Arpious of the Planes

"Us demons don't have god-marks, yet we can tell our status from how large our horns are… you'd be smart to remember that,"

『Status』

[Name: Orion]

[Race: Demon]

[Class: Prince of Blood]

[Level: 35/55] (110/200) XP Needed

[HP: 100/100 MP: 75/75 SP: 55/55] - Above Human

[Strength: 40] - Above Human

[Defense: 40] - Above Human

[Magic: 45] - Above Human

[Speed: 45] - Above Human

[Skills: [Spear Coating] [Berserk Coating] [Empower] [Scout] [Ancient Torterras Tongue]

[Miasma Infused Presence]

[Prince of Blood Skills: [Royal Blood Magic] [Vampiric Creation] [Vampiric Drain]

[Shroud of Fermented Blood] [Egg of the Progenitor]

[Passive Skills: [Toxic Immunity] [Toxic Body] [Night Vision] [Breath of the Snowy Underworld]  [Blood of the Underworld] [Blood Tainted Aura] [Blood Tainted Presence] [Speech of a King] [Constitution of a Tarturling] [Prisoner of Tartarus] [Iron Speech] [Demon's Gluttonous Stomach]

[Rune Path: [Influence of Battle] [Throne World: Dripping Hell] [Locked] [Locked] [Locked] [Locked]

[Equipment: [Magic Ring] [Storage Ring] [Sangria King's Spear]

…

Upon seeing my new status, only one word came to mind…

"Evolution… is this what monsters undergo upon reaching a certain experience threshold?" I muttered to myself, yet the man before me still replied.

"Of course… addicting, isn't it?" He lightly chuckled upon seeing my mouth crease into a wide grin.

"It feels pretty good," I muttered as a year's worth of training that made my body as light as a feather had been surpassed in just a second.

"Want me to give this present to the rest of your friends as well…? Cy excluded, of course,"

I thought about it for a moment but didn't let the adrenaline and excitement cloud my judgment, so I quickly replied with a,

"No."

"I thought you would say that," Beezlebub smiled once more before disappearing into another swirling portal of darkness that led to some foreign dimension.

As I slowly climbed my way up my bed and sat on it, the door to my room slowly creaked open, revealing a girl with short blue hair and attentive yellow eyes.

"What is it?" I sighed as this was the first interaction I had with my friends ever since that incident in the dining hall.

"Ummm… I just wanted to check up on you. The maids said they heard a lot of groaning last night as if somebody was in pain… is everything alright?" Aisa asked, her expression actually filled to the brim with worry.

I paused, warmly smiling to myself, before gesturing for her to come in further.

"U-Uh, sure," She stuttered before scampering over to me like a little kid and sitting on the space right next to me.

It was a bit awkward between us, but as Aisa slowly laid her head on my shoulder, her worry physically leaving her body as she began to relax, I let out a little chuckle.

"You're still the same," I muttered before brushing her hair with my hands, and it wasn't long before she literally fell asleep on my shoulder.

She must've been exhausted and probably wasn't able to get a good night's rest with the worry and due to my horrendous words in the dining hall.

"You look swell," A cold voice infiltrated through the doorway, and soon, Luna came waltzing in, her arms crossed and her eyes lingering over to the girl peacefully resting on my shoulder.

As she didn't want me to wake her, she just gestured for me to follow her into the hallway, which I obviously did after laying Aisa across my sheets.

I tucked her in, and after Luna gave her a small kiss on the forehead and muttered, "Sweet dreams," we exited into the hallway, the others standing right before me.

"Have you come to jump me or something?" I snickered at the amusing sight, and the others who looked down with a bit of guilt couldn't bring themselves to return my energy and joke with me.

I let out a little sigh as I knew this couldn't continue any longer.

"Don't mind it. You all weren't aware of my circumstances, and I know the stress of the experiences you were put through probably clouded your mind as you screamed at me… so I hold nothing against you all. But, I do believe I've repented enough and think I don't need to prove myself to you all, especially after what I went through," I replied with a warm smile, and everybody else lightly returned their own smiles towards me.

Their light smiles slowly turned into soft giggles that slowly permeated through the air, filling the atmosphere with a more positive vibe.

"Now, how about you all get some more rest? We can train some more tomorrow, but I believe everybody here is exhausted… and you, mister edgelord," I turned towards Cy, who was still lightly chuckling to himself. "We need to have a talk,"

"Did I… do something wrong, or what?"

"Nope… but I'm sure you've already felt it. Now, you all can go skedaddle while we have a chat," I said, and everybody burst out laughing before slowly walking away… well, some were still a bit interested.

I slowly turned to the ceiling, where I penetrated the illusion of a hiding woman with long pink hair.

"You too," I smiled, and after seeing her visibly sigh, she dropped down from the ceiling, pushing through her illusion like a sack of rocks.

"Did you seriously say skedaddle?" She smirked, and my cheeks flushed a bit red with embarrassment.

"Just go," I sighed, and as she continued to laugh while walking away, I turned back to Cy, who was looking at my horns.

He was the only one that noticed such a change, so I knew he had also become a full demon.

"Did he feed you the meat?" He asked with shifting eyes, each pupil seemingly looking at different parts of my body.

"Yep… and… it was alright… I guess," I muttered and suppressed the salivating reaction that attempted to push its way into my consciousness.

"Don't lie to me… anyway, I'll tell you some things about demons," Cy gestured for me to follow him down the hallway.

It was a quiet walk without as much awkwardness as I had originally anticipated, but it was definitely something, seeing Cy in his new form, hesitant to speak up.

From the back, it wasn't that obvious, but occasionally, I saw him look as if he was about to start talking, but something suppressed him from actually releasing his voice.

"Is there something you have to say to me?" I asked with a sly smile, yet his next words made my eyes widen.

"D-Did you not come to train with me today because you're still mad at me?"

I let out a burst of laughter that came straight from my diaphragm and penetrated the hallway, echoing through it and drawing the attention of some of the surrounding servants.

"W-What?! Did I say something wrong?!"

"No, you're just so adorable…." I laughed before ruffling his hair from behind and slinging my arm over his shoulder.

"Whatever… Y-You still didn't answer my question! Stop avoiding it!"

"Well, you already know the answer, so I don't know why you keep pressing me for one," I smiled before he turned us into a dark room lined with hundreds of bookcases.

The room was relatively thin, but it was insanely tall, with the actual roof of the entire place seemingly stretching into the infinite void.

But, we didn't take a look at any of the bookcases and instead sat at the small wooden table with two wooden chairs right in the center of the room.

A small chessboard was engraved into the wooden table with the pieces already perfectly laid out.

"You want to have a game?" I asked as I didn't expect him to know how to play.

"I'm not that uncultured," He rolled his eyes before making the first move, setting out a pawn in the middle of the board two spaces up.

I matched his move, and eventually, as the game got started, a new conversation arose.

"Anyway… how is… uhhhh… how was training? Did Cerberus really teach you anything, or did she let you figure things out for yourself,"

"She taught me a few, but it was mostly a self-learning session with her as the target dummy that would continuously kill me. To be honest, I don't even think I'll flinch at the feeling of my arm getting cut off,"

Getting my arm cut off was nothing but that evolution process was incredibly painful, to the point that all of my centuries of experience with pain couldn't come into use.

Also, as I placed out a bishop, I saw three routes to win, but after seeing Cy completely clueless to my win ten moves ahead, I lightly smiled before making a slight blunder on purpose.

Let's see how he does.

"How was Beezlebub? Did he really teach you anything, or was he just like Cerberus,"

"Despite how much I hate him, I can't say he was a bad teacher. Contrary, he was an incredible teacher and was very intelligent. His training was harsh and inhumane, and as he taught me new skills, I could feel the disgust within me shining towards him slowly rise… but I still can't help but respect his teaching skills… though he's still a shitty person," Cy chuckled before finally moving his queen.