Entha

Chapter 22: Progress

“The name is Brion Heave”

Announced the female Grandif that is much shorter than me, currently I am at combat training inside a circular arena the same size of a stadium situated outside the palace, and this woman a part of the eight elders who governs the demon world is assigned by the king as my mentor,

-Heavy

I blocked the first overhead strike, her movements were hard to follow as she uses her long thick hair as a cover before setting a strike, not to mention the way she lunges with her hands and cutlass hidden behind her back, it reminded me of how Ninja’s in movies were depicted, what’s surprising is the sheer weight of her s***h she had the physique of an average teenager and the sword she’s carrying was much shorter than Asporeas yet it felt like blocking a condensed 16 wheeler truck running on full speed, s**t I blocked the first s***h but my hands are already throbbing, this is a grandif not much like the king as I could only see around tens of mirage before the initial strike but it hurts, my hand hurts thus i moved back to gain distance, I won’t be able to block the second strike for sure, as that first block was only a product of Heather constantly targeting my temple,

-Shit

Here she comes, she pursued with another strike and I could perceive a mirage of a strike locked on to my neck, but aware that I wont be able to match her devastating speed and I can’t even feel my hands, I simply closed my eyes and raised both arms in surrender,

“First lesson, Never close your eyes in battle”

Whispered Brion, she sheathed her sword back, and made her way down the training arena,

“Eh? Are we done?”

I asked, she seemed annoyed maybe she gave up on my incapability or maybe she’s just tired for today, or is this is a demo?

“No I am done, but your not, you’re much worst and slow than I expected, run around the arena for 9 hours along with a thousand swing of that sword then come find me”

Brion whispered, pointing at a sword twice my size… the hell am I supposed to swing that for a thousand times?

Thus, my training had begun; all I had to do now was wait for the alchemist to make a breakthrough and the contract holders to find a stable way of influencing the humans; the demon body is much tougher and stronger than a human's, so 9 hours of running is as easy as breathing; the only problem was swinging that colossal sword or so I thought but Brion returned with a leg weight and strapped it on both my legs;

“Don’t you think this is impossible to do, I can’t even lift it, how’d you expect me to run with it”

“willpower”

Whispered Brion, holding out a thumbs up before she turned her back on me and made her way out the arena,

“You serious?”

“Well see ya later, Calix”

“Oi wait, Brion?...Briooooon!!”

I called out but the demon, yeah, that demon never even glanced back as she exits the arena, I tried lifting the leg weights but as I thought it is too heavy… run my ass!, And how do I even get this off, I started twisting and turning to find the damn lock but…fuck where’s the damn lock!? Don’t tell me its sealed with magic?...

Ahahahahahaahahha that’s right “Magic”...I’m f*****g brilliant, ahem! woah there calm down, we don’t want to end up as a narcissist don’t we?... Haha yeah but what a great idea indeed,

-

“Shall we get started”

Said Garlu, the demon duke heading the alchemists in an attempt to make a magical creation to conceal the presence of a demon on Earth; he is currently in a room in his duchy with 700 demon alchemists; he is still in disbelief that a 6th Grandif has arisen, but the king's order comes first

“Yes Milord, I think the problem with that is the coordinates, hiding the existence of an unmoving demon like that of the magic circle used for summoning would be easy as he is only placed at one coordinate but a moving one would be tricky, but we could try some of these things perhaps”

Confidently said Elena as she points at a notebook handwritten by her,

Magic that encircles demons requires coordinates similar to those required by a summoning circle; however, a summoning circle only requires two or three coordinates, whereas a moving demon requires tons of it,

‘Ohhh this is the famed daughter of Areath, brilliant indeed, and obviously calm headed compared to her peers’

Garlu praised Elena, who was clearly superior to the others, given that she had already produced something in such a short amount of time.

“Then may you share those things”

Said Garlu, moving by the elevated platforms side to give way for Elena,

Most of the alchemists were still dazed and confused after their Entha vanished, and they were still trying to cope with the sudden change in the demon world; it seemed like only yesterday that they were leisurely studying magic for the sake of their Entha, but now they are devising a magic circle that puts the demon world’s faith in their hands, but Elena had already put that thought back into her mind, determined to help Calix, she moved up the platform and put into words what she had thought of the plan to hide the presence of demons composed of the same magic that from the summoning circle,

“First is-

-

‘Back then and even in the King’s throne, father was surprised wasn’t he’

“Esteroth, Esteroth”

Called out Halen to the spacing Esteroth, the room was rowdy with several demons throwing their suggestions on the rough plan announced by Calix, but Esteroth was silent and is hanging her head over the chair’s back rest,

“Esteroth. What are you spacing out for?”

Continued Halen, her voice now slightly raised, drawing Esteroth back to the rowdy room with a white board in front of her with endless words of comments connected to the strategy Calix had outlined.

“Ah no, nothing”

A reply that obviously shrouds something which made Halen narrow her eyes but instead of pursuing such matter since its probably another one of Esteroth’s childish thought she simply sighed and continued,

“Nevermind, so what do you think of what Calix had said”

“I don’t know, I haven’t ventured out that far into the human territory and all I’ve learned was their history and topographies I wasn’t that versed in their so called psychologies”

Nonchalantly replied Esteroth,

“I see, then what do you think of losing our Entha?”

"Well, it's not that complicated; I've just lost the pleasure of doing my job, but so what; if it weren't for the demon world hanging right now and the king's order, I'd still be doing my job as a contract holder."

For the time being, it was the simplest way to cope, but Halen couldn't shake the feeling that such jobs would vanish as the demon world progressed, which was true; once the alchemist discovered a way to keep the demons on Earth alive with a magic capable of shrouding their presence, contract holders based on Calix's plan would hold positions in Earth as influencers.

With so many thoughts continually flooding Halen's mind, she needed to get some of them out or she'd end up with a headache from overthinking. So Halen got up and raised her hand, a discipline she acquired on studying human behaviors,

“Milord, I have a suggestion, I think it is a must that we study the countless jobs human’s have”

“You are?”

Zeroth replied, perplexed by Halen's motion of raising her hand, which had drawn his attention,

“Milord, I am the 3rd child of Areath De val, Halen”

“Is that so, then Halen, do expand what you meant by studying the humans jobs”

It was a vague and a unique suggestion compared to the countless garbage written in the board, thus the duke hushed the room and made everyone present focus their attention on Halen,

“then Milord, We contract holders shall begin studying human polit-