CH1103

Trapped as it was, the demon screamed.

That was all it could do but, with no need for air, it didn’t stop. It had seen eternity before it, a ceaseless, unending darkness where it was unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to see or hear or eat; only one option available to it. It could think, and in its head, it cried out in rage and frustration.

It had fought a monster and it had lost, and in the time since, the only thing it could do was regret. It had thought it had found a prize like no other, but that had created a greed that had blinded it from the truth. When it had claimed its other limbs, it should have escaped, should have run as far as it could as fast as it could, using the space mage to move to the other end of that world with every body it had and been content from there, to feast on the planet it had found. 

Instead, it was dead, having claimed more power than it had ever dared to imagine, only to be murdered in a way that wouldn’t grant it any rest, leaving it to face the rest of eternity in the dark.

Or, so it should have been, but in an instant that changed, the demon free and embodied again, with the most horrifying voice speaking as it was.

“Calling what I did to you murder is a bit much. I think of it more as pest control.”

Its eyes locked onto one of the two others in the empty space it found itself and, before considering anything else, it ran, using its skill to look for an escape route before instantly collapsing in defeat. There was no escape. It might not have understood where it was, not understood that Ben was projecting its mind into his realm and, as such, was completely within his control, but its skills revealed enough of the truth from the start. It was still a prisoner, with the only change being the intent behind its arrival there. It had feared eternity before, but now it faced oblivion.

Leaving it to instantly look for a way out, but found none. There was nowhere to run and no pretty words Ben would believe from it. He had seen its soul and found it as lacking as any other demon, and with that, didn’t bother wasting any time tormenting it. Instantly, he’d taken hold of the thing with his mind and erased its own, leaving a trapped soul free of any thought structure or memory before turning back to the patchwork arrangement of his own.

“You ready?”

“I am.”

“Cool, I’ll make this quick.”

At a speed only he could perceive, Ben did what he’d been working toward from the start, encoding that arrangement of his mind onto the demon’s soul. Giving it far more use than it could have ever had in its original state, Ben made that arrangement of memories independent of him by providing it a soul of its own, and a powerful one at that.

Holding the third tier skill temporal domination and the second tier skill high thought speed enhancement, with that act, combined with a modification to their mind that made them both a loyal follower of Myriad as well as someone who was dedicated to the greater good of the world as a whole, Ben had given himself access to another powerful third tier, and one that was firmly on the planet’s side.

“So, how do you feel?” Ben asked the newly independent entity, seeing that its original race name had been stripped away from it to be replaced with the new, stranger one of collage, now that everything demonic about it had been completely destroyed or replaced, while it flexed its poorly actualized body as he did.

“I don’t believe any different.”

“Mmh, that makes sense, I suppose, but you will soon. You don’t want to keep your current form, right?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Perfect. In that case, let’s quickly go over your options when it comes to making you a new one.”

Myriad asked when Ben was done, what had once been the demon’s crystal still in his hand while he focused on showing the newly created person potential body options in his realm.

Hmm? You refuse to go to my realm, what makes you think I did something?

It should be a good feeling because congratulations, Myriad, you just got a new third-tier believer! God, I’m genuinely such a fucking good apostle. I deserve a raise using all of the money I just earned you from the defeated gods.

Oh, good guess, but not quite.

You were right, it was a demon soul, but I erased its mind completely. Gone, kaput, so there’s nothing on that front to worry about.

I replaced its mind with a new one, completely devoted to you instead.

<...>

Myriad?

A thank you would be nice.

Yeah, and? Did you have a better idea when it comes to what to do with a third-tier demon’s soul?

Well, you know how I am. Waste not, want not.

Yeah? Well, it’s too late; they exist now. Try to deal with it and be nice when they meet you because I specifically told them that if they wanted to exist, I needed to make them devoted to you, and they very politely agreed.

you created if it was okay to make them devoted to me?>

Oh, because I modelled them off of how my mental structure collapsed after I connected to Dewdrop for the first time and before I went sane again.

Okay, now you’ve gotta be nice to them and also me. I just scored you a third-tier believer, man. How many other apostles have ever claimed a convert on that level?

Sure it does. I converted a soul with a demon mind to a soul with a… well, the system decided to name the new species as ‘collage’ since everything demonic was stripped from it, but it’s now a soul that loves you with all of their heart. I’m literally about to make them a body, but do you have any idea of how hurt they’ll be if they find out you’re rejecting them?

Efficiency? Creativity? Cleverness? A heartfelt desire to save the world?

you’re about to make them a body? Please tell me you misworded that and Thera’s going to arrive any second to help you.>

Hmm? Don’t be silly. This isn’t an Inux situation, there’s no reason it needs a body based off of any life currently present on the world, which means that I can really push myself to make it the best body I can. Don’t worry though, they approved the design.

Functional and symmetrical seemed to be the big ones.

Myriad wept, expecting the worse but found himself unable to look away as Ben reached out, scooping away a small pile of dirt in those woods and materialized a new terraforming seed, not actualizing it like in his spar with Yuzu, Uliel, and Vasta, and after adding some water, watched as the first branches poked through from below.

Unlike anything he was making to provide his god based on the biology of Myriad’s old world, it wasn’t designed to produce and release hundreds of creatures, and unlike his spar in the past, it hadn’t been designed to release dozens of the same one. Only a single body would be made when it grew, but that didn’t mean it would be any less complex, the result instead leading him to devote all of the biological complexity he could at that time into that one form, watching as the first branch poked out, looking rusted and vibrating as it grew taller, oozing a deep blue fluid as cracks started appearing along the trunk and it widened, growing out almost as much as it was growing up before the tree-like structure started to scream, that change not going uncommented on.

Myriad, when you’re working with biology on the level I am, sometimes you don’t actually get a choice. I’m growing a body from dirt, and as a side effect, some of the biological reactions taking place lead to something that some might classify as-

That was a bit more description than I was looking for, but it doesn’t matter; it’s almost done.

Through the comments from his god, the outer layer of the tree began to pull back, no thicker than paper and it fell to the ground, followed by another after that, and so on from there, making the process look more akin to flipping through pages as the scream quickly weakened until there was only a thin shell left, the light passing through it just enough to hint at the body inside, leaving only the need for Ben to reach out and crack it open, releasing the form it held.

Unlike others he’d designed, that one hadn’t been made to react so intensely to external stimuli that it would move by itself, making it more akin to a typical homunculus, only one that had been built at a biological level without the touch of a life mage, making it the perfect house for a soul as Ben materialized water to quickly clean it and then dried it off, creating more clothing around its form while he took his creation in.

A combination of all of the biological systems he’d learned of, including Myriad’s own, his creation was roughly human in shape, though none would mistake it as such. Solid black eyes that reflected no light sat in a scaled face; those same scales wrapped around the head and back of the neck to form sharp, metallic-like quills in place of hair. As they went lower, their nature changed, becoming what most would think of as skin upon first appearance, but with a structure possessing a defensive capability that most would need to get from rare-ranked armour, and a neutral to feminine appearance. When discussing the fact that they would be forming a life on the planet for themself, he had inquired about whether they would want children, knowing that the system would make it possible, and when told yes, how they would like to be involved in producing them, resulting in a body that was equipped to produce and care for live young.

In the forest, the skin was a deep green, but that would change depending on where it went. Similar to a plant or a dryad, it would absorb light for energy, only to a far greater extreme than his student’s species. Its flesh would constantly change in whatever way would be most optimal for its given needs, able to turn black as night if it required more or shift to different hues if it required less, and while it had other external characteristics that could help it such as sharp claws and powerful fangs that could each extend or retract as needed, most of its better features were less visible.

Bones that would be nearly impossible to break and a body nearly impossible to poison, while it could and would need to eat and drink, the quantities of either would be almost nothing, using the resources it received with a level of efficiency unlike a normal species found on the world, and with a greatly diminished need for both air and sleep as well. It was a product that went beyond the trial-and-error approach of nature or the minor changes of the gods and, with as much biological power as it could hold, giving it a natural strength that would only be added to the abilities of its soon-to-be owner’s new soul, he once more showed the world the power of his designs.

Myriad told him.

Myriad, what a hurtful question. I designed it; it’s as dangerous as it can be without posing a risk to innocent people.

He could have gone further, could have had it spew poison or naturally produce diseases that would shed from its flesh. He could have made the body’s blood acidic, or produced something that would electrify whatever it touched, but he hadn’t done anything of the sort. It was going to be a person’s body, and when it was, it was going to need to be able to survive within society as a whole.

Within those confines, though? It was a monster. Nearly unkillable and he was confident it could be used to tear through a swarm of demons, even without the skills it would possess, leaving only the matter of testing it as he materialized a collar on its neck and slid the crystal into it, watching its eyes flutter with life before focusing on him, seeing him smile when they did.

“Well?” he asked. “What do you think?”

“Good?” they said hesitantly, pulling away from him to stand on their own two feet before moving around. “Yes, really good.”

“I’m glad. In that case, after we get you your job, we’ll get you settled, but there’s one more thing we need to do before that.”

“What?”

“You need a name, so either think of something now or else I will.”

Thinking for a moment, their eyes darted around them rather than let Ben pick a name; eventually, they nodded before focusing back on him.

“Tress.”

“Sounds good. In that case, it’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Tress. Welcome to existence.”

Here’s hoping it’s a good one.

He hadn’t hidden anything; they’d been brought into the world knowing that the planet was practically doomed and that they’d be using the strength they had to fight for it, but they’d chosen it anyway. As a soul in a crystal, it would be hard to meaningfully kill them and Ben had created a tracker for it, just like he’d done for Inux, but he still hoped the new being’s existence wouldn’t be miserable so, bringing them up to talk with Myriad and allowed them to feel the radiance of the divine for the first time, he flew them both back, off to do what he’d made them for.