It was a few weeks after Vester showed up that it happened.
I was wandering around town, lazily in Shion's arms when I sensed it. A stupid massive chunk of magic power flying straight toward Tempest, at an insane speed.
Immediately, I jumped off Shion's chest and raced out of the city at full speed, messaging Risa with thought communication as I 'ran.' I hadn't barely gotten to a nearby hill when the magic missile made a sharp midair turn, creating a crater right in front of me, blasting away the nearby forest.
"Whoooa!" Risa, who'd used her new teleportation art to instantly appear beside me, gasped as the smoke and dust cleared, revealing something on a totally different dimension from anything that I could possibly handle.
This blue-eyed, pink-haired little girl-looking monster had a huge aura and she didn't even pretend to bother hiding it.
She actually looked a bit like Risa, if you looked closely. Same physical age, 14 or 15-ish (Risa's humanoid form was based on her slime mass, so it'd grown a bit as she'd gotten more used to her Enhanced Shapeshift skill), same innocent-looking expression, and the same scary sharpness in their eyes, if you observed closely. Really, you could've conceivably called them twins, if not for this girl's pink hair, pigtails, and skimpy, bikini-like outfit.
"HI! I am the demon lord, Milim Nava! You look like the strongest guy in town, so I wanted to come n' say hello!" She declared.
'WHHYYYYY?!?!?!!!!' I couldn't help but scream in my mind. This wasn't just some kinda strong monster, but a real live demon lord. Last boss, just randomly appearing out of thin air! Honestly, between her and Veldora, I couldn't tell which was stronger, she was that overwhelmingly powerful.
"Coool! You dropped down, and then you went bang and boom and… Woow!" Not that Risa seemed to care at all about the fact that this girl was terrifyingly strong enough to raze our entire city with both arms tied behind her back.
"Ha-ha-ha! That's right! I'm strong!"
…
So, apparently this little girl demon lord had watched the fight against the Orc Disaster. At least, up until Gelmud's death. From there, she'd managed to figure out that he'd eaten Gelmud and evolved into a pseudo demon lord, but she wasn't too shocked that I'd managed to beat him anyways.
She'd managed to figure all of this out thanks to her Unique Skill, Dragon's Eye, which was able to see straight through my well-hidden aura.
She also had this to say about Risa, "You know, I've never seen a being like you before! Combining a storm-attribute slime with a fire-attribute spirit, still somehow managing to keep both parts more-or-less intact!? And is that some tiny bit of another attribute, too?!" She was even more impressed by Risa than she was with me, and I had a demon lord seed.
Honestly, though, this wasn't surprising. When I pressed her further, Milim explained something interesting.
In this world, it was well known that Demons, Spirits, Angels, and Dragons were a cut above the rest, in terms of potential. They each had the ability to evolve to the point of awakened demon lords without actually awakening a demon lord seed, though demons needed some sort of impetus in order to do so, since they were 'naturally capped' as Milim put it.
Spirits, like the one that Risa had assimilated, had four different evolutions, lesser spirits, greater spirits, superior spirits, and then Elemental Lords, which were basically spirit-attribute demon lords. Izzy had started as a lesser spirit, but upon receiving its name, had skipped straight past greater status into superior status.
So, technically Risa's slime half had Veldora's storm attribute, while her spirit half had a fire attribute. Destruction and Acceleration, Spirit and Slime in one soul without completely combining. It simply didn't happen naturally, and Milim found it endlessly fascinating.
Luckily for us.
Since Milim was exactly like Risa, wholly subject to her whims and desires, she was easy to handle, despite her terrifying, overwhelming power. By the time Shion caught up with me outside of the city, she was chatting with Risa like they were old friends, sharing the jar of honey that Risa had pestered out of me a few days ago.
"So, why did you come, Milim? To take revenge on Gelmud or something?" I had to ask, having transformed into my human form at Milim's request.
She paused for a moment, turning her head toward me. "Mm? I already said, I just wanted to say 'hi.'"
'SERIOUSLY?!'
…
"Milim, stay here for a while! Please, please, pretty please?!" Risa begged after about twenty minutes.
Putting her finger to her lips cutely, Milim thought it over. "Oooh…kay. But only if you call me Lady Milim!"
Risa cocked her head in response, "Why would I use formalities with my friend?"
"Ooh! Okay, you can call me Milim. But just you two, alright! Nobody else!"
"'Kay, Milim!"