—–
Erdrich roared loudly, moving forward at a fast speed, the demonic aura encompassing his body continued to enhance his physical capabilities and his speed. The first thing he did was attempting to punch me. I easily blocked it with my arms, but he moved forward, jumping, and twisting his body midair, attempting to give me a powerful kick in the head.
CLAAASH!
I blocked it with my bare arm, the strength of that leg was powerful, but thanks to the reinforcement of my body through Leveling Up and also thanks to Tier 1 Spells such as Body Strength Enhancement, Iron Skin, and so on, I was able to enhance my physical defense.
“Not bad at all.”
“SHUT UP!”
Erdrich continued his onslaught, unleashing a variety of attacks using his arms and legs, he resembled a monstrous demon from Hell. He was surprisingly strong, and moved surprisingly well, as if he had been taught how to attack using his own body.
However, he had yet to even reach my strength. I blocked his movements without much difficulty, as I pushed him to reveal more of his strength.
“What’s wrong? Is this all you’ve got?” I asked provocatively, Erdrich was very easy to provoke, as he attacked me even more furiously. His fists suddenly gained demonic flames as they started to hit me. I evaded some and blocked a few others.
“Weak!” I proclaimed, as I kicked him in the stomach, throwing him into the ceiling strongly.
CLAAAASH!
“A-Aaggh…!”
Erdrich fell into the floor quickly after. He attempted to stand up, but I put my leg over his back, pushing him down.
“You’re too weak, Erdrich. Don’t you understand? You’re too weak to avenge your mother. You can’t even touch me.”
“Y-You… Ugh… M-Mother…”
Erdrich began to cry once more, as he seemed to slowly shapeshift into a human once more. the demonic energy was quickly cleansed by me with a wave of my hands.
“How do you feel now? Did you get everything out?” I asked.
“…” Erdrich didn’t answered, looking elsewhere angrily.
“Your mother was a threat to other people’s lives, Erdrich. You are too.”
“…”
Erdrich seemed even more angered, as he covered his face with his hands, cleaning his tears.
“I-I am not!”
“How so? Look what a mess you’ve made into your room… Are you telling me that you wouldn’t accidentally kill people by going berserk like this?”
“T-That’s…”
“Erdrich. You were given a chance. You’re a demon that can easily kill people, you know how easily they could have decided to kill you so people could feel safer?” I said. “However, they had given you a chance to become someone that instead would use his strength to help others. You have to show people that your strength can be used like anybody else’s strength, and show your family, especially your brother and sister… that you’re the same Erdrich they know about.”
Elizabeth slowly walked towards the two of us, she seemed quite angered after we had a small fight, well, you can’t really consider this a fight to be honest. I just helped the boy get all the anger and frustration out of his heart; it was only going to make things worse if he kept it all saved up.
“You two dummies, why did you fight?!” She cried. “It was very dangerous…”
“S-Sorry…” Sighed Erdrich. “Blank is… right. I got carried away… What happened to my mother… It was partially her fault at the end… I can’t blame you all for it.”
Erdrich took it… surprisingly well. I thought he was going to hate me for the next years, but he suddenly realized everything very quickly, perhaps I underestimated his intelligence, he might be someone smart and reliable enough in the future.
“I-I am sorry, Blank… You did what you had to do to protect the people… I know that my mother also attacked our house… She intended to kill auntie Treebark… She’s like a second mother to me.” Cried Erdrich.
“Come, stand up, we have to clean this mess.” I said, as I extended my hand. Erdrich took it, as he stood up.
“Okay, you two clean this mess right now! And make friends!” Said Elizabeth angrily.
“Don’t be so grumpy, Elizabeth.” I said, petting her head.
“Sorry again…” Erdrich said.
He seemed to still be very sad, but our interaction ended cheering him up a bit. Even though I gave him a kick in the stomach, he looked just fine. The powers he have might possibly include enhanced self-regeneration.
Anyways, I was left surprised, are humans, specially young ones, capable of showing such maturity? I tried to check if he was lying, but he seemed to be very honest with his words. We cleansed the mess in the room before the priests reached the room, finding nothing wrong going on… Except a small hole in the ceiling.
Erdrich was still quite confused about what he could do now. So I told him the most basic thing that a person could come out with in such a harsh world as this one.
“You have to grow stronger.” I said. “Do you want a rematch one day? Or to show people that those with demon powers are not… bad? Then grow stronger and help people with the priests, I guess.”
“T-That’s it!” He said, as if I had enlightened him. I am not really into helping people like a hero, but he’s from this world and seems to be a righteous kid, so it fit him quite nicely.
“I will grow stronger with everyone… And we’ll have a rematch one day!” He said, acting surprisingly childishly after he showed a lot of maturity by how he understood everything. I guess a kid is a kid no matter what.
“Well said, Erdrich! That’s the spirit! Let’s grow stronger together!” Said Elizabeth.
“You two are too young to go around slaying monsters though…” Sighed Ellergest.
“It is not so hard to do, there are a lot of demons going around the forest by now. Isn’t a task of the priests to slay demons?” I asked.
“Well… yes.” Sighed Ellergest. “Maybe we could find a way to help the knights, and in the way, get blessings out of slaying demons for you kids to grow stronger.”
—–