Point-of-View: Fuo Wesroh

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​​

"If we can't do anything to stop the Demons...that what should we do!?" Ekai snapped urgently, as we hid and watched, "Why are we hiding!?"

"Because no matter how strong we are, if a Demon tries to possess us, we can't stop them...after that, when they try to take over our minds, we may be able to resist them, but I'd rather not take that chance, because if we fail, we effectively die. Though on the other hand, if we succeed, the Demon's consciousness will cease to exist, effectively killing them, that's the only way to defeat a Demon...but like I said, I'd rather not take that chance, it's too risky. Let's teleport back to the Rustlands and report this. If I remember right, Aurich Goldway was in the Rustlands when we left, not here, he might still be there."

"Fine, I suppose that we can't really do anything h-," He began, before being interrupted as someone suddenly appeared behind us.

"From your outfits, I'd guess that you two are Adventurers, aren't you? Perfect, I can test out this new host body!" Exclaimed a familiar voice.

We swiftly spun around to face...Einn Olbaw, the last surviving S-Rank from Goldway...but looking at the horns on his head, the whites of his eyes turned black, and the black claws for fingernails, and taking into the fact that he didn't recognize us and was talking a bit differently...his consciousness was dead, a Demon had successfully taken over his mind.

"Damn it-!" I exclaimed in alarm, narrowly evading as he fired an Obliteration Magic blast at me, transforming into Vampire Mode as his attack vaporized the rock we'd been hiding behind.

That was close, I'd be dead if that had struck me...I need to knock him away, summon a monster and then get away from here before any of the hostless Demons noticed us. Ekai unleashed his True Anima and slammed a flaming fist onto Einn's-...or rather, the Demon possessing his body's...-face and sending him flying back, skidding along the ground and crashing onto a large rock.

"We need to leave, Ekai!" I urged, summoning a Forest Imp, right as I noticed a corporeal Demon swooping down towards me, "Hurry, damn it!"

"Right!" He responded, sprinting towards me and grabbing the Imp right as the Demon reached me and I simultaneously undid the summon...

.

.

.

.

.

Huh? What's going on? Everything's dark...what happened!?

"Calm down, Fuo, a Demon entered your body...but do not worry, we should be able to resist it without much trouble," Atticus remarked, calming me down.

"How queer...I could see that taking over you would be a challenge, but now I see why...two consciousnesses coexisting in one body...that should not be possible, but it clearly is," Observed the Demon, as I felt a push against my consciousness.

"If you could tell that taking over my mind would be difficult, then why possess me in the first place!?" I responded, pushing back.

"Because I do not want a weak host, and the harder it is to subdue a host body's consciousness, the stronger that host is likely to be. And I chose you because the other one with you would have been even more of a challenge!"

Wait, what, taking over Ekai would have been harder than taking over me!?

"Stay calm, Fuo, this is exactly why that's the case. Your emotions get too volatile when provoked."

Huh!? What's that supposed to-!?

"You're proving my point, you idiot."

Grr...then can't you say it in a way that won't piss me off!?

"But almost everything pisses you off."

Atticus...SHUT...UP!!!

"Er...should you not be taking me more seriously?" Inquired the bemused Demon.

You know what...I think I just might, I'm feeling pretty annoyed right now, I'll take it all out on you...!

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Point-of-View: Ekai Zabel

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"Fuo, what's wrong? Snap out of it!" I remarked, shaking her.

We had teleported to the forest area, the Imp that Fuo used was just standing still, and Fuo had dropped to the ground limply the instant we teleported. Right as I grabbed the Imp, I could have sworn that a dark mist surrounded her...don't tell me a Demon took over her!?

Wait, if she's not moving, then that means that she's fighting back...which means, all I can do is...to just sit and wait. I sat down with a sigh and watched over her, returning to my normal state. I hope this doesn't take too long, I'm pretty concerned about this...

For a full half an hour, nothing happened, and I began feeling more and more restless, and then finally, she moved. Her hand twitched and she let out a slight groan, when suddenly a powerful shockwave burst out from her, her fingernails extending out into sharp black claws as a horn grew out from the left side of her head and as she opened her eyes, the whites of her eyes turned black.

"Fuo...is that you?" I inquired warily, stepping back cautiously and unleashing my True Anima form.

"Hm...? Oh, Ekai...how long did that take?"

Okay, it seems to be her...

"Oh, uh...a little over half an hour, I guess. So, then...you managed to resist a Demon from taking over your mind?"

"Yeah, it was easier than I thought...it kept struggling in vain though, which only really delayed the inevitable, I won pretty easily. The Demon is dead now, and it's powers are all mine," She responded, a gleam in her eyes.

She's less vocal than she used to be about wanting to get stronger, but that doesn't mean that she hasn't gotten over that obsession...

"So, uh...why do you keep frowning when you look at me?" I asked uncomfortably.

"It's nothing, just...grr, that Demon told me that it picked me instead of you because taking over your mind had a lower possibility of success."

I let out an exasperated sigh...why are you always like this, that's not my fault, so stop glaring at me...

"What's the big deal about that?" I sighed, struggling not to roll my eyes.

"Isn't it obvious!? I have TWO coexisting consciousnesses inside me, which means that I have an advantage if a third consciousness enters and tries to take over...you only have one consciousness, so how come you have a stronger resistance to Demonic possession!?"

Regardless of whether I do or not, that's still not my fault, so stop glaring at me already...

"Maybe the Demon was just trying to provoke you...oh, or maybe it's because of my True Anima Mode," I suggested, as she continued to glare at me.

"Hmph, whatever...!" She huffed, before storming off in the direction of the Rustlands, "I'm going back!"

"Wait for m-...I forgot, we need to hurry! We must quickly report what's happening in the Goldlands to the higher ups!" I urged, hurrying after her as she matched away.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!"

No matter what I say right now, she'll react by snapping in response, when she gets in this mood, there's nothing to do but wait for her to eventually calm down. She can be so tiring to deal with sometimes...

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Point-of-View: Fuo Wesroh

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"That is all you need me to do? Not a problem," Said Miss Elina, after I finished explaining the situation.

After Ekai and I got back to the Rustlands, we went straight to the Guild and reported what we saw to Guildmaster Yiserir, who then told me to go to Miss Elina and ask her to make a protective barrier to surround the Rustlands, one that will keep Demons from entering.

To be honest, I was skeptical that she could do it, but it wouldn't hurt to try...so I went over to her place and informed her of what was happening. She then took a moment to mull over everything I said, before giving me an affirmative reply...I was surprised by how confident her reply had been, and she was currently rifling through some Spell Scrolls.

For spells that were commonly used by Adventurers, Spell Cards were used, but for these protective barrier spells, that were highly complex and required a large number of command lines, Spell Scrolls, with their longer amount of space to write on, were better suited. Well, guess all I can really do now is watch her work.

"I will just add the new feature to an already-existing barrier spell, that will be faster. But first, I need a recording of the Demonic Magic signature, could you run your Demonic Magic through this spell?" She requested, handing me a Spell Card.

Uh...how do I do that? I only had one type of Demonic Magic, which was Alchemic Magic. I'll have to transform to use it...Atticus had fused my new Demon powers to my Vampire Mode, boosting it significantly. I called it Demonic Vampire Mode. I tried it out once, while on the way back to the Rustlands with Ekai.

I guess I'll just transform and activate my Alchemic Magic without visualizing anything...it worked by reacting to the user's visualization, to change the shape, density and structure of an object...so if I don't visualize anything, nothing should happen. I then transformed, entering my Demonic Vampire Mode as I took the spell from her and activated my Alchemic Magic, the card vibrated in response...okay, nothing happened to change the Spell Card in any way, I think it worked.

"Alright, I'm done, I think," I remarked, handing it back to her as I returned to my normal state.

"Did you feel a slight vibration?"

"Mhm."

"Good, then it worked. I will now get to work on adding the Demon-repelling feature to the barrier spell, by having it reject anything that resembles the energy signature you just used," She stated, taking out a Spell Scroll and adding some command lines to it, "This should only take a couple of minutes."

Wow, she really is amazing. No wonder she's the number two S-Rank despite not being a combatant, her contributions to the Rustlands were completely unmatched.

"Okay, then I'll wait here till you're done," I replied, stepping back and letting her work, before turning to the other person in the room, "So, uh...why are you here? I thought you quit your apprenticeship a while back."

Azyl had been here when I arrived, and was acting a bit awkward.

"I'm just, uh...leaving," He responded, averting his gaze and heading for the door.

That was...weird. I glanced at Elina, who turned a bit red and cleared her throat, looking like she was trying to focus extra hard on the spell. No way...are they-...you know what, I don't want to think about it.

"Okay, I'm done!" Exclaimed Miss Elina suddenly, letting out a sigh of relief and handing me the spell, "Activate it from the center of the Rustlands."

"Right, got it...well, uh, I'll get going now," I replied awkwardly, as I headed for the door and left.

Alright, now to take this spell to the Guild...

...

...

It didn't take long after that for the barrier to be put into place, and thankfully, no Demons were sighted anywhere nearby. Of course, I later found out that was far from the only thing we had to worry about...I heard about what happened with the Quest to investigate the disappearances of the traders and merchants over the past couple of weeks.

The Quest was technically successfully completed, the perpetrators, a large group of bandits, were killed, and the missing persons were mostly all recovered, with a few dead, and one of the survivors, Misen, losing an arm. However, five Adventurers died, including an S-Rank, Yuur Gabroh. And somehow, three of the survivors awakened their True Anima forms.

Most notably, the bandits were just pawns, and the real mastermind appeared to be Belia Lasmodeus, the divine being that, according to Kuro, created the monsters. And she'd been so bold as to approach the survivors of that Quest and Misen's father directly, to effectively declare war, or 'declare chaos', whatever that means, on the Rustlands, promising to attack in a month from now...yeah, not good...

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