Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 142 - Currway

With the perfect opportunity brought to him, the entity began to explain.

"Power." The voice from the stump spoke casually, as if it was regular conversation between two men, and not a stranger luring a man. "You want power, do you not? I can give you that."

"How?" Lumi kept his uncertain expression, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, uncertain and unsettled.

"I am a demon." The entity stated it plainly. There wasn’t even the slightest attempt to hide it. Much the opposite. "A powerful one. When a demon of sufficient strength is willing, they can share their essence with others. Those who accept it gain a portion of the bloodline. This will increase your talent, and grant you power. Real power, not the kind you beg from a teacher or earn through years of slaving away at your books."

He paused, then continued. "And while you carry my essence, it serves as a conduit. I can flood you with energy directly. You would grow far faster than any method available to you now."

Lumi took a step back. "But you’re evil."

A grin appeared on the stump. "I am."

Lumi raised his wand defensively. "Then how could I possibly trust you to keep your word?"

A low, rumbling sound came from the stump. It was a low dismissive scoff. "Think carefully, young human. Why would I ever pass up the chance to gain a loyal follower? I have been sealed here for six hundred years. You are the first interesting thing to walk in front of me in longer than I care to remember. Betraying you accomplishes nothing. Cultivating you, on the other hand..."

Lumi crossed his arms. His facial expression clearly stated he was considering it, but rejecting it out of principle. "I wouldn’t serve a demon."

"Wouldn’t you?" The voice dropped lower. "Let me ask you something. This society of yours. The one that chose your rival over you. The one that gave him everything you deserved. What exactly do you owe them?"

Lumi said nothing.

The demon pressed. "You serve them. You follow their rules. You hold yourself back out of respect for their precious morality. You put in all that work, and what did they give you in return? They looked past you. They chose him. A society that discards you has no claim on your loyalty."

Lumi’s jaw tightened. He let the expression stay on his face.

"Power changes everything." The demon’s voice began to coax seductively. "With enough of it, you will not need their approval. You will not need to compete. You will simply be above the competition entirely."

"But..." Lumi’s brows twitched. "I’ll be an outcast. How will I..."

The demon stopped his thought there. He stated. "People worship power regardless of morality. You think I am wrong? Look at the Dark One himself. He is the second most followed being on all of Masteria, only behind the Empress, despite everything he has done and everything he represents. Morality was never a measure of being liked. Power is."

It was the first argument that was mostly true. That was actually a reasonable point. It was unfortunate that it was being made by a sealed demon. One factual point didn’t mean he had to discard everything for power.

He let his expression waver visibly. He loosened his grip on his wand, and began twitching in contemplation. The demon saw it and moved in.

"Your girl." The voice softened, gentle now. "You said she was taken from you. Tell me honestly. Can you close your eyes right now without seeing her with him? Can you?"

Lumi’s face twisted in anger as he pretended to think about those memories.

"Then do something about it." The demon’s voice hardened again. "This is your chance. Your one opportunity, in front of you right now. Take it, and the one you hate will be nothing to you. Take back what was taken."

"Emiss..." Lumi muttered, slowly, as if he was lost in his memories. He had made it all up on the spot. A stolen love. A hated rival. All fabricated, and yet the foolish demon was drinking it in.

He stayed quiet for several long seconds. Then he slowly raised his head once more, heartbeat racing, reluctantly convinced. Silently, he asked. "How exactly would I free you?"

The stump was silent for a moment.

Then the demon spoke. His voice shifted from a seductive persuader to something spiteful. The long suppressed bitterness of something that had been waiting a very long time.

"My name is Currway." he said. "Long ago, I was sealed here. Not even through a proper confrontation. The Elf Queen Lillia was marching to the frontlines. She came across me. She was not even looking for a fight."

He paused for a moment, lowly muttering with hatred. "One wrong turn. That’s all it was. I took one wrong turn and she sealed me on the spot."

Hate.

Unbridled, pure, hated.

It radiated off the words even through the wooden face of the stump. Currway had accumulated six hundred years of it, concentrated and sitting in a sealed body with nothing to do but fester.

"I can sense the seal." Currway continued. "It is not just this stump. It is a coordinated net, sealing dozens, maintained by a powerful magician. Merath, no doubt. Breaking all of it would be impossible for you."

"Then what do you want me to do?" Lumi asked, keeping his voice small, uncertain, and obedient. He appeared like someone who simply wanted to go through the motions of his chosen path to distance himself from the evils of his action.

"I do not need you to break all the seals." Currway explained. "I only need you to get me out there. To do that, you must come inside the seal."

A small slit opened in the stump. Something slid out, pressing into the air in front of Lumi. It was a red crystal orb, small enough to hold in one hand. The orb seemed wet and sticky, and yet it felt no residue on the stump as it sat on it.