The deafening roar of the waterfall was the only sound I could hear. But even that began to disappear as I concentrated on the Ord inside me, filling every pore of my body.

I took a deep breath, and the world around me quieted down. The only sound I could hear was my heartbeat.

I slowly and methodically spun my Ord from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

Yet despite that, I couldn't get the right amount of Ord. The pain bit at my chest, and I was too exhausted to do anything.

Once again, irritating thoughts popped into my mind. Should I just use Perfect Me? That would make dealing with this injury a lot easier.

But I refused to do that!

My Ord flowed faster than usual; I didn’t know whether it was due to my emotions or something else. I controlled my inner energy and shaped it into a thin string-like needle that poked and prodded at my wounds.

I forced the Ord to shut my veins around the wound, which felt like a piercing pain! But I held on and gritted my teeth!

My Ord clung to my cells like a needy wife, and then I forced my cells to split.

…

Time passed, and my wounds got much better. Not fully healed though, as there was still a stinging pain when I moved around.

This was incredibly inefficient compared to using Perfect Me. With it, I could have easily healed a wound like this using barely any Ord. But attempting the same feat without Perfect Me cost me all my Ord and still the injury hadn’t fully recovered.

The waterfall parted, and Carpy came in with his water bubble. "Master, I sensed that your Ord has weakened! Are you okay?"

A talking Carpy was a bit of a worrywart. He fussed over every little thing. But I never held that against him. It just showed that he cared. “No, don't worry about it. I'm just a bit tired and out of Ord. You know, injured people things."

It was hard to tell whether he understood my joke. Carpy's eyes were devoid of any emotion. That fish face was hard to read.

"We should use the link between us, and I could send some Ord to you," Carpy said.

"It isn't that easy. For a Master and his familiar to be able to exchange Ord is something that requires a deep bond. The kind of bond that comes with years of life-or-death experiences together." I was exaggerating a bit. Only the fusion technique required life-and-death experiences and bonds built through that. But a demon needed good energy control to transfer his inner energy.

Exchanging Ord required a demon to trust their master completely. Most demons didn’t like humans and were forced to serve Beast Masters after they beat them. Under those circumstances, it was hard to develop any kind of bond.

Carpy nodded and nudged his head toward my hand. He seemed unsure at first and looked at me. Once he was confident that I wouldn’t tell him off, he touched my hand and released a ridiculous amount of Ord.

For being a middle-class demon, he had monstrous demonic energy and gave me hope that the impossible goal I was striving toward might be possible.

I felt Ord slowly crawling up my hand.

My heart shook. Was Carpy transferring Ord already? He was quite a talented fish. However, he wasn’t exactly there yet.

"This is quite hard," Carpy said, leaning against the cave walls.

"Well, Ord transfer is also like a skill. You need to train it," Since I had a life contract on my side, transferring Ord to Carpy was easy. For Carpy to do it in the opposite direction was a lot harder.. Heck, my contract might unconsciously intervene in that.

I didn't think there would be a time when I would run out of Ord. I had quite a lot and didn't have techniques that used a lot of Ord.

"Master, do you really think I will become a dragon?" Carpy suddenly blurted out.

"Of course you will," I answered without any hesitation.

I actually wasn't so sure myself, but Carpy didn't need that doubt.

Ord was magic energy related to emotions and belief to a certain degree; even an ounce of insecurity could have disastrous results.

…

A day passed by quite peacefully. There was nothing much to do; I could only continue to try and heal myself and sleep to get some energy.

Except for me, everyone else was busy. Gem seemed to be busying himself with some kind of training while Carpy was keeping guard and trying to get used to his powers.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

On the other hand, Bets was cooking meat in the cave. He used a pan with a heating talisman at the bottom.

"So, demonic evolution, how did you figure it out?" Bets flipped some rabbit meat and eggs. He was a surprisingly good cook. "It was only a theory that demons could grow stronger like that. Even then, no one had seen it happen before. There have been many tests, but there has never been a demon evolution success."

He was wrong on that. Many tests were successful, though only up to the middle class. They had yet to learn the exact components that caused evolution.

The only person who managed to evolve his familiar into a high-class demon had already escaped. By now, that demon should be in Ultimate Class. It was the demon used by the leader of-

"What does a demon need to evolve? Some assume that only a special kind of demon can evolve. They need that potential. But the potential isn't something that can be measured, only assumed." Bets rattled on about his theories.

He was wrong in some places.

"What do you mean by potential can't be measured? We can measure it by calculating talent and Ord amount." Sure, some people still had such bad Ord control, but they were few, maybe 1% or 2% of exorcists at most.

Bets smiled. "You're not taking into account people's stupidity. They get too ambitious. Either they want a cool ability, or they put too little conditions and get a shittier version of what they wanted."

Right, not everyone was so eager to put crazy limiters on their abilities. "By tomorrow, my wound should be healed. Then we can go and look for a red ribbon."

Bets nodded to my plan. He smiled, and his leg twitched like a kid on too much sugar.

I had sealed my wound well enough. I only had to wait four more days, and I would use my Perfect Me to change something.

There was no way I could allow Yamata No Orochi to almost get unsealed on the island. He might even get fully unsealed with how many changes I had made to the story.

***

A woman lay at the barks of the many big trees on the island.

She had pale skin and long red hair; anything above her waist had a strange allure. In contrast, everything below her waist was that of a grotesque, slimy red eel.

They called her Bloody, the leech demon. She had another name, but her master insisted on monikers; they’re easy to remember.

Being the Demonic Exorcist's servant wasn't an easy thing. At least she wasn't like some of the other high class demons, whose names were only letters of the alphabet.

The Demonic Exorcists had many demons like her. So he didn't bother remembering their names. He would send most on suicide missions, sometimes for a genuine goal and occasionally because he was just bored.

Why would a demon work with someone so obnoxious? Because he was strong, and none had a choice on the matter.

They would lose even if they gathered together to ambush him while he slept.

Bloody had come here with another member of a new organization her master had joined. It was a stupid name, something like Red Tails or whatever.

It had some strong members; some were almost as strong as her master. However, they lacked a certain quality he had.

Suddenly, there was a ruffle from the bushes, and a girl came out.

She was covered in blood, wearing only a red bikini. Whether that bikini was originally red or made so due to the blood. It was hard to tell.

The girl had a gaze without hope, as if she had already given up on everything.

But when she glanced upon Bloody, her eyes brightened. "A demon! A high class one!"

Bloody was confused and, at the same time, amused by the girl's reaction. It wasn't often she got to enjoy herself. The Demonic Exorcist only cared for his own amusement.

Ord poured out of the girl as she approached Bloody. Until she touched her, the girl's hair flew upward.

Bloody realized the girl must have been in a dangerous situation. She must also be quite talented. Not everyone could gasp their life force at such a young age.

If Bloody had to guess, the girl was a master with at least 65% Affinity.

The girl didn't question why Bloody didn't move, even as she touched her. But instead, the girl poured out an insurmountable amount of Ord. "Write a contract with me! I want revenge against a certain group of people!"

"Sorry little girl," Blood leaned down and fixed the girl's hair. She had nice hair. "But I'm already contracted to a strong master."

"No! No! I will break that contract! Please! Let me get my revenge!" The girl cried out as her hands withered up, her eyes sunk, and her hair turned white.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't even begin to reach the gates of the Demonic Exorcist's control over Bloody. She never stood a chance of breaking a binding so strong.

"Please! Please! Please!" The girl started begging, and as a last resort, she used her special ability.

Blood flew out from a wound in her wrist.

Bloody felt a chill down her spine as soon as she saw blood.

Without a second thought, she swung her arm in a karate chop and struck the girl’s head.

The girl's body fell to the ground, her eyes still wide open on her decapitated head.

Though she was a leech demon, blood made Bloody nervous. She sighed and apologized to the young girl. "Sorry, young miss. Your ability just reminded me of someone who I hate."

She used her leech-like tail and swung against the ground, gouging out a shallow grave. In many ways, the young girl reminded Bloody of herself. “A lot of people chase after revenge. Most don’t succeed. What gave you the hope that you could?”

In the end, none of them were special.

Beep! Beep! Beep!... An alarm clock rang out. Bloody removed the clock from its hiding place.

It was one of those old-style clocks. Bloody clenched her hand and shattered it. "Seems like it's time for me to hunt my target."

Someone that Master was interested in was taking this exam. So she had to go and test them. If the test was successful, she would die. If not, then her target would die.

It was a death match to ensure Master got an entertaining toy.

Bloody sighed. Even as a high-class demon, she was nothing compared to the true monsters.

The Demonic Exorcist was one of those monsters.