‎Rasmus stood in front of Belial, the smell of burned skin and ashes filling his nostrils. He had never smelled something like this even after encountering thousands of demons. There was not a single pungent smell coming from Belial, and there was barely any demonic energy around Belial.

‎”You have been following us,” Rasmus said to break the silence.

‎”I did…” Belial answered, his voice soft but distorted. His body was still like a statue.

‎”What do you want from us?” Rasmus asked, realizing that Belial didn’t seem to have any hostility toward him even though he was standing in front of him.

‎”Nothing…” Belial answered, still not showing his face. His burning wings left piles of ashes on the ground.

‎Rasmus had been thinking about Belial ever since Videl mentioned its name. Belial was stated as two different things based on the religions on Earth. One it was a title and the other one was depicted as a being, but both still had the same meaning, decay and corruption.

‎After what Videl had explained to him about Belial, Rasmus began to see the puzzle. Belial didn’t seem to be interested in him or anyone, but toward decay and corruption, which was why Belial followed them to the Efiva Mountain. However, he had a hunch that Belial might have a purpose as to why they kept following them. A being that could be said as a bad omen even by the Devil himself.

‎”Is it me that you have business with?” Rasmus asked, affirming his deduction.

‎Belial didn’t say a word this time, but Belial nodded slowly. Then it became eerily quiet because Belial didn’t like other beings that Rasmus had encountered, it didn’t elaborate and wasn’t being cooperative.

‎The wings burned without diminishing hinted at something that Rasmus managed to see. Since Belial didn’t try to elaborate or explain the reason it followed Rasmus, Rasmus had to be the one to keep talking.

‎”It’s not me that you want, but what lies underneath,” Rasmus accused and wondered what kind of reaction that Belial showed.

‎Belial didn’t nod or respond to Rasmus’ accusation, but the moment Belial pointed its finger at Rasmus heart, it answered everything. The Lord of all the True Dragons, the Overlord that resided inside Rasmus’ body was what Belial was after.

‎”You want what’s inside of me?” Rasmus asked as he connected the dots from the little information he had.

‎”No…” Belial answered, the voice cold and distorted like ashes filled its damaged lungs.

‎The dots that Rasmus had connected suddenly felt wrong and illogical after Belial revealed the truth. He knew he shouldn’t believe Belial’s words, but something about them that made it hard to be seen as lies.

‎”What do you want exactly?” Rasmus asked, his brows furrowed.

‎Belial stayed quiet and didn’t react to Rasmus’ question. Rasmus tried to erase everything he knew about Belial and tried to connect the dots more carefully. He noticed why Belial was being elusive not only from hiding but also from not answering direct questions.

‎”Time…” Belial suddenly spoke as its eyes stared into Rasmus’ eyes.

‎”(Time?)” Rasmus thought, his brows furrowed even deeper. “You’re waiting…” He muttered.

‎Belial stood still lifelessly like a statue, and that made Rasmus’ a bit unsettled. Rasmus took a step back to think about what Belial meant by time, and what Belial was waiting for. Suddenly, the roars and growls of demonic beasts stopped that took his attention.

‎Rasmus glanced over his shoulder to check if Aris and Rullein had finished dealing with the horde of demonic beasts. He watched as Rullein’s dark energy expanded, devouring the demonic beasts remaining essences. When he turned his attention back to Belial, his eyes twitched when Belial disappeared.

‎The first thing Rasmus checked was the piles of ashes on the ground. To his surprise, there wasn’t any trace of ashes, not even a speck of it. He furrowed his brows, feeling unsettled by how elusive Belial was, and this was proof of how Belial couldn’t be found.

‎”It’s as if the ashes are one with him…” Rasmus muttered to himself.

‎Rasmus stood there, trying to understand what Belial wanted. A being that brought bad omen, a being of decay and corruption who was waiting for something.

‎”Belial was talking about the power within me…” Rasmus leaned against the tree with his brows furrowed. “Is he waiting for my own demise because of the power within me?” He said under his breath, staring at the distance. “Bad omen…” He muttered quietly.

‎A train of thoughts occupied his attention, thoughts that led him toward uncertainty and the unknown. He had thought about choices longer than he wanted to admit, especially when he was trying to win the bet against God. He was dragged into it and agreed to help Videl, but it stayed in his mind if his choice was his or if it was predetermined.

‎Aris had to make a choice by willingly offering her body and consciousness to Aristoria so Rasmus didn’t have to use the power within him to defeat the True Dragon. It made Rasmus think that something within him was something that he needed to be worried about, not something that he could ignore anymore.

It didn’t take a while for Aris and Rullein to find Rasmus after they took care of the horde of demonic beasts. They looked at him, wondering why he had suddenly disappeared and didn’t joined them. They looked around and wondered if there was something interesting that made Rasmus go to the hill so suddenly. Unfortunately, they didn’t find anything and they didn’t sense Belial’s presence that was there with Rasmus not too long ago.

“What are you doing here?” Aris asked, staring into Rasmus’ eyes and noticed something was off about him.

“I met with Belial,” Rasmus answered, still trying to grasp the uncertainty.

Aris and Rullein glanced at each other before they took one last look at their surroundings. They still didn’t find any trace or sense any presence or energy other than Rasmus’.

“But we shouldn’t be talking about this now. We need to find the others first because I also need a few answers from them,” Rasmus said as he exhaled deeply. “Let’s go.”

The three of them followed the trace of a stampede and they saw three villages below them that had been completely obliterated with trails of blood. There was no survivor and there were bodies scattered everywhere. Then their attention was stolen when they saw demonic wyverns and wyverns fighting in the sky. They saw Doloran riding one of the wyverns and it seemed that the one he rode was the leader of the wyverns.

While Doloran was busy commanding the wyverns, Raizen called on the spirits that he was contracted with to disturb the horde while Soleil and Belgar cleansed the demonic energy that had weakened the demonic beasts. The energy that was cleansed was used to summon spiritual beasts that weren’t weaker than the demonic beasts. On the other hand, Serena chose to protect everyone while Videl and Lance fought the demonic beasts side by side. It was the first time Rasmus had seen their powers and it intrigued him.

“They don’t need our help,” Aris said as she looked to the west. “I can sense demonic beasts from there. Should we do something about it?” She asked.

“Why do you ask me?” Rasmus looked at Aris with his brows raised. “You’re the leader here, remember? You make the call,” he reminded Aris about her position in West Neva.

Aris thought for a moment, thinking about what would Rasmus do in this situation. She didn’t know Rasmus’ plan at all since his main plan was to investigate Efiva Mountain. Since Rasmus had achieved what he had come for, Aris didn’t know what to do next.

“Do what you want to do, don’t think about what I would do. Whatever you do, I can use it to my advantage. What’s your call, Aris?” Rasmus asked, his expression calm as he stared into Aris’ eyes.

“Let’s stop the horde. I need to gain my influence in this continent,” Aris said as she looked at Rasmus and Rullein. “There are at least six hordes that are going different direction, each of us have to take care two hordes. I’ll take of the ones in the west,” she pointed out.

“Alright, I’ll take that path,” Rasmus pointed to the northwest.

“Then I’ll handle the two in the middle,” Rullein nodded with understanding.

Rasmus flew as fast as he could while at the same time burning his inside. Sparks began to produce around him and his eyes began to glow bright blue that matched with the sparks. When he saw the first horde with a few wyverns in the sky and the wyrms and drakes on the ground, he pulled out his black swords.

The wyrms slithered and the drakes ran toward the city behind the mountain. However, they all stopped moving when the wyverns hit the ground one by one ahead of them. The wyverns were either lost their wings, cut in half, or decapitated, but one thing for sure, all of them died.

The last wyvern fell from the sky and hit the ground really hard as the dust flown into the air. The wyrms and drakes couldn’t see what was ahead of them until they saw sparks of lightning and a pair of glowing blue eyes. They could sense the intense Mana that was larger than the small mountain behind it.

Before the demonic beasts could sense the danger or the killing intent, a gush of wind with trails of sparks went past them. All of them collapsed simultaneously, having the same fate as those wyverns.

Rasmus took a deep breath as he glanced over his shoulder at the corpses for a moment before he tracked down the next horde that he had to take care of. He then flew away as the sparks lingered on the ground and on the corpses of the demonic beasts.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep