Demon's Virtue
chapter-294

James blocked the way that Eiro was trying to use to get out of this room, "You ain't gonna go anywhere until I'm told what the fuck is going on!" He exclaimed. Eiro glared at him with anger welling up inside of him. He had to get to the manor to help the children, but he didn't want to hurt James in the process either.

"...You want to know what's going on? Then let me tell you what's going on..." Eiro muttered quietly as he approached James more closely. But then, before the Demon said anything else, he had swung his tail forward and pressed the stinger into James' neck, "...sometime later."

"What the-" He exclaimed, before the anesthesia Eiro pushed into him slowly caused his body to lose all sensation and strenght. A few moments later, James fell to the ground and grabbed his head nervously. Without him needing to ask, Eiro explained the situation, "Don't worry, you'll just fall asleep. By the time you're awake again, I'll have hopefully dealt with this properly and I won't have to explain anything. Sorry, but there's no time to waste." Eiro pointed out as he slowly turned toward Solomon.

"The guy that cast the spell outside turned into a Ghost and is now on his way to the manor. I'm heading out there." Eiro announced to the man in front of him, who slowly widened his eyes in surprise, "Are you sure you're in any state to do something like that right now?"

"What does that matter at all? It's-" Eiro exclaimed, before he suddenly felt a number of jolts all over his back, before hearing a loud thump behind him. Hot energy flowed through the Demon's body, and he soon realized what was going on.

[Foreign mana has found its way into your body]

[Due to an external means, the foreign mana has been transformed into your own mana]

[You have recovered 14.518 Mana]

[Your mana generation ahs been increased by 50% for the next 59 Minutes and 59 Seconds]

Eiro turned around immediately and looked at the Stag that collapsed onto the ground behind him after pushing a mass amount of his mana into the Demon's body all at once. Eiro didn't know how exactly Lugo did this, how he transferred his own mana to Eiro, but he was certainly grateful. It was a small amount compared to his maximum mana, but at the very least, it was enough to let Eiro move his own body relatively normally again.

Maybe this ability had to do with how Lugo was suddenly able to level up, or maybe it was something completely unrelated that he was simply able to do. Either way, Eiro knew that Lugo understood the importance of what was going on. The Demon squatted down and ran his hand over the deer's forehead, making sure that he was really alright.

Lugo seemed to be a bit exhausted, but after some proper rest, he should be fine, "Thank you, my friend." Eiro smiled softly as he slowly stood back up and walked over to the window, his fiery wings spread out from his back, "I'll come see you again when this is all over... Well, if I still can, at least." The Demon announced.

With a deep breath, Eiro climbed out of the window and jumped away, as both Lugo and James fell unconscious due to different reasons, and both Clark and Solomon were left behind, having to wonder about what exactly just happened.

Eiro flew toward the manor as quickly as he could, the flames of his wings of his fused form melting away the snowflakes that were rapidly falling all around him. The Demon stared in front of him the whole flight, trying to focus on the faint trail of magic that the Ghost had been leaving behind.

After all, maybe he didn't actually head to the manor and maybe just tried to make it seem that way. Eiro didn't want to mess up. He wanted to find the Ghost, and just kill it as quickly as he could. With a bit of Holy Energy, he should be able to exorcize it properly. After all, it didn't really seem all that strong just the way it was.

'Erm... So I've gotta wonder, but why the fuck did you bring that flower-bud?' Sarius asked Eiro through a thought, and the Demon quickly replied, "Because I need it to counter the spell properly. You'll see it later. Just shut up for now and let me concentrate."

A bit annoyed, as far as Eiro could tell, Sarius did as he was told and stopped talking, or 'thinking', to Eiro for now. And so, the Demon could concentrate on what was in front of him. The line of magic that was really leading straight to the manor, without a single curve or detour.

Eiro ground his teeth in anger that he didn't pay good enough attention. He should have realized that the ghost wouldn't have let this happen so easily. The moment that he realized that Lugo had not been affected by the spell at all for some reason, he had started to act differently.

"Or... Did he? I... didn't really pay attention..." The Demon muttered quietly. And that was clear, of course. If he had actually paid attention to the Ghost then, he would have instantly forgotten about all of this anyway. The only reason he was even able to remember what he was doing right now was because Sarius was constantly reminding him what they were doing and he managed to put the pieces together again.

In the distance, Eiro could see the manor. Some of the lights were on, as Eiro could see dimly through the snowstorm, but for the most part the place was completely clad in darkness. Eiro dove toward the main entrance of the manor and didn't hesitate for even a moment to kick it open. It was the same path that the Ghost went through, after all.

Eiro looked around and tried to find the right place where the Ghost went, but he seeme to have spread out his magic through the whole building once he was here. That meant that Eiro couldn't rely on this anymore. And so, to save the little mana that Eiro had right now, compared to normal at least, he and Sarius quickly split up and Eiro used his shadow magic to hide his horns and wings instead while putting on his cloak and mask.

"Sarius, stay on the lookout. There's a Naiad and a Golem here as well. I don't know how well they're doing now that we haven't really been together for a few days." Eiro pointed out, and Sarius groaned loudly, "Seriously? You a Spirit Collector or something?"

"Shut it." Eiro replied immediately as he looked around. It was silent here, eerily so. And so, the Demon tried to spread out his consciousness through magic to figure out where everyone here in the building was, even at the risk of forgetting everything about this manor. This was all quickly re-learned, so it wasn't really an issue.

Meanwhile, the amalgamation of everything that was unnaturally stuffed into the flower-bud that Eiro was holding somehow distracted him, as if it was trying to intervene in this, "It's that Ghost's creation, so it would make sense if it set up a few ways to protect itself..." The Demon muttered quietly.

But that didn't matter. There was no way that it was able to create something that truly messed with Eiro's senses that much. And he was right, in the end, Eiro was able to sense something. They were the heavy footsteps of someone rushing to the entrance, and the Demon quickly realized who it was. It was Krog, or so Eiro concluded at least.

And the moment that the large figure stood there, Eiro saw that it really was Krog, holding his dual-axes right in front of him. He looked around for a moment and then stared at Eiro, "Who are yo-"

"I'm an acquaintance of James. The person that broke into this house a few days ago came back as a Ghost and injured James heavily. He will be fine, but he can't come here, where the Ghost seems to have come. I came in his stead to defeat it." Eiro said immediately, and Krog slowly raised his brows, "R-Really? Well, then show me proof of that!" Krog exclaimed, and Eiro immediately pulled James' dagger out of his satchel and threw it toward Krog. The Heavy Warrior caught the item and then looked back up, "Err... Yeah, that's his... But how do I know that-"

"Oh by Lady Winter, just let me search this place for the Ghost already! There's kids here, right? Do you want them to be injured, or even killed? No? Didn't think so. Then step aside and let me do what I have to do." Eiro said in a clear tone, so that Krog could understand it properly.

"...You can leave. We'll deal with a ghost ourselves." Krog said, probably trying to make sure that an uninvolved person didn't find out about the children by sending Eiro away despite knowing how dangerous it might be. Eiro wasn't sure if he should be happy about this or not. At least Krog was kind of thinking of the children, and he most likely thought they could deal with a Ghost relatively easily with all the items they had here in this house.

But at the same time, in this specific situation, it would definitely end up with everyone in this building dying if Eiro were to leave again, so it was just a blatantly shit choice.

Eiro took a deep breath and quickly infused his body with Air Magic, using that surreal speed to move up to Krog nearly immediately. The Demon pulled out his dagger and placed the tip onto the underside of Krog's chin.

Sadly, Eiro didn't have enough poison prepared to knock out someone of Krog's stature, otherwise he would have simply used his stinger. But right here, he had to use words.

"Did you not hear me? I said that he managed to beat James. How do you think you'll be able to easily deal with him while protecting the children?" Eiro asked as he quickly pulled out the Royal Brooch to show it to the Warrior next to him, "Here, you can trust me. James even already told me about the special abilities those kids have. So just stop this and let me deal with this, or I'll have to force my way through."

Eiro looked Krog straight into his eyes, and the heavy warrior stared back, before he slowly nodded his head. And so, the Demon immediately went ahead ­­­and rushed through the building to search for the Ghost.