IX. Liberrimus
Liberrimus,
superlative degree of liber (Latin):
free, uncontrolled, unbridled;
open (unresolved);
impartial (in law);
freed, void.
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TRANSFER MODULE IS IN SLEEP MODE.
"You damn thing!"
I exploded at the message displayed by that fucking bracelet right before my eyes, and the whole world started turning scarlet. For all my attempts to communicate lately — it had already gotten dark, damn it — this beast remained silent, showing nothing but the word "please wait".
"You elephant piece of cu…"
I was interrupted by a muffled yelp from somewhere in the bushes — and yes, I had ended up in some goddamn forest with no modern roads or proper villages around.
And yes, before this fateful message from this shitty System, I had already climbed a tree and then swooped down from it on my wings, realizing this wasn't some city park where people might find me out.
This was a genuine magical forest. While I was swooping, some flaming saber‑toothed squirrel tried to knock me off course. I didn't touch the squirrel, of course — just dodged and let it crash headfirst into a small tree. It's legally prohibited to kill magical animals without a hunting permit or in self‑defense when your life is in danger and you can't avoid the fight, and I wasn't about to break the laws, especially somewhere outside the Underworld.
The squirrel grumbled and took off, and I regretted not catching it, because it left with a rather impressive flash of blue flame from its tail. I still didn't have a familiar, and this strange creature might have been useful. No idea how, but I'd have found out eventually.
Also, somewhere in the sky, toward the distant mountains, one could see barely noticeable gigantic birds. Of course, I'd love to believe I was in The Lord of the Rings, but looking at these birds, I thought that until I saw an elf, even giant eagles wouldn't convince me of that.
And that's exactly what I returned to when an eared girl, a bit older than my current body — about fifteen years old — emerged from the bushes. But the fact that this definitely wasn't a Tolkien elf was evident from her protruding, pointed ears, which looked nothing like the neat leaf‑shapes familiar from any media about the world of Arda.
And the horns quite clearly suggested that only the ears related her to elves. Her horns were brown, somewhat resembling ram's, with their backward curve, and they certainly didn't do her any favors in terms of appearance.
"Don't kill me! Please!" she threw herself to her knees, dirtying her light dress. "You can take the jewelry and stones! That's all I have! Just don't kill me!"
"Who exactly are you, and how come I didn't notice you here before?"
I asked her in bewilderment, studying her bracelets with rather poorly cut jewels, as I thought, and her necklace, also clearly expensive, draped over the upper part of her dress.
Her attire had some Greco‑Roman fantasy style, which made my blue and silver three‑piece suit, with a snow‑white shirt, comfortable low‑heeled lace‑up shoes, look completely out of place next to this girl.
"I'm Kirre! I'll do anything, just don't kill me!" she pleaded again with some odd, almost whining urgency. "I don't want to die!"
"Why on earth would I want to kill you? Calm down!" I said irritably, but didn't approach closer or offer her a hand to help her up. "Stand up. Show me the way to the nearest settlement — I'm lost. And you can go back to whatever you were doing here; frankly, I don't care. I've got other things to deal with."
The horned girl froze for a moment, glanced at my face to gauge my reaction, and jumped to her feet with unsurprising agility.
"Do you also need to go to that settlement? Like the others, the ones stronger than me? But why are you hiding your power? And your horns? Can you make them disappear like… those wings? Is that something one can learn?" she bombarded me with questions, looking at me curiously with her deep maroon eyes, which in the absence of sunlight seemed simply brown at first.
Yes, arriving in this world had grown me extremely dense demonic horns, nothing like anything found in nature — black in color and somewhat resembling drawings of succubi and courtesan demons from my second world, the one with the cunt-sufferung Buffy, sun‑burning ghouls, and my beloved multifunctional shovel with a sharpened handle. Hell knows if I could make these little horns disappear, but I certainly wasn't going to try it in front of this girl!
And it was precisely this moment that the system chose to come to life and display another message right before my eyes — glowing and annoying with its quest‑like nature. This is exactly why, dammit, I never wanted any of those Systems for myself! Lord, help, save, and have mercy on me from this nonsense. Yeah. At this point, one might as well invoke Chaos, but if anything, I've known about Warhammer since my first life, so I'm not about to engage in such things, especially in a demonic body.
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THE ANCHOR FOR THIS TRANSFER WAS A MODULE RESPONSIBLE FOR PATHS AND GUIDANCE.
IF THE MODULE IS INTEGRATED, THE SYSTEM WILL BE ABLE TO MAP OUT ANY NECESSARY PATH.
THE MODULE IS LOCATED NORTHWEST OF THE USER'S CURRENT POSITION.
TO FACILITATE THE TASK, THE COMPASS HAS BEEN UNLOCKED.
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I ignored the system and addressed the girl.
"Kirre, why don't you answer my question, hmm? Which way is the settlement?"
Kirre didn't disappoint — she fell silent and pointed roughly northwest.
I let out a loud, deep sigh, closed my eyes for a couple of moments, and started walking in the indicated direction. Arguing aloud with the system in front of an unidentified local species was a sure way to be considered mentally unstable. And this girl had been so invisible to me until her fright from my outburst of rage that I hadn't even noticed her from above. Yet she had definitely seen my wings. The fact that she wasn't asking what or who I was led me to think she might be some local subspecies of demon. It would be interesting if this was some world of dungeons and dragons, for example — some local tiefling. But this lady didn't have a tail, so the theory didn't quite hold up yet.
"The others are already there, but I was afraid to go! I was ordered to watch the forest until the battle ended," Kirre said that with odd cheerfulness and started walking in the right direction, parallel to me but not too close. "The battle quieted down not long ago, but…"
"Battle?" I stopped and narrowed my eyes at her. "And what do you mean by making horns disappear, Kirre? All demons of the Netherworld can make their wings disappear. If you were born with horns, then I can't help you with that, except maybe advise you to learn how to hide them somehow."
"That's a shame… But then where did you get such clothes? How did humans make them for you with such noticeable horns? They fit perfectly! Surely you can't endure the pain of removing them? General Basalt left me behind because I don't have much power. I received my name from him last week, so that's obvious. But how tiring this is…"
"What do you mean, received a name?" I grew alert, though we continued walking as if nothing had happened.
The bracelet refused to work and identify anything, so I inwardly cursed, invoked the Lord, and breathed steadily through my nose so as not to frighten my temporary companion again. For now, I needed information, and there was no reason to kill her — she hadn't tried to attack me, immediately started begging for mercy.
"Well, I understand that for someone with such power, this is hard to grasp," Kirre puffed her cheeks, but her studying, fish‑like gaze didn't match either her voice or her feigned playfulness. "And could you please clarify something… I didn't quite understand what you meant…"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"What is… the Underworld? Is it some other army? Squad? Aren't you in the army of the Demon King?"
"Alright, stop"
I turned to what appeared to be a local demoness, starting to boil over again from this feeling of powerlessness and being God knows where — not to mention her suspicious company. Yet I still couldn't figure out why my irritation seemed multiplied tenfold, not even doubled.
"From now on, you shut up and listen to what I have to say without interrupting me".
She froze in front of me like a gopher, and I even thought she might throw herself at my feet again. But it seemed any movement on her part would be perceived as a provocation now.
This local breed of demons clearly had a knack for sensing energies — after all, I had merely unsheathed my Destructive Might a little when I was angry at the system. And Kirre was already so thoroughly thrown off balance that she took me for a superior, apparently. She didn't even know what my power could do, yet she was already afraid. Logical enough, but these remarks about an adult-looking girl receiving her name at such an age hinted that the local demon society, despite its humanoid appearance, was somehow different.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy", I uttered one line from the Gospel of Matthew — the only thing I could recall from the New Testament at that very moment.
The demoness just stared at me in bewilderment, completely unaffected by the words.
"Okay, this definitely isn't the time before the Lightbringer's death. That's reassuring".
"What do you mean by…" she began, but I cut her off and decided to clarify something else.
"It doesn't matter, Kirre. From now on, while we're walking to our destination, you'll only answer questions. The rest of the time, keep silent and stay a few steps away from me, got it? After that, I'll decide what to do with you and with that… General".
"Actually, it's General Basalt who will decide… He's stronger than you", the demoness muttered quietly.
But a moment later, her eyes met mine, and she immediately began to turn grayish from the magical pressure I ended up emitting — I had only stretched out my Destructive Might again for some playtime, my one reliable tool in this life, honestly.
"Maybe" she added.
Uuughh… Just…
"Uuughh… Just shut up and let's go — unless you want to run away from me while you still can" , I snapped and sighed again, trying to calm myself. "Just try me, and I'll break those horns right off your head. Your own mother won't recognize you, can guarantee that!"
"Mother?" she drawled in puzzlement, but kept following me.
I started walking in the right direction again, keeping the suspicious demoness in my sight.
"You were sitting in those bushes watching me for at least half an hour, Kirre. They could have easily forgotten about you — someone as weak as you claim to be. Let's head that way and deal with problems as they come. But if anything happens, I'll break your legs and say that's how it was before I ever laid eyes on you, got it?" I bared my teeth in an irritated, joyless grin. "And am I right in assuming" , I continued as if nothing had happened, "that you — or rather, your Demon King — are at war with someone?"
"Not exactly…" Kirre spoke and fell silent, clearly thinking about what to tell me without triggering an unexpected reaction. "I don't think you could call it… a war".
"Hmm", I dragged out, examining a bird of completely ordinary size, tried to diagnose it, failed, got reasonably angry, and decided to end the conversation before I got carried away again. "Got it" .
Of course, I got barely more than nothing at all, but I decided not to delve into details. Mostly because it was logical not to trust this demoness too much. And not just because she belonged to some demon subspecies unaware of the Underworld — which was very strange even if this was another part of the multiverse and I had ended up in some parallel world. No, this girl didn't inspire any trust in me at all, although her voice was rather pleasant — which was always a plus — and her magical power wasn't particularly impressive. Well, after Grandpa Bael, not much would impress me, frankly. Before this demonic body, capable of erasing matter with half a sneeze, I had never sensed magic so well — even my encounter with madame Salem in the previous world hadn't weighed on me as much as the rather benevolent presence of my demonic relative standing a step away.
We walked rather quickly; she surprisingly obeyed the silence rule I had imposed — and I gradually started to calm down.
As it turned out, very, very prematurely.
"What is… this?" I gasped and nearly coughed from the smell of burning bodies and spilled blood that overcame me. "What the…"
"Where is everyone?" the demoness said in puzzlement — and I immediately noticed the obvious absence of horned corpses.
There were only elf corpses here.
This…
Was problematic — because it was clearly demons who had carried out this massacre. And I currently had these horns — which I hadn't yet learned to remove — that clearly served as a marker distinguishing demons from other… sentients.
And it was also extremely gruesome. I counted two children's corpses so far. There were plenty of teenagers and adults as well. And these were definitely not my favorite warrior Noldor elves. Nor the familiar to Rias elves from Alfheim and Svartalfheim. And certainly not the fae or sidhe — the only common trait was pointed ears.
"Whatever", the demoness shrugged, looking at the corpses with some weird gleam in her eyes. "More for us. Join in. Absorption will take some time. General Basalt is definitely alive — I sense his energy a bit further. So…"
"What exactly do you mean, Kirre?" I unbuttoned my jacket, turned to the demoness who had grabbed the nearest corpse by the hand and was starting to position herself. "Are you really that primitive, hmm? You do have a guy with a title — King, right?"
"What?" she lifted her head and looked at me from below in puzzlement, tucking her black hair behind her ear. "Yes, the Demon King. He ordered to kill all the elves. And what do you mean by 'primitive'?"
"That means," I gritted my teeth, released my Destructive Mist to roam, and narrowed my eyes. "That you've outlived your usefulness…"
I was already ready to actually commit the murder of a sentient being — because cannibalism is a sign of demonic degradation, and Rias had been taught that anyone allowing themselves such acts should be put down like a rabid dog. All news about stray devils, if they reached the ears of ordinary Underworld residents, almost always included some mix of cannibalism and all kinds of violence. I had no idea why they all went mad in the same way — most likely their reincarnation was deliberately destabilized by the system itself — but I wasn't sure about that theory.
"Don't! I'll wait until you choose first! Don't…"
She was cut off by a very bright flash that forced my Destructive Shield to automatically thicken from the previously released mist. This black‑crimson aura had protected me more than once today — so thanks to those seemingly pointless training sessions. I tried not to get too irritated, as it was logical that this was some local being outraged at demons trying to feast on sentient corpses.
The pressure ceased, but I decided not to lower my guard yet and try to clarify something with this idiotic half‑system. It only showed a compass — and that compass pointed toward the unknown attacker.
"I don't want to fight!" I shouted in response to another miniature sun of the same golden color. "Can you hear me at all?"
Since I wasn't about to turn off this aura, I could only see this attacker through my rather dubious sense of magical beings. As was clear from the reason for my arrival in this body, I didn't really know magic — and today was Rias's thirteenth birthday, and she was a devil for whom the foundation of her magic was the imagination and the power of the Pillar. That's exactly why I couldn't specifically explain what I was sensing or how I was defending against this attack.
"Uuughh… Damn it… This is going to take forever."
I irritably spread my wings, lifted off the ground, and fully formed a sphere, anticipating attempts by the unknown mage to reach me from below.
"Well… Let's wait then."
This body had more than enough energy, that was for sure — and I decided to meditate on my horns while I was at it, since this world had forced me to grow these unnecessary appendages. And I'd get angry if this mage ruined my suit.
"Let me know when you've gathered your thoughts!" I yelled, trying again to speed up the resolution of this problem. "I can survive without food, you know! The scull cap might whistle off, but still!"
The pressure didn't cease — I had no idea what kept battering against my shield, which had grown so dense it completely blocked my view. Since the wait seemed to be a long one, I closed my eyes and tried to sense my horns. Feeling my wings was like breathing, but sensing the horns felt like struggling through constipation… Not that this body was ever likely to experience anything like that outside of magical exercises. Demons didn't have constipation, nor did they have menstruation — which was incredibly relieving, especially after going through puberty three times in a female body. And since I'd never lived past thirty, these repeated puberty journeys felt more like some elaborate torture than a blessing.
After half an hour of pressure, shaking, and — on my part — sharpening my sensory abilities to the point of detecting not one but three distinct auras of sentient beings opposite me, I perked up and spun in the air, flapping my wings purely symbolically. I tucked my hands under my neck as if there was a comfy couch beneath me instead of air.
"General Basalt is still alive, you know that?"
I spoke into the void during one of the brief pauses — this attacking mage would periodically pause for a minute or two to prepare a slightly different variation of pressure on my Shield.
Our concepts of aura detection clearly differed — this unknown entity, most likely one of the remaining local elves, decided to keep irritating me. Meanwhile, the third sentient being's aura began to move.
I splashed destruction like viscous droplets obeying my will — no longer a shield nor a mist — shattering multiple magical constructs flying toward me from the direction of a rather attractive young woman. A human, and very red‑haired. I couldn't make out her eye colour yet, but she was already slightly flushed and clearly gritting her teeth in stubbornness.
A single flap of my wings was enough to hover over a motionless elf girl — a bit of déjà vu, of course, as I was once again shielding a youngster from some unsavoury men. In this case, though, I didn't bother with conversation and simply unleashed my power against the armour and the body within. I certainly didn't vaporize the claymore — instead, I caught the giant hunk of metal in mid‑air and nearly whined at its terrible balance.
"Uuughh, piece of crap" , I stated and tossed the weapon away. "A shovel would be better."
"Step away from the elf", came the quiet voice of my previous opponent.
"We've had quite a destructive misunderstanding between us."
I turned to her and finally got a good look at her eyes — the colour of green leaves, shining from within and literally sparkling with magic.
"Look at my clothes and ask yourself if you've ever seen demons dressed like this."
She clenched her teeth, scrutinized me from head to toe, and surprised me greatly when she began to speak.
"Someone found a way to return to the past? That gives me even more reason to destroy you, demon."
"Interesting theory, mage. But no — time travel either already happened, or you end up in a parallel world when you change something. So, I'm telling you, no. My name is Gabrias Gremory, heir to the Pillar of the Underworld, Gremory. I have no direct relation to the demons of this world. I only knew that Kirre — whom you killed with a single blow — for about an hour, and I was quite surprised when her actions showed that demons of this world favour cannibalism. So if you promise not to attack me, I won't either. For any pure‑blooded devil of the Gremory Pillar, a word given is considered extremely important."
"Pillar… of the Underworld? What is the Underworld?" the silver‑haired elf spoke up, clutching her charred wooden staff and trying to stand.
"Here we go again," I put my hands on my hips and sighed. "Kirre didn't know what the Underworld was either. Where do you even get demons from, then?!"
I threw my hands up, barely stopping myself from trying to help.
"The Underworld is a plane where devils and fallen angels live. But I don't think you know about angels either, since the Underworld means nothing to you…"
"Better tell me why your lips move one way, but the words come out… understandable to me?" the elf murmured tiredly, but her sharp gaze pierced right into my soul. "In a language all elves know… But a human understands you too."
"What are you talking about?" the red‑haired woman finally lowered her palms and shifted her gaze to the elf. "This demon speaks normally… Or…"
"All this time… I've been hearing the elven language that's only taught to elves…"
"Demons and angels of my world can communicate with anyone — this ability was granted to us by the Creator," I explained and folded my arms. "You can introduce yourselves too, if you want. And if you're not against being friends, at least for the duration of my stay here, call me Rias. That's how they usually shorten it."
The elf looked at me intently once more and gave a slight nod, but her gaze lost its sharpness, gaining a universal melancholy as it drifted toward the burning house and mountains of corpses.
"I believe you… You…"
"You can't just trust demons like that!" the red‑haired interjected and finally introduced herself. "My name is Flamme. And I'm not attacking you now only because of the Demon King's army General's death."
"I agree." I nodded. "Judging by all signs, demons of your world are different from ours — especially if they don't have their own Underworld. I can't even imagine what kind of kingdom they have if they eat people instead of making contracts."
"Contracts?" the elf gave up and sat back down on the ground. "I just realized he was pretending to be dead all this time… How did I miss that?"
"Life energy and magical energy are two different energies within the body," I said and casually sat down next to her on the battle‑churned earth. "And contracts are what all decent demons of the Underworld do if they want good ratings and rank promotions. I have a special situation — the Pillar allows me to get the rank of a high devil by birthright, but… Well, let's just say I'm not that good with magic. That's why I am not that much against ending up in… adventures. Experience gain."
"Are you serious?!" Flamme grinned in surprise and sat down as well. "You demons are always so proud of your magic, and yet you say you're bad, while all my spells were simply absorbed."
"That wasn't absorption — that was destruction of anything trying to harm me, Flamme. Conceptual difference, really!" I propped my chin on my palms, watching the elf who had withdrawn into herself. "What's your name?"
"Fre… Free.. rain."
"There are elves in our world too", I said, trying to distract her from the child's swing swaying in the wind. "They live in Alfheim and Svartalfheim. Some are obsessed with forges and enchantments, which is why they're frienemies with dwarves, while others can twist reality into a pretzel. Their ears stick out a bit less, though. Probably. I've only seen one in pictures, honestly. "
"And why is that?" Flamme asked suspiciously, still examining my extremely fancy‑for‑this‑forest outfit. "Did something prevent meetings? A feud, perhaps?"
"No, nothing like that," I denied with a sigh. "I turned thirteen today, Flamme. My grandfather decided to gift me a teleportation bracelet."
I showed my wrist and pointed at the flashy piece.
"Something went wrong, and now I need to wait some time before I can return via the anchor."
And speaking of the anchor… the very one that this half‑baked system was so eager for me to find.
The compass indicated that I needed to go right to that tree where that wretched general had been pretending to be dead.
There was nothing out of the ordinary lying around, so I was slightly puzzled.
"Don't you think that to jump to… another world this way, you'd need to wait longer than just a couple of days?" Flamme spoke with an unexpected hint of pity. "Let me make sure — I only believe you because such a lie is beyond the capabilities of any… local demon. And I've never seen clothes like that. Too much of…"
"It's called a three‑piece suit — vest, jacket, and pants. And yes, it was made by the best devilish tailors of the Underworld. The Gremory Pillar doesn't believe in cutting corners. And yes, Flamme, I will definitely wait longer than a couple of hours for the opportunity to leave. But you know, as one musician said — the tempting vaults of palaces will never replace freedom."
"And what do you mean by that?" the elf spoke up, avoiding looking in the direction of her fallen friends — and quite possibly family. "Freedom?"
"I don't know much about the local demons," I admitted, glancing into the elf's turquoise eyes — which nearly made me lose my focus and commit a drowning, but I held on. "Basically, what I'm saying is that I don't know how things work here. But in our world, we have this issue called low birth rates for unknown reasons. It makes all the Pillars literally hover over their kids when it comes to travel and such matters. And that's… how should I put it… not very free‑spirited. I'd even say it feels like a cage, albeit a golden one. So this unplanned journey gives me a chance to… have some adventures."
"With such power…" Flamme remarked, also worriedly looking at the elf. "But honestly, what convinced me were those wings. First time I've seen a demon with them."
"In our world, everyone can do that. Well, obviously except humans. Angels have feathered wings. And since you have demons, do you also have angels?"
Curiosity got the better of me, though my sense of self‑preservation suggested I might not need to know this after all.
"What's an angel?" the girl frowned, shaking her thick braid of long hair and tossing it over her chest so it wouldn't collect dirt from the ground. "Some kind of monster?"
"Yeah, kinda," I stood up from the ground and looked at the unfamiliar night sky. "So, your demons are sort of like Oni. And no angels. Yeah. Basically, Flamme, angels are our antithesis. Their energy is outright deadly to us, due to their blessing by the God. Honestly, I'm afraid to ask who your God‑Creator is here, even."
"A Goddess…" Friren spoke, finally straightening up, though leaning on her staff. "We have a Goddess."
"I'll take you to my Master," Flamme suddenly declared, firmly reaching out to grab my wing — right at the leathery part, as crimson as my hair.
The bone structure was black, but the membrane between was only slightly sensitive and tough, yet extremely noticeable compared to ordinary demons' wings.
"Maybe I should let you touch my horns too," I addressed her skeptically. "I haven't quite gotten used to them myself — maybe you'll figure out how to remove them and where they even came from? Yeah. But before we move, I really need to clarify something."
I finally decided to complete the insistent quest of the half‑baked system and headed toward where the compass pointed.
This thing — a spherical crystal the same colour as the ones on the system bracelet — had clearly rolled into the bushes behind a tree. It was wrapped in rags and lay next to an open satchel.
"What is this?" Flamme asked as I reached out my hand toward the object, urged on by the system — because despite all my brave front, I definitely didn't like the prospect of my future in this world with a pair of horns.
"This is…"
But I didn't get to finish — the thing started sucking energy out of me worse than a vacuum cleaner, and yes, the wings were the first to go. Then it began causing a strange feeling of nausea and an urge to gorge on fast food — simultaneously. But that feeling quickly passed, while my horns began to tingle.
If this thing drained so much energy and still didn't remove the horns — even though it was clearly getting close — then… hmm. I couldn't even threaten properly in this situation. No recipient for a threat! Damn it!
At some point, the sphere simply stopped and began suspiciously sparkling with a purple hue across all its facets.
"And now what?" I snorted, holding this clearly not‑nature-made crystal in my hands. "What exactly are you?"
GUIDANCE MODULE IS INTEGRATING AND CHARGING
… WARNING…
After this message I was ready for absolutely anything.
***