I found myself at the teleportation room again. Yoka, the councillor, had asked for more time to decide and deliberate with her peers, which we had graciously granted. Moonwash was just outside the room, keeping as much of a distance as I'd been able to negotiate out of her. Pandemonium was at wait to drop her somewhere deeper in the event that she was ever in danger.

We overlapped. I and Pandemonium shared the same space. I focused on The Mark of The Beast, for there should be another location. Sure enough, I eventually felt the 'presence' of another point in space, and I instantly latched onto it with all my might. Pandemonium helped me, and together we pushed. The symbol on my chest burned in pain, but I was used to the sensation of burning alive. I knew that Pandemonium also felt some measure of it, but it uttered no rumblings of complaint. The spatial anomaly around us twisted further, until finally, with a vaguely familiar pop, I teleported into a different place.

I was back in the rainforest I had relaxed in yesterday. My regular steel armor clattered as I landed lightly on the ground. I touched upon the blood magic in my veins to close the many wounds that had opened in my flesh. That was when I noticed that my armor was also bent in weird places, but it should still be functional enough. The space around me was still torn and sundered and outright confusing, but it repaired itself until there was no trace left of what had happened, and I realized that the trees and ground and everything else were all untouched. It was a fascinating process really, of the spatial distortions disappearing from the center outwards as if cracks being inexplicably healed. A mark of sorts should have been left here for me to have been able to teleport here, but it must've been banished by my return because I found nothing when I looked around.

I sat back down to focus and teleport back to Pandemonium, only to remember that The Mark of The Beast did not have the power to do so. It was… siphoning and converting some of my mana and the ambient energy around us to recharge, and generating some of its own, but it would be no instant affair. I had so much time to burn.

~~~

I bled. By my own choice, I sliced my skin from the inside and extracted the lifeblood out of my veins. It brimmed with power. I shaped it into a ritual. This was some much-needed training I had to do, and there was no sense in delaying any longer.

"Hellfireball."

The blood shook. It disappeared and left only raw magical power thrumming in the air. The phenomenon grew and grew… and then it just stopped, without anything else ever happening.

…That was about what I expected. I wanted to form coherent blood rituals in the air to potentially replace some of my regular casting with something more potent. So I continued to try and fail, until I realized that I was going way too fast. I certainly did not have the finesse to make a ritual like this in the seconds that I wanted, but why was I already aiming for something perfect? The first step was to have one success that could be my proof of concept.

I took nearly half an hour to painstakingly form the same ritual I was trying to do earlier.

"Hellfireball."

I intoned. The blood shook and evaporated. Mana flew into the air and hesitated. I waited for it to dissipate and ultimately form nothing. But then it converged into one hot ball of hellfire.

I had succeeded.

"Alright!" I pumped my fist. I immediately accessed my memory core to inform my next attempt. I formed the same shape, but far faster than before. Still too slow for actual combat, of course, but the memory of exactly how I did it definitely helped, and with minutes shaved off the process, I spoke into being the same ritual again.

"Hellfireball."

The blood disappeared, a mass of mana was left floating in the air, and then it formed into the fireball that wanted.

I smiled. Now I just had to optimize this further through relentless training. I had time to burn anyway, now that I was stuck here for a while.

~~~

Great amounts of blood drained from my body as I continued to practice the same ritual. Some were actually complete failures like before that failed to form into anything, but others shaved minutes upon minutes from the process. Monsters attacked me while I worked, but I killed each and every one of them. I had to change locations a few times because the corpses attracted even more monsters, and they started fighting over all the free food. I got to experience trying to maintain and create a ritual while fighting against a monkress. The monster was like a thin but tall monkey with freakishly long claws and an equally freaky style of movement. I dispatched it easily, of course, even with my subpar gear and using only a single fist, but the ritual predictably failed.

That was not even close to the kind of pressure I would be subjected to when I faced angels and other elites.

Eventually, I grew hungry, as the sun reached its zenith in the sky. I debated drinking from the many corpses that already surrounded me, but decided to go for something fresher instead. Spoken like a true vampire. I killed a deer, and drank deeply of its lifeblood like I was sucking water out of a plastic bag. It tasted metallic and bitter, but I somehow preferred it to the monotony of tasteless gruel. My blood eater was doing its job properly, and I reveled in the new infusion of nutrients, stamina, mana, and my kind of demonic blood. It made me feel powerful.

The Mark of The Beast was fully recharged at this point, but I wanted to continue my experimentation a little bit more. I searched for another victim, and found a dropider up in the trees somewhere. I killed it and then found its bluish blood able to serve just as well for my purposes. I was also able to use regular blood magic on it. I enveloped the dead body in mana, connected it to my mouth, and then just sucked the contents in, through the esophagus, and then straight into the blood eater chomping at the bit inside.

My plan worked. I converted the blue blood into blood mana to replace my losses, and released the excess back into the air. I then increased the volume I was ingesting. I sucked the blood of the dead spider faster. The blood eater could process it all rapidly and flood my body with power of all sorts. The flow stopped, the spider left a dead husk. So I then killed a monkey and instantly covered the new carcass in blood mana that connected right to my mouth. I streamlined the process further. At first, blood had tricked in like through a straw, but now it came like the other end of a vacuum. The goal was to get as much as I could, as fast as possible. That was what I needed to do if I wished to use this mid-combat. I wouldn't be able to just stay in one place and drink upon the remains of my foes while a war raged around me after all. I had to take what I could get and keep moving.

~~~

The space folded in around myself. I took the opportunity to observe it better, but I did not dare try to prolong the process. The Mark of The Beast worked its magic, and with a sudden pop and lurching motion like before, I found myself tossed back in Pandemonium.

I did not intend to stay long.

I focused and tried to feel for the general direction of where I could teleport back into, and found only one direction going somewhere south…ish. I asked Pandemonium to make for me a straight path, and the walls and ceiling parted and opened up upon my request. I ran out of the central building without telling anyone, and then I kept going once outside.

"Haell?" I heard Granuel mutter from somewhere, but I barely managed a wave. Soon, I was flying, making a beeline for where I had last been. The city disappeared into the distance, the rainforest blurred below me, and I continued traveling… for who knew how long.

I stopped eventually, not because I had arrived… but because I was lost. The rainforest all looked the same to me! Especially when traveling in such a hurry.

"Hmmmm…" I could easily get back because I knew where Pandemonium was. By the same token, maybe I could track the same spot I disappeared from earlier where something had presumably been left behind for me to be able to teleport back in there. I was able to do it before, if in Pandemonium's teleportation room. It was harder to do here… but I found it after focusing for a short while!

The signal came from somewhere behind me, which meant that I had long passed the place I was looking for.

"Oops."

I shrugged and dropped back to the ground. I kept the much fainter signal in the back of my mind without once letting it drop. I ran and weaved and crushed through thick roots and trees until finally, in an otherwise unremarkable strip of rainforest, I saw it. Not with my eyes, but with my spatial senses. There, in between the trees, was a peculiar fold in space. It was only vaguely visible through my optical vision as some sort of distortion, but… taking that and the impression I was getting from my dimension scanner, I believed I was looking at some sort of symbol. One that I was only able to identify as such because of my familiarity with the shape.

A demon, a house, and a circle of tentacles. It was the Mark of The Beast, drawn through the very folds in space. I didn't see one the last time I teleported out of Pandemonium, but I could assume that they were depleted after only one use, after a single teleport.

But could I have multiple temporary teleport beacons active at once?

I immediately tested the theory out. Or I would've if I could teleport back to Pandemonium right now. But I still needed to recharge so I just practiced my ground maneuvers while I waited. I weaved through the trees and took the tight turns needed for a battle. I realized how much my speed dropped whenever I made a large change in direction. It was nice for travel… if I could actually maintain it, but I couldn't actually go supersonic in active battle where I didn't just have to go in a straight line. Not to mention that I couldn't even do it at all right now in this uneven and weak terrain.

That was a shame. I really liked the sound it made. Perfectly intimidating.

Unless.

My blood evaporated inside my body. Blood and Curse magic reached beyond their zenith. The air screamed as I instantly broke my previous top speed. I then promptly crashed into a tree with such force that the trunk exploded outward in a shower of splinters. I kept going beyond that, but my short boost had expired, and the collision had slowed me down. I made no move to regain my speed, but rather worked to arrest my momentum. I crashed against another tree, but I slammed my shoulder into it this time causing leaves to fall and for the trunk to horribly crack, splinter, and ultimately fall. More importantly, I had succeeded at coming to a stop.

I laughed. I ripped apart what remained of the tree to find an outlet for my emotions. My face leaked blood from a few cuts, and my insides were in even more disarray, but it was my regular steel armor that had truly suffered the most damage. Why did I even bother with this thing, when it was actually weaker than my body at this point? But maybe that wasn't fair, because my body was enhanced by a semi ritualistic application of blood magic. It was a really nice way to see how much tougher I had become after my recent evolution. I would've been gravely injured if I smashed into a tree wholesale before, especially with such terrible armor.

I spent the hours leading up to my teleport being recharged practicing some more maneuvers. I shot down a stalking leopard up in the canopy with hellfire, broke my steel sword against a slothball(armored sloth that can curl up like an armadillo), and then kept using the same weapon to beat a deer into submission. And death.

The bloodlust built and built. There were so many enemies everywhere I looked, and they were all running. Showing their backs to me. They were afraid. They were inferior. Therefore they deserved to die. All for my amusement. May they all burn and rot in hell. The forest was consumed by blood-red fire. It traveled so fast to reach their fleeing forms and burn them alive. They suffered the only fate they deserved. The one that every living thing did. They would all die someday anyway. Their hearts would cease and the blood would grow still. So what was so wrong with reaping their lives now!?

And then one monster strode through the burning trees to face me.

"You dare!?" I snarled at the massive creature. It was a pandevour, which was basically a panda, but much larger and with far more developed fangs, able to chew through the toughest trees. Level 40, just like me. Except it was born this way. It never had to fight and kill for its power.

"RAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" I didn't know which one of us had roared. Our battlecries blended into each other, but mine overtook the paltry rage the pandevour could show. Its massive claws swiped for me, but I easily ducked under it. Its mouth snapped out with force and speed, but I only enhanced my body further to slash it right in the face.

I drew blood. Shards of metal tore its face apart as my sword shattered in my hands. The animal survived and lunged for me, but I easily dodged. It had tried to hurt me, it had failed miserably, I tossed aside the hilt of a broken sword and resorted to punching my my enemy who yet refused to die. But not for long.

A single empowered blow against its guts made it vomit great amounts of blood. Its bones shattered with my every punch as I ramped the power up. The monster tried to rip me apart with its claws, but I was too nimble and aware to ever be caught. And then I broke that same leg that swiped with a kick, and then another. Soon, the pandevour could move no longer, and was only awaiting its execution. I watched it for a moment, the blood pooling under it from many raptures and bones outright spearing out of its skin. A part of me wanted to watch it bleed out and suffer, but I did not indulge the desire for more than a few minutes. A single powerful punch at its back broke through spine and ruptured the heart within.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

~~~

It was time to teleport back home, but now I had some actual valuable loot to consider. My gear and clothing did remain with me with each teleport, so it wasn't strictly just my raw naked body. I could bring other things. But how much could I truly bring?

There was only one way to find out.

I engaged my teleport. I felt the connection between myself and Pandemonium. Space around me twisted as I dug my fingers deeper into the massive pandevour carcass underneath me. The phenomenon responded and tried to envelop it as well. I encouraged it further, and the stranger application of magic did as I asked.

Until it failed.

I lurched upon my fleshy perch. There were new divots in the meat, gouged by the failed attempt. I did feel a pop like I had teleported, but I was still in the same place. The Mark of The Beast was no longer functional and would need a quick recharge. Thankfully, it only lasted a few minutes, and by the time I was ready again, I'd already ripped out the monster's claws and fangs and had them clutched tightly to my chest.

I teleported back to Pandemonium, and this time it worked. I had brought my entire haul with me, and there were only a few new cuts or dents in the hard material. I'd wager that was just because the claws and fangs were quite a bit tougher than the steel armor I was using now.

"Anyway," I healed the damage to my own body, and then reoriented myself to the other experiment I originally wanted to do. A part of my throat had been cut this time, which could have actually been fatal even for someone else of the same level, if they had no means to heal themselves at all. I searched within myself, and found that there was only one other presence besides me and Pandemonium. This meant that the other unused teleportation marker that should still be present had disappeared, or my last teleport home did not leave a marker.

I confirmed which theory was correct by flying right out of Pandemonium again and then finding the single teleport marker right next to the massive pandevour corpse I'd butchered.

~~~

Days passed. My training continued in much the same fashion. I ran and I maneuvered. I did the same for flight and struggled, but never once gave up. I made rituals in the air, for the hope of a day to come when I could complete them in the blink of a second. I remembered my weakness that had led to a year of torture. I drank of those emotions as the fuel to keep me going. Faster and faster. Onward. Forward. I had not even scratched the beginning of my power.

"Hey, Haell. Would you–"

Berry approached me carrying something. I whirled around on her and slammed the board game onto Pandemonium's ground.

"No! Can you not see that I'm fucking busy!?" The ritual I was making lost cohesion and fell. That only forced me to grit my teeth further in rage and slam my hoof on the blackened ground.

"S-s--sorry…" Berry panicked. "I just thought… I just thought you were working really hard, and might deserve a break…"

"I… uh…" My mind cleared and I facepalmed. "Fuck. I'm sorry." I crouched down to pick up the pieces of the game and try to put them back together, but I could only destroy, never heal. "I… I didn't mean that. Really. I've just… been stressed lately."

"Oh. Well, that's okay, Haell. I understand why you're like this right now. So don't beat yourself up over it. I'm not hurt, and I can easily buy another Revoution board. I'm actually in a position now where that's true, and it's all thanks to you."

"That's the problem," I sighed. "I'm… not actually doing anything to fix it. I'm supposed to be, but… I chose to devote my time to training again. Regular training. Instead of actually facing…" I hesitated, then found a small demon figurine among the shards of the board game. I smiled and continued on, "...the trauma that I face.

"Oh… Well, that's not good?"

"No. It's not." I chuckled. "If it's fine with you, would you like to still play that game? Or something else? I'm sure we have something in storage."

"Oh! Of course! Anything!"

I smiled and rummaged around the closest storage room.

~~~

What am I doing? I questioned as I… danced?

In between my regular training, I'd agreed to spend lots of time with my friends. And today, Granuel wanted to have us do some ballroom dances. I held Moonwash close, controlling myself as much as I could as we stepped and twirled across the massive hall. Soft blue light soothed us in a wave of calm as the entire space had been prepared with curtains and rugs for today's activities. Berry and Angerly played music, and it really was quite nice. We were in a quiet part where Moonwash and I just swayed lightly to the beat. The music petered off, and my face stopped so so close to hers.

I kissed her. It was just a small peck, but it felt like everything. At some point, I'd actually managed to forget my worries, as if I'd been transported back to a much more peaceful time. It didn't last forever, not even close, and I eventually had to separate from my girlfriend, but that confirmed it for me. Just like how one success proved that I could draw full ritual with raw blood magic, this too was evidence that I could get better. I didn't have to be the crazy demon on the mountain forever.

I could be the crazy demon on the streets once again.

~~~

I left Pandemonium. But I was not up high in the air this time, or even at a dead run. My friends flanked me as we walked normally towards the dreary Astro City. It still kept that same infuriating name, because the status of the settlement was in total limbo right now. The council had still not given us a reply about our potential ownership over this whole city as an independent territory. They were apparently taking the issue all the way to their capital and seat of power, where all the councilors could get a vote on it.

Regardless of how that turned out, however, Granuel had at least secured my ownership over Pandemonium. It would've gotten well and truly ugly if they didn't, and I felt that they too understood that. My display of power had shaken them enough to immediately grant this much, at least. Not to mention the vast amount of soft power they had willingly given me.

We continued walking. My eyes darted around as we reached the severely diminished number of tents. I searched for threats at every corner. I glared at way too many people. I wore a smattering of mismatched medium armor, but right for my size and made of much better materials. The soldiers present immediately recognized me and waved, unbothered by my admittedly rude attitude.

"Oh!"

"Hey, Haell!"

"Hello!"

"PLEASE NOTICE ME!"

"Idiot! Don't be weird about it!"

"I know."

"Shut the fuck up! She's not some idol! She burnt that entire manor full of people down!"

"Yeah! For us!"

"She won the day!"

"Hooray!"

"Haell!"

"Haell Zharignan!!!"

"HEEEEEEEEY!!!!!"

All the noise coming from every direction made me wish to slaughter all of them right where they stood and make upon their corpses a warning to never approach me again. Another part of me was admittedly flattered. Not by everything said, because some of those were fucking weird and infuriating, but I did walk a little straighter, more exaggerated, powerful, upon their overwhelming praise.

We reached the actual city, though much of the area here was still being reconstructed. People worked, and the soldiers present continued all the cheering that I received. But even that gradually died down as the number of soldiers waned, and the regular citizens grew only a little more numerous. I was looked at with suspicion. Well, they looked at everyone with suspicion, but it was obvious that their glares targeted me more than anyone else. Some immediately walked away in another direction, while others actually chose to menacingly follow as if they could be any more menacing than me.

"Haell," Angerly gently patted me on the shoulder and I stopped, tense. "It was a good walk. Maybe we should go back?"

"No," I shook my head, face twisted in a rictus frown. "We were going to that nice place that you found, right? I'm not letting this stupid bullshit stop me!"

"But…"

She was cut off then by an angry shout.

"Hey! Hey you!" a boy limped forward, his face a mimicry of my own.

"What!?" I snapped, staring him down, and the kid hesitated.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" someone immediately defended.

"Yeah! Haven't you done enough!?"

"What has my grandma ever done to you!"

"Go away!"

"That manor was ours!"

"Get out!"

"My arms! My legs!

"What the fuck did you do to it!"

"Fuck you!!"

In what almost seemed like the blink of an eye, a crowd had gathered. They berated me. They complained. They blamed me for their problems, when they did not know what I'd been through. Whatever they suffered from this, I'd suffered an eternity worse. They were nothing. They were fucking nothing and now they chirped like birds angrily making a mating call while their feathers were covered only in mud. No one fucking cared. Their concerns didn't matter. None of them mattered.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, and they had no choice but to freeze for I had unleashed my aura. Several immediately passed out… especially those younger and more vulnerable. But they were the ones coming at me! What the fuck did they expect!?

"Haell…"

"WHAT NOW!?" I bared my fangs at Angerly. She only responded with calm and understanding.

"Please. Let's not do anything you'd regret, okay?"

"That I would regret?"

"Yes. That you would regret."

I stared at her for a moment longer, before snapping my wings out and flying away. The strong gale that produced bowled a couple more people over, but I did not care.

~~~

My tail slammed every which way behind me as I sat atop Pandemonium's walls. I looked out into the city, searching for anyone particularly tall, only to get my hopes up for nothing over and over. This was a meeting I'd both been looking forward to and dreading ever since I'd found out about it. I couldn't help but keep a lookout sometimes, even when I knew that wouldn't actually make them arrive any faster.

The clouds traveled through the sky as my body gradually relaxed further. My thoughts turned to the events of yesterday, and I frowned. The people of this place hated me as I hated them. That was precisely why I wanted them all gone. Why could they not see that? It would be better for everyone!

But really, it was kind of pathetic of me to be so affected by something like that. I'd said they were insignificant, so what did that make me, getting so mad over their incessant chirping? Birds that could only sing gratingly, but never accomplish anything. They could all band together and try to kill me all at once, but I didn't know if they could even manage to land a single scratch.

I'm glad Angerly stopped me.

In truth, I understood. I was once like them, in a different life. Powerless to actually change anything, only swept along by the greater tides. Hell, I was still like that more recently, whether I cared to admit it or not. A demon traveling through Edengar, unable to even show her face.

I did not actually think that the regular people of this place could've rescued me if they tried. They did know about me and they could've done something… but they didn't really know anything. They didn't truly know who I was or what I stood for. They didn't know how I was captured, or what conditions I'd been put through in prison. All they saw… were enemies outside their walls, and I was not completely unfairly put in the same camp.

They didn't owe me anything, and I owed them nothing in return. That was all I had to remember. Let their insults wash through me, and definitely do not start slaughtering them wholesale. Do. Not. Do. That. I carved the ideal in my hearts.

Suddenly, an irregular commotion arose in the city. Soldiers walked the streets, and people left the barricades of their homes. I perked up, but did not yet get up from my perch. It was very likely just another false alarm.

But then I heard it. From the shouts and clamor of the people, a familiar name that I knew was coming.

"Hero… Hero…!" they said, but they weren't referring to me.

"...Golex!" They were talking about my grandfather who had arrived from who knew how far away!

I finally decided to descend upon the streets and run. No one was able to react at all, whether they hated me or not. They didn't matter. The only people that did in this massive place finally came into view. The road cracked, and the distance grew even shorter. I saw Grandpa Golex, more tired and aged than I'd ever seen him. But it was not he whom my evil eyes locked upon. With all the power in my lungs, I shouted, "MOM! DAD!"

The two of them were already running. They had caught sight of me too. We met in the middle, and I nearly bowled them both over, but they held their ground and came to a stop. I squeezed and we locked each other into a big embrace. Just like old times. As a family. A family that took way too long and didn't get here on time– That wasn't me. I knew that wasn't me. My hug had tightened into violence, but neither my mom nor dad complained. They didn't let go of me. It was like they only noticed how I was hugging them, and not how my fingers tried to find purchase through their armor.

"Oh, Haell…"

"We tried to get here as fast we could…"

"But you got out before us. That's… good."

"Great job."

"How have you been?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm…" I swallowed, finally able to loosen my grip some. My arms were wrapped around them and not the other way around, for I was a little taller than even my father now. They fit snugly into my arms and I did not wish to let go. "I'm not fine."

"Oh…"

"Oh, we know…"

"We're so sorry…"

"Of course you're not…"

"Why did you even ask!?

"But we're here now! That's what matters!"

"For what it's worth…"

"It's worth everything," I took a deep breath and separated from them, before I could try to crush them again.

I met granddad's eyes, and he smiled. "You've gotten stronger, Haell! I can feel it!"

"Yeah," I returned his grin, then glanced at the mix of hostile, interested, and overjoyed people around us. "I got a new house! Come! Follow me!!!"

I ran before they could reply, and before the crowd could box me in.

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