_________________

Name: Haell Zharignan

Species: Archdemon

—Mutations—

Curse Heart: Level 45

Demon Brain: Level 43

Demon Skin: Level 43

Evil Eyes: Level 42

Demon Flesh / Demon Bones / Demonic Musculature(synced) : (All) Level 42

Demon Arms: Level 43

Demon Hooves: Level 44

Resentment: Level 40

Demon Horns: Level 43

Mana-infused Blood: Level 45

Regen Heart: Level 44

Demon Wings: Level 43

Hellfire Heart: Level 44

Unbreakable Memory Core: Level 43

Extradimensional Demon Blood Storage: Level 43

Demon Tail: Level 44

Localized Dimension Scanner Matrix: Level 43

Rapid Combat Nervous System: Level 44

Blood Heart: Level 44

Blood Eater: Level 43

—Soul Feats—

Reincarnator

Progenitor

Imp Progenitor

Progenitor II

Demon Progenitor

Demon Harbinger

Progenitor III

Archdemon Progenitor

Slaughter of the Astro Manor

Pandemonium

Mark of The Beast

_________________

"HAELL!!!"

I was taken out of my thoughts and review of my Status when I heard a sudden voice that I hadn't heard in a literal decade.

"ELFRAFIM!?" I shouted, looking towards the entryway that was now on fire. Hellfire. "Pandemonium, Wait! Or rather, stop! She's a friend!"

The flames that were being held back by a barrier of wind died and sank back into the dirt. An area of grass had been burnt by what had just happened, but that regularly happened anyway because I trained in the courtyard often. It'd regrow.

"OW! What? What!?" Elfrafim screamed, melodically somehow. "Did you just attack me, Haell!? What gives!? Are we not friends anymore!? I'm sorry I didn't make it in time to rescue you!!"

"No, no, I didn't attack you!" I walked up to the elf woman, and gave her a big hug. It really put into perspective how big I'd gotten, because she was so small to begin with. "That was Pandemonium."

"Oh? Who's that? Someone else can use hellfire? Well, I guess Moonwash can. But Pandemonium sounds like a completely different name!"

"That's because it is!" I laughed and let her go. "Fuck. Pandemonium is well, this whole manor. It's sapient."

"...Huh?"

"The manor is Pandemonium. And Pandemonium is a sapient being."

"Are you… joking?"

The walls rumbled, and she tensed. For all her silliness, Elfrafim did still have a wealth of experience.

"I'm not."

"Oh…… What? Really? But how? How does that even work? I… Huh?"

"Yeah. It's a lot," I chuckled again. "Why don't we come inside for now, yes?"

"Alright…" she followed, her confusion visibly giving way to curiosity as she observed the courtyard with a keen eye, and even keener ears. They twitched this way and that. "Wow. This place is… The ambient mana is… It's so… Orderly? Despite having a lot of curse-aligned stuff. The mana is also more active than normal? Hell, there's a whole lot of outright active mana, and they circulate… What the fuck is this? I've never heard of this manor before! I think I've even passed through here, and I would've damn noticed something like this!"

I smirked once she was finally done. "That's because it's new. I made it."

"Eh? You can do that? How? Did you take up construction? But that shouldn't give you the ability to make this. I can also build things!" She took a seat on a nearby bench. As did I.

It was at that moment that hellfire and curse began to rise from the ground and coalesce someplace far above.

"No, shit, wait!"

Pandemonium paused. My wings snapped open. Elfrafim was already running, faster than me, despite being kinder to the wind. But I overtook her anyway because I could fly, and our target was high in the air. I heard a pained squawk, just before I arrived with an expanding mass of hellfire and curse mana. It wrestled with the many traces of the elements that still remained in the air, and then tossed them all away from the suprasoar and his own shield of wind.

Astan glared at me, as did Elfrafim from below.

"Haell what the fuck!?"

I winced.

Astan wobbled in front of me, and I flew forward to help, but he squawked indignantly and snapped his beak. I could've grabbed him by the throat and tossed him to the ground if I wanted to… but he was a friend. I shouldn't do that.

"Hey…" I made my voice as gentle as it could be. My evil eyes roved over his vibrant green feathers, and the many singed and withering spots therein. The damage went deeper, piercing into the flesh. "Sorry about that! Really! It was an accident! It's… a lot to explain. But this is my… territory, and it has a guardian. That guardian overreacted."

"Overreacted?" Elfrafim asked incredulously, now having brought out her glider and was circling us.

"Yes," I responded, forcing myself to apologize again. I would not be pleased if someone injured a friend of mine, either. Hell, Astan was exactly that friend of mine, and I was more pissed at myself than anyone. I should just end it all and rid the world of the destruction that– I took a deep breath and clicked my tongue in annoyance at the insidious curse I carried. "I'm sorry. Most people here know to stay away, but Pandemonium is very much not kind to strangers and trespassers. It was my idea." My jaws clenched. "Did the guards not tell you when you entered the city?" I would fire them. Literally.

"...I didn't meet them. I jumped over the walls."

"Ah."

We flew there awkwardly for a few seconds more. Astan was struggling, clearly in pain.

"Let's go down. I'll go heal him up."

"Okay."

We did just that, and I reached out my hand to Astan so that I may heal him with blood magic. He glared at me suspiciously for a moment, but eventually squawked and allowed me contact. We were friends after all, and he understood that it was an accident.

Astan purred as his wounds began to close, scab, and then disappear. His feathers regrew, and soon they were vibrant and green once more, without a single trace of the earlier accident remaining. He checked himself over once I was finished, and then pecked at me shallowly a few times in revenge, which I magnanimously allowed. Finally, he huffed in arrogant forgiveness as he turned away.

My eyes narrowed a little, but I didn't say any more.

The ground under us rumbled, and Elfrafim took out her big staff while casting me another suspicious glare.

"No, it's fine! That's just how Pandemonium operates! And it's saying sorry for hurting Astan!"

"...I see," she sighed, visibly exerting effort to keep herself from smiling again. "I'm still pissed you know! It happened to me too! Not that I care about that, it's kinda neat actually, but Astan could've died! He would've if you weren't there to stop… Pandemonium, right?"

Astan squawked indignantly to deny that he was ever in any danger.

"Right," I admitted. Astan wasn't even level 40 yet. I'd completely overtaken him. And I must not gloat about that when he'd already gotten such a big scare! Do not do not do not! "But listen. Honestly, I do care and feel bad about it, but only because you're friends. Otherwise, I've done what I could to warn people, and you should've gone through the front gate! You would've absolutely been admitted through, or I'm kicking someone out!"

"I guess...." Elfrafim groaned. "It's just way too troublesome! I don't want to deal with that kind of complicated bullshit whenever I want to go anywhere!"

I shook my head and chuckled, "Even I go through the front gates most of the time." I reached out a fist to them after a beat of silence. "We good, then? You too, Astan?"

"Yeah," Elfrafim bumped her small fist with my own. "I think you should probably put up some better warnings though, just in case."

"You mean the dark and heavily cursed manor isn't enough of a warning?"

"Eh. It didn't work, did it?"

"I guess not." I rolled my evil eyes as Astan also slapped my fist with his own wing. "Maybe I'll go put up some signs then. Say there's a violent guardian. Pandemonium's aura of dread is weaker than it could be, because it'd be pretty fucking bad for everyone here if that was let out in full."

~~~

The three of us went to my main living room in the central wing. The walls here remained black, but the bright colors from all the carpets on the floor and stuck to those very walls neatly drowned the darkness out. The design of the place, as did many others, changed with regularity.

I led my group to the nearest fridge, and the three of us each picked out whichever snacks piqued our interest.

Whatever tension remained melted away along with the ice cream that melted on our tongues.

"This is good!" Elfrafim exclaimed, savoring her bowl.

Astan made an agreeable noise from his own perch. Pandemonium had quickly made a jagged one that my friend liked. It did feel bad for injuring him earlier, so it was being extra hospitable today.

"Oh, is that you, Elfrafim!? And Astan??" Berry came into the room, and immediately saw our new guests. "You're back! It's been a while! How've you been!"

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"Oh, it's all good! But later! I wanna hear what all this is about first!" She gestured to everything around us, but really referring to Pandemonium as a whole. They hugged, and then Berry took her own comfortable seat.

"Alright," I said. "Fuck… where do I begin… There is way too much to talk about."

I just started from the beginning, when I last met her at the Singing Vortex. It would be too troublesome to explain Pandemonium, and then have to work my way back from there.

"OH! An Anatomic Mastery!?" she exclaimed once I got to the part about the orcs. "And Therick has one too!? You gotta show me!"

I held out a hand and stopped her right there. "Therick betrayed us, and for that he's dead. But as for the rest… Elfrafim, can you let me finish without interruption, because this is literally going to take all day as it is."

"Therick betrayed you!?"

I groaned. "Yes. That… has to be addressed first, doesn't it?"

I told her about the ambush during our quest to take out a goblin horde, and Therick's involvement. I then talked about my imprisonment briefly, and how he came in there to fucking try and manipulate me. I burned him with my hottest flame, and then I made sure that everyone else above me suffered the same fate.

"But it's not yet over. Eden's the fucking mastermind behind this. Her court. Adamo. Evel!" My voice turned into a growl around bites of cake. My muscles had tensed, as if my targets were right before me now, and I just had to reach out to rip them apart.

"I'm sorry that all happened." Elfrafim patted my arm, and then bravely gave me another hug. I wrestled with myself to not punch her, and eventually managed to let out a slow breath and nod.

I finally got to talk about myself and catch her up to the many things that she'd missed without interruption.

~~~

"Wow…" Elfrafim said, at a loss for words once I finally finished. "I thought that nothing ever changes here, at least not all that fast, but a lot happened while I was gone, huh?" Her face fell. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been there, Haell. I was off continent. I would've come to save you if only I'd known."

"Don't worry about it. I saved myself." I glanced at Berry. "With some help."

"Yeah… It does seem like it! Making a ritual over a year, and then giving sapience to an entire manor with it!? How the fuck! HOW THE FUCK!"

"It's complicated. My intention was to make the manor kill everyone with curse in hellfire. But even I didn't expect it to actually become intelligent. And then a storm that wasn't a storm gathered in the sky, and among the many many things it did, allowing Pandemonium to live forever instead of expiring in hours or days was one of them."

"Wow," Elfrafim marveled again, taking some time to digest that and observe her surroundings. "So it's not replicable then?"

"Moonwash has been trying," I shrugged, then tapped on the ground a few times.

"...Is something supposed to happen?"

"Wait for it."

The ground cracked open in front of me, and Devilcalibur was burped out by Pandemonium. I caught the greatsword by the hilt, and then swung it around.

"This is Devilcalibur. It's sort of sentient. More a bundle of instinct, really. Or maybe just the same effects that all cursed weapons have, but stronger. Strong enough to affect me. However, we do believe that Pandemonium's sapience might be just another form of that anyway. The proto-intelligence of a cursed object, and mana's capacity to have a will of its own, taken to the extreme, thereby creating an intelligence advanced enough to rival the brains of sapients, and therefore, in this scenario, a sapient thinking and emotional manor. Pandemonium."

"Fascinating," she breathed, her face almost touching the blade. She actually ran a hand through it, pressed down harder, and then stared at the tiny insignificant patch of rot that very slowly spread. It did stop, not too long after, but she was fucking level 80. I was sure even that small amount of damage was already impressive for her.

"ANYWAY!" I planted Devilcalibur into the ground, and Pandemonium opened a divot perfectly wide for me. "Enough about me! Let's talk about you!"

Elfrafim gasped.

"OI! Don't make me sound like a self absorbed asshole! I do want to hear how your journey has been. You mentioned being off continent? How? Where? What's it like? I wanna hear all about it!"

"Okay!" she smiled brightly, and began to spin her tale.

~~~

After Elfrafim parted ways with us, she went around doing much of the same things as she always did. She traveled around the western part of Grandera(the continent), continuing to discover the rich cultures within, and the many monsters that called it home. She was centuries old, so it could take a long time until she was satisfied with her knowledge and enjoyment of a place.

She decided to board a ship and go to another continent once the opportunity presented itself.

"Where?" I asked. "I want to make the trip and more in the future too, but I don't know if Gardine or any of the other ports will survive the wars to come. And they're certainly not letting me in now."

"Oh, I didn't ride with them," she snorted. "I'm not stupid! I don't like how you guys do things, making all these pointless hierarchies, but I know full well that we're hated by the Edengar faction. And even I might be in trouble if they betray me in the middle of the fucking ocean. Even if I kill them all, then what the fuck do I do next! I'm stuck! And lost!"

"Ah… huh. That makes sense."

"You really did think I was that stupid," she deadpanned rhythmically.

"Nuh-uh," I denied with a studiously neutral expression.

Elfrafim chuckled. "Well, whatever. I went for the ports in New Grandera, of course."

"Oh? They were pretty empty when I visited Clearshore City before. More fishing boats than the big ones. The port is really more meant for crustecars who come and go by foot."

Berry's own legs tapped a rhythm nearby.

"I don't mean this New Grandera," Elfrafim clarified. "I mean the one up north. Are they really the same thing? Not? I'm confused."

"Don't worry. Everyone else is too," I laughed. "But… it does make sense for the north to have more ships. There's nothing down south, really. Nowhere for a ship to go. It's all ice and death and the countless terrifying creatures that call it home."

Well, there were crustecar kingdoms in that direction, but their deep underwater settlements didn't attract that many visitors from the land-dwellers. The crustecar themselves could just walk or take some of their undersea 'carriages.'

"Yep!" Elfrafim said. "The poles would be awesome, but it might just kill me as I am now, from what I've heard. Anyway! Back to my trip. I boarded this ship, and immediately I'm slammed with all these fucking rules. Like cleaning up after myself, or shitting in the proper areas. Which I know to do! Just tell me where. I'm not a fucking child! But then they try to stop me from flying, or from using magic, or from roaming lower decks, and it's not fair! And then they want me to patrol at certain times… that's fine. Coordinating is good. But then they want me to unerringly follow their captains! FUCK OFF!" She huffed. "The Swimming Mother was my way off the continent, so I had to tell them that I understood the rules, which I did, and then not get caught. Easy enough. I failed, but you know, middle of the ocean. What are they gonna do?"

"Nothing!" I barked a laugh, highly amused.

"Do the elves not have their own vessels?" Berry then thought to ask.

"We do!" Elfrafim proudly boasted. "But I wasn't at home. And I don't when or where our ships will next arrive or leave. You can't really predict these things, you know? But maybe I should've come back to the Grandest Forest anyway, because the voyage was just that stupid and boring and terrible! It was a fine novelty at first, but you're stuck in that same ship for like a month or two. It got old really fast. The sailors were pretty friendly at least, so I got to hear some fun stories from them. But the rest of the passengers were honestly… kinda fucking annoying? Pompous and arrogant and they think they're better than me when some of them haven't even broken into level 40? What's up with that!?"

"Probably nobles or other wealthy and high-status people," I supplied. It made sense. This was a cross-continent trip. Who had that kind of money?

"Yeah… I think I heard something about that. But like, why are they so proud about things that other people did? I mean, that's fine and all, but if you're great-grandparent did all those amazing things then… they're amazing? Not you? Pretty fucking weird. But anyway! The monotony was at least broken up by some monster attacks, so that was fun! I fought to protect the ship. That's how I got aboard, by the way. They wanted protection. And it was a little challenging fighting in the ocean with all your enemies underwater! Especially when some don't even surface and just attack the bottom of the ship! I think some of the veteran crorcas and pengores were more efficient than me in some cases, if taken together, which is impressive anyway because I was the only level 80 in that ship. Or what you would call Hero-Rank here. Pretty cool name. OH! And we got attacked by this eeldora! It was this massive eel that was actually a bit higher level than me! And it disabled so many of us from the getgo! This actually happened after my confrontation with the other people aboard the ship, so I wasn't there immediately, but maybe that was good. Who knows what would've happened if I got hit by the first blast. I doubt it could've snuck up on me… but it was pretty sneaky. I made sure not to touch the ocean water when I fought it, and instead created a bubble of air around myself so I didn't have to swim directly. We managed to chase it away after a pretty long and arduous battle." She paused. "We were very unlucky, as it turned out. The ocean is dangerous anywhere, but the route we took was the safest one that people knew of. There shouldn't have been that big of a risk of a monster that strong attacking, but that's life for you. There's always a chance."

"An eeldora, huh…" I pictured the monster, and imagined how I might fight against it. "Neat. Anyway, you mentioned a confrontation with the crew?"

"OH YES! THAT! It was such a pain in the ass! See, halfway through the journey, I saw this woman trying to rape someone, right? So naturally, I killed her. That's completely fair, isn't it?"

"It is," I nodded along.

"Well, apparently, more of these nobles disagreed! They wanted to have a trial and imprison me for my crime. I disagreed and explained to them everything that happened. But I do get what trials are, I've been in some back home, sort of, and I understand that they can't really just take my word for it, or that of the victim. People lie. It's fair that they want some confirmation, so I agreed even if I really didn't want to because your processes are so fucking boring and dry and annoying. But then they demanded that I get imprisoned for the rest of the trip! Which doesn't make any sense! Aren't these trials supposed to determine if you go to prison or not? Why did they want to already lock me up!? I called out their bullshit and refused. They insited, so then it turned into a fight and I beat them, and then… that's it. We finally arrived at the League of Mercanto a few weeks later, and I just ran off. I didn't really feel like doing the whole trial thing after everything that happened. I knew I was in the right."

"Yeah…" Berry absentmindedly nursed her own drink. "It probably would've been rigged anyway."

"Oh?" Elfrafim asked, and Berry startled a little, but quickly regained herself.

"Yeah. I mean, these are nobles. Their goal is less 'figure out what happened', and more punish you for killing one of their own. I could be wrong though! I haven't met New Granderan nobles yet. They don't really do that down here, and maybe the ones up north are different than the ones I'm used to?"

I shuddered because I just realized that one might argue that I was a noble. My actual designation was Demon Queen, with unlimited power over Arisen City. I liked it, but I could see how it might be interpreted as nobility. I didn't get it through some stupid inheritance though! I killed the previous leadership of this place fair and square!

Elfrafim shrugged. "I don't know. But I think you're right. Anyway! Mercanto! It was… interesting. It was a lot. There were more new species of sapient people there than I'd met so far. And I wish I had one of those spatial storage devices to bring home all the many different things they had on offer! I was this close to using actual money! But, I held firm and just bartered. I feel like I'd be… losing if I used money, you know?"

"I don't know, actually," I admitted. "You're fine with trading, as long as no money is used. How does that work?"

"Well… I'd prefer if we just freely gave to each other, of course, but I understand that I'm a stranger to them. There's no connection there, no trust. But money just feels like a step too far, you know?" She looked at me, and realized that I still didn't know. "Because it's fake! It's not actually worth anything. Yet people act like it's the most important thing, somehow. They give their lives and be miserable for just a little more of it. Communities are ruled over so unfairly based on something so worthless. Especially in Mercanto! It's basically a few big islands each ruled by the wealthiest pricks!" She sighed. "I really don't get it. It's only seemed like a worse and worse idea the more I've seen of it. People are miserable here. They're… as empty as the money is fake. Just… doing the same thing day after day after day. It's a fucking nightmare. How do you live like that!?"

"I certainly don't live like that. Nor do I want to." I took a sip of my own tea. "But I'm not sure if changing over to bartering would actually resolve any of that. I'm no economic expert, nor do I want to be, that's such a pain in the ass, however, the value of things would still fluctuate regardless, no? Though perhaps not as much. I really don't know."

"You literally rule this place, Haell. Shouldn't you know that?"

"I delegate," I shrugged.

"...Are they doing a… 'good job?'"

"Granuel's the President Mayor."

"That's not what I asked."

"Well, I think he's doing a fine enough job. Things are getting better, I think."

"Hmm…" Elfrafim looked out of the nearest window. "How about… you just set them free, Haell? What do you think?"

"Huh?" I raised a furrowed brow. "Set them free?"

"Yeah. Just… enough of all this… ruling over people. Let them make their decisions for once. Give them that same freedom you enjoy!"

I stared at her. I did actually think about it, because my good friend deserved at least that much, and I wasn't all that married to the idea of being an Demon Queen, even if it was an admittedly super cool title……that I'd spent way too much time fantasizing about having in a life long past. But, at the end of the day, it wasn't a bad position to hold in these troubling times. It brought in a lot of benefits that were only getting bigger, and it made my friends and family happy. I'd already promised them this city. "No. I don't think I'm going to do that. And they can make their own decisions. They've certainly decided to kill me plenty of times! And if people really don't like it, then they can just leave. There is nothing stopping them."

"This is their home. They were even here first. They can't just abandon it." Elfrafim heaved another melodious sigh. "But, fine. You're a great friend, Haell. Just, maybe not the best person… to everyone else. I do wish you'd change your mind, but I don't really intend to do more than that. I didn't come here to make any big changes. Elves smarter and stronger than me have tried, and failed. People just seem to… always revert back to their oppressive ways, no matter what. Always wanting to be in charge. Wanting to have someone else in charge. Even if it means that all their freedoms will be lost. They allow themselves to be fooled into building someone a throne, no matter how many we've torn down." Elfrafim studied me for a long moment. "It's weird though, how I do think you'll fit in so well in the Grandest Forest, when you're like… this."

"Rude." I snarled, then smiled. "But yes. I'd love to visit someday."

"Don't you fucking dare try to take it over!" she shook her fist at me in mock anger. But I knew it would be true anger if I actually did try to do something as idiotic as that.

"I promise not to."

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