Alastor's POV

As soon as I washed my face, I went to where Amelia was. I wondered what her room would be like. I imagined there would be hanging frogs, cauldrons with suspicious substances inside. But things were quite different compared to my expectation.

Right now I was sitting in a completely pink room filled with girly ornaments and accessories. I guessed it would be normal to see a little girl like Amelia in such a room. But when you knew about Amelia's reputation, being here brought a certain unsettling creepiness in this kind of place .

Since I had no elemental affinities, Amelia could teach me Soul magic as she was also a practitioner of the art with both necromancy and soul magic. While the first lesson with Amelia would be about some basic spells during battle, it came to Amelia's attention that my body was quite different since she could not sense any mana from me. And so she was stuck in a dead end as she had no idea what I could do.

Nonetheless, it seemed that no one was aware of the existence of the Abyss and the souls of the demon lords inside it. I guessed it would be better to keep it a secret from everyone. The more information the enemy got on me, the less elements of surprise I got on them. I could not risk talking to someone close only for it to be reach the enemy's ears.

Later that day, when I talked with Belz in my dream, I realized that the reason I did not have any mana in my body was because I was unconsciously using a small version of continuously for the last seven years ever since I met Belz. And because of my inexperience, I ended up absorbing my own mana and things surrounding me.

But the quantity of mana absorbed was very low and slow so that was why no one detected it. Nonetheless, Belz taught me a few more things about his abilities. First, could only absorb incorporeal object such as mana. Any physical object would be disintegrated and converted into mana, such as the Mikael's arm I consumed. Secondly I could now use to discharge the mana absorbed into another object or myself. Thirdly the ability I used against Mikael and the celestials was called . Unlike , this would obliterate everything in its path, turning all into nothingness. I should be careful to use this.

As for Asmodeus, I found out that I was lucky during the village attack as there were only common soldiers. Because of my low level of power, would only work on someone much weaker than me or with a very weak mental of mind. But it did not mean not the skill was useless against powerful opponent. While I might not be able to control their whole body, with training I could try to control only one part like removing their sight.

Asmodeus also recommended me to seek out others demon lords wandering the Abyss. This would increase my arsenal and I could discover some powerful combinations of skills. Still she warned me that not all demon lords would be as welcoming as her and Belz so I must be careful.

At first I tried to go back to the depths to see the mysterious knight. I felt a bond with him the last time I saw him even though we have only met once. Perhaps he could teach me some of his skills. But the door was shut still. After several attempts, I gave up.

I decided to see Belphegor as I already knew him.

"Hi there!" I saluted him.

".... What?" he answered with disinterest.

"Could you give me your power?" I smiled at him widely.

"...No!" he said abruptly.

"...."

"....."

"No matter how much time you just sit there, the answer is still no. Now let me take my nap!" he grunted at me.

"......" But I did not react to his answer.

But it did not move him at all. So I decided to stalk him everyday for one whole month. During the day I trained with the others while I followed him everywhere at night. Even though I could spend days in this place without spending a single second in the outside world, my mind could not take it so I could only stay for a few hours before leaving again.

Finally after thirty days he caved in.

"You are persistent..."

"Should I take it as a compliment?" I asked him.

"...like a pest" he continued.

"I guess not"

I could spend days here and went back to the real world without spending a second. If only I could train here. Unfortunately training has to take place outside in the real world as even if I trained here, there won't be any change in my body.

"Why do you even want to do this anyway? It does not matter what you do. You will die and there will be  another replacing you. In the end nothing will change." he finally stopped and spoke to me.

"Honestly I don't know if I can change anything. But I know for sure that if I don't do anything nothing will change. And I can make a difference if you help me." I conveyed to him.

After a short moment of silence he conceded. He raised his hand toward me and I could feel something changing inside me.

"Asgore said the same thing... Like father like son I guess."

"What? Do you mean my father? You talked to him? Is he here?"

The mention of his name made me realized how much of an idiot I was. If Asgore was a demon lord and this place was where demon lords gathered after their death, shouldn't Asgore' soul be here as well?

"He said the same thing when he tried to 'recruit' me. As for meeting him, no I have not seen him ever since he died. In fact none of the people I know here has seen him."

How was that possible? If only I could ask Magnus about this but the guy did not show up these days.

"...Tell me! What do I look like to you?" I asked him. I have always wondered how I looked like from the shadow's point of view.

"Like all previous demon lords before you. You look like an orb of light." Belphegor said.

"So it means you don't actually know how he looks like. After he died, he would take his form in the real world and since you don't know how he looks like, it means that it is not that you have not seen him. It's you have not spoken with him. So there is still a chance he is here."

The next day I went to see Amelia to let her know that my previous mana problem has been solved but also for another reason. I was still a bit bitter knowning that I could only use Soul magic and not any of the elemental magic. If only there was some way to bypass this predicament.

Also there was something bugging me about what Noroeth told me concerning the events ten years ago.

"Amelia, why did you only use necromancy on Theoron and not the others who died at that castle?" I asked her. It was weird that only Noroeth came back. If we used necromancy on someone inside the castle like mother or father, we should have known what happened.

"It's not that I did not try to. It's because I couldn't. In order to use necromancy, you need a soul. Normally when someone dies, their soul lingers for a while at the place they died. But it was not the case ten years ago. There was no soul to be found." Amelia spoke as she put down her tea cup.

"What ? How is that possible? Then how did you do for Theoron?" I expressed my surprise.

"Theoron was lucky. He was outside the castle so I think the spell did not fully work on him. It did manage to kill him but his soul was intact. It did take a few months for me to get it back into his body though. As for those inside the castle, whatever that spell was either fully destroyed their soul or trapped them somewhere else.

But I have never heard of such a spell before, not in this kind of scale. At most I could do something like that for one or two persons but there were hundred of people that day inside the castle."

If something did erase all the souls of everyone inside the castle, it could explain why Asgore was not in the Abyss. The person behind this must have really thought through this. But this kind of pissed me off.

Anyway after my daily lessons and training, I went back to the Abyss, this time to look for more demon lords and at the same time asking about Asgore.

Although many had given him their power, none have seen him since ten years ago. Though my search did not harbour any fruit, I did manage to convince two shadows to give me their power. Or rather Asmodeus convinced them to see me. I did not know how she managed but I dared not to ask.

The first one was a slime named Devas. From my perspective, it looked just like Azurus but pure black. According to him,  his ability allowed one to create a clone of himself. The clone however would only have a tenth of the user's original power. As I increased my mana pool, I would be able to create more clones and even change their appearance.

As for the second one, it was a colossal shadowy creature with two giant wings. Just one look at the creature reminded me of the most powerful race in the world: the dragons.

"Are you a dragon?" I asked the creature.

"Indeed I am little one. Now give me your hand." the dragon spoke to me in a dignified and ringing voice.

As I reached my hand to him, I felt something flowing inside me. So this was a dragon's power. As I lost my consciousness, I heard his voice again.

"Rejoice as the Great Xenes has given you a portion of his power. Seek the Scion and the stars will follow your commands!"

I immediatly woke up and found myself in my room again. 'The Scion...' what did he mean by that? Anyway I should test these new powers first thing in the morning.

....

....

It did not work. Neither the slime nor the dragon power worked. It has been several hours since I tried everything I could but nothing worked. Perhaps I did not have enough mana for these skills? I did not even know what Xenes' skill did. But the slime I was sure I could create at least one clone.

"What am I missing?" I thought out loud.

Then my thoughts were disrupted by a grating voice.

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"You seem to be doing something interesting." said Azurus in a joyful manner.

"Hi Azurus! What do you want? I am not in the mood today"

Although he promised me that he would teach me something incredible, it has been a few months since I stayed here and still I waited for that special lesson. Other time he just passed by, saying some silly jokes and ran off. Usually I stayed listening to him but now I was not really cheerful enough to listen to his jokes again.

"What a rude kid! I am here to help you solving your problem and you just push me away like that. This must be the famous rebellious phase every parent has to go through!!!" he said while faking to cry.

"I don't think you can help me anyway!"

"Oh really! And here I thought I could help you with Xenes and Devas. Ok then don't mind me then. I will just go this way right here..." Azurus nagged as he jumped away.

As soon as I heard the name Xenes and Devas, I immediately stood up. I thought no one was aware of the existence of the Abyss. How did he know these two names?

"Wait! How did you know about them?" I shouted at Azurus. He stopped jumping away and turned to me.

"I know a lot of things kid. Just between you and me, you don't have to hide about your 'special dream'. But that is not the problem isn't it? The problem is that you can't use Devas and Xenes' power.

How about a deal? I will help you with unlocking these for you, or at least send you in the right direction and in return you will not ask me anything about how I know all this. Deal?" avowed Azurus.

While he only looked like a normal slime, he clearly knew a lot more than he claimed to. But could I trust him... But if I can't unlock these powers, there might be a lot more I could not use. I would have to risk it. Beside he was also a demon, I did not think he would do something that could harm our goal.

After spending a moment in deep thoughts, I finally agreed to his term.

"Very well then. You got yourself a deal. Now tell me how to use these powers." I said to him.

"As you know, the demon lord has access to the skills of his predecessors. You have gotten a few for yourself for example. But there are a type of skill that required more than just being a demon lord.

The Bloodline Scion. Some demon lords were monsters themselves who evolved into a demon. To have their power, you will need the Scion of their bloodline, a proof that shows you are one of their kind in order to be able to use their abilities.

For example, Devas is a slime himself and his ability is to create clone from his body. But the body of a slime and a human has nothing in common. Surely you can't expect that you can just pop out a clone of yourself with only your human body. Therefore you need to have a slime's essence inside you. Not just any slime but a pure one from the old bloodline. And as you can expect, those are incredibly rare.

Lucky for you, I have just the right thing for you. Here take this!" Azurus threw a small blue gemstone at me.

"That is the essence of a pure slime. Take it and you will be able to use Devas' ability."

"But how exactly do I do that? Just swallow it?" I asked him.

"In order to absorb the essence, you need a way to convert matters into incorporeal to be absorbed by your body. But you have something like that don't you boy?" he jested at me.

He was aware of Belz's power too... How did he know about this? I really wanted to ask him but...

I decided to test out right away. Using , the gemstone disappeared into my hand and I felt something changing inside my body. It was my arms. They were turning transparent!!!

"What the ???" I yelled out while looking at my melting arm. It was almost like a slime body.

"Calm down! Breath! Control it and your arms will return to normal!" Azurus reassured me.

I took a deep breath and expired heavily. Instead of focusing on my arms, I tried to empty my head. A moment later the arms returned to normal.

"Good! Now try Devas' skill!" Azurus said to me.

"" I shouted.

My left arm turned transparent again and this time it extended to the ground and twisted itself forming a clone of myself. The clone, at first transparent, turned into a black color. It looked just like a shadow now. Fascinating!

"Congrat Alastor! Now you know how to use these skills. Find the Scions of the necessary race and absorb it for yourself. Eat and evolve! That's the nature of a monster!

Unfortunately I don't have a dragon scion so you will have to find one for yourself. But I can assure you it would be worth your time." said Azurus.

Then he turned around and started walking, or rather bouncing away.

"Thanks but how do I get a dragon Scion?" I asked him.

"Oh it's easy. Just kill one and eat it. But remember it has to be a pure one!"

* * *

A few days after the events at Caine Village

Avant-heim, Citadel of the sky

It has been three days since Ikarus was imprisoned in a prison cell. She was waiting for punishment for her actions at Caine village. Mikael, as the head herald, has accused her of treason and now she was on her way to the Hall of Justice, where her trial would take place in front of the community.

As she walked through the golden hall shining under the warm sunlight, she received countless stares of the people participating in the trial. Hundreds have gathered to see a celestial on trial. They were curious. It has been a long time since a celestial was on a trial as it was not their nature to commit a crime.

In their heart, they were the image of order and justice itself. Perhaps that was why none could understand the reasons behind the action of this lone celestial, who was also an executor, a symbol of justice.

Now Ikarus stood in front of three old celestials, each holding a golden staff, showing that they were the judges of this trial.

As the judge in the middle raised his staff and hit the ground, demanding silence in the court, the whispers stopped.

"We are here today to witness the trial of Ikarus Salem. As the principal judge of this trial, it's my responsibility to make sure that the trial will be fair and everyone will have their right to talk and protest.

Now we will begin with the statement from herald Mikael. If you please begin, herald!"

None of the words spoken by Mikael reached Ikarus' ears. Or rather she ignored him. In her mind she was thinking about her own actions. Did she do the right thing that day? Or did she make the biggest of her life? She have asked herself that questions for days ever since she returned to Avant-Heim. But no matter how long she thought about it, she still believed that she made the right course of action, that she was innocent.

She could have ran away. There were many opportunities. But she chose not to. The celestial believed in the justice system she was once a part of. And they would prove her innocence. They must.

Before Ikarus realized it, it was already her turn to talk. But she simply said.

"I have nothing to say. I believe that I have done the right thing that day and I would do it again if I have the chance."

The court room was filled with whispers again.

"How could she say something like that?"

"Has she no shame?"

"How pathetic!"

She tried to ignore those statements. But one caught her attention.

"I am disappointed in you Ikarus! How could you shame me like this?  You are not my child"

It was her father's. His angry voice was hidden by the whispers of the crowds but Ikarus could only hear his voice. That was the only one that counted for her. Her father was the reason she pushed herself in this position. She wanted to follow his steps, to be someone that he would be proud of.

"Ikarus Salem, for your charges of insubordination, treason and associating with demons, the court find you guilty of all charges.

In normal case, you will receive the capital punishment. But the court has taken in account your services and so we have decided that you will be exiled, never to return again.

And to make sure that you will shame your race no longer, your wings will be cut off.

The sanction will take place immediatly. Guards !"

Ikarus could only hear a single word "Guilty". It kept repeating inside her head. Even when one of the guard seized her on the ground while the other took out his sword in one hand while holding Ikarus' wings on the other, she could not believe what she heard.

Her trust in the system has been betrayed. Her family has abandoned her. And soon her wings, who had been with her for her whole life, they too would be gone.

The guard raised his sword, waiting for the judge's permission. With a single hand gesture, the sword sliced down. The trial came to an end with an agonizing scream from Ikarus.