Author's Note: This chapter marks the first time that the M rating comes into play. This is not the last you'll hear from it. This is your warning.

Additional note: Regarding the final scene, yes, probably. For those who know their Castlevania and their Japanese slang, yes, I know that, too. This could be fun.

Chapter 4: Touch Of Magic

It was mere months after I had adopted this identity that Thanatos returned to the underworld. It wasn't bad timing for me at all. Now that I had established my new background, attention could easily switch to him and I would not be forced to answer any difficult questions in the near future.

Thanatos, however, was not in a good mood. Upon his arrival, he appeared in the main room and delivered a speech consisting of only three words.

"Dracula is gone."

As usual, it was up to Galamoth to figure out the parts of the story that he was missing on his own time. It was easier this time. There were more demons around and they were more talkative than before.

According to them, not only had the descendant of the Belmont clan managed to destroy Dracula, but a subsequent effort to revive him using a enchantment he had cast on the region had failed as well, thanks to the efforts of the traitorous forgemaster. Thanatos took more offense at the second part, as he seemed to have placed a lot of personal effort into the revival plan.

Galamoth had to wonder how a single human managed to destroy Dracula. It reminded him uncomfortably of how Adrian had defeated him and his entire army without trouble. If Dracula's own army had lost just as easily... just how strong was this human?

In the days to follow, the consequences of this defeat were becoming more apparent. The lack of Dracula meant that there was no longer a portal to the surface, and the demons were effectively trapped within their own underworld with considerably fewer activities available. The main room was more crowded than before. And without a war effort occurring, there was less need for the forge to be constantly manned, and Galamoth could no longer expect to spend as much time there.

In an effort to boost morale, Thanatos decided to make another announcement. Dracula would return again someday, and things would be back to normal. He did not answer any questions about how this was going to happen, but he did mention that the process would not take more than one hundred years.

There are some sentences that you simply don't expect to ever write in your own autobiography, Galamoth notes. It's just as well that this will be filed alongside the other reading material in this place's library. If a human were to read this, he would have a hard time accepting it. It would even give members of his own race pause if they were around.

He writes it quickly. Seventy-five years passed without incident.

Sure, things happened. He talked to a large number of demons and became friendly with some of them. He kept making things in the forge. He read through a large portion of the library's material. He even decided to fall asleep at one point, simply because it had been so long since he had wanted to do so. Unfortunately, for the same reason that his body no longer needed to sleep, it no longer had an impetus to wake up, and more than two years passed before another demon decided to disturb his hibernation. It was just as well; he missed nothing in the meantime.

Hell, according to some books, is a place to spend eternity. He has no problem believing it.

Still, it was always possible to find something new to do.

Galamoth had frequently spoken of his magical talents, but he had never actually been given a reason to use them since he was sent down here. Still, he was always capable of detecting an aura around some of the other demons, and they were capable of seeing the same thing.

One day in the forge, Agni simply asked him about it.

Agni's talent was obvious. He created and controlled fire. He wasn't the type to keep his skeletal body covered in flames when in tightly packed groups, but whenever he was alone or in the forge, he allowed his power to constantly wash over himself. He could also make his flames considerably hotter than naturally possible; this was very useful in the forge. It was the kind of experience that made Galamoth happy to have lived in the desert. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like if he burned easily.

By comparison, Galamoth considered himself a jack of all trades, with one point of specialty. He could handle lightning extremely well, and was capable of changing its form and trajectory with his mere thoughts. Sadly, this was not foolproof; he could not actually produce lightning himself. Still, if there was an electrical source available, including storm clouds, he could easily force it to come to him. The underworld, he noticed, was lacking in that regard.

He didn't know why he had this talent. Certainly, the military expected him to develop and harness it, which suggested that the ability was common to his race. But he never studied biology and never found out why they did at all. Naturally, he mentioned none of this to Agni. The demon had enough trouble figuring out what good such abilities would do when crossing the desert with a crocodile in tow.

Galamoth decided to show off some of his own fiery ability that day. He could not possibly impress Agni in that manner, but it was useful for comparison's sake. Agni, to his credit, didn't dismiss his ability outright. Even better, he listened when Galamoth noted that his spell's power seemed to be greater than it had been before he met Dracula.

In the end, Agni informed Galamoth of a group of spellcasters that occasionally gathered in one of the rooms. Perhaps they would be able to explain more of the details to him, he suggested.

When Galamoth first stopped by to meet the group, he had to wonder if he had walked down the wrong hallway. The room's population consisted entirely of human women.

Some demons have pointed out many times that Galamoth has a certain bias in favor of witches. It started here, he realizes. It's amazing how much minor events like this one can affect someone's perceptions, and how the past several hundred years could have turned out completely differently if he had turned down Agni's advice.

Oddly enough, these gatherings would mark the first time that he had prolonged and regular exposure to other spellcasters. And to females that weren't of his own race. And to former humans. All at the same time. It was not hard to be uncomfortable in such a situation.

That wasn't completely true. There were a number of sorcerers in the group, as well as a few demons. But these witches clearly made up the majority. When I pointed this out, they gave me a pretty reasonable explanation that they probably gave to every new member. Humans are highly social and like meeting people similar to themselves, and most magic-wielding demons don't feel like their inherent talents warrant any kind of investigation or practice.

I decided to ask them how they became demons. This was a touchy subject for them. A large number of them had been killed by their own kind for practicing their talents, a fate that reminded me uncomfortably of what I had been told about Dracula's mate. Some of them were recruited by wandering demons, while others apparently sold themselves to demons in an effort to increase their power.

That part intrigued me, and I asked if there was any proven connection between becoming a demon and having greater magical power. Most believed one existed, but their explanations differed. One postulated that magic was inherently an unholy force. Another wondered if the knowledge that one was not mortal gave the user an incentive to use more inner energy without fear of endangering oneself. Yet another believed that magic was considered to be myth by humanity, and that having a reputation of mythology was actually beneficial to the denizens of hell.

The philosophy was interesting, but in the end uninformative. Still, I remained with the group for more practical reasons. For instance, the group was granted permission to throw their spells around at inanimate objects without having Thanatos on their case, and I wanted the practice.

Galamoth had learned a lot from that group, he recalls. Over the course of many meetings, he had been trained to create a ball of dark energy from his own essence and use it as a weapon. He had learned a few tricks to getting more output on his spells with a certain degree of finesse and knowledge of physics. And while he never learned how to produce any significant amount of electricity himself, the witches were fully willing to create it for him and allow him to control it. More than once, he treated this as a challenge, and cast a few spells of his own while keeping the lightning well-focused.

It wasn't necessarily productive for him, he thinks, but he had enjoyed it.

I was starting to become quite popular with that group. But I really didn't think about it until a demon visited me one day to ask about my harem.

"My what?"

"Have you seen the way they crowd around you? How they give you their full attention whenever you're around? How they brag to the other demons about spending time with you?"

Galamoth most certainly had not noticed the third part. "Why would they do that?" he asked.

"Didn't they have harems in Egypt?"

An easy bypass. "I rarely spent my time in the presence of humans there."

The demon made a dismissive gesture. "Well, this is the same thing. A bunch of women, all showering their attentions on one man of great respect, in hopes of receiving sexual attention."

Galamoth looked at him with a confused expression. "What attention?"

"Sexual."

"I am not familiar with that term."

"Okay, you definitely haven't spent much time with humans."

To head off the obvious questions here, yes, my race probably engages in reproduction. No, I had not actually done studies into that process at any time in my youth. No, I have no idea when such ideas are taught there, as I apparently left on my mission before I ever heard about them.

The demon stopped by again a few hours later, this time with a female demon following closely behind him. At his request, Galamoth followed him to an empty room.

Once they arrived, the demon gestured in her direction. "Okay, my friend here is what we call a succubus."

Galamoth knew that term. "A demon said to take the form of a woman and steal the souls of men in their sleep."

"True enough, but that's not the point. The point is how she does it." A brief pause, as he looked at her with worry. "Or, in this case, doesn't do it, because Death has rules against the claiming of each other's souls here."

The female gave the male an odd look, but continued to smile.

He continued. "Now, her outfit is designed to show everything you need to know about."

"What's the point of doing that?" Galamoth asked.

"What?"

"You and I are both wearing less than she is."

The demon rolled his eyes. "This is going to be a long night."

"I hope so", the succubus added.

While certainly new to me, I had to admit that the demonstration was largely underwhelming.

According to his argument, females had body parts that were devoted to the process of reproduction, and males had different ones, and they were often used on each other to achieve the full effect. The other two certainly seemed to enjoy it.

After this, the succubus suggested that she try the same process on me. I agreed hesitantly, wondering why they made such a big deal about it.

According to this planet's scientists, the males of my race have what is called a cloaca. Oddly enough, she was familiar with this concept, so she suggested that I move to a position that gave her access to it. Unfortunately, I could not see anything of what she was doing while I was lying on my back.

Given the inherent size difference, it was not hard for her to reach her arm inside and feel around for whatever she had said I needed to extend first. While I had never had anyone do that to me before, I couldn't really say that I found it enjoyable. After a few minutes of not finding anything, she stood up, muttered some harsh words under her breath, and suggested that the male try the same thing. He was hesitant to do so, and achieved just as little success.

In the end, the female left in a huff, describing me as "no fun". Before he departed, the male asked me if I might have actually been created asexually. Once again, I had no idea what he was talking about.

While the test was apparently a failure, I decided that the demon's theory was irrelevant, because even after rumors of these events spread around, I was still popular among the female spellcasters. Perhaps they were not a harem after all, or perhaps they had interests other than the one he suggested.

Galamoth lifts his pen, puts the sheet of paper to the side and moves on to the next sheet without any hesitation.

It was several decades later when Thanatos reported to everyone that Dracula had returned to life.

This was met with great support from the demons. Everyone knew what this meant. The portal would be reopened. They would be able to return to their normal activities.

Thanatos then revealed that Dracula intended to finish what he had started. The humans had not been punished for their crime, and he was going to stop their destructive tendencies using any means necessary. Having met many former humans who had been killed by their own kind for petty reasons, I had to support our lord's proclamation.

This war effort was handled a little differently than before. Not in my case, though, as I was still not chosen to fight and was expected to continue to handle forge duties for the duration. But this time, Thanatos remained behind as well. When asked why, he mentioned that there was a plan involved. None of us pressed our master for more information.

Galamoth stops to think about how he intends to continue this section. Nothing else of note happened before that war ended, but jumping directly from the beginning to the end of the war makes the narrative look sloppy.

In the end, he decides to do it anyway.

Eventually the rumor spread that Dracula had been defeated again, and it had once again been the doing of a descendant of the Belmont clan. This name was starting to be feared among the demon population, and with good cause.

However, Thanatos assured us, this was part of his backup plan. Dracula had not been killed at all. He merely fled his castle and went into hiding in a more obscure location, while hopefully convincing the humans that he had fallen in battle.

This way, Dracula could maintain a portal to hell for multiple years. And thanks to his efforts, demons would be able to steal supplies from the humans and recruit more minions while appearing to be nothing more than stragglers from the war. While I was skeptical at first, this plan appeared to be working, and the location of the portal had yet to be found.

As usual, I wasn't allowed to use the portal. By this time, however, I was trusted enough by the guard golems that they did not specifically close it in my presence. I considered convincing some of the other demons to raid some supplies for me, but realized that anything of value to me would be entirely too noticeable. I didn't want to ruin the plan for my own selfishness.

It didn't matter in the long run, because my greatest reward from this plan was not something I had been expecting.

As the demons were not expected to battle at this time, the forge was officially on standby. However, there was another duty that had become more important, and Galamoth found himself helping out in that regard instead.

The number of individuals being recruited for the demon cause was at a peak, and there was a large influx of turncoat humans at this time. Many of them were magic users who had been oppressed by the general population. Thus, it was the opinion of the spellcasters that the group needed to meet more often in order to get the new demons properly trained in the ways of magic. Galamoth gave his full support to the idea.

Still, there were lulls between the meetings, so he often found himself heading back to the library. With the portal open again, there was literature from the past century that was constantly being added to the shelves, and he felt it was well worth his time to read it. Finding out what new advances the humans had made was the best starting place.

One evening, as he was reading up on the influence of nationally supported piracy on the oceans, a feminine voice interrupted him.

"Y... you're one of the magicians... right?"

As he was sitting on the floor at the time, he didn't have to look far down to see who was asking the question. A woman with long blue hair, dressed in simple magician's robes of an equally bluish hue, was standing near him and looking up at his face. At least, she was trying to, but she kept averting her eyes. He noticed her magical aura quickly.

Galamoth nodded. "I do have magical ability. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I, um, had seen the group and... um... you kinda stood out, so I re...remembered you... and I, uh, wanted to speak with someone there... alone."

"Why alone?" he asked, deciding against making any comments about how a thirty-foot-tall reptile tends to stand out in a crowd. She sounded serious, after all.

"I... I'm a magic us... a magician, too", she said, stumbling through her words. "But I... um... I'm not very good..."

"It sounds more like you're shy. I don't think you need to worry about what the others think."

"No. No... it's not that... um... it's just... um... could you please... uh..."

Galamoth impatiently waited for her to get to the point.

"...I don't know... uh... if you're not busy... watch me cast something... help me... uh... get better?"

Galamoth couldn't decide if she was terrified of large groups or if she really just wanted to spend time with him. "I'm in the middle of reading right now, but if you're willing to wait..."

"Oh, sure, um, no problem... uh... what are you reading?"

Galamoth sighed, turned the book around and showed her the cover.

"No... no... I don't want to be a bu... burden... sorry... it's just... uh..."

"Enough!"

Galamoth immediately realized that he had shouted at the top of his lungs. The woman was staring at him silently, mouth agape in shock. He wasn't sure that she entirely deserved that.

He slowly shook his head. "Very well. If you'll stay quiet for another hour, I'll go with you and let you show me whatever it is you want me to see."

Her face brightened up. "R... really? Th... thank you very much... sir."

She looked around for a few seconds, then headed over to one of the shelves and took one of the books from it. Content that she was distracting herself with reading rather than distracting him, Galamoth returned to his own text.

There was no real way to tell time in hell. But after a while, he decided that he was at a good stopping place in the book, so he placed the text down on the ground and took a closer look at the woman. Despite his initial impressions of her, she seemed very comfortable as she paged through the text in front of her. She couldn't have been a nervous wreck normally. Something was wrong.

He picked up the book again and stood slowly, making more of a commotion than he usually did.

"Uh... wait a second", she said, holding her hand up in his direction.

She was still engrossed in her book, he noticed. He had to conclude that she enjoyed reading, and if that was the case, perhaps she had initially come here for a reason other than to see him.

A few pages later, she closed the text and set it down. "Is there a safe place for this?"

Galamoth nodded. "Back on the shelf, probably."

She shook her head. "No, for the... uh... the magic."

"You really don't want anyone else to see this, do you?"

"It... it's not that. I just..."

"We can see if there's an empty room somewhere."

As the two walked back through the main room, a number of demons stopped talking for a moment to look at them. Galamoth noticed that the woman wasn't handling this very well.

Eventually Galamoth found a back room that was unoccupied and motioned for her to follow him in.

Her mannerisms were as nervous as ever. "Okay... now... um... I'm gonna warn you... uh..."

"You're afraid of the other demons, aren't you?" he interrupted.

"Well... uh, yeah, that too. I'm kinda new here and... uh... never really saw demons before... they're... uh... well...", and then, in a whisper, "they're not gonna kill me, are they?"

Galamoth was taken aback slightly. "No, they will not. You are a demon, like them. You can't die." He remembered how he had learned that the hard way, and from the opposite perspective from her.

She nodded slowly. "Oh. That's, uh, good to know... I hope..."

"I'm confused. If you were afraid for your life, why did you talk to me? I am often told I look more threatening than the others."

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Well, yeah, but you were, uh, reading. I... uh... guess I thought nothing that liked to read would kill me on sight, you know?"

"I'm not sure that's entirely true, but..."

"Anyway, it's not just that. It's just... uh... okay, I'll show you."

She took a few steps away from him and looked around as if she was measuring distances and watching out for onlookers. Galamoth started to wonder if this was going to be something embarrassing.

"I... I do ice magic. Did. My whole life. But... uh..."

Galamoth understood the significance of her outfit's color now. "It's not one of my specialties, but I think I know enough about it to help."

"Are you sure... uh... um... okay, I'll show you... but... I'll do it now."

She took another step away and then turned around in a circle, lifting her arms into the air. As Galamoth watches, she started to summon a great deal of magical energy into her hands. She started off really well, he had to admit. Once she had gathered what seemed to be enough power, she closed one of her hands and held the other one, fingers spread apart, toward a nondescript wall. As she did, a large wave of ice flew from her fingertips. The room started to feel considerably chillier, and large shards started to branch off from the wave to widen its area of effect. Eventually the spell slammed into the opposite wall, freezing it instantly.

The effect was more powerful than Galamoth would have expected from a former human of her age. If she was worried that she was unskilled, this didn't...

Wait. He noticed something that could pose a problem. Thinking fast, he reached out and grabbed her non-casting arm. His hand was large enough to enclose it fully from shoulder to fingers.

She yelled out in pain. He decided not to squeeze so hard, but he didn't let go. Eventually he could feel her arm relax in his grip. As it did so, the other hand stopped producing ice, allowing the rest of the wave to finish its task, completely covering the wall with a sheet of ice.

She looked up at him with sad eyes. "You see, um, I..."

He released her arm slowly. "You possess a great deal of magic power and appear to summon and control it quite easily. I think you will make a fine ice witch."

She blinked. "Really... but..."

"You need to learn one thing, though. Once you have reached the desired level of magical power, you need to relax your other arm. The way you were casting, that arm continued to draw magic power without slowing. If I hadn't grabbed it, your spell could have overloaded and..."

He trailed off as he noticed that she had fallen to the floor in tears. He started to consider what had just happened. "Did I hurt your arm? It was not my intent. I was trying to..."

"No... not that... it was horrible... I just... a few days ago..."

Galamoth had no idea how to handle this. Most of the demons he knew weren't prone to emotional outbursts. "Calm yourself. Tell me what happened."

She tried to hold back her tears. "I said I was new here... yeah... very new. I got in yesterday."

Galamoth had wondered why he hadn't seen her before. "Something bad happened, I take it."

"I'm not... I shouldn't be a demon. I was good at magic. My family loved me... they supported me... let me learn more. The village liked me... accepted me for what I was... they would never hurt me... not like you keep hearing."

She had a point, he thought. It seemed like too many witches were being persecuted in those days. "That sounds ideal."

She took a breath. "My tutor taught me a new spell. Another ice one... a lot more powerful... the one you just saw..."

The one she had trouble stopping. It was becoming obvious where this was going.

"I think I understand. You do not have to..."

She burst into tears again. "Nobody could understand that! The spell... it grew too strong... it... it killed me... and my family... and everyone else... it's all my fault!"

"Everyone else? The spell's range should not have been that large."

"Large enough! At least six houses worth! The survivors probably think I betrayed them all!" She was becoming hysterical at this point.

"That may not..."

"Look at me! I'm a demon now! The grim reaper recommended me personally! You know, the guys who are killing humanity and everything!"

He winced at this. "We are engaged in war. They..."

"They don't even call me by my name! They renamed me! Frozen Half? They don't even care about who I am! They only care about how I slaughtered everyone with ice, and how I'm really..."

She couldn't finish her sentence before she collapsed in tears again.

Galamoth was unsure how to respond to this. Without being able to go to the surface, he had never had any exposure to what humans thought of the current conflict. Truly, they must have thought the demons were monsters. And here was some living proof: a former human who was about to have a nervous breakdown simply because she thought everyone was going to think of her the same way.

He had to help her. He just didn't know how to do it.

"Excuse me."

She didn't reply. She continued to cry.

"Frozen Half!" he snapped.

She stopped to glare at him. If nothing else, it got her looking upward again. "Don't call me that!"

"Do you not wish to be an ice witch?"

She took a deep breath. "Not... not if it makes me a murderer..."

"What is your name?" he asked in a softer tone.

"Rebecca."

He smiled. "I will call you Rebecca, then. My name is Galamoth."

"Galamoth?"

"You are not a monster. I can tell just by listening to you. We are not monsters, either. You will learn what we are soon enough. Give it time."

She hesitated. "A... are you sure? All those people..."

He shook his head. "It may sound cruel, but there is no way to change what happened. If you worry that the others will judge you, then you need to do something to make them judge you differently. The past is fixed. You must focus on what you can do now."

Galamoth started to wonder if he was spending too much time in the library. He had never thought of himself as wise in any manner, and certainly not any kind of expert on advice. Nevertheless, she seemed to be feeling better.

He grasped her gently with one hand and lifted her to her feet. He had found that most demons didn't like it when he did that, but he thought that it helped to accentuate his speech.

"And what we can do now is make sure that this never happens again. We can help you. If you learn to relax your arm, I am certain you will have full control."

She looked him in the eyes. "You... you think so?"

"I meant what I said. You are a talented spellcaster. Your village believed in you. I think that we can as well."

"...I hope you're right."

"We meet again in a few days if you are willing to join us."

"I would like that."

"But for now", he said, slowly standing up, "I would like to get back to my reading. I hope I have helped you."

She smiled at him. "You have. Thank you again."

Satisfied at the outcome of the events, Galamoth headed for the hallway back to the main room. His route took him directly next to the wall against which she had demonstrated her talents. The icy layer was still cold, and he couldn't help but shiver slightly. She really was as powerful as he thought.

A sudden thought occurred to him.

"Would you like to come with me?"

She shook her head. "Not now. Maybe another time."

"I understand."

And he left, pondering the speech he had just made and wondering at exactly what point he had started welcoming reading company.