Demon's Virtue

Chapter 398 - The Deal

Eiro pushed Koperia away from him, "Please stop joking like that. You know exactly that I won't be 'yours'. Ever." The Demon sighed deeply. Koperia looked back at Eiro with a light frown, "Then what else will you offer me for my services?"

"Your... services?"

"Yes, 'services'. Helping your soul take on a proper form during your next evolution... your... legendary evolution. Surely, it might be powerful enough for your soul to adapt naturally, but at the same time it could also simply not happen. However, this will be your best chance at ever shaping your soul, at repairing it. How about I stay nearby, and when it's time for your evolution, you let me help you a bit." The Queen of Undeath asked. Eiro turned his head toward Armodeus, who had a nervous frown on his face.

"Lad, she's right. It's yer best chance. The current Monster King is probably the mightiest any has ever been. Skipping the stage of a 'royal', it immediately became king. You know that. If ya really want to go through with your plans, ye're gonna need any amount of power you can get." The Elder Dwarf pointed out. Eiro nodded his head.

"Yeah, it's too risky not to take advantage of this..." Eiro muttered, and then looked straight at Koperia, "Before I make you the offer... You are still counted as a 'person', right? I don't know what magic at your grade can do to one's body, but..."

"Of course I'm still a person. I would never let my own magic turn me into some sort of monster. Only the living can truly control the dead." The Queen of Undeath explained bluntly, and Eiro crossed his arms in thought, "Then I have a deal for you that can help us both a bit more... I know the location of 'The Death'. Since I'm aware you like to harvest 'techniques' from powerful necromancers, maybe you would like to do the same with that creature. In return, I want you to leave the card of 'The Death' to me."

"Lad, but..." Armodeus started surprised, "You already have the card of 'The World', what do you need 'The Death' for?"

"Easy. I want to make sure that nobody else can get it. Once I kill 'The Devil', I'm also going to keep that card. Of course I still need to find a good way to keep them with me safely, but I want to weaken the Monster King's army as much as possible. And of course, after saying that I want to get rid of the Monster King forever, I can't just let a being of death incarnate wander this world uncontrolled." The Demon pointed out.

Koperia looked at Eiro with a curious expression, and started to pace around the room in thought, "Interesting. Spells and techniques taken directly from a royal... Interesting." She smirked lightly, "Of course, as I said earlier, I don't have the slightest interest in things like cards and such, so you can keep it for all I care. But for that to happen, you must be the one to do the killing, is that not right?"

Eiro smiled lightly and nodded his head, "Yes, that's also another benefit that I'll gain. A lot of levels from killing another royal."

"I'm glad that you're honest like that. However, I want you to be honest with another thing. You have also used Necromancy before, have you not?"

Eiro raised his brows surprised, "You can tell?" He asked. Koperia immediately nodded her head, "Of course I can. Any magic used is ingrained into the wielder's mana. Those with enough skill can even tell the exact spells that were case. It's been a while for you, though, so that doesn't seem possible anymore."

"I created two Will'o'Wisps using the souls of two young adventurers I killed." Eiro explained, "Luckily the souls were still there, and I read a few books about ghost-type undead. They're the only sort that actually keep their soul to an extent. And the spell I cast made them independent of me."

"Oh? Not everyone can do that with their first casting of a death spell. You seem to be rather skilled in casting magic as well." Koperia said curiously, "But there's one more thing I'm wondering... That was the only time you used necromancy, is it not?"

"Yes, it is... Why?" Eiro asked, already aware of what Koperia was most likely about to say to him next. And soon, he realized that he really did ask what Eiro didn't want her to ask. Koperia smiled as she locked eyes with the Demon, "Why do you have an Undead walking around your home?"

Eiro glared back at her, walking in front of the door immediately, "That's none of your business. She is none of your business."

"Oh? For someone who couldn't even fight against one of my dolls, you are acting a bit too much like you could stop me." Koperia pointed out. Eiro groaned loudly, "Then let me go about this another way. Koperia, please don't mess with her. She's a good girl, alright? I have a bit of a fail-safe, if you can't tell." The demon said, glancing at part of the thin layer of the ace of cups' liquid that was coating the walls.

"If I need to, I will kill you through any means necessary." Eiro said bluntly, and Koperia began to laugh loudly, "Don't worry, I'm insane, but I'm not a psycho." She replied with a smirk, "I want you to be part of my collection, but you said you don't want to. And since you seem to be a good kid, I'll let you live for a while longer."

"..." Eiro silently turned his head toward Armodeus, who slowly nodded his head, "Aye, lad, d'ya really think Jura would be friends with someone that would indiscriminately kill others? If that was the case, both Jura and I would already be long dead."

"Huh... I guess that's... fair." Eiro replied, and locked eyes with Koperia, "Alright. If you can truly promise me that you won't do anything to her, I'll introduce her to you... You could be some help in figuring her out anyway."

Eiro turned around and opened the door, revealing a young, cloaked girl to be standing there. And behind her was Ariella, just as curious as Hannah about what was going on in this room. They had both noticed that someone powerful entered this building, after all.

"Come in." Eiro said, quite nervous. But since he knew for a fact that Koperia was telling the truth the whole time, and she actually never spoke even a single lie the whole time they had been speaking, Eiro figured that it was fine to let Koperia meet Hannah. And since Ariella wouldn't let Hannah meet someone like that alone, Eiro of course pulled both of them, and not just the undead, into the room.

"These are Ariella and Hannah. Hannah is the undead." Eiro said bluntly, while both of the girls were basically frozen, standing in front of Koperia. Of course, mostly because Koperia was exerting pressure onto them so that she could get a proper look at them.

"Please stop that, they're my guests." Eiro sighed. The Queen of Undeath rolled her eyes, "Fine. You're no fun, you know that?"

"I've been told." The Demon said bluntly. Koperia looked at Hannah a bit more closely, but all that she was able to actually 'see' was a young girl. After all, Eiro had finally completely covered her in the skin prosthetics, and the artificial artifact created by Armodeus was set into her chest. And just like that, her disguise was basically perfect. She looked as if she was alive! She was still mute, as Eiro hadn't finished the prosthetic voice-box yet, but appearance-wise, she was just a regular human girl.

However, at the same time, Koperia could see something beyond the fake skin. She could see that Hannah was an undead, but she could also see that she had a soul and even life force.

"How... intriguing. Girl, is your status a full one, as if you were alive? Not just the limited status that Undead usually possess?" Koperia inquired curiously. Hannah turned her head to look at Eiro, who nodded his head.

And so, Hannah turned back toward Koperia and nodded, trying to mouth the word 'yes' with her fake lips.

Koperia got the message, and couldn't help herself but grin, "How is that possible? You are a pure contradiction! Juxtaposition incarnate! An undead with life force! How wonderful!" Koperia's heartbeat sped up, and Eiro realized that she was getting a bit too excited over the body of a 14 years-old girl at the moment.

"Koperia, concentrate, please. It's because of a Unique-skill she has. But now I'm wondering, considering that she has life force and a fully intact soul, could she be-"

"Oh, you want to know if she can be resurrected? Of course not. She's not even really dead in the first place. She's a living undead. She is the only true un-dead I have seen in my admittedly long life." Koperia explained, looking deeply into Hannah's fake eyes, "But don't worry child. You have great talent for the art of necromancy. As you are neither truly dead, nor alive, you can access both halves of existence equally. So don't be too sad, you have a great future ahead of you." Koperia explained, "Except, of course, if you want to offer yourself to me and become part of my collection... I could help you gre-"

"Koperia, stop it." Eiro groaned, and the Queen of Undeath turned her head and smiled back at the demon, "It was worth a try, wasn't it?"