(to terrecabigas1622 on chapter 17: No, I don't think there's a limit to how many I can post a day. I've just been pondering a lot about the plot, and I've got classes to attend. Which is why I can't post as often.)
The first one Jack saw walk into the room was a blond haired boy around his age, his red eyes foretold things similar to the rabbits he saw. His grin that he flashed when they looked at each other added a feeling of ferocity that clashed with his young form. They looked at each other in the eye and instantly thought the same thing: "I want to fight him."
Jack didn't know what made him come to that conclusion, but he knew he needed to test himself against him. The other boy looked like he thought similarly, what with his grin widening.
The next one to come was a middle-aged man with a horizontal slash mark on the middle of his face. His wild red hair was tied to a high ponytail. The most similar thing he could compare this man's eyes to was his teacher's own eyes when she was teaching him swordsmanship. He shuddered.
The both of their clothing contrasted. The older had simpler clothing similar to his teacher, while the younger's was more extravagant.
"Blade, old friend, how have you been?" asked the old wizard.
To which he answered with a simple, "Same old, same old."
The old man then turned his head towards the boy and nodded as he said, "Your highness."
The boy just grunted, though still grinning. The old man then invited them to sit. The two sat down on the couch opposite to theirs.
"So, what is it that you need, Rio?" inquired the Blade.
"I'm getting to that," was his answer.
Both parties then looked and stared at each other for a short while until they were interrupted by the old man, "Well, now that we're all here, I'll just lay it out to you: I want your students to enroll in the Arcanus Academy."
Silence.
Absolute silence was prevalent for a few seconds.
In a complete twist of turns for both boys, their teachers both said, "We accept."
"But teach-"
"But mast-"
Both were then silenced by their own teachers.
The old man suddenly said, "Now now, kids. Why don't you go play downstairs while the adults talk to each other?"
The both looked to their own teachers, who actually urged them to do as the geezer said. They then eyed at each other. Both of them knew what they'd do downstairs. As they walked out of the room, Mario's demeanor suddenly became much more serious and he snapped his fingers.
All possible exits and spots for eavesdropping were suddenly covered with magic barriers to prevent anything, even sound, from escaping.
"Now, that's out of the way… Thank you for accepting my plea," the archmage thanked.
"Are you sure we could trust this woman, Mario?" asked the Blade.
He nodded, "I trust her with all that I am."
The Blade then nodded and stayed silent.
"Let's cut it short: the demon lord's forces have infiltrated this city. They have begun to suspect that this is our resistance's base of operations," the old man informed them.
The Demons' Resistance was created by a group of demons who have defected from the Demon Lord's Forces. They were a group who sought for peace between the humans and demons and consisted of those who believed in these beliefs. Mario Magna the Archon of Magic and the Blade of the Great Nine were both key members of the resistance with both having demon blood in them.
The Blade was a half-breed from a misfortunate encounter between a human and a demon. This knowledge was kept secret from the world except for the Great Nine and the upper echelons of the Remnant Council. It was why he had the worst reputation among the Nine. Even if they couldn't tell what he was, they could tell many false rumors about him. It was also the reason why he was tied to the Imperial Family. It was so that they could keep him in check in case he decided to switch sides.
As for Mario, only he and Rimuru knew.
"What do you need me to do, friend?" the half-demon asked with resolve.
The archmage answered, "I need the both of you to stay here for a while, while under the guise of accompanying your students to school."
"Consider it done," he accepted without hesitation.
Before the conversation could continue, a great ruckus could be heard from below.
"Ohoho, it seems the kids are starting to have some fun," the conversation suddenly took to a lighter tone as the geezer said that.
"Tsk. That damn boy can't seem to stay put," complained the Blade as he stood up and walked to the door.
Mario put down the barrier temporarily to let the Blade through before he put it up again. Now, only Rimuru and Mario were the ones left in the room.
"So, have you come to erase me, oh Great One?" the old man said serenely.
Rimuru, who had been silent this entire time, decided to answer, "Me, killing Diablo's prized disciple? No way."
Before Diablo left the world, he assigned someone to take the mantle of the world's arbiter; a demon lord. He trained a boy who apprenticed under him to fill this role. That boy was Mario Magna. Or rather, Agama Mori, the first and only True Demon Lord after the Day of Cursing.
Though his job was to keep the world's inhabitants in line with his demonic powers, after centuries of being in that position he began to search for a better role than to bring terror upon the world. And that role was the peacemaker, the one who would bring peace to the war-torn world.
At first he scoffed at the idea, thinking such a thing would be against his role as arbiter. But as he pondered more and more, he began to think both roles weren't so different after all. In fact, he thought both could go hand in hand. He wanted to try it. But a part of him told him that his higher ups would not like what he would be doing. After thinking over the dilemma, he decided to try it regardless. For his sin was curiosity, and his virtue was wisdom, and he couldn't go down without at least trying. If he failed, then others would replace him. He wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things. But if he succeeded, then he could keep his job and life and many lives would be spared from the senseless brutality that polluted the world.
"How you do your job matters not to me. What matters is you don't disappoint Diablo, and in turn not disappoint me," the Great One said.
Agama sighed in relief. He felt weight lift off his shoulders. He felt free. But most of all, he felt happy. Happy that he could get this chance to change the world without raising the ire of his master and his master's master.
"Your spirit owls were very… interesting," the Great One mused.
Agama chuckled as he explained, "One of the abilities of my ultimate skill [Athena the Seeker] which I evolved from the skill [Seeker] given to me by my master allows me to summon artificial spirits created by said skill and allows me to see through their eyes, giving me a literal bird's eye view on the surroundings."
He continued, "Though, after some time my owls started gaining sentience and had ended up acquiring… eccentric personalities."
He finished it off with a chuckle.
Rimuru shook his head from side to side. It turned out this kid was also such a monster.
Rimuru then asked, "Why haven't you regained control of the forces?"
To that Agama answered, as if resigned, "While I had been able to convince some demons to join me, many of them revolted. Over the years I battled many of those posing as demon lords who tried to take my place, each of them getting harder to beat by the day until one day I could no longer beat one. The current demon lord is as strong as me in terms of power. While I may be a True Demon Lord, with the nature of my skills, my powers could only prove to be at most at the Special A rank according to the ancients' ways of calculating strength."
Rimuru nodded and said, "I see. Well, good work keeping this world running until now."
Agama smiled widely, "Your compliment means everything to me, oh Great One."
Rimuru sighed before he stood up and walked towards the door, "I need to take care of my kid, too. Tell me more about the classes and who I should be protecting later."
Agama felt his heart almost burst with joy. To gain the approval of the Great One was a great deal. And to have the Great One help you themselves was akin to a miracle.
He quickly nodded and said, "As per your will, oh Gr--"
He was suddenly interrupted, "And stop calling me that!"
...
Both boys were currently face to face, their weapons drawn. They were both panting, exhausted from their "spar." But both were smiling. Both were really happy. Neither looked like they wanted to stop. Once again, they ran towards each other and clashed their weapons.
(Note: [Seeker] is the alternate name of Diablo's skill [Great Wiseman] )
(A lot of infodump in this chapter. Hope you don't mind too much.)
(Might not post a chapter in the next 24 hrs. A family member's having their birthday.)
(I'll see you guys around!)
(Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you like to!)
