Demon's Virtue

Chapter 293 - Mana Exhaustion

Eiro led the Stag back into the castle's interior and quickly brought him up the stairs to Solomon's private study.

"Y-You can't truly believe that this dumb animal managed to remember you, right? There is no way that it did." The Ghost following Eiro pointed out, trying to get the Demon to form that deal with him, and Eiro thought about it for just a moment, "No, I do believe it. Right, Lugo?" Eiro said with a smug grin as he looked straight at the stag, at which point someone else joined the conversation about something that had bothered him for a while.

"Alright, could someone actually explain to me why Lugo is here in the first place, and why he is following around this complete stranger?" James asked with a deep frown. It made sense that he would know Lugo, after all, even Solomon did. Since Eiro didn't have any better explanation, he just looked at James, his face still being hidden underneath the mask of course, and said, "He's my familiar, obviously he would follow me around. Now, don't bother me. Lugo is the key to getting rid of this whole storm."

"The fuck do you mean he's your-" James exclaimed loudly, but Solomon rather cared about the latter part of the Demon's exclamation, "He is the key? In what way exactly?"

"It's simple. He is unaffected by the magic that is fused with the storm. So if I simply create a counter-spell that takes... erm... Lugo as a basis, then we can get rid of that magic itself. Then I just need to combine it with a magic that I can use to get rid of the storm, and then it should work out well." Eiro explained with a broad smile on his face.

Lugo smugly sat down on the ground next to the desk that Eiro was working at, and the Demon slowly turned over toward him. He looked deep into his eyes in a determined way, "Alright, if we do this... I'm most likely going to forget everything about you that I've ever known. There might be some scattered memories I can pick up on more easily over time, but for the most part... Everything will be gone."

The Stag looked back at Eiro for a moment and then slowly nodded his head in an understanding way, "I know I always call you an idiot, but you really are much smarter than any other of your kind, huh?" Eiro smiled softly as he rubbed his hand over Lugo's forehead, and the deer simply looked up smugly, knocking a couple of things from a shelf next to him in the process, "Yeah, nevermind, bud." The Demon laughed and then took a deep breath.

"Ready?" Eiro asked. Lugo nodded his head. Immediaetly, the Demon stopped trying to restrain himself in his thoughts. He let them run wild and he focused his perception completely on Lugo and the mana flowing inside of him.

Eiro ran his fingers over Lugo's fur, felt his heartbeat and his breathing. All the magic that seeped out of Lugo's body or flowed through him at all times.

Numerous thoughts ran through Eiro's mind and then disappeared again, as if his touch pushed them even further away because he didn't manage to grab on tightly enough. The Demon continued on and wrote all the information that he got from this down on the paper around him. It took Eiro hours to finish, hours during which Eiro did nothing but make different connections.

After all, creating a normal spell was hard enough already. Creating a counter-spell for a uniquely created spell was much harder. And of course, creating that counter-spell in the image of a living being was astronomically harder once more.

And then, while the moon stood high in the sky and the layers of snow climbed higher and higher outside, it finally clicked inside of Eiro.

"I've... I've got it. I understand it." The Demon pointed out with a wry smile on his face as his body nearly gave up and slumped in while Eiro was only half-sitting on his chair, coming closer and closer to the edge the longer he had been inspecting Lugo like this.

"You have it?" Solomon asked, "Really, you actually figured it out? You can stop this storm and this wicked spell placed into it?"

Eiro turned over toward the King with a nod on his face, "I do. I'll head outside and-" The Demon started as he slowly stood up, but his legs soon gave in and he dropped onto his knees due to exhaustion.

"Careful!" Solomon exclaimed with worry in his voice, "What's wrong?" He asked, and Eiro slowly looked up at him.

"...Mana exhaustion..." He muttered quietly, and Solomon let out a deep sigh, "You've got everything noted down, right? And Sarius should understand it by now too, so there's no need to worry. Just take your time and rest for now. And once you've recovered, you can stop this storm." Solomon suggested. Eiro looked up at him and slowly nodded his head.

"R...Right..." But just as he said this, the world became dark around Eiro as he fell unconscious.

---

"What do you mean?! He's a demon! He killed those kids! He ate them!" Eiro could hear James' voice fill the room as he slowly woke up again. Instinctively, the Demon looked around the room. It should have been maybe a few minutes at most that he's been out of it. But at the same time, when this happened, hsi fusion with Sarius was interrupted.

Since he was using the fact that his horns and wings practically turned into fire to hide them, the moment that the fusion wasn't a thin anymore, the Demon's wings and horns showed themselves to everyone in this room. And since it was James' goal to hunt down the Demon that's been 'terrorizing' this town at the moment, it was clear that he would get angry like that. Eiro was surprised that he was even still alive.

Although, since Sarius, Solomon and Lugo were all protecting him, it was to be expected that he would be safe.

Eiro slowly pushed himself off the ground and tried to stand up properly. But the moment that he stood up, James seemingly didn't care anymore. He pushed Solomon to the side and slipped past Lugo, while Sarius himself wasn't much of a challenge right now.

James tried to stab one of his daggers right into the side of the Demon's throat, but Eiro just slowly raised his hand toward the blade. With his 'Rock Skin' ability active, Eiro slipped his fingers past the blade just barely and then hooked the tips of his fingers onto the dagger-guard.

With enough force, Eiro managed to push onto the guard in a way that James' grip on it became weak, at which point Eiro simply pulled it out of the Light Elf's hand.

The metal blade rubbed over Eiro's hand as he moved it with a swift motion and soon held it himself, moving it right to the underside of James' chin, "Nobody tell you not to fight with that prosthetic arm like that until you're at least used to it?" Eiro asked with a loud groan as he rubbed the bridge of his nose while James was basically frozen in place after that unexpected counter-attack.

The Demon's head hurt an incredible amount right now due to the little amount of mana left in his body. It was as if his head was about to explode, and any single motion of his might randomly trigger that explosion. Eiro looked around the room at everything that was around him. He felt a bit hazy right now, so he couldn't really recall much about anything right now.

But due to the high amount of information on the notes scattered all over the room, he managed to figure a few things out again. But something felt off, there was something that was... wrong on those notes.

The notes spoke of a Ghost that was roaming around, but... "Where is it?" Eiro muttered quietly, "Where is the ghost?"

"What are you even talking about? What Ghost?!" James exclaimed with an angry glare. Eiro turned his head and glared back, "A Ghost that only I was able to see. It's not here anymore. Sarius, did you see it?"

"...I don't think so... It just randomly disappeared. I was kinda forced to focus on a dirty deer for a couple of hours, you know?" The Salamander pointed out, and Eiro slowly looked at the spirit with a light frown, "...Do you have any idea where it might have gone?"

"I dunno. But it seemed like you fought it before while it was still alive? He said he was a demi-lich or somethin'."

Immediately, James snapped his neck around toward the Salamander, "What do you mean, 'Demi-Lich'? What Ghost? What was its name?"

"Eh... Bahlsen? Or Edward or something?" The Spirit suggested. Immediately, James turned back toward Eiro, "Tell me everything you know about that bastard!"

"I would if I could, buddy. Listen, I don't really know all that much right now anyway, I've got trouble remembering basically... everything. But I think I might be able to track it? Sarius, come on... let's fuse again..." The Demon suggested and stretched his hand out, but the Salamander immediately shook his head in rejection, "Oh fuck nah, I ain't fusing with you when you're like that! If you die while we're fused, what's gonna happen with me, huh?"

"Sarius. Fuse with me immediately." Eiro practically growled, his annoyance and anger seeping out of his expression so that it affected everyone in the room. The Salamander figured he had little choice but to do as he was asked, and dove into the Demon's chest.

Immediately, the world became hazy around Eiro once more, because he was still low on mana. The Demon took a deep breath and then looked around the room. He was able to see rough traces of where the Ghost had been before and where he had moved, so he would be able to track him down like this.

It seemed like he flew straight out through the window, so the Demon quickly approached it. But once he saw the direction that the thin line of magic that the Ghost left behind led to, Eiro choked up.

He recognized that direction. Eiro had the worst feeling that he could ever possibly have.. Immediately, he tried to fly out of the window again, but this time around he was stopped by James' forceful scream, "Oh, don't you dare fucking leave! Stay here and explain this to me right now, you piece of shit Demon!" With a deep glare on his face, James tried to walk up to Eiro to hold him back here in this room, while that Ghost made his way over toward Eiro's Manor where the children were right now.