(Just watched episode 11. So glad that the best girl finally gets some screen time. And no, I didn't mean Shion)

(Thank you so much for your feedbacks! I really do appreciate them!)

(Here's my reasoning for each of the potential problems you have pointed out to me:)

(As for why there hasn't been enough from Rimuru's thoughts, I'm still trying to balance how long character scenes are supposed to be, but I do plan to have more Rimuru scenes in the future.)

(As for why I try to make the battles feel suspenseful and why it takes a chapter, I only try to do it from Jack's side to stop from too many Rimuru-stomp situations, and that the usual amount of words I complete chapters fit well with my fights' length. I will try to make them more concise in the future.)

(As for why I'm not being descriptive enough, I try to avoid going overboard with appearances and hope for the readers to envision them how they like. But I will try to add more in the future.)

(Once again, I read all your reviews, including delayed guest ones: the emails get sent instantly to me before it gets public in a few days.)

(Sorry for the long notes, but here's the chapter!)

Thomas' eyes were practically gleaming. He knew from the way he fought with the boy on equal grounds that his teacher was nothing to scoff at. If her student was his equal in terms of strength, then he could only imagine how powerful the woman in front of his master was. His heart was beating with excitement to see how their tutors would clash with one another.

...

Shit. He was too hasty.

When he first entered Mario's office, he could instantly feel the power the wooden katana exuded. Having experienced countless battles, he was able to discern strength with just a glance. He knew that he had no chance of beating the wielder of that sword. Though, he couldn't sense anything from the wielder herself.

It was a phenomenon. No matter how strange or powerful one was, he was able to sense their strength with just a glance. While he needed to perceive the target first, once he was able to, no matter if they were concealed or not, he would be able to sense them to a certain extent. The only reason he knew the woman across the room was strong was because while she was able to completely hide her power from him, she wasn't able to hide the intent the sword released.

A sword's intent comes from the will of the wielder and the essence of the enemies the sword has defeated. The wooden sword's intent outstrips that of any other blade, including his.

Though, that only made him want to challenge her. When the woman questioned his teaching skills, he had been blindsided by his desire to battle to the point that all he wanted to do was challenge her now.

That had led him to this current moment, where he was on the position of unsheathing his blade.

The reason he thought this was a bad idea was because of what the outcome this battle would have brought. If he'd lost, then not only would it make the demon army become more wary and suspect something more was going on in this city, but it would also incite the curiosity of the Remnant Council. It would be terrible if they found out that demons were living freely among the people in this place. In short, it could cause a great and terrible war to start with this place as its center.

It was also bad if he were to back out on their duel now. It would cause both the demon and council sides to become suspicious of his movements, resulting with the previously mentioned outcome. So, he only had one thing to do. If there were anything he was good at other than the sword, then it would be this. And that would be…

bullshitting his way out of his problems!

"Heh," he chuckled, hiding the nervousness in his voice, "but not a duel of strengths."

He slowly got back into a relaxed stance to calm his nerves.

"I wish for a duel of skills. Not combative ones, but in teaching," he made exaggerated motions with his hands, trying to stall while he thought of what he should do. He looked around the courtyard, hoping to save his ass from his current predicament. His eyes then stopped to the tanned kid beside the fountain.

Bingo.

He then smirked and raised the sword he was holding by the scabbard, directing it to the woman's student, "I propose that by the end of their school years, our students will have a duel. If your student wins, then he can have my sword, Orpoblitz. On the other hand, you give my student something of value if he wins. What do you say?"

Just because he knew he couldn't beat her in terms of strength didn't mean he wasn't confident in beating her with his teaching skills. He smirked at her, waiting for her answer.

...

Rimuru could feel the smile forming on his lips. Now this was a challenge. He turned to see both kids. His boy looked at him in anticipation, while the blond one was less than disappointed and more than intrigued.

He asked Ciel inwardly, "Ciel, can you recreate my mask?"

{It is done, master.}

He then put his hand inside his cloak and made a grabbing motion as he took out his old mask from his infinite storage and showed it to them.

"This mask has the power to hide someone's aura to a certain extent. If your student impresses me, then I shall give this to him," he explained.

He looked at the red head who looked shocked before he looked as if he finally understood something.

The man then asked, "How did you even find such a priceless artifact?"

Priceless? Artifact? Oh. Difference between eras, right.

He answered, "It was given to me by my destined one."

The swordsman blinked, then shook his head before saying, "I don't suppose you know the artificer who created this, do you?"

He answered honestly, smiling, "As a matter of fact, I do. This artifact was crafted by the one I love."

{I love you too, master.}

He felt his heart flutter just hearing that. While Ciel never did want to advance their relationship, she never shied away from expressing her love for him whenever he did. Honestly, this AI was just pure evil. She knew he craved for her to say it and used it to her advantage. It was hopeless. There was no way he could ever stop loving her like this.

He then heard a sharp gasp from his side. He turned his head to see his student looking at him with wide eyes, paying Rimuru more attention than the boy ever had, even counting during his training. His lips were pressed tightly, seemingly trying to hold off from speaking.

"I see. May I ask you where he's currently at?" the Blade suddenly asked.

He refrained from answering, "I'm sorry, but I have to refuse disclosing that information."

The Blade sighed, but then nodded, "All right."

He continued, "Well, we're going to go find a place to stay. If you want to know more about his offer, you can ask Mario at any time. Though, I suggest you find your own place first. It'll be hard to find one when the festival comes near."

The blue haired demon replied, "Thanks for the suggestion," he then turned to his student and signalled him to follow.

As they walked heading to the residential area he could still feel his student's piercing stare behind him.

He sighed before asking, "What's wrong, kid?"

He looked back only to see the kid turning his head away from him. He tilted his head in confusion. Why was the kid like this so suddenly?

"Nuthin'," Jack said, pouting.

"If you say so," he turned back.

He could still feel his kid eyeing him the same way as before. He sighed. He then led him to an alleyway. When they were no longer near any crowd, Rimuru turned around to face his student again.

"All right, kid. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong," he explained.

Jack stayed silent, just looking down.

Rimuru patted his head and said, "It's okay, Jack. You can tell me anything that bothers you. I promise I won't get mad."

Jack looked at him in the eye for tens of seconds before finally speaking, "Is that why you accepted the geezer's offer?"

"Hmm?" he was confused.

"Are you going to leave me after enrolling me in school? To come back to your loved one?" with each word, he could see the boy's face change.

His eyes starting to water, mouth frowning, it was honestly heartbreaking to see. So that's what it was. He shook his head.

"I think you've got the wrong idea, kid. I'm not leaving you until you finish your training. And you still have a long, long way to go. So, throw away that dumb idea you've thought of about me," he declared.

The boy looked down before he asked, "You promise you won't leave me?"

"Jack, I will swear on my name AND my soul that I'll never leave you until you either finish my training or you want me to leave," Rimuru swore truthfully.

He etched that promise to his very soul by himself.

He continued asking, "Why did you ever think I'd leave you? What made you come to this conclusion?"

Jack returned to silence, though this time Rimuru could see tears forming in his eyes, which alarmed him greatly. He kneeled to his level and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You can tell my anything, Jack. Don't be afraid," he said in his softest voice.

Slowly, tears started dropping, and the boy said, "I'm afraid that you'll leave me like what they said."

Slowly, Rimuru's ever present smile started to fade.

He asked calmly, "Who said?"

The boy continued while sobbing, "The other kids… and adults in… in Rowlhart. They told me that… that nobody loves me and, and that… not even my pa-- parents loved me. Th-they said that's why... that's why they left me... They said that was… the reason why I was… a-an orphan."

The boy was crying loudly at this point. Rimuru pulled him into a tight hug. So that was the reason. Just some irresponsible parents not knowing nor caring if their children hurt other people. Such insolence. If he still had blood pumping through his veins, then it would've been boiling right now.

{...ter.}

And the adults who said this to him? Unforgivable. He would show them what it meant to be unloved.

{..aster.}

To those that wronged his student--

He would make them regret what they said.

{Master!}

"Huh?" Rimuru suddenly snapped out of his dark thoughts.

{Please, control yourself. The rate at which you produce your Lord's Aura will reach a point where I can no longer transfer all of it to the Azathoth Mass effectively. Please remind yourself how dangerous it will be for everyone if your aura leaks.}

With that, Rimuru finally realized how close he was from losing control. He did his best to calm himself.

The Azathoth Mass. It was a concept created based on his ultimate skill [Void God Azathoth] .

One time in ages long passed, he had lost himself to anger. He released the full might of his aura, which turned out to be a huge mistake. His aura was so thick and heavy that it literally solidified. It turned into a mass of unspeakable horror, with tendrils, mouths, and deformed limbs hellbent on the deconstruction of existence itself. The souls near it became trapped in it, with the mass torturing them in the most gruesome way possible, either by torturing the very soul or creating a pocket reality in which the soul's conscious mind would be tormented for all of eternity.

In order to stop his rampage, Ciel had sent him back again into the end of time and had separated that moment from any other timeline. It was just that dangerous. Because aura could only be beaten by stronger aura, as Rimuru was essentially undefeatable, so was the mass. If let loose, it would wreak havoc on everything until everything was erased and every soul was devoured into its stomach of torture.

When Rimuru came to, Ciel explained every detail she had learnt while observing it. Before he could order Ciel to kill his aura, Ciel offered a better proposal. Every time he unintentionally released aura, Ciel would transport it to this now separate dimension. So, even if he had lost a bit of control, no one would be in danger of being pulled in by the mass. Rimuru decided it was a good idea and accepted her proposal.

And so, on that day, the ultimate skill [Hateful Tormentor Azathoth] was formed. Its effects are to pile up his aura into the dimension when it needed to. After a while they discovered that this mass was able to produce great amounts of magicules and energy from just one tortured soul infinitely, and Ciel was able to use that power to strengthen him even further. From that day forward, anyone who received his greatest ire would be thrown into the Mass as a form of eternal judgement and as a battery of sorts to him. It was such an effective power source that this Mass became the core of the multiverse he created, the thing that kept it running until now, preventing the massive space from collapsing in on itself.

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to remember about the past. He looked down to the sobbing form of his usually cheerful student, hugging him like his life counted on it. Even with all the new powers he gained, Jack was still just a boy badly hurt from loneliness. That was why from now on Rimuru would do his best to stop his precious student from feeling lonely ever again.

Another promise was etched into his soul on the same day.

(Aura = Haki)

(Sorry I haven't been uploading as quickly. Classes, you know.)

(Well, this was a long one. I was hoping to explain the Azathoth Mass much later, but this seemed like it would work in this situation.)

(Thanks for reading! Leave me a review on how you thought about this chapter. Like, how I handled Jack and Rimuru's interaction. Was it terrible? I certainly feel that people might hate this.)

(Or what about the Azathoth Mass? Did it make any sense to you?)