Chapter 147 - "...Told You..."

"Sssss…"

Fumio fills his lungs with the fresh December air, the satisfaction that should come with it does not arrive however, as he catches a whiff of out of place scents, making him freeze mid-breath.

'God damn it.' He curses internally.

'Damn ritual…' 

He was too focused on his ritual that he failed to catch the presence of potential enemies.

He then infuses his elixir to the atmospheric spiritual energy in his surroundings, and just like radar, senses three crouched figures hiding behind some trees and foliage.

He shakes his head, feeling stupid that he put his guard down against that many potentially hostile actors, two of whom are carrying what he suspects are handguns, based on the shape he can make out of the objects in their hands.

He wonders however why none of the strangers have attacked yet. He can only hope that they are not as hostile as his previous visitors, as he feels he already spilled enough blood for the day.

He is even willing to let go of the two treasure fragments he is sensing from two of the strangers.

He then pulls out a small bottle of white powder of his own concoction from his storage ring, takes out some of it, and scatters it to the air.

With his elixir, he then carries the particles of the powder and sends them to the figures, hoping they will inhale some of it.

A few seconds later, after estimating the time his concoction might be starting taking effect, he casts the basic voice amplification technique on himself and "PLEASE REVEAL YOURSELVES.", calls out to the three figures hiding in a booming voice.

"..." Havvah, Ahdem, and the demon driver exchange glances before deciding to continue staying still.

They hope that they are not the ones being addressed by Fumio, even though in their hearts, they know that they have been exposed.

"How many?" Nishiki asks, alerted by Fumio's words.

Fumio gestures to Nishiki to stand down, to which Nishiki complies, while staying alert. 

Fumio, feeling no movement, sighs.

"COME ON OUT, LADY, GENTLEMEN. LET'S TALK. IF IT MAKES YOU ALL FEEL SAFER, YOU CAN EVEN HAVE YOUR BIG GUNS POINTED AT ME AS WE SPEAK." He demands again.

"..." Havvah and Ahdem exchange nervous glances.

They do not know how Fumio detected them and how he was able to guess that they are carrying firearms.

Fumio's words, despite their assuring intention, also intimidates the two due to how confident Fumio said them.

The demon driver also gets nervous.

After all, even he would be wary of the .46 caliber rounds shot from what are basically hand cannons disguised as revolvers, as they have the potential to kill him in his untransformed state. And yet he does not feel a shred of apprehension from Fumio.

"..." A few more seconds of silent communication between Havvah and Ahdem, they nod to each other in decision.

*Rustle*

*rustle*

They step out of their hiding spot while pointing their guns at Fumio.

The demon driver also transforms into his beetle form and stands in front of the couple for added protection.

"..."

"..."

The two parties stare at each other before, *click* *click* Havvah and Ahdem uncocks their revolvers and holsters them.

With how long they have lived, they can see that Fumio does not have any murderous intentions. They can even see in his eyes some signs of weariness. Weariness brought upon by the weight of guilt; guilt that they have witnessed Fumio tried to soothe earlier.

They can also see that Fumio is very young and very easily seen through. For example, they can see that Fumio hide his appreciation of Havvah's beauty very, very well for his age.

They are confident that they are safe, at least for now.

"You seem to know what led us here." Ahdem breaks the silence.

"I do." Fumio nods while inside, he curses.

Based on Ahdem's fluency in the Japanese language, he figures that if Ahadem had been eavesdropping, which is what most probably happened, then his conversation with Nishiki was not only overheard, but was comprehended well.

"Whatever led you all here, is no longer around." He can only say.

"Young man." Havvah cuts in. "We can't take your word for it."

"My word is the only proof I have." Fumio says stubbornly.

"Let me ask this. The wood chips, do you all know what they are for?" He asks.

"Of course." Ahdem says without much thought. As soon as his words came out of his mouth, he realized something is wrong.

"Do you sacrifice innocent lives with your use of those things?" Fumio asks again.

Ahdem stops himself from answering.

Unfortunately, "Of course not. We are not like the ones buried…" Havvah starts answering.

But as she is about to complete her sentence, she realizes something strange too just like Ahdem did.

"What have you done to us?" She asks in alarm.

"If I let you all go on your way, do you all have intentions of coming back here?" Fumio asks instead of answering.

"It depends…" Ahdem says honestly, and with that answer, he confirms his suspicion.

"Why?" Fumio asks.

"Because we know that you know that whatever led us here, is still somewhere around here." Havvah answers, but the next moment, "Damn it.", she cannot help but curse.

"I think we should trying to lie, my dear. Let's just avoid answering his questions." Ahdem whispers as he gives Fumio an uneasy look.

"You don't have to tell me that." Havvah says bitterly.

The couple all but confirmed that Fumio did something to them that forced them to answer his questions honestly.

"Damn..." Fumio is both surprised and disappointed that the couple realized what is happening almost immediately. He prefers if it the couple are unaware of their honesty.

"Buddy…" Nishiki gets Fumio's attention.

"There's no use in deceiving them." He whispers to Fumio's ear.

"What do you mean?" Fumio asks.

"This couple. Is quite special. They're humans but they seem to be very old. Even older than me. They can see through you easily, including your 'It is no longer here' claim." Nishiki steals a glance at the visitors.

"Damn." Fumio scrunches his brows. He was hoping to convince the couple to leave, but if they stick around, he cannot access the treasure dimension.

"They're even older than that demon knight with them." Nishiki adds.

"..." Fumio is stunned.

The only demon knights he knows are the ones serving Red; Tezguniuth who is at least eight thousand years old, and Rezonad, who is a millennium younger.

"Are you humans?" He then asks Ahdem and Havvah to counter check Nishiki's suspicion.

"Yes." Ahdem and Havvah answer, feeling that revealing such information is helpful to them.

"How are you older than ten thousand years?" Fumio asks to compare their age to Xoz'gekal's, who is eleven thousand years old.

The couple is surprised by the question coming out of nowhere.

Ultimately, they decide to answer with silence.

"…" Fumio then turns his back to the couple to face Nishiki, hiding his stunned expression successfully.

The couple could have denied if the answer was a negative, but them staying silent to avoid telling the truth means that the truth can only be 'yes, they are older than ten millennia'.

This all but confirmed to Fumio that what Nishiki said is most probably true.

"Told you." Nishiki smirks and says softly.

"How is this possible?" Fumio asks.

"I don't know either. I'm just as curious as you are." Nishiki shrugs.

"But, it's strange. If they lived that long, they should be very powerful. But, the concentration of my poison is not even that potent, but it affected them quite easily… They also need guns…" Fumio ponders.

"A mystery." Nishiki nods.

"If it was the others, I would have suggested that we eliminate them too. But these two are different. I think we need to inform boss man about this." He suggests.

"*sigh* alright. But let me deal with it my way for now." Fumio shakes his head as he pulls out another bottle of his concoctions out of his storage ring and uncaps it.

As Fumio and Nishiki exchange words, "Master. He knows too much." the demon driver whispers to Havvah.

"…" Havvah and Ahdem exchange helpless glances.

Fumio to them, while very young, is one of the more mysterious people they have seen in the modern era.

"My name is Mar- Havvah… tsk." Havvah clicks her tongue, failing to lie even to herself.

"My name is Jos- Ahd…em…" Ahdem almost groans, experiencing the same thing.

Then, they see Fumio turn to them once again.

"…" They are confused however.

Fumio does not seem to want to talk to them any further and instead, is waiting. As for what he is waiting for, they have no idea, but it makes them nervous.

The next moment, their visions start spinning and their bodies starting to feel slack. They try to fight the feeling, but they both collapse unconscious shortly.

"… You…" The demon driver is alarmed and suddenly the already car-sized horned rock beetle grows to the size of a small truck. He wants to increase his size further, but the trees around will only limit his movements.

*WHAM*

With his horn, he digs up the ground and sends the soil to Fumio and Nishiki, hoping to blind the two.

He is relieved to see Fumio and Nishiki cover their eyes with their hands, and he summons stone spikes in his mouth and spits them to the two.

The next moment, his stomach sinks. He sees Fumio's arms blur and his spikes are slapped to the side.

Fumio's figure suddenly dashes to the forefront of his vision and he is startled by the cultivator's speed.

He is still quick on his feet however and he thrusts his horn to Fumio.

He is not surprised that Fumio dodged his strike easily. What he did not expect is for Fumio, with two chained chopping motions of the hand, cuts off his biggest horn.

He almost tears up from the pain, and almost passes out from the injury but endures it.

Instead, with his two front legs, armed with sharp serrations and spikes, swings at Fumio. To his frustration, Fumio easily dodged his attack yet again.

He would even be impressed at Fumio for not simply dodging, but doing so in an intentionally narrow margin, if he is not the one in the receiving end.

Before he can continue his chain of attacks, he sees Fumio take a swing at him.

He is too slow to dodge, and he raises his front legs in front of his head.

Through the gaps of his legs, he sees a huge phantom of a clenched fist covers Fumio's hand as it approaches him.

*SHATTER*

*SHATTER*

*WHAM*

He then feels his front legs break into pieces easily before his head is hammered by a huge force he did not expect, or would never expect to come from Fumio's smaller than average frame.

He feels his entire body slide a few meters back before *crack* he feels a huge crack on his head snap into existence, making him scream in pain.

The injury is too much for him to keep his beetle state, and he quickly morphs back into his humanoid form, revealing his broken arms and dented forehead.

Even in his basic form however, he cannot remain standing and he *thud* falls to his knees.

*step*

*step*

His eyes that are on the ground in front of him suddenly see Fumio's feet appear.

He looks up and seeing Fumio's expression, he swallows nervously.

Unlike his master and Ahdem, he notices that Fumio does not seem to have any reservations in ending a demon like him.