Demon's Virtue

"What the hell kind of trick did you use?" Kassandra rushed after Eiro as the demon carefully climbed back onto Lugo. As the stag stood up, Eiro looked down at her.

"I'm just quite lucky."

"Oh, fuck that! You did something, so what was it? Do you have some sort of gambling skill? Are you a Gambler Imp?"

The demon turned his head toward her, locking eyes with her, "Be careful with what you say."

"Shut up, I don't care! Just tell me how you cheated! I didn't see any mana, and it's impossible for you to have manipulated the dice otherwise... unless you stopped time, did you stop time? You have that card, don't you?"

Eiro let out a long sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He could feel his nasal bones give in under his light grasp, like firm clay. He could take a look at that later, but for now, Bavet fixed the damage so that there was no visual difference to his face. He already wasn't particularly attractive, so messing up his nose randomly wouldn't do well for how others perceived him.

"If I tell you, will you be quiet and follow along without complaining for once?"

"Who do you think you are to tell me what to do? Just tell me if you don't want me to snap your neck," Kassandra threatened with a light grin. Of course, she would be able to do that with ease, even if Eiro weren't weakened by his evolution. But it still made Eiro laugh quietly.

"You really think snapping my neck is enough to kill me?" he asked, an amused expression on his face. Shivers ran over Kassandra's back, not because she felt threatened, but because that almost ridiculing grin on Eiro's lips. As if the idea was nothing more than a joke to him.

"...Fine, then I'll rip out your heart or something."

"Oh, I don't have a heart anymore. I dissolved its muscles into my veins and use magic to control the flow of blood," Eiro said bluntly, leaving both Kassandra and Orion taken aback.

"Excuse me?" Orion asked, not sure if he heard right.

The Demon raised his brow, "I've also placed a mirror of duplication into my eye, and am working on sectioning off parts my stomach and turn it into a potion and venom container," Eiro explained, manipulating the air around him so that only the two people walking beside him and Lugo could hear what he said.

"That... how is that even possible? What the hell are you?" looking up at the demon and his casual smile, Kassandra felt more and more unease creep up on her.

Eiro turned away, replying simply, "Ask me in three months."

---

The air flowed over the man's short-buzzed hair as he jumped across the rooftops of the city, glancing around to learn the environment and the routes and paths of the city.

"So boring..." Meshi clicked his tongue. The architecture of the capital city really was more than boring. Sure, aesthetically, it may be quite beautiful, but aesthetics weren't the sort of thing that he cared about. Everything was far too simple and uniform.

There was some variation in height, but even then, all the buildings were straightforward and wouldn't be a challenge to even a child attempting to scale them.

On the other hand, there was an area that seemed rather interesting, though he had promised to stay away. The academy and royal castle. The academy in particular was a place he had to stay away from, as Partax and that demon boy had only recently installed some new security system all over the campus. Even Meshi wouldn't be able to get in there without triggering something.

Being inconspicuous wasn't necessarily his strong suit.

"Hm, maybe if I get Shimour's help, I could get inside," he muttered to himself, seated on a chimney while looking at that wonderful structure in the distance. The tall, winding towers, the rounded and complex roofs and the wide distances between some of the buildings. It seemed like a fun environment to run around.

Actually, maybe running through the academy while trying to avoid the security system would make it all a lot more exciting.

Meshi's heart almost skipped a few beats at the idea, and a smile formed on his face as he jumped off the chimney, "A little jumping around wouldn't hurt... Partax will forgive me if I apologise later, right?"

Just as Meshi took a step forward, his foot already halfway along the way to the roof on the other side of the road, he noticed something. An unusual whistle of wind. Curiously, he turned around and looked into the direction of where it was coming from.

His senses may not be able to compare to someone like Jura's, or even that Eiro boy, but in order to do whatever he wanted as freely as he wanted, he needed to develop the senses to make this possible.

And with those powerful eyes and ears of his, he spotted what looked like a small bird, fluttering around the rooftops with a high speed. And at the same time, the way it was moving was very clearly along the path that he just took to get here. It was even able to follow along with his blinking, and not just his regular movements.

"Interesting... a little someone is trying to follow me, huh?" Meshi grinned, looking at the quickly-approaching bird with deep curiosity, "Let's see how well you can do."

With a quick but casual step forward, Meshi blinked across the road, landing on the other rooftop. With smooth motions and a single quick hop, he moved over to the next building. Every step brought him to another street, to another building. Across the rooftops and through the shops and stables and open door and ajar windows. Meshi rushed through the city excitedly.

Of course, what excited him still wasn't the city itself or the jumping and running he was doing, but seeing how well that little bird was following after him. He continued moving around, trying to see how far he could push his curious pursuer.

Meshi glanced back behind himself, trying to see if the bird was closing in the distance, when suddenly, he ran into something. Confused and taken aback, Meshi stared forward, seeing the soft hue of a magical barrier in front of him. It definitely wasn't there just a moment ago, so what was going on?

Looking around, Meshi noticed something interesting. A rainbow-haired man sitting atop a massive stag with crystal antlers, accompanied by two of his friends, Orion and Kassandra.

"Oh?" he let out, jumping down toward them. The alley was otherwise completely empty, and all of them were looking up at him, as if they knew where he was going to be.

"What a coincidence!" Meshi said with a broad smile as he looked at the other two masters, "Who's your friend?"

"Eiro. It's a disguise," Orion quickly explained, and the freerunner raised his brows surprised.

"That's a pretty good disguise!"

"Yeah, it's Bavet. The slime you guys met. We're fused right now," Eiro explained, stretching his hand forward as the small bird servant made of air landed on his finger, "Anyway, it would be great if you could come with us, there are a few things that I would like to talk to you about."

Meshi looked Eiro up and down, glancing at the bird, "How did you do that? Making it follow me, I mean. But also, how did you know where I would be?"

Eiro turned his hand, making the bird hop onto his palm, as he closed his fist around it. He dissolved the servant back into his body, "It's something I created. I sent it to follow after your mana that you've been leaving scattered around all over the place. Obviously I knew it wouldn't be able to catch up to you, but that wasn't really the point.

Through it, I could tell exactly how you were moving around the city. From that, predicting where you would end up when was the easy part."

"Huh," Meshi grinned, "So you were able to see a pattern in my movement?"

Eiro nodded his head, replying bluntly, "Of course, why wouldn't I? Everyone has a pattern or two, habits that they fall back on. Nothing in this world is truly random, and everything can be seen through. Even if it's a master."