The Meeting (2)

"What is each continent's opinion about the current events?" asked Hugo. The Central Continent could be considered the 'Leader' of the Continents as it has the largest number of people living in it and is the strongest Continent out of the 5. That's why The Ruler of said Continent has higher authority than the other Rulers.

"We will provide however much assistance you need!" replied The Pope.

"You're making a big fuss over things, Ruler of The Central! Our Northern Continent alone can take care of that Demon race!" said a burly-looking man who, from his size alone would be mistaken for some kind of giant. That man was the Ruler of the Southern Continent, Miguel Harden, a somewhat unique 9-circle battle mage, as he can't use magical spells, yet has his physical capabilities make up for it. He can, however, still use techniques that require mana, such as Telepathy, and Astral Projection.

In ancient times, there used to be one Continent, with all races, including the Human race, Elves, and the Magical Beasts living as equals.

On the first invasion of The Demon race. 'The Protectors' of said Continent defeated the Demon Race, yet suffered many casualties, as 'The Protectors' were never seen again and that one large continent was split into 5 smaller continents with the Central Continent being the largest. The Elf race took over the Western Continent, while the Magical Beasts took over the Eastern Continent, and the Human race took over the Northern, Southern, and Central Continents.

After many things drifted, The bond between the three Continents fell. The Central Continent became the place where most of the Human race resides, the Northern Continent where believers of the Goddess reign, and the Southern Continent that were cursed after the split, with the inability to use magic.

Luckily, after many generations of them being weak, their bodies adapted and transformed as they managed to make their bodies so much stronger with mana that they wouldn't shy away from any battle despite not being able to use magic, Thus they called themselves the 'Barbarians'.

"Southern Emperor..." murmured Hugo annoyed by the outrageous statement Miguel just stated. If defeating the Demon race was really easy, the founder of the Sierra Empire would've already done so, 1000 years ago, as well as the fact that the Barbarians were currently invading the Southern shore of the Central Continent, making their relationship sour. [1]

"Don't underestimate them, they are a fearsome race that shouldn't exist! A calamity that could destroy our world!" said a fair-skinned, long, sharp-eared, blond-haired elf, The Western Emperor, Seth Cinna.

The Elf race was a race similar to Humans where they could use mana and magic, different however, how they have really weak physical abilities. They even exceed Humans when it comes to magic, as they are born from the 'World Tree' and have more affinity towards the elements, with some of them possessing three elements at a time. However, their not having the ability to reproduce made their numbers scarce.

"Mhm, You're right, Western Emperor. We shouldn't underestimate them. My Magical Beast race is willing to offer a hand in the upcoming fight! We shall fight to the death to defend our lands" said while nodding, a large beast with very weird features as it seemed like it belonged to multiple animals at once.

The Magical Beast race were all originally normal animals. However, some of them had the opportunity to evolve one day by awakening mana sense just like humans do, as the first step to walking on the path of mages. After awakening mana sense, the animal would have to cultivate until it becomes a 3-circle mage, they then awaken a higher level of intelligence, making them evolve into Magical Beasts.

The process to become a Magical Beast is immensely hard as they have to reach such a level, with no breathing techniques and a lower level of intelligence, meaning they have to rely on pure instincts, a feat no other race can achieve.

"That's good!" said Hugo as he let out a relieved sigh, scared that the others would also get carried away from what the Southern Emperor just said.

"Then just like we planned, we will lead the winners of the tournament to the 'Mystical Waterfall' tomorrow." said The Emperor. They then discussed some more important things for the future battle and then each returned to their original body after the meeting ended.

"Riley" As soon as Hugo let out his name, Riley was found at his door, kneeling.

"How is the journey's preparation towards the Duchy of Nero tomorrow?"

"We're all done, sir! Everything is ready. We will set out tomorrow at dawn,"

"Have you prepared 'that' as well?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, you can leave," said The Emperor as he waved his hand.

'It was past midnight, the sky was dark, and the lonely moon was looking over the earth as a guardian angel. The scenery was beautiful. Although today's night was like any other night, it was somehow special' wrote Austin on his diary as he was admiring the shining moon from his balcony.

"NOOO! HECTOR!" screamed Kyle as he jumped out of bed, covered in tears.

Austin slightly jumped from the scream as he completely forgot that Kyle was still sleeping in his room, with all the events happening.

Austin was busy, and on top of that, he was lost in the moon's beautiful light which made Kyle's case completely slip from his mind.

He carried Kyle from the magical crib to a normal bed after the Emperor left, to ensure his comfort.

"Haa, That kid's still here..." sighed Austin while shaking his head, annoyed from the extra piece of work the Emperor dumped on him.

Austin entered the room and he said while looking at Kyle, "Calm down, kid! Else I'll throw you out of here!"

"EEEK, WHO ARE YOU??" screamed Kyle once again as he saw Austin, deafening him which led to Kyle getting hit by an invisible punch throwing him off the bed, almost knocking him out cold.

"I said Calm Down. Can you not hear me?"

Kyle instantly rose as he sat innocently while saying, "Sorry..." Kyle was still confused and scared from the previous events but he was sure of one thing, and that was that the person in front of him was several times stronger and if he wanted to get away he had to get on his good side, even if that was through lying.

"B-But what happened, Why am I here?" asked Kyle, once again putting on his innocent attitude.

"You can drop the act. As for what happened. Well, that demon poured dark energy into you that should've killed you, yet for some reason the Stokadi element in you is as stable as any other element" Austin was an 8-circle mage so obviously an act by a 3-circle mage wouldn't even be close to tricking him.

Kyle's smile faded away as he remembered everything and realized how close he was to dying. He also remembered killing Hector, which made him have complicated feelings.

"Don't worry, you didn't kill Hector. He was already dead. The moment a demon possesses a human, they die, and the demon only controls the human body through their memories." said Austin in hopes of lifting Kyle's mood. Yet, what he spoke of wasn't the complete truth.

When a demon possesses a human, they become a new species, a 'Demi-Human', so in a way, you could say that the 'Human' is 'dead', or that they 'changed', both of them are true. However, a part of the human is found in the Demi-Human and that is the part that the Demon manipulates so that they control him/her.

So in a way, the original Hector was already dead and the Demon Emperor was merely controlling his body through his memories, habits, and remaining conscious.

[1] : will change Ruler of the Southern Continent --} Southern Emperor, Ruler of the Central Continent --} Central Emperor, and so on.