It was always like this.

Everyone who had ever extended their hands towards him are always met with misfortune.

He was an ill omen who brought tragedy to those that were close to him. At some point, he gave up forming new relationships, instead choosing to go at everything by himself.

Even towards his end, when he breathed his last. A death which no one would grieve nor remember.

Which was why after reincarnation, he was still skeptical on how to treat Granvar and Kartis. Fearing that disaster might come to strike them too once he grew too close to them.

It was only after years of tranquility had passed that he finally lowered his guard. He came to believe that this life was a second chance, a salvation of sorts for him to finally live quietly in peace.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, within the barren confines of his heart, the seed of hope had arduously sprouted.

But alas, as life would have it, fate could never truly be that benevolent to him.

The hope that had painstakingly bloomed was once again ruthlessly trampled upon.

In the end, nothing has truly changed.

 

 

---

 

 

"So, you're not gonna say anything at all?"

Niel blankly stared at the Granvar, who calmly returned the gaze. He wasn't sure how to answer Granvar, as he was the one who selfishly came to a decision without consulting either of them

"How did you find me?"

For the past few days, he made absolutely sure that his tracks couldn't be easily traced. He was certain even Kartis wouldn't have been able to find him, or at the very least, not so soon.

"Hmm? well, that dog you brought was pretty handy you know? It could apparently detect your presence through the wind, or so Kartis says. At first it wasn't able to find you either, but around two days ago it caught your trail, or more specifically, it found the direction you were in at the time."

"...Zephir did?"

"Yep, and after disappearing for another two days, your presence returned again earlier today."

Niel frowned, he knew from Kartis that the Gale Wolf he took back was a mutated variant, hence why it was isolated by its own kind. At the same time, this mutation brought out abilities that the original Gale Wolves didn't normally have.

But he has never found it to have that sort of tracking ability to begin with, so how could it have one now? Or was it because it was familiar with his presence that it managed to track him?

"So kid, are you still not going to answer my question?"

Looking at the solemn Granvar, Niel hesitates. A nearly foreign feeling welled up, like that of a guilty child, that he had once long forgotten. In the end he firmed himself, answering in a resolute manner.

"I'm the Devil."

Seeing Granvar raising a brow in a mild surprise, Niel further determined himself.

"I'm sure you're already well aware of what that means."

The existence of the Devil was something that he was very well aware of, even before awakening as one. Kartis himself had various books and records of them, which Niel had read. All Devils, without exception, brought disasters everywhere they went and caused harm to everyone in their wake.

After becoming one himself, he grew much more clearer about what a Devil is. Whether it be the power he wields, and the potential for destruction that he could bring. As of now, he has somehow managed to remain sane despite his current circumstances, but he knows he's liable to lose himself at any given time.

"If I stay, you guys might just die."

A heavy silence permeated between them, with both quietly gazing at each other. Tension seemed to rise, nearly taking physical form. Until finally, the silence was broken.

"....Then I'll just ask one last thing. Is this what you yourself personally want?"

Hearing Granvar's question, Niel couldn't help but pause. He opened and closed his mouth several times attempting to say yes, but he just couldn't force himself for some reason.

Noticing his hesitance, Granvar let out a slight grin.

"Heh, doesn't seem like the case after all."

Suddenly, the tension seem to snap, as a dense atmosphere abruptly encased everything. The surrounding seem to freeze from existence, as a tremendous weight pressed everywhere.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but we're not so weak and frail that we'd need a kid to worry about us."

Niel was also frozen, unable to move a muscle. Granvar's overwhelming presence had heavily suppressed him. He could barely circulate his Mana, but even that could only afford him to twitch his finger.

"I'm taking you back with me, then we can talk about your problem."

'No!' The suppression only served to frustrate Niel, as the irritation and destructive impulses that he had managed to restrain over the past five days had flared up. The accumulated outburst seemed to have quite the effect, as the dissonant voices of malice suddenly unified into one thought, howling at him one notion.

{{{KILL HIM!}}}

'SHUT UP!'

The sudden unified wave of animosity had destroyed any hesitance Niel initially had in returning. With little choice, he resorted to the only method he could use to free himself.

The sharp sound of chains shattering echoed within himself, as the seal he placed unto his heart was finally broken. The interlocking Runes collapsed one by one, undoing the spells he once positioned at his core.

*BOOM*

With Niel as the center, a wave of explosion broke out, greatly damaging his perimeter. The power that had been repressed for several days had finally erupted, expelling enough force that left even Granvar surprised, causing him to take a step back.

The unsealing had once more returned Niel in the form of a Devil, but this time, instead of letting the miasma scatter around him like a dust cloud, he converged them unto himself. They wrapped around him, covering his tattered clothing, legs, arms, and even his hands, taking the shape of a new attire. Though if one looked closely, they could see that the black 'fabric' seemed to flow around like magma and flames.

His unbound powers left him with an odd yet dangerous sense of freedom. The vast majority of his Mana that he was originally unable to utilize was released, surging inside of him like a volcanic eruption. But most importantly, the [Devil's Power] that was tightly kept inside his heart is finally liberated. It permeated across his Mana and body, contaminating every fiber of his being.

The malice that continued to chant 'Kill' seem to become stronger, but he did his utmost to ignore it.

Calmly, he regulated the overflowing Mana, keeping its savage outflow in control. Thankfully, his body was strong enough to contain it without much problem.

He took out the Mantross blade from his back, which strangely started to distort and reform in a different manner compared to the ruined tree from before. From a rough mantis like appendage, to a more proper double edged short sword without a hilt. The black 'fabric' that covered his hand like a glove extended towards the blade, enveloping it and likely fortifying it at the same time.

Niel silently took note of the changes brought upon the blade, before returning his attention to Granvar.

"I guess you weren't completely wrong."

Seeing the kid's drastic transformation, Granvar was taken aback. Although he wasn't one to collect knowledge like Kartis, he still had some understanding of what a Devil is. Naturally, he would also be doubtful of Niel, thinking perhaps that the boy had some misunderstanding of some sorts. But Niel's current appearance had cleared some of those doubts.

"Unfortunately, I still plan on bringing you back."

He circulated his Mana faster, bringing about a stronger suppressive atmosphere. Though the suppression no longer seems to affect Niel.

*Whoosh*

The first to make a move was unexpectedly Granvar. Moving at a pace that left an afterimage, he instantly appeared behind Niel, stretching out his palm to grab the boy. It was a swift action that would've left many unable to react, but much to Granvar's surprise, the boy was able to quickly respond.

*Claang*

Just as Granvar had made a move, Niel was able to whirl himself and parry Granvar's outstretched hand with his blade. Yet rather than a cut, the clash between the blade and the hand sounded closer to steel colliding.

Niel was non too surprise, as he was well aware of just how strong Granvar's skin is. Having spent over five years with him, he was fairly informed of what abilities Granvar boasted, though he was still unclear of their limits.

On the other hand, Granvar was very much astonished. Their battle continued, with Granvar taking the fight a little more seriously and starting to use punches, knife hand strikes, and even kicks.

The sound of steel striking one another echoed around the forest, as their afterimages could be seen weaving across the woods. Each of their clash produced a shock wave strong enough to leave cracks on the earth beneath them and even the trees within the surroundings.

As they fought ceaselessly, Granvar became more and more surprised. He was amazed at how well the boy was doing, whether how proficiently he moved his body around, or how skillful he utilized his Mana. More than anything, what shocked Granvar the most was that he could tell the kid was still greatly holding back.

Perhaps the boy hoped to end this fight injuring him as little as possible, or perhaps he was being used as a training dummy. Regardless, Granvar grinned slightly, both amused and a little hurt that he was being heavily underestimated. Finally, he cleared his thoughts before coming to a decision.

His ocean like Mana surged across Granvar's body, as some of the inactive Mana Rings woven around his heart came alive. His heart suddenly began to pulse rapidly in a rhythmical manner. With each beat of his heart, his Mana became more and more condensed, becoming thicker, heavier, and vastly concentrated. A tremendous power flowed, as the compressed Mana started to circulate in his body.

Granvar threw a simple punch. It was neither fast nor slow, such that its aim and trajectory was clear to Niel. Yet the moment he saw the punch, alarm bells rang around his mind as he instinctively dodged it.

*Boom*

As the arm carrying the punch was fully extended, a shock wave so strong it shook the surroundings whirled across woods. From the front of Granvar's fist, heavy winds rushed forward, as the force of the punch didn't simply end at just the fist. Beyond Granvar, trees, rocks and even the ground was destroyed, forming a small straight trench.

Seeing this, Niel's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly, as he could feel a bit of cold sweat behind his back.

"How was that kid? still planning on taking this lightly?"

Hearing his taunt, Niel knew it was meaningless to continue holding back. His Mana surged to their utmost, it took an enormous effort to completely control its flow while preventing leakage, but he grit his teeth and endured. While doing so, he once again raised his blade at Granvar.

*Claaaang*

Without another word, their battle resumed. This time, they left a far greater trail of destruction in their wake. Trees around them were smashed down, while the ground shook constantly. Everywhere they went, it was as though a disaster had passed by.

On another side far across from them, a giant wolf and a bipedal goat sat on a tall hill observing the battle. The goat man appeared to sigh in frustration, yet he seemed to have chosen not to take action.

"...I sometimes wonder if he has a hole in his head."

"Groouu?"

The wolf seemed to be perplexed, turning towards the goat man in puzzlement.

"Its nothing, don't mind me."

The goat man returned his attention to the skirmish, while the wolf could only continue to be left in confusion.

 

◊◊◊

 

The battle continued to rage on, as the tide seem to remain in Granvar's favor. So far, Niel had been fighting with everything he could give. Constantly pushing himself to his limit enabled him to learn how to better control his own powers. Moreover, he noticed that his Devil's Power, and by extension his Mana along with his Physical Abilities for some reason, appears to grow exponentially in combat.

The intensity of the battle had allowed his powers and abilities to grow several fold at once.

Yet despite so, he could never seem to gain the upper hand against Granvar. Every time Niel got used to the flow of battle, Granvar immediately grows in power, his speed and strength improving by a level, throwing off Niel once more. He has long realized that Granvar had been hiding the vast majority of his strength the entire time.

"Sorry kid, it was fun but it's got to end."

Suddenly, a fist was thrown rapidly towards Niel which he was unable to dodge, only narrowly blocking it with his blade. The punch connected and blade finally shattered from the force. Although the sword had cushioned most of the strength behind the punch, Niel was sent flying backwards, barely landing on his feet.

He was well aware that it couldn't go on like this. Looking up, he saw Granvar standing leisurely. Silently, he sighed within his heart, before his eyes grew colder and clearer. The thoughts and concerns clouding his head dissipated along with the frustration and the sentiments attached with it.

"Hmm?"

Granvar had noticed something change in the boy. He threw another rapid strike, which to his surprise, the boy had avoided effortlessly. Even in his bewilderment, he continued hurling a flurry of attacks, non of which managed to connect with Niel.

"Wha—"

Before he could even complete his words, a variant fireball spell had instantly manifested in front of his face, with nary a warning nor even a Mana fluctuation. The spell exploded almost immediately after forming, which caused Granvar to cover his face with his hands briefly.

*Thud*

In a flash, Granvar felt a strong kick below his chin, followed by pain. He rapidly backed away, feeling his jaw nearly dislocate from the force of the blow. Unfortunately for him, Niel carried on with his torrent of assault.

Granvar was showered with various spells, some even overlaying and synergizing with one another. Niel himself also continued attacking physically. Against the onslaught, Granvar was forced to awaken another one of his Mana Rings. Yet even as the gap between their abilities was further greatly magnified, Niel still somehow managed to keep up.

Unable to use enhancement spells on himself, Niel resorted to layering impact spells on himself and activating them on contact, somewhat augmenting his blows, parries, and even his movement steps.

 "GUHAHAHAHA! What the hell kid, you really are full of surprises."

A wide smile covered Granvar's face, time and time again, he had been left astounded by the boy. Even much earlier, the kid had been fighting like an adept warrior, with masterful control over both his movements and Mana. He was practically born for battle, the only thing he lacked against Granvar was his Mana capacity and physical quality, but that much is natural given his young age.

And yet the Niel he is currently fighting is so vastly different that he could scarcely believe that they're the same person, it is enough to say that he is entire leagues beyond his previous self. Just with his nigh-perfect command over his Mana and body, the unbelievably adept crafting of his spell that even Kartis would no doubt be envious of, Granvar could unquestionably declare him peerless amongst his age group across not just this era but all of history. And yet, this wasn't what Granvar finds most absurd.

...It is the fact that the boy seems to be able to accurately predict his each and every action, before he even takes them.

*Boom*

Three different spells consisting of lightning, fire, and wind synergized, fusing with one another before striking Granvar, who once again remained unscathed. The giant on the other hand retaliated with a bombardment of attacks, each blow being lethal enough to end the battle, which were dodged narrowly by Niel.

Despite such an intensity, Niel appears far from being drained. In his Devil state, his Mana recovered as fast as he applied them, which was what allowed this battle to last for this long.

Yet truthfully, despite how easy Niel seems to show himself, his mind is under tremendous pressure and his body struggled ceaselessly to keep up. Within the state of [Extremity Point] he is capable of a multitude of things, but at its core, its most important functions are [Multitasking], [Analysis], and what is perhaps its foremost purpose, [Simulation]. 

At his prime, his mind was able to simulate hundreds of different possible actions that he and his enemies could make every tenth of a second, before acting on the most efficient steps and measures. Each simulation takes into account every little detail that his senses could pick up; from every breath and slight movements; to even nondescript objects, such as leaves, branches, and pebbles on a side road. 

Naturally this had clear limits, as despite how enhanced his senses was, he was still well within the category of a human, leading to blind spots which he cannot take into account. After reincarnation however, countless things changed.

He was gifted with new senses that allow him to perceive everything in his surroundings in a much more detailed fashion even without using his eyes, along with enabling him to better gauge the level of his opponents. This new senses had elevated the accuracy and precision of each simulation and analysis to an inconceivable degree.

But even with the advancement, the current pressure his mind is sustaining in order to keep pace against Granvar is tremendous. As even the slightest miscalculation would lead to a dead end, his mind pushed itself beyond its limits, analyzing and simulating thousands of different possible scenario every fraction of a second just to cover over each potential margin of error. Not to mention the strain of casting multitudes of spells at once in every instance.

Even with the strengthening power and recovery ability of the Devil, this overclocked state cannot be maintained for long.

In the first place, the largest issue that Niel faces, is non other than the fact that he is unable to see through the limits of Granvar's power.

Without Granvar noticing, they had circled around the battlefield, returning to an point they've previously passed. Suddenly, Niel heavily stomped his foot upon the ground while embedding the majority of his Mana underneath. With them as the center, countless spell formations implanted deep beneath the ground had come alive. At the same time, an enormous restraining force had fallen upon Granvar.

"Seriously!?"

Although Granvar was not a magic user himself, he was all too clear on what had just occurred. One of the most terrifying magic a sorcerer is able to cast, a [Grand Runic Formation], had been activated.

Spells are like a puzzle, with Runes acting as the puzzle pieces. With the biggest puzzle piece, the core Rune; and the smaller puzzle pieces, the supporting Runes making up the circles; the picture becomes complete. Naturally, for sorcerers who seek greater power, simple spells are far from enough.  And thus, the theory of Advanced Rune Spells was eventually developed and in due time proven. 

A [Grand Runic Formation] is constructed similar to a simple spell, except unlike simple spells, which use Runes as puzzle pieces, a Grand Runic Formation uses individual spells themselves as the puzzle pieces. At this level, Runic Spells synergies and resonance becomes so intricate and complex that only High Class Sorcerers and Master Arcanists dare to tread upon them.

From the moment Niel had entered the [Extremity Point] state, he had been placing the foundations of this [Grand Runic Formation]. Installing them deep underground to prevent them from being harmed mid battle.

Casting such an enormous spell would require a tremendous amount of Mana, a quantity that Niel is far from reaching even at his current state. Fortunately, the spell that Niel is casting doesn't particularly need a person's Mana, he merely needed to jump start the arrangement with his own Mana.

It was a sealing variant of an unnamed grand spell that Niel and Kartis had been theorizing a while back, which sought to absorb the Mana of the forest and allow the caster to utilize the Mana for himself.

From the surroundings up to far across the forest, a vast sea of Mana was being pulled towards the formation. The sea of Mana coalesced into a ball atop the formation, feeding it energy and strengthening the suppressive force.

At the same time, Niel, who was already outside the array, took a third of the Natural Mana pool before using it's energy to add more complex spells incrementing the formation. All the while Granvar stood and watched him silently, unable to move from his spot, before heaving a conceding sigh.

After laying the finishing touches, Niel winded up the remaining Natural Mana and prepared to leave. Just as he turned around, a huge changed occurred, forcing him turn back.

Seeing that the formation was coming loose, Niel immediately sprung into action attempting to remedy it. But in an instant, the entire spell was demolished as an violent power exploded at its center.

"You know, I never imagined I'd ever meet a little monster like you. Truly amazing, I don't know what else to say." 

This time, Granvar himself had made a drastic transformation. From beneath his feet, molten magma flowed around like humid mud, while coating his body were hellish flames that seemed to be fresh out of purgatory. Atop the skies, thunder crackled as lightning struck Granvar at the shoulders, covering his arms with dense bolts of electricity.

[Elemental Affinity] had nine stages. The first three is referred to as [Elemental Imbuement], as at these stages, one can imbue their Mana and body with their respective elements. It is only when one reaches beyond the first three stages that one could personally utilize the power of the elements.

It's apparent that Granvar had at least reached the middle three stages, [Elemental Manifestation].

"I really didn't want to do this, kid."

At this moment, Niel faces a pressure heavy enough to completely immobilize him, similar to the state he was in before releasing the seal at his heart. Except this time, there was hardly anything he could do against it.

Even still, his face remained expressionless as his clear eyes maintained the observation over Granvar. His already worn out mind began to circulate faster and faster, rigidly following the set directives. At every instant, thousands to tens of thousands of simulations passed by his mind, with not a single one of them being feasible.

An influx of information and analysis constantly overloaded his mind, yet he is still unable to find a key answer. The gap was far too large for him to bridge with any of the methods he currently had.

In the end his mind finally came to one conclusion.

*Snap*

"So kid, any plans to giv—eh?"

For the first time in both lives, [Extremity Point] had been forcefully shut off. Niel's eyes, nose, mouth, and even ears began to bleed. Forcing his brain to operate beyond its limits was finally rebounding back towards him.

"Oi kid, ar—"

Niel's consciousness was instantly cut. After five days of sleeplessness, he was finally given a time of rest, albeit in a rather unorthodox method.

Though just before he fell to slumber, Niel remembered the last string of deduction that [Extremity Point] had left him.

[Impossible]

There was no viable approach or plan that could lead to him either defeating Granvar nor escaping from him.