Demon's Virtue

"Yes, yes... We are ranked by strength... The stronger you are, the more rights you have... There are numbers and then letters... If someone reaches the "Number 1" spot, they can challenge "Letter Z"... if they win, they become a letter..." John slowly explained while he started to chew on one of the bones on the ground in front of him. He had really changed quite a bit, and extremely rapidly at that by the time his Taboo skill reached level 20.

His formerly tan skin had turned pale white like he was a corpse, it was dry like sandpaper. John"s teeth, finger- and toe-nails cracked and together with the whites of his eyes took on a strong yellow color while his hair turned white and heavily thinned out. And to top it off, it seemed like John was barely closing his bloodshot eyes anymore, and the color of his irises seemed to be slowly changing to something else as well.

Really, it would be tough for anyone to recognize him like this. It was a truly monstrous curse to have placed on you. Eiro was glad that monsters were hated by the G.o.ds to begin with... Otherwise he would have been cursed like this long ago. Either way, the good thing was that John was really easy to influence now. It was like he had become incapable of lying, and was now simply answering any question he asked in the most true and genuine way it was possible for him.

"Then what "rank" were you?" The Demon inquired, and John looked at Eiro with a bright smile, "I was number 9!" He explained, before Eiro raised his brows, "I see... Do you know about two other members? Evelyn, the bloodstone sorceress, and Enka, the former chief warrior of Argberg."

"Yes! Yes!" John immediately exclaimed with pure excitement written on his face, "I know! They are both letters! Evelyn is Letter "H", and Enka was Letter "X"!"

"Hm... So there is such a big difference even amongst "Letters"? It should be easy to get through the number ranks, then... Alright, how can you join the organization, and what are the requirements?" The Demon asked. This was really the most important thing for now. It seemed like if everything was strength-based, he would be able to jump through the "Number" ranks pretty easily.

"You need to kill a number, or be invited by a letter! But monsters can"t join, only people, only people! Monsters like you are used to make minions!" John explained, although he was quite monstrous right now himself, although Eiro just had to think of something else.

"You"ve got to be f.u.c.king kidding me, that dumb b.i.t.c.h really was trying to trick me..." Eiro growled, trying to remember when Evelyn was trying to invite him into the organization, "How dumb does she think I am? f.u.c.k, I really want to kill her!"

"Calm down, calm down, you"ll get your chance, just don"t let your mark take over. Keep asking more questions... There"s one more thing you need to know about, right?" Nelli quickly interrupted Eiro, trying to calm him down again, and the Demon slowly nodded as he took a deep breath.

"You"re right... sorry. Alright, John." Eiro said as he approached the cell again, with the being in front of him crawling on the ground looking up at the Demon curiously and excitedly, "Why did you try to kill the Lady of Winter? What is the reward you were speaking of?"

"You don"t know? You really don"t know?" John asked with a bright smile, but Eiro just glared at him. Immediately, John flinched, pure fear of Eiro having been ingrained into him. Even though he was slowly losing his personality, that fact was still present in his subconscious.

"Th-The reward... For killing supreme beings... Spirit Kings and Queens, or ancient beings of surreal strength... Knocking on the doors of the heavens or h.e.l.ls... If you kill them, you get strong abilities..."

Eiro looked at John, waiting for him to continue, although it seemed like that was it, nothign more was following, "I see. I guess technically, the Ladies are sorts of Spirit Queens, although maybe a bit more powerful. But what other beings are there? How do you even know about this?"

"We have a special artifact!" John exclaimed immediately, and Eiro sighed deeply, "You guys have even more cards? I thought you only had three or four..."

"It"s not a card! The cards are not the only artifacts there are!" John exclaimed, and Eiro raised his brows before slowly nodding his head, "Fair enough. And what is that artifact?"

"A book... A book filled with tasks! Like at the guild..."

Slowly, Eiro simply started to smirk, "Is that so? Then I guess that"s another thing I should get my hands on sometime." The demon smirked, and then looked at John with a smile, "Last question. Where do I need to go if I beat a "Number"?"

--- 

At the end of the seventh street north from the center of the slums. Turn right into the alley, right on the first fork, left on the second fork. There"s a dead end. Step up to the wall and knock onto the central one of the coal-black bricks. One knock. Break. Two knocks. Break. One Knock. Break. Three knocks.

Slowly, that central black brick started to move back and beyond it, all that could be seen was a pair of eyes staring through the gap.

"Do I know you?" A voice asked, but the man standing in front of the wall in the alley just lightly smiled back. He had a relatively average face, there was really nothing special about it. It was somewhat memorable, sure, but not because this man was particularly ugly or handsome. He simply had a unique, easy to remember face. His skin was pale, and he was wearing a pitch-black hood. It seemed like despite this man"s height, his capabilities in the area of stealth were quite impressive.

Slowly, he opened his mouth, "I don"t think so."

"Then why are you here?"

"I found a runaway dog, and its tag said to come here."

"What else did the tag say?"

"That it was the ninth dog of the batch."

"Did you kill it yourself?" The man behind the wall asked, but the one in front of it just smirked and shook his head, "I think there"s a misunderstanding. I didn"t kill the runaway dog, I captured it." He explained as he took a step to the side.

Behind the man stood another figure, slightly hunched up, biting his nails out of nervosity after not being able to eat for a while. It seemed like the person that this... thing used to be was rather well-known around here before, so despite the fact that he would be hard to recognize for most, someone whose job it was to recognize members immediately noticed who was standing there.

"...You subdued him? What did you do?" The man behind the wall asked, and the man standing in front of it just pushed his own face in front of the gap, staring back at the person in front of him, "I think it may be better if I explain it inside, don"t you think?"

The man behind the wall took a step back, just before the wall s.h.i.+fted back a little and slid to the side, making it possible for this man and the thing to step inside.

And soon, two spirits that had been floating next to the man, of course unseen by the man who stood behind the wall before, spoke to the pale man, "It really worked, huh...? But Eiro, are you sure that n.o.body will be able to see through your... "disguise"?" 

The demon who currently physically looked like a person just turned his eyes and smirked a bit. He couldn"t answer right now, after all. But still, Eiro was pretty confident that this would work. After all, he had the help of a master of transformation right now. He had been completely physically transformed with the help of Bavet.

After his evolution finished, he had grown capable of different new things. One, his ability to transform into anything he wanted to had been increased considerably. If he transformed into things like steel, even many craftsmen would probably end up being confused by him, thinking that he was true, real steel.

And two, the most important part, Bavet"s new ability. It was even better than Eiro had ever hoped it could be. Instead of just connecting to a specific slime-substance, Bavet could connect to anything. As he was technically never transforming himself, meaning that the slime core usually stayed somewhat the same, and was just changing the slime itself, the concept was the same. It was limited if it wasn"t the slime though, of course. Mostly, things that could be changed were shape, color, and texture, but the material itself would stay the same.

They already tested it with furniture, weapons, and dead bodies... And right now, Bavet"s slime core was somewhat fused with Eiro himself. Once they split up, Eiro"s body would return to normal without any effects on him at all, but right now, he was really completely like a human. No horns, tail, or wings, a normal skin color, and a few more changed details about his face and body.

Of course, Eiro knew how thorough this transformation was, so he was sure that not even Evelyn would be capable of finding out the truth just by looking at Eiro. She had initially found out about Eiro through the shape that his blood took inside of his body, after all, but now she couldn"t even do that. Really, this was the perfect disguise Eiro was hoping for.

Eiro and John, who was led along by Eiro by a thick metal chain tied around his neck like he really was a dog, followed the man that let them through the wall. This area was a "secret street" of this town, seemingly. It was apparently pretty well, hidden, small, and only had one entrance. There were different buildings here, all of which belonged to the organization. And at the end of the street was the entrance to a slightly larger structure.

"Go in there..." The man told Eiro, and the Demon slowly nodded his head. He pulled John behind him, while the dozens over dozens of organization-members currently scuttering around here were just staring at them curiously.