I flew up into the air. I wobbled in my flight, for my size had greatly changed and I had a new tail. Far from helping me manuever, it was actually a small liability as I yet lacked the proper training. My tail was never really meant to help me balance to begin with, but to allow me to make sharper and sharper turns.

I stopped. My wings flapped lazily, just enough to keep me aloft. I took a moment to spread my arms wide just as my wings were. I took a deep breath of the fresh air, more soothing than anything else I'd ever inhaled. There was peace here, in the skies. And chaos down below.

I saw the dark landscape that Pandemonium now occupied. A wide ring of cleared space surrounded it, only now it was dotted with scattered tents. I flew even higher, and saw the whole of Astro City from above. As if the people below were mere ants. The city that had been conquered, the city that held me captured in its heart. Now it was a quiet and dreary place. Not entirely, as it was actually still loud and active by most standards. But for a settlement this size, it was almost silent as a grave. The only pockets of exuberance came from the soldiers that occupied it. The common civilians were far fewer than they should be, many having chosen to barricade themselves inside their homes. The disease had not completely expired either from Moonwash's last casting, so they had good reason to hide. They who had done nothing. Worthless scum. I was buried under the heart of their city, and they were fine to just let that be!

…It wasn't their fault, I knew. More than that, they had no obligation to save me. I saved myself.

I moved on.

My wings flapped powerfully, and I was sent hurtling through the air. The city quickly blurred below me as I tried to regain my balance. Some more flaps, and the settlement was shrinking from view. I picked up speed, and the wind slammed into my face with great refreshing pressure. The city disappeared into the distance.

"Woohoo!" I laughed. I flew faster than I ever did before. I tried to use my tail, but it only made my flight more unstable. I had no actual destination in mind, so I just continued on. I practiced using my tail, and I got turned around over and below. My memory core helped me train, my rapid nervous system allowed me a wider margin of error, and soon I could actually somewhat maneuver. A bird collided against me, and it left a bruise on my face while the other guy was turned to paste. It was no issue for I quickly and actively healed my head. I came across other fliers, including some annoying literal insects, and I did my best to try and dodge all of them. I wasn't always successful, and some even caused me to drop a decent distance as my wings creaked and wobbled from the damage, before I remembered that I could heal that too. Blood magic was awesome!

Something approached. I felt its rapid movements in my dimension scanner before anything else. My instincts then latched onto the bird, and I felt only mild danger from it. It seemed like I did make the right decision in getting my dimension scanner, when my instincts could presumably do the same job if it was powerful enough. The two synergized to be greater than the sum of their parts, and I definitely wanted as much of an edge as I could get for what was once my weakness. My lacking perception had robbed me of my wings at a critical time before. Maybe I never would've been captured if I had retained these two limbs. I could've just flown away from Zazarian and his band of fuckwads!

My tail whipped against the air with a resounding crack, and I turned a little bit too far, but enough to land a punch. The fleshpecker's absurdly sharp beak opened a deep cut on my fingers just from that contact, but the level 30 bird got the worse end of the exchange as it came hurtling down with a broken wing. It still managed to fall through the air in just the right way for one more bite to my unarmored shins. An idea formed in my mind in the last instant, and I was somehow able to execute it fast enough. My blood magic enhanced my legs just in time, and the monster's beak broke skin but did not pierce through my flesh all too deeply. It uselessly dropped with an indignant squawk, but I did not let it fall for I was a merciful demon. I blasted it with a gout of vengeful hellfire that reduced its body to ash and cinders. May it learn the folly of attacking me in the afterlife!

I breathed. I stabilized in the air and healed myself. I tried to imagine a deeper interpretation of how blood healed. How it clotted. How it carried life throughout the body. It was life itself, and my wounds closed rapidly as I had wished. I only got injured by the small beast because I lacked any sort of armor. I went out of the house without bringing any gear. A fucking memory core, and I was still so thoughtless. I had to use my fists to fight, because I did not have a sword. It was not at the manor when it burned. It might not have been there for a long time now. How dare they steal my stuff!? I will steal their very lives!!!

Except… I already had. They were already dead. There was nothing left to steal.

~~~

Soon I was flying again. My wings beat ever faster. My speed rose, as blood magic allowed me to fly harder. My wings strained from the force, where my legs could take it. The pain got even worse when I switched over to curse magic. A force of air pressed against me, and I struggled to fly any faster. My wings were beginning to fray. Soon there would be a tear. So I pushed myself even harder. I used the two elements at once, and I broke through so many more barriers with the added power. The forest was a blur below me as I flew faster than most planes. But the sound did not whistle and explode like it would when I was running. The sound barrier was yet out of my reach in this form. I could break through if I just had a little more time, but I felt the agonizing sensation of membranes tearing in my wings. Soon, I would slow, and that threshold would remain uncrossed.

I healed. While I continued to fly, I brought another order to my blood. The tears in my wings began to stitch back together. It healed fast enough to maintain my speed, but not enough to let me push harder. So I did something else. I made a sacrifice. Blood evaporated inside my body. It disappeared from inside the small veins that ran through my wings. I cast a mini-ritual with my blood, in both physical form and mana. My wings regained their luster. It was brought close to full health. The sonic barrier was broken, and the many creatures around me fled from the noise. I healed my wings again as I continued to move at supersonic speeds. I then continued to accelerate. But soon I would reach again an equilibrium. The speed of sound was a threshold, but there were more walls beyond that. The air-resistance would only get harder.

Finally, after only a few seconds longer, I came to a stop. Blood from my extra-dimensional blood storage replaced the amount I had lost. I engaged my blood eater, and began to steadily dine on my own blood in order to make more. I played around with the organ a bit, and compared the results of eating blood saturated with only one kind of mana. Getting the control right took some trying, but I didn't need it to be perfect. I only needed a vast majority of an element to permeate it. And in doing so, I found that the conversion rate of blood mana into anything I had access to was significantly more efficient than either hellfire or curse. I supposed that made sense. My blood eater would process any mana bound to the lifeblood it ate, but not equally.

"Interesting." Everything was so interesting. There was so much to explore. Just for the sake of it. For the love of magic and the world and power itself. I really truly missed this.

I landed. I took a few good stretches underneath the shade of the rainforest as my wings retracted back into myself. I would not be able to have as much fun as I wanted right now, as I lacked any sort of equipment. I would need to solve that issue when I got back.

But for now, I ran. I charged. I enhanced my body with blood, then curse, then both. The ground beneath me cracked. Each stride ate through so much ground. I nearly rammed right into trees because of it, but I only cracked and broke my limbs and the offending trunk because I reacted on time. I slowed for a short instant, before a burst of pseudo-ritualistic healing righted my body into place. But then I began to notice something wrong. The wall of air that continued to press against me wasn't as strong. And it wasn't because I'd developed some sort of resistance to air resistance, but because I was not moving as fast as I used to. The wind did not howl in pain. I had not achieved supersonic speeds. I was moving slower.

I questioned for a moment why that could be as I continued to run and try to achieve what I had done before. The ground beneath me was breaking apart, roots and all… which actually lessened the force I could run with. I was not… gaining enough traction. It made sense, because the ground of Pandemonium was certainly stronger than normal bare earth.

I came to a stop. I crashed against a bear, and then squished it into a tree. The animal immediately coughed out great amounts of blood, and then I ended its suffering by stomping upon its head while I myself received some healing. I didn't pay its dead corpse any more attention as ideas began to whirl in my head. I flew up into a tree to cool down and settle after all that exertion. I was beginning to come up with a new list of what I would need. It was a shame, what I had lost. From my armor to my sword. That curse could've been transferred into a better and larger vessel. But I could perhaps still do that once I find who else had stolen my shit. For now, I could gather even better materials. Things that money could not just buy, I reckoned. I would augment my already ridiculous powers even more. And then I would someday punish the thieves with my full might.

~~~

Minutes passed, then hours. I spent my time up in that tree, alone, and in peace. Well, mostly. I incinerated and rotted and killed some small insects and rodents just so I would be left alone to my contemplation. I did spare a nesting bird who was just minding her own business and protecting the eggs. I breathed deeply of the world, and tried to find my calm. I still roiled in turmoil, but I worked to quell the storm of my rage and every manner of negative desire, into a more manageable bottomless still ocean.

This was a disaster I had willingly fed for over a year, and now I had to hold it in once more. I was no longer surrounded by people who deserved to be killed for all that they'd done. Death was a mercy for the rotting souls that they were. And… my emotions were getting worse again. I redid my breathing exercises from scratch. I accessed my memory core, but took not the worst memories, but the best ones. The most beautiful. Those that showed that life was worth living… and sparing. The wonderful childhood I got to experience since coming into this world. Parents who actually cared. A girlfriend I truly loved. She braved through mountains of corpses and the impossible weight of immorality just to get me back. So many people did, if not to the same extent. I was not alone. Well, right now I was alone, but I meant in general! I had people that cared for me. I cared for at least some of them in return. I had my own morals, my own beliefs, my own code of a sort, even if I always was… flexible about it, long before I'd been captured and tortured and humiliated and betrayed. The sudden surge of wrath simply passed through me as I rebuilt myself. The scars of the vengeful demon who cared for nothing else would remain for a long time, but this was a good start. I had a whole life ahead of me. Many lives. An eternity perhaps, myself willing, if I could seize the power I needed for myself.

I stood back up on the branch I perched on with clear and hopeful and outright evil eyes. I smiled at the future ahead, for the first time in a long time. I grasped my chest… and the tunic that had gotten torn from all my earlier activity. The mark upon my skin peeked out and also redrew itself upon the pieces of fabric that remained. I focused on what The Mark of The Beast meant, and I felt more deeply the unbroken bond I shared with Pandemonium. I focused on it, and found the direction where my home resided. I… might have actually gotten lost here in this forest. But with this, I would never lose my way. I focused on the distance that separated us, and began to push and pull and prod against that vast space. Distortions appeared in my surroundings, similar to something I had recently seen. I felt an inexplicable pull on my soul, my body, and myself. I pushed myself to follow that force, and soon I felt an overwhelming sensation emanating from my mark. The ambient mana hummed, as did a typically unusable form of the mystical energy that resided within the symbol drawn upon my chest. I felt my very soul peek out, impossibly complex and incomprehensible in its structure. Without size, without mass, an idea without form. The space around me twisted further, and I felt a pulling sensation from any and every direction all at once. It tore at my skin and drew blood. The red liquid 'fell' in odd angles, just like how my vision was distorted and bent. Until finally, with a chaotic pop, I disappeared.

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I reappeared bleeding and broken in a place much different from the peaceful and inviting deathtrap of a forest from before. I was in a room that contained the same fading distortions in space I saw just moments before. The lone and large Marks of The Beast on every wall glowed with a silvery dark light, and then their activity subsided at the same time as the one on my chest did. I was back inside Pandemonium, inside what was once supposed to be my bedroom.

"I hereby name you instead, my teleportation room."

~~~

A day later, I found myself standing by the gates of Pandemonium. They opened with an eerie creaking sound, but not for my friends who already stood beside me. No, this time I opened my doors to complete abject strangers. One an ogre woman in fine clothing, the other a red belfegor man in ceremonious armor, and the last person a kobold man in battleworn armor and scales.

A councillor, a general, and a guard. Level 20, 20 again, and 40 respectively.

"Greetings! Welcome!" I smiled, despite how I'd just imagined their heads falling right off in vivid detail. I myself wore a black and white dress that Moonwash had quickly modified to my new size and shape.

The kobold guard did not react, the belfegor general grunted with a nod, and the ogre woman swept into an exaggerated courtesy.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Haell Zharignan. Our very own hero. The one who we had been trying to rescue for almost a year now, and finally succeeded in saving. I'm so sorry for what happened to you, I'm so sorry that we weren't able to get here sooner, but we're here for you now. And I'll make sure that we strike back at those bastards that dared to capture one of our most important citizens!"

My eyes twitched. I really did truly appreciate them, but that surge of annoyance turned into a torrent that made me wish to crucify her upon the walls of Pandemonium. The buildings around us responded, as much as I had been able to contain my own reactions. I calmed it down with a simple gesture, but my audience who were new to this had already reacted.

The guard had taken a defensive position, the general had an inquisitive look, and the ogre did a good job of masking her fright.

"Sorry about that. Happens sometimes."

"Right," she didn't even stammer. "Thank you for inviting us here today. I am Councillor Yoka, here to discuss matters regarding the state of the Astro Manor among other things."

"Perfectly understandable," I nodded. "Pandemonium, that is what I've renamed the manor into, is terribly empty right now, I must admit. But we have prepared one of the rooms for your visit, and I shall lead you there now."

"Very well. Proceed."

Oh wow. My patience was really being tested here. I wasn't a savant at politics, but even I could spot the implications laced with her every word. I didn't know how to handle that, however, obviously, so the best I could do was control my temper as I led my entourage of friends and… acquaintances to the receiving room.

~~~

We reached the large living room furnished in reds and black and way too many animal parts as trophies. There were some couches of varying sizes and a table at the center of the space perfect for negotiations. All of us were able to find a seat, though the kobold guard preferred to keep standing behind his charge, Yoka. He was not to be a direct part of this discussion.

The negotiations began. The councillor was predictably unhappy about our claiming of the manor. Granuel argued that I was the one who conquered it, but she retorted that I couldn't have had they not been attacking from the outside and wearing the Edengar forces thin for already a year.

"Thousands of us have died throughout this war, and so many more," she lamented. It was largely for show and to put pressure on us, but I felt that there was at least a hint of being genuine hidden under all the politics of it all.

More importantly, I did care. As unsuccessful as they were, they did die for me. I wouldn't have done the same. Not for a stranger. And maybe not for anyone, after what had happened.

I… had to admit that Yoka had a point.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to give up this manor. It's fucking cursed anyway. You guys don't want this."

"I wouldn't be so sure. It is of interest to several of our mages and scholars. Maybe we can make some weapon out of it to strike against Edengar and their evil machinations."

Well… shit. They actually want Pandemonium.

"How about if we come to another deal," Granuel interjected. "For you to cede the entire city to us."

"Oh? If you finally want to rule, then I'm sure can get you approved as mayor by the council."

My friend glanced at me, and I continued, "No, actually. We were thinking if it would be possible to declare this entire territory as independent."

Her eyes darkened. "You wish to secede from New Grandera? You've only made your demand worse."

"It's just one city," I shrugged, unintimidated and far angrier inside than anything she could muster. "And not for free."

"What can you possibly give that is worth all this?"

"My services. More cities. Their armies. I will help you win a war or two." It was something I would likely do anyway, because I now held a personal grudge as deep as the abyss and I wanted to lash out against Edengar. But there had been such a long precedent now of me not wishing to involve myself in those affairs, that my offer was perfectly believable. She would see the offer as genuine, just like we rehearsed.

"I know you're strong, Haell. But you can't possibly be suggesting that your cooperation is worth an entire city."

"Yes it is. This should be easy enough to deduce, but I have been a valuable… mercenary to hire before already, haven't I?"

"I will not deny that," her reply was neutral.

"And did I prove my worth then? Able to affect so much chaos and panic across enemy ranks?"

She looked at the general beside her, and then nodded after one silent communication. "I suppose you have. But you've never been given an entire fortified city for your efforts before."

"True enough. But you do notice something different about me, don't you?"

"Different?"

"She's evolved," the general, Karavan, interjected before I could explain. "A Mutation. Multiple Mutations. She's so much larger for one. And she has a tail which she didn't have before. Actually, has your entire species changed?

"Who knows," I shrugged, not confirming any of the specifics. "Demons are weird."

"You certainly are," he nodded, unperturbed. "Councillor. I feel that she is far more powerful now than she once was. Her help might be worth the city." She looked at him unbelievingly. Karavan raised his hands. "But it might also not be. So I propose that we test how strong she is."

"A test, huh?" I kept my tone playful. "Fair enough. Though I am a bit rusty. You know how I've been imprisoned for so long."

"Surely that won't matter if you're actually worth a city."

I smiled a genuine smile. "That is true."

~~~

I stood again in the courtyard of Pandemonium. Across from me stood the kobold guard in a ready position. The both of us wielded wooden practice swords, though his were two smaller ones, meanwhile mine was a single massive greatsword fit for my size. I swung it a few times to get accustomed to the weapon again. I'm sorry Pandemonium, but the one you gave me was so shit that it's hard to consider it the same thing.

"Begin!" General Karavan sliced his hand forward, and I charged.

My opponent did so as well, but the kobold had not even taken a single step by the time I was in front of him. I swung my sword with cruel finality, and my enemy barely managed to cross his own weapons to defend.

It was not enough.

My sword broke, and so did both of his.

Shards of wood flew in all directions, but mostly towards him.

I had to plant my hooves down and heave so I did not fall. The guard was not able to avoid his own fall, and he was tossed right onto the ground.

I still had the time to crouch down and point the shards that remained of my weapon to his throat before he could get up. I wanted to just bury that wood through his scales and let the shards wreck havoc upon the innards within.

I dropped the weapon and instead offered him a hand. The kobold took it, and I only squeezed a little bit too hard. He didn't react and I pulled him to his feet, eager to finally let go before I tossed him over my shoulder so I could stomp him to his grave.

"I never got your name, by the way," I said.

"Jaras Koldoman." He bowed.

Silence reigned.

I turned to the gathered crowd.

"So? How's that? Strong enough for you?"

"W…what?" Councillor Yoka said. "What happened? You can teleport?"

"Nothing of the sort," I laughed. I did not even have the space to reach top speed back there. Although she was correct in ways she did not know.

"That was just how fast she can run," Jaras offered, then shook his head. "No. Actually, I think she can go even faster."

He gave me a particular look, and I appreciated the support.

"W-well. That's certainly impressive." Yoka dusted herself.

"How helpful will this be in your opinion against someone in war?" Karavan then asked the guard, though I could see he was already making his own calculations.

"Very helpful. We don't have any true hero-rank individuals willing to help us constantly at this time. And while Haell technically isn't at level 80, her raw power does seem to rival one. With that speed and power, she can take out enemy elites easily given a proper weapon. I am actually questioning if my instincts deceive me this day, because she is way too strong for someone only at level 40, and recently evolved at that."

"A true hero-rank hero!" Yoka smiled and clapped. "How wonderful!"

"It is," General Karavan said diplomatically. "But I would have to ask to see more of your capabilities, Hero Haell. If they put enough troops in front of you then they might be able to stop you from killing their elites."

I raised a brow, and then unfurled my wings wide. "Did you forget I could fly?" I flapped them once and rose into the air. "But very well. I shall show you the depths of my power. It was never through the assassination of elites that I have been informally called the army killer."

A fireball formed in my hand. It was an angry red and super hot, made entirely of hellfire. I made it larger, and it began to loom above like a miniature sun, or a contained explosion. The heat radiating from it was painful even to me now, for the flames of hell were all about the suffering of the living, and I was very much alive. But I was not yet done. I reached for my limits, and found myself surpassing it. I controlled as much mana as I could, and then it began to multiply. Pandemonium had lent me its power. We could perform joint casting seamlessly. Here in the seat of my power, I was even stronger.

"H-holy shit!"

"Stop!"

"It hurts!"

"Cease this instant!"

I looked down at my friends and acquaintances. They were backing away now and trying to shield themselves. The massive ball of fire I held above my head was so hot, that they could feel it from all the way down there. Especially since the very light of hellfire made them more susceptible to the pain.

I canceled the magic, and it dissipated into smaller and smaller motes that floated through the air. That hellfire ball was far stronger than I normally could produce, when I did not intend to fool them about my true power. But it would be unwise to tell them about that. It would cease to be a lie soon enough.

"So, did I pass?"

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