After Guy got his legs back. We decided to go to the castle of Manelas to have a proper conversation without trying to kill each other.
I used thought communication on the way to inform my subordinates that I was all right and to prepare some snacks for us.
I could see Guy wanted to ask me something but was waiting for when we arrived at our destination. I could imagine what he wanted to ask me. After all, I also want to ask my new friend about his skill.
Seriously, being able to copy a unique skill was overpowered. How can someone beat that? Each time you use an ability, he just copies it. He probably also can use it better than you with his experience.
While I think of how unfair life is and how some people are just given everything from birth, we arrive at the capital.
We fly directly to the castle without bothering to hide our presence. The civilians seem to freak out when seeing us.
Now that's strange. When a random superhero flies above a city, he is acclaimed, but when someone with demonic wings and an aura that reeks of death does it, people start running everywhere in fear.
'Racism is a problem in every world, it seems.'
Before I have time to think of the reason why humans are afraid of those that are slightly different from them, we are already at the entrance of the castle.
"Follow me. My secretary should already have prepared us some tea."
Guy nodded and followed me. Five minutes later we were in the garden of the castle. I didn't go here much during my stay, but it is the perfect place to have a good chat between friends.
In the middle of the garden, on an artificial hill, stood a small pavilion with a round table only big enough for four people to sit comfortably around.
Two chairs had already been prepared. A tray containing tea and snacks stood at the side of the table. Elysia, my secretary, was standing still behind one of the chairs, waiting dutifully for me. My three daughters were also there, standing farther than Elysia. They were avoiding my gaze, still frightened by my cold demeanor when I ordered them to leave me alone.
On the other side, behind the chair prepared for Guy, stood two women in a maid outfit. They were both beautiful, the one on the right had medium-length blue hair and blue eyes, while the one on the left had long curly green hair and green eyes.
I could sense they were powerful daemons, even stronger than my three daughters. I am not too surprised since Guy wouldn't let a weakling serve him. What I was surprised about is that the two of them are from a different lineage than Guy.
For a primordial to take a daemon of a different lineage under them would be like me taking another species as my subordinates. Not impossible, but why would I do that when my own race is already totally loyal to me? So the decision to take them as his closest subordinates left me perplexed.
After we take our seats, Elysia starts to pour us the tea. We wait to be served to start our discussion. While the tea is being poured, I sprinkle some emotion from the previous battle I preserved for later use. Guy and his maids are intrigued by what I put in my tea.
"What did you put in your tea? It doesn't look like any spice or condiment I have ever seen before."
I open my mouth to tell him what it is but stop myself. I just got an idea for a little harmless prank. He merits it, after all, he tried to kill me for a minor mistake. How was I supposed to know that killing people is bad? They don't teach you that in school.
"You want some? It's a new kind of condiment we succubi cultivate. We put some in everything we eat."
He thought for a moment before his curiosity won and he nodded his head. I hide my smirk and put the same emotion in his tea.
Guy takes his cup, smells the tea, and after some time finally decides to drink it. After he took his first sip, he looked confused, as he didn't sense anything different from normal tea, and then the emotion of all the people that died in the war hit him.
He has no reaction. After all, the emotion of humans, no matter how numerous, means nothing for someone that has lived for so long. Me putting the negative emotion of thousands of people in the tea was the equivalent for normal people of putting salt in the tea.
"You know that I have killed people for less than that, right? What did I do to you to deserve to have my tea ruined?"
He tossed the rest of his tea in the grass. Such a waste. Poor succubi are starving every day, and he wastes perfectly good emotion like that. What a cruel man he is.
"You tried to kill me not even an hour ago. I think you can let slide some harmless pranks after that, no?"
He laughed a little, not bothered by my prank. "I thought we were even. I tried to kill you, you cut me in half, and I didn't have a choice when killing you. It's my job."
When he mentioned being cut in half, the two maids looked at me in surprise, the mouth of the one with blue hair hanging open, eyes wide open. While the green one was trying to not show her surprise. I would have expected a more angry reaction for being told that I cut their master in half.
"I know, I know. But let's talk about these happy moments another time. Tell me, who are your two maids? They are not from your lineage, so why are they your closest subordinates?"
He looked at his two maids, particularly the blue one, who still was looking at me with a shocked expression. He shook his head, looking exasperated at her behavior.
"Sigh... The incompetent blue-haired one is Rain, and the other is Misery. They are the primordial of blue and green."
Now that was interesting. No wonder they felt so strong, even for daemons. I didn't expect him to take two other primordials as his subordinates. He even made them his maids, not something you would expect from beings that are older than the world agreed to.
"That explains why they are so powerful, even if I expected something more impressive from other primordials. You have set the bar pretty high after all."
The maids weren't happy at my comment on their strength but didn't dare complain in the presence of their master.
"It's not fair to compare me to the others. I am the strongest among the seven of us, and their strength is already far above the average. It's just your perspective that is flawed."
I took a moment to think of his word. Perhaps he is right. I have been around people like Luminous and Valentine for the major part of my life. In comparison, everyone else is weak.
"You are probably right. Oh, where are my manners? Let me introduce you to my subordinates. The one that served us tea is Elysia, she is my secretary. As for the three frightened kittens, the blue-haired one is Wendy, the pink one is Sherry, and the white one is Shiro. They are the three most powerful succubus and my daughters."
Elysia bowed when I presented her, and the three in the back nodded their heads, still shaking in fear.
"Your secretary isn't half bad. She makes some good tea." He sipped his new tea that Elysia poured him immediately after he threw the previous one. "When it isn't laced with disgusting human emotion, at least."
"Get over it. If you want, I have other emotions in stock. You look like someone who would like some satisfaction from winning a fight."
I gave him a ball of emotion. He looked at me distrustingly, and I rolled my eyes at his overreaction.
"Have some trust. I wouldn't stoop so low as to redo the same joke two times in a row. I have a standard."
He wasn't convinced but still decided to try it. He had a pleasant smile on his face as he revived the emotion. Seeing how strong he is, it must have been a while since he felt satisfied after beating someone.
"Do you have any more of those? For human emotion, I must say it's quite enjoyable."
"I knew you would like it. I would have some prepared for you. If you want more, just send one of your maids. As for the payment, just give me some soul so I can extract their emotions, okay?"
"It's a deal. I don't have a use for them anyway." I extended my hand for a handshake, and we sealed the deal.
"Now we should discuss what really interests you, so what do we do? I show you mine, you show me yours, or do you want to go first?"
He didn't react to my sexual innuendo, more interested in the ability he couldn't analyze or copy. He looked at me, signaling me to go first.
"Fine, I will go first. You already know about my first unique skill, so I will skip to the part that interests you." I wasn't worried about revealing my skill to him. He will understand it in our future fight, and it's not an ability that will be easy to counter even if you know it.
"My skill is called Taboo. It allows me to destroy anything that I have analyzed and understood, with a focus on skill. So I can destroy any effect created by a skill. It also functions on other things. I can destroy spells or natural phenomena like fire, ice, and electricity. As long as I have analyzed them and have sufficient energy, I can destroy anything. The only exception is living beings. If I want to destroy them completely, I need to be far stronger than them, so much so that even at my level I could probably only destroy people with no fighting power."
Guy took a pensive pose to think for a moment after my explanation. As for the other people present, only Rain and Misery seem to understand the implications of my skill. The others just have a look of awe at my new ability.
"You said it has a focus on skills. Does that mean it is easier for you to analyze them or to destroy their effect?"
"They aren't easier to analyze, but destroying their effect requires far less energy than destroying a spell of the same strength would require."
"I see, and if you destroyed a sword art, for example, what would happen? And for the restrictions, do you mean you can't destroy living beings at all, or can you destroy part of them? and—"
"Let's stop here for the question. We have all eternity to learn more about each other, so let's take our time, okay?" He was displeased to have to stop his curiosity but still nodded his head.
"Good, for your question, if I destroyed a sword art, the attack will become a simple sword strike. I could theoretically destroy the kinetic energy behind the strike, but I will need a better understanding of the fundamental law of the world. As for destroying living beings, I can destroy a small part of them, but it's not viable; the only way it would be worth it is if it were their soul, but for that I would need access to it, and I will only be able to analyze and destroy a small part of it."
He nodded, satisfied for now. Now it was his turn. I was curious to know about his skill. I mean, a skill that can copy other skills, who wouldn't be?
"Your skill is truly powerful and has a lot of potential. It's a shame you won't let me copy it."
I rolled my eyes. Of course I won't let him copy it. If I did, I couldn't hope to win a fight against him after all.
"Fine, I understand. It's my turn now, my skill is pride. It is similar to your skill. It permits me to replicate any phenomena I have analyzed. They then become sub-skills of my unique skill."
I widened my eyes when I heard his explanation. It was even more bullshit than I expected. He doesn't just copy skills but also phenomena, meaning that he can copy the physics of other species and the unique spells of one race. Hell, if he were to analyze a supernova or a black hole, he could replicate it.
"What kind of bullshit ability is that? Was the voice of the world drunk when it allowed such a skill to be born?"
He got a smug smile at my reaction. At least the name of the skill is perfect for him.
"It's normal for you to be jealous. It is the strongest skill in existence, after all."
I contemplated the idea to cut him in half again but decided against it. We still had to discuss other things.
"So for our agreement, I am fine with only fighting you from time to time to satisfy my hunger, but where can I find you? I don't want to have to search everywhere each time I want to fight you."
"Right, there was that. I normally travel the world, so I don't have a fixed base of operation. If you want to fight, just use thought communication, and I will tell you my location. But I will ask you something in exchange."
I furrowed my brow. It was not in our original deal. But I still decide to hear him out.
"What kind of favor?"
"Don't worry, you will like it. You see, my job can get boring sometimes. So I will ask you to destroy problematic countries from time to time. What do you say?"
I considered his proposition. It had only one advantage for me. I could get emotion and souls in mass.
"Okay, I accept, but only if I am not occupied with something else when you ask me." He extended his hand, and I shook it for sealing the deal.
"Congratulations, you are now officially the substitute mediator of this world."
After that we continued to talk for hours, telling each other anecdotes that we experienced, until Guy decided to leave.