(Today is a double upload for Chapter 10 and the epilogue. Make sure you read Chapter 10 before reading this one as some sites might not make it obvious that there were two uploads)

 

Luminous walked through the darkness that now surrounded her, though as she walked she felt she was not going anywhere. Her night-black dress blended in with the shadowy mist behind her as her silver-gray hair and pale skin stood as the only contrast between her and the mist that surrounded her now.

She wasn’t quite sure where she was, but through her experience and skills, she could tell that it was likely some fragment of her mind. Some illusionary realm manifested by… something. In short, it wasn’t real, that much she could tell.

But what she was doing here, she had no idea. She didn’t have to wait long for her answer, however.

“Demon Lord Luminous Valentine,” a thousand distant voices echoed through the mist.

The vampire turned quickly to see a pair of silver eyes peering through the fog, illuminated yet showing no body, at least not one with a unified structure. The eyes alone seemed to be all it had, though they served less as eyes and more as a means to give something for Luminous to look at while speaking to it.

Whatever this being was, she didn’t trust it, but it seemed she had no choice but to humor it for the time being, “Just what are you and where are we?”

The eyes tilted to the side, “I assumed you could tell already.”

“I suppose the question was more to see if I was wrong,” Luminous admitted.

“Well you are not, we are in your mind. I will say it was quite hard to show myself here. You were quite determined to keep me out, but just like him it seems I was able to get through.”

“Him? Who’s him?”

The eyes tilted the other way now, the voice echoing out, “You have met him before. His voice was able to seep into your mind and control you. You have quite a strong mind, but it seems I underestimated his ability to seep inside. He’s stronger than he was before, so I must play this game carefully. To combat him I have brought you here so that I can clear your mind of his influence.”

Luminous took a step back as she remembered. It had been after the last Walpurgis. She had let her anger get the best of her and in a moment of weakness whatever this ‘he’ was used it to his advantage. He hadn’t taken full control, of course. But it had felt like there was something swaying her decisions, and her spite towards the demon seemed to increase exponentially.

She didn’t like the demon, that much was her own thoughts. But she didn’t hate the demon. Would she feel much safer if the demon was gone? Yes. Would she go out of her way to exterminate the demon in its own nation? Absolutely not.

The plan was foolish, yet she had spent the better part of the last months in the shadows plotting just that. A full assault on Tempest with everything the Church had might be successful, but even if it was, it would come at heavy costs. The technology Tempest was producing wasn’t something she could ignore, and even then she only knew half of it, the true extent of the Otherworlder tech they could produce was beyond her, and despite her best attempts, the TRI was surprisingly good at keeping their mouths shut.

The plan was still early in scheming, she was far from ready, and that meant it could be undone with ease. She could take a more casual approach to the demon problem, that being to contain the spread of its influence, but not aggravate it directly. She needed to think rationally about handling them, else she would pay the price for it.

Whatever the voice was, it didn’t care for the long-term clearly. It just wanted that Demon dead above all else, it cared little for what happened afterward. But could this voice be trusted any further? Now that she was on the lookout for something controlling her mind she would be much more resilient, but the voice didn’t seem to have the intent to pry further, let alone control her.

She wouldn’t let her guard down, but for now, the voice wasn’t an enemy. “So what do you want from me now that you’ve helped me out of his control? I assume you didn’t do this out of the kindness of your heart.”

“You’d be correct then.” The voice murmured, its eyes circling around the vampire, “All I want is your neutrality.”

“Neutrality?” The vampire turned, confused. It was surprising that out of everything it could’ve demanded, that neutrality was what it asked for. In the end, it was probably all she was willing to give up, but the point remained.

“I’m sure you’re well aware of who that being is after. I want you to stay out of their conflict. He will not like this, but your mind should be strong enough to resist him now that you can think straight. He will attempt to split the church in his favor. Be prepared when that happens, it's in both of our best interests if he cannot create a schism of such a large scale.

“So that’s what he wanted… He wanted my followers to get stronger holy magic…”

“That is not entirely true.” The voice responded, “He wanted the power your followers had. He wanted to use the western nations to his advantage. You’ll find that he has more followers than even you. It's best if you try not to beat him in holy magic.”

“If all you want is for me to stay out of the fighting I suppose I can do that. I can’t say I’m too fond of whoever that being is regardless, but I can’t say I trust you either. Nevertheless, in a battle of two potential enemies, it's best to let them fight each other anyways.” Luminous muttered as her arms folded across her chest.

The eyes nodded through the black mist, “That is all I ask.”

The eyes faded as so too the darkness did as well. In just a few seconds she opened her eyes, once more outside the realm of her own mind.

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Mariabell Rosso sat comfortably in a luxurious chair in an equally luxurious room. The entire air around her and the place she resided gave off a single impression: Wealth and greed.

‘Greed’ was a term she had grown quite fond of using. It fit her perfectly, and she had no reason to deny it. What point was there in doing so? She was greedy, and she was damn good at it, too.

It was for that reason that she had the skill of the same name, and it was with that skill that she had come to dominate this world, or at least most of it. Her control over the world was just one of a few major cogs that kept it running.

The Demon Lord Council, the Holy Church, the Eastern Empire, the Free Guild, and the Council of the West. All of these were powers that kept the status quo running. Some factions opposed each other subtly, but few rarely ever outright opposed one another.

It was a multi-sided game of chess, after all, and as of now two of those sides were firmly under her control. The Free Guild and the Council of the West were both under her grasp, and with it, so too was humanity almost under hers. There were only two aspects keeping humanity at bay, or rather, there used to be only two.

The first was the Eastern Empire, however, their influence was kept as their name implied, East. The Storm Dragon had kept them at bay for the time being after their last expedition, and Dwargon was enough of a deterrent to prevent any immediate attacks for now. This left only the Holy Church as a threat to her directly.

The Church was certainly a dangerous foe, and in the end, the best option was to not face them head-on. The two were willing to co-exist for now, so it was best to not agitate them just yet anyway.

In the meantime, a new individual had appeared, and it didn’t take them long to make a name for themselves in the world. Such individuals came and went with time. It wasn’t rare for one to elevate themselves to a position of power, one that stood to threaten her own.

The last one to do so was Yuuki, who created the Free Guild, but even he was brought under the control of her Greed skill, and just like all the others so too would this newcomer fall victim to it as well.

Though the circumstances intrigued her nonetheless. The systems they used she had seen before, there was no doubt she was an otherworlder like herself and like that Yuuki boy. For her to be making such a name for herself, this girl had to have quite the ambition. This ambition, of course, would only work to Mariabell’s benefit.

Whoever this Tanya Degurechaff was, wherever she came from, and whatever economic empire she was trying to build, it would all become hers soon enough. Of course, with the connections the girl seemed to be manifesting out of thin air, she would certainly be a tough nut to crack. But like a nutcracker, she would crack it.

A nutcracker? It was a strange analogy, especially considering she hadn’t seen any since her last life. But strangely…

She was rather fond of it.

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The deepest depths of hell wasn’t a place most demons could survive. In fact, he could count on one hand the amount that could. Not even all the Primordials had the strength needed to withstand the sheer nothingness of this dark void. Noir perhaps could, that much he was certain, but the others he lacked the full confidence in.

Nevertheless, that wasn’t important. What was important was whatever decided to reside down here. Whatever being made its home in the darkest void that could be manifested was surely a powerful being, one one that didn’t quite fit his understanding of one. This ‘silver’ primordial, if it existed at all, was certainly a strange one.

Despite this, Guy pushed forward. His crimson-red hair stood out amid the black that surrounded him. There was nothing there at all. No light existed here, and the only reason he could even see himself was thanks to Magic Sense. In fact, there was less than light here, there wasn’t anything at all. In a way, even the ground he was walking on didn’t exist. All that surrounded him was nothing. An empty void in the deepest pit hell had to offer.

And that’s where he found her.

“Greetings Guy, it is a pleasure to meet you again.” The voice echoed out. It sounded as if thousands of voices coalesced into one, though the more it talked, the more structured the voice became, as if the thousands of voices, rather than speaking the same words, all began to speak the same voice.

He turned quickly to see what appeared to be an androgynous humanoid standing before him. Its appearance looked human, but it was deformed in eerie ways as it seemed normal at a basic glance, yet everything seemed off about them as if there was something wrong despite there seemingly being nothing at all.

The girl’s eyes were fairly normal all things considered, though the pale silver coloring of them gave her a chilling stare, as if emotionless or soulless. Her entire presence seemed to simply not exist, even as he was looking right at her. It felt as if all he had to do was blink and it would be gone in a moment.

Despite its androgynous features, it leaned most definitely towards the feminine side. Its appearance, while unrecognizable from anyone he had ever met, did seem to have some, albeit limited, similarities to the demon he saw at Walpurgis, and the reason he was here in the first place, Tanya.

Its most noticeable difference to Tanya was its hair. Its hair was shining silver in the dark void that they stood in. Unlike the snow-white hair of Blanc, this being’s hair seemed to be aged like a human would after many long decades. Despite the apparent aging of her hair, the woman seemed otherwise youthful in her looks, though her smile had an eeriness to it that matched her body. The smile seemed crooked, yet genuine. The entire appearance of this entity before him was a walking contradiction.

Staring in confusion, Guy responded, “I don’t believe we have met. Mind elaborating?”

The entity’s smile slightly widened as she made a gentle nod, “Of course we haven’t. Not yet at this time, no. But I will admit this is not the first time you’ve come to me. In most timelines you find your way here to me, sometimes sooner than other timelines. This one you came particularly quickly, it seems her becoming a demon lord greatly accelerated that process, just as it did with other things…”

Guy was frankly just confused. Timelines? Was this being somehow able to transcend time? Well when you live down in the depths of the void, it is certainly possible. Even he couldn’t live down here permanently. He had the strength to reside down here for long periods of time, sure, but eventually, the pressure would just tear him apart. He did long speculate that if you somehow had the power to withstand the full void, that going deep enough into it could allow you to be beyond time and space itself. Of course doing anything with that required an extra degree of power that only someone like Veldnava or a stronger True Dragon could pull off.

For this being to be able to surpass time itself, at least in a way that he knew about, it would mean she was far stronger than he was. Yet there was no aura at all, not even one that he could tell was being suppressed. It was likely hidden or dispersed in the void. Perhaps she was simply a creature born from it. Whatever the justification was, he didn’t quite understand it, and it frankly posed more questions for him to worry about another time.

For now, he was here to answer one question, and adding on more wasn’t his priority. “What’s this nonsense about timelines? Just what are you?”

The entity waved her hand, producing a table and chairs with two cups of tea on it as they gestured for him to sit.

Silently, he did, though he was hesitant to drink anything the being had produced. Uncaring for his response, the entity took a seat herself and took a sip of her tea. “To answer your second question, I’m what you could call a ‘Manas’. Though that isn’t a particularly accurate description. In short, there’s no real name for what I am. A ‘manas’ is the closest comparison I can make.”

“So you’re not a demon.” Guy questioned.

“In a way, you could call me one. My existence is demonic in nature, even you can detect that I’m sure. But to call me a direct demon anymore… It wouldn’t be the most accurate. I was however a Demon once. Going back to your second question, I was a demon in the first timeline I remember, though one could argue that these memories aren’t exactly mine.”

Guy looked up from the cup of tea on the table and at the ‘manas’ sitting in front of him, drinking her own, “And whose are they then?”

“You predicted it yourself, even down to the name. The Primordial Argent. At the start of time in every timeline the Argent is split into fragments. Two of those fragments become the Primordials Blanc and Noir. As for me, I am the memories of Argent, their ego, both of which are lost each time they die, only to be absorbed into me. Each and every timeline that starts, I gain the memories of the last one. But there’s a reason I’m telling you all of this. I want to tell you a story.”

“A story?” Guy asked with curiosity.

“A story of the first timeline. What truly started this chain of events that transcends time itself. Every timeline that you arrive here I find enjoyment in telling you this story. It is a way for me to remember the first timeline so that it does not start to blend in with the others. You’ll find that after thousands of timelines, they all start to blend together.”

“So you want to tell me of your first timeline just to satisfy your own desire to remember it?”

“And because you are curious, are you not? I understand you don’t have the same drive for knowledge that Noir inherited from me, but even you are curious as to my origins. I know because every time you come here you are, and I’m happy to tell you. I’ve never been happier to tell you.”

Guy accepted that he would be here for a bit and took a sip of the drink in front of him, “Never been happier? Is there a reason you’re so happy to tell me this time?”

She nodded with a wide and slightly sadistic smile, “Because this timeline will be the last. Win or lose, it ends here.”

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This is Archbishop Reyheim here. As a matter of fact, I want to have a chat with you.

Enemies all around us, to the extreme now, as you are quite well aware of. The current situation is unfavorable to the Kingdom of Falmuth. Having to face two fronts, South and East! Furthermore, Falmuth is vulnerable even in Blumund. Nothing but a strategic nightmare, isn’t it?

Come right down to it, we failed to take advantage of our summonings. Sure, we were able to continue summoning more. But our military expansion has resulted in us being feared, increasing the number of our enemies.

Our Falmuth, now the enemy to the entire world! Makes you want to laugh. Therefore, time is not on the side of Falmuth anymore.

If so then, what must be done is obvious. Just rectify the mistake.

Well, there is no need to brood on it too much. The orders are simple. No, you don’t have to get too uptight about it.

All you have to do is get rid of one Demon Lord…

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Notice for Volume 3: I will be returning first person perspectives in Chapter 3, mostly to just see how it goes. Nevertheless while this was a double upload today, it will not impact the upload schedule which is still every 5 days.

Thanks to various editors and helpers on the Discord who helped with things like plot decisions, grammatical errors, and other aspects of the chapter:

Terraman60

To join the discord for chatting, discussion, updates, or to apply to be one of the credited helpers, join the link below:

https://discord.gg/xcCvpSxmA7