I'm a Daemon, so what? (Tensura/Multicross)

Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?

Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.

Chapter 72: Divine Human

There are up to 15 chapters ahead at [email protected]/theogbasilisk

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- Felix -

I gently lowered us down to the floor and took a seat, Hinata didn't resist and fell to the floor with me. Seeing as she didn't seem to want to move anytime soon, I decided to just relax.

That was a good fight.

Hinata was pretty drained from this fight. Her last attack alone used over 400,000 EP from what I sensed. Yet, it still was normally incapable of piercing my Barriers. Multi-Dimensional Barrier generally requires more than that to be broken through, doubly so if I actively focus on reinforcing it.

Hinata got lucky that I was distracted since I had just skewered her, or else my Multi-Dimensional Barrier wouldn't have been breached, even if her attack had managed to reach the Ultimate level. That reckless girl even used her Soul Energy to reinforce the attack, which played another large part in piercing through Multi-Dimensional Barrier.

She'll regenerate her Soul Energy, but it'll take a while.

'I believe this is what is called a sore loser.'

'I'm not a sore loser!'

'Whatever you say.'

'Of course, you inherited that verbal tic from Odin.'

Seeing that Othinus wasn't responding, I closed my eyes and rested. Hinata herself was pretty drained. Her EP was down to a mere 10,000, she was at the level of a mere Greater Majin now, and it'll take her at least a week to recover back to peak condition. Though it was pretty amusing in the sense that in some places in the Cardinal World, Greater Majins were considered land gods. It really put into perspective how much Hinata had grown that even the so-called land gods that many Majin worshiped were so beneath her notice. Though that was true even when I first met her. 

After a couple of minutes of resting, I decided to speak up. "Why did you go to such lengths to wound me, Hinata?"

I had a vague idea of Hinata's reasons, but I would never truly know unless she told me.

Hinata sighed against my neck. "I had a feeling you would ask me that." She muttered softly.

Hinata took a moment to respond to my question. "You are unaware of my past from before I came to this world, correct?"

I nodded. "I have no clue what you got up to in your old world."

I made a move to lift Hinata off of me so we could talk face to face, but as I did so Hinata gripped the sleeve of my arm. "Alright, you wanna stay like this, that's fine." I said.

Hinata held her elbows tightly at her side, she took a deep breath. "To sum it all up, my father's company had gone bankrupt. He ended up gambling and got to a point where he was so deep into debt that my family lost everything. My mother was slowly going crazy from all the stress, and I focused my blame on my father, not considering that he may have also been suffering. No, I forced myself to not consider that to justify myself." She said with hesitation. 

I winced as I took that all in. "I'm not quite sure what to say to all that."

Hinata ignored my words and continued, though I could feel her grip on my sleeve tighten as she grew more nervous. "In the end, like the broken girl I was, I killed my father for the life insurance money so that the lives of myself and my mother wouldn't be ruined. I eventually got summoned to this world in my first year of high school."

"I continued to blame him even in this World in an entirely new life. I knew that I wouldn't be welcomed back by my mother, and so I decided that I would help Humanity in this world. And that, perhaps, I would be able to atone for my sins."

I slightly winced after hearing that. I wasn't going to comfort Hinata and lie to her face saying that what she did was not a sin, it was, it was just about coming to accept it and the circumstances she ended up in. Most of the people I knew it this world were deeply fucked up individuals with some trauma, most just hid it behind a mask of cheerfulness like Milim. 

"But even as I ventured into this world of Heroes and Demon Lords, I still felt hatred for him. There were things that distracted me from that hatred and even the guilt I felt." Hinata looked up at me with a light of vulnerability in her eyes. "Like enjoying my time with you. Even your incessant teasing helped."

Normally, I'd have a quip to respond to that, but I could tell that now wasn't the time.

"I only let go of my hatred after spending so long being a Hero. I accepted what had happened and forgave myself for my part in it. I was Human, and it is in our nature to have weak hearts."

I have a feeling I know what was holding Hinata back from Awakening as a True Hero.

"It seems like you didn't have an easy life, Hinata, and while I can't say that I agree with what you did, it's not my place to judge. It's not like I'm a beacon of morality." I don't think Hinata was telling me this to receive validation or anything, she just seemed to want a listening ear. 

Hinata laughed, hearing what I had said. "That's true. You are not moral at all. It's a wonder how I began to fal–" She shook her head. "Never mind."

I blinked as I considered the implications of what Hinata was about to say. I sighed, I could think about all that later, right now I think Hinata just needed me to be there for her. If she wanted to open up to me about what she felt I'd be there but I'll let her take the first step.

We sat in silence for a little while before Hinata continued.

"I guess in the end, I just felt like I needed to prove something to myself, to prove something to you." Hinata whispered as she ducked her chin.

I quirked a brow. "You don't really need to prove anything to me. I literally decided to teach you here and there with no hopes in mind; it was just something to pass the time."

Hinata laughed. "I am well aware of your petty reasons for taking me on as a student. Did you enjoy beating me into the ground?"

"I did, in fact, enjoy that." I said with a smug smile.

"I am aware that I did not need to prove anything to you, but I still wished to do so, to prove to you that you had not wasted your time and effort on me, but most of all, to prove to myself that I could reach my goals, that I had not reached my limit, that I could still be a Hero in this age. That simple flesh wound I caused you meant the world to me." Hinata said with a deep light of conviction in her eyes. 

Huh, did perhaps beating Hinata into the ground with no visible effort cause her to doubt herself and give her an inferiority complex?

Well… oops.

"Now I know for certain that I can accomplish my goals, and know this Felix, I will keep striving to surpass you." Hinata declared. Well it seemed like it all worked out in the end, though if I ever took on a student ever again, perhaps I needed to reevaluate my methods of teaching. 

Even if I did give Hinata constructive advice after my beatings, it seems that I should have been a bit more gentle on her.

Though to be fair to myself when I first decided to teach Hinata here and there it was out of maliciousness. What can I say? I'm a petty guy. 

Well, you live, and you learn. That's part of life. Even with a super genius in my head, I was still bound to make mistakes from time to time, especially since that very same super genius didn't actually know everything and didn't correct each and every one of my actions. 

Still, I laughed at Hinata's bold claim.

"You want to surpass me, huh? Then why don't you learn just how much you have to grow then. Let's compare our power."

What I was doing could very well destroy Hinata's resolve, but the woman I knew would grow from the experience and surpass my expectations. And if she didn't? Well that was fine too, I didn't want to drown her in my expectations, that sounded like a shitty way to live. If she failed then she would either keep trying until she achieved her goal or she would give up, and while I don't think that was likely if she chose to do so I'd still support her. I cared about her enough to do that much. 

Hinata looked up at me with widened eyes. "Are you going to?"

I nodded, a mask of smugness on my face. "Be honored! I shall unleash my true power for a few moments. I will allow you to bask in my magnificent presence!" I announced grandly.

Hinata rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, thank you, great Lord Felix, for granting me this privilege." Hinata droned out, but I could tell she was excited, her previously weary mood had improved a bit as well. 

I know that Hinata has been trying to learn just how strong I am ever since I first met her. 

Hinata pulled away from my chest and stood up. She was pretty much healed now, ignoring her low Energy reserves.

I stood across from Hinata. "I'll make sure to avert my Spiritual Pressure from you, but be careful just in case." 

Hinata nodded.

I had long since forgiven Hinata for her part in the Falmuth Invasion. It took me some time, but I looked at things from her perspective.

Hinata personally wasn't very invested in the Falmuth Invasion. She simply used it to accomplish her goal, which was slaying Rimuru.

Falmuth did not answer to Hinata after all, so she wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop the invasion unless she wanted to cause an international incident.

As for her attacking Rimuru, in her eyes, Rimuru was wearing her teacher's, and mother figure's body like a meat suit. It's normal to lose your cool a bit in that kind of situation.

But even then, Hinata was careful. She received information from a Merchant who had been building his reputation with her for years. From what Hinata told me, he had been giving her information on various Monster and Majin attacks over the years, allowing her to save more lives, so Hinata had no reason to doubt the Merchant's words.

When she was fighting Rimuru, she ignored Rimuru's various pleas to stop the fight because, for all she knew, Rimuru was trying to bait her. In her eyes, this was a malicious Majin that had killed her teacher.

Her teacher was kind, and perhaps Rimuru had used that to trick her to kill her. Now that she was fighting him, she wouldn't make that mistake.

Even when Rimuru began bringing up his Otherworlder nature, I didn't blame Hinata for not taking him seriously. Rimuru had access to some of Shizu's memories, which was part of the reason for his sudden attachment to the kids, to Hinata, and even to Yuuki.

For all Hinata knew, he was using Shizu's memories to lure her into a false sense of security.

So, while I am upset about the entire situation, I'm not dense enough to realize Hinata's position.

I shook my head. I was getting lost in my thoughts. Now I had some flexing to do.

I backed away from her a few extra feet, and for the first time since I had gained the Dragon Factors, I stopped tightly concealing my power within my body. 

- Hinata Sakaguchi -

Hinata stared wide-eyed at the scene in front of her. Felix's coat was waving around him, his hair flailing wildly, and currents of wind destroying some of the pillars in the room.

She could feel the dimension itself shaking as if it was struggling to contain the torrent of power in front of her.

She had been wanting to understand Felix's true power for as long as she had known him, at first it was so she would know just how strong she needed to be able to neutralize him if he became a threat to Humanity. She did not think she could bring herself to fight Felix should he become a threat to Humanity now. She had become far too… attached.

She now wanted to understand Felix's true power so she knew just how far she had left to grow before she would catch up to him.

She was growing distracted, so she focused back on Felix. The entire dimension was shaking as Felix was releasing a truly absurd amount of Energy. The very same dimension that was created by the Fairy Queen Ramiris and powered by the Storm Dragon Veldora. Even if she used everything she had, she didn't think she could destabilize the dimension to this extent.

His Energy was so vast that she found herself comparing it to that of Veldora's, Felix had enough Energy that the closest being she could match him with was a True Dragon.

She gritted her teeth as she realized just how far away she was from him. A bug was closer in strength to her than she was to Felix, and that was no lie.

So this is the height of power, Felix? How wondrous.

Felix had said that he was diverting his Aura away from her, which he was, but even then, she could still feel the sheer intensity of his Aura, it was overwhelming, overpowering, dominating.

Space itself was warping under Felix's Spiritual Pressure. He wasn't even releasing his Demon Lord's Haki.

Hinata imagined that if Felix decided to release that as well into the mix, then even if his Aura was purposefully diverted from her, she would likely fall unconscious and enter a coma, if not die altogether. She was a Complete Saint with centuries of combat experience, yet she knew from the bottom of her heart that she would be helpless against Felix's Aura alone should he pressure her with it.

Was she this far away from reaching him? Would she ever be able to reach him?

Hinata ignored the doubts that had crept to the surface of her mind. Even after all she had experienced, she was only Human; part of being Human was the doubts regular Humans faced about themselves.

She clenched her fists.

No, she would not fail, not after all she had been through. She would continue to train and grow stronger until she became someone that Felix could rely on in his times of need, and more importantly until she became the Hero she always wanted to be. 

She closed her eyes and spread her senses further towards Felix, attempting to truly understand just how powerful he was.

One odd thing she noticed was that Felix's Aura felt slightly like Veldora's had when she had sealed him, she could feel the hints of draconic power within his Aura but she brushed that off for now.

She attempted to use her Unique Skill: Mathematician to get a deeper analysis of his power.

Much to her surprise it seemed that her Skill was no longer being blocked.

She used one of Mathematician's sub-skills, Analytical Appraisal to release waves that entered Felix and performed a full scan of his composition.

She received the information and was further shocked. She was able to understand Felix's physical composition, the strength of his body, and the amount of Magicules in his body, which allowed her to assess his strength accurately.

She used another one of Mathematician's sub-skills, Predictive Calculation, which allowed her to calculate something and predict the outcomes based on the calculations depending on her ability.

It can be used to read her opponent's flow of power to prevent Energy waste to a certain extent and predict the future of any actions or events with complex calculations.

She had asked her Skill what the odds were of her beating Felix as he was now, and the answer was 0%.

Part of her was disappointed that even after thousands of years, she was still unable to even touch Felix if he was taking her seriously.

Hinata knew that now that her Skill was known to Felix she would likely have a far more difficult time breaching his Barriers, she got through to Felix on a fluke, but that did not take away from her achievement in her mind. Luck was an important part of combat. She had done something Chloe had never done, Luminous had never done, she had done something no Human had done in the past. It didn't matter if she got "lucky". 

Not to mention now she understood just how much Felix was holding back.

To say Felix hadn't been using even a tenth of his power in their spar would not be an exaggeration. His physical strength alone would cause her issues, let alone the sheer quantity and quality of the Energy within him.

She had no idea how Felix had gotten so powerful in such a short period of time. He hadn't been in this world for even five years! When she first met him, she had been in this world for around eight years, and she was far weaker than him at that point in time.

Felix really was a cheater. What was it he had said before? Ah, yes, he needed to be nerfed.

But she wasn't going to allow that to slow her down.

"Felix." She found herself speaking out. She didn't know if he could even hear her, but she continued nonetheless as her fists clenched hard enough to crush diamond. "You are more powerful than I possibly could have imagined. Only now do I realize how much you were holding back in our spar." She didn't take that personally. If he went all out, she wouldn't have stood a chance.

In the end, it didn't matter if Felix went all out in their spar or not, she had managed to make progress, she managed to do something she previously thought impossible, and that was enough for her.

It proved that her dreams and aspirations were not impossible to accomplish. They would just take time. 

"Even now, I can sense your power growing, but know this, I will never stop trying to catch up; I will become someone you can rely on, I will become the Hero you always thought I could be, of this I swear." She said unwaveringly.

She felt as if she had reached enlightenment all over, she knew what the peak of this world looked like, and she would make it there no matter what. For she was Hinata Sakaguchi, and she had known defeat and grown all the stronger for it. 

Confirmed. Conditions satisfied. The Human Hinata Sakaguchi will begin evolving from a Saint into a Divine Human.

And then she blacked out.

- Veldora Tempest -

As Veldora was reading the next chapter in his manga, he froze. The amount of power he was sensing was astronomical. He knew of barely anyone with that much potential power. Originally, it was just his sister Velzard, and then recently, he met Chloe, who had almost as much energy as he did… somehow. She wasn't quite at his level but she was closer to him than anyone he had ever met excluding his sister, Velzard.

But this… this wasn't either of those two. No this power was familiar, it almost felt like his own, yet not his own. He felt hints of his own factor intermingled with his sister and elder brother's factor, but that wasn't all, the more dominant factor of the aura was one he had grown rather familiar with. Felix's spatial oriented aura was hard to not recognize. 

He knew his best bud, Felix, was fighting with Hinata. He had sensed him show up when he was training Zegion.

Once he was done, he popped by and took a look at the fight. Only Felix seemed to have noticed him, as Hinata was far too focused on the battle in front of her.

Veldora watched for a couple of minutes before leaving, and he was impressed.

As much as he hated to admit it, Hinata was showcasing some of the abilities the Masked Hero had shown when she had sealed him.

Especially that weirdly annoying barrier that erased all emission attacks.

He had already met Chloe and Hinata and to say he was shocked when he learned that they were the Masked Hero would be an understatement.

He couldn't believe that someone he saw as a child and the woman who he was able to casually slap around both grew to be able to seal him.

Veldora could only blame the time skip Hinata and Chloe went through. It was a rule of anime and manga that whenever one went through a time skip, they would grow by leaps and bounds in power.

Hmm… if only he could experience a time skip of his own, he might finally be able to beat his sister for once. Hell, if he combined the time skip, the shonen training arc, the rival duel, and a whole burst of power of friendship, he might even reach the levels of his older brother.

Veldora shook his head. He was getting distracted. All of a sudden, he noticed his manga shelf shaking.

He panicked and quickly dashed to save it from collapsing over, and thankfully he was able to make it to the shelf in time.

He looked around, and he noticed his entire room was shaking. He expanded his senses only to find that his entire Floor was shaking.

Just what was Felix doing?! Why was he releasing so much power?! His power was so vast that it was causing some of the other Floors to shake!

These Floors were literal dimensions apart!

Veldora breathed a sigh of relief as Felix withdrew his power after a few moments.

That guy had gotten scary strong super quick, just what was it with everyone getting overpowered all of a sudden? Though Veldora did wonder why Felix's Aura was reminiscent of his own, his sister's, and his brother's. 

Just what had Felix done to himself? Did some of his cool aura rub off on Felix?

Did Felix maybe have a training montage that he was unaware of? Felix was already strong, and now he went through a training montage of his own!?

That's not fair!

How was he supposed to slap weaklings around if they get time skips and training montages every week?

"Veldora! What was that?! I had to eject all the Adventurers from The Dungeon since all the Floors were being affected in some way! I didn't want them all to die since I don't know how the Aura will affect my Authority!" Ramiris flew up to him with a panicked expression on her face.

Ah, Rimuru probably wouldn't like that.

He lounged on his couch as he looked up at Ramiris. "That was Felix." He answered.

Ramiris' eyes widened. "Wha-What?!"

He sighed. "Can't you check yourself? Felix somehow divided my Floor in half and is using the other half to fight Hinata."

Veldora could almost see a light bulb going off in Ramiris' head. "Ah! Right, right, of course, I can! I was just testing you! Umu!"

He ignored Ramiris and got back to reading his manga.

"Ugh, a ton of Monsters were killed by that dummy Felix! Just what was he doing?! Now I have to make some excuse before those Adventurers begin causing problems!" Ramiris whined.

- Rimuru Tempest -

"Rimuru!" He sighed as he looked up from his desk.

"What is it, Ramiris? I'm busy right now."

Ramiris flailed around him wildly. "We have a big issue! Like a super big issue!"

He sat up straight. "What issue?" Seeing as Ramiris was in charge of The Dungeon, his mind immediately went there. "Did something happen with The Dungeon?"

Ramiris quickly nodded. "It's all that dummy Felix's fault!"

He groaned. "What did he do now?"

He had sensed Felix bypassing the Spatial Lock that was placed in Tempest's Capital City, Rimuru City so he had known he was back for quite some time.

One of Souei's subordinates reported that he had spotted him heading towards The Dungeon, where Hinata was currently watching Veldora train Zegion, so Rimuru didn't interrupt.

Felix helped him get with Shuna. Now it was his turn to help his brother from another mother out!

Once they returned from Luminous' territory, he held a meeting with all of his executives. Chloe and Hinata were brought along as well since they were the main topic of the meeting.

He had reintroduced them to everyone. Diablo seemed the most interested in the two of them.

Veldora was also at the meeting and was being a sore loser about being sealed by Hinata, Hinata's taunts didn't make it any better.

He always thought that Hinata was the cool beauty type, but her taunting had ruined that image.

Rimuru would just blame Felix. Felix probably infected Hinata with his Felixness, resulting in her losing her cool beauty attribute.

Veldora made a comment saying that Chloe felt stronger than she had in the past, which got him thinking.

Could Chloe have Awakened after sealing Veldora? If so, that made Hinata and Chloe even more monstrous, to be capable of sealing Veldora before even Awakening was crazy.

'Affirmative. Going by the Storm Dragon Veldora's analysis, this Masked Hero had Awakened after sealing Veldora.'

Sheesh.

Chloe had said she wanted to stay in Tempest, and he saw no reason to stop her so he agreed. 

Now Chloe was meeting with her friends, and even though she was in her child form, Rimuru doubted she would be able to reconnect with her friends to the same level they were at previously.

Chloe was old, older than he could even imagine. He didn't think someone who had so many experiences would choose children as their company, but perhaps Chloe just wished to regain a piece of herself she had lost due to her curse.

She wanted to relive the simple days when she just played around, and Rimuru did not wish to deny her that.

Though he would need to send Kenya to Elmesia soon, he had already agreed to allow Elmesia to mentor Kenya, and Felix had offered to take Kenya to Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion so hopefully that would be done soon.

Then Hinata planned on heading back to Ruberious to resume her duties as the leader of the Ten Great Saints, the Head of the Emperor's guards, and the Chief of the Holy Knight Order.

Hinata seriously had a lot on her plate.

He shook his head. He was getting a bit distracted.

Though he did wonder what had taken Felix so long with Luminous.

'Notice. Raphael had detected that Luminous Valentine was sending Felix White half lidded glances towards the end of the meeting. Her gaze also wandered to him on numerous occasions during the meeting. It is likely that she wished to procreate with Felix White.'

He froze stiff for a moment.

That lucky bastard! While he was here, hard at work, Felix was banging a bombshell like Luminous?! 

He wanted to cry tears of blood. Damn harem protagonist!

Life really wasn't fair. Damn handsome bastard.

…

Well, he did have Shuna, and she was great. Maybe he shouldn't complain.

Phew, that was a close one. Knowing her damn intuition, she might have felt a disturbance in the force from that brief moment. Hopefully, that was enough to restore balance.

He focused back on Ramiris. "Felix was sparring with Hinata, according to Veldora." Ramiris informed him. 

That wasn't too odd. Felix had sparred with Hinata pretty often in the past, though calling those spars would be generous since it was mostly Felix slapping Hinata into the ground with minimal effort before telling Hinata where she made mistakes.

Rimuru sure as hell wouldn't want to learn under Felix. His ego would be far too bruised.

He nodded to Ramiris. "Did something go wrong in their spar?" He asked with worry.

Ramiris shook her head as she buzzed around him annoyingly. "No, according to Veldora, they battled it out for 12 or so hours before Veldora sensed something amiss. Felix had released his Aura all of a sudden, and boy is he strong!" 

Rimuru looked at her in confusion. "I don't see what the issue is? Sure, it's a bit weird that he released his Aura, but everyone gets the urge to do that sometimes, even Veldora. Though Felix said he had a fix to that issue." 

He took care of his Aura by just constantly releasing his Aura into his Stomach, he assumed Felix did something similar. 

Ramiris shook her head. "The issue isn't that he released his Aura. It was the after-effects of it. He managed to shake some of the lower Floors, and his Aura managed to leak through to other dimensions due to Felix's alignment with the Space Element, which killed off a lot of the Monsters in The Dungeon."

Rimuru's eyes widened. "He what?!"

Ramiris nodded. "I know, right?! I might need to go beat him up after this!" Ramiris said as she began shadowboxing around him. "I'd do it, but I'm going to be busy fixing up The Dungeon, so it's up to you. Don't worry, I'll be cheering you on!"

"Focus Ramiris. You said that some Monsters in The Dungeon were killed from Felix's Aura?"

He would process the fact that Felix's Aura could affect other Floors that were literal dimensions away.

What the hell is that?! That's not fair!

'Notice. It is estimated that even the Storm Dragon Veldora is incapable of such a thing. Raphael hypothesizes that Felix White's nature being closely aligned with Space has caused his Aura to have certain Spatial effects, which allowed his Aura to creep into the other Floors.'

Well, at least that explained how Felix was able to affect the other Floors.

Ramiris nodded to his question. "Yup! Lots and lots of Monsters. It'll take some time for them to respawn from Veldora's Aura, but on the plus side, some Monsters spawned from Felix's own Aura."

He looked at Ramiris with interest. "Monsters spawned from Felix's Aura? What kinds of Monsters?"

Felix had kids now!? Would he have to make Felix pay child support? Did Tempest even have child support laws? 

Ramiris shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know, I haven't gotten a good look yet, but I was able to tell that most of them had attributes aligning with Space."

Rimuru nodded. That was probably another effect of Felix's Aura.

He sighed. "Well, that's a silver lining, I guess. What about the Adventurers? If Felix's Aura managed to reach other Floors, we should evacuate them just in case."

He'd be giving Felix a good lecture for being so reckless later.

He was running a business out here! He couldn't just have Felix messing that up. But as long as Felix realized his mistake and made sure to be careful in the future, he would forgive him, because that's what friends did. 

"I had everyone in The Dungeon teleported out for their safety. There's no telling what the effects of Felix's Aura would have on those Adventurers' psyche." Ramiris said. 

He nodded. It wasn't uncommon for Humans and Majins to lose themselves when exposed to the power of a being much greater than them. Veldora had said that sometimes some Humans just broke down in front of him in the middle of his rampage, but perhaps that was because they just saw the Storm Dragon destroy everything they knew and loved.

Veldora was not a good cookie back then.

"That's good, but I'm sure they're gonna be pretty upset about that." He mumbled. "Have Beretta go down and make an announcement. We can say that Veldora and Felix were fighting, and the after-effects of their battle had spread to the other Floors, so for everyone's safety, they were evacuated. We can refund them the cost of entering The Dungeon for today and cover the night at their inns for today." 

That would send a good message out to other countries as well. It would go to show that Felix was strong as well, and Felix was a known ally of Tempest. It would also further emphasize Veldora's strength since those Adventurers would be talking. Perhaps it can even scare the Eastern Empire away for a little longer. 

Ramiris nodded. "Got it, Boss." 

Once Ramiris was gone he sighed as he leaned back on his chair. 

'Notice. Would the Master like for Raphael to access the recordings of The Dungeon?'

Ah, right, he could do that.

'Yeah, do that, show me their fight from beginning to end.'

'Affirmative.'

- Treyni -

"Everyone stay calm. We have everything under control." She announced to the Adventurers who were forcefully ejected from The Dungeon.

"Hey, what gives?! I almost managed to defeat those stupid Goblins!" One Adventurer yelled in protest.

All of a sudden, she shivered as she looked back at the portal connecting to The Dungeon. She couldn't feel anything due to the defenses that were built into the portal, but her instinct, which had been honed over centuries, told her that if she went in, she would die.

All of a sudden, Beretta, one of Lady Ramiris' other subordinates, appeared next to her.

"I have been ordered to make an announcement." Beretta said stoically.

All the Adventurers quieted down, each eager to hear an explanation.

"I have received word from Lady Ramiris that Demon Lord Felix was battling the Storm Dragon Veldora."

She heard many gasps from the crowd.

"Was he trying to conquer The Dungeon!?" One Adventurer yelled. 

Beretta ignored him. "It is due to this that you all were forcefully ejected from The Dungeon today, I am sure that some of you on the higher Floors felt it, but even dimensions away, their battle had the possibility of affecting the lower Floors, so for everyone's safety The Dungeon will be closed for the rest of the day. 

Everyone will be offered a refund, and the night will be covered for which every inn you are currently staying at. We will begin working to make sure something like this never occurs again." Beretta informed everyone.

"Hey! That's not fair! What about those of us who were in the middle of a big fight?!" An Adventurer protested.

Beretta turned to the man. He was dressed in some fairly decent armor, Rare Grade according to Treyni's senses, and was equipped with a Unique Grade longsword that had one of Tempest's specialty cores in it. It seems he had gotten rather lucky with his floor loot.

Beretta tilted their head in confusion. "Did you wish to remain in The Dungeon and die to their Aura then? Ordinarily, we shouldn't even need to compensate you as you knew the risks when you entered The Dungeon. We have done this out of good faith and for all of your safety. If you all wish to die, the portal is open behind me." 

No one stepped forward.

"Very well then. We thank you for your patience."

"Hey! Who won the fight?!" Another Adventurer asked.

Beretta paused for a moment before answering. "It was a draw."

And the crowd went wild.

- Rimuru Tempest -

He stared blankly ahead as he watched the stream. Thankfully, he didn't have to spend 12 hours watching it since Raphael could speed it up, and his Thought Acceleration allowed him to keep up.

"Felix and Hinata have really improved, haven't they?" He voiced out.

'Affirmative.' Was it just him, or did Raphael sound worried?

Nah, he was probably just imagining things.

He hadn't really seen Felix fight all that much. In the past they used to spar using pure swordsmanship, but eventually, that stopped.

After watching Felix body Chronoa, he knew he was pretty strong, but seeing how he handled Hinata put it all into perspective.

With the way Hinata was fighting, even he would need to be careful if they ever fought again. Her swordsmanship was almost like a dance, and Felix was keeping up. Not to mention, she somehow managed to bypass Felix's ever-present barrier.

He could do something similar with Uriel, Lord of Vows, as long as Felix wasn't focused on reinforcing his barrier, but that was an Ultimate Skill, and he didn't think Hinata had an Ultimate Skill.

'Affirmative. It is likely that Hinata Sakaguchi developed a new Unique Skill due to her intense desires. Due to her willpower and strength, she was able to make her Unique Skill as effective as an Ultimate Skill in some aspects.'

Hinata pulled a practically suicidal move to bypass Felix's barrier. She had guts, that's for sure, but he already knew that.

He skipped ahead when Felix and Hinata had their little heart to heart. He would respect their privacy.

He skipped ahead to when Felix began releasing his Aura.

'Notice. The EP of the Daemon Felix White has been measured at approximately 70,123,674.'

What the hell, Felix?! The last time that they measured his EP he was way less than that! How did he get such a big power-up?! Did he secretly go have a training arc!?

That was pretty close to Veldora's own EP, which was at 88,000,000!

'Notice. There is a possibility that Felix White traveled to another world, since he returns to the moment after he left there is a possibility that Felix White had left and trained for millennia to reach his current stage.'

Ah, that is a possibility, isn't it?

He continued to watch as Hinata gave her Shonen speech about promising to catch up to Felix before she fell unconscious, with Felix catching her before she hit the ground.

'What was that?'

'Notice. It has been detected that the Human Hinata Sakaguchi is undergoing an evolution.'

'Wasn't she already a Saint.'

'Affirmative. She is evolving into a Divine Human.'

'Just like Chloe?' He asked in surprise. 

'Affirmative.'

Seriously, what was it with everyone but him getting a power-up all of a sudden?!

- Felix -

I appeared behind Hinata, catching her before she hit the ground.

'What's going on, Othinus?!'

'It seems that Hinata is undergoing an evolution.'

My eyes widened. Hinata was a Saint. There was only one other higher evolution, as far as I know.

'Indeed, Hinata Sakaguchi is acquiring Divinity and is evolving into a Divine Human.'

Huh, well, that's something.

'Do you know how that happened?'

'I have my theories. Acquiring Divinity is a fairly mysterious process. You acquired it due to your Harvest Festival. The same can be said for Rimuru Tempest and likely Chloe Aubert as well.'

I always thought that Awakening a Demon Lord Seed and a Hero's Egg would be enough to acquire Divinity so that matches my expectations.

But there is obviously another way to get Divinity, seeing as Middray has Divinity, and now Hinata is undergoing an evolution to acquire it.

'It is possible that acquiring Divinity is similar to reaching enlightenment. When one breaks through some kind of mental barrier in combination with a high level of willpower, it may be possible to evolve into a Divine Nature. Awakening as a True Demon Lord or True Hero shares similar qualities to this.'

Well, that's as good a theory as any.

'Would you like for me to assist Hinata in her evolution?'

'Sure, go for it.'

'Very well, I will begin immediately.'

'How long is she gonna be out?'

'Approximately 24 hours.'

I guess I'll put her to rest then. I picked Hinata up in a princess carry and manipulated Veldora's Floor to go back to normal. I watched as the Floor shifted, reconnecting with its other half.

The first thing I saw was Veldora lazing on one of the couches on his Floor, his gaze immediately snapped to me. "Felix!"

I nodded. "Veldora, I see your spar with Zegion is over."

"Oh yeah, that was over a while ago. But enough about that, what was that?! Why'd you release so much of your Aura?! You almost toppled over my manga! One of the greatest crimes possible!" Veldora asked.

I looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? Even if I split this Floor into two smaller Floors, they were still basically separate dimensions. How the hell did my Aura manage to reach here?"

Veldora shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how it happened, but don't do that again, I don't think my heart could take seeing my precious Goku figures shaking and on the verge of collapse." Veldora said dramatically.

I slowly nodded. "Sure, sorry about that." I apologized. I was at fault here, so it was the least I owed Veldora.

Veldora waved me off. "It's not a big deal, I managed to save my collection before it could collapse. But Rimuru is probably pretty upset with you. Some of your Aura managed to leak to the lower Floors, killing off a ton of the Monsters. All the Adventurers were evacuated just in case."

My eyes widened hearing Veldora.

"Oops?"

Was I that powerful that my Aura could actually pierce through The Dungeon's Dimensions? They were all intricately linked, but still that was pretty hard to believe, at least with my Aura alone. I'm sure I could Hollow Purple through a few Floors if I wanted to, but that was one of my highest output attacks. 

'It may not be as impossible as you believe, Master. Upon running a further analysis, it seems that at some point your Aura gained an intrinsic Spatial property. Your Aura grinds together with Space, creating Spatial disturbances as well as gaps in Space-Time. It was likely that through these gaps that your Aura traveled to the other Floors. I was not aware of this beforehand since you and I always keep your Aura fully restricted in your Infinity Space where phenomena function differently. So I was unable to run a proper analysis on the properties of your Aura. I apologize.'

'Don't worry about it. I should have thought a bit more before releasing my Aura.'

I don't think I've fully released my Aura once since I had my Harvest Festival, so I don't blame Othinus. It's not like she is some omniscient being; she's my partner and everyone makes mistakes. This isn't even really her mistake to begin with, it's mine.

'I will make sure such an incident does not occur again. I had already planned to do a fully detailed analysis of you after evolving into a Manas, but I was focusing on reworking your Skills before that, which I just finished.'

Othinus was right, my Skills did feel a little bit different. Ouroboros' sub-skills cost less Magicules to utilize now and had some more firepower to them. With Satanael it would be much harder for me to go in a berserk state, Beelzebuth's Predation was now much harder to resist, and Brahma's abilities also cost less Magicules to utilize. 

A fairly useful upgrade in my opinion, an overall optimization. 

'Now I will focus on analyzing your full capabilities so you are fully aware of what you are capable of Master.'

'Got it, thanks, Othinus.'

'It is my duty to serve you to the best of my abilities, Master.'

'Hey, we're partners, you don't really owe me anything at this point. I appreciate you still being around and here for me.'

'I would rather be nowhere else.' After Othinus' rather heartwarming comment I focused back on my surroundings. 

"Oops, is right, Mister!" A high-pitched voice scolded me.

I turned around to spot Ramiris buzzing towards me. "It was so much work evacuating everyone from The Dungeon at once" Ramiris complained with a pout.

I rolled my eyes. A chocolate chip cookie that I made using Brahma appeared in front of Ramiris.

She immediately snatched it out of the air. "I suppose this is enough compensation for my troubles." Ramiris responded diplomatically.

"Seriously, Ramiris?!" Another voice complained. I spotted Rimuru entering behind him. Before he could say anything I apologized. "Hey, sorry. I didn't expect to cause such a mess with my Aura."

Rimuru had to basically temporarily shut down The Dungeon which likely won't harm Tempest's profits much at all, but it was still something that shouldn't have happened.

Rimuru sighed. "As long as you're careful in the future, I forgive you. The Adventurers were somewhat appeased, though I had to tell them a bit of a lie." He then looked down at Hinata, who I was still carrying.

A devious smirk appeared on his face. "Heh, I'll save that picture for later. I'm sure it will be fun to tease Hinata with it." He mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "She'll have your head."

Rimuru shivered slightly. "Right, and she's going to be stronger, isn't she? Maybe I'll be more careful." 

I nodded. "Yeah, she's evolving, so she should get quite a bit more powerful." I wasn't surprised Rimuru could tell what had happened to Hinata.

Raphael was no Odin, let alone Othinus, Odin practically cannibalized Raphael, but it was still a very, very good Ultimate Skill.

'That is correct; it is vastly inferior to me, but it is still very capable.' Othinus complimented backhandedly.

I lifted Hinata up slightly. "Anyways, I'm going to put her to rest. Catch you all later."

They all nodded, so I teleported back to my residence in Tempest.

I gently set her down on the bed in one of my guest rooms.

'If you wish for me to maximize the effects of this evolution for Hinata, I suggest granting Hinata a Major Blessing. Since Hinata's entire being is being restructured, I will be able to incorporate the Blessing deep within Hinata's Soul, deeper than normally possible.'

Currently, Hinata has a Minor Blessing of mine since it was transferred from Aether to her. I had planned to give her a Major Blessing, which would give her a massive affinity for Space and a lower affinity for Time in the future.

But if Othinus thinks now is the best time, then I'll do it.

I laid one of my hands on one of Hinata's breasts as it was a direct link to her core, ignoring the pleasant sensation I channeled my power into her. I wasn't going to abuse Hinata's current state to cop a feel so I immediately let go. It only took a moment for the Blessing to latch onto Hinata.

'I will begin getting to work now.'

'Thanks, Othinus. I'm sure Hinata will be thankful as well.'

'I do not care what the vix– I mean what Hinata thinks. I simply believe this was something that would please you.'

'Were you about to call Hinata a vixen?'

'No, it is your imagination.'

I wasn't going to get into this argument, I had enough experience to know where it would go.

As I was leaving the room, I was deep in thought.

I have a feeling Hinata will be quite strong after this evolution of hers. She'll likely be even stronger than Arcueid, Lalatina, and Megumin.

'I have done further analysis on the Art Odin, Lord of Cursed Knowledge, created to remake an individual into a stronger form.'

'And what did you find?'

'I have optimized the ritual, reducing the Soul requirement from 100,000 to 50,000.'

'So Souls are still needed, huh?'

'Yes, I unfortunately could not remove that requirement as the Ego and Spirit of a Soul are necessary.'

Hmm, I'll need to find somewhere to acquire a lot of Souls then since I don't want to go and destroy a Kingdom, even I'm not that bad. 

'I have a suggestion. Guy Crimson owes you a favor, and in the ancient past, had caused the deaths of two Kingdoms. It is likely that he still has all the Souls in his possession.'

Ah, that's right, isn't it? Guy does owe me a favor. 

Well, that's an option then. Maybe I'll ask him about it whenever I see him next.

'I also suggest not using this ritual on all of your subordinates. According to my analysis, only Arcueid, Megumin, and Lalatina can handle the strain of the ritual without their Souls collapsing.'

What?!

'This ritual involves using the Energy from 50,000 Souls to in essence super evolve the target. Not everyone can handle the strain of 50,000 Souls worth of Energy suddenly flowing within their bodies.'

Ah, I see, so one needs a strong vessel to handle this ritual.

'Correct. I do believe that your other subordinates will reach the necessary level to be capable of handling the ritual in the future.'

That's good, then.

I'm sure Arcueid, Megumin, and Lalatina will be happy with the power-up whenever it happens.

___________________________________________________________________

I am highly motivated by your guys' reviews and likes, so do that! I'll probably keep writing or something.

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Author's Note: 

Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon. In this chapter Hinata finally gets her much awaited power up. In canon we don't really know much about Divinity and how one acquires it other than Demon Lord and Hero Awakenings. But we do know it is possible to acquire it since the Seraphim have Divinity, as do some other beings, so I went in my own direction when it came to how one can acquire Divinity. Hopefully you all liked the explanation I gave.

I also hope that I was able to give you all a bit more insight into Hinata's character which is what this chapter was mainly about, well this chapter and the last one. I do want to build up her character a bit after all.

We also get to learn a bit more stuff from Othinus, so that's fun.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed, peace.

Thanks to Valorant Extraordinaire and Overwatch God @Bonvoyage, @Salante, and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.