Black tattoos materialised in front of Ryo's eyes, circling a now clearly inhuman body. Its height menacing, its light seeming to grow brighter. Ryo had to put his hand in front of his eyes to prevent the light from blinding him. It grew more and more intense by the second, almost feeling like it was burning him alive, his skin scorching with flames that felt as if they came from the highest ring of hell.
A pair of dark blue eyes appeared at the head of the white figure, a black tattoo shooting up to connect with the underside of the left eye, scanning the area and locking eyes with the hands of Ryo, one rocky and one not. Soon, the creature's flesh formed, the skin appearing under the tattoos like it was a layer to an onion. Their skin was a pale-ish peach tone, contrasting heavily with the black tattoos that pulsed with mana. Ryo didn't even have to see it to know he was entirely outmatched in combat, the pressure generated by this creature drove his feet into the floor.
Quickly, clothes manifested themselves onto the Demon's body, a black wool shirt and grey linen pants covering the now-formed skin. A black, flowing scarf swirled around its neck, the fabric moving in a circle, like a boa constrictor circling its prey.
Soon, the light dissipated, Ryo daring to lower his hands in order to witness the threat he was faced with. His eyes became locked into view with the Demon's, both of them staring at each other with a gaze that might never end, yet their facial expressions were drastically different.
Ryo stared at the Demon, who he assumed was Inquisax, with fear, his looming, imposing figure and intense, almost suffocating mana putting him in a chokehold. The Demon, in contrast, was looking at Ryo with a mix of enthusiasm and curiosity.
The Demon grabbed at Ryo's chin with his left hand, slender fingers turning Ryo's head from side to side, checking out the rocks on the left side of his face. Ryo didn't even try to stop him, he didn't want to know what'd happen if he did. "Curious." The Demon said to himself. "Out of all the Human races that I thought would find their way here, never did I think it'd be a Hyandean."
Ryo didn't try to counter his statement with anything, as unlike with the Rising Sun party, he stood no chance at defending himself.
The Demon grabbed at Ryo's right hand, examining the rocks that composed it, running its fingers down the different cracks. "You're a unique case, aren't you. You don't see too many Hyandeans with this many rocks." The Demon commented, letting go of Ryo's arm.
"I am Inquisax, the Demon that wrote that note. I'm honestly shocked you managed to get out of that room this fast, as if I remember it correctly, I left that letter in the room in the back with a ten minute timer. Did you use magic?" Inquisax asked, while walking around Ryo, examining him from all angles. "Of course you did, I mean look at you. You're not buff like a swordsman, muscly like a tank, or agile like an assassin, but you're also not as physically weak as a healer."
"How… how'd you get that from my body in just a few seconds?" Ryo asked incredulously, causing Inquisax to smile, almost as if he was waiting for Ryo to ask a question like that..
"Kid, when you've been travelling this world for as long as I have, you get to know your people." He replied, stretching his arms into the air, three separate crack noises ringing out. "I mean, I left that note in there over a hundred years ago. I didn't know if it'd still be functioning."
"Wait, over two hundred years ago? Wait, wait, wait, was that raid by the Utopian adventurers during…" Ryo began to ask, only to be cut off by Inquisax.
"Yes, during the Great Demon War, as you Humans called it." He confirmed, placing two of his fingers to the bridge of his nose and pinching. "I still don't understand why you guys called it that, considering us Demons just decided to retreat instead of fighting."
"Wait, what?" Ryo asked, confused. "In all the books I've read, it was said that you guys fought the Utopian Army outside the capital before being pushed back over the course of two years." Ryo continued.
"I mean, yeah, we were there. Hell, I was even at the front of it, but the funny thing is that only one human ever pushed us back. They had Heavensent and managed to hurt a good few of my friends before being taken care of." Inquisax responded. "We decided to move backwards out of, when you boil it down to its simplest expression, pity."
Ryo, unable to handle this information, actually sat down, legs crossed. "That's…" Ryo started, before taking a bit of shellshock. "Wait, Heavensent? What the hell is that?" Ryo inquired, causing Inquisax to smile. "Oh, I forgot you Humans lost all your information about that. You've got so much to learn, little one, but first, I have to make sure you're suitable to run this place. At least, that's what I think I wrote on that piece of paper." Inquisax told him, cracking his fingers in front of him.
"Yeah, you did. So, how is this going to go?" Ryo asked, standing up and taking a step back. "If we fight, I'll most certainly lose, but I think you already know that."
"Oh, I certainly do. However, that's not how I want to test you. I want to know two things. How well do you take care of your own books, and why are you out here?" Inquisax asked, appearing behind Ryo with his back in his hands. Ryo watched him vanish and felt his back get lighter, spinning around to see his stand there, the bag as still as it was on his back not a second ago.
"What? Have you never seen someone move faster than the eye could follow? It wouldn't be too common, sure, but everyone knows that Assassins could manage that with ease." Inquisax explained while pulling out the books from Ryo's bag, sitting down and gently placing the 'Observations' notebook on the floor before scanning through the guides he had written for his previous party members, starting with "The Most Efficient Assassin Techniques".
"These seem both personalised and not, with general advice in the larger sections, and small little bits of advice for someone in particular. I'm assuming you wrote these for someone, right?" Inquisax asked, placing that down and picking up 'The Detailed Method To Improve Mana Flow', quickly followed by 'The Fighter's Guide To Strike Weak Points'.
"These are the same, so I'm assuming you knew these people well." Inquisax told Ryo.
"Yeah, they were members of an adventuring party that I was part of. They're kind of the reason why I made my way over here instead of staying in Utopia." Ryo admitted, causing Inquisax to stop reading for a second.
"You were part of a Utopian adventuring party?" He asked, causing Ryo to nod. "Why would you put yourself through the struggles of that? Even the Demons know how stuck up those pricks can be."
"It was my dream to be an adventurer, and they were the only party who would hire a Hyandean. The leader complained about not being able to advance in rank, and hired me to help him. However, once the party reached A-rank, they fired me for a B-rank adventurer with one less mana type available to him." Ryo explained.
Inquisax slowly stood up, shaking his body slightly to stretch himself. "So, you have no reason to go back to them?" Inquisax questioned. Ryo nodded his head, and a smile began to creep onto Inquisax's face. "You may be the perfect person to take this place over for me. Actually, I never got your name. What is it?"
"Ryo. Ryo Kyoji."
"And what are you?"
Ryo didn't know what to answer. 'A Hyandean? An adventurer?' He thought. He didn't know what to actually say in response, but something came out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
"A guy who likes books."
Inquisax remained quiet for around ten seconds, his facial expression frozen in time. Ryo thought he had said something wrong, but soon, Inquisax's hands came together, clapping.
"A perfect answer. An absolutely, one hundred percent perfect answer, Ryo. You really are suited for this!" Inquisax said, walking over to Ryo's side, placing his hand on Ryo's back. "We don't share many similarities, you and I, Ryo. However, we do share one thing. A love of books."
The two of them walked into the library, stepping over fallen bookshelves. Inquisax picked up a book from one of the more barren shelves, flicking to the first page and showing it to Ryo. "Do you understand this?" He asked, handing it to Ryo.
"No, sorry." Ryo replied. "I can't read Demon."
Inquisax sighed, placing his index finger on top of Ryo's. "Your Human magic system is so limited. Do you know why that is?" He asked, confusing Ryo. "It's been like that your entire life, right?"
"Yes, it has. Why?"
"Well, this'll explain it, but first, I'm going to teach you something. It's a technique that allows you to translate anything into a language you can understand just by using mana." Inquisax told him, shoving a bit of mana into Ryo's finger. "Hope this doesn't overload you."
Ryo felt a surge of unnatural power go into his finger, then into the book that he was holding. For just a split second, he was able to understand the first word. "Magic…" Ryo gasped, looking at Inquisax with awe.
"Try to replicate it. I used a decent bit of mana to show you, so it'd be easier to perform than doing it yourself. It's to help you learn, after all."
Ryo concentrated his mana, pushing it through his fingers instead of his palms like he normally would, feeling his mana hit the book and spread out. Soon, he was able to read the words written on that page, and the mana stopped flowing from his finger. "Wait, it stays like this?" He asked Inquisax.
"For as long as you're holding it, yeah. The mana inside the book is now attuned to you, as you put it in there, so until you let go, you can read it." Inquisax explained, acting as if it was no big deal.
Ryo began reading the page out loud.
"Magic is a fluid concept that was brought into a rigid state around a hundred years ago by the "Human" races, mainly the Utopians. They have created a set of rules involving magic to provide clear guidelines for 'acceptable magical practices', which just means a separation between what Demons can use and what Demons cannot."
"These only apply to the "Human" races and Monster races, as Demons do not care to follow Human rules. Monsters adapt to Humans, which makes them possess similar magic. In the times just after the rules, Humans could, on average, use three different types of magic, but that number has dwindled to one or two, with three being quite rare."
"See? Only around two hundred years ago did your magic system become the way it is now, coinciding with the end of the 'Great Demon War'." Inquisax explained, pointing at the date that this was written. "This was written over a hundred years ago, so two hundred years from today."
"Wait, you mean to tell me that Humans, mainly the Utopians, hated Demons so much that they almost permanently restricted their spell usage?" Ryo wondered, almost angry at the idiocy of previous monarchs.
"Yup. Move to page two. You'll see something interesting." Inquisax told Ryo, almost teasing him with the information.
"[Utopian Diagram For Magic.]"
"6 Main Types."
"Fire - Fireball, Inferno, etc."
"Water - Water Manipulation, Water Ball, etc."
"Nature - Vine Creation, Uproot, Earthquake, etc."
"Lightning - Lightning Bolt, Thundercall, etc."
"Shadow - Shadowstep, Invisible, Speak/See/Hear No Evil, etc."
"Healing - Injury Cure, Greater Heal, Enhancement (Rare), etc."
"Forbidden - Extreme Physical Enhancement, Necromancy, Creation, Psychokinesis, Haemokinesis, Control Magic, Magic Nullification, etc."
"Essentially, anything that isn't in the main 6 types is Forbidden. However, it is possible to combine two different types of magic to create new spells, although it will take longer than a single type of spell. These are called fusion spells. One more restriction upon "Human" races is that they have to verbally cast their spells, but Monsters and Demons do not."
Ryo looked at the page in almost abstract horror. "I knew Monsters didn't have to chant, but Demons don't either? You also have access to spells like THAT?! Magic Nullification? Necromancy? Creation Magic?!" Ryo exclaimed, his eyes almost lighting up with joy. He flipped the book over to reveal its name.
"A Comprehensive Guide To All Things Magical: Spells, Techniques, And Downright Devious Destruction".
"Yup, and now you know how to learn them as well. It'll take a while, as your body won't be used to the strain that stronger spells will put on your body, but now I can help you learn." Inquisax told him, a smile appearing on his face once more, his black tattoos pulsating along his arms and up to his eye
"After all…"
"We both love books, right?"