“A long long time ago, even before time began its supposedly endless march, there was nothing. Or to be more accurate, there was something that was nothing”, Noir said.

First two sentences in and I had no idea what he was talking about.

“I don’t understand what you are trying to say”, Dr. Choco frowned.

If even a smart demon like Dr. Choco couldn’t understand him, maybe Noir was the one who was in the wrong.

“Hmmm… If I were going to put it in modern terms, there was something that represented nothing”, Noir said.

“The Primordial Nothing”, Anya told us.

“Bingo! Or to be more accurate, it was the Primordial Void. For something to be born, there must be nothing. After all, everything starts from zero. Even before the darkness, there was nothing.”

“But how does this relate to the strange energy?” Ayame asked.

“We get there when we get there!”

“Sorry.”

“Anyways… The Primordial Void existed. It’s impossible to know how long it existed because time wasn’t there yet. But the Primordial Void split itself into two parts. Those parts are twins called the ever-so-amazing-and-completely-lovable Primordial Dark and the Primordial Reality.”

“Wait. I thought you started existing at the same time as the Primordial Light?” Anya asked.

“That’s wrong. The Primordial Light is way younger than me. Not that I’m old or anything but let’s not focus on that.”

“Yes. Let’s not get sidetracked until this man reaches the explanation for the strange energy”, Ayame agreed.

“So… The Primordial Void split itself into two which are the Primordial Reality and the Primordial Dark. The Primordial Reality received the ability to have potential. That one is able to bloom and grow towards the infinite possibilities.”

“I see. And the rest of the universe was created like that, right? The Primordial Time and the Primordial Space were born at the same time thanks to the Primordial Reality. As the universe evolved, more and more Primordial Beings were born”, Dr. Choco said.

“Yep. When the first living creature was created, the Primordial Life appeared. And when the first creature died, the Primordial Death took its life. When sentient creatures learned how to use their mana, the Primordial Magic was born. And when the first sentient creature lost its mind, the Primordial Insanity dropped by. But all Primordial Beings couldn’t exist without the Primordial Reality. As time goes by and more and more Primordial Beings appear, the Primordial Reality grows stronger.”

“So the Primordial Reality is the part of the Primordial Void which has the potential to bloom into infinite possibilities. Then what about you? What are you?” Anya asked.

“I am nothing. Darkness is the lack of light and that’s exactly what I am. The Primordial Reality was able to grow and mature over time. They even created creatures that would act like a Council and keep watch of the other Primordial Beings. Meanwhile, I had nothing until they decided to give me freewill.”

“That is unfortunate but are we getting to the part about the strange energy?” Ayame asked.

“You know the conservation of energy, right? Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It’s only transformed from one form to another. But there’s no such thing as a perfect transformation. For example, if you transform your mana into electricity, not all of your mana would become electricity. No matter how skilled you are, you can’t transform everything 100%. That is simply impossible.”

“I think Ars researched that and she arrived at the conclusion that the energy that wasn’t converted would become an unusable energy. She tried hard to detect and find a way to interact with that energy but no matter what she did, she wasn’t successful. Even other mages of her time mocked her because of an outrageous theory about a supposedly existing form of energy”, Anya said.

Wait a minute.

“Then that strange energy is that energy?” I asked.

“Got that right, Mikage. The energy that is causing these problems in the Demon Realm is that one. It’s called the Dark Corruption”, Noir answered.

“I can understand that… But how is it related to you and why does it do such a thing to creatures?” Dr. Choco questioned.

“Like I said, I am the part of the Primordial Void that is “nothing.” The final form of energy is the Dark Corruption. It could no longer be transformed into anything else. It could be said that something came from nothing. So it would be safe to say that it would also return to nothing. As the Primordial Dark which is nothing, I have authority over it too.”

“That somehow makes sense… But why is it doing such a thing to the demons?” Ayame asked.

“The Dark Corruption turns something into nothing. The very first step to that is losing the sentient and rational mind. That’s why people become rampaging lunatics. They are slowly losing their minds. Not only their minds but their Life Forces too. Fortunately, they won’t completely become nothing. The moment their Life Force is gone, their soul would be released from their bodies that had the Dark Corruption. So they have a chance for rebirth.”

“But why would it make them stronger? From witness reports, the affected demons became stronger and are capable of Dark Magic”, Dr. Choco looked at some papers.

“It’s because of the conversion. There’s no way that something would be 100% converted into the Dark Corruption. That’s why they became physically stronger and Dark Magic oozed out from their body. The Life Force is a powerful energy. It’s not surprising that a fraction of it that wasn’t converted into the Dark Corruption would give such strong and deadly enhancements, right?”

Everyone was silent as they processed the new knowledge they learned. However, I had one thing I wanted to ask so I raised my hand.

“What’s up, Mikage?” Noir asked.

“I thought you had no memories. How did you know these things?”

“Simple. I learned them the moment you absorbed the Dark Corruption.”

“Wait. So if I absorb more, you’ll learn more?” 

“No. I stopped learning things after you absorbed the seventh demon’s Dark Corruption. I think there are other conditions but I don’t think we have time to experiment.”

“What do you mean by that?” Anya asked.

“Mikage knows what I’m saying. The Dark Corruption in the south became stronger.”

“Dark Corruption in the south?” Ayame looked at me.

I then explained what I felt in the south and what I knew about the Unkindness.

“That is concerning. We have to tell this to the Leader and have a raid there”, Dr. Choco said.

“It’s not recommended”, Anya shot down her suggestion.

“Why not?” 

“The Unkindness has connections everywhere. If we alert the Leader, then we would lose the element of surprise. Their members inside the Demon Realm’s government would delay things in order for their comrades to escape. Or worse, they could prepare a trap and create a tragedy.”

“Then there’s only one thing to do”, Ayame spoke up.

“Yeah. We have to do it ourselves”, I said.

“That’s too reckless. It’s a safer bet to just tell the Leader and have them handle it”, Dr. Choco argued.

“It might be reckless and unsafe but if we pull this off, we can stop this so-called “Unkindness.” Even if we drive them away from the Demon Realm, there’s no guarantee that they won’t return. And even if they won’t return, that means they would just move on to another country and cause chaos there. I don’t want that to happen”, Ayame told her.

“I can’t change your mind, can I?” Dr. Choco sighed.

“No. Sorry, Dr. Choco. I love the Demon Realm but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about other countries. This is the best option despite being riskier.”

“Very well. Three days. I’ll need three days to prepare Mikage’s paperwork. He can’t travel around as an illegal immigrant in this country. I still need you to talk with the Demon Constabulary so you can make them agree to have Mikage travel with you.”

“Thank you, Dr. Choco.”

“Wait. You’re going to save the Demon Realm?” a woman’s voice asked.

We turned around and saw a petite girl with green hair. She was wearing a blue dress with butterfly patterns.

“Rushia, what are you doing here?” Ayame asked.

“If you’re going to save the Demon Realm, I’ll tag along too”, she answered.

“That’s perfect! If the two best students work together, then I can sleep better at night”, Dr. Choco smiled.

“We might die, you know?” Ayame looked at her.

“Then I’ll just revive you guys! I’m not the best necromancer for nothing”, she boasted.

And that’s how I ended up on a journey with a demon and a necromancer.

###

A/N: You thought it was a school arc but it was actually a traveling arc!