Percy’s borrowed mouth said “yes” before his brain was even done processing the system’s question. This would determine whether he could get another trait or not!

  “Choice confirmed. Compiling report…”

  “Compilation complete. User ‘Cassiel’ – Spectral Capacity: 0/1. WARNING: User does not possess the soul affinity. There is no known method to absorb a spectral fiend without it.”

  “Compilation complete. User ‘Percy’ – Spectral Capacity: 3/4. WARNING: User does not possess the soul affinity. There is no known method to absorb a spectral fiend without it.”

  Percy ignored the irony of being told that he couldn’t absorb a fiend right after being told that he’d already absorbed three, focusing on the important information.

  ‘Four! I can actually do it!’

  He’d suspected this for a while, but he would have never dared to attempt it without confirmation. Spending a Yellow reward was a lot given how difficult they were to earn, but he didn’t think that Zoris would have been able to help him without the necessary equipment – especially after having seen firsthand what the test had entailed.

  Leaving aside the obvious benefit of acquiring another trait, Percy had another reason to be happy. This outcome would quash Metatron’s lingering doubts about his story once and for all.

  To Percy’s knowledge, there shouldn’t be any method other than the concept of permanence to increase one’s capacity, nor was it possible for anyone but him to ever absorb four fiends, leading credence to his previous claims.

  Admittedly, he was a little bummed out that his fusion with Micky had only granted him a single additional slot. The blessing had tripled his capacity, and he technically had two souls constantly bathing in the augmented mana now.

  ‘No… I guess it doesn’t scale linearly,’ he thought, thinking back to the absorption of his third fiend.

  Each new trait fought with the previous ones, plunging his soul into complete chaos. If anything, he’d be lucky if his future aspects continued to raise his limit.

  Regardless, he had to return to Remior to absorb the fiend. Part of him was petrified at the thought of undergoing what was bound to be a hellish experience, but he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t tempted to ditch the Vault and get right to it. Every single one of his traits had helped him massively in the past, and he had no doubt the next one would too.

  ‘Later. There’s still a lot to do here,’ he reminded himself, suppressing his bubbling enthusiasm.

  Shrugging, he mentally ticked another item off his agenda, moving to something else.

  “Cube, do you have any information on demonic infestations or Cardinal Devils? User ID: WANDERER.”

  “Authorization granted. Evaluating request…”

  Percy wasn’t anywhere close to ready to help Marnok, but he figured that this was important knowledge, nonetheless. He would end up on more infected worlds in the future, and he didn’t want to be defenceless when that happened. The Vault was naturally one of the best places to learn about the topic.

  “Evaluation complete. There are 357 books, 1766 research logs, 3 encyclopaedias and 6483 news reports that mention ‘demonic infestation’ and ‘Cardinal Devil’. Part of the selection is restricted for your grade. Only 0 books, 0 research logs, 0 encyclopaedias and 0 news reports are available for purchase. Total cost: 0 credits. Current balance: 29579.”

  Percy frowned. The information was there, yet he clearly wasn’t qualified to access it. He needed a different approach.

  “How about just ‘demonic infestation’?” he asked.

  “Evaluating request…”

  “Evaluation complete. There are 987 books, 3128 research logs, 15 encyclopaedias and 137889 news reports that mention ‘demonic infestation’. Part of the selection is restricted for your grade. Only 22 books, 31 research logs, 2 encyclopaedias and 340 news reports are available for purchase. Total cost: 4112 credits. Current balance: 29579.”

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  Okay, the problem was including Cardinal Devils in the search parameters. He could access some of the information if he stuck to regular infestations. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

  Just as he was considering whether to narrow down the books, wait until he visited the Vault with a higher grade, or check whether his bonus rewards could get him anything more, something changed. Percy found himself in one of the smaller training cubes again, the familiar pentapus standing before his host.

  “Care to explain what that was about?” the titan asked, cutting to the chase. He looked more rattled than Percy had ever seen him, his usually-confident pupils wavering with an emotion that Percy couldn’t quite discern.

  “What’s the big deal? I just want some information,” he replied with a shrug, not seeing what the problem was. “Given how much I travel, I thought it would be smart to be ready for anything.”

  “Where did you hear about Cardinal Devils? Have you encountered one?” Metatron asked again, ignoring everything Percy had said.

  “Well, I’d heard about them a long time ago. It’s not like their existence is a huge secret, though it’s only recently that I stumbled upon a lesser spring presumably destroyed by one – according to their demigods, at least. I haven’t actually seen the Devil – if it even exists – but I did come across a person under its influence.”

  Metatron slapped his tentacle on the ground with enough force to shake the entire cube.

  “You’ve been here all this time and it hasn’t occurred to you to bring this up?!” the titan yelled, his voice boiling with fury.

  Startled, Percy took a step back. He’d displeased the callous god before, but he couldn’t recall ever angering him to this extent. As for Cassiel, he took the titan’s outburst even worse, the poor boy shaking in his own skin.

  “I didn’t think it was important. What’s the problem?”

  Metatron grumbled something, Percy’s surroundings shifting once again. He found himself right where he’d just undergone the spectral capacity test, the blue squares lighting up for the second time.

  “In you go. Now,” the titan spat, leaving no room for debate. He practically shoved Percy’s young host into the green circle, the metallic arch rising above the boy as he landed on his butt.

  Runes of various colours lit up along the inner wall, though their effects clearly differed from the other test. Thankfully, this one didn’t hurt. Rather than probing their souls, the enchantments appeared to stir certain emotions in their minds.

  Percy felt angry when the symbols turned red, a chill rolling down his borrowed spine as they shifted to blue. It was mostly negative feelings, though the effect was rather mild. The enchantments went through seven different configurations in total before dying down, Metatron exhaling in relief as he presumably checked the results in some unknown manner.

  “If you so much as suspect that one of your clones has been to a Great Hell again, I suggest that you self-destruct immediately. I’ll even replace your spatial seal if that’s your concern, but don’t you dare set foot on my world without being sure that you are clean,” the titan warned.

  “Clean? Can they really hitch a ride so easily?” Percy asked. He’d suspected it, of course, but nothing bad had happened to him yet, so he’d just assumed that everything was fine.

  “Kid, you don’t know anything,” Metatron shook his head. “Even regular infestations are annoying, though I suppose that they aren’t a big issue for me. They are local, and I don’t think they can even infect an artificial world like the Vault. Even if they did, they are mindless and weak, so getting rid of them shouldn’t be too hard. Cardinal Devils, on the other hand…”

  Percy swallowed hard. “How accurate is your test? Is it possible that the Devil has followed me home, but not to the Vault?” he asked, his voice trembling. The last thing he wanted was to doom Remior.

  “The test should be accurate enough. Once you’re infected, it leaves a mark that even the Devil itself can’t easily take back. The fact that you’re clean now probably means that it hasn’t touched you.”

  Rubbing the back of his head, Metatron appeared to fall in deep thought. Percy was about to ask something else when the titan teleported them back to the training room with a flick of his tentacle.

  “You wanted to buy information on Cardinal Devils? I don’t think that’s a bad idea. I can’t have you wandering around the universe oblivious to them. I’ll teach you a bunch of things to protect yourself,” he said. Seeing Percy open his mouth, he added, “for free.”

  Percy’s borrowed eyes widened, his shock eclipsing anything that had come prior. For the greedy titan to volunteer free information when he could have easily demanded another bonus reward, this was a serious matter indeed…

  “How can I fight against them?” he asked the most important question in his mind. “I suppose I should also mention that this wasn’t my first brush with an infestation. I ran into two others, though I’m pretty sure those were the normal kind. Still, they completely ruined the worlds they were in.”

  Metatron nodded.

  “Demonic infestations are troublesome. If you attack them or those they possess with conventional magic, all you’ll achieve is to scatter their mass, allowing them to spawn elsewhere on the same world. Thankfully, there are several effective ways to permanently reduce their mass, though fully cleansing a planet is still rather troublesome. I’ll teach you a few.”

  Seeing the obvious question on Percy’s face, the titan rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Also free. This is too important to be haggling over credits with you. The last thing I need is you bringing that crap to my doorstep.”

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