The Prince of Demons

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When was I? So many memories were blurring together. That forling dilwaul; maybe I should kill his uncle now. That caused a flood of different memories to burst through my mind. I never dreamed of being weaponized against me in this way. Countless similar versions of events were rampaging in my mind, each slightly different than the last. None were from beyond my duel with Nil; it appeared to be a point that never moved. No memory or thought I had went passed that point. I felt like I was in an endless prison, just an unending loop I couldn't escape. How many times has he forced a reset? I couldn’t count them anymore. This wasn’t a memory, was it? This isn’t good. How? How did he manage to make such a prison? There had to be a way to prevent this. Unfortunately, as I began brainstorming different methods, my mind was bombarded with a fresh wave of memories. Each thought, each decision, each notion I came up with all were met with a deluge of different memories of events to come. When did Nil realize he could reset any timeline to do this? It was all a convoluted mass in my head. I couldn’t let this keep going. But how? I nearly fell to my knees as another maelstrom ran through my mind. I needed to break this stalemate. Nil would just endlessly send me back, making it so he could try again. And again. And again. I needed out of this temporal prison Nil had created; this needed to stop.

“Are you alright sir?” Mahdi inquired, looking at me concerned.

“No. Nil has somehow created a time prison and I need to think of a way out.” I informed him while trying to sort the ceaseless memories in my mind.

“What do you mean?” Mahdi probed. My head was killing me as countless futures kept changing and blurring together. Time is so fragile that it’s easy for him to make a small change and reset the time for himself.

“Nil keeps altering timelines of various worlds to reset everything because they’re all tied together by me. I keep getting differing memories of various places I’m going to and have conquered. He seems to have created a loop to keep trying until he has a version where he wins.” I explained as my head was absolutely killing me. The endless torrent of altering memories was agonizing.

I was going to make Nil’s death agonizing for this; his loved ones were going to suffer before I purged the fact he ever existed. Maybe I should just get rid of Tenebrae altogether? Not like that backwater would add much value to my kingdom. He has got to be the most obnoxious Reincarnator I have ever dealt with. The most irritating thing was that Nil seemed to be doing it faster and faster. How? What did Nil do that possibly let him improve his ability to this extent? How was he improving his like this in such a limited time frame? A . It was the only way for Nil to optimize his abilities like this. Which one? Which is helping him? It didn’t matter, when his reckoning came, I’d have my answer. Nil was passing himself knowledge between attempts through a was the only way to explain how he was doing this so efficiently. How unfortunate that Nil figured out he could use to do such a thing. Not even a could stop me from cleansing that filth; I was not about to spare one of these vermin now, no matter how obnoxious he was.

“Seal his ability to alter time sir.” Mahdi recommended. That was a lot easier said than done. Why did the Lords have to make the ? My mind felt like it was ripping in half from the incessant barrage of shifting memories.

“How?” I inquired, massaging my temples. It was hard to currently even think straight from how many memories were bombarding my mind.

“I think a can bind it without interfering with the , but you would have to sacrifice something for it to properly work if you would still like to fight him later.” Mahdi suggested. That was right; I just had to make him sign a that forbade the casting of any variant of that .

“How should I phrase it?” I pondered. I nearly screamed from the resulting maelstrom of memories. Each individual, carefully selected word seemed to spawn several new variations to torment my mind.

“As much as I hate to say this sir, maybe turn off while we discuss this.” Mahdi proposed. I let out a deep sigh. As much as I hated to do so, Mahdi was correct. I needed to be able to think clearly about this.

“Let me make sure to properly store the information first.” I conceded. Nil, I will make you pay for this humiliation. In over a millennium, no one has ever forced me to turn off my , and you come from such a backwater too. Forling halpspung.

The two of us calmly stood up from the conference table, stood next to each other, and I used to bring us to the entrance to my vault of memories. How could I hurt Nil to make sure he utterly regretted forcing me like this? A new burst of agony awarded that thought. First, backup my memory, then contemplate how to make Nil pay. I opened the door and entered while Mahdi waited outside. It took six crystals to fully back up all the versions of events Nil had created. Nil, you are already the most expensive Reincarnator I have ever had the displeasure of killing. Once that was done, I turned off so I could think without being blasted with new information. Seeing what he had already done ate at my soul. Six crystals? Maybe just killing him wasn’t enough. Someone as obnoxious as him is better killed once I get the chance. As much as I’d relish torturing him for a century or so, keeping someone alive who had such obnoxious was a horrible idea. Nil needed to be in complete anguish for this regardless. What could I do to make sure his final moments were as despondent and excruciating as possible? Killing Luna in a horrific way would be a good starting point. Just how did she change so much? Something I did, or maybe Nil did, caused a massive shift in her behavior. One thing I learned was how immensely fragile time was, but there were clear limits on what Nil could do. He never altered anything beyond about twenty years. Two decades was some sort of limit. Was that caused by or ? Unfortunately, combing through six crystals of time would take me longer than I had before fighting Nil. After his head is properly mounted to my wall, I can spend some time learning the . I knew it was , so replicating it would be a challenge. I stepped out of my vault, seeing Mahdi reviewing notes.

“Are you feeling better sir?” Mahdi inquired. He was looking at me with some serious concern in his eyes.

“Yes. Thank you, Mahdi. I never dreamed of my getting twisted against me like that. Now, we need to figure out a way to phrase the that stops the without compromising my ability to kill Nil.” I replied, enjoying being free of the torment. Once the is signed, I'll reactivate .

“Do you know what the is sir?” Mahdi probed. I grimaced. If I wanted to stop that , I’d have to concede something large.

“.” I grumbled. Mahdi’s nose twitched in irritation.

“That presents a few problems.” Mahdi sighed. It was times like these I detested the Lords.

“I know. Between that and the stopping us from interfering too much it makes creating a difficult. I would have to use nearly the rest of the restriction just to go there and propose it; making Nil agree to it would likely eat the crumbs that remain.” I sighed. The blasted . The Lords put massive effort into separating their worlds from each other, but not from stopping the infestation from plaguing their lands. Sheer idiocy.

“Technically, a could waive the for you.” Mahdi pointed out. Was that useful? Probably. As usual, Mahdi had keen insight.

“Using the to both stop the time altering and waive the would be ideal. Then it becomes a matter of what I have to sacrifice to form such a .” I agreed with an annoyed sigh.

The phrasing of it would need to be precise. The one downside of a was it was literal to the words used, so I needed to reduce the number of loopholes. Ideally, there would be none that Nil could use. But to make a that extremely specific would require an even larger sacrifice which I might not be able to do. I was willing to pay the price to make sure Nil died, even if I had to compromise on how agonizing I could make it. No Reincarnator I knew of was ever going to survive, especially one that made me put this much effort and resources into making sure he got the ending he deserved. At minimum, I was killing everyone who was remotely friendly to him as a starting point. I used to return Mahdi and I to the conference room at this point. We both took our seats before Mahdi began drafting an example . What did I want at minimum? One, Nil to stop altering the past to reset everything for himself. Two, kill Nil. Three, kill everyone Nil interacted with in an evenly remotely positive way. If I could annihilate Tenebrae after would just be a bonus. I used to gauge just how much I was asking for. What? SINCE WHEN WAS IT THAT HIGH?! Mahdi leapt a mile, slamming a knee into the table. How? HOW DID YOU FORLING DO THAT NIL?! That value. That. Forling. PIECE OF SHIZA.

“What is wrong sir?” Mahdi checked as he rubbed his leg.

“This is going to exact a heavy toll.” I snarled, glaring at what my was showing me.

“If we were to remove our current efforts from Tenebrae, and leave him alone until the time you would normally descend, is that close to what Nil currently possesses?” Mahdi probed, clearly clinching his teeth from how much I was radiating.

I ran over it, seeing they were almost equal. Even with sacrificing that much I was still short. More was necessary to make the . What? What else could I add? I wanted to throw the table across the room in frustration. Nil needed to suffer. So much effort, planning, and resources all down the drain. This was humiliating. Obnoxious. Ridiculous. Nil was going to pay. When I finally get to fight you, I am going to relish in making it hurt. I was going to destroy everything that brought him any semblance of happiness. I will make sure to kill Luna as horrifically as possible while you watch helplessly; now that she’s your most precious ally I will make sure her death is the worst. Same with the rest of your family and Lux. Whatever decided to be your is going to be eviscerated. I took a composing breath. What if I added in my monitoring ? The values were now close enough. Forling halpspung. It was fine, I had six crystals worth of memories to scour for relevant information. Fine. If that was the price I needed to pay to ensure I could kill him so be it. I looked at the example Mahdi had written. It was close. I used my to instantly adjust the details based upon the and the began radiating a potent aura. I smiled as it clearly had taken effect. This would work.

“But sir, how are you going to make Nil agree to such a ?” Mahdi asked. I smiled as this was the easy part.

“We are going to go pay him a visit, as I want to personally see this gets done. He should currently have his family, friends, and allies all roughly together right now. Or at least enough of them for what I need.” I informed Mahdi with a massive grin as I excitedly stood up.

“But if you kill one th-“ Mahdi began before I raised my hand.

“It’s simple, I’m either killing all of them or he’s signing it. Even if he says no, his grief should drive him to fight me. I do not think even he can revert such an action if I use to forcefully alter the world.” I explained to Mahdi, finally having calmed down. Either way, I am going to have a win today. I instantly brought us to the for Tenebrae with . Time for the beginning of the end for you Nil.