Part 2
“So, do you have a name? Or does a species like you even need one?” Drake shivered again as he looked up to the mass of eyes.
“Names. It is a novel concept to us. We simply refer to the great one as the great one, although we recognize that your imp calls him Aesir. A suitable name for such a being.” The voice said in a somewhat self-congratulatory manner.
“We will refer to you by these names if you so desire, but it has no real meaning to us.”
“Works for me.” Drake said in a dejected sigh, as he scratched the back of his head.
Yami may have adjusted well enough to these things, given her lack of experience and innate inclination for telepathy but in Drake’s mind, he couldn’t help but have an intense feeling of revulsion. The peering eyes from every angle, the horrific squelching noise that he occasionally heard as the eyes that transformed the surrounding fungus appeared and disappeared. Frankly, in any other situation, he would have been hard-pressed to even associate with them.
As for Yami, she had explained briefly how their method worked, and internally, he thought it was a suitable substitution for his own method, if overly personal. While the hivemind didn’t require such a method, the brief flashes of memory and emotion came through when he attempted to speak with any of the other Myconid was frightening to him. Simply put, it was a process that utterly unnerved him, especially given that the hivemind seemed to pay special attention to his reactions to those emotions. While his own connection with Yami was similar, they were still entirely separate. The Myconid however, practically reversed the concept.
[So, when I woke up, I heard that thing mention something about helping me. Help me with what exactly?] Drake turned his attention to Yami. At the least, she typically had good judgement of others. Such was the advantages of constantly feeling out the emotions of everyone who you felt like.
She turned to Drake, a confident expression clear on her face. [To be honest, all I really know is that your rank up will probably take longer than it does normally, judging from how Aesir spoke of you. A normal demon takes less than a day, as their body quickly acclimates to the specific Sin that they control. For you though…] Yami stopped, before she began to ponder to herself.
Yami had always known that Drake was different. While an excess of his specific mana tended to warp his personality a bit, that was nothing in comparison to a legitimate demon. From the moment they became a Lord, they would become overly obsessive with their own sin, which often resulted in them becoming nothing more than a conduit for that power. The original personality would be consumed, leaving nothing but that warped personality left. Drake however, have never been subject to that intense warping.
She knew well how impossible this should have been. Sin warps the personality, and the Lord of such Sin would be warped absolutely. Even the servants would be subject to such a change, albeit in a more minor way. While there were always outliers, such a thing was rare.
[It might take longer, since you have two different sins, that’s all. Oh, and Aesir is the actual spirit of the tree the Dryad is a part of.] Yami changed the subject in a discreet manner, as she attempted to avoid the truth of the matter altogether. Pointlessly speculating and worrying him before his rank up wouldn’t do any good, and she had help for once, in the form of the Myconid. She could afford to be a little careless.
[Is that so…] Drake shook his head, aware of the turmoil in her mind.
“Heh…” He reluctantly laughed. Yami had always been one to think too much, but it was a gesture that he deeply appreciated, given the object of that worry was often him. Still, they both had a mutual understanding. Don’t try to overly pry into each other’s thoughts. That simple rule was an essential step given their bond.
“So, let’s just get down to it. What do I need to do?” Drake aimed his question at both Yami and writhing mass in front of him.
“Well, first things first. How is the state of your mana core, Drake?” Yami posed a question to him.
“My mana core?” Drake tilted his head to the side, before quickly centering himself as he focused on the demonic mana gem inside of his body.
The space inside had changed pretty drastically after drinking the water from the mana well. Expanding out to cover the entire area surrounding the core, the faint mist that made up the normal state of his mana was slowly being drawn into the center, as the core itself seemed to shudder with power before resuming to draw in the latent mana. Even though the entire process was new to him, he felt a nostalgic, full feeling as the core permeated the region. Strangely, it felt similar to when he first formed his magic.
“If I had to guess, it’s almost full. My body feels strange though. It’s like I’m buzzing with energy.” Drake murmured.
“Good.” Yami nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Now listen, for the rank 1 stage for demonic magic, the mana fills the body, forming a basis of the frightening strength that demons are known for. You wouldn’t know this, but a typical Lord is actually quite weak before they fully form their core. Given how strong your body normally is, you never really had a problem fighting frightening creatures that would otherwise beat you out of their sheer physical ability. For example, a normal Lord would have been skewered if they even attempted to fight the wyvern that you ‘tested’ yourself on.” Yami gave a rather scathing look as she finished before smiling smugly as she held her finger up.
“You however, will only be further enhanced. Truly, you’ll be unmatched by the large majority of other creatures at your rank, even matching those at a rank above you.”
“And for the process itself?” Drake asked.
Yami’s demeanor instantly sunk, as she poorly hid a grimace.
“Truthfully, I don’t know myself. I know what ranking up does because it was basic knowledge, but the process itself… All I really know that it’s used to weed out those who ‘aren’t suitable’ for the power. What that means, even I’m not sure. But that’s where these guys come in.” She gestured over to the group of Myconid that were slowly making their way around the area, tending to the various mushrooms that made up the region that they brought Drake to.
“The Myconid?”
“Yep. You see, Aesir actually brought us here, saying that the Myconid would be able to help. While I’m unsure just what species Aesir actually is, the spirits that make up the greatest trees have an almost unlimited wealth of knowledge.” Yami said.
“Aesir, huh…” Drake couldn’t say much, given that he had never met the spirit himself. While it was certainly true that Yami had been unusually trusting of all these creatures, he could really only chalk it up to how they treated him. While the Myconid themselves were incredibly straightforward, to the point where even he felt thankful despite his initial disgust towards the creatures, the spirit that controlled the dungeon was something that left Drake with a deep uneasiness towards its intentions.
While Yami herself knew about this world to a great degree, he had his own knowledge about these so called ‘dungeons’ from the old world. While there was a great variety, in stories they ranged anywhere from outright vindictive to a glorified training ground, with those who had an intelligence behind them invariably worked towards their own gain. That was a simple truth.
Without a doubt, the spirit behind the dungeon would expect something in return for all this. It was the exact price behind that which left Drake was an uneasiness about him.
“Well, how do we start this?” Drake smirked slightly as he looked up to Yami. He had picked up her bad habit of thinking too much. In cases where one couldn’t find the right answer, it was always best to simply just let things fall where they would. One could deal with the consequences later.
“Well, the easiest way would be to simply relax, and focus on drawing in the ambient mana around us. Typically, this is only done in your own territory, so you’ll have to convert it first since it’s not our own type. You’ve done that manually before, right?” Yami tilted her head to the side in a questioning manner.
“Unfortunately…” Drake said with a sad grimace. Absorbing natural mana always left with him a sick feeling, like it wasn’t made to used by him. Well, that was only partially true. He could use it plenty well, it was just holding in and converting it left him feeling badly ill, like a horrible stomach virus. It was a process he had hoped to never replicate ever since he had fully formed his own demonic mana.
And it’s not like I can just corrupt the entire place to make it easier, either. No doubt I’d make an enemy out of every Myconid here, especially since plants seem especially vulnerable to my mana. Drake laughed sadly.
“Alright then, I’m going to start.”
Drake breathed out deeply, before starting the arduous process of absorbing the ambient mana around him.
Just take it slow… I don’t have to take in a lot at once. Just let my natural mana absorb it slowly, and it should be fine. He laughed nervously.
He breathed out slowly as he relaxed, and began to slowly draw the surrounding mana towards him. As the natural mana began to enter his body and build up, he felt the familiar sickening feeling come over him. Forcing his demonic mana to the forefront, the feeling subsided, and he visibly relaxed.
“Good, now just focus on the core.” He whispered.
Taking the mana that entered the outer layer of his body, he quickly corrupted it into his own, before forcing it towards the core. Within a moment, he could feel the new mana quickly absorbed into the shining core, with the core itself only quivering slightly as he continued to process more mana. This continual process of drawing in environmental mana, corrupting it, and drawing it in lasted for a period of time, and as he continued, he began to feel sudden tremors run through his body as more and more energy was built up.
Sensing the slight change in himself, he opened his eyes, with only a faint smile betraying any sense of confidence that he had. [What next?]
[When you feel you’re ready, force the energy in the core throughout your entire body. Then it will begin.] Yami advised him.
Drake simply nodded, confident in her advice. [Right.]
From there, Drake simply continued the long and arduous process of drawing in the latent mana towards himself. While the Myconid seemed somewhat curious, they were left in the dark, as Drake simply wouldn’t put any spare energy towards them. Yami meanwhile, seemed quite happy to keep them entertained in the meanwhile. He was quick to pick up on the small, worried glances she gave him, however. No doubt concerned about him as usual.
A small, content smile crept up on his face at the thought, before he returned to concentrating on the arduous process. Thankfully, it was rather simple. While absorbing mana from the environment did take a bit of work, it wasn’t something that was overly difficult. Such a simple process really wasn’t qualified for him to give any thought over. What he was really unsure about he was the so-called test that Yami mentioned. Given the nature of how everything worked these days, he was positive it wouldn’t be simple. The formation of his demonic mana, the discovery of the Draconian inside of himself, even his meetings with those like Gwyn and the Lamia, none of them were what he would have expected.
“Heh. That’s what makes everything so great, though.” Drake muttered to himself with a satisfied smile. His greatest wish in life was always to live in a way that he enjoyed himself. It was why he began to despise the drudgery of everyday life back when he was nothing but a human. Now, though? Everyone he had met, Therion, Ella, that crazed elven girl, Anri, Peter’s group, and above all, Yami. With them, he truly enjoyed learning and talking with them and he had grown much closer with others now than the vast majority of the superficial relationships he had in the old world.
“It’s all a matter of how you view things, I suppose.” He remarked to himself in a soft voice. Refocusing on the task, Drake continued pulling the natural mana in the environment to himself. It wasn’t long after that he felt that he hit a limit, only continuing for another ten minutes. At that point, the core itself was shuddering and shaking with power, as it constantly tried to collapse further in on itself, only to meet with a considerably resistance from inside the core. If he tried anymore, he felt that something would go wrong.
It should be done. Drake thought with satisfied smirk. Now… it’s just time for the process itself.
Lifting his head, he gazed out into the empty, bioluminescent cavern, dotted with large, fungal buildings. Throughout the entire time he had been a Draconian, he had never really been concerned on whether he would fail. Either he’d succeed, or the consequences would be so great, that he never considered otherwise. For something like this, however. Well, he just wasn’t sure.
He shook his head with a sly smile creeping onto the side of his face. Just focus on what’s in front of you.
[I’m going to start, Yami.] He stated.
[Alright. I believe in you.] She responded faintly, her voice full of care.
[Thanks.] He couldn’t help but smile at the imp’s affections.
Confident, Drake closed his eyes as he carefully opened himself up to the energy from the core, as just the smallest hints of energy began to leak out towards his body. The energy itself acted much like water, slowly filling up every space that was empty of energy, as a massive swelling of power began to enter every pore in his body.
Stolen novel; please report.
This is it. This is what she was talking about. Drake thought with excitement. Still, just what was that test, or ‘process’ Yami was talking about? He couldn’t help but ponder to himself. If it was supposed to weed out those who were advancing, it likely had to do with the sin they possessed. That was the only thing that made sense to him.
“Hey Drake, what are you looking at?” A familiar voice called out to him, which left him with the strangest sense of nostalgia.
“What?” He opened his eyes and looked around only to see a classroom, one of the larger ones that was commonly used for the more mandatory classes that the college he went to required. Next to him, was the same girl that he left on the day that he turned into… something. That was strange. He knew it was important, but he just couldn’t place his finger on what it was. It had changed him forever… but, just what was it?
“Hey, are you feeling alright?” Taylor cocked her head to the side slightly, her voice tinged with a sense of care.
“Yeah, I’m just… feeling off today, I guess.” Drake quickly answered with a manufactured smile. Today was just another boring day in class, going over some of the finer points of Biology. Not that he needed to hear how the genus that worms belonged to had about a million different variations.
“Well, hope you get to feeling better.” She replied happily, with the same smile that he had grown so used to.
“Thanks.” He responded in turn, with the only faintest sense deep inside him that something was horribly, horribly wrong.
…
“So young imp, are you going to begin as well?” The Myconid Sovereign turned to Yami momentarily before its attention shifted to Drake. There was a sickening popping noise as the Sovereign’s eyes were beginning to surround him, its eyes filled with clear interest as Drake’s body began to audibly crack and shift ever so slightly. The demonic magic was already well on its way to refining his form. The Myconid simply needed to fulfill their role now, as was directed by Aesir.
“Yep.” She nodded faithfully, putting her full trust in the Myconid species to care for Drake. “No matter what happens to me… I never regretted a moment with him. But, he’s lived such a longer life than I have; every time I peeked at his memories, it’s filled with sights and sounds I never imagined. So… you’ll do what I asked?”
There was a visible bubbling of the various fungi around the Sovereign, as the entire mound of matter shifted ever so slightly. Yami returned the gesture with a smile of her own, as a thick shade of red mist began to surround her body entirely.
The Myconid. Straightforward, honest creatures to a fault. They can’t even hide their own amusement. She thought.
“Of course, young imp. We never had any plans otherwise.” The Sovereign answered playfully.
“Thank you.” She nodded her head respectfully, as the mist surrounding her suddenly solidified, leaving her entire body encased in a beautiful red gem.
*****
In the town of Fortress, thoroughly hidden among the myriad of similarly made buildings, and shops.
“Just a little bit… more… limproot…” A woman was carefully measuring out ingredients, before mashing them together with a small rod and bowl, before pouring them into a larger pot. Age-wise, she looked to be approaching thirty, but still retained a healthy demeanor. Her face was attractive as well, although it was marred by various signs of dirt and grime from strenuous testing and work. Drake would recognize it as a process very similar to how Gwyn made the wide variety of potions in her small hut, but at the same time, this woman seemed to have a much harder time feeling out the correct proportions to use.
“Oh, no please…” She pleaded out in a wishful tone, before suddenly yelling in an utter panic, “Shit, shit!” There was a sudden puff of smoke, as the mixture of paste and liquid in front of her suddenly reacted violently before exploding into a mess of ingredients that covered her black hair and her immediate surroundings, leaving her and the stone hut with the distinct smell of rotten eggs.
“God dammit, why does this have to be so hard…” She remarked sourly to herself, shaking her head free of the grime in a frustrated manner. No matter what she did, it always seemed like she messed up certain batches, like there was some unknown factor she wasn’t seeing. Regardless of the results, she’d just have to try again.
The woman huffed angrily before leaving the room, and entering what she considered to be her rest area. At certain times, it was best to get away from it all and clear her head before trying it all again. First though, she’d need to clean out all the mess she’d made. Sighing, she walked over to the door of her house to try to clear out some of the acrid smoke that had begun to build up.
“O-oh… hey there.” She widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden visitor at her doorstep. “You’re… Sabrina, right? You’ll have to forgive the smoke and grime, just failed another batch.” The woman gave a small, polite laugh before she tilted her head slightly, clearly curious why the half-elf had suddenly showed up.
“Marina. Marina Dyne, am I right?” Sabrina asked with conviction.
“Ah. Y-yes…” Her response came out in a stuttering, panicked manner. Though she tried to conceal it, the fervor in the eyes of the woman in front of her was startling to say the least.
Please, I need your help, something is wrong with me.” The elven woman suddenly grabbed at Marina, a hungry, almost maniacal look in her eyes.
“U-uh uh… yeah, ok. You can come on in, just mind the mess.” Stepping to the side, she gestured Sabrina inside the house, before closing the door behind her. This wasn’t the first random guest, and likely, it wouldn’t be her last. For better or worse, Marina was well known in Fortress.
She had been one of the few humans to survive past the weekly deadline, and had noticed a few curious things about herself since then. Most notably, was a notable increase in her own intelligence, along with the ability to clearly sense the flow of mana in plants and animals. A small addition to be sure, but one that proved to be undeniably useful given the difficulty in the more minute tasks of dealing with the new plants that were needed.
Unfortunately, that also made her the resident doctor for various afflictions that couldn’t be directly treated with ‘holy magic’, for lack of a better term. A faintly glowing, bright light that various people found themselves able to control and connect to, and that healed all wounds. Well, almost all.
“So, what’s the matter with you?” Marina asked, keeping a few feet out of reach of the seemingly deranged woman.
“I don’t know, just… check me. You can do that, right?” Sabrina said, the look of desperation apparent in her eyes. There was a clear lack of sleep, along with the pale, almost sickly tone of someone whose body clearly wasn’t working correctly.
Marina gave a short sigh before looking at distressed woman. It was clear she had some elven blood in her, but besides that, it was the demeanor she had about her that worried her the most. It seemed to be a tell-tale sign of those that had some of the more severe side effects of the transformation. Simply trying to reason with them normally might turn the situation violent, especially given how desperate this particular woman seemed.
Shuffling over to the side a bit, she gestured Sabrina inside, saying, “Haa… Come on over, and sit down, then hold out your hands.” She nodded Sabrina over to a small stool, who happily obliged and sat down.
Sitting down somewhat haphazardly, Sabrina wobbled down onto the chair, before holding out her hands. Marina returned the gesture, as she slowly placed her hands on Sabrina’s and focused on the flow of mana within her body. As she focused on the woman’s body, there was an almost primal shock that jolted her out of the state as soon as she tried to begin.
The mana that was inside her body… It was unlike any natural sort she had ever run across. It was… an unnaturally vicious breed, devouring and corrupting any scrap of mana that her body attempted to naturally absorb. How she hadn’t collapsed by this point was shocking to her.
“You… how long have you felt like this?” Marina’s voice was low and steady, as she attempted to keep any sense of surprise out of her reaction.
“Since, maybe… the morning we came in, two days ago. This… hollow feeling, it’s like something is eating me up from the inside. It’s horrifying.” There was a sickly grimace to cross her face as she explained. Clearly, the woman was terrified.
There was a pause from Marina, as she mulled over the different options.
“And you’re a magic user, right?” Marina asked.
“Ah… yes. I am.” She looked somewhat reluctant to answer, but did nonetheless. “Does that have something to do with this?”
“Haa… dammit.” Marina couldn’t help but sigh as she pulled away from Sabrina and crossed her legs. The fact that this affliction affected legitimate magic users made it even more troublesome.
“To tell you the truth, it’s quite the opposite really. Your wealth of magic power seems to be why you’re doing so well in fact.” There was a playful look that crossed her face for a brief moment, as if trying to alleviate the seriousness. “You said you first felt this feeling two days ago, what happened then?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary, really… We were just bringing home some monsters we captured, that’s really it.”
“And were there any other magic users in that group?” Marina asked.
“Yeah, it was just me and two others who were capable of it that made it back. Well, with real magic at least. An elven woman named Anri, and a normal human like you, called Derrik.” She conceded.
“So other humans actually go out, huh? Bah.” Marina merely shook her head at the thought, before moving on to more pressing matters.
“So, this Derrik and Anri, hell, even the rest, how are they all doing?” Marina pressed the matter. If the mana that was flowing through this woman was contagious, hell, if it even leaked out of her body, others would be negatively affected. If the others had it as well… she could only imagine how bad things could be.
“I… don’t know. Brian, Derrik, Anri, I haven’t seen any of them. Do you think…”
“Your entire caravan might have the same illness as you, only, if I’m right, they’d be far worse off.” Marina stated with grim fact, nervously clenching her fists as she did.
“This Anri and Derrik you spoke of, they might fare a bit better, given that the natural mana you three can take in staves off the worst effects for now, but for the others…” Marina stopped speaking. She had grown used to handing out news like this, even in the short amount of time she had to adjust. There were just too many different afflictions, and the magic others used to heal was too new. Even augmenting their magic with monster cores often wasn’t enough.
Still, despite that… she always hated giving this sort of news. It always left her feeling too helpless.
Marina lowered her head sadly, only giving her a small glance before saying, “Likely… they’ll soon succumb to it and be little more than dead men walking by now. As for you, I don’t expect you to be alive for another week at the rate this mana is devouring your body”
“No… You… you’re kidding, right?” Sabrina’s eyes flared up in fear, as her mouth gaped open. She simply sat there, her eyes slowly going through a myriad of emotions. Sadness, and hopelessness quickly began to well up inside her, before she jerked her head towards Marina.
“You. Can’t you do anything, you’re a healer, aren’t you?” Sabrina suddenly stood, with blame already in her voice, and tears already beginning to stain her eyes.
“I… don’t think I can.” She said slowly, as it trying to justify her reaction. “I treat poisons, even low-level curses with a few special ingredients but… you have something inside of you, and it’s devouring you from the inside. Unless you can find a legitimate user of holy magic, there’s nothing anyone can do to save you.”
“You… you… Aaaaghhh!” Sabrina let out a piercing scream of fear and anger as she collapsed into her hands as a slow, heavy sobbing escaped from Sabrina. Her mother and father had died in front of her eyes, she had lost all of her close friends, only a few days earlier, she had lost one of the only family members she had left, and now, even she was going to die. She had tried so hard to make life work in this world, but now? How… just how could this have all happened…
“No… that isn’t right.” There was a sudden rage in Sabrina’s voice, which unnerved Marina more than a little. She could already tell that this woman was more than a little unstable, and she wasn’t about to let herself to victim to some dying woman’s last actions.
“There was another person who we picked up. He was with Anri for most of the evening. She was always a bit of a freak, so we didn’t think much of it, but he was also one of the guards that night.” She said hatefully.
Sabrina paused, her face slowly shifting as certain madness began to cross her face. In the depths of her despair and anger, it was as if a gear had suddenly fit neatly into its slot, and had begun churning her mind with all sorts of possibilities.
“We lost two different monsters in just one night, one Lamia and one Harpy. The next morning, he was still there like nothing was wrong, but my Uncle, the one who was responsible for watching them, was dead. It was that same morning that this feeling started to build up inside me. Drake… he has to be the one responsible.” She spoke his name like she was spitting out a poison.
The harder to believe and more insane the theory, the more evidence would be needed to substantiate such an idea. This was even more true when blaming an innocent person, but despite that, Marina’s expression hardened slightly as Sabrina spoke.
“He was just a random straggler we picked up. Just a stranger, but he was out in the wild for weeks, and with an imp for god’s sake.” She added. “No one can survive that long on their own. The only demonic territory for miles should be out to the east. No one comes back from there with a servant without a battery of people to help them.”
“An imp…” Marina’s eyes tightened with thought at the mention of one of the demonic species. “Did he show any signs of being able to use demonic magic?” She asked.
“That doesn’t matter!” She yelled out in a rage. “It doesn’t matter… he has to be the one responsible… he has to be…” Her voice quickly dropped down into a low, muttering tone, more talking to herself than anyone else.
Marina merely sat to the side with some caution, as Sabrina quickly began to spiral downward, shifting between complete and utter madness and breaking down into a deep and heavy sob. The woman had clearly come to the end of her rope, and with nothing left, she might as well have been spouting off nothing but crackpot theories. It wasn’t unusual for people to come down with some strange illness these days, although it could typically be solved with something as simple as a wave of the hand. Nothing as serious as what the young elf had contracted however.
“An imp, eh…” Marina shuffled off to the side, content to merely let the woman cry herself out. Any half-hearted pleasantries would do nothing but rub salt in the wound for someone who was trying to come to terms with death, leading Marina to quietly return to the other room, back to the herbs and vials she had grown accustomed to.
“This is a still a problem…” She muttered reluctantly to herself, only clearing off a few stray lumps of material from her failed experiment before settling down on a nearby, stone chair.
The vicious, roiling mana inside Sabrina’s body. There was still a lot of unknown information in the new world, but one piece was well known. Demonic mana was antithetical to normal humanity. It could be used against them, effectively acting as a poison, no matter the type. Normal mana, the type that humans used for their magic and which was thoroughly soaked into their new bodies, simply couldn’t hold up to demonic mana.
All that aside however, Sabrina’s case really should be taken with a grain of salt. A whole mouthful, if taken realistically. Demonic mana was rare, and while there seemed to be a few strange cases of those in Fortress that managed to wander into the district that was designated to those who were able to use healing magic, none of those healed were ever conclusive for demonic magic. In the first place, even if those few cases were actually demonic mana, it was so pathetically weak that those cases were often given to those who were new to the profession.
It all came to how much more severe Sabrina’s case really was. There really was no comparison between the two. One, a complete beginner could solve over the course of a day or two, while the other had never even been seen. If she hadn’t felt the mana herself, she would have easily written it off as a sort of poison from some rare plant that had sprung up. Despite that…
While it was certainly rare, there was at least one rumor that was well known. The tale of a woman who had gotten control over a small group of outcast imps in one of the few villages that had sprung far up North from Fortress. It was all hearsay to be sure, but there had been enough people who had made it down South, and crossed paths with others that made the story seem reasonable.
According to them, while generally viewed as an unsavory practice, there had been a few cases where individuals of some unspecified races were able to take the mana of demons that were formerly employed by a Lord, and incorporate it into their own system of mana. It utterly corrupted the typical methods for casting magic, but it was a simple enough method to increase power, if a bad tactic for the future of that individual.
That woman that they mentioned, was different however. She was able to control her new mana entirely, after disposing of the imps of in question. It was guessed to be a rather disgusting process, but it left her with the power that the imps had left over from the actual demon. Power that she could use however she wished. It was all simply a rumor of course, but that didn’t stop others from trying to imitate the rumors, to no avail thankfully. The method was unknown, and a few deaths here and there stopped anyone from going east to the nearest demonic lands to try for more.
However, if she was correct, right in front of her was proof of such control over demonic mana. Could a demon have entered the city? And if there really was someone who had possession of demonic magic inside the city, instead of a demon itself, they could control it like the rumors said. In that case… well, things really were going to get out of hand quickly.