Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 23: Snake Eyes
Diamond Kingdom Capital Sparta, Diamond Kingdom (Evening)
10 years ago...
A lone boy walks towards a brick building where the other kids of his age were heading.
Compared to the other kids, he himself was rather... different.
For one, he had no parents to speak of, unlike other kids, where they all had at least had one parent.
Another reason was the fact that unlike other kids, he himself was rather squalor in comparison.
Whereas the others had clean and intact clothing, he wore nothing but rags all over himself.
Another? He himself was on the verge of death whereas the others were well-fed in comparison.
And finally, whereas the other kids walked towards the building in order to become stronger for the sake of the kingdom.
He himself just wanted a piece of bread after a week without food.
As he and the other kids entered an isolated chamber, the man on top of a balcony spoke something about the word "initiation" to see if that they're "worthy".
He did not know what those words meant until he and the other kids saw what were slithering on the ground.
Death Adders. A species of animals that are native to the Diamond Kingdom that are more likely to bite down their lethal venom onto people with less magic.
All of them headed towards him, their sharp fangs sank into his skin.
For he had no flesh to speak of.
All he felt for the last seconds of his life were two things.
A burning sensation smoldering inside of his chest, killing him slowly.
And the sounds of his empty stomach begging for its denied last meal.
Limbo
The boy opens his eyes, only to find himself in a word devoid of all color.
He slowly stands up with his skeletal legs, trembling with every attempt.
His hollow feet touch the ground, only to feel nothing.
He then hears a soft and wind-like voice ring through his wilting ears.
"Are you dead?"
What does the word "dead" mean?, he thought.
Right in front of him, a tree sprouts right in front of him.
As the tree grew, eventually baring fruit.
The boy cared not for what kind of fruit it was, only the fact that it was food.
He dashes towards the tree, scaled up its trunk and branches until his hands grasped one of them.
With reckless abandon, he picks the fruit, and bites down onto its fresh skin and juicy flesh.
Within a single bite, the boy's head begins to ache, dropping the bit fruit, and he himself falling from the tree.
Images of a giant figure standing before a great fire, the rain of light that people ran away from, and a massive shining object that went through the same giant.
But, above all else, the boy felt different.
"I ask of you once more..."
The now understands what those words mean.
The winds are telling to answer again.
But what question?
"Are you dead?"
Dead.
The word... "dead".
The absence of life.
The cease of dynamics.
The fading of all sensation.
The boy now understood.
He himself, was "dead".
"Am... am I dead?" The boy spoke out.
"Yes. You are."
"... What now?" The boy asked.
"There is nothing else to be done."
The boy then begins to walk.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere else."
"Do you know where?"
"Dunno."
"What if there's nothing else waiting?"
"There was nothing for me there or here, so I can't tell the difference."
"Why don't you care?"
"It does nothing."
"What do you mean by the word 'nothing'?"
"Something that doesn't concern me in the slightest."
The voice within the air goes silent for a while as the boy continues to wander.
"Do you wish to do something about it?"
The boy is now loss for words.
A chance to do something.
Something other then wander around aimlessly.
Something other then scrounge for bits of food.
Something other then be bound by the shackles known as a "human body".
"Come now, I'm waiting."
"... I want to do something."
"Oh? And what is that 'something'?"
"... My 'human body'."
"And what parts of your human body are you talking about?"
"... Everything that makes me weak."
"Give me a few examples."
"Hunger, trembling legs, dry lips, dark vision, head hurting, cold feeling, pain all over... I..."
"'I' what?"
"... I just want it to disappear, forever."
Then the soft voice then turns to sharp and shrill laughter.
Then in front of the boy, the black ground's surface began to bubble.
From the ink-like foams emerged a giant black serpent with a green diamond pattern on the top of its head.
A giant Death Adder towered over the boy.
"Tell me..."
The boy's feet trembles under this alien feeling.
"Are you afraid?"
The boy's head nods up and down.
"Do you wish to be rid of such feeling?"
The boy nods once more.
"Then stand firm."
The boy then wills his trembling legs to a standstill.
"Now keep your feet on the ground."
The Death Adder then charges towards the boy.
The boy, even when his body felt like it wanted to wither under this terrible beast, his will won't allow his body to succumb to the suffocating darkness.
Change was present, and for the first time since he remembered living, he wished for something other than food.
The word, the objective, the purpose...
"Tomorrow."
The boy then begins to walk through the darkness.
"Tomorrow."
Even if his feet began to give way, his will refused to succumb.
"Tomorrow."
There was something for him, and no one else was there to take it from him.
"Tomorrow."
He won't go hungry.
"Tomorrow."
His body won't ache.
"Tomorrow."
He won't be weak ever again.
"Well done."
The darkness around the boy fades back to the blank white sky.
"You've shown that you still wish to live, despite your lack of desire and will."
"Was that... desire and will?" The boy asked.
"Desire and will occur when a person grows past just their basic needs, such as food and water being accounted with clothes and love."
The boy looks at his bony, frail, dirty, and naked body.
Suddenly, he feels... odd.
Like if he needs to put on something.
"Feel that? That is desire."
The word "desire", means "fill out" the "empty".
The boy looks around in panic, looking for something to cover up his shameful looks.
The trees with the black fruits.
The leaves will do, the boy thought as he hurried towards the tree.
He climbs up the trunk, picks leaves off of the trees, and covers himself as much as he can.
Out of instinct, his hand reaches out for another black fruit, but stops before he can do so.
His stomach was now hurting, but not because it was empty.
But because it was full.
"Feel that? That is will."
The word "will", means "control" over "me".
"Control" is the force that moves everyone.
Suddenly, he's not hungry for food anymore.
He's now hungry for control.
The boy climbs down the tree, and begins to inspect it by groping the trunk and roots of this tree, hoping to find something that he can move.
Suddenly, the tree itself begins to move.
Its roots begin to overgrow out of the black earth, its branches twisted itself into hands, and the trunk itself fractured into a face, glowing eyes and sharp-teethed mouth.
"See that? That is something that's stopping your desire and challenging your will."
The boy was confused with his next course of action.
Until his stomach grumbles as the hollow feeling returned once more.
"Are you hungry?"
The boy nods.
"Then kill."
The boy now lets go what little inhibition he had left.
No longer he will stay as the weakling that was doomed to die the day after.
If he's going to die, then he'll die by reaching out not towards salvation.
But towards desire.
"Take."
The branch-hands impale through the boy's stomach.
Undeterred even with the pain contorting his frail body, the boy pulls the branch arm towards him, inching him closer towards the black fruit.
"Rob."
The other arm rakes its thorny claws across his face, slashing both of his eyes out.
Even blinded, the boy remembers only one direction.
And that is "ahead".
"Tear."
The boy then feels his right leg being torn off by the tree's teeth, bone and fiber being ripped from his very being.
He simply ignores the pain shocking his whole body as he drags forward.
"Kill."
The boy finally grabs onto something.
Fruit or not, he simply tears it off of whatever it was attached to, caring not where it came from.
Sensing the opportunity, the boy then begins to stab the branch-arm with whatever he snapped off.
In his hands was a branch, with a rear tip sharpened from being broken off.
The boy drives the tip into the arm.
It goes through like a rusty nail through a pus, as the boy feels something splashing onto him after staking the object into the tree's arm.
Suddenly, the boy then feels something off.
Due to his current lack of eyes, he cannot tell the fact that he and the tree are falling down.
Its only the fact that the boy feels that his head was hit by something that he registers that the tree had stopped moving in to kill him.
Either that, or the tree was about to bring him down like a rock again.
"Congratulations."
The boy looks around despite the lack of proper vision.
"You've now experienced what it means to live."
"This... this is life?" The boy spoke out. "But it feels the same as before..."
"Do you hate it?"
Even if the boy knew not what the voice said, this was the only response that he can come up with.
"I do."
"Then the branch that you've grabbed onto."
The boy gropes the branch.
"Find a fruit, pick it from the branch, and eat it. But hurry, for it will rot if you don't."
Scrambling, the boy's hands shuffle through the fruit.
The first melts in his grasp.
The second was dried up to a husk.
The third was hard as a rock, most likely to shatter his teeth.
"Time runs short. Quickly!"
The fourth fruit...
... was fresh.
He picks the fruit, shoves it into his mouth, and swallows it whole upon entry.
The fruit enters the pit of his stomach, like a boulder sinking towards the bottom of a pond.
His body then begins to contort outwards.
Missing limbs growing back out, slashed-out eyeballs reappear along with his vision.
"Now I shall ask you again."
The boy struggles up to his feet.
"Do you hate it?"
"I still do."
The boy's expression was that of an unfeeling stone.
"Do you wish to be rid of all of it?"
"... When does it happen?"
The voice lets out a small chuckle.
"Just close your eyes. And upon opening them, follow the Death Adder with a green diamond on its forehead."
Follow a Death Adder? The very thing that killed him?
"Fret not. For a human can only die once."
"So even if I get bit, I won't die?"
"You won't be hurt ever again. That I promise."
With those reassuring words in mind, the boy closes his eyes.
"Tell me boy... what is your name?"
The movements of the boy's lips read the following.
"I don't have a name."
The boy's body sinks into the black earth, towards his next destination...
No Man's Land, Clover/Diamond Kingdom Borderlands (Dawn)
The boy opens his eyes to see the star-dotted skies.
He wakes up on top of a pile of rotting corpses, with all of them looking like kids in his age.
He minds not of the visage nor stench as he slowly gets up and starts to climb out of the hole that these forsaken children were thrown in.
The boy cared not of them or their kin.
Upon climbing out of the ditch, he then spots a Death Adder with the green diamond on its forehead, waiting for him.
"... The voice said that I should follow you."
The serpent then slithers away from him, with each hiss goading the boy to follow it.
He follows it as the snake continues to slither away.
The dawn sky slowly brightens into daylight.
As the sun rises into the sky, the snake and the boy head towards the shade.
The boy then realizes that he can't feel hot or cold, but pays no mind to it as the two head their way into a cave.
The boy expected the cave to be dark, but somehow, he was able to perfectly navigate through the tunnel despite no light coming through.
The serpent then stops at the pile of rocks standing in the middle of an empty chamber.
"A pile of rocks?" The boy spoke out. "What am I supposed to do with it?"
He then places his hand onto the pile, which it then crumbles down.
Beneath the gravel, peeked out a peculiar-looking pattern.
"... A grimoire?" The boy picked through the rubble.
The grimoire is then excavated, revealing its cover to be that of a diamond-like pattern made of four other diamonds that formed another four-pronged diamond in the middle.
The boy touches the grimoire with his bony hands, and upon contact, the grimoire then begins to glow in a blackish-green color as it slowly begins to float on its own.
"What... what is this feeling?"
The Death Adder then slithers up from his leg and up to his shoulder.
The snake then begins to hiss into his ear, saying something along the lines of this:
"Now find something that is alive."
The boy then hears something flapping in the air.
He looks up to see a bat.
"Point your finger towards it."
He raises his finger towards the flying cave rat.
"Now focus."
His vision then focuses on the now hanging bat.
"Now picture it without its wings."
The bat then falls onto the cave's floor with a splat.
"What..." The boy stuttered. "What... was that?"
"That, my prince..."
The Death Adder then slides down from his body and back onto the stone floor to devour the dying bat whole.
After finishing eating the bat, the snake then slithers towards where the rock once was.
The Death Adder then begins to melt into a shadowy blob, slowly transforming into a dark-skinned, black haired, and buxom female figure with glowing topaz snake-eyes, black scales adorning her cheeks, and a small green diamond mark on her tan-skinned forehead.
"... Was the power of a Demon."
The boy then stumbles onto his rear as he slowly backs away from the snake-woman.
"W-WHO ARE YOU!?" The boy cried out in the darkness.
The snake-woman giggles right before quickly creeps towards the stumbling boy.
"I am an ally." She hissed in his ear, her forked tongue tickling his eardrums.
The boy is still perturbed by this woman-nay, Demon's voluptuous chest and curves caressing all over his bone-dry body.
"Wha-What's your name?" The boy asked.
"Oh?" Her snake eyes lit up. "Do you now?"
The female Demon then gets off of the boy.
"Thy name is Cleopatra Mara Bodhisattva." She stated. "And I'm a Demon."
Cleopatra then approaches closer to him.
"A Lilith, to be specific." She stated.
The boy just looked at her alluring face and curvy body awkwardly.
"Umm..." The boy sounded out. "What did I just do?" He asked. "And what do mean, 'power of a Demon'?"
Cleopatra then stands back up and leads the way.
"Perhaps its best for you to see it for you to see it for yourself."
The boy then continues his way deeper into the tunnel, with the grimoire in tow.
As he and Cleopatra continue to walk deeper into the caves, a faint glow emerges from the distance.
"Where are we going?" The boy asked.
The Lilith then lets out a small chuckle.
"My humble abode of over 500 years of free rental." She slyly smirked.
The two then reach a cavern, surrounded by glowing moss and fungi dotting the walls, piles and piles of tattered old grimoires, forgotten to time and memory, crudely-carved-out stone statues of a person sitting and raising its right hand in front of its chest, rusted weaponry scattered about on the damp stone floors, and at the very center, was a pond, bouncing the light from the fungi and moss off of its reflective surface, illuminating the whole cavern.
But despite these overwhelming senses, the boy doesn't feel bothered the slightest.
In fact, while he can still identify the ground as "wet", he can't feel the dampness's coolness.
He then looks behind himself to see Cleopatra casually pushing a boulder three-times larger then her, blocking the way he and the Lilith came from.
"This should keep out eavesdroppers." She remarked. "So my prince, how is it here?"
The boy looks around the illuminated caverns with stone-faced indifference.
"This..." He muttered out. "... I have nothing to say."
"... Regardless." She stated. "About 'seeing it for yourself'..."
Cleopatra then grabs the boy's wrist and pulls him closer towards herself.
"Look towards the waters and see what I mean."
The boy then looks towards the lake.
The waters then reflect his face.
For the most part, the boy's face was human; pale white skin from malnutrition, sunken eyes and cracked lips from dehydration, and a pure-white hair with a single black stripe running down down to his left brow.
Mostly, "human".
If one weren't to count the black scales dotting his cheeks, the topaz snake-eyes, the sharper and longer canine teeth, and a forked tongue, then he would pass off as a human.
"... I'm like you now." He muttered towards his reflection.
"You did state that you hated it." Cleopatra stated. "You never specified on which part of life you hated."
The boy then gets up and walks away from the lake.
"And in all fairness..." She continued on. "Your human body was already on the verge of decomposing by the time I've found it, so I had to... make adjustments so that it won't fall apart."
"Wait." The boy spoke out. "... Why me, specifically?" He asked. "Why my body when there were others?"
"Isn't obvious?" Cleopatra answered. "Your body was incompatible with mana to begin with. You know what that meant?"
"That I was destined to die early from the moment I was born into world?" He stated glumly.
"There's more to that, my prince." She stated.
"And I meant to ask, but what's with the 'prince'?" He asked.
"I was just getting there..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, her patience running low.
She then walks towards the boy and places her hands onto his shoulders.
"The point is..." She sighs out. "... You're the reincarnation of the Demonic Prince of Death."
"... You're joking, aren't you?" He stated with doubt.
"Does the scales and fangs tell you otherwise?" Her voice was now on the verge of losing her sanity.
The stone-faced expression on the boy's face didn't help matters.
"... I don't know what to make of all this." The boy stated. "With all of this..."
"Power?" Cleopatra replied. "Hm, now that I think about it, you've never known the idea of power until now, haven't you?"
The boy nods.
The Lilith then rub her temples while grumbling to herself.
"Very well." Cleopatra spoke out. "I shall be the one to teach you the ways of your heritage and your powers."
The boy then looks at her.
"Tell me..." The boy asked. "What is this grimoire? And what are its powers?"
The Lilith smiles.
"The Hollow Diamond." She points towards the grimoire held in the boy's hands. "And it contains the power to dictate the concept of 'Death'."
The boy's eyes widen upon this harrowing revelation.
"Yes!" She cried out. "In other words..."
Her scaled hand then points towards the nameless boy.
"THE POWER OF [Death Magic]!" She exclaimed. "IS NOW IN YOUR HANDS, MY PRINCE!"
The nameless boy blinks, not sure to make of what just transpired.
"... You know what?" Cleopatra stated with a resigned expression. "I teach you as we go along. Sound good?"
The boy nods without a word.
"Finally..." She sighed out. "... We're going somewhere."
And with that, the boy's training begun.
"So boy." Cleopatra spoke out. "Just what do you think [Death Magic] does?"
"... It kills things?" The boy replied.
"... Metaphorically true." She replied. "As in, while it can 'kill things', the amount of things that it can 'kill' are rather... too broad."
"In what regard?" He asks.
"Let's use that bat as an example." Cleopatra stated. "Normally, you could've just killed it, but how? That itself it the crux of [Death Magic]. You don't just simply 'kill things'."
She then takes out the dead wingless bat.
"You choose which part of said victim dies." She stated. "This bat? [Death Magic] literally erased its wings, so therefore, the 'wings' themselves effectively 'died'."
"... So that's what you meant by 'a human can only die once'." The boy spoke out in realization. "Those words apply to... to everything."
"Careful my prince." She stated. "Even you're not immune to said rule, so choose wisely what you'll delete next."
The boy then lets out an amused snort.
As he points his finger towards his own head.
"My prince?" She said worryingly. "DON-"
A black ray of light burns through his head.
"MILOR-"
"I'm fine." The boy spoke out. "I didn't remove my own head or anything of sort."
"Then..." She hesitated to speak. "... Then what did you kill within yourself?"
The boy's lips then crease into a deranged smile.
"The concept of 'hesitation'." He stated. "Now nothing will slow me down. No hunger, no thirst, no emotions, no personal attachments, no lapses of logic, and just one more for the road..."
Another ray of black light shoots though his head.
"... Now I've removed the concept of 'mortality' within myself." He stated. "So how was that for my first lesson?"
"... Progress, my Prince." Cleopatra stated, realizing that the boy has now mastered the rudimentary basics of [Death Magic] in a span of less than a day.
And not because of his innate genius.
But the fact that this boy hated the concept of life so much that the power to dictate such abstract concepts fit him like a glove.
"... I've awakened a monster." Cleopatra thought. "But that monster is what we Liliths need."
"I heard that." The boy spoke out.
The Lilith yipes in surprise.
"By the way, I've removed the concept of 'boundary' from my head." He stated. "From now on, no one, not even you, will ever get in my way. From physical to psychological, everything shall be transparent, which by the way that includes your straps of cloth that you might call clothes."
The Lilith just looks at him with bemusement.
"Like what you seeing?" She then flaunted her Lilith eroticism.
"Eh, not bothered by it." He stated much to Cleopatra's chagrin. "I just learned what 'libido' meant, and also learned that I've removed it already as part of my 'hesitation'."
The boy then walks up towards her with newfound confidence.
Either that, or a complete lack of 'hesitation' that he claims to have 'killed'.
"So." The boy smirked. "Shall we get started?"
And from there on, the newly-crowned Demonic Prince of Death's training has truly begun.
Year 1
"So everything that is around is made of... 'atoms'?" The boy asked.
"Yes." Cleopatra answered. "Take that water in the lake for example..."
The Lilith then heads towards the lake and scoops out a bit of water into her hands.
"This 'water' is composed of two elements." She stated. "Hydrogen, which is the most abundant chemical element around the whole word, and oxygen, which is literally the air we..."
She then looks around to see that her cave barely had enough oxygen to support a human being.
And by that, a normal human would asphyxiate within a few minutes.
"... That we used to breathe." She corrected herself, hinting the fact that Demons in general don't need to breath air to survive. "Regardless, we're getting off topic."
She then pours the water into a stone bowl.
"Now for your first practical, I want you to turn this water into oxygen by killing the hydrogen." Cleopatra stated.
"... What does hydrogen look like?" The boy asked.
"I dunno, what does your 'hesitation' look like?" She retorted.
"My whole life." He answered without hesitation.
"... Sorry for asking." She stated.
"Forget it." The bow replied. "Because I already did it."
He then points the finger towards the bowl of water.
"You said it was a chemical element, right?" The boy spoke. "So as far as I'm concerned, I have a 50/50 chance of getting oxygen."
"That's the first step of mastering [Death Magic]." Cleopatra stated. "Death is a powerful force, but it's the most disciplined out of the four [Forbidden], requiring proper handle and care lest the caster, aka, you, accidentally erase yourself from existence."
The boy then aims his finger.
"First step of [Death Magic] mastery, know your enemies." Cleopatra stated. "To inflict death blindly is the most foolhardy and unfitting for a Prince such as yourself."
The water doesn't separate into its two components.
Instead, the stone bowl containing the water turns into a grainy pile of granite, marble, travertine, limestone, and slate.
"... Wrong target, wrong concept, but right execution." Cleopatra stated. "But on the plus side, you seem to have gotten the basics down the pat."
Year 2
"Do you know how living beings work?" Cleopatra asked.
"All I know is that we need to eat, sleep, drink, and breathe air to live." The boy answered. "And I'm assuming that you're going to ask that how it works in the first place?"
"Why yes, I was just about to get to that." Cleopatra stated.
She then takes out a live bat and pins it down onto a smooth rock, right before she brings another rock down onto its squeaking head, killing it.
"Now my prince." Her thumbnail then extends out into a knife-like blade. "We're going to learn how this bat works... right before its head was splattered into red paste."
The knife-like fingernail then cuts the bat's chest open, revealing a bramble of still-pulsating bags of flesh and bile.
"What are those? The boy asked while pointing towards the bat's corpse.
"This, my prince..." She then takes out a small ball of red and blue flesh spewing out drops of blood. "This is what is know as a 'heart'." She stated towards the flesh bud in her fingers, showing it closer to the boy. "This is where all the blood comes from and goes to."
"... So what you're saying is that if I erase the heart, then the person won't have any blood in it, right?" The boy asked.
"Correct." Cleopatra confirmed as she heads toward the corner of the cave. "Which is why I brought something... special for today's lesson."
She then throws a sack onto the stone floor, revealing a bound and gagged human.
The boy is then caught by the surprise, if he could.
"Now my prince..." Cleopatra then sets both of her hands onto the boy's shoulder. "I want you to erase his 'heart'."
The boy then points his finger towards the struggling man.
"Now my prince..." She hissed out. "You know what spell to cast."
The Hollow Diamond grimoire then floats towards the boy, glowing in a black and green light.
"[Death Magic]..."
The tip of the boy's finger then begins to glow in the same color of his grimoire's light.
"... [Object Purge-Banisher]."
The ray of darkness fires towards the man, piercing straight through his chest.
A few seconds later, the man's eyes roll to the back of his head as skin turns pallid.
The Lilith then slithers towards the motionless man right before she cuts him open with her thumbnail.
"Hmm." She then searches the cavity inside of him. "No heart. You did well, my prince."
She then takes out a pair of sacs from his chest.
"Now my prince..." Cleopatra continued on with the boy's "lesson". "Shall we continue onto human anatomy?"
Year 3
A full year after dissecting a human body, the boy has now memorized on how the human body works.
He should, for now the two Lilith's hideout are now littered with decomposing bodies and the stench of the permeating rot and decay.
Thankfully as the two living here are Demons, the change in scenery didn't bother them.
In fact, it was a welcome addition to their (admittedly) drab-looking base (for Cleopatra, at least; the nameless boy couldn't give two shits).
"So my prince..." Cleopatra spoke out while clearing through one of the rotting corpses. "What is this and what does it do?"
"That is a stomach." The boy answered. "It purpose is to store all the ingested food so that it can be digested to extract bodily energy."
"And where does the rest of said food go?" She continues.
"The small intestine to the large intestine in that order." The boy answered once more.
"Very good!" The Lilith beamed. "Now we can move towards something more metaphysical!"
"... Cleopatra." The boy asked the Lilith. "Two things."
"I'm listening." She states while she begins to eat one of the corpses. "... What? They're not gonna get rid of themselves at this rate, you know."
"First." The boy ignores the young-adult-looking tan woman with black snakeskin on her cheeks devouring a rotting human leg like if its the greatest thing in the world. "... Can I just call you Cleo? It's... kind of an inconvenience to say your full first name every time."
She then gulps down the piece of carcass through her throat. "I didn't say that you couldn't, my prince. Please, feel free to do so."
"Alright Cleo." The boy then continues onward with his words. "Second, what does 'metaphysical' mean, anyway?"
"The term 'metaphysical' refers to abstract concepts that humans use to label things that they cannot see." She answered. "Such labels can refer to 'souls', 'consciousness', 'love', and anything that we cannot touch, but wish to disambiguate."
"So tell me..." The boy asked the Lilith. "... Do Demons have souls?"
The Lilith the looks at the boy with somber eyes.
"... We don't." She answered. "From the moment we are released into existence, we are born without them. And because of it, we are neither good or evil."
The boy smirks at this revelation.
"Good to know, Cleo..."
Year 4
"Now my prince." Cleopatra stated towards the boy. "We're now going more in-depth with the methodology of [Death Magic]."
"What's there more to it?" The boy pointed out. "I just point and kill things, right?"
"True..." Cleo stated. "But wording is important when it comes to [Death Magic]."
She then heads towards one of the walls and begins scratching her claws onto walls.
"CLEO!" The boy cried out. "CAN YOU STOP WITH THAT PAINFUL NOISE!?"
"Hmm?" The Lilith turned towards the boy. "But I thought you removed your 'hesitation' from your being."
"I know!" He yelled out. "But loud noises... they still make me... really upset."
The Lilith sighs as she then grabs a stick of powdery black.
"... I'll stick to charcoal."
Year 5
"[Death Magic: Populace Wipeout-Genocide]."
A swarm of bats heading towards the boy all explode into bloodstains.
"[Death Magic: Causality Wipeout-Correction]."
The puddle of blood disappears, and in their place, the swarm of bats appear again.
"Splendid, my prince!" Cleo cheered out. "You've finally master the dual modes of [Death Magic]!"
The boy looks at his Hollow Diamond grimoire, with each of its pages filled with words that are caked with a layer of coal-like stains.
According to Cleo, the stain is there to prevent the reader from reading the words of the grimoire, for even Demons cannot fathom what the enigmatic tongue has written on the pages.
If a human would read it, sanity will forsake him in a heartbeat.
As for the dual nature of [Death Magic], it turns out that this [Forbidden] magic has utility outside of simply killing and deleting things.
What he just did was that he just killed the swarm of bats, and after that, he "killed" their "death", effectively bringing them back to life, but at the same time, not.
To be rather specific, he only killed their "death", but in turn, everything else that was taken post-mortem, such as appetite, instinct, sentience, memories, and everything else in it, is no longer present post-revival.
In laymen's terms, the bats are now empty shells of former selves.
"Hmm..." The Lilith inspects the bats. "That attempt was a bit... much. But regardless, you did a good-"
"No." The boy interrupted. "I still need more control over this power."
The boy then walks back towards their lair to study more about the metaphysical concepts, so that he may have a firmer grip on them.
Year 6
Another swarm killed and brought back, and this time, the bats were able to fly.
... Albeit with the grace and precision of a drunk ant.
"... Trying again, my prince?" Cleo stated.
"A step closer to correcting the fabrications of a living being at will..." He muttered to himself as he reached out towards one of the dusty books to pick out and read.
He opens the book to find an image of a snarling, yet dignified red-faced man with an elegant black cap contrast to his unruly and savage-looking beard falling from his chin, and in his hands were a gavel and sheet of paper.
Before the red-faced man was a person tied down and kneeling fearfully before him.
"... Yama." The boy whispered out. "The great judge of Ten Great Hells of Penance..."
A small smile creases the boy's lips.
Year 7
"[Death Magic: Spiritual Purge-Syphon]."
Another ray of dark light fires through another kidnapped person.
"H-Huh?" The person moaned out. "W-What did you d-do to me?"
The boy smirks.
"I erased your mana."
"Y-You're joking, right?" The man sputtered out. "You're joking, right!?"
The boy then releases the captive from his bindings.
"Now and use your magic to kill me, assuming if you have any."
The man then tries to conduct a magic spell in his hands.
"... I'm assuming that the look of disbelief on your face suggests that you've figured it out, correct?"
All the man can do was whimper.
"Well, thank you for volunteering." The boy then points his finger towards the bawling man. "Now goodbye."
[Death Magic: Object Purge-Banisher] shoots through the man's head, erasing his physical body from existence.
"One more step closer..." The boy thought. "One more step closer towards mastering [Death Magic]..."
Behind him, the man was still alive, albeit without a physical body.
Before the displaced soul can try and flee the depths, Cleopatra grabs the soul, and sucks it into her mouth, devouring it.
"My prince is growing stronger..." She mused. "King Apocrypha, the Hungry Joker... I shall finish your vision of this world's deserved revelation..."
Year 8
The boy was almost getting the full grasp of his [Death Magic].
Rocks were now becoming pumice-like rather then a pile of loose gravel, bats were no longer just empty shells upon revival, but now familiars that he can command, and for humans...
... They were too delicate to even consider balancing out with his [Death Magic].
With one factor gone, they begin to cease functioning properly.
Every part that made a human a "human" was so quintessential that removing so much as one piece of themselves, then suddenly they begin to gibber and sputter like rabies-infected mongrels.
"CLEO!" The boy roared out in ever-mounting frustration.
"Yes, my prince?" She answered.
"Tell me..." The boy asked. "... Just what makes these filthy mongrels called 'humans' so special, and by that, I MEAN WHY CAN'T I TURN THEM INTO MY PUPPETS!"
"That my prince, is something that even we Demons cannot comprehend." She replied. "But that's precisely it, my prince-"
The boy's finger then points towards her head.
"Kindly exsssssssplain why, before I change my mind." The's Lilith-side unearthed itself, forked tongue and black scales growing out of his cheeks.
"Humans... are a paradoxical existence." She started on. "When faced with a seemingly hopeless situation, they somehow find a way to push through."
"Elaborate." He hissed out.
"It's ironically simple, really." She stated. "You know the concept of logic?"
"You mean like how there is a sssscertain order within the fabrications of the workings of thisssssss world?" The boy Lilith hissed out. "The very thing that I'm trying to take control of?"
The boy's hand punches a hole into the wall next to her cheek.
"Tell me ssssomething that I don't know." He threatened.
"That is the thing, my prince." Cleo stated. "Humanity is errant to those rules."
"... What." The boy answered.
"Let me explain." The Lilith stated. "For since the dawn of their creation, humanity has proven itself to be rather... odd in terms of their behavior, habits, morality, and to put it simply, we Demons have spent countless millennia trying to find a pattern in their overall sociology... only to find nothing remotely consistent."
"What do you mean?" The boy's snake-scales and eyes ceased.
"But if you think about it..." The Lilith went on. "... Their chaotic nature running against the natural order of the created world... Of course, it all makes sense in hindsight."
"GET TO THE FUCKING POINT!" The boy roared out while his scales grew further out from his arm and cheeks.
"Humanity is the opposite of order, my prince." She answered. "That's why taking one facet of their being will result in failure." Cleo went on. "We can control them, but by the time they're submitted, their humanity will make sure that their will exists."
"So what you're saying is..." The boy replied. "Is that the problem with humanity, is humanity itself."
He then goes to one of the corners in the cave to ponder.
"So if the idea of humanity is the pivotal problem..." He pondered. "Then can I erase the idea of humanity itself?"
He then scratches his head as he dug through the countless texts scattered around him.
"Of course I can..." He thought. "But to what end?"
Year 9
The boy wanders around the depths in contemplation.
"Okay, focus." The boy thought. "You can so far, do the following:"
Kill things, such as "bodies", "souls", "thoughts" and even "death" to name a few.
"High output, but low return rate..." He thought.
Sure, [Death Magic] can reduce all living things to empty husks at the snap of his finger, but what after?
Making people disappear won't be enough.
He needs long-term solutions to make sure that there isn't a single human left breathing.
"C'mon..." He gritted out. "Just what can be done-"
His foot hits onto something, but due to his own self-mutilation on his senses of pain, he can only register the basic sense that his foot only made physical contact with something big.
He looks down, and sees a boulder.
With a scoff, he moves his feet away, brushing the dirt floor with his foot, revealing another peculiar-looking pattern.
Upon taking notice, the boy crouches down, dusts off the first covering the pattern, right before using his Demonic strength to dig out the pattern from the dirt.
... Revealing not a grimoire, but a massive book with numerous tags sticking out of the pages between.
The boy dusts off the cover, revealing the following:
Project H.O.L.O.N.
Director: Dr. Morris Metrodora
"What the hell..." The boy then takes the book back into Cleo's domain, sliding the rock behind to close the hole behind him.
"What is it that's in your hands, my prince?" Cleopatra asked.
"I dunno." He said while putting the book on the stone table near her. "Only one way to find out."
The two Liliths then gets closer to the book and read the following.
Project Designation: H.O.L.O.N. (Humanoid Operative Legion of Objective-based Naturalists)
Objective: Find candidates fit to be modified in into high-performance war mages in order to rebuild the Diamond Kingdom's Royal Army at minimum manpower.
Method: Gather various children around the Diamond Kingdom, from the Capital all the way towards the villages in the Western Border, in order to measure their magical aptitude and mana reserves.
Hypothesis: With this, the Royal Army should be rebuilt back to full capacity in less then a decade after the research. The number of surviving candidates should be around 10 to 25, provided if the tests go smoothly.
"Wait..." The boy stated. "... I was in that project."
"The very-" Cleopatra said before being cut off.
"The very said moment that I shed my mortal coil." He smiled.
The two then keep reading through the books.
Nothing special, just about day by day reports of the various subjects' behaviors and magic.
The two Demons kept flipping through the pages until they reached a particular page where there were a list of names.
... With almost all of them labeled "FAILURE" next to them.
The only exceptions were the names "Mars", "Lardos", and "Fana", who all had "PASSED" next to their names, and two others that he did not bother reading through.
"Ahh~" Cleopatra moaned out in ecstasy. "My fascination and disgust for these vermin continue to grow day by day~!
Her scales and eyes then begin to make her revert back to her Demon form.
"The more they pursue their utmost desssssiressssss, the more they lose themssselvessss in the thrill of the hunt!" She hissed out ecstatically. "I both love and hate humanity, my prince! My preciousssss love comessss from their twisted and chaotic nature! My utmost hate comessss from how far they will forsake otherssss and themssselvesss in order to reach it!"
"And I didn't ask for your opinion." The boy snarked as he read ahead.
Subject #1: Mars
Codename: Apollo
Affinities (Overall proficiency written within colons): [Fire] (250%) & [Crystal] (300%)
Deployment: Approved (Overall output had greatly exceeded expectations; time to bring Royal Army back up to full capacity has been greatly reduced)
Subject #2: Lardos
Codename: Hecatoncheires
Affinities: None, but perfectly compatible for my pet project, the [Centimanes Drive]
Deployment: On Hold (Update: Approved; [Centimanes Drive] has proven a success; subject also has the highest pool of mana out of all other subjects)
Subject #3: Fana
Codename: Artemis
Affinities: [Fire] (92%) & [Crystal] (25%)
Deployment: Rejected (Overall output did not meet satisfactory requirements; subject's corpse will be appropriated for future testing)
Subject #4: Achilles
Codename: Hades
Affinities: [Ruby] (200%)
Deployment: Approved (One of the more straightforward successes in testing; nothing special, just effective in simplicity)
Subject #5: Troy
Codename: Hephaestus
Affinities: [Amber] (500%)
Deployment: Approved (Will be kept under supervision 24/7; subject's behavior has been proven difficult to deal with on a daily basis; subject shall be euthanized should it go out of control)
The boy then gets an idea bubbling in his own thoughts.
"My prince?" Cleopatra remarked. "... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Just shut up and bring me more people." The boy stated. "This time, I'm going to make a long-term investment."
Current Year, 6 Months Before Current Time
At last, it was complete.
2500 subjects, 1790 failures, and the rest being successful, but not suited for fieldwork, with an exception of few.
But even then, they're here to guard their home base.
"Cleo." The boy stated. "I think its time."
The Lilith's eyebrows perk up. "Do you mean-!?
The boy picks up his Hollow Diamond grimoire, emits his [Death Magic] from his hands, and erases the two heads from the two failures that were stumbling towards him.
"We move." He smiled.
"Happily, my prince!" The Lilith gleefully cried out, proud that her efforts for the past decade hasn't gone to waste.
The two shut the entrance of their cave with a large boulder as they slowly make their way towards the outside world.
"So, my prince..." Cleopatra asked. "How long do you think will it take for you to kill every last human living within this kingdom?"
"Hmm..." The boy pondered as sunlight begun to rise from the horizon.
The boy then places his finger onto his head and shoots his [Death Magic] through it, erasing something that he didn't want in him.
"With the concept of 'limit' no longer within me?" The boy stated.
He then turns his head back towards Cleopatra with a toothy grin.
"Around a month."
The boy then suddenly disappears from sight, moving so fast that normal perception can no longer track him.
"Oh my..." Cleopatra moaned out as she then senses her prince clean out all nearby villages of their populace in a blink of an eye.
Right before she can step out into daylight, the boy reappears right in front of her, with a pile of corpses behind him.
"So?" The boy smiled. "Shall we?"
"Well do take your time, my prince." Cleopatra stated. "This kingdom's not going anywhere anytime soon."
"And not for much longer." The boy smirked. "Now that they have to deal with us."
The two then throw their hoods over their heads to hide their Demon-like traits, and slowly approach the capital city on top of a hill.
As day passes into night, an entire village disappears from the map.
A week passes, and an entire providence is wiped off the map.
A month passes, and the two finally reach the fringes of the capital city of Sparta.
"Hmm." Cleopatra spoke out. "It appears that we've gathered quite an audience."
"You think?" The boy replied. "Kind of excessive for a reception."
Said "reception" was the entirety of the Diamond Kingdom's Royal Army standing in front of them.
"So Cleo..." The boy asked.
"Yessss, my prince?" The Lilith manifests her Demonic traits.
The boy throws off his hood, revealing his face to have topaz snake-eyes, black snake-scales crawling from his nape to cheeks, and canine teeth elongated to the point that they were sticking out of his lips.
"Let'sssssss kill them all."
The boy then slowly approaches the army, unfazed.
Upon seeing the Demon approach them, one of the front-line scouts spot the Demon approaching them, the rear echelon relays the command for the Royal Army the commence the offensive.
"FOR THE DIAMOND KINGDOM!" Their battle cries echoed throughout the arid earth.
"[Red Ochre Magic: Big Boar Rampage]!" A giant boar made of clay charges toward the boy.
"[Lightning Creation Magic: Thunderbird Calvary-Tempest Ballista Volley]." Several arrows of lightning rain down towards the boy.
"[Mucus Magic: Sludge Tide]!" A gooey wave rushes toward the boy.
"[Amber Binding Magic: Preserve Prison]!" A massive glob of honey-like tar hurls towards where the boy was at.
"[Ruby Creation Magic: Crimson Cutlass]." Several red crystalline crescent blades sprout out of the ground and speeds towards the Lilith.
"[Curare Curse Magic: Neurotoxin Death Breath]!" A gust of pale-green fumes head towards his way.
"[Crystal & Fire Compound Creation Magic: Trial #6B-Stymphalian Bombs]." Spheres of crystal each encasing an orb of fire hurls towards his direction.
An inhumane amount of magical barrages was heading towards the boy.
... One problem.
The boy wasn't even remotely bothered, except for the fact that the glare was slightly annoying his eyes.
Unamused, the boy commences his counterattack.
"[Death Magic]..."
His right hand then begins to glow in a blackish-green light that his Hollow Diamond grimoire was emitting.
The boy then swipes his right hand over him.
"[Equilibrium Wipeout-Pandemonium]."
The barrage of magic heading towards him just stop in their tracks.
"For thosssse of you wandering." The boy spoke out as he approached one of the front-line soldiers. "What I jussssst killed-"
The mage punches him in the face, only for his fist to break against the freshly-christened Lilith's snakeskin.
"... Asssssssss I was rudely interrupted." The boy continued on. "... Actually, you know what, I think I'll let it sssssssshow for itssssssself."
The magical barrage that once were faced towards him...
... Were now all pointed back towards their senders.
With a smirk, the boy then points his finger towards the shocked army.
Upon seeing all of their own magic returning towards them, the whole army then descend into disorderly panic.
"D-DEFENSIVE MEASURES-!"
The returned magic then bombards the hapless Royal Army, scattering them like rats on a sinking ship.
"Assssss I was sssssaying..." The boy continued while the Royal Army's own magic was turning against them, killing them in a messy fashion. "What I killed with my [Death Magic], were the ideassssssss of 'control' and 'balance' within it."
A severed head goes flying past his own.
"To put it ssssssssssimply..." The boy continued over the sounds of detonating magic and screams of terror and agony.
He kicks aside a fat man's mangled body.
"I AM DEATH INCARNATE!"
Amidst the chaos, one of the mages then try to fire his spell onto the boy.
"F-F-[Fire Magic-!"
The mage's throat is then ripped out of his gullet before his incantation can even finish.
The boy, with the ripped-out neck in his hands, eats it.
He then spots a bearded mage running away from the Lilith.
The boy runs ahead of the man and necks lifts him off the ground.
"Jussssssst where do you think you're going?" The boy asked.
"Running... away..." The man choked out. "I... don't fight battles... that I can't win."
"You do know that insubordination is punissshable by death, right?" The boy retorted. "Not that it mattersssss, sssssince, well... you know that better then anyone around you-"
"HANG ON COMMANDER!" One of the mages from a distance cried out. "I'M COMING FOR YOU-!"
The boy then shoots a ray of dark-green light, causing the mage to crumble into dust.
"Yeah... I know." He wheezed out from the boy's grip. "But if I don't... make it back... to my family..." He choked out. "... They'll never forgive me..."
The Lilith then lets the man go.
"What...?" The man said.
"... Tell me your name." The boy said while shooting another ray of [Death Magic] towards another mage trying to blindside him.
"Lotus Whomalt." The bearded man said. "And your name is?"
The boy smiles with an evil feeling within him.
"Yama." The boy answered. "If you live, tell the whole world that the Judge of Death hassssssss come to deliver humanity its long-overdue sssssentence."
The man then runs away, taking a few like-minded men with him back to the capital.
"Now then..." The boy looks around the dust-choked fields outside the capital city. "Cleo."
"Yessssss, Prince Yama?" The Lilith bowed.
"Do what you wissssh with the resssst." Yama stated.
The Lilith then speeds off around the ruined earth.
"Now then..." The Prince then sits down on the arid fields as he reverted back his Lilith features. "I think I'll give them a message."
The boy then shoots towards the air, erasing the concept of "Tranquility" in the air.
Yama takes a deep breath of air, right before he delivers his message towards the hapless populace before him.
Diamond Kingdom Capital Sparta, Diamond Kingdom (Morning)
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE DIAMOND KINGDOM!
I'VE COME TO DELIVER AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO YOU MONGRELS!
AS YOU'VE ALL PROBABLY WITNESSED, I'VE ROUTED YOUR ENTIRE ROYAL ARMY IN A MATTER OF MINUTES!
FIVE MINUTES!
THAT IS ALL THE TIME I'LL GIVE YOU TO MAKE PEACE WITH YOU MISERABLE LIVES THAT YOU'VE ALL SPENT DOING NOTHING SIGNIFICANT!
AFTER THOSE FIVE MINUTES, I'LL MAKE SURE THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WON'T EVEN REMEMBER THAT YOU'VE EVEN EXISTED!
I'LL WIPE YOUR KINGDOM AND THE PEOPLE IN IT OFF THE FACE OF THIS EARTH!
FOR THAT IS YOUR FATE!
Upon the entire populace hearing that, the whole capital descends into chaos.
People run amok on the streets, looting, murdering, and doing whatever they can to spend the last of their last moments in their fleeting lives.
The king, old, wrinkled, and apathetic, looks over the entire city descending into chaos.
For the past 200 years, he'd ruled this kingdom behind the shadows of the Diamante Crown Family, with their recent heir leaving his responsibilities for "training", allowing this former-Grand Chancellor to rule directly as the ultimate authority of the whole Diamond Kingdom.
For the past 200 years, he'd made a deal with the Witch Queen in order to obtain longevity in order for him to rule the Diamond Kingdom after their previous kings would've failed to do so.
And now, after these 200 years of playing King, someone dares to challenge his authority.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" The messenger cried out.
The so-called-king then turns around to hear this message.
"What is it?" He spoke out in a gravely tone.
"T-THE DEMON!" He winced out. "MY KING! HE'S ENTERED THE CITY AND STARTED TO KILL EVERYONE!"
The King remains unamused. "Have the rest of the guards set up a barricade around the Diamond Palace."
"Your majesty, regarding that..." The messenger trailed off. "All of our Royal Guards have been... neutralized by the Demon."
The King then opens his grimoire.
"That's all I'd needed to hear." He then points his hand towards the trembling messenger.
The messenger then makes a run for it.
"[Chaos Magic: Blacklight]."
A wave of black and white quickly crawls towards the runner.
"S-SOMEONE!" He yelled out in the halls in desperation. "H-HELP ME-"
A ray of blackish-green light shoots through the man's chest, causing him to rot into dirt in an instant.
Yama passes by the dead man, he continues to walk towards the [Blacklight].
"[Death Magic: Spiritual Purge-Syphon]."
A ray of dark-green shoots towards the monochrome wave, causing it to dissipate into nothingness upon contact.
"Impressive." The King then walks out into the hallways to meet the Demon. "Just how did you managed to stop my invincible [Chaos Magic]?"
"Light needs darkness in order for it to exist." Yama retorted. "Your [Chaos Magic] runs on a fragile balance that when disrupted with either too little or too much [Light Magic] or [Dark Magic], it will peter out."
"So you have the power to stand up to me..." The King grumbled. "... I will not allow that-"
"Shut up."
The Demon fires his [Death Magic] through the King's chest, knocking him back.
Upon seeing himself alive, the King then lets out a wild cackle as he slowly stands back up.
"YOU FOOL!" He cried out. "YOU SHOULD'VE KILLED ME WHILE YOU STILL HAD THE CHANCE!"
The King then opens his checkerboard-pattered grimoire. "NOW PAY FOR YOUR SLIGHT AGAINST ME! BEHOLD MY GREATEST SPELL! CONSIDER YOURSELF HONORED TO MEET YOUR END IN MY HANDS!"
"[Chaos Magic: Ritual of Alpha & Omega-ENDER (Eternal Nihil Domain: Erebus Road)]!"
... Nothing.
"Do you realize how dumb you look right now?" Yama pointed out towards the gawking King. "Oh and by the way, your hand."
The King then looks at his outstretched hand, crumbling into peach-colored dust from the tip of his fingers.
"Wha-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!?" The King cried out. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"
The Lilith smirks.
"I've erased the concept of 'mana' within your soul." Yama answered. "From now on, you'll never use magic ever again."
The wizened King then begins to flail and scream as his body slowly crumbles into dust.
"Now talk." The Demon demanded. "Tell me everything you know, and maybe, I can erase your 'death'."
"I'M NOT THE REAL KING!" The former-Chancellor screeched out. "THE REAL KING HAS LEFT HIS THRONE A DECADE AGO!"
The Lilith raises an eyebrow upon hearing the statement. "Tell me more..."
"THE ENTIRETY OF PROJECT H.O.L.O.N.! IT WAS I WHO APPROVED IT!" He confessed tearfully. "I NEEDED TO RECOVER THIS KINGDOM'S LOSSES AFTER THE WAR WITH THE CLOVER KINGDOM!"
"And tell me." Yama continued. "Just how many kids do you think has died because of your approval?"
"I DON'T CARE!" He screamed out. "IN THIS KINGDOM, ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE! THE WEAK DIE!"
"Even the weak had a chance to become strong, if you've given them enough time." The boy retorted.
"THERE IS NO SUCH AS TIME IN THIS KINGDOM!" The fake King screeched out. "THIS WHOLE KINGDOM HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT AN ARID WASTELAND FOR THE PAST CENTURIES! I HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! SO I SECRETLY MANIPULATED THE DIAMOND KINGDOM'S ROYAL FAMILY TO PURSUE THE RECOVERY OF THIS KINGDOM! I MADE A DEAL WITH THE WITCH QUEEN SO THAT I MAY LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE THIS KINGDOM RISE FROM ITS SQUALOR AND BE THE SUPREME NATION THAT IT DESERVES TO BE!"
"Hmm, glad to know." The Lilith smiled. "Now I shall heal you."
"... Really!?"
Yama then points his finger towards the nearly-disintegrated King.
"With the sweet release of death."
The king's face turns pale from sheer horror of betrayal.
"[Death Magic: Legacy Purge-Deletion]."
A ray of dark-green shoots through the nameless faker of a king.
The disintegration turns into vaporization.
"From now on." Yama declared. "No one will even remember your name."
The boy then walks into the King's chambers and out towards the balcony.
"Prince Yama." Cleopatra then shows up, covered in blood.
"Are there any alive down there?" He asked while pointing the empty city below the Lilith Prince.
"No, my Prince." She stated. "There are no one in this city besides us."
The boy then steps onto the ledge.
"It's still an eyesore." The Lilith Prince then opens his grimoire.
"[Death Magic: Environmental Wipeout-Cataclysm]."
In an instant, the Diamond Kingdom's capital, Sparta, and everything else around it, are now reduced to a flat patch of arid earth.
The Diamond Kingdom was now dead. And in the middle of this freshly-carved-out wasteland were no one but Yama and Cleopatra.
"My Prince-"
"Shh." Yama interrupted. "You hear that?"
"Hear... what, Prince Yama?" Cleopatra asked.
For the first time in his life and afterlife, the-once nameless boy, now a Demonic Prince of Death, smiles, with genuine joy.
"Nothing."
(Back to Present Time)
In the middle of the flat arid earth, a cloaked figure was standing there, waiting for someone.
"Took you long enough." Yama stated.
"Forgive me, Prince Yama." Cleopatra appeared while speaking out. "I had to deal with some rude people along the way."
"Regardless, I suppose you know why I've called you back?" He stated.
"Of course." She then digs her fingers into the cracked earth, uncovering a hatch.
The two go into the passage, closing the door and the earth behind them.
Interrogation Room, Magic Knight Headquarters, Noble Realm (Midnight)
"Even I don't how we initially survived." Lotus confessed. "Deep down, I kinda thought it was too good to be true, and... and I..."
The man then begins to cry.
"... I just had to say it, and now my own men and a child died right underneath my nose." He sniffed out.
"He's not lying." Marx confirmed with his [Memory Magic]. "All of that was real."
"Hmm..." At the other side of the table was the current Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, personally interrogating the two ex-Diamond Kingdom operatives. "... This is quite alarming."
"I knew you told me all that back when I found you guys at the underground, but holy s-I mean, holy cow..." Fanzell remarked. "And for the record, do I hear two Demons?"
All they can do is nod without uttering a word.
"So where is this... Yama now?" Julius asked.
"Can't say." Lotus stated. "He just kinda spared me and told me to spread his name all over the world, right after sparing me for said reason."
The four in the confinement room remain silent, barely able to comprehend all of this.
"... I'd like you to look at this." Julius then takes out a medallion with a green gem encrusted onto it.
He then presses the gem in the middle, playing the recording that Yuno's [Mind Eye] had picked up.
A projection is emitted from the green gem, showing everything from Yuno's perspective.
"From this, I'm guessing that the boy knows a thing or two about them." Julius stated. "With that said, I'm going to have to ask you two for your cooperation."
"But my family!" Lotus cried out in a panicked tone. "I-I need to be there for them!"
Marx looked into his brain. "He's not lying. A wife and three kids."
"Very well, you two shall be on your way first thing tomorrow morning." Julius stated. "Until then, I'm placing you two under heavy watch."
"We'll behave." Fanzell honestly assured.
"He's not lying." Marx confirmed.
"Can you stop peeping into my brain?" Fanzell asked Marx.
"Sorry." Marx stated. "Part of my job."
"I'm glad we agree on one thing." Julius stated jokingly at Marx's expense. "Let's hope that it stays that way, kay?"
A chill runs down both of their spines as the Wizard King and his secretary walked out of the door and closes it behind them.
(Formerly) Eye of the Midnight Sun's Headquarters, Gravito Rock Zone, Forbidden Realm (Dawn)
The sun slowly rises up over a pile of rocks and rubble, illuminating the ruined rock formation.
As the sun slowly lights the peak of the pile of rubble, a hand sprouts out of it.
Out of the pile, Rades Spirito rises from his grave, with nothing but hate and vengeance seared into his soul.
"Huh?" The revived [Soul Corpse Magic] user exclaimed. "How the hell am I still alive?"
Next to him, Sally and Valtos also rise from their own graves as well.
"YOU TWO AS WELL!?" Rades cried out.
"Whoa..." Sally dazed out. "So this is what it feels like to have more than 4 hours of sleep..."
Valtos looks around the ruined Gravito Rock Zone.
"It's..." The man bemoaned. "It's all gone..."
The [Spatial Magic] user then falls to his knees in tears.
"Lord Licht..." He heaved out. "We've failed...!"
"No, not yet."
The three then looks towards where the mysterious voice came from.
Behind them, was a man in a tattered-version of the Eye of the Midnight Sun's standard-issue robes, a pair of glasses with a broken lens on the left, a well-grown stubble, messy dirty-blond hair, and his arms and legs wrapped in worn-out bandages, running all the way under his tatted pants without a top to complement it.
"Who..." Rades sputtered out. "... Just who the hell are you!?"
The man then stands back up with a wooden crutch set next to him.
"The name's Crowley Asher, the Unfortunate." The man stated. "And I'm a phantom member of the Eye of the Midnight Sun's Third Eye."
The three then look at this supposed Third Eye with utter silence.
"... Where's your 'Third Eye', then?" Valtos asked.
"Okay..." Crowley stated. "... I actually didn't receive mine. Hell, I just got recruited, like in what, a few months ago?"
"So why do you claim to be part of the Third Eye, then?" Valtos asked.
The mage then presents his grimoire.
A four-leaf like Licht's, but also paper-thin one-pager like Rades's.
"... Oh!" Sally realizes. "So that's why you're called the 'Unfortunate'! You're the opposite of the fourth leaf's virtue, 'Good Luck', and the fact that you're a four-leaf, but also a one-pager! It all makes too much sense!"
The bespectacled madwoman then cackles uncontrollably.
"Flattering." Crowley replied flatly while giving her the finger. "So to put it simply, I was the one who revived you all with my [Fate Magic]."
"WHAT!?" Rades screeched out. "F-[Fate Magic]!?"
"I rewrote your fate by simply making you awaken your secret powers, Rades." Crowley stated. "If you can bring the dead back, then you can easily do the same to yourself and others."
The man then turns back with a shudder. "However, in turn, the karma just went negative. Any second now, something bad's going to happen-"
He is bitten by a snake, which he then drives it away with his crutch while downing a vial of clear-blue liquid.
"Don't worry." Crowley assured. "I can assure you, only my right leg is completely paralyzed form excessive trauma."
"NEVER MIND THAT!" Rades barked out. "JUST WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHILE THIS PLACE WAS BEING SENT TO HIGH HELL!?"
"... Would you like the list to be listed alphabetically, or chronologically?" Crowley stated.
"Chronologically, if possible." Valtos stated.
"For starters..." The "Unfortunate" began.
"Oh boy..." Sally then sits down onto one of the flat stones. "We're in for a doozy..."
"Sally, when are you going to put your clothes back on?" Valtos asked while staring away from her.
"Later." She answered, not bothered by the prospects of her being completely topless.
"... I got drugged and kidnapped by bandits after I received my acceptance letter, tortured and raped by men and women alike, managed to escape after their whole base caved in from an earthquake, got lost within the Heart Kingdom's desert and almost died of dehydration, fell into a viper pit and got my whole right leg paralyzed, a friendly hermit thought me how to make a cure-all with random plants that anyone can find in their backyard, and to top it all off, I just I had to sell my shirt to get this crutch that I'm, which then leaves us here and now."
"And... how long was all that?" Valtos asked in a confused tone.
"Ever since I've received my acceptance letter." He stated bluntly.
The three of them just look at this haggard mage, with the realization of that the four of them are now the only ones left of the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
A necromancer with a serious ego problem, a mad magical scientist who's a little too happy to put someone under the knife, a fanatically loyal mage who served as the insurrection's most prevalent method of transportation, and a literal walking disaster area.
... What a team.
"So..." Sally spoke out. "What now?"
Three of the four then look at each other for answered.
"Hey Rades." Valto spoke to the necromancer.
"No, I am not going back to my parents's crypts!" He screeched out with raw hostility. "I REFUSE TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE ROTTING IN THAT DAMN HOLE!"
"I've abandoned everything ever since Lord Licht took me in under his wing..." Valto stated. "Around this time, my family thinks that I'm dead or completely removed from their memories..."
"And I lost my public housing along with my funding six years back, so no dice." Sally bluntly stated.
The three of them sigh out.
"We have nowhere else to go..." Valtos stated. "... Is this a sign?"
The other two then look at him with confused looks.
"... What the hell do you mean?" Rades spat out.
"Look, we're down to three people, adding up to four with that hot mess of a mage behind us."
Crowley the flips off the [Spatial Magic] user.
"To put it simply." Valtos continued. "We are no longer in a condition to carry out Lord Licht's ideals. We've lost our leader, we've lost everyone else but us, and in all honesty, do you honestly think that we're in any position to even fight against the Clover Kingdom?"
The other three then look at each other for answers.
"FUCK THAT!" Rades cried out. He then rushes towards the black-eyed mage and slugs his fist into his cheek.
"Whoa dude..." Sally said. "That came out of left field."
"LISTEN YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" The necromancer roared out. "I SPENT THE LAST SEVEN YEARS PERFECTING MY [Soul Corpse Magic], ALL FOR THE SAKE OF RIPPING THE CLOVER KINGDOM A NEW ONE! IF YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE SOME FEATHERED BASTARDS WASTED US, THEN BULLSHIT! I'M NOT STOPPING BECAUSE I DIED ONCE! I'M NOT AFRAID TO DIE TWICE IF IT MEANS TO DEFY THE CLOVER KINGDOM ONE LAST TIME!"
Rades then rushes towards one of the rubble piles, digs it up, and excavates Catherine's charred corpse.
"SO HELP ME GOD!" Rades ranted out. "IF YOU TWO ARE JUST GOING TO STAND THERE AND BITCH AROUND AND PLAY NANNY TO OVER THERE, GO AHEAD! I'M GOING TO USE THIS CHANCE TO PERMANENTLY SCAR THIS SHITHOLE OF A KINGDOM, IF IT'S THE LAST THING THAT I'M GONNA DO, YOU HEAR ME!?"
Sally then stifles a laughter before bursting out in tears.
"WHAT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY, HUH!?" Rades spat out.
"Sorry!" Sally huffed through her fit. "It's... It's just that..." She then takes off her glasses, wipes off a tear, and puts it back on. "It's just that, you're right."
Rades smiles.
"... You in?" The necromancer asked.
"Psh." She snorted. "Like you can do anything without me."
"Bite me." Rades flipped her off.
The [Spatial Magic] user then steps forth towards the two.
"What?" The two answered.
"I'm coming too." Valtos answered. "If my life's worth living for, then it's to see Lord Licht's ideals come to reality, even if it means risking my very life."
"Said ideals being burning this whole kingdom to the ground?" Sally asked.
"You're not far off." Valtos answered with a small grin on his face.
"Welcome aboard, asshole." Rades then slapped Valto's hand. "You better not slow us down, alright?"
"Right back at you." The black-eyed mage replied with a toothy grin.
"Alright, it's official." Crowley spoke out as he slowly stumbled back up. "I'm coming with you three."
"... You do realize that you're limp one leg and that you look about durable as shack in a middle of a hurricane, right?" Sally stated bluntly.
Crowley then takes out his grimoire. "Not for much longer."
The four-leaf's sole page opens up.
"[Fate Magic: Rewrite]."
The mage's right leg then begins to emit a bright light.
The Unfortunate's right leg is no longer numb and he ditches the crutch.
"There." He stated. "Now all I have to do, is to make sure that I have an antidote ready-"
Valtos shoots a black magical projectile towards Crowley's feet.
The viper by his ankles has its head blown off from its serpentine body.
"There." Valtos stated. "It's the least I can do after you, well... brought us back with your [Fate Magic]."
"You do realize that you just made it worse for yourself, right?" Crowley stated. "My 'karma debt' is contagious towards people that help me out of a bad ditch."
"Oh please." Valtos replied. "Luck and karma are only superstition-"
Valto's feet then knock over a loose rock within a pile, unwittingly excavating Licht's decapitated head.
Upon seeing his lord's head, Valtos falls into a major panic attack and begins to cry out in anguish.
"LORD LICHT!" He cried out. "I'VE FAILED YOU-!"
Rades slaps the mourning man's face.
"Crying won't bring him back." Rades stated in a solemn tone. "The only thing we can do, is to make do with what we've got."
"... Meaning-"
"Shut up and help me find the rest of his body." Rades stated. "And while at it, look for any relatively intact bodies that you can find."
"... YOU DARE DESECRATE-"
"LOOK PAL!" Rades yelled back. "THE DEAD HAVE NO VALUE! ALL WE CAN DO NOW IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE CLOVER KINGDOM IS IN ASHES BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!" He continued to rant. "AND I DON'T CARE IF I BREAK A FEW EGGS TO GET MY REVENGE AGAINST THOSE MAGIC KNIGHT JAGOFFS!"
"He's right." Sally stated while wrapping her top with a loose article of clothing that she found buried. "If we're gonna go out with a bang, then might as well make the bang big as possible. And besides, don't think of it as desecration."
Sally then places her hands on his shoulders.
"Think of it as all of the Eye of the Midnight Sun fighting alongside with us, including us." She stated. "If we're all gonna hang, then we'll all hang together from the same noose."
Valtos then wipes his teary eyes with his arm.
"You're right." He stated. "It's the least we can do."
"Then shut up and start digging!" Rades cried out as he dug up Raia's headless body. "If other people see this crap, then we're fucked!"
The four remaining members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun then start digging up their fallen comrades's bodies from the rubble.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: The Demons now have the access to the Death Note/[Death Magic].
All non-affiliated personnel evacuate all premises immediately.
As for the development of the Lilith's motifs, I was originally going for Egyptian Pantheon for naming conventions, but after beating F/GO's SE. RA. PH. event (All items bought, all reward stages cleared) with roughly 12 days to spare.
And after that little bout, I thought, "Fuck it. Buddhism."
Mara in SMT is a giant penis monster, so might as well go with the religious parallels and Fraulein symbolism for good measure.
Also, those two nameless (three if counting the rest of the shown Eight Shining Generals in their team spread manga panel shot), I gave them names and their own magic.
But they're all dead, so ha.
Hypothetical Voices (for funsies):
Yama: Ryo Hirohashi (JPN), Jennifer Greene (ENG)
Cleopatra Mara Bodhisattva: Rie Tanaka (JPN), Martha Harms (ENG)
Crowley Asher: Akira Ishida (JPN), Joel McDonald (ENG)
Also, my feelings regarding the canon manga so far (this is now a new thing, so give me time):
First Wizard King's and Nero's name being revealed...
... I just dug myself a really deep grave, didn't I?
On the plus side (two, to be specific), I now have much more to work with, and my fic is an AU, so I can chalk it up to "multiverse theory".
... Crap, another thing to write about is now in my bucket list for this fic.
Regardless, what do you guys think of this chapter?
Leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my audience is thinking!