DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro stood in front of Koperia, showing off this merged form of his, "When I became the candidate for 'The World', I got an ability that allows me to easily fuse with magic and the elements, and since spirits are basically both of that just come to life... I can fuse with them. I could feel that the undead's powers worked in a weirdly similar way, so I was able to fuse with it. Although it seems like I couldn't stop it from trying to physically merge with me." Eiro pointed out as he rubbed his face where he had to rip the mask off of his skin just a few moments earlier.

Koperia crossed her arms and thought, "At this point, I already gave up on making you my toy, but... Would you mind letting me... 'analyze' that ability of yours? I've been trying to fuse different undead with each other for a long time, so that ability of yours should help me figure out how to proceed."

"Ah... Well, sure? You're going to help me fix the state of my soul, so I can't really say no." The Demon pointed out as he and Nelli split up again. Eiro looked down at his body, looking at some of the parts of the armor that he was wearing, "I need to ask Armodeus to fix this up a bit. It broke a lot more than I thought it would."

"Right. But before then... One of my toys noticed some people approaching, so we should probably get on our way." Koperia suggested, and Eiro nodded his head, "Sure, they're just the prison guards though. The fight was rather intense, I kind of figured that they would notice at least some of what was going on."

Eiro wrapped his wings around his body and pulled up the hood connected to his armor before placing his regular mask onto his face. The Demon and necromancer next to him quickly proceeded to walk out of this cell, and once they reached the stairs, some armed guards stood in front of them. Eiro saw them earlier when he told them to leave, so of course they recognized him as well. However, knowing what the creature they had captured down here was, they were still nervous that Eiro and Koperia were now undead beings under a royal's control.

"Ah, don't worry, we took care of it. 'The Death' is finally actually dead now." Eiro explained to them, making sure to infuse his voice with his control over the domain of truth as much as he could, so that the guards wouldn't even think about doubting him after this. Obviously Eiro was telling the truth anyway, but Eiro knew that people were often mistrusting, and since he didn't want to deal with people bothering him too much again, he wanted to just convince them right off the bat.

The guards looked at each other, and then turned toward this man and woman in front of them. They were clearly in disbelief, which is understandable. There is a reason why they entrapped 'The Death' instead of killing it themselves, after all. They simply didn't even hope that they would be able to kill it, basically. And now, these two random people showed up and took care of it just like that?

"Ah... There were a few casualties, though. Since you guys removed some of the seals in preparation for our arrival, three of your colleagues were turned into undead. We killed them as well, but their bodies are safely placed right over there." Eiro pointed out quickly as he stepped past the guards without another word.

Immediately as Eiro passed them, all of the guards were saluting to him without a moment's hesitation. Even if Eiro wasn't 'the' hero, to them, he might as well be. The fact that Eiro was wearing white-golden armor that quite literally radiated the sensation of 'truth and order' clearly didn't help with that either.

And before leaving, Eiro met with the head guard as well, and explained the situation to him. Koperia made sure to take all of the traces of the death's physical body with her, and even the system confirmed that 'the Death' was dead now, so the guards were in not much more danger than they would be in any other prison.

The head guard as well saluted Eiro and Koperia as they left, and the two of them looked at each other for a moment once they were outside and away from the visible range of anybody that might be around here.

"That was a bit of a weird sensation, but it wasn't bad." Eiro said with a wry smile, and Koperia looked at him surprised, "What, you care for the thoughts of people that cannot even fathom the level of your strength?"

"Well, not really, but that doesn't mean that I can't endulge in such things every once in a while."

"Hm, that may be true." Koperia said, before snapping her finger. Black flames sparked up beside her and she summoned the same huge undead bird as last time, "I will be leaving now. If you need me, you still have that toy of mine to contact me with." She said with a smirk and a wink, and Eiro sighed a bit.

"Right, I'll let you know if I need anything. Oh, and I'm going to tell you what I'll end up doing with this new card as well, once I figured that out properly."

"Oh?" Koperia looked back at Eiro surprised, "Did you not plan on turning that little undead girl into 'the Death'?"

"I was thinking about it, but... Well, for one, she wasn't particularly up for that idea. Which I can understand, she's not been a monster for long, and we both know that royals are absolute dickheads, and everybody else knows that as well. But also, now that I know more about the nature of this card, I'm not sure even I would want to give it to her. The 'adaption' ability might completely change her, and I don't want to do that to a child like her." Eiro explained, and Koperia let out a deep sigh.

"I will never understand how a demon like you ended up caring for children to that extent." Koperia pointed out, climbing onto the back of the undead bird, which quickly began to flap its wings, "Maybe next time I will learn to understand you a bit better."

"Right. Maybe." Eiro said with a smile, watching Koperia fly off, as Eiro properly stretched his body after this intense fight. He had to inform Solomon of how everything went for now.

---

Eiro quickly walked up the steps in front of the royal castle's main entrance, watching as the door was opened for him. He walked through the building, surprised to find that Solomon had quite a few visitors. Well, Eiro heard that nobles like throwing parties, and to keep them happy and under control, Solomon had to invite them to a few every once in a while. It was a bit annoying, but Eiro and Solomon should be able to speak somewhere in peace.

The Demon swiftly made his way to the hall where Solomon and the other nobles were currently gathered, and stepped inside. The moment he was in there, the nobles and their escorts looked at Eiro confused, although most of them recognized the armor that he was wearing.

Without a care in the world, Eiro stepped through the room and approached the group of people gathered around Solomon. The moment that Solomon saw Eiro approach, the demon noticed that the king's heart-rate considerably increased.

They looked at each other for a moment, and Eiro simply nodded his head, causing Solomon an incredible amount of relief. He smiled broadly and walked up to Eiro, "Excuse me, everyone. I must speak to my friend here in private for a moment."

And then, Solomon basically ran out of the room as fast as he could, Eiro following behind him, leaving the rest of the nobles standing there in confusion. Eiro and Solomon soon entered Solomon's study, and the King looked at Eiro with a nervous stare, "So? Tell me what happened!"

Eiro smirked as he took off his mask, letting himself drop down onto one of the couches, "Well, he was really bothersome to deal with, but I managed to trick the death and kill it." The Demon explained, pulling out the card of the major arcana that acted as proof for this fact.

Solomon had a broad grin on his face as he looked at Eiro, "I cannot believe it! I mean, I can, since it's you, but this is just incredible! You got rid of two royals yourself, that is truly amazing, Eiro!"

"Thanks, but I had a pretty big advantage both times." The Demon pointed out, "But now I'm just 15 levels away from my next evolution, so after that I should get a pretty big power-up."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will." Solomon said with a smile on his face, and looked at Eiro, "I have a suggestion for you. Today is actually the perfect chance for it."

Eiro looked back at Solomon a bit confused. He had a few guesses of what he meant, but Eiro wasn't entirely sure.

"How about we announce the fact that you have slain 'the Death'?" Solomon asked, and Eiro raised his brow surprised, "And why would we do that?"

"It's simple. I have thought about this for a while. I want to give you something that makes you immediately recognized amongst the people and other nobles, an event where it's impossible for them to deny that you deserve my gift to you."

"...Solomon, you don't really mean that..."

"That's right.. Eiro, I'm going to make you a noble tonight."