DEMON'S VIRTUE

"What are you even talking about?" Eiro asked with a wry smile, and Nelli slowly crossed her arms while looking at the Demon suspiciously, "There's no way I would. I'm just curious about her."

The Nephilim in front of Eiro looked at him a bit confused. She wasn't able to see Nelli right now, after all. Eiro let out a deep sigh and snapped his fingers, causing Nelli to slowly appear in front of them, "I was talking to her, not to myself. I'm not that kind of crazy."

"Yup, he's more of a murder-maniac crazy." Sarius appeared next to Nelli and Eiro as well, while Gondos slowly made himself appear as well. Eiro slightly glared at the Salamander, but he couldn't particularly deny what he said.

"Either way..." The Demon started, "It doesn't seem like you have hostile intentions against me. And you're probably one of the strongest beings, beside royals, that I've met."

The Nephilim took a step back as she heard Eiro mention the royals. He said that he met them and survived? Sure, Eiro seemed strong, but he didn't seem strong enough for that, "What are you exactly?"

"Hm, I don't think you need to concern yourself with that yet. Just know that I'm not going to try and fight you as long as you don't try and fight me." Eiro explained. It seemed the Nephilim was pretty relieved about that. She was trying not to show it outwardly, but Eiro picked up on it anyway.

He didn't know why she was so nervous. From what Eiro could tell, they would probably be relatively evenly matched if they went for an all-out fight. As he said, this Nephilim was the strongest non-royal being he met in recent years.

"But beyond that..." Eiro started, "How about instead of a non-aggression treaty, we go for an alliance?"

"An alliance?" The woman asked, and Eiro nodded his head in response, "Yes, alliance. We help each other out. You help me achieve my current goal, and I help you achieve yours."

"Depends. What is your current goal?" The Nephilim asked. Eiro smiled back at her and replied in a blunt tone, "I want to take over this organization, basically. Once I do, I will receive quite a bit of an information influx from the system that they built, which will help us find whoever it is you're looking for."

"Really? You actually think it would be possible to find the Holy Priestess after taking over the organization? I'm the Letter 'C', meaning that I get nearly all the information the organization has to offer, I don't think they have any particular clues on her location, or even her kidnapper."

"..." Eiro stared back at the Nephilim silently for a few moments, "You're looking for the Holy Priestess?"

"Yes, I am. I'm hoping that I can get her help with something. There's an enemy I have to kill, and while my own Holy Energy certainly could injure him, I'm also at a disadvantage. The Holy Priestess doesn't have that disadvantage. Her whole reason for existing is to defeat creatures like him." The Nephilim explained quickly. Eiro slowly turned around and approached one of the chairs nearby. He sat down on there and looked down at the ground while letting out a deep groan.

"What's your name?" Eiro asked quietly, and the Nephilim looked back a bit surprised, "Ariella. And you?"

"It's Eiro. Alright, Ariella, let me guess. The enemy that you want to beat is <The Devil>." The Demon sighed, and Ariella nodded her head quite surprised, "Yes, exactly... I didn't think it was that clear."

"No, it's more than clear. Now I also know what that weird vibe I got from you was. And no, I don't mean your artifact. It's just some weak item meant to disguise yourself as a person, I'm not interested in that. I've got my own means for that. What I mean is the damned mark that you received from <The Devil>."

"But how do you-" Ariella stared back, and Eiro raised his head, "Did you not realize that I have a connection to <The Devil> myself yet? Or is my unholy nature messing up your senses?"

"I think you're forgetting that your perception is the best around." Nelli pointed out, trying to remind Eiro since his words were getting rather harsh, "Right. Alright, I'm just going to put it out there. I will not help you find the Holy Priestess, no matter what. I will however-"

"Then there's no need for that 'alliance', now is there?"

"Let me finish." Eiro replied after being so rudely interrupted by the Nephilim, "Coincidentally, your end-goal aligns with one of my own future goals. I also want to kill <The Devil>."

---

Eiro stepped out of the underground part of the organization's headquarters and looked at the tag in his hand. It now displayed the Letter 'D'. He went through a fake duel with Ariella and beat her, pushing his rank up quite a bit, but still not high enough to overtake her. At least not for now.

But that wasn't what mattered, as the fourth-highest ranking person in the organization, Eiro was rather close to his goal for now. It seemed like once you entered the top five, you would be allowed to speak to the 'leader' of the organization.

Eiro was going to make use of that right to contact that leader, and would then try and kill them somehow. Luckily, he was able to work out something like an alliance with Ariella, so he was glad about that.

"Eh~? What're you smirking about now?" Nelli asked with a grin on her face. Eiro turned his head toward her with what was basically a growl coming out of his mouth, "I am not 'crushing' on her. I'm just a bit curious about her, that's all."

"Oh please, you would have killed anyone else after they said they want to find Avalin!"

"Yes, but I could use her help in killing <The Devil>, you know that." Eiro pointed out, and Nelli slowly crossed her arms, "It's not like you were going to try and fight him before turning into a royal yourself anyway. And at that point, we both know that you'd have a chance against <The Devil>. He's a plotter, not a fighter. You're both."

Eiro didn't want to admit it, but Nelli was right. He had no idea why he wanted to keep Ariella around, but something as ridiculous as a 'crush' being the reason for it was insane. For now, the Demon figured he should head off and start spreading the letters with rumors about a strong necromancer with unique abilities that the Demon fabricated to make the 'Queen of Undeath' curious.

There was a lot going on right now. It seemed like some of the events that Eiro wanted to happen would end up overlapping once they do. Well, before then, he still had some time to do anything else he wanted, though.

Eiro stepped through the town until he found a good spot where he could start flying off, and then made his way back home.

He landed inside of his own study and then slowly left. James was near here, probably figuring that Eiro would come back here soon.

"Something wrong?" The Demon asked as he slowly took off his cloak and mask to put them away, and James stared deep into Eiro's eyes, "We're useless."

"...Kinda harsh, isn't it?" The Demon sighed, "You guys are plenty useful."

"But are we? It's not like we're anywhere near your level of skill or power. We don't know how you do it, but you keep growing stronger and stronger, quicker and quicker each time." James pointed out, "You're incomparably stronger when you look at yourself now and yourself back when we met in that small town back then." James said, and kept staring Eiro into his eyes. He knew where he was going now.

"You know that it won't be easy, right?" Eiro asked. James looked back at him, not even surprised that Eiro knew what he wanted to ask, "We're already working ourselves to the bone. A little more won't change much."

"Hah, right. If I'm going to actively train you guys, you'll wish you never said that." The Demon grinned, and James slowly nodded his head, "Even then, please help us. We feel more useless than ever."

"Sure. Gather the others, prepare, and meet me outside in an hour. I'll go meet Armodeus for a second." The Demon said, and James quickly replied with a nod. He turned around and left, obviously feeling upset over the fact that he had to ask Eiro for help again.

"Did you not say you wanted to help them train even more anyway?" Gondos asked curiously, and Eiro shrugged, "Of course, but if he's the one that asked me, that's even better. I just need to prepare the proper methods a bit more quickly than expected."

"Proper methods? Ah, you mean that thing you're collaborating on with Armodeus?" Nelli asked curiously, and Eiro nodded his head, "Yup, it's coming along pretty well, it seems. Nature magic is really useful if you work with Wood a lot, huh?"

"Of course it is. What would you expect?" Nelli said, weirdly smug about it. Eiro smiled lightly in response and stepped into the room that had basically turned into Armodeus' workshop at this point in time.

"Ah, perfect! Help me out a bit, will ya? I'm not good with magic, so I can't manipulate this well." Armodeus exclaimed the moment that Eiro stepped through the door. He was looking at the armor made of wood with a slightly purple tinge. Well, more than armor, it was better to describe it as a 'suit' of sorts. After all, these weren't supposed to protect anyone, and they were only parts meant to be strapped to different parts of one's body.

Eiro picked up one part of it. It was really incredibly heavy... But that didn't matter for now. Eiro poured his mana into this wood and manipulated it a bit, causing the wood to be incredibly light instead of heavier than steel, "Honestly, the materials that ya end up givin' me to work with are always incredible. I've been able to make things I never even dreamt of before!"

"What, is this that unique an idea?" Eiro laughed slightly. Armodeus looked at him with a nod, "Of course it is! Those can make anyone ten times heavier than normal, you know?"

"Just ten times?"

"Well, probably more than that, as I said, didn't have the chance to test 'em out yet." The elder dwarf explained, and Eiro smiled lightly.. At least he was able to make use of some of the items for training now.