Observatory. High above Hellnia.
Right Direction peered down at the plane below as she stood beside her master. She had just come back from the abyss in Hellnia after fulfilling her task. When she returned, she realized her Master was observing the young devil they met two days ago.
She glanced at her master. It took all her effort to hold in a scoff. The observer sat there, leaning back comfortably in a Lazy boy, peering down at the plane with his nose. The teacup he usually drank from was replaced with a large plastic big gulp container, sitting securely in the cup holder of his new chair.
GULP GULP GULP GULP
As he sat leisurely, he took large swigs of his beverage through a crazy straw that twisted and turned all the way to his resting head.
Right Direction tactfully turned away from the display, not wanting to see more. It was clear her master had peeked at the girls world once again and came back with souvenirs, an action typically forbidden, but who would scold him over such a small thing in this era?
She shook her head and focused her vision on the valley below, specifically, the tunnels underneath.
A few miles below the surface, she could see the little devil Hannya, seemingly immobilized within the eating den of hundreds of dread spiders.
They paid no heed to her, every once in a while, they would take a bite or two, stab a place on her body, and go back to resting in a corner of the large cave. The living quarters of the spiders were all but deserted at this point, as they crammed in the space, unwilling to leave their endless meal.
Hannya on the other hand, just laid there. Her eyes fixed to the ceiling, seemingly vegetated.
Right Direction sighed, maybe it was too much to expect from a demon coming from a magicless and warless planet to turn into the warrior her master required.
"Looks like she's already fallen, how long has she been like this?" Right asked.
"Gulp, mmm… about 12 hours? Gulp Gulp" The observer said casually as he gulped down his beverage.
Right scowled at the reply. That girl had supreme devil blood, toxins in her body should have already granted her immunity by now, she should be able to at least wish for an escape at this point! So what's this all about? Had she already lost her will to live?
'Useless!' She then turned to her master.
"How can you watch this? It's clear she's lost her will, to dread spiders no less, shouldn't we be making moves to plan C at this point? Why waste the time?"
But the Observer just shook his finger. "Tsk tsk tsk." He tilted his head on the headrest to get a better look at Right. He pointed at the little devil.
"Are those the eyes of someone that's lost the will to live?"
Right turned her attention back to the girl, after looking closer, she was startled.
The little devils eyes didn't seem to be despairing in the slightest, she seemed completely at ease, even a little…happy?
"...I-is she sick?" Right couldn't help but mutter.
"Hahaha! Gulp" The Observer laughed at his subordinates reaction, he knew she would say that. As he laughed and drank, he pulled the side handle of his new Lazy Boy Pinnacle II XL and reclined it even more, letting out a satisfied sigh.
"Right, you really should watch devils more often. Had you studied properly, you wouldn't be so surprised." The observer said, the perfect image of a scholar educating his junior. He pushed the crazy straw off his cheek as he looked at her sternly.
Right was aggrieved at those words. "But Hannya isn't even a real-"
"Real Devil?" The observer cut her off. He raised a brow. "Do you look down on the body of a devil that much? Only a devil's soul can reside in a devil's body. They are not meat skins to be traded like the low level species. The chaos law won't allow it."
He shook his head at his subordinates' shallow thinking. Did she really think a small demon soul could control such a sophisticated vessel? No. The vessel will feed the soul until it is sufficiently sized to match the body and mind of such beings. That demon soul is but a seed, soon it will sprout into something much more beautiful.
Hearing her Master's rebuke, Right felt indignant. She muttered. "Well, Gormar Vavune seemed to have succeeded."
At those words, the Observer gazed at Right, his eyes becoming deep. "Right. Cardinal. Direction."
Right shrunk back at hearing her full name, she knew she was in for it now. She scolded herself in her mind for being so brazen. She had exposed herself!
The observer leaned forward to her, the lazy boy's leg rest lowering slightly. "I will not bother with the secrets you keep, that is your right, one I've given to you." He began, his voice low and serious. " But peering into the future is your brother's authority and his alone."
Right lowered her eye and nodded meekly.
The observer leaned back in his chair, his leg rest back in a more comfortable position.
"Do not speak of the mad elf scientist or his abomination of an experiment again." He said
"Y-yes sir."
"And if I catch you peering into the future and touch my bottom line once more, I'll erase you."
The eye shook at those words, but she nodded nonetheless.
"Good." the Observer said as he took another delightful swig from his big gulp.
"Ah! Ah! It's starting! Almost missed it!" As he leaned back, the observer noticed the change in the air down in the dread spider den.
Curious as well, the slightly shaken Right direction decided to heed her master's warning and do her job properly. She looked on and saw little Hannya shift her eyes slightly.
She then smiled, her irises spinning and glowing faintly.
She then mouthed a few words and slowly stretched her arms out to the sides.
COUGH SNORT
But Right's concentration was distracted by her master choking on his beverage to the side. Right was confused, when had he ever choked on his beverage?
"Master, what's wrong?" Right asked curiously.
The Observer just waved his hand. "Cough it's nothing, just what the little one said. Sheesh, too vicious." The observer muttered that last part. Though he said those words, it was clear he was holding back his laughter.
Right tilted her head. "What did she say? I can't read that far underground."
The Observer gave a sheepish smile. "Well um… cough, she said umm.. well, women and children first."
"..."
~~~
Dread spider feeding den. 1 minute earlier.
Hannya laid there on the cold stone altar. She had been dragged here some time ago, to be shared amongst the colony. Since her healing ability was so potent, the spiders had chosen to make her the staple food of the collective. All spiders congregated in this room to eat whenever they were hungry.
To her, it almost felt like they were holding a festival, eating and scuttling around happily, letting out low shrieks every now and then, as if holding casual conversations of the weather.
'Seems like they are having a grand old time.'
Hannya thought. Though it was a shame such a joyous day would soon end with their eradication, and they were none the wiser.
'A pity.'
She thought disdainfully. She had planned to just wish them all dead the second she regained her motor functions. However two things stopped her from doing so.
First was the fact that using a wish on such low level beings just for genocide would be such a waste. Where would her face be if Vainglory asked after seeing her five stocked?
She didn't understand why, but the thought of anyone seeing her missing a wish brought an instinct of humiliation a devil like her couldn't allow, especially in the presence of her betrothed.
And secondly…
Hannya looked at her status screen once more.
---
[Logs]
[Heart Trial 1: Torture - (Completed)]
Your pain and despair has triggered your heart devil blood, resulting in a heart trial for awakening. Your physical pain has become mental pleasure knowing you are suffering for your beloved and your beloved is suffering for you. By denying your instincts to run, answering your soul's despair with irrational vengeance and ruthless resolve, Awakening has been achieved.
[Devil Physique is awakening…]
[True Dream Body(S) unlocked]
True Dream Body: Your physique has mutated from High Mana Affinity Body(A)(New) + Method Actor(S) + Hasty Retreat(E) + 6 Star Heart Devil. The devil core in your heart now houses a dream fissure, your blood now possess particles of dream mist, thus your raw mana can now produce illusions.
Note: The body of your dreams, fancy.
[Hasty Retreat has mutated with True Dream Body]
[Acquired Misty Dance(C - Growth) ]
Misty Dance: Dream mist is your friend! Your body can now produce, meld and flow freely through the enigmatic dream mist. Lethal damage will turn your body to mist!
Note: A Mist Mist devil, what have you been eating? lol.
[
Debuff: Paralysis - Your body has been infected with huge doses of a high level paralytic.
Duration: 0 seconds
Passive activated: Supreme Devil Blood - Your supreme blood adapts to all.
Adaptation time: 0 seconds
]
[Passive Paralysis Immunity(Poison)(A) gained!]
[Dread venom has entered your body!]
[Immuned!]
[Dread venom has entered your body!]
[Immuned!]
…
…
[Passive Pain Reduction(C) gained!]
[Dread venom has entered your body!]
[Immuned!]
…
…
[A mutation is occurring…]
[Mutation time: 0 seconds]
[Misty Dance has mutated with Dread venom]
[Dread Mist Steps(A - growth)]
[A second mutation was triggered…]
[Dread Mist Steps(A) + Vicious Strike(B) + 6 star Heart Devil has produced an exclusive curse!]
[Acquired Heart Devil Curse: Waking Nightmare - Parasomnia]
[Parasomnia requires evolution.]
[Parasomnia temporarily shackled by bloodline limit.]
---
Hannya read her past logs with keen interest. She had endured being eaten alive for 3 hours, ready to strike them all down the second she could speak again.
But when she met the conditions of her awakening, her thoughts shifted to a possible counter attack with her new abilities, saving her stars.
As she was thinking of ways to kill them all quickly, she received a prompt that a further mutation was manifesting and it would take another 9 hours. So, the rational and sane person she was, she decided to wait and see if it would help her in her quest for retribution.
While waiting, the spiders had taken her to their feeding den and began to congregate, filling Hannya with joy. She no longer had to worry about hunting them down one by one, if she waited here, she could kill them all in one fell swoop.
She was glad she had gotten a useful devil physique, it was perfect for her needs currently.
She was curious about the curse she gained, but it seemed like she would have to go through her first evolution before she could test it out.
'Oh well, the dread mist coupled with my only attack skill should be enough to get rid of these vermin.'
She glanced at her newly acquired skill [Dread Mist Steps] and smiled.
[Dread Mist Steps(A - Growth)]
Dream Mist with a touch of malice. The dream mist you now produce is laced with dread venom. Targets in the range of your mist will now not only see illusions of your own making, but also become debuffed with [paralysis] if ingested for long periods of time, rendering them immobile.
Note: Stay a while longer friends, hehe.
She was also getting curious about who writes these notes at the end, but she pushed that curiosity to the back of her mind for now.
'Now is the time for vengeance and slaughter, men and children first kikiki.'
But her face became strange after saying that.
'If this is a reverse world, shouldn't the caretakers be the women creatures? Well whatever.'
"Women and children first!" she shouted, startling the lazing spiders.
Their meal shouldn't be talking. Wasn't the devil feast immobilized? But before they could understand what was going on, Hannya extended her hands and….
BOOSH
Exploded into a huge mushroom cloud of billowing fog. The magnitude of the harmless blast instantly engulfed the feeding den.
The spiders, still startled and now blind began to scatter and shriek haphazardly.
SCREEEE
SCREEEE
SCREE-
CRACK
PUCHI
"Kyahahaha!"
PUCHI PUCHI PUCHI
"JUDGMENT DAY HAS ARRIVED HERETICS! KAHAHA!"
PUCHI CRACK PUCHI
Hannya could feel her blood boil. She moved with a speed and grace she never knew she possessed. With adrenaline pumping through her veins, she moved in and out of the fog, disappearing and reappearing beside her next victim.
As her body moved, her wounds healed at a rapid pace, her freshly replenished magic automatically assisting her crusade.
The more she healed, the faster she became. The more she slaughtered, the more refined her movements became. Hannya's [Vicious Strike] filled her mind with information about the weak points of the beasts each time she struck one.
With her hands in the shape of daggers, she plunged her hands between the openings of their hard shells with explosive motion. As she pulled her sharp nails out, devastating holes remained in the spider's torsos and throats, expelling large amounts of viscus purple blood.
But she didn't stop there, she aimed for whatever her instincts deemed weakest. She plunged her hands into large eye sockets, leg joints, even a few mouths with unmatched strength and speed.
'What an overwhelming skill hahaha! What was I so worried about earlier?'
She darted around and laughed with unhinged joy, her flushed face smiling maniacally, as her devil eyes darted from one spider to the next.
The spiders, now overwhelmed with uncontrollable fear upon hearing anguished cries, getting splashed with their kins blood, and mangled corpses flying through the air, began to run frantically to the exits they remember.
But as they moved, some noticed a sluggish feeling as their legs failed to listen as time went on. As a few exited safely into the tunnels outside, they felt hope, if they could just make it to the queen, they could report about the smoke monster killing their brethren!
But the hope they had soon turned to despair.
CRASH CRASH CRASH
Spider after spider began to crash into one another. At first each one was confused, then dread set in. From the jolt of the crash their eyes witnessed the surroundings they were in change.
The spiders realized they were not in the tunnels on the way to their queen. They never left the feeding den, and had run into a solid wall. They never reached the exit. They never traversed the tunnels. They never escaped.
And now it was too late. One by one, the spiders began to slowly tumble to the ground, unable to move. They had been paralyzed by their own venom, they knew that, but the potency of the paralytic rivaled their queens, their natural resistance meant nothing!
As the last spider fell, the cave became silent once more.
The dense fog began to recede, as if being sucked into a vacuum, it began to converge at the center of the den. The paralyzed spiders watched in horror as the fog vanished, replaced with a small devil covered in purple blood, sitting atop the stone altar designated for food.
As she wiped the sweat from her forehead, she scanned her surroundings.
"Damn, there's still so many left." Hannya was a little exasperated at the number, she had killed at least 100 but there were still more than twice that left.
"This won't do, I went all out and I only killed this many." She could feel her lacking foundation. Even with superior strength and speed, had it not been for her abilities, she probably would have struggled to win against them all attacking her.
'I need proper training.' She knew the kind of monsters that lived in Hellnia, Beings that defeated hundreds with a flip of the palm and thousands with a swing of the sword.
She didn't want to be a stepping stone boss, she wanted to be the final boss, no, the end game hidden boss.
'I should head for the dream knights as soon as possible.' She was thankful her memory was so good now, her map had been destroyed along with her clothes earlier, but she had already seen it, so she was good to go!
"But first.."
She scanned the room of the remaining spiders, she would kill them all. As she looked at the helpless trash, her eyes locked onto one spider in particular. A purple eyed and golden backed spider.
She knew by instinct that this was the one from before, the audacious one. The spider's eyes were wide in fear as Hannya gazed at it with her glowing, spinning eyes.
"Heh."