To grow and develop, living beings need two things. A surplus of energy and time.
Asmodeus was free from one of those constraints.
As long as he could gather the necessary energy surplus, the prodigy could accelerate his own growth.
By stealing Syndra’s energy, he had accelerated his body’s growth to the point of being able to walk and move around.
Then, by draining eighteen Incubi of the entirety of their Life Force, as well as taking what little energy remained in the six that Syndra had defeated, Asmodeus accelerated his growth to around nine to ten years into the future.
As soon as he took in that energy, Asmodeus could feel that a massive change was coming. A dark, purplish energy shrouded his body as it began to change.
The transformation was confusing on two fronts.
Firstly, because of what Asmodeus saw while enveloped in that dark, purplish mana.
They were images, visions, of a past he had not lived.
Back when he and Nyl were still one, Asmodeus would receive visions, from time to time, of whatever Nyl was doing, looking at, or thinking about.
This felt similar, but he could tell that these visions did not come from Nyl.
Accompanying these visions were feelings of deep sorrow and shame, which left a disquieting, acrid taste on Asmodeus’s tongue.
The second confusing point was, surprisingly, more difficult to wrap one’s head around.
The smoke around Syndra had already settled and faded by the time that Asmodeus had dealt with the Incubi and grown.
He turned towards her, stepped closer, and opened his mouth to call her name... But stopped.
’What is this?’ Asmodeus asked himself, a frown appearing on his face.
He could not tell where it originated from exactly. His stomach? His chest? His head?
Regardless, a strange, foreign sensation permeated throughout his body, and grew stronger the more he laid eyes on Syndra’s lying, unmoving body.
This peculiar sensation was entirely new.
’It must be an effect of my body growing.’
All of a sudden, her long hair, of a deep blue not unlike that of the ocean’s depth, scattered around her and over the ground did not leave him indifferent.
The contours of her waist and breasts, highlighted by the tight blouse, looked, or rather felt, completely different.
The cuts in her clothing due to the Incubi’s attacks were of utmost interest, as the meatier parts of her thighs were not only visible through those cuts but seemingly popping out of them, spilling and overflowing.
’My body is reacting differently to hers. Why?’ Asmodeus asked himself while staring at his palm.
All that the child knew so far came through the visions of Nyl, of what she thought, what she heard, or saw.
Because he had been semi-conscious while the two were still one, Asmodeus could hear her thoughts, and that allowed him to learn language.
Because he heard Nyl’s conversation with Saphyra, when the daughter told the mother about her time in the Human Realm, Asmodeus knew of the ocean, its color, and how similar Syndra’s hair shade was to it.
Still, there were many concepts that Asmodeus wasn’t familiar with, either because Nyl didn’t think about them, because she didn’t speak or hear about them, or simply because he was asleep at the time.
"Hm..."
Unable to move his gaze away from Syndra’s body, the child walked closer and circled around to her head.
The worst part about that sensation is that it did not push him towards doing or wanting anything. It was simply there.
Asmodeus bent down and tapped Syndra’s forehead with a finger.
She sighed, and the child realized that he did not want her to die, though he could not tell why exactly.
"Are you alright?" Asmodeus ended up asking.
***
"I’m telling you, it would be better if you put some clothes on," Syndra repeated. "You can steal that Incubus’ clothes. See, even Incubi wear clothes."
"I see no reason to do so." The child responded while taking long strides forward, his incredibly long and luscious hair swaying from side to side. "I was born naked, and I will remain so until I find a curious reason to weigh myself down with useless garments."
"Well!" Syndra ran to join his side. "If you don’t put them on for yourself, do it for me, how about that? I would be a lot more comfortable if you did."
Asmodeus turned towards her, his face holding an expression of disgust. "I should change myself for your comfort?"
The Succubus decided to drop the subject. It wasn’t going anywhere.
The child might have grown physically, but he was as stubborn as ever.
’Ugh...’ Syndra scratched her head. ’I need to remind myself that he’s less than a day old, constantly.’
That was also part of the reason why she had forgiven him for forcing her to fight or for keeping her from teleporting away... Or for bringing her to the point of being certain she was going to die.
’He is less than a day old! I need to take everything he does or says with a grain of salt! It’s not his fault that he’s a selfish prick! All babies are!’
Syndra was turning out to be a rather good parental figure, though for how long their relationship would remain of that nature, well...
"So?" Syndra raised an eyebrow, hands resting on her hips. "What about the river?"
Asmodeus stared at the tarry liquid from a couple of steps away.
He took a deep breath and felt goosebumps rising all over his skin.
"Alright." He turned around. "Let’s go back."
Syndra remained frozen in place as Asmodeus walked towards the last remaining Incubus.
"N-Now?" The Succubus complained. "Why? We can stay as long as you want now! We’re not in danger now!"
"Don’t worry." Asmodeus crouched in front of the unconscious Incubus. "We’ll be back."
"Ugh..." She rubbed her forehead. "What about that piece of shit? What are you planning to do with it?"
"I’m keeping him." The child said as his hand reached for the Incubus’s head. "I believe they call them Pets in the Human World." He explained while dragging the unconscious Incubus from the hair.
"Sure, whatever." Syndra sighed. "Let’s just hope Nyl forgives me and doesn’t choke me to death."
"She won’t," Asmodeus interjected. "I won’t let her hurt you."