The reaper of souls stood in front of the window, not moving a muscle, and then after a while everyone felt his voice appear in their heads once more.
"Introduce yourself with your title. I'll start: I'm the reaper of souls. The strongest demon in this place."
Akira frowned, "Why with your titles? And not your names?" he inquired.
"We haven't recognized you yet. Telling you our name has dire consequences; unlike humans, in the demon world, names play a significant role," Reaper slowly explained.
Then the other four demons stood up; first the beautiful woman bowed slightly with a teasing smile on her face. "I'm the infernal tempest."
Akira was slightly dissatisfied with their attitude, but they were of a different race and had different cultures, so he decided to let it slide this time.
After the infernal tempest sat down, "I'm the bloodthirsty reaver." A massive demon wearing spiked armor said, his voice was hoarse, and he looked down at Akira, not showing an ounce of respect.
Once he sat down, the next demon stepped forward. "I'm the warden of torment," a skeletal figure wrapped in chains bluntly said.
Akira turned toward the last demon who was still standing. "Whispering shade," she said as she sat down as well.
Akira sighed; it seemed that these guys totally didn't respect him. "Why did you all come out then when I opened the gates? Last time you just stayed back like wimps," he mocked.
When the four demons heard this, they all glared at Akira, some even grasping their weapons and emitting terrifying amounts of killing intent.
Which all centered around Akira, who seemed totally unaffected by it all. 'It seems the dream has affected me more than I would like to admit,' he mused.
With all that killing intent aimed at him, he stayed completely composed, as if these terrifying demons were mere puppies fighting for attention from their owner.
Infernal Tempest raised an eyebrow, and with a seductive smile, she stared at Akira. "Well, that's because we hadn't received permission to go from Reaper of Souls."
Akira turned his head and looked at the demon standing next to the window with a frown.
"We are demons, not humans; we respect the strong, and you were using the abilities of our previous master completely wrong, so of course I couldn't let them go out."
"I guess that makes sense," Akira muttered.
"Ask away. I know you followed me to ask me some questions. I'll answer a couple, and then you can leave. Prove yourself worthy of our service by defeating that goddess." Reaper of Souls said.
The other demons nodding along at the words that echoed in their heads, all of them agreed with Reaper's terms.
Akira sighed, "Fine, what was that dream? If it was even a dream. And why did I see your crown appear in it?" He could finally find out some things that had been bothering him ever since that dream.
"It's rather simple; that dream is your forgotten past. You blocked your own memories, and I helped you a little by unlocking them. Fully remembering them, however, is impossible for me."
Akira sat on his chair, letting the words that Reaper had just said sink in; his suspicions were correct. Those were indeed his memories.
"Do you know why they were blocked?" he inquired.
"Hard to say, but it felt like you blocked them out of trauma," Reaper said, after thinking for a while.
"Trauma." Akira muttered, It did make sense; what he had seen was indeed very intense. And all that happened to him as a small child.
"Another thing, why do I feel so different when something serious happens? Does that also have to do with trauma?" Akira asked, Was it during both dreams, the one Freya had induced and the one the reaper of souls had started?" He felt like a completely different person, as if some invisible barrier had shattered.
But he doesn't lose control or anything; it feels more like he becomes a perfect version of himself, as if his human limits vanished.
Reaper of Souls stared at Akira for a while. 'It seems there's more to him than meets the eye,' he thought.
"That I do not know; this is the first time I have seen something like that. If I had known that before, I would have strengthened the dream realm," he explained.
"Well, thanks for the answers, but I'll be going now. I need to hunt that goddess down to get the medicine to my grandma." Akira said as he vanished from his spot through a door.
The demons all looked at each other, smiling. "So, Reaper, is that what you meant by it's not the real him?" Infernal Tempest asked.
Reaper nodded, vanishing right after.
"It seems he'll be able to kill her soon. I guess I should prepare to welcome him as the leader." Stated the Warden of Torment, grasping his weapon, he also left the room.
The other three demons also left the room one after the other, all of them deep in thought about Akira.
They had closely observed his battle against the goddess and were rather impressed at how fast he improved. Especially when his eyes turned crimson, the difference was like day and night.
He had completely overwhelmed the goddess, even going as far as toying with her, and while he did let her escape, that was mostly because he hadn't expected her to run away so fast.
As grins spread across their faces, they hurried back to their own territories to go on a rampage, seeing Akira's battle had inspired them, and now they desperately wanted to battle.
All except the Reaper of Souls, whom he saw atop the massive castle in the deepest part of hell. Looking around aimlessly.
***
After Akira stepped out of the door, it vanished without a trace, and he looked around to see where he was.
There was no one around, and it was dark outside with the moon visible high in the sky. "Busy day today," he muttered to himself.
Taking his phone from his pocket and opening the GPS app, he promptly made his way back to the hotel.