then it is time, child we will test this power.” Mephesto said.
Lola was surprised but nodded and they walked into the arena.
Shoji looked without looking at Robin’s shadow, “What happens when she merges?” He asked.
Robin’s lip pressed.
Shoji looked up and there was a look of worry but even the shadow did not speak and even looked at him, “I shall not speak.”
He looked at Robin with a frown.
Lola summoned almost a hundred demons and infused the devil essence into Lily’s vessel and slowly her form grew as more infused and as she filled up and grew, the heroes all felt their hearts tightening because her aura grew more and more dangerous.
Robin felt his hair stand on ends because he was reminded about ‘him’.
The heroes actually had to hold themselves, “So this is what Mephesto said about the hardships of meeting her.” Chasm Might said with sweat on his head.
“Alright, these are the final ones and I will hit 50%.” Lola said and the last bits entered and instantly there was a shock against the dimensions.
Behind the demoness, a portal opened and standing there was the real one and the vessel had her eyes closed but her back touched the barrier. The real one touched the barrier and couldn’t pass but with a push, her entire body turned into energy and was absorbed into the vessel and her eyes opened and pulled back and with it, a string that connected the realm to the vessel was formed.
She breathed and exhaled, “So this is the human world, it feels different now that my real form is in this world.” She said.
“Lily.” Lola said worriedly.
“Don’t worry, it's just a strange feeling, being in a place where so much conflict and anger attacks your body so much.”
“Alright, merge.” Mephesto said as his body transformed into his already demonic form and he drew that long sword he used to fight quickly.
Lola looked and Mania smiled, “Remember that a big hit will come from the contract evolving, the knowledge will go directly to your head like a needle, don’t resist even if it hurts.” She said.
Lola nodded and the two touched and Mania glowed and became hollow and floated around Lola before being absorbed.
“It’s coming.” Robin said and lowered himself and grabbed the ground.
BOOM!
At once the ground exploded as Lola opened her eyes and they were black and her eyes were red as her belly glowed with seven colors and it spread branches for each sin infused into each element.
She cried out in pain as her body began to merge and Mania’s demon tail and wings formed, her nails grew out into claws and her fangs grew longer until finally horns grew from Lola’s head.
While this happened the connection in Mania moved into the center of Lola’s belly where it would now endlessly fuel her required demon energy to produce devil essence and transform her body.
That said it was shocking that the reaction was so strong and Esper had to move to form a barrier to contain the chaos but each element surged out one at a time and moments after Lola’s stats were instantly used to cause her body to evolve and transform under the guidance of the system.
The amount of energy was so extreme and lasted five whole minutes until the glow vanished but Lola appeared, pale skinned but she got up and they realized that she had aged. Her long black hair came down to below her butt and her eyes were still red but the area around it was back to white.
She looked at herself but she looked completely like an adult now but she looked like herself and not Mania.
At that moment, nodes of world power began to form and then gathered into an orb before igniting.
Everyone instantly realized what it was and Kevin announced, being used to speak the words of the system, "Congratulations to the demon hosts for successfully developing and merging with a Lord of Devils. You have fully merged, and become a half devil and have been awarded a title to represent your minor evolution into a minor mortal divinity. These titles are also linked to a divinity which is a source of power in itself. This domain will infuse into the divine spark and distribute itself within your divine power."
The spark entered her heart and infused throughout the Devil essence and she opened her status and gasped before turning to Robin.
He looked and she visibly vanished and appeared before lifting him up, “You knew! You knew that merging with Lily would mean true and total merging! Body and soul!” She shouted
“In the memories, you had already achieved it so… yes.” He said.
“Why didn’t you prepare me for it!” She said.
“I couldn’t because if you knew you wouldn’t have done it. Your future self had said the same thing, if she knew she would have likely stopped using Mania and not trained a single day more so you wouldn’t lose her.” Robin said.
She started to cry and turned to Mephesto and cried out as she burst at him, sending Robin back.
Mephesto felt the danger and instantly reacted with defense.
Her anger and sadness was extremely high but the clash caused the earth to break under the power of earth and the heat from flame exploded.
Mephesto countered with the same defense but unlike his demon, Lola gained all of Mania’s memories, her thousands years of life that were all that was left. Her soul infused had also caused a surge in mental activity and within moments her brain was overloaded with mental energy which leaked into the storage from its huge stores.
She just wanted to vent and did it physically and Mephesto followed her and it was destructive as she used more and more power, exploding more and more powerfully, adapting to her hybrid form until she finally collapsed, crying, exhausted.
“What the fuck kind of crazy shit did she become?” Marcus asked.
Robin looked and asked the system. “She is the Demigod of Hell.” Robin said.
“What… what does that entail?” Chasm Might asked.
Robin shook his head, he knew the title but she never spoke of it except one thing, “The only thing her future counterpart said was that she is ‘his’ opposite, they are like the same kind of being but they are total opposites as well. Beyond that, I don’t know the exact details.” He said.
They looked at the girl who was crying and Mephesto landed and sighed before kneeling and consoling her quietly. He was also a hybrid devil but he wasn’t anywhere close to being similar to Mania. She was forged into a true demon lord to become a god but he was a scapegoat to keep a great evil from ruining the world who happened to get power.
After a bit she sat up and looked at her hands before Devil essence began to shift and change and it slowly gathered around her body like a stream of smoke.
“STOP!” Robin said and appeared next to her squarely punching her hard.
Her eyes instantly shook as she collapsed to the side and the smoke vanished.
“Robin, what was that?” Mephesto exclaimed.
“She was about to teleport out of the digital world. That smoke isn’t simply Devil essence. It’s a new ability.” He said.
Lola opened her eyes and looked at him, “Why did you stop me.” She asked.
“I know you are sad but get your head in place. Are you going to leave and suddenly get sensed by him? You haven’t even gotten half your required development ready to make sure you aren’t noticed.” He said.
She looked at him and tears fell out, “Not fair, you have the future to tell you…” She complained and sat up again and this time a much thinner smoke surrounded her and her clothing burned at its touch but it actually solidified into threads. It formed clothing, she stood up and once it was done it had taken the form of a slightly skintight suit before it condensed solid pieces of armor.
“What is that?” Mephesto asked.
“Devil armor… the form is naturally created without my wants, the form is unique but only devils can make it.” She said, “I need time… there is a lot. I’ll find out a bit about how to make a core.” She said but Robin stopped her, “You’re not going to find anything without properly training your mental energy.” He said.
“Then just give me time.” She said and took off flying towards her dorm.
Robin sighed as he let her go and looked at Grace. “In about an hour go check on her.” He advised.
She nodded and quietly went after her.
After that they turned to the carnage, “God, she was so strong.” Mephesto said.
“She basically doubled her status entirely.” Robin said.
Mephesto nodded and agreed, they had to fix the field so that the others could show off and next was Shoji’s turn against Esper.