Extra's Path To Demon King-Chapter 460: Scheming Demon
Taking the six minor Kingdoms’ princes and princesses on a sailboat, he quietly escaped from that island; this time, he did not erase the traces of things that happened in that place. The mask had altered the core of his energy signature, making it different even from his half-demon transformation.
Even without the mask, he could assume two identities: one obviously himself, Axel Nomrad, and the other his demonic form. Because his demonic transformation itself makes him look like a completely different being, apart from his original self.
Even so, he used his mask to maintain utmost caution. If one of the kings ever decided to inspect any of his energy signatures. They might be able to gain more insight into it than anyone else, which is why Axel was protecting his original identity with two layers. For it could not be exposed; otherwise, he was doomed.
Heck, the kings might even decide to forcefully try and get information from his father if they found him suspicious, just like Mason Vex stated, which is why Axel had told his father the false story. Sometimes, to fool your enemy, you must fool those closest to you as well.
Axel didn’t know what kind of trump card his father was hiding, but, with or without it, he was but an initial 4th-phase Seeker. In this playground of monsters, his father was still too weak to be an active player.
Axel did not go through the ship for long, arriving at a bustling city. Using his masks feature, his figure transformed into a mundane person’s visage. Axel had many blood samples, allowing him to transform into anyone through his mask when the situation called for it.
Conner was surprised by Osiris’s sudden transformation. Before he could ask anything, he was ordered, "All of you, cover your faces and do not exude any energy. And follow me quietly."
The prince was again a bit surprised to hear Osiris speak in a normal human voice.
Axel kept walking, maneuvering through various street alleys in the busy city, which felt like a maze, then into an underground tunnel. A spatial gateway was set up there, which led directly to Ravenspire. Axel brought out an horrendous amount of magic crystals, then crushed them all with his demonic energy. Using that energy, he chanted an ancient phrase, thus activating the teleport gate.
Each teleportation needed the energy of at least a 4th-phase seeker. But he was not of that level; his mana wouldn’t work, so he had to use an immense amount of mana magic crystals to substitute for that energy. Thankfully, his pockets were quite deep at this point; otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to execute his plans from poverty alone.
Axel sighed and walked through to the other side, arriving on Ravenspire: the leading minor Kingdom and its central city, Ravana.
The six landed in a narrow corridor, and they felt disoriented for a small moment. Axel gestured to Conner, "Look up."
They all looked upwards towards the heavens. What they witnessed was the clash between a blinding sunlight and a decimating darkness. It was so large that it seemed to cover the entire heavens. On the side of the minor kingdoms, it was protected by the Black barrier, the barrier that no one could see, not even Axel.
So, what they were seeing was merely the tip of the iceberg of the 6th phase beings’ power—filtered through the gargantuan Black barrier.
Conner’s eyes trembled in terror and disbelief at the sheer inconceivable scale of that clash; it was like an ant witnessing a fight between two elephants. At this moment, he heard Osiris speak in a deep tone,
"You know, there is a saying where I come from. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
"That even an Ant can kill an Elephant."
He continued, "But that is a lie, one ant can never kill an Elephant, even a swarm of ants cannot kill a healthy and adult Elephant."
Conner’s face turned black as he understood what Osiris was trying to imply: the struggling Minor Kingdoms and their people were the ants; the three kings were the Elephant. He said through gritted teeth, "What are you trying to say?"
Osiris smiled, "But from a macro perspective, against the true powers of this continent, the three kings are merely the largest ants, and you lot are the smallest ones."
Osiris turned to the six, "A small ant may not be able to kill an Elephant, but it can kill the largest Ant. It does have the potential for it."
"You lot should have realized by now that inside of you. Some things inside of you and your soul sanctum are different. You feel more powerful, don’t you? Like something about your foundations has changed?" asked Osiris.
Conner and the others nodded reluctantly, with a trace of uncertainty, a fear inside.
Osiris snapped his fingers, the black crystal-like seed of Despair became visible on their foreheads, and a trace of the demonic power contained within them began to flow through their veins. Instead of the mana and its various applications, which they had used all of their lives.
As they tasted the unfathomable and profane depth of Osiris’s demonic energy. A root of power that went deeper than anything else they had ever felt.
He chuckled, "I have planted a fragment of my demonic energy inside all of you. For one, this makes you all obedient to my commands. But I don’t intend to treat any of you like slaves. While there are some things you need to do for me. But otherwise, I will not interfere with your lives."
But then Osiris explained with a dark gleam in his eyes, "However, for you, the most important thing to note is that you lot now have the bloodline of one of the two strongest races within the continent. Of course, now it is like a small flicker of flame. It is your own will on how you grow it and what you’re willing to burn to transform it into something greater."
His tone became nearly demonic again, "Do you know this city was named in honor of the 4th Valkyrie. The original Lightbringer." Osiris pointed towards the light in the skies, "Would it not be interesting if one day the one who inherited a fragment of her power? had their blood spilled on this very city?"
"Yet, the question remains, what price you’re willing to pay to achieve that goal. Answer that to yourselves, not to me," stated Axel.
The cold wind blew on their faces, while the crowd of minor Kingdoms all around screamed and cheered, seeing the light of the Suncrest King being cut by the darkness. Most of them did not know what was going on. But they hated the Great Kingdoms to their very core.
Because there was a huge gap in the lifestyles of normal humans between the Minor Kingdoms and the Great Kingdoms, the Minor Kingdoms were always impoverished; they served as the mundane workforce for the Great Kingdoms.
So, their hate was, in fact, very much justified.
A long stretch of silence took over, while the expression on Conner’s face remained filled with hope, anxiousness, disbelief, determination, and perhaps countless more. The other five broken princes and princesses also wore an array of complicated emotions.
Axel handed over an envelope to Conner, who was lost in thought. He walked past them towards the teleportation gate they had come from. He ordered, "Go to the Southern edge of the city. Someone is there waiting for you."
"Oh, and you’re not allowed to say that I could control you lot. Or about the demon bloodline. Or anything relevant. They only need to know that I’m a part of the Demon Ghost Subspecies. Only try to convince your kings to let me join the war on your side. Nothing more and nothing less," iterated Osiris as he left through the gate.
The silence that was left in Osiris’s absence was deafening. Too many things had happened in such a short amount of time. Except for Conner, most didn’t even know about the academy attack. Only when they were being tortured did they come to know of the brutal plan of their fathers.
It was only their bad luck that the High-Lich in charge of the operation had lost, and they were not able to escape, thus being afflicted by endless torture sessions as criminals, accomplices of one of the most heinous acts against humanity.
Conner said to the rest of them, "Let’s go."
They needed a long time to come to terms with their current situation; their path ahead could not be decided on impulse.
But little did they know, every word spoken by Axel was a manipulation of the highest caliber. From start to finish, everything he did was for a greater purpose: to guide them onto a single path subtly. They never really had any other choice from the start.
Other than to become loyal disposable minions of the Demon Osiris from the start. After all, Axel was the very man who stopped their escape and perhaps was the prime reason behind why they were tortured in the first place—the very one who shattered the flawless plan of the Minor Kingdoms.
