Chapter 12: Just a Snap

Emilia glanced up and saw the same scene when she entered this enormous chamber for the first time.

The demons were standing on the ceiling, looking down at both Nero and Emilia. Then, they jumped down one by one, and the entire chamber was filled with demons.

Nero and Emilia stood in the center of the chamber— surrounded by demon. Lesser demons, greater demons, higher demons-- there were more than thousands of them.

Emilia gripped Nero tightly and closed her eyes. Nero looked at her with the corner of his eyes, and a slight smile appeared on Nero's face.

Soon, the demons started walking— then, they dashed at Nero and Emilia. Their footsteps and growls echoed in the chamber. As the distance between Nero and the demons decreased, Emilia opened her eyes and peeked.

She regretted it. Her legs gave out as she let go of Nero and fell to her knees with a pale face.

'The same thing will happen again,' Emilia thought.

This was the place and the spot where Emilia was betrayed and stabbed to death by her party members. Now that she was seeing the same scene again, her fear rose even more.

When demons were about two meters away from Nero and Emilia, Emilia closed her eyes and accepted her fate that she was not meant to live. The demons jumped on Nero and Emilia, but as they were about one inch from them, Nero quietly snapped.

Even though the snap was quiet, it rang and echoed in the entire chamber— because the moment Nero snapped, all the thousands of demons were obliterated to nothingness.

The second later, the crystals fell like rain, and the entire chamber was covered with crystals— aside from the center.

One crystal rolled and stopped after bumping on Emilia's leg. She opened her eyes and saw the entire chamber was filled with crysta lwith sign of demons.

Emilia then looked up at Nero and slowly stood up, then fixed her clothes. She then bit her lips and glanced at Nero— who was smirking at her.

"I have never seen an angel like you," He commented.

"It's not my fault that I was scared."

"Oh? Listen, here is the thing," Nero picked up one crystal and said, "What will you get out of being scared? Would it stop? Would anything change?"

Nero waited for an answer, but shrugged his shoulders and continued, "No. So why don't you just try to do something and not waste time?"

Emilia stood beside Nero and muttered, "I will try."

Nero moved the crystal to his mouth and opened his mouth, then gobbled it down.

Emilia's jaw dropped as she tried to stop Nero. "What are you doing?!"

Nero swallowed and burped, "Hmm?"

"Why did you eat it?!"

"Because… I am hungry?"

"That's not something you should eat!"

"Who said that?"

"It's inedible, right?"

"Well.. not really."

"Why are you hungry though? Didn't you drink my blood?"

"I have been sealed here for…" Nero picked up some more crystals. "I don't really know how long, but we will know it once we get out of here."

Emilia gulped down and tugged on Nero's sleeves.

"What?" Nero asked.

"Do you… want to drink more of my blood?"

Nero looked at Emilia with a surprised look on his face and quietly chuckled as he patted Emilia's head.

"It's not your blood anymore," he said.

"Huh?"

"It belongs to me."

Emilia's face flushed as she made a puzzled face.

"The blood in your body is mine."

Emilia's face flushed even more.

"That sounded wrong… Let me rephrase it, " Nero cleared his throat and uttered, " About 75% of your blood in your body is mine."

Emilia looked at Nero with a confused face and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember I fed you my blood when you were unconscious and how you sucked my finger after that?"

Emilia's face was red as blood.

Looking at Emilia's reaction, Nero said with a smirk on his face, "Looks like you do. Now, what do you think happened to that blood?"

"What?"

"Your body absorbed it and sucked all the power from it and then my blood, mixed with yours."

"So the blood flowing in my body is yours?"

"About 75%, yes," he nodded.

"Then you won't drink my blood again?" Emilia asked with an innocent look on her face.

"I don't know. I do want to drink it, but your body is still recovering, and not to mention— when I drink your blood, I will only be able to drink your real blood, not mine."

"Your blood will get filtered, and you will be able to drink only my blood?"

"Yes," Nero nodded and wondered, 'Is it just me, or is she becoming smart now?'

'Must be because of my blood.' Nero praised himself.

Emilia raised her hand and said, "I want to ask a question."

"Stop doing that. You can ask questions anytime, so there is no need to raise your hand."

"What will happen if I lose my remaining blood?"

"You won't lose it. My blood will make sure you don't run out of your blood."

"But what if that happens? What will happen to me?" Emilia asked curiously.

Nero looked at Emilia for a while, and stared at her, then said in a solemn voice, "You will die."

Emilia gulped down and muttered, "Then I won't let you drink my blood."

Nero ate some more crystals and started chewing them, which made cracking noises.

Emilia was worried whether that noise was on the crystals breaking or Nero's teeth cracking.

"Eww, they taste disgusting," Nero spat them out.

"Then stop eating them," Emilia remarked.

Nero looked at the crystal and crushed it with fingers. "These stones… they were made by me."

"Huh?"

"Remember I said I taught humans a technique to store their powers somewhere else?"

Emilia nodded in reply.

"This was what I was talking about."

"But these crystals came from the demons."

"Someone must have filled demonic energies inside them… though, it must be some weak demon— because these fakes were weak."

Emilia was surprised, thinking how Nero could call those demons weak when her party members were having a hard time dealing with them.

"But you said you made these crystals… doesn't that mean…"

"No, no," Nero shook his hand and continued, "I did say that I made these stones, but I am not the only one who can make them."

"I created the tecnique to create stones and taught it to others. Almost anyone can make them— even the humans."

"I just developed a technique to create the stones," Nero added again.

"Can I make them too?"

"You sure can. You just have to focus all your magic on your hand and gather it, then imagine a shape and slowly release your magic," he answered.

"Once you are done with that, just empty your magic from that crystal, then it will become an ordinary crystal with no power in it— and anyone would be able to use it."

As Nero was explaining things to Emilia, one of the hundreds of doors creak-opened, followed by the sudden gust of the wind that carried a stinky smell. It was so awful that even Nero stopped breathing— but, suddenly, his eyes widened as if they were about to pop out from his eye sockets.

Nero slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling his lungs with the smell. Then, he opened his eyes with pure rage on his face.

"Why… why is… why is she here?" he muttered.

Emilia stared at Nero in confusion, and as she was about to ask him what Nero meant, Nero raised his hand and pointed it to the creak-opened door. The creak was so thin that not even a hair could pass.

Small magic circles appeared around the tips of Nero's finger, then another big one around his arm, then one at his palm, one after that— magic circles kept appearing.

There was about a 50-meter distance between Nero and the door, and the entire distance was covered by nothing but hundreds of magic circles of different colors. Then, the small magic circle around Nero's finger disappeared, and all the other magic circles lit up.

Nero then flicked his finger, and the entire path between Nero and the door was razed. There wasn't even a small particle left in the path, and the door was nowhere to be seen.

Nero then looked at the open room, then looked at Emilia with the corner of his eye, and walked into the darkness inside the room.