Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"Dona, you alright?" he asked.

She shook her head cutely and said: "Not alright, don\'t go away—come back. Just sleep beside me."

"You are so exhausted, yet I am still full of energy," he said, winking at her.

"That\'s…" Her face scrunched up. She said in grievance, "You are too strong, Dona is tired. My body can\'t move an inch, I feel so tired."

"That\'s what I said, weakling."

She looked at him with a wronged expression. "But you don\'t have to go away after we are done just because of that. Like the old times—you used to hug me and we just slept in silence after we got tired, can\'t you be like that when I am tired?"

Mark cracked his knuckles. "Clean yourself first."

Lazy tendrils of hot fire bathed both Mark and Dona and as it burned—so hot the air itself trembled—the liquids still across their bodies evaporated and they became clean.

Due to Dona\'s Resistance to her own flames, she wasn\'t hurt when she used it to clean herself. Due to Mark\'s Tier 2 Defensive Magic Aura, he couldn\'t be hurt with a Tier 1 attack either.

But of course, their liquids were just that, and that would evaporate in this degree of heat.

"I am clean, now come back," Dona demanded. "Hug me, I want to sleep."

Mark gave out his hand and she reluctantly raised her hand—she didn\'t want to move. He pulled her up and her eyes turned wide in surprise and anger. He pulled her into a princess carry. She didn\'t seem pleased.

"Mark!" She growled.

Mark leaned down and pecked her lips, she didn\'t open her mouth but he forced his tongue into her mouth. Black Water streamed into her mouth from his and she gulped it down. Her face regained more and more vitality but he kept making her drink it while kissing her.

After a while, they parted, Dona pouting.

"No longer tired, are you?"

"It\'s weird," she said, confused. "I am not tired but I am tired. Like, like, like, you know, my body doesn\'t feel sleepy but I want to sleep. I always want to sleep when I am around you."

Mark walked through the grassy plains, carrying her. He did notice one thing, even with how hot Dona\'s flames were, the grass in the Exchange didn\'t even have a slight singe on it. It was unburned.

The Exchange was no simple place.

"Of course, you feel sleepy. Your mind is tired, Dona."

"Mind?" she asked, nestling her head on his chest.

"You have a mind, and that mind controls your body. The mind is also what has feelings, like, you like being around me, don\'t you?"

She nodded.

"Of course, then you also feel secure and happy around me. That often makes people sleepy. I used to feel sleepy when I was around you as a demonling too, you were the strong one then after all."

Now, it was his time to giver her a sense of security.

"So my mind is the thing that is tired now…"

"Yes, sleep removes mental fatigue better than anything else, so you want to do that badly."

"Mark is more intelligent than Dona," she said, eyes wide. "So are we going to another place to sleep there?"

Mark looked at her. "Do you know what kind of demon you are, Dona?"

"Hmm, Flame Demon?" she asked, bringing out a tendril of fire out of her nose. She had some instinctive knowledge about herself.

"I mean, what level of demon? Tier."

"Hmm…" she took a long second, her eyelids growing heavy. "Dona is a Lower Demon?"

"Yes," he asked, "but what about Mark?"

"Mark is a Middle Demon. I heard you talking about it once."

"Okay. Doesn\'t Dona want to become a Middle Demon herself?"

She nodded. "Yes, you are too strong, I become tired easily in bed. And you go out without bringing me along because I am too weak, right? Reorrran told me."

"It\'s Reol\'ran." He sighed. "Did she tell you something when I wasn\'t around too?"

Dona nodded, looking sad.

Mark wanted to ask about that but decided otherwise. If it was Reol\'ran, she wouldn\'t really do something malicious against him or Dona. He had trust in that.

But even if he didn\'t ask, Dona still told him.

"Reol\'ran said you will leave me one day. She said that no matter what you say, if I am too weak, I will get abandoned. She said that I have to keep up with you at least in the earlier stages of evolution or I would just be an eternal burden."

"..." Mark.

"It\'s the truth, you will have to treat her like a vase if she isn\'t strong."

He coughed and looked at Dona. "Well, whatever but I want you to grow stronger, too. You are too weak now—can\'t even last lomg in bed. So, do you know how to become a Middle Demon?"

"How?" Dona asked, really wishing she could fall asleep.

Mark performed his Ultimate Demonic Art on his demoness.

Parasitic Dream Shock.

Dona\'s eyes widened and she fell into a short dream. In that dream, Mark was lying in a bed made of fluffy clouds, inviting her towards him.

"Come, my dear demoness. My love, fall into my chest, let\'s sleep. Sleep is good, sleepis wonderful, I also just wish to sleep," he called.

She ran towards him and fell into his embrace, he leaned down and whispered something sweet into her ears before they both fell... asleep among the clouds.

Such a fantastic dream, she didn\'t want to wake up.

The Parasitic Dream Shock ended.

She grimaced. "Mark! You, You… You!"

"I will let you slee, wait a second. Alright?" He blinked. "What I just used is what you can call an Ultimate Demonic Art. Only a Middle Demon or someone stronger than that can perform Ultimate Demonic Art. Lower Demons like you can only use demonic tricks."

She glared at him.

He grinned at her. "Usually, demons would be super dumb and won\'t have any intelligence to them when they are your level. But somehow, even those dumb Lower Demons realized how Ultimate Demonic Arts work and became Middle Demons. Whereas you? You, my Dona, are quite the anomaly already, having become very sentient. You can understand what it is easily."

She blinked, half of her sleepiness ruined already.

"What do I have to realize?"

"You have to realize how Ultimate Demonic Arts can be created."

"How is it created?"

Mark felt a headache coming on.

"Well, I know a better way."

He forced a kiss on her once more and as she was lazily—and sleepily—reciprocating it, he used one of his demonic tricks on her.

It was an intrusive demonic trick and in just a second, he was inside her mind.

Heart Input!

Dona\'s mind had changed quite a lot since the last time he came. Then, the only things she cared about—the only things she valued—were survival, himself, and cleanliness. But now, she cared a bit about a lot of things.

Mark\'s feelings, for one.

And then, it became too chaotic for him to read. She had become quite the complex individual.

As he tried to glean into this woman curiously, he noticed something else.

Watching love drama? Damnit.

She really liked watching love dramas!

He sighed. No need ro focus on that. Now that he was inside her mind, he could whisper thoughts into her.

He took a deep \'breath.\' He had to be delicate. He had to lead her to the answer of how Ultimate Demonic Arts are made without really telling it outright.

He didn\'t want to ruin her chance at that enlightenment.

If she realized how Ultimate Demonic Arts are made on her own, she would gain enlightenment and create her own Art right now!

He whispered his own understanding of Demonic Tricks into her mind for starters. She had to have some basics down after all.

"Demonic tricks are little gems inside our Soul Space. How demonic tricks turn into unique abilities are—when you pour mindpower into those little gems, they create the effects...."

He broke out of his daze and his consciousness appeared back in the Exchange, savoring Dona\'s lazy kiss as he did.

She blinked. "Mark, you won\'t believe this, I now know how our demonic tricks work. Like, like, all of a sudden I began thinking about it and I now know."

"You do?" Mark also blinked in surprise. "No way."

"Right?" she said, then patted his head. "Don\'t worry, I\'ll teach you." But she was even sleepier than before. "After I wake up, okay?"

He smirked.

Heart Input.

Once again, he was inside her mind.

This time, he explained to her even more of his understanding regarding demonic tricks. Since it was just like her own thoughts, it wasn\'t hard for her to understand his meaning, and a second later, he appeared back in the Exchange.

She blinked, then looked at him dubiously. She tilted her head.

"You are doing something, why are you growing dazed?"

"What?" he blinked.

"Hmm, I also feel like you entered inside me without my knowledge. You know, in a very weird way."

Mark choked on his spit.

"Really?"

She can feel it now?

Does that mean the more he used Heart Input on someone, the more they would be able to sense him do it?

Or…

Another thought made Mark blink in excitement.

Was Dona gaining a slight Resistance to Heart Input naturally because he had used it on her for quite some times now? Is gaining Resistance to other types of Tricks and abilities possible by using some abilities on oneself repeatedly?

If Dona burned him repeatedly, would he gain a Fire Resistance?

"I am so sleepy," Dona said.

"Don\'t sleep yet, Don," he demanded.

She growled. "Why are you like this?"

Heart Input.

He whispered the information about his own demonic tricks—Parasite and Dream Shock—into her mind this time.

When he came back out, Dona was blinking her eyes rapidly, a smug grin on her face.

"Your demonic tricks Parasite and Dream Shock are pretty good," she said smugly as if she had done some intelligent deduction.

He rolled his eyes and used Heart Input once more.

He whispered. "So, all the Demonic Tricks don\'t meet eye to eye. You can\'t make two demonic tricks mix into one because the closer they are to each other, the more they repel each other."

Heart Input!

"But the surprising thing is, for some reason, Mark\'s Ultimate Demonic Art, Parasitic Dream Shock is kinda similar to both Parasite and Dream Shock. Hmm…"

Now, if she thought why that was, she would realize that Ultimate Demonic Arts were just two Demonic Tricks fused into one to create a different, more powerful, combination ability.

If she figures that out, she would evolve!

Mark appeared back in the Exchange and looked at Dona\'s eyes, anticipation burning within him. Realize, realize!

She just had to understand that Parasitic Dream Shock was Parasite and Dream Shock combined!

"Hmm, weird," she said. "I wonder how Ultimate Demonic Art…" Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Ah, I know. I shouldn\'t think about it and should sleep."

Mark grimaced.

But then, she looked at him.

"But, isn\'t how Ultimate Demonic Art works simple? You don\'t know? Hm, you know? Parasite and..."

Black liquid, stinking badly, began to ooze out of her pores. She didn\'t seem to have noticed.

"Indeed, my Mark is a bit dumb. Just tell me how it works, I had to think by myself—so tired. I know how Ultimate Demonic Arts are made, I will tell yo…" She yawned, her eyelids growing too heavy to stay open. "I\'ll sleep."

She fell asleep in Mark\'s arms, black impurities oozing out of her as she evolved. He was once again drenched, but he smiled softly.

Dona had become a Middle Demon!

Inside Mark\'s World Space, Reol\'ran clicked her tongue in disbelief.

"You forcefully...enlightened her."