Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"I have some people of mine that I want to awaken, I will call you when the bunch is ready to be awakened," said Bale, leaning against his nearly destroyed car and looking at Yuri. "I will also bring my own trustworthy gang of scientists to you whom you will teach the method extensively."

Yuri nodded, already much calmer than she had been earlier. She was a Hunter now. There was a slightly different air about her just due to that.

Just as Bale was about to say something, the man’s phone buzzed and he took it. The A-Ranker frowned and said, "I’ll be there in half an hour." He cut the call.

Looking at Mark, he said, "Take the little scientist to her home, I have some things to do."

The man threw Mark the key for the shabby car and then looked towards the setting sun. He took a deep breath.

"Since you used a Tier 2 Demon as the trigger for your Hunter Awakening, can I take it that you will become an A-Rank Hunter, Scientist?"

Yuri rubbed her red nose. "Yes, I believe I will be an A-Rank Hunter."

"Three months," said Bale. "That’s the amount of time that normal Hunters take to reach their full potential. The other A-Rankers, and I, plan to ambush the boss of the mega-dungeon before the dungeon takes over another country."

Yuri put her hands into her lab pockets. "You are saying..."

Bale calculated, touching his bald head. "I know about two other Tier 2 Demons that can be killed or thrown out of the Mega-Dungeon pretty easily. So if we use them as the trigger for the birth of another two Hunters, we can have two more A-Rankers in three months, not including you. Right?"

Mark nodded. "Seems reasonable to me."

"Yes, it is reasonable," Yuri said, "If we follow through with what you have said, indeed we will have more A-Rankers on the human side in three months."

"That can increase the chance of killing that... thing in the true center of the mega-dungeon. The Boss of the Dungeon."

"Is it that strong?" Mark asked.

"I tried hunting it once. I encountered it for barely some seconds and I didn’t even understand how I lost all of my limbs. I was dying before even I laid a hand on it." Bale clenched his hand. "But this time, we have nearly 10 Hunters hunting it—we are also more prepared."

Yuri and Mark exchanged a tense glance.

Bale continued, "Actually, the plan was to start the mission in a month or so more. We planned to have strategic meetings first and then begin the Hunt, but since there is more chance of it succeeding if we delay it for three more months, I will delay it. In three more months, we will hunt the Boss. Scientist, you will be on the mission, too."

Yuri sighed. "I have three months to train myself to use this ability, then." She looked at her shadow silently.

Bale nodded. "Since you are going to be one of the few A-Rankers, you can’t avoid fighting."

"...Can’t we avoid it, Brother?" Mark asked, "Let the other Hunters fight."

Bale ruffled Mark’s hair. "Little brother, you are too naive. If the Mega-Dungeon expands, it is also bad for us. The Angels, we don’t know anything about them either. I’ve committed too many sins in my life, what if they kill me when they descend, too? You are no different."

Mark awkwardly moved aside.

The A-Ranker wore his sunglasses and straightened up. "Drive the Scientist home. I will get some other A-Rankers to help me the two more Tier 2 demons I mentioned. I’ll call you."

With that, the Hunter turned on his Ability and jumped. Mark looked silently as the man jumped from the ground to the middle of a building and then jumped again to vanish amidst concrete giants.

Yuri looked at him and then sighed. "What an intense brother you’ve got."

Mark looked at her with a smile. "He even offered you to be mine."

"Oh, shut up," she said with a chuckle and got into the front seat of the car.

Mark entered the driver’s seat.

The car was broken in most areas, but he didn’t really mind it.

For a second, both of them were silent and then they both began laughing.

"What a demonic scheme, I can’t believe I went through it with you!" Yuri exclaimed.

"And it’s a success. You are a Hunter now!" Mark exclaimed back. "Great success, I mean!"

Yuri clenched her hand in excitement, nodded, and looked away into the horizon. The sun had nearly set entirely and the road was cast in a yellow hue. "Actually, that brother of yours, Bale, must have used his authority as an A-Ranker to allow entry near the mega-dungeon this easily."

"What do you mean?"

"Most of the entry-points of the mega-dungeon is currently barred by soldiers. The government didn’t want crazy Hunters going into the dungeon and killing demons to summon angels, you see. But we weren’t hindered in our path at all. The A-Ranker must have pulled strings."

"Well all’s good now that it ended well." Mark sighed.

Yuri nodded and took a deep breath.

"I wanted to become a Hunter ever since I first heard of one," she said, still excited. "But now that I am actually a Hunter, it is somewhat... surreal. And...damn, feels like um, I don’t know. And I even have some responsibilities now."

Mark smiled. "It’s lucky for you that you have a demonic boyfriend by your side so you don’t have to worry too much about the responsibilities of being an A-Rank Hunter."

Yuri gave a small bump to Mark’s side with her elbow, smiling sheepishly. "I used to believe I don’t care much about appearances, but I actually wish you were in your actual body now."

"Is that a compliment to myself?" Mark asked as he turned on the car.

Vroom...whrrrrr...wwrrr.

Yuri shook her head. "Drive, Drive. I’ve never tried alcohol before and I will not be able to really enjoy it once I become a Hunter for real and my body grow stronger. Go to some club or something—never experienced that either. I want to try it all."

"Aye, aye, lady." Mark then grew slightly contemplative. "I wonder what Dona is upto alone in the Lab..."

Yuri blinked. "She didn’t leave the lab or my alarms would have rang. I placed a recording of you saying ’don’t go outside’ there. She would understand."

"Smart."

The car vroomed through the road. Even though it was broken, it still worked perfectly.

As the sun lit their faces and the atmosphere grew sweetly silent, Yuri brushed her hair behind her ears.

’So he is my boyfriend, that’s what people can call our relationship.’ She had been wondering what they were for a while now. Even she could have such things? A boyfriend?

So weird.

She couldn’t hold back another peal of laughter from coming out of her lips.

Oh, damn, I still have goosebumps, she thought.

"You hid your nervousness well, Yuri," Mark praised. "You were like an ice block, I thought you’d be somewhat intimidated by the A-Ranker."

"I’ve been among the elites for a long time, and I know their mind games."

Yuri smiled smugly.

...

"Reol’ran, you there?" Mark called.

"Yep," said the woman. She sounded annoyed.

Indeed, Mark knew she didn’t really like Yuri and Dona very much. Him having amazing time with them—like scheming against a Hunter above his level together—just didn’t go well with Reol’ran.

Mark was not the best at handling that, so he didn’t acknowledge the problem.

"So what is an Ultimate Demonic Art?" he asked. "That snake demon had one. Is it different from the normal demonic tricks?"

"An Ultimate Demonic Art, huh?" Reol’ran said candidly. "I can’t give you too much information about it or that might make evolving into a Middle Demon harder for you than it is. For one, only TIer 2 Demons and higher have Ultimate Demonic Arts and of course they are different from normal Demonic Tricks."

"How is it different?"

"I will give you a small hint that won’t affect your evolution—Creating an Ultimate Demonic Art for yourself is how you breakthrough and Evolve. The moment you create one of your own, you will become a Middle Demon."

"Create an Ultimate Demonic Art myself?" Mark frowned. "How?"

"I can’t tell you that exactly. If you figure the ’how to make one’ and ’what it truly is’ out on yourself, you will go through a sudden enlightenment and will be able to create an Ultimate Demonic Art in the spur of the moment. If I told you what it is and how to make one, it will just make everything a lot harder for you."

"Does me having more control over my existing abilities help in creating an Ultimate Demonic Art?" he said, "You said that controlling my powers better was a requirement to evolve."

"Yes, having better control helps a lot in making your Ultimate Demonic Arts."

Then, she remained silent. Mark asked more questions but it seemed she was taking out her frustrations—she didn’t even acknowledge him. He didn’t mind.

Sighing, he increased the car’s speed.

Yuri screamed, her body literally plastered against the seat. "Slow down! Slow down! Wear your seatbelts, too. I dont want to die in a car accident after I just became a Hunter!"

Mark laughed. "Don’t worry!"

Vroom...VROOM!