The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 412: Magic, Logically

Chapter 412: Magic, Logically

As soon as he finished telling Kiryu about the Duat, Ferro pleaded, "I want to help."

"You’ll only slow me down. Besides, Luda said I should help you. Not that I should bring you with me," Kiryu replied, shifting in his seat uncomfortably as he extracted his tail from underneath him.

"What about warning Chainsfree?" Malz asked, looking at Ferro. The catkin seemed to be in awe, if the way his ears pointed at the demon were any indication. "If the death god doesn’t need us, I can’t think of any reason to force the issue."

"Who are you warning about what now?" Kiryu asked.

"There are supplies for an army buried in the desert," Malz said. "Likely more than what we found. I’m not sure why Chainsfree is important, but before we met, Ferro believed the compass was leading us there."

"Chainsfree is important because it’s the only place on this continent where slaves can escape to," Ferro explained.

"Ah yes, I remember Kir encountering an agent from there or something," Kiryu said. "I think it would be best if you pointed your efforts that way. Maybe once I’m sorted with Luda and Aiko, I can let Kir know once his evolution finishes."

"And Kir is... your body, correct?" Malz asked. "Is he in your mind like a second personality or is this more of a possession thing?"

"He’s locked away someplace I can’t reach him. Nor do I want to," Kiryu evaded her questions. "Believe it or not, this is the first time in over twenty years that I’ve had peace and quiet in my... well, the Kid’s, brain." He sat up and leaned back. "So here’s my question for you: What do you need help with?"

"If you could bring my wings back, that would be amazing," Malz said without missing a beat. "Otherwise no one here is that good of a fighter except maybe Anko."

"That I can’t do. I’m sorry," Kiryu said. As Malz’s face began to sadden, he added, "But I can get you flying again. And probably more efficiently than before."

"How?"

Without preamble, Kiryu lifted from the ground and started hovering. Along the hundreds of thousands of hexagons that comprised the suit he wore, several hundred lit up. There had been none of the actions an angel would associate with flight. No pulse of wings or even a surge of mana that she could detect.

"How..." Malz whispered. He clearly wasn’t suppressing his mana. There should have been something.

"Magic, logically," Kiryu answered. "I’m not a big fan of Kir’s wings... or this tail thing he has going. So this suit I’m wearing lets me do things my way." He hovered in an arc, arriving behind them. "If you’re willing to trust me, I can give you your own suits and a bit of instruction. But that also means you have to do the same as she did," he pointed at Anko.

"Why?" Malz asked. "What exactly is happening to Anko?"

"Good questions. I can see you’re the brains of your group. So I have a question for you: what do angels learn about the link between language and magic?"

"It’s a crutch for beginners," Malz replied. "Proper understanding, visualization, and mana flow are more important for spellcasting."

"Correct. For spellcasting. Now, how about for enchanting objects?"

Malz opened her mouth but barely made a sound before she realized... "I don’t know. Most magical things are from factories, and there are clear manuals for their use."

"Hmph," Kiryu hovered over the table, letting his tail dangle just over the middle. "I didn’t think Heaven was innovating much, but if you haven’t realized it, then perhaps the stagnation is far deeper than I thought." He looked at Ferro. "How about you?"

"Spells can be runically inscribed onto objects, which behave consistently but can vary in effect based on how much mana is put into them," Ferro answered.

"A better answer, but not by much," Kiryu said. He held up one hand and produced an illusion of a spell rune based on Common. Malz recognized it as one of the most simple runes put on cups in Heaven, although in Heaven they used Old Angelic instead of Common. It read, ’Mana to cold.’ "Simple, no? But what is mana? What is cold? The understanding of the user would fill in the gaps and make the spell work, but it would still be far more wasteful and imprecise than something that establishes specific instructions and parameters that are close to real, physical phenomenon."

The illusion glowed, showing a degree of mana usage that was small but prominent.

He held up his other hand and a new set of runes formed, lines connecting terms and numbers like a branch from a tree, with two paths. The language was unintelligible, but Malz could only recognize the number 273. And when he made it glow, the indicated mana usage was so minuscule...

"That can’t be right," Malz said. "That kind of efficiency would require a deep understanding of multiple forces and even the vessel for the spell."

Kiryu shrugged. "You can find out for yourself." He closed his hands and then his eyes. After a moment, in place of the illusions, a pair of dark orbs appeared, the same as the one Anko swallowed. Descending onto the table, he sat cross-legged.

Both Malz and Ferro looked at Anko before regarding the waiting demon.

"She is taking a while. But I get the feeling you two are a bit smarter. And if it’s any consolation, you won’t miss much other than me being a shitty tailor."

Ferro, finally turning his attention to the inert necklace on the table, picked it up and placed it around his neck. "You still haven’t really told us-"

The ringing sound started again, and once more the necklace flopped onto the table between Ferro and Malz with a set of metallic clinks.

"Trouble with your equipment?" Kiryu raised an eyebrow.

"H-hold on," Ferro reached into his pouch and produced a small, thin, and unnaturally pristine book, flipping until he found the right page. "Ko ko ni kit te," he said in a slightly awkward cadence.

Kiryu’s eyes widened, but when nothing happened, he sent one dark orb hovering over his other hand and reached out. "Let me see that."

As Ferro slid the demonkin the book, Malz wondered what had gone wrong. She’d seen the necklace shield Ferro from an attack that should have turned him to paste, while also launching a powerful maven through a building. Aside from that, the only functions she knew about was its ability to return to him which, given how many times Anko had stolen it for fun during their trip through the desert, had proven quite necessary.

Kiryu began to flip through the book, a serious look on his face as he said, "Your Japanese needs work. Koko ni kitte," he said firmly and swiftly, only for the necklace to do nothing. "What other functions does it have?" he asked.

As Ferro began to confess his ignorance, Malz wondered why the necklace was choosing now to fail. It seemed to have plenty of mana, at least in the sense that she’d never actually been able to get much of a read on it, with the compass having seemed to be the primary feature.

"Koko ni kitte..." she whispered, wondering why she’d never heard of any language called Japanese. Kiryu and Ferro suddenly stopped talking as a ringing sound filled the air, louder than ever, before the necklace was suddenly on her neck.

Panicking, she reached up to grab it only to stop as a painful, icy sensation stilettoed into her spine and brain. The world disappeared into flashes, and the inside of her head turned from ice to fire to lightning as she collapsed onto her side.

Or would have, had Kiryu not raised a hand to levitate her in a bed of soft air as she convulsed, foaming at the mouth.

"What’s wrong with her?" she heard Ferro shout, desperation raising his voice to a near shriek.

"Don’t touch her!" Kiryu ordered, as with a final turn of the page he let out a soft gasp. "Who did you get this from?" he demanded.

"We need to help-"

"WHO?"

"A-Aiko. There were three of her, in the Duat. I didn’t understand but they said they were going to be the last."

A sensation filled Malz. Like she was slipping away, or that something was slipping into her mind. She felt cold and hot. Twisted and mashed and turned inside out all at the same time, and yet when lucidity peeked through the torturous feelings, she found herself whole. Saw the scar patterns on her arms and wondered why they were different than what she remembered...

Yet she remembered receiving them, the memories of the various demons who had tortured her physically and psychically slotting right into place as she gazed at her floating arms.

"She’s a clone!" Kiryu declared. "How did I not see it..."

I’ve been tortured and starved for the last couple of years, stupid dragon, Malz thought. I wouldn’t recognize myself in a mirror. Wait...Why did I call him a dragon? Why do I... feel like I know him all of a sudden?

"Bakayarou Kiryu..." she squeaked before the pain finally let her pass out.