Lord Shadow

A caravan of travelling merchant is sipping some water under a large tree that protected them during daylight and provides them a great sheltering spot in the night.

They began opening their tents while their bodyguards comprised of hunters, archers, magicians, Elementalist and a few warriors guard and set up a perimeter.

Not far from their area is the sign of great battle of the Three Army, bones of gigantic creatures were left around the area.

This travelling merchant and his caravan is going to find the new town reputed to just been established around the Southern region of this continent.

Even though this continent used to be called the most dangerous land in the world now it is a haven for merchants like himself.

As he look at the clear night sky with moonlight making the area bright he smiles and nodded to himself.

Large vast area for development and the discovery of many minerals that could be used to make weapons and medicine and poisons have boosted the emergence of merchant’s class to come here to this unfamiliar land.

Businessman after all chases profits.

The sound of monsters could be heard around this land, around the hidden mountains, around the underground caves if one listens hard enough.

But no one fears it as much now.

People traverse the land without worries nowadays or at least with fewer worries than before.

It was once called the Forbidden Continent in Earth, feared by everyone and no sailors dares sails the waters.

It was full of terrifying gigantic monster roaming the lands and corpses of humans that were too late in running away fills the soil and form mounds and mounds of mountains of bones.

The Sea was dark and treacherous as Sea monsters hide underneath the calm waves and devour unsuspecting ships that dares sails its waters.

Nowadays however, Pandemonium was one of the most peaceful pieces of land on Earth.

Any sighting of powerful monster would alert the Three Army and will be immediately become an EXP booster for the crazed soldiers of the Three Army that seeks to level up.

Any monster horde that tries to attack will be eradicated the moment any of the Three Army got the news and cities sprang up overnight.

This is the truth and also the reason why people flock to it every day. All over the world, secret wars are waged underneath the surface, internal struggle involving power among the top echelons marred their peace but Pandemonium is peaceful

The reason for its peace was simply because of its might. And of course it is also because its ruler.

Death Monarch rules Pandemonium and as long as he stands tall, Pandemonium will always be in peace.

Even when Storm Tide comes, even though Achens was flustered the whole Pandemonium did not view it as such a big deal.

They were confident in the ability of the Death Monarch, confident of his power and his invincibility as the powerhouse of the world.

In the end, Narleod lose an arm in that secret talk and do not dare speak anything after that admonishing Death Monarch retreating swiftly from Pandemonium.

However tonight…that peace was broken.

***

Azief was in his innermost room of the Centre palace walking around it, looking at the things inside it after his arduous experience these past few days.

He smiles a bit looking at the many collections and items inside it. There were many artifacts found in many parts of Pandemonium stored here.

If Azief did not find his path he would surely uses all this herb and treasure to quickly break through to another level.

But he found another way.

His level is 75. By killing monster he could gain XP and when he reached level 80 he could become a Divine Comprehension leveler.

But he wanted to walk the Stairway of Supremacy,. He wanted to form thirteen Disk and pursue Perfection.

And he also discovers just by forming his Disk he could increase his level. As long as he did not want to take that last step he could delay his breakthrough.

His entire being now is emanating powerful fluctuation resembling that of people that reached Divine Comprehension.

Laws seem to gather around him.

His eyes seem bright as the sun and his face seems even more handsome but also even more cold.

There is this sense of cold beauty when looking at him, cold and powerful.

Other than him not even the Keeper of the Palace is allowed to come into the room.

Inside the room there are a lot of resources his army got from scavenging the continent, categorically stored.

There is also information on the many monsters they met, the plants they harvested, and many other information about monsters habitats, nest, dungeons and secret places his armies found which is marked as confidential or military secrets.

As Death Monarch, the ruler of Pandemonium there is no secret for him and there is no one that dares conceal anything below his eyes.

Azief after his meeting with Narleod did not stop in improving his strength. Instead he felt it even more crucial to raise his strength.

All over the world he is not the only one that is training and improving themselves. There is Raymond, Oreki, Hikigaya to name a few people.

Of course there is still that threat from the sky.

But Azief also knows that if he is not strong enough, it won’t matter if the alien fleet come late or come early.

He at least needs the power to repel them before talking about other things.

And it is not yet certain that the alien fleet is really intending an invasion. If they were really intending an invasion, their behavior surely did not reflect that.

They seem to be hovering just near the border of the galaxy. At least that is what Narleod told him in that meeting.

In that meeting Azief took Narleod arms as the payment for his past transgression.

If Narleod even talk a squeak of complaint or dissatisfaction about it Azief would not have mind to take his life at that moment.

But Azief clearly underestimate that person tenacity and willpower.

Even after being humiliated like that, Narleod still maintain his smile of civility.

Azief thought to himself that while Narleod did not have a good reputation, he truly had that heroic spirit.

He continues refining the saber even more vigorously after that. However this time, he notices something odd about his trial this time.

His refining went faster

And the experience in that lives passes him like a flash yet also at the same time it was like he had experienced all of it before and passed the trials before.

It was a surreal feeling.

It was almost like the trials was fast forwarded from him yet he remember every moment and felt every moment.

So the lesson and the thing he learn in that trials still resonates in his mind and his heart.

Azief did not know it but the sabers he chooses to refine after he finished the Mortal trials were the two sabers Loki pointed at and uses the Karmas Azul owe him to expedite the trials.

After all Azief already passes all five trials in the past and failed only at the last trial.

Since Azul lives outside of time, he of course also knows this and he could easily pass Azief, drawing from Azief own past experience in that timeline.

Loki put some Karma on the sabers to make sure Azief would choose it. It could be called manipulating predestination, or tweaking destiny a bit.

Of course Azief did not know of this matter.

He just felt compelled to choose that two sabers and quickly refining the saber and solving Azul regret

But such powerful and mystical kind of magic of course has a heavy price.

It forces Loki to lie low for a while, delaying some of his other plans because of the injury he sustained from using his Willpower.

Azief as he is walking inside the room that is only being illuminated by a few floating candles examine the many information nodes left for him in this room.

As he checks about a dozen of information node he sat down on the comfy cushioned chair on the ends of the room.

He needs to digest the information that is now streaming inside his mind. It took him a few minutes before he finally manages to digest the information.

He then sighed.

‘It is so close. So close. If I could form this Demonic Disk my power will once again increased. I want to see what beyond this world. I want to go to the Three Thousand Worlds and seek more.’

There is of course excitement in his eyes but also a certain kind of ancientness in his eyes which is surprising.

But come to think of it, it is not that surprising.

After all after the lives he experience in the Trial of Azul how could his eyes not have that quality.

His entire being has changed, his demeanor and even his presence

His eyes look likes he could see everything. It was like his gaze is as vast as the starry skies, encompassing and enveloping everything.

His heart also lack any hesitation, his mind was clear and straight. Straight means straightforwardness.

He lacks the hesitation that was present in his eyes before. He knows what his heart want and he would not hesitate to say it.

Of course there is still the problem with Sofia and Katarina but it did not let him forget his original objectives.

To seek the truth of this Universe.

He now already has seventy percent of Demonic energy and his Demonic Disk is already partially formed.

He also has only two more sabers he could use much to his delight. After all, with each trial new abilities would be embedded in his finger.

His finger alone holds the power of the six sabers.

But there are six sabers. Azief could guess where the last one would manifest if he were to complete all six trials.

The other four sabers all have lost its lusters; all of its ability is compressed into his finger, making him even more confident of his strength for his fingers were imbedded by certain Laws or to be more accurate spells that could manipulate Laws of the World.

He did not think that the saber he found in the beginning of his journey could be so powerful. He then smiles

Once again he thought about Loki. And his smile turns bitter.

And then there is that small voice in his heart that seems to be saying

‘Is it all a part of your plan?’ Of course if Loki heard this he would laugh.

There were many things that he had planned in his grand plan but in the matter of the six sabers whether he help or not Azief would still get it.

At that time he just guided destiny.

The destiny was already written; he only guided Azief to it. It was like Loki slowly pushing Azief to the current of the river water, slowly and gently.

While some of Loki chess moves are to disrupt certain moves of destiny, like he was throwing a big boulder to create a large enough ripple to change the course of the river flow, sometimes he just gently guided it.

Loki was interested in making small changes that ripples through the game of chess that will determine the fate of the Universe.

Azief sighed and then his eyes turn cold.