Chapter 176 - The Foolish Devil

[Synchronizing...]

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The system took a little while to confirm Oliver's intent. Despite that, however, Oliver didn't inch back. In fact, he ignored the system's messages as he persevered.

Fighting with the devil using Mana alone was a difficult task, especially since Oliver didn't have much mastery over the principles of Mana. Even if he were on equal standing with the devil right now, Oliver had no idea how long that would last.

Luckily, he didn't have to.

[Synchronization Complete!]

[Mana Signature Detected! Tracing...]

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Oliver was still struggling. That much was certain. But, whether his efforts were futile or not was a different matter entirely.

[Tracing Complete!]

[Mana User Oliver compatible!]

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[Would you like to gain ownership over this Mana Crystal?]

[Y/N]

***

Without sparing a second thought, Oliver confirmed the window. He wasn't aware of what the consequences of doing so were. But then again, it should be a lot better than letting a devil run amok with his body.

[Warning: Mana Crystal corrupted. Gaining ownership of this Mana Crystal may lead to adverse effects on the Mana User.]

[Y/N]

Once again, Oliver didn't hesitate to click yes as the process soon commenced. The Mana Crystal shone with a blinding light as it dissipated the black clouds the devil had so eloquently created.

The dark Mana was no more. What had remained were Oliver and the devil. Both of them soon experienced the visions that came with receiving ownership of the one Mana Crystal.

A series of visions flashed over Oliver as his ethereal form gaped in awe.

From what he saw, Oliver found it hard to describe these images that he saw. But, some of these things certainly made sense in telling a story of how this lab came to be.

Oliver recalled what the gnome had said to him previously. And, judging by these images, the gnome had described what had happened to this lab perfectly. It's simply that these images provided more context to the gnome's words.

The first one showed a handful of humans in a lab. They were wearing lab coats and analyzing glass chambers with creatures in them. If Oliver hadn't known any better, he could've been watching some bizarre science-horror movie.

But, things were not that simple.

The images provided by the Mana Crystal seemed to be revolved around this one particular human. His face was blurred, for reasons unknown, but Oliver found something familiar about him.

Regardless, the story seemed to continue.

What followed the initial vision were a series of images depicting this man trying to figure something out. An experiment, perhaps? Oliver thought that these things didn't matter as much because these people would already be as good as dead.

Still, he paid attention as the man seemed to grow angry at his co-scientists.

From a viewer's perspective, Oliver never really knew why this man had gotten mad. But, what had happened next seemed to depict outright lashes of anger towards the man's co-scientists. Yelling, screaming, and even the destruction of equipment.

These visions revolved around this one man's anger and rage. There was no sound or any dialogue. But, Oliver felt the man's emotions from the images alone.

'Why was he so angry?' Oliver thought as the images continued to move forward, telling the tale of one man's rages.

Fortunately, his questions were soon answered.

The following vision came and depicted the image of a regular-looking chamber. It had a gnome in it, one that seemed nondescript from any other gnome. But, the scientist seemed to be grossly invested in this one gnome which Oliver found to be questionable.

Next, the visions showed the scientist gloom over the gnome inside the glass chamber. It seemed as though he was conflicted.

The scientist was too worried about this one gnome in the chamber.

Then, suddenly, the doors barged open. Soldiers with ancient-looking weapons appeared and seemingly stormed the place. But, none of these people seemed to be coming after any of the other scientists. Except, that is, for the one who was standing in front of the glass chamber.

'Weird.'

Oliver thought as he watched the scene unfold. Something about those weapons seemed familiar as Oliver's eyes narrowed to observed.

'Mana Rifles.'

The same weapon that Oliver had seen Jack use multiple times before. The only difference was that the one in the visions was much more detailed than the one Jack used.

Moving forward, the soldiers surrounded the scientist and cornered him. And, out of the corner of this particular image, Oliver could just about spot the other scientists looking at the one surrounded with pity.

The Mana Rifles were directed at him and, with nowhere to go, the scientist had no choice but to do what must be done.

Use magic.

In a sensitive environment, it would be foolish to use Mana. However, having no other choice, the scientist raised his hand and conjured dark whips, similar to the ones the devil had used recently.

The soldiers did not receive this well as they readied their rifles to fire. It was clear that the scientist had been desperate in protecting his research and, consequently, the chamber behind him. Watching the series of events turn out, Oliver felt that the scientist's actions were commendable. Albeit, a little stupid.

Still, the black whips proved to be much more powerful than the soldiers had realized.

They were thrown off by the whips of black Mana. However, the same black Mana didn't stop there as they threw themselves to the Mana Crystals at the very center of the room.

Even though Oliver wasn't there to see these moments in person, he knew this attack was deliberate. It was a last-ditch attempt at trying to escape. Trying to find a way to protect himself.

It was none other than an act of self-preservation.

However, before the visions continued, they abruptly stopped. That was the end. And, it ended at the climax, at that.

Despite that, however, Oliver knew where to get some answers.

With the vision completed, Oliver was now the rightful owner of this Mana Crystal. However, he wasn't done with this realm just yet.

"Hey."

Turning around, Oliver saw a man who had the figure resembling the scientist from the visions. However, instead of a lab coat, the man had scaly-looking skin and black horns coming from his forehead. Besides that, though, the similarity seemed to carry on as neither of their faces was visible.

But Oliver knew who this guy was.

"What happened then? You were there, right? I'm going to need some answers," Oliver spoke as he stared down on the devil who was kneeling while its head was facing up.

Silence.

The devil seemed stunned at the same visions as Oliver had seen. Oliver had been right in thinking that there was much more to this than he had first thought. So much more than the devil was willing to admit.

"Hey!" Oliver called out once more, this time with much greater volume. "I'm talking to you! Hello?"

Remaining completely silent, the devil didn't seem to care about Oliver's presence. It was as if the bastard was too wrapped up in his own thinking. Too distracted that he had lost his own composure as a devil.

"Tsk," Oliver clicked his tongue in disappointment as he watched the devil kneel in silence. But it wasn't because the devil had been quiet.

No, Oliver was disappointed at how easy it took for a bunch of visions to shut the devil up. To make the devil entirely silent and unmoving. It was a disappointment because Oliver knew that the devil was tougher than this. More resilient and stubborn than this pathetic display.

"You can keep silent all you want. You and I both know I'm not going anywhere till I get my answers," Oliver said as he stood over and watched the devil mull over whatever it was thinking.

It was then that the devil finally moved.

Tilting its head slightly to face Oliver, Oliver could feel a slight hint of angst. But, as hardheaded as he was, Oliver didn't back down. He was determined to achieve what he had set out to do.

"You want an answer?" the devil's voice seemed weak compared to its normal sly demeanor. It was as though the damned bastard was hurting, not that devils would even be bothered by this kind of emotional pain.

"Yeah," Oliver answered with a smug look on his face, "And not some off-the-top-of-your-head bullshit. I want to know what happened to you. To that man who was so angry that he lashed out at other people!"

Oliver had already made sense of things from when the vision had played out. The scientist in the visions was the devil that had resided within him.

The devil, on the other hand, wasn't all that surprised. It was only a matter of time that Oliver would've found out. But, it certainly was unexpected that Oliver had found out about it this way.

"Why should I answer to you, human?! Huh?! Know your fucking place!" the devil lashed out as it stood up.

"Oh, bullshit!" Oliver retaliated. "You and I both know you're just dying to tell somebody about what happened. Because, by the look of things, nobody even fucking listened to what you had to say back then! And, now you're a fucking devil! How pathetic is that?!"

Upon hearing that, the shadow that loomed over the devil's head seemed to shake violently. To which, Oliver noticed and knew that he had successfully gotten under the devil's skin.

"You want a fucking answer?!" the devil's sly tone was no more as anger overtook its words. "Those bastards never listened to my ideas! My innovations to make the lives of all people better! Fuck no! All they cared about back then was trying to win some fucked up war!"

Oliver's eyes narrowed coldly as the devil expressed its frustrations. He remained level-headed all throughout the devil's rant as he listened closely. Then, the devil continued.

"And, when my research finally got something that could improve the lives of millions! Those greedy shits took all of it for themselves and their pointless war efforts!"

Following this sentence, the devil's tone calmed down as he looked at Oliver straight in the eye.

"You want to know what happened? Fine. I'll humor you. Those bastards forget what's important to the world and only cared about their greedy fucked up causes. They took my research for the betterment of mankind and used it to beef up their soldiers.

"And, because I fought back... because I fought for what was fucking right and gave everything I had to make people's lives better... Before I knew it, this happened. This fucked up thing happened to the guy who was trying to save people. Forsaken by the same people I tried to fucking save."

From bouts of anger to words of sentiment and regret, the devil seemed to express its true intentions in its words. However, whether Oliver believed it or not was an entirely different story.

"That's it?" Oliver spoke with a cold tone to his voice. "You're telling me that you became a devil after some mistreatment? That's it? That's your entire story?"

"The fuck did you expect? Some kind of epic that people write in history books? Why do you think the other devils called me the Foolish Devil, huh?"

Hearing the reasoning, Oliver held back his laughter. He kept his face straight as he stared at the devil's black-covered face.

"I'll help you."

"What the hell did you just say?" the devil voiced his skepticism.

"Did you become deaf all of a sudden? I'll help you. You want a physical vessel for something, right? It'll be a lot easier trying to get whatever you want if we cooperated with each other."

Oliver's reasoning was, without a doubt, logical. Well, if he were talking to some other person, that is. Forming that kind of deal with a devil, though, might be a bit too unorthodox.