Saga of Slime and Devil (Remake)

Vol 2 | Epilogue

(Today is a double upload for Chapter 10 and the epilogue. Make sure you read Chapter 10 before reading this one as some sites might not make it obvious that there were two uploads)

Luminous walked through the darkness that now surrounded her, though as she walked she felt she was not going anywhere. Her night-black dress blended in with the shadowy mist behind her as her silver-gray hair and pale skin stood as the only contrast between her and the mist that surrounded her now.

She wasn't quite sure where she was, but through her experience and skills, she could tell that it was likely some fragment of her mind. Some illusionary realm manifested by... something. In short, it wasn't real, that much she could tell.

But what she was doing here, she had no idea. She didn't have to wait long for her answer, however.

"Demon Lord Luminous Valentine," a thousand distant voices echoed through the mist.

The vampire turned quickly to see a pair of silver eyes peering through the fog, illuminated yet showing no body, at least not one with a unified structure. The eyes alone seemed to be all it had, though they served less as eyes and more as a means to give something for Luminous to look at while speaking to it.

Whatever this being was, she didn't trust it, but it seemed she had no choice but to humor it for the time being, "Just what are you and where are we?"

The eyes tilted to the side, "I assumed you could tell already."

"I suppose the question was more to see if I was wrong," Luminous admitted.

"Well you are not, we are in your mind. I will say it was quite hard to show myself here. You were quite determined to keep me out, but just like him it seems I was able to get through."

"Him? Who's him?"

The eyes tilted the other way now, the voice echoing out, "You have met him before. His voice was able to seep into your mind and control you. You have quite a strong mind, but it seems I underestimated his ability to seep inside. He's stronger than he was before, so I must play this game carefully. To combat him I have brought you here so that I can clear your mind of his influence."

Luminous took a step back as she remembered. It had been after the last Walpurgis. She had let her anger get the best of her and in a moment of weakness whatever this 'he' was used it to his advantage. He hadn't taken full control, of course. But it had felt like there was something swaying her decisions, and her spite towards the demon seemed to increase exponentially.

She didn't like the demon, that much was her own thoughts. But she didn't hate the demon. Would she feel much safer if the demon was gone? Yes. Would she go out of her way to exterminate the demon in its own nation? Absolutely not.

The plan was foolish, yet she had spent the better part of the last months in the shadows plotting just that. A full assault on Tempest with everything the Church had might be successful, but even if it was, it would come at heavy costs. The technology Tempest was producing wasn't something she could ignore, and even then she only knew half of it, the true extent of the Otherworlder tech they could produce was beyond her, and despite her best attempts, the TRI was surprisingly good at keeping their mouths shut.

The plan was still early in scheming, she was far from ready, and that meant it could be undone with ease. She could take a more casual approach to the demon problem, that being to contain the spread of its influence, but not aggravate it directly. She needed to think rationally about handling them, else she would pay the price for it.

Whatever the voice was, it didn't care for the long-term clearly. It just wanted that Demon dead above all else, it cared little for what happened afterward. But could this voice be trusted any further? Now that she was on the lookout for something controlling her mind she would be much more resilient, but the voice didn't seem to have the intent to pry further, let alone control her.