I'm getting exhausted.
I told Asmodeus that I need to sleep for awhile as I'm not used to being awake for too long.
It seems that we've been travelling for more than a day though I'm not sure as time seems to stand still in this land.
There's no presence of the suns, nor the moons as well.
The color of the sky is constant and dim, but enough for me to be able to see around.
It feels heavy though.
There is nothing around us except maybe the presence of numerous stone mountains, some sand here and there but no water, nor vegetation somehow.
It's a good thing that I still have enough water to drink until I can find Lion, Ghost and Alpha.
As for food, I forced myself to eat nuts. I should ask Ghost for help in making preserved food as soon as we get back to the territory, as it will be helpful when you are travelling for a long time.
I hate nuts. At first, I'm okay with them but soon, I got tired of them. Sure, they do last for a long time no matter the weather or temperature but they make your throat dry if you eat plenty of them.
And I'm forced to eat plenty of them but still, I'm not used to eating them as my main source of food.
So it's only water and nuts for me since the time I got here in this miserable, freaking place!
Sad to say that Asmodeus doesn't have any eggs left as they would go bad if you don't consume them fast.
Lucky for Asmodeus, he doesn't feel hungry at all since he consumed some of my blood the other day.
He confessed that though consuming my blood satisfies him, blood isn't his main source of sustenance.
I know, I know!
I'm not that desperate to ask for his help for now and I'm not planning to, despite him having an extremely good reputation of being great in bed. According to Silly Bubu maybe. Or was it Subus? I don't know.
.....
Much to my surprise, Asmodeus agreed with me as he tried to find somewhere for us to rest for awhile.
Finally, we settled down and I commented that it is quite unusual for him to take a rest.
He looked at me strangely and exclaimed that I must be stupid for thinking that he doesn't need any rest at all even though he used his magic power a lot lately.
Yes. He used his magic power to track down the rest of the pack.
I protested by saying that his counterpart is known not to need any rest, sleep or sustenance.
He looked at me incredulously and grumbled that he's not yet at that level and compared to his counterpart, he is still a baby.
Ah.
I see.
This world's Asmodeus is a baby while my previous universe's Asmodeus is a god to them.
I understand.
And a bit freaked out with the comparison.
At least this world's Asmodeus is not yet entirely evil and can be reasoned out sometimes.
But he's getting there slowly.
He performed a spell surrounding us then told me that we should sleep for awhile. Of course, I held my Buddhist staff tightly around me while Asmodeus stared at me with amusement written all over his face.
He chuckled for a moment before telling me that even though he's evil, he doesn't like to take advantage of females as they tasted "different" when they are forced.
Ew.
With a strange look, he explained to me that he means tasting as in while having intercourse, not eating their bodies while having intercourse.
And there's something wrong with my head for thinking like that!
I laughed at his reaction in which he frowned at me then continued to insist that he's the demon of lust and temptation, not violence and force.
Another demon is famous for that, according to him.
And also, he stayed clear from them as they always clash for having different outlook in getting souls.
I yawned while Asmodeus continued to nag me to tell him more about his counterpart.
Okay, okay!
Fine.
He was about to hand me an energy potion in which I politely declined, telling him that if I drink it, it would take me awhile to feel sleepy again and it doesn't feel good after the effects run out.
It's like drinking a lot of coffee or energy drinks then the crash that results from the caffeine that leave your system after awhile.
Yeah. It's not a pretty picture.
So I continued to tell him what I know about his counterpart.
He's supposed to be good in numbers, enjoys studying about the celestial objects, great in making all sorts of handicrafts and is an expert in invisibility magic.
Asmodeus guffawed upon hearing all of it before confessing that he doesn't like any of those things. But he's still trying to improve his invisibility magic.
Maybe he is different but also he might like all of it in the long run as he is still quite young, just a couple centuries older than Lion. It was the real prince that has the same age as Lion.
Yes, it's true that he also created several monsters and demons but he didn't create the monsters that was guarding the shards of the magic stone before. They were too beneath him.
I asked Asmodeus if he can tell me more about himself in which he eagerly obliged, saying that it's wonderful to have somebody interested in him.
Huh? But I was just curious...
Nevermind.
The other Asmodeus is vain and thinks too highly of himself so it's no wonder that the Asmodeus I'm talking to is quite the same.
He began to chatter excitedly, telling me that he doesn't really agree with destroying places but what can he do as he follows the orders of the demon king. He prefers to establish order than enjoying the chaos of the netherworld and hates demons who doesn't know their place.
Oh and he doesn't form a contract yet as of now.
It's only the demon king who forms contracts.
I see. I was right about that.
With a grin, he says that he enjoys individuals who are ambitious, intelligent and have strong will and definitely hates the boring, predictable and gullible playthings.
Like Myra?
He looked at me in disdain as he disagreed, that Myra was just an unexpected outcome as she was too obsessed with the deserters. Of course if he changes his appearance into a deserter, it will be a different story.
He suddenly became quiet, looking like he was thinking about something when he suddenly smiled at me, giving me goosebumps as he looked like he is about to do something....
With a sudden flash, his appearance changed into Lion.
What the?!
That looks creepy!
Yes, he may look like Lion except for his eyes. They are entirely red.
He moved closer to me while I looked at him with contempt, when he suddenly spoke in a voice that sounds like Lion.
Now I'm even more weirded out.
But I decided to let him have his fun before whacking him with my Buddhist staff.
He sat beside me and began whispering all sorts of sweet words into my ear, acting like Lion as he caressed my hair and was about to embrace me when I whacked him with my Buddhist staff.
He yelled in pain before transforming back to his real form.
Raising his eyebrow, he asked me what was that for and he was just playing with me.
I told him that I felt weirded out by his behavior and yes, it doesn't feel the same.
He pondered for a bit before declaring that he still needs improvement and will practice more as soon as we are done with getting the transformation stone.
I don't need to know about that.
Despite me trying to sleep, he still continued on talking about how he also needs to improve his appearance as well and so on.
After a long time of talking about himself, I sleepily told him that I really need to sleep and will talk to him later.
And he shouldn't do any weird things to me while I'm sleeping.
He chuckled then reminded me about the things that he said earlier.
I kept on nodding at him before falling asleep.
....
I know he's trying to do something to me while sleeping.
I glared at him while he tried to look innocent in front of me.
Yes, I had a good sleep but had all sorts of...erotic dreams about the pack.. and other individuals as well..
Which was unusual for me as the dreams seemed too vivid.
Yes, I definitely know that it was a dream as some of the stuff... I haven't experienced yet in real life...
Good thing that it didn't go too far as I yelled his name in my dream. The dream stopped immediately, which was a bit of shame as I kind of like it if it weren't for the fact that he's influencing it. It weirded me out.
I yawned loudly and glanced around at our surroundings, noting that it hasn't changed at all. I'm not sure how long was I asleep but at least I'm good for now.
We continued on our way in silence. Asmodeus seemed like he was contemplating something while I tried to ignore him on purpose.
Suddenly, the ground trembled that I immediately tried to climb on Asmodeus' back while he glanced around in alarm.
The ground surrounding us exploded that Asmodeus hurriedly carried me in his arms as he flew in the air. Everything is in chaos as it seems like several bombs exploded around us, spraying debris and rocks high in the air that Asmodeus used a spell to shield us.
He mumbled all sorts of expletives while looking around for the cause of the chaos.
I looked at the ground and saw that it turned into some sort of a liquid sand mud or quicksand that immediately swallowed the huge rocks that fell on it.
A huge rock crashed on Asmodeus' shield, making me cry out in fright while he flew away from it, then several more rocks flew towards our direction, as if someone is trying to intentionally hit us.
He landed on a considerable distance away from the chaos when the ground underneath us suddenly split open, in which I would definitely fall down in the chasm if it weren't for Asmodeus saving me.
Now both of us are yelling expletives as several sharp, jagged stalagmites erupted unexpectedly out of it.
I shouted at him to fly away from this madness while he retorted that he's trying his best to get away too.
A deafening noise seems to engulf the place in which the air around us became thick as presence of a fog like haze of dust and debris...
I coughed uncontrollably and panted as the air started to choke me. Asmodeus flew around while he continued to made sure that the shield around us is not broken or else we'll be hit by the rocks that kept flying towards our direction.
As for Orm, Khamsin and Sly, they slept like babies, not seeing the danger that we're in right now though they are safe inside their bubbles.
This air is making me suffocate!
I closed my eyes for awhile as Asmodeus kept on trying to find a safe place for us when he suddenly growled in anger.
Angrily, he said that he should've known that it was him all along.
Him?
What did he...
When I opened my eyes, I saw Ghost in his ultimate form, in the middle of an enormous tornado, as if he is the eye of the storm.
He is, in a way, as it turns out he is the cause of the chaos.
Mad. He is definitely mad.
As for Asmodeus, seeing the chaos seemed to trigger something in him that he snickered, murmuring that if Ghost is trying to fight him in his ultimate form, then it is fair that he should turn into his ultimate demon form as well.
No!
Ghost will definitely die if Asmodeus will attempt it!
Seeing Asmodeus must've triggered the madness inside Ghost as it could be instinct or something, as Liches and demons are natural enemies, though Ghost is not completely a lich but still.
There's no other reason for it as he almost killed me while trying to kill Asmodeus.
THAT DUMMY!
Asmodeus barely avoided a huge piece of debris that flew towards us, triggering his rage that he began to transform.
OH MY GOSH! WHAT THE HECK SHOULD I DO!
Ghost gave an extremely high pitched shriek that I immediately covered my ears while I tried to calm Asmodeus down.
Asmodeus glared at Ghost as he bellowed on why he is the one who is supposed to calm down when he didn't do anything at all.
Good point.
Seeing that he cannot be reasoned out anymore, I sighed and told him to go for it but he shouldn't kill Ghost.
With a look that is too scary to put into words, he placed me inside a bubble then transformed into his terrible ultimate demon form.
An extremely thick cloud of dust, debris and who knows what else surrounded him as he transformed, while giving a resounding ROAR.
I CAN'T SEE! I WANT TO SEE!
Or maybe not.
I changed my mind on trying to see him when I heard all sorts of terrible sounds.
Of course, I covered my ears as the sounds of them fighting is too terrible that there are no words to describe it.
I wonder what's wrong with Ghost?
He seems mad.
But is he mad enough not to see me? He tried to kill me!
Not intentionally, I think.
Maybe he's not yet in complete control of his...
A huge golem suddenly appeared in front of me in which I screamed in fright.
It tried to attack someone and upon hearing the yell from that someone, it seems that it's trying to attack Asmodeus.
Wow.
Ghost can conjure golems now?
Amazing!
His magical powers certainly improved! A huge thanks to dad's underlings.
It's such a shame that I can't see them while they are fighting. The environment is extremely dry so it's no wonder that there's so much dust flying around while they are fighting.
Extremely dry that there's still no vegetation or presence of water around.
But the temperature is a bit cool, not humid.
Hearing the sounds made me realize that the battle will take a long, long time.
.....
I was mistaken.
It didn't take that long.
And you can easily guess who won.
Despite a huge improvement on Ghost's magic skills, especially his earth elemental magic, he has a long way to go before managing to put up a fight against Asmodeus.
Maybe if it were dad against Asmodeus, dad would surely win.
But Ghost is a baby compared to Asmodeus so it didn't surprise me that he lost.
He got knocked out and was placed inside a bubble as Asmodeus kept laughing, saying that Ghost must've overestimated himself.
Yeah... Seeing how it wasn't that much of a fight made me understood my situation.
I really have no escape.
That's just Asmodeus and he didn't even made that much effort in his ultimate demon form. How much more if the pack is facing the entire seven arch demons?!
But the other five were not yet created though the demons already existed but they are just waiting for the rest of the magical stones to be completely "whole".
After getting the transformation stone, I expect that we would be send out again to get the three remaining magic stones. I wonder what kind of power they contained.
Ah. How exhausting.