"I see... So you've made a deal with her?" Amelia hit her open palm with her fist, tilting her head curiously as understanding flashed in her eyes.
"Yeah, I found more value in that." Sam sighed, massaging his sore neck from being beaten up by her. Usually, he would've just hit her back and thrown her out of the window, but because of his experiments with Ether Body, he was too exhausted and battered to overpower her.
Hmm... Sam thought with an irritated scowl, staring at her smug face. You damned... You knew there was nothing wrong with me! You're just a lunatic who likes beating up people for no reason!
Trissy, sitting beside them, crossed her legs gracefully, tapping her cheek with a curious smile, a slight pout forming on her face. "Is it because you saw more value in keeping me alive, or is it that you feel attracted?"
Sam, despite knowing the truth, denied any accusations with a bitter look, shaking his head. In a way, she's right. She was using her charm, which allowed her to prevent me from harming her. What would I have done without being under her influence? Most likely killed her and sold her Beyonder characteristics. Well, whatever. It's already a done deal, so there's nothing I can do about it.
"Don't be so tense, you're still growing up, so it's normal to feel that way." Trissy raised her arms, cradling her cheeks in her hands as she smiled faintly, head tilting to one side.
She's right, my body is still growing... Wait a second now! He stilled, glancing at her with a furrowed brow. Then, taking a deep breath, he spoke, his tone uncertain. "Are you perchance a predator preying on children?"
Amelia trembled at that, her shoulders shaking as her lips twitched. She covered her face and looked down, incomprehensible sounds escaping her, until she couldn't hold it back and burst into laughter. "Bahahaha! Don't tell me you got molested once again! Sam, it's ridiculous, why does every older woman want to rape you?"
She shook her head with wild laughter, pointing her middle finger at him as she slapped her knee.
Hey... That's insensitive. He looked away, avoiding her gaze with a crestfallen expression, unable to even deny her words. Then he felt bitterness rising in his chest, and he steeled his resolve. Fuck that, I don't even care. That's right, laugh all you want. Someday, it'll happen to you too!
Thinking this, Sam felt faint satisfaction, cursing his friend with a cheerful smile.
As for Trissy, she remained motionless, blinking with a dumbfounded stare as Amelia's words reverberated in her mind.
Wait... He's not an adult? I knew he was young, but not that young... Oh no, I've harassed a child. Her eyes widened in horror as she covered her mouth. And what does she mean by "again"? Did this happen before?
Trissy was genuinely unsettled by those unexpected developments. She needed no further elaboration, by the looks of it, he was so used to pain, so accustomed to being treated as nothing but a tool, that he wasn't even reacting. He had normalized such vile, terrible things to the point they barely registered.
Just what kind of life had he lived to shrug off something like this? She didn't know, nor did she feel confident asking. For reasons she couldn't quite name why she was hesitating when it came to him.
And it wasn't just him. That girl seemed just as unhinged, both of them treating it far too lightly. What would be hell for anyone else was apparently nothing to them.
Trissy sighed, not wanting to dwell on it further. Besides, the discomfort of having harassed a child was growing by the second, so she wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.x
Masking her unease with a charming smile, she drew their attention with an elegant gesture, fingers outstretched, long nails gleaming under the lamplight. "As much as I'd like to continue this conversation..."
She paused, glancing at Sam, who was rubbing his eyes and ignoring Amelia, who, for her part, was doing her best to irritate him. He had returned to whatever he'd been researching, bent over a diagram of a physical form that strangely resembled his own, with some manner of vortex sketched within it.
Hearing her voice, both of them fell silent and looked up with intrigued eyes.
Satisfied, Trissy nodded, licked her scarlet lips, and continued. "We need to discuss our next course of action."
"Simple, we're going to kidnap someone." Sam said flatly, leaning back in his chair and resting his feet on the table, gaze still fixed on his book.
"Pardon?" Trissy leaned forward, bracing both hands on the table.
"It's exactly as you heard." Amelia confirmed, unbothered by Trissy's confusion as she grabbed a screwdriver and began tinkering with a bizarre contraption resembling a rifle.
"May I ask who?" Trissy knew both of them were capable fighters, she had witnessed their clash with the Zombie herself but she still harbored doubts. They were chaotic, unpredictable, prone to acting on whim rather than reason. Like children, in a sense.
"Hmmm... Maybe simply a human criminal hungry for power, or truly one of my own, a criminal who carries demonic blood in their veins." Sam laid out the situation calmly, starting from the beginning: how they had deduced that a devil was operating in Backlund through the sale of ingredients he'd acquired, then walking through their plan for how to approach it and what to do next.
Listening, Trissy found herself intrigued. She too needed a clearer picture of Backlund's underground dynamics, so the prospect of hunting a devil down suited her well enough.
"I understand, it isn't a bad idea. However, can we be certain they're acquiring the ingredients for themselves? Perhaps they're acting on behalf of allies. We can't know for sure. And it's possible this is a trap set by the Church to draw a devil, someone like you, out of hiding."
Sam set his book down and stared at her for a moment, then narrowed his eyes, sinking into thought. "Hmm... That's another possibility. A normal Beyonder who managed to hunt a Skinless Blood Cat and a Rat King wouldn't necessarily pursue the buyer... But a devil, one who already knows the potion formula, would recognize immediately what those purchases mean. He'd try to investigate."
Amelia raised an eyebrow, spinning the screwdriver between her fingers with the kind of absent ease that made it look like breathing. She had the remaining screws clamped between her lips while her left hand held the rifle steady, eyes sharp and focused as she worked without looking up.
"Churches do use tactics like that. But that requires them to actually possess the potion formulas. Personally, I doubt they do. The devil pathway is extraordinarily obscure, neither well-known nor favored. Despised by most, in fact. Which means the odds of this being an orthodox Church trap are slim."
Trissy frowned at that, wondering why someone as young as Amelia knew how the Churches operated. She had a faint suspicion that she was part of one, which made her narrow her eyes in wariness, though a more fitting explanation was that it was past tense rather than present.
She's most likely a deserter... She thought, nodding to herself as she analyzed the situation. Amelia, who had sensed her gaze, looked up, a smile forming on her lips and slowly widening, her expression unreadable.
As for Sam, he continued working on his project, trying to recall the sensation he'd felt when he first attempted to seize control over his Ether Body.
Leaning forward, Trissy involuntarily tilted her head, peeking at his book, intrigued by his dedication. She hadn't imagined that a boy this violent would apply himself to something like research, he had struck her as more muscle than mind.
Sam raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, uncertain what she wanted, but slowly he followed her gaze to the diagram and understood. She was curious about his research. However, he had written it in the Devil Language, so he doubted she could decipher it. So he just shrugged and returned to his work.
When he finished, he reached for another book, one that resembled a diary more than a research journal.
Opening it, he wrote down the date and began. He had heard that Emperor Roselle kept a diary too, and the thought had stuck with him. If someone as accomplished as Roselle recorded his progress and his life, then it had to mean something, didn't it?
That was his logic. Sam wasn't particularly arrogant. He looked up to many people, his siblings, Paimon, his Lord and His angels, and others, never assuming his own ways surpassed those with more experience than him.
[Diary Of Your Average Devil: Volume 1
Chapter 1: Ether Body
Ether Body is bizarre. It still baffles me how robust and tenacious it is compared to the Spirit Body or the Body of Heart and Mind, both of which can be freely utilized by those whose pathways grant abilities tied to those specific domains of the soul.
Even so, I attempted to take control over it. The result was, frankly, catastrophic. I nearly lost control entirely, and my body began breaking down as I destabilized the vital energies that constitute my physical form.
And yet, it is still an energy. A source of power. Even if mastering it borders on impossible, the mere fact that I can interact with it at all means there exists some path toward deepening that connection, enough to achieve at least partial control.
For now, I cannot say what that will yield. It may cause great damage, or worse, irreversible one like loss of control or death.
But there is another possibility. If vital energies compose my physical form, and I am a devil, then demonification is simply the direct expression of the Ether Body, a transformation into a demonic creature driven by the potion's granted ability.
In other words, manipulating the Ether Body is possible. But only when a devil invokes an ability granted by the potion.
I'm not discouraged. If anything, it excites me. It has been a while since I felt exhilaration like this, because there is a chance, however slim, that I will succeed.
Why do I think so? Other pathways offer quite the inspiration. Witches channel curses through ritual and incantation. Those of the Mystery Pryer and White Tower pathways are capable of constructing spells independently. In other words, even where a pathway does not directly grant an ability, Beyonders can still develope spells and abilities, through it's something akin to ritualistic magic, and in their case, it operates through Spirit Body and Spirituality rather than the Ether Body.
My hope rests on the possibility that the same logic applies here.
If it doesn't... then I will die. That thought isn't exactly comforting, and I have a great deal left to do before Lady Death! wait, hmm... death was male... Before Mr. Death welcomes me into hell. Even so, I cannot let an opportunity like this pass me by.
After all, I am the Devil of Endless Horizon.
And I intend to reach the horizon's edge.]