(Hairz POV)

A streak of light raged into the sky, a brilliant display of blue and white intertwined in a massive display of power that illuminated the night sky. The column of light was made of mana and was easily seen from over a hundred kilometers away. I looked at my hand, in it, was a small medallion of an adventurer, one that was said to have been capable of 11th tier magic. But somehow was still defeated by a demon, even when there were five adventures against two monsters! It’s almost midnight and I'm still on the run, you never know when a town will be attacked by monsters, and I don’t want to wait to find out.

I never cared for Wheatberg, the only thing this town had was a racist population and a corrupt lord. I might only be a half-ogre but with my horn, most people would try to kill or kidnap me and sell me into slavery. I still didn’t know what my other half was, as my mother died before she could tell me about my father. I quickly jumped from rooftop to rooftop, concealed by the shadows using my skill [Shadow Step]. It allowed me to become one with shadows greatly improving my movement capabilities.

Eventually, after a few minutes, the pillar of light collapsed, as if it never existed. I tried to run towards the pillar of mana before it disappeared, but it was in the rib cage mountains, a place much closer to where the demons attack from. I heard rumors of a powerful demon and even a Dragonoid near the castle, but nothing too substantial. There were even rumors of them owning the castle, but that’s ludicrous! The castle was a disaster by the demons, it was made out of literal souls! A solid stone that becomes nearly indestructible, it was one of the six worst disasters to strike this world.

I shook my head to get the memories out of my mind, and I kept running to the castle. After a few hours and dawn nearing on the horizon I finally reached it, without much light, it appeared to give off a faint purple glow. Somehow, I also noticed it faintly gave off an aura of death, just radiating from it. I was just about to head to Arlen when I felt an immense pressure behind me. I swiveled on my feet so fast I nearly fell over, and in front of me was a large demon, nearly 3 meters tall! His head was an orange crystal skull and radiated heat off of him.

It just walked out of the castle, the large black doors opened effortlessly for him and he stepped out. I’m pretty sure he noticed me but paid me no heed, as he just walked over to the road leading to Arlen. I backed up so I wouldn't get in his way, but I felt both fear and assurance nothing would happen. I didn’t know just how powerful this demon was, so I used another skill of mine, [Magic Eyes]. And was shocked, they couldn’t give me any reading on the demon, as if his mana pool was completely hidden.

I gulped and did something I probably shouldn’t have done, I walked up to him. At first, we walked at a slow enough pace that I caught up to him but he didn’t even notice me or acted like I didn't exist, I knew I was out of [Shadow Step] but he acted like I didn’t exist! After a few moments, he finally spoke out in a bone-chilling, and monotone voice.

“Is there something you want?”

I was frozen with fear, but my legs continued to walk alongside him. I tried to muster any courage I had and responded to him, worry and concern clear in my voice.

“I was, um, just wondering, like, how your mana pool was, like, hidden?”

“You have mana detection, I have mana detection nullifiers. Your spell or skill is too low level.”

“Is there any way you could allow me to see you without your mana being hidden?”

“Why not, don’t complain if you go blind.”

After not even a second, a small ‘spark’ ignited his entire mana pool so I could see, and it was overwhelming, to say the least. I nearly puked out every organ in my body it was so terrifying. But I still had a small amount of trust in him, for no apparent reason. My legs still walked next to this literal beacon of mana, it was so powerful, me walking alongside him, I felt a surge of mana start to flood into my mana pool. It immediately started to replenish and was already finished when I noticed it start.

This demon’s mana regen is insane! He has enough ambient mana to cast an 18th tier spell, or even higher! And at this time, I finally realized why I felt trust in him, his mana started to influence my body with how close I was to him, as I was literally in his mana pool. I felt an overwhelming force that wanted loyalty, so I obeyed, and soon after a few seconds my skin felt like it was almost melting, and I got a notification.

[Skills Gained: Body of Fire] [Awarding 5 Attribute and Skill Points]

Just from being near him I got a skill, my skin finally went back to feeling like normal, but still slightly hotter. I realized that a very small jet of flames now leaked from my nostrils once in awhile. Like I was a dragon hatchling or some other creature, but it didn’t hurt when it happened. I looked at him, over on my right, and was shocked when he actually stopped walking for a moment and so I followed suit and stopped.

He seemed like he was almost laughing or grinning if he had a face, but made no noise. Then he finally spoke out in that same monotone voice, although not bone-chilling to me anymore.

“It seems like you’ve been influenced by my mana, I did warn you, but look where we are at now.”

“This is alright with me, you don’t seem like a bad person.”

“Oh? But I’m a demon, you still think that?”

“Race doesn’t make you who you are, it's about what you do!”

“Says the half-ogre half-dragon, regardless, race is important.”

“Wait, did you say ‘half-dragon’???” I exclaimed.

“Well yes, it is quite easy to identify species when nobody has any, resistance, towards detection abilities.”

“So my father was a dragon?”

“No, that would be your mother, your father was an ogre.”

This was even more shocking, but tied up some loose ends when it came to why my mother was killed, and also why my father left, seeing how he couldn’t protect a dragon. I wanted to cry but this demon gave me an overwhelming sense of comfortability, after giving me the information I've been searching for my entire life in a second. At about this time I started to develop a bond to him, although I knew how powerful he was, I still wanted to serve under him, as that would grant protection and could give me the sought out strength I'd needed to survive.

He looked off into what I assumed was the distance, he had no face so I didn't know what he was thinking, then his tail moved but didn’t seem like he was doing it. And I don’t know how I’ve not noticed before, but his tail was huge! It was nearly as thick as his arm, and as long as he was tall! The end had two large black spikes that seemed like they could punch right through anything. I did, however, notice that his tail moved nearly perfectly like it had a mind of its own.

The armor on his shoulders alone seemed like they could vaporize water in an instant, but he didn’t radiate almost any heat at all. It felt almost eerie, as he was like a walking corpse in terms of heat, I presume that if I were to touch him I would get severe burns if not killed outright! His armor was hard, and he didn’t carry a weapon so I assumed he used magic or martial arts, regardless, he was powerful, more so than any hero could be. Aligning myself with this person might prove to be the best decision I've made since the cellar wine incident a few months back.

He started walking so I followed, keeping up a slightly faster pace than before and was now firmly to his left, only about two or three meters away that is. I was going to ask him what he was going to do when he did something I thought impossible without at least chanting. In an instant I was outside of the city gates to Arlen, he stood next to me unfazed, and he seemed to almost forget about me but I knew he was still aware. Before we entered I asked him a few questions while waiting for the guards to come.

“Excuse me, but what is your name?” I asked a little sheepish.

“Ashen.” He said in that same monotone voice that never seemed to sound differently.

“What are you doing here Ashen?” I was more curious than shy at this point.

“Information, applying to become an adventurer.” He seemed almost lifeless with how he had no emotions, but still seemed like he wanted to do something, I just didn’t know what.

“Well, would you mind if I were to join you?” I asked, getting slightly nervous that he would assume I wanted to claim any glory he got.

“Sure.” I was so relieved when I heard this, it seems that he might be either, stronger than I could imagine or weaker, I will go with the former for safety sake.

After a few moments of silence I saw a guard try to approach but was scared half to death from Ashen, he was brave enough not to just run away outright. He was alone, wearing the pretty shitty but standard town guard armor and carried the normal shortsword and a spear, with a kite shield on his back. It seemed like he wanted to just up and walk away but he pressed onwards until about 20 meters from Ashen and me, then he screamed out to us.

“St-stay back demon!” Fright evident in his voice.

“Not here to fight, just civilians,” Ashen said in the most unbelievably neutral way possible, but somehow, the guard bought it and stopped quivering in fear, then opened the gate to allow us to enter. The people in the town, however, weren’t so eager to see a literal demon walk their streets, as many fled into their homes or to shelters. While we continued to walk, I noticed that there weren’t any adventurers around, so they were either on a large scale quest or all stuffed up in the adventurer’s guild. After a few minutes, I found my answer, and it seemed to be both. There was a decent chunk of gold and platinum adventurer’s missing but otherwise, the copper and silver adventurers were all the more plentiful here.

When we entered, everyone immediately took up fighting positions, even the woman behind the counter, and she didn’t look like she got to train often. Ashen seemed to ignore them all, so I followed suit again. We walked to the counter and he laid down nine silver coins. The woman behind the counter looked even more confused than scared at the moment. Then Ashen spoke aloud giving the place a feeling of dread from his voice alone.

“We would like to register for becoming adventurers.” Ashen gestured towards me and I walked forward.

“That’s all we want, so can we please hurry with this, I’m afraid the other adventurers might try to do something they would regret if they engaged in combat with us.” I was being honest and not, I could defend myself, yes, but Ashen could probably kill them all if he tried, or at least, I hoped.

After what felt like a few seconds the woman handed us each a scroll, I've seen these used before so I was able to fill out my information relatively easily. Hairz, Level: 34 Health: 2,027 Mana: 161. The most basic of the information that was needed to join. Ashen, however, looked to almost be preparing for the scroll, I didn't know why though. When he opened it and poured what felt like a negligible amount of mana from his mana pool into it, the information started going crazy. Ashen, Level: 1000, Health: 13,625,000, Mana: 82,500,000.

The woman did a double-take and handed him another scroll, free from charge due to obvious defectiveness. But this time, it didn’t appear defective, it showed the same information. She quickly rushed into the room behind her and grabbed the guild master. Nobody saw Ashen’s stats as they were all on guard rather than paying attention to it When the guild master arrived, then things escalated quickly.

He immediately started to cast a spell but used the “Hold” prefix to have it at the ready, it looked like a frost spell, not a bad choice if I were to say so. Then the woman handed Ashen yet another scroll, he did the same thing and the guild master looked like he almost fainted from shock. Then when the woman noticed, she nearly did too. Was this demon a literal GOD!?

It almost looked like he was sighing if he could, but he stood there lifeless. Not moving at all until the guild master or woman would assign him a rank, it was obvious that he was Black Pearl material here, but the rules say all newcomers must start at copper. If he takes this as an insult this town is done for. Eventually, he spoke up, breaking the eerie silence.

“I believe I am Owed a copper plate, yes?”

The woman nearly buckled at her knees as did the guild master, but she eventually gave him the little copper plate on a string, he put it around his neck, then I got one too. And just like that, he started walking away so I followed him. Everyone seemed even more on guard but nobody tried anything as we left. After leaving he told me about a quest he read, and he was going to do, so I wanted to follow him.

“Wheatberg, monsters attacking in waves, kill them all.” His voice sounded almost bored yet so monotone it was unclear.

“Alright, do you know where it is, and how should we get there?” My voice almost like a small child’s in wonder.

“It is of no issue, I’ll just teleport to the town to save time.”

And as he said, we were there in an instant, the sight of this town again but in daylight, this time was something I didn't exactly appreciate. We were a few hundred meters away from the walls when we noticed a large gathering of monsters, goblins, demons, and even gnomes working with them. He just walked up and towards the town, ignoring all of them, when any would try to attack they were just incinerated immediately if they got too close. But I somehow was never burned even slightly, and I was only a meter next to him, the monsters didn’t come any closer than 30!

I felt a vague sense wash over my stomach, then I realized what it was, Adventurers! A ragtag team that seemed to have more in-fighting experience than real combat experience. Their party seemed like it was forced, and completely abnormal, there were four of them, but they didn’t look all too powerful. They looked to have only recently started to party together, all seemed only slightly stronger than the villagers, so around level 7 give or take a few.

There was a gnome, just barely under a meter tall, and by the looks of him, he seems to be a necromancer. His staff looking fairly crude with a fair amount of twisting and scratches in his blackened wooden staff. He had some fairly standard black robes, that seemed a little worn out but didn’t look all too bad for wear. I also noticed a small dagger fixed to his belt inside his robes, it didn’t seem too special so I ignored it for now.

The next was much more interesting, a 1.8-meter tall dullahan, and another necromancer by the looks of it. By the looks of him, he was still fairly fresh, and he had a much larger staff to fit his size but in that regard didn’t stray too far from the gnome’s one. His clothing was much more interesting, two sets of robes adorned his blue body, which concealed it near perfectly, only leaving spaces for his hands and head to show. His black robes seemed to wither away at the bottom but never would recede and seemed to just be an illusion, and the second robes were brown concealing the majority of the first.

There was even a devilkin, a demi-human variant of devils, but often mistaken as demons. He had clothing fitting of an assassin, with black cloth covering the majority of his 2-meter tall figure. I sensed an enchanted item on him, and sure enough, I found a golden dagger that was in his belt. On his back was a sideways scabbard, inside was a slightly damaged but fairly good condition katana. There was another thing too, leather gloves that had 12 centimeter long claws from each finger, was on his hands.

The last one seemed to be the most unrealistic part of this team, a Mothman paladin, or rather a moth woman? Regardless, it was a large moth that had four arms each seemed weaker than a human’s but combined were about equivalent. On her back were two sets of large rounded gray wings along with a halberd and Warhammer. She seemed to wear medium plate armor over some leather. I sensed an enchanted item on her, but it seemed to just be a catalyst rather than a weapon.

I almost felt bad for them, by the looks of it they wanted to attack Ashen, and knowing his health alone, they wouldn’t get very far during all of their lifetimes. Ashen just walked past them, in the direction of the town, which in itself had the gates wide open and barely any guards, and the ones that were there were trying to fend off the hoard of monsters rather than protect the actual city, idiots.

Not only were the guards, well, complete idiots for leaving the town undefended, but the group of adventurers seemed to almost argue with each other on what they should do, then eventually walked towards us. We were already at the gate by this point and Ashen didn’t seem to care if they followed us, so I assumed it was fine. Although I started to wonder what happened when they just talked to him and didn’t address me at all. Then a voice came into my head, a familiar monotone voice then gave me some chills with how close it sounded.

“You are under an invisibility spell, go ahead and look for the lord of this town.” It sounded literally in my head, but I pushed on as I ran into the city with great speed jumping on the rooftops.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Ashen POV)

I made Hairz invisible and sent him off into the town, I hoped to find this lord before the monsters did. Even if he was brutally mutilated, my magic would fix em up in a jimmy, regardless, these adventurers are going to be a little annoying, but maybe entertaining. The paladin seemed a little too on guard, and the rest was acting strange, it reminds me of how my old guild members and I used to behave. But what caught me off guard was the dullahan, he seemed different than the others, almost like he was feeling a different emotion than fear. Then he spoke out to me.

“So, what are you doing here?”

“Mission,” I answered blandly.

“What kind of mission?” Almost as if a little child, he asked with so much interest, I didn't know why though.

“Why are you going into the town?” Asked the paladin this time.

“Seeing the lord.” I didn’t have a reason to lie, even if they could do anything about it.

“Why do you want to see the lord?” In a somewhat Scottish accent, and sounded slightly drunk, from the devilkin.

“Negotiations.” It was true, he would have to drive a hard bargain for me to help this pitiful town.

“What sort of negotiations?” The gnome said in what seemed like a somewhat faked voice as to sound more threatening, it didn’t work.

“Prevent monster attacks.” Honestly, these people almost seemed like a comedy group rather than real adventurers, not knowing how outmatched they are, and at least it keeps them out of some danger.

“Was it you that caused them?” The dullahan said with what seemed like, passion?

“No.” That dullahan gave me a slightly weird feeling but I wasn't about to just react negatively.

“Then how can you stop them?” The deviling again, this time seeming more sober than last.

“Slaughter them all,” I said, nearly shocking each except the dullahan, and the paladin seemed to almost burst into what seemed like an attack, still we kept walking.

“It might be hard to converse with the Lord right now…” The dullahan said with a slight look of anger and what looked like joy? It’s beginning to get hard judging his emotions, but I carried onwards in our conversation.

“Why’s that?” This couldn’t be all too good if they knew of something wrong with the Lord.

“Well, let’s see. Firstly Breythna, our paladin, was going to talk to the lord to find out about the monster attacks and some accusations…” The dullahan trailed off.

“Then I finally came out and asked him about all the people that were saying stuff about him stealing during the monster attacks and getting away with it.” The paladin this time.

“Yeah, so he eventually accused him of treason and started to arrest him, but his guards started to attack instead of restraining him. One missed completely and stabbed another directly in the heart, as she dodged their swords.” The dullahan again, he seemed very talkative.

“So, I assume he doesn’t want anyone to enter his domain?” I queried.

“Well, not particularly…” The dullahan said tapering off towards the end.

“What do you mean?” I figured I knew the answer but I’d still like to clarify.

“Well, after they attacked her, and we didn’t see her come back by the time she was supposed to, we rushed into the room, and started to fight the guards. Then the Lord himself was starting to throw several magic spells at us and upon his death in combat, his body started to swell and then he exploded into paste all over the room, luckily we all hid behind the table in the room that was already flipped over from the whole ordeal.” He sounded almost excited to tell me this as if it were something to celebrate but I carried on.

“So you’re saying it would be hard to converse with him due to his death?” Resurrection was easy, so I wasn’t worried about it.

“Well, I also took his soul.” Now that surprised me, this weakling of a human already had a soul-stealing spell?

“As difficult as it may seem, resurrection without a soul is possible.” It was true but ridiculously expensive to replace the lost soul, I might as well just use a time-based spell to copy it from the past.

“After he died, a blackish portal opened in his previous location and a large shadowy figure crept out towards us, then we started to exchange hits.” The dullahan seemed to grimace at that memory.

I noticed there were quite the amount of people that were either running from us or into their homes, but this group of adventurers didn’t mind either.

“It knocked out all of us but me, and I barely managed to kill the thing! I couldn’t believe what happened.” He said nearly lost for breath.

“A demon contract.” They were often used for a sacrificial summon, to ensure the death of their adversaries if they fell in battle.

“It was strong and only took damage from magic and enchanted weapons.” The devilkin this time added.

“An elemental demon then,” I said while thinking of all the different ones in my memory of Sugarea.

“Anyway, do you have a way to resurrect him? He was kind of a douche you know.” The gnome said this time, almost like he was mocking him from beyond the grave.

“Of course, resurrection magic is one of the easiest magic I know, it will be of no issue.” It will be, if he had his body destroyed, it would be okay but with his body gone, his soul stolen and him having a demon contract, this would be a little difficult.

“I’ve not heard of such a thing being possible!” The gnome shouted, it would seem he didn’t enjoy others to be too powerful around him, he didn’t seem like a friendly guy.

“When you get to my level, eventually all previous achievements seem like child’s play.” That is completely true, a level 100 boss is a close fight for a level 95 but a level 1000? It was nothing.

We continued to walk further into the town when I saw Hairz come back, since I cast the spell, on top of my other abilities, I was able to see him as he quickly approached from the rooftops. After what felt like no time at all, I eventually reached the castle-like structure that the Lord lived in. The group of adventurers had departed moments later, saying they would return to another city closeby, I only knew of a few towns nearby, so I assumed it was Arlen, if not, it wasn’t a big deal anyway.

I arrived at the castle and quickly entered only being halted by a lone elf woman in some rather nice looking plate armor. She carried an exaggeratedly long two-handed arming sword. She immediately drew it from its scabbard which was more of a little loop to keep the sword from falling off her back. She looked slightly better looking than most elves, but I've never truly cared for looks, as they are often misleading.

“Halt! What is a demon doing walking around in the Lord’s chambers!?” She barked out and seemed surprised at my lack of a response.

It seemed she managed to look through my low tier invisibility spell on Hairz as she quickly called out to him too.

“You as well, Half-ogre!” She seemed a little too aggressive, but figured it was an appropriate reaction to her situation.

As I dispelled my spell Hairz appeared in a moment, and he looked a little shocked he was found out. But I just teleported him outside the castle, didn’t need any collateral damage to occur to a new ally and potential resource. I walked forward a few steps until she repeated her commands as if I were a mere mutt.

“I said HALT!” She almost seemed more scared than angry, as if she didn’t expect me to still walk forward towards her.

“Afraid not, I've got an important discussion with the Lord and must be on my way, as you already know, I doubt he would need any protection.” I would have smirked at this comment if I had a face but it seemed to only harden her resolve to attempt a move against me.

She braced for combat, and I teleported behind her and resumed walking down the hallway towards the Lord’s room. She looked around for a moment before noticing me behind her, and that was when she lost all self-control. She charged at me, preparing to slice my back when Vron stabbed her in the stomach and threw her to the ground a few meters away. Then quickly used a very low tier healing spell to prevent her from dying.

She was in severe pain and disbelieve at my power, or rather Vron’s but I digress. She couldn’t get back up, and so she laid there for as long as I had a direct line of vision to her and probably longer. She seemed as if a completely new feeling entered her for the first time, utter defeat. I finally found the Lord’s room and was unfazed as I found a room drenched in blood and corpses. Four human guards, and the splattered remains of the Lord.

I didn’t care for the guards but figured it would be a sign of goodwill to save them too. I figured after I got the Lord’s soul and could repair his body I would do them all at once. And boy did that take long, the Lord took over an hour of trying to find enough of his scattered remains to get a large enough chunk of him to reshape into his body. After molding it into what I assumed was the best I was willing to do for him, I started to focus on recreating his soul. I had seen the one that the dullahan had, and I committed it to memory, before starting to create another one. It would take a load of soul fragments but would still work.

The basic framework for a human soul is complex, but for me with such high-end stats, I was capable of making a near replica after I recalled so many civilians. I got the general gist of how human souls were created and how they functioned. The hardest part was undoing the demon pact to get back the key part of his soul where resurrection would become possible, but I think I have away. After what seemed like no time at all, I got a mental ping from Aeyrs, he quickly informed me about the situation on the demon side of the mountains, as he was exploring it in his dragon form.

The corrupted lands didn’t seem all too different than a nuclear wasteland except there was no radiation and that technology didn’t exist in this world to my knowledge. There were even trees that seemed to be made from bones and hints of rotting flesh on them that acted as leaves. He was exploring for any major events or structures but he finally reported nothing of the like, and I continued in my efforts to save this Lord. The Lord’s body was completely repaired by now, but his soul was still missing a small theater that was dedicated to a demon.

I didn’t care for a fight right about now, so I just tried to severe the connection but realized that his soul wouldn’t allow it. This was slightly annoying but I didn't mind, I’ve no choice but to summon this demon again. After ‘pulling’ on the thin connection to the demon, I finally was met by the same picture the adventurers were before me. A large blackish portal appeared it was a space-void teleportation portal by its effects on the area around it.

One hand emerged from one side and it was indeed a shadowy figure, but this time it seemed a lot lighter of a shadow than the heavy dark they described. Maybe they exaggerated, but it seems that this demon is a lot weaker than what I would have first thought. After it came fully out of the portal, the portal dissipated into mana that is then absorbed into it. It looked at me with pure hatred written on its shadowy face.

I simply just extracted the portion of it that contained the soul piece then did a little flick of my wrist to indicate it to return to where it came from, but it wasn’t having that, as it started to charge a spell. Vron, on the other hand, could channel mana much faster, so he managed to cause a quick end to the shadowy creature and it dissipated into mana. Vron seemed a lot more active since the last time I've talked to him, I digress.

The Lord’s soul, now with the piece form the demon, is now fixed and can be placed inside the body. As I did this to each guard as well, I only spent this long on the Lord because I needed his soul piece form the demon, so the guards were much faster. After a total time of nearly two hours from beginning to end, I finally was completely able to resurrect the lord and the guards. With the silent cast of: [Spectral Resurrection] on the lord and [Greater Resurrection] on the guards, life found its way into their bodies once more.

The guards seemed slightly worse for wear than the average human would, but it’s likely due to the confusion, and the mental drain of being, well, dead. The Lord, on the other hand, was a different story altogether, his body was completely restored and his soul was in perfect condition but he seemed like a corpse. He slowly stood up, depression clear on his face, as a largely dissatisfied frown adorned his new face. He looked at his guards but didn’t say anything, and they were just looking around confused.

It even took a few moments for any of them to notice me, a large demon in the center of the room, but when they did, it was far worth it. The guards as frightened as they should be, clearly felt a connection to me, as I had resurrected them. They did something I didn’t understand but then it hit me. They all got on their knees and started praying, silently, but I figured I knew who they prayed to as I got a notification from the System.

[Title Gained: Minute Deity] [Awarding 75 Attribute and Skill Points] [Followers Gained: Jeffery Blas, George Oldfire, Airn Steelwood, Stalus Timbermatch] [Current Followers: 4]

Lo and behold, for I am now classified as a deity! A minute one at that, but still a deity! If I could feel happy I would feel excited and joyful right now, but alas, I can't feel emotions. They said a few words of prayer and slowly stood up, I dismissed them and they happily left to presumably rejoin their families as they would have a hard time explaining what happened to them. Now, onto this Lord…

He sat down in his chair, life seemed to slowly rejoin his body and he started to seem like he was aware of what happened. So I just struck up conversation so I could get this part out of the way of my plans for the future.

“Lord of this town, it would appear that you’ve been killed.”

“Oh? I suppose I have.” He said, slightly sad and slightly joyful.

“I resurrected you so I could negotiate some plans for the future of this town.” I just wanted to be able to reduce some of the ethical and racial properties of the town but I wouldn't tell him that.

“You can have it.” He sounded depressed and extremely happy at the revelation of negotiations.

“Pardon, have what?” No noble would give up their territory willingly, and this noble, from what I've heard, even steals from his citizens, that’s how greedy he is.

“Just take it, I’ve made too many mistakes in my life, I’d rather have someone else capable run this town, I fell for the lure of power and it got to me hard.” I felt bad for the man, but wouldn’t turn down the free city though.

“Alright, you should stay here, in the city, look forward to what happens to it.” I was going to flip this city on its head and make a city where at least all major races can conjugate and prosper.

“I think I will, I’ll leave everything to you, um, what was your name again sir?”

“Ashen, Ashen Fur at your service,” I said with a slight bow to show off my power.

“Take good care of this town, will you? Ashen?” Well, I already planned to, so I guess I could at least make sure the guy is well situated.

“Of course, you can stay here and rest awhile, resurrection tends to have some side-effects that take place after a while, just to be safe you should wait here for a month.” While it was true, it wasn’t for this tier of resurrection, I just didn’t want him murdered again, so I'll put him in a guest room.

“Very well, Lord Ashen.” He sounded happy to call me that, then I saw another notification.

[Follower Gained: Erik Von Salius] [Titles Gained: City Owner, Noble Sponsor, Noble, Warlord Noble] [Awarding 55 Attribute and Skill Points]

I was happy to have gained him as a follower, he seemed clouded by a fog that made him completely different than how he is now. I hope he stays like this, anyway, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, I need to quickly transform this town, the buildings here are not the best quality, much less the walls of the town. I would need to replace the buildings and walls, then move on to the agriculture to make this town into a thriving metropolis, but that is far away.

Before I’m able to begin my operations, I get a ping from Aeyrs, he found the demon lord! Finally, a worthy challenge for me! Or at least I hope so, but if such a creature existed, this world would be long gone. I was now eager to fight a powerful foe, even if they were under my power, I would get something out of it. Either knowledge or newfound power, I would gain from this.

I teleported over to the Dragon Eye Castle, there I found Aeyrs who just landed and transformed back into his Dragonoid form. He stretched his arms and started talking.

“Yeah, I found the place where a demon lord is most likely situated,” he said with a small point behind him towards the demon side of the mountains with his right thumb over his shoulder.

“Let’s get this over with, I was just starting our conquest of the neighboring cities.” The second part of the plan was building up a reputation with the countries.

“Teleportation magic or?” He said with a devilish grin on his face, which I knew where he was going with this.

“Very well, use it.” He was going to use the statue of Oronix I gave him earlier to make a grand entrance.

Just as I said that he immediately retrieved the small wooden dragon from his pocket dimension. As he poured a little bit of mana into it, it came to life. The statue quickly jumped out of his hands and grew up to an eighth the size of the royal castle in little over a few seconds, causing a large gust of wind and water vapor to be shoved out of the way of its large stature. With the body of an abnormally large dragon and eight heads, the dragon quickly let out a roar loud enough to shatter glass over a kilometer away.

With it finally landing on the ground with a very loud thump, Aerys and I quickly got onto him. After we were both secured around two of the dragon’s necks, it took off like a bullet, no, rather like a railgun. Easily going Mach 20, it took us no longer than a few seconds to get to where we needed to go, and we landed with a bang. The dragon roared out once more, alerting every demon near us, and then a hailstorm of elemental breath assaulted the castle and ground alike, completely decimating any demon it touched.

After what seemed like no time at all, I felt what should have been the strongest presence there, the demon lord. Without really caring for how my legs would feel from jumping down a half a kilometer, I leaped off the dragon and quickly made my way to the ground. Directly before I landed I slowed my descent as to make it easier to stand, as broken and shattered rocks are rather uncomfortable.

I looked at the figure in front of me and noticed they had a large set of robes over them, and only appeared half my height, at only 1 and a half meters. The robes looked lavish and were made of an elegant black and purple silk-like texture with hints of silver and gold intertwined. The figure had its hood over their face, and it perfectly concealed it, likely an enchantment of sorts. I readied myself for the upcoming confrontation, whether it be a battle or an exchange of words.

This was where I got really confused as the figure quickly rushed me, but I sensed no hostility in their movement and even Vron had to double-check that. Then, after a few seconds of running the figure leaped towards me, I didn’t know what to do so I let it happen. Then a set of rather small arms warped their way around the back of my neck as if a gentle hug, with their legs in the air behind them. What are they doing?

The figure slowly climbed off of me, then pulled down their hood to reveal their covered face. A young child's face soon appeared a small girl with ears similar to a mix of an elf’s and half-elf’s and was also similar to a rhombus. I saw two small nubs for horns, barely three centimeters and near completely round. The face was a light gray color and seemed to have a lavish red blush across it. Their eyes were a deep purple, with the center a black dot inside a yellow diamond.

The appeared heavy breathing and quivering slightly, but I was much more interested in what they had to say at this point, and why did they hug me? She eventually calmed down and backed away a few steps before speaking aloud.

“M-m-my Ap-p-apologies, it's just, it’s been a long time since I've met someone so powerful. And, well, I just got a little, over-stimulated at your strength, and your aura.” She said quivering at the end.

“Very well, what have you to say, I do believe I've sent a request for an appointment, so this isn’t unwarranted.” I just needed to know what her real motives were for attacking the Countries, then I would be able to subdue her, and spare them.

“Well, we did attempt to send a welcoming party, but you’ve seemed to take them as an enemy. But yes, I’m more than willing to hear what you have to say!” She started to pant now, her breath even giving a small fog, much like hot breath in winter.

“Very well, I have come on behalf of the bandarainian kingdom, and with implied consent form the others. I’m here to cease your invasion of their lands, by any means.” Now the entire demon lands were on the line, with her single word, she could make or break them.

“I submit to you~” This time she almost sounded like she was talking to her crush or something, but that couldn’t be me, we just met of course.

“Very well, I shall take control over all of your domain, army, and possessions.” I wouldn’t just give up a foothold on a large region of land and especially pre-made buildings.

“Whatever you want!” Okay, now she looks to have a face of lust?

I wanted to sigh, but I managed to keep my thoughts to myself. I looked over to the damage caused by Oronix, then I cast a spell out loud for the dramatic effect rather than a need to.

“Reverse Time,” then, as the spell would suggest, time stopped for a moment and played in reverse for a full minute.

Just enough time for the damage to be undone, then it stopped, and time resumed as normal. The demons looked in amazement and the demon lord looked to almost be biting her lip so hard it would draw blood. I needed to know what was up with her, but wouldn’t right now. I walked over to the front of the demon lord’s castle, it was nearly half the size of mine but was still quite grand. The walls were made of a similar material as my castle, but was much, much weaker.

I needed to get a second opinion on what to do, so I asked my trusted aide, Vron.

“Vron, what say you in this affair?”

“Lord, I believe you should establish a good relationship with their lord to prevent revolts within the demon communities.” Now that was some damn good advice!

“Thank you for your input, I will think about it.” Think about it, more like follow it completely, but I needed to act the part of a leader.

“So, demon lord, what is your name?” I forgot to even ask that!

“Xylith, demon lord Xylith. What is your name!~” She looked so happy when she responded, and asked for mine, what does she think about me?

“Ashen, Ashen Fur. The dragon is the dragon god Oronix, and riding it is my brother Aeyrs Dragonheart.” I pointed to the sky, and all the demons and she looked up in amazement, wonder, and awe.

As I said that, Oronix lowered to the ground and eventually landed, with Aerys leaping off and landing a few meters from me. As he walked over, everyone became slightly confused. I figured it was due to him being a different race than I was, or that he was a Dragonoid or both. His scales gleamed in the light and he stood next to me, a good half a meter shorter, but still a respectable figure. Oronix seemed to almost be in pain, but I didn’t know why, although they showed no sign of it, I was able to see it’s health rapidly decrease.

The same was happening to Aeyrs, but his health regen was more than enough to counteract the damage, barely making a dent in it. I pondered the cause but eventually concluded it to a passive ability or skill. It appeared to only affect non-demonic or undead creatures, so the demons and I were fine.

“Are you doing something or have something that causes an aura that drains life or deals necrotic damage?” I asked to be sure.

“I do have my [Aura of Decay] active, as it gives my subjects bonuses.” She looked at me with puppy-dog eyes, but I didn’t budge.

“Deactivate it, it is rather unpleasant for my brother and Oronix.” Oronix, I didn’t care as much for, but it was still loyal to me, so I wouldn’t just treat it like dirt.

“My apologies!” It seemed she deactivated it as I saw the effects stop on Aeyrs and Oronix, and the demons seemed to grow slightly weaker.

We continued to converse about some of the more specific details of the arrangement, and somehow she already dubbed her my bride, but I didn’t have the time or attachment to her to make that a reality. Although I would have liked to have gained her as a subordinate, I felt a slight amount of internal pity for her, so I said we would at least get to know each other better. It wouldn’t be marriage, but at least she wouldn’t be upset by it, and I’d be able to continue with my campaign.

It was nearing night, so I decided to head back to my castle while leaving Xylith to get her people for me. Soon I’d colonize these lands for my purposes, and then I would move onto my next objective. Of that list of forty objectives; I’ve only done three, so I've got a long way to go. Now, the last thing I’ve got to do is figure out how to make Wheat berg a better town; only after I kill those monsters of course. After a few seconds on Oronix, we flew back to the castle, I would have teleported but I still thought it was pretty useful to have a pet that can get me there without using mana.

After returning home, I found Hairz waiting outside the castle, I just ditched him back there at Wheatberg didn’t I? I walked over and he did a small bow, but nothing eccentric. I quickly summarized what happened and tasked him with spreading the news to the wheat berg citizens, while I also told him to inform me of any difficulties that they will have due to a change in ruling Lord. After a night of testing a few of my spells and looking for any flukes in the World System; I eventually got out of the castle.

Outside I saw Xylith, and she seemed slightly upset but I didn’t know why, so I just asked her to make it easier.

“Xylith, what is wrong?” Still a bland and monotone voice but I tried to at least sound less threatening.

“I-It’s the demons, t-they are revolting!” She sounded both upset and worried.

“All of them?” Damn this would be annoying, I’ve still got other things to do.

“Well, not exactly, only a small amount stayed with me, and are fine with a new demon lord.”

She pointed to the right side of the mountains, and I saw only twelve individuals. They looked a little worse for wear, but I chalked it up to the revolt. Amongst them, I spotted Miamoun and Vuras while the rest seemed like four maids, four fighters and two mages. All seemed to be demons, clearly evident with their gnarly horns that protrude from the sides of their foreheads. They seemed to be loyal to her, so I let them be for now. Making no time for idle chit-chat, I hastily flew off into the direction of the demon lands once more. When I got there, I saw a sight that gave me a small tingling sensation, and with that, I quickly got to work…