Testing Out

"Hey, kid. How long are you going to stay asleep? We're going to clear this Lockheart without you if you keep this up."

A gruffy, mature voice rang in Dignitas' ears. With a grunt, he shook the author awake.

Opening his eye, Dignitas saw Curie and Bigsby looking at him with worried expressions. His gaze shifted to look at the floor he was previously lying on. It was stained with a dark, purplish blood reminiscent of the famous Poisonous Lake in Tthur.

His mind went blank upon seeing this, recalling a certain passage in The Academy's Regressor where some high ranked heroes were infected by Devil Ashra. Their situation was like his– surrounded by blackish purple blood.

All of the corrupted blood had pooled around his body, giving off a disgusting stench.

"...that's weird. I don't feel any different."

Dignitas expected to be in a more numbed state. Entities corrupted by Devil Ashra weren't in eternal pain; it was for but a few moments. It was only when they lost their more natural feelings did they realize they were demons.

But he felt none of that. Rather, he was much more energized than before. That same stinging sensation had completely left his body, and all that was left was the wetness from his behind because of the blood.

"I don't know what the hell happened to you, but your Lockheart doesn't seem to have been tampered with. Get up, kid. We need to look for your friend." Bigsby said as he offered his hand.

"Thanks," Dignitas replied as he grabbed onto his hand. "How long was I out?"

"We don't know. We came across your unconscious body while looking for John." Curie responded.

"Guess we'll find that out soon. But damn, do I feel dandy. My arm's all light for some reason."

To demonstrate, Dignitas unsheathed Dainsleif, which had mysteriously been placed back in its scabbard. He took a few practice swings.

His conjecture was correct. Each swing from Dainsleif seemed to be filled with vigor, and was much faster and stronger.

"Watch yourself, kid! You almost cut my niece in half."

"Woops, my bad. I feel pretty good, honestly."

"It's okay." Curie nodded in understanding. "What happened before you passed out, Dignitas?"

"Yeah, about that. I came across this really powerful demon, who I guess was the one who took up residence in Makarov's Lockheart. I tried to battle her, but got my behind kicked easily."

There was a larger, more important bit of information that Dignitas purposely neglected mentioning. The demon had dropped a bombshell on his mind, and he didn't feel like burdening the others with it too.

As the three walked around the empty castle corridors, he continued mulling over what the demon had said, painfully unaware that there were two Mentalists beside him who had or could break his Lockheart at any given moment.

"She said something about the Twelve Generals… she can't possibly mean the Twelve Demon Generals, could she. Then… could she be one of them? Or maybe a subordinate?

Amidst all the beast attacks, demon invasions, and wars with other races, there were very few villains that could actually pose a threat to Midania.

Within those select few, one group stood out among the rest. Known for their overpowering strength that could rival even the strongest of heroes, and their affiliation to The Academy's Regressor's final villain, the Demon King, they were aptly named the "Twelve Demon Generals."

Even in Hellscape, the home of the demons, there weren't many evil beings that could stand against them. At the peak of their strength, they were S+ rank, the same rank the strongest acclaimed hero Cendria Macador was.

Cendria had already displayed a rather fantastic display of power when she caused the star explosion back during the invasion, but imagining twelve of them around…

It would certainly make a difficult run, even for John. Thankfully, there were two factors currently in play that kept the Twelve Demon Generals in bay, and prevented them from completely destroying Midania.

Firstly, their personalities. While it was true that they were all part of the same group and were loyal to the Demon King, that didn't mean they liked each other. Amicable relationships were rarely the case between two generals, and that was what kept them from teaming up and invading Midania.

They all possessed one thing in common, however. Their insatiable lust for Devil Ashra. If only one of the generals were to have all the D.V to themselves, how would that fare with the other eleven?

Secondly, and perhaps the most vital part that halted a rampage… they were weak.

It was funny, one would think that being closely related to the Demon King would make you stronger than everyone else.

And that was true to an extent. Each of the Twelve Demon Generals were gifted powers that could match with the Fourteen S Rankers, but had to wait to be able to use them.

"If what Teacher told me was true… then they should still be in the child stage, adolescent at most."

Not being adults yet meant they were somewhere in the A- to A ranks. When combining their power, they would certainly be able to break past the S rank threshold, but that was a situation not likely to happen.

"But as to how long it would take to assimilate their full power… three or four years, give or take."

In the timeline of The Academy's Regressor, the generals managed to awaken all of their strength during the Beast Core arc, which was where the story ended before Dignitas' reincarnation.

A long way away, it was. Still, Dignitas had already learned, through experience, that things could change.

"About time we've got some company. Kid, you up for a fight?"

The once ghost castle had finally decided the people intruding were worth its time. In front of them, monstrous bipedal beasts manifested from the walls. With a loud roar, they threatened to charge.

The beasts could be likened to demonized goblins, at the C- rank. Their skin was of the same color as the blood Dignitas leaked out, indicating they were fully corrupted by the Devil Ashra inside their bodies.

Each one of the goblins in the front held bats fashioned out of some kind of branch. It looked surpisingly sturdy for a weapon made out of wood.

The ones at the back had bows that seemed to have been made out of the same material.

"Do you have to ask, Bigsby? I feel like testing out something new."

With a "heh", Bigsby led the charge to the beasts. A waraxe materialized in his hands, double-sided and menacing.

"You should stay back, Curie. I'll try not to let anything pass me."

"I'll be fine, Dignitas. Please do your best to not get hit. Leave supporting to me."

Nodding to the Mentalist, he charged forward, a newlyfound excitement welling up within him.

The hallways of the castle weren't too narrow, being wide enough to allow five people side by side to stretch their arms out. With this in mind, Dignitas planned his method of attack to take advantage of the battle zone.

Bigsby didn't seem to bother thinking of a plan, though. Laughing wildly to himself, the veteran charged headfirst into the group of demonized goblins, slamming his waraxe onto an unsuspecting victim.

From there, he kicked the other goblins backwards, before bringing the axe behind him for a massive spin.

"Whoa, he's really into it. That waraxe looks heavy as hell."

From the top of the room, Dignitas perched himself on top of a platform created from his Reality Construction. He didn't think it wise to leap into that blood fest filled with carnage, so he focused on attacking the goblins who tried to attack Curie.

"Right… there!" Slashing his sword into the shape of a spike, Dignitas launched multiple consecutive barrages of spikes as fast as he could. The first few bullets pierced the heads of the goblins who weren't paying attention.

Still, they weren't demonized for nothing. Shrugging off the blow to their faces like it was nothing, the goblins who resided in the backlines nocked their arrows and opened fire on Dignitas' platform.

"Hey, no fair." Dignitas yelped as his platform crumbled under the pressure and he fell downwards.

Still, he wasn't one to let himself stay open. Swiftly drawing another platform, he landed on the structure softly, before dropping down to ground level.

"Guess I'll join in on the fun." Dignitas said to himself as he watched Bigsby take out four more goblins with a single swing.

He rushed over to where the action was the most heated. He watched the experienced Bigsby preparing to land an overhead swing. Taking that opportunity, he used the veteran's back as a foothold and leapt into the air, sheathing Dainsleif.

Woosh! The moment he landed, he unsheathed his sword in a flash, uttering the words "Distortion Slash."

His sword swung around him in a cyclonic motion, fiercely cutting through the goblins' bodies like a knife through paper.

The battle wasn't over yet. They had effectively cut down only a quarter of the monsters present. And even now, more of them were pouring out from the walls with no signs of stopping.

"You should find a way to keep the goblins off my back, kid. I'll try to stop the castle from creating more goblins."

"Okay, but how are you planning on doing that?"

"Why," Bigsby's lips flowed into a grin. "By manifesting my Mana Domain, of course."