Chapter 2: Demon’s luck

After having half of his power left behind, Lunarius then manages to return to his “comfort zone” through the portal he had opened. Without a body, and surviving only as a spirit on the astral plane, he finds himself with his main companion, lying on a sofa, who seems willing to comment on his pitiful situation.

???: “Hmmm, Lunarius, I see you’re not in the best of situations. How did you get into this? Hehe.”

Lunarius: “The most serious thing is that I had to leave my body. Looking back, I don’t think I really needed it, but look, I was in tears, I value my safety more than a disposable body.”

???: “Do you really think so? When you get a solid and well-shaped body, I hope you don’t end up discarding it like you did now, not that I mind.”

Lunarius: “Hm, looking on the bright side, I think the human who obtained a portion of my power will use it for something useful. I just hope he doesn’t end up extorting me even more...”

???: “A human, extort you? I see the evil Lunarius is more passive lately.”

Lunarius: “Hmm, that’s enough, talking to you is freaking me out more than I’d like. I hope you have ‘good times’ ahead too, Elscar.”

Moving away from the second individual, Lunarius looks for a mirror big enough to reflect an entire body, and by making a magical reflection of his astral body, begins to use demonic magic to create a new body. Although such a body is based on the image of his astral spiritual form, he has to manually create the entire anatomy of the body. In the midst of this, he does things in anyway since he barely feel any senses trough this sort of body created my demonic power, but still following a little of what he knows through his knowledge, after all, he needs the body to function like that of a humanoid being. Demonic power is only able to manipulate reality, and it is not able to assume a completely different form if it does not have the power to do so, it is basically only able to copy and paste.

In the end, the result is better than his last body: The heart and brain this time are in the right place. His green hair and blue eyes are visible. His skin, despite having some irregularities, is pale, typical of the body of demons. Lunarius then create his own clothes, they are slighty armored with his own magic and are mostly yellow.

Elscar, who apparently sees the scene, comments: “I always thought it is kind of gross. Fortunately, I almost never switch bodies.”

Lunarius: “Of course, you barely change from the same position once a day.”

Elscar: “And what am I going to do? We’ve been stationed around these lands for quite some time now. Rather than risk walking around and making contact with suspicious people and possible screwing up something like you, I’d rather wait for the orders from above, they probably have their own messy issues, and i wouldn’t mind rotting away from waiting, it would just mean I’m being held here and have more free time. Besides, I’m not merely standing still right now, I’m, uhm, thinking about technical stuff”

Lunarius: “Ha, I would do the same too, but I’m looking to hit the lucky roulette wheel now. That girl’s power is now parked in Henri’s body, which means he will be more vulnerable against possible attacks by draconians or other people who notice it soon. He absorbed a part of my power through some magical papers, I’d like to try to get them back right now, but I’m out of power, and when I get it back, who knows where they’ll be once i finally get to there by fliying for how many hours, there are some dillemas to think about...”

Elscar: “But you took a beating from him, didn’t you? If you try to get him back, won’t you make more mistakes?”

Lunarius: “Hmm, why are you warning me about this? I only took ‘a beating’ because I was afraid of being trapped there after the portal closed. Now is perhaps not the best time to act against him, however, I need to do something, right now i’m weakened.”

Lunarius finishes getting dressed with the clothes he created and immediately leaves the room. He is in the castle of the arch-demon Perla on the continent of Andresh, building magic castles is something very typical of demons in charge of the commander-in-chief position, it is a typical way to allocate a magical point of connection with the underworld, at the same time which guarantees the stay of named demons at strategic points. It takes a lot of power, and usually the castle’s accommodations are maintained through the power of the demons themselves, altrough the castle itself is owned by the arch-demon.

Despite having agreed to leave the underworld to join the archdemon’s army, Lunarius was rather disappointed to see that his bosses move little and barely tell him any confidential information about what is actually going on. By snooping around meetings, Lunarius managed to get some important information, which involves the capture of a girl with ‘original’ powers. Whatever it was, something seems to have gone wrong, and his superiors have been quiet ever since.

Considering the situation, he cannot wait any longer, as he intends to take advantage of his stay in this world as much as possible to obtain power since his last ventures costed him quite a lot to the point he almost had none. The humans here curiously know a lot about demons, obviously an effect of their long stay in this world, and it is not difficult to convince them to enter into contracts with him using his corruption powers. He just didn’t expect Henri, one of his main contractors, to outwit him. But to be fair, it was probably an overwhelming situation for him. Lunarius just took a lot of risk, and paid the bills for his mistakes, but time can’t be lost doing nothing while someone is toying with his own powers!

Now the plan is to convince other demons to conspire against the humans and get both his own power back and also the “original power”, he plans will hit two birds with one stone. Lunarius knows how valuable that power he discovered is, if he obtains it, he will surely leave most of his superiors in the slipper, and he won’t need to listen to any of them again besides the one who aren’t in this world. After leaving the castle and taking a look at one of the fields on the side, he is faced with some bored demons who are sitting around. Approaching them, he says:

Lunarius: “Hey guys, aren’t you getting tired of standing around already?”

??? (Male voice): “Pretty much i am, do you have something good to do?”

Lunarius: “Do you already understand what is the new wave of our superiors?”

???: “No. Since I got here, I’ve only been assigned to kill these monsters that roam the forests. It’s a joke, this type of situation that these guys on the top doesn’t explain anything to you.”

Lunarius: “Right. But what if I tell you that our superiors are cowering for a little girl? They seem to have tried to capture her, but she ran away, protected by the dragons.”

???: “Was it from that last mission? I remember they said they were trying to capture something, before they came back with their tails between their legs...”

Lunarius: “Exactly. Our superiors are not capable, but I operated autonomously and ... I discovered the location of our target. I am also aware of all the news.”

And continues: “But I won’t be able to capture the target alone. Our target counts ... With a multitude of humans capable of using magical power of sorts at his disposal, including individuals who use some powers antagonistic to ours. If I’m going to act alone, it will take years before I succeed capturing her. Why don’t you help me?”

??? (Female voice): “But what are we going to get out of it?”

Lunarius: “Hey, we’re going to act in human territory. Corrupting and eliminating humans will be enough for you to get your share, isn’t it?”

??? (Female voice): “I get the idea a little bit. But I want to know exactly what the plan is, who knows if there won’t be some hidden mess waiting for us, i already had my share of taking part in reckless plans who fucked me over...”

Lunarius: “Well ... To begin with, there isn’t, exactly, a plan. We just disguise ourselves as humans, and together, it’s just a matter of arriving at the target’s location and blowing everything up, it’s betten than standing around for orders who will never came.”

??? (Male voice): “But ... Your plan ignores a lot of things. What if the target runs away or disappears permanently after noticing us? They’ve tried to capture this girl before, and apparently it went very wrong, considering that the superiors are still quiet and shy about the matter. If it were that easy, they would have sent us all there by now, but i bet they don’t even know her currently spot.”

Lunarius: “ ... If you’re not up for it, I’ll come up with a way, by myself, to capture the target! Hear me, if the lazy leaders aren’t doing anything important or simply are caught in their own bullshits then it’s up to person like me, the truly free to do something!”

Lunarius’ frustration seems misunderstood by listeners, who seemed intrigued by the idea of something to do, but something does seems to be holding them back in Lunarius’s perception, who knows if they are really trustable to beggin with? Before the demon from before could try to say something to him, Lunarius already turned around and flew away.

??? (Male voice): “Does anyone here know this guys? Where have you ever seen people come here to ask for help only to run away in the slightest disagreement...”

Another demon arrives, Elscar. Apparently he was following Lunarius and somehow managed to observe the situation without being noticed.

Elscar: “I know him very well, and how can we tell ... He’s good at acting, but seems quite out of touch with things like this, I think he must own his traumas, or he’s just rushed...”

Elscar continues to dialogue with the demons. Meanwhile, Lunarius continues flying for a few hours at high speed, approaching a territory close to the demons, supposedly occupied by their main enemies at the moment, the dragons. Before the demons came, they lived in isolation across the vast continent, but eventually had to unite into a single military force to fight a common enemy. As they are formidable beings, it usually takes armies to eliminate a single dragon, but the archdemon is capable of temporarily holding back one or two on her own, she is only rivaled by three other demons among the demon forces in this world, and her main minions are also fearsome in their own right. But from the beginning, dragons have never been the target, but those who possess the “power” they seek.

Eventually, the main target fled to the mainland in the west, and the last target also fled to the east. Lunarius, for all this time, could only wonder why the archdemon seemed so incompetent as not to move to capture targets since the dragons doesn’t even seems capable of leaving this continent anyway. After the last fiasco, they stayed put for years, even though they knew the second target was on the run, and who knows what will end up happening while someone with that much power is on the move. Maybe there is some information that he will never know by himself.

Eventually, he arrives close to the place that he has been investigating for some time, the mountainous contours of the desert region to the southeast of the mountainous region that surrounds the forests around the castle, for some time now he has noticed a great magical presence in the place, but he still does not know the specific location of it. It’s like the whole place is ready to conjure something, but it’s doesn’t look like anything will happen since there are not any sort of magic taking place.

Lunarius then starts hunting for something. He continues hunting for hours, until nightfall, but apparently finds nothing. The energy he senses from the place feels demonic, but it’s purer and less chaotic than it usually is. For a moment, it crosses his mind that perhaps some extremely powerful demon, like his lord, is trying to communicate with him. The thought seems a little absurd, considering that his demon lord has not much of a history of intervening in missions unless if there is a critical situation, mostly because because there are not many means to do so, it’s impossible to summons higher beings, and the more powerful it his, the trickier will be the conditions, but the fact that so much power is located in the middle of nowhere is perhaps a hint for something, so maybe it’s actually aimed to be solved by him?

To conjure an entity in a place with so much power, it is necessary for him to prepare three or more magic points throughout the region, preferably in high regions. The more magic points, the better, however, he doesn’t know what awaits him, and therefore, he intends to be more conservative, and will prepare four magic points in a square shape on top of four points in the highest mountains he can locate. To form each point, a small sacrifice is needed that refers to what must be invoked, or a large amount of power from it, together with a stable symbolic structure that can direct all that power in a single place and form a connection with whatever is there. what should be invoked. In this case, Lunarius will establish four points and a central point where everything will be directed. The symbol used refers to the power that is in place, however, it is impossible to deduce which is the correct symbol on that occasion, considering that he does not know how to conjure such an entity. His only hope is that his actions have already been premeditated by this being.

The idea is to place a quarter of the spell’s power at each location, along with a steady portion of his own power to try do direct it at each point. First, he absorbs, and then, he begins to direct everything to the magic symbol he has established in the place, and the symbol he uses will be the chaotic star, that is, the symbol that refers to the chaotic power capable of corrupting the order of the stars, though he obviously isn’t capable of doing so, but the stars refers to the planets, and this power is already enough to do some slighty corruption without troubling the higher beings who protects it. Finishing the first point, it is necessary for him to hurry to the next point, as the tendency is that eventually so much power will destroy the limited symbol he has established with his own power. He repeats this process 3 more times in the places he designated, and when he arrives at the place where he should place the main point, he notices that the four symbols suddenly begin to act alone, establishing, in the middle, the symbol of Satan, it’s the most powerful demonic symbol, which leads to chaos in all order to the space level. Suddenly, a mirage appears over the symbol, a black door. Lunarius enters it, and inside, he is covered by complete darkness. The door closes, turning into giant lips, Lunarius, however, is no longer able to see himself.

Lips: “Lunarius, I am ***, know your existence is necessitated, and I intend to form a contract with you, now.”

Lunarius seems to know whom he is talking to, considering that he kneels before such lips.

***: “Despite not being the most skilled, you are competent in the way that you should be. I offer you an opportunity to obtain all the power you need and wants, while at the same time you can also improve the situation of the mission that was given to your force designated by these regions.”

***: “As you may already know, Perla has been demonstrating an attitude unworthy of an archdemon. When I assigned her this mission, I didn’t expect her to be sitting in this world. I’ve already tried to warn her about this omission, which to my eyes and my knowledge, is premeditated for several reasons, and even though the signals have been weak, she continues without the expected attitude. Regardless of what she actually plans or does today or tomorrow, I have already decided that she must be replaced. Azel must become the new commander-in-chief of the demons in this region.”

***: “And you, Lunarius, must get rid of her. Take this.”

The mouth dissolves and forms a hand, holding a shapeless dagger.

Lunarius takes the dagger, but realizes that it has no physical form, apparently it is a weapon whose form is created by the one who controls it and from the essence it’s come from. The hand dissolves and turns into lips again.

***: “When you wish, this dagger will take shape. Just stick it anywhere in Perla’s body, and then I and my power’s essence will take care of the rest. Your safety is not entirely guaranteed, but if your fails even considering your circumstances who i deems to be special, know that I will replace you. If you fulfill your goal, I will empower you to the point that you can be considered 3rd class.”

Most demons are classless, but those who have names are divided into classes according to their powers, and the most basic division is 5th to 1st, a method of defining the divisions of raw power between they. Lunarius is a 5th class demon, the last one. Demons of this class generally have no fixed physical form, and the only way to increase their power is typically through contracts with living beings.

***: “Do you understand your mission? There will be no truly time limit for you to complete your task, however, I hope it doesn’t take more than a week, according to the way time works in the world you are in, since much more will greatly hinder the demonic forces overall progress.”

Lunarius: “ ... Yes sir”

***: “Now go. Don’t get caught for no reason, just focus on creating the ideal situation for hitting Perla with my essence.”

The lips form a door again. Lunarius opens it and returns to the normal world. The power that circulated in the magic symbols burst the casting points and disappear, and the door also dissolves in the air and disappears.

This mission was exactly what Lunarius wanted most. One wonders why it took so long for the demon lord to move, but possibly it’s due to the fact that there isn’t much time left for something, so maybe he senses that the situation will get out of hand if nothing is done now.

Archdemons are not easily replaced. As soon as they go to a place that is out of reach of their lords under their orders they easily gain independence and control over those of their legion. The dagger he received is directly imbued with the power that was at the site, which apparently belongs to the demon lord. The fact that it has no form is probably due to the fact that it’s expected that it will not be discovered by anyone until it has fulfilled its purpose, or maybe it’s true form is simply currently hidden from him.

Thinking about it, Lunarius would like to go directly get rid of Perla, but he doubts that he could get close to her easily, and it’s mostly likely that he’d get exterminated instantly. Until today, he has not been able to exchange a word directly with her, as he is always communicating through her subordinates.

Thinking about his options, Lunarius returns to the castle. It’s already morning, and he needs informations and solutions. He would like to enlist the help of Elscar and others in his investigative works, but a level of caution is always needed first. But maybe he can get information trough several sorces, as long as he doesn’t tell too much, altrough there still some risk in it.

As he searches the castle in search of his fellow Elscar, he sees several groups of demons heading somewhere in the upper part of the castle. Maybe there’s something going on that Lunarius doesn’t know about, like some general meeting. Following them, he sees several demons gathered in a hall on the 4th floor. Inside, he sees Elscar, talking with some other individuals, but now is not a good time to talk about his plans.

The demons are gathered and are making bets with each other, having drinks or just talking. There is also a stage that appears to be being prepared for an eventual speech.

Upon entering and sitting down, eventually two demons approach him. He recognizes that they are two of the individuals he tried to convince to join him yesterday.

??? (male voice): “Hey, you left out of nowhere yesterday, hahaha.”

??? (Female voice): “C’mon, Lunarius, you got us on the hook right after saying a bunch of stuff.”

Lunarius: “I’m a busy man, if you won’t notice, I’ll go do other things. Also, we talked yesterday and you already know my name?”

??? (male voice): “A friend of yours came to talk with us shortly after you left. His name is Elscar.”

??? (female voice): “By the way, we don’t even know each other. It’s been at least a few years since I came here, but I never met you.”

Lunarius: “I don’t stay in the castle. If I show up here, it’s usually at night, looking for information. Elscar always knows a bit, and is a decent informant, and is also one of the few people I know before coming to this mission.”

??? (Female voice): “Yeah? By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Marry, and this...”

??? (male voice): “I’m Kerry. We’re brother and sister.”

Looking back, the two are similar, but not uniquely similar. Both have pale purple skin and white hair, common traits coming from demons whose bodies are being maintained through magic. Lunarius’s own body is not yet pale and his hair is green colored, but both lose these characteristics over time. While fixed bodies maintain their characteristics permanently, bodies made by demonic magic tend to rot by themselves. The crucial difference between a fixed body and a temporary body is that one is meant to be kept as a permanent container for the spiritual form until it is destroyed, while the other is just a temporary physical repository so that we can exist.

Lunarius: “So, do you know what’s going to happen here? Or is it just another pastime for demons?”

Kerry: “Everyone was informed by the familiars. You weren’t here?”

Marry: “They said to come here because the archdemon would say something. Apparently, she will only come when she feels like it.”

Lunarius: “Typical.”

It’s curious that she comes to say something soon today. Maybe she sensed some sort danger, or maybe she’s been planning something for a while. High level demons can never be underestimated.

Kerry: “By the way, your friend Elscar is right over there. I’m going to go talk to the guys over there. If you feel like talking about something just say so.”

Lunarius: “If I’m going to say anything it will probably be after we leave here...”

Marry: “You seem to have something else in mind. Have you formed a plan or something?”

Lunarius: “Yeah. I got a great opportunity. But I don’t feel like letting you know here, it’s something that will potentially change my future after all.”

Marry: “Fair”

Marry goes after Kerry, and Lunarius remains seated, waiting to see if there’s going to be any spectacle, which is the way he always sees these meetings, which always come before something seemingly grand. He feels a certain animosity towards the situation, after all, it is doubtful that Perla has not noticed something. When looking at the stage, all he can see are some demons talking.

Elscar then approaches, accompanied by an individual.

Elscar: “Well well hello Lunar, I was thinking you were going to stay gone.”

Lunarius: “I give you the pleasures of seeing me. I wonder what will happen now.”

Elscar: “Looks like they’re going to organize another expedition. I hope they don’t throw us back against the dragons of the north.”

Next to Elscar, he sees Rupt, he is white and has a dark orange long hair, and is wearing some dark clothes, he is an demon with a fixed body, and Lunarius always trough of him as a lazy being, no wonder he walks with Elscar, but maybe that’s probably why he still has a fixed body, so no point in criticizing the dude.

Rupt: “Whatever comes, just follow orders, okay? You guys complain a lot, but I have no idea and I don’t want to know what the higher ups are thinking.”

Elscar: “Ke.”

Lunarius: “By the way, El, are you still writing that so-called work of yours?”

Elscar: “Yes, I’ve already progressed a few “levels”. I can’t wait to see how it will be in its final stage, hehehe.”

Rupt: “Still working on that gooey stuff? I can’t see it being worth the effort.”

Elscar: “The point is, with a grimoire, I’ll be able to automate my spells, won’t I? I might end up wasting a lot of power on fruitless rolls, but I know they’ll be worth a lot in the future.”

Rupt: “Hmmm, I don’t see the point in wasting power on something like this, but everyone has their own preferences in order to waste their time away I guess.”

Lunarius: “By the way, I have good news. I was contacted by our lord himself...!”

Elscar: “Are you serious?”

Lunarius: “Yes, I won’t talk about what it’s really about here, but he promised me power and a physical body if I do what he says.”

Elscar: “Probably must be something of weight then. I hope it’s to eliminate the person responsible for our stagnant stay in this region, kekeke.”

Rupt: “Orders from above? It sounds like a pain, what’s it about?”

Lunarius: “He didn’t tell me anything about rewarding others, but if they help me, I’ll inform him of any major contribution. Maybe he might form a body for them too or give them power, but I doubt it, unless some huge contribution besides mine actually happens.”

Rupt: “Seems interesting, but it’s certainly risky, who can say that trying to contribute will give your more power than it’s worth in the end? You’ll need to important people closely related to your mission to get anywhere.”

The three continue exchanging ideas, until new people appear coming through the entrance. It is the arch-demon Perla, she is of large stature, and has pink hair and characteristic purple eyes. Along with her are some other big shots, such as Azel, the guy with yellow hair, blue eyes, dark blue skin and a blue symbol marked on his cheek who looks like some word made by large claws, and Oss, a guy dressed in an overcoat and a characteristic hat, but who has all its colors in a gray and dark tone, looking like a mass of mold, which highlights the same colors of his skin, his eyes and his whole body, pretty monotonic.

They are totally different from any other demon in that they possess far greater powers and capabilities to the point they can just absolutely destroy entire armies with their brute power alone. Lunarius, as a low-class demon, is already able to influence classless demons and give them orders, but both of the three demons he sees are easily able to form their own armies through their powers, which are abundant. Despite this, they hardly appear on the battlefield, unless they are looking for something or are acting under some battle strategy. This is due to the fact that low-class and classless demons are subject to a hierarchy of power, being mobilized en masse, while high-class demons do not owe absolute allegiance to those at the top, and are able to act autonomously if they are not under direct orders.

Azel and Perla are almost on the same level, however, Perla has much more experience than him. Despite looking young, she is one of the oldest subordinates of the demon lord, which makes her recent attitude even stranger. Demons don’t care much for the passage of time, considering they are easily able to hibernate indefinitely so long as they have powers flowing through their bodies, however, the operation launched in these lands has lasted nearly a century, the fact that the lord has not intervened even after all this time is largely due to the fact that he also has his own duties.

Perla then moves from the entrance to the stage. Both of those following her don’t look like they’re going to say anything, they’re probably just watching the event unfold but don’t want to meddle themselves with the masses. And so, she begins her speech without further ado:

Perla: “Hello gentlemen, it’s been a long time since we’ve met like this. I’ve asked you to gather here because, as you expect, I’ll explain our next steps.

As you already know, Druaga took refuge in a distant continent, and from there he has already obtained new lands. The dragons are apparently still under his control, and a few years ago, I learned that he had left half of his power on this continent. Such power took on ... physical form, and the dragons were already instructed to take such an individual to be absorbed by Druaga.

I commanded troops to intervene, but the dragons were always too thick-skinned ... They slowed us down, and the result is that they managed to take such an individual to the other continent. I prefer to bet that the power has already been absorbed by Druaga, and therefore, I intend to prepare an expedition on the continent. In the last century, we have done nothing but sit around in this region, chasing vague clues, but now we have a good idea of our target’s whereabouts, and soon, I will be preparing to mobilize in the actual period. Everyone who is ready to apply to contribute something, line up from the entrance to the stage.”

Finishing the speech, the demons begin to talk to each other. Some are forming queues, and others are leaving the place. Most of them are going to be drafted to the expedition anyway, but volunteering is a good way to try to get special orders or to try to affiliate himself with some demon faction.