One hour later... - The Hallway leading out of the Royal Bedroom - Klaus' Point Of View...

Hmm..

I'm in this hallway, again.

Looking around, sending out a pulse of mana...

Nothing.

Nobody~.

Not a damn thing on my radar.

Looking through the windows; birds are still there. Hmm...

Am I forgetting to check on something?

...

Hmm.

Can't think of anything, which I'm almost certain is going to be biting me in the ass sooner or later. Oh well. Anyway, I really should start figuring out ways to get stronger. I can't just leech magical knowledge from Vivian and expect things will end up alright. No, no.. I need strength. I need power, both magical and physical.

With my abilities, it would be a complete waste to not grant myself a physical body even more perfect than it already is, though for the love of me I can't figure out how. My muscles already feel as if they're constricted to their limits and scanning the Terreltaits yields no useful information due to their powers being based largely in their unique biologies. I suppose that I must devise a training regiment for myself, which shouldn't be too hard, given my extensive understanding.

A blink ceased my line of thought as I noticed a small, red door to my right and smirked, knocking on it and entering inside after being acknowledged to reveal a small, cubical chamber drowned in holy rune work, an incredulous amount of incense and many, many candles scattered about, with various holy symbols etched into the walls. In the middle of it, was a bound man in a straightjacket, with his long hair being the only proper indication of who it is bound within.

Smirking lightly as I nodded towards the priests in the room, I turned around to face the Archbishop Rex, who had been appointed by Truth to try remove the demonic taint from Asmodeus's lobotomized body. "Hail, Archbishop. Is the exorcism going well?"

To my surprise, the man sighed and shook his head in negative, seemingly immensely disappointed with himself recently. "Nay, sire. The paladins and I have been trying our best to channel enough holy energies into the broken body in order to push out the devil inside, but we are unable to do it. I am afraid that whatever Asmodeus' family made a deal with is far more powerful than any mere, common demon."

"Wait, so whatever possessed him is still inside?" He smirked and nodded. "Yes! Your majesty's power has somehow managed to trap the demon's soul within his host. We theorize that, in order to cancel the possession magic, the demon would have to make the conscious decision to do so, but since you prevented him from thinking, he cannot leave!"

I blinked and hummed. "But that just means you have only as much time as the demon itself has mana to decipher this situation. After all, we cannot be sure if it placed any sort of traps on its host."

Rex rubbed his chin in thought as the others returned to their prayers and meditation around the body, channelling massive amounts of magic into Asmodeus and seemingly purifying him of a taint I am not yet capable of seeing. Well, it had to be getting used up somehow, right? Mana does not just vanish into thin air, after all. "The Grand Wizard did mention that he has a trap card in case of dying but perhaps there are other such enchantments cast onto the host that we are yet unaware of."

He nodded and sighed. "We would have to summon a hero of the church in order to properly attend to Asmodeus. Well, either a hero or several more of my fellow Archbishops, if that is alright with you, your majesty?" Rex appeared to adopt a pleading and ashamed expression as I quirked an eyebrow at him in confusion. "Why would I not be fine with it? This broken body is a danger to us all."

"Your majesty, pardon my words, but you are not a good man. In fact, you are a very, very evil man. Heroes, as well as my fellow Archbishops... they will not understand why we are not treating you as an enemy." I let out a laugh at his response. "Rex, I thought the Church didn't care for the affairs of mortals, such as myself?"

Rex's eye twitched as he nodded. "We used to, a few weeks ago. And then you decided to help usher a schism during which it has been decided that we will take a greater interest in mortal affair after all."

Ah, he's right. I did do that.

Oh well.

Shrugging at the man with a nonchalant expression, I said. "Let them come and see my works with their own eyes. Should one try to slay me, I will fight back, but due to the generosity of the Church so far, I will not aim to kill them." It only took him a moment to relent and nod, before bowing. "I shall deliver your will to the Avatar, your majesty."

With that matter settled, I calmly walked out of the door and shut it. "Fuck." Cussing under my breath, while not exactly hiding my growing annoyance, I let out a massive sigh as I returned to walking down this massive, seemingly everlasting hallway. "Heroes and Archbishops... I'll need to hire more guards sooner rather than later."

Shaking my head out of my stupor, I focused myself back on the thoughts of my training. "Hmm, I should definitely ask Sebastian to help me with my training schedule... and Katrin for some swordsmanship lessons." I let out a chuckle. "I'm sure she'd enjoy that very much~."

However, I should definitely not slack on my magical education! Vivian though, as powerful as she is, is too secretive to ever sate my thirst for power, despite all of the gifts I've given her. Hmm, I've also given the gift of immortality to that green-dressed, plant wizard, whatever was his name again? Also, wasn't there a cute, chiselled babe next to him? A tomboy with red hair and a thing for fire magic? How the hell did this gem escape my gaze until now?!

Normally, all the sorceresses in fantasy tend to be dressed as sluts, but no, this redhead, she was fully clothed on both of the occasions that I've seen her. Wait, both? She was at the Regina Festival! Holy lord, I can't believe I missed such a delicious opportunity! Lets hope she hasn't gone back home yet.

Lets see, .. that old man called himself an 'authority' of nature magic, right? So she should be the 'authority of fire magic'! I'll just ask a servant to go find her for me. Well, that settles that. But hmm, wherever shall I conduct my training? Perhaps, I should just use the lab? There's plenty of space there and the only people I have to worry about are the dwarf and my two blackguards.

Those two have seen quite a lot of beautiful imagery as of late. Makes me wonder who exactly they are, to have not gone insane from the exposure. Perhaps, I should ask of them their names? Nah. Its probably not important, anyway.

With all of that said, or well, thought, I can help but notice how excited I got due to my meetings with two of the rather lovely ladies, as well as my current vested interest for the fire mage girl. Truth be told, I haven't really fucked anything for a while now. Haven't even considered it since I was too fat to enjoy it, anyway.

But I am not like that any more.

Hmm, perhaps the changes I've made to myself, though magical, have had some form of hormonal effect upon my body after all? Indeed, a significant rise of testosterone should have been expected. Hmm, this feels like something I would normally notice. Mayhap, the changes have affected me mentally as well as physically?

Yet, I do not remember weaving any magic to directly influence my mind... No wait, I did do that. I influenced my hormonal levels in order to speed up growth and loss of weight. Why did I not realize that this would have a mental effect upon me as well? Tch, I cannot allow myself to not notice these things from now on.

Paranoia is good.

Paranoia is healthy.

I must achieve an even greater state of self-observation. Hmm.. perhaps, I should not get more guards. The added stresses of being constantly judged by self-righteous pricks should work wonders for my the improvement of my paranoia. One can never be too jaded!

Truth is, after all, just another man's lie~.