The Prince of Demons

I was torn on whether to forcefully input the information of <Astral Scale> into Nil's mind, but unfortunately, I needed him to understand the underlying principles and thought process of how <Astral Scale> worked rather than me inputting the answer into his head. The arduous part of this training is what comes after. In an ideal world, Nil grasped <Astral Scale> in an hour or less. Nil kept attempting <Astral Scale> on Luna who was glaring at me but not voicing her question. Just wait, the answer will be hitting with its cold reality soon enough. Luna was unfortunately both the perfect and worst person for the second step, on top of being Nil's healing and emotional support for this. Unlike Nil, she's a rule following saint for the most part. Luna deserved a massive thank you after this, especially if they persevered through this. They have to because there is a monstrous application of Kron's <Lord's Eye> which is perfect for an army of people like Ryker.

Currently, we were at minute thirty-seven of Nil trying to cast <Astral Scale>. Call upon the <Veil> to create a readout of the person's actions. It was why this <Spell> could be cast by any <Affinity> as it was invoking the construct of a Lord. Technically speaking, Nil or I could create our own variant, but we don't have time for that before fighting Scius let alone Ryker. The <Veil> was wildly complicated and took the combined efforts of seven Lords to make. Fun thought experiment though. I could feel the <Veil> starting to shift immensely from Nil's attempts, meaning he was getting close to properly casting the <Spell>. Luna was assuring him that he was getting there while continuing to glare at me. Luna, I get it, even for me this is pushing it. He was likely about to succeed in the next few minutes before we got to the relevant portion. I really wished <Astral Scale> mattered beyond getting Nil to bend the <Veil> properly. Did I have enough in me to give Nil the needed pep-talk? Probably not, luckily Luna probably had it in her, or between the two of us at least be able to scrape enough pep talk together. Nil finally cast <Astral Scale> properly as I felt the proper fluctuation of the <Veil> around us.

"I did it! How high of a value is s-" Nil began before I covered his mouth.

"First rule of that <Spell> is never say the number out loud. Also, do not worry about your own value as it does not show up in reflections. Thirty-nine minutes is fairly impressive, which gives us more time for step two." I told him as Luna looked at me with a bit of dread.

"How many steps are there?" Luna inquired. Nil clearly hadn't grasped this was going to be awful just yet. Frankly I'm not sure which is worse between two and three.

"Three. Moving the <Veil> and grasping that is the first step of manifesting what that <Lord's Eye> can do." I informed him. Luna looked at me with narrowed eyes as Nil looked quizzically at me.

"You said Kron's specialty was manifesting someone's actions to attack them, why are there three steps?" Nil probed. Time to break down how this works.

"Kron's <Lord's Eye>, much like Nyx's, grants several functions; the specialty and ability we need specifically for you to use is to manifest someone's <Astral Scale> to kill them. Best part is that <Veil> manipulation can be done on a large scale with little collateral damage to the buildings and most civilians as ideally none have enough of an <Astral Scale> to die. Unfortunately, we need you to do a bit better than that and use the full function of the <Lord's Eye> and twist the fabric of <Magic> to manifest your vision; that is Kron's full ability that <Lord's Eye> holds." I explained to Nil and Luna.

"Wait, I thought you said Nyx's <Lord's Eye> let's one create unique <Magic> and constructs better than usual. Those do not seem equal." Nil pointed out. One downside of this, he is going to get a chilling dose of reality before getting tortured.

"Do you want to know what I mean by that as the answer is much, much scarier than that phrasing would lead you to believe; Kron's simply sounds more impressive because of how I phrased it. All seven <Lord's Eyes> have terrifying abilities that when given to gifted individuals allow them to perform <Magic> and feats no one else could dream of. Nyx's being in Scius's possession is about one of the worst things to have to overcome. Kron's ability simply stated is the manifestation of what can be. What you can envision is the best case, but the easier, lower gear from that is turning someone's <Astral Scale> against them." I clarified for Nil.

"It's the manifestation of what can be? That is what makes <Future Peek> show me what's likely to come? Why I can foretell the weather because it is what is going to be? Then, the specific application is forcing someone's <Astral Scale> to zero by manifesting the value as an attack? But how is it both the strongest and weakest? The specific application I get but in general are all seven pretty even?" Nil asked as he was grasping what I was saying.

"That is generally correct. To answer the latter half, because the line between using it and killing yourself is quite thin while being immensely finicky. It possesses the most powerful <Backlash> of anything I can think of without straight casting a <Spell> so beyond your abilities it would classify as a suicide attempt. Strong when you get it to work, weak in getting it to function without crippling yourself in the process. Also assaulting someone with their <Astral Scale> is quite powerful, but useless against someone like Luna as well. It covered all my bases." I answered. Nil seemed to remember something as the reality of this training was finally clicking in his mind.

"Isn't repeated <Backlash> extremely damaging? As in can cause long-term side effects?" Nil checked with fear creeping back into his voice.

"It is quite bad for you, and intentionally experiencing backlash repeatedly will cause permanent damage to yourself. That is quite correct." I confirmed for Nil.

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"Then why make Nil learn this so quickly?! This is going to cause immense harm in the long run! There has to be another way! A better method than this for dealing with Ryker!" Luna snarled at me. Part of me wanted to tell her to relax; the smarter part of me knew I was about to absolute push Nil while making her watch which she was not going to appreciate.

"Not really as we are dealing with the machination of a malicious Lord. We need to strike with the best we are capable of as I guarantee this challenge ahead is going to be arduous. Even I cannot kill a quarter million copies of Ryker without annihilating Umbra in the process. Every member of the family, Nautilus, and all the people supporting the Imperial Family are going to have to protect the city, the civilians, and themselves while fighting an army of well above the average being <Homunculi> with countless years of made experience because of Nyx. I guarantee you that will not be the end, just the main portion until her twisted finale reveals itself, meaning we need to be in as good shape as possible for that moment. Kron's <Lord's Eye> can rapidly and efficiently deal with the <Homunculi> faster than any other <Spell> I can think of without ripping Umbra apart in the process. It even has the advantage of compensating for the large gap between current Nil and the Ryker copies." I explained to them.

"There still has to be something better." Luna mumbled, not sounding confident in her assertion.

"Not that I have time to think of. Even this has the drawbacks of this is about to be miserable to learn and not able to just blink the army out of existence. It will simply help reduce massive sections of the army bit by bit while being quite <Mana> efficient." I retorted. Nil was clearly mentally preparing himself for the upcoming torture.

"Why do I need to learn the full version and not the part we need?" Nil grumbled. Sorry Nil, nothing was sparing you from what pain lied ahead.

"Because the better at using the <Arcane Eye> you are the less strain per use you get. If you can use the full ability it comes from, using a specific case of the ability is much easier. Step two is learning the specific case, step three is learning the full ability once you grasp the easier problem." I informed him. Straightforward in theory at least.

"How am I going to practice using someone's <Astral Scale> to kill them? Only the three of us are here." Nil pointed out. It clearly clicked in Luna's mind what the workaround was.

"He's activating it against you or me." Luna realized. Nil suddenly looked even less on board with my training regimen.

"Actually, going to cast it on you. My <Mana> is needed to maintain the <Null Space> and keep Nil from accidentally killing himself. Your <Mana> will be dedicated to healing him back from the pain and wounds this is going to cause." I clarified. Nil shook his head vehemently in protest.

"Relax Nil, this stands zero chance of harming your saint of a girlfriend. You on the other hand, are not going to be so lucky." I assured him. Nil let out a deep sigh.

"Healing <Magic> doesn't erase the pain, it still lingers. I also do not see the workaround to the immense and repeated <Backlash> I'm about to suffer through to practice this." Nil stated while looking quite not thrilled about this.

"I am fully aware Nil; that is what the contents of these vials are for." I replied, motioning to the numerous vials I pulled out of my coffers.

"What are those?" Nil and Luna asked in unison.

"A wondrous concoction that is going to taste surprisingly not bad when you drink it, but has the beautiful property of coating your <Mana Channels> with a kind of <Ichor> that will shield them, and by extension you, from the <Backlash> of this training. It will make your body feel lighter, stronger, and capable of anything actually. Really quite impressive, this concoction." I explained. Both Nil and Luna glared at me as they knew there had to be a catch.

"Then why don't we just chug the stuff regularly to train?" Luna pressed, sounding irritated I was hiding the problem.

"Why are you wasting time?" Nil spat in an equally annoyed tone.

"Because you do not have time to worry about what the side effect is. On the bright side, the side effects will not matter until after Ryker has been dealt with. After that though, you are going to go into withdrawal as it bleeds out of your <Mana Channels> which if you think this training hurts, just wait until the clock runs out. You should be grateful, this training method is wildly expensive and inefficient for most things because you will be hating life for several days before slowly recovering after. To get ahead of your next questions, these vials require many rare and expensive even to me ingredients, a highly experienced alchemist, and this collection was a rainy-day fund to power through a fight with Scius where I could go all out and the consequences would be for if I survived killing him. I will still have some after this training as each vial lasts about three hours, but this method is reserved for short notice do or die type scenarios where making sure you see the sunrise after is more important than being able to train for several weeks. It is also limited by the number of vials I possess as I doubt that I will be replacing more than two of them in the next decade and change we have." I lectured, handing Nil the first vial. I had thirty-two vials to start; I bought us about twelve vials to train with, and would need about another eight to keep Nil from going into withdrawal until Ryker was dealt with. And that's assuming I won't need more than eight to keep him from entering the withdrawal of this stuff.

"So basically, I am going to hurt through this training despite this doping me up, I will then have to fight for my life against an army made from my failures, and then get rewarded with weeks of agony after a brutal withdrawal?" Nil verified, sounding quite depressed. It was hard to put a positive spin on that or sugarcoat it.

"Precisely. Now, down the hatch, we don't have time for you to be dreading how awful this is going to be." I instructed Nil.

"Is there really nothing better?" Luna mumbled, clearly not a fan of this. Nil looked away shamefully as he clearly agreed with her protest.

"I jumped to this option because I'm a sadist. Clearly, this is a measure of last resort. It is not something I ever wanted to have to rely on but here we are. Stop doubting and steel yourself because you have seventy-two hours of fighting for your life ahead of you before you get to enjoy the withdrawal." I snapped at them. I wanted to be annoyed at Nil for not immediately downing the vial, but it was hard to blame him. I wish I could think of a better way but here we are.

"Is it really that helpful for dealing with the army?" Nil checked. I sighed as I knew how reluctant he was for this.

"It is because you are fighting in the capital of Speranza. If you do not want to pay the price in lives of people you care about, or those who trust your family to protect and lead them, we need something that can efficiently deal with an army. Lucky for us, Ryker cares only about killing you and your loved ones and nothing else. It is about the only good news in this mess. Now, I understand the reluctance but stop stalling and let's get to it." I ordered him. Nil looked at Luna, sighed, and then downed the vial. Time for the training to begin.