Chapter 213: The Devil in the Details.

My tail whipped me around, and I slashed at the telemanter. The thin mantis-like creature disappeared before my greatsword could hit it. Space twisted beside me, and I kicked out, but I only hit the rocks again. The Folded Planes wonderzone messed with my senses, and the telemanter actually reappeared from the opposite side, thereby landing a quick stab into my guts.I turned around, but the beast was already gone. I leapt forward, and dodged its next strike. I pushed my senses to their limit, and made another guess for where it would appear. This time I was right, and my enemy was skewered by my blade!

It died almost instantly. I pulled the corpse off my greatsword, and began to dissect it. This was a Level 40 monster with valuable parts that could allow someone to use spatial magic. It was ridiculous, for something its level to last even a few moves against me. It somehow even managed to draw blood!

That was… embarrassing!

I won, but I only felt insulted.

To look at it from another way, however, that fight did show just how overpowered the element could be if used correctly. Something so weak daring to fight an opponent so strong was exactly what I liked to do, and I had to respect the attempt.

I punched a hole into my belly and inserted the Space Repository inside, before then extracting the mana and just letting it sit inside my body for a short while. Sweet blissful detachment entered my mind, and for just a moment the suffering of my existence ceased.

It was far from actually stopping. But just that small relief could feel like a massive weight off my shoulders.

I coaxed the space mana out of my skin, and controlled it with my horns. I used it to pull apart a boulder, which then cracked and split as my very view of it became distorted. I lifted up the pieces, but it was slow and difficult because space magic just didn’t really work like how I imagined telekinesis would. Space was an environment that I could bend and twist, and that was different from picking something up and moving it around.

It was a use of the element that even Moonwash had not cracked yet.

“Ah.” That was the last Mutation I needed. Everything was maxxed out at Level 80. Now I was ready to evolve and take that next step.

The ground of Pandemonium rumbled as the Grand Ritual Hall . It was pulled through dirt and stone and flesh and bone, until it arrived at the very center of the property, right in the middle of the courtyard, where the ritual hall finally stopped.

And then its walls fell away.

Pillars remained, and only they held the construct aloft.

The building grew larger, and began to change in form. From statues of demons, carvings of great battles, the weak and the powerless running… and a ceiling aflame with the visage of myself flying over it all.

That was accurate. It’s how I’d been as an archdemon. It’s what I today. And it’s what I would be in the future, no matter how I might try to change and be better.

For good or ill.

I walked forward, and Moonwash walked beside me. We arrived under that vast and demonic ceiling just as the building rumbled its last and finally settled into place. We would be completely visible here, open to the world, because unlike the many times I’d evolved, this one would be completely on my own terms. No longer a need to hide, nor trapped and imprisoned under the machinations of another.

We began to carve the floor beneath us. Gallons of my blood were poured in by Pandemonium as the ritual gradually took shape. We placed the remains of Adamo all around the circle, the angel corpse previously cursed and altered according to our specifications. The gestation of the goblin seed, coupled with the cursed ritual to shape it, was actually easier to do than I expected, because of the natural malleability of an angel. I almost wanted to see how a whole corpse would translate into a goblin, but I was unfortunately not quite rich enough to afford such an experiment.

The ritual drawn across the ground was completed, but there was one thing left to paint. The very subject of this ritual.

I stripped myself down, and Moonwash applied ink to my red skin. The black lines danced a cruel ballad across my body, creating patterns that mirrored the greater ritual around us. Of a demon in pain, rebirth through flame, absolution through curses, through a thousand mountains of rotting corpses. All done in harmony with the Mark of The Beast upon my chest.

Moonwash made one last stroke, and then pulled the brush away from my body. She stared into my eyes for one eternal moment, as we stood there in the middle of what had become of the Grand Ritual Hall.

In perfect sync, we spoke.

“Rite of Demonic Ascension!”

The full weight of the greater magic’s power crashed upon me as the entire Ritual Hall shook and fissured. The ground upon which my hopes and accomplishments were painted cracked and shattered, and the blood ink evaporated into

It whispered of the secrets of magic. I felt its cloying caress. Promises unbreakable, ill-defined. Hope and despair, sights unseen, temptations anew. All impossibilities, all mundane, a mere of what’s to come.

[Would you like to evolve the following Mutat—

[Compatible materials detected! Would you like to evolve ALL of your Muta—

I accepted without hesitation. And the whispers predictably turned into screams.

I felt in my head, all the magic that flowed across all existence. Across myself, across the world. The curse of Pandemonium, and what it meant to be a scar. How even that was embraced, accepted by powers too massive to challenge.

A familiar experience. A rare treat for me to savor.

I pondered that for a moment. It was different from before. I read through them all, and found them wanting, for I didn’t think a single one was a demon. I nearly fucking puked at even seeing an angel be a possibility. The opposite of what I wanted, my enemy,

My rage melded together with the world’s disparate will. I continued to be the conduit that bore the brunt of it all. A state of being I’d suffered and enjoyed too many times before. I learned from each time, I’d grown so much stronger since. I conquered even the chaos of the three elements that filled my mind. I’d suffered through so much deeper despair than that, yet here I remained, ready and willing and happy to keep chasing my dreams.

I could do this forever.

I had the freedom, I had the leeway.

I indulged my curiosity and examined those suggested options more.

Once I did, I found out that I could get more details about these evolutions.

From the endless possibilities of holy magic, to how the angels even used it in part to reproduce. A king goblin with their army could have possibly doomed Edengar at the height of their power by themselves. The Inferoar was no monster I’d ever heard of existing here, but I was sure Moonwash would be delighted to hear about the flabby pig monster whose sweat was napalm, dynamite, and insulation all.

I gave my verdict, and the status screens rippled. I reached deep within myself, in a way that I could only accomplish in this state. I understood the greater magic, as it understood me.

I grinned. Just as I thought, as so clearly stated, those were mere and I could choose to shape my evolutions myself. It made sense, it’s what I instinctively knew, there was not a single progenitor species suggested. It’d be tragic if those three species were all I had to choose from, for I did not wish to cease being a demon. I wished to retain who I was, I was at my core, as I achieved the next stage of power in this chain.

I evolved. From an archdemon, to whatever came next. My skin rippled, as a thousand changes happened underneath. I knew it was coming, but I still nearly collapsed from the strange and alien and endless sensations that assaulted my mind. My very nerves as my body changed and grew and achieved that qualitative leap that I wanted. Even my brain wasn’t left untouched, but I had to hold on anyway as my thoughts were twisted in a thousand different directions. I was the one directing this process, and if my will ever broke, then I was sure to come out the other side irreparably broken. All that effort for nothing. My dreams long fulfilled, ruined by my unending greed.

I’d always known this was a possibility, but my confidence had never ceased, and I proved it today as not misplaced.

I screamed and remade myself, until even the world was forced to acknowledge it!

I succeeded. I’d once again evolved and the next stage of what it meant to be a demon, now a But it was not over. There were still choices to be made, and I would be rewarded for doing it all at once today. Power begot power, as I had long known. That was the same mysterious concept at work, for why it was so effective to evolve all my Mutations at the same time.

The first choice was made, and it settled so easily inside my flesh. There was so much room now, inside of my evermore massive body. It was this same Mutation that I shared for any other demon who might one day rise this far, and become a devil.

The heart pumped, and space mana flooded into my likewise newly evolved blood. The element settled within, alongside the blood mana, hellfire, and curses. Here I finally understood a thousand epiphanies long out of reach.

I felt the world around me through my dimensional scanner, and I got lost in all the subtle fluctuations in space. Every motion a ripple, every object a weight, the space around me was constantly shifting. The same went for the ambient magic, only now so vivid in my imagination. I could just ponder these mysteries forever.

my will reasserted itself. I pulled my mind out of that trance before I could fade away. Space mana could be a boon to counter my ever turbulent emotions in many ways, which contributed to my picking it, but it still held its own dangers.

As always, the dangers were never enough to deter me from

I reached back into the surging tide of knowledge my mind remained subjected to, and manifested the next set of Mutations I had decided upon.

These Mutations were a massive risk, hence why I first sought to mitigate that risk. The Stable Personality Matrix would interface with my Memory Core and even my very soul, in order to ensure that my personality remained consistent no matter the damage. It was a problem I’d recognized with adding more brains, for all their potential benefits. My Resentment was already in essence another personality that shared my body, and I did not really wish for any more. I was too fundamentally selfish a person for that.

I thought it would happen anyway, once my new brains truly came alive, and I felt my already fraying thoughts be pulled apart in so many directions at once. From my existing drive to be the strongest, to my wonder over the ritual we cast here today, and then my cold analysis over the choices made.

This was a terrible idea. There was no reason to put myself through all this danger. From the very beginning, when I went from being a human to an imp; I did not have enough information then to know that my theories would work. I did not have enough information now to guarantee that my evolution rituals were safe. My decision-making was clearly compromised, and I should not add any more magical elements into the mix of my mind. In fact, I should seal away all my mana. I had five hearts now in total, so I could survive without four. My regen heart was nice and unobtrusive. I could just keep that and remove everything else. It might be possible in this current space, where I had such control over my body-

But what of the sheer wonder in magic! The joy of casting spells! The beauty in this ritual that continued to let me shape myself today!

Such art was not to be dismissed. I only regretted how I hadn’t appreciated them so. But no longer! I shall now dedicate myself to this craft, and dedicate my final Mutation to whatever would help me do so.

…I really should choose that next and last Mutation. This ritual could not last forever. I was confused, I’d added so much additional noise to the existing chaos of my mind way too fast. I didn’t know what to think or what to do or what to choose anymore.

But I once did.

That memory remained, so I touched upon my untouchable memory core.

I latched onto my well-laid plans, and brought them to fruition.

It's a little early for this Mutation, but the element I chose this time was not very destructive. It could not enhance my body space magic, at least not directly, which had so far proven itself to be my strongest weapon. Thus I chose the Dimensional Weight Distributor, so that I could at least add a little more force to my coveted striking power. It wouldn’t be as impactful as a full magical element built for physical enhancement, but it should still be enough to make a crucial difference even with just the untapped weight of my extra-dimensional demon blood storage.

And with that, I’d finished my new set of Mutations, but I did not yet relax. This ritual was not yet over, I could feel it through all my minds. Through this beyond perfect evolution, and the countless marks that I’d left with my actions, my unknowable soul could finally express and realize more of its ever-expanding potential.

I used the last dregs of the ritual, to query the greater magic as to what that all meant. As it turned out, unholy was basically an experience boost that would just allow me to level up faster all around. I didn’t particularly wish to fuck with whole civilizations, but I would surely fell many more foes in the future. That latter condition was particularly more convenient, as while faith could only really be reasonably obtained through a sapient population, my unholy powers could feed efficiently on even the most mindless of monsters.

The unfathomable glare of the greater magic finally receded back to its usual unflinching stare. I smiled at that, and finally allowed myself to fall.

I asked for quiet. I wished to be left alone. I needed time to adjust to all these new changes I inflicted upon my…