Demon's Virtue

All he wanted to do was kill! Kill that thing! Rip it apart into a million pieces! It had to suffer, it had to cry, it had to beg for mercy! It had to disappear! And as if it listened to Eiro"s wish, it did. It fell apart into black mist and a s.h.i.+ver overcame Eiro"s body.

But before he knew it, he felt a hand creep up behind him and grab him by the chin to pull his head up, while another hand pulled his arms together so that he couldn"t fight. And two other hands then moved toward Eiro"s chest. Eiro couldn"t fight whatever this creature was, it was simply far, far too strong for him. That didn"t mean that he didn"t try, of course.

The two hands moved around in front of Eiro"s chest and all of a sudden, something like magic circles appeared in front of his chest. It wasn"t entirely like magic circles, but it wasn"t all to different either. But in the end, when the magic circles were activated, a notification appeared in front of Eiro.

[The Mark of the Devil has been temporarily sealed]

[The Mark of Wrath has been temporarily sealed]

All of a sudden, Eiro calmed back down a fair bit. Obviously he was still p.i.s.sed off and confused at why such a creature as this thing was here, but at least he wasn"t overcome by his emotions anymore.

"Now, I hope we can discuss this like normal." The creature said, and soon disappeared into black mist again.

"Please, I would appreciate it if you let go of that Lizardman." It said the moment it reappeared on the other side of the room, and Eiro looked down at the corpse and did as the thing said.

And then, Eiro stepped further into the room. Once he pa.s.sed the doorframe, the pressure from before was stronger than ever, and Eiro couldn"t help himself but stop for a moment to adjust to this. But he was also pretty worried about Sammy and Leon. The former was still just standing there hazily while Leon kept sleeping. This change didn"t seem to affect them much more than what was happening before, so Eiro just led Sammy further into the room as he stepped up to the creature.

"Are you the High-Priest?" Eiro asked, and the figure looked at him with a slight nod, "Such I am." It replied, and then continued, "It seems you have met one of my kin."

"I have. And it wasn"t all that pleasant."

"I wouldn"t expect it to be. My Kin can become quite hostile. But not all of us are. Each of us has a reason to exist, and mine is to be right in this temple. And do not worry about the monsters here. I have sealed their monstrosity, so they are not aggressive toward anyone." The creature explained, and Eiro glared deeply at the thing.

"Down in the town I met one of the Shapeless Slime eating here, and he still reeked of human meat after eating one of them. And on our way up here, he became quite hostile in his choice of words. Can you seals wear off?" Eiro asked it, and the creature stared at the Demon in surprise.

"A shapeless slime? If that is so, then it must have been... I see, that child." It muttered quietly, before then slowly shaking its head, "Before I continue, it seems you truly are Eiro, the Demon that Jura informed me about in a letter?" It asked, before Eiro quietly nodded his head.

"Then I welcome you in this temple, and wish to truly apologize for any rudeness that may have befallen you here. My name is Hyjun, the High-Priest of this temple as you already guessed." The thing, Hyjun, explained to Eiro, who just kept standing there and staring at it.

"You wish to have the seals placed upon those two removed?" It asked, and once more disappeared into black mist before taking a closer look at Sammy, "I see. While it is a vile one, it is the only way to seal skills. But nonetheless, I will be able to remove both seals quite easily. Come, bring them here." Hyjun transported itself back over toward the other side of the room and waved Eiro over there, so the Demon just took Sammy"s hand and made sure that she was following behind him.

"I excuse the miasma. It is simply impossible to fully contain the creature sealed here." It apologized, but Eiro just still stayed silent. True, that pressure was really sickening, but it wasn"t that bad now that Eiro could concentrate all he could on keeping the overwhelming feeling he got from it away.

Hyjun moved its hands quickly and helped Sammy undress again before having her lay down on another table. The creature ran its hands over her body and the markings before closing its eyes. Eiro really had to try his best not to freak out at this sight... His daughter was laying defenselessly in front of a creature nearly identical to the one that induced the greatest Trauma of his life into Eiro.

But he had to keep it together. He really did, there was no other way but to. Otherwise, Sammy and Leon would both die.

Hyjun stretched all four of its arms outward and started moving them in different patterns, creating some more of those weird, special magic circles that it used before. Those then formed a larger magic circle, and then an even larger one, until numerous smaller magic circles appeared between that large one and the center of Sammy"s body.

Eiro could feel some of the pressure subsiding when this happened, weirdly enough. It was a minscule difference, but it was enough to make Eiro realize something. Hyjun was using that miasma in order to remove the seal placed on Sammy.

It took her roughly an hour or so to finish, but at some point, the tattoos on Sammy"s body slowly started to fade while her body went limp. Her heart was still beating like normal, so she seemed to just be sleeping, but Eiro was still worried.

"Did it work?" The Demon asked, and Hyjun slowly nodded its head, "Yes. The seal has been removed. The skill has returned to her." Hyjun replied and then started to use its arms to quickly put Sammy"s clothes back on her before picking her up and sitting her down against the wall where she seemed to be okay for now.

"The boy, please." Hyjun said, and Eiro quietly nodded his head as he did as asked. The thing laid Leon down onto the table and undressed him as well, before repeating the same process all over again.

The seals soon disappeared, and Eiro started feeling something rather uncomfortable in the back of his head as his heart sped up, "What... is this?" Hyjun asked quietly, and Eiro simply ignored the thing and went to put Leon"s clothes back onto him.

"No! I cannot allow this! The skills this boy possesses are too dangerous!"

"Don"t worry, I"ll take care of him." Eiro replied as he picked his son back up and then walked over toward Sammy to try and wake her up. But before he could, Hyjun appeared in front of him.

"He is not a danger for himself! He is a danger for-" But all of a sudden, Hyjun was interrupted. Nelli and Gondos had been quiet the whole time, as they had also both been affected by the miasma, but even they spoke up now s

"Something is happening..." Nelli exclaimed, and Gondos turned over toward the older spirit next to him, "This looks like-"

"The seal is weakening..." Hyjun said, and then stretched its hands out toward Leon, but Eiro immediately summoned his three of swords and had all five of the the blades surround the creature. Without hesitation, the creature just disappeared into a mist, that Eiro just cut into. And all of a sudden, the mist that was appearing right behind Eiro at the moment faded and a notification appeared in front of the Demon.

[Hyjun -142 Damage]

As black blood dropped onto the ground where the black mist was before, Eiro heard Hyjun gasp in the other corner of the room.

"H-How did you..?" It muttered confusedly, and Eiro just glared at it.

"Five of Pentacles. It enables ultimate perceptive abilities, which extends beyond the regular five senses. For one, I have something like a sixth sense now, it"s like I simply know where you are at the moment. I would know without any of my normal senses. But on top of that, it improves my regular senses by letting me notice things that would usually be impossible to notice. I can smell race, age, and sometimes even mood. I can feel mana touching my skin. And most importantly, I can touch notifications to an extent." Eiro started and kept moving the blades around his body while protecting Leon and Avalin as much as he could with them, and continued to explain.

"And the three of swords is basically just a direct extension of your body. While one of its features is that it can combine with any sort of weapon or tool, other than that, it works as if these five blades were just any other limb. That means that my perception extends to them. Like that, I"ve grown capable of cleanly cutting through notifications. Your mist seems to be similar to what the notifications are made up of..." Eiro pointed out, and just slightly smiled at the creature.

"That means that I"m capable of injuring you no matter what state you"re in at the moment." The Demon announced to it, "So let me tell you one thing. If you dare touch my children, this room will turn pitch-black.

"You don"t understand! If I don"t re-seal that child"s skills, the creature sealed here will escape! I cannot allow that to happen! A single child"s future is not much of a sacrifice to ensure this!"

"Oh, on the contrary. I would sacrifice everything else in return for the future of these children. Even the measily existence of this temple. Sorry about that." Eiro told Hyjun. But before anything else could be done, the Demon heard the sound of something shattering. As if someone broke a bottle or window.

And then, he noticed Nelli and Gondos" scared expressions.