"Right, I couldn't agree more...tell me, Trent-...," Began Charlotte.

"<Please call me Invidia from now on, Chairwoman Bryns>."

"Huh. You definitely weren't this polite before. Anyway, Invidia...tell us about your disappearance, don't leave out any details."

"<Okay, sure. Let me think...alright, so, I was hanging out with a friend of mine, and then headed home a bit late, I was pretty wasted.

This kid then suddenly approached me, he looked like he was in his mid to late teens or so.

He told me about how he saw clips of my duel against the Boss, he asked me if I was frustrated over it and stuff like that...I was about to tell him to fuck off, when he suddenly asked me if I wanted power.

It was strange, his words appealed to me in a way I can't quite describe. And while I do remember everything that happened after that, it doesn't feel like memories, it feels more like I'm recalling stuff I watched, kinda like how it feels to watch VR POV videos.

It's as if I was in a trance or something...I felt this strange sense of trust towards him, I didn't question a single thing he told me, and the more he spoke to me, the deeper into that trance-like state I felt myself sink into>," He recalled with a grimace, looking disconcerted.

Right, that adds up with what Luxuria told us, guess that all but confirms that she correctly identified this Archdemon.

Just to make sure...

"What else could he do? Was he able to teleport?" I asked him.

"<Yeah, that's right, Boss. After I accepted his offer of power, he teleported me somewhere, there were some others there too, I recognized some of them, they were Aces from the other Sanctuaries.

It was weird though, I never questioned why they were there, I never even thought about speaking to any of them...come to think of it, none of them spoke to me, or each other, either.

The kid brought a few others to that place too. He kept talking to each of us, one at a time, he'd take us to a separate room and chat out of earshot of everyone else.

In my case, he asked me about how I felt when I was defeated by the Boss, he asked me how it would feel to get revenge, to get power that would let me do whatever I wanted. I think...the more he spoke to me, the deeper I fell into the trance I was in.

And looking back on it, it felt like I...I was in awe of him. It's hard to explain, but...I don't know, it was as if I somehow trusted him without a shadow of a doubt, a blind, almost fanatical trust.

It was almost as if I was approaching the point of idolizing and worshipping him...recalling that feeling now that I don't feel it anymore, it's so...unsettling. I feel sick just thinking about it>," He frowned, a tense look on his face.

"Huh...well, that's terrifying. A Monster that steadily hypnotizes you just by talking to you, until you're brainwashed into worshipping him. And he can also transform into someone and gain their powers by eating them," Sighed Rex, slumping in his seat.

"What about the Demonic powers you used? Those Negative Energy blasts, how were you able to generate those?" Inquired Isla warily.

"<Let's see...my memories are a bit fuzzy towards the end, but...yeah, I think I can piece it together, I remember...I remember him chanting something. I think it was...Demonic Art: Demonization.

Wait, I...I remember, some of the other Aces there had wings and a tail at some point, I think a couple of them had some red patches of scaly skin on their bodies too>."

"No way, does that mean this Archdemon has the ability to turn humans into Demons? It sounds like the extent of the transformation varies from person to person, but at the very least, they get the ability to conjure up that dark energy, and gain Demon-like features.

It's possible that those who underwent more drastic changes got more significant power boosts than you did," Surmised Aria grimly.

It's not surprising that Luxuria didn't know about this ability, there'd be no point in using it on Demons, after all. Has he used it on other species of Monsters? Or does it only work on humans?

Whatever the case, that's at least three Demonic Arts...the ability to transform into someone he's consumed, the ability to hypnotize people, and the ability to partially turn humans into Demons.

Luxuria told me that Archdemons can have anywhere between two to five Demonic Arts, while Greater Demons each only have one.

I hope this Archdemon doesn't have any more Demonic Arts...these three are dangerous enough on their own, not to mention the Teleportation Magic he stole. If he's got more broken OP abilities up his sleeve, we might be screwed.

"Do you have any idea where the place you were teleported to might be?" Ciel asked Invidia.

"<It was definitely in one of the Sanctuaries. It seemed to be a normal luxury apartment, I'm pretty sure it was a penthouse, if I remember right. I mostly just sat still on a couch when I wasn't sleeping, and I only got up to eat, drink water and use the bathroom.

I never looked around or checked my I-Watch, so I have no idea where I was. I don't remember seeing any landmarks or anything, but my memory's vague...I think it might have been an upper-class residential district or something>," Invidia shook his head uncertainly.

"In other words, this Archdemon is hiding in plain sight," Responded Charlotte with a grimace.

"It's possible that he used his hypnotic ability to manipulate the neighbors into not being suspicious of him, which would explain why no one's reported him.

He might have killed the original owner of the place, or hopefully, it was vacant.

Hey, Kai, Luxuria said that this Archdemon's hypnotic ability would be especially effective on people without powers, didn't she?" Recalled Aria, a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, that's right. Think we've got a good idea of how the Archdemon has managed to low lay for over a month now...we may not know the exact location, but it's a start, at least," I replied hopefully.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.