Chapter 82 - Experiment

"Hmmm… experiment sounds like a great idea." 

Red then taps the access card he stole from the guard against the sensor beside the door of the demon's cell.

*buzzer*

To his surprise, the access card was denied and alarms start blaring throughout the facility.

"Oops." Red is taken aback.

"Haha. I was careless." He can only chuckle as he hears footsteps approach his location.

Soon enough, one guard appears in the end of the hallway after climbing a staircase.

Red simply steps aside to prevent the man from accidentally bumping into him.

The invisibility illusion works its charm and the guard simply runs past Red as if he didn't even see Red, before climbing up the stairs leading to the main entrance.

Half a minute later, "Area clear. Not a single soul."

The guard descends as he talks to someone through his in-ear communication device.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I got here in under three seconds after the alarm…"

"Uhuh… Yeah, I checked too. He's on top of the wall, right? Yeah, I saw just saw him."

"Man. I don't know why his access card showed up on the system. System malfunction maybe? You can review the CCTV of the top of the wall and this floor if you have to."

"Yeah. So please, shut it off, it's making my ears ring." 

And with that, "Thank you." the alarms are turned off and the guard jogs back to his previous post.

"Now…" Red then sends his spirit sense to the electronic lock and it immediately swims throughout the electronic security system of the facility.

The next moment, *beep* he manages to unlock the electronic lock while preventing its activity from registering to the system log.

He then inserts his mercury-like spirit energy to the keyhole of the manual lock before snapping it solid.

*click* *clack*

The lock is picked, and the cell door is finally unlocked, but Red does not open it yet as he had detected with his spirit sense scan that there are two security cameras inside the room.

So after simply casting an illusion to the door, he opens it and enters the room confidently.

This awakens the chained-up demon and she looks at direction of the door, only to see no one, or nothing.

Before she can resume her sleep, [Hello, demon] A relatively tall 40 something year old man, wearing a set of nice kimono appears in her vision and at the same time, hears a voice in her head.

She widens her eyes in surprise.

[How are you?] The man's voice rings in her mind once again.

She looks at the security cameras warily.

[Only you can see and hear me.] The man explains to her, confirming that he is communicating to her mentally.

[What are you? An angel?] The demon asks in surprise, in her mind.

The man reminds her of the clean and pure aura that angels have, but at the same time, different.

[I am but a man.] The man humbly replies.

The demon realizes that the man seems to be talking to her without the knowledge of her captors.

She also notices that the man is not talking down to her condescendingly, or warily like how the usual human would. This results to her lowering her apprehension.

[You don't seem like one of them…] She asks the man.

[Because I'm not.] The man responds.

[How long have you been here?] He asks.

[Two months.]

[I see. Interesting. This is the first time I'm meeting a demon of lust.] The man's assumption surprises her.

[If this is the first time you're meeting a demon like me, how did you guess?] She asks.

Red smirks.

Through his leading questions, he has already started reading the demon's surface thoughts and memories.

The first thing that the demon tried to do, out of instinct, was to seduce him. But the unfortunately for her, the rune chains are not only sealing her movements but also her powers.

[I heard from other demons that demons of lust, if their original bodies are killed, almost always possess good-looking humans.] Red explains.

The demon nods at Red's inference.

[How many humans have you killed so far?] Red asks, his question taking the demon aback.

[I-I…] She does not want to answer but she suddenly feels an overwhelming sense of danger from Red.

[I lost count.] She can only answer honestly.

[No. I mean since you woke up from your slumber.] Red asks.

It is obvious to him that she has killed many people during the Great War.

[None.] The demon this time, answers confidently. 

[Heh-heh.] Red suddenly chuckles after reading the demon's plight since its awakening.

[What's so funny?] The demon asks in annoyance.

[I don't know if it's bad luck, or fate playing with you, but… It's amusing. I mean, you just happened to find the perfect host just after a year of waking up, but not even a day later, you got captured.]

Red just found out from the memories of the demon that the original owner of the body, willingly gave up her body to the demon after losing her will to live.

Unfortunately, while the demon was roaming around happily with her new body, she just happened to enter a giant demon warding talisman on some sidewalk, making the folks of Nagano Clan notice her. She was captured shortly after.

[Are you just here to make fun of me?] The demon begrudgingly asks.

[Oh. No, no. Of course not. I'm just here to ask if you want to leave this place.] Red asks.

[Duh…] The demon rolls her eyes.

[But you can't though?] Red smirks.

[I can't. But I know an opportunity will present itself.] The demon says in resolve.

[Okay. Say you escape, then what? These people who captured you can easily trace you again. Don't tell me, you're going to abandon the body that you have now made your own, and look for another one?] Red asks.

[I-…] The demon, while having entertained the thought, is not willing to act on it. She would rather wait for an

[What were you planning on doing with your new body, by the way?] Red asks another leading question.

[I just want to live among humans. That's all. I know it's hard to believe.] The demon responds with a sigh.

[I believe you.] Red nods, feeling the sincerity in her intentions.

[Y-you do? Really?]

[Yes. But so, what? You're going to just continue eating souls.]

[I wont! Besides, I don't need to anymore. This woman was an E Class Superioris. Stronger than I was in my original body. Her soul was enough for me to hit my limit. I just want live in society. It's the most peaceful time and place I've ever witnessed.] The demon explains herself.

[After your body grows old, then what? You find another host to possess and take over?] Red asks.

[I-uh…] The demon hesitates to answer.

Red suddenly pulls out his rune tanto and acts like he is examining its blade.

The demon feels an unprecedented danger coming from the blade.

[Y-Yes… There are plenty of potential hosts out there that no human will miss.]  She answers honestly out of fear.

[I see.] Red stores his tanto back to his storage space.

[Wanna try something with me?] He then asks.

[W-what? Try escaping?] The demon gets hopeful.

[Depends if it succeeds, THEN we can try.] Red offers.

[Okay. What do we do?] The demon is trying her best to hide her excitement.

[Just stay quiet.] Red orders.

Then, he closes his eyes and furthers his spirit sense to reach the demon's soul and at the same time, he accesses his own soul.

With his will, he pulls a very tiny piece of his infinitely large soul and makes a string out of it. He takes the string and slowly guides it to the demon's soul. Right before the string touches the surface of the demon's soul, the demon's soul shakes.

Red immediately retreats his string, knowing what had just happened.

[*Gasp*] The demon at the same time, felt that it just dodged death.

[W-what…] She then looks at Red in fear.

[It's fine.] Red chuckles and returns the string to his soul.

He just found out that his soul is too strong to enslave the demon's weak soul forcefully. And a soul, no matter how weak, would try to fight back any attempts. But if a weak soul forcefully fights a soul of Red's pedigree, it will only dissipate.

Red noticed however that the demon's soul is much stronger than Gin's due to the years that the demon has lived.

'Maybe tricking her could work?'

[How about serving me?] He offers.

[Hah! Serve you?!] The demon guffaws in contempt.

Suddenly,  *vooommm* she feels that her demon specter is getting forced out of her body. She then feels extreme pain as the runes in the chains start to burn her body.

She is about to scream but, [Quiet.], she hears Red's voice and at the same time she gets a choking feeling, stopping her voice from coming out.

Soon, the pulling force on her demon specter disappears, and the runes on the chain also stop their magic.

[W-what are you?] The demon looks at Red in fear.

[Someone you're lucky to serve. And someone who is offering you a way out.]

This shuts the demon up.

[Now. You demons usually convince humans to let welcome you in, and if that don't work, you force your way in, correct?] Red asks.

[T-that's right.]

[I'm doing the same. The only difference is, I'm not trying to possess you. I'm just trying to get you to be my sl*ve.] He explains.

The demon is skeptical.

[That feeling you got earlier, the feeling of dodging death. That was me trying to ensl*ve you.]

[Then why didn't you?]

[If I did, you could have died. Which is a shame. So, if I can't make you my sl*ve, I can only ask you to be a servant.]

The demon at this point is taken aback at why Red is being so civil to her despite his power.

[So, by 'serving' you, what does that mean?] She asks coquettishly as she licks her lips.

[Heheh…] Red is amused by the attempt.

[Anything you're good at… Except for what you're best at.] He smirks.

[You can't possibly… want me to be something like a maidservant?] The demon widens her eyes in realization.

[Yes. Or maybe an errand girl. Whatever you're good at.] Red confirms.

The demon's jaw drops.

Red then pulls out something from his pocket.

[What's this?] He asks as he shows it to her.

The demon obviously knows that it is a demon's core in Red's hand. But as she looks more closely, her eyes widen.

[A demon general.] She utters according to what her gut tells her.

[The famous Ag'dramos's, yes.] Red nods, shocking the demon.

He does another quick scan of the demon's surface thoughts and he finds something he can use.

[Now. I'm pretty sure that a Scamp like you must have served under a Knight-ranked demon at best. But how about serving someone who is a Demon Lord's equivalent?] Red says as he casts his Mr. Fool illusion.

[Y-You…] The demon would run away if she can.

After all, she saw the video of Red killing Agdramos easily.

[What do you say?] Red asks as he transforms back to his Kichirou disguise.

[I-I will serve you…] The demon submits out of fear.

Red then attempts again to put a string of his soul to the demon's. Then, just like earlier, the demon's soul shakes once again, but this time, much much weaker.

'Her soul starts to feel willing' Red nods at the progress. 

[No… You're submitting out of fear.] He retreats from the demon's soul.

[You don't have to be afraid. I killed Ag'dramos because he took too many people's lives.] He assures, making the demon drop her apprehension.

He is lying. If his experimentation does not work, then he would simply kill the demon for her core.

[Now, demon.] He takes the demon's attention back.

[As my servant, you will have some freedoms. I'll give you a salary, accommodation, and vacation days.] He offers.

The demon gets excited, but as she is about to say yes, she realizes something.

[Hohoho… That was close, human. You almost had me. What use is a salary and vacation days if I'm wanted by the clans? Despite your strength, you can't possibly waste it on protecting someone like me.] She scoffs.

[Oh… I forgot.] Red casts an illusion copying the appearance of the demon's body, shocking the demon.

[I can give you a new identity and a new appearance.] He adds another benefit.

The demon at this point, is breathing heavily.

[I-I will serve you…] she finally decides.

[Good.] Red nods as he again attempts to mark the demon's soul.

The demon's soul this time, no longer resists as strongly as before, due to the intentions of its owner.

Soon enough, the thread from Red's soul successfully attaches itself to the demon's. Her soul is now in Red's mercy.

Even so, the demon feels a refreshing sensation wash over her being. It has never felt so good in a very long time.

[Rizretheen at your service, Master.] The demon would bow to Red right now if it can.

Red smirks in satisfaction at his first soul sl*ve in this realm.

His experiment is a resounding success.