Chapter 47
It was one of the few times the Great Ones would choose to animate bodies made of clay, serving as the helpers and servants to attending demons.
Many plants that bore tasty fruits were in the location of the banquet, and the servants made of clay were in charge of distributing refreshments and snacks.
But none paid much heed to the clay statues animated by power of Great Ones, everyone was waiting for the announcement that Great Ones would make before the beginning of second trial.
None aside from previous Demon Kings have seen Great Ones in person, but their voices have guided demons for millennia.
Every reality has powerful beings residing in them, in Alem; there are primary and secondary G.o.ds, who only support humanity. But in the realm of Sulum, powerful beings were not known as deities or G.o.ds, but Great Ones, observers and protectors of demon kind.
When the First Demon King, Arin Draco, liberated the demons from the world of Alem, along with half of the land of kingdom of Kizilalem, nine hundred years ago, she entrusted the choosing of her successor to the Great Ones, the eternal observers of the kingdom.
The Great Ones graciously accepted her plea, since then, every Demon King was chosen by them. As such, now the trials were held to find the one worthy of becoming the 57th Demon King.
The banquet that was traditionally held after the first trial, short time before the beginning of the second trial, was supposed to convey good will and all the competing clans were to present themselves before the Great Ones.
Not all demons that partic.i.p.ate in the trials have to show up, of course, in fact, it was not a requirement to attend at all, but demons were honorable creatures, not coming to present themselves before the ones who will decide if one of them will become the Demon King, was perceived as cowardice. Thus, each clan had a few members attend.
But the key rule of the Banquet is that conflicts are strictly forbidden, otherwise the entire clan that caused the conflict will be disqualified from the trials, losing any chance of moving forward. Such cases happened in the past. None of the partic.i.p.ants of the Banquet dared to make a move against each other, lest they lose their future chance of gaining the throne.
Naturally, none of the demon clans really liked the other ones, especially clans that had conflicts with each other. In order to minimize the chances of conflict, some demons chose to wear disguises while attending.
Seeing many demons wearing masks to conceal their ident.i.ty was not unusual, here, those who could not afford to get into trouble, practically every weaker demon, wore disguises.
Of course, clans with extremely strong members like the Altyn clan; chose to not hide their ident.i.ty, making themselves clear for all demons to see, but none dared to even approach them. Messing with a Phoenix type demon, one of the strongest types of demons was tantamount to suicide.
Many clans that fought Altyn clan were annihilated, even the one clan that managed to survive after standing up against Altyn clan was crippled, such was the fate of Karatengu clan of crow demons, as far as everyone knew.
Lead by Zirc Altyn, the first son of Altyn clan, five Phoenix demons with two servants each, represented the Altyn clan. One of the Altyn clan members, Kin Altyn, looked not in the best shape, his face and body were adorned with burn marks shaped like a blast, ironically; as he was a Phoenix demon who are known to be immune to most flames. None knew what in the world could have scarred a mighty Phoenix demon in such a way.
There were representatives from Baris clan of Tiger demons, Aris clan of Sun Lion Demons, Bukka clan of Ox demons, Kus clan of Falcon demons, Mai clan of Ape demons, k.u.mis clan of Serpent demons, Palak clan of Owl demons, and many other demons representing their own clan.
Members of Draco clan looked rather frail compared to the more powerful clans, their members, even when wearing disguises, were easy to recognize, they were after all Dragon type demons. Even in their base, horned humanoid forms, they still had their scaly wings and spiky tails present, so it was easy to distinguish Draco clan members from the crowd.
Their clan had faced a fast decline since their Demon Lord had perished. Now they were only hoping that one of them could at least become a Demon Lord under the future Demon King. Saying that they were desperate for a leader in order to survive would not be an exaggeration.
Clans that had demons lords were all in attendance: Altyn clan, Aiu clan, Palak clan, Kanat clan, and k.u.mis clan.
However, the Karatengu clan did not seem to be here, despite having a Demon Lord as well, none could see anyone remotely resembling a crow type demon. Everyone was wearing masks; those whose ident.i.ty could not be deduced were there anonymously.
Of course, several of the clans that many demons previously thought would attend no longer existed. After many unforeseen events, various clans had their ups and downs, and some were not so lucky.
The rising Jou clan was destroyed before they could reach their peak, Ras clan was ma.s.sacred by unknown culprits, many suspected humans were involved, and recently Kas clan was essentially eradicated in a conflict with Karatengu clan.
Despite seeming to have risen from decline, the representatives of Karatengu clan seemingly chose not to attend, at least as far as everyone could see.
Some clans were weaker than before. Aiu clan lost most of its resources, the only thing keeping them alive was their Demon Lord who was slowly losing his strength. Rumors had it that if they lose any more strength, they will surrender their lands and freedoms to a clan that will take them under their wing. Aiu clan was simply in a sad state.
Aris clan lost many strong members and was left with only one leader, currently they were trying to regain their strength. But their leader was rumored to be paranoid; fearing that enemy might attack at any moment. Only Great Ones could know what exactly happened to make them so fearful.
Considering many demons were attending, none paid heed to a group of six demons attending, representing their clan. One of them was red haired demon, one was clearly a Dragon type demon, one was a large demon resembling a beetle, one demon had snow white hair and resembled a fox, one demon was clearly a frost wolf type demon, while the last one looked entirely human except for almost fake looking horns sticking out of the voodoo mask that concealed his entire face.
None could guess that these were the demons representing Karatengu clan. Each wore disguises, but some traits like the type of demon they are could not be hidden away so easily. Yet, even if the type of demon they were was clear, none could ascertain their ident.i.ties.
In a group of six, consisting of Ren Karatengu, Kizilkoz Ras, Orin Rheno, Akjan Tang, Korkau Jou, and Sento Draco, they were a formidable group indeed. In terms of power alone, they had one member at a level of Demon Lord and one very close to it. Other members, aside from their leader, were no weaklings either.
Although two members of the group, Korkau Jou and Sento Draco were not eligible to partic.i.p.ate in the trials, they still attended the Banquet ceremony, for the sake of protecting their master. Those who can't partic.i.p.ate in the trials could still attend the Banquet to represent their partic.i.p.ating clan.
However, Demon Lords of each clan usually avoid coming out in the open, considering most of them don't get along, if Demon Lord of a specific clan attends then it could be taken as declaration of war, so Master Korgan was reluctantly forced to not partic.i.p.ate. However, in his place, Sento Draco was there to protect the Karatengu group.
Considering none knew of Sento Draco, even if demons could sense he was at Demon Lord level, none would be able to link him to a specific clan, thus avoiding fanning flames between clans.
Yet, it gave a clear warning to anyone who would want to mess with them.
Of all the demons in the Banquet, there was practically almost none at the level of Demon Lord, so Sento Draco was effectively the most powerful demon in attendance. Of course, he made sure to conceal his power, however, some demons with keen senses have picked up that he was most powerful one here.
Master Korgan asked of Sento to protect Ren, to which Sento Draco responded with.
"Rest a.s.sured, my friend. I owe young master my eternal grat.i.tude and loyalty, as long as I am there, not even Altyn clan members will be able to touch him."
"Thank you, Sento." Korgan could only sigh in relief, after all, Sento was a gold rank demon compared to Korgan's peak of silver rank, Sento was obviously stronger one of the two, there also was the fact that Korgan was an elderly demon far cry from his prime with only one arm, so having Sento attend was like lifting a heavy burden off Korgan's shoulders.
As grateful as he was, Korgan could only wonder just what his grandson do in order to gain
Of course, Sento was not attending in his true demon form, instead he was in his base form, which was more of a horned humanoid form for demons, of course nothing could be done about tail and wings, but that was not a big deal compared to having a full on dragon snout in his true demon form. Apparently, Sento mastered his true demon form to the point that he can maintain in near constantly, unlike most demons that end up losing their strength and stamina every time they use theirs.
As for Korkau Jou, he felt a little awkward. If it had not been for Ren Karatengu, he would have been here, representing his own clan for the Banquet, but now his clan was reduced to nothing, and he himself had been essentially enslaved. Now he was working as the loyal guard of the very demon who caused him so much pain and grief, but for the sake of his sister, he must make sure Ren Karatengu is safe.
Korkau was already aware of what was going on between Karli and Ren, Karli herself told him that she ended up sleeping in the same bed with Ren. Ren held her in his arms without letting her go.
It seems Ren really does want my sister to bear his children, and until then, he will keep her safe. When he had us join him, he outright told us what he intended for Karli. He may be more devious than Nar Kas, but Ren Karatengu does not seem to be the type that deceives. Nay, he always does what he says he will do. Maybe that is why he is their leader.
Korkau could no longer partic.i.p.ate in the trials as he had not partic.i.p.ated in the first trial. Only the demons that have cleared the first trial are eligible to partic.i.p.ate in the next. But, if he makes sure his current master is safe, the chances of his sister's safety would increase.
Come to think of it, if Karli, as master's concubine, were to bear his children, would I not end up being an uncle to them and brother-in law to young master?!
Korkau proceeded to shake the disturbing thoughts out of his head. Imagining Ren Karatengu, such a powerful demon, as his brother-in law was too scary.
As for Akjan, she came in order to make sure that if the need arises she could teleport Ren to safety. Having a demon capable of using Darkness type magic was a rarity. It only went to show that Ren had capable subordinates.
Orin insisted to come, apparently Sento Draco trained him and Korkau, so they developed new fighting techniques and both had gotten stronger.
Kizilkoz practically begged Ren to let her come, saying that it would be a disgrace if she could not even come to hear the voices of the Great Ones.
Only one here, who had absolutely no clue why he was there in the first place, was Ren Karatengu himself. He essentially was dragged along; Master Korgan said that he must attend to represent the Karatengu clan before the Great Ones.
"Even if you wear disguise to hide your ident.i.ty among other demons, the Great Ones can tell who is who, and by being there, you show them that there is one crow demon still left standing."
After his grandfather's proud speech, Ren could not bring himself to refuse.
Still, coming here might have been a bad idea; the place is swarming with so many demons…I wanna go home…
Before their group left, they had to wear disguises. Shaula insisted that Ren conceal every feature of his body.
"Young Master, please do not be careless or foolish, this is a serious matter. While your attendance is a must, you have to keep your ident.i.ty a secret, lest a disaster befalls you."
Apparently Shaula was very worried about Ren going to the Banquet for some reason, she made him promise her to not take off his disguise or the make s.h.i.+ft mask with fake horns that she painstakingly made for him to wear.
"And while young master is at the Banquet, your name shall not be Ren Karatengu, but Feng Peng, please make sure to remember that. Better yet, please promise me that."
Considering how the usually cool minded Shaula was acting so seriously, Ren had no choice but to agree.
Still, why would she want me to call myself that? Must be a new game or a trick she is planning, hmmm, I never took Shaula for the type that likes charades, who knew?
Then, there was a matter of Ren's mother. When Ren asked about Raushan s.h.i.+n from his grandfather, he was told the tale of Ymit and Raushan's star-crossed love and how both had disappeared right after another.
After my father vanished, so did my mother…But I met her, yet she did not reveal to me who she was…why? Why did you keep your ident.i.ty secret? You should have told me you were my family, I would never have left you back then if I knew…
As he was in deep thought, Ren ended up b.u.mping into a demon that resembled a humanoid bird with golden wings.
It was Zirc Altyn, the first son of the patriarch of Altyn clan. He was a Phoenix type demon.
"You insolent, low level demon, how dare you stand before elder brother! Why, I should make an example of you right now!"
Kin Altyn, the third son of the Altyn clan tried to attack the masked demon, only to stop when his older brother grabbed his hand, restraining him in place.
"Kin, enough!"
"But elder brother…"
"This is not a place where violence is tolerated, Great Ones are watching us, do not forget that."
"Yes, I understand." Kin apologetically nodded, even if he was arrogant in front of other demons, he cowered in fear of Zirc Altyn, his elder half-brother. Patriarch of Altyn clan had five sons from his concubines, none of them had the same mother, but the eldest son was still respected among them.
Kin now proceeded to walk away, but not before smirking at the masked demon, but his face scarred by the explosion shaped burn mark made his attempt at mockery seem rather pathetic.
"Please forgive my younger brother; he does in no way represent the entirety of my proud clan. I apologize on his behalf." Zirc apologized to the masked demon. Unlike most Phoenix demons, Zirc seemed to be more courteous and gentlemanly.
"No worry, the fault is with me for b.u.mping into you all of a sudden, sorry about that." The masked demon shrugged, it was as if it was no big deal, he did not seem to mind that one of the strongest demon types, a Phoenix type demon, just tried to kill him on the spot.
"My name is Zirc, Zirc Altyn. Who might you be?"
"I am Re…" Ren held himself back from outing his true ident.i.ty. At that moment he remembered that he made a promise to Shaula, as silly as it was, that while he was attending the Banquet, his name was not the one he usually used.
"…Feng Peng, yep, that's my name all right."
"Refeng Peng, huh. Glad to make your acquaintance."
Ren and Zirc Altyn shook hands.
"So, what's up with the scar face over there?" He proceeded to ask about Kin Altyn who seemed to be going around the banquet, glaring at every demon angrily.
"Well, he thought he would find the demon who gave him that scar among the demons attending the banquet, but so far he does not seem to have any luck. No surprise there; that crow is not dumb enough to appear in our plain sight. If he did show himself, the moment the Banquet ended, we would have ended him at that instant."
"The crow, huh? Is he some kind of a criminal or someone you hold a grudge against?"
"Worse, he is the member of the clan of crow demons, the demon type my clan of Phoenix demons had waged war with for hundreds of years. Crow demons are our natural enemy. We thought that after father killed the elder son and the disappearance of the second son, the patriarch of crow demons would eventually pa.s.s away. But, lo and behold, apparently that crow had a secret third son, can you believe it?"
"Um, sure." Ren had no idea what the heck this Zirc Altyn was talking about.
"And to make the matters worse, he seems to have been involved in several conflicts with other clans, even the recent downfall of Kas clan was his doing. It seems he is not only strong, but extremely intelligent as well…"
Zirc's face contorted, showing his outrage.
"He is slowly building up his strength, of that I am sure. Father warned me that he is a formidable opponent that I must never underestimate, lest I will end up like Kin, who barely survived his meeting with this crow. Oh, when I meet that d.a.m.n crow demon…."
Zirc made a crus.h.i.+ng motion with his hand.
"…I will finish what my ancestors have started. I shall extinguish that crow's line if it is the last thing I do."
"Good luck with that." Ren was not aware that Zirc was talking about him.
"You seem to be a little in sad mood." Zirc remarked about his new friend.
"I just found out that someone I left behind was actually my mother. And now, I can never take it back."
"Among me and my brothers, we don't have the same mother; all of ours mothers were concubines from conquered clans. As soon as they gave birth to us, they were killed."
"I suppose we both have bad luck in that matter." Ren remarked.
Zirc, who due to being unable to sense any mana from the masked demon, a.s.sumed he was just a weakling. He was not aware that his destined arch-enemy was standing right before him. But to be fair, neither was his arch-enemy.
"Come to think of it, I never heard of Peng clan, it must be a relatively unknown and weak clan, then. So how about it? Would you like to become subordinate under my wings?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I still have my own things I must take care of, gardens to grow and dishes to cook, I must finish what I started, otherwise I will not be able to live with myself."
"I understand, your clan is lucky to have someone as dutiful as you."
"Thanks."
Now, without knowing who each one truly was, Phoenix demon and Crow demon, once again shook hands, then they proceeded to go separate ways.
After a short while, a voice echoed within their heads.
It was the voice of the Great Ones.
WELCOME, PARTICAPANTS OF THE SELECTION! YOU HONOR US WITH YOUR PRESENCE. WE HAVE OBSERVED ALL OF YOU TO BE HONORABLE AND BRAVE FOR COMING TO THIS BANQUET.
After a brief pause, the voice continued.
THE SECOND TRIAL SHALL COMMENCE IN THREE DAYS, AT THE SUNRISE OF THE SECOND DAY OF THE THIRD MONTH, PORTALS SHALL OPEN IN BODIES OF WATER TO TAKE THE PARTICAPANTS TO THE LOCATION OF THE SECOND TRIAL.
ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE SUCCEEDED IN CLEARING TH FIRST TRIAL MAY PARTICAPATE. IF ANYONE WHO DOES NOT POSSESS SUCH QUALIFICATION PARTICAPATES, THEN THE PROCESS OF TRANSPORTATION TOWARDS THE GROUNDS OF THE SECOND TRIAL COULD BE DISRUPTED. IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, DO NOT MAKE A MISTAKE OF PARTICAPATING IN SECOND TRIAL WITHOUT QUALIFICATION, OTHERWISE, NOT EVEN WE CAN GUARANTEE SAFETY EVERY DEMON.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Just like that, the Banquet had ended with a message from the Great Ones.
Now every demon started to leave.
"Only three days before the third trial begins." Kizilkoz couldn't help but mutter.
"Well, we will worry about it when we get to it. One bridge at a time, right?"
"I have no idea what that could possibly mean." Kizilkoz could only sigh at her leader's antics.
As they were going towards their clan's location, they took off their disguises.
"Wearing that mask all the time sure was uncomfortable!" Ren twisted his face a little, that mask was rather heavy as well.
"At least Shaula's mask made it look like you had horns on your head, right?" Akjan laughed a little. As useful as the mask was, it was a little silly, especially from someone as serious as Shaula.
"I suppose that's true. I will thank her later."
But before they could reach Karatengu clan's territory, Sento felt a presence of a demon watching them.
Then, an arrow coated in water mana was shot in Ren's direction. But luckily Sento managed to catch the arrow and then shoot a bolt of light in the direction of the attacker, but the attacker apparently had wings, so he ended up soaring upwards to avoid the bolt of light.
"You will not get away that easily!" Orin shot small spheres of concentrated energy from his palms that was his new technique, instead of using his horns for huge uncontrollable blasts; he would use mana in his body to create smaller blasts that he could control with pinpoint accuracy.
The energy spheres collided with the winger demon and the demon was thrown hard on the ground. Now the face of their attacker was clear, it was a blue eagle type demon; that apparently was using true demon, thus manifesting wings and bird-like appearance.
Before the eagle type demon could stand up, the ground underneath her feet froze, encasing her in ice. She was now trapped in an ice cone up to her shoulders.
"You will not get away that easily!" Korkau roared.
Before the Karatengu clan could finish this demon off, an unexpected shout stopped them in their tracks.
"STOP! She is my sister!"
It was Kizilkoz, who was pleading for them to spare this a.s.sa.s.sin's life.
"Elder Sister Kokjan, it's me, Kizil, don't be afraid…"
"Kizil…" then Kokjan's eyes caught sight of Ren Karatengu who was approaching them.
"Get away from him!" Kokjan shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Don't worry, he is my ally."
"Your ally?! Kizil, you don't understand, he is the demon who killed our father and ma.s.sacred our family. He led the humans to our home and murdered everyone. Why the h.e.l.l are you with him?!"
Kizilkoz's eyes opened wide in shock.
Her hands were trembling as was her voice as she spoke.
"It can't be…That can't be true…Is that really the truth?"
"That night, I saw his face, I committed that vile face to my memory, there is no mistake, this demon and the one who destroyed our clan is one and the same."
As her sister spoke those words, Kizilkoz's expression crumbled into despair.
Have I pledged my loyalty to the one who murdered my family? How can it be? How? How? How?
Her mind was struggling to process what she was just told. She stood in one place, trying to stay sane, but her sister's words had shattered everything she held to be true.
Before anyone could do anything, Kokjan cast a spell, it liquefied the block of ice that encased her and before any demon could do anything, she stepped into the water and disappeared.
It was Kokjan's specialty spell, using water to travel to any location with body of water, she would reappear somewhere with water.
Right before she vanished, Kizilkoz heard Kokjan's voice.
"Don't trust him. He shall be doom of us all."
To think, the one demon she thought of as an ally had been fooling her all along, and she even pledged her loyalty to him through an almost absolute contract.
He really is not a simple demon, I was a fool for even entertaining the notion that he was a fool. To think he checkmated me right from the start. He destroyed my clan, and without me knowing, made me beg to be under his wing, I am pathetic. I let this demon lead me around by the nose, all the while he was the one I was after. And now, due to the terms of my contract, I cannot even kill him. He really thought everything through, didn't he? But, I trusted him…Does trust mean nothing for demons?
Kizilkoz felt a tear travel down her face. Now she knew that the one she thought was her ally was her greatest enemy.
The worst part? He won.