Chapter 11 - "Things are going to get busy."

Act 1 - Birth of a New Spell

The winter days had passed, and spring was on its way. Trees were starting to regain their luster, and the accumulated snow had begun to melt. Ren, and Karis were doing their usual morning routine near the gazebo, dueling each other after their exercise.

The two of them intensely clashed their wooden swords as they attempt to land a hit on the other. Ren's performance, as expected, was superb, dodging every hits, identifying the feints, and at the same time, looking for openings in Karis' defenses. However Karis, after all the time she spent training, was actually keeping up now with him. Also instead of using one wooden sword, she now had the capacity to wield two at the same time, solidifying her fighting style.

Without magic involved, it would be no stretch to say that Karis had finally caught up with Ren, in fact, she had surpassed him mostly in the speed department but Ren can still defend from her stream of attacks as he was predicting her moves by the subconscious pattern that she was making.

"Hn!" Karis grunted as she swung both of her swords at the same time, parallel to each other. Ren blocked the strike but the impact was so strong that his blade was knocked away from his hand. Karis then made another rotation to swing her blade again, this time, targeting Ren's neck. As the blade was mere inches away from his own neck, Ren made a satisfied smile, but then his eyes widened in surprised.

Ren unconsciously leaned his body forward, intercepting Karis' arms with his left hand, and used his other hand to grab her neck and slam her into the ground.

"Kh!" Karis groaned as she felt her body get driven into the ground.

"..."

"!!!"

"Sorry! Are you alright?" Ren asked after snapping himself back into consciousness, as if he had just awoken from a trance.

"It's fine, I'm alright. I just got surprised," Karis replied.

Ren then let his grasp off of Karis and helped her stand up by offering his hand. As Karis held onto him, she pulled herself back on her feet. He gave another concerned look at her.

"I said I'm fine, no need to look worry."

"I wasn't expecting myself to retaliate like that, I really am sorry," Ren apologized.

"Yeah, I must say that was quite surprising. I could've sworn my blades were about to hit you but then, in an instant, you were in front of me."

"I'm just as surprised as you are. I also saw your attack about to hit me, but then... it suddenly just slowed down. I thought you planned to stop your attack before hitting me, but with the momentum of your swing, you shouldn't have been able to slow down that much."

"Slow down? No, I was always swinging at full force," Karis recalled.

"I thought so. That's why it's strange. I don't recall casting any magic as well since that was against the bout rules," Ren replied while crossing his arms.

"Hey! You two! Are you done?!"

Karis, and Ren turned around to see the source of the voice. Kurumi was jogging along the beach, calling to the two of them as she waved her hand.

"Oh, Kurumi."

"Yeah we just finished."

"Great! Come on now, let's go eat. It's breakfast time."

"You heard her," Karis said.

"Yeah, good work today. Let me just say I'm quite impressed at how far you've come. I'm proud of you Karis," Ren replied as she planted a soft kiss on Karis' forehead.

"Why the forehead?! Down here!" Karis complained before pouting her lips towards Ren.

"I got it, I got it," he replied as he granted her small request.

"I'm here too you know," Kurumi called out as she approached Ren with the same pouted lips to which Ren obliged without hesitation.

"I feel like I'm spoiling you two a bit too much. Oh well, let's go."

The three then began walking towards their home to have their morning meal.

Breakfast had gone by quickly and the members of Ren's households are now doing their own thing. Kurumi, and Karis were helping each other wash the dishes meanwhile Ren was doing some upgrades in his abode. One of the rooms branching out from the main lobby had been carved up, and made as a library, storing all the books that Karis had bought in the past.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Ren was creating himself a workshop complete with random gadgets that he bought from Sahnper. He was yet unfamiliar with the purpose of the gadgets but he still collected them, regardless if they were junk or not.

"Hmm... I really need to get my hands on some copper, otherwise I won't get anywhere," Ren spoke to himself as he morphed the room into his desired shape.

"That's right, I need rubber too, but I doubt this era had found out about it yet. Oh well, I'll just find something similar."

After doing the finishing touches, he polished the texture of the walls of the room, as well as the floors, and the ceiling. He smoothened every area, shaving off any excess uneven spaces, and sweeping them aside in the meantime using wind magic.

In a few minutes, Ren had completed his room, only thing missing is some paintjob on the walls, and some tiling on the floors, both of which he was yet to purchase from the market.

"Ren... you there?" Karis called out while poking her head into the room.

"Ah, there you are."

"What's up?" Ren asked.

"I remember needing to buy some things in Sahnper. Want to come along?"

"Oh, nice timing, I was thinking about going too."

"Hey can I come too?" Kurumi asked as she followed right behind Karis.

"Oh geez it turned into a family shopping after all. Let's go then," Ren agreed.

The girls happily ran towards Ren to give him a hug but then their body suddenly fell forward. It seemed that they weren't expecting the floor height difference between the two rooms and so they recklessly stepped up without looking around. This caused them to trip over the gap, and fell forwards.

"Ah!"

"Kya!"

"Watch out!" Ren exclaimed as he reached out to the two with his arms but his distance was too far away to catch them on their fall.

"Shit!"

As a result of his rushing, Ren stumbled on his own foot and fell down forward as well. He fell on his face flat with a loud thud. Fortunately, the ground he fell on was already smoothened out so he got the best possible outcome. However, something felt strange to him.

He lifted himself off of the ground and noticed that Karis, and Kurumi were nowhere to be found which was strange since they definitely did fall first ahead of him. He turned his sight upwards, and once again, his eyes widened in surprise. He found both of his girls suspended in mid-air, their arms spread open as they try to minimize the damage of the fall, but it didn't come.

Ren stood up and quickly positioned himself so that he would catch them, however they still didn't move. In fact, even their faces are not moving, not even their involuntary actions such as breathing, and their hearts beating as he pressed his hands on their bosom to check.

"What is going on here?" he asked himself as he wrapped his arms around Karis, and Kurumi's waist so that whenever they started to move, their fall wouldn't continue.

"Still no sign of moving... what if I..." Ren closed his eyes and focused hard on the image of a falling apple, after a few seconds, he felt the weight of two people falling on his arms, and crashing onto him.

"Huh?"

"Wha?"

Karis and Kurumi were now able to move, and surprise was painted on their face as they saw Ren catching them with his arms wrapped around their body.

"Gotcha."

Ren was forced to stepped back a bit as the momentum of their fall carried over to him, but he was able to maintain his footing at the very least.

"That was close, glad I caught you," Ren said as he let out a sigh of relief.

"How? I could've sworn you were far away moments ago. How did you get over here so fast?" Karis asked.

"Yeah, that was amazing. I literally blinked and suddenly I'm in your arms," Kurumi added.

Ren gathered his thoughts in his head before he decided to speak. He recalled his training session with Karis wherein the strange phenomenon first occurred, and then compared it to what happened just now. No doubt about it, the details, the stimulus, and the executions were pretty similar.

"Ok, so based on what I observed... I think I now have the power to stop time..." Ren stated.

"Stop time?"

"Yeah, during that training earlier, and catching you right here, it was pretty similar. All I did was think strongly in my mind 'stop' and then everything would freeze," Ren explained.

"That's amazing! Is that an Apocalypse-Tier spell?" Karis asked.

"No, not likely, it's not in the memories of that old man, it's actually a new type of spell that I somehow developed," Ren answered.

"Then, can you do it again? Test it for the final time?" Kurumi suggested.

"Ok... but how?"

"Then try to dodge this!" Karis exclaimed as she jumped towards Ren's head, pouting her lips and clearly aiming for his own.

At that moment, Ren instinctively thought 'stop' and as he expected, Karis stopped midair. She was suspended in a leaping position with her lips puckered out, and her arms wrapped around his head. Ren went and ducked under her wrapped arms, escaping from her grasps. Now Karis was just straight up floating.

"Well that confirms it... now then, what do I do with you..." Ren thought as he stared at the floating demon right in front of him, just then, a devious smile formed on his face as he thought of a small prank to play on her.

Ren grabbed Karis' floating body which felt like as if it were a stone statue. He placed her wrapping arms around Kurumi's head and adjusted the height so that Karis' lips would go straight onto her.

With everything setup perfectly, Ren once again imagined the image of an apple falling, and his master plan went into action. Karis went flying straight onto Kurumi, giving her a nice smooch on the lips.

"Mmph!" Kurumi exclaimed in her muffled voice as she was surprised by Karis' sudden attack.

"Alright, that was a success, that's enough playtime now," Ren said.

"MMPHH!!!" however, it seems like someone had a different idea in mind as Karis kept on kissing Kurumi, even stepping it up as she aggressively invaded her mouth.

"Ohh... yeah... I forgot about that... sorry Kurumi," Ren apologized as he went to grab onto Karis waist and tried to pull her off of Kurumi. The two are now blushing heavily as Karis was unrelenting on her attack. Kurumi's eyes were now spinning, and Karis' was closed as she savored the Goddess Nectar from Kurumi's mouth.

"Pwah!"

Ren was finally able to pull Karis off as Kurumi fell flat on her butt, drool coming out of her mouth. Meanwhile Karis was reaching out for Kurumi, giggling like a drunken old woman.

"Ah, we can't leave like this. Kurumi, you go get ready, I'll fix Karis up before we go," Ren said as he brought Karis' still flailing body upstairs.

"More... I want more smoochy smooch..." Karis said while still in a drunken state.

"Right, right, coming right up."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Act 2 - Emergency Meeting

A couple of minutes had passed, and Ren finally came back down towards the living room, with an ecstatic Karis clinging onto his arms. Kurumi saw them coming and went to fetch them.

"Preparations are complete, we can go to Sahnper now," she said.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You sure took your time huh?"

"I had to satisfy her without tiring myself else I won't have the energy to make this trip."

"You should've just let me join then."

"Then we won't finish till nighttime comes."

As Ren and Kurumi were having their back and forth conversation, they each picked up the bags readied for their small shopping trip although Kurumi had to carry two since Karis was still sticking onto Ren.

"Is the portal ready?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, I already set the target though I haven't activated it yet," Karis responded.

They then went towards the Nexus to depart for their destination. The sun was about to reach its peak so they decided to quicken their pace so they wouldn't reach Sahnper's busiest, and hottest hours.

After reaching the Nexus room, Ren took a look around to doublecheck if everything was in place.

"Come to think of it, have I marked you yet?" Ren asked Kurumi.

Kurumi's face flushed red at Ren's sudden question. She then began panicking as she stumbled on her own words.

"W-wha-? Marked? What's with the sudden question? Of course you did, it felt great too..." she replied shyly.

"Stupid, not that type of mark, this one," Ren raised Karis' palm to show what he meant. On Karis' palm was a small emblem, branded onto her skin.

"What's that? Your family crest or something?" Kurumi asked.

"Close but not really, it's just so that you can activate a portal back home wherever you are," Ren answered.

"How convenient."

"Anyway, come here for a while. Lend me your hand."

At Ren's command, Kurumi stretched her arms out onto Ren. He then repeated the same procedures he did back when he marked Karis. Kurumi made a small yelp of pain as the marking branded itself onto her skin.

"Alright that should be good. Whenever you got lost or separated from us, just aim your palm on a flat, standing surface, and imagine our home. You should be able to make it back here. Also don't forget to deactivate it."

"Deactivate? How?"

"Oh, same thing, although imagine a glass breaking instead. It should work."

After the small delay, Ren finally activated the portal leading them to Sahnper. The three then stepped into the portal, appearing on the capital's outskirts. Ren had wanted to keep his transportation thing a secret but ever since he fetched Midas for the meeting with Galen, he changed his destination to the capital's walls since it was already known anyway.

The three then entered the capital's walls, with the guards allowing them inside without doing anything. Ren was already pretty well-known after beating up Sahnper's hero and its army so they were quite scared of him. Not to mention, Ren cutting off the monarch's arms public execution style.

"By the way..."

Ren looked at Kurumi as she started to say something.

"What were you talking about with the kings back then?" Kurumi asked, referring to the meeting Ren had with the sovereigns of the two nation not too long ago.

"Ah, that... well, it was just a warning call," Ren answered. He then unconsciously set his eyes on Karis who was still clinging to him. Karis, having sensed that Ren was somewhat staring at her, met his eyes in response, but her face twisted into a serious look as she saw Ren's concerned expression.

"What's wrong?" Karis asked.

"Well..."

As they walked along the streets of Sahnper's capital, Ren recalled the conversation with the king in his head, filtering out all the important details that he should share with his family.

"Simply put, the Demon Lord is said to have been active lately," Ren started.

"Really?"

"Yeah, from what the kings told me, it seems like he was eyeing a certain archipelago off the coast of Ironblade. Most likely, they plan to relocate on that island so that they won't get pincered by enemy forces from all sides," Ren explained.

"But they shouldn't be worried about any attacks from Ironblade right? After all, we opened up for them," Kurumi replied.

"They lost a significant enemy to look out for yes, but they also lost more of their fighting force because of my intervention on that one invasion, and most of the demons were satisfied with living amongst the humans. The Demon Lord has such limited manpower on his hands now."

The three found themselves in the middle of a market. The streets aren't yet flooded with people so they can do their business in peace although they lowered the volume of their voices as they approached one of the stalls because of how sensitive their current topic is.

"I see, so he's planning to hide in that archipelago until he's ready for his next move, is that right?"

"No, he's familiar with his next move already. The only problem is, he can't execute it... ah, this is... old man, how much for this?" Ren, while in the middle of explaining, saw an orange crystal and asked the vendor about it.

"Ah, well well, if it isn't the Hero, I see my wares have interested you. As for that copper crystal, that'll be twenty gold a piece," the vendor replied as he rubbed his hands together.

"Twenty gold? Hey, hey, trying to rip me off here are you?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of it! But, that's really the price I can agree with for that rare crystal. I bought that for quite an expensive price since I thought it would be an easy product as a jewelry, but it's too brittle so it ended up sitting in my inventory for far too long."

"These guys are quite unfamiliar with this huh, anyway, I'll take three pieces."

"Yes, yes, pleasure doing business with you," the vendor said as he accepted the payment while Ren grabbed the ores and put it in his bag.

"Hmm... that merchant with the good paint isn't here. Guess I'll have to buy those materials some other time," Ren said as he looked around the city, searching for a certain merchant he was familiar with.

"Anyway, lead the way now Karis, let's get to your shop."

"Right."

The three then proceeded to walk away from the stall. The vendor was quite elated that he finally sold what he thought were profitless materials after a long time. He waved back happily at the three walking away.

"So where was I?" Ren asked.

"Something about the Demon Lord's next move?" Kurumi answered hesitantly.

"Oh right, so yeah as I was saying, he's already decided with that, and that is to capture Karis, and absorb her powers," Ren continued.

"Karis-san?!"

"Yeah, Karis is the twin sister of that Demon Lord, and so their powers are equal to each other. Unfortunately, Karis' powers were sealed away so she really can't make much use of them this time. But she said that it was most likely what he had in mind right now."

"What does this have to do with the island hopping?"

"I bet he's being impatient now. He can't pinpoint Karis' exact location so he couldn't make any moves, and with his power declining, he needed the time to rejuvenate so he's targeting a defenseless island as his new base of operation."

"He's getting impatient because he can't spy on me anymore," Karis suddenly chimed in. Ren, and Kurumi turned their gazes onto her who was still keeping her steps, facing forwards as she explained the situation.

"Back when we were in Warspite, he was still confident of his moves since he was spying on me and therefore familiar with my location and my actions. However, ever since we moved, I haven't had any contact with demons for a long time, and so he doesn't know what am I doing, and where I am now," she explained.

"Hoh, you sensed that too? I knew it, but why didn't you say anything?"

"It won't change anything. The spies can't really do much since they're in hostile territory. If they do anything, the guards will come running. They won't gain much either for spying on me since I wasn't exactly doing anything significant."

"And so, the kings want you to go and defeat him on that island?" Kurumi asked.

"No, it was a word of caution only. The kings are just paranoid that he's making such an active movement but it really won't change much. The Demon Lord is still short-handed. Soon enough, he will suffocate from lack of resources and we will finally claim victory. The warmongering factions will be forced to surrender."

"But... shouldn't you go help the people on the place they're going? You're the Hero aren't you?" Kurumi once again inquired.

"Hell nah, first of all, I don't consider myself a Hero, second, why would I help those scums?"

"Scums? Do you have a grudge against the people on that island?"

"Grudge? Not really, but you should have, after all, they're the ones responsible for the hell you went through," Ren explained.

"You mean they're..."

"Yeah, they're headed to that place where you were summoned, the island of zealots praising the goddess of fertility."

Kurumi felt her body shake as she remembered the terrible things she had went through on that island. All those days that she was treated as livestock came coming back. Her breathe started to go heavy, but before her panic attack could get worse, Ren grabbed her hand.

"Calm down."

"Yeah...thank you... but how did you know it was them?"

"The descriptions simply matched up. It was not that hard to put two and two together."

The three came to a halt as Karis stopped in front of a stall of fresh ingredients. She then went and took a look around, evaluating the various products as Ren and Kurumi continued their conversation.

"But Ren..."

"Hmm?"

"You should go help them."

Ren's eyes grew wide in surprise. He gave Kurumi a glare of disbelief as if he just heard something absurd.

"Are you listening to yourself?" Ren said, slightly raising his voice.

"I know. I know it sounds crazy but, I still want to help them. I am their Hero after all but I'm powerless," Kurumi replied as she looked down.

"You don't have to force yourself into that role. You were summoned in this world without your consent, you have no responsibility or whatsoever against those bastards!"

"But, I still want to help them! Maybe if I were familiar of my position back then, things would've turned out different and I might've acted as their proper savior. But now they will suffer in the hands of the demons. I-I don't want that to happen," Kurumi strongly insisted.

"No, not happening. I will not help those people that sent you here in this dangerous world and made you experience hell!"

"But, it's thanks to them that I finally got to see you again!"

Ren fell silent at Kurumi's final remarks. He felt himself blush a bit after what she just said, but still he put up a face of a steadfast man.

"No means no. I won't do it. End of discussion. You and your damn overly positive attitude, sometimes it's sickening," he said with a disgusted face.

Just as they were finished talking, Karis had came back from her little shopping spree but noticed that the mood between the two had soured.

"Hmm? What happened here?" she said.

"Nothing. Let's go. If you don't have anymore business here, let's go home. I'm feeling sleepy," Ren replied as he silently led the way towards the city gates. Karis, and Kurumi followed right behind.

"What's wrong Kurumi-san? Your eyes look a bit teary," Karis voiced out her concerns.

"It's fine, we just had a little spat," Kurumi replied.

"Would you mind telling me about it?"

"No, really it's fine."

"Oh, ok then, if you say so."

The three then proceeded to head home in silence as they walked through the capital's streets. Not a conversation arose on their way back to the house.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Act 3 - The Demon's Advance

Far on the north-western edge of the central continent, there afloat an armada of wooden boats, crafted from the bark of the trees native to the local area. The boats vary in sizes from small, compact ones, to massive arks. On one of the large ships, the Demon Lord stood at the bridge, surveying all the other boats below him. His magnificent armor glimmered under the sun, casting a large shadow to the boats below him

"Mmm..."

"Milord."

"Speak."

A man appeared out from behind the Demon Lord. He knelt down in his presence before proceeding to speak.

"All preparations for departure are ready. We can set out at your command," the henchman spoke.

"What about 'them' are they in position?" the Demon Lord asked.

"Yes sir, we've placed them at the mast as you've commanded."

"I want to go see them."

"Of course, allow me to lead the way."

The two then made their way towards the center of the deck where the two was lifted up by a platform, bringing the two of them to the highest point of the ship. As they arrived, the Demon Lord's eyes landed on three figures chained at the mast.

They were two men, and one woman, each of them bleeding on different parts of their bodies. The woman was unconscious while the two men looked at him with scorn in their eyes and bloods dripping from their mouth, and head.

"You bastard!" one of the men screamed as he violently flailed his chained body.

"Careful now, you might fall," the Demon Lord mockingly replied.

"I'd rather fall and die here than let my body be used as a trophy by a fiend like you!"

"Oh you'll get your wish, although that comes after I've collected all the heroes and displayed your bodies for all of humanity to see."

"Don't get so full of yourself! At the end of the day, good will always triumph over evil!" the other man exclaimed.

"Still believing that fantasy? You're no children. Victory come for those who were fated to be victorious. It doesn't matter if you're strong, weak, good, or evil. A victor was already decided before the battle begins."

The demon lord brandished his blade and aligned it with the necks of the two men.

"You hero-wannabes weren't even an option as victors, you're just mere pebbles in the road, waiting to be kicked aside by the true players. Look at this girl, she had already accepted that fact and is just waiting for the inevitable to come," he said as he turned his gaze over to the unconscious heroine. He used his free hand and grabbed the girl's chin, raising her face and, inching his own closer over to hers.

"She's still breathing. That's good, don't want her dying before I've completed all of you. Only Sahnper's, and Ironblade's heroes are left."

"You bastard! Get away from her! Don't you dare defile her with that vile body of yours!"

"Hmph, dream on. As if I'll touch a filthy human," the Demon Lord said as he violently slapped the girl with the back of his hand. The girl however, despite receiving a hit that made her cheeks bleed, didn't wake up.

"Tell our troops to sail out," he said to the henchman standing beside him.

"Understood!" the man replied as he jumped off the platform, landing on the mast's body and proceeded to slid down onto the deck below.

"Once we capture that island, we can quietly prepare for our next attack, even if the heroes were to intercept us, with our armada, we'll overwhelm them."

The platform then began to sink, bringing the Demon Lord along with it. He turned his back towards the heroes who he lost his interest on. The two however, kept shouting their curses at him which were only falling onto deaf ears.

As he went down, the Demon Lord recalled his conflict with the three heroes. He remembered their names pretty well as he always asked his opponents about it, as a sign of respect as fellow fighters. First there was the valiant claymore-wielder, Lars who acted as the leader of the three, shouting out orders and coordinating themselves as a team. Then there was Zen, the magic caster who supported Lars with his Mythic-Tier magics, providing cover fire, as well as preventing the lesser demons from joining the fight with his area control. Finally, there was the girl, a mysterious cleric who healed the two from their injuries, however, compared to the two heroes, she had never spoken once. Not even chants to cast her spells.

The three of them fought fiercely, but ultimately lost to the Demon Lord after ten days as they've lost their stamina compared to the Demon Lord who was at full strength the entire time. It was as if the concept of exhaustion was never a thing for him in the first place.

The Demon Lord then landed onto the deck. He left the platform and walked back towards the bridge. As he does so, he felt the ship he's standing on jerked forward. He made his way over to the edge to look below, seeing his entire armada set out to sea. The sea breeze brushed against his face, making his platinum-white hair, and long cape flutter in the wind.

His eyes were glued onto the horizon, towards the direction of the archipelago where they will anchor. As he stares mindlessly, he remembered the words of the trusted seer to which he takes his advice from.

"Only one of you siblings will come out victorious after this fight. Whichever one of you is it, the world will shape according to your will, and the gods' gaze shall fall upon you."

He then sent his gaze towards the direction of the Ironblade's territory. As he does so, he felt the power inside him resonate with his other half in the distance.

"Karis... if, in case I lost this battle and you took my power, will you take my place?"

As he spoke to himself, he felt his power fluctuate, as if responding to him. He then once again focused on the flickering embers of his power, replying to the response that he had received.

Far on the mountains where a certain Hero dwells, Karis was sparring with Ren as per their usual morning routine. She lost her focus for a bit as she felt something within her. She clutched her chest and looked at the northwestern direction.

Ren noticed her sudden strange behavior and lowered his blade to rest.

"What's wrong Karis?" he asked.

"...No, it's nothing... let's continue," Karis replied as she raised her blade for another round of crossing blades with Ren.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Act End - The Island of Zealots

"Ok, that'll do for today."

Karis collapsed on the ground as she finished yet another intense sparring session with Ren. Ever since she had shown great improvement, Ren had been quite brutal on her training sessions. That time where she almost landed a hit was a trigger for Ren to give out a more intense training regime, and actually start trying on their duels.

Ren let Karis rest on the ground as he walked away. He caught sight of Kurumi who was walking towards them. Their eyes met but neither of them said a word, they just simply avoided each other's sights. They passed each other silently, meanwhile Karis noticed that something seemed odd between the two.

"Good work today, would you like something to drink?" Kurumi offered.

"What's going on between you two?" Karis curiously asked.

"What do you mean? I don't see what you're getting at?"

"Ever since we got home yesterday, you two have been acting weird. You're not talking to each other, not even looking. Heck you didn't even join us last night. As I thought, it seems the trip yesterday somehow soured your moods."

"It's fine. Nothing to worry about."

"No it's not fine," Karis insisted.

"Tell me what's going on. I order you as the head wife!" Karis reinforced her request with her position, forcing Kurumi to comply.

However, before she spoke, Kurumi looked behind her to see if Ren was anywhere near them. After confirming that the coast was clear, she hunched over beside Karis and began to speak.

"He got mad at me after I asked him to save the people that summoned me," she said.

"The people that summoned you? Wait how did it come to that?"

"If you haven't heard from our conversation yesterday, the place that the Demon Lord was said to be heading to was where I came from. With that said, it was also those people that gave me hell during those dark times. Nonetheless, I still want them to be saved. I am their Hero after all," Kurumi explained.

Karis sat up from her position, and let out a gentle smile after hearing Kurumi's explanation.

"You're so kind aren't you? Despite what those people did to you, you still think about their well-being. That's pretty commendable. You have my praise," Karis replied.

"Thank you, but, like I said, Ren refuses to grant my request."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of that. He'll be more willing to listen if it's me so leave that up to me," Karis said as she puffed out her chest proudly.

Kurumi was delighted by Karis' offer and went to hug her.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Kurumi let out her gratitude and began smothering Karis' cheeks with soft kisses. She got so excited that she went for her lips, but just before they could make contact, Karis stopped her face with her hand.

"Whoa! Hold it! We might get a repeat of yesterday!" she panickily exclaimed as she struggled to keep Kurumi's face away from hers.

"Oh right, sorry."

Kurumi then let Karis off of her grasp and flashed her a satisfied smile.

"Thank you, really, I can't thank you enough. This means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it, if you want to repay me then go and make up with Ren. I don't want to see my family fighting amongst themselves. I'll keep my promise though, I'll persuade him to go help out."

"No!"

"That was fast!"

After resting up, Karis, along with Kurumi went to see Ren who was at the workshop, painting the room with some of his leftover paints from the library. The two went to make their request, led by Karis but was immediately shot down by Ren without even looking at them to respond.

"Please?"

"No means no."

"Please? Please? Please?"

"No matter how many times you say it, I'm not helping out. Let those bastards handle their problem by themselves."

"Preeeeetty please?" Karis continued despite being bluntly refused by Ren multiple times.

"Uhm, Karis-san, you're not really doing anything to convince him," Kurumi whispered her concerns.

"Fufu, just watch. I'll convince him in no time," Karis whispered back.

After her initial attempt was rejected, Karis moved on to phase two. She went and hugged Ren from behind, leaning her bust on his back as hard as she could. She ran her right hand over to Ren's front, caressing his cheek gently with her fingers. Ren however, didn't even budge from her motions.

"Please Ren," Karis seductively whispered into his ear.

Finally giving in, Ren sighed and dropped his tools on the ground. He gently broke off of Karis' grasps and turned around to face her whilst holding her hands.

"How many times do I have to say no?" he said with quite a calm face this time.

"See? It worked right?" Karis smugged at Kurumi who was watching them from behind.

"What worked?" Kurumi asked.

"First step of trying to convince someone, you get their attention."

After explaining, Karis then turned her head back to Ren. She then put on a serious face, matching Ren's tone.

"Ren, I know it's hard for you to go help those people that you despised, but still you are the only one who can do it. Those people have no one to protect them against my brother's army. They'll be effortlessly slaughtered, and wiped out. Even those who did Kurumi-san no wrong."

"Talking about values to me won't get you anywhere. You know I don't consider myself a hero. I hate what I hate, and I like what I like. Simple as that."

"But still you've always acted like one. Did you forget how many lives you saved? How many people you helped? Do you still strongly deny that you're really a hero."

"I don't want to live by others' expectations anymore, I've had enough of that. Once I start acting like a hero, I will never be able to leave that life. I'll shoulder some heavy responsibilities that I have no interest on till the day I die. If I want to be responsible for anything, then it's only about you two, my family, and our wish to change the world where we both fit in."

Karis interlocked her fingers with Ren, holding onto them tight as she leaned closer.

"Yes, exactly, and I'm forever grateful for you trying to carry all of our burdens by yourself, especially my wish for my race. But that wish will never be carried out as long as our races still fight amongst each other. And the only way to stop this war is by defeating my brother. You know that right?"

"Yeah..."

"And the only one that can defeat my brother, is a hero who defends the lives of his people, no matter who they are."

"I can defeat your brother with my power alone."

"Yes, but he will never allow himself to be defeated by a person with such half-baked attitude. He may die, but his wish will live on, and another Demon Lord shall rise to take my brother's place. Unless you strongly project yourself to him, and his army as a hero that the world can count on, this war will never end."

"What are you trying to say?" Ren asked although his voice seemed a lot softer this time.

"I'm saying if you really want to change this world to what we desire, then you not only have to best my brother's power, but his ideals as well. And the first step to that, is saving those people regardless of who they are," Karis concluded.

After hearing her persuasion, Kurumi stood beside her, and grabbed hold onto Ren's hand as well.

"Please! Ren, save those people. For my peace of mind," she implored.

As two pairs of eyes stared back at him, Ren was forced to reconsider the request. Karis made a good point, none of the demons are going to change if they simply see him as a threat, rather than a guardian that will allow their race to coexist in this world. He closed his eyes, pondering on what he should do. Karis, and Kurumi just stared back at him, anticipating his next words.

After a long pause, he sighed then opened his eyes to look at the two before him before voicing out his decision.

"Fine... you win."

As soon as he said those words, the two girls' face lit up and they pounced on him happily. Giggling as they envelop him in their arms.

"Thank you!" Kurumi exclaimed.

"See? I told you leave it to me," Karis replied.

"Right! Thank you too, Karis-san!"

"I'm becoming a bit too soft aren't I?" Ren mumbled to himself as he received the girls' act of love for him.

"You're the best! Let me kiss you!" Kurumi offered but was once again stopped by Ren this time before her lips could make contact with his.

"Hold that mouth of yours, I don't wanna get drunk this early in the morning. Also, I need to make some preparations for our departing."

Ren then started fixing his things up, taking the tools he was using with him and placing them back to their cabinets. He then grabbed a clean rug from another shelf and proceeded to wipe his hands with it. Karis, and Kurumi merely watched him as he continued walking towards the door, ready to go outside.

"Where are you going Ren?" Karis asked.

"We're going to go fight in an upcoming war. I'm going to need an extra pair of hands, and of course some way of transport to the place," Ren answered.

"Things are going to get busy."