Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 162: Picking up the Homies
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- Felix -
"You wanted to see Albert and Adalman first?" I asked Luminous as we made our way towards the dimension Hinata was in.
It had been a few hours since Hinata and my "training session", though we didn't actually fight.
After giving Hinata my advice, I let her be in the dimension I created, and from the uncontrolled shockwaves and explosions I could sense within that dimension, her results still left much to be desired, which was understandable with what she was trying to accomplish.
She was trying to create some sort of Art that made use of almost all her Ultimate Skills as well as spiritrons. All three of those things were the foundations of her power at this point.
Nemesis, Lord of Retribution, and Fortuna, Lord of Odds, were both very powerful Ultimate Skills, and spiritrons could speak for themselves.
The only downside was that her Ultimate Skills didn't have a whole lot in common.
One had the essence of using the opponent's power against them, while the other was calculation and precognition based, but she'd manage. Even with that difficulty, I had faith. She wasn't the type of person to give up when she believed something was possible.
Plus, it was something she really needed, and I'm glad she realized that herself.
Hinata's foundation was solid; her swordsmanship, Fighting Spirit, Arts, etc. Almost everything except for her raw control was great. She was a great representation of what the peak of humanity could look like on their own merits.
I barely interfered with her growth other than accelerating the development of her Ultimate Skill, which she would have gotten anyway. What she had was on her own merit and I wouldn't accept anyone saying anything else.
But in the end, despite her impressive stature, against an equal opponent, at best she would have a battle of attrition which tended to go either way.
It was obvious that against an equal opponent, one would struggle, except there was always the possibility that you could flip the odds in your favor. It was always good to have some kind of trump card in your back pocket if it was needed.
"Hmm, you told me about those two's situation some time ago and I am interested in meeting them, and at the very least informing them that they are free to visit Ruberious if they do desire, despite their undead status." Luminous responded.
It may not seem like it, but that was Luminous' way of making amends with them. They were done wrong by her subordinates, after all. If the Luminaries didn't have a power trip and send those two on an impossible mission to get killed, then who knows what Adalman's and Albert's situation would be like right now.
They had the potential to become True Heroes back then from what I knew. Their natures were aligned in that way, and if it weren't for their undead status, then they could have become True Heroes eventually.
"They are doing well now, yes?" She asked lightly.
"Well enough I'd say. I'm not sure how they were back then, but Adalman and Albert are pretty introverted now. They tend to stick to the borders of my territory with their undead and just hang out. Though Sasha, someone who has some history with Adalman, does visit him somewhat often."
It was pretty funny watching her navigate her centuries old crush. I suppose that's another side effect of being even part-spiritual. Emotions don't really fade unless the person who holds them actually wants them to fade.
Still, it made for some good entertainment here and there. There was even a betting pool on when Sasha would make her move. Currently myself, Saeko, Lalatina, Evelyn, and even Raiden were taking part.
"Do treat them well. I believe that Granbell thought them to have the potential to become Saints, which is praise he does not lightly give." Luminous noted. "I merely thought him to be exaggerating once I found out about their demise, but if his words hold truth, then I am certain they have potential."
Adalman was rather strong even before I renamed him, being capable of casting Disintegration. Even through Faith, it was still no easy feat.
Safe to say he was strong as he was now. He may not have been known as one of the Eight Demonic Generals as I called my most elite subordinates, but he was certainly up there. He was strong enough to be among those eight, but I just felt like eight was a nicer number than nine or something.
I nodded. "Adalman was ironically probably stronger than Clayman in direct combat. The only reason he obeyed him was due to the slave seal placed on Adalman by Kagali in the past. Albert is weaker, but still impressive. He's a match for Agera in swordsmanship."
Luminous already knew all about my notable subordinates, just as I knew about hers.
"Oh? That is rather impressive. You had praised this Agera quite a lot." After a moment she clicked her tongue. "Tsk. You were always rather lucky with the subordinates you have acquired." She said with a childish pout.
I laughed. She was right. She had been developing her powerbase for centuries at this point, though part of it was decimated by Veldora in the past. Still, she had been at it for a long while.
And yet, even her power base couldn't compare to my own, at least not in terms of the sheer quality and quantity I could call upon, and she knew that very well. Just having a single Primordial under you gave you a force that few could match in the Cardinal World.
As with one Primordial came all their dependents as well for the most part, making for a massive army of Daemons if one wished to call upon them, let alone the three that I have.
I essentially had three legions of Daemons that I could call upon, and that was something I'd keep in mind for the war with the Eastern Empire.
Though even with knowing that you would get a legion at your beck and call upon the recruitment of a Primordial, no one actually managed to succeed in recruiting a Primordial since Guy showed up other than me, with Rimuru following shortly afterwards.
Not because they weren't strong; it was the opposite in fact. Recruiting a Primordial was supposed to be incredibly difficult. Just being strong wasn't really enough to convince any of them. And going into the Daemon Realm to kill one was incredibly difficult, not just because of the hordes of Daemons that would attack at their whim, but the Primordials were also at full power in the Daemon Realm.
Not to mention it would be their territory, which they knew like the back of their hands. Fighting on their turf likely wouldn't end well for anyone but those who were bullshit levels of strong.
It was basically against the common sense of the Cardinal World to recruit one of them. No Demon Lord had genuinely considered recruiting another Primordial Daemon from what I knew. The reputation of the Primordials was simply that well known.
There was a reason that everyone lost their minds once they learned Rimuru and I had Primordial Daemons serving us. I could still remember Elmesia's pseudo-crashout fondly.
They couldn't fight the top tiers as they were, minus Guy, but they were a force multiplier on their own.
"I guess I'm special." I responded to Luminous' earlier words with a smug smile. "I got you to fall for me didn't I?"
Luminous stared at me from the corner of her eyes. "Don't get too smug."
"Of course." I responded innocently while avoiding her gaze. She just rolled her eyes at my actions.
I caught up with Luminous about some more minor things, like the direction my own training was going.
I was currently trying to create some sort of Ultimate Art, similar to Hinata. A trump card for when my original trump card fails.
I wanted to use Yamato for it, something with coating it with the power of Hollow Purple, Probability Manipulation, Metatron's power, as well as a host of other things I had. But balancing all those contradictory forces was difficult, even for me.
Then the even greater challenge was the fact that Yamato just wasn't strong enough to balance that much energy, so I was left having to wait for it to grow stronger at the moment.
And it most certainly wasn't a weak weapon. Right now, its EP was at around 6,000,000, which was among the most powerful God Grade weapons I'd seen.
It was also growing stronger and stronger as it soaked up more energy in my Infinity Space, so eventually it should reach the stage I needed it to be at.
"So what plans do you have once going back to the Cardinal World?" I asked Luminous.
"Mmm, perhaps just supervise Hinata's restructuring of the church and my own training. The information on those Information Particles as you called them was rather interesting."
I had told Luminous what I told Hinata about Information Particles just earlier. She was surprised, but not as surprised as Hinata, as she had read about them in Twilight's notes, though his notes didn't go into detail about them so she was left making vague assumptions.
"When Hinata and Guy were fighting, Guy used that and you intervened, correct?" Luminous asked after a moment.
I raised a brow. "That's right. Did you feel something back then?"
If she felt even some sort of disturbance, then that meant that she was ahead of the curve when it came to moving in the Suspended World. It meant that she was able to passively sense the movement, or lack thereof, of Information Particles.
Luminous nodded. "I knew that something was off, but not what."
"That's good then."
Even if Luminous may not be able to use Suspended World on her own, just being able to move in it gave her many more options and protection against someone who could stop time.
In fact, it may even serve as an advantage. Casting Suspended World was difficult as hell. You needed a very high computational power and a whole lot of energy, so in that moment the caster would likely be somewhat out of it, if only for a moment.
If Luminous or Hinata could attack then, when the caster already thinks they've won, then it would already be over.
I explained my thoughts to Luminous and she agreed. I then asked her why she didn't ask me what happened if she had her own suspicions. At my question, she just turned away in embarrassment. I eventually got her to tell me what was on her mind, and it was a pretty adorable reason all things considered.
She didn't want to depend on me for each and every one of her improvements. She had her own pride, even if it led her to do some weird things. She wanted to figure it out on her own. To that, my only response was that she was making use of her status as my lover, and that in the end she'd be the one putting in all the hard work.
If we couldn't rely on one another for things like that, then there were going to be issues down the line, which Luminous understood after our conversation.
"How is the progress on the World System Skill?" I asked.
Luminous grinned proudly. "I succeeded in creating an imitation of those Domain Expansions you spoke about, and then the information from that was conformed into a sub-skill of my Ultimate Skill: Asmodeus, Lord of Lust."
"Ooh, that's impressive. Good work." I said with a smile. And I really did mean it. She essentially recreated an aspect of a whole other world's power system only from an explanation from me.
Sure, World System Skills existed, but that was just a happy coincidence.
Depending on the powers of her World System Skill, she may have jumped into an entirely new league of power. Though going by Asmodeus' more supportive nature, I imagine it wouldn't be a directly combat based World System Skill.
I did have a soul corridor and could peek at the new data for Asmodeus if I wanted to, but it wasn't that important for me. She could keep her secrets.
Now Luminous really just had to learn to manipulate Information Particles to be closer to the "top tiers" of the Cardinal World. Her raw power was rather lacking, but that was slowly changing. Although it was a very slow process, as she had pretty much reached the limits of her potential at this point.
Though dual cultivating was helping her, or else her progress on the energy front would be even slower.
What a selfless individual I was, sacrificing my own body for her growth. I hope one day she would appreciate the sacrifice I was making.
"…"
She did still have her trump card that would allow her to fight on the same level as the top tiers, though it was temporary.
In a show of trust, she had shown me the defenses she had connected to Ruberious, one was a rune that allowed her to gather all the faith she could (which was a lot), and condense it all into a fuck off-level Disintegration.
From what I saw from it, it would even kill a True Dragon if they were hit by it. She told me it was originally meant to be a counter for Dagruel if he ever got daring enough to attack Luminous due to their vendetta with one another.
The downside was it was weaker against people who were smaller as the spiritron concentration would be heavily spread.
Still, that when combined with being capable of manipulating Information Particles would put her in a rather good position for this upcoming war.
She was already a strong fighter for sure, but if she could get even stronger, then that would be for the best.
Plus she had Hinata on her side who had also grown rather powerful, to the point that between Luminous and Hinata, I wasn't sure who was actually stronger. Hinata had the great reserves, but Luminous may have the experience to equalize against Hinata.
I hadn't actually seen Luminous fight before, so most of my thoughts about her combat ability was just my own hunch.
She did have a God Grade sword. One's weapon doesn't get to that stage if it isn't used properly and cared for, so her swordsmanship was likely pretty good, and her own power output was rather large when she focused.
For example, her True Dragon-killing Disintegration when powered by her Faith was likely in the realm of 90,000,000 EP in sheer energy output, comparable to what Leon's Metatron could likely output.
We also hadn't fought, but I already had a good understanding of Leon's abilities. In a fight, he'd likely win against Luminous. Essentially she can fire off a single max level Disintegration, whereas Leon can fire off hundreds of tinier Disintegrations due to his more limited output.
It didn't take us long to arrive in front of the door that led to the dimension Hinata was in. With a quick knock, she was notified of our arrival and immediately came through the door.
"Are we leaving?" She asked as her two weapons were stored in the bracelet on her wrist. She looked slightly worn out from her training, but it was nothing concerning.
"We are. I am sure that Louis is doing a fine job, but I would prefer not leaving my seat of power for so long." Luminous responded.
Hinata nodded. "Let's pick up Kanae then."
In the end, they were only able to find a single person that Hinata liked and was willing to leave this world. But Hinata seemed satisfied with just that, so it was fine.
From what she told me, the plan was to introduce Kanae as a new Great Saint eventually, restoring their former number of ten and allowing the citizens of Ruberious to get some relief in the knowledge that there were ten Great Saints again.
They weren't really capable of understanding that the current Great Saints was far stronger than the former Great Saints with ten people in it. To most common people of the Cardinal World, quantity was a greater threat than quality.
Kanae would be weaker at the start once she went to the Cardinal World as her connection with her Angel would be severed, but at the same time, a new connection with the Cardinal World would also form, enhancing her potential and likely granting her Skills.
It was rather odd how introducing someone to the power system of the Cardinal World went. For the most part, anyone who traveled into the "region" of the Cardinal World was already more deeply connected to the Voice of the World and granted the use of Skills.
That included the Daemon Realm and all the other surrounding "realms" as well. Her body was already capable of handling external sources of energy as well, so I didn't need to recreate the otherworlder transfer process in which the otherworlder's bodies are completely restructured to better suit the Cardinal World.
With some training, Hinata believed that Kanae could rise to the level of an Enlightened, which was a decent level of strength. Certainly not useless, at the very least.
"Let's go then." I told the two. I had already told everyone that I'd be gone for a couple hours since I wanted to check in on everyone a bit before coming back to this world with Rimuru, Veldora, and Ramiris.
"Do you have Kanae's coordinates?" I asked Hinata.
She nodded. "Just a moment." She focused for a moment, and then a portal slowly formed in front of us.
"Nice job." I praised her. It wasn't easy traveling from here all the way to Japan. The amount of calculations that needed to be done for a single teleportation was astronomical. That's why Milim, for all her power, just preferred to fly everywhere despite being more than capable of teleporting.
In her own words, it was just too much work for most people.
I just had an affinity for it.
Hinata rolled her eyes. "We both know I am only capable of this due to the Blessing you granted me that was converted into a Skill."
"Ah yes, good old Space-Time Manipulation. But despite wanting to take credit for all your successes, this one is on you. You still need to master it to the extent of being able to use it as freely as you do."
Hinata just shrugged and walked through the portal. Luminous and I were watching the portal with amused smiles on our faces.
"That girl always struggles with accepting praise." Luminous commented.
"That she does." I grabbed her hand and then pulled her along. "Let's go before she decides to leave us back."
With that, the two of us went through the portal.
When we arrived on the other side, Hinata was already speaking with Kanae. We were in a room of some kind, one I could only imagine was inside of Kanae's home.
A quick flex of my senses confirmed my suspicions. We were in a rather large penthouse in the middle of Tokyo.
S Rank Hunters made the big bucks, even if they weren't the strongest ones around.
"You have already taken care of your matters?" We overheard Hinata asking, but Kanae's attention was on us.
"He is…?" Kanae asked as she looked at me with shock in her eyes. It seemed like she recognized me.
"Ah, that, as you know, is my friend, Luminous. Then that's just Felix." Hinata introduced us.
I made an aghast expression. "What kind of introduction is that? She gets the "friend" title but I get nothing? And what do you mean "just" me?"
Hinata just ignored me and continued to speak to Kanae, who was still blankly staring at us.
"Fufufu." Luminous giggled at Kanae's blatant staring.
"You're…" She mumbled in shock.
Hinata sighed. "Is something the issue?"
Kanae turned to look at Hinata. "You didn't tell me you knew him."
Hinata blinked in confusion. "Felix? Why does that matter?"
It was just like Hinata to completely ignore social media.
"He's famous throughout the world!" Kanae responded. "Some see him as some evil entity with some kind of plan, but most consider him to be a hero who saved many lives that day on Jeju Island, including potentially my own!"
I smiled smugly at Hinata. "See that? I'm a hero."
Hinata's lips twitched. "Everything he does is for his own benefit. Don't trust him or else you will be wrapped up in his web."
"Speaking from experience?" Luminous teased.
Hinata sighed. "Can we just leave?" She said in a completely fed up tone of voice.
Under all of our gazes, Kanae marched in front of me and bowed deeply. "Thank you for what you did that day on Jeju Island. I will be forever grateful."
"No need to bow. Saving your life was just a happy coincidence."
Kanae straightened up as she shook her head. "That does not matter. If it were not for your interference, my team and I would have met the same fate as… everyone else."
"If you really care that much then just work hard for Hinata to repay me."
Kanae nodded in determination. "Of course!"
Kanae slowly looked back towards Hinata, but I could still feel her awe towards Hinata and towards me. She did emphasize the word hero… Did she have some sort of hero worship thing?
Oh well, whatever. She was Hinata's to deal with.
"Have you packed everything you require?" Hinata asked while looking around the furnished room.
Kanae nodded. "I have everything that is required of me for this new mission." Kanae said sternly, as if that fan girl version of herself was just an illusion.
"And your Guild?" Hinata asked.
Kanae shrugged. "My contract with them expired some time ago. I merely continued working with them since I had nothing better to do. They have fallen far from what they were when I joined. I have no regrets."
Hinata nodded. "Very well then. Felix, if you would?"
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"Welcome to the Cardinal World." I said to Kanae as I took a deep breath of the energy rich air.
During the different process of traveling between worlds, Kanae was sort of detected and registered into the Voice of the World's system. It was a bit odd how the Voice of the World worked, and I still didn't have much of a clue on what its qualifications were for granting Skills.
Kanae had unsurprisingly acquired a Unique Skill, one that allowed her to enhance her blows with her katana. Essentially, it passively granted her blade a sharp Aura that could have numerous effects easily overlaid onto it. This Aura could also be sent out in the form of an invisible slash.
It was very similar to how one would naturally coat their weapon with Aura, except Kanae's was automated. Most Skills were like that; they automated processes that one was already capable of.
Simple, but useful if mastered. Most Unique Skills were like that. I was just far too used to seeing broken Unique Skills left and right, but those Unique Skills could only be called token Unique Skills at best, since most of them were capable of being pushed to the Ultimate level despite their status as Unique Skills.
Kanae also acquired a few more minor Common Skills and Extra Skills. My guess was they originated from some mana stones she made use of back in the world of Solo Leveling.
Mana stones could essentially imprint the knowledge of an ability of a monster into someone, allowing them to make use of that ability.
We had arrived in Lune to drop Hinata and Kanae off first so that they could get settled. Saeko had already returned back to my territory, but she had told me that she learned a lot from the chefs Luminous had mentor Saeko.
Saeko said she would prepare some sort of grand feast for when I was back from the world of Solo Leveling. Part of me was excited to try the fruits of her genuine labor, but a part of me was still concerned.
Saeko had a rep that was hard to overcome at this point, but maybe this time would be different. Just maybe.
I heard a gasp from my side. Kanae was clutching her chest and taking deep breaths. Hinata quickly placed a hand on Kanae's back and began to circulate her own holy energy into her.
"It will take some time for you to get used to this world. The magicule concentration even in a mostly pure area such as Lune is still much more compared to what you are used to from your Earth." Hinata shared.
After a minute Kanae's breathing went back to normal. She clenched her fist, shock on her face. "I feel…"
"Weak?" I finished for her.
Kanae slowly nodded. She didn't know why exactly she'd lose most of her strength when coming to this world, only that it would happen.
"Let's just say that the source of your power is a bit too far now. On the bright side, from here on, any power you cultivate will actually be your own."
She was weaker than her S Class self, but now she actually had the potential to grow stronger, something no Hunter other than Jin-Woo could do.
"I will take her with me. She will likely need some time to get used to this world." Hinata said to both Luminous and I.
Luminous and I nodded, though before leaving, Hinata gave me another one of the weird embarrassed looks she'd been having lately.
"Have fun." I said as she teleported away.
"Now Adalman and Albert?" I asked Luminous.
Luminous nodded.
I snapped my fingers and teleported us to Adalman's exact coordinates.
"Yohoho! Is that you my Lord Felix?" Adalman asked as he turned around.
We were currently in the outskirts of my territory which was basically just a large area of marshlands.
"Adalman." I greeted him.
I could sense Hel and Albert off in the distance.
"And who is this wonderful lady you brought with you?" Adalman asked, causing Luminous to smile amusedly at him.
It wasn't surprising that he didn't know who Luminous was, her identity was still mostly kept secret. Even though there was a Luminous Valentine on the Demon Lord Council, Luminous got Guy to keep how she actually looks a secret.. Most people didn't even think she was related to the goddess of Luminism.
"Before that, do you mind calling Albert over? This involves him as well."
Adalman nodded, and after a few moments Albert arrived.
"Ah, this is Luminous, also known as the goddess of Luminism." I introduced.
Adalman's and Albert's eyes collectively widened, which was something to see as Adalman was just a skeleton with no actual eyes, just holes.
I suppose one could call this a Brook moment.
"Wah! Goddess Luminous! It's an honor!" Adalman immediately yelled as he kneeled. I wasn't offended. He may have "worshiped" me as his god for his holy magic, but he still held reverence for the goddess of Luminism.
Albert didn't kneel or anything, he did bow slightly in respect towards Luminous. His faith towards her in the past wasn't anywhere as deep as Adalman's.
Luminous just smiled in amusement. "Hmm, there is no need to bow. I am no longer your goddess." Luminous said flippantly.
"You are always worthy of praise in my heart!" Adalman responded in a heartbeat. He really was one of Luminous's ultimate simps.
"Even with what the Luminaries did to you two?"
At hearing Luminous both Adalman and Albert went from goofy to serious. "We are aware that you do not care for the day to day activities of your worshipers, that would be far too much to manage. We do not blame you for other people's sins." Adalman responded after a moment.
After a brief pause, Luminous responded. "I see. Very well then, I had come to see you to inform you that Ruberious will always have a place for you two, should you desire it."
"We are honored, but we serve Lord Felix now." Albert responded.
Luminous rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes, yes, I know. But keep it in mind, still."
"Hey! Are you trying to poach my subordinates from under my nose!"
"As if you need any more good seedlings. You already recruited all those with potential." Luminous responded.
"If you think like that, you're never going to find others with potential. You may have to think a bit out of the box, but I'm sure there are others out there with potential. Maybe in some backwater village or something." I shrugged.
Luminous sighed. "I am aware." She turned to look back at the two. "Should you two desire to visit, I can arrange that as well. Felix can place a disguise at you to prevent any discrimination due to your undead nature."
"As expected of the goddess Luminous! To welcome undead such as us! Our faith was not misplaced, wah!" Adalman praised as tears somehow came out of his sockets.
"That was all I required of you two, we will leave you be now." Luminous said as she turned to look at me.
I got the signal and snapped my fingers, teleporting us to Luminous's palace in Ruberious.
"Tsk, your ease at teleportation still irks me."
I shrugged, smirking slightly. "What can I say? It's a gift."
Luminous got that look on her face. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if debating whether to throw one last jab, an expression she got quite often in my company.
But she just sighed, and instead her expression softened a bit. She stepped forwards as her heterochromatic eyes glowed slightly.
They were among her best features in my humble opinion.
Before I could ask what she was doing, she reached up, tilting her face toward mine, and pressed her lips lightly against mine.
The kiss wasn't long, or lewd, or anything like that. Still, it felt nice.
She pulled back almost immediately, though I caught the faintest trace of color on her cheeks. "Consider that… a blessing for safe travels." She said haughtily after a moment.
I blinked, then let a small grin tug at my mouth. "A blessing, huh? I'll make sure to come back to get more of those. The blessing of the goddess Luminous is quite difficult to acquire, I hear."
Her heterochromatic eyes narrowed, though she turned away just enough to hide the smile on her face. "Don't flatter yourself. You should be honored I even considered it." She huffed.
"I am." I chuckled as I raised my hand and snapped my fingers, teleporting away.
______________________________________________________________________
It had been a couple hours since I left Luminous' company. In that time, I had gone to my territory first and gotten a summary of events from Arcueid. All in all, the alliance with Dagruel had gone off without any troubles, pretty much as the both of us expected.
There were some negotiations, but most of it was just a formality to not make the Holy Void of Damargania look too weak in the negotiations. Just standard procedure.
Arcueid did receive an offer that was meant for me: an offer to visit the Holy Void of Damargania as a gesture of trust for our new burgeoning alliance. Arcueid didn't accept it, neither did she reject it as that was up to me, but that was definitely something I wanted to do.
Partly because I was curious about Dagruel's territory and the Heaven Tower that dwelled there, and partly because I didn't actually know Dagruel at all. I just knew snippets of his personality from people like Dino and what I'd seen at the Walpurgis.
Arcueid had conducted her own analysis on the representative Dagruel sent, which actually ended up being his brother, another True Giant.
She couldn't directly analyze Glassord, but she was still able to make her own observations, such as the range of his total EP, which she estimated to be between 8,500,000 and 14,000,000 EP. It was a large range, but it was actually pretty difficult to get a precise EP count.
The only way I could do so was with the help of Milim Eye and Othinus' own abilities. Otherwise, I'd have to rely on Ramiris' Labyrinth for anything more specific.
Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot going on in my territory, or even in the world itself right now. It was almost like the calm before a storm if I'd call it anything.
No kingdoms were being stupid in the West ad the Eastern Empire hadn't prodded at our borders in a while. It was mostly just smooth sailing, which I honestly wasn't used to.
Ever since I had arrived in this world, there was always something or the other going on. It's why I liked "vacationing" to other worlds. No better way to dissociate from the events of this world than literally leaving this world.
I was looking forward to the period of time after the Eastern Empire and their shenanigans were taken care of. I could get up to so much fun at that point without worry. At least that was something to look forward to for after this entire mess is dealt with.
Arcueid also said that Damrada was doing his job well, which was rare praise from her. She barely ever praised Moss, her oldest and most loyal subordinate. Damrada was currently making his presence known at a meeting for the Council of the West.
I'm pretty sure what Arcueid, and by extent what I'm doing now, is probably among the most Demon Lord-like thing I've done. Having Damrada there breathing over their ears so that they can't plan against me or my allies is beyond tyrannical, perhaps even evil from some points of view.
It was essentially taking away the autonomy of all the major nations in the Western Nations, but at this point I didn't care about that. I needed them to cooperate for when this war with the Eastern Empire kicked off, and this was among the easiest ways for that to be possible.
I'll loosen their leash once this world is more peaceful, or at least as peaceful as a world with multiple beings who could casually kill every single lifeform could be.
I did end up asking Arcueid about the mysterious energy present in my Infinity Space. Uf any of the Primordials knew, she was likely to be one of them as she was the second oldest and among the most knowledgeable of them.
The closest thing to what I was describing that she could think of was the minus energy that filled the deepest layer of the Daemon Realm, the Abyss.
I myself had used minus energy in the past, and while it was a powerful and destructive energy, it wasn't what I was looking for. Arcueid had said she would dispatch some of her Daemons to the Daemon Realm to see if there was anything they could learn.
After speaking with Arcueid and checking in with her, I made sure to visit everyone else too. It hadn't been long since I'd seen them last, but I still wanted to see them since I was here. Though I'm pretty sure my world trip is going to be wrapping up soon.
I planned to return to the Cardinal World once the world of Solo Leveling's "plot" was dealt with, or whatever was remaining in the scraps of a plot that were left.
I had changed quite a lot in the world of Solo Leveling with my mere existence. Now I was just curious as to where things would go. I pretty much already got everything I wanted out of that world.
I got to learn more about the history and origin of this multiverse, got more data for Veldanava's memories in the Absolute Being and Cup of Reincarnation, and then some.
I was still working on using the Cup of Reincarnation as a source for Adapter, but that was a process.
After Arcueid, I spoke with Raiden who was with Evelyn. I checked in with her about what she was doing. I still spoke to her regularly through the communication ring I gave her, but speaking in person was still an experience that was hard to replace.
Her training with Middray had been cut down a bit, by Middray's own advice, so that she could develop her own combat style instead of just copying his, which may not be a good fit for her. So she had been training alone as well as with some of my other lovers for the most part.
Her energy had grown more stable, so I could tell she wasn't slacking on her control that was a bit out of whack since her evolution into a Divine Dragon.
She had also been teaching Evelyn a bit. In Raiden's own words, she was teaching Evelyn how to best excel in her "maidly duties", but going by the embarrassment Evelyn felt when that was mentioned and when Raiden said she would show me the "fruits of her labors", I'm pretty sure there was something I was missing.
But it shouldn't be a big deal, or something Evelyn actively disliked and was going along with for the sake of her act. If it was, I would have sensed it in her emotions.
I did want to tease Evelyn (Elmesia) a bit, but I didn't have the chance to.
After Raiden, I went to see Kurumi who was in her gallery working on another painting. Her skill in that was improving rapidly, and I could see the progress when comparing something she made a month ago to now.
Her main goal was to recreate a painting of what her home village looked like, so that at least some memory of her village survives the tides of time, but she wanted to improve a bit more first.
She was currently working on a painting of Raiden in her draconic form, and after that, she planned to make a painting of the World Tree, as Elmesia had invited her over.
Saeko was as clingy as usual, but once she got her cuddles in, we caught up as well. She seemed pretty excited to feed me the "fruits of her labor", and she made it seem like she was some master chef now, so I wasn't sure what to expect from her at this point.
Now that she was done with her "chef training" for the time being, she wanted to undergo some more combat training. Her control was still the worst out of Raiden, Kurumi, and herself.
Then Ingvild had mostly just been going out into my capital city and singing for groups of people. She had become a bit of a sensation, with there being a network that would track her down whenever she was singing in public.
It was nothing dangerous though. Everyone knew she was one of mine so no one dared to do anything. Most just enjoyed her music.
Sukuna was probably the most interesting one to meet, I didn't speak to him directly since he was in a deep meditative state that was almost comatose-like. From what I could see with my Milim Eye, the former ego of the original Sukuna was splitting off from the new Sukuna's, becoming its own separate entity.
The way this Sukuna was created wasn't perfect, as Odin back then was more inexperienced in aspects of the soul and ego, and the effects were now showing in Sukuna.
I was actually pretty interested in seeing what would happen, so I just left it to Sukuna to manage. The new Sukuna was still the dominant ego after all, and Arcueid would be keeping an eye on him as well.
Maybe I'd end up with a split personality Sukuna. That would be pretty funny.
In a blink, I appeared in Tempest, more specifically The Dungeon. I had told Rimuru ahead of time that I'd be coming to pick him up soon, and he had said he was ready at this point.
Rimuru should sense my presence and arrive shortly. Through a quick scan with my admin access, I checked on the monsters that were born from my Aura. They were still the same as last time, no ego, no personality, just existence.
I was still pretty conflicted about them, but in the end I'd just let nature take its course. If they developed an ego, great. If not, also great.
After checking on them, I found something else interesting. I could sense Chloe on an isolated floor, and going by the "gaze" I could feel on me, she could sense me too.
After a moment, she vanished from her position and appeared behind me.
"Hello Chloe." I greeted her without turning around.
"Felix-nii!" She said as she skipped forwards.
"I heard that you've been busy." I said as I turned around.
She nodded as she grinned. "Yup~! Keeping Sariel in check is super annoying, but I've almost got it down!"
"Hmm, that's good then."
"Once I have Sariel under control, then we can fight, kay?"
I shrugged. "I did already agree, so I'm fine with that." I gave her a once over. "Going by your control, you clearly need it." Her Aura was pretty much flaring everywhere right now. It was like she wasn't even trying.
Chloe pouted but didn't argue.
After that, Rimuru, Veldora, and Ramiris arrived.
"Sup Felix." Rimuru greeted me.
"Yo." I waved.
Rimuru looked as he always did. It was Veldora and Ramiris who looked a bit funny.
Veldora was wearing a buttoned Hawaiian shirt, with the collar left open, while Ramiris was wearing a sundress with a wide brim hat.
Credit where it was due, they both looked great. I just thought it was amusing.
"I take it you three are ready, then?"
All three of them nodded.
"Yes my brother! Do you think I can meet the legendary Akira Toriyama himself!?" Veldora asked excitedly.
"That could probably be arranged." Ironically, there was an Akira Toriyama in the world of Solo Leveling.
I didn't want to think about the fact that there were multiversal variants of some people.
"Bwahaha, as expected of my brother!" Veldora laughed. "Let us go then!"
Rimuru looked to Chloe. "You'll keep an eye on everything right?"
Chloe nodded. "Leave it to me!"
Rimuru nodded. "Thanks. Let's go then, Felix."
"Yeah sure." We could catch up a bit more later. It seems, for now, the three just wanted to get going.
With that, I created a portal leading to the world of Solo Leveling, and all four of us stepped through.
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Author's Note:
Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon. Luminous and Hinata return along with their new recruit, and Rimuru and friends come along. I'm sure that they aren't going to cause any trouble, nope.
Anyways, thanks for reading, peace.
Thanks to @Salante and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.
Last bit of editing -Omnax
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