Chapter 3: Preparations
Shin had learned much of the state of the world through his books and talk from his father's generals. He was part of the Demon Empire. Although it was called the demon Empire, there wasn't exactly one type of demon. The Demon empire consisted of hundreds of species of "demons" and the like.
In fact Shin's exact race were called Satrans which were part of the Underworld species. Satrans resembled humans but they were different in many ways, they were more apt to their environments and their bodies were more resilient. Yet the key physical distinctions were their heterochromia eyes every Satran was born with different colored eyes, some would develop wings, and they all had horns that they could form and hide at will.
Yet what all of the races in the Demon Empire had in common was that they had to use humans as a way to strengthen themselves, some sucked their blood, other ate their flesh, and some, like Shin, absorbed their souls.
Of course the humans didn't stay quiet about this, they rallied together and created the Kreshic Empire. Soon after forming their empire, the humans began to attack back at the demons.
The demons had been in control of the world for a very long time, yet once the humans began to attack them, they were forced back and lost more and more of their lands. They had grown used to ruling over everything and had grown lazier and more arrogant. So when the humans began to revolt they had been completely unprepared. Many believed that the fighting would soon die down and things would return to how they were, but that didn't happen.
The reason that the humans had the strength to fight the demons was the same reason for why they were the chosen victims of the demons. Innately, all humans in this land were born with strong bodies and souls which allowed them to master spell-casting and through training their bodies, they were comparable to the demons. Previously there had been some human organizations which would cause trouble, but this was the first time that the humans had had almost unanimoustly gathered to fight against the demons.
This led to a war between the humans and the demons that had been going on for over a century.
After learning the history in this world Shin began to speak to his father's generals in order to know what was happening at the current time.
"Greetings, young master Shin" said a man who appeared to be in his late forties as he put a fist on his chest. He was wearing a blue armor so dark it appeared to be black, the edges of his armor were outlined in gold and had sharp edges. As he walked a crimson cape followed him adding to his already mighty figure.
"Katsou, you can just greet me normally, have we not been friends for a long time." said Shinkei with a smile on his face as he went to shake Katsou's hand.
After seeing the actions of his friend, Katsou ignored Shin's outstretched hand and instead leaned forward and greeted him with a powerful hug.
"It's been 2 years and already you grew so much." said Katsou as he pointed to Shin's horns.
Shin laughed as he heard Katsou's comment. The Satran race was known for many things, one of them was the ability to naturally be able to hide their ages. The only trust-able marker for their real age were their horns. When they were born, Satrans' horns were small, milky white, and very rough, as they grew older their horns would grow, naturally become smoother, and they would become gradually darker until they became pitch black.
After Katsou had left to the front lines 2 years ago, Shin's horns had grown to their fullest and had finally picked up a noticeable light shade of grey. This showed his transition into adulthood in the demon world.
"So I heard that tonight it's going to be official huh, you're finally 22."said Katsou with a smile on his face showing Shin his support for him.
"Time flies I guess, I've been waiting for this moment for so long and I've done all I can to prepare. All I can do now is hope it goes well." replied Shin as he smiled confidently.
"Well I'll see you at the party, I have to go report to your father." said Katsou as he began to walk toward the courtroom.
Shin had known Katsou his whole life, he was one of the few people that actually cared about him even before Shin took over this body. When Shin stopped going out and began to display his interest in his future, Katsou did all he could to support him. And when Shin began to ask about the state of the war, it was Katsou who had provided him with vital information of the battlefield.
As the top general of the 53 Demon Lord Katsou had access to all the knowledge of the war and command of the troops. It was Katsou who had helped Shin train his body. He had also guided him in the basic aspects of strengthening his soul. Through all this Shin had come to respect Katsou and although he addressed him as a friend, he really viewed Katsou as a teacher and the first master he had in this life. When Katsou had to leave to the front lines 2 years ago Shin had decided to train by himself and learn more through reading the books in his library.
...
Night had finally arrived and it was time for Shin's ceremony. He had been dragged everywhere all day long. He was pushed into meeting other nobles and important figures surrounding his father's territory. The previous owner of Shin's body had been disrespectful and arrogant with the other nobles. He envied the power they individually possessed and used his status as the son of the 53rd Demon Lord to push around lower nobility. He had gone as far as stripping a noble family of their status and exiling them from their land. As word spread his reputation as a weak and petty person, grew.
And when Shin's soul came to his body, he had mostly spent his time training or locked in his room reading. So most people assumed that he was the same type of person and were vastly surprised when Shin walked into the room with the air of a noble, displaying his manners and actively listening and paying attention to their conversation.
He had meet with young nobility from dusk till dawn. Meeting various different types of people. Some were there to speak about different businesses and talking about finances and were impressed with the knowledge that Shin possessed about the subject. He was able to help fund some different people whom he viewed as trustworthy and a good investment. Of course his mother had also not spared any effort into matching him with different young ladies from powerful families. She had spent a long time of her life worrying about her youngest son, and when he began to take life more seriously and become stronger she had hopes that finding a good wife or wives would help him become even more focused on his future.
In fact Shin should have already been at least engaged by now. She and his father had married by the time they were 21 and had spent more than 200 years together. Although this might seem like a long time, for Satrans who lived thousands of years even without training, 200 years were considered short. Still time passed normally for them and her husband had taken in concubines and other women. This was fine with her since their society approved of polygamy. And although he had gathered many other women, her husband only had one wife and that was her.
She and Mikoto had met at a young age. They had hit it off since the first day they met. They were both Satrans and had a similar power level. But as time passed Mikoto was taught more about wars, fighting, and strengthening himself. While she was taught more about politics and noble etiquette. But she still remembered Mikoto and decided to chase after him, she had taken troops from her father and joined the military to be closer to him.
As he rose through the ranks she followed closely behind. Although she didn't show it to her kids, she was also very powerful. She was almost on par with Mikoto, if she hadn't stopped training after having her first son Akio she wouldn't have fallen behind Mikoto in terms of power. Masami only had 2 kids one was the oldest Akio, and the youngest Shin. She cared for them equally but she trusted that Akio was responsible, while she worried about Shin most of the time. Although they weren't on exactly friendly terms, Akio never bothered Shin.
Shin had met many young noble ladies at the meetings before the party. Some had been reserved and mostly had idle chatter with him before leaving, not being able to look at him in the eye. Others were completely different, outgoing and slightly too talkative, speaking a lot but actually saying little. Some were more moderate, they would speak and listen trying to get to know Shin better. Shin obliged, although in his previous life he didn't have much interest in relationships and was much more quiet. In this one, be he felt a need to attract others to him and a much greater attraction for beautiful women.
Still he didn't allow these thoughts to fundamentally change him, although he would feel great attraction to beauties, he would not allow himself to only look at their faces and ignore their other traits. He had more than once felt intense attraction to some of the nobles he met, but upon speaking with them and getting to know they were insincere, or only saw him as a stepping stone for their own futures, his desire for them slowly declined. He would allow his body to crave for them but if he allowed his heart to chase as well, it would only be if they were exceptional. So he still had no one he genuinely felt love or longing for.
As the day continued, the meetings gradually came to an end. He was quickly whisked away to do other things such as rehearse his party that night, and try on countless different clothes.
Shin sighed as he took out a book from the wall behind him, he began to turn the cover as a knife crashed though the window, he noticed it but was a bit slow to act so it nicked the back of his hand.
Shin immediately jumped away from his desk and looked outside the window. He saw a cloaked figure crouching on a tree branch preparing to jump. He quickly prepared himself to fight.
It wasn't the first assassination attempt he had faced. This week alone there were about seven attempts on his life. Many were quickly dealt with by his guards before even getting close to him. The closest someone had gotten to taking his life, was taking his guard's are with corrosion magic. The assassin was quickly caught and executed, as he was greatly outnumbered by his guards. He quickly called for his maid Natalie. Soon he saw a lovely figure quickly fly down with golden wings. She quickly came before him and worriedly asked, "Are you hurt young master Shin?"
He stared into her eyes feeling the warmth and care emanating from them.
He kept staring at her until he remembered why he called for her. "I'm fine but one of my guards has lost an arm, please heal it."
She nodded as she looked at the guard on the ground groaning in pain with sweat coating his face, she had a warm and thankful look in her eyes. She felt thankful that this guard risked his life for her young master. She noticed this feeling of relief from knowing that Shin was safe, but quickly deduced that it must have been because he was her young master. Still this feeling had long been in her heart and unbeknownst to her it kept growing. Shin couldn't notice since she had her back to him.
Quickly regaining her posture she walked to the guard and kneeled next to him she held her hands together and wished to this person to recover since he had risked his life and sacrificed his arm to protect someone important to her. As she closed her eyes continuing with her thoughts, golden dots began appearing in front of her. They quickly grew in number and began to move towards the hurt guard. They slowly took the shape of an arm, and began to solidify and change color. Some seconds passed and Natalie opened her eyes with her cheeks rosy from using her healing power. She had only recently obtained her golden wings and was not used to using this much power.
Shin gulped as he stared at the guard's arm, it appeared exactly the same as it did before, the guard soon began to fall asleep. Since Natalie had only just gotten her golden wings, it would take some time for the guard to completely recover so she made him fall asleep so that his body could get used to his new arm and recover any other small wounds that might still be left.
Shin was shocked, he had only heard about the power of angels being powerful. It wasn't that it was impossible for limbs to be restored, but it would take many people, and not just any healers, expert healers were necessary. So when he finally witnessed her power firsthand, he was blown away. As he looked towards Natalie he saw her cheeks red and her breathing slowly and heavily. it was obvious that the spell was taxing for her to use.
He couldn't think of anything else so he carried her away so she could rest, he rested her neck on his shoulder, he supported her back on one of his arms, and with the other he held he legs. He slowly began to carry her to his mansion. The guards recovered their composure and began to follow him until the entrance of his house. They then separated to secure the other weak points of the house. Once he neared the door, his two guards stationed there opened the door for him. He walked into a grand hall, with large stairs leading towards the second floor. And the two side halls leading to the personnel resting places.
He slowly took the stairs, heading towards a guest room. Natalie faded in and out of consciousness and began to notice that she was being held by her young master. Her already rosy face turned red as she noticed that she was being princess carried by Shin. She was confused and was too embarrassed to say anything. Shin opened the door to a guest room and gently laid Natalie on the large bed. He covered her with the blankets and stared at her for a while as she pretended to be asleep. Shin had long noticed that Natalie was awake, but he also felt embarrassed once he paid attention to what he was doing. He went along with her pretending and then left the room, closing the door behind him.
Shin stared at the assassin looking at him. He lit dark flames on his hands and prepared to fight.
The assassin looked at Shin, he had thought that once he got past the guards, the target would be easy to get rid of. Unfortunately, the target had noticed the attack and began to retaliate.
The assassin had lost the element of surprise and both he and Shin knew that.
After the first strike, Shin's senses had heightened to be prepared for any other incoming attack.
The assassin knew that people had heard the glass breaking and that the guards would be here soon. So he began to strike out quickly. Shin saw the cloaked assassin pull out dozens of knives from his cloak and begin to throw it at him.
But the assassin had lost the element of surprise. Shin felt slightly frightened, but also felt a rapidly growing sense of excitement. He felt that this was a change to see how much his power had grown. He began to rapidly expand his fire and melt the knives flying at him. As soon as the attacker saw this, he began to throw the knives even faster so as to leave before the guards came.
Shin increased the intensity of his flames. His whole room was protected by magic and was fireproof to normal flames. But it still couldn't handle the intensity of his dark flames' heat. The floor began to turn reddish and began to melt under the immense heat. Shin knew that he was able to melt these normal knives. So he began to attack back, he threw fireballs at the assassin. But the assassin still had his fast speed and began to dodge the fireballs quickly thinking of new ways to kill Shin.
The assassin began to rapidly jump from wall to wall, going so fast that his body became a blur. But Shin had heightened his senses so he could still barely see the assassin as he moved, quickly trailing him with fireballs. He dodged the blades the assassin threw at him as he continued to attack. He began to increase his flames' speed even more. His room was covered in clusters of dark flames refusing to go out.
Shin began to run after the assassin chasing him from wall to wall inside his room. He knew that he couldn't keep up for long but if he managed to get a hit on the assassin he might be able to stop him.
The assassin began to get worried to he used his most powerful knives, all eight of them were connected to him with magic, and they began to glow a dark purple as they floated around him. Shin saw seven knives float around the assassin as he ran around his room. he knew that these knives were likely much more powerful than the previous ones and thy could inflict greater injuries on him.
The assassin threw his last normal knives with all his strength, sending them flying towards Shin.
Shin saw the knives going to him and began to melt them with his fire. But since they were going much faster, they were able to get closer to him. Still he managed to melt them completely before they came closer than 3 feet from him.
But just as he was about to continue his attack on the assassin, he noticed a purple knife flying behind one of the melting knives.
Although he was able to melt normal knives easily, magic knives were much more resilient and took longer to break or melt. He was able to notice the knife as it headed towards him. He moved his body as mcuh as he could, but the knife still hit him on the right side of his chest.
He had barely been able to avoid a death hit from the knife.
The assassin knew that this was his chance to kill the target and began to move his other knives.
But just as he was about to thrown them, tens of different spells began to come towards him, he knew that he could no longer complete the mission since the guards were here. So he narrowly escaped the spells and jumped out of the window, disappearing soon after.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone