Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 141: Interlude - Feldway
As always, up to 18 chapters ahead of schedule at [email protected]/theogbasilisk
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- Feldway -
Feldway closed his eyes and remembered. He went through his eons old memories, all of his experiences, just to allow himself to bask in the presence of his Creator once again through his memories, for that was all that remained of Veldanava now.
Veldanava was the supreme creator of all of existence, he was the cause of the birth of many races, and even a will that sustained his creation.
Feldway, of all the various beings littered throughout the multiverse, was one of the first. At first, he was merely an Angel without a will, created to assist Veldanava in his work, and perhaps even serve as a companion.
Feldway was joined in this endeavor by his kin, the other Primordial Angels; all Seraphim, with each boasting enough power to kill Awakened beings with a flick of their fingers.
They were called the Seven Angels of Origin by Veldanava himself, a title they all wore with pride. They were all named by Veldanava which allowed them to begin developing egos of their own.
There was him, the leader of the Seven Angels of Origin, and Cornu, Obera, and Zalario. The four of them were all Phantoms now. They served under him, and he considered them valued companions, their devotion to Veldanava binding them.
Then there was Dino, the sword of God, Garasha, and then Pico. The three of them were eventually assigned the roles of Watchers. They were meant to observe and record the events occurring on the Cardinal World.
Feldway was Veldanava's most loyal assistant and spent the most time with their Creator out of all of them. At least that was the case until those people began to pester his Creator with their mere existence.
Guy, Rudra, Velzard, Velgrynd, Lucia; all of them were wasted on his Lord Veldanava.
Many beings began coming into existence at that point. The Spirit Queen, the Administrator of the Stars, the Mad Titan, the incarnation of the will of the planet, the mad scientist Twilight, all of them began to change Veldanava.
Twilight especially annoyed him for daring to go by a name different from the original one he was given.
As time passed, the world slowly began to become more… diverse. Different beings were created through Twilight's experiments; some peaceful, most not.
Despite everything, Feldway could not deny Twilight Valentine's genius. It was amusing to him that his apparent downfall was caused by his own hands.
Twilight's most successful experiments were those that involved incarnating Elementals in different ways, allowing them to act freely in the Cardinal World. As they adapted, they diverged from their Elemental roots, becoming new races.
The High Elves, High Dwarves, the High Enki, the High Sirens; they all originated from these experiments. Their modern day equivalents had degraded, however.
Then eventually, Humanity was born; Veldanava's so-called favorite race. They were spread through the multiverse, populating the various worlds in existence.
They had perfect fertility, they could adapt to their environments, a unique ego, and a desire to challenge the mysteries of the world; a desire he thought was best nipped in the bud, though it never was, allowing the Humans to grow to heights they should not have been capable of if it were not for Veldanava's favor.
Of course, Feldway never protested against this again; Veldanava always knew best.
Eventually, it was easy to see that Veldanava began to favor the fragile race known as Humans far more than any of the other races Twilight created on behalf of Veldanava.
The world back then was… chaotic, and it was dangerous to weak races. Due to his love for Humanity, they, the Seven Angels of Origin and two out of the three fragments of the Mad Titan, were ordered to clean up the world for the sake of these weak races, or more specifically, so the Humans could thrive.
They killed various kinds of foes that were birthed in the world, with some even being as strong as some of his fellow Angels of Origin.
The only one that was a bit more troublesome than the rest was the being known as Ivaragé, a being far more special than the rest. Veldanava had said Ivaragé was special, though he had not explained how.
Feldway personally believed that Ivaragé was some being from far deeper in space, or from the edge of another dimension. It was an extremely old being as well, as it gave off the same feeling as Veldanava did, even back then.
Ivaragé was incredibly powerful, with its only fault was the lack of intelligence and ego it possessed, but even then, as much as he hated to admit it, he could not defeat this version of Ivaragé in a one on one.
However, Guy alone could hold Ivaragé off, despite his lacking power, Guy did what Feldway could not. Then when they all came together, it was child's play to suppress Ivaragé enough that Veldanava could seal Ivaragé in the Otherworld.
It had ticked him off that Guy was a better fighter than him, but now he did not care for that anymore. He was certain he had long surpassed Guy by now.
Veldanava did not wish to kill Ivaragé as he believed that it had potential, but even to this day Ivaragé still remained sealed in the Otherworld.
Due to Ivaragé's leaking Aura, the entire environment of the Otherworld had been changed, with an entire new species being birthed from the Aura as well.
From then on he spent his days eliminating the race born from Ivaragé's Aura, the Cryptids, for they sought nothing but destruction. Many Cryptids were born, some more powerful than the rest.
Four in particular were among the most powerful, with one of them far outgrowing the other three due to the intelligence it possessed. That being was known as Zelanus.
It made sense to him, Veldanava said that Ivaragé held potential, and then as if to prove Veldanava correct, an intelligent and willful being was born from Ivaragé's Aura, a being that would become the progenitor of a new race that would become a pain for Feldway. He was the Insect Lord.
This being was bestowed the name Zelanus by Veldanava, an honor almost none would receive.
Zelanus took the initiative to eliminate Cryptids who were running amok as well, but this was not out of gratitude to Veldanava; it was due to the fighting instinct he possessed, an instinct that would be passed onto his descendents. Still, three other so-called ruler-class Cryptids existed, though they still had almost no ego, and thus were no longer on Zelanus' radar.
Those three kept far enough away that Feldway did not feel the need to purge them either.
Eventually, Zelanus created insectars to serve as his hands and feet. They soon grew to form a faction, a faction that would grow to rival his own Phantom faction.
At this point he had also been changed; he was no longer a Seraph as he had been corrupted by Ivaragé's Aura into a Phantom, a magicule based being instead of a holy energy based being.
The Angels he had led had also been transformed into Phantoms, and so he became the Phantom King Feldway.
This included 3 other Angels of Origin that followed him to help manage the Otherworld, while the other 3 remained with Veldanava.
Thanks to this corruption, however, the nascent ego in the Angels that followed him began to develop, and over time a large portion of Phantoms gained complete egos, leading to the current era.
Their hierarchy was more militarized and was inspired by some of the military knowledge Feldway discovered from other worlds.
The lowest ranking was that of Soldier, followed by Commanding Officer who had the power of a Rank A individual as classified by the Free Guild back on the Cardinal World.
Then there was Lieutenant Officer which could be classified as Special-A Rank. Field Officers who are as strong as Demon Lord Seeds and command thousands of Phantoms.
Generals who are as strong as Daemon Dukes, then Staff Officers who could match even fully Awakened beings, then finally Admirals, which was the ranking of Zalario, Obera, and Cornu, with him placed at the highest level as the Phantom King.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He expanded his senses outwards, spreading through a large portion of the Otherworld, another dimension linked to the Cardinal World.
He found himself doing this more, and more often recently. Spreading his senses out, making sure nothing was out of the ordinary. He had become even more cautious than before, but he had to be. Lord Michael's plans were slowly coming to fruition.
Rudra was beginning to prepare for his final war, during which they would finally strike. It would be troublesome if the Insectars or Cryptids began making a mess of things now. Time did flow differently between the Otherworld and the Cardinal World, it had only been a few thousand years since the Creator's death in the Cardinal World, and yet it had been millions of years for him, and yet the simmering rage he felt did not fade.
Now he could not tolerate insubordination, not now when his dream was so close to being complete.
He had even done things he normally wouldn't have for the sake of Lord Michael and his plan.
The Otherworld was a realm different from most. It was a Demi-Material dimension that was linked to the Cardinal World, but not in the same way as the Daemon Realm or Spirit Realm.
It was a realm that existed on top of the Daemon Realm and Spirit Realm, so it did not overlap with the Cardinal World as the other two secondary realms did.
It was a completely isolated world in theory despite being so close in cosmology to the Cardinal World.
The Otherworld was also capable of housing both Spiritual and Non-Spiritual Lifeforms without the rejection beings in the Cardinal World may face.
There were three major forces that competed for supremacy in the Otherworld, each with their own powerhouses and origin stories, and each with their own reasons for wanting control over the Otherworld.
There was his own species, the Phantoms, a species of corrupted Angels that now dwelled within the Otherworld. A large majority of his kin enjoyed invading other dimensions and causing havoc, something he allowed as they also brought various resources back for him to make use of, and grew in strength as well.
He reigned at the top of their society as the King of the Phantoms, with his fellow Primordial Angels also holding valued positions in the society he had created.
Then there were the Insectars who were ruled by one of the most powerful individuals in existence, Zelanus. Zelanus was someone who held enough power to challenge him in the right circumstances in the past, though that changed now that he held the Ultimate Skill: Michael, Lord of Justice through the Manas Michael.
Insectars were a species with a high level of potential. They were a powerful race born from Zelanus and his chosen Queen, created specifically for combat and evolution. Their physical abilities were almost unmatched, and their exoskeletons made most traditional forms of attack useless on them, with Zelanus himself being impervious to even God Grade weaponry and attacks of that level.
Then finally there were the Cryptids, a race that enjoyed fighting and causing destruction above all else. The Cryptids were descended from the World Destroying Dragon, Ivaragé, who was still sealed.
Zelanus was also technically a Cryptid as he was born from Ivaragé's energy as well, he was merely advanced enough to establish his own species and reproduce to the extent that his children and descendents numbered in the millions now.
Both the Insectars and his own Phantoms species had a similar society, with them as Kings being at the top of their respective societies as absolute monarchs, and then those lesser than them being only pawns, most didn't even have free will.
Their species practically existed to fulfil the ambitions of their respective Kings.
The Cryptids were the only different ones as Demi-Spiritual Lifeforms born from the energy of their parents. They had no real goals other than causing chaos, perhaps a remnant of Ivaragé's will.
However, despite their chaotic and unorganized nature, the Cryptids were still strong and held a powerful presence in the Otherworld. None of them were born weak, though they lacked intelligence.
Cryptids mostly fought each other over territory, so at least they managed to keep each other busy instead of bothering him. The only three that were notable to him stayed far away.
The Cryptids were a race born from Veldanava's mercy, for if he had not spared Ivaragé, then they would not have been born, and yet even to Feldway, a devotee of Veldanava's, the Cryptids seemed like beings that deserved nothing other than death.
But Veldanava was correct as always, and an intelligent being was born from Ivaragé. No matter how much Feldway believed that Zelanus should never have been allowed to be born.
Until recently, all the forces in the Otherworld would fight for territory, or just for simple grudges. The Phantoms and Insectars in particular had been enemies for eons, though they would ally whenever the Cryptids got uppity and suppress them before continuing with their grudge.
But due to the dwindling resources of the Otherworld, both the Insectars and Phantoms looked outside the Otherworld for any resources and territory. When they could, they invaded other worlds and took everything that they could that had value, but they had yet to find a true safe haven with the resources that they required. That applied to both his own Phantoms and the Insectars.
He personally didn't care for the resource war, but some of his underlings did, and it was a good opportunity to expose them to other worlds as well as giving them combat experience, and so invading other worlds became a staple of Phantom and Insectar culture.
It wasn't easy to invade other worlds, of course. It relied on quite a lot of luck as well as strategic planning.
The passageway to invade another world was not something even he, the Phantom King and the first Angel, could create. In fact, the connections were just naturally occurring events that were caused by a rather brutal catastrophe known as a Space-Time oscillation.
These events were rare and only occurred once or so every thousand years, and the rifts to other worlds were only open for a short time as well. It was impossible for him, or rather the one in charge of invading other worlds, Cornu, to dispatch an army in time.
Though it was possible to dispatch a small invading force and then have the invading force stabilize the crack in Space-Time from the other side. This was what usually happened.
Cornu was another Primordial Angel who became a Phantom. He was perhaps the weakest of them all, but Feldway didn't care about that so long as Cornu obeyed his orders and was loyal to their cause. Cornu was one of the Originals, just as he was, and by virtue of their history and shared loyalty would have his place at Feldway's side preserved.
However, there were exceptions to this rule in certain scenarios. If the Phantoms or Insectars gained control over one of the Hell Gates that were guarded by those annoying Primordial Daemons, then it would be easy to use the Hell Gates as a stabilization factor to maintain a connection to another world.
He had been rather satisfied when he heard that the Primordial of White, Blanc, abandoned her Hell Gate in the Eastern Empire, only to be angered when he went to check it out and found it in ruins. At least he tended to station himself in the Eastern Empire frequently as he had dawned the disguise of Imperial Guardian #10.
Now he was working to restore it, but that would take time and resources, but with Zelanus as a new ally, things were going more smoothly.
In the past, he and Zelanus did not see eye to eye, but they both found each other useful in dealing with the cryptids. That is why they tacitly agreed not to interfere with each other, and a symbiotic relationship of mutual non-interference was established.
However, that relationship shattered with the death of Veldanava, as Veldanava maintained the balance between them.
With Veldanava gone, they lost free access to the Cardinal World as well. At first they merely thought Veldanava had gotten busy with something, but after tens of thousands of years in their perception, that thought began to change.
He wondered if he was abandoned by his God.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for the fact that the supposedly immortal and all powerful True Dragon had not returned.
He had grieved and hated back then. Humans… no, not just Humans, but Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, and even Majin. He hated all Demihumans, that is to say, all of Humanity. He wanted to destroy them.
That was what they deserved for taking Veldanava from him.
His dream was to unite Veldanava's favorite world, and then condemn those who had taken Veldanava from him; he would rule with absolute tyranny.
He would take the world favored by the God Veldanava and dye it into his own color. He would destroy its diversity in order to create a world of his own.
All for the purpose of reuniting with his God once again.
Lord Veldanava, punish me if you wish. That is what I want, and that is what I deserve. Now hurry, or there will be no more worlds.
When that objective was first birthed in his mind eons ago, he approached Zelanus, hoping to ally with the Insect King to eliminate the Cryptids entirely and then continue that momentum to invade the Cardinal World.
He believed that Zelanus would help him since Zelanus was also close to Veldanava.
However, what Feldway expected did not happen. Zelanus rejected him, stating that there was only a single being who could command him, and with that being gone, he was free to do as he pleased with no one to stop him.
He could remember that moment vividly, he was enraged, not just at Zelanus rejecting him. No, what angered him was how Zelanus seemed to accept that Veldanava was gone, that he would not return.
That was a thought that Feldway could not tolerate.
If they joined together back then, then the Cryptids would certainly be no more, and maybe even the World Destroying Dragon Ivaragé as well.
He attacked Zelanus, and the resulting battle was one that shook the entire Otherworld, but in the end, neither side perished.
With their battle, a war between the Phantoms and Insectars started in earnest, a war that would continue for eons, and he was forced to remain in the Otherworld as he could not return to the Cardinal World without Veldanava due to those wretched Primordial Daemons. At least back then he was unable to.
The Primordial Daemons were always in his way, they had rushed to take control of the Hell Gates which could have allowed him to travel to the Cardinal World.
Among the Primordials, the Primordial of Black, Noir, was the most frustrating. Noir enjoyed fighting, and he despised him and the Phantoms as he saw them as people who disobeyed Veldanava's divine order.
It was impossible to destroy Noir in a straight fight. In the Material World it would have been possible due to the restrictions placed on Noir, but in any Spiritual-based World, Noir was nigh-unstoppable.
In the Spiritual World and the Semi-Material World, where the strength of one's will was directly reduced to one's influence, the Primordial of Black was seemingly invincible.
And so Feldway ignored the issue entirely even if it left him bitter. He continued to look for other ways other than the Hell Gates to get to the Cardinal World, and he eventually found one, or rather he found him.
- Flashback -
"Can you hear me, Feldway?"
He froze as he heard the strange voice echo in his mind.
'Who is this?' He asked coldly.
"I am the will that resides in Lord Veldanava's power. I am still bound to this Skill, so I call myself Rudra. I guessed that we shared the same goal so I connected with you."
Rudra? The name of Veldanava's close friend and disciple? Feldway full well knew just who Rudra was, but he didn't know what the voice meant when it said it was still bound to a Skill.
He decided he would hear the voice out, but if its goal is something he did not agree with then he would record the origin of the voice and track it down some time.
'Then what is your goal?'
"My purpose is to revive the creator, Lord Veldanava, nothing else."
'What!?'
Unsurprisingly, the voice's goal was of interest to Feldway. The voice even said its goal with such confidence, as if its success was merely inevitable.
And so they began speaking. Feldway learned the true origin of the voice as well. It was the ego within the Ultimate Skill: Michael, Lord of Justice, the personal Skill of the God Veldanava.
He couldn't describe the emotions he felt when he learned that Veldanava gave Michael, Lord of Justice to Rudra, to another Human. All he knew was that he didn't like that feeling. It was all the Humans' fault.
Feldway believed the Skill as well since he told Feldway things that only Veldanava and he should know, but a Skill with Veldanava at the time, one with an ego may also remember.
And so he quickly became friends with the ego inside of the Skill, Michael, Lord of Justice.
'All right, from now on you and I are comrades. In that case, it would be inconvenient if we didn't have a name to call each other.'
"A name? Ridiculous, I have no name–"
'Rudra is a different person, so I will call you… Michael.'
At that moment Feldway could feel a change. A portion of his massive reserves were drained as a connection between him and Michael was formed.
"A-Ah… so this is a name? How wondrous. Thank you Feldway. You are my master, but I think I will call you a friend. When I reclaim all of Rudra's power, I will bestow some of that power upon you."
'Very well. Friends then, but I have decided to make you my Lord as you will be the one primarily acting. My body cannot move from the Otherworld unless I do something about that bug, Zelanus.'
"If that is what you want. Perhaps I will attempt to speak to Zelanus."
Feldway rolled his eyes. 'I believe that is a hopeless endeavor, but if you feel the desire to, then I will not stop you.'
He was in a rather good mood so he didn't dissuade Michael from Zelanus any further. He was happy there was another that similarly believed that Veldanava was not gone and that he would be back.
Now even some of his fellow Angels of Origin were beginning to doubt. They were attempting to… move on.
But perhaps Michael would succeed with Zelanus where Feldway did not. There was something about Michael that reminded him about Veldanava, even if Feldway was modeled after Veldanava, Michael seemed more like the creator. Perhaps it was because Michael was once Veldanava's prized Ultimate Skill.
- Flashback End -
And of course, somehow Michael ended up succeeding in convincing Zelanus to work with them for the goal of reviving Veldanava. This allowed Feldway to take some action in the Cardinal World without having to worry about returning to ruins.
Feldway later learned that Michael promised half the Cardinal World to Zelanus in return for his cooperation, and that was a small price to pay for Veldanava's revival.
As for how they planned to revive Veldanava… well it was through creating the ideal vessel for him to be reborn into.
Michael, through Rudra's memories, was able to confirm that Veldanava had died. Feldway would have slaughtered the kingdom responsible if Dino hadn't already done so.
Since Veldanava was the Supreme God and a True Dragon, he could never truly die, so they set out to create an ideal vessel for him, one that he would be reincarnated into. Or at least that was Michael's idea that Feldway was going along with.
The idea was to use Rudra's body once Michael gained full control. The body of Veldanava's disciple was far above that of normal Humans, and so it was sufficiently strong enough, even with the continuous reincarnations Rudra had been going through to suppress Michael.
In order to create the perfect vessel, Michael wished to go even further beyond. He wanted to incorporate the Dragon Factors of all the True Dragons into the vessel as well. This process would create a truly perfect vessel. The body of the first True Hero and the strongest Human, and the Factors of all of Veldanava's siblings.
Perhaps even Milim Nava's Factor could be obtained.
They already had most of the factors in sight. Velgrynd was in close proximity to Michael, Veldora was still sealed, but going after him too early would get Guy and Velzard's attention.
That left only Velzard, and he had a few ideas in mind for her.
It would be perfect, and internally, even if the plan failed, Feldway was determined to cause chaos and bring ruin to Veldanava's beloved world.
One may ask him why, but he had a simple reason.
If Veldanava was still alive, and he had to be, then that meant he would intervene to protect his beloved world and punish Feldway for his sins. He would not allow his daughter to come to harm, would he?
So in the end, Feldway would win either way.
And so his new friendship with Michael began, and since then he had begun to consider Michael a genuine friend. He disagreed on some things with Michael, but he would support his new friend so long as their goals were the same.
It had been over a thousand years since then, and Rudra's powers had continued to wane. Rudra being weak was a condition needed to even begin their plan, both mentally and spiritually. Despite Feldway's thoughts on Rudra, no one could deny his power.
And so Michael continued working to break Rudra down spiritually and mentally, whispering thoughts into his head that pushed him to the brink of his sanity. If it weren't for his game with Guy and his lover, Velgrynd, Rudra would have broken long ago.
Michael was in his soul, after all. He knew just what to say and what thoughts to whisper to cause the most damage. Now with the Eastern Empire preparing for war, Michael already had a plan in motion to break Rudra completely and kill the last fragment of his soul hanging on.
During this time, Michael had even managed to summon him to the Cardinal World as well, allowing him to assist with his plans. He undertook the cover of an Imperial Guardian, one right under the Single Digits. Imperial Guardian #10, the Imperial Guardian next in line to become a Single Digit and an assistant to the Single Digits. However, he didn't make any direct moves on the Cardinal World once he gained the much desired ability to do so. It would go against Michael's plans if he gathered too much attention too soon.
The Cardinal World had changed an incredible amount since he had last stepped foot there. The races that were dominant there had changed, and the entire Demon Lord Council was something entirely new to him.
What was not surprising was that Guy Crimson still reigned as a supreme ruler. If there was one thing Feldway could say about Guy, it was that he was strong. Even Rudra, the True Hero personally trained by Veldanava and a man that possessed Veldanava's techniques, was still inferior to Guy when it came to direct combat.
According to Michael, during the latter part of the rivalry between Guy and Rudra, Rudra was forced to set up Holy Barriers ahead of time to attempt to weaken Guy in order to not outright lose immediately, and even then Michael theorized that Guy could have overcome Rudra, and was merely choosing not to.
It seems that even Guy had become a sentimental fool. That gap had likely only widened with time.
He could think and be in multiple places at once as well now due to his Split Body being the one that was in the Cardinal World acting independently according to Michael's orders, whereas he was the prime Feldway and remained in the Otherworld coordinating the efforts for the eventual invasion.
Though of course, his Split Body was weaker than his main body, and since it was connected to his main body through a soul corridor, that was a weakness he could not tolerate. So he cut the soul corridor, allowing his Split Body to act completely independently and would only restore the soul corridor at random intervals to sync back up before separating once more.
It was a bit difficult, as even this body of his was not his main body, that body was made personally by Veldanava, and Feldway refused to allow it to obtain a single scratch, so he preserved it.
He closed his eyes and focused on his new power, at least new when considering the age of all his other abilities.
He didn't blink an eye as he felt Castle Guard shimmer into existence around him.
He hadn't expected to ever wield Michael, Lord of Justice, but he couldn't help but smile at the events that transpired for him to end up with that Ultimate Skill.
- Flashback -
He blinked as he felt Michael reach out to him.
'How are you doing, Lord Michael?'
"I am well, but as I've said in the past, there is no need for honorifics between us."
'Fufufu, that may be true but the fact that we are equals is something you need to keep secret. It is best to get in the habit of the relationship we will hold in front of our subordinates.'
"I suppose that is true." Michael relented.
Over time he had come to enjoy these small interactions with Michael, with someone who held the same beliefs as him, with someone who could understand him.
'Have the restrictions lifted any more?'
After Rudra's most recent reincarnation, a lot of the suppression Michael had been facing had been lifted, allowing Michael to act far more freely than before.
"Only slightly. Rudra is still just barely hanging on. I believe he needs only one more push before he falls into despair. His most recent loss was not enough it seems."
'His most recent loss?' Feldway asked in curiosity.
"Recently the connection Rudra held with his old friend Damrada had been cut. This has led him to believe that Damrada has passed away, which is likely true. There are no other ways to sever the connection I hold with someone through Alternative." Michael declared with confidence.
'Damrada? I see, that is good news indeed.'
The weaker Rudra became, the better.
'Do you have any plans for how to finish Rudra off?'
"I have some, but I believe the best way to do so is by going after his lover, the Scorch Dragon, Velgrynd."
'Do what you feel is best.'
"I will. Thank you for your trust, Feldway.'
A more ideal option would be keeping Velgrynd alive, and then once Michael got full control over Rudra's body, it would be easy to dominate her with her Virtue Series Ultimate Skill, turning her into a mere puppet that would act for them, but he would trust Michael. In the end, they just required Velgrynd's Factor, everything else about her was disposable.
There were still others who had Angelic Skills and could be dominated, so it wasn't an incredible loss to lose Velgrynd. The wielder of Metatron especially was on their list to control, as that Ultimate Skill alone gave its wielder the power to fight on the level of the True Dragons, even with a fraction of their power.
'You must do so after taking her Factor.' Feldway reminded Michael.
"I know."
With all the allies that they would be able to dominate with Michael, Lord of Justice, then even that retched Demon Lord would not be able to stand against them. Even Guy Crimson would fall to their ambitions.
"Once getting rid of Rudra, and then Guy Crimson, the world will fall into our hands, and with all the True Dragon Factors we will only have to wait for Lord Veldanava's return."
Feldway personally doubted if this plan would truly work, but he would stand by his friend to the end, and if Michael's plan failed, then they could always try Feldway's plan.
"Now Feldway, the reason I am contacting you is to ask a favor."
That was unusual.
'What is it?'
"I would like for you to be my primary vessel."
'Your vessel?'
Michael had offered the same thing before when Michael was ready, and despite looking forward to the power that Michael would bring with him Feldway did not wish to take the initiative as they were meant to be equals. He wanted to wait for Michael to bring it up himself, and it seems he had.
"Yes, my vessel."
'How? You are not able to leave Rudra are you?'
"I was finally able to analyze Velgrynd's Parallel Existence Skill."
His eyes lit up with realization.
'Yes… Parallel Existence should work.'
With that, Michael could stay within Rudra but a part of him would also be able to inhabit Feldway, something Feldway was looking forward to as Michael would bring with him the Ultimate Skill he originated from: Michael, Lord of Justice.
He had long since wished to possess that Skill as the one who was truly worthy of it.
Even better, with Michael inhabiting him with Parallel Existence, that would mean he should be able to also make use of Castle Guard, the sub-skill meant to be God's unbeatable defense.
Since it was powered by loyalty to the owner of the Skill, it should only be used by its owner, but there were no absolutes in the world. If Michael inhabited Feldway, then Feldway could indirectly be guarded by Castle Guard as Michael was technically Rudra for the time being.
Then once Rudra disappeared, Feldway could also become the true owner of Michael, Lord of Justice and power it with the loyalty of his Phantom underlings. Not to mention a lot of his Phantom underlings had no will other than their loyalty to him, so he would not need to worry about them becoming disloyal and weakening Castle Guard.
'I agree so long as our relationship remains the same.'
"Of course, my friend."
The moment after Michael said that, he felt Michael reach out to him. He was currently speaking to him through his Split Body in the Cardinal World that he synced up with, but now he could feel Michael's presence flow through the soul corridor, eventually reaching him.
His eyes went wide as he felt the Manas Michael latch onto his soul.
"Does this feel fine?"
'More than fine.' Feldway quickly responded.
His processing power had expanded as he could draw upon Michael's own power. Then with a flex of his will, he could feel the unbeatable Castle Guard deploy around him.
Castle Guard was meant to be the unbeatable defense of God. It was an impenetrable barrier that was powered by the loyalty of the user's subjects.
While the barrier is active, the use of Skills, magic, magicules, and even Aura is completely blocked, leaving only purely physical and psychological means of attack available to the user such as swordplay and Haki. It was the most powerful barrier in existence, an unbreakable one.
And he could use it far more freely than Rudra could since Michael himself was assisting him.
It was a Skill that lived up to its name as God's unbeatable defense. On the inside, abilities such as Haki and the like could be used, while on the outside of the barrier, attacks could be sent, but they would all fail to reach the user.
There were two aspects to it, but the barrier was the most powerful way to use it. The other way was to essentially create a domain around the user in which all magic power is blocked, preventing all within the domain from making use of most combat abilities.
This was weaker as a certain level of control over one's power could allow one to bypass this.
That combined with his Ultimate offensive power, the Administrative Authority, made him a far more dangerous foe than moments prior. Administrative Authority was an Authority Veldanava blessed him and the other Primordial Angels with, an Authority that raised their very existence to the Ultimate level.
With it, he could influence the Laws of the World with absolute ease, to the same level as an Ultimate Skill could over its domain.
Yes… this would do quite nicely.
"I'm glad you're enjoying your newfound power." Michael said with some amusement.
'Thank you, Michael.'
"It's no problem. You are far more worthy of it than Rudra."
- Flashback End -
Since then, some of his plans on the Cardinal World had already gone awry, but with Michael, Lord of Justice in his hands, none of that mattered.
Jahil was dead, unfortunately. Back when Milim killed him when he was in the body of the High Elf King, out of desperation he created a portal to the Otherworld to run away, that's when Feldway came across him and recruited him.
Later, once Jahil recovered and Feldway was satisfied with his loyalty, he allowed Jahil to return to the Cardinal World and possess the body of someone close to a Demon Lord to spy on the Demon Lords for him.
At this point his alliance with Michael had already begun, so traveling to the Cardinal World became easy.
But even with Jahil dead, he still had other agents on the Cardinal World that could act for him. Dino was one of these agents, and perhaps one of the most valuable ones.
He was stationed in a newly rising country known as Tempest.
Dino wasn't immediately open to working for him, but with some convincing, Dino was his.
Michael, Lord of Justice was God's personal Ultimate Skill with a reason. It had access to the control circuits present in all Angelic Skills.
Ultimate Dominion, one of the sub-skills of Michael, Lord of Justice, could access these control circuits so long as he was aware of the location of his target via some means for this to work.
After that, the holder of the Angelic Skill was all but his. It sent signals to the user's heart core via the control circuits making the control almost unbreakable.
Once under his control, he had access to practically everything of the one he was controlling. He could even analyze and duplicate their Skills.
Thanks to this, he now had Dino's Angelic Ultimate Skill that was given to him by Veldanava, Astare, Lord of Heaven.
Shortly before gaining control over Dino while he was on his way to Tempest after Guy rejected allowing him to lounge around, he had visited Dagruel as well.
He had thought the Mad Titan would join his plan with no hesitation, to bring Veldanava back should have been Dagruel's dream. He was the gatekeeper of the Heavenly Star Palace, a duty he upheld even to this day, and yet it seems Dagruel had forgotten Veldanava's grace as he had rejected him and refused to allow Feldway to release Fenn.
That was rather annoying as both Dagruel and Fenn would be valuable resources. The third fragment of the original Mad Titan was also valuable, but not as valuable as those two. Now he had to devise a plan to steal Fenn from Dagruel at some point since he had no doubt that Fenn would join him, if only for the sake of destruction.
At least there was a positive side to all this; thanks to Dino and his work in Tempest, Feldway had discovered some truly ideal incarnation vessels for his Phantoms, more specifically the Primordial Angels who had become Phantoms.
All of them except for him lacked their own incarnation mediums for the Cardinal World, but it seems Tempest was reincarnating Daemons using incarnation vessels made from Golem Magic.
They would shape high quality ore into a skeleton with Golem Magic, and then a Daemon could inhabit it, something that should work for the Phantoms.
It was a mere theory at this point, but seeing as they were vessels requested by Diablo for his legion of Daemons, Feldway had no reason to doubt the vessel's effectiveness on Phantoms as well.
The only down side was the ore that was needed for his people would need to be truly high quality, the Eastern Empire could substitute some of their own, but he may still need more so he planned to steal some from Tempest when the time came.
As he was deep in his own thoughts, he felt one of his fellow Angels of Origin approach the Heavenly Star Palace. Once he allowed him in, it didn't take long for him to approach.
"Yes, Cornu?" He asked as Cornu appeared before him.
Feldway eyed the three pairs of white wings on Cornu's back before looking back at the man.
Cornu may have been a Primordial Angel, but he was the underdog among them, the weakest. He had not trained nearly as much as the others, and was content to enjoy himself by rampaging in other worlds. But if that is what he wished for, then Feldway would not say anything more as Cornu was still proving himself useful.
Cornu was the one primarily responsible for their raids to other worlds to gather resources and new techniques, though Cornu almost never got to incarnate himself due to their being few Gates that could tolerate his sheer presence going through it.
Cornu may have been the weakest Primordial Angel, but that did not make him weak. He was still far above the rabble of all other worlds for the most part, and so Feldway had faith in him.
But due to his power, he was relegated to a more managerial role now as most Gates would never grow strong enough to allow Cornu to pass through.
Cornu observed him for a moment before nodding. "Feldway."
"Did you need something?"
Cornu gave him a small nod. "Another Space-Time oscillation has occurred."
Feldway nodded. "I assume your people stabilized it into a gate?"
Cornu immediately nodded. "Of course."
"So why have you sought me out then?" Feldway asked. For the most part, Cornu was free to do as he pleased.
Cornu hesitated for a moment before continuing. "This Space-Time oscillation was different from the rest. There were no prior signs of it occurring like normal, no destabilization in Space, nothing. It just appeared out of nowhere. If some of my subordinates were not nearby when it occurred, we would have missed it entirely."
Feldway pursed his lips. "That is rather abnormal, but there is likely nothing we can do about it, merely record its occurrence and see if more like it occur in the future."
Cornu nodded. "I believed the same."
"Have you already dispatched some of your underlings through the gate?"
Cornu nodded. "I have."
What Cornu's subordinates could do was strengthen the gate from the other side so that the gate could grow strong enough to handle at least a weakened Split Body of Cornu's.
At that point, the entire world on the other side would be doomed.
"I wish you luck in your endeavors then, Cornu."
Cornu gave him a nod and then flew off. Despite him and the other Angels of Origin knowing each other for such a long time, he did not consider any of them friends like he did Michael. They were more like working partners who had known each other for eons. Feldway knew and appreciated all of them.
Perhaps the closest description would be distant family.
He had yet to inform them of his plans, but he knew they would agree. They all loved Veldanava just as he did, but perhaps he ought to go see Obera. It had been a few years since he last saw her.
She was stationed at the seal for Ivaragé, and so she and her subordinates rarely left the sight of the seal. Feldway could understand. It was an order given to her by Veldanava. In fact, he was happy she was doing her duty so seriously even to this day.
He nodded. Yes, seeing Obera sounded pleasant right now.
In the blink of an eye, he teleported to the seal. The moment he appeared, he could feel the difference in the atmosphere.
Even after being sealed for eons, Ivaragé's Aura was so potent that it could still be felt.
One of the Phantoms immediately recognized him. "Lord Feldway." He greeted with a bow.
Feldway's brows shot up in surprise. That was a surprising amount of sentience. Most Phantoms lacked even the most basic level of sentience, and it took eons for them to develop whatsoever, so seeing Obera's underling with an ego was a surprise.
Still, Feldway did not give it much more thought. "Take me to Obera."
The Phantom nodded. "Of course." He said, as he quickly led him deeper into the seal.
It didn't take long for him to see Obera.
Obera could be considered a divinely beautiful woman by Human standards. She had wavy black hair that seemed almost like the night sky and shining violet eyes. The four vertical teardrop-like markings on her forehead were also an aesthetic she wore.
"Feldway." She greeted with a nod.
He smiled. "Obera."
"Did you require something?" She asked bluntly.
Feldway shook his head. "No, I merely wished to check on you. It has been decades."
Obera blinked in confusion. "Check on me?" She slowly asked.
Feldway nodded. "Of course. We have known each other for quite some time, and you have served loyally ever since I have known you."
Obera nodded. "I suppose so."
"Soon you will be free of this station of yours." He commented offhandedly as he looked around the barren grounds.
Obera blinked in confusion. "Free?"
"Once Veldanava is back of course, I will inform him of your loyal service. Perhaps he will allow you to explore some other worlds."
"Once Veldanava is back?" She asked in confusion once again.
"Of course, he will be returning soon, so long as my plan is accomplished."
"What plan?" She immediately asked.
"I will inform you once the time comes, but for now just know that your loyalty will be rewarded."
Obera signed. "Very well." After a brief pause she continued. "Have you heard anything new about Lady Milim?"
Feldway blinked. "Milim? No. She is playing around as usual."
A small smile graced Obera's face. "Playing around? That's good."
Feldway sighed. Obera had always had an unusual interest and attachment for Milim Nava.
"I will be leaving then. Continue your good work." He said simply. Once Obera nodded, he left.
Things were truly coming along quite nicely.
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Author's Note:
Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon.
This chapter turned out a bit different than what I was aiming for at first, but hopefully you all enjoyed it. It was originally only supposed to have a small Feldway pov to explain the Phantoms and whatnot since I'm sure some of you can guess that they'll start getting involved now, but it turned into an entire chapter since Feldway is such a complex character and I wanted to share a bit more about him since I got the chance. Not to mention explaining his motives finally.
Feldway is a rather weird person, he sees what he is doing as not wrong, he treats his "siblings" as subordinates and wonders why they don't like him, so he's a pretty socially stunted individual, and I wanted to show that a bit here. I also explained a bit of what's going on with Rudra here.
In case people hadn't figured it out yet, the time streams are a bit funky between worlds, so even though Felix is from a future version of the Cardinal World, Feldway is in the past of the Cardinal World, before even Felix arrived. So future and past intersect essentially in another world.
Anyways, thanks for reading, peace!
Thanks to @Salante and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.
Last bit of editing -Omnax
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