Once the exchange between Daimon and Evangeline ended, Narasha took over since she also had something to discuss.
Daimon could "feel" her hesitating, meaning she actually had something important to say, but didn't know how to say it, Narasha was still quite stiff when it came to human emotions, which is understandable as it took her eight years to understand what it meant to become Daimon's soulmate.
Previous to that, she herself mentioned that she wouldn't mind to fulfill night "duties" with the master she chooses, if she had a body, she knew about such things as Disaster had devoured the memories of those guys that created the special magic ore that was used to create the capricious sword.
But now she felt ashamed of her own words, especially since she has seen Daimon "rolling on the bed" with Erin and the others.
'What's the problem?', asked Daimon.
After a few seconds of silence, Narasha's voice could be heard by Daimon.
'I was wondering if you are planning to use that sword you got from that guy…', she said in a low voice.
Daimon was momentarily speechless at the fact that he noticed a slight tinge of jealousy in Narasha's voice, that being said he inwardly celebrated it, as it meant that she has progressed.
According to Evangeline, once per tome, the grimoire will get its owner something they need, in other words, the grimoire will help them overcome their "flaws", but there were requirements for that, alternatively they will get it once they reach a step prior to the next rank that the current tome covers.
For Erin and Aura, it came in the form of the skills that fused with their Domains, which were the third skills that Aisha, Liz, Elaine and Narasha were lacking as they haven't fulfilled the requirements needed, nor have reached the Half Emperor realm.
But enough of that, the point is that unlike Aisha, Liz and Elaine who aren't sure what will their grimoires grant them, Narasha does know it, she'll obtain a physical body, which is understandable as the main trait she obtained is the ability to transform into Gram, so transforming abilities aren't something new to her.
For that, understanding emotions is the requirement she knows about, it can't be forced and has to be natural, which is why Daimon was actually happy that she was "jealous".
That being said, he already had the answer to the question she made, for which he took out the Adam's sword from his inventory, holding it with his left hand, while he also took out Disaster… no, Gram out from the inventory and wielded it with his right hand.
'Daimon?', before Narasha could say anything else and under Jasmine and the other's surprised eyes, Daimon casually slashed the Adam's sword down with all his might.
"Clang!", the sound of metals colliding echoed through the dimensional tunnel as Gram's edge clashed against Adam's sword, a blinding white light was produced by the confrontation.
'Come, my Narasha is fierce enough to destroy that idiot's lame sword, show it, that your light is the brightest!', inwardly shouted Daimon.
Ever since he has used the identity of "Gabriel" in Neptune, he has used Disaster as his weapon, but now he was now using Gram which is Narasha's ability, not only because Disaster is dormant to process Karla's nether, but because his instincts told him this would be beneficial for her.
'Mm!', with an enthusiastic sound from Narasha, Gram suddenly overpowered Adam's sword's light, making cracks appear on it, until Gram actually cut through Adam's sword.
"Crack!", the defeated sword crumbled apart into white pieces of metal, that soon were deprived of any light and color, turning into scrap in comparison, Gram was literally shinning, forcing everyone to keep their eyes half closed.
Daimon had to send it to the inventory, not only because of the previous, but because Narasha's consciousness was sleeping.
'Now that's the Narasha I know, you would never lose to Disaster', thought Daimon as he saw the pieces of scrap that used to be Adam's sword which were now turning into orange powder to then be scattered through the dimensional tunnel.
"That was a promise level treasure, it could have grown alongside you, even if you wanted to keep that strange being inside that sword, you could have transferred her consciousness to a new vessel you know…", the angel girl Ariel couldn't help but speak after seeing the previous scene unfold in front of her, there certainly were growing type magic treasures out there, like Disaster appeared to be.
But promise level items not only were growing type treasures, but also had other abilities and benefits, and yet she couldn't feel an ounce of regret on the silver haired youth.
"My Narasha won't be limited to some "creator" whims, she is free to create her own path", said Daimon with a pride filled voice, the fragment of Laplace took the form of the grimoire that best suited her, in other words, Gram is part of her own path, which is why he won't try to move her consciousness to a promise treasure, not he will change her for another sword.
Ariel remained silent after listening to Daimon's answer, she wasn't exactly talkative after all, that being said she seemed more willing to interact than when she was with Adam, as she has been asking questions by herself quite often.
As for why Daimon didn't use the trident as fuel for Narasha, that's because of the relation between it and Karla, it was the promise magic weapon that her host used, it might be useful later on, not to mention it went along quite well with Neptune, which is a mostly aquatic planet.
…
The rest of the travel was pretty much uneventful; besides the fact it took them a whole day and a half to finally be near the end of the dimensional tunnel.
'Luckily I didn't waste time involving myself in Kerrol's war, otherwise I would have arrived late', thought Daimon.
They left Wednesday at night, so right now it should be Friday past midday, that's how long the travel back to Neptune lasted.
"We'll be out in a moment, don't separate and be alert just in case", he said to Jasmine and the others.
Jeanne and Emily immediately changed to their vampire forms, as Daimon has assured her that no one gives a damn about it at Neptune, actually, they don't even know what vampires are.
As for Jasmine, Sarah and Reyne, they gathered next to Daimon and waited for the dimensional tunnel to expulse them.
It didn't take long for them to reach the end of the tunnel, the very same second, they were expulsed from it, Rita who was on guard by Daimon's petition, covered them in a veil of shadows.
The previous wasn't due to paranoia, Daimon's senses are incredibly sharp, and he could tell that where they were appearing wasn't where they entered, in other words they weren't at the cave were the passage to Kerrol was.
The other thing that happened the very moment they returned to Neptune, was that Aisha's melodious voice appeared in Daimon's mind.
'Darling, you are finally back!', she exclaimed with an enthusiastic voice.
A smile couldn't help but appear on Daimon's face, but then he noticed that the atmosphere was strange, it hasn't been that long since midday and yet the sky was rather dark, not to mention the mana was rather erratic.
"Mm, this is certainly better than Kerrol, but not what I imagined from the place where the "Light Palace" is located… also what is this strange sensation of pressure lingering on the air", said Emily, which made Daimon chuckle.
"Well if my senses don't fail me, that is your "father", though at this point I'll erase him from the family three, Rita update please", he said.
While Rita scanned their surroundings, Aisha did her part and told Daimon everything that happened while they were gone.
Surprisingly the troubles didn't come from where they expected, the Maelstrom Sea was relatively normal, with fights breaking here and there between Thea's forces and the pirates but nothing too extreme.
Instead of that, troubles came from their own "backyard", a couple of days ago, the Shaman publicly declared that after reviewing the contents of the treasuries from Purplecloud and Skyfire, there were some important items "missing", and that all the ones that had visited them recently, were required to be inspected that same day.
Naturally, how could Daimon who was in another planet and probably another galaxy, go to the arranged place, nor like he would have obeyed Abaris's summon even if he was in Neptune.
But the Shaman took that as a way to declare Daimon guilty and then demanded Aurora to hand him over for interrogation, which resulted in those two discussing, not only that the Shaman asked for Jasmine to come live with him, since she wasn't safe near a "thief", which of course was also rejected by Aurora.
The problem is that Abaris somehow got wind of the cave where the legacy of the hero was supposedly left, and the fact that Aurora wasn't present right at the castle of the Light Palace, to… capture Sylvie.
That wasn't all, almost at the same time, the passage along with the whole mountain suddenly disappeared, Aurora rushed back and demanded Abaris to free Sylvie, but the Shaman told her that she had to hand Daimon over and also let him talk to Jasmine.
And since none of the previous was possible, the conflict intensified, which resulted in the skies over the Elemental Sea changing, Aurora and Abaris actually started fighting between each other.
The people under the Light Palace were trapped inside the defensive barrier of their own land, preventing the people from the Black Fortress to invade, which is why it was a mystery how they managed to capture Sylvie.
And while Abaris could mobilize some of his army, including one of his two direct disciples, Aurora had the Flying Citadel with her, so the conflict was in a dead point, with Aurora threatening to break in to rescue Sylvie if she suffered even the slightest harm, which forced Abaris to don't even dare to interrogate her, she was just kept hostage until Aurora handed over the "thief".
Just as Daimon finished listening to Aisha's explanation, Daimon's sclerae turned pitch black, that was the signal that Rita was sharing her senses with him.
For Daimon the scenery changed from up into the sky where the dimensional tunnel left them, to the area where the Flying Citadel was standing still, facing Abaris and a small group of elites from the Black Fortress.
"It has been two days since this started, are you not sick of defending that brat, are you really willing to turn your back on me for an outsider, not to mention you haven't let me meet little Jasmine!", shouted Abaris, the darkness mana radiated by him, blackened the sky giving the whole area a "grim" sensation.
"Don't turn me into the enemy, I told you that once he is ready, I'm willing to demonstrate his innocence, as for little Jas, you dare to ask me to show her to you after you imprisoned Sylvie, who is like an aunt for her, dream on!", answered Aurora who was floating in front of the Flying Citadel, it was the time for today's clash after all.
Inside of the Citadel, Aisha and the others were calmly observing the situation, it's not like Aurora lacked any support, while the patriarchs and practically all her subordinates were encircled by the guys from the Black Fortress, Akim, the high stage Stellar ranked Nethereal that has submitted to Daimon, was in the Flying Citadel, respectfully kneeling in front of Aisha, waiting for any order.
And with a single call, Liman, in other words the other High stage Stellar rank, that has submitted to Daimon, would come, not to mention there were another couple of low ranked Stellars in the Citadel too, but Abaris had no need to know that.
Aurora and Abaris both turned into a white and a black flash that clashed on the sky, before they raised above the clouds.
'Tell Aurora to keep that guy occupied, but to prepare for a real battle… I don't have time to explain but tell her we'll be leaving to the Mermen Sea after I finish doing something, and there is a big surprise waiting for her', said Daimon through the mental link.
'Okay, I almost thought you weren't going to arrive in time for the royal ball, there would have been many angry girls at you if that happened, darling~', answered Aisha, making Daimon softly laugh.
Returning to reality, and listening to Rita's report, Daimon couldn't help but smirk.
"Perhaps this is part of what I stole from that idiot, however I bet he wouldn't have known what I know", he mumbled.
They appeared right above the center of the Elemental Sea, where the Light Palace and Black Fortress's main territories were.
"Rita, can you locate any kind of prison or other isolated place inside the Black Fortress's castle, without anyone noticing it?", asked Daimon to which the undead head maid immediately answered.
"No problem, Daimon!", Rita's senses then focused on the area below them, she easily bypassed the barriers that were isolating the forces from the two big factions, to then reach the white castle first.
It didn't even take a minute for Rita to finish seeing what was happening inside the white castle, so then she changed her focus to Abaris's castle, luckily, she didn't have to look too much into it.
There inside of a cell, using black metal chains, was Sylvie sitting on the simple bed that came with the cell, outside of it, there was the female disciple of Abaris, glaring at Sylvie.
"Have you considered our offer, if you testify against that little bastard, then you'll be free to go, this time your master was one step too late to save you, so do yourself a favor and give in", she said.
Sylvie who though was unable to use her mana, still was wearing her white dress and robe, not to mention was perfectly fine, snorted.
"Little Jas's smile has returned thanks to that kid, there is no way I will do anything that will disturb that, not to mention I personally don't believe he'll steal something from you, knowing him, you'll be giving away what he wants by your own will", said Sylvie before she returned to be silent.
'Tsk, arrogant bitch, let's see how you keep that act once that old woman concedes', thought Abaris's disciple as she left the prison, closing the door behind of her.
This room was prepared to trap anyone with light related affinity, the floor, walls and even the roof were covered with a layer of darkness mana crystals, and the darkness mana was so abundant that the room was really dark, despite it being still day.
"Mm?", Sylvie, whose eyes were closed, suddenly noticed a black portal appearing on the wall in front of her, from which Daimon followed by the girls, came out.
To Sylvie's surprise a portal opened right where the bars of her cell where, allowing her to easily come out.
"Aunt Sylvie, are you alright?", asked Jasmine with a worried voice as she saw the black chains around Sylvie's arms, legs and neck.
"Rita, of you'd do the honors please", said Daimon to which Rita nodded from within his shadow, creating a black portal that led to a "obscure" area of the citadel.
"Senior Aurora will remove those chains for you… everyone but Sarah enter the portal", he said, making the crazy girl smile from ear to ear, while Reyne and Jasmine looked unconvinced.
"We'll be joining you in a second", added Daimon, Jeanne and Emily crossed through the portal followed by Jasmine, Reyne and Sylvie, not without the latter whispering something at Daimon, whose eyes glowed behind his mask.
The portal closed, leaving only Daimon, Sarah and of course Rita, behind, without the boosting effect of Kerrol, Rita had returned to be a peak stage Archmage, but she kept the capacity to use Space Shift, and the ability to share her senses with Daimon, not to mention that she could feel her advance coming her way, just a little push and she'll become a Half Emperor.
Anyway, the following didn't require a high realm, otherwise Abaris would have managed to do it, a long time ago.
"I love staying with you relatively alone in a dark prison room for sure, but wouldn't it be better if we went with little Jas?", asked the crazy girl as she observed the cell, who knows what imaginary scenarios were blooming in her mind.
Daimon shook his head in response as he said.
"Unless senior Aurora and old Vincent join hands, we can't get rid of Abaris definitely, but there is a much simpler way to inflict him pain… we'll simply take something he values as much as his own life".
Sarah licked her lips as she approached Daimon to lean on his shoulder to whisper at him.
"And that's why I can't stay away from you~".
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