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[...] (Eva)

[...] (Luna)

[...] (Syrus)

“Woah...”

“Is that real?”

“...”

“Hehehe... this is better than I could’ve imagined.”

The immediate reaction was one of wonder and astonishment.

Anlesa was stunned silent as they were split on feelings of curiosity, fear, and amazement.

The children’s brains were slowly processing what they saw in front of them, as if it were something they had never previously seen or imagined before.

Flick was having the most fun as the sight caused the curiosity and excitement within her to swell.

“Hehe, welcome to the Demon Home.” The demoness laughed.

They stood on the edge of a massive crater, which was shocking enough due to the sheer size of it, but what existed on the outer ring on the opposite side of the crater was even more shocking.

From a distance, they just thought it was a hill of some kind, but on closer inspection, it was definitely not.

A large, mountainous, dark grey rock covered sixty percent of the perimeter of the crater.

It spread far beyond the crater’s perimeter.

By that short definition, it sounded similar to a mountain disconnected from a mountain range, but the curious details lay with its other features.

The colours of the rocks were shades darker than even the nearby mountains they walked by earlier.

Large tunnels and paths had clearly been dug all over the rock; some went in strange angles that no human would ever make.

The other confusing feature was the large red crystal poking out of everywhere, some tiny and a few absolutely massive to the point they dwarfed some of the tallest trees Syrus had ever seen.

[This… is so amazing…] (Eva)

[How… did a structure like this even get created?] (Luna)

[Clearly, they carved away at the original… mountain? After making it into their home.] (Syrus)

[Yes, they are carved away at some sort of structure, but the rock texture is different, and those crystals are not normal.] (Luna)

[They could be natural, they could be normal, we don’t know how they were created, there could be a natural phenomenon that generates these crystals.] Eva was already wondering if it was heat, pressure, a chemical, or another reaction that generated these crystal structures.

[I–Sure.] Luna gave up and left the theorycrafting to Eva.

After the sight of the massive structure was burned into their eyes. There was a second fact that was hard not to notice: all the demons.

Billy mumbled, “There are a lot of…”

Syrus continued, “Demons, don’t worry, they aren’t going to attack you, especially if you don’t fight back and keep looking weak.”

“Huh?”

The demoness laughed, “That’s true, no one would want a bite out of those scrawny, untraineds, but I will keep an eye on them. Can’t have a loud one ruin the fun.”

[I have an idea…] Looking over all the demons, they could be characterised into one of three different types that Eva quickly made up.

There were the humanoid demons; those were the ones that were human proportions, like the demon that accompanied them.

There was variation in their appearance, there were differences in the number of additional limbs, and some had animalistic body parts–for their head, arms, extra appendages, etc.

While description-wise they sounded the most like humans, and purely on descriptive notes, they could be confused with the more wild Exotic attribute users.

People with physical Exotic attributes tended to have fewer than two defining characteristics.

E.g., Eva’s horn, Maca’s partial exoskeleton, and slightly blue skin.

These humanoid demons did not have skin tones that matched any human’s.

The demoness had purple and amber orange skin, for instance, and pretty much from what they could see, all had horns of some kind.

The humanoid demons did have multiple physical differences outside of their skin and horns that separated them from humans.

Once again, the demon that escorted them had wings and a tail, and looking down at the demons in the pits, Eva saw one that she could only describe as having a tiger-like upper body and two curved blades poking out from their back.

Still, the similarities between them and Exotic attribute wielders were close enough that Eva understood why there was confusion, but she didn’t know if it was simply a case of two things separately having similar traits or if there was actually a connection…

She decided to leave that part of the theorycrafting to the wayside for a while.

The other two categories were simpler. There were the animal demons; these were demons that were primarily different animals mixed together. The insectoid snake demon would be in this category.

The last category was the weird demons. These were like the rocky, cyclops, horse, mountain thing they saw earlier.

Eva gave a quick talk on her categorisation system to Syrus and Luna in a fast ramble while also giving her reasoning.

[That’s a lot…] (Syrus)

That was a lot of information for Syrus to process, so first, she decided to ask, “Hey, do you call the different-looking demons anything?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m Mealraioc-Hemkaia Demon, a Mealraioc demon, similar looking to you humans. My friend, Marazada, is a Keraial-Zoalral Demon, and Roasjhta from before is simply a Jraiaultauu Demon.”

“Thanks.”

[What…?] (Eva)

[Just figured I would ask.] (Syrus)

“...What’s happening down there?” Susan asked as she pointed to the large crater.

“Warm-ups for the next celebration.” The demoness answered.

“Celebration?” Flick questioned.

“Yes, our parties.” The demon smirked. “Come, keep following.”

The demon took them around the outside of the crater as they watched many demons smashing their battles together in a violent brawl.

Flick quickly came up to Syrus and asked, “Hey, do you know what those crystals are worth to the demons?”

“No,” Syrus replied.

“That’s no fun.”

Soon they reached an entrance to the rocky home, and they entered inside. The tunnels were lit up by the crystal that contained a small amount of light and the holes that allowed natural light to pass through.

Many demons that were nearby gave curious glances, while a few others smiled, expecting something to come.

“Where are we headed?” Jerry asked.

“My home.” The demoness answered.

“Oh, okay…” He continued his questions. “What’s your name?”

“Velelenra.”

[Demon names are such a mouthful….] (Luna)

“Vele-len-ra?”

“Vel is fine, human.”

There were no doors in the mountain, and they walked past other tunnels and larger rooms.

[This place is fascinating.] (Eva)

[...I’ve read about mountain civilisations in stories, but this doesn’t exactly match any of them.] (Luna)

[They were mostly fictional, right?] (Syrus)

[And? There's still a difference between an expectation and reality.] (Luna)

[Fair enough.] (Syrus)

After climbing stairs made of carved-away stone, Vel informed them that they were close.

[What are we supposed to be doing here?] (Luna)

[Resting would be nice…] Eva suggested. [It would give us a chance to rest in a safe place… and the kids would like a roof over their head for another night.]

[Based on the time it would take us to reach Arisea Station, we would have to rest in the wilderness for another day, likely two.] (Luna)

[We made good progress over today and yesterday, but I agree with that estimate.] (Syrus)

“Here we are.” They walked through the wide entrance to what was Velelenra’s room.

“Stoney.” Said Anlesa.

The room was pretty much as they expected, from what they had seen so far.

The ground, walls, and roof were just rock that had been carved away.

There were red crystals on the ceiling and walls.

There were additions that made it look more like a regular room; there was another side area that curved around, which Velelenra said was where she stored her clothes, which confirmed the fact that the textured layer was actually clothing and not just a physical trait.

There was also an overly large bed, which Anlesa thought looked surprisingly comfy, and it was made out of some sort of soft cotton when they touched it.

From a window in the rocks, large enough that Velelenra would be able to easily fly out from, they could see the crater and the demons still fighting inside.

[Looks like a mosh pit.] (Syrus)

[A what?] (Eva)

[People would draw a circle, and the last one standing was the winner.] (Syrus)

[Sounds… Violent.] (Eva)

[Yes. Well, the demon said it’s called a mash pit here, but the concept is still the same.] (Syrus)

“It feels nice in here….” Susan muttered.

“Have you been injured, little human? Don’t worry, this place is filled to the brim with things that will make you feel good and well again.”

Jerry asked, “Well, again, for what..?”

“Fighting, of course.”

[I am feeling a healing effect, but it is weaker than my Moonlight.] (Luna)

[And my Blood healing, but it doesn’t seem to be reacting negatively with our body, so any help is appreciated.] (Syrus)

[Is it the crystal doing that?] (Eva)

[We can ask later.] (Syrus)

Anlesa was going along with what Velelenra wished, but they knew that she would want them to join in on something at some point.

After a few minutes of looking around, the children fell instantly asleep once they hopped on the bed, which caused a small laugh from Flick and Anlesa. Flick also decided to look around and then vanished into thin air, which made Velelenra excited.

Syrus stared out of the window, watching the warm-up fights taking place.

“Are you ready to join in the festivities?” The demoness asked as she walked up and leaned on the window’s edge.

“I’m not exactly in the best of conditions.” Syrus answered, “Been in a lot of back-to-back fights; you would know of some of them.”

“Would you like some gear?” The demons picked at the textured material that made up her skin-tight clothes. “For those that can wear some, good defensive gear is great as it allows us to keep fighting for longer.”

[Syrus.] (Luna)

[What? Aren’t you at least curious about how durable it is?

I will admit I have many concerns about her choice of equipment, so many vitals exposed without even a little bit of padding.

You don’t even need much, just a little bit of hardened leather as the base is usually enough to deflect attacks away from the body anyway. ] (Syrus)

[Syrus.] (Luna)

[What? It is genuinely interesting; maybe if it were completely covering all the necessary areas and it is as flexible as it seems, it would make great under armour.] (Syrus)

[We can’t wear something that lewd.] Luna was firm.

[Syrus, is Luna okay?] (Eva)

Her question caused Syrus to burst out laughing internally and Luna to go stunned silent.

[..Eh…] (Luna)

“I’ll think about it.” A little bit of the giggle came out in her response.

While they were watching over the fighting, a large red crystal emerged from the centre of the crater. It didn’t look exactly like the ones in the mountain, but it was close. It was a deeper red and had a mix of other colours inside. Speaking of the insides, they flowed around like a stormy sea.

The light filled the crater, and the Demons within were all healed.

“The crimson light is ready, and the next celebration is to begin in two days' time.” The demon smiled. “You made it on time.”

Luna asked, “...How often do these celebrations happen?

“Every one to three weeks.” The demon answers. “Everyone is patched up thanks to the crystal and their natural healing, and the winner, the one whose spirit burned the brightest, gets to be bathed in the purest of lights from the crystal.”

“What happens then..?” They had to ask; just seeing what the crystal could normally do was amazing. Syrus saw the wounds on the demon, and some were really bad, but they all got healed quickly. There were still things like scarring from the new wounds, but the damage had been seemingly fixed.

“A few possible outcomes: nothing, which usually happens if the demon has been bathed in the light before; they can be strengthened; and of course, they are healed of all wounds to a greater extent, which is important since the winner is usually the most injured.”

“I… see…” Anlesa replied. The situation just got a lot more complicated.