The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 493: Family Meeting
Once the lovemaking settled into aftercare, Kir had his first real conversation with his loved ones in a long time. For this, after everyone dressed, he brought them into the replica of his childhood home, altering the space somewhat to fit everyone in the constellation and Crimson. Amida’s orb rested in an owl-shaped mug that was a copy of one Brigit liked, out of sight and unnoticed to everyone else, thanks to the subtle antipathy she emitted into the room.
It wasn’t long until the discussion turned to the task Rainier had set himself to. And though it pained him to think that the answer was decided, he still felt he had to ask...
"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Rain?" Kir’s voice filled with soft concern. "I- We just got you back."
"Even if I have to go alone, I will do it. Not for your mother, even though she sent me to you. For me. I have to. If I don’t, then... my survival will just be..." Rainier’s face hardened. "I would kill your father for what he did to Malz... Your mother for the destruction out there," he gestured at the window. There was an edge to Rain’s voice. His words were darker, his eyes sadder.
Kir wanted badly to learn more about why Rain was being so cold, but he recognized the echoes of trauma. And besides...
"Let me be the one who handles my..." Kir shook his head, "No, they aren’t my parents. Not ever, if ever they were." He took a long breath. "I’ll stop Aeleas and Maledict... I don’t know what else they might have planned, but I might be the only one here who can fight them."
"Why not, you know, give everyone a boost like you did with Ferro and Malz?" Anko raised her voice.
Kir flinched. He had the memories of that time, and he knew how it could be done. In his near-primordial state, he’d been a being of pure mana, and somehow instinct had guided his actions. And now, when he looked at Malz and Ferro with new eyes, he saw what he had wrought.
Both of them had cores, just like him. Soulstones.
Even if they were much weaker than he, they were at a point where physical death was likely to be more of an inconvenience than a permanent affair, so long as their cores remained intact. Once they had the right knowledge of how to reconstitute themselves, or if someone with the right knowledge provided the right materials and spells, they could be brought back to life even if they were dead.
Amarena was in a similar situation, though her core was complex and layered.
Kordia seemed to be in flux. There was a core seed next to her heart, but it felt more diffused. Almost like there was something else layered throughout her body, with a second concentration in...
Kir blushed as Kordia’s pregnancy filtered through his mind, along with remembering she was one-third of Reiko, before he returned his attention to the situation at hand. "I can do that," Kir said. "But not for everyone."
"Come on! You tried to give me a boost before!" Anko complained. "Tell them!"
Lir gave a very brief summary of what he’d done, but concluded to Anko, "If you’d consumed that mana stone, you would have died. I remember what I did, but I know that... that version of me did not realize others’ limits. Without firmly established experience and knowledge of your mana, you would not have the instincts to survive."
His explanation didn’t make Anko any happier, but she crossed her four arms and pouted quietly. He also noted that Malz had brought out one of her three wings, and he felt a little guilty that she hadn’t been restored fully, but that was not in the nature of what he’d done.
"Rain, Kordia... I know you would be capable." He looked at Cassiel, uncertainly.
"I’ll vouch for Cassiel," Malz said. "She’s a bit of a ditz, but she knows healing magic better than I do. And something unnatural’s gotta be holding up her tits."
"Rude!" Cassiel said, but she hugged Malz as Kir nodded.
"If I may say something, I believe that I can manage Lapins and Sin’s mana to equal out their growth... at least to Kordia’s current level. It is likely safer if they were to be enhanced first, otherwise Kordia might... overwhelm the bond we share." Reiko said.
"Does this mean I’ll become even more rabbit-like?" Lapins asked as soon as she was free.
""What about me?"" Amarena and Stella asked at the same time.
"You don’t need it, Rena. And Stella, while I feel how much you’ve grown... are you sure you want to? You’d evolve into something that isn’t a succubus."
"I’d still be a slut, though. That’s in here!" Stella jabbed her thumb at her heart. "But, hmm... I do have a good thing going right now..." She tapped her lips in thought. "Eh, I’ll pass for now. But I’ve got dibs on making your next baby!"
Kir laughed, and so did most everyone except Anko, who shook her head. Rain only smirked a little, casting a competitive narrowing of his eyes at Stella.
"Maybe my third," Kir offered.
"Deal!" the succubus grinned.
"There’s one thing I want to know," Lapins interjected. "We agreed to go together. Why won’t you come with us?"
"Because someone has to stop the other shards... I consider that more important than killing Vinam. And in truth... killing him would waste precious time, even if I manage to do it quickly. We likely have hours at most before the other shards fall."
"Then let us help you first," Rain said. "I’m willing to wait a few hours."
Kir shook his head. "I’m the only one who knows the dangers of space. I can prepare for them, but if Maledict and Aeleas try to stop me, I can’t guarantee I can protect anyone else... And I think it is very likely they will try to stop me."
Kir inhaled. "Besides, the dungeons are closing. I can get you to Aaru, but the moment you step out of this space, you’ll need to move fast to make it inside." Kir had no idea if the dungeons, in their present configuration, could be teleported into or bypassed in the way Amida had-
"It was my parent who pulled us- Well, Kiryu and I, into the dungeon." Amida’s voice bloomed in Kir’s mind. "I suspect your mother will have to do the same for them... now that she’s taken Luda’s place." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"In the Duat?" Kir asked.
"Oh, absolutely not. The primary controls for the anomaly were in the station. Now that it’s connected to the anomaly, the command tower should be where she’s controlling everything from."
Kir’s mouth dropped open. Of course!
When Kir shared his "epiphany" with everyone, hiding Amida by claiming he remembered something Luda had said, a lot of facts came together very quickly.
Rainier’s knowledge of the room at the top of Heaven’s central spire. Malz’s memories of Aikos, those who had visited the "throneroom" before Helios’ rebellion, and the first Aiko clone who had helped design it.
"Now it makes sense why Aelaes wants Vinam assassinated... she’s hiding right under his nose!" Malz slammed her fist down on the table.
"There’s no way I’m letting you go in there without everything I can give," Kir said. "Everyone, please show me your hands, and I’ll form the mana stones."
Rain, Kordia, Cassiel, Lapins, and Sin all held out a hand, and Kir extracted a small amount of blood from each with magic, simultaneously floating five spheres into the air before he suffused and compressed them with enough mana to form the stones.
Lapins held up the blood-red orb, looking to Kordia and Sin before she asked, "Would you still love me if I became some sort of rabbit?"
Sin and Kordia answered simultaneously, "You know you don’t even have to ask," grinning from ear to ear before Lapins and Sin swallowed their manacrystals.
Kir watched in fascination as their bodies and souls took shape. It wasn’t enough to push them to the same level as Ferro or Malzkael, but Sin came out of it with seven tails, just like Kordia, a soulstone seed forming next to her heart.
Lapins, however, shot up in height as her legs grew longer, stumbling around on her now-digitigrade feet as her appearance became rabbit-like, with medium-length blonde fur tinged with silver at the tips of her ears and the white fur that grew to cover her fingers. A full core formed for her, similar to Ferro’s, but with a distinct difference in aura, being violet compared to Ferro’s light blue.
When Reiko expressed that she was exhausted and didn’t know if she could handle another transformation, Kordia pocketed her mana crystal for later.
Rain and Cassiel had less drastic effects compared to the two before them, but established cores with powerful black auras that filtered out into yellow coronas. Kir had to admit that six wings looked good on Rain.
