Malphasia, Enthraller

The screams of the damned… some would consider them music to their ears. They could also be the most terrifying sound to hear.

As for how Dignitas and John felt towards it… they were clearly leaning towards the latter (if they hadn't already.) Despite the thick, soundproof brick walls that entombed the inner workings of the castle, a few of the louder moans of pain entered the duo's ears.

Devil Ashra was vastly different from Mana, in the sense that the way to obtain them weren't the same. While mana was primarily taken in from the air, Devil Ashra only showed itself wherever there was pain and suffering.

It was essentially a loop. The demons caused destruction, and then from the chaos their main source of energy would arise. When their fuel was running low, the process would be repeated again, ensuing a never ending trend of death and pestilence.

So it wasn't a surprise to Dignitas when he realized that the castle itself was a producer of Devil Ashra. The screams most likely belonged to some unfortunate victims who were dragged into Makarov's Lockheart.

"I can't handle their pleas anymore, Dignitas. We should go save them!" John suddenly piped up, forcing the both of them to stop walking.

"How do you plan on doing that now? We barely have an idea of how to get around this hellhole."

They weren't running on a time limit, so they could stay here for as long as they could resist the harsh environment. But then again, going crazy was definitely a possibility the more one continued to endure.

"We'll just follow the voices! Quick!"

Without thinking, John activated Mana Maxima, before blazing away. The last Dignitas saw of him was when he turned left past a corridor.

"Pff… that guy just can't wait. And I didn't even refuse." He shook his head while sighing. "Guess I'll just follow him."

Shwoom… Dignitas' figure disappeared from its original position, before reappearing a few meters in front. He continued running after John's presence, the traces of Time mana he left being the only thing that kept him from losing the protagonist.

Twists and turns assaulted the eyes and body. Dignitas found himself going left, right, backwards, and in every other direction as he followed John. It was as if the castle had been designed specifically with the goal of tiring out anyone who walked through it physically and mentally.

On a few occasions, Dignitas could feel the screams from the captives gradually getting louder. This gave him hope, thinking he was making progress. It couldn't be farther from the truth.

"You're pissing me off, demon. Come out and show yourself!"

In a fit of rage and anguish, he shouted. His voice echoed throughout the narrow castle hallways, reverberating back twice as loud.

"As you wish."

A voice suddenly replied, but left no time for Dignitas to answer. From within his blind spot, a crystallized stalactite-shaped blood formation shot out from the wall, piercing through his left waist.

Dignitas hurriedly pulled the hardened blood out, feeling the Devil Ashra entering his body.

"Gah!"

The effect was almost instantaneous. Dignitas felt as if he lost complete control over his body. His legs gave in, pushing him to prostrate.

"I don't have the power… to kill you right now, but I can still deliver a message." The voice replied.

"The Twelve Generals are watching this… very… closely. Please do your best to entertain."

With that, the voice disappeared without notice. Dignitas felt the seeping Devil Ashra entering his body slowly start to corrupt him from the inside out. Unlike Baldurai's, this one was much, much more potent.

"I can't die… she said I wouldn't."

Biting his lip so hard that it practically almost fell off, he kept himself silent and tried to withstand the immeasurable pain beginning to circle his veins.

Long were the days gone that Dignitas would faint from this much pain. While it certainly still did hurt, it wasn't so to the point that it would cause death. He just hoped that whoever did that to him was true to their word. That being, he wouldn't die from this.

Sweat constantly poured from his pores, dripping onto the floor. For a faint second, Dignitas could swear there was a blade in his chest, but then it disappeared the next.

Although it did hurt so much that he wanted to die, the pain began to lessen bit by bit. A familiar sensation kicked in, and Dignitas knew at that moment that his oh-so-favorite adrenaline rush had kicked in.

The rush's affect halved the pain instantly, giving him more leeway to gasp and choke out blood.

"Urgak!"

It then occured to him after he spat out blood. What had come out wasn't at all like how blood would look. It wasn't a brighter red than the one he was used to, but was instead darkened.

Simply put… his blood looked as if it had been tainted by darkness. This was the Devil Ashra making its home in his body.

Then, he couldn't handle it anymore and fainted. His convulsing physique continued on for a few minutes, unaware that its owner was unconscious.

***

"Why did you do that, Malphie? What if the human dies?"

Nephilim questioned the timid demon. All twelve of the generals were currently watching footage from one of Malphasia's split consciousnesses. In the footage, they saw her appear in front of Dignitas and

converse for a few seconds. Until… she made the world stab Dignitas.

"He… he won't die. The Devil Ashra will only corrupt his insides." The shy general responded quietly.

"So you're attempting to make him a Thrall? Interesting. But doesn't he seem to be having a different reaction to the others?"

Malphasia was known for having an absurd amount of Thralls. This referred to all the entities she had established control of after corrupting them with her special Devil Ashra.

As she was also a Mentalist, her main way of obtaining Thralls was through making them submit to her will.

"That's… true. His body is rejecting my Devil Ashra even when he is unconscious. This hasn't happened before."

"Perhaps he has a skill that weakens outside influences to his body?" Malphasia continued. "I think… I recall seeing him stabbing himself multiple times through the Academy site."

"You use human technology, Malphie? It's so difficult to get a grasp on. I'm in awe of you."

"No, it's… really nothing. The Academy has a lot of videos on each Student's Profile. I just have to access it."

"Hmm, but still," Nephilim sighed as she stared again at the still-convulsing Dignitas. "Isn't his body handling it a little too well? I mean, this is General-level Devil Ashra we're talking about? To be fair, we're still B+ rank, but the potency of the magic His Highness granted us should be far above the norm."

As one would've guessed, the generals were still on their way to assimilating their full powers.

"I… wonder about that too. Maybe it's a skill. Passive skills exist too."

"Well, good luck on your monitoring, Malphie. I shall be attending to my undead army. Let's meet again when the plan is to be commenced. Oh, and yes. I forgot to tell you."

"I know already…" Malphasia replied. "The target this time has been switched from Curie Mortem, the daughter of Ad Mortem, to Dignitas Qwerdan, the human in front of us. I'm curious… why don't we just kill him now?"

"We could, indeed. But is that really what a demon does?"

"What do you mean?"

"Our nature," Nephilim nodded to herself. "Is to cause destruction. It doesn't mention how or why, but we still do so, because it is necessary for us to live. Devil Ashra is what supplies us our life force."

"And we all know that the stronger the victim, and the darker or more vengeful they are… the Devil Ashra we receive is just that much sweeter."

Nephilim stood up from her seat. As of now, the other ten generals had already left Devil's Tear, and were off doing their own things.

After all, not everyone had evolved into the next stage yet. There was only Nephilim, Malphasia, and Drogath.

"Don't torment the human too long, Malphie. I don't want to taste your Devil Ashra when I bring him back to the castle to feed. I like you a lot, but not to this length."