Envy

The next day...

Angelia stood in front of another shop, Aisellia, and Miyaura closely behind her. Looking over her shoulder at the girls she smiled before speaking.

"Alright, ladies just follow my lead."

Opening the door, the three entered the shop. Inspecting their new surroundings the girls could notice that this place was spacious. Decorated with a pool table sitting near a wall, a bar in the corner being near the back wall, and a desk which was stationed next to a staircase leading to a second floor. Behind the desk sitting in a chair was a young-looking girl looking up seeing Angelia and the two women standing behind her.

"Yo Remi!"

The slightly older woman called out, getting the attention of the young girl behind the desk. Seeing Angelia made the girl quickly smile, her face lighting up with joy. The young girl Remi had very long grey hair, her body covered by her hoodie which covered most of her body. With closer inspection upon seeing Angelia, the cat ears on top of Remi's hoodie perked up along with her head. Aisellia and Miyaura instantly became entranced by the young woman, both attempting to hold in their squeals of admiration for how cute she was.

Aisellia & Miyaura: (She's adorable!)

"Miss Angelia! I've got all of the things you asked in order right here!"

Just then everyone present could hear a door open upstairs gaining everyone but Remi's attention. From one of the rooms upstairs, Karna could be seen exiting its space. A hand rose to his mouth as he let out a yawn and stretched his free arm. Finishing his yawn, he placed a hand onto the rail at his side leading to the steps.

"I heard Angelia...Don't shoot me...I've been awake I swear."

"Oh? Are they you're guests he said he's helping? There's two-"

The three women stopped side by side in front of the desk. Remi opened one of the large books she had sprawled across her desk, looking up, her eyes immediately widening in shock and awe staring at Aisellia and Miyaua's chests aggressively.

"Monster boobs!" Remi unintentionally blurted out, leading Karna to instinctively throw himself towards the railing to look down below.

"Where?!"

Karna's body weight being thrown onto the railing stemming from his enthusiasm, the sudden force caused it to break, sending him plummeting down to the ground floor. All of the women watched as he fell onto the desk. However, it was sturdy enough not to break from his fall. Seeing Karna laying in front of the women having a confident grin on his face, leaning forward thus bringing himself eye level with their chests. Angelia, moving to the side of the desk as soon as he came crashing down. Staggering to his feet, his eyes met with Aisellia, simply urging her to look away, looking slightly irritated but allowed it anyway.

"Legendary perfection as always I see heh."

"W-wha? That legendary stuff again? And please stop referring to my breasts as per-..ugh, I hate that you're right, they are legend worthy. Hmph!"

Aisellia said before Karna's eyes shifted and scanned over Miyaura who watched him curiously for a second. Soon realizing what he was doing causing a bright smile to appear on her face as she perked up happily causing her chest to bounce. With stars in his eyes enjoying his sight with a goofy grin he continued.

"And the gifts of life, World perfection!"

Instantly a dense book was swung by Remi, knocking Karna to the side and off the desk itself. Remi did not let up quickly, tossing a few more objects in her immediate reach as well.

"You're always obsessed with big boobs. Big ones don't mean the world bastard."

"Hm? Well, they do to me at least, which is good enough for me! Haha! Don't judge what motivates me in life Remi, it's not a good look, heh. But Seriously, I hope you were able to rest well. I'm actually glad to see you two again. I thought Angelia might have had you run off without me. Ha!" he quickly responded before getting knocked to the ground by a headshot from a wooden chair Remi had mercilessly struck and proceeded to beat him over the head with. Soon finished with accepting Remi's beating, he lied on the ground and began to speak to the girls from there.

"I'm actually glad to see you two again. I thought Angelia might have had you run off without me. Ha!"

A few hours later...

Remi stood behind her desk, Aisellia and Miyaura seated in chairs on the desks opposite side. Remi had a finger placed on a page of one of the large books. Angelia would be behind the bar making herself a drink with Karna sitting on a stool in front of it looking rather annoyed and by the bruises on his head...disappointed.

Remi Martel: "Given the run down Miss Angelia gave me, I'd say you dealt with a greater demon. But it sounds like he had just awakened so the priest's power was incredibly less than other greater demons would be. In a way, you could say he acted prematurely before he could fully adjust."

Aisellia Rae: "So from what you've explained to us, there are different categories of demons based on their power. Lesser is the most common, instinctually base demons that are everywhere. Then there are Greater demons, greater in power and abilities by miles. They are capable of having a bare minimum of intelligence that allows them to communicate with other demons. Demons often follow the will of the strong so according to what you've told us, sometimes that level of conscious thought allows them to gather minions to do their bidding or group up. Above them are Superior Demons, beings of unimaginable power and intelligence for a demon. The gap in strength from lesser to greater is large but the gap to Superior dwarfs that several times over."

Miyaura: "A demon's power is their scaling of class but some demon's nature and instincts are born from a sin they belong to by their nature. Wrath, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, and Lust can influence their nature and habits. Demons grow more powerful by eating human flesh and blood but once they become a greater demon, the natural satisfaction of indulging their sin becomes another potent way to become stronger too."

Aisellia Rae: "Leading them to become more creative with their intelligence to manipulate people to satisfy themselves. Wrath drives certain demons berserk making them very aggressive and terrifying forces, seeking prey to take out its unquenchable wrath onto its poor victims. When berserk, most injuries will not faze them in their blind wrath. Greed drives demons to enjoy taking and hoarding things or people of their interest, they tend to always seek the next thing to take for themselves, even though a basic demon lacks intelligence, doesn't' mean they can't be clever when preying on people."

Remi Martel: "Each one has certain habits and stuff. You understand its nature, you might stand a better chance anticipating what it might do. Or in some cases...where it may be hiding. As a favor to Miss Angelia, I'll let you borrow this for reference until you depart."

Aisellia Rae: "Um. I have one more question I was hoping you might be able to explain to me. Have you ever heard of a cursed one mark disappearing before?"

Remi Martel: "Oh that! That's another thing Miss Angelia asked me to look up different known curses and unfortunately, there's no curse in this book or that I've heard of that just disappears. The only thing that would make sense is if the demon the person thought they were cursed by was cursed or linked previously to a more powerful demon. Overpowering or more like protecting from the curse of another demon. It's a disgusting way to think about it but the best way to explain it is something similar to natural defense against one demon taking another's property."

Remi explained to everyone present. Looking down flipping through the pages of her large book, stopping on a page quickly.

Miyaura: "So a curse is a type of link between victim and demon?"

Remi Martel: "Correct. Your common curse is a physical curse that affects the body over time. In truth, the curse only damages the body because of the link between them and their dominating demon. The body curse remaining dormant after being fed their demons foreign energy in a form to control a human for the remainder of their life. If a demon is an at least superior class it's not just ownership of a person's body but they can potentially make any human or demon swear their soul upon death and until then they are kept alive like food sources to feed off of at their convenience. Each demon has different ways to feed on this energy of their sin. Meaning the only way that a curse mark would disappear is if their body was revitalized by the demon since once you're linked, the demon's sinful energy acts sort of like a drug the body requires in order to subdue the ever-growing desire to satisfy their sins. Going extensively without it causes the symptoms you've heard of that leads to insanity and from there...many unfortunate ways of death."

Miyaura: "A more powerful demon as a master?"

Miyaura questioned, she began thinking to herself. Repeating the words to herself, her eyes shifted over towards Karna who sat at the bar talking with Angelia in their own separate conversation. Aisellia noticed Miyaura's gaze at Karna and had a thought suddenly enter her mind.

Aisellia Rae: "We've seen Karna regenerate and show power no human could have, but it makes no sense that he's a demon being...well him. Rather than killing us, he helped us."

At that second Angelia stepped up to the side of the desk gaining their attention.

Angelia: "He's still human, half anyways. Beyond that is a mystery to me, Remi, and even himself without his memories. No one cursed can become as strong as him. So it only made sense he's probably a Deimos."

Aisellia Rae: "Deimos?"

Remi Martel: "You've never seen a demi-human before? Hmm...well, you do dress like someone with money. and well protected.."

Aisellia noticed her words slipping out of her mouth with Remi's response. Angelia noticed how she was caught off guard and quickly chimed in.

Angelia: "You can't be rude Remi. With how more and more demons are showing up around the world it's not that strange if people aren't really ever able to leave their hometown to see some things, especially a city fortunate enough to have reliable protection, right girls?"

She said, smiling at Aisellia and Miyaura, leading them to return with smiles of their own and nod their head in agreement.

Aisellia & Miyaura: "Mhm. Thanks!"

Miyaura: "I don't know much about currently, but has the lifestyle of Demi-Humans became any better over the last few years or so?"

Remi Martel: "Unfortunately not...it's gotten worse than them being treated as lesser. These days in a lot of places, humans treat them as entirely lesser beings. With nobles basically being the political controllers of the world's largest kingdoms and regions. Many are sold into slavery disguised as civil service, abused until death or they lose the will to live on enduring the constant prejudice from humans and being prey to mindless demons. The nobles all work under or work for someone in the big cities in one way or another. Their children even likely growing older to work for the same person they'll never meet face to face but I assume it doesn't matter the face for them as long as their money continues coming in. Most Demi-Humans take the option of becoming a servant even if the conditions are terrible. At least the chance is less they'll starve and won't be sleeping in the wild in exchange for serving anyway the nobles desire."

Angelia: "Demi-Humans, or more commonly called Deimos these days, Humans who are curse linked to a demon are overloaded with more demonic energy than their body can take. Making the dominator having to feed their servant their sinful energy regularly like medication, or else the demonic energy begins to reject the body. If they are siphoned too much, then they lose their mind and body to sin. Changing their bodies as a result to Demi-Humans, becoming instinctively inclined to be led by the desires of their sin as their primary motivation and are unfortunately as dangerous as any other demon. Demons are rarely genetically compatible to reproduce sexually, much less with...humans. There are few less violent demons out there, and it's not uncommon for demons to seduce prey with temptation. But it's either that or somehow a human decided to willingly become emotionally intimate with a demon or it's...the unfortunately far more common. Part of the reason such prejudice against them exists. The ones who violate someone until death. Bodies scarred along with their heart and spirit. Sadly a lot of the victims who escaped or lived held no choice, making most Demi-Humans parent-less from the mothers often taking their own lives for giving birth to what they consider a demon. Some of the deepest scars aren't those of the flesh. In the wrong areas in regions, that prejudice only sparks hate. Families became known to be beaten and killed by those human parents who only wanted to actually be a parent to their child. Not caring what species they were."

Remi Martel: "Noble rulers pretty much enforce the agenda with ownership laws and public degradation of Demi's. Nobles know nobles and they all connect to run the world. In a sense, they are the governing empire. But the continent alone is far too massive for even them to fully bring people under control with their money and civilizations all from the safety of their homes. So people outside of their ruling cities and surrounding territories created a way for the free people to function on their own. There came The Guild Union. Some people of influence made the guild to provide work and establishment for the people outside of the rich. Over time people made different guilds, bounty hunting, The Merchant's Guild, and others all joined under the first Master guild and became officially recognized by the nobles as its own authority outside of their own in exchange making work and money grow exponentially to provide a constant stream of work from common folk and nobles alike. to arrange and resource jobs from guild members."

Aisellia Rae: "So Demi-humans are still treated unfairly but I'm assuming they join guilds as well? Seems like it's at least the best chance for a decent living."

Angelia: "Unfortunately...not as much as one may think. There are a lot of people that aren't generally acceptable in most guilds. More often they're hired for small tasks but are still able to work as a mercenary to earn at least something. People tend to think it's hard enough for them, being physically more capable than your average human or something their physiology allows them to do that humans can't. It's less common than someone would think that demi-humans are physically gifted. Their bodies normally work just the same and are as vulnerable as any human. More likely Deimo's life spans are greater than your average humans though."

"Uh, I have a question please!" Miyaura interjected, innocently raising her hand as she spoke to gain everyone's attention.

Miyaura: "I can't help but be curious but since you two know a lot about demons and have known him for a while, what class of demon is Karna?"

Remi Martel: "I think Miss Angelia would know better than me. I've seen his power when we met...when he saved me. It was something right out of a nightmare but...he was purposely saving me. Oddly I had felt as safe as I did. Anyways it's only been a little over a year since he awoke and he hasn't shown the same power. At least in front of me anyways. He travels for jobs while I stay here in town with Miss Angelia."

Angelia: "I guess it has been a little shy of over a decade since we first met. We've gone through a lot of battles together in our time. I guess it's a good time to tell you too Remi. That nightmare you speak of couldn't calculate to a portion of power he used to have. Back then he was more of a headache but I've seen quite a few demons in my day and I'd say he at least categories as a Superior class demon. Or he used to I should say."

Miyaura: "What do you mean used to?"

Angelia: "He's still strong but he gradually became weaker at a certain point while he was on his own, whatever happened when he woke up over a year ago with a chunk of his memory gone. With the extent his power can go, he would need to indulge in his sin quite severely to be able to get back to how he was. Powerful demons naturally have a capacity for demonic energy and it's that energy they use to fuel their supernatural abilities such as his healing. Karna has been gradually weakening with each passing day. He has little demonic energy to manipulate, making drawing out his demonic abilities far more difficult and with a cost each time he forces it out of his subconscious to destroy a strong demon, his demon side has been growing stronger than his human sides consciousness. If he goes too far he could forever lose himself to his demon instincts and desires, losing his mind in the process, becoming a living nightmare that will destroy anyone or anything."

"Man...all this is a lot to take in!" Miyaura exclaimed while rubbing her head in disappointment at all the new things she had to learn.

Angelia: "I tell you all of this because it's you two he'll be traveling with. I'm sure you ladies know how bad of a letcher he is but you still came here with him. I think you two should be able to know as much as you can, not just about the world but him too. He decided to save you in the end so you two might be able to help him. It's a little reassuring to know he'll be able to have reliable beautiful babes to help him learn a few things while he's out there."

Aisellia Rae: (A demon that found something worth living in humanity. The demon that slays his own kind not to save humans but keep his opportunities to enjoy what he found worth keeping humanity going for...it made him learn the value in human life or I should say specific ones that stand out to his liking anyway.) "Mm, thank you very much."

Angelia: "Aye no problem! You're actually helping me out a lot by traveling with him. Maybe something will jog his memory...and keep him from getting lost again. It's not too often people can be around him this long."

Remi Martel: "He's a foul-mouthed trash talker and for men, his confidence just gets him into fights or kicked out of places. For women, because he's always so lecherous, attempting moves on spoken for women, shamelessly perverted. He'll literally stare at a woman's boobs or butt and not pay attention to anything else around him. He just ends up looking like a dumb puppy wanting a toy."

Remi became flustered at the thought, her eyes glancing over the three women's chests around her intensely. Noting their larger sizes before folding her arms across her own chest and looking away irritated.

"I don't get why he's obsessed with big chest blobs anyways. It's just one of the reasons why we never have any money for this place and Miss Angelia always has to help. He somehow messes the job up and we've taken so many dead-end fake jobs because SOMEBODY has to only like taking jobs from girls with their skin and body exposed while he will let a decent guy or a girl with an appropriate figure and money walk in with a request and ignore it or not care about messing up the job!"

Seeing Remi's glare at their chests before turning away and mumbling, Aisellia and Miyaura looked at each other, awkwardly giggling between themselves at the girl's obvious yet adorable envy.

(So that's why she said it would be better to wait until today to come here. Without Angelia's help and arrangements while we slept, Remi probably wouldn't have been as willing to help us.)

Aisellia thought. Miyaura's head perked up curiously, adjusting her head to look over at the bar, noticing Karna was sleeping on the bar. The rest of them turned their heads to see him in a deep sleep. Angelia watched as the three girls observed him sleeping for a few seconds, this bringing a smile to her face.

(There's more they'll have to learn for themselves but...maybe they'll be able to end your daily suffering and you may heal theirs. I'm kinda proud, even against your nature you still just follow your heart, changing lives just like theirs positively. My friend, I hope these girls can help heal your wounds. The wounds you endure, trying to hide them from even me still without all of your memories.)

Angelia thought while joining the girls in watching Karna sleep before turning back to them all, suddenly speaking causing them all to flinch breaking their staring states, lost in their thoughts about him.

"Ok ladies! Given what it took to kill that demon to save you two, he'll be in and out of a deep sleep for the next couple of days. So if you two would like, you can stay a few weeks with me. It'll give you two time to unwind and adjust after so much shit going down for you. I'll help you prepare for the trip. Remi? Whenever you have spare time during the week could you put together an assortment of things into a small book? He's pretty useless when it comes to remembering info but these girls are pretty smart so I'll pay for it so they have a good source of information. I'd prefer if their information is coming from you rather than anyone else. These girls have a journey in front of them."

"For you, I can get it done in a week, Miss Angelia! Just leave it to me and I'll make sure everything's detailed with my knowledge free of charge! It's the least I can do for you!"

Remi responded shaking her head in agreement in response. There began their week, Aisellia and Miyaura were shown around the small desert town by Angelia. A single road leading from one end to the other down its center. The girls began helping Angelia shop at one of the small local stores, from there their time continued. During the passing days, Angelia began giving Aisellia gun and shooting lessons in her shooting range stationed in her back yard, Separately instructing Miyaura through her physical training, practicing what she retained of her martial arts knowledge, making her technique more refined to get her body back into shape and used to her new physical abilities of newfound endurance, speed and strength.

In the evenings the three women held study sessions with Remi, Angelia inviting the young girl Remi to join them. From the look of her face during their studies, it appeared studying wasn't exactly Miyaura's strong suit, often holding her head after a short time or finding other small things around them to entertain herself. Each night they shared in not only time but eating, being around each other sharing laughs, and pushing each other further in their individual training. On the third day, Karna awoke from his slumber taking Angelia's place in training Miyaura in the mornings, taking her out into the desert sands, allowing her to train and spar with him without holding back her now great strength. At the shooting range, Aisellia's training continued, Remi now joining in to observe in the background before joining together in Karna's home in the evenings, continuing their studies guided by Remi. During these studies, they discovered Miyaura wasn't cursed but concluded she held demon DNA, more potently so than an average Demi-Human. Angelia however drew her own conclusions she privately shared with Aisellia, Miyaura's physical make-up was closer to a demon's physiology like Karna.