Aghanim's Rubick Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Susuru was painfully unimaginative, I found myself thinking. Still, there is a sort of dry humour in having such a modern name for our country in such a feudal world.

Indeed, the United Jura Confederation is a name that would probably mean next to nothing to the type of persons that lived in a reality of Kingdoms and Empires, but nonetheless when Susuru explained that the denizens of the forest would be allowed self-government so long as they do not break our laws in our territory or act hostile towards us, the name he decided on made sense.

I was allowed to name the City which would be our new nation's capital, something I gave significant thought. I eventually decided to use a name from Dota that spoke to my situation. Claszureme.

It was a place in the scant lore of the game that existed out of both Time and Space, infinitely far away from the actual world upon which Dota took was set. The idea resonated strongly with me, seeing as how I was outside of time and space, infinitely far away from most of what I knew in my past life.

The Monsters that called me their leader didn’t understand the name, but they found a liking to how it sounded. So the name was accepted with much enthusiasm. Though, to be fair, they likely would have accepted any name I suggested with equal delight.

Speaking of the Monsters that were my subject, the reaction to our Army returning victorious was rather tense. The ones left behind in the defence of the city were glad to see us return, of course, but the question about the unexplained slumber that the entirety of the populace experienced hung in the air like a visible pallor, permeating every aspect of the ceremony welcoming us home.

Hanako had greeted us with a hug for her brother and surprisingly enough, myself. After our kiss, I knew she was interested, but public displays of affection were not something I would expect from her.

I still hadn’t really decided on how to deal with her interest in me. Could this body even have sex? I had the correct parts, but the instincts, the biological imperative was simply no present.

Something for later consideration.

Right now, we had been welcomed back by Shingen, who had received word from Hattori about our victory over the Orcs. A feast was to be held for our victory, or at least that was the cover story. I don’t know why they bothered with the pretence, the intense, curious gaze of the citizens on our back spoke to the fact that almost everyone knew what would be happening. That being Susuru, Shingen, Lanaya, Oda, Hanako, Lucifer and I retiring to my private study followed closely by Teryni, to interrogate her as to the reason for our entire populace passing out at the same time.

To her credit, she knew we suspected her of having a hand in it. The Dryads responded too quickly, too cleanly, arriving in time to make sure that the captive orcs were fed and guarded while at the same time moving to protect Claszureme. It spoke to familiarity with what happened, due to them being aware that the torpor would last for exactly three days.

I leaned back in the lavish chair, that now annoyingly felt like a throne. I sighed, more out of habit than any actual need to breathe, but at least the mental effect of the action made me feel better.

Marginally.

“I am going to avoid paperwork at all possible cost.” I spoke out aloud, to some scattered laughs, “Just so you are all aware.”

“That is fine, Lord Rubick.” Shingen bowed, “Leave the paperwork, identification and permits and other repetitive tasks to myself and Susuru. We will provide you with detailed reports to keep you informed of the situation, but I would be loath to pull you away from your important research.”

Over Susuru’s protests, I nodded to the changed Oni, examining anew how the monsters under me had shifted so rapidly. It was almost like they had gone through a second Naming. I had not heard about anything like this, but then again I was only in this world for a short time.

The thing that caught my attention, however, was that the changes were not uniform. Shingen had shifted from his stern, older appearance with sharp, aggressive horns, to a younger, driven looking man. If I was pressed to place his age as a Human, I would guess early to mid-thirties. A vast improvement from the almost fifty years he looked previously. However, rather than the rejuvenating effects of whatever had happened, what drew my attention was his horns. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Shingen had two small nubs for horns now, making him look almost completely human at first glance. In contrast, Hanako…

I looked towards the Oni Princess, Who had the exact opposite happen. Her horns had grown larger, but if I was not looking for it or had such precise eyesight, I might not have noticed the difference. The other change, however, was less easily missed. That being the two other pairs that had grown from her scalp, forming a pattern of bone upon her head that somewhat resembled a crown.

She shifted slightly uncomfortable at my attention, causing me to smile gently at her, “You look good, Hanako.”

“Thank you, Lord Rubick.” She smiled timidly back.

“Lord Rubick! Lord Rubick!” Lanaya bounced into my view, “What about me?!”

Lanaya, who sported a single horn, had also had some growth in that area. The Horn itself was not significantly gibber, but it had become bladed. The weapon sprouting from Lanaya’s head looked sharp and lethal, a perfect tool for goring.

I wonder if this will make her fighting style even more berserk.

That was besides the point however, as all her growth focused on one particular area. Or should I say a pair of areas.

Lanaya’s breasts, which were already large, had gone up a full cup size or two from before the sleep. It would be something that did not bear mentioning, of course, were it not for her complete aversion to wearing any form of bra or chest binding. Therefore, when she moved so quickly into my line of sight, her newly grown assets stopped moving a considerable amount of time after the rest of her.

Seeing my gaze drawn to the motion, she grinned smugly and crossed her arms under the distracting sights, “Oho, it seems that I don’t need your answer after all…”

“You damn handsome!” Susuru seethed under his breath.

A laugh filled the room, the sound somehow bringing with it the scent of wildflowers.

“I am happy to see that the new Protector of this forest is so relaxed with his subordinates.” Treyni smiled, eyes twinkling, “Although there was no doubt about the power, some of my sisters were still apprehensive about your temperament. I am glad that they are proving to be wrong.”

“Glad to hear I am doing something right.” I huffed in amusement, “It’s mostly been me making it up as I go along. However, speaking of your sisters… You know what happened to us when I defeated the Orc Lord, don’t you?”

“Indeed. It is a sacred secret that was entrusted to us by our mistress, to not be shared with outsiders.” Trey sighed, “However, I believe withholding the information from you at this point will do more harm than the knowledge itself. Especially considering you cannot use it again.”

I nodded, tapping my desk rhythmically in thought, “I see, so it’s a one time thing then? That’s reassuring. If we could be incapacitated like that for three days unpredictably again, it would not end well.”

Treyni’s expression showed remorse at that, “I apologise, Lord Rubick. I would have warned you had I known you possessed a Demon Lord Seed. However, I did not believe you could have formed one so quickly after being incarnated.”

The name of the object she mentioned tickled something in the back of my mind, “Demon Lord Seed? I heard the Voice of the World say I acquired that after killing the Orc Lord. Are you saying that is what caused this to occur?”

Lucifer, who had been content with merely observing from behind the left side of my chair spoke up at that, “The Orc Lord Possessed a Demon Lord Seed, you say? Most curious. It is unlikely that a creature of its power would have formed one naturally.”

Treyni nodded, “Indeed, the main requirements for forming one is condensed magical strength and time. That is why I believed you were not at risk of Awakening.”

“Awakening?” Susuru asked, “Is that what the name for that Harvest Festival thing we went through is?”

“Yes it is.” Lucifer replied, “Once a sufficient number of souls is gathered by someone who possesses a Demon Lord Seed, they undergo Awakening into a True Demon Lord via a Harvest Festival.”

“I killed the Orc Lord and obtained its seed after I destroyed the army though.” I pointed out.

Susuru tilted his head, as if listening to something. I was able to react fast enough to catch the movement, the only other one who seemed to pick on it being Lucifer, who narrowed her eyes at the slime.

“Hmm, could the barrier that you erected prevented the Souls from dissipating? Then they could have still been present on the field when you obtained the seed.” Susuru theorized.

Or rather, his analytical Skill theorized for him. I haven’t called him out on it yet and now is not the venue to do so, but I really had to take him aside soon and ensure he wasn’t leaning on that skill like a crutch.

“It depends on the type of barrier utilized.” Lucifer responded after a few heartbeats, “My Lord?”

“I erected a barrier that rejects passage through it, of both magical and physical phenomena.” I explained the technique, the sealing spell I came up with by combining my insight from both Susuru’s Stomach and the Infinity Prison, “It essentially defines two areas as different zones. Nothing can pass from one zone to the other while the Barrier has enough power to reject it.”

“If it rejects both Physical and Magical passage, then that is likely what allowed you to Awaken, Lord Rubick.” Treyni spoke after considering the matter, “Once again, I would like to apologise for this oversight. It seems I am only bringing trouble to your doorstep.”

To be honest, It seemed like there was no way for the Dryads to predict this, so I was not angry at her at all for the lapse. Besides, it seems that with the Orc Lord possessing a Demon Lord Seed, despite not having the time to form one naturally, there was possibly some unknown player at hand here. With that in mind, until I came to a deeper understanding of everything and everyone involved, making enemies and building grudges that were not necessary seemed unwise.

“There are worse things in life than to be troubled by a beautiful woman.” I joked, before feeling a sudden icy chill on the left side of my back, as well as a similar frostiness from Hanako and Lanaya.

“It just comes naturally to you, doesn’t it?” Susuru marvelled, an undercurrent of jealousy lacing his words.

Treyni laughed musically at my comment, “Oh my, how bold. Very well then, Lord Rubick, I will put it out of my mind. Thank you for your graciousness.”

The Dryad bowed, obviously enjoying the compliment and the reactions it garnered.

The glaring at the tree spirit was interrupted by Oda raising a hand, “I am unversed in the intricacies of Souls and the higher aspects of Magic, but I f I am understanding everything correctly… Does this mean that Lord Rubick is a Demon Lord now?”

With the sound of my head hitting the desk, I realised that he was absolutely correct. I could just feel the annoyances that would crop up because of this.

---ARARAR---

“What the fuck am I looking at here?” My voice didn’t travel far, considering where I currently was, but that was fine. This plane appeared to be entirely uninhabited after all.

I had finally managed to acquire some time to myself, which I immediately put to use attempting to figure out why space seemed so weird to me now. The lack of a need for sleep was once again proving its utility.

After some tinkering and testing, it seemed that I had acquired a Skill that granted me dominion over space, or at least a specific… area? Dimension? Plane? One of those anyway. Using the instincts that had been distracting me as I walked, I gradually slipped into this other layer of reality, an endless black Void that stretched in all directions. After taking a couple of steps and looking around, I attempted to go back to the world I came from, finding it just as easy as when I left.

However, when I did so, I found that I had travelled all the way to the edges of Claszureme, a far distance from where I had started in my Lab. Frowning, I turned around entirely and slipped into the Void again, taking a single step before leaving once more. Instead of finding myself deeper into the city, however, I instead found myself surrounded by trees.

Taking flight, I surveyed to land below me before I found my target. The city was several kilometres away, in the distance. From a single step, It appeared I had travelled more than a couple dozen kilometres in an instant.

However, that brought up an annoyance. I had taken four or five steps before, and only travelled just over a kilo. So it appeared that the distance travelled did not equate at all in between planes.

That means that my first priority was to find a way to determine where I was exiting from the Void. A problem, it turns out, because the whole reason I wanted to go there was to find someone.

Veldora.

I could feel his Magic in the Void, suffusing the area, absolutely radiating power. However, the distance he was from my entrances was considerable, about five to six kilos. Translating that from what I learned with just a few meters of travel, I would be lucky to arrive in the Ocean if I tried to find him. If I was unlucky, I might even be ejected into space.

…Would that even kill me, as I am now? That’s a rather terrifying thing to consider.

So with some experimentation, I figured out a way to leave ‘Anchors’ that I could sense even in the Void as a way to tell me where to return to. The answer, after a lot of trial and error, was actually rather primitive.

I could use myself. See, my body was merely a construct of Magic that I formed around my Core, so if I cut a piece of myself off and prevented it from dispersing, I could sense that part of me even when I was in the Void. After some cautious experimentation, I found out that so long as I was relatively near the Anchor when I came back, I would always arrive at the same place, near where the anchor was.

Don’t ask me why, I wanted to find out too.

Still, with the way back secure I flew off to find a Dragon. What I found however, was not what I expected at all.

The Infinite Seal that held Veldora had shrunk, to meet the size of what it contained. What it held within it’s contents, however, was not a massive or even a small Dragon, but instead an orb.

A pulsating, shimmering orb, flaring with colours that tasted of rainbows and thrumming with the smell of Ionized air. It was emitting so much magic that senses that I used Magic to approximate were going absolutely haywire trying to parse the thing.

The one that mattered however, the Skill that let me analyse and understand so much more that I should when it came to the mysteries of this world… Well, what it was telling me had me salivating.

I never considered it. The thought didn’t even cross my mind. Why would it? Magic in itself was not an element, after all. However, looking at what the Orb in front of me represented, what it was doing with the mass of power that used to be a True Dragon, I realised my folly.

For you see, the Orb wasn’t an Egg. Nor a Spell, nor a bomb.

No, the ball of pulsating power was a reactor.

A fusion reactor.

And it proved something that had the potential to be cataclysmic.

Magic could be used to power a fusion reaction.