_________________
Na: Haell Zharignan
Species: Archdemon
—Mutations—
Curse Heart: Level 45
Demon Brain: Level 43
Demon Skin: Level 43
Evil Eyes: Level 42
Demon Flesh / Demon Bones / Demonic Musculature(synced) : (All) Level 42
Demon Arms: Level 43
Demon Hooves: Level 44
Resentnt: Level 40
Demon Horns: Level 43
Mana-infused Blood: Level 45
Regen Heart: Level 44
Demon Wings: Level 43
Hellfire Heart: Level 44
Unbreakable mory Core: Level 43
Extradinsional Demon Blood Storage: Level 43
Demon Tail: Level 44
Localized Dinsion Scanner Matrix: Level 43
Rapid Combat Nervous System: Level 44
Blood Heart: Level 44
Blood Eater: Level 43
—Soul Feats—
Reincarnator
Progenitor
Imp Progenitor
Progenitor II
Demon Progenitor
Demon Harbinger
Progenitor III
Archdemon Progenitor
Slaughter of the Astro Manor
Pandemonium
Mark of The Beast
_________________
“HAELL!!!”
I was taken out of my thoughts and review of my Status when I heard a sudden voice that I hadn’t heard in a literal decade.
“ELFRAFIM!?” I shouted, looking towards the entryway that was now on fire. Hellfire. “Pandemonium, Wait! Or rather, stop! She’s a friend!”
The flas that were being held back by a barrier of wind died and sank back into the dirt. An area of grass had been burnt by what had just happened, but that regularly happened anyway because I trained in the courtyard often. It’d regrow.
“OW! What? What!?” Elfrafim scread, lodically sohow. “Did you just attack , Haell!? What gives!? Are we not friends anymore!? I’m sorry I didn’t make it in ti to rescue you!!”
“No, no, I didn’t attack you!” I walked up to the elf woman, and gave her a big hug. It really put into perspective how big I’d gotten, because she was so small to begin with. “That was Pandemonium.”
“Oh? Who’s that? Soone else can use hellfire? Well, I guess Moonwash can. But Pandemonium sounds like a completely different na!”
“That’s because it is!” I laughed and let her go. “Fuck. Pandemonium is well, this whole manor. It’s sapient.”
“...Huh?”
“The manor is Pandemonium. And Pandemonium is a sapient being.”
“Are you… joking?”
The walls rumbled, and she tensed. For all her silliness, Elfrafim did still have a wealth of experience.
“I’m not.”
“Oh…… What? Really? But how? How does that even work? I… Huh?”
“Yeah. It’s a lot,” I chuckled again. “Why don’t we co inside for now, yes?”
“Alright…” she followed, her confusion visibly giving way to curiosity as she observed the courtyard with a keen eye, and even keener ears. They twitched this way and that. “Wow. This place is… The ambient mana is… It’s so… Orderly? Despite having a lot of curse-aligned stuff. The mana is also more active than normal? Hell, there’s a whole lot of outright active mana, and they circulate… What the fuck is this? I’ve never heard of this manor before! I think I’ve even passed through here, and I would’ve damn noticed sothing like this!”
I smirked once she was finally done. “That’s because it’s new. I made it.”
“Eh? You can do that? How? Did you take up construction? But that shouldn’t give you the ability to make this. I can also build things!” She took a seat on a nearby bench. As did I.
It was at that mont that hellfire and curse began to rise from the ground and coalesce soplace far above.
“No, shit, wait!”
Pandemonium paused. My wings snapped open. Elfrafim was already running, faster than , despite being kinder to the wind. But I overtook her anyway because I could fly, and our target was high in the air. I heard a pained squawk, just before I arrived with an expanding mass of hellfire and curse mana. It wrestled with the many traces of the elents that still remained in the air, and then tossed them all away from the suprasoar and his own shield of wind.
Astan glared at , as did Elfrafim from below.
“Haell what the fuck!?”
I winced.
Astan wobbled in front of , and I flew forward to help, but he squawked indignantly and snapped his beak. I could’ve grabbed him by the throat and tossed him to the ground if I wanted to… but he was a friend. I shouldn’t do that.
“Hey…” I made my voice as gentle as it could be. My evil eyes roved over his vibrant green feathers, and the many singed and withering spots therein. The damage went deeper, piercing into the flesh. “Sorry about that! Really! It was an accident! It’s… a lot to explain. But this is my… territory, and it has a guardian. That guardian overreacted.”
“Overreacted?” Elfrafim asked incredulously, now having brought out her glider and was circling us.
“Yes,” I responded, forcing myself to apologize again. I would not be pleased if soone injured a friend of mine, either. Hell, Astan was exactly that friend of mine, and I was more pissed at myself than anyone. I should just end it all and rid the world of the destruction that– I took a deep breath and clicked my tongue in annoyance at the insidious curse I carried. “I’m sorry. Most people here know to stay away, but Pandemonium is very much not kind to strangers and trespassers. It was my idea.” My jaws clenched. “Did the guards not tell you when you entered the city?” I would fire them. Literally.
“...I didn’t et them. I jumped over the walls.”
“Ah.”
We flew there awkwardly for a few seconds more. Astan was struggling, clearly in pain.
“Let’s go down. I’ll go heal him up.”
“Okay.”
We did just that, and I reached out my hand to Astan so that I may heal him with blood magic. He glared at suspiciously for a mont, but eventually squawked and allowed contact. We were friends after all, and he understood that it was an accident.
Astan purred as his wounds began to close, scab, and then disappear. His feathers regrew, and soon they were vibrant and green once more, without a single trace of the earlier accident remaining. He checked himself over once I was finished, and then pecked at shallowly a few tis in revenge, which I magnanimously allowed. Finally, he huffed in arrogant forgiveness as he turned away.
My eyes narrowed a little, but I didn’t say any more.
The ground under us rumbled, and Elfrafim took out her big staff while casting another suspicious glare.
“No, it’s fine! That’s just how Pandemonium operates! And it’s saying sorry for hurting Astan!”
“...I see,” she sighed, visibly exerting effort to keep herself from smiling again. “I’m still pissed you know! It happened to too! Not that I care about that, it’s kinda neat actually, but Astan could’ve died! He would’ve if you weren’t there to stop… Pandemonium, right?”
Astan squawked indignantly to deny that he was ever in any danger.
“Right,” I admitted. Astan wasn’t even level 40 yet. I’d completely overtaken him. And I must not gloat about that when he’d already gotten such a big scare! Do not do not do not! “But listen. Honestly, I do care and feel bad about it, but only because you’re friends. Otherwise, I’ve done what I could to warn people, and you should’ve gone through the front gate! You would’ve absolutely been admitted through, or I’m kicking soone out!”
“I guess....” Elfrafim groaned. “It’s just way too troubleso! I don’t want to deal with that kind of complicated bullshit whenever I want to go anywhere!”
I shook my head and chuckled, “Even I go through the front gates most of the ti.” I reached out a fist to them after a beat of silence. “We good, then? You too, Astan?”
“Yeah,” Elfrafim bumped her small fist with my own. “I think you should probably put up so better warnings though, just in case.”
“You an the dark and heavily cursed manor isn’t enough of a warning?”
“Eh. It didn’t work, did it?”
“I guess not.” I rolled my evil eyes as Astan also slapped my fist with his own wing. “Maybe I’ll go put up so signs then. Say there’s a violent guardian. Pandemonium’s aura of dread is weaker than it could be, because it’d be pretty fucking bad for everyone here if that was let out in full.”
~~~
The three of us went to my main living room in the central wing. The walls here remained black, but the bright colors from all the carpets on the floor and stuck to those very walls neatly drowned the darkness out. The design of the place, as did many others, changed with regularity.
I led my group to the nearest fridge, and the three of us each picked out whichever snacks piqued our interest.
Whatever tension remained lted away along with the ice cream that lted on our tongues.
“This is good!” Elfrafim exclaid, savoring her bowl.
Astan made an agreeable noise from his own perch. Pandemonium had quickly made a jagged one that my friend liked. It did feel bad for injuring him earlier, so it was being extra hospitable today.
“Oh, is that you, Elfrafim!? And Astan??” Berry ca into the room, and imdiately saw our new guests. “You’re back! It’s been a while! How’ve you been!”
“Oh, it’s all good! But later! I wanna hear what all this is about first!” She gestured to everything around us, but really referring to Pandemonium as a whole. They hugged, and then Berry took her own comfortable seat.
“Alright,” I said. “Fuck… where do I begin… There is way too much to talk about.”
I just started from the beginning, when I last t her at the Singing Vortex. It would be too troubleso to explain Pandemonium, and then have to work my way back from there.
“OH! An Anatomic Mastery!?” she exclaid once I got to the part about the orcs. “And Therick has one too!? You gotta show !”
I held out a hand and stopped her right there. “Therick betrayed us, and for that he’s dead. But as for the rest… Elfrafim, can you let finish without interruption, because this is literally going to take all day as it is.”
“Therick betrayed you!?”
I groaned. “Yes. That… has to be addressed first, doesn’t it?”
I told her about the ambush during our quest to take out a goblin horde, and Therick’s involvent. I then talked about my imprisonnt briefly, and how he ca in there to fucking try and manipulate . I burned him with my hottest fla, and then I made sure that everyone else above suffered the sa fate.
“But it’s not yet over. Eden’s the fucking mastermind behind this. Her court. Adamo. Evel!” My voice turned into a growl around bites of cake. My muscles had tensed, as if my targets were right before now, and I just had to reach out to rip them apart.
“I’m sorry that all happened.” Elfrafim patted my arm, and then bravely gave another hug. I wrestled with myself to not punch her, and eventually managed to let out a slow breath and nod.
I finally got to talk about myself and catch her up to the many things that she’d missed without interruption.
~~~
“Wow…” Elfrafim said, at a loss for words once I finally finished. “I thought that nothing ever changes here, at least not all that fast, but a lot happened while I was gone, huh?” Her face fell. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there, Haell. I was off continent. I would’ve co to save you if only I’d known.”
“Don’t worry about it. I saved myself.” I glanced at Berry. “With so help.”
“Yeah… It does seem like it! Making a ritual over a year, and then giving sapience to an entire manor with it!? How the fuck! HOW THE FUCK!”
“It’s complicated. My intention was to make the manor kill everyone with curse in hellfire. But even I didn’t expect it to actually beco intelligent. And then a storm that wasn’t a storm gathered in the sky, and among the many many things it did, allowing Pandemonium to live forever instead of expiring in hours or days was one of them.”
“Wow,” Elfrafim marveled again, taking so ti to digest that and observe her surroundings. “So it’s not replicable then?”
“Moonwash has been trying,” I shrugged, then tapped on the ground a few tis.
“...Is sothing supposed to happen?”
“Wait for it.”
The ground cracked open in front of , and Devilcalibur was burped out by Pandemonium. I caught the greatsword by the hilt, and then swung it around.
“This is Devilcalibur. It’s sort of sentient. More a bundle of instinct, really. Or maybe just the sa effects that all cursed weapons have, but stronger. Strong enough to affect . However, we do believe that Pandemonium’s sapience might be just another form of that anyway. The proto-intelligence of a cursed object, and mana’s capacity to have a will of its own, taken to the extre, thereby creating an intelligence advanced enough to rival the brains of sapients, and therefore, in this scenario, a sapient thinking and emotional manor. Pandemonium.”
“Fascinating,” she breathed, her face almost touching the blade. She actually ran a hand through it, pressed down harder, and then stared at the tiny insignificant patch of rot that very slowly spread. It did stop, not too long after, but she was fucking level 80. I was sure even that small amount of damage was already impressive for her.
“ANYWAY!” I planted Devilcalibur into the ground, and Pandemonium opened a divot perfectly wide for . “Enough about ! Let’s talk about you!”
Elfrafim gasped.
“OI! Don’t make sound like a self absorbed asshole! I do want to hear how your journey has been. You ntioned being off continent? How? Where? What’s it like? I wanna hear all about it!”
“Okay!” she smiled brightly, and began to spin her tale.
~~~
After Elfrafim parted ways with us, she went around doing much of the sa things as she always did. She traveled around the western part of Grandera(the continent), continuing to discover the rich cultures within, and the many monsters that called it ho. She was centuries old, so it could take a long ti until she was satisfied with her knowledge and enjoynt of a place.
She decided to board a ship and go to another continent once the opportunity presented itself.
“Where?” I asked. “I want to make the trip and more in the future too, but I don’t know if Gardine or any of the other ports will survive the wars to co. And they’re certainly not letting in now.”
“Oh, I didn’t ride with them,” she snorted. “I’m not stupid! I don’t like how you guys do things, making all these pointless hierarchies, but I know full well that we’re hated by the Edengar faction. And even I might be in trouble if they betray in the middle of the fucking ocean. Even if I kill them all, then what the fuck do I do next! I’m stuck! And lost!”
“Ah… huh. That makes sense.”
“You really did think I was that stupid,” she deadpanned rhythmically.
“Nuh-uh,” I denied with a studiously neutral expression.
Elfrafim chuckled. “Well, whatever. I went for the ports in New Grandera, of course.”
“Oh? They were pretty empty when I visited Clearshore City before. More fishing boats than the big ones. The port is really more ant for crustecars who co and go by foot.”
Berry’s own legs tapped a rhythm nearby.
“I don’t an this New Grandera,” Elfrafim clarified. “I an the one up north. Are they really the sa thing? Not? I’m confused.”
“Don’t worry. Everyone else is too,” I laughed. “But… it does make sense for the north to have more ships. There’s nothing down south, really. Nowhere for a ship to go. It’s all ice and death and the countless terrifying creatures that call it ho.”
Well, there were crustecar kingdoms in that direction, but their deep underwater settlents didn’t attract that many visitors from the land-dwellers. The crustecar themselves could just walk or take so of their undersea ‘carriages.’
“Yep!” Elfrafim said. “The poles would be aweso, but it might just kill as I am now, from what I’ve heard. Anyway! Back to my trip. I boarded this ship, and imdiately I’m slamd with all these fucking rules. Like cleaning up after myself, or shitting in the proper areas. Which I know to do! Just tell where. I’m not a fucking child! But then they try to stop from flying, or from using magic, or from roaming lower decks, and it’s not fair! And then they want to patrol at certain tis… that’s fine. Coordinating is good. But then they want to unerringly follow their captains! FUCK OFF!” She huffed. “The Swimming Mother was my way off the continent, so I had to tell them that I understood the rules, which I did, and then not get caught. Easy enough. I failed, but you know, middle of the ocean. What are they gonna do?”
“Nothing!” I barked a laugh, highly amused.
“Do the elves not have their own vessels?” Berry then thought to ask.
“We do!” Elfrafim proudly boasted. “But I wasn’t at ho. And I don’t when or where our ships will next arrive or leave. You can’t really predict these things, you know? But maybe I should’ve co back to the Grandest Forest anyway, because the voyage was just that stupid and boring and terrible! It was a fine novelty at first, but you’re stuck in that sa ship for like a month or two. It got old really fast. The sailors were pretty friendly at least, so I got to hear so fun stories from them. But the rest of the passengers were honestly… kinda fucking annoying? Pompous and arrogant and they think they’re better than when so of them haven’t even broken into level 40? What’s up with that!?”
“Probably nobles or other wealthy and high-status people,” I supplied. It made sense. This was a cross-continent trip. Who had that kind of money?
“Yeah… I think I heard sothing about that. But like, why are they so proud about things that other people did? I an, that’s fine and all, but if you’re great-grandparent did all those amazing things then… they’re amazing? Not you? Pretty fucking weird. But anyway! The monotony was at least broken up by so monster attacks, so that was fun! I fought to protect the ship. That’s how I got aboard, by the way. They wanted protection. And it was a little challenging fighting in the ocean with all your enemies underwater! Especially when so don’t even surface and just attack the bottom of the ship! I think so of the veteran crorcas and pengores were more efficient than in so cases, if taken together, which is impressive anyway because I was the only level 80 in that ship. Or what you would call Hero-Rank here. Pretty cool na. OH! And we got attacked by this eeldora! It was this massive eel that was actually a bit higher level than ! And it disabled so many of us from the getgo! This actually happened after my confrontation with the other people aboard the ship, so I wasn’t there imdiately, but maybe that was good. Who knows what would’ve happened if I got hit by the first blast. I doubt it could’ve snuck up on … but it was pretty sneaky. I made sure not to touch the ocean water when I fought it, and instead created a bubble of air around myself so I didn’t have to swim directly. We managed to chase it away after a pretty long and arduous battle.” She paused. “We were very unlucky, as it turned out. The ocean is dangerous anywhere, but the route we took was the safest one that people knew of. There shouldn’t have been that big of a risk of a monster that strong attacking, but that’s life for you. There’s always a chance.”
“An eeldora, huh…” I pictured the monster, and imagined how I might fight against it. “Neat. Anyway, you ntioned a confrontation with the crew?”
“OH YES! THAT! It was such a pain in the ass! See, halfway through the journey, I saw this woman trying to rape soone, right? So naturally, I killed her. That’s completely fair, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I nodded along.
“Well, apparently, more of these nobles disagreed! They wanted to have a trial and imprison for my cri. I disagreed and explained to them everything that happened. But I do get what trials are, I’ve been in so back ho, sort of, and I understand that they can’t really just take my word for it, or that of the victim. People lie. It’s fair that they want so confirmation, so I agreed even if I really didn’t want to because your processes are so fucking boring and dry and annoying. But then they demanded that I get imprisoned for the rest of the trip! Which doesn’t make any sense! Aren’t these trials supposed to determine if you go to prison or not? Why did they want to already lock up!? I called out their bullshit and refused. They insited, so then it turned into a fight and I beat them, and then… that’s it. We finally arrived at the League of rcanto a few weeks later, and I just ran off. I didn’t really feel like doing the whole trial thing after everything that happened. I knew I was in the right.”
“Yeah…” Berry absentmindedly nursed her own drink. “It probably would’ve been rigged anyway.”
“Oh?” Elfrafim asked, and Berry startled a little, but quickly regained herself.
“Yeah. I an, these are nobles. Their goal is less ‘figure out what happened’, and more punish you for killing one of their own. I could be wrong though! I haven’t t New Granderan nobles yet. They don’t really do that down here, and maybe the ones up north are different than the ones I’m used to?”
I shuddered because I just realized that one might argue that I was a noble. My actual designation was Demon Queen, with unlimited power over Arisen City. I liked it, but I could see how it might be interpreted as nobility. I didn’t get it through so stupid inheritance though! I killed the previous leadership of this place fair and square!
Elfrafim shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think you’re right. Anyway! rcanto! It was… interesting. It was a lot. There were more new species of sapient people there than I’d t so far. And I wish I had one of those spatial storage devices to bring ho all the many different things they had on offer! I was this close to using actual money! But, I held firm and just bartered. I feel like I’d be… losing if I used money, you know?”
“I don’t know, actually,” I admitted. “You’re fine with trading, as long as no money is used. How does that work?”
“Well… I’d prefer if we just freely gave to each other, of course, but I understand that I’m a stranger to them. There’s no connection there, no trust. But money just feels like a step too far, you know?” She looked at , and realized that I still didn’t know. “Because it’s fake! It’s not actually worth anything. Yet people act like it’s the most important thing, sohow. They give their lives and be miserable for just a little more of it. Communities are ruled over so unfairly based on sothing so worthless. Especially in rcanto! It’s basically a few big islands each ruled by the wealthiest pricks!” She sighed. “I really don’t get it. It’s only seed like a worse and worse idea the more I’ve seen of it. People are miserable here. They’re… as empty as the money is fake. Just… doing the sa thing day after day after day. It’s a fucking nightmare. How do you live like that!?”
“I certainly don’t live like that. Nor do I want to.” I took a sip of my own tea. “But I’m not sure if changing over to bartering would actually resolve any of that. I’m no economic expert, nor do I want to be, that’s such a pain in the ass, however, the value of things would still fluctuate regardless, no? Though perhaps not as much. I really don’t know.”
“You literally rule this place, Haell. Shouldn’t you know that?”
“I delegate,” I shrugged.
“...Are they doing a… ‘good job?’”
“Granuel’s the President Mayor.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Well, I think he’s doing a fine enough job. Things are getting better, I think.”
“Hmm…” Elfrafim looked out of the nearest window. “How about… you just set them free, Haell? What do you think?”
“Huh?” I raised a furrowed brow. “Set them free?”
“Yeah. Just… enough of all this… ruling over people. Let them make their decisions for once. Give them that sa freedom you enjoy!”
I stared at her. I did actually think about it, because my good friend deserved at least that much, and I wasn’t all that married to the idea of being an Demon Queen, even if it was an admittedly super cool title……that I’d spent way too much ti fantasizing about having in a life long past. But, at the end of the day, it wasn’t a bad position to hold in these troubling tis. It brought in a lot of benefits that were only getting bigger, and it made my friends and family happy. I’d already promised them this city. “No. I don’t think I’m going to do that. And they can make their own decisions. They’ve certainly decided to kill plenty of tis! And if people really don’t like it, then they can just leave. There is nothing stopping them.”
“This is their ho. They were even here first. They can’t just abandon it.” Elfrafim heaved another lodious sigh. “But, fine. You’re a great friend, Haell. Just, maybe not the best person… to everyone else. I do wish you’d change your mind, but I don’t really intend to do more than that. I didn’t co here to make any big changes. Elves smarter and stronger than have tried, and failed. People just seem to… always revert back to their oppressive ways, no matter what. Always wanting to be in charge. Wanting to have soone else in charge. Even if it ans that all their freedoms will be lost. They allow themselves to be fooled into building soone a throne, no matter how many we’ve torn down.” Elfrafim studied for a long mont. “It’s weird though, how I do think you’ll fit in so well in the Grandest Forest, when you’re like… this.”
“Rude.” I snarled, then smiled. “But yes. I’d love to visit soday.”
“Don’t you fucking dare try to take it over!” she shook her fist at in mock anger. But I knew it would be true anger if I actually did try to do sothing as idiotic as that.
“I promise not to.”
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