For someone who frequently had to deal with demons, a hormonal teenager was nothing. I realized quickly that the quickest way to take care of Daryl was to remove his sexual drive entirely. As a flesh mage, this was laughably easy for me. It also wasn’t the first time. I had to use such means of castration on various demons who were unable to control themselves. As much as the human realm tried to paint me as some uncaring monster who created and released demons onto the world, I did my best to keep them on the right path, and when their proclivities became problematic, I would take care of those as well.

The result was the development of a quick way to extract someone’s sexual libido. This wasn’t like stealing their testosterone or messing with their hormones. They would still develop relatively normally. It also wouldn’t necessarily keep them from desiring sex, at least initially. The main thing this method did was keep them from being able to become aroused or achieve satisfaction. His little thing would remain soft for eternity. This was why I didn’t worry about his presence anymore, since he wasn’t much of a threat.

I was a little surprised to see him out there though. After finding out that his little Daryl was no longer functioning, I had expected him to be so ashamed that he didn’t want to face any potentially embarrassing situations. I had underestimated his boldness. Perhaps he thought that when it involved a real woman, his body would turn back on. Unfortunately for him, he was completely dead down there.

All of his libido had been harvested by me and existed within the tube in my hand. The libido could be given to others to enhance their sex drive. If I was truly the demon lord I was accused of being, I could have harvested young libidos and sold them to older men. Countless men would pay any amount to regain the libido of a young virile teenager. In this case, its function was clear. It was a magnet for the ghostly spirit that was already fueled by teenage hormones. It was the ace up my sleeve, and the reason I hadn’t been too concerned about Lana.

“M-my libido?” Daryl seemed to be slightly dazed as if he couldn’t believe what I had said.

“You should be thanking me. Had I not extracted your libido, this wraith would have already sucked out all of your essence and turned you into a corpse.” I responded with a shrug.

“I said give me that!” Lana roared.

“Lana, you can fight this. Come on. You’re being possessed.”

After I had heard a scream, I raced into the woods to see the surprising scene of the malicious spirit trying to eat Daryl. It was a bit amusing, like a person lost in the desert trying to drink the sand. I couldn’t help but savor the moment for a bit. Ivy had followed behind me, and after seeing Lana again, she tried to plead to her humanity. I already knew that such a thing wouldn’t work.

The malicious spirit let out a laugh, her voice sounding multitoned and far lower than it should of, giving her the perfect appearance of someone possessed. “I’m willing to be lenient. If you give me that vial, then no one has to die.”

“You’re dying already. You didn’t have enough strength from the beginning. You’re going to collapse soon anyway.”

“Not if I consume a human soul!” She shot back, her eyes darting around.

When they landed on Daryl, he jumped back several steps. He was still a bit dazed and confused. He had walked into something far outside his understanding and he didn’t seem to know what to do with himself.

I clicked my tongue and shook my head. “This world doesn’t have the mana to sustain you. If you had allied with me, then I would have found a way to continue to sustain you. I have my ways. On your own, though, you’re already on borrowed time. Every day, the demand will grow, and it won’t be sustainable. In short, you’re fated for death!”

“No!” She snarled. “I will live. Even if I have to eat a hundred souls, I’ll live!”

“You’re a relic unsuited for this world.”

“Then, I’ll make sure this host dies with me!” She declared/

“No!” Ivy gasped.

Seeing that her words at least phased Ivy, she grew a bit bolder, taking a step forward. “Teach me these secrets to sustaining myself. Give me the tube. I will allow this body to continue to live.”

“For how long?” I asked scornfully.

“As long as it takes!” She hissed.

“You…” Even Ivy, who had the most concern for Lana, didn’t feel tempted by this offer.

However, she still felt extremely helpless. The malicious spirit had a hold on Lana, and she didn’t doubt that it could kill Lana. I could only shake my head.

“Fine, enjoy.” I took the vial and chucked it.

“Ah!” Two people let out cries simultaneously.

One was Lana, who immediately leaped for the tube. The other was Daryl. He might not have understood everything that was going on, but that stuff had to do with him. He didn’t wasn’t to lose it! Yet, as Lana managed to catch it, moving far faster than a girl like her should have been able to move, he was too frightened to try to take her. He had already felt the oppressive darkness and had been manhandled by her. He might have been a meathead, but he wasn’t an idiot.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Thus, he could only watch on helplessly as the malicious spirit popped open the cork and smelled the contents. With a smile, she started downing the entire thing. While this was happening, Ivy had closed the distance between herself and me. She leaned toward me and whisper.

“What’s the plan now? You should have negotiated a bit more. I know she was threatening to kill Lana, but you gave away our best bargaining chip.”

“Oh, did I?” I yawned.

“Won’t she be even stronger now?” Ivy looked my way.

“Finally! I have strength!” the malicious spirit roared happily before looking at us.

Rather than looking appreciative, she had a slightly hungry look. “Now, it’s time to consume you.”

“What?” Ivy blinked. “We gave you the tube. You got everything you wanted!”

She broke into laughter. “That was just an appetizer. Now that I have more strength, nothing can stop me! Noth… ahhh!”

She grabbed onto her head a let out a scream. Her body became to shake wildly and she stumbled back.

“What’s going on?” Ivy asked the obvious question.

“You!” The malicious spirit screeched. “You did something to that vial!”

“Obviously,” I responded, looking to my side where Ivy stood. “Malicious spirits aren’t very bright. Even demons would be suspicious of gifts given freely. She just drank the entire thing without asking questions.”

“You demon!” She howled, grabbing at her face as her body seemed to stop working. “You tricked me!”

“You say that after you tried to devour us when thought you had gotten what you wanted?” I scoffed.

“You planned this from the beginning?” Ivy was looking at me strangely.

“Of course.” I shrugged. “Chasing around some spirit is rather inconvenient. Plus, you never know if they are there or escaping. This was the quickest way to deal with her.”

“No! No!” Lana had already fallen to the floor, her body convulsing.

“That burning feeling is the host rejecting you. Once you’re expelled from Lana’s body, you won’t remain long in this world.” I explained calmly, reaching out and stopping Ivy who had taken a step forward. “Dying animals are the most dangerous right at the end, it’s best if you keep back. You too, Daryl. Stay behind me.”

“Dude…” Daryl might have said more, but Lana was shaking and black miasma was flowing from every orifice of her body, which took up most of his attention.

Ivy was looking at her with worry, but both of them moved slowly until they were behind me. I began to prepare the malicious spirit’s final blow. It left me feeling a bit annoyed. I had to waste a lot of my supplies. Supplies were neither easy to obtain nor cheap in this world.

Lana finally stopped shaking, and she seemed to collapse into a deep sleep. A massive shadow creature began to rise. In the middle of the forest at night, it seemed rather intimidating.

“It’s coming,” I warned, preparing my next step.

At that moment, there was an audible gasp, and the three of us couldn’t help but turn to see Skylar standing there.

“Watch out!” Ivy cried out.

It was too late though. The creature saw Skylar at the same time. It immediately flew toward her. She seemed slightly dazed and didn’t even understand what she was looking at. Thus, she merely stood there as the creature grabbed her by the throat and then held her from behind. Her eyes widened, but she already couldn’t make a sound.

“You may have kicked me out of one body, but I’ll take another.” A disembodied and unsettling voice filled the night.

“Skylar, no!” Ivy cried her hands for some reason grabbing onto the sleeve of my shirt.

“Persistent,” I muttered in a near curse.

“Kill…” A disembodied voice carried across the dark forest. “Kill…”

Its vocabulary had already shrunk since it was no longer in Lana. It could no longer complete sentences, but it did get across what it wanted to say. It was saying that if we didn’t let it go, it would kill Skylar. At the moment, it didn’t have the power to possess Skylar. It was dying and it was reaching for straws. I would have preferred it tried its last few desperate swings at me, but Skylar had shown up at exactly the wrong time. I didn’t even have any time to wonder what she was doing wandering around the forest this late at night anyway.

“Let her go…”

“Kill…” It responded.

“Please, Aiko, do something!”

Skylar was making choking noises, and it was clear that it was cutting off her ability to breathe. Her face was turning pale and it wouldn’t be too long until it started to feed on her soul. Even if it wanted to use her as a human shield, it also needed her essence to continue. Thus, it was weakening her until she was weak enough to kill. I was just waiting for an opportunity at the moment, and I decided I didn’t want to give it.

After a few moments at a standoff with Skylar slowly losing consciousness and Ivy pulling on my arm like she was begging me to do something, I finally made my move. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but after seeing no other option, I pulled a crystal out of my pocket. Looking at it once sitting in my palm, I could see it was small and oblique white. In normal circumstances, no one would see the volume of this thing. I squeezed my hand around the crystal until it shattered in my palm.

There was an audible shift in the air. It was like a vibration as if someone changed the channel from one static-filled station to another. One could tell the tune had been changed, but they’d be hard-pressed to figure out how. Ivy seemed to notice a change, as she looked in my direction as if she had become mesmerized. I reached over and grabbed her hand, peeling it off my shirt.

“I’ll handle this.” I declared.

“O-okay…” she barely managed to get out.

I began to walk toward the malicious spirit.

“St-stay back!” It managed to get out in a scream, holding Skylar toward me.

“If there is one thing I despise more than anything else, it is threats,” I spoke calmly as I walked forward. “Particularly, I hate people using the people and things that matter to me to threaten my well-being.”

“S-s-s-stop!” It shook her again.

A white light in my hand began to spread out, forming over my entire body. For a moment, I glowed in the darkness. With the features of the original hero Aiko, I might have looked angelic for a moment, but that only lasted a moment. Then, my body started to change in another way.

“I decided long ago, anyone who chose to threaten me would die.” As I spoke, my voice grew deeper, and my height grew taller. “No matter what I lost, no matter who was taken from me, I would also get mine in the end.”

“A-aiko?” Skylar’s words were barely audible, but it showed the fright of the spirit that it had let go of her neck so much.

Taking a single look at me, she’d see a seven-foot-tall creature with hooves and horns sticking out his head. I had a massive frame, rippling muscles, and blood-red eyes. It was a form I didn’t like to take. Even while fighting the hero who cost me my life, I hadn’t taken on this form, and it was far easier in that world filled with magic. Skylar’s eyes rolled up in her head, and as the spirit retreated, she collapsed unconscious to the ground.

I walked passed her up to the huddled figure of the shadow monster. It was now on the ground, shaking in fear. As I towered over it, looking down in disdain. My pause gave it hope. It looked up at me, shakily asking one final word.

“M-Mercy?”

“No. You were closer before.” I raised my hand. “Demon.”

A darkness shot from hand, something that even made the shadow look light in comparison. It pierced through the shadow like a blade, and it had no choice but to melt away.