The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 182: The Gallery

Chapter 182: The Gallery

After the "footage" from Kir’s eyes, he sat with his head in his hands.

"Any questions?" Kiryu asked.

"So she just... put you in control. Told you to-"

"Told me to have fun and keep you alive. Also told me what would get Maledict to back the fuck off. Honestly, our new dad’s got some big fucking blind spots in his thinking. And our bio-mom has..." Kiryu shook his head. "In case you haven’t figured it out by now, between the seals and the dungeon and losing half your friends, you’ve been dancing to her tune this whole time."

"What do you mean?" Kir asked.

"I mean exactly what you suspect. Bio-Mom can see the future. Or could, at any rate. That message your dad got was pre-recorded, the same as mine. Only in mine, she was staying in some ratty old shop, and she only had one wing. Also, that tech she used on us had the same feeling as the tech you’re focusing on right now."

"So she used a fulcrum to put you into my head?" Kir shuddered at the memory of how he’d just... given up. Not knowing whether or not it had been a manipulation made him feel even worse.

"Probably the best decision she made with regards to your decision-making, if she was the one who did it," Kiryu smirked. "Did you honestly not realize the seals were fucking with more than your mana? Seriously, they were keeping you on a path." With his hand bladed, he slid it along the table in a line. "Forcing your decisions that led to the dungeon, to the Black Sheep, to Amarena and Sreev...

"I... think I suspected... Fuck, Sreev outright told me, but I just... didn’t hold onto it."

"A dope chip might work the same, but at least you know when they stab it in ya. I think the point was to put you on fucking sidequests before bringing you back to Norneau. To a situation where you could not have completely stopped your father."

"How could I have done that?" Kir asked.

"Think about it. You know enough physics to have nukes at your fingertips. That army would have been vaporized if you chose the other side. All the staff would be around the school instead of at the walls, much harder to pick off than a bunch of summer students with no classes and nowhere else to be. Daddy’s Big Heist would have gone up in smoke, and he clearly needs the core crystal for something bigger."

"What do you think that could be?" Kir asked.

"Fuck if I know. But I think we both know where he wants it to lead."

"Death for the angels," Kir acknowledged.

"One good genocide justifies another, no?" Kiryu said sarcastically. "Now that my XED Talk is done, are you ready to listen to my advice?"

Kir nodded. "I’ll listen, but I’m not sure I trust you yet."

"Well, get used to hearing my smoke-addled voice. I might not be able to pull you into my fancy digs for lectures, but after you squeeze yourself into your next body, we’re going to have a lot of time for you to get to know me."

"Don’t you mean to get to know each other?"

"No. I don’t. I live in your head, Kir. I know what you flick to. As far as I’m concerned, I know you better than you know yourself... in some ways."

Kir frowned at the unf-

"Unfair, right?" Kiryu interrupted his thoughts. "Welcome to reality. Physics rules everyone with equal disdain... and magic turns tricks for anyone with a brain." He took a drag on his pipe. "Huh. That was almost a haiku."

"Alright. You’ve made your point. Don’t trust Mom."

"My last ’point’ is this. When you’re down there alone, don’t trust your instincts in the Gallery. Take a long hard look at what’s available, because what you see down there might start with the worst fucking self you can’t even imagine, even if everything looks fine on the surface."

"You aren’t coming with me?" Kir asked.

"Nah. I’m just a passenger. Trust me, I tried picking something cool for us but it didn’t work. It’s ’look but don’t touch’ for me. So... your body, your decision. If we die or become a monster, I at least want to be comfortable." He gestured around the house. "So unless you want to keep everyone waiting, I suggest you go swimming. The way back to your half of this brainscape is down the steps."

For the first time, Kir turned to look back from the couch. One of the shelves hid a stairwell behind it.

Standing, he stepped across the floor, claws clicking against the stone.

At the very bottom was a pool room, only the rectangular pool tapered down a shaft that gave him the same sense as when he’d tried to visualize his mind all those weeks ago.

Without stopping to check the waters, Kir dove in. The distance seemed vast, but after only a few strokes, he suddenly found himself surfacing in his own mental construct.

He saw the gate, and when he turned-

Kir jumped at the sight of the monstrosity before him. A gargoyle-grey version of himself with metallic skin and a size that would dwarf a small house. After realizing it wasn’t moving, he approached. When he was within a meter, he suddenly felt as if he should put his hand on the figure, but he held back.

Remembering Kiryu’s advice, Kir looked closer, flexing his mind the same way he used to when activating his manasight; before his had been rendered always active. He saw battles. Tiny foes smashed or sliced by him in a monstrous war form that dwarfed the battlements of Norneau.

"No," Kir whispered.

In a haze of particles, the form disappeared, only to be replaced by another. Kir, with metal wings. Concentrating on it, he saw himself in freefall, approaching through the screeching air before decapitating an entire column of terrified soldiers...

"No!" Kir didn’t even wait to see the war form.

Another form. Serrated alloy teeth and nails-

"No."

Another-

"No."

Form after form came before Kir. He rejected all of the extreme ones, but some of the ones that seemed more normal hid their own surprises.

There was a version of him that looked identical, and when he examined it he saw himself, able to flow alloy onto his skin, the same alloy as Kangetsu, he realized. But behind the eyes, there was a singular drive, to consume metal and grow himself, slowly, piece by piece...

"No," Kir sighed.

A thousand forms he rejected. Though there was no apparent order to what he saw, the forms he was presented with had started to shift towards the angelic. There was a version of himself with no horns. With normal legs and a beautiful face. His war form would be simply that but much taller, with skin completely white. But when he looked deeper, he saw that the mind behind that being was one incapable of negative emotion. If he chose this form, he would kill just as happily as he walked.

Kir no longer felt even a little tempted, he could not accept that sort of life.

Another form was slightly less angelic, but the mind behind it was purely dedicated to logic. He could tell that if he chose it, he would be little more than a self-serving person, always bending the rules to his favor when it suited him.

"I just want to be me... but better," he sighed. "Less like my father..."

As if in response, the space around him seemed to... blink. It was a strange sensation, but when the next form arrived, it looked entirely like he was now.

A closer look revealed that the mana corruption was still there, but its glow was muted. Its alterations to him rendered inert. In that form, he would not be able to wear his war form for more than a few minutes before reverting.

"No," Kir rejected the form. "I want to keep what I have, but not be ruled by it. I want to... be whole."

For a long time, nothing appeared, but Kir sensed something in the formless realm before him. Like a gathering swell...

A form appeared before him. Himself, but more. He looked at it and saw harmony. His body was as it was, perhaps just a bit taller, and missing the internal glow, though he still sensed the body was just as converted as he was presently, he knew he’d be able to control the glow at will. The form was a shade over three meters, by his reckoning, counting the horns. His wings were a deeper crimson, as was his hair, and his eyes glowed.

Kangetsu, instead of merging with him in form, existed as a part of him, but separate. He sensed that the Kangetsu of this form would be even more unbreakable and somewhat malleable - to the limit of his material. And more enchantable.

Kir paused as the thought echoed in his head. He thought of Kangetsu, and a thought bubbled to the surface... that Kangetsu wanted to be considered a ’he’, just like him. The blade of this form would evolve with him, and could even gain new forms if Kir "fed" him weapons.

And behind the figure, when Kir looked deeper, he saw a new war form. One far sleeker and less spikey than his first, having a greater affinity for defense, and relying on Kangetsu for offense. It was small, the same height as his normal form, but what it lost in size, it did not lose in strength. And next to it...

Kir had wondered what magiforms looked like. He suspected he’d caught a glimpse, with the dueling light and dark that had battled over Norneau. But this magiform...

It was like someone had carved a statue out of purple twilight, speckled with stars. His four wings grew from the back as crimson energy, and his capacity for mana seemed endless. Though it was there, he sensed that it would not be his until his reification had stabilized. He would need to meditate and prepare well to unlock the form.

And behind these forms, was the hint of something even greater...

Pulling back from his examination, Kir smiled.

The mind inside was unchanged.

After so long, Kir reached out his hand and made his decision.

*

Opening his eyes in the real world, Kir stood and took in the room with new eyes, his horns scraping the top of the first shield dome that separated him from the world. Beyond those shields, his first sight was of Stella and Kordia, with looks of concern on their faces.

"Are you sane?" Kordia asked. "Are you still... you?"

"I am. I’m me."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.