I had to go through hell as the girls played around with my clothes and body design. They had me try so many different looks that what should have been a rather inexhaustible body felt like lead by the time I was released. The magical girl outfit they made me try on was clearly unnecessary but it seems I am unable to say ‘no’ to my girlfriend.

  Looking around the room I see several prostrating figures, most of whom are a higher class than me and clearly quite powerful. Spreading out my senses I detect that all of them are wearing my Anti-System Rings. I guess they all broke free from The System on the assumption that it is what I want. Which is a point for them.

  What takes points away is the explanation of how things happened from their end. I honestly wanted to smack their leader with a baseball bat full of adamantite nails after I heard that she let my father run loose in an attempt to ‘test’ me. I managed to hold myself back though, as I need their help and beating their leader into paste is not the best way to make a first impression. No matter how much she deserves it.

  What worries me more is that she seems to have created this organization on the orders of a demon she met long ago. One, that from her overly enthusiastic description, matches a certain pain-in-my-ass teacher. I don’t know if Lucadon knew about my future arrival or had just been planning to create a Demon Lord after finding someone suitable, but once I get strong enough to call the bastard back I fully plan on getting answers.

  Now sitting in a rather eerie throne made up of way too much adamantite and mithril laced with several skull patterns, I stare out at the people arranged at the table. On my right is Alice, who is still disguised much like myself. It would be stupid of me to change back in front of other people, no matter what they know of my true identity. In a world of magic you never know what little proof could be left behind. Alice’s look is mainly just a cloak of light magic while my own is an actual transformation of my body. The six arms were decided upon to make me distinctly inhuman, but they are rather hard to control. Suddenly having new appendages is not something the human mind is really capable of dealing with quickly.

  The main reason I am even doing these things is to expand my mind's capabilities bit by bit. I had learned back in the forest when I first reincarnated that using my light magic to expand my view and move around with those different perspectives is extremely nauseating and causes migraines like you would not believe. But, after enough practice the new senses granted me more flexibility in my actions that I could fight far better than before.

  Aside from myself and Alice, Prim, who is on my left, decided on a really spooky outfit with the whole tattered ghost vibe. I don’t have the energy to comment on anything to do with her right now. A few seats down start the other party's members. The fiery haired woman and fanatical leader of the cult goes by Ruby. Her second in command, Gaston, is seated opposite her with a nervous expression on his shadowed face. Having gotten better at reading others I can see his main source of anxiety is his boss saying something stupid and pissing me off more. Poor guy.

  The others at the table are just a bunch of addons that I can’t be bothered to remember the names of. I am quite glad that I can take photos with my light magic and attach names to faces when needed. Though, even better is the ability to place name tags above their heads. “So, now that we have sorted through all of that I have a mission for all of you. First, I need to know the state of your organization. How many followers can you command? Status and powers I can use. And where are your bases located?” Stretching out a map of the continent on the table with my magic I create a highlight on the bases that I know of based on information The Dragon Emperor and Prim have provided to me.

  Ruby looks over the map in awe as she takes in my expert use of my Light Magic. After a few moments she starts to point at specific locations and begin giving me more accurate information. Lists and numbers start to fill in above the cities as new glowing dots appear. It is impressive to see that there are tens of thousands of members scattered across the continent. Even more shocking is that there are small outposts located within the dwarven nations. I suppose it makes some sense that a group of people who worship evil would be antagonistic towards the status quo of discrimination. If your enemy believes in one thing then you are more likely to believe in the opposite.

  It takes about half an hour to fill out the full map as the other members of the cult have to pull out several documents to figure out the locations of their forces. Once that is done I begin to give out orders. “My main concern is the army that is being assembled to attack The Sea of Trees. They are building up a force of several hundred thousand trained soldiers organized by each faction. My initial hit targeted troublesome individuals and made it through thanks to the chaos, but a concentrated assault is not something I can stand up against at the moment. I need the battle to be delayed for as long as possible, and that is where you come in.” Speaking in the same shifting tone as before, but without the mana infused, I start to detail my plans for the next big fight.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Only the inner members of the organization know about the group's backing of the Demon Lord. The rest of the cult believes that the demons are an essential part of life in this world and that being forced back through the hell gate on the brimstone continent is what is causing the decline of humanity. Demons are treated as creatures that exist to devour sin, cleaning the world of its impurities. With my attack on only specific people and the propaganda spreading by The Dragon Empire, I have created a situation that still easily falls within the belief system of the cult. Not that I had any idea that the cult believed in such things.

  From now on I will be fighting an information war. I provided a list of the targets I took out and what their crimes were to the Duskallen, using this they can spread word of how the Demon Lord is just in its actions. The Duskallen’s following is not as big as most religions but with all the confusion going around they can jump on the fear of the people and push them into rallying against their governments.

  As I detail my plan for pushing the world into a corner of my making, the zealous look in Ruby’s eyes only grows stronger. And the respect from the others continues to rise. And I am just getting started.

  …

  ..

  .

  Once again flopping back on to the bed after teleporting back to The Dragon Empire I let out a long drawn out sigh.

  “Haaaaaaaaaaa…..”

  “Yeah, they were certainly enthusiastic weren’t they?” Alice’s comment just makes me cringe as I think back on the starry eyed cultists. I was apparently everything they hoped I would be by the looks of it. I never imagined that a Demon Lord worshiping cult would be so aligned with my views. But their ‘faith’ was stifling. The Ruby woman especially made me feel like I was being stared at by my long time yandere stalker. I am so glad to be out of there.

  Terrifying expectations aside, I managed to get them on board with every one of my plans. I decided to leave the demon general Tern with them so that they can coordinate with me and report back when necessary. Thankfully, Tern has the mental capability to get serious when needed. I didn’t even need to argue with her about leaving the magical girl outfit behind.

  Thump, thump.

  A knock at the door brings me out of my contemplation. Quickly taking a peek with my Light Magic, I see Sera of all people. We had no plans to meet up today and it is honestly rather late so I can’t think of why she is here. The nervous look on her face is not boding well though.

  Pushing myself off the bed, I look over the room to make sure nothing I don’t want seen is out. Nodding to myself, I walk over to the door and open it to reveal the little mind mage, now fully used to her new look after several weeks of traveling. She was quite happy with it at first, but a full change in appearance that you have no control over is still something anyone needs time to get used to. “Hey, what’s up?”

  Moving out of the way to let her into the room, I close the door behind her as she shuffles in and sits down on the bed. “I am sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I didn’t know who else to tell.” Biting her lip, she looks downwards with a complicated expression, fussing with her hands the whole time.

  “Did something happen?” Appearing from the side, Alice, who is far better at dealing with people than I am, places her hand on Sera’s shoulder and crouches down to her level.

  “Y-Yes, I um… Well you know how my Detect Lie ability is supposed to not work on anyone wearing the mental magic charms? Well… it activated anyway a few times today… when I was talking to people I know have the same charm.” With halting speech Sera begins to describe the people and the things they said, minor little lies, but still enough to activate her ability. The charms, which are made from Class 5 material, should not so easily be broken through, which makes the situation far more complicated. If it was just one defective charm or someone forgot to put theirs on then it would make sense, but Sera could clearly see the charms on the people she spoke to, and it happened more than once.

  “That shouldn’t be possible…” I really can’t believe it, but I doubt she would lie about such a thing so I have no choice but to take her at her word. Taking my own seat on the bed next to her I send a message to Alice to be careful about her words just in case. I don’t know how our immunity to mental magic works, but if Sera is bypassing such advanced charms at Class 2 then we need to be extra careful.

  Pressing further I inquire about her own take on the change. As the person who knows herself the best, Sera is most likely to have some insight. “I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with how I gained the skill?” Looking nervously at the floor Sera continues to not make eye contact with either of us. I can tell she is worried that if knowledge that she could bypass mental charms that she would be in serious danger. I am quite glad she came to us first.

  “How did you gain it?” Placing my hand on hers to stop the fussing and help her calm down in mirror to Alice, I do my best to speak in a calming tone. She must also be scared about what this could mean for her, something like this is unheard of. So without The System around to support her, she has no way of knowing any internal changes that might be occurring.

  “I have had it since before I was inducted into The System.” In a quiet voice, Sera reveals something even more shocking than bypassing mental charms. Something even Alice can’t help but stare in shock at. Judging by my girlfriend's reaction I can tell this is a bigger deal than just a new ability.