Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 152: End of the Date
More chapters ahead at [email protected]/theogbasilisk. More Cardinal World stuff has begun in them!
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- Felix -
I laid next to the blissed out Megumin, for the second time in a short period of time.
It wasn't my fault! Who could resist what she did! No one. No one could, I'm certain of it!
Though while I started off rougher with Megumin, as her preferences dictated, we slowly shifted into lovey dovey sex as time passed.
Sex couldn't just be a single style, or a single kink explored, even for beings like us. That would end up getting boring at a certain point. Even Lalatina liked to mix things up, though she predominantly enjoyed being dominated by me.
As I was lost in my thoughts, Megumin woke up. She was laying on my chest currently so I immediately noticed.
She was looking up at me with doe eyes. "M-My Lord." She stuttered as she closed her eyes and looked away in embarrassment.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Ghahaha. After all that, you're embarrassed now?"
She pouted, but still refused to look back at me, though she didn't move away from me either. "I-It's not my fault! It was as if someone took over my body!" She said in a whiny tone. "I-I said those things… I did those things…" She murmured as she tightly kept her eyes closed out of embarrassment.
She opened her eyes, and was met with the sight of my now flaccid penis (by choice!). Almost immediately I could see her eyes glaze over, but before she could lose control over herself, she looked away.
"Do you regret it?" I asked simply.
She immediately shook her head. "Never! I-I'm just a bit embarrassed. I didn't think I was that kind of person." She said with a pout.
I gave her a look causing her to look away.
"Okay, maybe I did, but not like that! I'm like Lalatina!" She whined.
"Nah, you're similar in that department, but undoubtedly different. It's like comparing fire to thunder." I finished for her, grinning. "Lalatina gets off on obedience, humiliation, the whole knightly submission fantasy. You, on the other hand…"
I rolled us over in one smooth motion, pressing her down beneath me with my body stretched lazily atop hers. She squeaked as her legs instinctively wrapped around my waist, even though I wasn't pushing for anything yet. Not physically.
"You explode Megumin." I said sweetly, knowing her love for her explosions. "You erupt. All that pride, that stubbornness, you try to hold it in, but when it finally bursts? It's explosive, pretty much uncontrollable."
She made a little sound, halfway between a whimper and a scoff. "S-Stop saying things like that… I'm trying to be mortified here…"
I chuckled and kissed her temple. "You're allowed to be embarrassed. You said some very filthy things, you know."
"Nnnnghh…" She groaned, covering her face with both hands. "I know! Don't remind me!"
I smiled at her reaction. I couldn't help but enjoy it, it was different from pretty much all the reactions I'd received after the first nights. With Saeko it was just unwavering devotion and adoration.
She was excited the first night we woke up together, eager for the next stage of her life. With Raiden it was similar, she had no shame and wanted to explore her relationship with me, a relationship that's changed as Raiden has also grown as an individual.
With Lalatina it was obvious, she was worshipful and adoring, and then with Arcueid it was similar, she was unwavering and devoted to me.
With Luminous it was a more casual reaction, for her it was as if what happened was only to be expected, that was her confidence in herself.
And while she was casual about it, I could tell we grew closer after the first time we had sex, it wasn't as if sex was just about physical pleasure for us, it was far more spiritual in fact.
That kind of experience allows you to get far more intimate with someone than any mortal could hope to imagine, it was only natural that from that alone a bond could be established.
The effects were even greater if a deep bond already existed, like the ones I had shared with some of my lovers before jumping into bed with them.
Now with Megumin she was just unimaginably embarrassed, though through Lover I could also feel her almost unending excitement. She was extremely happy at the way things played out, happy and satisfied.
Megumin took a deep breath, relaxing herself in the process. Then she looked me in the eye shyly. "Hmph! Fine, you did beat me, Milord." She said with a grin, all her former bluster back. "So I suppose you just did whatever you wanted." She said with a self-assured nod. "Right, this was all your fault."
"So that's how you want to play it?"
She looked at me with innocence in her eyes. "What do you mean, Milord?" She asked with a grin.
I just shook my head, I was just glad she was back to how she usually was with me, though with the slight change of her acting a bit more intimate with me.
"Whatever then." I said as I got up off her. With a snap of my fingers I clothed the two of us, and got rid of the bed I conjured.
"Let's head back, I'm sure everyone has been waiting for quite some time."
Megumin pouted by relented. "...Can we do this again?" She asked with some vulnerability.
I gave her a once over, causing Megumin to step back slightly. "If you think I'm going to be able to stop myself from enjoying my spoils, then you're sorely mistaken."
Her eyes widened. "Y-Your spoils!?" Then she quickly nodded. "Yes, of course!" She nodded, back to her self-assured self.
I laughed.
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We stayed behind for a little while longer, just relaxing in each other's presence, but now it was time to go back.
I had already reformed my Parallel Existence and so I dispelled the Small World dimension around us, leaving us back on Earth.
It was an odd feeling being back in my restricted form after feeling what, in comparison, felt like boundless power, but I'd quickly get used to it again. I wasn't going to be in this form for too much longer anyway.
Parallel Existence really wasn't as great as it seemed to be. If I wanted to pilot multiple bodies at once, then my effectiveness would be reduced drastically, even with Othinus, making it pretty much pointless.
Then there was the fact that the Parallel Existence had to be close to my "main self" to actually work. I likely won't be using it again for the purpose of enhancing my experiences in other worlds, as even in this form I'm still overpowered enough that not a whole lot can truly challenge me in this world.
I imagine the same can be said in other worlds as well due to just how vast the difference in quality is between the Cardinal World and other worlds.
Megumin wasn't back to peak condition yet. I regenerated her from the fight that we had. I even regenerated the soul energy she lost due to pushing herself with Limit Break, but she still had to naturally recover.
I took a quick look around. "It's been a couple days." I told her.
Megumin nodded as she leaped off the building we were on. None of the Humans down below freaked out or anything, they were used to random super human feats happening around them.
Though that reaction would likely change if I did the same thing looking as I am. I quickly placed an illusion over myself and followed behind Megumin. To most, we probably just looked like a bunch of eccentric Hunters.
"Is it fine if we take the long way?" Megumin asked once I caught up to her.
I shrugged. "That's fine with me."
Megumin shot me a grin and then continued. We walked side by side and just discussed simple things as we walked back to the penthouse that Gunhee had loaned out to me.
Though speaking about Gunhee, according to the news his conference was over and was considered mostly a success. It reassured the Korean people about everything that was going on, as well as explained a bit more about me.
What was the saying?
Familiarity breeds contempt. In this case, Gunhee didn't want the contempt aspect, but he was likely hoping that by making me seem more normal, people wouldn't be as worried.
There were still a lot of differing opinions, as expected, but he had managed to glaze the hell out of the S Rank Hunters in Korea; Jin-Woo in particular, as expected. So with them, the Korean people were feeling safe, which was good.
Veldanava knows that the Humans in this world have lived with enough fear and terror in their lives. I swear, this world is more dangerous to normal Humans than even the Cardinal World is.
In the Cardinal World, the established Kingdoms are capable of at least protecting their citizens from the moderate threats out there, but here, where a Gate can spawn anywhere and a Gate-break can happen at the whims of beings far greater than them, the Humans are pretty much just doomed to suffer at the whims of those that are stronger.
It was the same in the Cardinal World, but it felt more controllable there. That was the nature of the world that both Rimuru and Hinata were trying to change.
This was a messed up world, but hopefully I'd leave it in a better place than before. Knowing Rimuru, I'm sure he'd establish diplomatic relations with some higher ups of this world and help them out.
He was selfless like that.
"So why were you so interested in Elementals in the past anyway? Because they are technically the weakness of Daemons like us?" I asked Megumin.
Megumin nodded. "Mhmm, I wanted to see if integrating with some sort of Elemental Factor could take me to that next level. And seeing as the Chaos Dragon was the best of the best, I wanted to take in its factor, but like I told you, that shit head Leon messed with my plans." Megumin said with a sigh.
"But I did eventually manage a moderate success. I killed a Paladin and stole their high level Holy Armor, and mutated it to a way better level by incarnating in it. This pretty much gave me a way higher resistance to Holy Energy and a moderately greater resistance to Elementals." Megumin explained.
"That actually sounds interesting. That's a really good idea, Megumin." I said in an impressed tone of voice.
Her head snapped to me. "Hey! Why do you sound so surprised!?"
I blinked innocently. "No reason, no reason at all." I said as I patted her head, using Lover to bring Megumin a mildly pleasurable sensation. She leaned into my touch before snapping out of it. "Hey! Don't use that bullcrap ability!"
I pulled my hand away and laughed. "Haha, sure." I responded, ignoring how desperate for it Megumin was a few short hours ago.
"Look dear, remember when we were like that, fufufu." We heard a feminine voice say.
"Hohoho, I do, dear. We were so young and spry back then." A masculine voice responded.
Megumin's lips twitched as she looked away in embarrassment, something that made the old couple laugh harder.
It went to show how much more… modernized, or controlled, Megumin became over time. In the past she'd just express her anger or embarrassment through explosions.
"I win." I said smugly in response to our non-existent competition. She looked away first, so I won our game that may or may not have even existed.
Megumin just clicked her tongue in annoyance, proving me right. Our game did in fact exist.
"Back to the topic at hand, the holy armor I stole allowed me to incarnate in a decent vessel, and the armor was slowly being upgraded, so I believed that eventually it would grow to become the ideal vessel." Megumin sighed. "But that's when Leon came to Sarion's aid since I was messing around there. We fought, which caused the armor to become unstable and go boom."
"At least now I know why you like annoying Leon so much."
Megumun grinned. "And I'll keep bothering him too! That bastard cost me a Duke-level subordinate!"
I raised a brow. "I didn't know that either."
Duke level Daemons were quite powerful. Moss was an Arch Duke and he was the strongest Daemon other than the Primordials, or at least he used to be, and even still he was no slouch.
Duke level Daemons were older than 3,000 years and were, at minimum, very strong Arch Daemons. A Duke level Daemon when incarnated could likely mop the floor with most Demon Lord Seed level individuals.
Megumin told me a bit more about that story. Apparently, her Duke-level subordinate had incarnated alongside her in a homunculus that had absorbed the Chaos Dragon's energy.
Then Leon came and nuked that Daemon out of existence with his Ultimate Skill: Metatron, Lord of Purity, which also pretty much decimated the landscape as well. Though Megumin said the land had mostly recovered by now, mostly due to efforts that Sarion made to restore it once the intensity of the energy in the area cooled down a bit.
The battle apparently took place a bit behind Sarion. Maybe I'd go and see it sometime.
As we continued to casually walk around, we talked a bit more about other things. Megumin was mostly interested in what I had to say about the fight we had, if I had any suggestions, and I did.
Her swordsmanship, while good, could be better. Technique mattered in high level fights, but I made sure to tell her that she did a good job of incorporating her handgun into her fighting style.
It was definitely not like anything I'd fought before.
As we were talking, I overheard a news broadcast. "Let's listen to this real quick. I'm a bit curious."
Megumin stopped to look at the broadcast.
"How strong are the Monarchs and Demon Lord Felix?" She read out loud. "Why do you care about that?" She asked with curiosity.
"I'm curious what the filthy powerscalers have to say."
Though I suppose I shouldn't be talking, seeing as how I also like to powerscale. But that's different because I'm the one who's doing it.
Hypocritical? Of course it is, but I'm a Demon Lord so I get to be a hypocrite.
"It is believed that the Monarchs that the so-called Demon Lord fought on Jeju Island are slightly lower than the National Hunter level." Some important looking guy on the broadcast stated.
The news anchor looked shocked. "C-Close to the National level?"
Someone, who according to the title given to him was a Hunter Analyst nodded. "Indeed, my colleagues and I were originally debating on assigning them a lower threat level due to the minimal damage to the surrounding area, but the esteemed Chairman of the Korean Hunter's Association came out to say that the Monarchs are far more powerful than we may believe."
It seems they base overall rank/power level based on environmental damage. At least in this case, that's what they were doing. Which makes sense since they really had no other way to classify the Monarchs at this point.
They only had what they saw on stream to go off of.
The news anchor still seemed to be in shock. "I-I see."
The Analyst continued unbothered. "It is believed that more information will be made available at the awaited Global Hunter's Conference, but until then, these are the parameters we are basing all of our knowledge on."
The anchor regained control of himself. "I understand. And Felix?"
The Analyst pursed his lips. "That is a more difficult one to classify, as he had defeated the Monarchs with complete ease from the looks of it. He could be anywhere from the National Hunter level or beyond." The Analyst said with a sigh.
Megumin scoffed. "That guy's talkin outta his ass."
"Well he's technically not wrong." I responded with a laugh. "He's working off what he's got."
It was more interesting to me that there was a straight up job solely for power scaling. That was mildly amusing, but I could see the purpose of such a job.
Megumin just shook her head. "Whatever you say, Milord."
"Come on, let's go."
Megumin nodded and fell into step beside me. "How strong are the people of this world anyway? You never gave an exact estimate."
"Hmm, in terms of raw destruction, it isn't comparable to the Cardinal World." I began. "Due to there being no Divine Artifacts reinforcing the crap out of this planet and universe, it might as well be considered cardboard when compared to the Cardinal World."
Megumin nodded. "Yeah, I felt that too."
"So the raw destructive feats of the Monarchs are pretty damn large, with them being capable of shattering planets and maybe dimensions, but in reality they wouldn't be capable of even 1/1000 of what they can do in this universe in the Cardinal World. EP wise they're likely around your level, give or take a little bit."
Megumin hummed in acknowledgment.
"Though this world in particular has been reinforced with mana for a few years now, it's grown durable enough to sustain a fight between the Monarchs and Rulers."
From what I remember, Antares and Jin-Woo managed to fight on Earth without the planet taking a whole lot of damage.
I'm betting the Rulers pulled some artifact out of their asses to quickly reinforce the world.
"Then it really is just this world being weak, huh…" Megumin muttered as she looked around the cityscape, a faint frown on her face. "It's kinda sad, honestly. These people struggle to survive under threats that'd be just another Tuesday back in the Cardinal World."
I raised a brow at the unexpected empathy she was showing the people of this world.
Then Megumin shrugged. "But oh well. That's just how the world is. There isn't enough happiness for everyone."
Ah, that's more along the lines of what I expected from her.
"That's true."
Megumin may have "chilled out" for lack of a better word when compared to how she was in the Daemon Realm, but in the end she was a Primordial Daemon, creatures who lived by their emotions and did whatever it is they pleased.
Not to mention Megumin was the Primordial of Yellow, and souls with a yellow wavelength were always those who wished to be free, completely unrestrained by anything, and just wanted to have fun.
Knowing the color of someone's soul lets you get at least a vague understanding of someone's personality.
Red souls were generally prideful as hell, blue were those who were generally lawful, despite Rain's demeanor she always followed Guy's lead, never going against him, obeying his law.
Green was for those who were calculative, purple was for sado-masochists, with Lalatina being on the sadist side previously. In Lalatina's case she liked causing pain to see if someone could grow from the experience.
It was messed up, but I had long since lost a lot of my empathy for those not close to me. If I could help someone in front of me at no cost, then of course I would. Itherwise, it was whatever. Whether it was my Daemonhood or something else, I wouldn't know.
Then yellow was for freedom, and I believed that white was a mix of all colors, taking on traits of each of them as Arcueid was likely the most balanced of the Primordials. Then my own color, black, was a mix of none of them. We were the ones who didn't fit into a specific category, and so made up our own category.
Though despite that, we could obviously share some traits with the other colors. Black was just weird. We were the outliers pretty much.
Before long, we arrived back at the penthouse.
Megumin immediately scampered off before we could see anyone.
After a few moments Lalatina showed up, a teasing grin on her face. She blinked in confusion. "Mou, where's Megumin? I wanted to tease her a bit."
"She likely knew that and ran off right when we got back." I responded with a laugh.
Lalatina sighed. "Hmph. Did you enjoy Megumin's company, Master~?" Lalatina asked me teasingly.
Despite what she was saying and how she was acting, I could tell she was feeling a little jealous. And what kind of Master would I be if I didn't reassure her?
"I most definitely did." I said. As I approached her, I reached out with one hand, letting it slide along the curve of her waist, then down, boldly cupping the swell of her ass through her thin, silky shorts. My fingers dug in just slightly, claiming the soft, firm shaped, but still fatty ass as mine.
Lalatina inhaled sharply, her lips curling into a smile, but she seemed to be stunned and excited for just a moment, which was just the reaction I wanted.
"My, Master is being quite bold today~" She purred as her hips twitched subtly into my touch.
I didn't sense Milim or Sirka around, so they were likely messing around together, leaving just Lalatina and I. Megumin was also here but she seemed to still be processing everything alone.
I slowly squeezed her possessively, my thumb tracing along the hem of the fabric that clung to her like a second skin. Her body responded instantly, as I'd trained her to. Her ass involuntarily twitched against my palm, and the subtle arch of her back as if silently begging for more. She bit her lip, gaze flickering to the closed hallway where Megumin had vanished.
"You seem jealous." I murmured near her ear, getting to the route of the problem. My other hand glid up her back, my fingers tangling in her purple hair to keep her close.
"Jealous?" She whispered, a small laugh escaping her. She pouted. "Is it wrong for me to want your attention?" Her voice dipped as I squeezed again, this time kneading the round flesh, making her hips rock forward just a little.
She gasped. "Mmm~" Her legs shifted instinctively, and her thighs pressed together as heat bloomed between them. I pulled her flush against me, grinding slowly so she could feel the proof of my enjoyment pressing against her lower back.
Lalatina needed reassurances like this from time to time.
"It's not wrong, but you'll have to earn it." My fingers slipped under the waistband, my fingers grazing against her bare skin. Her breath hitched again and her spine stiffened, her ass pushed back into my hand with an impatient little wiggle.
"Hah~ then let me show you how much I want it." She murmured, her voice heavy with anticipation.
I guided her backward, letting her bump against the kitchen counter. She leaned forward naturally, her palms flat on the surface, and arching her back without a word, presenting herself with that perfect mix of pride and submission.
Her shorts stretched tight across her ass, wedged high, and I dragged them down in one smooth motion, baring those full cheeks.
Truly, it was great to be a Demon Lord.
- Sung Jin-Woo -
He sat on his couch, his head tucked in his lap and his hands behind his head as he thought things through.
His… father had just left; apparently some mission given by the Rulers. His father was apparently always busy with tasks the Rulers gave him.
To think that less than a week ago he wouldn't have even dreamed that his father was still alive. He was alive all this time; living in the Chaos World, going from Gate to Gate to train and become the ideal Ruler vessel.
Jin-Woo would be lying if he said that a part of him couldn't help but feel resentment towards the Rulers for keeping his father away from their family for so long. But the logical part of his mind knew why the Rulers did what they did.
His father needed to be prepared and be as strong as possible so that Earth had the best odds of survival, and having his family in the picture would only slow his progress down. But even then, despite knowing that, he couldn't help but carry some resentment towards the Rulers for taking his father away when they needed him most.
But the past was the past; he knew there was no point in dwelling on it at this point. That would just take mental energy best used in other ways.
He had a long conversation with his father; one he'd treasure for the rest of his life, even if he never saw his father again, and he had Felix to thank for that. His father shared that he never intended to see any of them, at least not until the war was over. The risk of his own death was too high, and he didn't want to come back into their lives only to leave again, bringing them more pain. It was just like his father to do something like that.
In the end, they agreed not tell his sister or recently awakened mother about his father, not when the possibility of his death was still very real, but Jin-Woo did place a Shadow in his fathers shadow. Just in case his father needed help, he'd be able to teleport to him in an instant.
His father also explained a lot about what was really happening in the world to him. The Chairman also told him quite a lot. Apparently when the Chairman got possessed by that Ruler, there was something the Chairman called a resonance which gave the Chairman some of the Ruler's memories, but his father knew even more than the Chairman.
He learned all about why the Rulers and Monarchs were fighting, which was at the behest of the so-called all-powerful creator of the universe. He learned a bit about his own power: the power of the Shadow Monarch.
He learned how he was set to inherit the position of Shadow Monarch. It was all rather eye opening, but made him want to go to the Cartenon Temple, the place where it all began even more.
He wanted to finish everything, to become strong enough to protect what he loved, and his father supported that dream of his, even though his worry was clear to see.
But before that, he wanted to thank Felix for sending his father to him. He had called the phone number the Chairman gave him numerous times and no one picked up, so now he was going to his penthouse in person.
He wouldn't lie and say that Felix's advice didn't help him either. He was self-aware enough to know that it even began a fundamental change in mindset for him. If he had to become a different person to protect his loved ones, then so be it, he'd begin doing what he wanted, putting himself before others.
He'd become the strongest so no one else would have to.
One step in front of the other, that's what it meant to be Human in his perception. So long as he was making some sort of progress, then he believed that he should be satisfied enough.
- Ashborn -
He internally sighed as he finished running damage control with Kandiaru.
The intervention of his successors' father had made Kandiaru suspicious, and for the time being Kandiaru was still needed to initiate the process of Jin-Woo becoming the Shadow Monarch.
Kandiaru's mastery was such that even a Monarch like him held a semblance of respect for his capabilities. There was a reason Ashborn needed him for his elaborate plan to acquire a worthy successor to his power.
But in the end, Kandiaru wanted to believe Ashborn; that once he was revived he'd bestow Kandiaru with immortality, so he'd ignore the minor things that didn't add up because it aligned with Kandiaru's own vision and was easier to confront than the fact that Kandiaru would never become immortal. Ashborn wouldn't allow it. Kandiaru was being willfully ignorant, and that would likely end up ruining him.
After running from death for so long, Kandiaru had grown fearful and careless.
Soon his successor would go to the Cartenon Temple, and he had no doubt that Jin-Woo would pass the trial he had designed. Then Ashborn would truly die, or at least he believed he would. He didn't fully know what happened to Monarchs and Rulers if they were to die.
The Monarchs' powers went to Nildhogg for the next successor, but as for their soul, even Ashborn was clueless. Either way it would be the next journey for him, and one he was looking forward to after everything he'd gone through in this life.
He had originally only planned to give Jin-Woo a fraction of his power after he cleared the Cartenon Temple, and then give him the full mantle later, once Jin-Woo was more prepared. However, events were going far different than what Ashborn predicted, and so he'd trust in his chosen successor, he'd trust in the character that Jin-Woo had shown thus far, and pass on the full mantle of the Shadow Monarch to him.
- Felix -
"Good luck." I said to Jin-Woo as he left. It had been a few hours since I returned back from my date with Megumin. Shortly after my fun time with Lalatina, Jin-Woo showed up to thank me for sending his father to him, as well as the advice I gave him. He said he intended to become the Shadow Monarch in a few days time, he just wanted to make some preparations beforehand.
He seemed to be taking the advice I gave him to heart; to live for himself and to believe fully in himself. It probably sounded cringy, but faith in oneself was a big part of life as a Spiritual Lifeform, which Jin-Woo was in the process of becoming.
For me, that self-faith materialized in the knowledge that I was the Strongest no matter where I went. Whether I wanted to win or not in a fight didn't matter, the result would be clear either way: I'd win.
I literally couldn't imagine my own defeat, that's how powerful my Ego was in that regard. That was also due to Othinus always having my back. My faith in her was absolute.
Some would probably call me a fraud for having a partner that I rely on, but they were all bums anyway.
As for Jin-Woo's dad, apparently they had a heart to heart conversation. And from what I could see, Jin-Woo seemed a lot lighter than before. Not physically, but mentally, which was good.
We weren't friends, but it was always nice to see someone live up to their full potential. That was a new aspect to myself I was discovering. It started with Hinata and has carried on to others. I enjoyed watching other people grow, reaching their potential, or even going beyond it in the process.
He told me that he was going to the Cartenon Temple now, seemingly not caring about sharing such vital information to an unknown person like me. Or maybe he already thought I knew about it. His reasoning didn't matter much in the end.
I supposed the advice I casually gave him just meant that much to him. He seemed to hold a decent bit of trust in me now, which I suppose made sense looking at it from his point of view.
I'd been nothing but cooperative with most of the people I'd met so far in this world. They didn't have much grounds to mistrust me on, other than their own paranoia of course. Not to mention the pep-talk I gave Jin-Woo when he needed it most.
I wouldn't lie and say I did it out of selfless intention, though. More like I was already there and was curious what a few words from me could do to his mindset.
…
Wait a second. Didn't Tsukumo Yuki, the one other Special Grade Sorcerer from Jujutsu Kaisen have a conversation with Geto Suguru on a suspiciously similar bench, turning him into the genocidal maniac he became?
I did still come from Jujutsu Kaisen; hopefully it wasn't some Innate Technique unique to us, so hopefully Jin-Woo doesn't randomly feel the urge to genocide people due to me talking to him on an oddly similar bench to that one.
I, of course, visited the notorious bench when I was in that world, and I'd visit it again when I returned to it. I did want to see how things were going there, but I'd give it some more time to let the world recover from the changes I made and the whole Jujutsu Society being revealed.
Looking back on it, what I did back then was pretty wild. Instead of quarantining cursed energy mostly to Japan, using some nifty amplification barriers, I spread it to the rest of the world, giving each and every person a fighting chance at the very least.
Most wouldn't have Innate Techniques, as the brains of most hadn't evolved to that extent yet, but I did cause a mutation in everyone using the barriers I placed to allow everyone to manipulate cursed energy.
I pretty much mimicked society from this Earth to that Earth, with old man Ronald being at its head, meant to help keep everything stable with his overwhelming power if necessary.
Perhaps I could have done the opposite if I wanted, focusing the cursed energy into an even smaller area than what Tengen was doing, but in the end I preferred giving everyone a chance to take their destiny into their own hands.
Now, I was somewhat curious about how the whole succession ritual would go, so I left a seal on Jin-Woo, one that would let me view his perception as my own whenever I deemed it necessary.
The seal was temporary and would fade once my own magicules that were powering it ran out, but it was good enough for my purposes.
I'm sure Megumin will want another fight with Jin-Woo once he becomes the Shadow Monarch as well.
Once Jin-Woo was gone, Milim appeared next to me in the blink of an eye. "He seemed interesting." She commented as she licked an oversized lollipop.
"He is." I agreed with her. "Did you have fun with Sirka?"
We didn't get a chance to speak since I was… busy with Lalatina when Milim and Sirka got back, and Milim knew I placed barriers for a reason so she didn't bother me.
Milim vigorously nodded. "Mhmm, we had all kinds of sweets! She seemed to like snow cones the most!"
"I wonder why." I laughed.
The both of us made our ways to a pair of couches, with each of us taking a seat on one. Milim held her hand out as another oversized lollipop appeared in her hand. "Want one? I got it for you?" Milim said innocently.
"Of course." I said as I grabbed the lollipop and began licking it. "Mmm, cherry."
Milim grinned. "Mine is orange flavored but cherry is good too!" Milim nodded along.
"When is everyone else coming anyway, I want to show Ramiris this new ice cream spot I found! The ice cream is super good! They use this thing called liquid nitrogen to make it since it's cold enough!"
I raised a brow at her enthusiasm. "Are you interested in the process of making sweets?"
Milim looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. "I dunno. I've never tried it."
Milim genuinely seemed at least a little interested in the process of creating sweets, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't push her to do what she liked? Especially since she had no financial worries, so she could literally do whatever it is she wanted.
"Then I'll look into it for you. I'll have Rimuru make sure to get the necessary equipment and whatnot. He also has some people who specialize in creating sweets, so I'll ask them to teach you."
I also had people working for me that made sweets and whatnot, not to mention Raiden, but the ones under Rimuru were top tier at their jobs, and I wanted Milim to learn from the best.
"Mmm, okay." Milim said as she shrugged carelessly.
"As for when everyone else is coming, Rimuru, Veldora, and Ramiris will probably be a little while longer since Rimuru has some things going on."
He wanted to monitor the kids and whatnot for a little longer last I checked.
"Luminous and Hinata shouldn't be too much longer though; Hinata just has some quick business to finish up." If you could consider restructuring the entire hierarchy of the Western Church "quick business" that is.
"Hinata mm?" Milim looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, I think I fought her before. She was Chronoa, right?"
"Part of Chronoa, yes. Whether Hinata or Chloe was in control, I wouldn't know, but I didn't know you even fought her."
Milim shrugged. "Meh, I just heard about some new Hero who showed up in the West sealed Veldora, and was bored, so I went to have fun."
"Poor Chronoa. I can guess how that went."
Hinata told me that Chloe awakened her two Hero's Egg post sealing Veldora, so based on when Milim messed with Chronoa, this was a Chronoa with an absurd amount of EP.
Milim smugly grinned at me. "I beat her up, of course!"
"Yeah that's what I imagined." I said with a laugh.
We continued to talk just like that for a while. It felt like it had been a while since I got the chance to just hang out with Milim. Usually we were doing something important, so having the chance to just hang out was nice.
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It had been a couple days since my date with Megumin. I'd mostly just been hanging around.
Cha Hae-In, the S Rank Hunter that was unconscious at Jeju Island, came by since she had mostly healed up. She wanted to thank me for rescuing everyone. She even brought me a box of chocolates, which was nice, though Milim ate most of them.
As I was browsing through the internet on my phone, I paused as a smile grew on my face.
"Did something happen, Milord?" Megumin asked from next to me.
After getting over the initial embarrassment of her degeneracy, Megumin had gotten a lot clingier, which I didn't mind. Who didn't want someone like Megumin cuddling up to them, my own feelings for her notwithstanding.
"Hmm, you could say that. Jin-Woo just initiated his trial to become the Shadow Monarch." I shared with her.
It was just us here right now, since Lalatina went out and kept where she was going secret. Seeing as she's been randomly showing up with sex toys that she's had me use on her, I imagine she's shopping for more.
Lalatina was really into exploring the whole dom/sub dynamic we had, and the internet only seemed to have inspired her. I didn't know if that was good or bad at this point; Lalatina and the internet together may create a catastrophe.
Milim and Sirka were also out again. Milim was seemingly enjoying all the things there were to do in the city, and she dragged Sirka along with her, though Sirka didn't seem to mind; she even seemed to be enjoying herself.
I was happy for Milim. She didn't have enough friends and got lonely easily, which was why I always tried to make myself available to her when I could, and I visited her all the time, but having friends close to home would always be good for her.
"Eh, how much stronger is he going to be?" Megumin asked.
"He'll be a Spiritual Lifeform like I told you he'd be at the very least. He may well be able to fight at the Ultimate level too. The other Monarchs had Divinity, after all."
Ashborn's authority over the dead also seemed to be rather powerful, and was likely at the Ultimate level itself.
In the first place, the Ultimate level was pretty much reached based on what particle of energy is being used to fuel it. Magicule or other similar basic energies were not at the Ultimate level, but the deeper you go into an energy, the more potent the resulting Art will be, with even soul energy being a source of energy that can fuel a Skill.
"Hmm, maybe I should fight him again then." Megumin mused out loud.
"I was planning to bring it up to you." I told her.
I raised my hand and created a projection that showed Jin-Woo's point of view, and the two of us watched it to the end.
We didn't see the entire mental aspect since the seal I designed wasn't meant for that, but we saw Jin-Woo's fight, how he would have lost and then his subsequent comeback after he inherited Ashborn's Black Heart.
I closed the projection once Kandiaru was defeated by Jin-Woo, and when unlike in the manwha, Ashborn in this reality directly passed on his mantle to Jin-Woo instead of waiting a little while to see if Jin-Woo was truly worthy.
Why Ashborn changed his mind, I didn't know, nor did I really care, but essentially Jin-Woo became the full Shadow Monarch far earlier than in canon. Though a lot of things were going different in this reality; the conference was happening months in advance after all.
But expecting the Monarchs to wait that long would be foolish in the first place.
"That was interesting to observe."
Even through the seal I was able to analyze a little of what was going on inside of Jin-Woo to see how exactly Ashborn passed on the mantle.
From what I understood, the mantle of a Monarch was a metaphysical thing tied to this universe, so he essentially brutally removed the mantle from himself and tied it to Jin-Woo's soul, giving Jin-Woo everything that made him the Shadow Monarch.
It wasn't something that could be replicated, since pretty much all the people I knew weren't as strong as they were due to some mantle or title, but rather their own power.
"Let him settle in, then you can go bug him."
Despite his outwardly calm personality, I knew Jin-Woo could be competitive, mostly because of the emotions I felt from him when he was getting bodied from Megumin. He'd want the chance to fight her again. Though unfortunately for him, he'd likely get bodied again anyway. Just this time he might put up a good fight.
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Author's Note:
Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon. This chapter is wrapping up the date with Megumin mostly as well as some more expansion on Lalatina's character, showing off some more layers to her personality.
Jin-Woo also finally became the shadow monarch! He may not be the mc of this story, but I felt he still deserved some attention, if only a minor amount. I don't plan to have too much more focus on him, at least not directly now that he's become the shadow monarch.
Next up Luminous and Hinata should be arriving with some more events occurring. After the conference is when the end of this world trip is going to be kicking off, it's already gone on for a decently long bit.
Anyways, thanks for reading, peace.
Thanks to @Salante and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.
Last bit of editing -Omnax
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