Demon's Virtue

The plates were taken away, and Eiro could feel the food he just ate sit heavy in his stomach. It didn't seem like his stomach acid was capable of breaking anything down anymore, so he just started using some magic to absorb the nutrients of the food that way. He didn't want to enter the cocoon with food rotting inside of him.

"That was very delicious, Rudy," the Demon said as he looked at his son, who smiled broadly with a nod. Though, at first, Eiro really wasn't able to taste anything. His tastebuds didn't seem to work too well right now as his tongue was already breaking down.

But he was able to catch the scent well enough and figure out the taste like that, and then even created a duplicate tongue inside of his mouth so that he could taste everything properly.

"Thank you! I was trying something new with the bread, I'm really happy with how it turned out," Rudy replied smugly. Eiro looked around the table with a soft smile. His children could tell that something was off with him, and so did Eiro's party and Ariella.

He wasn't really able to hide it too much; the mere energy that he was giving off was incomparable and ridiculously different to what it had been just a few days before.

"Are you okay, honey?" Ariella placed her hand onto Eiro's back. His muscles tensed involuntarily at that single touch, and he nodded his head.

"I'm alright. I just need to rest a little bit," the Demon explained, trying to push himself up from his chair. His arm broke as he did. Though, maybe 'break' was the wrong word; his bone was so soft that it simply split apart at the slightest shift of weight.

Ariella immediately stood up together with him, trying to support him, but Eiro looked at her and shook his head. The demon looked at his children, first and foremost, "I know right now my situation may seem like a reason to worry, but there's no need to be concerned. I will still be here with you, every single day. My main body will just need to... sleep for a little while.

I love all of you, and I will never leave your side. Alright?"

They slowly nodded, understanding what Eiro was saying. Even so, seeing him like this, like how they saw Jura toward the end of his life, was still something that was hard for them to deal with. But they also knew that there was nothing they could do about it now.

This was just the nature of evolutions, and every evolution of Eiro's that they had seen so far weakened him considerably as he was going through it. And then, when it was over, Eiro would come back stronger and more energetic, and would do anything that he couldn't do for them while he was going through it.

He would go buy clothes with Sammy and Clementine. Cook with Rudy, and go on tours around bookshops and libraries with Arc. And he would spend every free second playing with Avalin and Leon. He would make up for the time that he missed, and do whatever he could to make up for the things that he couldn't do before.

"Just be careful, okay?" Sammy asked, and Eiro smiled at her with a nod.

"Don't worry, I will be right in this manor throughout it all. I will be safe, and healthy. This is just like a... harsh cold," Eiro laughed, approaching his children to give each of them a long hug. He could feel their hesitance as they held him, but in the end, they always refused to let go first.

It didn't seem like Avalin and Leon really understood what was going on, but they were happy about the hugs anyway.

Once they were done, Eiro and Ariella made their way upstairs. The nephilim tried to practically push Eiro up the stairs, since it was getting harder for him to drag his own body up without help, "Are we going to your bedroom?"

Eiro slowly nodded his head, "Yes, I've been preparing it for this since I realized I'll enter a cocoon."

"... Are you going to look completely different after you come back out? Like a caterpillar and butterfly?"

The demon thought about it for a moment, but he didn't really have an answer, "I don't know. I will still look like me, if that's what you're asking. I won't suddenly look like a human. I may... appear more monstrous, but like I do now, I should have ways to return to a more neutral appearance.

Unique or special evolutions have the tendency to move in a direction that the monster likes and approves of, and I don't approve of an evolution that will scare the kids. So... it shouldn't be too bad."

Ariella carefully nodded her head, "I see... I... will you be in pain?"

"I don't think so. My body already feels completely numb, and once the chrysalis begins, I shouldn't have any particular physical sensations," Eiro said reassuringly as the two entered his room. All the furniture had already been completely pushed to the side to make as much space as possible in the center.

And covering the ground and walls were numerous engravings, all spiraling toward a circle in the center of the room that Eiro carefully approached. Ariella helped him undress, carefully folding and holding onto his clothes.

The nephilim took a step toward the demon as he stood in the middle of the magical array covering the space, giving him a soft kiss, "If anything is wrong, just tell us right away. Okay?"

"Of course. And you as well, please never hesitate to tell any of my duplicates what's wrong. They're still me, in the end."

Ariella looked at the man in front of her, holding his sunken cheek, "Even if you're in there and it is your mind that I'm speaking to, it won't be your hand I'll be holding. It won't be your scent I'm smelling, or your fingers running through my hair, climbing over my horns."

"... I'll miss you, even if I'll be right there," Eiro gazed into the eyes of the person he adored so much, "Thank you for loving me."

"Don't thank me for something as natural as that," Ariella leaned in once more, and their lips met for a few brief, eternal moments. Neither wanted to let go, but both knew they had to. Eiro couldn't hold on much longer.

His tail waved around his body, carefully deploying a wall of thick, liquid crystals around him, that soon dried up and became slightly opaque. As the wall grew more, Ariella and Eiro's fingers released from each other, and before long, a large shell had been built around Eiro's whole body.

He could roughly see the outline of what was in front of him, seeing Ariella's hand touch the white crystal cocoon. And as he did, and the cocoon was filled with a smooth, silk-like liquid also secreted from his tail, Eiro's skin seemed to fall apart like a thin layer of hardened soap being washed away by hot water.

His fat and muscles broke away, and his bones dissolved, as it was harder to keep up consciousness in this body. But Eiro came prepared; he would make sure that even if this body wasn't directly conscious, he could still be fully aware through his duplicates.

As every part of Eiro's physical body fell apart, mixing in with the liquid crystals, Ariella sat there for a while, just staying by his side. Though at some point, when the sun had already gone down long ago, while still clutching Eiro's clothes, she fell asleep.

And as she did, Eiro's focus turned away from her toward a duplicate that he had created beforehand that was waiting in one of the secret passages. It would act as the 'main' body for the time being. He placed his hand onto the crystal cocoon, accessing the treasury from here.

After pulling out the mirror of duplication, he looked into the mental library, specifically focusing on a few particular aspects.

The Aspects of six different skills; Stealth, Freerunning, Dagger Mastery, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Alchemy, and Artificing. As if pulling them out through the mirror itself, Eiro imbued six duplicates with these skills' aspects, giving them the exact forms that they had in the mental library.

They stood in a circle in the room, as Eiro experienced a sort of unqiue perspective through each duplicate, as they were each only looking at the world through the lens of their skill.

And so, the duplicates left Eiro's bedroom, ready to undergo further training with the Masters.