Chapter 12 - Spirit Recruitment & Half-Seraph?

"Now, now. Before you start let's change location first," said Ramiris as she got in between.

""Of course, Ramiris-sama"" the spirit lords quickly agreed.

Sylvia and Argent both nodded as well.

Ramiris opened a door.

"Now, using my Intrinsic Skill. All of you will fight in this place. The reason is, so you can all, go all out." Explained Ramiris.

And so that I can revive anyone who dies. But, you don't need to know that.

The entire area was covered in stone. The height of the place is more than 10 meters. The width seems like it could go for a kilometer on all sides.

Once they have all gotten inside, the fight immediately started. As Argent and Sylvia talked about. They separated.

Sylvia will defeat the water spirit lord. And, Argent will defeat the Flame spirit lord.

Argent was already in a pinch. In terms of pure fighting power the spirit lord has him beat. The spirit lord also has advantage on numbers with his two Ifrits.

Not even mentioning the natural enemy of demons are spirits. The only thing Argent has better than the spirit lord is technique and experience.

The flame Spirit lord has been constantly using its flames to burn Argent alive. There is a reason why Argent picked the Flame Spirit over the water spirit.

His thermal fluctuation resistance. It negates heat and cold attacks. Unfortunately, what he has is 'resistance' not nullification.

He can still be damage by their attacks.

He is a class 5 Archdemon, his enemies are two class 4 and one class 5. Just fighting the Flame lord is 'suppose' to be hard enough. But, with support from the class 4 Ifrits, it 'should' be a low chance of winning.

Every time Argent tries killing of one of the Ifrits. The Flame lord attacks. He couldn't even finish of the class 4's without the Flame lord's intervention.

This isn't good. Not good at all...

He used thought communication with Sylvia.

(Hey, Sylvia how is it in your side?)

(Hm? Well, I have defeated the two undines. The Water lord is angry right now. And, is doing everything it can to kill me. How about yours?)

(.... It's terrible. Can't even kill of the small fries without me getting fried myself.)

(Too bad. Spirits are your natural enemies. It's just bad combination)

(That may be true, but, I have an idea! I need your help though)

(..? I don't mind let's do it.)

The battles continues on for more than half an hour. Sylvia exchange attacks with her enemy. Meanwhile Argent keeps running around the place to find a blind spot.

Suddenly Argent lost focus and he got surrounded.

"This is the end for you demon!" said the Flame lord. Argent grinned

"Fool, dodge!"

The lord heard someone say. When he looked he saw a large scale water base attack. He dodge quickly, moving to the side.

The attack was going to Argent. Then, he disappeared into the shadows. The Ifrit previously behind him was hit by the attack.

With the Flame lord still in shock. Argent appeared at the back of the other Ifrit still in place. He then finished the Ifrit off before anything else using his sword coated with fighting spirit.

The one that got hit by the water attack was too weakened to be labeled a threat and is on the verge of dying.

Then the lord got angry when it realized what just happened and the scheme Argent devised.

"YOU."

"Heh. Now, it's just you and me!"

The fight this time was much more easier for Argent. While, the Flame lord was the stronger one of the two. It was not as experienced or as skillful as Argent with both magic and skills.

Argent made full use of his entire arsenal of skills. The sage for thought processing, the skills related to detection to know where the Flame lord and its attacks will come from, shadow movement to escape or dodge, and thought communication to know the status of Sylvia.

He also use water base magic to counter the flame attacks sometimes. The resulting collision, causes steam to surround the area they were fighting.

(Sylvia, let's do it again! This time on both sides!)

(Oh? Sure let's finish this.)

For the next few minutes, Argent ran around the place again. He constantly taunts The Flame lord.

"Come on is this the best you got!" surrounded by smoke. Argent showed his face to the Flame lord.

"You!!!"

"Trinity Inferno Flame!" the Flame lord casted the strongest in his magic arsenal.

Argent dodge the attacked via Flash step. And, in the end of the attack. The Water Lord was there. It took a direct hit from the attack, without having the time to create a barrier.

"B-bastard.." the Water Lord dropped to the ground.

Meanwhile, Argent attack from behind the Flame lord with a large amount of water.

The Flame Lord block it using 'Flame wall' the water evaporated and turned to steam which spread around the Flame Lord.

Sylvia who was lurking somewhere, activated her magic as well. 'ice prison' which was Amplified with the help of the steam in the surroundings.

The Flame lord was incase in a large block of ice. Then, Argent cut the ice prison with his fighting Spirit infused sword.

The fight was over.

The superior spirits were all dead. The Water Lord was in the ground. The Flame lord was cut in half.

"Alright, it work!" Shouted Argent.

The two high five with each other.

"Well, looks like it is over." Ramiris, who has been watching since earlier said.

The bodies of the spirits disappeared. Then, Ramiris lead Argent and Sylvia outside. Where, they saw the spirits waiting for them.

""?!"" the two were surprised.

"I revived them, and fix the others." Ramiris said.

The Spirit Lords and Superior spirits bowed their head to Ramiris and thanked her. Then, they switch to Argent and bowed.

"While we have complains with how you won, a win is a win. We submit to you." the flame lord said to Argent.

"Indeed, we will follow you." said the Water lord.

The group consisting of Argent, Sylvia, the Spirit lords, their Subordinate superior spirits, and the spirit Sylvia summoned. Said their farewell to Ramiris, and that they may return in the future for the Earth lord.

They arrived in the facility. They met up with Twilight and the others and have their report in all that happened.

"Pfft, hahaha! That's hilarious Argi-kun" Twilight laughed.

"..." Argent could only cursed under his breath.

*****

Once the meeting ended, Sylvia went to meet Argent.

"Argi-chan, I have a question for you."

"Hm? Sure go ahead."

"Why were you holding back?"

"What do you mean?"

"Even if they were spirit lords, you could have defeated them on your own. I mean, even if me and you fought. I only have a 50/50 chance of winning depending on the circumstances."

"... *sigh* keep it a secret okay? I, uhm, limiting my strength."

"...?.. Why would you do that?"

"It's boring to win fights easily. I enjoy the fight more than winning. Though, that's a demon mindset for you."

"I see..."

A year after

The spirit lords were still in their capsules and in the process of their rebirth.

Then Twilight called for Argent to go to the meeting room.

Argent went to the meeting room. Inside are Twilight and an androgynous man of modest stature with black hair and blue eyes. His long hair is littered with white specks.

"Yo! Argent long time no see." the man waved at Argent.

D-do I know him?
The aura seems familiar but I can't quite think who it is...!!! It couldn't be???

"Ve-veldanava?"

"Correct! Hahaha this is your first time seeing this form. So of course you'd be confuse. Can't exactly come inside here with a large dragon body." Veldanava snickered at Argent.

"well, all those time I visited you were a dragon. So, this form while not really out of the norm since Velzard takes a human form as well. but it is a surprise for me. I could barely recognize you, especially the aura." Argent carefully analyze Veldanava's aura. While not as oppressing and majestic as his true aura. The aura at the moment still shows authority.

"Veldanava~sama, now that Argi-kun is here please state your reason for visit." Twilight said.

"Ah yes, well long story short. I'm borrowing him for a year or two for now. And planning on giving him a position/job for this world as well. Similar to you or guy." Veldanava stated casually.

"... Well that is 'long story short' I think we missed some 'SMALL' amount of details and context somewhere in those sentences. Mind filling them up?" Argent complained. He could barely understand what Veldanava just said.

Me? With a job similar to Guy and Twilight.

"well.. I'll explain on the way. At the moment, all that Twilight needs to know is I'm borrowing Argent for the next 1 or 2 years."

"U-understood Veldanava~sama, he is all yours to take" Twilight could only agree.

"Excellent, Argent let's go!" Veldanava dragged Argent.

The two are currently flying leisurely in the sky. Argent with his demon wings and Veldanava with his dragon wings.

"Mind explaining now?" asked Argent.

"Right, right. There's been some problem in the cardinal world. No offense, but.. It's probably- no it is your fault." explained Veldanava.

"My fault? How exactly?"

"You are an anomaly, your soul fragments are scattered all over different worlds and different eras. That is an error in the system. And the system or the 'words of the world' is trying to fix it." said Veldanava.

"Its plan is to bring the fragments together to merge them and become one again. However, it doesn't have the ability to force people to merge. What it can do is merge worlds and eras. There was been cases where people are coming to this world from different worlds. And a few years ago a gate appeared from one of those worlds. I quickly closed it off, of course, and never thought much of it at the time."

"Then, you came and explained your existence. And now, another Gate appeared. Since it is your fault, I'm making sure you take responsibility and fix it yourself. Of course I'll give you the power to do it. And, it will be your duty to close these gates and keep this Otherworld travelers in check."

"Is that so... Sounds like a pain. Do I even get anything from this?" asked Argent.

"Well first of, I won't kill you. If I kill you the problem would be gone but I'm letting you live. Second I'll give you a payment that you will like."

In a couple of hours they've reach dragon's peak. In there Argent saw a person. An angel in the literal sense of the word.

A short blonde hair girl with a pair of wings in her back was waiting on the mountain.

(A/N: yes that is maple. I'm borrowing her appearance for this fic. Imagine her having a more indifferent/emotionless facial expression.)

"Greetings Veldanava-sama" she bowed on one knee when Argent and Veldanava arrived.

"Yes, yes no need for that Lait. Anyway this is Argent you two will be working together for this job." Veldanava introduced Argent to Lait. And vice versa.

"Argent-sama please to meet you. I am the half-seraphim Lait." Lait bowed her head.

Half-seraphim? It couldn't be...

"Yes pleasures mine, as you know the name's Argent a semi-primordial demon." he replied.

"Hey, Veldanava this girl is she-"

"The world balancing itself. You were born so she had to be born. Basically think of yourselves as twin siblings." Veldanava grinned seeing amusement in Argent's reaction.

"Lait, make sure to follow your big brother's orders alright. You two will be working together after all." Veldanava faced Lait.

"Understood, veldanava-sama"

"You sure are having fun..." Argent looked at Veldanava annoyed.

The trio went to the location where the gate appeared.

A/N: back again with another chapter guys. Finally, a plot problem caused by Argent/Rimuru's unorthodox time travel appeared.

Fyi this plot point could open a lot of doors to potential interaction with different worlds and verses. If you know what I mean.

Of course this worlds and verses will only have at most 1 or 2 chapters of screen time. And will probably be nerfed since the cardinal world is the strongest in this fic.

What do you think of Lait? Should she be loyal to Veldanava or Rimuru? Since technically veldanava didn't create her.

And Veldanava just took her in.

See you guys next week!