Hey, you guys are being pretty quiet……what's going on, you chatting with each other and excluding me? What, am I the third wheel in this shared consciousness, even though this is my body? Hello?

  "Stop being dramatic, Kuro," Sighed Lazarus in reply.

  "Y-yeah, what he said, we're not hiding anything!" Added Diablo, not nearly as convincingly……

  They're definitely hiding something.

  "Tell me or I'll mute you."

  By that, I mean making it so that his consciousness can't communicate with the other two consciousnesses at all, they get put in a sort of sensory-deprived state. They both hated that. I have total control over the inside of my mind now, I'd worked on it extensively back when I'd sealed my emotions, and I'd gotten even better since I'd been inside here the whole time since that last battle with Shiro, which was pretty much three whole months at this point.

  Not to mention that I am the dominant consciousness in this body, so it was only natural. I don't mute them all that often though, just when they really annoy me or like now, when they hide something from me. Additionally, I had also created several new Chaos Magic spells with Diablo's help. He'd also made it so that I'm completely resistant to any enemy Chaos Magic spells.

  "Diablo, you idiot……we don't have appearances here, so keeping a straight face isn't something to worry about, you just have to keep your tone straight, and you can't even do that!" Snapped Lazarus in exasperation.

  "Sh-shut up, stupid Vampire!"

  "Idiot Demon, you shut up."

  "Both of you shut up! Diablo, tell me what you're hiding, now."

  "R-right……I, uh, sensed Belia in the Rustlands about fifteen to twenty minutes ago. But the only reason I didn't tell you is because I'm literally minutes away from finishing the repairs to your psyche, I was gonna tell you once I was at about two minutes to completion!" He explained quickly.

  He's not good at lying, so I could tell that he was telling the truth right now. In which case, this is really bad……but I need to stay calm, there's no point in losing my cool over this.

  Hey, Diablo, I'm assuming she's still here since you didn't say that she left.

  "Y-yeah, she's still nearby, and also, um……I sensed ten Demons as well……but I think they all possessed host bodies by now."

  What? If someone I know got possessed, then……

  Hey, tell me……is it possible to restore the original consciousness of the host body after its possessed and fails to resist to Demon?

  "No……that's impossible. The original personality effectively dies immediately when the Demon takes over the host's mind."

  Are you sure? Maybe like a Chaos Magic spell that'll trick the Demon into swapping back with the original?

  "Like I said, the original dies when……wait, actually I think there is something I can do with Chaos Magic……if I can create it, it'll be a really, really powerful spell, which will naturally mean a heavy toll on you when used, easily more than any other Chaos you've used or we've made. Technically, it'll restore the original personality, but there's a huge catch……"……

  what is it? Tell me……

  "That's it……that's the catch."

  But……but that's……damn it! Still, regardless of that catch, it's better than nothing, even though it's……

  do it……make the spell……

  "Are you sure?"

  Yeah, do it……after you finish repairing my mind as soon as you possibly can.

  "I'm working on it!"

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Persia Gerit

  ———————————————————————————


  "And stay down," I sighed, as I slammed the Demon who'd taken control of Miss Lidui's body to the ground, knocking it out.

  After the Demon stabbed Les, Fuo and I attacked it, though after it became apparent that it was weak enough for me to take on my own, I told Fuo to go find anyone else that might need help and that I'll take care of things here.

  I walked over to Selesa after making sure that the Demon was unconscious, kneeling down by Les as I reached them and feeling for his pulse……he's dead, no doubt about it. As for Selesa, she's still unconscious.

  Demonic features had already appeared on her body, her knuckles had extended out into straight, sharp horn-like spikes, her fingernails had grown into black claws and a third eye had appeared on her forehead. I stepped back cautiously as her hand twitched and her eyebrows furrowed slightly……looks like she's waking up.

  I activated Accelerate and swirled wind around my fist while hiding it behind my back……if it's the Demon and not Selesa, I'll rush in and knock it out with a high-impact punch. She then sat up and opened her eyes with a groan, reaching up to rub her head and looking startled as one of the spikes extending out from her knuckles pricked the side of her head.

  "Wha……," She began, before trailing off as she saw Les's body in front of her, "Huh, Les? Hey……wake up. C-come on, this isn't funny! H-hey, little bro, s-stop messing around, wake up!"

  It's her, not the Demon……

  "Selesa, I'm so sorry," I remarked softly, sitting next to her and patting her back……I'm not good at this kind of thing, it feels awkward.

  "He……he's dead because he……protected me……but why!? He shouldn't have……I should've been the one to die!" She yelled, tears forming in her eyes as she held his body in her arms.

  "But the fact that he saved you means that he didn't want you to die……so much so that he'd have rather died himself."

  "That's……even if that's true, I don't want this! Just like that, he's dead……he didn't deserve this, he deserved so much better!" She cried in anger and despair, as tears poured down her face.

  "I……," I trailed off, unsure of what to say……I've never seen her like this before, and I had no idea how to respond to her.

  "I'll kill her……Belia Lasmodeus, this is all her fault, she's the one who-!"

  "Yeah, that's fair, this is totally my fault. You look so devastated, I almost feel bad……here, I'll give you a chance to kill me, you'll definitely fail, but hey, feel free to try to your heart's content!" Suddenly interrupted a voice from behind us.

  I swiftly spun around, to see Belia Lasmodeus, emerging from a dark, shimmering spot of air, a smile on her face.

  "You again……," I growled, as wind swirled around my hands.

  "I have to say, I'm impressed by how many of you that have managed to resist being taken over by the Demons. By the looks of things over here, one of you failed and one succeeded……that makes four of the former and six of the latter, very impressive indeed. Now, come on, fight me! This'll be the last fight for me today, gotta save some fun for next time, after all!" She exclaimed with a grin.

  Wait, does that mean ten people got possessed by Demons? So it's not just all those hundreds 9d humans, she must have brought some Demons to the Rustlands as well……damn it, she's making the protective barriers completely useless, the type of teleportation she uses isn't affected by them at all.

  "You rotten bitch……I'll fucking kill you!!" Exclaimed Selesa with a rage in her eyes, her third eye opening as she used Flight to zip up towards Belia while wind swirled around her knuckle-spikes.

  "Oh, looks like you have Chaos Magic……unfortunately, that won't work on me, unless you can create a new Chaos Magic spell, because I can nullify all the pre-existing ones! But only Demons, and the stronger ones at that, are capable of creating new Chaos Magic spells!"

  Selesa didn't stop though, continued to zip towards Belia till she reached her, and with a fierce roar, she drove her knuckle-spikes towards her. But her attack was easily evaded, and Belia countered by firing out a powerful burst of wind at her from her palm, sending Selesa flying back down and crashing onto the ground with a devastating impact, knocking her out and probably breaking several bones.

  "What, that's it? I wanted to go out with a bang in my final fight of this battle," Belia sighed with a look of disappointment, before turning to me, "Hope you've got more fight in you than she did. I have no problem killing anyone who's weak and isn't likely to give me any fun next time."

  I've got about two minutes left in VamPanther Mode and a little over a minute left with Accelerate at x4……I'll kill her within that minute! I used my nose to lock onto her scent and Mana, which seemed to be practically infinite, and then shot towards her at top speed, firing out a large crimson fireball with wind swirling around it at her, before zipping around as it blocked her view of me.

  To my surprise, it seemed to sink into the air as it reached her, right as I sprang up to her left silently and blasted out a powerful burst of wind from my mouth at her. It struck the side of her head and broke her neck to the right, but it didn't faze her, as she swiftly pointed her palm at me and fired out a blast of wind with streaks of lightning.

  I couldn't evade in time, and got sent flying back through the air, before swiftly spreading out my wings and using a few blasts of Propulsion to stabilize myself, as her neck went back to normal in an instant. Damn it, I don't think she has any vital spots……how the hell am I supposed to kill her!?

  "Wow, not too bad at all, you're a quick one, aren't you? This place is amazing……to think that I'd be forced to use Restoration Magic so many times already, it's hard to believe that just over three or so years ago, the Rustlands was considered to be the weakest of the five nations. Now, then……," She remarked, a dark look in her eyes as her lips twisted up slightly into a cold smirk, "Come on, attack me again, I haven't had my fill of fun just yet."

  Damn it……I shot towards her at top speed, swinging my claws at her throat……but my hand went right through as the air in front of her neck shimmered, before emerging behind her as I zipped past her. I spun around and fired out a barrage of wind blasts and fireballs at her, all of which disappeared through that shimmer……hm, whenever I launch an attack at her, only the spot where my attack is about to make contact starts shimmering……

  I'm running out of time, I don't have many options left……but that doesn't mean that I have none. I subtly formed an Expansive Spiral Sphere in my right palm behind my back, compressing it as much as I possibly could, while forming a massive fireball swirling with wind in my left palm as a decoy. I then flew up towards her as fast as I could, firing out a couple of wind blasts from my mouth.

  "That isn't going to work on me, you need to be more creative!"

  They disappeared as the air in front of her shimmered, right as I closed in and motioned like I was about to drive the fireball in my left palm towards her, but at the last moment, drove my right palm forward instead, releasing the compressed ball of wind in an instant……let's see her use that shimmery teleportation defense against an attack that expands in the blink of an eye!

  Most opponents would get instantly torn to pieces by this attack before they could even react to it……but she was able to. She flew back immediately while crossing her forearms in front of herself defensively, right as my wind sphere expanded. Her arms got shredded into tiny chunks, but she was able avoid it striking any more of her body……no way, that reaction time can't be real……

  I let out a roar as I unleashed the flames and wind I'd charged up in my left hand, but she vanished right as I fired, and since I was keeping track of her with my nose……I could tell that she'd reappeared behind me. I see, so she can use regular teleportation too……not good, I've reached my time limit with Accelerate.

  "Okay, that was very impressive, an attack so fast that even though I saw it coming in that last split second, I didn't have time to use my defense……you're good! And now……it's my turn to attack!" She declared enthusiastically.

  I spun around to face her, but she vanished again, reappearing above me and slamming her fists down at me. I was barely able to react and get my forearms in the way, as her fists crashed onto them, the force sending me screeching down towards the ground.

  I couldn't cancel it out with Propulsion or my wings, there was too much force……I crashed onto the ground with a resounding impact and letting out a gasp of pain……my right forearm was broken badly, and my left forearm felt like it was severely fractured. My back felt pretty damaged too……the impact had traveled through my entire body when I crashed down, I was in too much pain to even maintain VamPanther Mode.

  I grimaced as I returned to my normal state and she appeared in front of me, looking down at me with a smirk. I began channeling Mana into my mouth subtly, as she stepped forward, standing right above me and raising her fist, angled so that she'd drive it straight down towards me.

  "Time to end this battle with a knockout punch……I've already sent all my troops back to Silvland, so it's basically over already, this'll be the final strike of today's attack. I hope you can survive this……but, oh well, if you don't, then that means you're too weak to entertain me next time, anyway, so yeah……here I go!"

  As she began to drive her fist down towards my face, I prepared myself to fire out the Mana I'd charged into my mouth in a massive fire and wind blast, but then I froze……as I caught whiff of a very familiar scent……

  "Wha……oh, wow, I didn't think you'd wake up for a while yet," Remarked Belia in surprise, before an excited, yet slightly fearful, look appeared in her eyes, as someone appeared out of thin air and grabbed her wrist……someone who was clad all in black……

  _____________________________________________

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