Daimon removed his foot from Adam's neck and then stepped back until he was standing in the middle of Jasmine and Sarah, he wasn't going to do anything, but one can't never be too cautious in general and much less when it comes to system users.
Speaking of which, Daimon was curious as to why that angel girl who is Adam's administrator, hadn't shown up nor talked yet.
'Ariel, what the hell are you waiting, do something!', inwardly screamed Adam, Sarah was many things but kind isn't one of them, she was actually moving the trident ripping Adam's flesh with the prongs, which made Adam scream.
Once again this showed the importance of not relying in pain reducing skills, there is a limit as to how much a skill works, even passives consume energy one way or another, be it mana, vitality or stamina.
The light idiot wasn't used to suffer, the light element in his body reduced the amount of pain he registered, which created the image of him being "tough", when the truth is that all those times he clashed with Daimon, his organs took some damage and though Daimon reduced his power as much as possible to not turn Adam into meat paste when he threw the trident at him, after reaching the Archmage realm, everything that wasn't vital basically ruptured.
Naturally, Daimon had calculated how much the light idiot will be able to endure, and as expected he just fainted due to the shock but didn't die, in fact the safety measures he wore, were slowly but surely sustaining his life, even when a lot were destroyed by that sole attack.
In other words, the hero comeback was supposed to happen whether Karla helped him or not, she just made it easier for him to jump into the stage just to be smacked against the ground by Daimon once again, this time for sure.
Even then, his face which was unrecognizable not too long ago, was fine again, as a proof of how tenacious was a hero system user, even a trash one like Adam, was hard to kill, probably for the cliché situation of the enemy taking the hero as dead, but the hero managing to survive to return after powering up later.
Unfortunately for Adam, things weren't going his way this time, but he didn't seem to have realized it as of current, as he put on the "kindest" smile he could and while enduring the urge to kill the two girls who were stabbing his back with the trident, he said.
"Please stop, I don't know what you were offered by that guy, but if you kill me, you'll be punished, even if he is stronger than me now, that is because his realm I higher than mine, but unlike him, I'm special so he will meet his limit at the Stellar ranks at most, while I will fly to higher places".
"I know there have been some misunderstandings between us, but I'm willing to set aside our differences and show you a world, you wouldn't be able to know otherwise, so become my comrades and I'll bring protect you forever", said Adam with a confident voice and a bright smile, that didn't match the bloody mess that was his back as of current.
Adam was inwardly grinning, there was a light blue light shinning in his eyes and the white halo shinning on behind of him, illuminated the faces of Jasmine, Reyne as well as Jeanne and Emily, only Sarh and Freya were left aside.
'Heh, so what if you are temporarily stronger than me, none of these stupid women are Stellar ranks, so they will be willing to die for me, it's been a while since I have seen the loser face of a guy who is betrayed by his companions…'.
"Aghhh!", Adam's train of thought was interrupted by both Sarah and Jasmine kicking Adam's face, making the "invisible" halo and the shine in his eyes disappear, as he grabbed his face with his hands and screamed in pain.
"What the hell are you doing you fucking…. aghhh", he tried to yell at those two, just for Sarah to grind the sole of her feet against Adam's face, making him bleed.
"Crack!".
"See, that disgusting glow is what I saw him using whenever he spoke to you back then", said the crazy girl as she applied more strength on her feet breaking Adam's nose.
"Mm, thankfully I can see his true face, since I met a certain someone~", cheerfully said Jasmine as she gazed at Daimon.
"Ahhhh stop please!!!", shouted Adam, wounds on the face bleed a lot, so right now Adam's eyes were seeing red, he also was having trouble breathing because blood was filling his nose, so he had to breath through his mouth, which made him have a taste of the dirt stuck to Sarah's shoes.
Adam was in shock, he expected it to be hard for his charming ability to work on Jasmine, but at the very least it should have made her doubt, not to mention he was sure that Reyne, Jeanne and Emily were easy targets, and yet nothing happened, what's more they were able to see that glow which shouldn't be possible as it should be invisible for anyone besides him.
Despite the disbelief he was experiencing, habits die hard, so when he found himself in a predicament, Adam immediately shouted in his mind.
'Ariel, fucking do something!', the angel girl who had remained silent for some time finally spoke in Adam's mind.
'I told you that you would exhaust the support function of the system, your body couldn't endure the Archangel form yet since you didn't manage to obtain that girl from the Light Palace, you were only able to activate it because that Siren gave you a lot of vitality to burn instead of burdening yourself with the recoil, not to mention I allowed you to access it as an exception to save yourself'.
'The logical thing to do was to use the light blending ability of the halo to disperse and escape, but you didn't listen to me and went against the one who had already bested you in a direct confrontation not too long ago, with quite ease if you ask me'.
'The system used to encourage you to take on challenges at first, but you chose to receive everything in a silver spoon, so the system followed your desires and now you have spent all the support you earned through the merit function'.
Adam tried to reply, but the angel girl interrupted him before he could do so.
'I even went out of my way to help you, but you didn't appreciate it, and now that you were utterly crushed by someone with a lower realm than yours and even cowardly begged for mercy, you have lost the qualifications to be considered even the lowest class hero, so the system no longer supports you'.
Adam finally got a moment to speak, so he immediately tried to defend himself.
'What are you talking about Ariel, aren't we companions, I'm not an npc, I should be free to do easily be successful at everything right, I'm the hero!', he exclaimed, just to see the angel girl finally appearing to float in front of him, well he managed to see a blur figure which was familiar to him, since Sarah's shoe was occupying most of his field of vision.
The usually emotionless angel girl, for a change had a tinge of happiness appearing on her face as she glared at Adam from above.
'Well, to be honest is not that I can't help you, it's that I don't want to, if it was up to me, I would have left the moment you "secretly" tested if the Hero Charisma skill on me, not even a minute after you became a system user, unfortunately that led to me wasting 18 years seeing the most worthless hero be born'.
'…', it took Adam a moment to process what he just heard, his administrator could save his life but she just didn't want to do it, and the "excuse" she used was that he tried to charm her, back when he became a system user.
'So, what if I tried to make you submit, you belong to me anyway, so just obediently follow my orders, if I die, you'll be going down with me!', he yelled just to be met with a cold mocking gaze from the angel girl.
'You are my ninth host and so far, the worst one, besides the one who died just because he flirted with the wife of the local tyrant, the same day he became a system user, the system chose you, I didn't make a contract with you so I don't have anything to lose, the only thing I regret is that you didn't even manage to increase the level of the system, enough for me stay here under certain circumstances like that Siren, but what's a few hundreds of thousands of years of wait, at this point', she said as she observed the sky.
'Oh, so that's how it works for you, I guess that explains how those two are still here, even when they lost their hosts', Daimon's voice suddenly interrupted the conversation that the angel girl and the light idiot were having.
Leaving aside Adam who was in awe at the fact that there was someone transmitting his thoughts with mana, an ability exclusive for those at the Arch rank and above, he heard Ariel mentioning not too long ago that the masked guy had a lower realm than him, so this didn't make any sense, unless…
'Ariel, you fucking bitch, you planned this with that bastard all along, you wanted me to lose the qualifications of a hero, so you purposedly didn't help me!', he inwardly screamed.
In comparison the angel girl didn't seem to be so surprised of this, she turned to see Daimon before saying.
'If you want to steal a part of my existence, allow me to give it to you myself, that black sword whatever it is, looks like it hurts, based on how damaged that Siren ended, it seems to be a random sort of thing and there is something that I can't afford to lose, in exchange I'll let you choose what you want from me… please', the angel girl bowed her head towards Daimon, trying to remain calm and composed like always, but her slightly clenched hands gave her away.
'That sounds fair, but before I take my decision tell me, why aren't you instead offering me to become your host, like that Siren tried to, before I slashed her down', said Daimon.
Ariel looked at Daimon's masked face directly as she answered.
'She was just trying to win time to retaliate or escape, I don't know how you obtained knowledge regarding system users, nor I can't tell you much or I will be punished, but it's not that easy, the two parts must be "compatible" and unfortunately the parameters aren't set by us, otherwise I would be more than happy to get a talented host like you, instead of losers like him, for once', she said as she pointed at Adam.
The previous might have taken some time to describe, but it all happened in a matter of seconds, since it was discussed mentally, Daimon simply raised an eyebrow behind his mask as he spoke to Evangeline.
'You already knew that, right, so why did you make me ask her?'.
Evangeline softly laughed as she said.
'You should know it at this point, but a lot of the restrictions that other system users have, don't apply to you, the question here is if you prefer to keep getting paired with losers, until you cease to exist due to the lack of merits, or if you'd chose to make a contract with the strongest host that has, is or will ever exist'.
This time, Eve's voice didn't limit to be heard in Daimon's mind, but also reached the angel girl Ariel, who was temporarily in awe.
'Y-You are an administrator, but he doesn't show any signs of being a system user… nor can I perceive you despite being so close to each other, so that's how you knew how to take down that idiot', she said
Evangeline chuckled in response.
'Humph as if my host needed me to realize how to kill a mere hero wannabe', she thought before saying.
'Let's leave the questions for later, you have ten seconds to decide, are you going to accept or not, where will you ever find a two-star mage than can cross all the way to the Arch rank, in both the mage and knight paths, without his body rupturing past the point of return', limited to say Evangeline.
By the way, the previous was all heard by Adam who was having a mental breakdown right now.
'He is a damn system user, but he isn't a native of Neptune or Kerrol, how can it be, wasn't Marcus the only other system user I had to fight against, for the "tutorial", how can he be so strong at the two star realm, how did those two bitches convinced him to go against me, we are both humans, we should be working together, no he should be working for me, like those guys from the Light faction!'.
Ariel ignored the delusional idiot, who no longer was considered a hero and instead evaluated Daimon, who by Evangeline's petition allowed her to see his real rank, in other words a two star mage and a five star knight, though the boosting effect made it so he was both a Knight Lord and a Mage Lord, as the boost was of a whole realm.
At the same time, both Jasmine and Sarah retrieved the trident from Adam's back and then aimed at his head, it was time to finish him, and the countdown of the ten seconds was also about to end.
'I… I can stay up to a year before being forced to leave, while I won't be able to directly provide you help like your administrator, I will assist you to take down the "Devil Ruler" if you manage to do that, then I'm yours', said the angel girl as she closed her eyes, meaning that it was that or she will give Daimon a part of her existence before leaving to wherever administrators without hosts will go.
And she gave her answer just in time, because Evangeline snapped her fingers from within Daimon's mind.
"Noo, spare me please I will never bother you again, I will disappear!", Adam struggled one last time as he cried and begged, he learned too late that putting no effort and just leaving everything to the system was a stupid thing to do, amusingly enough the very first thing he did by himself was beg for mercy.
Needless to say, but his pleas were ignored, but he did manage to sour both Jasmine and Sarah's mood, since his miserable coward face, was disgusting, so they finished it in a single go.
Adam's wails stopped in cold as the prongs of the trident of the storm pierced his eyes and brain, killing him on the spot, Jasmine wasn't used to be so brutal when killing even enemies, but she gritted her teeth and didn't miss a single second of Adam dying.
As for the crazy girl, she snorted happy that she didn't have to keep listening to the pleas of a coward.
Daimon saw Jasmine's hand trembling a bit and he placed his hand over hers, to then say.
"That's enough, let me deal with the rest".
"Mm… thanks", Jasmine sweetly smiled despite the conflictive emotions that were surging in her heart, she truly enjoyed wanted to Adam, but on the other hand now that she did it, she realized that she didn't feel even remotely as happy as when she joined Daimon's group.
Which made her remember Daimon's answer, when she asked him if he was stronger than Adam back then, "He is nothing but a slightly bigger stone on the road, so there is no need to put too much importance to his life or death".
Ultimately Jasmine slight shook her head as she cheered up, unaware of the fundamental change she just went through.
Daimon on the other hand observed one of the different notifications that appeared in front of him, and he inwardly smiled, as he thought.
'With this, we have surpassed the limits of the oath, whatever the result might be, it will be something between my friend Jasmine and me'.
[Ding]
[The level of trust of the daughter of the Northern Sky has been updated]
[Level of trust currently attained 60% à 80%]
That's right, the level of trust that had been stuck at sixty as the system warned him that advancing past that was a bet, finally moved once again, it didn't reach the required one hundred percent, that was needed for Jasmine to finally be able to get a benefit, instead of just benefiting the other part of the oath, like it was as of current, but they surpassed the historical limit reached by the all the ones that were bound by the oath prior to them.
So, from now and onwards, they were setting a precedent, and yet from Daimon's point of view, this was only the beginning.
Speaking of setting up precedents, the crazy girl saw Daimon storing Adam's corpse away, and she rested her arms on his shoulders, for a change Daimon didn't avoid her like the plague, since she wasn't trying to do anything, too extreme.
"What a shame, I wanted to melt his corpse into a puddle of blood, but I guess that even trash can be recycled~", she jokingly said, which made Jasmine and the others softly laugh, even Daimon chuckled in response.
"Let's go back, everyone needs a nice rest, Rita can you do the honors please", he said.
"Mm, sure!", Rita who was having fun, swimming inside of Daimon's shadow, immediately answered as she snapped her fingers.
A shadow portal opened in front of them, the center of Tiria was visible at the other side of the portal.
But before they left, Daimon saw old Ben and the others approaching, they all had different grades of wounds, but nothing lethal, that being said the male elder of the church as well as Antonio had regressed to the middle stage of the Arch rank, because they had to suppress the dark energy that Archbald injected into them through their wounds.
"I'll leave tomorrow, get the previously discussed payment ready for then, ah right, add in the amount you think is fair for allowing those two to be able to advance ever again", said Daimon as he pointed at Antonio and the male elder from the church.
After what happened, the relationship between him and both the Adjudicators and the Church was merely commercial, they owed him a for his work, and they will have to pay if they wanted the ones that were infected with nether to be cured, not to mention they will have to wait until he and the girls have a well-deserved rest.
After saying that, he jumped into the portal created by Rita, followed by the others, Freya included, disappearing from the volcanic area.
Old Ben saw this happening and he sighed, but he decided to not think too much about it, some things aren't meant to be and can't be forced, whatever the reasons might have been, the truth is that humanity just triumphed over the flesh eating demons, most of the high ranked nobles and all the Archdukes as well as the Blood King were killed, and while they suffered a lot of deaths too, their higher echelon was mostly intact, so for the first time ever since the first king emerged, they had the chance to change Kerrol for the good, at least for the good of their race.
"Everyone, retrieve the corpses of our comrades and dispose of the enemies, clean up the battlefield and take everything from their headquarter, we are returning home in four hours, to celebrate the victory of humanity!", old Ben's voice echoed through the battlefield, making all the ones that survived roar in response.
This day, the destiny of a planet was changed forever, whether it was a positive or negative change, it was yet to be discovered.
Tittle:
Adam's death
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