Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 106: Nemesis
There are up to 15 chapters ahead of update schedule at [email protected]/theogbasilisk
______________________________________________________________________
- Hinata Sakaguchi -
She felt herself coming back into consciousness, only to sigh internally when all she saw and felt around her was darkness.
She was back here again.
She now had the experience to know where exactly she was. This was her mental space of sorts that was connected directly to her soul.
When one underwent an Awakening this is where they would go when they fell unconscious, though most wouldn't be aware of what was happening.
She would have gasped if she could as all of a sudden, she felt the overwhelming torrent of power around her and within her. She might have felt disoriented at first, but by this point, she was familiar enough with it to be able to focus.
Since becoming a Divine Human, one of the things she had explored was her own Spirit and consciousness. And here she was once again.
Just what had happened?
"Your Hero's Egg is hatching." A voice echoed in her mind.
She would have groaned if she could hear that same troublesome voice.
"That's rude! And to think I came here to help you."
Hinata's lips would be twitching if she was in her Material Body. It was the oh so familiar voice of Felix's "partner."
This mysterious partner of Felix had shown themselves to be an ally; they had been helping her with the formation of her Ultimate Skill, and for that, she was grateful.
Multi-Dimensional Barrier alone was something she would have been incapable of developing for a very, very long time, if ever. Yet Felix's partner modified her Skill to incorporate Multi-Dimensional Barrier just like that. Sure, the energy cost was something Hinata had to pay, but it was still an overall benefit.
Now, what was the voice saying? She froze as it registered. Her Hero's Egg was hatching? But she didn't—
All of a sudden, it all came flashing back. She found her lips curling up. She knew that Granbell was likely dead by now.
She didn't mind not being the one to finish him off. She merely wanted to test herself against the best of Humanity to see how she would do without relying on brute force to come out on top.
Granbell's death was practically guaranteed. He had stopped caring about the cost, focusing solely on the results. He would sacrifice Humanity to "save it." Despite seeing his vision at the end of it all and understanding his grievances with the state of this world, he had gone too far.
If the civilians hadn't been evacuated, the death toll would have been absolutely catastrophic, not to mention the damage to the infrastructure of Lune. It would take some time to return the city to its former peak condition, time and resources that could be better spent on preparing for the Eastern Empire.
And she meant it when she saw his perspective. In his eyes, the enemies of Humanity, the Demon Lords, were gaining unforeseen power over Humanity and its territories.
Luminous alone held a vast amount of power over Humanity as its most well-known guardian deity. Humans worshiped her, not knowing she was one of the very same Demon Lords that they had reviled.
And now Rimuru was gaining control over Humanity due to his country's inventions, such as the magi-train, magi-reactors, and even their food and farming techniques played a part. Every Kingdom in the West wanted a piece of the pie that was Tempest.
Rimuru was using this greed to make deals, make agreements, and he would likely slowly make the Humans in the West dependent on Tempest and its inventions. Over time this would give Tempest an overwhelming control over the Western Nations. Perhaps even greater than the control Luminous herself held.
Rimuru was supposed to be in a meeting with the Council of the West right about now, though she didn't know how that had gone with the attack on Ruberious happening. Still, if she knew him, he still likely came out on top of the Western Council. She expected to hear news about Tempest's addition to the Council of the West when she awoke.
Normally, she would be against such a thing as it could lead to instability for Humanity centuries down the line. Still, she had swallowed a bitter pill for the long-term future of Humanity before with Ruberious.
This time, the pill wasn't even bitter since, in the end, it would benefit Humanity. Some Humans had already taken the jump and moved to Tempest since Rimuru instituted a policy of assisting Humans who wished to move to Tempest in finding cheap and affordable housing, food, as well as an income source.
This wouldn't last forever, of course; it was just to get the ball rolling but the lucky Humans who joined Tempest now would benefit immensely long term.
Overall, she truly believed that Humanity would benefit from intertwining itself with Tempest. She trusted Rimuru and his morality, and they were all very, very long-lived beings.
At the very least, she would make sure neither side grew corrupt and began hurting Humanity for the worse. That was a benefit of having a long life.
Normal Humans forget about events that happened decades ago and need frequent reminders about certain things. Why else was she once so deluded that she thought she could take on a True Demon Lord on her own?
Perhaps she would serve in a role similar to the role Granbell served for the West, but more in the open and less corrupt. She wondered what Granbell would think of that, of her, following in his footsteps as the self-proclaimed guardian protector of Humanity.
Would she, too, eventually become corrupted? Would she follow in his footsteps without realizing it?
She sighed. She was getting distracted.
Still, she was rather happy with the results of her fight with Granbell. Granbell's swordsmanship was absurd.
His proficiency with the blade was about even with her own. And she had a lot of practice. She had tested herself against some of the greatest sword masters that existed in the past, each clash helped her refine her swordsmanship ever so slightly, and yet Granbell, someone who chronologically had less experience than her, managed to match her in skill.
Perhaps that said more about her ability than Granbell's, but she would ignore that line of thought.
Then Granbell went on to acquire an Ultimate Skill, which, in hindsight, she should not have let him acquire.
With an Ultimate Skill, things got far more unpredictable. It was foolish to allow Granbell time to get used to her combat techniques and not finish him off at the start.
She probably did that because she was confident that even if she lost, Granbell would not win in the end. She wasn't the strongest person in Ruberious at that moment. Felix was, and even with Granbell's Ultimate Skill, she didn't see him standing a chance against Felix.
But that was a bad habit she had to cut off now. She couldn't always rely on him. It would be foolish to want to support him yet still throw away fights for her pride. That was just throwing unnecessary burdens in his direction.
In the end, she came out on top despite Granbell's rather absurd combat capabilities. He had just gotten his Ultimate Skill, yet he was already using it in ways that made her wary. Granbell was a talented man, that was for sure.
Yet she managed to prove herself. She still managed to beat him. To whom she was trying to prove herself, she didn't know. Or perhaps she was denying the thought entirely, still, she was happy with the results.
Even if the fight was unfair from the start due to her status as a Divine Human, she would be spitting on Granbell's efforts if she thought that way. Granbell was a powerful man, and she met his resolve with her own, as two Humans with clashing ideals.
Two guardians of Humanity fighting for the futures they hoped for.
Virtual World truly was her best trump card. Sadly, Usurper and Vendetta weren't of much use in the fight against Granbell, it made her think that if Granbell could so easily shrug off her Unique Skills, then couldn't Felix do the same? Yet her Unique Skills managed to affect Felix more than they did Granbell.
It ticked her off that despite all of her so-called growth, Felix still hadn't taken her seriously in a fight. If he had, he wouldn't have allowed her weaker abilities to affect him. But in her mind, that still did not take away from her "victory" against Felix.
He didn't take her seriously enough and got injured as a result. That was on Felix, and that did not detract from her victory. Just a short time ago she wouldn't have even been able to dream of reaching Felix, yet it was a reality now.
In the end, despite everything, she was grateful to Granbell. He allowed her to test herself and even passed on his Hero's Egg to her. That very same Hero's Egg had hatched within her, allowing her to become a True Hero.
She didn't regret passing on her Hero's Egg to Chloe, but she had always wanted to be a True Hero, and she was glad she got to accomplish that wish. She was contemplating asking the Fairy Queen Ramiris if it was possible to acquire another Hero's Egg, but it seemed she didn't need to anymore.
She suspected that her Hero's Egg hatching is what caused her current state of unconsciousness.
"Not quite. Since you are not evolving as you are at the limits of Humanity, an evolutionary sleep is unusual. But, I suspect that it is due to the overwhelming energy within you that you fell unconscious to give your body time to adapt to your new level of power. As we speak, your body is slowly refining itself, growing stronger."
She understood what Felix's partner was saying. She could feel the torrent of energy flowing within her, even in her current state.
It was rather overwhelming. It was a level of power that was greater than anything she'd ever felt within herself. She could tell her reserves had more than doubled, just like that, meaning she had even more energy than Luminous now.
Luminous used to be an unbeatable figure in Hinata's eyes. Yet now? For her reserves to surpass that same unbeatable figure? It really put things into perspective just how far she had come.
She knew instinctively that her current reserves were still below the amount of energy Felix had. But she was closer than before, and her energy hadn't even stabilized yet. There was still some room for growth. Perhaps she would ask Luminous for a spar; they hadn't fought in a very, very long time, but now Hinata was rather eager to test herself against a formerly unbeatable foe.
'Why are you here?' She asked the voice in her head.
As far as she understood, she would soon wake up once her body had adapted to her new power a bit more. There was no reason for Felix's partner to be here.
"My Master requested me to assist you while your Hero's Egg hatched."
'Felix? I see…'
She wouldn't reject Felix's help. She knew that to eventually reach him, she would have to rely on herself, but she wouldn't hesitate to take his helping hand for now.
Hypocritical? Yes it was, but she was Human too.
"Hmm. It seems your Unique Skill: Usurper isn't ready for evolution yet, but Vendetta is."
She blinked in surprise. It only felt like yesterday when she got Fortuna. For her to already be capable of acquiring a new one was rather surprising. Especially since she felt she had yet to properly master Fortuna yet. Not for a lack of trying, but Ultimate Skills took time to truly understand. But she could simply work on multiple Ultimate Skills at once.
"It would take you months, if not years, to naturally evolve Vendetta to an Ultimate Skill on your own due to its complexity. However, the potential is there, so I can accelerate the process. Usurper, however, requires more."
Usurper had been with her the longest, the same amount of time as Mathematician had been with her, ever since she first appeared in this world years ago. It was rather odd that Usurper wasn't ready for evolution yet. But Usurper was one of her strongest Skills, stronger than even Mathematician was, at least when it came to assisting in her own growth.
Usurper was what allowed her to grow so strong so quickly. She would steal the Skills of her enemies, despite being mostly Common Skills, Skills were still made of energy. Each skill added to her overall reserves, allowing her to evolve in short order. Their Arts would be made hers. Everything that they took pride in, she stole, like a Robber.
Usurper at the Ultimate level would be a fearsome Skill, of that she knew.
"Indeed, Usurper is a powerful Unique Skill, and so it requires more stimulus than normal. Now, do you wish for my assistance in evolving Vendetta?"
'Yes, I give you my permission.'
"Excellent."
She didn't particularly like having to rely on Felix's partner for this power-up, but she would do what she must.
She still felt that she wasn't strong enough for the coming times. The stronger she got, the better and more secure she would feel. If that meant taking handouts from Felix, then so be it. She would pay him back with her life. After all he had done for her, she could do at least that much.
Not to mention….
No, she didn't want to think about their d-date right now. No matter how much she was looking forward to it, there were more serious things to consider right now.
Despite what she said, her mind couldn't help but wander back to their upcoming date. They had planned for it to be after Granbell so that they could devote their full attention to the upcoming attack. Now that Granbell was dealt with… she was getting nervous.
She knew that she shouldn't care for Felix as she did. He was a Demon Lord, she was a Hero, but what could she say? His personality won her over.
Despite his incessant teasing of her, he was never malicious about it, and so she also learned to find her own joy in their odd dynamic. He genuinely cared about her safety after they got to know each other a bit better. At the start of their relationship, he merely did it out of amusement and toyed with her, but over time, he began taking her more seriously until she could consider Felix a friend and a mentor. Wasn't trust and care all that was needed in a relationship?
In the end, though, his tsundere nature is what she found most adorable about him. He went on and on about how weak she was and such, yet when she was in danger, he worried for her. He comforted her when she confided in him about her past. About what she did to her father. She told Felix about what a vile woman she was. Yet he didn't judge her for being a kin-slayer. For committing a crime most wouldn't even consider in the worst of situations.
Felix wasn't an explicitly good person, but he was good enough for her. Their experiences together are what created her attraction for him, as well as his understanding and the care he had shown for her. Even the most icy of hearts would eventually be melted by the sun.
Besides, with her around, she could carve out the worst of his impulses.
"How amusing."
'What do you mean?' Hinata asked.
"Nothing. I merely believe that my Master would be somewhat happy to hear your feelings."
Hinata would have blushed if she were in her Material Body.
'R-Really?'
This was Felix's partner, so Hinata didn't think it was lying.
"Indeed. I will not say much more than that."
All of a sudden, she gasped as she felt the overwhelming torrent of energy surrounding her, which all of a sudden amplified itself. The energy that she couldn't have dreamed of controlling without training began to move in a perfect orderly fashion, as if the energy was taking orders from a supreme being.
It made her lips twitch that Felix's partner could control her own energy that was inside of her so perfectly. She didn't think she was this efficient with her own energy, even with her training.
Felix truly had a reliable partner.
"Fufufu." His partner laughed. However, she was awfully smug in Hinata's eyes.
As she felt the process within her soul happen, she allowed herself to relax within the torrent of energy. It was her own energy, after all. It wouldn't harm her.
She could feel the modifications being made to Vendetta. Hinata blinked as all of a sudden she felt the presence of an odd particle, one she hadn't ever felt before, yet she felt it being manipulated as Felix's partner messed with her Skill. It didn't feel anything like spiritrons which she had become more familiar with, or magicules, or anything else she even knew of.
"Oh? You can sense the Information Particles? It seems Master was right to invest in you."
'Information Particles? What are those?'
"Hmm? So you do not even know? How intriguing. I suppose Usurper only dabbled in the manipulation of Infons, so you have remained clueless about them until now."
She was getting ticked off by this smug litt–
"Information Particles are the smallest particles and are contained within all matter in the world, including souls and even skills. Their mass is as close to zero as it gets. They are unaffected by space and time and are thus able to transfer information in any situation with zero time difference. Being able to perceive and potentially manipulate them is what separates the strong from the truly monstrous in this world."
'Can Felix manipulate them?' She asked, already knowing the answer.
"Of course."
After some time, she felt the change within herself, as if something had latched on deeper into her soul and expanded upon itself.
Notice. The Ultimate Skill: Nemesis, Lord of Retribution has been acquired.
She heard the Voice of the World echo into her mind.
"There we go. You have now acquired Ultimate Skill: Nemesis, Lord of Retribution."
She quickly went through the Skill's abilities in an instant before smiling.
'Thank you.'
"Thank my master." The voice said before Hinata felt its presence vanish.
Hinata sighed. It didn't even tell her when she would wake up.
She decided to go over her new Ultimate Skills abilities in more detail now that she had the time.
It was an expansion upon Vendetta's abilities. The overall Skill had been elevated to the Ultimate level. Now, she wouldn't have to push herself to push Vendetta to that level when she needed it, which would be a great help in a fight.
The Ultimate Skill: Nemesis, Lord of Retribution, had five sub-skills that were more powerful versions of Vendetta's previous sub-skills.
Absolute Counter was the evolved version of Full Counter. It can reflect magical, physical, and spiritual attacks back at the opponent with triple the power. It can also nullify and absorb a portion of the attack to recover some of her own energy, or the absorbed energy can be used towards another sub-skill.
Full Counter could only send back an attack at double the power, which, to be fair, was still a monstrous ability.
There were also cases where both Full Counter and Absolute Counter would fail to work, less so in Absolute Counter's case. But if an attack was too powerful, she wouldn't be capable of reflecting it, that she knew instinctively. Though she didn't know what her limit was on that front.
The next sub-skill was Sword Dance, the evolved version of Sword Flow. It was rather similar in nature. Only the power output of the sub-skill had increased as well as some other effects were added onto it. Sword Dance made it so that each consecutive strike became exponentially more powerful, but on top of that, it would also unleash devastating elemental effects such as firestorms, lightning strikes, hurricanes, and the like with each hit. These elemental effects would all be at the Ultimate level as well, which was phenomenal. She could toggle this function on and off as well.
She couldn't truly cast Ultimate level Elemental Magic before this; she was working on it, but it was a work in progress as with Magic, to cast at the Ultimate level, you had to truly understand the ins and outs of the Laws you were manipulating, whereas Skills did that for you on autopilot. However, with Sword Dance, she could find a way to isolate the elemental invocation alone to see if she could cast Ultimate level Elemental Magic through it.
Then there was Predator's Insight, which was the evolved version of Hunter. Predator's Insight allowed her to instantly identify and exploit the weaknesses, fears, and vulnerabilities of her opponent. It adapts her attacks for maximum effectiveness against that particular opponent. Fairly useful, all things considered, but not something major as she was already somewhat capable of doing this even before she got Vendetta. Vendetta and now Predator's Insight only increased her capability in that field.
Retribution's Wrath was the sub-skill with perhaps the most destructive potential of the bunch if circumstances lined up well. It allowed her to unleash a devastating Ultimate attack that channels all absorbed energy from Absolute Counter and damage back into a single, cataclysmic strike. Theoretically, she could even beat Veldora in a single well-timed strike with this if she had absorbed enough of his energy.
Then, the final sub-skill was the evolved version of Guaranteed Strike, the very Skill that allowed her to reach Felix for the first time. Penetrate grants her the ability to penetrate almost any barrier as long as she has the equivalent in energy.
This was game-changing for her. Guaranteed Strike was far more limited in that she had to pick out a point ahead of time and commit to her attack. If her opponent realized what she was doing, things would become rather dire for her, which was why she considered it a do-or-die Skill. It was very risky to do.
Penetrate got rid of that one weakness. She could apply Penetrate to her weapon and feel free to attack at any point, as well as change points in the midst of an attack allowing her much more freedom.
Now that she had somewhat seen the depths of Felix's power, she knew that Penetrate likely wasn't enough to truly gain the upper hand on Felix in a fight. His partner had literally created it. But it was still something. It took her one step closer to accomplishing her dream of reaching Felix one day.
Perhaps that day was years away, decades away, or even centuries, yet she knew from the depths of her soul that she would continue to single-mindedly strive for that goal. It was a core part of her at this point.
There were many steps that she had to take to reach her end goal of truly reaching Felix without any tricks.
The next step for her was to fight Veldora, preferably a victory, but she knew the chances of that were slim, so she would settle for a tie.
Her victory against Veldora in the past was not a true victory, despite her boasting even though she knew that. She mostly boasted just to get on Veldora's nerves. The True Dragon took many Human lives in the past, yet he would not suffer the consequences. Many would say being sealed for a few centuries was consequence enough, but Veldora deserved more in her eyes.
In the past, when she fought Veldora, he was far weaker than his current self. He held no technique and did not take her seriously from the start, which allowed her to get the better of him with ease. If he had taken her seriously from the start, then perhaps things would have been different, but she knew in her heart that she did not consider that a true win against the Storm Dragon.
And so she would challenge him to a rematch. One she would fight with her own power against a serious Veldora. That was the next step in the long road ahead of her.
- Othinus -
Othinus felt like clapping to herself, but she would hold herself back, having no body at the moment withstanding. It wouldn't do to be too smug just yet. Not when her plan had not come to complete fruition. She didn't even have to do anything to line events up in this way!
It was all just Hinata overthinking things but also somehow coming to a somewhat correct conclusion.
Soon enough, Hinata Sakaguchi, a True Hero, would be puddy in the palm of her Master's hands. That girl was ruled by her emotions despite what she may have thought.
Hinata may have considered herself a stalwart protector of Humanity which she probably was, but she also thought that she could become an emotionless robot when the times called for it, in fact she had done so many times in the past, but none of those times to Othinus' knowledge involved heavy emotional baggage.
Hinata's breakdown when she confided in her Master about her past supported her assertion. Hinata thought she could do something similar if her Master crossed a line, perhaps she could, perhaps she couldn't. Either way, Othinus would win since her Master would have gained another ally in the end.
Would Hinata be a powerful ally? Somewhat, but in the end, nothing else mattered. Her greatest objective in life was to keep her Master safe and happy.
Anything that can increase the odds of her continuing to succeed in her objective, even if by 0.00000000~1%, would be something that Othinus would put her wholehearted effort into.
That is why even when the opportunity of her birth was around the corner, her predecessor, Odin, Lord of Cursed Knowledge, opted to push her Master into Luminous Valentine's arms, gaining another powerful ally in the process. She did that to the detriment of herself.
The amusing thing was that she could make Luminous Valentine and Hinata Sakaguchi even more powerful, or at least they had the potential for it.
One was the duplicate of Twilight Valentine, a being far stronger than even the current Luminous, while the other had begun to push the bounds of what was possible for Humanity. Hinata was no High Human, yet she was pushing into the same realm the truly monstrous High Humans used to occupy.
The first True Hero, Rudra, was the one at the top of that level. Othinus estimated his EP to be perhaps greater than Veldora's if Rudra managed to name even Guy Crimson without dying in the process.
Perhaps Hinata would one day reach that level, perhaps not. Only time would tell.
Life Reconstruction could perhaps benefit those two.
Life Reconstruction was an extremely complex art that Othinus had developed through literal eons worth of time.
Using Thought Acceleration at 10,000,000 back when she was Odin, she managed to develop the Life Reconstruction Art after acquiring the Life Domination sub-skill, but even that would normally not be enough to accomplish and create the Art of Life Reconstruction.
The Life Domination sub-skill she had data on was merely used as a base as it was not exactly focused on what she was trying to accomplish.
And so she spent an eon working out the kinks, finding any way to make the process actually work instead of just a waste of souls. She eventually figured it out, but it was in no way easy. Hinata and Luminous, after undergoing a Life Reconstruction, would be even more formidable foes, but Othinus opted not to assist them with that unless her Master explicitly asked her to.
Not to mention, Life Reconstruction was less helpful at the higher levels of power. It was only as useful as it was for her Master's Demonesses because they were in a weakened form. The Life Reconstruction stimulated their evolutions which was why their EP had increased so dramatically, it was not the Life Reconstruction alone that allowed them to grow and develop as they did.
For Hinata especially she was not sure how the process would go as she was a Human in the end.
The two of them were actively training on their own, they would eventually reach the same heights either way.
It would take some time, but Othinus had a feeling the two wouldn't appreciate such blatant handouts. Hinata Sakaguchi's pride was already stinging due to needing assistance to develop her Ultimate Skills, though Othinus thought that she was making a big deal out of things.
Hinata would have developed those same Ultimate Skills either way, though less optimized versions of course. Why be upset about acquiring a better and more powerful Ultimate Skill?
Truly, even now, she did not completely understand how people worked.
She sighed and kept considering Luminous and Hinata. Both had the potential for the new series of Ultimate Skills she herself was developing.
Othinus was calling it the Outer God Series, Skills so absurdly out of the norm that naming them after eldritch monstrosities that could bend universes to their whim was only natural.
Ouroboros, Lord of Infinity, could be considered the prototype of this series of Ultimate Skills.
It was unrefined at the beginning, but she had, over time, ironed out the kinks in it, making it more energy-efficient and such.
Yet she knew she could do better now. She had made Ouroboros when she was an Ultimate Skill. If she could not outdo it as a Manas, then why did she even exist?
Of course, receiving an Outer God Series Ultimate Skill was extremely difficult, if not impossible. It would involve manipulating Information Particles at an extremely proficient level and would require an absurd amount of energy to be sacrificed to birth the Outer God Skill.
It was what she planned to do for her Master, though she was still working out the kinks for his personal Ultimate Skill as it would be her magnum opus.
The only Ultimate Skill he would truly need outside of perhaps Brahma, though she was working on a possible evolution for Brahma as well.
The progress on that one was going far slower, however. She was sorting through the data of all the Skills she currently had, and she had a lot of data to sort through.
Tens of Ultimate Skills worth of data, not to mention the data she has from her vast collection of Unique Skills, Extra Skills, and Common Skills.
In total, she had tens of thousands of Skills to sort through. Thankfully, the lesser Skills were sorted through in an instant due to her vast computational power.
And yet, for the Skill she had in mind, she still wasn't sure if that would be enough, perhaps only the memories of Veldanava creating everything would give her the data she would need.
She was making progress towards recreating Veldanava's memories still, but it would be a work in progress until she got more data on the Star King as his memories were extremely vast. The Divine Tree giving some data was a fortunate happenstance that reduced her timeframe by a good chunk. Before the turn of the eon, she should have recreated Veldanava's memories. At that point, her Master would truly be supreme.
However, in theory, it should be possible to create an Outer God Series Ultimate Skill through the forced conjunction of two Ultimate Skills. The Voice of the World would likely sense the abnormal situation and register the new Skill in its system as well, making it more "official". Though the amount of people with a single Ultimate Skill were few, let alone multiple Ultimate Skills.
Othinus did not see anyone ending up with an Outer God Series Ultimate Skill for some time to come.
Perhaps Hinata would someday be capable of such a thing, the girl had been able to perceive the Information Particles within her soul when Othinus had begun the evolution of Vendetta.
If Usurper evolved into an Ultimate Skill, an Outer God Series Skill using Usurper as fuel would be rather terrifying. Chloe already had a similar Skill, and from what Othinus had analyzed Chronos, Lord of Space-Time was capable of some truly absurd feats.
It could steal Skills bound even to the soul if Chloe and Chronoa's combined wills overpowered her opponents. With the power of a Manas behind her, even if a weak Manas was in Othinus' view, Chloe was still a powerful foe.
Though Othinus was not worried about Hinata at the very least. In the end despite whatever Hinata thought, Othinus was rather certain that in the end, Hinata would firmly be on her Master's side. That girl may not admit it but she was truly infatuated with her Master. It amused Othinus to no end that her Master wasn't truly aware of the depths of Hinata Sakaguchi's affections.
He merely thought her to be interested, yet her Master had seemingly on complete accident seduced Hinata so utterly and thoroughly. Indeed, her Master was the best.
She quickly went over the data on Sariel, Lord of Hope.
The attack on Ruberious was something she was glad to take advantage of. She was the one who guided Arcueid to taking full control over the Council of the West, and indirectly the entirety of the Western Nations as long as Luminous Valentine's desires aligned with her Master's. That was a significant portion of Humanity.
She did it so her Master could have another leg to stand on, the West may not have been anything significant in her eyes but it was still something that could one day potentially be useful.
It gave her Master more resources to draw upon if he wished and gave him a controlling stake in Tempest and its advancement, since with one word her Master could make things much harder for Tempest with political might alone.
Her Master may have had trust in Rimuru Tempest, and she did as well to a certain extent, but she would not be Othinus and his protector if she did not make plans against her Master's closest allies in the case that they turned against her Master.
She had plans to easily deal with the Storm Dragon, Rimuru Tempest, Chloe Aubert, Guy Crimson, the Frost Dragon, and many others. Milim Nava was the toughest to plan against but she still believed it was doable with her and her Master's newfound capabilities.
She did not think it was likely that any of them would turn against her Master unless her Master suddenly decided to attempt to do something rather extreme, but should his desires line up that way then she would be more than happy to assist him in fulfilling those desires.
She was born to be his closest companion, after all. She wouldn't betray his trust, ever.
Othinus was rather certain that Rimuru Tempest's Ultimate Skill: Raphael, Lord of Wisdom had similar thoughts.
She wouldn't be surprised if Raphael had some sort of countermeasures in place for her Master and her, though each of those measures would be wildly outdated since her own evolution into a Manas changed things significantly as well as her Master's own rise in power.
Othinus had been doing her best to disguise the change in her Master, more specifically the additions of the Dragon Factors within her Master so she was fairly certain that no one other than those who would be very familiar with the Dragon Factors could detect them in her Master.
All in all things were looking rather good for Othinus right now. She managed to line events up perfectly so that Granbell Rosso would develop an Ultimate Skill which meant more data for her. More data meant more resources to draw upon for her Master's protection.
All was well.
___________________________________________________________________
I am highly motivated by your guys' reviews and likes, so do that! I'll probably keep writing or something.
I have a discord server, come hang out if you want! https://discord.gg/VxR5Gn72Fp I also have a channel in Shiro's Gaming Omniverse.
Author's Note:
Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon. Hinata gets another power up, and she finally decides to take on Veldora at some point. I do have some plans for her in that fight that I'm looking forward to.
We get to hear Othinus' perspective on the events of the last dozen or so chapters, and then we learn a bit more about Damrada.
Chapter was a bit shorter than usual, but I did find a pretty good spot to leave off on so I decided to just stick with it. Honestly not that happy with this chapter overall, but it is what it is. Chapters might be a bit shorter than they have been in the past since I'm getting less time to write due to life getting a bit more busy.
Anyways, thanks for reading, peace.
Thanks to God Gamer @Bonvoyage, @Salante, and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.