บท 4: The Devil Within

If you looked on a map you would see that a huge kingdom was located south of the Holy Alas Empire. This kingdom rivaled the Holy Alas Empire in power. This kingdom belongs to the devils and was know as the Infernum kingdom. At the center of the kingdom was the capital city of Medietas. The city spanned 180 miles (289.68 km) in every direction and the architecture style resembled the ancient Romans except that it was grander and more majestic. The walls of this empire were 500 meters tall and 250 meters thick and surrounded the city in a hexagon.

There were 5 gates to leave the city and the city was filled with people of the devil bloodline. But if you looked closely you would see human slaves. They hosted gladiator fights between angels or angles vs beasts that they found or captured. Some of the angels were prisoners of war. The fights would get bloody, like the last fight where a young angle had its wings ripped off from a beast three times its size. The blood squirted out from the angels back as it screamed in gut-wrenching agony. The beast toyed with the angel like a cat that toys around with a mouse. The crowd would go wild when saw these scenes.

The one thing you did notice was that there were was law and order. There was very little crime because the devils believed in rules and laws on the surface. But in reality, devils loved to use loopholes in their contracts and would like to use the rules to their advantage. They would try to outwit each other as they loved to cheat each other. But the one thing they couldn't stand where angels and demons.

In a huge palace that stretched out for a 1 mile (1.6km) long and was 1200 meters wide. Surround by an imposing metal fence that was covered in Salvon words. The king Septimus was talking with his right-hand man.

Septimus was 7 feet tall. He was wearing a white buttoned shirt with a black vest on. With black pants and shiny black shoes. He had an athletic body which wasn't as muscular like the Emperor Sanctus. He had red hair and dark black eyes with seven-inch horns coming out from his forehead. His bat wings where 8 feet long which shined a metallic black, the same color as his sharp tail. He had a sheathed saber on his left side. He had a captivating face that went well with his sharp jawline. He had a small goatee and mustache.

"You're telling me that you sensed the bloodline ritual of a devil possibly the bloodline of the original 4 households?" Septimus left eyebrow raised as he finished talking.

"Yes, but it was coming at the border between our kingdom and the Holy Alas Empire. We don't have enough information, but this could be a trap."

"Even if it's a trap, you can't fake the bloodline ritual. The bloodline was strong if it could be sensed for thousands of miles around and if we can get a hold of this bloodline we can tip the balance in our favor against the angles. We need to take the risk and capture the high-blood even if it's a trap. Send the grim riders and tell them If they can't get the high blood then don't come back" the last sentence was filled with killing intent as the king walked away.

Meanwhile deep in a forest, a man of average height was walking in the forest. He had black hair that was spiked to the side. He had light brown skin and was wearing black boots, loose black pants, a plain white shirt and a trench coat. Behind him was a corpse of a dragon that had been cut in half, its guts spilling out and its eyes filled with dread. The man early had rushed from afar after he sensed the bloodline of the azure demon fox. The dragon had blocked his path, so he got rid of it.

With a frown on his face, he looked towards the direction of where he sensed the ritual.

"I guess it's time to fulfill my promise to Aidan Ryland." He didn't seem happy about it and his voice sounded conflicted

Especially after he felt the presences of the devil ritual next to the demon fox ritual. He knew that if he could sense it then so could the angels and devils. It would've been fine if it was only the demon fox but with the devil ritual involved then it would attract the attention of powerful people. His job was to protect the demon fox and not the devil. But this unexpected situation meant that the bloodline holder of the demon fox would be in danger.

He was stuck in the spirit beast forest where countless powerful existence lived. He had to rush towards where he sensed the ritual before trouble struck but he also had to makes sure he got there in one piece.

"Fuck you Aidan! This is the last time I make a deal with Ryland family!" He gritted his teeth as he ran.

His speed caused the sound barrier to break! The man rushed through the forest as he ran into spirit beast after spirt beast fighting his way towards Lucas location thousands of miles away. All these events happened at around the same time. Luca and John were unaware that their peaceful lives would never be the same.

Now back in the skill shard where Luca is training, he's about to learn the drain skill. The demon fox looks at John as he starts transforming into a human shape like a werewolf but with fox features. When Luca saw him transform his eyes almost popped out.

"WOW!" Luca couldn't help but shout out in surprise!

The demon fox saw his reaction as he finished his transformation and was wearing a smug smile.

"I never introduce myself, you can call me Damien. Every noble bloodline can transform into a humanoid shape, so this isn't anything to be surprised about."

Even though he said that he raised his chin up.

"Let's get started! When you use drain you have to have physical contact. You use your hands, one is fine but two is faster. From there you stab your claws into the target. Once all five claws are in, you say the word drain in demon tongue. If done correctly you claws will suck their pyramidal energy into your body. It's that simple but it will take time to adjust to the feeling of pulling primordial energy from someone into you"

"Ummm …. I don't know demon tongue." Luca awkwardly replied

Damien was stunned and as his ears turned red from embracement. He forgot that demon tongue was rarely taught to outsiders and even worse demons where hated by everyone. Even if you did learn it, you couldn't use it unless you had demon blood in you. So the demon tongue was ignored by everyone. He coughed as he regained his composure.

"It doesn't matter Ill teach later but for now this how you pronounce drain in demon tongue"

Like that Luca spent most of his time learning how to pronounce drain in demon tongue and learning the drain skill. Demon tongue sounded wild and sinister when spoken. It was hard to pronounce and most of his time was spent trying to pronounce it. The good news was that Luca was barely able to learn the drain skill just before Damien told him that it was almost night.

Luca was curious about this weird world and ask Damien how it worked. Damien told him that the shard was special. That it was different from most skill shards. He wasn't sure what it was made from. He did know that it was a pocket dimension that almost followed the same rules as the normal world. The exceptions where that time flowed two times faster and it only allowed souls and you're conscious to enter. If one day passed in the real world then two days passed in the pocket dimension.

Luca felt that it was too cool for words as he left the skill shard by retracting his conscious. When he left Damien was conflicted by his situation. He didn't put his soul here on purpose that damn Aidan Ryland had forced him to leave a part of his soul here to train whoever found the book. He was a prisoner in this shard and over time he lost his sense of time. The only bright side was his soul would be released the moment Luca became a peak sovereign cultivator. Damien would try his damn hardest to leave this wretched prison.

When Luca left the skill shard he caught John with a bleak lifeless expression with fear in his eyes.

"What's wrong John?"

John was awakened from this as he looked towards Luca. With a rigid expression, John looked at how happy Luca was. He didn't want to tell him the awful truth he learned and what he would become in the future, so he lied.

"It's nothing! It's just that I think I ate something spoiled, my stomach hurts." John rubbed his stomach.

"Are you okay? Let's go home maybe my mom can help." Luca looked worried

"Its okay, my mom will know what to do, let's go"

With that they left home, worried about John, Luca offered to carry John home. John refused, insisting that he was alright. Luca walked John home before he went to his house. When John got into his room he collapsed on the floor.

"You looked happy and I know how kind you are, I couldn't tell you the truth." His voice was shaking and his eyes were moist as teardrops fell down his cheeks. Before long he was crying his heart out.

When John went into the skill shard he met a big 8-foot-tall female devil. It had dark black flames coming out of its body. It had a sinister feeling around it as it looked at John with an evil grin.

"So, it's you who will plant the seeds of chaos into this world! Hahaha, excellent" It laughed with great joy.

John was confused and scared as he looked at the big devil in front of him. It was too much for him to handle as his leg where shaking. It talked again

"From what I see you aren't much, well that doesn't matter. You will inherit my will even if you don't want to. After all, you have our blood in you. It's in your nature to cause chaos and destruction. Don't worry you will feel pleasure from the destruction!"

John was overwhelmed and confused but he managed to speak.

"What are you talking about?!"

The devil looked at the child in pity realizing that he was unaware of the truth.

"Don't you know what kind of devil we are?"

His voice shaking John responds.

"Inferno devils."

The devil starts laughing as if it hard the funniest joke in the world.

"That poor Ronan Ryland fella for it, he actually fell for it! He thought he found the inferno devil when in fact it was a chaos devil in disguise! I bet he full-heartedly believed that after he sealed a part of my soul here" She laughed so hard that tears were forming in her eyes.

She had felt depression and anger when Ronan killed her and destroyed most of her soul only leaving a small strand of her soul in the skill shard.

"Poor boy, the chaos devils are special. Where the only devils that are driven by pure emotions. We dislike law and order and only feel disdain for other devils that love law and order. We have a passion for death and destruction. If you don't believe me just wait and you will soon know the truth. Your urge to kill and destroy will only grow stronger by the day. Once you give in to your urges, you'll experience pleasure like never before. Once you experience it, you want more, you will crave for more of it! The more destruction you cause the bigger the sensation. You will crave it like a drug!" There was a crazed look in her eyes as she spoke.

John felt despair as he remembered that in the morning when he awoke he had a small urge to destroy something. He thought he was just tired and was imagining things. But later in the day when he saw a dog rip apart a cat, he felt excited, too excited that he soon snapped out of it, as he immediately looked away.

He now knew why and was sinking into the pits of despair. He wanted to believe that it wasn't true but deep down he knew. That was killing him inside. He wanted to believe that he was stronger, but it was only a matter of time before something happened.

"I will teach how to harness your powers and experience an utmost pleasure!"

John was in denial even if he knew that it was pointless, he wanted to resist. He pulled his conscious out of the shard and looked at the floor as he did his best to get himself together. But he couldn't and was in a struggle of not knowing what to do. A part of him, his human self, resisted but he was losing to the devil within him. He was awoken from this struggle when Luca called out to him. Now in his room, he still didn't know what to do. As the depression started to consume him.