The tension amongst the masses of Dolatia had reached new heights. Never before had the elite living in the cities felt so threatened under the emperor's presence, but now that they were under the impression that he wanted them either as slaves or dead, none felt the slightest hint of comfort or safety under his flag.
Gathered under their own banner, the frustrated mob was off on their way to try and negotiate with the dragon slayer. However, upon getting there, Michael picked up his lance without hearing a single word from the angry mob. And although they were all terrified, not having seen his strength first hand they thought they could overpower him with sheer numbers.
And that's exactly what happened. Being a clone layered with illusion to appear like Michael, the creature didn't last long and was brought to his knees. Watching the elites rejoice as their slaves murdered the clone, Haruki covered his face with a mask before simply walking away.
'They're gaining confidence, and even if it's a farce as long as they create chaos for the emperor, that's all we need.' Letting the others know about the situation through the telepathic ability, Haruki was off on his routine check to Nabe's mansion.
The days of the month were fleeting yet nothing he and his companions had tried on worked on Nabe the slightest. Deflecting all weapons and absorbing the mana out of spells, the miasma around the devil girl was too good of a deterrent for the attacks.
In Spite of that Haruki went to her mansion every day trying everything he could to break through the miasma, however, today was a bit different. Since he knew that one way or the other Nabe would soon wake up if he stayed up close to her.
Walking into the mansion, Haruki wasted not a single second before making his way to Nabe's room. There as he stood by the door, he held his hand forward and teleported him inside to check on the sleeping devil.
'Her face has almost recovered completely.' Walking up closer, he tried to run his hand down her dark skin, but the miasma jerked him away. 'I wonder if…'
A peculiar theory had plagued Haruki's mind ever since he started visiting Nabe, and now that she was soon going to wake up, there was never a better time to try it than now. Placing his hand above her body, he closed his eyes and began using rejuvenation. At first, the miasma gathered up under his palm trying to repel the golden glow coming out from it, however, the moment it senses that Haruki was trying to heal her, it quickly disappeared which allowed Haruki to touch Nabe directly.
'The miasma isn't a spell or skill, it's either part of her body or a living familiar, either way, as long as I can appear benevolent it shouldn't get in my way all that much.' With his theory proven correct, Haruki undid the ability before it could heal her body. The miasma, feeling no threat from him, stayed hidden even when he ran his fingers down her torn cheeks.
Pressing his finger against her cheeks, he watched as she gently breathed through her lips and her chest rose up before falling down. Entranced by her bloodhorns, he scraped his nails against them, and to his surprise, unlike his own, they sounded like metal that could easily tear through steel.
"Greater demon spy…" Summoning a spy he ordered it to take a bite out of the sleeping devil. However, the moment it tried to nibble on it, the miasma consumed the spy inside a cloud of dark mist.
Retreating away, the miasma left Haruki untouched once again.
"Seems like there's only one way then," drawing a circle on her exposed chest, Haruki began infusing it with his mana. "Mark of the lust demon."
Surprisingly, the more mana he poured in the more her body absorbed, but having foreseen such a hurdle, he came prepared with purified bottles of mana potions to fuel him until Nabe's body submitted. Eventually, after he kept downing potions upon potion, the mark was completely engraved in her skin, and her eyelids began to flicker.
"Not yet…" Closing his eyes shut, he uncorked the last potion and downed it as well. "Alluring nightmare."
With the miasma unable to detect what he'd done, Haruki forced himself into the war general's memories. Like powder, his body scattered and was swiftly pulled inside the devil's head. Upon conforming into a body once more, he noticed himself standing before an altar of some kind with a lone figure seat at the top.
'What is she doing?' Moving closer to the Nabe who was bowing to this figure, Haruki tried to figure out exactly what was happening.
"Atlas, forgive me," she muttered before slowly peeking up at the shadowed figure. "I'll do as you say, but in return, I beg you to not curse me!"
'Atlas?!' The thought alone gave him a headache. Turning his head toward the figure, Haruki felt his whole body stiffen up from angst. 'A god, in the mortal realm? H-how?'
Although he'd heard about Atlas all the time, seeing him so up close, shook him from the very core. Haruki tried to move closer and see his face, but the shadows in Nabe's memories wouldn't let him see clearly. The only thing clear to him was the look of the glistering cosmos trapped inside his eyes.
"Are we done?" Asked Nabe from Haruki's back.
Shifting his attention back to her, he noticed her looking right at him. Without a doubt, she'd awakened in her dreams and was in complete control of her body.
"Not yet…" Gulping down with angst, Haruki saw her feet about to dash towards him, but before she could, he snapped his fingers and changed the scenery completely.
Jumping from one memory to another both of them landed up in a dark cave with the hint of coal lingering in the air. Even turning to look at each other, the only thing they could see was the pair of glowing eyes from one another.
"What is this place?" Haruki asked, totally expecting to be ignored and assaulted again.
To his surprise, however, the devil stayed silent but made no attempts to hurt him just yet.
"My birthplace…" Her answer, was, to say the least, intriguing.
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