Level Up!

(Azrael)

"So let me get this straight", I said ,"Your work at the Arena is only a side job, and you're actually a researcher who studies demons?"

"Well, when you put it like that-", said Ginger as he ran up and down the room, attaching some black tubes to a huge capsule filled with blue liquid ,"Yep, that's pretty much it"

I shook my head helplessly at him. We'd been talking for the past half hour or so and apparently Ginger had only been working as a contractor at the Arena to secure some funds for his projects. Well, that was until Lord Bahram had discovered his work a few months ago and after some discussion, decided to support him in secret since technically anyone who was found to be dealing with demons in the empire was to be executed immediately.

Lord Bahram had only agreed to support Ginger because he sought to increase his own military might. And if Ginger could find a way to control demons, he would be unstoppable!

It would have all gone according to plan if Samira hadn't come along and taken over all his resources.

Now, Ginger had a new project to work on-

"Incarnation?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah", said Ginger as he worked ,"It's basically how demons and angels permanently enter the human world"

"How so?" I asked him.

"Look, demons and angels are spiritual beings, each from their own separate realms, right?" Ginger explained ,"However, when either one of the two has to enter the human realm, they have to possess a physical body to exist permanently in this plane-"

"Because the human realm is a physical realm", I finished.

"Exactly!" Ginger nodded with a smile ,"Right now as you are, think of yourself as a lump of condensed mana. You're simply using you're mana to exist and interact with this world. As soon as your mana runs out-"

"I cease to exist" I realized in horror. I wasn't really worried about myself because I had a vast amount of mana. I was more worried about Sam and Abigor.

"Teach me how to incarnate!" I asked as I jumped to my feet.

"Whoa there! Calm down, no need to rush", Ginger raised his hands.

"I have to help my friends as soon as possible!", I persisted.

Sam and Abigor might have already used too much mana from the time we had been summoned. There was no telling when they could disappear!

"Oh, is that what you're worried about?" Ginger asked ,"I already incarnated Mr Abigor and Lady Samira yesterday"

"Really?" I asked feeling relieved but then I frowned ,"Wait, I forgot to ask, how long have I been out for?"

"A whole day", Ginger answered ,"I think I heard Lady Samira saying something about taking your target tomorrow? No idea what she meant though"

'Crap!' I thought, cursing myself for my incompetence. I'd completely forgotten why we were all doing this in the first place.

"Ginger, how do I incarnate?" I repeated my question from earlier.

"Easy", Ginger smiled and raised two fingers ,"There are two ways. For the first, you would need to kill at least 10,000 people then merge and assimilate all their bodies into one powerful vessel for yourself-"

"Sounds messy, boring and tedious", I frowned in disapproval ,"What's the second one?"

"The second method-", said Ginger ,"Would be for you to allow me to adjust and assimilate you to one of my homuncul for your vessel"

"Homuncul?" I asked.

"This-" Ginger pointed at one his tables, where a sort of human shaped doll lay on its back ,"A special doll I designed for demons or angels that they can use to incarnate"

"Is that what you used for Sam and Abigor?" I asked.

He nodded ,"Everything went smoothly and it didn't take too long either. But I've seen you fight before so I made sure to strengthen you homuncul with Adamantite steel"

I smiled and asked ,"Why do you assume I'll pick your doll to incarnate?"

"Call it a hunch", Ginger shrugged ,"You just don't seem like the type who likes unnecessary work"

"Smart boy", I nodded as I stretched a little ,"Alright, let's do this"

"Right!" said Ginger as he jumped up excitedly. He picked up the homuncul and dipped it into the large capsule. Then he walked over to his desk and messed with a few more of his gadgets before the liquid in the capsule began to bubble.

"Now" Ginger looked at me and pointed at the capsule ,"I need you to transform into spirit particles and assimilate yourself with the homuncul"

"I thought you were doing that", I said.

"I'll be calibrating and making sure everything is stable while you create a body suitable for yourself", he explained.

I shrugged ,"If you say so"

With that, I shifted forms. Melting away into little clumps of mana that flew towards the capsule.

"Now, picture the perfect form of your choice and imagine the homuncul taking that form!" I heard Ginger call out to me.

I did just as he instructed and imagined what I wanted the homuncul to look like. I simply imagined me as...well, me! Regular old me, with my slick black hair and violet coloured eyes.

Suddenly, I felt something change. When I had entered the capsule, I felt as if I were floating in thin air. But now I could actually feel water around me.

I opened my eyes and saw Ginger through the blue liquid. It looked like he was shouting something at me but I couldn't hear a thing.

Suddenly, my capsule completely burst apart, the liquid spilling and gushing out onto the floor. Ginger was staring at me with a look of utter shock and amazement.

"What happened?" I asked him ,"Was the capsule not supposed to break? I could help you fix it and we could try again if it didn't work-"

"Didn't work?!" Ginger shouted in horror ,"Oh, it worked alright!"

The door of the lab swung open and two familiar people walked in. One, a boy with dark blue hair and blue eyes wearing a simple blue shirt and leather pants. The other, a girl with snow white hair and crystal-like eyes. She was dressed in a gorgeous white dress with a lovely ruby necklace around her neck.

I recognized them instantly and smiled.

"Hey guys", I waved at them.

"You stupid idiot!", said Abigor with a look of relief ,"It's about time you woke up"

Samira nodded in agreement with a small smile ,"Welcome back"

"Thanks", I said as I stepped down from the destroyed capsule.

"You might wanna get some clothes on though", said Abigor with a cheeky grin.

I looked down and realized I was naked ,"Oh"

"I already had someone send some for when you woke up" Samira grabbed a pile clothes from the foot of the bed where I'd been asleep earlier ,"Here"

I took the clothes and quickly put them on. I now wore a black shirt with leather pants and a leather jacket.

"Much better", I said, nodding my head in satisfaction.

I turned to thank Ginger for his hard work but stopped when I noticed that he hadn't moved at all yet.

He kept staring at the machine in front of him with the same look of shock from earlier.

"Ginger?" Sam also noticed Ginger's strange behavior ,"What's wrong?"

"I guess I shouldn't even be surprised at this point", Ginger laughed a little as he shook his head helplessly. He looked at me and pointed at the small box-like device on the table in front of him ,"This is a machine I use to gauge the mana level of a person"

Ginger then pointed at Samira and Abigor ,"Before I helped them incarnate, each of them had a mana level of a little over 500,000. And after I incarnated them-"

"Our levels doubled...", Abigor finished.

We now realized why Ginger must've been in shock.

"So, what was my level before I incarnated?" I asked.

Ginger's lower lip quivered slightly as he answered ,"A-A little over 1,000,000"

Samira and Abigor's eyes widened in shock.

"You can't be serious...", Samira muttered.

"Then, that means...", said Abigor, looking at me, completely astonished.

I looked at my own hands and clenched my fists. I couldn't help but smile at their reactions.

"My current mana level is over 2,000,000", I chuckled.

•

(OVERVIEW)

After everyone had calmed down, they all moved from Ginger's lab, which happened to be right under Lord Bahram's estate, to the beautiful canopy in the rose garden outside.

Everyone sat around the marble round table, with the exception of Geram and Fey who preferred to stand. Ginger and Azrael sat opposite each other and the same thing for Samira and Abigor. No one said a word even as Geram went around pouring tea for everyone.

"Just when I thought we had finally caught up to you...", said Samira bitterly.

Azrael shrugged ,"Hey, at least you're stronger now"

"I guess so", said Abigor with a sigh ,"But now I doubt there's anyone in this world who could hold a candle to you"

"Never say never. There's a lot more to this world than we could possibly understand. You can never be too sure about anything", said Ginger darkly.

Azrael nodded and leaned forward ,"He's right. Like our mysterious summoner for example. We still don't know anything about her or why she asked us to capture Sirius"

"Right, speaking of Sirius", Samira turned to Geram. Geram nodded and produced a newspaper, tossing it onto the center of the table.

" 'Crown Prince found dead! Murdered by City Lord!' ", Abigor read the title.

"Geram took care of setting up a fake body", Samira explained ,"Fortunately, with his 'sudden and mysterious disappearance', all the City Lords pinned Lord Swardler as the culprit. They had a meeting about it yesterday"

"Hmph, those old fools were willing to believe anything", said Geram ,"I didn't have to do any convincing"

"Wait a minute", Ginger frowned ,"You were at the meeting?"

"Of course, I attended", Geram answered ,"It's part of my duties as a City Lord"

Ginger's eyes widened at that ,"Don't tell me-?"

"Yes, he's Lord Geram Augustus Bahram", Samira confirmed as she took a sip of her tea.

"No way!" Ginger exclaimed in disbelief.

"Great, another bombshell" Abigor rolled his eyes tiredly.

Geram chuckled ,"I guess there's no point keeping my identity hidden from you all"

"I kind of guessed as much already", said Azrael ,"It's just like Samira to take someone with power and influence and make them nothing but her little servant"

"Of course", said Samira with a smile ,"Anyway, moving on. Now that we've attained physical bodies, will we still be bound by our contract with our mysterious summoner?"

"Well, the answer is yes and no", said Ginger ,"You are bound to fulfill a summoner's demands, of course, but as for going home afterwards? Not possible now that you have physical bodies"

"Alright!" said Abigor with a smile ,"Now we just have to finish the job and we're free to do whatever we want!"

Azrael thought for a moment, slowly stirring a spoon in his cup of tea.

"Azrael...?" asked Samira uncertainly.

Azrael looked up from his cup with a strange gleam in his eyes that made Samira's heart sink because she knew that what came next, only meant trouble.

"Change of plans", said Azrael with a wicked grin ,"We're taking that woman down!"