On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

[Layland Kleinhaus\' POV]

Millonia is the Demon we have been anticipating. The Demon who possesses the Origin of Disaster and will bring the end to this world. Keeping her in check is ours doing a favor to the world. We can\'t just let her be, of course, because others will use her against us.

The plan that the other Demon Kings had concocted must have been visioned to end with the Verniculos Kingdom\'s destruction at Millonia\'s hands and Ilschevar\'s death. Ilschevar was stronger than they thought, making things head in the direction they didn\'t expect.

Millonia was sealed, giving Ilschevar full control over her. The weapon that they expected to be destroyed fell into Ilschevar\'s hands. God was forced to descend and Ilschevar managed to surprise them once again. He managed to force God to return to his throne. Surely, it wasn\'t without a sacrifice.

Ilschevar did a number to God but so did the latter to the former. Both of them have injuries to mind; therefore, they can\'t move recklessly. This is why God doesn\'t dare to descend and take Luxibrae to the Verniculos Kingdom to fight Ilschevar. Should it happen, the treacherous Demon Kings would betray him in a heartbeat.

Should the opposite happen, the other Demon Kings will show their true selves and blatantly betray Ilschevar. They would gladly aid God in killing Ilschevar, the youngest sibling that they fear because of his power.

"Nothing is more dangerous than unreliable allies," I mutter, earning a quirked eyebrow from Millonia.

"Already planning to remove threats?" she asks in amusement. "You never stop moving, don\'t you?"

"World keeps moving—you have to run, so you won\'t be left behind."

Shrugging, she looks at me hesitantly. "So…are you, you know…? I mean, I did hide this, so I don\'t really…"

I meant it when I said I would be disappointed if I figured things out by myself. I am not disappointed, however, because I didn\'t figure it out. Although I got some things correct, I got the majority of them wrong. Millonia wasn\'t summoned by Ilschevar. She was also not a Demon King Candidate because of her instability. I have no reason to be disappointed.

Though I got even more curious about how strong she is. I may be able to beat one of the Demon King\'s Generals now, but I am not sure I can kill them. From her story, she beat Vitolen quite easily. It makes my heart race when I think the day when I have to fight her in a berserk state comes.

"What is the deal with Eliseus, by the way?" I ask curiously. "That woman seems very fond of antagonizing you."

"Ah, she is Vitolen\'s sister," Millonia answers as if remembering something. "Vitolen was the only family she had. It is not unusual for her to hate me."

It is quite surprising—not the fact that Eliseus had a brother but that she can be emotional. She strikes me as someone who won\'t blink even when her parents are decapitated in front of her. She is puzzled about emotion, but I may be wrong. Who knows she was a cheerful female Demon before her brother\'s death.

When I recall the way she reminded me, though, I doubt her antagonizing Millonia has anything to do with her grudge against Millonia. Again, I may be wrong, but she looked like she was worried about my safety.

Many people won\'t agree with this, but I think Eliseus is a bigger enigma than I am. She doesn\'t conceal her true self unlike Valeria; she doesn\'t have it.

"Since Demons kill their parents after Awakening, does that mean Vitolen and Eliseus are twins?" I ask, considering how hard it is for Demon to produce a descendant.

"No. Vitolen postponed his Awakening for three decades. He waited until his baby sister was ready to have her Awakening. They fought and killed their parents together," Millonia answers stoically.

"Sounds depressive, eh?" I comment. "Anyway, to be able to become a Demon King\'s General despite his late Awakening, Vitolen must have been very talented."

"He was, indeed. It was a shame that he died at my hands. That bastard Bacchus is nowhere near as competent as Vitolen was."

When Millonia told me about Vitolen\'s death, the glumness on her face couldn\'t be ignored. She was genuinely sorry for his death and regretted what she did. The spitefulness in her tone when she mentioned Bacchus, Vitolen\'s replacement, was also undeniable. She must have been buddies with the late Seventh General.

I ruffle Millonia\'s hair, pulling her out of the pool of depressing thoughts in her mind. She looks up at me begrudgingly, but the blush on her cheeks tells me that she likes it. When my eyes land on her forehead, the Geas disappears. A small smile creeps up my face as I remind myself that the responsibility of keeping the "weapon" away from the enemy is in my hands.

Retracting my hand, I turn around to face the pond. I have been ignoring it, but I can\'t take it any longer, no matter how harmless its intention seems to be.

"I am not the only one, aren\'t I?"

"There is indeed something there," Luxia replies, materializing herself.

Jumping down to the ground, she enlarges her body. She is now as tall as my waist, looking slightly older than Paulina. As if entranced by the pond, she walks to it without paying any attention to her surroundings. She stops right before the pond; her feet are a few inches away from touching the water.

"Are you okay?"

"Kyaa! Dumb Layland—you surprised me!"

"I thought you weren\'t trying to be cool."

"Have I ever done that?"

"You just did."

"Ah, touché."

"What the…"

Luxia waves her hand nonchalantly and then ignores me. She focuses her gaze on the water as if something will come out if she stares hard enough. The sadistic side of me wants to push her into the pond just to see her horrified look, but I hold myself back. Doing that prank on a minor is overboard.

Luxia swivels her head to me like an owl. She gazes at me sharply as if she is offended by the remark I didn\'t utter. She stares at me just as hard as she does the water in the pond before eventually looking away. She still seems pissed, though, since she keeps muttering about stupid Layland disrespecting his elder.

I stay silent and watch her look into the pond for the next five minutes. Millonia is already on my side at this point and I can tell she is thinking the same from her look: "Should we throw this brat into the pond?" Forest Spirits might not lie, but there is no guarantee that Luxia is not messing with us.

"Ah, I know what we should do!" Luxia turns around and points at Nagato\'s skeletons. "Throw that guy into the pond!"

"How about we throw you into the pond?" I suggest.

"What the heck? I don\'t want to be that thing\'s vessel."

"That thing? What is \'that thing\'?" Millonia asks curiously.

"You will figure it out later—just throw that guy into—"

Splash!

"Done!" I remark after throwing the skeleton into the pond.

Luxia blinks her eyes a couple of times before eventually accepting what happened. She refocuses her attention on the pond and so do Millonia and I.

Nothing happens for quite some time. It makes Millonia and I look at Luxia from the corner of our eyes, considering throwing her into the pond to see what \'that thing\' she mentioned earlier. As we are about to do that, the still water ripples. We refocus our attention on the pond and find something swimming up to the surface.

The aura it is exuding is just as pleasant as the aura the cave has, but its pressure is getting annoying the closes it gets to the surface.

Splash!

The skeleton that I threw into the pond emerged out of the water and floated above it. Before our very eyes; tissues, muscles, and nerves form; wrapping around the skeleton. It takes fifteen seconds for it to become a living human. The process is incredibly fascinating. I can\'t help but wonder what kind of entity is capable of doing it.

"Ah, how flattering to be looked like that by an Incarnation."

I quirk an eyebrow in wonder as I look at the blue-haired sissy floating above the water. Normally, I would appreciate a male with strong feminine features, but I just can\'t do that to him. He is sickening for some reason. My hands are itching to take his head off.

"You don\'t seem to know what Incarnation means." He laughs haughtily. "What an interesting person. Unfortunately, I can\'t watch the amusement that will happen in this world. Ah, what a disappointing reality."

The repulsive blue-haired sissy clutches his head, convincing me he is indeed distressed. I can\'t tell if he is afraid of death or what he claimed, though.

"Ah, I have an idea! Do you want to be one with me, Great Demon?"

"Nothing against blue-haired people, but this blue-haired chick is the only blue-haired person I am willing to sleep with." I point at Millonia, causing her face to redden, much to my bafflement.

"Oh, no, no. That is not the case, Great Demon. I am proposing that you accept my legacy. Just like you did to that girl\'s Corrupted Heart."

A frown makes its way to my face as Rexorem appears in my hand. The blue-haired bastard looks at Rexorem briefly before putting his hands up in a placating manner.

"It is hard to not know it when you are a Dragon, you know? I can see it with my bare eyes—the Spiritual Heart beating in your chest."

I do a double-take and blink my eyes. A Dragon? What an encounter!