Chapter 2 - White Robes and Black Wings

I opened my eyes.

Going from darkness straight back into the light can be quite blinding.

I was standing up right. I tried to move but my body wouldn't listen to me. As I tried to collect my thoughts, I noticed something strange about me. There were orbs floating around me, seven to be exact, I was wearing some sort of armour that felt very heavy, and there was a mask of sorts blocking my peripheral vision, as well as that I was carrying a uniquely designed katana. I realised what had happened.

'Possession'. An ability unique to demon monsters, where they have the power to take over a person's body while stealing all the person's magic power, however, to use this ability the person must be unconscious, with a time limit of 1 hour.

I wondered how I was still conscious even though the Demon King was currently possessing me? I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and tried to observe my surroundings to the best of my ability.

I could see the 'Men in Black', crouched and approaching slowly. They were down to three men. One of their own was sprawled out across the floor with purple veins visible all over him. The World Gauntlet was nowhere to be seen.

Mia was not in my line of sight. Had something happened while I was unconscious?

I began moving on my own, blasting at the 'Men in Black', but at that moment, one of them pulled the World Gauntlet that had been hidden behind his back, and unleashed another magic blast from the power stone, which caused his veins to glow mauve and collapse.

As the purple blast raced closer, the armour on me suddenly disappeared. The Demon King had anticipated the blast. I was smothered in a black cloak, turning my surroundings black, yet just like that, I could see through it. I suddenly appeared in front of the 'Men in Black'. My left arm swiped the Gauntlet from their hands, while my right hand knocked the remaining men out with just a sweeping motion from the katana.

As I tried to process my body's insane movements, I caught a glimpse of Mia.

She was lying motionless on the floor, blood running down her forehead into a pool of red on the floor.

I suddenly gained power over my body again. With the Demon King nowhere to be found, I dropped the Gauntlet and walked to where Mia was.

I checked if she was breathing. She was.

I looked around me, taking notice of a polo shirt just within arms reach. I picked up the dropped shirt and tied it around her head to slow the bleeding, but I could already see she had lost a lot of blood.

Was it my incompetence, for not concentrating or listening, for not being able to think of a plan quick enough. A flurry of emotions engulfed me, and my anger welled up. I was not angry at the men that now laid on the floor, or even the Demon King, but instead at

Unexpectedly, I began walking back to where the Gauntlet was and attempted to pick it up off of the floor. It was probably the after effects of the Demon King's 'Possession'.

The moment I touched it, my vision became an incredible deep sea blue with a tornado instantaneously formed around me, yet dispersing in a matter of seconds. Without a second to collect my thoughts, I watched as the blue sky turned pitch black through the glass ceiling, with a symbol appearing in the sky.

It was a Blue Eye.

Almost as soon as it had appeared, the Blue Eye disappeared.

I was completely stumped when spatial portals materialised around me, and ghostly chains wrapped around my arms and legs, bringing me to my knees.

'Spirit Chains', used by the famous Richard von Bleim, Hero name: ESPER.

The ability allows him to seal the magic powers and abilities of all living creatures.

As the Spirit Chains wrapped around me, another black cloak enveloped me, and I began sprouting demon horns from my head, a tail from behind me, as well as demon wings that emerged from my back. I began feeling under the weather, but then the horns, tail and wings abruptly turned into a black sludge, falling onto the Spirit Chains, which seemed to relieve me of my sudden headache.

Even so, I was still feeling drowsy. As my eyes began to droop, I heard a sizzling sound that was able to keep me awake long enough to realise that the black sludge had melted through the Spirit Chains. As I collapsed to the floor, I heard the footsteps of Heroes, and the White Robes, the private investigations unit of IHO. As the sound of footsteps faded, I saw a demon out of the corner of my eye, with its black wings fully extended.

Then I passed out. Again!

~~~

I was in a dark room, with a flashing lightbulb floating in the air, and a single oak chair. My legs ached, so I decided to sit down in the chair. As I looked around, I saw something move through the shadows. At first, it only seemed like the flashing of the light was affecting my perception of the room, but I slowly realised what it was. The pointy horns, the tail, the wings, it was obvious that it was the Demon King. Slowly, the Demon King revealed itself to me. He was levitating in the air, hunched with his legs crossed, hands rested in his lap, and his wings were completely spread out.

FLASH! FLASH!

The flashing of the lights was deafening.

"My name is Rakuma!" He boomed.

He extended his hand to me, implying I should shake it.

I looked into the void that was the Demon King's eyes.

He had black pupils, surrounded by a red iris, and the iris was in turn surrounded by a dark grey. He didn't seem to be hostile, which I was thankful for.

Instead, he seemed almost tired, as if he had been on a long journey.

FLASH! FLASH!

I replied as respectfully as I could as despite his civil attitude, he was still the Demon King, a monster that could bring a nation to its knees.

"Hi! A pleasure to meet you Rakuma. My name is Samuel Daemon."

As I shook Rakuma's hand, my hand began to glow blue, and his hand glowed red. As the colours merged, a purple flame gripped both of our hands.

"So it is you!"

As the purple flame encircled both of us, he gave me a small smile.

Out of the blue, everything disappeared. The purple flame, Rakuma, the chair and the lightbulb. The endless void swallowed me whole.

His words echoed through my head, and a small light broke through the black void. At that moment, I woke up.

Where was I? My vision was blurry as my eyes hadn't adjusted to the light yet, and I heard voices, was I in a hospital? There was an IV drip next to me so that question was obvious enough. On both sides of my bed there were bedside tables, and the one on my right had a clock meticulously placed on top. The time could be read as 4th March 2314, 7:00PM. A whole day had passed by while I had been unconscious. Directly in front of me was an open door. I watched as some doctors and nurses passed by, patients on crutches and wheelchairs, friends and family coming to visit their loved ones.

"That was a weird dream." I thought aloud.

Suddenly, a woman entered and walked next to my bed with a clipboard, and a presence that commanded my full attention. I could immediately tell who she was.

The White Robes had come to pay me a visit.

"Hello, my name is Rose, and as you can see, I am affiliated with the White Robes, IHO's private investigations unit. We have a few things we'd like to discuss with you."

As I lay there, I realised there was something cold touching both of my legs, as well as my arms, and as I tried to move them, I heard the clink of metal.

It was chains. I struggled against the chains, but it was pointless. I continually struggled against the chains, Rose grabbed my attention using an ability known as 'Thunder Clap', a common, well-known ability originating from electric-type fairies. A single clap can cause loud shock waves, generating up to almost 100,000 volts, which could paralyze the opponent. The amount of electricity discharged is controlled by the user, since my Magic Veil wouldn't be able to absorb all of it.

'Magic Veils' are like an invisible defensive barrier that protects the user before any actual damage is taken to their HP. Thankfully, Rose only released a tenth of the full voltage, which my Magic Veil was able to absorb easily enough.

Normally, magicless people like me who don't have abilities wouldn't have Magic Veils. Luckily for me, my father used a spell from his Grimoire to give me Divine Protection, which basically means he gave me a fraction of his magic to be used as a Magic Veil. The only downside is that if I take damage, I had to restore it by asking my dad to redo the Divine Protection spell.

My father's Grimoire is known as the legendary 'Grimoire of Retribution', since he would only use the power of his Grimoire when facing villains.

'Grimoires' are magic spell books that can be found in the artifact rooms of dungeons. A Grimoire's cover will always have a unique design so it's easy to distinguish them, but when a Grimoire is first found in the dungeons its cover is blank. A Grimoire will choose its owner based on its compatibility with the person, and will thus change its cover permanently to fit the owners personality. When summoning a familiar, a Grimoire is needed to make a contract between the monster and the person, since a contract can only be achieved in the presence of a Grimoire.

"What do you need the chains for?!" I yelled angrily at her.

"It's a precaution," she replied, "The chains are enchanted so you can't accidentally release your powers."

"Powers? What powers!?"

As I've already said, I was born without powers. But this revelation shocked me. Wouldn't I already know about my powers from my parents?

"Don't you worry, all your questions will be answered eventually!" She flicked through the pages on her clipboard when she finally stopped on a page.

"Now, to the first order of business." Rose took a deep breath and began to read.

"You are probably wondering what the status condition of Mia Lockhart Angelica is, am I right in assuming this?" she spoke confidently.

The moment I heard Mia's name I almost leaped out of my bed… right before the chains pulled me back. "Yes!" I told her quickly, "Is she okay?!"

"Thankfully, when we found her she had a shirt tied round her head, which halted the bleeding long enough for the doctors to stop it completely."

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realised that the shirt had been able to save Mia's life, a small payment of what I owed Mia.

Rose flicked through the pages on her clipboard once again. I took the time to observe my surroundings more closely, and I noticed some interesting things as I did. The IV drip was in fact an enchanted liquid known as 'Algaenite' that could suppress any and all magic abilities if inserted directly and correctly into the body, which made me wonder why I, of all people, would need it.

As I looked around the room, my vision went a deep sea blue and a panel suddenly blocked the centre of my eyesight, causing me to instinctively attempt to swat at it. What was this panel? As I looked closer, it showed a model of me on the left side of the panel, as well as my health, strength, defence, stamina, speed, magic power and my level on the right. My health points were at 10,050, which is said to be the equivalent of an Apprentice Grandmaster, which is quite an impressive feat. As I continued to look at what I thought were my stats, I realised they were all very similar to that of an Apprentice Grandmaster, I also saw that my level was 50…

"WAIT WHAT!" I yelled unintentionally.

Rose briefly glanced at me, and I noticed she seemed to look straight at my eyes. She returned her gaze back to her clipboard whilst retorting,

"It seems that not even the chains as well as the Algaenite working in succession can suppress your immense power!" Immense power? What was she talking about? As the panel disappeared, I realised I was still being left completely in the dark about these so-called powers of mine, so I asked again about my powers.

"You keep going on about my powers, what are they?"

She looked up at me. Slowly, she put her clipboard on my bedside table, put her fingers to her mouth and made a short but sharp whistle. Right after that, Rakuma, the Demon King, entered with shackles around his hands and feet with guards following.

"Can I take them off now?'' he moaned. For a monster, and a Demon King at that, it was unexpected of him to have the capability to speak in our language like he had done in my eerie dream. Unlike when I had seen him at Sector 13, Rakuma didn't look like he was 10 feet tall, more like just under 7 feet. It seems that when fear had struck me in the spur of the moment, he appeared to be much taller than he really was.

Rose gave a small nod to the guards who undid the shackles with their keys. As the shackles came off, Rakuma speedily shook his arms and legs, taking his levitating position with his legs crossed and arms in his lap. His wings were nowhere to be seen. The guards exited back through the way they came, closing the door on their way out.

"Hello again, Sam." he said, "As you may remember, I am Rakuma, the Demon King. If you remember, due to my unstable form, I may appear as a shadow silhouette at times, but it won't happen too often." Unstable? And how did he know who I am? Was the dream not a dream? I pondered for a while before he continued.

"I am here to explain to you about your skill, known throughout the Nightmare Realm as the ultimate 'Blue Demon Eye'".

He looked at Rose who gave him a nod, a sign she was giving him the thumbs up to finally explain to me the powers I didn't know I had.

"Blue Demon Eye?" I replied confused.

"As you can see in front of you, most demons only have red eyes. However, once every century there is a demon born with the Blue Demon Eye, but it seems for the first time, a human has inherited the ability instead."

"Huh, but what's so special about the ability though?

"I'm getting to that part," Rakuma said calmly, while adjusting himself in the air. "Unlike a normal red demon eye, the Blue Demon Eye is an 'Ultimate Skill'."

'Skills', in basic terms, are powers that incorporate multiple abilities at once, forming one skill. Upon beginning a battle, skills can be activated, which means all the abilities the skill encompasses will be active, but they can also be manually activated outside of battles too. Skills can also have the multiple different powers that reside within them activate at once, saving the trouble of having to activate each ability separately as well.

There are different types of skills, ranked from lowest to highest. They are:

3. Skill - A regular skill that incorporates multiple abilities at once.

2. Special Skill - A skill that has adapted and tailored the abilities to the users tastes.

3. Ultimate Skill - A skill that has powerful abilities residing in them. The abilities are at their maximum evolutions, and are more magic consuming but more powerful. Ultimate skills have not only adapted to the users taste, but has also taken their strengths and weaknesses into account to cover for what the user lacks.

Rakuma continued his explanation. "The Blue Demon Eye, in your world, originates from Point ZERO, or as your people like to call it, 'The Lexwell Dungeon'. This means that the Blue Demon Eye uses 'Pure Magic', which you know is quite more potent than monster magic, aka 'Impure Magic'. Through this power, all of your abilities, as well as the peoples around you, can be mutated, which enhances their power. This ability is called 'Corruption'. As well as that, you can see detailed stats of any person you focus on, which is called 'Discernment'."

"You can also use its 'Destruction' ability, which surrounds the target in an impenetrable demonic magic circle. Then a dimensional portal to the Nightmare Realms magic source will appear instantaneously in the sky, taking the form of an outline of a Blue Eye, thus sending a blast of the purest demonic energy at the target trapped in the circle. This will deal a lot of damage to the opponent, whilst also temporarily disabling all 5 of their senses if successful!"

I noticed that Rose was also writing things on her clipboard as he was explaining my abilities. It seemed that even the White Robes didn't know much about my abilities as well.

"Another way your opponent can have all 5 of their senses temporarily shut down is if they look you straight in to your eyes when they're activated! This ability is called 'World Warp'."

Activated, does that mean my eyes change when I've activated my ability, just like other eye-based abilities? I'll have to check it out later when I use 'Blue Demon Eye'. Wait! What would happen if I accidentally looked one of my friends in the eyes with my ability activated? That wouldn't be very pleasant for them.

"Don't worry though, the person will only lose their senses if that's what you want to happen. Allies will not be affected by your ability. Just remember not to use this ability too much or shut down too many senses at a time. Two at a time should be the maximum if you don't want to affect your own senses!"

Creepy! It was like he could read my mind. Forget being the Demon King, he's like some sort of psychic. With that aside, I mentally noted the warning Rakuma had gave me.

"'World Warp' can also effect the opponents senses in different ways, depending on how creatively the user can use this power." Rakuma added.

"The final ability of the Blue Demon Eye is an ability feared by the monsters of the Nightmare Realm, called 'ZONE'. This uses up every last drop of magic power, and in exchange, you enter what athletes formally call the Zone, where all focus and attention is directed to the opponent, cutting off all outside communication, while changing your abilities to uniquely fit the user and tripling that abilities power. However, the amount of power generated is dependent on your remaining magic. As well as that, this power can only be used for 10 minutes in total, but if used too often in succession, you will die."

Rakuma spoke bluntly.

Death. A word that could instantly strike fear into those who have yet to experience what the word entails. When I was younger, I had spent most of my time with my grandpa because of my mother and fathers jobs as a hero and adventurer. When he had died due to old age and I realised that he was gone for good, it was an experience I would never forget.

I'd never been interested in my mum and dad's job, but my grandpa showed me how cool it could be, fuelling my interests for heroes in particular. That interest is why I devoted myself to learning all about heroes, adventurers, villains and monsters, as well as their abilities, despite lacking in them.

Now that I had one, my fantasies could become reality: Becoming a powerful hero!

I'm sure that my grandpa would be happy if he could see me as one, even if it was only from beyond the grave.

"I recommend not using any of the abilities I just mentioned except for 'Discernment' and 'World Warp', as your body isn't up to the challenge of using such powerful abilities Doing so will result in immense damage to you physically, which could lead to internal bleeding for example. Remember to heed my warning!"

Another self-explanatory warning. It was quite annoying that I had a skill and abilities but I can't even use them because of my physical state, which means that I need to get strong enough to handle the damage the abilities could cause me.

"Now if you have any questions, please ask now!" Rakuma spoke like a teacher, irritating me just a bit.

I thought carefully about everything I'd just been told, and came to a conclusion on what my question would be. The Nightmare Realm. Rakuma had been speaking about the Nightmare Realm the entire time, but I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"Then tell me, what is the Nightmare Realm?" I asked curiously.

Rakuma began to stroke an imaginary beard whilst appearing to be deep in thought.

"It seems they have yet to tell you," he mumbled. "It seems I have to assist in explaining the Nightmare Realm in their stead!"

"Don't take too long, I'm on a tight schedule you know." Rose tapped her watch.

"Alright, I'll be as fast as I can!" Rakuma swiftly replied. "All right, back to business. The Nightmare Realm, a world inhabited by monsters and monsters alone. The Nightmare Realm is divided into the seven main nations, which you probably know as the Demons, Demi-Gods, Fairies, Goblins, Beastmen, Dragons and Half-Humans, as well as variations of those seven races."

"The Nightmare Realm may be mostly a wasteland with medieval settlements, but it is inhabited by strong magic, which is why monsters have magic as well. We have been observing humans for a long time through the Eye of Hades, a mystical artefact that all seven races possess. While we have been observing you, monsters have grown to despise you humans as well as your arrogance. Around 4 centuries ago, monsters began teleporting here. We don't know how we are able to get to this world, and those who do travel to this world are most likely picked by random."

"Most monsters have always been uncontrollably blood-thirsty, which have caused many wars in the Nightmare Realm, and paired with the hatred of humans, monsters have felt great animosity towards your kind on arrival. Personally, I do not like to indulge myself in wars and petty things such as killing humans."

"Thank god for that!" I thought to myself.

Briskly, I queried, "Then can I ask who were the men attacking you?"

Rose interrupted. "Since you know this much already, there's no harm in telling you."

"Tell me what?" I asked inquisitively.

"'InSight', an organization of unknown origins plan to use the Key Stones to take over as the world's true leader. They had been after the one that Rakuma, as the Demon King of the Demon Nation, possessed."

"Wait! Rakuma has a Key Stone?!"

"Correct" Rakuma blurted. "To be specific, I'm currently in possession of the powerful 'Space Stone', which resides in one of my abilities, 'Akuma Mask'. Apparently, the White Robes higher ups believe that InSight planned on extracting the stone from me. Fortunately, I was able to stop them, with your help of course!" Rakuma gave me a quick nod.

Rose continued, "We were also able to retrieve the World Gauntlet they were carrying, but it seems that their Key Stones weren't in the gauntlet."

"Hold up! The last time I checked, the 'Power Stone' and the 'Mind Stone' were in the World Gauntlet!" I frustratingly shouted.

Rose looked at Rakuma, with an expression that indicated she wanted him to tell me.

Rakuma started speaking in a serious tone, like when he had spoken in my head.

"Well Sam, before I came to your world, I had been searching for a successor to become the next World Guardian, a title given to those who protect the Key Stones of the seven nations. The stones come from a God, who had given it to us over 100 centuries ago. Roughly three centuries ago, all six of the remaining guardians were teleported to your world, but because of an unknown reason, when they got there the Soul Stone malfunctioned, trapping their souls inside all six stones, including itself."

"After an onslaught of attacks from the Fairies, I was named the new Demon King around 2 centuries ago, after our last one was killed. I found out about the situation with the World Guardians from my advisors and began the search for their successors. Whilst I was on my search 40 years ago, I was taken to your world. I was teleported to dungeon 13A, where I was able to locate and secure the Space Stone. I absorbed the stone, thus merging it with one of my abilities I have that's called 'Akuma Mask*'. Until about yesterday, I had to try to survive in the dungeon while trying to find a way out, but then I finally did, and one thing led to another which brings us to our present situation."

(*'Akuma' is Japanese for 'Demon')

"The condition to becoming a guardian was whether you had the rare ability called the 'Blue Demon Eye', only then could you become one."

As his words sank in, I slowly realised what this meant for me.

"You don't mean…" I stuttered.

"That's right. Samuel Daemon, you have met the criteria of becoming a World Guardian. I, the Demon King Rakuma Devilishta II, will now bestow upon you your official title, as the 'Last World Guardian'".