I once again looked over Charlotte’s handiwork. It was quite formidable, to say the least. She, herself, looked like a particularly pale girl, instead of a vampire. Her clothing meant fixing up just her face was enough, the most striking feature of which was now her deep red lips—necessary because her lips were normally white. She’d used a simple pair of coloured contacts to pretend her eyes were blue, rather than blood-red.

Tempest had replaced her rather obvious witch’s hat and lab coat with garb Evyna had recommended as ‘magician-like’—that is, loose-fitting robes in several different colours. On her back was a staff she’d never use, and she had used a simple light-attribute spell to make her eyes appear blue and her hair blonde.

Finally, I myself had abandoned—that is, put in my [Storage]—my military garb, instead wearing clothes a human swordsman might wear. An appropriate sword hung on my waist, its sheath engraved with ornate patterns. An eyepatch covered my right eye, luxurious black leather and gold. Tempest’s illusionary magic also covered my ears, to make them look human, and my hair, to make it appear golden.

Underneath our clothes, we each had a necklace, developed by Tempest, to suppress our demonic mana. Yet they would not last a day—fortunately, they didn’t have to.

The preparations I had come up with also included covering ourselves in fake wounds—of course, produced by Charlotte—such as several bruises, cuts and scrapes, and even a vertical scar over my covered eye. In addition, I had in my [Storage] several empty bottles, which had once contained healing potions, and a set of clothes almost identical to our current ones, but torn and burnt, and my sword was covered in fresh blood.

Relatively close to Gramrock, yet still quite a distance away, we landed in a clearing in the nearby forest, which had formidably-sized trees—much taller than I’d ever seen in my original world. I hid my wings away and addressed my Demon Masters. “Davna, you’re to stand in the open. Look as intimidating as possible. Lilith, Navillus, hide yourselves.”

I cleared my throat, flexed my muscles, and took off sprinting in the direction of the city, Charlotte and Tempest close behind me. Once we neared, I put on my most desperate voice and yelled: “G-Guards! Guards! There’s a message for the, for the Saint!”

A guard left his post at one of the city’s gates to meet us, his brow raised and his mouth in a frown. “You look beat-up, but your clothes are fine?”

I withdrew Charlotte’s damaged dress from my [Storage] and threw it towards him with a weak movement. He somehow managed to catch it. “We changed clothes. I can’t let ladies show up in… in clothing like that, can I?” I said, panting and dropping my hands onto my knees.

“Fair enough. But what happened, for a Hero and his allies to be like… well, that?”

“That’s the, the message we had… It’s a dragon!”

“Drago-?! What colour was it?!” The guard grabbed my shoulders and shook me in a way that would’ve been rather harmful to an actually wounded person.

I faked a cough. “It was… red… And probably ten metres tall, at the least…” I looked down, and both Charlotte and Tempest did the same. Charlotte, particularly, was skilled at filling her gaze with false frustration.

“Red… Could it be, a Red Dragon? At that size, it’s still young, but… Thank you, o Hero! We need to call upon the Saint immediately!”

He rushed through the city’s gates, to the lavish-looking hero headquarters, and a different guard guided us into the guardroom at a considerate pace. He handed each of us a warm drink that looked like tea and didn’t bother to stop asking if we were alright—to be honest, his concern was excessive to the point it was bothersome, instead. None of us touched the drinks, but I did stealthily use [Appraisal]—it seemed they were laced with truth serum. I wasn’t sure whether the guard was aware of this.

It took around ten minutes, but eventually, a woman, dressed in white, sisterly garb with golden trims, entered the room. Her golden eyes, gleaming like the sun itself, made me want to curse, and her same-coloured hair flowed gently past her shoulders and framed her figure. I recognised her face—this was Theliel, who had once been a dear friend to me.

“Are you alright, my child?” Her voice, warm like the sun, caused the same reaction in me as her eyes. She placed a hand on my cheek, her gaze full of concern.

“I’m… fine,” I said, averting my gaze. Obviously, Theliel was nothing compared to Lady Entropy, but normally, she’d cause an embarrassing reaction in any man who met her, even more so after a life-or-death battle.

“You met a dragon, didn’t you? It must have been tough. You may already know this, but I am Theliel, the Holy Saint of Heavenly Protection. I’m sorry to ask this of you, but could you guide me to it? I probably can’t defeat it, but if it’s just sealing it away… Please. For my sake? For the innocent people of this town?”

“For… For this town, I will…” I squeezed out of my throat, trying my best to hide my grin. The skill [Pokerface] was a reliable ally in this regard.

“My child,” Theliel said once we’d entered the forest, “if you do not mind, may I know what exactly happened?”

“We were… adventuring, the three of us. It appeared from the skies… As you can see, it slashed my, my eye out.” I pointed at my eye for emphasis.

“I see… But my child, is that not a scar?” Despite her question, I couldn’t detect a hint of doubt in either her tone or her facial expression.

“I used a… healing potion,” I said. I took the empty bottle out of my [Storage] to show her. Of course, I’d done no such thing—there were no wounds in the first place—and it should not have been a hard lie to see through. “We’re… almost there, lady Saint,” I said, putting some worry in my tone. “Please, be careful.”

Through the trees, strokes of red were visible—scales. We pushed through a little more vegetation and ended up in the clearing where Davna had set herself up. The moment she spotted us, she raised her head high in the sky and unleashed a mighty roar, spreading her wings in a display of power. She followed by looking Theliel in the eyes and using [Dragon’s Glare], but Theliel only stiffened slightly.

“Stay back, my child,” Theliel said to me, “I shall handle it from here.” She raised her staff in Davna’s direction.

“I am afraid I will be doing no such thing.” I chuckled to myself, dropping the fake weakness and allowing my regular tone to return to my voice. “To be honest, I am relieved.”

Theliel turned back to face me. “Relieved…?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Yes. That you have changed so, so much since I last saw you.”

“Changed? I believe this is our first meeting?”

“Hah… I figured as much. After all, she’d seal any inconvenient memories her puppets might accumulate…” I chuckled, no longer able to contain my laughter. “Well, unlocking those memories should be easy enough. Does the name Arthur ring any bells, Theliel?”

“Arthur? Arthur…” She repeated my past name several times more, and after a minute or so, it was as if a puzzle piece had fallen into place. Her mouth hung open for a second and her eyes opened wide, and she turned to me once again. “Wha-but you were and I was and she was and why did I…”

I sneered. “Congratulations. Going off of that run-on sentence, you have remembered me.”

“Is it… really you? But… you’re taller, and… you feel so much darker…”

“Neither of those assertions is wrong, Theliel, yet you are right. I am Arthur… Nay, I am he who used to be Arthur. Would you like to know what happened?”

“I, uh… if you would…”

“I learned the truth. That is all there is to it. Deep down, you know, as well. You have known, from the very start. Yet you lie to yourself. For the sake of helping people you do not know, you ignore the changes in your heart. You used to have such potential, putting yourself first, those close to you at a close second, and all else far behind… But look at you, now. What are you? A fool. One who would give her life for… A dictator? Blind devotees you’ve never met? Maybe even one of them? You are no more than a shell of what you used to be. A puppet, for its master to lodge her treasure in. A tool. But rest assured, Theliel.”

“But it’s only natural that I would give my life for…” she stammered, taking a step back from me. “Isn’t it? But is it really? But…”

“I swear, here and now,” I said, “to my goddess, Lady Entropy, on my name as the Demon Lord, Astaroth, that I shall take your Aspect and release you from your misery.

Charlotte removed her contacts to reveal her blood-red eyes, and Tempest undid her illusions.

Theliel continued arguing with herself for several minutes more before making the least rational decision she could—taking it out on me. “I can’t figure this out, but it’ll all be fine if I just kill you, won’t it?!” The amount of bloodlust aimed at me was unthinkable for someone called a saint.

“If you had been like before, I might’ve had trouble killing you… I wouldn’t have been able to bring myself to do it. But look at you now… Even though I gave you so many hints…”

I used [True Demon Form] to its full potential—that is, I targeted my entire body. All of me was left in the state my arm had been in earlier—not entirely there, wavering as though made of dust, and black as the darkest night. My wings curled in front of me, and from my lower back emerged a thin, long tail, its tip coated in venom. Most striking was my hair, in that it went from dark grey to snow white, and grew from just past my shoulders to well beyond my waist. Most relevant to me, personally, was the transformation of my eyes—they gained the same rainbow-patterned irises I was so fond of.

“Truly,” I said, “I gave you many hints. The eyepatch is far too elaborate for something to have prepared today.” I took it off and threw it to the ground. “In the first place, a healing potion would have left me with no small wounds at all, or if I had poured it on my eye, removed the scar. And you didn’t even look at my sword. How naïve can you be?”

She seemed to choose to ignore my words. “If you’re going all-out, Arthur, then so shall I…” She used a skill I didn’t recognise, which caused a beam of bright light to appear and envelop her—I took a step back. Inside this beam of light, a ball of yet brighter light descended and merged with Theliel, and once the light was gone, what was there was no longer human.

A pair of wings adorned her back, like those of an angel, and a ring of light floated behind her head. Her sisterly garb had been replaced by armour, white and gold, and her irises were rainbow-patterned just as mine—yet it almost felt as if they were inverted. Her hair was pitch-black.

I clicked my tongue and, quick as I could, used [Appraisal], causing a small status window to appear before me. I shot my eyes over it before turning my gaze back to Theliel.

Name

Theliel

Sex

Female

Race

Familiar Spirit (Base: Human)

Class

Saint

Skills

Saint

[Familiar Descent] [Senses of the Goddess] [Status effect resistance] [Healing Magic] [Azalyth Control]

Familiar Descent

>

Senses of the Goddess

>

Status Effect Resistance

Passive: you gain increased resistance against status effects, no matter the source.

Healing Magic

You may use various light-attribute spells that are geared towards healing.

Azalyth Control

>

Hero

[Storage] [Robust Will] [Saviour] [Self-status] [Increased efficiency: Light]

Storage

Place an item you are in contact with into or retrieve it from a special sub-space. Living beings may not be placed into this sub-space.

Robust Will

Passive: the power and efficiency of any barrier-related skill or spell cast or used by you or anyone in your vicinity will be improved.

Saviour

Passive: anyone who you rescue from a life-or-death situation will forcibly have their mental state calmed, and gain permanent increased mental resistance.

Self-Status

View your own status, as if through the effect of [Appraisal].

Increased Efficiency: Light

Passive: the efficiency and effect of any light-attribute or healing-type magic cast on or by you will increase.

Aspect of Heavenly Protection

[Barrier] [Protect]

Barrier

>

Protect

>

Other

[Light-Attribute Magic: Defensive] [No-Attribute Magic] [Divine Protection: Luciel (Increased)]

Light-Attribute Magic: Defensive

You may use various light-attribute spells that are geared towards protection, sealing, blocking, or that otherwise incorporate barriers.

No-Attribute Magic

You may use various spells that are not bound to any particular attribute. You may use these spells without chanting.

[Divine Protection: Luciel (Increased)]

>

I took a moment to contemplate the length of the status, but soon attributed the beam of light and Theliel’s transformation to [Familiar Descent]. “Tch. Don’t you have something troublesome, there.”

I chanted and cast a spell, more as a test than anything else.

“[Darkness-Attribute Magic: Dark Bullet].” The moment the bullet that emerged from my handpalm got close to her, it simply scattered, as if it had hit an invisible wall. “The Aspect of… Tempest! Figure it out!”

“As you wish, Master.”

In response to my attack, Theliel flapped her wings and retreated into the air, where she raised her staff into the sky. As if slashing at me, she swung it downwards.

I barely managed to avoid the blade of light she fired at me by jumping back. I flapped my wings and chased after her, counterattacking with my claws—but found those blocked, too. “Physical attacks, too? Looks like I’ll be able to enjoy myself properly.”

Spell after spell was fired, though I wasn’t sure the attacks she was using would count as spells at all. [Darkness-Attribute Magic: Dark Bolt], [Darkness-Attribute Magic: Dark Rain], even [Darkness-Attribute Magic: Dark Blast], an explosion-like spell, didn’t damage the barrier at all—though I could tell it was expending Theliel’s mana.

“I’ll win this way, but… That’d feel too hollow. Tempest! How is that spell coming along?” The moment I finished my sentence, I returned to chanting my spells. “[Darkness-Attribute Magic: Mana Drain].”

For the first time since the start of the battle, an attack connected. Mana Drain wasn’t painful or even damaging, but as its name implied, it sapped the target’s mana and dispersed it into the environment.

Right as I dodged another of Theliel’s attacks, Tempest cast a skill of her own. “[Skill Forge]!”

I appraised Tempest to identify the new skill, and then looked back towards Theliel. “Tell me, Theliel… Do you remember my unique hero skill?”

As she had ever since she used [Familiar Descent], she remained silent. The only answer I received was another attack, which I gracefully avoided.

“Hmph. If you refuse to answer, then I shall simply strike you down.” I activated the new skill I’d seen on Tempest’s status, and called out its name.

“[Shatter].”

A layer of… something covered my claws, so, eager to try it out, I slashed at Theliel’s barrier once more.

Like a glass orb struck with a sword, it fell to pieces. Even now, Theliel’s face showed no reaction.

With little to no resistance, my claw pierced the hard armour covering Theliel’s chest, and then the soft flesh of her body. Her expression revealed nothing to me, but I confirmed her death from the announcement that followed my attack. The announcement from a mechanical voice, which commonly announced skills or class changes.

«You have defeated the First Saint. All Azalyths under the First Saint’s jurisdiction have been annihilated.»

«As you have defeated the holder of an Aspect, it is your prerogative to decide the Aspect’s fate. Your options are to give it back to its current holder, Goddess of Light, Luciel, to give it to your current goddess, Goddess of Darkness, Entropy, or to return it to its rightful owner, Goddess of Darkness, Entropy.»

«Please state your preference.»

I blinked, surprised at the voice’s words, but soon decided. Of course, I gave the Aspect to Lady Entropy.

«Preference confirmed. Aspect of Heavenly Protection turned back into Aspect of Protection and given to Goddess of Darkness, Entropy.»

«Goddess of Darkness, Entropy has bestowed upon you the Aspect of Protection. You will gain three skills.»

«You have gained the skill [Barrier]. Form an unbreakable barrier around one area, to a maximum size of a small continent. Mana usage will increase as barrier size does. Nothing may pass through this barrier, in or out.»

«You have gained the skill [Protect]. Form a protective barrier of light around yourself or an ally, protecting them entirely from physical attacks. Specialised barrier-breaking attacks may be able to pierce it. You may control up to ten, each costing more mana. Blocking attacks with such a barrier will consume mana.»

«You have gained the skill [Shroud]. Wrap yourself or an ally in protective darkness, hiding them from visual detection and granting them complete protection from magical attacks. It only works in dark environments, and you may control up to ten, each costing more mana.»

«Goddess of Light, Luciel has marked you as a global enemy.»

I tilted my head, curious about several things, but shook my head, deciding I’d ask Lady Entropy about them later. I landed on the ground and undid [True Demon Form].

Navillus gathered her slime from the environment back into one body. “Navillus is happy! Master defeated saint!” she said, raising her ‘hands’ into the air.

“Congratulations on thy conquest, M’lord,” Charlotte said with a slight bow.

“That was great, Master,” Tempest said, “and, after all, I’d like to have a closer look at that second form…” As she spoke, she inched closer to me, so I took a few steps back.

Lilith, too, approached me. “ ‘Grats, and, uh… That second form is amazing, do you think y’could, y’know…”

I sighed and pushed them both away. “Rejected and rejected. I am neither a research subject nor a showmodel.”

«I didn’t get to fight at all...» Davna said, dropping her head on the ground.

I repressed the urge to bury my face in my palm and spoke. “I have several queries, so we are going back. You lot may hunt some animals or disobedient monsters along the way, if you please.”

After I placed Theliel’s body in my [Storage], we left for Lady Entropy’s castle, leaving the now-protectionless Holy City behind.