Demon's Virtue

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Eiro held a card in his hand. It was a special card, one that changed the path of his life massively. It was the three of swords; the marionette blades. It was was the first card that Eiro had collected. But by now, it was rather... useless to Eiro. Of course, it was a powerful tool, as it could allow someone to manipulate multiple weapons at once as if they were your own limbs, and if you properly took advantage of the powers the card provided, you could use the blades to control other peope as well, as if you were controlling a marionette. The drawback that made you lose control over yourself wasn't really an issue to Eiro anymore, but the problem was that it wasn't an ability that Eiro used particularly often.

Manipulating others was useful, but only in specific situations. Gathering information, for example, but information was sort of Eiro's forte, so weak opponents wouldn't be able to give him much anyway, and it was more efficient to use pressure on them anyway. And powerful opponents wouldn't necessarily fall victim to the power of the marionette blade. The only benefit was that you could practically control all of their abilities as your own, but that was something that Eiro was willing to give up if something went wrong with what Eiro was about to do.

He tapped the card onto the system window, and could quickly see it disappear inside of the arcane slate. At the same time, Eiro could feel that it was absorbed into his soul. It seemed like this window was directly connected to the splinter. At the same time, Eiro could feel something change inside of his mental library again, just as it had when he absorbed the dungeon map's card. A side-room had opened up, taking the form of a small theater. On the stage was a mannequin, hanging off threads like a marionette. It was just like he thought. The ability had manifested itself in some form within Eiro now. Just like how he could exert the influence of the dungeon map within himself, the power of control was now within Eiro as well. Though, he wasn't exactly sure how he could exert that power outward just yet. After absorbing the cards, it was like they were trapped inside of Eiro, like the force of the splinter kept it all contained within him. But now that he had absorbed this card as well, Eiro was sure of one thing at least. These powers existed since long before they were contained within the arcane cards, though their origin was still quite the mystery.

Eiro quickly tapped the card that he had just put inside of the new system window, and it popped out just like the dungeon map's card had before. He was able to pull out the actual marionette blades pretty easily as well, and without any particular loss in efficiency as well. Though, the lights in the theater had turned off. He clearly wasn't able to use the ability anymore. So he had to choose between using the item outside of his body, or having the ability within his body. And when Eiro let go of the card, it simply returned back into the system window, and the lights in the theater turned back on.

So, this new system function allowed him to reform the cards whenever he wanted. Plus, fused into his soul, it was impossible for them to be stolen. He was just basically giving them a temporary form of a card that was created from arcane magic, using the stored card as a blueprint.

With a grin on his face, Eiro leaned back in his seat, "That does certainly open some doors, doesn't it? Well, let's get on with it and register the rest as well."

Since it seemed as though it was safe to do, as he wouldn't lose the ability to use the cards in their intended form, Eiro quickly fused the rest of the cards with his splinter as well, expanding his mental library quite a bit. The Stopwatch created a complex clocktower within the space, with numerous cogs twisting around each other. The mirror of duplication created a similarly massive, actual mirror in front of one of the walls. Luckily, it seemed that existing duplicates were totally unaffected. The invisibility potion turned into a literal fountain in the entrance area, and the mountain-breaker took on a slightyly different form. It was like a massive battering ram, or some sort of hammer meant to crack the ground for mining operations. The author's pen ended up creating something like a small study tucked away in the corner of the library, while the key laid on the side of the desk in that study. Eiro sighed lightly as he looked at it. It was such a useful tool. It could open literally everything. It should probably be able to open up the locks on the books left behind by Morgan la Fey as well, though Eiro was worried that this would permanently remove the seals on each book as well. There was so much he could learn from just opening those books that he didn't want to waste that opportunity like this, though the curiosity of what was written in those books was practically killing him.

But whichever was the case, it seemed that Eiro was able to use most of these abilities independent of the items now. Time could be stopped, though that was only for him, while with the stopwatch he could influence a whole area's time. The author pen's power could maybe be used to improve his magic circle creation or his artificing, and the key let him unseal things with his mana, as long as he was touching the object. Of course, he could use the invisibility potion to turn himself invisible, though the power that was the most hard to use was the mountain-breaker. For that, the massive hammer had to be activated inside of the mental library. As it slammed down onto the ground, a shockwave was created in the center of Eiro's body that he could push into whatever direction he wanted. But the problem was that if he didn't release that shockwave, it could cause massive internal damage. If he really didn't control it well, he could even blow up from the inside. Which was something that Eiro would prefer to avoid if he could. However, it also let him increase the impact of his punches quite a lot.

With the power of the cards fused into him, having the option of using them like that as well as the way they were intended to be used, Eiro was able to increase his arsenal quite a bit. But with that being the case, Eiro wasn't done yet. He had only just created two new functions for the system. Surely there were other things that he could add with his new ability.

Though, for that, he would most definitely have to analyse the symbols a bit better. The fact he was able to create these two was basically complete luck, though there were certainly things that he still wanted to add to the system if he could. A way to manage his ever-increasing servants would be nice. How he commanded them at the moment was anything but efficient.

With a smile on his face, Eiro got up from his seat, approaching the men in front of him. James and Krog were training, duelling as part of their daily combat practice.

"Oh? You joinin'?" Krog asked with clear surprise in his voice. Eiro slowly nodded.

"I do have a few new tricks up my sleeve that I would like to try out. Krog, do you mind? Maybe this would be a good opportunity to test out your defensive techniques."

The warrior quickly looked at James, with clear worry, bordering on fear, on his face, "Is he serious?"

James scoffed, crossing his arms while vacating the area, "How often have you heard him joke around?"

Muttering to himself, Krog grabbed the new part of his equipment that he was practicing with. Some chains. They were supposed to connect to his axes so that he could swing them around with his massive strength, but the chains themselves were also supposed to be used as something like bracers tied around his forearms.

Krog quickly did so, placing his arms in front of his upper body and face, "Alright, just get to it already."

"Hm... maybe make your defense a bit thicker," Eiro grinned, as the hammer in the mental library slammed down onto the ground. The demon could feel the shockwaves inside of his chest, moving them toward his hand. With a swift motion, Eiro pushed forward against Krog with his flat palm.