A Marvelous Devil.
Chapter 33: Three Heartbeats.
The Underworld.
Dante Andromalius.
Tandy entered the tent with a pep in her step, nearly skipping as she made her way directly to the bed, a small grin lighting up her face.
Then she giggled, kicking her feet once she threw herself in.
The tent was simple, but it had everything we would ever need. Around fifteen-by-fifteen feet, with a comfy bed in the middle.
It was now covered in dirt and blood thanks to my lovable bishop.
Sighing, I snapped my fingers and held Tandy with telekinesis, lifting her up.
She giggled, making me realize that this was what she wanted to begin with.
But after everything she went through, she deserved this and much, much more.
"Come here, you minx," I pulled her toward me, keeping her in the air.
"Hm," she nodded cutely, "What do you want, Dante? I'm tired."
"I know, I know," I snapped my fingers once more, and a tub materialized from the ground up. First made out of the dirt, then it changed into marble.
Water soon filled the tub, and another snap, and it was filled with bubbles.
Then I pulled Tandy into my arms.
"You deserve to relax, my light," I began, stripping her gently, taking care of her like the princess she wanted to be treated like.
Not that she had much left, considering that her shirt had vaporized a long time ago, and decided to stay that way.
Her shorts followed, then her underwear. And finally, I pulled out her shoes and socks.
"You must be tired, right?" I asked softly as I lowered my bishop into the tub.
"Uhu," she groaned, feeling the water, closing her eyes, and sighing. "Oh, this is good."
"It can be better," I smiled, "Focus on your light, Tandy. I want to see how much your control has improved. Try to do something with the water."
Tandy pouted at me, but I didn't budge. She sighed, then closed her eyes as Light Force flowed from her body into the water.
"Just like that," I nodded proudly, watching seriously how the lifeforce changed the very properties of the water.
Then I frowned minutely. "Is there a reason you're avoiding the energizer properties of your light, Tandy?"
Tandy shook her head softly, burrowing her body into the tub. "I don't want my energy to come back. I want to sleep and do it naturally."
I sighed, smiling softly. "So be it."
I pulled a bottle of shampoo and some soap from my repertoire, setting them on the marble edge before taking off my shirt.
One of Tandy's eyes cracked open. "What are you planning, Dante?"
She sounded so tired, making me feel just a tiny bit bad for how hard I pushed her.
"Taking care of you, Tandy," I smiled, rubbing the shampoo on my hands, "Now, close your eyes. I wouldn't want you to feel the sting."
She didn't reply but followed my orders.
My fingers moved through her scalp. I worked out all the tangles that were created after two full weeks of nearly nonstop fighting. It was… peaceful. Something new.
It was nice, and I could feel how happy it made Tandy.
There was a lot… of things that could be said about Tandy's current appearance, but I didn't voice them.
The dirt, dried sweat, and blood, to name a few. But I just rubbed and rubbed until all her face was hidden under a nice blanket of foam.
I pulled a sphere of water and rinsed the foam away.
"How's the temp?" I asked once her face was clear.
"It's nice," she responded quietly, then closed her mouth.
A significant change entered her mood, her body tensing minutely before she relaxed.
I didn't know what to say once I noticed some stray tears in her eyes, nor how her loving eyes looked at me for a moment before closing.
I didn't mention it. My expression didn't change.
"Tell me if it goes cold, then," I murmured and started soaping her body.
It was the same as her head and beautiful platinum hair. Caked in sweat, blood, and pristine as it was before the training started. Not a single scar nor blemish.
"Do you hate me?" I asked quietly, not knowing what to feel. "For what I put you through?"
Her eyes opened slowly, but she just shook her head. "It's what I wanted, even if I didn't expect it to be as gruesome. I… I was afraid before that you would leave me if I fell behind or something."
"I wouldn't," I shook my head, rinsing the soap from her shoulders and rubbing her flat tummy. "And you know that."
"I did," Tandy nodded, breathing deeply as I continued scrubbing everything my hands reached, going all the way to her toes. "That didn't mean I couldn't fear that happening. You know how we humans are. I want to be better, to fit with you."
Reaching forward, I grabbed her gently by the waist and shifted her body until both her legs were lifted into the air.
Tandy blushed for a second before coughing.
I noticed her embarrassment and hid my smirk. After all, I had seen every part of her before and wanted her to be at ease.
Her painted toes soon were on my hands, and I made sure to clean every single millimeter of her body.
It was understandable that she thought that way, and honestly, I didn't exactly fault her. Before, when I was Seere, I would have taken her presence for granted. She would be there with me because I said so.
Now? It wasn't that simple.
I enjoyed her company too much, and there was… something when she felt happy.
Seeing her like that gladdened me.
"You did a good job," I tickled her toes once I finished cleaning her up. The warm water heated up before boiling into steam, without burning her. Then I pulled one of my spare shirts.
"And you deserve a reward, my dear." I grinned, helping her up and clothing her, "Anything you wish for."
She smiled tiredly, but before she could answer, her head dropped onto my shoulder, and soft snores sounded next to my ear.
Sighing, I lifted her up gently, making sure I wouldn't wake her up.
She deserved the rest.
One week later.
It was routine by this point. The inner ring was much more dangerous for Tandy than the outer one. The monsters there were more vicious, more intelligent. Their numbers were much, much bigger.
But I wasn't using the same methodology anymore, because it wouldn't make any sense to waste time this way.
Much less to create very bad habits with Tandy.
So, after careful deliberation (barely a moment after seeing the inner ring), I found myself joining Tandy in her training, focusing completely on my demonic power and the Dark Force instead of using my cosmic power.
Which kept growing by leaps and bounds now that I had Tandy connected to me with the evil pieces.
"Drop!" I said firmly, nodding as Tandy did so without hesitation.
My demonic power roared inside my body as my tattoos lit up in a baleful red hue. I could feel every demonic presence within a one-kilometer radius, and the ice followed those signals, burrowing into their bodies before they exploded from the inside out due to the violent change in temperature.
The howls and shrieks were music to my ears, and Tandy shared a vicious smirk with me as she sent her light, covering the whole horizon with it as she burned everything to ashes.
She panted, her sweat matted her hair against her forehead, but all I felt was pride.
And attraction, because damn if she didn't look good when she got like this.
"Keep advancing, Tandy," I murmured, closing my eyes and reading the battlefield.
Now, instead of pure forests, it was ruins of castles and towns that once were filled with devils. The monsters were stronger, but not that much. Most of them were Mid class, some reaching High class, but nothing beyond that.
No, the main difference was how cursed this place was. The number of curses that made their home in the ruins was staggering, and surprisingly, some of them managed to affect me.
Not their strength, but their nature was weird. It had a tint of divinity.
It excited me because that meant that the general was right about the hidden labs in the territory. There was no way in hell that something like this would be natural in such a place.
But I hadn't found anything yet, which meant that the only place left was the Gusion castle.
Right in the center of the territory.
Tandy sent another wave of light mixed with lightning, dropping to her knees once a gorilla-type monster hit her square on the chest.
Teleporting next to her, I sent a wisp of cosmic power to heal her as soon as possible, mostly enhancing her own light as it flowed through her body.
Her wings spread, sending barrages of daggers flying everywhere at once like they were feathers.
Every monster disintegrated when they were hit, and some of the ruins crumbled as her cleansing light destroyed the curses that kept them up.
It lasted over three hours, but the monsters were finally decimated.
I closed my eyes, focusing once more on the signatures before nodding.
"We're done, come here," I said loudly, focusing on my own power to create a seed of hellfire to keep the monsters away.
Tandy arrived seconds later, dropping to the ground and groaning in frustration.
"Dante, I hate the underworld," she snorted, "Why is the place filled with so many monsters? And God, the fucking insects."
Tandy shuddered in disgust, and I snorted.
They were… a sight to see. And not a good one.
"Every day that passes convinces me that there's something interesting in the center of the territory," I pulled Tandy's body against mine, "It's the only thing that would make sense."
Tandy hummed, and I pulled our tent and set it in the center of the town, "How much is left to clean everything?" she asked softly.
Pulling out the map, I opened it on the bed. It was different than what Nyra gave us, with many places already colored green. The areas we had cleaned.
"We've barely taken back thirty percent of the whole place," I said, my lips twitching.
Tandy's groan was hilarious.
"Thirty? Dante, it has been almost a month of nonstop fighting," she said flatly.
I didn't say anything at that, because she was right. It was taking more time than I had expected.
Obviously, it happened because I wanted to use the opportunity to sharpen Tandy, but still. It was… time-consuming.
She stared at the map for a long time, then dropped her face into the pillow. The sound was obviously filled with irritation, and I laughed softly.
"The good news," I continued after folding the map, "is that the distribution isn't exactly even. The outer sections were dense but simple, and even as many as they are here, we can deal with them together without much trouble. The only problem is left concentrated around the center, which means that it shouldn't take more than two weeks or so."
"That being said, I've been thinking if we truly need to waste all that effort in cleaning everything right now," I said quietly, closing my eyes. "While yes, we might gain something out of it and you would continue to grow with many fights of that level, there's also the opportunity to save it as a training ground for the rest of the peerage, or at least more pieces than only you."
"Do you want my opinion, or are you talking to yourself?" Tandy lifted her head and sassed.
My lips quirked, nodding at her to continue.
"Right now, it's only both of us, and I already reached the very top of mid-class from what I understand. It won't be long until I reach high class, and considering my power, I can hit harder than my rank." She said hesitantly.
"Go on," I rubbed her hair.
"How much would it realistically help you, whatever you could find here? How important could it be for your plans?" she asked instead.
"For the short term? Probably not much. My main intention was to create a place for us, and start making a name in the underworld to get more capital to work with," I said slowly.
"Then you have the answer," Tandy shrugged, dropping her head against my chest, "we don't need to finish everything at once. And you have one other responsibility from the past you have ignored."
"Huh?" I tilted my head.
"Sona's pawn piece," Tandy bit my chest, "how long has it been since you gave her your word?"
"More than half a year," I admitted, thinking deeply. "Fine, we'll clean the inner ring, and I will seal the rest for later, even if I know you're saying this only to stop your training."
I ignored Tandy lifting her hands in victory and sending a smirk in my direction.
"You minx," I pulled her into a kiss.
"Hm," she murmured, "yours, my love."
"How much more, then?" she asked between kisses, "I want to see mother."
Ugh. Celestine convinced her to call her that.
"Three or four days if we push it. Depending on the kind of monsters, I suppose."
"Worst case?" she began unbuttoning my shirt.
"A week," I tilted my head, smiling as Tandy began kissing my chest.
Before we could have fun, Tandy winced in pain from a sudden movement. The hit from the gorilla must have been stronger than I expected.
I sighed. "Come here, we can leave our fun times for when we aren't in a cursed battlefield."
Tandy glared at me, but at the same time, she looked thankful. We both wanted it, and as much as I hated to wait, it was for the best.
"Can I see you working on the pawn piece?" she asked instead.
Thinking for a moment, I nodded. Pulling my own pieces, I grabbed one of my pawns and scanned everything.
For a moment, I thought of just copying my own piece and giving it to her, but it was more trouble than worth it, as funny as it would undoubtedly be.
No, instead I planned to give her one with five times more demonic power inside, allowing her to use it on someone stronger than her. Or just lower the number of pieces she would need to use. There was no need to break her mind and probably start a war with heaven.
It wouldn't exactly be a mutated piece, because I didn't know what that entailed, but it would serve in a similar manner.
Tandy sat on the bed, and I copied her, putting my pawn piece between us.
She grabbed it before I could start.
"I will get my set once I get to high class, right?" she asked curiously, before she put it back on the bed.
"Not exactly," I shook my head, "While your strength will match them soon, there are some other requirements you'll need to go through if you want. Why?"
She shrugged, "curiosity, mostly. I'm unsure if I'll ever use it. Maybe one day."
"Hm," I nodded.
The piece began to float in the air.
"I might need some extra juice. Grab my hand and let it flow, Tandy."
Tandy followed my order without hesitation, and I grinned, feeling the Light force flowing into my body.
I had a lot of cosmic power, but right now, I needed to basically imitate divine ichor from a being that was probably as powerful as Red currently was.
Which was not exactly an easy task.
The light force mixed with my own well of cosmic power, the two different yet similar energies, enhancing each other.
I started manipulating reality, creating an outer shell in the form of a pawn. Basic, really, and it took me less than a minute to copy all the enchantments needed.
The only thing missing was a catalyst capable of molding souls into a devil.
The cosmic power broke through the surface, causing a significant area around our location to tremble.
Tandy's grip tightened on my hand, and she pulled more power into the open.
Smart girl. No wonder I liked her.
The catalyst wasn't something you could fake; it needed some weight to work as intended. The demonic tattoos on my arms lit up as more and more demonic power was literally sucked into a small orb.
An orb that condensed into itself, intent given form, a construct that would turn anything but a divine into a devil, no matter if they accepted or not.
I didn't care how Sona used it, just that she would love it.
The demonic power kept flowing in, creating a small rupture in the orb that disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only a humanoid wisp floating in the air.
The ruins outside shook even harder, and through my control of demonic power, I sensed every creature running away in fear. Then it flew into the empty shell of the pawn piece.
And it pulsed once.
Then a second time.
And finally, a third.
Tandy looked at it in surprise, probably feeling the reverb inside her chest.
I took a deep breath, pulling the unused cosmic power and demonic power inside my body once more.
That felt… good.
"What was that?" Tandy asked, grabbing the piece.
"The pulses?" I smiled excitedly. "Those were heartbeats, my dear. You are holding something alive."
"Focus on it. Try to peer inside."
Tandy's brow furrowed, staying silent for over five minutes with her eyes closed.
Then she huffed, "I can't feel anything."
"And that means you still need training," I smirked amusedly, earning another huff and smack on my chest.
But I didn't respond, perking up as I felt something enter the area.
"Hoh?" I stood up. "Seems like someone was interested in what happened. I wonder how this will go."
Tandy looked at me, then outside.
And a small smile grew on her face.
"Nyra!" Tandy stood up, "What are you doing here?"
Nyra's PoV.
I no longer knew what to think about. Nothing in this Satan-be-damned territory made sense anymore.
And I didn't know who I blamed the most for it.
The Satans? I couldn't say that the decision to give away the territory didn't sting.
It had always been under the attention of one battalion after all, for centuries.
And a small part of me always hoped that Satan Asmodeus would gift it to my grandfather for being the general of the battalion that went deeper than all the previous ones.
A small part. A stupid part, honestly, because I knew better.
Grandfather never asked for things; it wasn't like him. He never campaigned for recognition or played politics at gatherings, as many of his peers did. He fought, bled, survived, and led us through things that had killed many before him, and would continue killing for as long as the world existed.
He was like that, and I was fucking proud of him, even if sometimes I blamed him for the lack of recognition our family had.
The idea of the Satans rewarding that kind of quiet, stubborn loyalty with land was the kind of fantasy for devils younger and more naïve than I had any right to be at my age, much less for someone with my experiences.
But still…
It would have been nice.
Instead, they gave it to him. A devil that everyone in the army had heard of, and probably mocked for the fame he had thanks to his father. The extinct family that was no longer extinct, thanks to the devil kid getting his damn clan trait by a sheer miracle.
I hadn't even heard he had become a high-class devil.
And the worst part was that he wasn't any better than the damn phonies of the Great King Faction. They always saw their peerages as something lesser, mere servants that didn't matter any more than what they could get out of them.
And it pissed me off like nothing else!
Tandy was a cute girl, a sweet one, and he was just… throwing her away?
It wasn't fair.
And the worst part was that grandfather just… accepted it. Sat in his office, nodded, and said, "The king has spoken," as if there was nothing more to discuss.
I had wanted to shake grandpa for allowing such a thing to happen. She was weak, and she seemed like a nice girl.
And now she was probably dead.
Or at least… warped.
The Gusion territory changed even the most hardcore soldiers. She had seen it firsthand.
A part of me understood. You didn't argue with the Satans, and it was something that everyone under the grandfather had been taught since the start of our training.
He knew better than us.
But knowing that didn't make the sting go away.
So, I blamed Dante instead. Because it was easier, and he deserved it for being such an asshole with his peerage.
Even if he was probably stronger than I had thought, because the signs of battles in the outer ring were numerous.
And it showed a kind of firepower I wasn't capable of doing even in my wildest dreams.
But even that surprise didn't compare to the shock that came once I entered the inner ring, somewhere we only visited in groups of fifty at a minimum.
Because in the first ten miles, the signs of battle were even worse than before. And not a single monster had attacked me.
Not a single one.
And that didn't make any sense.
The whole flight here didn't make sense. The ruins, the holes on the floor, the way the ground seemed to be erased from attacks…
But that was nothing, at least compared to the pure power that made my wings freeze in place as I dropped to the floor in abject terror.
I was lucky enough to train my body under grandpa's guidance, because I wouldn't have survived the fall if it weren't for that.
But even the pain didn't register at all.
Not when the very ground seemed to be trembling, almost about to open from the pure power that gathered a couple of hundred meters in front of me.
And even from a distance, I could hear the monsters running away from that direction.
But I couldn't focus on that. Because I couldn't move. I couldn't even breathe properly.
And then three beats thumped inside my chest before it disappeared as if nothing had happened.
I could finally breathe.
And the pain hit me at once.
Despite the agony of the fall and the pain in all my muscles, I started walking in that direction.
Until I reached a tent a thousand times better than what we normally used on our expeditions.
Tandy sat on the bed, smiling at me.
And Dante beside her, his expression amused beyond belief.
Which somehow made the pain disappear, swallowed completely by anger.
Smug bastard.
"Nyra!" Tandy stood up, "What are you doing here?"
I didn't know how to answer the sweet girl. The somehow normal girl.
I opened my mouth only to close it with a click.
And the only sound that left my mouth was a pained groan as everything crashed into me once more. The last thing I heard was the hurried steps of the blonde as her arms caught me before I could hit the ground.
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