Demon's Virtue

Meshi stared back at Eiro, not sure what to say. His movements were seen through? Nobody has ever been able to guess at where he would move, at where he would go when he took even a single step forward. But this demon was able to not only predict exactly where he would go, but actually manipulate Meshi's path?

"Interesting... so interesting," the master said with an enormous grin on his face, unable to hide his excitement, "How did you do that? Can you see the future? There was a card with some clairvoyance ability, right?"

Eiro looked back at Meshi, repeating himself, "It's as I just said. I figured out your pattern. My senses are already strong enough to let me sense magic to a degree, and together with Gondos, whose perception is particularly high amongst the spirits I contracted, I was able to see it perfectly.

I sent a servant to follow along the path of mana you left behind like a bloodhound, and then I tracked that servant's position. The rest after that was pretty simple."

"...You can seriously predict things to that degree?" Kassandra asked, not sure if she should believe the demon's words.

"Of course," Eiro replied in a blunt voice, "I can predict how many steps you will take until we're back at the manor; how many breaths you'll take, how many times your heart will beat. The words about to come out of your mouth."

"Stop being such a-" – " 'Stop being such a showoff', right?"

Kassandra stared back at Eiro, feeling unease as his voice entered his ears. Her heartbeat sped up, but whether it was out of anxiety, excitement, or anger was something that Eiro didn't really know. Predicting actions was one thing; predicting thoughts was another.

"Well... how are we going to find Shimour, now?" Orion wondered, seeing that Kassandra was starting to get a bit tense. Eiro looked around.

"Truthfully, I assumed he was already nearby," the Demon pointed out, and a slight laugh sounded out from behind him.

"You're ridiculous. You know that, right?" Shimour scoffed, looking at the Demon with a broad smile, "I won't get sick of this. It's actually quite fun having someone that can see through you that easily for once."

"I'm glad you think that way. Many others would get upset," Eiro responded, as Shimour glanced at the stag that Eiro was seated on.

"So, what's this all about? Why are you riding around on some deer?"

Eiro turned toward him as he ran his hand over Lugo's head, as the stag turned around with a slight bellow, "He's not 'some deer'. He's been my familiar for seven years. His name is Lugo."

"A familiar, huh?" Orion muttered, "I've been wondering about that for a while."

Kassandra crossed her arms and looked up at the demon, "Right, but why are you riding on him? Are you trying to look 'classy', or show-... or brag?"

"No, my body is currently being broken apart. With every word I say, the muscles around my mouth tear and repair themselves. My bones are growing brittle, and my skin is detaching from my flesh. I can feel the constant vibrations of the carapace on my lower back cracking, almost replacing what would have been my heartbeat in the past," Eiro explained.

The only reason he was doing it so openly was because they were here in this empty side alley. He could tell that there was nobody around, and the only ones that would hear him were the ones that he wanted to hear him, "As you were already told by Bavet, I'm going through my next evolution. It will finish three months from now.

And it's a rough one; I can imagine my body will become even weaker not too long from now."

"...Then how are we supposed to train you?" Kassandra asked, and Eiro looked at her with a raised brow. The way she acted, Eiro expected her to end up resisting the idea of teaching him a bit more, though he really didn't mind, obviously.

"Well, it's obvious. After the phase of my deconstruction, my body will reconstruct itself as well. If I'm breaking down so rapidly and strongly, the other way around should be rather extreme as well," Eiro explained, "Though I doubt I will be able to attend with my main body at that time, I can create a duplicate and have him attend in my stead.

Due to my abilities as 'The World', my body can reconstitute itself based on what I observe. It should actually be much more effective than any other type of training, even if my skills may not level up during this time."

The four masters looked at each other, trying to see what they were all thinking. Eiro wasn't aware what it was they spoke about while he was asleep, but it was clear that they had made some plans already. Whether or not the effects of Eiro's evolution were going to change that was something that the demon couldn't decide for them.

If they chose to leave and not train Eiro, then he would accept that and find some other solution. But if they chose to stay, then he was going to take advantage of it as much as he possibly could.

"We... should speak about this later, still. But is this why you were looking for us?" Shimour asked, though he could already guess that there was more to this.

Eiro quickly shook his head, "No. We're going to head to the royal castle and have an audience with the king."

"...Excuse me?" unsure if he heard correctly, Shimour looked up at Eiro, "And why would we do that?"

"I've been causing him quite some trouble; the least I can do is introduce him to some powerful people," Eiro explained, "You remember the dragon from last time, right? He's actually the king's familiar."

Curiously, Shimour raised his brow, "Oh? I wouldn't mind meeting that man."

"Wait, wait, a dragon? Like, a real dragon?" Meshi asked, an excited smile on his face, "Are we going to see one? It's been a while since I've seen one!"

"No, Lognir should be in his lair. But I could ask Solomon to call him over sometime, if you all choose to stick around. I could introduce you to his mate, Krista, as well," Eiro suggested. He didn't know exactly how much this would do, but sweetening the deal to have them stay wasn't a bad idea.

While they were clearly thinking things through individually for a while, Eiro started leading them to the gates of the royal castle. The moment the guards saw him and Lugo approach, they opened the gates. They didn't even try to stop the four that were accompanying him, something that seemed to confuse the masters quite a bit.

"The security is... surprisingly lax," Orion pointed out, glancing around the interior of the castle walls as Lugo came to a stop. The stag laid down to let Eiro get off, as the Demon looked back at the dagger master.

"No, not really. They just don't bother to try and stop me from coming and going anymore," he explained with a smile.

"Coming and going? From the royal castle?" Meshi asked, surprised. As Lugo started walking off to wait at the stables, bellowing smugly while walking past the castle guards, Eiro carefully climbed the stairs in front of the castle's main doors.

"The king and I are rather close."

"Yeah, but it's the royal castle," not sure what to expect, Shimour and the others followed Eiro, as he carefully walked through the halls. The guards and servants bowed to him, but nobody dared stop him or even questioned what he was doing here. They simply moved on without minding him all too much.

And then, the group made their way to an inconspicuous door, that Eiro pushed open without a moment's hesitation. The man inside flinched and looked up from his pile of work. He jumped up from his seat and looked at the demon nervously.

"Eiro! Thank the gods, you're awake!" Solomon exclaimed, a smile quick on his face, "Armodeus came and updated me that everything worked out well, but when I hadn't heard from you directly, I was worried that..."

Finally noticing who stood in the doorway behind Eiro, the king straightened his back, "...Come in first."

Though, Solomon didn't even have to say it, as the Demon made his way inside and dropped down on one of the couches, "Hell took a lot more out of me than I had thought. But it's alright. I'll be fine. I will fill you in later, but for now, you have some people to meet."

Shimour looked around the room, walking up to Solomon with a laugh to lift the mood, "Oh, I thought we'd go to meet the king right away. But you brought us to his secretary? For a moment there, I thought you just barged into a king's study without another word, but I guess even you wouldn't do that, huh?"

Solomon's eye twitched as he stared over at Eiro. Clearly, Solomon had gotten quite used to the situation already, but now that it was pointed out to him, it did feel quite weird. He let out a loud groan and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Confused, not sure if he said something wrong, Shimour looked back at Eiro, "Erm... is he not the secretary?"

Eiro laughed slightly, shaking his head. As the door finally closed behind Orion, Bavet slipped off Eiro and turned himself into a snake, wrapping itself around the Demon's shoulders. The slime quickly explained, "No, that man is the King himself, Solomon Sigurd Skyhart. Eiro is just that shameless."