In four days' time, Ashe and Cetanu returned to the Monastery. In the days they spent gone, much had happened. They had completely restructured Castle Gaspard, and Cetanu had done most of the architecture.

With the revamped Castle Formorian, it was designed to accustom the many Wyverns that would be passing through. The small surrounding village and houses were all restructured as well, and the Grigoi and their Nephilim were enough to deter any bandit or thief in the area. There was, and might still be, no crime in Gaspard.

Ashe had briefly met his siblings and told them what he was. They were still young, so they took it as him joking and playing, something that he was very grateful for. He didn't want them to grasp the truth of his inhuman existence. Something he managed to restrain with the medallion he wore.

He'd made more modifications to it, reinforcing the chain with soil molded into iron, and threading shards of steel into the medallion itself. It looked rather out of place on the former commoner, but he was not only not human anymore, he was a future Lord of a noble House, no matter how minor it may be.

With the duo back in the Monastery, Cetanu looked to his progeny, who was rather well behaved the entire time. "Are you hungry?" he asked, and Ashe frowned, closing his eyes. He had spent a lot of time with his mentor and sire, who was teaching him that sadly, his inhuman desire to feed on the blood of humans was something that he'd have to accept and treat as normal.

"I… I am." he said, and Cetanu smiled, patting his progeny on the back. "I'm glad you can control yourself. If you want to feed, you can. Just do it as Ashe, not the Beast." he said, and the boy nodded, walking off, ready to finally deal with the moral struggle of deciding what human he wanted to feed from.

However, for the older, more experienced demon, he remained stalwart, as if pondering what to do. Because he had learned something else about his 'Inner Fiend', and that was that it wasn't ravenous at all. Cetanu had done almost all of the architecture and commissioning of local craftsmen without the dagger on his hip.

He was fully aware now that the monstrous instinct within him wasn't a killer, or something that sought dominance. It was a personification of his arrogance, a Beast that felt itself too important to feed on mere townsfolk.

"I'm glad you aren't a complete monster by now." Cetanu heard as he began to walk. He was surprised to hear Sothis' voice. He had almost forgotten about her in her silence. "I was wondering where you went." he said, and she grit her teeth. "Whatever that thing is was trying to keep me out. Thankfully I am far too great for that." she said, flipping her wild hair with a smug grin.

"What do you think of what I've been doing while you were gone?" he asked, glad that if he was going to be completely insane and hear voices, that he had two different voices to listen to. "I think you've been doing the right thing. Besides that…. Cat." she said, and Cetanu blinked. He'd almost completely forgotten about Victor.

Out of everyone he knew, the first person he ran into was his father. They nodded to each other, Jeralt able to tell that there was another growth in his son. "What is it this time?" he asked, and Cetanu looked to his father, the duo heading towards the Dining Hall. Cetanu didn't often eat, but for some reason he was craving human food.

"I ran into another Fleshcrafter." he said, and Jeralt looked to him, a brow rose. "Really? In Gaspard territory?" he asked, and his son glanced ahead before nodded. "He claimed that Mother was the one that Embraced him." he said, and Jeralt hesitated for a second before sighing.

"He's probably telling the truth. When we traveled together, me and your Mother often ended up in hostile territory, and for some reason, she only seemed to turn scumbags. It was like she was punishing them for their sins or something. It creeped me out." he said with a playful smile, letting Cetanu know that he rather enjoyed it.

Cetanu nodded. "So that's the difference between Mother and I, huh? She looked at what we are as a bad thing, and I don't." he mused, and Jeralt glanced to his son as they got in the line for the Dining Hall. Jeralt shook his head.

"She wanted that. See, she didn't like what she was because all of her 'brothers and sisters' were dead, and she was alone. She was thrilled when she found out she was pregnant with you, because you'd be that companion she'd been searching for." he explained.

The demon glanced to the ground. Was that why he thought about turning Ashe into a Blood Demon? Did he deep down feel a sense of loneliness? He wondered briefly before he sighed. "What did you do with the Fleshcrafter?" Jeralt asked, and Cetanu tilted his head.

"I ate him." he said, and Jeralt stopped in his tracks, almost spilling the hot bowl of stew in his hands. "Ate him? As in drained him dry?" he asked, and Cetanu shook his head. "No, as in I killed him and Fleshcrafted his corpse into an apple. I was curious to see what would happen if I cannibalized one of my own." he said, and the duo sat. Jeralt looked to his son with a look Cetanu couldn't decipher, and he didn't like it.

"You gotta understand that most of us aren't like you, Son. Being a cannibalistic demon isn't going to be something we can just hear without a reaction. It's… different." he said, and Cetanu sighed. He had a feeling that he'd eventually go to far, his desire for knowledge overwhelming his morals and ethics. He wanted to be 'human', and his cannibalistic actions weren't 'humane'.

"What happened to you afterwards?" he asked, and Cetanu looked up to his Father. "My… my Fleshcrafting increased in potency. It was more precise, and I was able to reconstruct things on a broader scale than before. Including my own body." he said, and Jeralt narrowed his eyes. "Your Mother was pretty good at that. She could always turn her arm into a shield or something to keep us safe." he said, and the demon felt himself smile, rather enjoying tales of his mother.

For a young Fleshcrafter like Ashe, who was finally in control, he found the idea of selecting someone as his next meal rather hard. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to feed from someone, as he'd long gotten over that. It was the fact that he was choosing a person to be fed from by a demon. It was like picking someone to be a martyr, someone to behead to make a statement. He found it hard to do.

"There's my Big Bro!" Ashe heard, blinking when he turned to see a huge man approaching him, wearing a golden uniform. "H-have we met?" he asked, and the man shrugged. "Probably not. I been waiting for you, Bro. This place sucks when you gotta keep secrets man." he said, and Ashe blinked. Who was this exactly?

The man must have picked up on his confusion, because he blinked. "My bad, Bro. My name's Victor Szlachta. The ladies call me Sabertooth, and I was made by Cetanu." he said, and Ashe blinked again. "Made?" he asked, and the big man nodded.

"I'm pretty sure you aren't good enough to do it, but I used to be a little black cat that wandered this place. Cetanu decided to change me into a big human kinda guy so that I could finally do what I really wanted to, Bro." he said, and Ashe felt a chill run down his spine. That wasn't possible, was it?

Could Cetanu truly go through the horrific process of pulling, stretching, twisting and rearranging the body of a house cat into such a large human being? What would be the purpose? "Did… did he tell you why he made you?" he asked, and Victor nodded.

"I'm a test. He wants to see if he can make 'War Ghouls' like me to protect his students incase anything happens to him." he said, and Ashe felt himself smile. Even though the idea was horrific, the thought that Cetanu would go through all of that vile, evil activity for the sake of protecting the Blue Lions was rather endearing, and almost inspiring to Ashe.

"So, you having a hard time picking out your prey?" he asked, and Ashe blinked before nodding slowly. This man was infact a cat at one point. He had to know something about being a fickle hunter. The man crouched slightly and slung an arm around Ashe's shoulders.

"I got the perfect person." he said, spreading his huge, sharp teeth in a smile that unnerved Ashe. The man leaned forward and whispered a name into his ear, and Ashe felt his spine straighten in shock. "You want me to feed from him?"

Despite the fact that Cetanu remained in the Dining Hall, absentmindedly reworking the flesh beneath his gloves over and over again, he found himself slightly hungry. It was odd, as he'd just eaten at least three servings of whatever was on the menu, his memory when it came to food rather short. He never truly paid attention to what human food he ate. He just knew that he normally enjoyed it.

"Professor, I'm glad to see that you're back." Cetanu heard, glancing up to see another surprising face. "Ferdinand, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, watching the confident noble sit down across from him. He seemed almost nervous, and fidgety, something that wasn't like him.

"Are you worried that Edelgard will disapprove of you speaking to me?" he asked, and Ferdinand frowned, trying to put up a defiant front. "That has nothing to do with it." he said sternly, and Cetanu resisted the urge to smile. "Well then, you won't mind if I ask you to join me on a walk? I've just finished eating, and I'd love the chance to walk it off." he said, and the orange haired young man nodded, following Cetanu through the nearest courtyard.

"What ails you? It's not often someone outside of my class comes to me." he mused, and Ferdinand sighed. "It...it's Edelgard. I think she means to take covert action against your friend in Gaspard territory." he said, and Cetanu rose a brow. "And how does she plan on doing this? He has an army of Wyvern Riders at his disposal." he said, and Ferdinand sighed.

"I do not know, but she means to take action against that House, or against our own classmate, Bernadetta. Whatever it is that you did to cure your student has her acting like a caged animal. Please, Professor, you must do something before Edelgard starts a war without realizing it." he pleaded, and Cetanu tilted his head.

He glanced around, noticing that they were rather close to his quarters, and suddenly, the Fiend smiled. "If you promise to protect Bernadetta and keep it a secret, I can show you." he said, and Ferdinand blinked.

The young man was immensely curious. How could he not be? The entire Monastery wondered what kind of sorcery Cetanu performed to cure Ashe and repair a severed arm. It was almost like he reversed time on the boy's body to before it happened. It was otherwordly. He nodded, almost cautiously, watching the black garbed man lead him to his quarters.

"Have a seat." Cetanu said, gesturing to the lone chair in his room. He watched the man snap his mantle off and remove the long sleeved overshirt he wore, a thin, sleeveless shirt beneath, revealing arms that looked like a wartorn battlefield.

"Edelgard can not stop me, Ferdinand." he said, sitting on the edge of his bed and looking to the Adrestian student. "Do you know why?" he asked, and Ferdinand shook his head. Cetanu inhaled. "Forgive my arrogance, but I can't find another way to say this. Someone like Edelgard, a person who could one day slay a God, is not capable of defeating someone like me, who is capable of becoming a God." he said, and Ferdinand found that rather surprising to hear.

"Become a God?" he asked, and Cetanu nodded. "A God is a being that creates life and is worshiped, no? As one who can create, change, and end life at a whim, I could easily inspire devotion and worship in those weaker than me. By definition, I would be a God. Now, I don't claim to desire worship, nor do I wish to attain Godhood, but I want you to truly understand that Edelgard isn't a threat to me." he said.

"If she were to send an army on House Formorian right now, I would easily rally together the entire Church, Kingdom and Alliance and have Adrestia wiped out and split into pieces for Claude and Dimitri to fight over." he said, and Ferdinand nodded, almost nervous at how different this man seemed.

"I.. I am aware. I wish to avoid that. Please try and dissuade her. I will help you however I can." he said, and Cetanu tilted his head. "Edelgard can not be dissuaded. It might take months, years, or most of her life, but she will eventually snap and declare war for little to no reason. All I can do is show her that she'd never win as long as I am a factor." he said, and Ferdinand clenched his fists.

He bowed his head, and Cetanu watched him closely. "If it means the safety of my people, the safety of Aegir, I would gladly lay in the grass as a dishonorable snake for your command. You only need to ask." he said, and Cetanu smiled.

"If I make you a Revenant of mine, you'd respond to a remote command even from thousands of miles away. Are you okay with that?" he asked, and Ferdinand blinked. "A… a Revenant?" he asked, and the Fiend nodded. "I've never done this, so I might fail, but there's no fault in trying." he said.

Ferdinand saw his eyes change, his teeth lengthen and sharpen as he opened his mouth. He bit into his own wrist, and Ferdinand winced at the sight of his blood drip to the ground. He stood, the blood from the ground pooling together as if by magick.

He walked around Ferdinand, placing his wrist by his face, his face near Ferdinand's ear. "Revenants are something exclusive to… creatures like me. You see, I can essentially make you a superhuman while bonding you to me. What this means is that you will live freely, but if I command, you will act without resistance against Edelgard. Are you alright with this?" he asked, and Ferdinand inhaled.

This was for Aegir, for the honor of his family, and for the protection of Adrestians everywhere. Under Edelgard's rule, the country would fall to ruin, or fall to defeat against a warrior like Cetanu and his allies. He grabbed the Professor's wrist and brought it to his lips, Cetanu's Inner Fiend cackling in his mind. "Three down!"

Cetanu stood outside his door, flexing his hand and chuckling to himself. He looked to Ferdinand, his curiosity piqued. "How do you feel?" he asked, and Ferdinand rubbed his neck where he'd been bitten. "Well, I feel fine, but are you sure this will be of use?" he asked, and the demon nodded.

"It's a precaution. Incase something happens and we go to war, I can command you to destroy Edelgard's forces from the inside out at the right time. It'll be a pincer attack in essence." he said, and Ferdinand nodded, mumbling to himself as he walked off.

Cetanu began to walk through the Monastery in thought. He found it rather odd that nobody had noticed his return for the most part. He wondered if Abaddon knew he'd return and kept them all away from him should he be famished, but that couldn't be the case.

Cetanu lifted his hand, casting the spell that drew out his Crest, now seeing the Crest of Cichol floating in addition. Now the only one he was missing was the Crest of Saint Cethleann, and he wondered how he'd come across it. He knew from his research that it was incredibly rare. And yet, he knew that Ferdinand's classmate Linhardt had the exact Crest he was searching for.

The Fiend was shaken from his schemes and trance by a smell assaulting his nose. It was both sweet and sour at the same time, a smell that had the notes of a rare Crest while also having the notes of something unpleasant. He inhaled again, noticing that there was a broken wall with a tunnel dug out to his left. He walked towards it, the scent growing stronger.

He smelled it again, noticing that it split up. Was there two? No, there was more than that. Infact, there was more than three. It was more like four. He inhaled again, trying to figure out what this scent was. He blinked, realizing that he recognized this scent from the cave in Gaspard territory.

Within this tunnel, wherever it led, there was something Cetanu wanted to see rather greatly. Because within this tunnel, he smelled four more Blood Demons.