Ch 122 – Archdemons

"I'm sorry for my earlier rudeness!" Via Stolas bowed from the couch she was sitting on.

"No worries! Besides, it was kinda your old man's fault for not calling you earlier about our arrival," Lute said, his eyes then turned towards Aldrich sitting beside Via.

"Oh, you know me, I can't help but want to surprise my daughter!" Aldrich said, his arm can be seen patting Via's head who was blushing. Not only that, but it was also comical to see a young-looking boy patting a woman clearly older than him by appearance.

"Well, I guess that's fair, I would have done the same. But, let's introduce ourselves formally this time. I'm Lute Stolas, the adopted son of Aldrich Stolas," Lute introduced himself.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lute-san. My name is Via Stolas, a member of the noble Stolas Family and the current acting Duke and ruler of the Stolas City considering my father was busy handling affairs in his own kingdom in the Northern Continent. I've heard a lot about your genius, brother. Is it really true that you created the Akasha and the Akashic System all on your own?" Via asked, her eyes sparkling brilliantly as if she was meeting her idol.

"Hey! You forgot about us!" Raiden interrupted.

"Oink!"

"Oh, sorry for that. Go on, you two can introduce yourself," Via smiled.

"I'm Raiden Stolas! They call me the Crimson Lightning due to my speed! This is Porky! The biggest Verdant Hill Pig to ever live!" Raiden arrogantly proclaimed.

"Oink! (Fufufu, tremble at our combined might!)" Porky added, and they both grinned smugly.

"It's nice to meet you, Raiden-kun," Via Stolas laughed lightly.

"Sorry about my son's arrogant attitude. He's been a bit misbehaving now that his stricter father is off doing his own thing in the Holy Kingdom," Lute Stolas chuckled while patting Raiden by the head.

"Oh, is your husband doing well in the Holy Kingdom?" Via Stolas asked.

"Yeah, he's been living lavishly and has been under the support of the entire church and the Saintess directly after finding out he holds a special thing in his soul called the Divine Light, it's a complicated mess that I can't even begin to explain," Lute chuckled.

"Oho… Then, are you truly the one who made the Akashic System?" Via asked, she leaned slightly forward as her interest was piqued.

"Well, yes. It was a hard project I took on myself that took a couple of months to finish," Lute said.

"Hmm? A couple of months? Then how did you release it to the public in just a month?" Via inquired, slightly confused by Lute's wording.

"Time manipulation," Lute stated.

"Oh… Huh?! Time manipulation?!" Via stood up in shock.

"I just went to accelerate the time inside my lab where time was three times faster. So even though it looked absurdly fast on the outside, I was actually moving at a snail's pace inside my lab," Lute explained, giving enlightenment to the dumbstruck Via Stolas.

"Ahem, enough about that. We'll start discussing the real reason why we are here," Aldrich interrupted.

"Ah, yes, the reason why we are here," Lute nodded his head.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, why are you guys here if you still have to handle things in the Magic Kingdom?" Via asked.

"Don't worry about the Magic Kingdom, I've made some special golems with a certain girl's help that can deal with most problems there on its own. The reason why we are here is for world peace!" Lute exclaimed as if announcing his glorious purpose.

"… World peace?" Via muttered, confused.

"Well… It's more complicated than that," Aldrich sighed, before explaining what they plan to do.

*** (A Few Minutes Later)

"I see. So you guys plan to raise the strength of our city, and become the strongest archdemon household in the kingdom to gain the king's trust? And if you have his trust, you can perhaps find a way to not have to wage war with the humans, elves, demihumans, and such, and instead bring peace to the whole world?" Via asked.

"Yep, that's the plan. Pretty impressive, right?" Lute said with a smug smile.

"Well, it might work… Depending on how things work out, it might actually prove some use in this society where might means right. But, how do you plan to become the "strongest" exactly?" Via asked.

"Well, what's the strongest archdemon household in the kingdom?" Lute asked.

"The Sathanas family," Via responded.

"They have absurd physical and magical might, right?" Lute asked.

"Yes, it's a special characteristic of their bloodline," Via said.

"Well, we just need to "defeat" them. Show them we're stronger than them and all the other archdemon households, and problem solve," Lute said.

"How do you plan to do that?" Via asked, intrigued at Lute's plan.

"With this," Lute smiled, a projection then appeared in front of them.

"The Akashic System!" Via finally knew the general direction of Lute's plan will be. On how he will increase the strength of his city, and how he would make the Stolas Household the strongest household in the kingdom.

"Yep, our secret weapon is in the palm of our hands!" Lute grinned.

"I almost forgot we can also use it!" Via gasped.

But, Aldrich interrupted to ask a glaring flaw in their plan, "What about the work we'll have to deal with to set up the Akashic System?"

…. Silence ensued.

*** (A Week Later)

"PLEASE KILL ME! WHY IS THERE SO MUCH FUCKING PAPERWORK!" A voice shouted deep inside a large room surrounded by multiple stacks of papers.

"Impressive plan?! Fuck me! This is a stupid plan!" Via shouted in rage, her eyes were bloodshot as she continuously signed multiple papers.

"Why do I have to also sign papers?! I'm already more than a hundred years old! Shouldn't you two let your old man rest?!" Aldrich exclaimed.

The bane of all lords, of all powerful figures who rule over land, paperwork! Even with magic helping them out, the pile of papers was starting to grow endlessly, as if entranced by a magic spell that gave them infinite power to grow.

"Hey! Just endure through the pain, alright? Once we're done here, we're gonna cum pure happy brain juices!" Lute shouted, his multiple arms were moving with fervor as one can see multiple floating pens were also signing papers all around them.

As the door opened with difficulty, the pile of papers blocking the door tumbled to the floor while Raiden and Porky entered the room, "Dada! There's more paperwork we brought!"

Entering the room, Raiden can be seen riding on top of Porky with more papers placed atop Porky's head which was then dumped to the ground.

"UGH!" The trio sighed, for endless work awaits them.

And so, time passed rapidly and the sun hung in the middle of the blue sky.

*Grumble*

Three resounding grumbling sounds were heard inside the room, as the trio of tired workers groaned even with their absurd magical prowess. They were all physically and mentally tired, and the sound of the alarm break made their eyes widen in joy.

"L-L-Lunch!" the trio exclaimed. Slowly standing up, they walked out of the room like zombies and went towards the dining room with bated breaths.

They wanted to stay as far away from the paper-filled room as possible, just being near there made them feel lethargic as if a curse has been placed on that very room filled with papers.

"Mine!" Lute shouted, his body lunges forward to the table as he grabbed hold of the food and stuffed them into his mind.

"No! That's mine!" Aldrich did the same, his body burst with unfound power and stole the meat in Lute's hands and devoured it whole.

"Fools! Now the table is all mine!" Via shouted with a condescending smirk, before plopping down onto the table filled with plates of food and went to devour them rapidly, stuffing her entire mouth with food.

"Via! You bitch! That's mine!" Lute shouted, his eyes turning into slits as three savage beasts wrecked the entire dining room while maids and butlers in the distance watched with worried expressions, all not daring to enter the room to capture the attention of the three monsters.

*** (30 Minutes Later)

"Food really does make a man insane, don't they?" Lute muttered, the trio can now be seen lazing about in the living room while Porky ran around with Raiden on top.

"It should be the paperwork that is making us insane. How come the papers exponentially increased this past few days? This wasn't the same when I was the one handling things. I might attribute it to the Akashic System, but this is suspiciously too much of an increase," Via muttered.

"It's because your adopted brother, Lute Stolas, is a man who likes to optimize most things. So, we're reforming a crap ton of things right now to make the city easier to manage later on. An investment for our future is what he would call it. But right now, I don't think this amount of investment would bring back our sanity if this keeps on," Aldrich sighed.

As Via dangled her head to the side, she watches as countless runes floated in the air in front of Lute, each forming countless sequences she couldn't understand while more and more formulas appeared in the air.

'Huh, even though I haven't used Rune Magic, I'm pretty sure not even father could do that. He's really a genius like what father says.' Via thought, her mind turning sleepy as she just wanted to doze off.

"I got it! I finally have it! I can finally make myself and Raiden turn into demons!" Lute suddenly exclaimed, shocking her wide awake as her eyes turned wide as saucers.

"R-Really?!" Via shouted.

"Yeah, it took me multiple days of sleepless nights but I finally did it!" Lute shouted.

"Well then, go do it!" Aldrich said, his small body dropping down to the ground head first as he rolled off the couch he was lying on.

"Fine, fine. [Mass Teleport]."

As purple light covered the room they were in, the five—including Porky—opened their eyes to find themselves standing in a brightly lit room with a ginormous purple magic circle glowing dimly on the ground.

"Where are we, Dada?" Raiden asked. Getting off Porky, Porky used the mana inside its body and its body shrunk down to the size of a housecat once more.

"We're in the basement," Lute answered, countless runes can then suddenly be seen floating all around the air and gathering around the magic circle in the middle of the room.

"You two, go towards those two magic circle support and follow my instructions. Porky, go far away from the circle, it would be dangerous, [Aegis Protection]. Raiden, go follow me," Lute said. As a golden sheen of light covered Porky, he went far away from the center of the room and stood beside the walls. Following his instruction, both Aldrich and Via stood on the two other magic circles in the room that was beside the ginormous magic circle in the middle of the room. Lastly, both Lute and Raiden walked towards the center of the magic circle and stood still.

As Lute waves his arm, a purple cube appeared beside him and he crouched down, embedding it into the middle of the purple magic circle and making it glow brightly.

"Oi! You're not planning to erect a giant mana pillar now, are you?" Aldrich asked, the scene was very much similar to when Lute buys an attribute.

"Don't worry, it wouldn't be that destructive. Now, what I need you guys to do is to pour your blood onto the magic circles below you, along with your mana, and I'll do the rest," Lute ordered, the runes floating all around them then started to glow brilliantly as Via can sense the absurd amount of mana inside the room.

Following his instructions, both Aldrich and Via slit open their palms and planted them on the ground, the purple magic circle below them then glowed brightly. As if the runes all around the two formed a path between the three magic circles, the blood formed a trail towards Lute and Raiden standing in the middle of the largest magic circle drawn in the middle of the room.

"[Nullify Pain], [Sense of Time: Null], [Accelerate Time], [Decelerate Time]…" Lute chanted lightly, multiple spells were casted in rapid succession while the runes all around them touched the walls in the room, the flow of time then rapidly changed which everyone inside can clearly feel.

"NOW!" Lute shouted, and the dark purple magic circle on the ground glowed brightly, causing the blood that formed below them to float into the air and plunge deep into the chest of the two.

As if reality around them was being defied, the bodies of both Lute and Raiden rapidly changed. From horns slowly protruding at a visible rate, a tail slowly sprouting from their backs, owl-like wings, and a demonic aura erupted from the two.

"Incredible," Via muttered in amazement, her eyes widening in surprise. She tried to comprehend the magical secrets the spell held, yet she can't even begin to understand a small part of it.

As the light from the magic circles slowly receded, the appearance of the two can now clearly be seen.

Lute's appearance remained the same for the most part, his height was still the same, so he can still be mistaken for a child. Dark purple wings with owl feathers appeared from his back, tearing his cloak and white shirt onto the ground. His hair became darker, almost abysmal in its darkness. His teeth became slightly sharper in appearance, and his tail wiggled behind him. Other than that, he still looked normal.

The one who changed drastically was instead Raiden. Now, he was taller than before, taller than even Lute, his own father who was years older than him. He now looks more like a teenager than a kid. His eyes turned a darker crimson, his teeth became sharper and beast-like, and his hoodie was also torn to pieces as a pair of crimson wings formed from his back along with a tail.

"M-My boy! What happened?! My calculations were correct, so why do you look like an edgelord right now?!" Lute shouted, appalled by Raiden's emo appearance that looks like a guy you'll see if one were to search anime demon on the internet.

"Dada? Why do you look so… eh?" Raiden muttered in shock. He finally noticed the change in his perspective.

"[Light Mirror]," Aldrich said, a mirror of light then conjured in front of him.

Looking into the mirror, his eyes widened in shock, almost unable to believe his new appearance.

"D-Dada… Dada! Uwah!" Tears flowed from his eyes, as he plunges toward Lute and took him into a tight hug. To see that he looked so different from before would really make any young boy scared.

"There, there. I'll fix you right back to your previous appearance. Experiencing rapid growth like that would be bad for you, so this is an urgent matter that needs to be fixed. Oi! Old man! Go help me create a new magic circle right now! This is important!" Lute shouted, and Aldrich nodded his head.

Just like that, a new problem arose from an unexpected miscalculation.

AN: This chapter has 2574 words.

Here comes the big question, is Aldrich a mind-fucked pawn or still a free being? Yep, bet you realized how fucked up the situation is, huh? Fun and joy? More like theatrical antics to hide the overarching schemes!

Give me power stones.

(August 15, 2022 – 264th day of writing)