Demon Lord's Reincarnation

While Kretos was regaining his memories and a few years have already passed in his memories, in the real world only an hour had passed. Alphonso was having a bit of difficulty adjusting the speed on the ancient relic he stole from a self-proclaimed God of time. He wanted to make the flow of time in Kretos's dream world faster so that he would wake up sooner. Yet no matter what he did he couldn't get the artifact to work as he wanted. 

"This is going to be tougher than I expected. I would've studied this thing properly if I knew that I would need to actually use it one day." Most of Alphonso's collections were things even he had no knowledge of how to use. All he really wanted them for was the joy of seeing his collection grow. He also liked the feeling of collecting such rare artifacts, from dangerous places and individuals. 

'I guess I have no choice but to slowly figure out how to make this thing work more efficiently.'

...

As Alphonso was trying to figure out how to speed things up with Kretos's awakening, back in Rulwarry, Institute Of The Arcane, Afeus was having his own problems. 

After Kretos's disappearance, a whole night had already passed. Henrietta visited early in the morning to see if his beloved sp*rm donor had returned. Afeus shook his head and answered. 

"He hasn't been back ever since you teleported him away." 

"I see... So what do you think happened to him?" Henrietta suddenly asked Afeus. Surprised by the question Afeus was momentarily stunned before he started thinking about it seriously. After a moment of silence, Afeus answered. 

"Kretos has always been a man of mystery, the first time I met him was in Kerrolan Forest. He was in some sort of deep sleep. The monsters there all seem to actively avoid him as if sensing how powerful he was. He wasn't even emitting any bloodlust or mana at the time. Yet the moment he released a tiny bit of his mana I knew immediately that he had an incredible mana supply. It seems from the moment he woke up to yesterday his mana was increasing gradually. It seems to fluctuate whenever he remembers something from his past. I think every time he remembers something his mana increases greatly, and yesterday's increase was too much too handle and it got a hold of him."

Henrietta nodded her head from time to time as she listened to Afeus's hypothesis. She looked at Afeus and became a bit interested in the man who was supposedly the closest friend Kretos had in the institute. 

"Is that so, can you tell me about his memory loss. He did say he could not remember who he was, but it seems like he still remembers some basic things like his name and such."

Afeus then told Henrietta of the day he met Kretos and what he knew about the man. Once he was done retelling his story, Henrietta's assistant arrived and she was carrying a majestic looking chair. She placed the chair behind Henrietta who without questioning it sat down. 

"So that's how it is... I believe that his memory loss isn't as simple as you think it is. It might be related to his soul."

"His soul?" 

"You see based on my family's research, mana inside a human being is a combination of one's soul and life force. We know little to nothing about the soul, but we know a bit about mana. Which made my ancestor quite curious about it. After researching on supposed soul techniques, my ancestor figured out that this supposed soul techniques affected not only the invisible soul but one's mana as well. Based on what you told me about Kretos, I think someone has used a powerful soul attack on him making not only his mana unstable but also affecting his memories."

As Henrietta was explaining her theory on why Kretos lost his memories, someone barged into the dorm room. Henrietta's assistant standing behind her frowned at the newcomer.

"Afeus you got to see this... Hmm, what's happening here?" Mia who entered the room without warning was confused as she saw a large out of place chair in the middle of the room, and a woman glaring at her. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Mia Swallow." Henrietta stood up from the chair and curtsied at Mia. When Mia saw the woman in front of her, she showed a surprised expression for a second before returning to a more neutral expression. 

"No, the pleasure is mine, Lady Henrietta Wolfstein. I wonder, what could the noble lady of the Wolfstein family want with my cute little student?"

"Nothing much, I just came here to talk about my lover, Kretos." When Mia heard Henrietta's answer she was truly shocked. The woman who was voted as the best wife candidate by the men in the Capital, actually proclaimed that Kretos a man with unknown origins was her lover. This was something that would make the men in the capital of Serbek want to cry tears of blood. 

"..." Mia wanted to say something but she was too shocked by the news that no words came out of her mouth. Henrietta then passed by her and was about to leave, but before she did, she spoke to Afeus and Mia. 

"It was nice talking to you Afeus, and Professor Mia once again it was a pleasure to meet you. I would have wanted to talk to you more, but I have another meeting I need to attend to." Henrietta bowed her head slightly and left. 

After a moment of silence, Mia exploded. "What the heck was that?! Is she really Kretos's lover?! When did that happen?! Why did it happen?!" Mia's face came close to Afeus's who started blushing. He couldn't help himself, to see such a pretty face so close to his. He then pushed Mia back and answered. He started explaining what happened yesterday. 

"So much has happened... I see..." Mia became quiet as she started pondering about something. Afeus waited for her to say something more, but when it was clear that she was in her own little world, Afeus spoke first. 

"Umm, Professor, why did you come here so early in the morning? It seems like you were about to say something important."

When Mia heard Afeus's voice she was taken away from her own thoughts. She then remembered why she came here so early in the morning. 

"Oh right, you should see this, here are the names of the participants from our school for the upcoming tournament." Afeus read the list of names, and there were quite a few more than he expected. Obviously Kretos's name was also there, but then he saw a name he wasn't expecting to be there. 

"Why is my name among the participants?!"