Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 148: To the Chaos World
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- Felix -
I rolled my eyes as I took a seat at the dining table. Milim and Sirka were bickering about something. It seems the two were talking through the night as Milim wanted to get to know her new minion.
Now they seemed like the best of friends rather than former enemies, which was funny since Milim beat the crap out of Sirka not even a day prior.
"Pink is the best color!" Milim insisted as she walked beside Sirka to sit at the dining table. "It goes with everything!" Gaia was casually resting on Milim's head.
Sirka's eyes narrowed. "It clashes with my aesthetic." She responded in her usual monotone way. "Pink will also minimize my presence."
Translation, they were discussing which color was best for aura farming. I honestly respected it. Sirka was rather different from how I thought she would be though. Milim probably couldn't have made a better friend in this world.
"Presence? You lost in like ten seconds!" Milim shot back, still grinning.
"It was multiple hours." Sirka corrected with a sigh. I think Sirka has learned just what kind of person her new mistress was. At least Frey would have company in dealing with Milim's shenanigans.
"Plus if pink minimizes your presence, then maybe you just don't have enough to begin with!"
Sirka didn't seem to know how to respond to that.
Milim spotted me and her eyes brightened. "Felix! Who's right between us!" Milim asked excitedly as she hopped into the seat beside me.
Sirka took the seat next to Milim and was looking at me expectantly. She seemed to hold an awfully high opinion of me for some reason.
Though I suppose it made some sense. I beat up the strongest people she knows, and her kind seemed to respect strength above all else. She was probably raised to believe nothing else, but Milim seems to have done a good job of breaking her out of her shell, and it hasn't even been two days yet.
I rested my chin in my palm and gave them both a slow look. "You're both wrong," I said flatly. Milim gasped like I had personally betrayed her, while Sirka blinked in surprise.
"Everyone has their own style, Milim. There isn't any one style that fits everyone. The pink works for you but likely won't work as well for Sirka." I said wisely as I stroked my nonexistent beard.
Milim looked as if she had reached enlightenment. "Ah! So you all just aren't good enough to use pink like I do!" She said smugly.
I rolled my eyes. "We'll just go with that."
Sukuna was looking at Sirka curiously. He hadn't really been introduced yet. "That's Sirka." I said, gesturing to her. "She's one of Milim's new subordinates."
He nodded as he observed her for a moment, just as she observed him back.
We waited for a few moments as Lalatina brought all the food out. None of us needed food, but we liked it. Sirka hadn't eaten many good dishes, so Milim wanted her to try a bunch of things.
Lalatina had prepared breakfast for everyone. She was no master chef, but her food did have a homey sort of vibe to it, which was nice.
Not to mention she learned it just so she could feed me. I wasn't the kind of person to spit on the effort she put in.
Lalatina brought all the food down with a pep in her step. "It's ready, Master~!" She said, ignoring everyone else in the room. Milim was used to Lalatina's antics, however, and Sirka had no idea who Lalatina was.
As Lalatina set the plate of eggs, steak, and rice in front of me, she looked around. "Where is Megumin?"
"I'm here, Lalatina." Megumin said as she came walking down the hallway.
Lalatina nodded and set some food aside for her as well.
As everyone took their seats, I quickly introduced Sirka to everyone as when we got back last night, Milim pretty much just locked Sirka in her room with her.
Lalatina and Megumin were interested due to Sirka's origins, and Sirka was equally interested in them since I told her about their origins.
Lalatina and Megumin were essentially the Monarchs of the Cardinal World, or at least they held a similar position in its cosmology.
As we all continued to eat I looked to Megumin. "Mmm, hey Megumin, wanna go on that date today?" I asked casually.
She froze up for a moment before nodding excitedly.
Lalatina pouted and looked at Megumin in jealousy. I could only roll my eyes at that, she'd been with me essentially every night since we were in this world, in her own words, serving as my personal bed warmer.
She really was a needy Daemon.
Megumin just ignored Lalatina and grinned at me. "Where are we goin!?" She asked.
"We can make this a multipurpose date. We can get something to eat if you want, then visit the Chaos World since I want to see if I can gather some more information on the people helping the Monarchs. Maybe we can fight some Monsters in the Chaos World too."
Megumin looked even more excited upon hearing that we'd be going to the Chaos World.
Then somewhat hesitantly she asked, "Then can we fight afterwards as well?"
I raised a brow as her desires became apparent. She wanted to fight me going all out, bad. More than that, she wanted me to go all out so that the gap between us was made more apparent, and then she wanted me to do what I wanted with her.
She wasn't a masochist in the same way Lalatina was; she just seemed to have a defeat fetish, which was funny since I don't think she's ever lost a straight up fight in her entire life.
Not to mention I had noticed her getting more and more jealous as time passed. This was made more apparent by how she reacted every morning when Lalatina came out of my room.
Megumin was the one who wanted to take things slower with me, but now I'm starting to think I just misunderstood her due to her defeat fetish.
I suppose I'd test my thoughts when the time came.
Milim suddenly perked up, her mouth full of steak. "Can I come too!? That sounds fun!"
"No." Megumin said instantly, her voice flat.
Milim pouted, glaring daggers at her across the table. "Whyyyy not?!" Milim had become rather comfortable with all my subordinates as time passed since she came by so often.
Once everyone got to know her, it was easier to be around her. You wouldn't have to worry about being nuked out of existence once you got to know Milim's personality.
"Because it is a date between Milord and I." Megumin answered.
Milim pouted, but relented. She may not have been interested in anything romantic, but she was at least educated about those matters.
"Do you mind helping us with that, Sirka?" I said as I looked at the Ice Elf in question. "We'll need help to get to the Chaos World."
I could figure the coordinates out myself if I wanted, but why do that with Sirka here?
Sirka looked at Milim who just shrugged uncaringly.
"I do not mind assisting you. However, I would like to request that you do not permanently harm any Ice Elves you come across."
"Yeah, sure. If they cause trouble we'll just beat them up and send them on their way."
Sirka agreed. "That is agreeable. When you desire, I will create a Gate to a portion of the Chaos World in which I believe the operations of Antares' allies are primarily taking place."
"Hmm, we can leave after eating then." I said.
As we continued to eat, Sirka took the liberty of getting me more informed on the Chaos World.
She told me a bit about how different the environment could be when compared to Earth. At one moment you could be standing under an extremely hot sun, and then in another it'll be freezing. The weather was sporadic, basically.
Also, just by traveling, you may accidentally walk into another dimension since the Chaos World was essentially just a collection of dimensions that intersected.
She told me a bit about the various races that dwelled in the Chaos World, and there were a lot, most associated with a Monarch in some way. Like any with even a hint of draconic blood served Antares, and the same served true for any of the other Monarchs.
The only odd one among the bunch was Yogumunt, since as the King of Demonic Spectres, he didn't have many subordinates. According to Sirka, the primary dimension of the Demonic Spectres was destroyed during the original war between the Rulers and Monarchs.
Sirka was a font of interesting information, so I tried to learn all I could from her, mostly just out of curiosity.
Apparently, in the past, manipulating dimensional cracks and creating Gates was the exclusive domain of the Demonic Spectres, but that changed with the species' nigh-extinction.
As Sirka and I continued to speak, we both froze at the same time. Milim looked at us oddly, but that wasn't unusual. She didn't usually spread out her senses, especially when in the presence of allies.
"Did something happen?" She asked with curiosity.
Megumin was grinning, while Lalatina didn't seem to care. Sukuna was just sharpening one of his weapons.
"A Ruler vessel just arrived within the city." Sirka shared.
Milim tilted her head. "They're our allies, right Felix?"
I nodded. "They are, at least for the time being."
Sirka blinked in confusion. "They are?"
Milim stuck her tongue out. "Ah, I forgot to tell you that!"
Sirka sighed and relaxed. "I suppose allying with the Rulers would just be another thing I would be considered a traitor for." Despite her words, she didn't seem to care about being allied with the Rulers once she learned they weren't a threat.
I don't think she was ever very committed to the Monarchs, in that case. She was probably just groomed to become Sillad's successor, with no other goal. Now that she had become his successor, she just didn't know what to do, so she took the new opportunity that she got without remorse.
After a few minutes, the Ruler vessel's presence approached the place we were staying. I sent the elevator down for him with a wave of my hand.
"Do you know why he's here, Master?" Lalatina asked as she snapped her fingers, causing all the dishes to vanish.
"Probably the invitation to meet the Rulers that I spoke about with the Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light."
"You met that Ruler!?" Sirka asked with shock.
I looked at her in confusion. She reacted rather strongly to his name, which was odd since she seemed perfectly comfortable before.
She realized how she reacted and quickly explained. "That one is the single Ruler we are warned most strongly against. He is the most powerful of them and has gotten close to slaying many of our number on multiple occasions."
I raised a brow as Sirka explained more. Apparently the Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light survived a jumping against two Monarchs, and would have killed them if it wasn't for Yogumunt teleporting them away.
At that point in time, something like that was deemed impossible. Of course until Ashborn did something even more absurd, but the point still stands.
It seems the Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light was something of a Boogyman for most of the Chaos World.
Just as we finished talking, the elevator door opened, and in came a muscular man with shaggy black hair. He had korean features, however, so he was likely Sung Il-Hwan, Jin-Woo's father.
He immediately made his way to the table we were all sitting at, though his eyes lingered on Sirka. I could tell he wanted to attack first, think later, but he held himself back. The Rulers had him on a good leash.
"Do you mind if I sit?" He asked nonpulsed as he stood in front of us.
"Go ahead, but do keep in mind that we aren't your usual company. Just keep your cool and all will be fine." I said, referring to Sirka's presence.
He nodded.
"Eh? Who is he, Felix?" Milim asked.
"He's a messenger for the Rulers." I told her.
"Eh? Boring." She said as she summoned some snacks and began eating them, ignoring everything else.
"Don't mind her."
Il-Hwan slowly nodded. I could tell he wanted to ask something but he didn't open his mouth. It seems he just wanted to do his job and get out.
I did notice Megumin was looking at him with some interest.
"My name is Sung Il-Hwan. I have been sent by order of the Rulers to deliver an invitation to their realm." Il-Hwan began as he looked at each individual present at the table.
His gaze lingered most on Sirka who completely ignored him as she tried some of the snacks Milim was eating. Those two did seem to operate on the same wavelength.
He seemed to be extremely uncomfortable around us, which made me want to mess with him since he was being so stiff.
Maybe I should just send him to Jin-Woo? Might as well make him confront his family drama and get that dealt with. From what I remember, he did care for his son and was glad that the Rulers decided to trust his son. Before that, the Shadow Monarch was deemed an enemy and Il-Hwan wasn't sure what to do
Though in the end, I'm sure he'd side with his family, or at least the version of him in front of me would. I could read him like a book.
I raised a brow as he held a key out to me. "This key will allow you to travel to the Ruler's realm. Merely pass your energy through it and it will create a Gate leading to the meeting point."
I took the key and began analyzing it. "This is pretty neat." It's similar to what I gave to old man Ronald to call me if he needed help with anything.
I already planned to pay him a visit some time soon, but this just reminded me of him more. Plus, I was curious about how the world of Jujutsu Kaisen has fared since I left it.
I didn't get any requests for help from any of the people that I gave ways to contact me, so I could only assume that things went well there.
"If that is all, then I will be leaving. My duty is done." Sung Il-Hwan said stiffly.
"Yeah sure, feel free." I said as I continued looking at the key from different angles.
All of a sudden Megumin slapped her fist against her palm. "Ah! I know why you're familiar! Your Aura is similar to that guy I beat up! Sorta like how the Aura of family is similar." Megumin said with a self-assured smile.
I sighed knowing exactly where this was going to go. Megumin really chose the wrong words to say to Il-Hwan who was frozen now.
All of a sudden a massive Aura burst out of him and pressed down on the entire room. Sukuna grunted as he released his own Aura to protect himself, while Sirka narrowed her eyes and unleashed her Aura.
I sighed as a thin layer of frost quickly spread throughout the room, and that was through the enchantments Sukuna placed to protect against this kind of thing. The frost was solely extending from Sirka's Aura, and she was still massively holding back.
Il-Hwan's gaze sharpened into a blade as he slowly turned to face Megumin. "You beat up someone… with an Aura like mine?"
Megumin, either oblivious or defiant, crossed her arms with a grin. "Yeah, he seemed to be pretty full of himself and liked to 'aura farm' as Milord likes to say. Apparently he has potential or something, so I wanted to test him a bit."
Il-Hwan's Aura flared again, flickering around him like golden wildfire. "Aura farm? What is this? Test him? Did you harm my son!?" He asked as he pressed his Aura down specifically on Megumin.
For some reason, it amused me to no end that Il-Hwan was curious about what aura farming was, enough that the question was brought up even with the rage I could feel in Il-Hwan.
Sirka was about to take action but Milim stopped her. "Don't worry, Megumin is strong!" Milim said with a nod. Sirka just looked at Milim in confusion before sighing, which was natural since, even now, Megumin was containing all of her power. To Sirka's perception, Megumin likely seemed as normal as normal could really be.
Megumin was basically just taunting him at this point. She had to know what she was doing, but I liked her, so I'd indulge her in this case. So long as she didn't take things too far, I'd let her mess with Il-Hwan a bit. Veldanava knew that the guy could use it with that overly serious demeanor of his.
"He believes the fate of the world is in the hands of a few. That would cause many to act the way he is. I do believe that he is one of the few normal ones present in the room." Othinus said with amusement.
'Eh, whatever. He still needs to lighten up!'
I've decided I'm going to send him to Jin-Woo for one reason: because I feel like it and want to see if anything happens.
Megumin didn't flinch under the pressure. In fact, she seemed to be amused, which was fair since the current Megumin was far stronger than Il-Hwan.
I'm pretty sure she was just a bit bored and was working off some of the immediate battle lust and general lust she was feeling due to our upcoming date. She was a rather emotional person.
Her grin widened as her boots dug slightly into the frost-covered floor as the weight of Il-Hwan pressed down on her.
Il-Hwan himself did not look amused. In fact, veins were forming on his face due to his anger.
"Eh? Don't humans need to watch their blood pressure?" Megumin asked innocently.
I closed my eyes. That was an even worse thing to say, but at this point I was just curious about how hard Megumin could rage bait Il-Hwan, as was the entire room.
All of a sudden the presence around Il-Hwan changed completely as his eyes shined golden. Megumin blinked in confusion before sighing and lounging back onto her seat. "Damn, and I was about to have some fun."
Il-Hwan looked to me. "I would appreciate it if you did not promote such actions with one of our vessels." The voice said in a monotone manner.
"And who are you?" I asked as I leaned back.
Sirka was frozen stiff at this point, and since Milim already saw her as a friend, she was glaring at the Ruler in front of us. She wasn't releasing her Aura as I told her not to do that since she'd shatter the country in an instant, but the Ruler kept looking in her direction. His instincts were likely warning him of the danger Milim was.
He was also interested in Sirka, and he was even releasing some bloodlust, but he was controlling it for now.
"Eh, he had it coming. It's his fault for jumping to conclusions. Megumin didn't say anything wrong."
Which was true. She did beat up Jin-Woo, and their Auras did feel familiar. Was she rage baiting him? Yes, but that wasn't reason enough for some Ruler to get upset.
"I am the Illuminating Fragment of Brilliant Light." The Ruler introduced himself.
"Right, I'll call you Illum. So anyway, Illum, there's no need to get upset at some playing around."
"He was provoked." Illum responded.
I waved him off. "No. I'll admit he was mildly baited, but if he was sent to be a diplomat between our two parties, then you sent the wrong person in the first place."
"He feared for his son."
"Then he could have just asked what Megumin was talking about. He was acting as if his son wasn't the second coming of this universe's version of death."
Illum paused for a moment before nodding slightly.
Sensing Illum's agreement I smiled. Was I being a bit of an ass? Yes, but my point still stands. Megumin didn't escalate the situation, Il-Hwan did.
Was she being a bit of an ass? Again, yes she was, but she was someone close to me, and someone only I could discipline, not some random ass Ruler.
"That was a productive talk." I said lightly.
Illum ignored me as he focused his full attention on Sirka who was glaring back at the Ruler. "Due to the cooperative alliance between us, I would like an explanation of her presence, and the reason she has not been killed or sealed."
Milim's eyes narrowed even more. "No one is taking my new friend from me!" She said as she crossed her arms. Even without Aura there was pressure to her words.
"That won't happen, Milim. Trust me."
Milim nodded, a satisfied smile on her face. "Umu!"
Illum had a point. We were allies and Sirka was part of the group that was considered to be the Rulers' greatest enemies. I owed him that much to explain, and so I explained about Sirka.
Illum seemed surprised at her changing sides, but he wasn't averse to the situation. Since they had decided to accept Jin-Woo, the Rulers were more willing to accept even more Monarchs to their side; it only helped them in the long run.
It helped that Sirka didn't have a history of killing their subordinates since she wasn't even born when the war between the Monarch and Rulers was taking place. If she was, then I imagine this conversation would be more annoying.
It also didn't hurt that by betraying Antares, Sirka was considered one of his enemies. Antares didn't seem to be the type to just accept a traitor back into his fold, so in Illum's eyes, Sirka likely had no choice but to cooperate with them or die.
Of course, Milim would destroy that entire thought process, but Illum didn't need to know that.
"I will inform the others of this development. We look forward to meeting you." Illum said before his presence vanished leaving a confused Il-Hwan.
He blinked in confusion before sighing. "I do hate when they do that." He then looked to Megumin. "I do not appreciate what you were doing, but I acknowledge that I was overly emotional." He was looking at our group in a whole different light. Illum probably transferred some memories over to Il-Hwan.
That was as close to an apology as she was going to get, not that Megumin was the type of person to care. As expected, she waved him off. "Eh, I don't really care. If you wanted to fight, I woulda beat you up. If you didn't, then I wouldn't care about that either."
Il-Hwan nodded as he began to turn around to leave.
"I'll send you to your son. I had to give him a pep talk; you could probably give a better one as his dad."
Il-Hwan's head snapped back to me. As he opened his mouth, probably to reject me, I just teleported him to Jin-Woo. I had placed a mark on Jin-Woo sort of like Minato's Flying Thunder God technique, so I could go to him whenever I wanted.
I did it more so because I was curious about the whole trial to become the Shadow Monarch. Due to my excellent pep talk, I imagine that Jin-Woo was going to go through it rather soon.
Once he was gone, the room went back to normal, though Sukuna had a rather serious expression on his face as he stood up. "My Lord." He bowed. "It is clear that I am still too weak. I could feel it, should that man have wished to attack you, I could have done nothing to truly stop him."
I waved him off. "That might be true, but he's serving as the vessel for some primordial being. It isn't very fair to compare yourself to that."
Sukuna nodded. "I am aware, but if I am to serve as the aid and subordinate of a True Demon Lord such as yourself, then I should be capable of taking out all the riff raff that attempt to bother you." He said as his determination showed in his eyes. Sukuna's fists clenched at his sides, nails digging into his palms. "I cannot stand the idea of being a liability. I will not remain in a position where my only contribution is surviving in the battles you will no doubt have."
He took a deep breath as his posture straightened. "I was the King of Curses before you usurped me and claimed me as your own, but the Ryoumen Sukuna who once terrorized the Heian Era is still within me. I believe that I now know the next step to become truly complete." He said with certainty.
I used Milim Eye to look deep into him.
Milim clapped excitedly. "Is this one of those speeches before a power-up arc?! I love those!"
I held back my laugh at Milim's words as I looked deep into his soul, and I was surprised by what I saw. I hadn't actually looked deeply into Sukuna's soul before. I trusted the soul corridor we held and Odin's work, but it seems that Odin wasn't as thorough as she believed.
I could feel Othinus' frustration.
"My understanding of the soul was meager back then. It seems I could not completely suppress the ego of Ryoumen Sukuna. The ego merely remained dormant inside of Sukuna, asleep but still very much alive."
And it seems Sukuna's renewed ambition was enough of a catalyst to stimulate this alternate ego, or rather Sukuna's original ego.
"Do you wish for me to kill it?" Othinus asked.
'Nah, I could do that myself if I wanted, but Sukuna seems to have an idea of what he wants to do next, so I'll leave him to it.'
"Very well."
Both egos were separate, but not completely separate.
"Do what you want then." I said as I stopped using Milim Eye.
Sukuna bowed. "Thank you, My Lord. I believe it is safer if I were to return back to the Cardinal World as I feel a transformation occurring within me."
I nodded. "That's fine. As a suggestion, you should meditate and look within yourself. Instead of trying to keep yourself split into two halves, why not try to combine both parts?"
Sukuna nodded. "I will follow your suggestion." He said as I snapped my finger, creating a portal that led directly to one of the training dimensions in my territory created with Small World.
Sukuna gave me one last bow before leaving.
"Hmm. If he succeeds, he might not be as boring." Megumin hummed out as she grinned.
I shrugged. "He's fine as is if you ask me, but his other personality is most definitely a greater force of nature, even if that version of him was weaker than the current Sukuna."
"Eh, personality and ego are what matter the most if you want to rise to the top." Megumin said with a self-assured nod.
"That's true. That's what I told Jin-Woo as well since he was feeling overwhelmed."
"Mmm. Maybe he'll learn to use his Malevolent Shrine better once he fuses with his other half."
"He's used it on you I'm guessing?"
Megumin nodded. "Yup! It has some potential too! It was able to cut through some of my spells and stall for a moment before I ripped Sukuna to shreds. It's a neat and useful ability, though I took some inspiration from it."
I raised a brow. "Some inspiration?"
"I'll keep that a secret." Megumin said with a grin.
I shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Milim and Lalatina had long since lost interest in the conversation. Neither of them were as close to Sukuna, whereas Megumin was someone he frequently challenged, so she was more familiar with him.
Sirka herself still seemed to be a bit out of it, but I didn't blame her. She was a new Monarch, not quite on the level of the original Monarchs and the Rulers. I'm sure she felt out of her depth now that she was in the actual presence of a real Ruler, even one who was contained in a mortal shell.
Milim also noticed this. "Don't worry, if he comes back to cause trouble, I'll beat him up for you!" Milim said as she pumped her fist up into the air.
Sirka blinked in confusion. "Thank you." She said with a small nod, but there was a small smile on her face.
Seeing as things were wrapping up here I looked to Megumin. "You ready to go?"
Might as well leave now since I was a bit excited to visit the Chaos World and spend some quality time with Megumin. Admittedly, the quality time we spent together usually consisted of us blowing things up, but there were other things we did as well. Megumin just enjoyed fighting the most, and more importantly losing to me the most as I was beginning to realize.
Damn Primordials. All of them were degenerates.
Megumin's eyes lit up. "Yes! Let's go kill some shitty monsters!"
"Ahem." Sirka coughed.
"She means excluding your Elves." I answered.
Megumin nodded. "Uh huh."
Funnily enough, Sirka looked even more hesitant now.
"Can you make a Gate now?" I asked her.
Sirka nodded. "I can."
I got up, as did Megumin. "Then whenever you're ready."
Sirka nodded and raised her palm to the side. After a moment, a swirl of energy began to coalesce, slowly taking on the form of a Gate.
"Don't get into too much trouble." I told Milim as I made my way to the Gate. Gaia waved a paw at me, saying goodbye, which I returned.
"No promises!" I heard Milim say as I stepped through the Gate. I didn't ask where Sirka would be teleporting us, but I trusted that she knew our primary objective, so she would have transported us somewhere that helped with that motive.
I took a deep breath as I stepped into the Chaos World. My body automatically shifted into a more spiritual form as the Chaos World was a Demi-Material realm. In Demi-Material worlds, there were material and spiritual elements, with the exact ratio differing between the worlds.
In this case, the Chaos World was more spiritual than material. The intensity of the mana was many times greater than back on Earth as well, but that was expected.
Megumin stepped out through the Gate behind me, the Gate closing behind her.
"Hmm, this place looks sorta like the Daemon Realm." Megumin said as she looked around.
We were in a jagged, mist-laced canyon with floating stone islands above and rivers of some weird liquid below. It was definitely different from what I was used to; there was no order present in this reality.
The sky wasn't even really a sky. It was just a bunch of random colors mixed together that constantly shifted in hues.
Definitely trippy.
Megumin's comparison was apt.
Megumin gave an impressed whistle and stepped forward, her boots crunching into glass-like gravel. "So, where do we start looking?"
I gave her a look. "There is a time dilation present. Time passes quicker here than back on Earth, so we can take our time and enjoy ourselves, explore around, and whatnot. Eventually we should find what we're looking for. This is a date as well, you know."
Megumin blinked at me, then her expression softened into a rare mix of affection and mischief. "Let's blow shit up then!" She said with a laugh as she kicked off the ground, booming away.
"Of course." I said with a fond smile as I kicked off after her.
It was a viable strategy. Surely someone would come to investigate the destruction we'd leave in our wake?
______________________________________________________________________
We soared through the skies as the landscape below us blended together due to our speed.
Megumin let out a cheer as she launched another blast downward, annihilating a cluster of floating spires that might have been a nest. Might have been a temple. Might have been alive. In the Chaos World, those things didn't seem to be mutually exclusive.
We had been having fun in the Chaos World for quite some time now, though I didn't know how long as time was tough to keep track of.
I did know that a day had passed back on Earth due to my soul corridor with Lalatina who also said that everything was going well.
Milim was going around with Sirka and trying new things in the city out. She even went deep diving into the marianna trench because she heard about it through the internet.
It was good that she was getting to enjoy herself at least.
Other than that, everything was going fine back on Earth. The conference was still some time away, so I didn't have much going on, meaning I could take my time here with Megumin.
Lalatina was jealous, but she was also understanding. Though I'm sure this all fed into her degenerate fantasies in some way, shape, or form.
I ignored the surroundings as the explosion Megumin just fired lit up the entire area. I had made sure that she didn't go too wild with her attacks so she didn't actually kill anyone who was just going about their lives.
No, the encampments she did destroy were only destroyed using much smaller explosions to not get too much attention from any of the big shots of the Chaos World.
If that happened, a fight would likely happen. I knew that Megumin could beat everyone here, so that would be boring and completely take away any obstacle for Earth.
No, we were just here to have fun and gather information, which we had moderate success with.
We hadn't uncovered anything too groundbreaking, but the fragments we had picked up confirmed what I already knew, the Monarchs had a new ally. I learned this through browsing through the memories of one of the commanders of a base Megumin destroyed.
He didn't know much as he was far too low on the hierarchy, but he had heard from his own Monarch that Antares had made a new ally and that they would work together for the time being.
Now I was just hoping to come across one of these new allies so I could at least understand if this new change was my fault. Since if it was, I would take responsibility for my actions and help deal with the new variable that I caused.
"Hehe, that was fun!" Megumin said with a laugh.
I rolled my eyes. How Megumin never tired of explosions would never cease to amaze me. She enjoyed even the tiny explosions.
As we descended down onto a plain, she began to walk beside me as we continued to explore. It's not like the entire date was just explosions. No, we talked a bit as well as Megumin told me some more stories about her past.
It wasn't like she stayed solely in the Daemon Realm, though that is where she mostly stayed. Still, she went out to the Cardinal World here and there.
In more recent times that was usually to bother Leon, but Leon would usually just brush Megumin off back then as a fight between them would likely result in casualties no matter how quick the fight would have ended.
It probably just wasn't worth it for him, and so he just brushed Megumin off, and Megumin was too restricted back then to force him to go all out.
"I'm glad you had fun firing off a nuke for no reason." I responded as I rolled my eyes.
Megumin quickly fell into step beside me. "Hmm, you wanted to hear about that time that the Elven kingdom messed with my scheme right?"
I nodded. "That did sound interesting. Elmesia never mentioned anything like that, even after finding out that I was close to you."
Elmesia might not have been as close to me as someone like Rimuru, but I'd call us friends after all the times we spoke, and her own feelings towards me.
Not to mention if you counted what I did to Evelyn then someone would probably call what we had a situationship, though that was mostly just us messing with one another rather than anything romantic.
I think.
"Hmph, she wasn't involved. Leon was the one who ruined my scheme." She said with a pout.
"So that's where your annoyance with him came from." I said, not mentioning the rather adorable expression she was wearing.
"Mhmm. Back then I created a powerful body to incarnate in. I would have won the game between us three centuries before Arcueid if that ass Leon didn't ruin everything." Megumin said with a sigh. "Though I suppose everything worked out in the end. If I won back then, I probably wouldn't be here with you now, Milord!" Megumin said with a grin as she turned to me.
I blinked at the sudden wholesomeness from Megumin. "I'm glad he ruined your plans too then."
Megumin pouted again. "Still, the balls of that bastard! Just for that I'm gonna keep messing with him for a few more centuries."
I shook my head with a fond smile.
Megumin told me a bit more about the scheme she had in place back then. Apparently she had created a vessel using some latent energy from Gaia, and seeing how Gaia was pretty much an elemental of sorts, that essentially negated one of the greatest weaknesses the Daemon race had, elementals.
It was unironically genius. That weakness couldn't do anything to us now without an enormous amount of power backing an elemental up, but back then Megumin wanted to be the strongest, so she went all out.
It seems that while she wasn't usually the scheming type, she could come up with some crafty plans if she really wanted to.
As we continued to talk more, Megumin told me a bit more about Gaia since the topic was brought up.
Apparently Dragons actually did exist before Gaia, but they were nothing like the mythical creatures they were now known as. Those Dragons couldn't use magic, so essentially they were just giant lizards, basically dinosaurs.
It wasn't anything ground breaking, but it was nice to know. Plus, I was more invested in Megumin rather than the topic itself.
As we continued to chat, the both of us stopped as we sensed the rapid approach of someone.
Both of us were concealing our Auras. Megumin wanted to unleash hers but I told her not to as that would tell pretty much the entire Chaos World that we were here.
If I didn't care about the consequences, I would be all for it, but in this case that would be detrimental to the people who actually lived in this universe.
It wasn't like I was going to be here forever. If there were more threats in the future, the people of this universe would need to be able to protect themselves.
The both of us waited for the presence to approach us. I was rather curious about them.
It didn't take long for a draconic looking man to crash down in front of us, kicking up dirt and debris. I did notice that he had an odd Aura, at least one different from any being I'd ever seen.
Once the dust settled, I got a good look at the man. He had red hair, yellow slitted eyes, and an overall built look.
He was decently strong as well. He had around the same level of EP as Clayman. It still amused me to no end that he was used as a way to measure power. He was disrespected even in death.
"You." He growled.
"Me?" I pointed to myself. "Or her?"
"Yeah, me or him!?" Megumin asked with a grin.
The Dragon's slitted eyes narrowed. "I have received reports of rampant destruction in this area of the Chaos World. I know not which Monarch you serve, but Antares will hear of this and punishment will be distilled. You all should know full well that no life can be wasted."
"Hmm, so Sirka was right then." I mused. "You all do need people for some reason."
The Dragon took a step forward, but before he could speak, Megumin pointed to him.
"Aha! I know why you felt familiar! You're one of those shitty Phantoms aren't ya!?" Megumin said with a grin.
I looked to her. "A Phantom? Him?"
Megumin nodded. "Mhmm. I haven't met one in a long time, but I remember what the taint of the Otherworld feels like."
The Dragon paused as he looked at Megumin with narrowed eyes, and a healthy dose of wariness.
"You... who are you?" He asked as he stepped forward again. "It is no matter. You will be taken to Lord Scorpius." He said as his Aura lit up the entire area around us.
The surroundings burst into flames as the sheer heat of his Aura surpassed that of the surface of the sun.
Megumin stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "You know I get this whole controlling your power thing, but it's pretty annoying to be underestimated so much."
"Don't kill him." I told her lightly.
She nodded, and before the Dragon-Phantom could respond, Megumin vanished, appearing behind him with her hand stabbed through his torso.
"Mhmm, that oughta teach this trash a lesson." She said with a grin as she kicked the Dragon-Phantom a bit.
"Don't kick a man when he's down." I said as I picked him up by the neck.
His eyes opened as he stared at me, blood leaking from his mouth. Before he could speak, I used Gazel's Unique Skill: Tyrant through Brahma, Lord of Creation to look into the man's mind. Through that, I discovered much of the Phantoms' plans.
How interesting.
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Author's Note:
Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon. In this chapter the meeting with the Rulers' is finally set, Sukuna begins taking the next step to power, and the date with Megumin begins!
Felix also finally finds out about the Phantoms, they were never going to stay hidden for long.
Anyways, thanks for reading, peace.
Thanks to @Salante and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.
Last bit of editing -Omnax
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