One Step Closer

"Hahaha," Diamesca laughed with a lack of energy. "I can't believe I'm dying against the first human I've seen in decades."

"How does it feel to die to a cockroach?" I asked him.

"Feels rather bad. Hey, human. Can I ask you one thing?"

"Go ahead."

I watched him contemplate whether or not to ask me the question that was on his mind before finally, he asked, "What's your name?"

"What's my name?"

"Yes. Before I enter eternal limbo, I'd love to know the name of the human who's ended my story short," explained Diamesca.

As I was unwrapping the bandage from Gon, I looked at this demon that now looked small despite still being ninety feet tall.

"I am Bell Agnus," I answered him. "But... I am also Asher Lee."

His face was now a skull without the capability of expressing emotions facially and yet, I could see his "eyebrows" raise.

"Ah. That is why your soul looked so complicated and rich. Two souls sharing a singular body. I've never seen this before other than..."

He stopped before finishing his sentence.

"Other than what?" I asked him.

Silence.

"No. Don't tell me this goddamn cliche is happening right now," I muttered in disbelief.

I waited a few seconds to see if Diamesca had another breath in him but after a while, I understood that the demon was gone, his soul banished to eternal limbo.

Looking up at the ceiling, I asked out loud, "Was that your doing?"

"Whatever do you mean?" asked the shitty god.

"I knew you were watching me," I clicked my tongue. "Was that you pulling off this goddamn cliche?"

"Don't accuse me of something I had no control over. After I brought you into this world, I haven't done anything and I'm letting everything unravel itself on its own."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"You swear?"

"I'm a god. I don't swear."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. The more I spoke to this shitty god that was punishing me for being a brutally honest reader, the more I wanted to be blasphemous.

As a demon summoned from Hell, Diamesca's body began to slowly turn into this black ash but not before I was able to stab Gon deep inside, soaking in demon blood.

Not only that but this ominous purple aura began to escape from the corpse and head toward my direction. I understood what it was and although it wasn't anything good, I didn't run away because it was necessary for my future plans.

However, even if I did want to run away, this aura would chase me down till the end of time until it completely injected itself into my body.

As I continued to let Gon soak in the blood of Diamesca, my arms began to glow with this gentle white glow in the same pattern that the juices of the flower had followed when I made the oath.

After the light turned off, I could sense internally that I had acquired about fifty usages of the code.

It sounds like a lot but with fifteen codes on my body, that was barely over three usages for each of them if I were to divide it equally.

However, it wasn't a little either because if I wanted to, I could spam fifty of the same code over and over without worrying about fatigue.

"Thank you Diamesca for this gift," I chuckled.

With no more flesh and blood for Gon to rest in, the first thing I did as the black ashes began settling in the room was stepping into the middle of the pile and pick up this little purple orb around the size of my thumb.

If human's mana coursed through their veins by the same heart that pumped the blood, demons were different in that their mana was produced in a separate core.

Grabbing this metallic box in my backpack, I opened it, revealing the warrior elixir.

Undressing, leaving only the pair of shorts I had on underneath, I also checked for something on my body.

"Not on my legs, not my arms, not my torso either... is it on my back?"

Using the reflection of the box, I was able to partially see this curse mark in the middle of my spine.

This was why defeating demons wasn't so simple. Every one of them has its unique curse that latches onto whoever slays them.

These curses all have their own negative effects and the reason why I chose Diamesca as the first enemy to slay was precisely for his curse.

Sitting back down in a lotus position, I tossed the mana core into my mouth and swallowed it without hesitation.

Suddenly, this heat began to grow in my stomach.

It started as an uncomfortable heat that made me want to swallow an entire jug of ice, then it turned unbearable, and finally, it reached a point where if I wasn't aware of its effects, I would've assumed that my stomach was melting.

Humans weren't meant to consume the mana core of a demon because the energy in it was far too corrupted and carnally powerful for them to handle.

I, rather Bell, wasn't excluded from this rule as well. However, because of the warrior elixir in my hand, made it possible.

This was a secret that wasn't revealed until the fifth volume of the novel.

That's why I was so excited when Cyro gifted me this elixir. It was a strange coincidence that this was his gift when I was about to hunt a demon in a few days.

Well, this was the world of a novel so what do you expect?

'More,' I told myself, clenching my teeth.

Soon, I was going to be consumed by the mana core but I had a feeling that I'd be able to time it perfectly in order to maximize my gains so I held back from drinking the elixir.

'Almost there!'

My body began to feel as if I was soaked in lava.

'A little longer!'

I wanted to scream in pain but I needed to keep my concentration despite the excruciating pain; I needed to keep track of when I was approaching the point of losing myself to the core.

'Little longer! A little longer! Come on... now!'

I opened my mouth and drank the elixir as if it was the first drop of water I was finding after being stranded in the scorching desert.

Like a wave of ice-cold water crashing into the volcano that had been burning my insides, everything began to cool down.

My body was physically letting out steam, enough to fill up most of my nearby surroundings.

Closing my eyes, I collapsed and began taking deep breaths in and out.

"What the fuck. What the actual fuck!" I cursed, shaking my head. "Hey, you!"

"What is it?" asked the shitty god.

"What did you describe the feeling in your novel? You said it was 'a horrible pain'?" I asked him, still slightly out of breath.

"Correct."

"That wasn't 'a horrible pain'. That was excruciating, finger-curling, agonizing torture. You suck at writing. You absolutely suck. Even a middle schooler would do a better job at describing what I just went through," I told him, getting angrier the more I spoke.

I wasn't angry about the pain I had to endure. It was something I volunteered to experience in exchange for enhancing the quality of mana that coursed in my veins.

No. What I was angry about was how lackluster the shitty god was at writing.

If I had read a scene in his novel that was even partially accurate to what I suffered, I might've been able to appreciate the powerful emotions the main character felt as he cried during the process.

My initial response was that the main character was inconsistent with his tough nature because he didn't cry so easily but now that I understand what he went through, I changed my mind.

'Sorry,' I apologized to the boy I had insulted.

Standing up, I began to clean up the mess I had made in the cave, tossing all the empty vials and bottles into the backpack.

Looking back at the room one last time, I told myself, "I'm one step closer."

Reentering the outside world, Jerman was still there with his daggers guarding the entrance.

Once he confirmed that I was safe, he slipped them back into his sleeves.

'Where did they go?' I knew they were returned to his sleeves and yet, I couldn't see any signs of them.

"Let's return," I said, heading towards the parked car.

"Yes, young master," he replied, matching his steps with mine.

"Are you curious what all those noises you heard were?" I asked him.

"No," he answered.

Maybe because I had gotten stronger since I'd arrived in Bell's body, or perhaps it was because I'd been with him quite frequently so I knew him more than I did previously, either way, I was able to see in his minute facial changes that he had lied.

Until he answers me truthfully, regarding me as someone more than just the young master he serves, I won't go out of my way of calling out his lies.

So, I just kept my mouth shut about the event that occurred in the cave.

Sitting in the back of the car, I fell asleep a few minutes into the drive back home.

Fatigued both physically and mentally, the rest was some of the best I've ever had before.

Waking up with a powerful yawn, I walked out of the car and made my way over to the shower. I couldn't be eating dinner with the family while reeking of sweat.

After dinner, I could tell that both my parents and Cyro were aware of the changes in my body to some extent.

It wasn't hard to notice because they were beating around the bush and were trying to get me to confess to what I was doing on my trip outside the city without directly asking me.

I reckoned that they already asked Jerman about it but because he never entered the cave as a result of my instructions, he didn't have many answers for them.

According to Bell's memories, their reason for not directly asking me was that they didn't want to pressure me or make me feel like I wasn't obligated to my privacy and secrets.

But they were still curious and wanted to know so they couldn't help themselves from trying to get me to confess of my "own volition".

I found their actions rather hilarious and cute.

I wasn't going to tell them because that'd put my plans of gaslighting everyone in jeopardy but that didn't mean I was going to act all tense around them.