~ Chapter 6: Just a bit of her true strength ~
[Alseus’ point of view]
Somehow, I managed to survive the little girl’s death grip, but I was now facing a more serious problem! My perfectly clean clothes had been defiled by her snot and tears. The fact that she was still clinging to me and seemed unafraid despite the presence of the demoness Kleya right next to us made me doubt her sanity on several levels. Was she actually a human? Was she something else? Had I fallen so hard that not even my previous terrifying aura as a Demon King could have been saved? Well… yeah, if I still had that, my parents would have probably killed me on day 1 or tossed me out the window to the neighbors.
To be fair, this little girl was a bit strange. Even I knew that if a normal human saw a child dismember and maul a bunch of pirates with his demoness minion, they would have either fled in fear or just fainted right there on the spot.
Then again, was it possible that what I believed made a human being scared and terrified was actually wrong?
In the first place, it didn’t seem as though Kleya’s demonic aura was affecting the people on this boat in any way, especially if I were to take this little girl’s reaction as proof of that.
You still appear terrifying to these mortals, don’t you? I asked her, just double-checking.
I am still terrifying, Master. If my appearance does not frighten them, then my aura as a demoness will, but… only if I so will it. she replied with a smirk and a wink.
Why the wink?
Before I could question her further, she took the liberty to interrogate the snot-producing-blonde-haired-small-human.
“So, tell me, child, what should we call you?”
I grabbed the handkerchief my mom tucked in my pocket and used it to wipe the snot off me.
“My name?” the little girl looked up with a timid gaze in her violet eyes.
“Yes.” Kleya nodded.
“Yunalia... My name is Yunalia Verona, but friends can call me Yuni!” she then gave a small smile and looked at me.
“Huh?” I furrowed my brow.
Is it possible that she’s thinking of me as a friend? Preposterous! Demon Kings have no need for friends, especially crying little girls! I rejected the idea right away.
Then, if she displeases you, Master, should I rip out her spine and feed her insides to her parents? Kleya asked with the casual tone of voice one would use to order appetizers at a restaurant.
Tempting but no. I answered before she decided to take matters into her own hands; demons had the tendency to be unpredictable like that, especially if they sensed they had a weakling as a master.
Letting out a sigh, I looked back at the little girl and questioned her “I saved you, right?”
“Yes.” she nodded quickly, causing her blonde hair to flutter in the air.
“Alright, then as compensation for saving your life, you shall not speak of what you saw here! No matter if your parents or the police ask you, you shall not tell them that I used magic or that Kleya here is my summoned demon!” I declared with a strong tone of voice, taking a firm attitude in front of her, similar to that of a ruler reminding his plebeian citizens who was in charge of their nation.
“Um, ok... So, the pretty miss is actually your summoned demon? I didn’t know that! And you can use magic! I thought she did it all!” Yunalia said as she looked with big eyes at Kleya.
“Demoness... Master, Yuni.” Kleya corrected both of us and then narrowed her eyes at me.
“Oops?” I showed her a wry smile.
“Sigh... It appears I have entered into a contract with a rather troublesome master this time.” she shook her head.
“What do you mean by troublesome?” I retorted.
“Where should I start?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
I was beginning to feel that even though I ended up summoning a humanoid demon, I drew the short end of the stick with her.
“Erm, may I know your names?” Yunalia asked in the same timid tone of voice as before.
“Hm? At this point, why not?” I nodded. “My name is Alseus Ardemant and this here is the esteemed demoness Akraella the Cruel!” I declared.
Again, only I was allowed to call her Kleya. It was meant to represent our special bond, and only if she wished could others call her by that name.
“So, Alseus and... Akraella?” Yunalia asked pointing at me and then at her.
“Correct.” I nodded.
It felt like I was talking with a toddler, but she was supposed to be around my age, right? I already knew how to read and write as well as summon demons from the underworld. Weren’t humans supposed to be able to fight demons by the age of 7 or something? I forgot what age the Hero’s companions were when they started to train.
Master, you are a special and unique kind of dense, aren’t you? Kleya asked me through telepathy, but this definitely felt as though she was mocking me, so I tossed her a glare.
The sly demoness averted her gaze immediately.
Letting out a sigh, I looked back at the corridor and said “Shall we go and find your parents? How did you get separated from them anyway?”
“Mommy and daddy weren’t near me when the adults started running around in a panic.”
“Alright, so we can safely assume that they are either together with the other groups or safe within their own cabin.” I nodded. “Alright! Let’s go find them and then drop you off with them!” I declared with a smile.
“Master, it appears the pirates are doing something over there.” Kleya casually mentioned as she pointed in front of us.
“What now?” I rolled my eyes and then pointed my hand at the metal wall and chanted “[Deyases]”.
“What is that strange device?” she asked.
“A bomb.”
“A bomb?”
“A bomb.”
“Shall I reduce their expected life expectancy to 0?” she asked tilting her head to the left.
“Yes and also make sure to remove that thing. The last thing I want is to swim back to the shore! If you mess up, you’ll be carrying me!” I pointed at her.
“Oh my, what a cruel master you are~! But… I wouldn’t mind~!” she shook her head and then jumped into my shadow.
“Will she be alright?” Yunalia asked worriedly.
“Unless that bomb’s a nuke, I don’t see how it can harm her.” I shrugged.
“You have a lot of confidence in her. Is she that strong?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t summon a weak demoness, after all!” I declared proudly as I punched my chest.
“I see... Alseus is strong, isn’t he? And... cute.” she said something disturbing at the end.
Why am I feeling a sense of dread? I wondered, and, raising an eyebrow, I asked “What did you say?”
“Nothing! Yunalia said nothing!” she looked away with flushed cheeks and red ears.
The little girl was embarrassed, which meant that what I heard was not wrong.
I know I am supposed to be handsome, it’s the duty of a Demon King! But, isn’t she a bit too young to think of this? I thought as I remembered how she had left her snot all over me a moment ago.
Master, you are overestimating your looks, aren’t you? Kleya retorted, spoiling my mood.
Seriously though, what was up with her commenting back at every little thing I did and said? Was she trying to poke fun of me?! Did I pick a dud as a demoness during my summoning ritual?!
“What should we do? This place is scary.” Yunalia commented as she looked around at the remains of the pirates.
“Well, we should indeed change locations…” I agreed and then turned towards the door.
Once outside, I turned left and walked towards the bulkhead door that led to the outside. With the help of [Telkarazerak], I turned the manual lever and opened it.
On the other side was Kleya, holding in one hand the bomb, and in the other the heart of a human.
“Takeout?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It makes for the finest of soups, but not this time.” she smiled and then tossed it in her inventory.
The heart vanished as soon as it touched the swirling whirlpool of white magic that formed behind her shoulder for a fraction of a second.
“What should I do with this thing, Master?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Toss it on the enemy’s boat?” I suggested with a shrug.
As long as it didn’t explode in my face, I really didn’t care what happened to it.
“Understood.” Kleya made a short bow and then tossed it over her shoulder.
I just narrowed my eyes at her while wondering if that bomb would really end up sinking us to the bottom of the ocean.
“Alseus, there are more bad guys over there.” Yunalia pointed to the far end of the deck.
Turning my head, I saw three pirates holding their guns at their side, each smoking a cigarette. On the deck, five bodies were spread, with the last one looking towards us, the expression of fear and terror still vivid in his eyes. Their blood was staining the deck, but they were just some of the many victims spread throughout the ship.
“All I am seeing are more dead bodies.” I then looked at Kleya, giving her a clear sign.
“On it.” she replied and then dived into the shadow at her feet.
“What the?” one of the pirates asked when the demoness suddenly appeared right in the middle of them.
Others might have considered taking a stealthy approach in order to dispatch the three goons, but she saw no need for this; she barged in through the front door. To be fair, so far, she had yet to show her true capabilities. Against these bastards, she was barely using even a sliver of her true powers. Kleya held some interesting titles like Destroyer of the Vazirak Clans, Hunter of the Domansqus, and Slayer of the Shinzo. Demons did not earn titles for nothing. They could not give themselves titles either, it was… unsightly, pathetic even. Titles had to be earned through enough effort to impress at least a small horde of demons.
Given these facts, the only way these pirates could survive an encounter with her, survive, not win, would be if they were at the level of a Hero either at the start or in the middle of his heroic journey. Speaking of which, it did make me wonder from time to time what happened to that fool after I left my previous world. If my guess was right, he and his merry band of followers returned as the saviors of the world and got worshiped as heroes until the end of their days while the demons were hunted down and slaughtered to extinction.
It was strange that I felt no need to take my revenge against him. It simply did not feel like he was worth the wasted energy at all. It was better to simply move on with my life, although I could not say the same for those pirates. Kleya gave those three no moment of relief as she twisted the neck of the one on her right, then pushed her hand through the chest of the one on her left, grabbing his heart and then smashing him into the third one, sending him over the rails.
The display of power in one word was... gruesome, and little Yunalia felt the need to look away and close her eyes.
The poor girl had a weak stomach; finally, a human reaction I knew!
With her orders completed, Kleya returned to my side and then approached the dead sailors. When I got there, I realized that this might have been the scene of a bigger battle. From this point onward, the forecastle began. With a single glance, I could tell that there were bodies of both pirates and sailors spread all across this deck. The battle was intense, with at least a magic user as the enemy. There were melted rails and ice spikes plunged into the deck itself. There was also what appeared to have been an undead that was blown to pieces.
“What happened here?” Yunalia asked partially out of curiosity and partially out of fear. With her small hands, she was holding on to the sleeve of my clothes.
“My guess is that they fought and the pirates won... and then we showed up.” I replied.
“Master, there are several other vessels approaching this one.” Kleya called out to me.
“Friends or foes?”
“Foes.”
“Hm, show me a nice flashy ranged attack and strike them down!” I ordered her with a smile.
“As you command!” she bowed.
Kleya flew up into the air and began to harness that incredible amount of Magic Energy she had stored within her. The targets were moving fast and probably had someone capable of magic on board. I had no idea what spell she wanted to use now, but I was excited to see if I could learn something from her.
Feeling as though something big was going to happen, Yunalia kept her attention focused on the boats far away from us.
“Let the world tremble! Let the Darkness know my name as I call upon it to engulf those foes of mine! Let their bodies shrivel as I suck the life force from them! Let the nightmares of the ancient gods rip apart my enemies!” she chanted something that had neither meaning nor sense.
This is all for show… I realized.
Then, the clouds began to darken, the sea to tremble, and the air to grow stiff and filled with the scent of death. From within the waves, shadows began to swim forward, rushing towards the boats. The pressure those shadows gave off was enough send a shiver down anyone’s spine, well, with the exception of me and Yunalia. This little girl didn’t appear to be that frightened of those things, although she should have been.
When the shadows reached the boats, they vanished in the depths of the ocean. If I were to take a gander, the people on the boat were feeling uncertain of what was happening, it was all too strange and terrifying. However, I had a guess of what was coming. I once saw a similar spell cast by one of my generals in my demon army. Although, he called a smaller and less frightening beast.
“Shadow Snake...” I whispered.
Beasts of pure darkness then jumped from the bottom of the ocean and rushed towards the boats on the surface. They came up from underneath them, splitting the waters and opening their jaws wide, revealing sharp teeth ready to split open their prey. The men on the boats screamed in panic. Some of them even cast spells in an attempt to deter the creatures from attacking, but in the end, they all fell prey to them when they closed their jaws shut.
Now, to put this into perspective, their boats were anywhere from 15 to 30 meters long, but the Shadow Snakes had no problems eating them whole. Those things were gigantic and quite often mistaken with the Leviathan. Those beasts, however, were big enough to make this entire yacht I was standing on look like nothing but the tip of a toothpick for it. No wonder some people in my past life called it the World Eater or some other scary and intimidating name like that.
There was also another one called Jörmungandr, but that one was just a mutated and far more violent cousin of a Shadow Snake. It held similarities with the Leviathan, however, it was far weaker than it. A lot of people confused the Jörmungandr with the Leviathan. A Human Kingdom once popped up on the islands on his back. It was not until the beast decided to move that they became aware of the fact that they were living on his back
This being said, we were now faced with the unfortunate predicament of getting washed up by a giant wave caused by the Shadow Snakes jumping out of the water. When she saw it coming towards us, Yunalia cowered behind me, but I wasn’t afraid. Kleya was smart enough to understand that such a wave was nothing more than a nuisance for me, her master, so she flew in front of it and then used the spell [Shadow Blade] to slash the waves apart, causing them to crumble. The mass of water flowed back to the sea. The yacht was spared.
“Enemy vessels were safely removed.” Kleya reported as she landed in front of me.
“You did well!” I nodded and then turned to walk to my left, but something stopped me.
Yunalia was holding onto my arm. She was trembling and looking between me and the sea. The gaze in her eyes was one of fear and doubt.
Ah, yes, the usual reaction, is it? She’ll start screaming and calling me a monster and whatnot in just a little bit! I thought and nodded to myself, satisfied that I still held my authority as a terrifying Demon King.
“That was amazing!” she said with a cute squeal.
“Huh?” I blinked in surprise.
“Miss Kleya was amazing! Did you really make those big snakes appear with your magic?!” she asked as she looked up at her.
Was she perhaps holding back her excitement? I wondered.
“Yes.” the demoness replied with a nod to both of us.
Her cool demeanor was one that reminded me of the many female knights employed by the human kingdoms. In the end, most of them were killed in the war, but I heard that they were strangely disliked by the nobles in their countries. It had something to do with them being far too powerful for what their gender was supposed to represent.
I never understood that, but whenever I encountered a female knight on the field, I would treat her with respect up to her last breath… well, that was if she did deserve my respect. There were some who abused their power or even thought of themselves as some sort of high and mighty individuals to which everyone else had to bow down. I loved skinning alive those particularly foolish humans. They never received help from their peers and everyone else was happy that they got their just deserts.
Of course, Kleya had nothing to do with those disgusting individuals. She was a demoness of this universe, and so far... I was getting the feeling that she was powerful enough to make even me feel a tinge of fear.
Honestly though, as I was right now, facing her in a fair battle was a bit suicidal.