"Welcome to my World of Temptation."
The man... No, the demon's voice echoes in the room with him nowhere to be seen.
The lights suddenly lits up the canopy bed where a girl lays asleep with a peaceful expression.
My mind blanks instantly the moment I saw her. Ahh... How could I forget her? Even if it's been hundreds of years, her visage is vividly printed in my mind permanently.
It was the Princess. Young, kind and smiling as bright as the sun.
The one I swore to protect.
Suddenly, dozens of elongated stretched out and grabbed the princess' limbs, she woke up startled and was immediately terrified of what was happening. She began struggling but it was no use. Then more elongated arms stretched out from the darkness and caressing her violently. She screamed with horror in her eyes.
"*****!" she called out my name to which I couldn't hear coherently. "*****! anyone! please help me!"
"Princess!" I shouted with worry as I struggled to break free from the chains. But it was no use. I could feel my magic, my barriers and my whole demonic body summoning the strength to pull myself out of these restraints but it was useless.
"NOOO!!! Don't touch me! Help! Please help!" she continues screaming as the hands tore her clothes and exposed her bare flesh.
"!!! You fucking bitch! let her go!" I angrily shouted and struggled violently disregarding how my shoulders were dislocating my shoulders and breaking my wrists. It mattered how painful it got, all I wanted was to save her.
Yet, the hands refuse to listen to me or to the princess and there violent caresses escalated into down right sexual violations. They began to [REDACTED] her. And [REDACTED] her [REDACTED]. She screamed painfully as they [REDACTED] on her [REDACTED]. Over and over, they didn't stop [REDACTED] her. Sparing not even her [REDACTED] as they violently [REDACTED]. And she could do nothing. Her struggles were fruitless in this sickening act of [REDACTED]. Trampling her innocence and bringing her nothing but pain that she did not deserve. They [REDACTED] even when she wasn't moving anymore.
This went on for hours but I didn't stop screaming and breaking these chains as my mind went absolutely blank from the rage and terror. Until I felt my arms crack from all this thrashing was I finally set free at the cost of breaking my arms. But I didn't care. I rushed to the princess who laid lifelessly on the bed. The arms that had [REDACTED] her are nowhere to be seen.
"Princess! Princess! Oh god, please! Don't do this to her! Princess, please wake up!" I gently shook the princess hoping to wake her. Her body was badly bruised in purple and red scratches. She eventually woke up and the first thing she saw was me. I sighed in relief and asked.
"Princess, please tell me if you're okay? I'll call the ambulance now."
She did not answer me but instead had kicked me in the face the moment my guard was down. I felt my nose crack there and it was painful. But the shock I receive was more severe when the princess quickly crawls away from me.
"Princess, why did you kick me? Did I scare you?" I ask with a shaking voice but the next thing I heard had totally broke my mind.
"Get away from me, you rapist! don't touch me with your filthy hands!"
".... What?"
Me? the rapist?
No, that can't be true, right?
I didn't [REDACTED] her, right?
But then I began noticing I sweaty and sticky my body was. I look down and there was blood on my nether region. Bodily fluids all over me. And my fingernails coated with blood.
I was shock beyond words. I could only stare back at myself and the princess. Who glared at me with hatred and scorn. Her expression hurt me more than dying countless times in the demon realm. And my body froze there doing nothing.
"Princess. This isn't what you think it is." try as I might, I wanted to redeem myself knowing fully well I did nothing to her.
"I would never do this to you." I said with a skating voice. "I would never hurt you..."
I tried to approach but the princess let out a powerful scream that blew me away from the canopy bed and I landed on the wastelands. With my back on the ground, the demon was before me, standing at the exact same spot where he captured me. Grinning at me with amusement. Which enraged me more that it terrified me.
"YOU SICK FUCK!" I said, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE PRINCESS?!"
"Me?" he chuckles maliciously. "Not much. I just showed you what you really wanted."
His fucking chuckling pissed me off so I dished out a kick to his face. Which he grabbed by the ankle, lifted me up, and slammed me to the ground. That alone shattered my protective barriers and cracked my whole body to the point that I was about to shatter into glass. He then said.
"My World of Temptation draws out the true desires of anyone trapped inside of it. I then use those desires to attack them and break their minds. An illusory world fitting of its name! As no one can truly fight their own desires."
I slowly got up groaning painfully and threw a fist. Which he parried with his hand and struck my solar plexus with his knee. I tried to block it with my barrier, but it proved useless as it shatter almost instantly. That attack caused me to lose strength and drop on all fours.
"And you're quite the bodyguard, aren't you? Being her most valued and trusted protector, you of all people wanted to harm her the most? Kukuku! After all, you've worked so hard for her. Didn't you feel that she should've belonged to you instead of getting engage to a complete stranger through political marriage? That's why you should take her before anyone else will, no?"
"SHUT YOUR DAMN TRAP! CHUCKLE FUCK!"
I hit him again with my fist and he dodged by an inch. He then grabbed the back of my head as he turned gracefully. Making me spin with him and then threw me at a nearby cliff face. The force of the momentum burrowed me deep into the hard granite and formed a crater that matched my silhouette. Then the demon grabbed me and pulled me out. Only to throw me to the ground again like a ragdoll.
My body was filled with cracks over cracks. And just budging was as agonizing as being stung by hornets. I felt like I was about to shatter by the force of wind alone but I know that the demon was keeping me intact by some effect of his magic spell and holding back on his attacks.
The anger was fully washed away by fear as I realized this demon was not like all the others. His power was unfathomable for me. And I couldn't comprehend the nature of Skills. He totally outclasses me in terms of mastery and experience. And I have yet to see him work up a sweat. He didn't even need his illusory skills to beat me. Just his physical strength alone had utterly thrashed me the Hulk did to Loki.
But almost immediately, the fear turned into pure rage as I thought of what I've seen in the World Of Temptation. The rage collected the last bit of my demonic energy to fix my body. But my demon instinct were telling me that my thoughts were being manipulated again so I held down the urge to heal.
The demon was stopped and stood right on top of me. His grin unchanged as if he was continuously amused by this farce.
"... What?"
"Hm?"
"What... The hell do you even want?" I said with weakness and surrender.
"Hm? I wonder indeed?" he said with the intent in his voice becoming unknown. "I only went out of my territory to seek out some form of entertainment. Living for a long time quickly gets boring. Especially when Rouge is staying in the cardinal world, I have little to no friends to play with after all."
"Initially, I wanted to go to the cardinal world and become a demon Lord. But I lost my motivation since it will result in nothing and I stopped aspiring for further growth."
as I was getting lost in his words, he started fishing out something from his pocket and continued speaking.
"And then you appeared. A rogue demon from Viore's clan. Displaying masterful control over skills, killing greater demons and absorbing their essences without getting mentally corrupted. How could you not pique my interest?"
After he took out something of what appears to be a ball of concentrated light, my demon core started pulsing is hunger. As if I was looking at the sweetest Nectar held in from of me.
"And so I thought, why don't you become a demon lord for me? I'm not sure what you'll do but I know you'll eventually stave off my boredom somehow. But according to my calculations, it would be 2000 years too early to even expect a demon lord seed to start budding inside of you. Plus, you haven't gained your ego by getting summoned into the cardinal world. Instead, you seem to have inherited your past self's memories and gained an ego that way. Which is truly remarkable to be honest. Such chances of occurring is astronomically low after all."
he chuckles and crouches on top of my unmoving body.
"But no matter. You will eventually get summoned and become a greater demon. Then gain a body to stay semi-permanently until you collected enough enough souls to forcefully evolve yourself into an archdemon...or be named by someone powerful as a true demon lord."
And then he faces me with his sinister grin.
"But if you go through that route of growth, you'll be no different from the archdemons here. And that would be truly disappointing. That why..."
The demon then shoves that glowing ball of light in his hand into my demon core. And then, my body began shattering as the Voice of the World echoed.
<<Notice: Individual "Nameless lesser purple demon" is forcefully evolving into a demon Lord... Requirements not met... Evolution failed.>>
the demon stood up and with a lift of his finger, he lifted my body in the air using the power of his mind.
"I offer these souls to you nameless young demon. Use them to evolve into something greater. For the sake of my amusement."
<<Notice: Individual "nameless lesser purple demon" is forcefully evolving into a greater demon... Requirements not met. Evolution failed.>>
"Hmm... Failure, huh? That's within expectation of course. But perhaps you need a bit more motivation.
Noticing the failure of the evolution, the demon then began using his skills again.
Even though my mind was sapped of strength and was about to faint at any moment, my mind was given a rude awakening and before I notice anything, I was back in the World of Temptation.
Thousands of demons, lesser, greater, and even the weak monsters were all here. I notice that every single one of the were the demons I've killed myself. And they were all gushing with killing intent and instantly filled the world with their demonic aura.
Then I felt a tug on my arm, I look back and to my shock, it was the princess. She was cowering behind me, frightened by the demons and their hideous faces that could kill the weak-hearted. But even though she was scared, she was gazing at me with eyes filled with hope and confidence. Knowing everything will be alright so long as I protect her.
"Kukuku, now then," the demon's voice echoes everywhere in the world of temptation. "Protect the princess, young nameless one. Entertain me with your futility. Show me your desire to protect!"
"KILL HIM!"
and the demons charged enmasse towards me. I then created a barrier to protect the princess while surrounding the entire world with my personal space and absolute territory. I then casted a magic spell and a large magic circle the size of a building unleashes fiery blast that incinerated a dozen but not all.
"And remember me always, nameless one. If we meet again in the cardinal world, call me Noir. Live well, my toy."
The demon then left walking away while leaving my body floating as a cacoon slowly surrounds my shattered body and my mind trapped inside the world of temptation. My attention could not catch the demon's last words as thousands of demons where hurling magic spells, all destructive in nature, towards my direction. Causing a chain chain catastrophe as explosions and defeating thunder continuously assaults me and the princess. But I kept them help back and killed them by the dozens with the help of my barrier.
But for how long can I last here? I know very well this is an illusion but my demon instincts were telling me if I stopped protecting the princess, the my very soul will belong the demon who masters the world of temptation as his eternal puppet. And if I wanted to keep even a shred of my ego free, then I had keep protecting the princess. As that the very desire that fuels this illusory world.
But I can't last any longer. I need power. I need more power!
<<Notice: Unique Skill: Protector is evolving into Unique Skill: guardian angel... Requirements not met. Evolution failed.>>
It felt like hours yet the demons and I don't stop. I was killing them left and right and things just kept exploding. But I can't stop.
I must not stop!
<<Notice: Individual "Nameless lesser purple demon" is acquiring the Unique Skill: Demon Slayer... requirements not met. Acquisition failed.>>
I don't even know if my barriers were working anymore. Just threw a punch and a greater demon was sent flying and crashed onto several others. I crushed the head of a lesser demon using the grip of my barehand. Before I notice, I ran out of demonic energy and magicules to cast body-strengthening magic. Yet, I must not stop. I stomped a demon's body and shattered it into fragments. I then began using demon absorption to replenish my depleted energy.
I started noticing after killing more than 5000 demons but the demons were not staying dead. Instead, they were endlessly reviving as I kill them again and again. A perpetual slaughter between one demon against thousands. Yet, not a soul will live to tell the tale.
<<Notice: Individual "nameless lesser purple demon" is attempting to evolve into a hero... Requirements not met. Evolution failed.>>
It felt like weeks had gone by and now I was motionless standing while a horde of demons begin pouncing at me. But with a wave of my hand, the demons immediately dissolve into vapor. Then, numerous magic spells were hurled at me, each one enough to bring me one step closer to my grave if I let my guard down. I erected a solid barrier and when those spells hit my barrier, the magic got reflected back at the casters and cause a large explosion. Just then, I senses a powerful spell that had locked on to me, a magic circle appeared and unleashed black lightning. I pointed my finger at the lightning spell and my personal space stopped the lightning mid air before it could hit me.
After some time in this place, I notice my thoughts were processing faster than ever before that I could react quicker than lightning. I use that extra time to clear my head while my body was instinctively battling the demons without my full attention. I began to questions the powerful demon's motives bringing me into such an illusory world that was redundantly reviving an army of demons and sending them at me in human wave tactics. But I came to no other conclusion other than being toyed with so I began experimenting the untapped potential of my skills and what kind of effects I could bring. I practice what I theorize onto the demons. Some resulted in failures while others resulted in successes. Keep refining them to the point that I'll be able to use the new uses of my skills without the need of form or stance and bring them into effect almost subconsciously.
I also incorporated magic spells that I've heavily modified without the need of my Unique Skill changing their magical effects. Illusions spells mixed with lighting and fire spells and enchanting my own barrier creation with magic barrier spells. Then overlapping their effects with the support of my personal space and absolute territory.
The versatility, flexibility and range of my power is almost endless yet its limited not by my own design but by the fact I'm still a lesser demon that's unable to evolve further. I've been occasionally hearing the voice of the world trying to announce my failed evolutions dozens of times. Sometimes announcing that I was evolving into a higher race, or a demon variant I've never heard of. Or announcing that I failed evolving into into a humanoid spirit. Or failed to evolve my Unique Skills. Or failed to acquire more Unique Skills. Or failed to become a sage, or a Saint or a demon knight. I was getting tired of it and I wanted nothing more than to shut it up.
<<Notice: individual "nameless lesser purple demon" is acquiring the Unique Skill: Researcher...Requirements not met. Acquisition failed.>>
After that notice from the voice of the world, a year had passed. And the demon horde that had once troubled me were no longer a problem. As each time a demon revived, my barrier instantly kills it. This insta-kill caused the whole world to be filled with vapor which my barrier absorbs and replenishes its battery life. While it was doing that, I was busy analyzing the world of temptation and the more I discover its secrets, the more I grew fearful of the caster of this illusory world.
To be fair, this world of temptation was half baked. That demon didn't even seriously create this world to trap me forever, but to provoke me and motivate me based on my deep desire to protect the princess. It had some really powerful effects from skills like controlling the targets thoughts, isolating them from the real world, charming the target and exchanging illusions into reality.
I was amazed, and at the same time terrified. This world was the creation of a Unique Skill like my barriers but the way he used it was just plain villainous. And if the target wasn't at least as powerful as I am, they would be forever the toys of that demon, trapped in the hell that was designed by their own desires.
After fully analyzing the world of temptation, I then got a rough estimate of how strong that demon was. At least, by my calculations, he was as strong as an ancient archdemon. As to how old he was, possibly 10,000 years older at the top of my head. Then I took the results of my analysis and began cultivating new barriers that will increase my repertoire and refined them and finally tested them out on the reviving demons. With this, I felt like I could... Give that demon some new surprises.
<<Individual "nameless lesser purple demon" is acquiring the Unique Skilled: Tactician... Requirements not met. Acquisition failed.>>
3 years passed. I finally got some control over the world of temptation. I ceased the demons endless respawning and I was laying in the embrace of the princess. I laid my head over her laps while she brushes my hair gently. Her kind, loving smile blesses my demonic heart and put me at ease.
This smile, I will protect this smile. I will fight you for this smile. For you see, there are somethings in life worth protecting, somethings worth living for, some worth dying for. A smile like this can thaw the iciest of hearts, dispel the darkest of evils and win the mightiest of wars! This smile will be the thing that pulls us from the depths of despair, and lead us to the path of salvation! Wars will be fought, people will be saved, and civilizations will be saved because of this smile! So from this day forth, I solemnly swear to shield this smile from all harm that may come to it, all dangers it may possibly face, and give my life for it!
Sigh... The bliss of going insane.
Well, I can't stay here anymore. Despite wanting to feel her warmth for a second longer, I know that she isn't real. She is a product of a demon's toying with my heart. And even if that smile felt real, I know that I can't protect it.
I got up and knelt to face her. Our eyes were leveled even and stared at each other as if to capture the feelings we shared. I caress her cheeks with my hand and she softly grabs it while smiling.
"I always wanted to tell you in my past life, you were the most beautiful girl I've ever met. No one came close to you in terms of cuteness. You were thoughtful, smart, always kind, strong and unwilling to let any injustice slide. And I always wanted to thank you for giving out your hand to me. For giving me the honor of being your bodyguard. Even though the world was so cruel to you and always trampling on your ideals, you don't have to worry. I will always be there to protect you!"
I suddenly pierced my hand into her chest and her blood sprayed all over me. Yet, that did not stop her from smiling. As I finally lay out my one and only desire.
My one true wish...
"I will return to your side, princess! I promise to protect you even after death! I will always be by your side forever! Because I love you!"
And I pulled my hand away. Taking out my demon core from her chest, and the world of temptation began collapsing towards us both in the center. My entire world turned black afterwards. And the scene blackens.
<<Notice: Individual "nameless lesser purple demon" is evolving... Requirements met. Evolution on-going... Success.>>
<<Resistance Skills have also evolved and individual has acquired the following:
-Pain nullification
-Ailment nullification
-Spiritual attack resistance
-Holy attack resistance
-Natural element resistance>>
<<Notice: Individual's soul has increased in quality and capacity. Requirements have been met. Unique Skill: Computer has been acquired.>>
<<Notice: detecting the nature of the Unique Skill: Protector has changed from its intended purpose from protection to control. Adjusting parameters of skills to suit the individual's desires.>>
<<Additional sub-skills are added to the Unique Skill: Protector. The following includes:
-False Heaven
-Law Manipulation
-Thought Domination
-Complete Isolation
-Illusory to reality
-Field Control>>
<<End of announcement>>