Neel - Central Continent - Hero of Magic's Magic Tower
"Hap! Hap! Hap!"
On the 140th floor of the tower, in a training room, a young man stood. His stance was wide as he clutched a broad sword in front of him, swinging diligently.
"Hap! Hap! Hap!"
His shoulder length blonde hair was drenched in sweat, his toned upper body, now shirtless, dripped with perspiration with every swing he took.
His blue eyes were focused, cutting the air with practiced control. Every swing he made was just as vigorous as the last. His mind had only one goal as he trained. Be the Strongest.
His name was Damien. He was an orphan. Not originally, his village was destroyed by the demons when he was still small. If not for his mysterious sword master saving him and his childhood friend on a whim, he would have died that day as well.
Now after ten years of relentless training, he was now 14, two years away from his goal to enter the Heroes Academy.
'I'm grateful to my master for awakening my aura those years ago. I can now train for hours non stop at such an age.'
Back when he was saved by his sword master years ago, he had begged him to make him strong enough to protect all the things he held dear in the future.
After days of begging, the sword master had helplessly awakened his chi and began to train him and his childhood friend, only to discover that he was a once in a century genius!
After years of training, he finally awakened his aura! The sword master was impressed by his diligence and determination and revealed to him a secret. His Master was the cousin of the Sorceress Abigail, better known as the Magic Hero.
'I have nothing more to teach you, my disciple. I will be sending you to the magic hero to learn the fundamentals of magic. With that, you can become a magic swordsman. Someone that can protect the weak with sword and spell!'
Those were the words his master had told him before sending him to the central continent, leaving his childhood friend and Master behind.
'Wait for me, Master and big sister Debrah! One day I'll protect everyone!'
Suddenly a torrent of cold water crashed into Damien, sending him flying.
"I see you are losing focus again, how will you master mana flow in two years when you're so distracted." A melodious voice sounded from the sky.
Damien, now soaked in water laying on the ground, looked up in the sky and saw a beautiful woman in flowing black robes and raven black hair hovering above, shaking her head.
"Cough cough, Master! Can't you be a bit gentler? I've been training for 12 hours already!" He shouted aggrieved. His beautiful master was always so hard on him.
He got up and smiled at her, his handsome face showing no signs of fatigue as he approached her.
His master, Abigail, just sighed. The boy didn't look tired at all.
'Sigh, what a monster.'
Then to her surprise, he began channeling his mana as he walked, blue streams of light began to flow around his body, drying himself with wind magic.
"!!! Mana flow!?"
Chantless magic. In other words, mana flow, controlling the mana within the body and in the surroundings to cast magic with just a thought!
Damien laughed happily. "I got lucky with my training a couple of days ago." He scratched the back of his head. "Though, using the magic in the air is still a bit of a bother."
Abigail was shocked, she had only been teaching him for about two years, but he had already learned mana flow. Although the application was rough, and the spell cast was the most basic, his hard work was paying off!
'He's just as talented as me in magic, yet he also trains with the sword. What can't this disciple do?'
She looked at her disciple in a daze, he was perfect in every way. His strength, his intelligence, his pure nature, on top of being handsome, Abigail couldn't find a single flaw with Damien. At 14 he was already showing signs of a budding hero.
"Master? What's wrong?" He asked, puzzled.
"Cough cough. Nothing, well keep practising to master mana flow and when you finish, I will teach you more advanced magic after." she smiled.
"Yes! Finally! Thank you master!" He ran up to her and gave her a big hug.
"....Yes, yes." she was a little flustered at her disciples' straight forward attitude when it came to his emotions. Doesn't he realize he's hugging a woman with no shirt on?
'Sigh, if only he were a bit older.' Well, she could wait a bit longer, she mused 'responsibly'.
Beep Beep
Just as they were celebrating Damiens accomplishments, the communicator on Abigail's waist suddenly rang.
"O-ok Damien, let me take this, the alert seems important." As she pushed off her pouting disciple she answered the communicator.
PIP
As she pressed the answer button, a hologram of a 4 star devil appeared before the two. He had a hunched back and one eye was larger than the other, making him look rather hideous. His receding hairline and crooked teeth did little to make his polite smile any less hair raising.
His suit however, seemed to be tailored by the goddess of threads herself, the jewelry he wore was not something the regular nobility could bid for, and his shoes appeared to be hides of the rarest of dream beasts.
The devil may have been the ugliest son of a bitch, but damn could he dress. Such thoughts appear in the minds of all that meet this devil.
"Cashmere…" Abigail muttered.
"Cashmere 10th Avaritia, at your service, Lady Abigail." The devil smiled politely. His hands rubbing together, seeming quite excited for the exchange to come.
"What's a filthy devil doing having my masters contact sigil!?" However, a cracking young shout sounded from behind Abigail. It was Damien. His face was dark and his maturing voice carried righteous fury.
"Oh?" The devil shifted his gaze to the 5'6 youngling. "Filthy you say? Bold words for a human-..hm?…ah I see, a commoner." The devil shook his head and laughed, unbothered.
"Damien just… just quiet down for a bit. Sorry Cashmere, he's only just come to the central continent." Abigail hastily explained. She did not fear this devil, she could handle such non combatant devils with ease. But he was good at getting information, provoking him would be inconvenient.
"A commoner's ignorance is no burden to me, a shame such backwater people still exist." He shook his head and sighed. "The money I'd make if your gods weren't so stingy." He muttered.
"So? Why have you called me?" She ignored his ramblings, she just wanted to get to the point and be done with it, talking longer with greed devils tended to turn into more deals one would originally have no intention of buying into.
The devil chuckled. He snapped his fingers and rows of gold text formed in the air beside him. The text was ancient, unreadable to the two humans present. " As per your contract, we have given you the location and time of the…"
He glanced at the boy, then at Abigail, she did not shake her head, but a businessman knows the look of one that wishes to keep their dealings discreet, and Abigail's eyes showed such a change. Therefore, the businessman spoke more meaningfully.
"...ingredients you seek to retrieve. However, there seems to have been some developments at the location."
Abigail's face sank. "Developments? Don't tell me you're backing out of the deal?"
Cashmere laughed at her words "Back out of a deal? Father god would have no such devils reside in his palace. Though he knows not of the contents, he would know if one was cancelled or broken. So, as per section 3, sub section A. I will inform you of our current updated information for your speedy success." The dapper devil replied.
"Ok sounds go-"
"Wait!" Before the conversation could continue, a shrill cry rang out. "Master, don't tell me you are making deals with these monsters? They control the demons! They hunt humans! How could you?!"
Abigail sighed exhaustively, explaining the matter would take too long at the moment. Just as Cashmere had said, Damien was a commoner and did not understand the relationship between devils and demons in Neel, what he knew was most likely the same propaganda told to the masses. Such teachings were to ensure devil contracts were kept at a minimum across human society.
She hoped he could save his questions for later. After all, she was doing this deal for his sake, she just needed a minute to end this conversation and they could speak more about it.
"Control the demons?" A look of ridicule could be seen on the well fitted devil's unflattering face.
"Given that logic, aren't humans just dogs for the angels? Aren't the beastkin just puppets for the lords? Your words are the ones of a fool." The devil turned his gaze to Abigail. "And you're imparting power to such a person? Hahaha, who is the biggest fool here I wonder?"
Though he laughed, Cashmere knew fools like the humans before him were bad for business. And his ability was actively telling him to sever ties with them. At first he was taken aback when he sensed such a thing this morning. But seeing this pitiful display, along with the information he received regarding their fate devil's broken path, he realized. The student was a fool and the teacher was blind to it.
'Since my ability is still ringing, it will most likely continue to be like this with them in the future.'
He would always listen to his [golden investment] alerts! And his alert was telling him to sell his shares regarding the magic hero as soon as possible.
His eyes flashed with a cold light, cancelling his contracts would bring his father god's wrath, but breaches in contracts were fine, as long as they weren't found out.
'Let's change the information a bit.'
"Damien, please calm down. I will explain everything to you later-"
"What if his contract enslaves you by various means? What would happen to you? I can't lose you master!" Damien shouted.
Hearing his words Abigail's stern face softened. "Damien, nothing will happen to me, just trust me this once, ok?" She walked up and hugged him tightly.
Cashmere, witnessing this through the hologram, his face remained indifferent, but a new light showed in his eyes towards the magic hero. It was one of disappointment and disdain.
'How far she has fallen.'
With her mana source damaged from the last demon lord battle 200 years ago, her party going their separate ways, and the isolation in her tower. She has become desperate for companionship.
'Pathetic. She will most likely lie to the boy about why she has a contract with me, only pushing the boy further down his path of self destruction. I know the fools when I see them, he will continue down such a path, types like him always have to be right.'
Such were the eyes of the Greed devils number 1 businessman.
After calming Damien down she put up a silence barrier around her and Cashmere and spoke.
"Ok, make it quick. What is this new information?" She asked. Finally having the time to speak.
Cashmere answered immediately, with no change in expression. "The Fate devils have run into an anomaly when scrying the planes of Hellnia. It seems the futures there are changing rapidly. Our intelligence suggests you should enter Hellnia before the gates open, in other words by the end of next year."
"What? That's too fast, how will I be able to gather the ingredients to traverse a broken gate in that amount of time? That wasn't part of our deal!" The sorceress hissed.
"Correct, that wasn't part of our deal." The devil answered smoothly. "That's why it's your problem. Our end of the deal was the time and place, not how you got there." The devil smiled.
"Though, you can try your luck when the future becomes completely cloudy, that's also not our issue."
Abigail gritted her teeth. Her plan for stealing the devil heart had been accelerated and she had to access Hellnia without a gate. In the past she could do it with a bit of effort, but now, she had to go around and gather ingredients to perform a ritual by the end of next year, making her timeframe razor thin.
"Can't you help with the ingredients at least?" she spat.
The neatly dressed devil shook his head with a grin, his ingratiating smile long gone. A feature Abigail picked up on, she felt the demeanor of the devil in front of her had changed, making her feel even more uneasy.
"Unfortunately my Lady, I am not an errand boy. A devil always has work to do. With that, my end of the deal is fulfilled, you have 24 months, anything after is your risk. I wish you luck in your endeavors." With that, the devil cut the line, leaving a bewildered Abigail.
And she was right to be bewildered. A Greed devil cutting a conversation short in such a manner was not a common occurrence. He even had the perfect opportunity to form another deal when she mentioned the ingredients, yet he took no opportunity to even probe about it.
What's more, their contract seemed to not have a single clause regarding such issues, cloudy futures were normal, and greed devil's usually have a clause for everything. She felt such an oversight was far too unprofessional.
'Something must be off about this so-called anomaly, I should meet with my goddess to find out more details.'
Abigail was feeling things were getting further out of her control once again. First her powers, then her hero party, and now this gift for Damien.
She cancelled her spell and turned to the young disciple standing silently a bit away. She smiled seeing him there. He was her hope for a more spectacular legacy.
'I will get you that devil heart, my disciple.'
She would take the legendary heart, so that her disciple can gain the backing he deserves. Because she discovered the truth behind Damien's existence. One he had no clue about.
He was the bastard child of house Sunblade. One of the great ten noble houses.
With the legendary heart and his monstrous talent, no one in house Sunblade would deny his birthright as the true heir.
She smiled and spoke. "Pack your things my disciple, we'll be heading to the capital for a bit."
Startled, Damien asked curiously. "The capital? What for?" quickly grabbing his wet shirt and sword, chasing after the now leaving wizard.
Abigail paused thinking of what to say to her disciple. " I need to meet with my goddess to confirm some issues."
Damiens face darkened, the issue was obvious. "Is it something to do with those monsters?"
Abigail sighed. "Damien, you have to think like a magician as well as a warrior to be a proper magic swordsman. Sometimes, dealing with monsters is a more convenient way to solve complex problems."
Damien nodded thoughtfully, appeased that his master agreed that those devils were indeed 'monsters'. "I'll consider your words master." he said seriously, but he was sure his intuition was spot on about those creatures.
They spoke and looked like them, but their minds were filled with nothing but evil and malicious intentions. The chapel father had said it clearly, 'Slay all demons, and trust no devils, don't even give them time to speak.' He was inclined to agree.
He never truly met a devil outside of the one just now, but behind the smile he could see the lecherous gaze he was giving his master through the hologram's fuzzy screen. That guy could play it off to his master by feigning ugliness, but Damien knew better. He was a man too.
He glanced at his master's slender form as she walked. She deserved the best and needed to be protected.
'Don't worry master, whatever happens, I'll protect you.'
As they walked down the hall Abigail spoke once more. "Pack enough for a couple of weeks, we need to travel by airship there…since…" her words trailed off as she remembered how powerless she was now. She couldn't even teleport two people long distances any more.
"Say no more master." He gripped her slender hand, giving it a firm squeeze, as if giving his master strength. He smiled genuinely. "We'll treat it like a vacation trip, just the two of us!"
Abigail smiled warmly, such a kind and sensitive disciple. A newfound resolve blazing in her heart. She would get that devil heart at any cost.
What creature in Hellnia cared more for someone than she did for her precious disciple?