Chapter 606: Challenges Daimon & Nethereal sisters, Sarah’s version (part 13)
Seeing the darkness flooding Jade's battlefield, preventing those outside to see what was happening in it, made quite a few of people frown, starting by the Risha sisters.
"Ivy, can you see what's going on there?", asked Leslie to her night sparrow sister, to which Ivonne nodded.
"Mm, let me try", with those words the night sparrow girl injected darkness mana into her eyes, to try and see through the veil of darkness that Jade had used to block not only sight but also senses from the outside, only for Ivy shake her head the next second.
"Only the outer is made of darkness, there are at least another three layers made out of other elements, I can see where Daimon and those four's mana flows with my eyes but I don't get a clear image of what's happening", said Ivy, making Leslie pout.
"First those three and now those four too, not fair", mumbled the fire crane girl, to which Liliana added.
"I haven't had my turn", the snow eagle girl limited to a few words, but the jealousy in her usually emotionless pretty face was obvious, she was reminding those two that they have had their share of Daimon's attention while she still hadn't.
While those three were letting their imagination fly regarding what was going on behind the elemental veil, there was a pair of girls who were as interested in said situation as the Risha sisters, naturally we are talking about the pair of blond nethereal sisters, Jasmine and Reyne who were comforting Ruby a second ago.
"Not fair, I couldn't meet up with Daimon after defeating my enemy, that damn sea emblem is playing favorites", mumbled Reyne, which made Jasmine cutely giggle at her sister.
"It might be because they were separated from the group for a really long time", she said, making Reyne ultimately sigh.
On the other hand, and as much as she kept a smiling expression on her pretty face, on the inside, Jasmine couldn't help but wonder.
'What are they doing that they don't want anyone to see… perhaps little Ruby knows about it', she thought with a smile that wasn't a smile to then turn to see Ruby and ask with a gentle voice that didn't match her current expression.
"Did your sisters mention anything about this?", to which the young red-haired girl continuously shook her head in response.
"Sister Scarlet and the others only told me that it was important for young master Daimon to discern the basics of our glyphs if he was going to be our "special one" and that I will understand everything once I get my own glyph", she innocently said.
'S-Special one!' naturally, Jasmine and Reyne reacted like cats whose tails were stepped on, startling Ruby in the process, which made them regain their composure.
"Ahem, come tell big sisters anything else you remember from it", said Reyne as she offered Ruby a cookie which the little red-haired girl accepted, before she was interrogated by those two.
…
Leaving the storm that was brewing at the resting area, side, back at Jade's battlefield, Daimon who could see everything that was happening couldn't help but inwardly sigh knowing that this will come bite him later, not to mention Eve was laughing her brains out at him as of current.
"Was it necessary to make such a complex isolated space, if it was so important that others couldn't see nor hear it, it would have been better to continue this conversation later in private?", he said as he touched the ethereal "wall" at his right.
The thing which was made out of a combination of green, blue, yellow and dark energies, bent inwards allowing his hand to stretch it without causing any negative reaction, which made Jade's eyes sparkle and she wasn't the only one Daimon was rather interested on it.
'This wall is also an application of her glyph… to think she is playing with Laws as a Lord rank, though they are degraded versions', he thought.
That's right, the reason as to why James couldn't discern how was Jade creating those shields without using any mana besides when she took the step related to the element in question, is because she wasn't creating them.
Every time she took a step, the Laws of the respective element were attracted to her which resulted in a mana field of said element to be created with her as the center, in other words she was being "protected" by the world.
As if Jade could read Daimon's mind, she explained.
"My glyph increases my "proximity" to the world, mana of all elements coexists in the atmosphere without clashing as long as there is a proper balance, I mix into that and then with my innate technique which has two sides, Elemental Dance that allows me to draw all the attention of an element towards me, making said element's mana protect me and Banishment which allows me to stop the attention an element is giving to an enemy", she said.
It was obvious that she wasn't aware of what "Laws" are as she confused them with the "world", it wasn't her fault though, since her race has been powerless for way more time than what they could remember, and Laws seemed to be an unknown subject even at the four galaxies.
Not to mention that these Laws she used weren't the same type as the ones he has seen either extremely talented Arch ranks or half Stellars and above people unknowingly use, as those originated in them, it was a much more advanced version of the elemental mana that was refined within their magic cores as far as Daimon understood.
And the Laws with which Jade "communicated", weren't hers but the ones that naturally existed, it made sense, since her glyph worked better, the more the enemy damaged the vicinity.
"I guess dancing could be considered a primitive form of communication, but as far as I could see you couldn't command this mana, it protected you out of "instinct" as it identified you as an ally of some kind, so then what is up with this isolation field?", he asked, making Jade's face redden a bit.
"I… marked everyone besides us five as "enemies" and since there is a limited range in which my innate ability works, the mana takes this extremely defensive stance", she mumbled, making Daimon be at a loss for words to which she added in a hurry.
"T-They made me do it!", she exclaimed while putting the blame in Scarlet and Amber, who after being sold out by their sister of course defended themselves.
"Hey, I remember a certain someone getting all high and mighty knowing that her innate ability was needed for the ritual, so why are you acting innocent here!", said Scarlet.
"Traitors should be excluded from the ritual", added Amber, to which Jade immediately shook her head.
"Dream on!".
Seeing those three who seemed about to break in a fight, Daimon stepped in.
"Ahem, calm down you three, I get that this is important for you, so why don't you first explain what is this "ritual" you mention", he said.
It was easy to see that they were nervous, given how easy they were entering in conflict, when normally they treated each other as real blood sisters even if they were members of different races and they technically didn't even have progenitors to share.
"Sorry, I got nervous", willingly said Jade, making Scarlet and Amber smile.
"Forgive us too, Daimon is right we got too heated because of how important this is for us", said Scarlet while Amber nodded in agreement.
"Speaking of which, what is she doing", said Daimon interrupting the sisterly moment those three were having, as he pointed at his right where Lapis was… holding onto to him by surrounding her arms around his neck.
"Lapis!!!", those three exclaimed in unison, making their light blue haired sister softly laugh.
"What, it's not my fault to not be affected as easily as you three, I'm harmony after all~", she said, without letting go of Daimon of course, that being said she wasn't being as clingy as the crazy girl, nor did she exude any "evil" intentions unlike Sarah.
"Ah, you are impossible… we discussed this beforehand to make our bonding ceremony as perfect as possible", mumbled Scarlet, making Eve nearly choke with her tongue as her laugh was interrupted, very much to Daimon's amusement.
"Please don't reject us", said Jade, as if to signal something, those three also approached Daimon, who didn't move allowing them to get closer to him.
'Are they going to ask you to marry them or what!', exclaimed the jealous administrator girl as she saw Scarlet and Amber also hold onto Daimon from the front, while Jade took the left side of his back.
'Mm?', Daimon felt a strangely comfortable sensation coming from specific parts of his body, which made him gaze at those four, their bodies made contact with said parts which caused them to noticeably blush, among them the one who was the most affected seemed to be Scarlet.
Naturally the parts of their bodies that were touching, were where the glyphs of those four were positioned, the neck for Lapis, lower abdomen for Amber, the ankle for Jade and of course… the chest for Scarlet which explained why her face was practically on fire as she cursed her glyph for choosing that specific part to be imprinted in.
Anyway, Jade's ability was reaching its limit so she continued with the explanation as it was decided beforehand.
"Like you said, this power we obtained is similar in composition to the "Nether" used by those guys, as in it contains mana and a strong emotion, but unlike it, our "Virtue" is created in a completely opposite way, instead of an emotion strongly felt by oneself, the core is an emotion that someone appreciated by us makes us feel, like determination", she said as she opened the chest area of her blouse a bit, allowing her bright red emblem which was glowing, to be visible.
It's worth mentioning that she had returned the chest plate that protected her upper body to her storage ring earlier, but Daimon didn't pay attention to it.
"Or fortitude", said Amber as her light brown glyph appeared on her lower abdominal area.
"Harmony~", happily said Lapis as her light blue glyph glowed on her neck.
"And unity", mumbled Jade, as the light green glyph on her ankle, regained its brightness.
Daimon who was lost in his thoughts for a second due to the pretty dazzle that their glyphs emitted, as well as having finally learned the name of the energy they obtained, was brought back to the real world by the unmistakable sound of a notification ringing in his mind.
*Ding*, but when he looked at it, he couldn't help but be surprised as he had never seen this kind of notification.
[A mission's seed has been obtained due to a specific action, please continue demonstrating your qualifications to obtain the right to the reward left behind by the issuer]
Frowning to his insides, Daimon turned his attention to Eve who had gone silent since she saw the preview of the notification, as it took even her by surprise.
'Now this is something I didn't expect, my bet was on those bird girls… though this and that aren't mutually exclusive', she thought to herself to then say.
'As you have seen there many kinds of missions that users can obtain, they are most of the times given by their systems using certain important events or situations happening in a place, however there are also missions that are "issued" by third parties, needless to say but they need to be at a high enough level to be taken into account and I mean way too high for the natives of any close galaxy to the one you live, so the other option is the most viable and that is that the issuer was… a user'
'Of course there are limitations, instead of a mission you should think of it as a "last will" because it can only become a mission for another user if the issuer is dead and that is everything I can explain as of current', those two obtained the missions from which you stole, this way', she said to which Daimon inwardly nodded.
'Heh, so basically those two obtained the seeds from somewhere and that led them to Neptune where those seeds became proper missions just for me to steal the biggest opportunities out of them', he thought referring to Adam and Marcus.
To be honest what drew his interest wasn't the new type of mission, but the fact that it meant that Scarlet and the others or more accurately their races must have had some sort of relation with a now dead system user.
'Ah right, those had a small really rare chance to break the link between you and them when they obtained this power but chose not to, I'm sleepy so I'll return to my nap', mumbled Eve, while inwardly cursing Aisha.
'Why did she make emphasis in mentioning every damn little detail when it comes to this kind of thinds, this will only work as motivation for him to get closer to those fours', she thought.
Daimon chuckled to his insides, besides the obvious jealousy in Eve's voice, there was also an important piece of information hidden, to bypass the restrictions of the system.
'So "The one who issued the mission was strong enough to though shortly, interrupt the current me" is what she meant, perhaps that's also why she is acting rather grumpy', amusingly thought Daimon.
As much as a monstrous as Daimon and his system are, other users whose systems have been developed more than his, can resist him, for example he could only listen to Adam and Marcus's thoughts when he angered them, not to mention that higher and stronger beings can do the same, systems aren't almighty after all.
What was important is that after they cleared their persona challenges, those four could have erased the contract between themselves and Daimon, but choose not to do so, in other words their loyalty didn't change due to having obtained power.
Let's not forget that Daimon didn't force them to serve him through his terror contracts, they signed regular contracts out of their own will and were even guaranteed by Daimon himself that they wouldn't be forced to do anything they didn't like, the only condition they had to abide by was to not harm Daimon and his close ones, basically they signed to become friends with him and the others, because they were powerless back then so it's not like they could do a lot of tasks.
That being said and out of gratitude for having saved them and given them a safe place they called him "young master" instead of Daimon… until recently as Scarlet and the others calling him directly by his name suggested.
Speaking of which, a certain undead head maid who was feeling strangely bothered after listening to Scarlet and the others who were categorized as "subordinates", calling Daimon directly by his name, was allowed to listen to the previous by Eve, which returned her inner peace to her little confused heart.
'Mm, if they did so then it's only normal for them to ask for a reward', she thought to herself, of course she didn't feel bothered out of malice or any negative reason, but because though in a way more tamed proportion, she was like Horals in the meaning that Daimon's wellbeing was her top priority even above her own existence, only recently she has been changing to have a much more "living" and "normal" mindset thanks to a bunch of reasons.
Anyway, unaware of the undead head maid's last improvement personality-wise, Daimon gazed at the four blushed girls that were still holding onto him, despite the fact that their "ceremony" had already ended.
Apparently, this ceremony basically was supposed to give him the "seed" of the mission, but naturally they didn't know that, which caused the cute worried expressions on their pretty faces as they thought it wasn't working.
Why is nothing happening, Daimon properly fulfilled the conditions written in the stone tablet found at the reward room, was it all a lie?' thought Scarlet she even forgot about the embarrassment that having to basically lean her breasts against Daimon's chest brought her due to it, Amber slightly clenched her fists while Jade and Lapis had down casted expressions.
"Mm?", those four all felt a soothing sensation coming from the top of their heads, not at the same time, but with a really small gap of difference, which made them look at the same direction relatively at the same time, just to be dazzled by Daimon smiling at them.
"I received your "reward" so don't put such sad expressions, I prefer this "livelier" version of yourselves", he said.
Needless to say, but those four's faces turned red as an apple, so now imagine their reactions when Daimon added.
"Also, you can let ago whenever you want", the previously smiling expressions on those four's faces, stiffened all of a sudden, especially Scarlet given that she had actively pressed herself harder against Daimon, in a try to see if that would activate whatever they expected to happen.
Still, they secretly exchanged gazes to then calm down and instead of reacting as Daimon thought they would, they leaned their heads against him, making their pretty colorful hairs surround Daimon's face in every direction to then say.
"Thanks", they didn't elaborate, nor even looked at him while speaking, but their grateful voices conveyed their feelings perfectly.
Daimon didn't move, he allowed them to hold onto him until they have had enough, or more accurately until Jade noticed the barrier she had raised, slowly dissolving.
"Time out!", she exclaimed, making her three sisters immediately let go of Daimon, the four basically jumped to put some distance while looking away to avoid Daimon's gaze.
[A bishop has been removed from the game, congratulations to the Black Queen, all the enemy pieces have been eliminated, the Black Queen will be given the first move privilege]
The announcement that the crazy girl has been waiting for, finally echoed through the sky, as Scarlet and the others were transported out of the battlefield back to the resting area, while Daimon appeared next to Sarah only to listen to her narrow her eyes at him.
Just as Daimon was about to ask her why she was looking at him like that, the crazy girl casually said.
"I renounce to the first movement privilege".
"What!", Sheilla gritted her teeth feeling utterly humiliated, after all the crazy girl was basically saying that she didn't need any head start against her, what angered her the most is the fact that she was automatically given the first movement without she doing anything, which meant that her Lord had taken action as soon as it was possible, in other words her chances of victory was questioned by her Lord himself.
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'This damn bitch!', she inwardly screamed only for her to be transported to be a few hundreds of meters in front of Sarah, now that the special pieces had fought, it was time for the queens to do so, however just like with Reyne they wouldn't be fighting alone, but had "pawns" as their personal armies.
For Reyne they had to choose among corpses of magic beasts and then create undead out of them, but in Sarah's case they didn't have to create their own pawns.
The sky above the two queens opened creating two space portals from which and spheres made out of chains, of different width, size and design came out, there were around five dozen in front of each queen.
"This is the process of selection for the pawns we'll use, some pawns are more usable than others, but at the same time the seal on them requires a lot more of effort to undo, so we have to choose "carefully"…", explained the crazy girl to Daimon, before adding.
"But since my king seems to be losing interest in me, then I decided to make things more interesting to get his "favor" back~".
Following Sarah's words, she pointed at the eight spheres whose chains were the thickest and had the most complicated design, not only out of the bunch available for her but also for the enemy queen!