Spirit Realm, Near the Half-Broken Grand Seal.
Corrupted miasmic sand flew from a fair palm and disappeared bit by bit along with the wind as a gentle voice rang out in the area.
{Breaking through the boundaries of reality,
It has become stronger once again.
Shattering the norms of normality,
It has become greater once again...}
The poem seemed to carry deep meanings, and the bard who sang it seemed very certain that a great change was dawning upon this world.
Sitting on a broken fragment of a giant pillar that once supported the grand seal, Raika sang praises for the Anomaly who defeated him in a head-on battle!
His half-broken lyre was still singing melodies despite being in a weaker state than before.
Raika smiled as he watched the miasmic sand resting atop his palm fly away with the wind.
"The era has changed... I am sure you know that too..."
Finishing his melody, Raika sat in a relaxed posture as he stared at the giant door standing atop a hill in the distance.
Silence prevailed in the area for a while, but his words got a reply soon after.
"I am aware of it... I saw it all myself after all... when Alverto died... the Era had already changed..."
"You have taken longer to realize it than me..."
At some point in time a hazy, shadowy figure appeared beside Raika; its voice was very uncomfortable to hear, and the shadow seemed quite powerful, as even the space-time fabric started to bend from its presence.
"Hah, so you are here after all... Hoh? You have become better at creating âProjectionsâ... this one is starting to seem more and more better now..."
"Itâs been a while, Saint Nebo... or should I say..."
"Demon King, Nebo Dahaka..."
The blurry shadow, the projection, the manifestation that was bending the very fabric of reality just from its presence, belonged to none other than the Demon King himself.
"You have become more annoying than before, Raika..."
Dahaka did not seem amused by Raikaâs words, and he didnât seem to like the fact that Raika spoke his name out loud like that.
"You know that the Spirit Realm is not a good place to talk about things... Why summon me here?"
Hearing the demon kingâs question, Raika smiled with his usual gentle smirk and replied in a calm tone,
"I wanted to tell you of something personally... itâs been a while since I saw you; why not come here in person?"
"Talking to me canât be that boring, right?"
The demon king shook his head and denied immediately.
"I cannot physically enter the Spirit Realm, you know that much... moreover, people like Ashtel are keeping an eye on my movement outside..."
"I cannot move at random... whatever you want to inform me about, do so now; I do not have time to waste on you..."
Raika took a sigh as he felt unhappy after being denied.
"Well, whatever... not like your presence will change anything here..."
"What I wanted to tell you about was that, âThe Anomalyâ is not yet aware of any of his âpast,â it seems..."
"The âBizarreâ thing... it doesnât seem to know where it came from and how itâs in existence now... I am very surprised that itâs so oblivious of its reality..."
The Demon King went silent after hearing that information, and silence prevailed in the area once again.
Only after a long while did the demon king reply to Raikaâs words.
"Are you sure about this?... This shouldnât have been possible but... perhaps it is because its own innate powers are at play here..."
"Itâs impossible to understand whatâs actually happening with an âAnomalyâ... so âitsâ exact situation is hard to figure out even with my powers..."
Hearing the Demon Kingâs words, Raika smiled and replied with a confident look on his face,
"Well, I was also surprised but even after telling him to be a âHeroâ many times over and telling him to follow the âPathâ I recommended, âItâ didnât react to it at all..."
"Perhaps, the Anomaly is still not at its full manifestation as of yet..."
"If it was... I would have ceased to exist after trying to recommend such a wrong âPathâ to him..."
The demon king seemed to have fallen in thought after hearing Raikaâs words.
"My guess is that he might need to reach the realm of âdemigodsâ before he can finally become a true âAnomaly,â then..."
Raika also nodded his head at the Demon Kingâs words and asked in a teasing tone,
"So... what do you think?... You know that we can only make him be the âHeroâ only when heâs still a partially awakened anomaly..."
"Once he reaches the realm of Demi-gods... we will not be able to make him do our bidding anymore afterwards... now is the right time and moment..."
"I have already provided you with all the information that you needed... what will you do now, Dahaka?"
The Demon King went silent for a while and stared at the giant door in the distance before replying in an unusually calm voice,
"I have already prepared the stage... I just need to let nature takes its course now..."
"He must choose the âPath of a Heroâ at all costs... and I will make sure of that..."
Hearing the Demon Kingâs resolute answer, Raika giggled a bit and replied,
"You have become more powerful than the last time I saw you... also... why does it seem like you have become more âSentientâ than before..."
"It is quite surprising that the effects of miasmic corruption have decreased and your brain has returned back to its original state of that bygone era..."
"I am looking forward to what you will achieve..."
The blurry shadow, looked at the broken grand seal and replied in an oddly calm voice,
"Nothing changed... itâs just a filial son of mine who ended up doing something completely out of my expectations..."
"He created a new possibility for the demon kind... because of it... I am feeling much clear-headed for the first time in several centuries..."
Alverto failed in completing his mission of creating a âNew Path,â as the Altar created by him only managed to stay intact for just 12 seconds!
Although the Altar didnât remain active for long, 10 seconds were enough to purify Aurora and help her become completely free of miasmic corruption and all of its shackles.
But the Altar remained active for another âtwo secondsâ after purifying Aurora, and with that little time, it locked on to another target for purification, and that person was none other than the Demon King himself!
"I see... so Alverto passed the torch of âHopeâ to you... That kid... he was truly a hero for the demon race..."
Alverto succeeded in tricking Rio, the âAnomaly,â and managed to pass his mission on to the next torchbearer, who was his father, the demon king himself!
"Well, I owe him for helping me clear my muddled head from miasmic corruption... but I am not obligated to listen to his demands..."
"I still have my own things to do after all..."
Raika giggled at the demon kingâs words as he spoke.
"Yeah, you are that kind of selfish guy after all... so, what are you going to do next?"
"Look for him personally and confront him?"
At Raikaâs question, The Demon King smirked and replied while shaking his head in denial,
"No need... I do not need to look for him... He will come to me on his own in the future..."
"After all, our âPathsâ are bound to cross one day or another... We will meet at that time..."
With that said, the demon kingâs shadow disappeared instantly, and as if he had never even existed, everything went back to normal.
Seeing this, Raika shook his head and sung in a gentle voice,
{Oh~ Herald of Change, Bring us a better future~
The World Hopes for it,
This tired bard hopes for it,
Bring us a change in forgotten nature~}