DEMON'S VIRTUE

"Watch the head." Eiro said to Koperia as he climbed through one of the hidden passages that would lead him directly down to the basement, near where Armodeus set up his workshop in the building.

"And why exactly are we not using the main entrance?" She asked. Eiro turned around toward her, and bluntly said, "Because I don't want you to meet my children."

"That's kind of rude, isn't it?" Koperia replied, "I would never do anything to children, even if they're demons."

"Mhm, but my children aren't demons, which is exactly the reason why I don't want you to meet them." Eiro explained. It seemed like Koperia was indeed quite curious, however she didn't get much of a chance to inquire about what Eiro meant before they happened to encounter Armodeus, taking a break in front of his workshop's door.

The Elder Dwarf stared at the woman right behind Eiro, and dropped the cup of water he was holding. Of course Eiro quickly caught it before it hit the ground, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just... I... erm..." Armodeus muttered, staring at the Queen of Undeath that now stood in front of him, "Y-Ye're really here, eh?"

"I'm not an illusion, at least. That Demon lured me here through rumors he fabricated. Well, half-fabricated, if it is to be believed that there is a powerful undead entrapped around here somewhere." Koperia pointed out, and quickly took a step closer toward Armodeus, "So, how about it? Have you finally made the choice to join my collection?"

Armodeus' face quite quickly turned away from its stunned expression and instead became an angry grimace, "Hah, as if! Told ya a million times before, I'm not gonna become one of yer filthy undead!" The moment that Armodeus said this, he quickly started to look around, and Eiro shook his head, "Don't worry, she's too far away to hear you."

Armodeus let out a deep sigh of relief, "Aye, thanks, lad. And now to you. Don't mess with anyone in this house, alright? They're good people." The elder dwarf said, to make sure that Koperia wouldn't do anything that couldn't be undone, "Ahh... Fine, fine. Now come on, don't you want to tell me of that issue with your soul again?"

"Sure. Armodeus, do you mind if we do that in your workshop?" The Demon asked, but the dwarf immediately shook his head, "Of course I don't mind, come on in! It's yer house in the first place, lad!"

"Speaking of, how did a Demon get his hands on a place like this?"

"Haha, the lad has quite a few unique contacts. As should be quite obvious with us two being here." Armodeus said, leaving it at that for now. Meanwhile, Eiro pulled out the Ace of Cups and cloaked the walls of the room in a thin layer of the liquid, making sure that nobody outside would be able to hear what they were saying, no matter what magic they were using.

"Oh, how intriguing. You have a divine card, huh?"

"I'm more suprised that you don't." Eiro replied, but Koperia quickly shook her head as she took a seat on one of the chairs, "I prefer not having power gifted to me. I prefer forcefully taking it for myself." She explained.

"Of course you do..." Eiro sighed, "Anyway, we can talk now. Let me get you up to speed."

And so, Eiro proceeded to tell Koperia the most important things that she needed to know. Mostly focused on the fact that he was a being created by the current Monster King.

"And you see, now we'll get to the part where I would like your help. The soul that the Monster King used to create me was that of a human. He made a mistake when he created me, which I assume is the reason why I still have an aspect of humanity within me." Eiro explained to Koperia, who was holding her hand in front of her mouth. She was unable to stop herself from grinning in excitement.

"A Demon with a human's soul, you say?" Slowly, Koperia moved her hand toward Eiro's chest after standing up. She placed her fingers in front of his heart. Eiro wasn't sure what was going on, he just knew that he was practically paralyzed right now. Soon, Koperia's fingers dove underneath Eiro's skin, as if disappearing inside of his flesh. But it didn't hurt or bleed in the slightest. As if she wasn't really touching his physical body.

And then, with one swift motion, she tugged on something within Eiro. Slowly, the Demon moved his head down, seeing a silvery, translucent mass sticking out from his chest. Immediately, Armodeus yelled out, "Koperia, what are you doing?!"

The Queen of Undeath rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, I'm just making a 'copy' of his soul. I'm not taking his real one."

And just like that, with one more tug, Koperia pulled the mass fully out of Eiro's body as the Demon's legs became weak for a moment. As if he suddenly lost all strength for just a second. Luckily he was able to still catch himself though.

"Huh? How interesting. Most people fall unconscious when their soul is touched like this." Koperia smirked, clearly intrigued. Eiro locked eyes with her, "Didn't you say you didn't take my soul, and just made a copy of it?"

"Of course I did..." Koperia replied, looking at the silver sphere floating above her hand, "But in order to copy it, I still had to touch your actual soul a bit. However, I'm glad that you're awake, that saves us some time."

Koperia proceeded to snap her finger, and soon, the silver sphere grew in mass and floated right in front of Eiro. Koperia quickly started to explain, "Now, to make it clear, all that has been copied is the soul's shape. This obviously is incapable of replacing a real soul, even I cannot create something like that out of thin air."

Just a moment later, what stood in front of Eiro was something that was shaped exactly like he was, his naked body at least. Eiro looked down at where the soul's right hand was. The walls of that soul have broken apart, irreparable, but still roughly floating around in the shape of a hand. This was the only reason why it was possible to create prosthetics like this. The soul was technically still in the right shape, it was just impossible to heal wounds like that due to how much the soul happened to deteriorate in such places. It was the same reason why people were often left with scars when healed of life-threatening wounds.

But of course, Koperia didn't create this copy so that Eiro could get a good look at his own hand. But rather, he was supposed to see the 'mismatch' that Koperia mentioned earlier.

"There, you can see it now as well, right? The form that your soul is taking, and then its real form." Koperia said, and Eiro slowly nodded his head. There was a simple humanoid soul deeper within Eiro's full soul. And it looked like a human, like a more handsome version of what Eiro currently looked like. And everything else, like Eiro's horns, tail, or wings were just layered on top of that 'base'.

"That's what the human I used to be looked like, isn't it?" Eiro asked, and the Queen of Undeath immediately nodded her head, "It should be fair to assume though. It's not like I've seen something like this often myself. It seems like with each evolution, you are coming closer to the original shape of your soul. Of course with the exception of those additional parts you've got sticking out everywhere. But of course, it should be impossible for your soul to take on its true form when only making use of evolutions."

"...Even if my next evolution is a Legendary Evolution?" Eiro asked, and the Queen of Undeath stared deeply into Eiro's eyes, "Did you just say 'Legendary'..?"

"Yes. I have a Legendary skill, called 'Supreme Demon'. Would my soul possibly... 'fix itself'?" Eiro asked, and Koperia crossed her arms, "It is indeed possible for that to happen. But I wouldn't count on you becoming human again, sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? I don't want to be human." Eiro sighed, "I'm quite happy as a Demon, you see? My question was more regarding the fact that... I should have more mana and health than I do right now."

"More mana..?" Koperia asked, "Well, how high are they currently?"

"Health, roughly 150 Thousand. Mana, roughly 350 Thousand." Eiro replied bluntly. Both Armodeus and Koperia opened their eyes wide in surprise, "Are you trying to say that those numbers are low?"

"Considering that I've gone through multiple unique evolutions, each built toward knowledge or magic in some form, and my wisdom is above 300, I at least hoped to have slightly higher mana, yes."

Koperia looked at the copy of the soul standing in the center of the room, "Considering that... I would indeed say that that amount of mana is rather low... It is certainly possible that the reason for this is your mismatched soul. Mana is created in the soul, after all. This could certainly also have effects on your Life Force, since the body is formed after the soul's image." Koperia confirmed, "So, are you saying you want your soul to become 'complete' during your next evolution?"

"Yes, since I need as much power as possible, that would be quite helpful."

"What do you need that power for? Who, or what, are you trying to kill?" The Queen of Undeath asked rather intrigued, and Eiro slowly crossed his arms, "After my next evolution, I will have the power to become 'The World', as the card is already in my possession. Then, I will kill 'The Devil', and take a certain divine card from him, which I will use to steal the aspect that makes the current hero actually the hero out of his soul, before I will kill the Monster King as well. Meaning, I truly need as much power as my body can take."

Koperia stayed silent for a few moments, and stepped past the soul. She placed her hand onto Eiro's cheek, once more coming eerily close to their lips meeting a moment later, "Are you sure you don't wish to be part of my collection? I'll treat you quite well, you know?"

For a few moments, Eiro stayed silent. Not because he was actually considering it, obviously, but because he had to come up with a way to get out of this situation, "Ah... Sorry, I don't think the Spirit King and Queens that blessed me would like that."

"Excuse me?" Koperia asked, "You received blessings?"

"Mhm, by the Salamander King, the former Naiad Queen, and the Lady of Winter. I also have a direct connection to the primal plane of fire within me, so if you try to do something like steal me away, the Salamander King might come and stop you." Eiro bluffed. Of course what he said was true, with the exception of that very last bit. The Salamander King could probably not care less if Eiro lived or died, he would only interfere if something was going to happen to Sarius. But luckily, this was enough for Koperia to back down. She took a step back and looked down at the ground.

But then, Eiro realized that she was just smirking.

"Ah...." She practically moaned, placing her hands on her face and throat, "That only makes me want you more, dear~."