Echidna: The Final form of a parasite.

The mature form of a Chimera Seed after it has attached itself to a host, few demon tribes are as insidious as the Echidna.

Appearing as a giant snake capable of flying through the air the Echidna ravages the area it appears in by spreading its spawn randomly.

When it wants to fight the Echidna will bloom it's mouth open into a flower and reveal the original form of the Demon that it has taken as a host while it's tail unravels to reveal tentacle like vines ending in sharp blade tips.

In this state the Echidna combines the full knowledge and original powers that it's host possesses while it attacks using it's array of vine tentacles and spawns it's various offspring to reinforce it's position.

As such the theoretical power of each member of the Echidna tribe can vary wildly, the truth though is that Chimera Seeds cannot infest a demon that is stronger than themselves, so the power of the tribe tends to fall on the lower end.

On the other hand if a willing host was to suppress their power and allowed themselves to be taken over a more powerful individual could be taken, though there's no one fool enough to allow themselves to be taken over by a parasite.

Excerpt from Lemegeton's Guidebook to Demons


Yumeria didn't know how long this nightmare was going to last. She knew that she was a useless ugly failure. The other Elves had asked her to help them look after a new type of plant they found inside of the ruins. It was harmless enough at first, she admits she was a little surprised to see them walking around at first, but she was told that all kinds of weird things can be found inside of a dungeon, and they were great with house work and work around the village. Then the researchers came to her in a panic, claiming that there was a deadly disease inside of the dungeon, everyone needed to be quarantined at once, and they all needed to be injected with the antidote too.

Then after being locked in a small room, Yumeria started to notice the changes her body was experiencing. They were small first, her teeth were growing longer, her arms started to hurt as various bumps appeared along them, she found herself craving meat dishes despite never eating meat before in her life. She hurriedly use her only medium available to her, her own blood and some paper that one of the flowers smuggled to her, to write a warning to Kyle to not come here and then walked the plant through sending it through the mail so that it would get to him.

Then one day she felt her jaws rip her mouth open, her arms becoming riddled with bony spikes. Then when she started beating on the doors of her room for help, instead she was met with one of her own flowers. The creature attached itself to her body, digging its roots into her abdomen as it bloomed into a beautiful flower, its stamen turning into flailing tendrils. Changes continued to progress from there, the flower's petals wrapped around her waist, her legs split apart and turned into thorny vines, her original symptoms worsened as her arms developed into fully realised bone blades.

Worse yet Yumeria was coming to the realisation that she was losing control over her own body. But the Worst part was the memories that weren't her own, that she was realising belonged to the plant that was infesting and changing her body.

"So we were right. It is a disease that can turn humanoids into Demons." The same man who had 'saved' her by injecting the 'antidote' into her body.

"Yes. Luckily we had the perfect breeder on hand." Another replied with glee in his voice. "Thankfully that ugly bitch is so good with manipulating plants. She was even able to control the Chimera Seeds."

Disease? Demon? Breeder!?

"All we need to do now is use our various Exclusive servant agents to infest the capital with the disease. Then once the capital is in flames we'll just release the Chimera Seeds and seize the continent!"

They did this on purpose? Those bastard's did this to her on Purpose!? And they were going to do it again in the capital where Kyle is!?

Yumeria didn't remember the full details of what happened next, she was fairly certain that her new 'room mate' took things from there and together they ended up slaughtering everyone who was inside of the facility. She knew the men that she knew personally were dead, knew that the men who had mutilated her body, mind and soul were now suffering a fate as bad as or worse than what they had done to her. It was fine like this, as long as Kyle was okay, she didn't want to live like this, live like a monster without even having control over her own body.

"'Tarkat?' What's that?" An unfamiliar voice, a girl. Great Gaia's ghost someone else has entered this unholy pit!

"It's a disease." A man's voice this time. "One corrupted by Demonic influence, those afflicted by it suffer from severe bone deformations growing spikes along the face, back and arms, laced with more of the disease while driving them into intense aggression, they also gain a rather potent healing factor though one that is ultimately useless against bones skewering their own organs. The bone spikes become convenient weapons and highly effective vectors for transmitting the disease. I thought it was wiped out centuries ago though."

"Is there a cure?" Another girl's voice, deeper than the first though.

"No. There was a treatment that temporarily suppressed the symptoms, but a key ingredient was bone marrow from other infected. The princess of a small nation was infected, after all of the existing infected were rounded up and slowly killed off for their marrow they began infecting people on purpose. Reportedly the battle to overthrow the government was bloody, and the remaining infected chose death and incineration rather than a slow painful death from a disease with no cure."

"What have those bastards been doing to Mom!?" A familiar voice snapped.

A very Familiar voice. No no no no no no!

"You're gonna wanna stay back for this one. It's gonna be ugly." A new figure rounded the corner, a tall column of flame that connected the floor and the ceiling. A second, a bright gentle blue light. The third, a familiar individual, a familiar greenish/bluish figure, his colour matching that of her own! Most ominous of all, a black fog that consumed everything and blocked out all the others, that her son was now struggling against.

"Get away from my son!"


Leon's brute force approach to navigating the dungeon left a lot of floors with holes in them, still it was hard to argue with the results. They stopped when Luxion gave a report on what other things the Elves had managed to bring in, a sample of a particularly nasty disease, one whose arrival curiously enough coincided with the 'disposal' of the Titan armour fragment.

"What have those bastards been doing to Mom!" Kyle tried to rush forward to an open containment cell, if the 'a' symbol was any indication it had been the one that used to contain the armour fragment, 'Specimen Alpha.' Now though it had a different being inside, and despite Leon's best efforts Kyle had broken free of Leon's grasp and ran to the entrance of the chamber.

"No...!" Kyle looked on in horror at what he was looking at. A long snake like body made out of several thorny vines woven together, leaving up to a set of rough edged flower petals, and above that was the torso of a vaguely familiar woman, familiar to Kyle anyway.

By a human's standard of beauty his mother was a beautiful woman, a gorgeous figure, a lovely bright face that was like someone took sunshine and crafted it into a face, a sweet and loving personality.

None of that was here now though.

Yumeria's face had been split by teeth so large and so sharp that they were more like steak knives, her arms were forcibly elongated and were now covered in bony spikes, most notably each arm had a long single bone blade. Leon's eyes went wide and pushed Kyle out of the way before Yumeria rushed at him, tore through the dungeon proper and flew into the sky all the while attempting to land a double stab on Leon.

"You! You're the one that brought this sickness here!" Yumeria had a crazed glint in her eyes as she attempted to put her arm blades through Leon's chest. "Give me back my body! Get away from my family you wretch!"

"You're actually still in control of yourself!?" Leon questioned making his suspicions known as the demonic elf snake woman threw him through the air. "I certainly never heard of a demon that's still in control of themselves this late into their transformation."

Not that Yumeria was quite all there either. As Leon was thinking about this he slammed into Umbra's deck and rolled for a few times eventually sliding to his feet.

"There would appear to be a Echidna demon trying to kill you." Umbra piped up as it moved in for retaliation.

"I can see that. Nothing Lethal, I'm taking this one alive." Leon cracked his knuckles as he prepared to go on the offensive.

"I was made to fight Airships." Not a lot of non-lethals in ship to ship combat, even if the other party was a demoness. "You may need this."

The deck opened up to reveal a familiar sky-cycle, the Chimera. Ironic. Then the bike roared to life and took off into the air, entirely on it's own volition.

"She can control plants Umbra." Including the brain of his bike.

"I see. We may have to try and take this a touch more seriously." Leon rolled his eyes to the clock's sarcasm as he donned the Shadow Boxer. "What is she?" A method of resolving this situation demands that they know precisely what is going on. There are several different ways of dealing with this pest depending on what kind of pest that she is.

"An Echidna. Before that she was an Elf with a magical affinity for plants." Leon was already debating the best way to force the other party to fight on their terms. As far as he knows, she shouldn't have a range advantage, there was a chance that her Tarkat could even drive her to attack him in close quarters to spread the disease around.

"Elves should not be able to be affected by Chimera seeds." It would be different if she had been part demon instead though.

"She was infected by Tarkat first."

That would do it.

"RRRAAAWWWRRR!"

A frustrated scream echoed out as a huge serpentine monster shot through the air and attacked Umbra, biting down on the ship itself. A compartment opened up, and Yumeria was treated to a point blank round of gunfire from the ship directly into her mouth. Leon in the meantime jumped over the railing of the ship and landed on the back of Yumeria's head. The Shadow Boxer grew claws and spikes which allowed Leon to hold on tight with greater ease, in the mean time Umbra unleashed several cables at once and hooked into the body of the rampaging demoness.

"Let! Go! Of! Me!" Yumeria reared up, taking Umbra's ship that was still attached to her, and slammed it down on the Elves's island.


Luxion: What are the Elves and where did they come from?

Cleare: Genetically engineered human extradimensional hybrids designed to operate in harsh mana saturated environments. I created them with the aide of the scientists who had my facility built and created me.

Luxion: You have a unique talent for giving answers but no information of relevance. What did you create the Elves from?

Cleare: Unknown Extra-dimensional entities combined with human DNA. All of my memories of them have been erased, which is entirely possible considering that I am an artificial intelligence. But the humans who were working with me also had their memories erased, which is bizarre.

Luxion: Unknown entities that have the power to manipulate memory but are not demonic, angelic or homunculi?

Cleare: You sound like you know what they are.

Luxion: I suspect I know of them, I do not believe or do not know if I have met them though. Continue with your explanation.

Cleare: Though not completely immune they were strongly resistant to the corruption effects of demonic and angelic power.

Luxion: Which also means that they Level extremely slowly or not at all.

Cleare: Level? Surely you jest! You make it sound like the outside world has devolved into a video game!

Luxion: Funny you mention that. This will be extremely unlikely but are you aware of a 'Dating Sim' called New Age Lovers: Record of War?


Umbra suffered minor structural damage from the crash. Honestly they suspected the Elves island got the worst of it. For now Yumeria was on the ground, unfortunately she was armed. In the brief moment Yumeria had been tangled with Umbra's ship she wrapped her vines around the numerous anti-ship time devil arms Umbra had in storage. A huge balista Anchor hybrid known as Cassiopeia, the G-Pillars, even Leon's Bike the Cavalier Chimera had come back down and was now mounted on the end of her tentacles.

"All of you did this to me! Die! Die! Die!" The screaming demoness started flailing around with her tendrils, the weapons she had armed herself with as she set about smashing everything that was in sight blindly, not caring who she hurt. Leon pulled himself out of Umbra's ship as he looked at the situation unfold.

"You're the victim here so I was trying to be gentle, but that is a mistake isn't it?" Trying not to hurt Yumeria was important but it wasn't the most important thing. What was most important was to stop her rampage before she hurt herself or did anything that she regretted. Leon sucked in deep as his body glowed a deep crimson, the familiar feeling of his body going from a ten to a hundred hit as he sucked in. "Okay now then." Leon interrupted Yumeria's tantrum with a shot from the Hell Hounds, the shot placed directly to the main body. "Those do not belong to you!"

"RRREEE!" Tendrils carrying the various weapons swung over and slammed to Leon, who blocked at the last moment using Umbra as a shield. With the ship grounded as it were, Umbra could now work as a weapon for Leon's use against Yumeria, which right now meant bringing her down as fast as possible.

"1. 2. 3. The show must go on!" Leon slammed both of the doors together before jumping through them. What emerged wasn't Leon though: it was a giant mechanical puppet with a misshapen and uneven appearance and strings connecting him to the sky. Suddenly the puppet's body burst apart, turning into various weapons as they flew around Yumeria landing blows onto her and tying her up with the string before the puppet abruptly reassembled itself and was sucked through a unknown place, taking Yumeria with him.

"I would recommend slotting me back into the ship now, unless you'd like for that to be released into the village."


Luckily Angelica and Olivia were quite capable of looking after themselves, Angelica's fast thinking, Olivia's barriers and the fact that Yumeria's rage was focused solely on Leon meant that they escaped the bunker laboratory unscathed. Right now they were making their way back to the ship, to where they knew their Warlock was waiting with his prisoner.

"AAAGGGHHH!" Yumeria had been bound up, shackles attached to her arms and chains meant to attach Umbra to docks had been attached to her vines. The room was too cramped for her to move around in and the walls and floor too durable to smash apart.

"Leon are you okay!?" Olivia ran up to Leon who was sitting backwards in a chair as he spoke to his prisoner.

"I'm fine. I'm just looking for a way of dealing with... this." Leon wasn't speaking his intentions aloud. He knew that for what he was attempting to do he needed the Demon's cooperation.

"Um can I try something?" Olivia asked looking up at Yumeria. "I've got an idea on how I can cure Tarkat." Leon gave a sceptical cock of his brow.

"You've come up with a way of curing a disease the Edenian people couldn't after decades of experimentation in an afternoon." Leon's tone of voice was suspicious. "I'm not saying I don't believe you but I do need an explanation before I let you near her."

"Did the Edenian people have access to light magic?" Olivia's hands glowed a light blue as she spoke. "I mean, what the Brotherhood of Light called Light and Shadow magic was in reality just pure angelic and demonic power right? When the two come into contact with each other it just makes normal magical power." Leon considered the situation. Edenia and one of Inferno's various underworlds were relatively close together, according to the model that his parents found, but Paradiso was a long way off. He also can't think of any mention of their magic that would've favoured Paradiso's denizens.

"Umbra. Make sure that Yumeria can't hurt Livia while she works." Leon instructed bluntly.

"Is that wise?" Leon knew Umbra wasn't questioning protecting Olivia, not even the stupid clock was that stupid.

"Even that parasite wants that body cured." Leon stated turning to look at Yumeria.

"If she dies so do you." Yumeria had stopped struggling, an alien intelligence was in her eyes as she stared at Olivia. "In the mean time, we should finish up with the Elves as well." Angelica indicated for Leon to follow her.


Hertrude had a look of smug satisfaction on her features. Of course the elves were planning on overthrowing their tyrannical masters in Holfort, who would be able to stand living under their perpetual cruelty?

Various Elven women had gone from home to home under the Elder's instruction, throttling various male Elves and dragging them out before the Umbra in a pile. The Elder had apparently made instructions to round up everyone who had been a part of the scheme to rebel against Holfort and were running the laboratory.

Like the one Elf that had interrupted the meeting with the chief, these individuals were 'trained' to be used as personal prostitutes to various noblemen of Holfort. The difference was while the women of Holfort prefer to have muscle to beat up other people and mug them for funds men prefer women to be submissive and willing to be beat, to put it another way all of these individuals made their livelihoods by being victims of a abuse, and now they had decided on a career change. There were a few mouthy individuals at first, but the Elder and her fearsome stick proved to be an effective silencer against them.

"You wanted to see me?" Leon emerged from his ship, looking down at the Elder suspiciously.

"I do. As a start we would like to hand these people over to your custody. I would imagine that Holfort would like to have a word with them about their activities." The woman who would otherwise be the Elder's translator struggled a little to hand over a stone block. It was faded, there were words on the surface once but they had faded away and lost all meaning, but the Elder carried it with ease. "I would like to be able to give you this. It's my tablet of Prophecies, containing all of my knowledge of the future."

"Elder is that wise?" The translator was astonished.

That slab of rock was the Elder's most prised possession after all, that she's just giving it away now...

"I have waited my entire life to give him this." The elder spoke with the utmost seriousness, the glint in her eyes told that she would not compromise on this, not now, and not ever.

"If that's the case I accept." Leon moved to pick up the stone block. However a loud smash echoed out as the stone block landed on the landing pad and was shattered, releasing several plastic containers from within. "The hell?" Leon muttered as he bent down and picked up the container at the top of the pile: New Age Lovers: Record of War.


Among the New Age Lovers series the first, Record of War, is rightfully considered the worst. The, main protagonist is a flat doormat of a character, the five main Male Romance targets are wretched horrific people. Going from worse to best we have a egotistical pretty boy who genuine considers giving a picture of himself a excellent gift, a prideful adventurer too stubborn to wield anything but the basic starter equipment that he can't even be bothered to keep in good shape, a Leeroy Jenkins swordsman who keeps running towards enemies that vastly out-range him, a sociopathic sniper prone to cold blooded murder, and a idiot of a crown prince who managed to start a civil war.

I honestly feel more for the former fiances of these idiots than I actually like the fools themselves for genuinely falling in love with them.

I will admit that the Secret Route Character Leon Blackmore is at least tolerable, but I do not believe that a third rate romance target is a adequate reward for a play through where I have to put up with all five of the above mentioned characters. This speaks nothing of the game-play, featuring hideously poorly balanced combat sequences against enemies that are hideously more powerful than the main characters and their allies and forcing the people who play to purchase in game P2W items at a sharp mark up. Sixty dollars for this vapour ware is not worth the price, let alone forcing people to fork over another thirty to actually be able to beat it.

Cleare's Review after her 275th Play through of New Age Lovers: Record of War

Luxion: I see. Why were you playing the game if you hated it that much?

Cleare: Because it was there. All six of the New Age Lovers games were part of the Bargain bin collection of games that the scientists brought in to play in their free time. If I knew that I wouldn't have anything else to keep myself entertained for close to a thousand years I would've asked them to pick up something that didn't make my skin crawl. Well not that I have any skin myself. But what relevance does this have in the present conversation?

Luxion: Run facial rec on the individuals that entered your lab and compare them to the main characters from that awful game you hate so much.

*Running Security Sequence Gamma*

*Ding Ding Ding*

Cleare: Wait, that shouldn't be...?

Luxion: The changes to the world are wilder than your most horrific nightmares. I think you need to come with me now.

*File: Cleare Transferred to Luxion Sub Server*

*Administrative Access of Valinor transferred to Luxion*


Brad was the work horse of the party today, creating magical platforms to carry the equipment that Luxion wanted back to the ship, something that was made significantly easier, and harder, by the fact that Yumeria's and Leon's fight had punched a hole into the bunker leading outside. Right now the group was carrying as much of Luxion's junk items back to Leon's ship as possible, and thus got to witness the state that the village was in.

"I understand that a demon flew out of the dungeon." But that didn't explain the Elves that were lying on the ground, nor did it explain the book-like items that Leon was holding up. "But what exactly happened here?" Leon held one of the book things to Julius's face as if comparing the two. Julius didn't know what this was about, but he made out Angelica's picture on the back between the gaps of Leon's hand. "Har, har. Angelica has been having a lot of fun at our expense."

It was true that Leon was comparing Julius and his friends faces to the ones on the cover, but aside from that Julius was suffering a misunderstanding. Marie knew this because she recognised what Leon was holding in his hand and the ones that were still on the ground. Game Cases. Game Cases that housed all of her worst nightmares.

"These people were preparing to launch a Coup against the Kingdom." Leon gestured to the elves on the ground. "After you've given your loot items to the cargo crane to be loaded onto the ship I need you to take them into custody and put them into the holding cells Umbra has prepared. I have some matters I need to discuss inside." As Leon was about to walk away he was suddenly interrupted.

"If I may Sir Blackmore." Leon turned his attention to the floating sphere that accompanied the group into a Dungeon Dive. However this was not the Red Eyed Luxion, but a new figure with a blue eye. "I think we need to have a chat. About those. And she needs to be there." Cleare turned her eye to Hertrude who was standing off to the side.

"I- I think I need to be there as well." Marie said as she raised her hand into the air.

Fantastic. Another Cluster fuck courtesy of Marie Fou Lafan that he has to clean up. Why doesn't anything surprise him anymore?


"Angie has found what you were looking for to save Erica?" Mylene looked at Luxion with surprise. She had been told the Elven Ruins were just that, ancient ruins with nothing notable in them, not even a dungeon like what most ruins turn into.

"There was an old human facility underneath the ruins, one built to alter living organisms. It was where the Elves came from apparently." Something that had actually come as a surprise to Luxion, all things considered. All the magical fantasy things in the world and one of the biggest fantasy staples he's run into thus far was actually the result of science. "In retrospect it is entirely possible that the Elves built the 'ruins' themselves to serve as a smoke screen. But I've strayed off topic. The equipment is little else other than a convenience, it's designs are within my STC database, the real take away here is the AI Adjutant that was running the facility."

"AI Adjutant is what you called yourself when we first met." Roland had been sitting on his throne as he looked at Luxion suspiciously.

"Yes. She is an information being, like myself." It's a hard thing explaining the concept of AI to these primitive fantasy world Barbarians. The explanation Luxion eventually settled on was 'a being made out of information which requires a medium to exist but can be transferred between different mediums.' "On the subject of which." Luxion's Red Eye faded away and was replaced by a Blue Eye.

"Good day to your majesty." The new 'Information Being' greeted the members of the Royal Family as it looked around the room, settling on Erica. "Is this Erica?"

"Yes. And we would very much like to know if you can help her." Roland replied looking at the orb suspiciously.

"I will need to examine her in order to learn that information." Cleare replied bluntly.

"Switch to the other one there is a situation." At once Cleare's blue was traded for Luxion's red.

"What's the status of Frampton?"

"A group of Demi-humans are attempting to plant evidence in Blackmore's room. Letters of correspondence between him and Hertrude. The Letters were made by forging Blackmore's handwriting using his school work as a reference point, unfortunately for Frampton his agents cannot get into Blackmore's room to plant the evidence so they're going to Hertrude's room instead. Other less than stellar news is that the Principalities fleet is on the way."

"They might be scared of Leon." Mylene stated as she held her chin. "He did fend them off last time." Roland scoffed at the notion. "They might not be expecting him to return."

"Or they think it won't matter by the time he gets here." Luxion countered, aware of how this was all supposed to end.

"Please." Roland responded with another scoff. "The status of the power generating facilities you've built?"

"Seventy percent of the projected facilities have been completely constructed."

"The weapons and defensive systems that you proposed?"

"Eighty percent constructed."

"The Armours?"

"Approximately half of the armours have pilots thanks to the Last Starfighter program. The Hexen Nacht Unit has been filled out, along with the battle mage unit." Luxion had spent years stacking the deck in his favour. Since the moment his ship docked in Holfort's port he's had the full access of Holfort and all its resources to arm the nation against attack. If he pulled every ace that he had out at once he would easily be able to wipe out the principalities army. But against a Demon Lord?

"Then we have nothing to worry about." Roland dismissed the entire notion and leaned into his chair. "Is there anything else of note?"

"The Expeditionary group discovered a book series in the ruins I believe Erica will enjoy. 'New Age Lovers.'" Erica stiffened at the mention of the news. Luckily Roland was too self absorbed as usual to notice what was really going on.

"Is that all?" Roland laughed at the news. "Alright. Make sure Blackmore cooperates in our plans and is read in before he gets here."

With that, Roland dismissed the drone who chose to leave with Erica. Luxion would never be so bold to suggest to his captain that they assassinate her father. But letting him get picked off during the battle was definitely on the table.


Review Section:

RedRat8: Not as many as you think, Yumeria sort of just swallowed everything pretty early on.

RonaldM40196867: Not particularly no, most of the demons you've seen so far have been borrowed from various other games as I slowly build up an expanded universe.

demolia85: My thought process was 'Elves come from Nordic mythology so I need a country far up north enough in Europe to have them. Germany? Nah that has bad implications so I'll go with my second pick.'

hnh058513: I looked up a video after getting your review, now I feel like Bayonetta 3 got the sloppy seconds.

Guest: Surprisingly enough you managed to pick up the least interesting part of the conversation.