Sovereign of the Karmic System

The air of which the guillotine was previously made out of quickly brushed past Sewah’s face, but before it could dissipate, it morphed once again into healing essence which slowly seeped into his injuries, and began to repair his body.

Muscle fibers, shattered bones, and destroyed organs started to regenerate at a surprising speed. His dark colored bruises quickly disappeared, as the swelling that made his face unrecognizable deflated, leaving space for the usually scarred skin to reappear in its place.

While all of this happened, Sewah kept one of his hands up against his eyes, almost as if in an attempt to cover his emotional state.. Or to prevent Daniel from seeing the two tears that followed the path of the first two.

"If you really want to know, I can teach you.." Said Daniel while still looking away.

Sewah did not respond for a few minutes, and instead allowed Daniel to heal him completely. Only then did he get up to a sitting position, and after brushing his face with his right hand, he asked "What do I do now?"

As soon as these five words reached his ears, a genuine smile formed on Daniel’s face. He then turned around, and looked as Sewah with a face filled with seriousness. "An absurd cheat ability may allow one to walk a lonely path, but a normal cultivator will always need somebody. Be it family, friends, or companions." He said in a casual tone, aimed to break the moody atmosphere, and show Sewah that there was a lot to learn about his new life.

"Between cultivators, an agreement is sacred. If you don’t respect your end of the deal, you need to be powerful enough to face the consequences." He said as Sewah finally turned to look back at him. He then added "As of now, you still owe me a thousand years."

Daniel’s intention was to free Sewah of this debt if he would have behaved a little more humanly.. After all, he had always despide slavery. However, he had changed his mind now. It was obvious to him that in this state, Sewah would never survive in the outside world. He would cause a ruckus for a few days, maybe weeks.. But without his power, and as a rogue demon outcast that roamed the universe, he would end up dead sooner or later.

No matter how long Daniel had thought about it, in the end, Sewah was born out of his decisions. If he hadn’t climbed that tree, if he hadn’t picked that fruit, if he hadn’t created a system.. None of this would have happened. Sewah’s whole existence, character, and sufferings, were all caused by him.. And he felt a certain amount of responsibility for him. Sewah had never had someone that could teach him how to be a person, and that job, would require time.

After a long minute spent in silence, Sewah finally stood back up, and with an audible amount of resolution, said "What now?"

"Now? Now I show you how to gain a powerful ally.. Prepare yourself."

-----

One hour earlier, halfway between the core of hell, and the beastmasters faction’s territory.

The path that lead from a territory to the core of hell, was called ’The Pilgrimage’. While teleportation platforms existed, it was tradition in hell to pay respect to demonkind’s forefathers by traveling the whole distance by carriage, or by foot. Be it lone powerful demons, or the representatives of a families and factions.

The symbolism behind this action was only one of the two major reasons why ’The Pilgrimage’ existed. The second reason, on the other hand, was a lot more important. The problem with teleportation was that, during the period in which the signing of the demonic pact would usually take place, for some reason, the spatial essence in hell became unstable. Many demonic families had attempted teleportation as a method of traveling to the core of hell, but all of those who had tried, had never returned.

Nobody could remember why the date of the signing of the demonic pact had been set to that odd and specific period of time, nor why there was one to begin with.. but since hell was a mystical dimension of which not even the demons that lived in it knew much about, they had decided to follow it regardless.. After all, traditions kept hell’s inhabitant mostly civilized.

The convoy composed of hundreds of families, as well as the Beastmaster faction’s main force, was currently halfway through their pilgrimage, and that was despite the very long time they had spent on the road.

Not many demon could be seen outside of the carriages except for the younger ones, who preferred to spend their time interacting with each other, than to wait inside the carriages of their families like most of the powerful demons did.

The aerial units of the beastmaster faction were constantly flying at an altitude hardly observable with the naked eye, and along with the land scouts that were partnered with beasts with highly developed senses, they would keep their attention towards the surrounding area to make sure that no powerful beast or demon would attack from behind, or from the sides of the convoy.

However, the amount of attention that these scouts would put on that job was nowhere close to that they would put during any other time. The reason for that, was that part of the convoy that traveled the pilgrimage along with the rest of the demons, was the Demon Lord’s carriage. His presence alone had, for tens of thousands of years, been more than enough to stop anyone from daring to approach the convoy.. And if the demon lord’s presence was not enough to make the guards relax during their job, then the assurance that most of hell’s powerful demons would be usually occupied elsewhere, or in the midst of their own pilgrimage towards the core of hell, would.

These two reasons had turned the job of the members of the beastmasters into a facade, causing them to be distracted most of the time, and not pay as much attention at their surroundings as their beasts would.

In this particular day, a group of riders that rode on the back of just as many condor-like beasts with skeletrical wings webbed with an odd type of demonic beast essence, was flying a few kilometers ahead of the convoy in order to scout and clear the path ahead. The geography of hell changed constantly, and sometimes, the paths that were opened and clear during one pilgrimage, would turn out being blocked, buried, or would lead somewhere elsewhere after only a hundred years. For that reason, that sort of scout was required in order to avoid wasting time in making a math while proceeding.

The area ahead of the convoy was filled with active volcanoes which constantly spit massive amounts of gasses and smoke, which formed a vast blanket that covered the sky completely. The nose curling sulfuric smell was the only scent that could be smelled in this area, and the constant explosions resounded in the area like a never ending firework show.

Whenever the pilgrimage lead into this volcanic area, the path would always be blocked. The reason for it were the constant lavic slides, and the debris and ashes that were spouted at every single eruption.

Just like every other time, the group guided their winged companions into flying at a lower altitude, and disappeared into the massive veil of smoke.

About an hour later, the rest of the convoy reached the volcanic area, and with the demon lord’s carriage as spearhead, they went straight in expecting to see a path formed for them to move through. However, the path was interrupted a few hundred meters into the volcanic area, leaving the convoy unsure where to go from there.

The leader of the guards of the beastmasters faction was a middle aged-looking noble demon, with a power equal to that of a high immortal at the seventieth phase. He was accompanied by what looked like a snake with the head of a horned tiger, and the scale pattern of one. On its back, were two bat wings that fit its miniaturized size, which despite being minuscule in order to be able to stay wrapped around the wrist of its demonic companion, would still emanate a power identical to his.

"Why isn’t the path carved yet?" Asked the guard leader to the contact between the aerial and the land forces, with an authoritative tone.

"Sir, the platoon hasn’t made any contact for the past hour." Responded the demoness in charge of the aerial division, which quickly approached along with her condor-like companion by foot.

The guard leader shook his head in disappointment, then said "Send another platoon to look for those lazy idiots." From the tone of his voice, one could infer that he truly hated how relaxed and distracted the guards would get during the months of pilgrimage.

The demoness quickly nodded at him, and turned to look for one of her subordinates to send, but before she could even give the order, a flying beast came diving from high up in the sky at a speed that was beyond what most would be able to react to.

As it came down, this flying beast directly grabbed one of the resting condor-like beings from the ground, and attempted to fly away with it. Luckily, the beast of the leader of the guardsd was fast enough in its reaction. Without even unwrapping itself from around its companion’s wrist, the small snake stretched of hundreds of meters, and bit the beast. It then went back to its miniature size, concluding the attack in a fraction of a second.

The bite did not seem to do any particularly great damage to the flying beast, but after only moments, the beast stopped moving, and plummeted to the ground along with the condor-like demonic beast it was carrying.

The leader of the guards and the demoness that was in charge of the aerial division immediately teleported next to this beast.. But after finally being able to take a good look at it, their eyes opened wide in disgust and horror.

What was so terrifying about this beast, was not the fact that it belonged to an unknown species of demonic beasts, but the fact that it was actually one of the condor-like steeds of the aerial division.. But different.

Its chest seemed to have opened like a flower, but instead of petals, were rows and rows of sharp teeth which it had used to grab the condor-like demonic beast, and crush it before it could even fight back. Its head and neck had split into two, and there two parts had turned into moveable whips with hooked ends, which could deliver a snap that relied the full power that this monster was capable of. The demonic beast essence webbing of the wings had turned into a paper tin veil which was barely able to hold its weight.

"What the hell is that.." muttered the leader of the guard while inspecting the body of the monster, which right after, began to melt into nothingness. That, was the effect of his companion’s poison.

Before he could even issue an order, or rely the events to his lord, the attention of the leader of the guard was caught by the sight of six individuals that were standing on top of a volcano’s crater, just a few hundred meters away from them

Three of them were middle aged demons, each with a particular detail that made them stand out from the each other.. However, the remaining three, were humans. All three of them had dark colored hair, and ruby-red eyes. Their clothes were similar as well, and all of them of the same blood red color.

Screams immediately began to arrive from the direction of the convoy, as dozens of similar monsters started diving at top speed from within the veil of smoke, and kidnapping beasts and demons on their path.

The leader of the guard did not think twice about it, and dashed in the direction of the Demon Lord’s carriage, but before he could even say the words ’we are under attack’, a deep and powerful voice came from within the carriage, along with a just as deep growl.

"I have to go.. Two demon lords are here."

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