Volume 10 Chapter 7 (1/2)

[Despair] Demon Lord Belial and I had formally formed an alliance.

It was supposed to be an event worthy of a grand celebration, but I just couldn't bring myself to be completely happy about it.

I was still doubtful of Belial. And so, I decided to delay giving him a [Creation] medal. If I could ascertain during a war against the anti-Procell alliance that Belial was a true ally, perhaps then I wouldn't mind giving him a medal.

For the meantime, my thoughts were occupied with what to do with the byproduct of my meeting with Belial.

”What should I do with this [Despair] medal though?”

Belial had given me his [Despair] medal as a token of our friendship.

If my read on things was right, he did so to make me feel obligated to give him my own medal.

His medal was powerful.

It had the effect of [Reversal]. That meant that the [Despair] medal was able to reverse whatever the attribute of the monster was supposed to be born with.

For example, if the monster was supposed to be an Angel, it would become a Fallen Angel; or if the monster was going to be an Elf, it would become a Dark Elf; or if it was supposed to be a holy knight, it would become a Dullahan.

Additionally, a ”reversed” monster was more offense-oriented than its base monster.

”I guess using it really is the way to go. Fortunately, I still have my [Creation] medal.”

Upon closer examination of the [Despair] medal, I discovered that the reversal phenomenon only occurred when synthesizing an original [Despair] medal. When synthesizing with an imitation [Despair] medal, the imitation only added a darkness attribute, just like [Darkness] and [Evil] would.

Since I could make a reversed monster just this once, I needed to think carefully what I wanted it to be. Or so I should have if I haven't made up my mind about it already.

I figured that fallen-angel-type monsters, which had many usefull skills, were so rare that [Despair] medals might be the only way to get them.

My mind set on this decision, I went to pick up Kuina who should be in her room at the moment.

Even though monsters couldn't harm their Demon Lords or disobey their Demon Lord's commands, they were free to do everything else. It was even possible for them to find a crafty, indirect way to bring ruin to their Demon Lords. Until I could ascertain I could trust the newly born monster, it was best to have another monster to escort me. And given that fallen angels tended to be highly intelligent and also have distorted personalities, having a guard was truly advised.

Kuina was particularly suited to guard me in these situations. She had great deal of resistance against all kinds of magic to the point she was immune, and her use of illusions gave her the capability to see through other's illusions.

”Oto-san! Kuina's done packing! I can move anytime”

Kuina's room was perfectly tidy, and her belongings were packed into boxes.

We were going to move to our new home in the [Recovery Room] tomorrow, so all of us have been quite busy with packing lately.

”Glad to know you're ready. So, Kuina, I plan on making a new monster right now, and I was wondering if you could stand ready nearby?”

”'Kay! Understood! Kuina's so excited to see the new little sister!”

”…there you go again, arbitrarily declaring right away it's going to it's going to be a girl.”

I mean, the number of my male subordinates have been growing recently, you know. Duke's a man; the Darkness Dragons are mostly males; and about half of the Abyss Howls are males too.

”But, Oto-san, whenever you synthesize with [Creation], it always turns out to be a girl like us. Oh, are you going to make a kid like Tiro this time as well?”

Appearance-wise, Tiro was a large dog. Kuina was most likely asking if the next monster I would make was also a beast-type one like Tiro.

”No. I plan to make a fallen angel this time, so it'll be more like you than Tiro.”

”Then, I'm sure it'll be another cute little girl! Kuina should prepare a gift! Maybe dresses that I don't wear anymore will look great on her.”

The results thus far being what they were, I couldn't say much back.

If being male would be best for the new monster, I had no qualms making it male. In order to pull the right kind of monster during synthesis using my [Creation] though, I couldn't afford to have so many conditions set. That being the case, I always prioritized the monster's ability over anything else. That unfortunately meant I wasn't consciously choosing the monster's sex.

…but wouldn't that mean I subconsciously want them to be girls?

”Anyway, let's go. I was thinking of making the monster in the dungeon proper.”

”'Kay! Oh, I bet Tiro wants to be there too! Oto-san, you go on ahead; Tiro and I'll meet you there!”

”Alright. I'll wait for you two then”

Tiro had grown greatly attached to Kuina.

…the demon hound of hell that would chase its prey to the ends of space and time was now not unlike a house pet.

◇

After a while of waiting in the dungeon proper, Kuina arrived riding on top of Tiro.

Tiro was a large hound with blue fur and a long, slender, tongue. She must be excited for the about-to-be-born monster because her tongue was out and she was breathing quite roughly.

”Tiro-chan, you're about to have a little sister! Let's take good care of her, ok?”

”Gaugau!”

Tiro, the youngest so far, seemed quite excited to have a little sister.

Better get to it then. Time to make the newest S rank monster in Avalon: the ultimate fallen angel.

…to be honest, aside from the possibility that fallen angels might be exclusive to the [Despair] medal, I wanted to make one just in case I do get into a fight with Belial. If the other side was going to have a fallen angel as one of its trump cards, having one of my own but of a higher rank should help me to deal with it.

In my hand were three medals.

[Despair]: a powerful medal that has the ability to reverse a monster's nature

[Creation]: in order to make a fallen angel, I was going to make it transform into a [Holy] medal

[Planet]: after I transformed my [Creation] into this and made Aura, I unlocked the ability to make imitation medals of it. It has the power to govern over nature, which should prove useful to an angel safeguarding the world.

”Alright, let's begin.”

I closed my hand and grasped tightly the three medals I held. Light, furious light, then seeped through my closed fist. And when I opened my hand, the light escaped.

Like that, I made [Creation] transform into [Holy]. It then interacted with [Planet], thus revealing to me myriad possible outcomes between the two. The compatibility between the two being so excellent, these possible monsters that flowed in and out of mind were for sure and certain powerful monsters.

I searched and searched, looking higher and higher through the hierarchy of angels. After all, the holier and the higher in hierarchy the angel was, the powerful it would become once it falls.

The combination of the two medals alone could already produce a powerful monster, but I wasn't over yet. It was now time to add the last ingredient: [Despair].

This was now the tricky part. It was time to reverse the monster's attribute. What once was supposed to be a being of compassion and love who nurtured each and every life in the world would now be a force of destruction and calamity.