Azaroth nearly smiled. Of course. What is training without some slice of death? He should have known. It seemed like a trap. You need to be in danger to train the essence shield, and it might not even activate.

He shook his head.

The others murmured among themselves, and Stallus asked, "What’s to happen now?"

Crypt Master gestured, and power gathered around him, and his will pressed down, shaping the technique he was using.

Suddenly they plunged down so fast they had to close their eyes as the air blurred and rushed into their faces. The ground rose to meet them sharply, but just as it was about to hit them, everything changed again, and they found themselves on top of a rough mountain.

They staggered as the power vanished and they were left standing there as if it was where they had been before all along.

"A..." Alex coughed as he said, "A little warning would have been appreciated, Crypt Master."

Crypt Master laughed. "What’s the fun in that? Curious! Curious! The fun is seeing your stunned faces!"

Azaroth ignored them and looked around instead. The place they were in was made of dark brown rock. The ground was mostly smooth, as if it was made that way, because no way a mountain top would be this smooth.

Crypt Master manifested his shield again. It glowed in the sun, and he focused on them. "I will now demonstrate how you can use your shield. Obviously, since shields are different from each other, the mode of attacking might also be different or not possible."

Crypt Master gripped the head of his shield and lifted the whole thing with his right hand. Like an oversized sword, he brought it down hard.

Power flared, the shield cut into the surface of the mountain, and bit down hard. It sounded with a loud boom as the ground split in a zigzag.

Crypt Master laughed, and then he made the rock stand like a wall. He jumped high and sent his shield like an arrow. It snapped forward, blurring into the air, and when it hit the wall, the whole thing crumpled and shattered forward.

But his shield also lost its form and collapsed.

"You see that? Do you?" Crypt Master asked.

They had, and they understood what he meant by using a shield as a weapon. The power in that shield when he used it to attack would have crushed them.

"You should understand the nature of shields. They are not meant to be far from you. But you should also understand that there are some shields that could be projected forward, like used far away without collapsing as you saw mine did," Crypt Master told them.

"Now, to know the power of shields," Crypt Master looked at them, his eyes scanning each of them until they came to rest on Azaroth. And he grinned.

"I will lend you some power, Azaroth. I want you to use it to fire an attack at me," Crypt Master said.

Azaroth looked at him. He didn’t understand. Not fully. What did he mean he was going to lend him some power? Is that even possible? Will that affect him negatively?

Crypt Master laughed. Seriously, Azaroth was getting tired of him laughing. It was slowly grating on his nerves. "What do you mean, Crypt Master?"

"Exactly as I said it. I will lend you some power and you will launch an attack at my shield." Crypt Master flew up and back. He floated some distance away and planted his shield solidly on the ground.

Then something floated from him, a small sphere of energy that twisted and seemed to bend the air around it. The energy ball hovered atop Azaroth’s head and he looked at the purple energy before he felt the power slam into him.

It rushed into his veins, it reached his fire core, and he groaned as his core filled up immediately. But his chaos core took the power and drank from it greedily.

Azaroth opened his eyes and they shone bright red, blazing blood red. His aura swelled, and black-red smoke, the manifestation of his aura, started to come out of him.

The Crypt Master took one look at him and laughed and laughed. "Curious!" He shouted. "You are still alive?"

Azaroth understood him. The power he lent him was too powerful, too potent for his level. But since his chaos core was currently drinking from it, there was little harm to him personally.

Azaroth clenched his teeth, and his aura whipped the air around him. Then the temperature rose as heat rolled off him like a mini sun.

The team left him and ran back, far from the heat that was scorching their skin from so far away. The ground around Azaroth was melting, and energy crawled around him in angry red.

His mind was clear though, and Azaroth looked at the Crypt Master. "Did you actually just try to kill me?" he asked. His voice boomed between them, carrying shockwaves that caused the wind to blow.

Crypt Master laughed, but this time weariness entered it. "Just curiosity! But see, no harm to you! You are using the power well, Azaroth. But don’t forget that it will be for a little while."

"Oh?" Azaroth asked. He wished he could use his chaos thread then. To crush the Crypt Master where he was standing, but even with the power that was filling his head, and maybe because of it, he knew how powerful the Crypt Master was.

It was unbelievable. Underneath his human guise was energy that twisted around itself terribly. But still, Azaroth felt anger, both old and new.

Crypt Master just admitted that he meant to kill him because of his curiosity. This was the problem with people of power; they had no care. Nothing else mattered to them except their own doings.

This was the same as the Inferno Legion, and this was the reason why he also wanted power.