"What is it that you want to talk about?" I asked the demon god as she took a sip of her tea. We were currently having a nice breakfast on our current estate's balcony. It was an absolutely stunning view with an even more incredible dining experience.
From the appetizers to the main course to the drinks and to the dessert… everything was perfect, down to the last-minute detail. The flavors mingled and meshed together so well, and especially since I was so hungry, the seven-course meal that I consumed went down like a hot knife through butter.
"Your friend, Aisa… I want to make her my disciple," The woman said as if proposing something. It was almost like she was asking for my permission to take her as a student when all I knew was that this was a good thing. There was nothing inherently bad about this on the surface, but judging from how she talked, I could tell there was something else I needed to know about.
"Okay… and? Proceed… you sound like you have more to say."
"She will go through absolute hell. I've already branded her with my blessing, but I needed your permission to proceed with making her my disciple. The amount of pain and torture she will go through could possibly break her mind, but that's exactly why I chose somebody like her. She's strong."
"She's her own person. If she chooses to do that despite the circumstances, I won't interfere. She can do whatever she wants, even if it puts her life in danger. If she lets me put my own life in danger, then why can't I?"
The woman smiled gently while seeing me continuously move the extremely long hair out of my face. It was annoying and got in the way of my food, eventually slipping its way into my mouth while using my meal as a cover.
"Do you want me to cut it for you? If not, I can give you a product that can help with the untamable fluffiness… although it's for women, I'm sure it can work on you."
"Yeah… sure… lemme just finish eating… oh, also, where is Wu? I tried to look for her but couldn't even sense her presence across the entire estate. Did she go with Aisa or something?"
"Indeed. She went with Aisa. It seems she's taken an interest in her, so I doubt she'll do anything sketchy. Just stop worrying and adjust to your new body. Fighting with longer limbs is much more difficult than you might initially think."
"I see… then will you help me- actually, wait, I have one more thing to ask. You were talking about how I won't be able to use miasma or whatever the hell aether is, but I still have a skill that allows me to control mana and miasma. Is that a bug in the system, or will it just not work?"
"I dunno, just try it out," The woman responded like I just asked the most stupid question in the world. Her shrug was demeaning, and as her powerful aura rose, I saw hints of miasma whip out at me like tendrils. "Try and control these tendrils."
[Grand Miasma and Mana Manipulation]
I activated the skill, and to my surprise, it was relatively easy to control the whips of miasma. Just looking at them was enough to stop them in their tracks, causing the demon god's eyes to widen, so she took it up a notch.
From every angle, sharp tendrils of miasma threatened to slice my head off, but upon using my hands and stretching them out, I was able to stop them with ease. The demon god repeated this process only a few more times before staring at me with disbelief.
"Well, you're definitely still proficient in Miasma… ummm… I can go harder if you want. Of course, that's if you are prepared… are you? I'll stop if I see you're struggling."
"Go ahead," I muttered, standing up from my chair and preparing myself. And instead of looking at the miasma, I sought to sense it with many of my other senses. So, I closed my eyes in order to enhance my smell, taste, touch, and hearing. And not long after, I found myself surrounded by a ball of miasma.
"Fooooo… [Breath of the Snowy Underworld]," I muttered, instantly slowing down the attacks, allowing me to feel the miasmic ball begin to stretch out with multiple other spikes. Now, I was enclosed by threatening spikes of miasma that scraped the back of my neck, ready to kill me at a moment's notice.
My attention rose as my senses grasped every single aspect of this ball, and without even stretching out my hands, I stopped it with ease. My power was spread thin, but I was still able to stop it without any to absolutely no trouble at all.
"I'll raise it."
I felt a crack in my power as the miasma closed even further into me. It was thicker, stronger, and the spikes were sharper, the very tips piercing through the veil of control I had spread across the inside of this ball. The tips didn't move in the slightest, but now I was beginning to have some more trouble with keeping it at bay.
"I'll double it now."
This time, I had to stretch out my hands and reinforce my body with [Five Layered Divine Enhancements] before my body crumbled under this oppressive force. A drop of sweat slid down my cheek as I opened my eyes, unable to keep them shut for some reason. There was a burning sensation coming from under my eyelids, and upon opening them, only then did I realize what was happening.
Miasma, to me, looked like a mystical black and occasionally dark brown force. It was like mana but a different color and, I guess, more evil, you could say. It was hard to describe as its properties were unlike anything in the world around me. Sure, it looked like mana, but it moved completely differently. Mana looked like a real living being, but Miasma moved and felt like one. It felt like I was staring at a beast… but never saw the image of a beast.
But now, as I stood before this demon god and as she unleashed her miasma, only now did I witness the presence and overwhelming power of this beast. It crushed me under its impressive weight, and as a thousand primordial eyes of evil stared down into my soul, the limbs of the dead stretching out towards me, and the jaws of desperately starving beasts, only then did I realize what this power was.
"It's hell incarnate… in case you were wondering. There's a reason why people who have been cursed or blessed by demons can use miasma because they have a connection to the underworld," The demon god explained, doubling her power even more, piercing straight through mine.
I crumbled under the weight of the miasma and even felt my legs snap in two as her eyes glowed a dim eerie darkness. And my broken legs weren't the most painful part. In fact, I could hardly feel it when compared to the sensation of my soul being gnawed at by the very presence of hell. It was torturous and burned me from the inside out.
And then, the demon god snapped. The power instantly disappeared, allowing my legs to immediately snap back into place with the regeneration properties of my new race pulling through.
"My bad, I got a bit carried anyway. But besides that, how'd you find it? Was that fun or what?" The demon god asked as I just barely managed to catch my breath. Everything was in pain as my soul very slowly regenerated from the power that had just eaten away at it.
"Hell no, that wasn't fun… huff… huff… anyways, it seems I can still manipulate miasma. But, actually, how did you manage to conjure miasma? I just see it when a demon uses it subconsciously. Even the demon lords still use mana and have miasma as a byproduct."
"Boy, do you know who I am, or do I have to explain it to you again?"
"Ugh… never mind," I muttered, the woman helping me stand back up. And suddenly, as I sat back down in my chair, ready to start eating again, she clapped twice. The duchess immediately came to her service, appearing from a cloud of bats that dispersed as fast as she arrived.
"You called, Your Highness," the vampire bowed deeply, her eyes fully dug into the ground, unmoving from their positions.
"I want you to spar with the kid. If you lose, he'll take your spot as my assistant. If you win, I'll make sure to reward you greatly and even gift you one of your evolutionary requirements once I return to my empire."
"Your Highness, you seriously believe this boy will have a chance against me? He may have evolved, but he's still just a kid."
"Okay? And? Then you shouldn't be afraid to spar him," The demon god responded, causing the woman to gulp down a large drop of saliva. There was no loss for me but there was a chance for a massive loss for her. It was a hard deal, but as her beloved empress was the one who sent out this order, she couldn't help but accept.
