Chapter 12

A massacre that's what Mahel was faced with, among the dust lying on the ground was Elisabhet, bruises covered her body, her hair was matted and, from what she perceived, she had practically run out of Mana.

It had been a tough workout, today, they had secluded themselves in a dusty clearing near the mountains that surrounded Dorst, they had stayed there for two days they had eaten little had done it to test endurance, then had made her cast lots of spells

-Elisabhet was fainted on the ground, exhausted from hunger-

Mahel who didn't want an innocent death on the list, so woke her up with a snap of his fingers, woke her up, and before he could say or do anything he stuffed a loaf of bread in his mouth, then handed him a flask of water-

A couple of complaints, and a few grunts, were thanks-

while Elisabhet ate, Muninn with a rustle of feathers alighted by the fire and spoke

- I have been watching you since yesterday and I was surprised how long it lasted, although compared to you it is nothing-

-mmmh? - Elisabhet said as he swallowed-how long did Mahel last? -

-Well if you lasted for two hours, he lasted for two days-

-Two days? but what are you, a beast? -

-Tsk ...- Mahel said while taking a cigarette- Take this potion- and threw her a vial with a black liquid

Elisabhet took it and drank it all in one gulp, it tasted like smoked cod, but strangely an immense energy pervaded it.

-This energy will last about fifteen minutes, go to the inn and rest, -

-I understand ...- and as soon as I said this he jumped up and with an unthinkable speed ran towards the city, closely followed by Muninn under the order of Mahel

-With the cigarette in his mouth Mahel tasted the silence, a silence that he had not tasted for two weeks, to be exact since he had killed that noble, yes that noble plus his guard, but what name was the guard, he remembered having it faced but must have been weak, usually remembered everything dug into his mind, looking for the name of the guard-

Peter, no, Jon, no, maybe Edward, yes it was Edward but what surname did he have? Edward von Ainz, the surname caught him off guard, it was natural to pronounce it and he understood how Elisabhet's father had died, he had killed him in cold blood, the sense of guilt did not assail him that death was necessary, the cigarette went out thanks to the breath of the wind.

-You managed to find me Milin, congratulations-

-Yes- said Milinn's honeyed voice- it was easy I found the traces you left-

- Already the note you left on Elisabhet's bed and Dorst's counterfeit coin, so I put two and two together and realized where you were headed.

- Ah so it was fake, I didn't know - in a very false tone - instead the ticket was directed to Elisabhet, but then I decided to take it with me-

-Oh I was hoping it wasn't true, you're really numb-

-As you want, but today I'm not watching with you-

-But how ... so ... then ... I'll have to come- and he began to whisper a spell

-You are hiding the area-

-True, wait a second-

A couple of seconds later a transparent bubble, which served both to conceal the area and to deter visitors, then as soon as the spell was over, Milin slowly took off his clothes

-Tsk ... what a nuisance, I see you missed me-

-Yes, - and sat down on Mahel's lap- now, however, let me do everything please

Two hours later Milin was lying on the ground with her cloak, panting like a bellows, and was completely naked under the cloak, while Mahel was not even panting.

-Satisfied Milin? -

-Chee yes, it was better than last time-

-Well now go my crow is coming-

-Your crow? - a moment later Milin tied his cloak around his body, - Why does your raven have this Mana? Very strange-

-Dress up meet my crow-

Five minutes later when Milin got dressed and deactivated the barrier, while a few seconds later Muninn landed in front of Mahel

-Hello Mahel how are you? ... oh hello miss-

-The crow talks ... The crow talks ... okay ... what's your name? Crow-

-Oh, so she doesn't know me either, well, very pleased I am Muninn, the divine memory-

-What the fuck! is he Muninn? I say Muninn, the raven of universal memory, how, what, when-

-Yes, I was lucky-

-Lucky, I have been trying for five years of my fucking life to summon him, now I only have a first level archdemon, while you, you have summoned one of the five divine animals, mostly the second, -

-Yes ... very lucky-

-But go fuck yourself-

-So you have a first level archdemon, would you please introduce him to me, I haven't talked to demons in a long time-

-Of course my lord but it will take some time, he can't keep a physical shape, by the way how can he keep your physical shape? -

-You see, it's quite easy: I am in theory slowly contaminating the body of this crow, this is the body of a normal crow and I am taking possession of his body by erasing his consciousness, in a few days I will be completely inside his body and I will be able to change it without changing its shape -

- Particular, this method is very particular, similar to parasitization, but since you made a pact with Mahel will he have these powers? -

-He? He is far ahead of this little trick, of course he could do it by becoming theoretically immortal, theoretically, and yet with a multiple consciousness, much more than now-

-I understand, well now it doesn't matter, now as you asked me I'll summon Alastor-

-Alastor? The second strongest demon in hell, congratulations, we know that it is more difficult to evoke him than to evoke Lucifer, the first demon, we know that it is enough to do that particular ritual to evoke it, the ritual of the fallen angel-

Milin did not answer, he raised his left hand, from his index finger a gray light blinded everyone, as soon as the light went out and in front of them a tall cloaked figure looked at them, looked at them all and paused to look at Mahel and Muginn, then at the suddenly bowed before the crow, a hoarse, slightly scratched voice said

-My sir, I did not know you were here, excuse me-

-I see you haven't lost your manners, take off your Alastor cloak, I want to look you in the face-

Two leather-gloved hands took the cloak and with a snap he took it off, a Male demon with short blood red hair, impassive black eyes scanned the group, the face was sharp, the teeth were like those of an animal, he was dressed in heavy armor, a long sword was on his left hip and finally behind him a pair of black colored bat wings and a long thin tail were being stretched

-I see you haven't changed one iota Alastor, how did this girl summon you? -

-I think she tried to summon her, my lord, and eventually she gave up and made a deal with me-

Meanwhile, Mahel had been quiet smoking a cigarette, but after these talks he was irritated, so with a snap of his fingers he called attention to him, put out his cigarette on the ground and began to speak

- Yes now thanks for meeting the beautiful little family now shut up, you are really irritating me-

He did not even have time to speak, that Alastor dashed towards Mahel drawing his sword, Mahel in turn drew the daggers and parried the sword

-Ignoble Human, how dare you turn to the lord of memory, how dare-

-I summoned it, so in theory I'm the one with the most power here-

- Surrender Alastor - Muninn said, with an amused look - you wouldn't be able to beat him even in a hundred years-

And without warning Mahel, he let out his Mana, a huge tsunami of Mana invaded the area, Alastor winced, not for the abnormal amount of Mana of that kind, that mana scared him, the second demon of the underworld, even the Mana of Lucifer did not scare him, but this Mana ... humans could not perceive it because they were not made at least in part of Mana, they only manipulated it, but if they could perceive it they would have heard that boy's Mana scream, the cry of a person calling for help, or perhaps thousands could not understand, it was disturbing, it was hideous no Mana had to be like this, it was unnatural, it was a repugnant, inhuman thing, a human could not have it but not even a demon could.

-What are you? - he asked Mahel

-N'scik no suostor- "I am human" in the language of demons, the language of liars, the language of traitors, a language as ancient as the world, a language born in the very moment of the fall of Lucifer, a language that humans they dared not speak, Alastor was still impressed when Muninn spoke

-You heard it too, right Alastor? That Mana, I have never felt a Mana like that either-

- Sure my lord- and bowed with enormous respect- But my lord what is he? He's certainly not human-

-This is obvious, but I can't tell you much Alastor, I can only tell you one thing if he allows me- and Mahel said this, he made a gesture of confirmation- he is not born human, but human will become, he is ash, feather and shadow, he is a thousand but he is also one-

The Demon first did not understand the arcane words of the divine crow, but then he understood and a primordial fear paralyzed him, he was about to speak when a cold gaze equal only to that of Lucifer warned him not to speak, he winced but shut up, instead Milin looked looking at the now high sun, and with a shot worthy only of a hawk, he began to dress

-I see that you are here illegally Milin and you have to be able to get back to the capital, probably in five or ten minutes, you have to teleport, well see you-

-You always know too much Mahel, and you are not even a gentleman- and while she was talking she was finished dressing- well thanks for today- and with a couple of words, a blue light surrounded her, her body began to break down into hundreds of small glowing spheres, which eventually flew away, Alastor also disappeared, greeting Muninn respectfully.

-Now you can free Mahel, I'll try to hold you back, -

Mahel ceddette and her mind broke her conscience shattered into a thousand different pieces, her knees gave out, and she found herself on her knees, she didn't have to free herself she didn't have to free them, all those screams. A cry broke the silence of the clearing, the cry came from both Mahel and his conscience, which eventually rejoined in his mind, except for a piece that he began to whisper along with the other pieces that remained during his life, different pieces between them who quarreled with each other and never agreed

- Come on boy you don't have to give him other parts of your mind, it took you eight years to put that mind together, don't let it destroy-

Nothing to do, another piece of Mahel was separated from his mind, a laugh as cold as death came out of Mahel's mouth, a laugh without heat, madness typical of a broken mind, but the laugh stopped immediately and with an inhuman effort Mahel he regained control of his body and mind, at least in part.

The sun was already setting when Mael returned to the inn room, Elisabhet turned around ready to welcome him, when she saw his face

-Hello Mahel finally .... what- Mahel's face was dirty, the look was without the hint of life, she was limping but the thing that frightened her was the right eye the pupil was red the retina was normal the capillaries they weren't black, so that power was still under control

-Mahel what happened? -

He fell face down, Elisabhet interpreted it as an answer, Elisabhet had undergone intensive training from mahel so, although with great difficulty, he took him on his back and dared him on the bed, snapped his fingers in front of his eyes, which did not react, was still in a very confused state, so both because he smelled and because maybe he could wake him up, he went to the bathroom and turned on the hot water of the tub, took him again by weight and brought him to the tub, took off his cloak, armor, boots, shirt and weapons went no further, too red and embarrassed to continue, dipped him in the tub.

-Okay now relax and ...

-Mahel began to fidget, wriggling and cursing in the language of elves, they were ravings but then, slowly he became lucid and returned to normal strangely and disturbingly calm

-Saying a single thing:

-How disgusting that I do- and kissed Elisabhet