In Hell.
Kaito set Mashiro down on the ground, and behind her Miura and Hikigaya also descended.
"Why is her hair fine?" was the first thing Miura said as soon as they arrived.
While Mashiro had her hair as if she had not moved at impossible speeds, and even her clothes were without a single wrinkle, both Hikigaya and Miura were completely disheveled and their clothes were almost torn apart by the strong wind.
"How fast you got used to it," Kaito said, surprised by her tone.
However, Miura seemed to take it as a threat and immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry, I was presumptuous," she apologized twice while bowing.
"It's fine, I did not mean it that way." Kaito sighed and stopped bothering to explain. It did not bother him that they did not speak formally to him, he was simply surprised by how quickly she started doing so. "The difference is that I carried her, she was protected by one of my abilities, while you were only protected by magic."
"It was really fast, Kaito is very strong," Mashiro said, a little surprised by Kaito, since she is also a mage.
Although a simple shield might not seem surprising, Kaito moves at over 18,000 km/h. A shield that protects you from wind resistance at that speed is incredibly durable, capable of withstanding even the direct impact of a cruise missile. At 18,000 km/h, the wind strikes with a force close to 15 megapascals, enough to disintegrate anyone who is not protected.
Although Mashiro did not know all these calculations, she simply knew that she is supposed to be the queen of all magic now, and even so it would be difficult for her to do something like that.
In fact, before, Kaito would not have been able to do this, which is why he traveled with a maximum of two people, and both of them carried, since that way the Speedforce protected them. But now, with magical manipulation, something at this level is easy, since what increased the most in this ability was his control and precision when using mana.
"One second, I will take Mashiro," Kaito said while looking at both of them.
"What are you...?" Before she could finish the sentence, the barely fixed hairstyles of Miura and Hikigaya were ruined again by the wind, and less than a minute later the wind appeared again.
"Do you have to do that every time?" Miura asked resignedly.
"It is part of the character," Kaito replied, although neither of them understood. "Follow me."
While both of them looked at the territory in amazement, since they did not have one themselves, Kaito guided them to an enormous tower.
It did not have an impressive design. In fact, it looked like a large chess piece, a rook enlarged to incredible sizes.
But even so, somehow it gave off a magical aura that attracted both of them.
"What is this?" Hikigaya spoke for the two of them.
"It is a magic tower, it is used to learn magic," Kaito said as if stating the obvious.
"Do you want us to learn magic?" Miura asked, confused about why he had brought them there.
Kaito laughed. "Of course not, focus on improving what you already have."
As soon as they entered, they came across an extremely long counter that suspiciously resembled those on Earth.
Ignoring the suspicious looks Miura and Hikigaya sent him, Kaito went to the counter, skipped the line, and spoke to the receptionist.
"Excuse me."
"Yes? Lord Lucifer!, it is a pleasure to have you here. Do you need to go to a specific floor? Please allow me to guide you," the receptionist said excitedly upon recognizing him.
"It is not necessary. Are Hope or Gwen here?" Kaito asked calmly.
"Miss Gwen is not here. As for Miss Charmcaster, she is in her office at the moment," the receptionist replied seriously.
"Can you call her?"
"Yes, right away!" she replied while pulling a crystal ball from under the counter.
Half a minute later, Charmcaster hurried down the stairs.
"Do you dare call the lady of the magic tower?" she asked with seriousness and amusement at the same time.
"Why do I feel like you like that title more than Queen of the Legerdomain?" Kaito asked with a smile.
"Because there are more people here, dear," she replied. "Besides, queen sounds like an old woman."
"Do whatever you want. By the way, why the change in style?" Kaito asked, noticing her new look.
Charmcaster was now wearing a long outfit in shades of purple, magenta, and black. Her fitted coat had raised shoulder pads and a high collar, with spiral details on the arms and sides, as well as a spiked trim that fell over her hips.
At the center of her chest she wore a golden brooch with a purple gem. The sleeves were long and wide at the bottom, with curved patterns and decorative segmentations. Underneath she wore black leggings that narrowed at the ankles, combined with boots of the same color, thin and pointed.
Her hair was long and straight, falling to her waist, predominantly white with lilac tips and streaks. A side-swept fringe covered part of her forehead and one of her eyes, while the back fell in a large, stylized cascade. She also wore small golden accessories on her ear.
Contrary to her previous outfit, which made her look mature and dominant, this one was the complete opposite, as it made her look younger and less serious.
"I thought a change would suit me. How do I look?" she asked while giving a small spin.
"Beautiful, of course," Kaito replied instantly.
"Do I look better now or before?" she asked with a playful smile.
"The best you is the one in front of me," Kaito replied, realizing her trap.
"Hehe, you passed this one," Charmcaster laughed. "By the way, did you need something?"
"Are you free right now? What about Gwen?" Kaito asked.
"That girl is in the laboratory with her second mother, as always. And yes, I am free."
"Good, then can you guide these two around the territory?" he said, pointing at his companions, who had been silent until now, only looking at Kaito with strangeness.
"They are?" Charmcaster asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hikigaya Hachiman, Yumiko Miura. Necromancer, mental mage," Kaito introduced them. "She is Charmcaster. You can think of her as the head mage of this magic tower and my girlfriend. She will guide you so you can familiarize yourselves with the area."
"Did we say our names?"
"I thought the other girl was your girlfriend."
Both spoke at the same time, but Kaito did not respond, since he was no longer there.
Kaito's plans for the day basically boiled down to waiting for an army of clones to appear to invade the kingdom and kill them all.
While he waited, Megumi had told him that she had already taken care of the other territories she had and wanted to introduce him to the SubLords under her command. So, since he had nothing to do, Kaito headed to his territory for the moment.
Ten minutes later.
Kaito was sitting in front of Megumi, who in turn was standing in front of four other people.
"Let us begin," Megumi said, and Eriri and Tomoya stepped forward.
"You already know these two. Eriri, Aki. Childhood friends. Tsundere and otaku. Both are very interesting."
"Who are you calling a tsundere?!"
Kaito ignored Eriri's protest and directed his attention to the next person who stepped forward.
"Kasumigaoka. You can call her Utaha, that way we save all that trouble. She is a failed writer, but she keeps trying. It is fun to watch her try."[1]
"Failed," Utaha repeated with a sad murmur.
The last person stepped forward.
"Lastly..."
"Wait, wait. What kind of introductions are those? What about their strength, level, specialty?" Kaito interrupted, confused.
"Well, you already know about Eriri and Tomoya. Utaha is not strong, so I thought you would not care," Megumi explained.
"Then why did you subordinate her?"
"Because she is interesting," Megumi replied simply.
"...Fine." Kaito did not dwell on it further and focused on the next one.
However, when he looked at her, his eyes widened in surprise. It was not because of her strength, but because of her appearance.
She was a girl of average height, with long pink hair that fell to her shoulders, and beautiful light blue eyes.
Up to that point everything was normal, but if you looked at her body.
She had a curvy body, with especially prominent breasts and wide hips.
However, Kaito did not notice this just because. The reason it stood out was that she was wearing an erotic cow-themed outfit, similar to a bikini, but smaller, MUCH smaller, barely covering any skin.
She even wore stockings and sleeves with the same pattern, along with a choker with a bell and a headband with cow ears.
The sight surprised Kaito for half a second, when the girl's clothing changed to something completely normal, a loose hoodie and shorts.
"So my abilities can work against me in these situations," Kaito thought.
As the owner, he knows when his abilities activate, even passively, so he knew that his resistance to mental interference had just activated.
The problem was that, although the ability activated less than a second after Kaito suffered the intrusion, thanks to his speed, for him it was more time than that.
The girl seemed to notice that he was looking at her, and how. She blushed quite a bit, trying to cover her own body, even though she was already wearing normal clothes.
Kaito looked at her, waiting for her to explain herself.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
(They don't reach 15 at this moment, since there is a marathon of my other fic because it is ending.)
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)
[1] I would like to take Utaha’s introduction as an example. Throughout the novel, the protagonist is literally going to end up conquering the entire galaxy, so obviously not all of his subordinates will have screen time or be important. Many will be like Utaha, they are introduced and their powers are explained, but they will not appear much. Many others will only be mentioned, and many more will not even be mentioned unless someone asks me in a comment and I reply, “yes, that character exists in this universe and is under the protagonist’s command.”. Sorry to Utaha’s fans, by the way, but I was never a big fan of her. On top of that, due to her overexploitation in Chinese fics, I got tired of her character.