Vinoessa fell on her knees before me; her closed eyes exuding an expectation of death. I raised my hand towards her head. With each centimetre closer my hand came to her head; her quivering increased exponentially…

I flicked her head and exclaimed in a slightly exasperated manner:

“Idiot”.

She fell backwards and let out a half terrified, half perplexed yelp and landed with a dull *thud* sound on the floor. She sat there with tears still forming in the corners of her eyes and her hands covering a minor red patch on her forehead.

“Don’t, primarily, resolve yourself to death so easily; even in the face of absolute power. Secondly, don’t think something as simple as [Persuasion] will work on such a terrifying existence like the envoy of th-*cough* Hero. ”

I scorned her with nothing but the truth. The number of things we tried to kill the hero with were uncountable. The terrifying thing about the hero(s) is that typically there presumptuous broken and single minded morality makes their minds so broken that the spells cannot even target them.[1]

Everyone in the room finally came to their senses. The men in the room all seemed to also be autonomous marionettes, dancing to Vinoessa’s baleful ballad. Vinoessa became composed herself and seemed to calm down. She looked at me with a rueful countenance and said in a bitter tone.

“Anyway, I don’t know how much already know about this world, but you shouldn’t know much about this world as you were just summoned here. Oh! And I haven’t introduced myself yet I am Novae Sis, but everyone calls me novae.”[2]

I inadvertently smile as I jokingly laugh out

“I see.”

She blushes again. Dammit she has to stop doing that or I really will cough up blood.

The king interrupts as we both give him death stares.

“Any way we must get you to the frontline soldiers immediately. Once we have done that we begin the counter attack against the repugnant demons. ”

The only reason this scum is alive is because if I were to kill him now there will be a scramble for power between various factions to fill the power gap of where the king used to stand. This turn of events will normally escalate into a full scale civil war and the common people, the ones who I am trying to make truce with, would suffer the most. Defeating the point of why I should kill him in the first place. Vione…. No Novae said.

“All in good time; my liege.”

Trying to give some level of face to a being that should only otherwise experience distain. She continued:

“I feel it would be best if the hero were to come with me, so I can get him up to date with current happenings.” She seemed to use [Persuasion] in conjunction with each of her words; setting them as the criterion for spell invocation. This is a rather interesting way of using the spell and falls outside of the scope of what I thought that spell was capable of. How interesting.

The king gladly conformed.

“Ah! Good idea Novae”.

Novae then gave me a hand gesture implying for me to follow; still wary, as my affiliation was still unknown her. I complied with her offer and followed her down the surprisingly narrow passage with the knights and king following close behind.

The walls after around 10 m changed from the blue magical crystal and reverted to regular uneven stones with mortar holding them together lining the wall. The walls themselves had some surprisingly high level [Spatial Magic] enchantments casted on them. This means that the room itself is held within a pocket dimension.[3] This is a rather strong defence against outside forces; aslong as the keystone is left undisturbed.(The keystone is the magical construct that holds together the dimension from outside the dimensions scope.)

I walked further down the passage with nothing of note happening during the endeavour. The same dimly lit green magic stones were lining the walls at regular intervals. Eventually we came to a small door. I was in a variable amount of anticipation because the amount of the information [Absolute Apprehension] obtained from the king was rather small as it only read the prominent memories in the targets due to its experimental nature. The door opened into a awe inspiring view. One I had not seen the likes of for hundreds of years. An ocean of obsidian encapsulated the sky holding innumerable gem like projections clustered together with yellow, blue and crimson hues exemplifying the beauty of the scene as a whole. A great spherical mass hung in the sky emanating a calming azure light encompassing around 30% of the visible skyscape.

We seemed to be standing on the peak, or at least a high plateau, of a gargantuan mountain. A sea of candle light could be seen for around 10 miles out from a medieval metropolis encompassing the mountain itself; that was around 2km from base to summit. As we came out; I turned my head to see a construct that was comparable to the demon kings castle from my previous world. The mountain itself, from around half way up, had been carved into a monumental construct of layer after layer of defence. Each layer ascending a further 20-50m up the mountain finished off with a grand and intimidating palace overlooking the entire city scape; holding an innumerable amount of towers and corridors. [4] The palace and defences had been carved out of the mountain or recrafted with stone. Relative to the previous human’s capital this one outclassed it in everything but technology and size.

Beyond the furthest extremities of the outer castle wall, that flanked the edges of the outer city, was plains and farmlands as far as the eye could see. However the practicality of such a construct must be incredibly low as supplies would have to be brought up the mountain to keep the garrison in the citadel fed. The mountain itself is covered in a variably weak barrier as it had to cover a huge area. Moreover while looking at the encoding of the formation there are a few fundamental flaws or lapses in logic that were to an absolute detriment to the strength and rate of magic dispersion.

Anyway, I digress. I regain my composure and looked towards Novae. The king’s smug look was wiped from his face. He seemed to find it good that I be in awe and almost intimidated by the grandeur of this construct. He didn’t like how fast I dismissed the sight.

Novae said in a composed manner:

“My liege it is late; I think you should go to bed.”

While using the same trick as before to convince the king.

The king swiftly complied and began to leave. Novae then looked towards me asking

“Would you please follow me; as I need to talk to you?”

The slightest undertones of nervousness and indecisiveness were detectable within the voice.

I aptly nodded my head and gave a reply:

“Very well; let’s continue.”

She also nods and requested for me to follow her down one of the battlements. Upon reaching a highly secluded area away from any guards; she placed her hand on a wall and a well-hidden stone triggered a mechanism that opened a small crevice in the wall. She continued forward dawn the narrow passage. This was highly similar to the passage we walked down to get out of that summoning room. She pressed a lever and the wall fell back into its original position. The passage leads in a spiral manner gradually descending deeper into the ground. Neither me nor her spoke during the long descent into the mountain itself. Finally we came to a firm looking door with various magic formations that evidently acted as the primary layer of defence between the inner path and the outer paths. Compared to the barrier surrounding the castle it is around 10 times stronger as it is far better coded for magic dispersion.

The door itself was made of stern wood and Iron braces to reinforce the, relative to what I have seen so far, highly secure door. Novae put her hand up to the formation and injected mana into a detector formation. All the locking and barrier formations shut down allowing the door to freely move. She then, with some effort, pushed the heavy door. I waited, with a certain level of expectancy, for what awaited us on the other side of the door.

The room was, relative to demon standards, a slightly upscale teenage girl’s bedroom. The walls were flat and lined with salmon pink paint. The floor was a multi-coloured cacophony of various phosphorescent carpets intertwined to a stage that would give a rather profound impression on anyone observing it. The ceiling was one large light magic stone; emitting light, as per its name. Its edge was very smooth and not jagged like typical magic stones. The light it released was calming and made Novae’s hair, as she entered the room, scintillating. The left edge of the wall had a white dresser with various papers scattered across it. The right side had, what could be only called a shipment containers worth, of plush animals and various other things like plants and people; of course all in plush form. The wall was covered form base to ceiling exemplifying the sheer amount of plush items she had in her possession. The room itself was around 6X8 meters. The far wall had a rather childish purple single-bed that was evidently unmade.

The room exuded the air of someone who had a childish nature but would be pleasant to meet. The rest of the room had clothes strewn about. I alternated my gaze between Novae… well no at this stage Vinoessa. I alternated my gaze between Vinoessa and the room as a slightly jolly expression escaped from my control and overtly overwrote my regular stern expression. I began to snicker but that soon fell into a veritable chuckle; then it progressed into a full blown laughter. Who would of thought a undercover agent and moreover a [Demon General] , Holding the reverence of an entire race, would have a room such as this. This is too much…

When I came back to rationality she was blushing bashfully to an extent I thought not possible; with upturned eyes that had small tears forming in there outer extremities. This was transcendent beauty in the form of potent salvoes of cuteness repeatedly smashing against a person’s eyes. I turned my head away. I used all the amalgamated mental fortitude of 800 years of being a [Demon King], to cast, in great haste, a spell called [Emotional Eradication](nullifies a potent emotion, that is unable to be controlled by the caster, at a spiritual level.). I became slightly more composed and managed to get a hold of myself. That face is beyond dangerous. It seemed to have more effect on me then the most powerful mind-control magic I know. Note to self: research more into this later.

*cough*

“I must apologise for my prior outburst” I said in an apologetic manner.

“No I forgot how messy this room was.” She replied; Perfectly missing the point.

“Anyway, why was I brought here Novae. Or more appropriately ‘The one hidden in plain sight’, the great [Demon General], Vionessa” I said in a playful and lazed manner.

Her eyes opened wide in shock transforming soon after into eyes of pure unadulterated terror.

“Y-you know who I am… Have I been lead like a lamb to the slaughter? Wait he is the crimson what less did I expect! Idiot! Evan though I was planning to convince him slowly then revealing later… ” she whispered in a fearful self-loathing manner, as she quivered.

I replied in a calming manner. “I hold no innate animosity to any participant in the upcoming conflict. Nor do I see any other race above the other in position. I hold animosity to those who would kill mindlessly. Moreover, the epitome of stupidity, insolence and self-centred idealistic morality; who would say that:’ They are demons; therefore without a doubt they are irrefutably evil’. Neither you nor your race, from what I have seen so far, deserve any level of my ire. ”…

Though you did kill me, but that was down to a misunderstanding…

…” The only people who I feel deserve a fate worth than death is the king and those who conspired with him. That and people who don’t seem to know of a thing called ‘logical reasoning’ and would love to see the world burn, eradicating most of the populous in the process, because ‘demons are bad’[5]”.

The room was momentarily filled with killing intent and a deep-rooted hatred of how idiotic morons spew utter nonsense; contradicting everything they say with every action they take. No.. no… calm down… no one here fits that description. Don’t let a personal vendetta affect other people.

Vionessa had a face of determined contemplation on evaluating what my words spelt for her and the demon race. I look at her with a strong willed gaze exemplifying my determined resolve on this matter.

Vionessa closed the door and reinitialized the magical formations locking it into position. She then said to me in a voice of slight anticipation.

"Then, assuming what you say is true, you can not be classified as 'The Crimson''. This entirely changes the dynamic of the upcoming war... well no there may not be one; as you were the main factor in the initialization of the war and the primary fear for us in it. Oh by the way How did you know who I was?".

I replied in an indifferent manner "[Mind Magic]".

Her eyes opened wide in surprise.

“[Mind Magic]? It is very rare to find a [Mind Mage] with enough power to bypass my defences even though my forte isn’t [Mind Magic]. I knew ‘The cri’- no I cannot call you that. I knew that [The Hero] had a terrifying strength and an infinite ability to learn but this is too far. You must be around 16-17? That is faster than any prodigy I could fathom”…

Well I am a 921 year old arch-mage; well that was when I was around 100 years old. I think my title in the wizard association when I last checked was ‘The Great And Honourable Arch-Magus Grandmaster ’. Also I’m not a [Mind Mage] nor particularly good at [Mind Magic]. But that isn’t the point. It took a long time to get to my proficiency. I think she is about the same strength as me when I was that age.

“What is your name by the way?” Vionessa said with great curiosity.

That is a good point… what is it. My old identity has long since perished and using that name here would already worsen the- no forget about it. Things in the past should stay in the past.

“Well you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too… I’m Vionessa; though you already know…”

She began to blush again. It was most likely down to my face of hard contemplation.

Vacare sounds good.

“Vacare.” I replied in a rather pleased tone.

She looked at me and said “Vacare huh? It is a name that fits you well. ”

Her face turned far more serious and she asked me, in a mature manner as possible…

“To put it bluntly; if what you have said is true then I cannot see any reason for us to fight. Vacare I , [Demon General] Vionessa, Implore you to not side with the humans.”

Well I was never going to do that in the first place.

I reply “From what I can see the demons need to intervene with this situation before things get worse. To meet that end I am willing to defect, though I was never affiliated with any party to begin with. Will you be willing for me to join you in an attempt to re-forge relations with the humans?”

Vionessa looked at me with a face full of shock. [The hero]; an incorruptible existence, is actually asking for permission to defect.

Vionessa swiftly, without hesitation said “yes “.

This surprised me; does she even have the authority to make such a decision?

At that moment a message from the system resounded throughout my head hitting me like a freight train.

[System Message: [Title:[Hero]] Removed with all related powers][6]

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Links:

[1]: dense idiot hero is so much of an idiot the [Mind Magic] cannot target them as they technically don’t have a “mind”. Cannot use [Mind Magic] on a rock, now can you?

[2]Pronounced n-oh-v-ay s-ee-s (Not imouto-chan; don’t forget incest is wincest Q-Q)

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_universe

[4]This but 10 times bigger with a full circumference on a mountain peak:

[5]: keke solve it yourself

[6]The time loop isn’t gone. It will be re-manifested in another way.

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Sorry it took so long; RL stuff was going on. Quality of writing will not be the best as it was written in around 20 sittings; when I had the time :P.

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Leave comments/criticism below if you like :).