"... It's better you don't call me Master; I get an itching to kill you," Ryuk finally understood, realizing that Belial's tongue issue, replacing 'M' with 'B', would definitely be a source of his anger.
[ Ah, my host is being hypocritical now— ERROR!]
'Shut up.' Ryuk stopped the System from completing its words, turning toward the way they came from within the ship. He moved out with Esme before leaving his words, "Recover your Demonic energy, change your appearance, and come meet me by tracking Esme's energy signature."
"I understand," Belial replied, already thinking of a way to get back at this human. Not convinced to serve some weak race, but prioritizing this moment, he inquired, "But I can't sense Bistress' energy."
Belial's flaming eyes kept looking at the turning figures, clarifying the reason why he wouldn't be able to join them again once they left.
But seeing both humans first glance at each other, then the man averting his gaze with the woman coming forward, Belial felt confused, causing him to inquire, "Bistress—BANG!"
"Don't give me distress, you fried fish," Esme said with an irritated tone, kicking the demon as hard as she could, instantly sending the whole body several meters away due to a mana-infused kick.
THUD!
"Kughh...?!" Belial's flames finally subdued, with one last glimpse of those two humans etching their memories within its soul to give them the most gruesome death yet. Right now, he could only lose consciousness.
tap tap
The only remaining things within the place were the lying body of the red, black demon and the fading sound of footsteps.
.
.
.
.
.
"So, will he really come?" Esme inquired while holding Ryuk's hand, her eyes turning towards him as she felt a subtle tightening grip in her fingers.
"Yes, he will. And also, why can't he sense your energy signature?" Ryuk asked, glancing at her, noticing her slight flinch as his fingers tightened in her hand, unaware that his thoughts were not romantic in the least.
[Host, there seems to be much more to her ability. Just like yours, she has both active and passive abilities, and only the active one depletes her energy.]
'....' Ryuk, hearing the system's words, loosened his grip and tried to free his fingers from her hand, but it was already too late; her hands reciprocated his initial movement, interlocking her hand with his as they walked closer together.
"My ability's active skill allows me to create illusions at the cost of mana, but my passive ability lets me camouflage my own aura," Esme explained, continuing to walk with their hands intertwined, a small smile adorning her face.
"But why can I sense your energy signature?" Ryuk inquired, aware that he was not influenced by her illusions. As the name suggests, illusions also affect one's brain to believe them, but due to his immunity, he was able to distinguish the difference between them to some extent.
"....Because." Esme halted in her path, causing Ryuk to stop as well. Looking at him, she leaned forward until her face was just an inch away from his due to the height difference, whispering, "I don't want to hide anything from you."
"....You could have said that from afar too," Ryuk whispered back, reciprocating her tone. He observed her gaze fixed elsewhere instead of on his eyes and teasingly added, "Should I start wearing a full-face mask?"
'?!'
"Phew~", Exhaling her breath, woman directly took seat on the king sized bed, folding her legs while taking out an artifact from the dimensional ring wore inside her finger.
swish
thud
With a glow, a crystalline eye patch of black colour instantly came out of that space, directly in her hand, while holding it, the woman's body fallen on the bed, lying on back while looking at the Artifact in her hand.
'...Astral Oculus', Looking at the artifact, identityibg it's name and the way it was going to help her this time, her hand slowly closed it towards her blue eyes, cascading same coloured hair now scattered on the bed.
"Let's see, what are you doing my love~♡", Diana's hand held the patch with both hands before activating it.
SWOOSH!
...
'Huh, where is this place?' Diana asked, looking at the unknown location filled with figures that resembled average humans but with two crystalline horns on each of their heads.
She narrowed her gaze.
Though her body was not present here, her eyes could see and ears could hear everything, as if she were there herself.
Of course, a huge drawback of this artifact was its recovery time of 10 months, meaning after using it once, she could only use it again after 10 months.
This prompted her to use it only for very important tasks. A year ago, it was used to locate Alisia Devereaux, and before that, Dalia Tenebri, who is also the mother of Alia.
"Hey, did you hear that the Flagbearer went to help us get rid of the demonic mist on the back mountains?" One of the men talked about something as he passed through Diana's astral body, which didn't matter much since her ears picked up those words.
'Sigh, aren't you still the same, my love~♡,' Diana placed her gloved finger on her lips, amusedly turning to look towards the group of men, completing her sentence, 'Still helping ungrateful people.'
SWISH
'Whatever, I am here to provide you emotional support though, fufu,' Diana said as the scenery transitioned on its own, without her physically moving.
She arrived directly on the mountain where her eyes reflected a huge tornado banishing instantly before her.
'Hm, a demon of noble lineage,' Diana thought, turning directly towards the huge rubble fallen on the ground, her lips curving into a smile before her eyes shifted to a new scenery just outside the ship's main entry point.
'Finally!' Diana's eyes widened with excitement, finally feeling the rush of emotions while looking at the silhouette emerging from the shadows, even without the presence of any aura or energy signature.
Diana knew he was her beloved.
'Sigh, he is all alone agai—?!' Instantly, her face turned blank, her eyes fixed on another figure emerging behind the young man.
badump
In an instant, a bombardment of thoughts rushed through her mind, her eyes widening, jaws clenched with visible anger surging throughout her very being.
'WHO is she? WHAT is she doing here? No, WHY does she even EXIST to begin with? Is this a DREAM? That GAZE... Who the HELL is she!'