Demon's Virtue

"I-I..." The Duke stared back at Eiro with utter fear in his eyes. But Eiro had not an ounce of sympathy for him. The James duke household was one that held quite a few hidden crimes. The only reason why Solomon wasn't able to expose them for said crimes yet was that he had to keep Lognir a secret, and with that, the bloodline ability of the Skyhart royal family. Because without exposing Lognir and his truth-based abilities, it was practically impossible for Solomon to expose him.

Depsite being King, a duke held incredible power and influence, and this was especially the case for the James household, who were at the peak of a faction that was unsatisfied with the way the country was currently run.

The James household had many connections to the underworld, apparently. Illegal trading in the black market, to the point where one of the main reasons why the capital's black market could exist was the household itself, just being one of them. Solomon had hoped that Evelyn was different to the rest of the James household, considering her reputation, and since Lognir had been busy worrying about his mate and children, there was really no way for him to verify what kind of person Evelyn was.

So, of course, since this household was a troublesome one filled with nothing but scum and trash, Eiro didn't feel bad about taking it over in this way. After all, while slavery was illegal, what Eiro was doing wasn't technically slavery. It was more of a contract of subservience... Something that Eiro learned about from Nelli as she had helped him create this spell. And since a contract was something that both parties agreed to, this technically wasn't illegal, but even then, this whole thing was something treading along the lines of legality, making use of any loopholes that the Demon could find.

Eiro let out a deep sigh as he watched the Duke try to run away through this empty hallway that Eiro had split up artificially through magic so that nobody could come and bother him and his new... business partner.

"Mislan." Eiro said with a bothered tone of voice, and out of the shadows of the badly-lit hallway, the named Shadow Servant appeared, with his hands behind his back. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere, at least from the Duke's perspective.

"Now, answer me. Are you able to get me what I want, or are you not?" Eiro asked with a grin on his face, "And just so that you know, if you tell me 'Yes' and I realize it's a lie, then it counts as a 'No'." The Demon said, and the Duke simply gave up. He looked at the ground in fear, and Eiro rolled his eyes, "Refusal to answer is also against the contract, you know?"

"B-But I..! C-Can you give me more time?! A-A couple years for that sort of request might be e-enough!" The Duke pleaded, but Eiro stood in front of him while pushing his hands into his pockets, and slowly shook his head.

Finally, it seemed like the duke understood that it was simply inevitable. This was exactly like the tale of the Genie. If you made a wish to this being, it would try to twist the wish around into perversion, often taking the wish in its most literal way. That's why you had to be careful with your words, and be as specific as possible. But the duke simply didn't mind such things.

"Just answer... me..." Eiro said, slightly stuttering as he noticed something unexpected going on within the arena. But the Duke really didn't notice, since he was preoccupied with other things that he clearly had to worry about at the moment.

"I... I can't get you that... I can't... fulfill your request..." The duke muttered, and immediately, the mark on the back of his hand lit up and started heating up. It burnt into the duke's skin, causing it to bubble up and rip open, as the mark slowly buried itself inside of the duke's flesh. The 'contract mark' was now on the inside of his skin, rather than the outside, just to hide it more easily. And of course, like this, the mark could easily spread throughout his mana veins and be near impossible to be removed by anyone but the creator of the contract, which meant Eiro in this case.

"Alright, good. Now, a few basic commands. Don't ever speak of this deal to anyone. Don't signal anyone. Don't write this down. If anyone finds out about this through you, whether through passive or direct means, you will be punished." Eiro said in a clear tone, "Now leave my sight, I have something else I need to deal with. I will visit you soon to talk about what I need you to do for me."

The duke slowly nodded, as he nervously walked away, absolutely crushed by what had just happened to him.

When he was gone, Bavet immediately whispered into Eiro's ears, "Damn... so you really turned the guy into a slave..?" Bavet asked with complicated feelings.

"Hm? No, not really. He can live normally, and I can't make him do things that would endanger his own life. He can only do things that he would normally do. But he's the kind of person that has no limits in what he would do if it meant that he will live, or even just profit off it, so I have quite a lot of freedom. But I wouldn't be able to just tell him to go and try to get me the Monster King's heart and head now, because he knows that he would die. It's really just a one-sided contract where I can make sure that he really does what I want him to without doing any bothersome things." Eiro explained, alleviating Bavet's mixed emotions, while the Demon quickly made his way through this place to make his way to the nearest place where he could properly watch the fight that was currently going on in the arena.

It was... troublesome, to say the least. Despite the fact that Krog was using adamantine weapons, the man that he was fighting, the one that Eiro had watched quite closely, was fighting back quite vigorously. And all that while still using an incredibly blunt blade. But at the very least, Krog made him actually have to fight properly, making the man's blade connect with another's weapon for the first time since the start of this tournament.

And while Krog did take a little bit of damage here and there, it was nothing enough to really bother him. After all, Krog was actually surprisingly talented in manipulating life force, as it turned out. He was able to instinctively pull it away from the places where he was going to be hit to reduce the damage he got as much as possible. He never really thought about strenghtening himself with life force, though. And not because he didn't want to, it was just that he simply forgot about it during the heat of the battle.

Krog was the kind of person that fought most of his fights in raw, simple instinct, and things such as battle tactics disappeared from his mind more and more as he became further enthralled in the fight that he was currently fighting.

Eiro clutched the railing in front of him as he watched the fight. More and more, it seemed like Krog was being pushed back, he was slowly going all out, while his opponent was simply toying with him, as if he was bored of what he was currently doing. Of course, that wasn't it exactly. Krog was obviously the strongest person that he had fought here so far, that much was clear, but at the same time, it was as if the man had limited his own abilities purposefully. As if he placed a seal on his own body. Something that Bavet confirmed rather quickly as well.

"And it's an extremely strong one as well... That man is incredibly powerful..." Bavet explained, and Eiro simply squinted annoyedly, "Did you already figure out what materials are needed to unseal it?"

"Of course I have. But why would you do that?" Bavet asked, and Eiro slowly closed his eyes, "Because I want to fight him at his peak in the finals."

"Huh? Finals? But he's not even going to pass this round at this pace..." Bavet pointed out, but Eiro quickly shook his head, "That's not true. I don't like it, but it's the truth. The sword that man is using is simple steel, while Krog is using adamantine axes forged by Armodeus. But the sword doesn't bend at all, not in the slightest. That man is much more skilled than he lets on. If he went all out, even with such a large part of his physical abilities sealed away, he would quite quickly win against Krog. And Jess doesn't have the physical prowess to defend against those attacks properly. Let's hope she beats him, but... It's not looking good."

And as Eiro continued watching this fight, he noticed frustration grow inside of Krog more and more, to the point where he was practically just getting angry. Noticing a chance, the man swung his blade forward at an incredible speed that seemed to make the air itself crack apart around it.

And as the two came to a stop, the man's sword cracked into pieces, having been completely destroyed by Krog.

But in return, Krog had lost this round, falling forward onto the ground unconscious. The announcement was made, and Eiro stared at the man with an angry glare for overwhelming his friend like that.