Demon's Virtue

"Catch up, will you?" Meshi laughed out loud, jumping through the intertwining hidden pathways of the manor, being chased by Eiro.

"Oh shut up," the demon clicked his tongue, reaching his hand out to the man whose body quickly moved out of the way. This was basically the exact same training as Eiro went through with the puppet, just at a completely different level. He didn't really feel any hope of ever catching up to Meshi, and it wasn't even just his ridiculous speed.

If he needed to, he could catch up to him with the help of the new card he got, the 'Ultimate Agility'. Right now, his body was weakened to the point he was at before linking with it, but with time that limit would be let go of and Meshi's raw physical speed wouldn't be able to compare to Eiro's anymore.

But it really wasn't about speed right now. No, instead, it was about how Meshi moved. It was wild and free and almost random, despite very clearly being so directly calculated. Like the wind, he slithered around the edges, and whenever Eiro's hand came close to him, his body smoothly moved out of the way without even giving Eiro a chance to respond.

Even trying to predict where he was going to move didn't work, since Meshi's very existence seemed to reject being caught, so even though Eiro could know where Meshi moved to, he physically wasn't able to catch him.

That being the case, Eiro's body was slowly but surely adjusting more and more to the exact way that Meshi was moving and to the slight twitches of his muscles.

Rather, right now, Eiro wasn't even trying to actively catch him, but rather, he was attempting to do so in ways that forced Meshi to move out of the way in unique manners, giving Eiro an insight into the man's muscles that he usually wouldn't get.

However, there was something else to this as well. It seemed like all four of the masters that had arrived recently, that being Shimour, Orion, Kassandra, and Meshi, had refined their life force in particular ways.

The latter three did so in ways to take advantage of particular natural qualities, while Shimour seemed to have tried making his life force even more volatile than it already was, allowing it to change and adapt to whatever he needed. He did sacrifice a certain level of functionality through that. Basically, he was the 'jack of all trades' to the 'masters of one' that were the other three.

And of those, Orion had refined his life force to be more like water, Kassandra's was more like fire, and Meshi's was like wind. Eiro was actually a bit surprised about Orion and Kassandra, having expected it to be the exact opposite. Orion's dagger mastery was sharp and aggressive, initially reminding Eiro more of the sudden spikes of a rapid, hot flame.

But upon actually seeing Orion, it was more like the extreme force that came from two waves smashing into each other.

Meanwhile, though Kassandra's hand-to-hand combat reminded of the smooth motion of water gliding through gaps in everything it came across, it was more like the heat slowly spreading through whatever her flames touched.

Though, at least Meshi's was a lot more instinctively fitting. It was like he was the wind itself, rejecting to be tied down in one spot and making that intention immediately clear with every single motion and thought. Eiro couldn't help himself but respect that. That very clear adhesion to freedom in every part of Meshi's thoughts and actions.

However, there was an issue here. While Eiro couldn't refine his life force into any particular direction, making it more volatile to help his stealth like Shimour wouldn't really be an issue. After all, that would really only help the patients that he made prosthetics for and physically make it easier for them to accept their new limbs.

But refining it into any particular direction was something he couldn't do, at least not right now. At least it seemed like he was able to use the elemental essences of the planes of fire and water to infuse his life force to get a similar effect, but he didn't have access to that same level of purity from the elemental plane of air.

He didn't even know if there was a spirit gateway like that anywhere close to here, nor did he think he would be able to get his hands on it. He didn't even have a contract with a Sylph. Though, maybe that was worth looking into. Eiro had never considered it since air was practically the one element that he never lacked at any point, so he never felt the need to go out of his way.

Not that his other spirit contracts were actively sought out or planned by him.

That being the case, it would only be benefitial. Maybe he should try and form contracts with other types of spirits too... practically every element had spirits connected to them. There were even the more unique spirits like those that ruled over the seasons.

That ice flower bud that would soon be born into a winter spirit was still safely kept inside of Eiro's treasury, but it seemed to be opening more and more already.

The only thing that Eiro was worried about was finding trustworthy spirits. Most spirits formed contracts that were benefitial only to them, but Eiro wasn't interested in that kind of relationship. If it wasn't an equal contract, then he wouldn't enter one.

"Maybe I should just go by the highlands when the evolution is over and at least meet some Sylphs..." Eiro muttered to himself, as Meshi curiously tilted his head toward him.

"Hm? You're going to the highlands? For what?"

"Ah, sorry, I didn't realize I said that out loud," the demon quickly apologized, "I'm not going right now; I can't move that far away from the main body. But I just wanted to meet some spirits and maybe form some more contracts."

"Ehh..." Meshi let out, casually tilting out of the way and flipping around as Eiro reached his hand out to him, trying to even scrape by a single hair of his, "You aiming to master spirit magic or something?"
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"Not particularly, but if it ends up that way, I won't be complaining," Eiro scoffed as he shook his head, "But I figured it's not a bad idea if I find the right individuals. And even if I don't find a fitting spirit, I may at least find some more spirit gateways."

With raised brows, Meshi leaned forward, "Oh? So what you want to do is spread your feelers into the other planes?"

"Well, I guess so," Eiro smiled lightly, "I figured I might as well give it a shot. If I find a gateway and the current guardian refuses to hand it over to me, I won't force it to happen, obviously, but it would definitely be interesting. Plus..."

The demon thought about it for a moment. He wasn't sure if he should say it, but there probably wasn't any harm. He had told them a lot of things that were probably far more important to keep hidden, so he quickly explained it to the man in front of him, "When I connected with the two spirit gateways I currently have with me, I was able to go and talk to the 'world'.

I was given some pretty important information each time, and I think maybe I could get some more. Not to mention that having access to pure elements is always a plus."

Meshi seemed a bit confused, "You spoke to 'the world'? But ain't that you?"

"Oh, no, I'm not talking about my royal title, I'm talking about the actual world we all live in. The consciousness, the incarnation; the will of nature and everything we exist within. That world."

"... The world has an actual consciousness?"

"Well, something like it, at least. She's probably not actively conscious all the time, but I was able to speak to her, and she spoke to me pretty clearly too."

"... The world is a 'she'?" Meshi seemed even more surprised than after the first bit of information, and Eiro laughed a bit.

"She felt quite feminine, at least. I'm pretty sure she would be fine with me referring to her like that... Though I guess I should ask and make sure, should I ever get the chance again."

After some contemplation, Meshi squatted down on the ground, looking at the Demon, "You know, I've got a suggestion. I'm not into betting like Kassandra, but... a wager seems fun every once in a while.

"A wager?" Eiro repeated.

"Yeah," a broad smile formed on the master's lips, "If you can ever catch me, full-palm, solidly pressed up against me, before your evolution is over. I'm going to tell you the location of the spirit gateways I know about."