Demon's Virtue

"Now, that's a surprise. That was something I didn't even plan on teaching you." Lognir pointed out with his arms crossed, surprised that Eiro was able to seemingly quite easily fuse his aura with the air around him, "You really do have quite impressive abilities."

Eiro slowly let go of the control over his aura, returning to normal just a few seconds afterward, "Thank you. Although at the end of the day, I would say I just got lucky with a lot of it. Many coincidences that built up over time."

Lognir smiled lightly as he shook his head, "That's what you may think, but I wouldn't be so sure about that. You have something special within you, something that is part of the flows of destiny. You were brought to all the places where you needed to be, and then with your own power, you grasped at those chances and used them for your own benefit."

Eiro wasn't entirely sure what he should think about that sort of point of view, since he didn't even know if 'destiny' was truly a thing in this world. It seemed possible, of course, but it wasn't something that Eiro particularly believed in. Or wanted to believe in, even. After all, a concept that was based on the fact that you had less free will than you thought at first, with everything being predetermined. The concept itself made Eiro feel somewhat powerless, and that was a feeling he enjoyed the least out of everything that he had experienced in this life so far.

"It is nothing to worry about at all. 'Destiny' as a concept isn't anything all that powerful. You are within a certain stream of it currently, but that 'stream' practically just controls the things that happen in the world around you. You have the power to stop within the stream, to do twirls and tricks, and you can even step out of it to walk on your own path if that is what you wish. There are only a few things that cannot be changed within destiny." Lognir explained, and Eiro quickly grew curious what he was talking about exactly.

And since Eiro was going to be taking a short break to collect his thoughts for later anyway, it was a good idea to just talk to Lognir about this a bit more, "And what would those things be?"

"Of course, the simplest answer to that is 'that which has already happened'. The past cannot be changed, no matter how hard you attempt so. Then there are certain events of importance within the life of every living creature, that are determined the moment they are born. Such things can take any possible form. Usually, there are just two such 'Fixed' events in one's own stream of Destiny. There is of course the 'Birth' of that being, and the 'Peak' of that being."

"...Peak? Do you mean 'Death'?" Eiro asked, but Lognir immediately shook his head, "Of course not. Death is something that even Destiny has no control over. You could die right now of your own choice, or in ten years through the hands of another being." The Dragon explained.

"Of course, depending on the time of your death, you may not have experienced your true 'Peak' yet. Your 'Peak' is the moment that has most impact within your life. Something that shakes up your whole being, and something that may cause you to change forever. Or, it is something that simply strengthens your beliefs and sets in stone what kind of being you are."

Eiro thought about this explanation for destiny. It seemed like it really was a force that existed somehow, but Eiro had seen it in the wrong light this whole time.

"Is there any way to figure out what my 'Peak' is supposed to be?" Eiro inquired, but Lognir shook his head, "There is not. You can make guesses, but there's nothing that definitively tells you what your 'Peak' is."

"I see." Eiro muttered quietly to himself, before Lognir walked up to him and placed his hand onto the Demon's shoulder, pulling him toward the other side of this room they were in, "Come on, let's take a bit of a break. We can keep on going later. Maybe try to manipulate your aura a little more into different patterns, and then we'll start with 'Ability Manipulation'. Sound good?" The Dragon suggested.

Eiro didn't really have anything against that idea, so he simply nodded his head in response. The two of them, with Bavet on Eiro's shoulder, made their way from this room to the one where the other dragons currently were, and where Armodeus was inspecting the materials that he was given to work with. He was also just trying to figure out what exactly he could make with the scales and eggshells that wouldn't be disrespectful to the Dragons in any way.

But since he wasn't working on anything yet directly, Eiro figured he should check on Lugo for a little bit. He walked up to the stag and swiftly squatted down in front of him, rubbing the top of his head with a smile on his face, "You doing okay, bud?" Eiro asked. With a loud bellow, Lugo opened his eyes and replied.

"I'm glad to hear that. But also, I'm a bit surprised that those kids don't scare you." The demon pointed out with a quiet laugh, and Lugo turned his head toward the newborn dragons and responded with another bellow, albeit one that was a fair bit more quiet than the one before that.

"Sure, you're my super brave familiar." Eiro said, somewhat passively patronizing Lugo in the process, but the Stag didn't seem to catch onto that and instead just formed a smug expression on his face.

Seeing Eiro interact with Lugo in such a way, Lognir looked at the two with a curious expression and asked, "What kind of being is he?"

Eiro turned his head toward Lognir a bit surprised, "What do you mean?"

"I was asking what kind of creature he is. What else could I be asking? He certainly isn't a monster, but he's not just an animal either. And I would recognize another magic beast when I see it. So I will ask again. What kind of being is he?"

"...So it really is like that. When I first met him, until not even too long ago, his status seemed to be that of just any other animal. But then, he happened to eat a Nature Magic Stone and suddenly gained a level."

"He ate a Magic Stone? And absorbed it within himself?" Lognir asked, near to shocked to hear something like this, "...Hearing this... Maybe this creature is a Divine Beast?" 

"Do Divine Beasts have the ability to absorb Magic Stones?" 

"Not inherently, no. But a Divine Beast is a creature in possession of 'Levels' despite not originally having them. A creature blessed by divine beings. They usually have abilities that are unique to only them."

"But how would Lugo gain a random blessing from a Divine Being? And it doesn't show up as a blessing on his status either." The Demon pointed out, and Lognir smiled softly as he explained, "Of course, it may not make sense directly. But perhaps it is a gift meant for you? Something of divine nature would have certainly killed you instantly. So instead, it went to your familiar, the being closest to you."

Eiro looked at Lugo intensely, but he wasn't really sure if that explanation made sense to him. He didn't do anything that was deserving of a blessing from a divine being. He didn't even directly deserve the blessings from the Spirit King and Queens that he got. Especially considering the fact that Eiro was most likely seen as nothing but a creature of mass-slaughter by those in the heavens. 

He didn't particularly feel any connection to a certain deity either. Although he believed in their existence of course, considering that they literally used to walk on this world, using their divine powers for anything they wanted, he never spent a moment in his life praying to them. He never even spoke about them with anyone before.

So it just didn't make sense. And on top of that, during the short period of time that Eiro had been affected by the rebound of his boosted 'Holy Energy Resistance' skill, he felt the flow of Holy Energy everywhere around him even without needing to try. And while Eiro felt some Holy Energy in everything else, the only two places where there was quite literally a lack of it was within Eiro, and within Lugo.

And surely, a blessing from a deity would leave behind at least a little bit of Holy Energy within Lugo.

"I'll try and figure something out. When I do, I may just come visit you, or we'll happen to see each other when you come back to Solomon in the future." 

Hearing this, Lognir raised his brows a bit and explained "Ah, that reminds me... Solomon informed me of some sort of tournament that is going to unfold in the capital in roughly half a year. I will be coming to observe that together with Solomon, to make sure no trickery is happening. I promised him that. Of course, I do also miss that child sometimes."

Eiro quietly chuckled within himself, hearing Solomon be called a child, before Eiro looked back at Lognir, "I'm actually going to take part in that tournament myself. Solomon asked me to a while ago, after I explained to him that I killed <The World>."

"...You what?" Lognir asked, "You killed <The World>? Wasn't that creature sealed up for a long time?"

"Yeah, it was, but I happened to accidentally cause the seal to be destroyed, and then I killed <The World> and became the candidate for the next <The World>. After my next evolution, I would assume that I will be able to safely activate that card."

"That is quite interesting indeed... A royal that will compete to become part of the Hero's party. I can't wait to see that happen." 

"Me neither, although I think there is something that you should know about that..." Eiro started, before he explained the rest of his plan that he was going to work on in the future, and Lognir just stood there completely perplexed. Of course, Armodeus, who now heard of this for the first time, reacted absolutely shocked himself.

"You are going to kill <The Devil>, steal back the 'Key that can open anything', to then steal the part that makes the 'Hero' actually the 'Hero', before going to kill the Monster King. And because you are a Monster, you would become the next Monster King yourself, while still being the 'Hero'."

"That's about it, yeah."