1471 The Cosmic Staircase

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When I moved back to the castle, I surprised a lot of the people there. All the guards were already awake and on duty, and they were freaking out over my presence a lot, like come on! I know I am a bit hideous but be more polite in front of your friendly caterpillar cocoon goddess thing!

"W-What is that monster?!"

"G-Get on formation, don't let it enter!"

"Tell the King about this monster, it emanates a terrifying presence!"

"Is it a demon?!"

"Ugh, come on! Let me pass! It's me, Kireina! Your friendly neighbor caterpillar!" I sighed. "Well, I am more of a cocoon now that I think about it."

"It can talk!"

"Wait, Kireina?"

"You fools, stop at once!"

A general of the elves quickly stopped the knights and guards from provoking me even further, he looked rather stoic. I remember this guy, he was one of the ones I healed using Purification, he looks all nice and dandy now, I guess things went well.

"Despite her appearance, she's a summon from Princess Elfina, a powerful monster named Kireina. She saved the Kingdom and defeated the Demon Lord of Greed that invaded us, and even freed our Queen from his possession, we are indebted to her! Kneel now!"

"Kneel before a monster?!"

"Just do it!!!"

"Gyah!"

Suddenly, dozens of knights and soldiers' elves, all handsome and dignified men and women kneeled before me as if I were a graceful entity, or a goddess…. Oh, I missed this feeling! I remember they did this all the time back home, now it is the first time they do it in here.

"Well, alright, calm down, no need to kneel any longer." I sighed, as I entered the castle and decided to ignore them. My presence was frightening with my new titles but not like I cared.

When I walked using my insectoid legs, I made little clacking sounds, and quickly found myself in Elfina's room, where she welcomed me rather happily despite my hideous appearance.

"Ah, Kireina! You're back!" She said, as she ran towards me and… hugged me?!

"Wait a second, don't hug me, I am venomous!" I cried. "I got pointy spikes!"

"But I am so happy! You helped everyone… and even saved my mother, I am too grateful!" She cried. "Thank you for saving mama and papa…! Sniff…"

She even began to cry while I was stopping her from hugging me using my phantasmal hands, I quickly petted her head and hugged her with them, comforting her a bit, although it looked pretty weird to be honest.

"Don't worry I did it mostly because there was nothing else to do anyways. And the EXP was godly, Demon Lords give the most." I laughed.

"Haha, you never change…" Giggled Elfina.

"Anyways, where is the White Dragon?" I wondered.

"Oh right! Wait for me a little bit, I am going to prepare and then we can both go to my parent's throne room, the dragon's there, they want a meeting with you." Said Elfina.

"Meeting? For what reason…?" I wondered. "Well, whatever's the case, sure, I'll wait."

…

After a few minutes, Elfina was ready and she walked at my side with a rather pretty dress. I was a hideous wall of metal spikes so it was a very weird combination! Anyways, when we reached the throne room, the king and queen greeted us alongside the white dragon sitting at their side.

"My savior, you're finally here!" The Queen celebrated by raising her arms. "Thank you for freeing me from that demon's influence, after I woke up I've never felt this healthy! That damn being was influencing me somehow… the fevers and all.. it was all his fault."

"Indeed, we are very grateful to you, Kireina. We are indebted." Said the King. "We called you for this meeting because Luminous has found information about what you seek, and we wanted to know what your stand is after you learn about it…"

"My stand? Huh, well, whatever's the case, tell me already." I said.

The White Dragon nodded, as he began to speak.

"I found out through the Akashic Library the knowledge about the Cosmic Staircase. You see, in the past the Gods existed and battled against one another. There were two faction of gods since creation, the Light Gods, and the Dark Gods. Long story short, both protected a group of tribes, the dark gods the demon tribes, and the light gods the human, elves, and dwarfs' tribes. One of such factions, however, had a special artifact. The Dark Gods had partially created the demons through copying the genes of beings from other worlds which they found mighty and durable. One of the big reasons why demons are so strong in many things as well is because they were engineered to be this way by the Dark Gods, in a search for overpowering the Light Gods with sheer strength."

"Woah…"

"Therefore, an ancient Dark God whose name was simply "The Dark God of Space" had created the Cosmic Staircase, a special artifact that led to other worlds, where he extracted such genes with other gods and their help and enhanced demons constantly… Anyways, when the gods of both factions perished, this treasure was hidden by the demons in the shrine of the dark gods, where the demon king's castle is built right now… Therefore, to actually reach it you have to… Well…"

"I see, I get it. I had already guessed it, I have to fight the demon king, huh?"

"W-Well, if the demon king acts politely and nice, there will be no need for violence, but if… most likely he fights back or is angry at you for slaying three demon lords already… Well, you'll have to fight."

"Hm… Well, it's alright. How strong is he? Can you compare his strength with mine?"

"Yes, I've already done it… I have the power of [God's Eye] which allows me to see the information and power of entities far away. I sensed the Demon King's presence… And he…"

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