RD 3 Ch 41

Chapter 41

Slowly but surely, I found myself in nearly everyone's soul, defeating all of the demons and teaching my people the art of soul absorption. Those on the outside were freed after being ‘possessed’ and using their access to project their ability into others. Despite being in stasis, I was working to clear this whole situation. Meanwhile, those not part of my entourage had their demons defeated and sealed away into my own soul. Like a squirrel hiding nuts for the winter, I collected them for later.

The process was just far more difficult outside of the Mul Branova. My Soul Resilience was not active, and in some cases, my blood avatar could barely defeat the demons without support from the host.

Others like Nyx were a piece of cake, I only had to suffer through being smothered by her serpents for an hour to get out of that one.

Finally, as I lay waiting and unable to move, my turn came. 

I found myself pulled from the metaphysical shelf I'd been on, and I was relieved to no longer be staring out into that white void. Most importantly, now with myself freed, I was loose and could finally end this.

A moment later, I found myself in a crypt. I recognized my surroundings.

Everyone else had already gone through the setting, and it seemed it hadn't changed for me, though many of them found themselves hunting through the stone coffins. Somehow, they always seemed to find one that the demon wanted them to find. 

I wondered who was the architect of all these situations, and rather than bother opening any of the coffins, I just continued down the crypt hallway. 

There was no way General Zaydelin was going to sit in one of the coffins in the hallway. No, he was going to be on his own, perhaps a coffin at the very end. Demon generals were rarely anything but completely arrogant. Then again, most of them had the strength to back up their arrogance.

A demon general was fundamentally different than the rank and file. They were accomplished and older demons that had fought their way to their current position. Likely, consuming many of their fellows along the way.

My mind had not been idle the past few weeks. I had been working through my memories, trying to remember General Zaydelin.

It hadn’t taken long before I had realized that in my past life, the vault had not opened until after the First Demon War, meaning General Zaydelin would have had access to Earth during the War for Supremacy.

During that conflict, there were many forces working in the shadows, causing chaos and disruption. Both those from the clans and demons that remained from the war were part of the chaos. Perhaps General Zaydelin as well hid himself amongst one of the forces. For the most part, demons went to ground during that conflict and tried to stoke humans into killing each other. 

I pinched my brow as I walked through the crypt. The Second Demon War saw combatants from other worlds join us to repel the demons before they stepped away. Some larger conflict drew them away only for the Third War to sweep through Earth years later like a raging bonfire from nowhere.

But I could not place this demon, which was unusual. Most of the demon lords and generals threw away their name for the title, the title having far more effect than their name. But with my perfect recall, I should be able to remember him, Zaydelin didn't seem to be one of those. I certainly haven't met them all personally, but stories and books were quickly collected over time to tell the tales.

I stayed on alert as I walked, curiosity building at what would come next, when I reached an archway that opened up at the end of the crypt. I could have sworn that the entrance hadn’t been there a moment ago, but it was there now.

The room was bare, except for two sconces that lit the room and a massive stone sarcophagus in the center etched in decorative swirls and depictions of fire. 

I felt confident I was now in the right place. This felt like a demon general’s tomb. I grinned, walking up to the lid and shoving it off. It had been long enough since I left stasis for Regeneration to bring me close to my full state. Somehow through all of the suspended animation, I hadn't gotten hungry, nor needed anything else.

So when the lid slid to the side and fell off, I was ready for a fight. 

But nothing immediately attacked me.

Inside lay a massive skeleton, easily three times my size, and on his bony and pale skull rested a black crown etched in gold.

What a ridiculous piece of gear. Crowns didn’t even provide any protection, just stupid clumsy chunks of stats.

Yet I understood how this worked and picked up the crown, glancing at it and taking a step back from the sarcophagus, only for a skeletal hand to slap dramatically against the side and the skeleton to haul himself up. 

"Do you think you deserve to be king?" The skeleton, who I assumed was General Zaydelin, laughed mockingly before pulling himself to his full height and stepping out of the sarcophagus. 

I held the crown in my hand, glancing at it before giving him a smug smile. "Not particularly, but I think this would look nicer on me than you, don't you think?" Putting it on my head, I twisted it so that it fit as nicely as you could get a crown to sit. 

The skeleton laughed and waved his hands, several skill books appearing on the ground. I glanced at the names on them, feeling utter revulsion. 

"I like you," the skeleton said. "I think someone like you would make a wonderful ruler." 

I ignored him for a moment, still stuck on the skill books in front of me. They weren't for ruling, they were for enslaving. Abilities like Domination, Charm, and Compel were not something that a ruler should use.

Then again, the concept of ruling might be a little different for demons than for humans. Most demons became demon lords through fear and coercion. 

"Do you not want to be king?" the skeleton asked. 

"Oh no, I want to be king plenty," I grinned, thinking about the trial of kings that I would take in the future. I would most certainly become a king, one far more worthy than the demon not putting on a show in front of me. 

General Zaydelin grinned. "Good, then let me bless you." 

It was hard for me to resist rolling my eyes, but I managed. As he reached forward to bless me, he tapped a rather cold finger against my forehead,

There was a subtle inscription scribbled on that finger, creating the connection between us, one that would allow him to sneak straight into my soul.

I didn't resist. I wanted to duke this out in my soul. So I allowed him to make the connection, letting General Zaydelin think he had won. 

The skeleton laughed as its ghostly eyes went out and the bones fell to the floor. There was a faint wiggling against my forehead as the inscription worked, and the general's soul buried itself into my own.

Not wanting to deal with the painful reaction, I sat down, closing my eyes and drawing my consciousness into my soul myself. It was even more satisfying when I beat the general into my soul. 

The landscape shifted, becoming a battlefield completely filled with corpses. I myself sat on a throne of sun bleached skulls, leaning with my chin on my fist as the general slipped into my soul, continuing the laugh from before as his head poked out, before he paused and frowned at me. 

"What, would you like me to step aside so you can do another entrance?" I asked, smirking at the demon general. "I think you're gonna find my soul a little less hospitable than you expected." A dangerous grin spread across my face. "Because, General, I think you might have a misconception."

The excitement of getting free of that stasis and being able to slaughter demons was like an itch that I’d been denying myself finally freed. I was going to savor it.

The demon pulled himself through completely. He was an interesting one, that was for sure. The older, stronger demons often appeared fairly unique, their bodies shaped by their skills. Jumping through multiple bodies, their personal identity was closer connected with what didn’t change, such as their abilities.

His body twisted and writhed. Rather than being a single entity, it seemed more like General Zaydelin was made up of hundreds of wriggling little shadows that moved across his form. 

I squinted at him once again, trying to place the General.

A moment later, I realized that the little wriggling forms were, in fact, insect shadows. And with that fact, I now could place this general. I made a face of disgust. 

"Oh, it's you." I grunted.

"And what does that mean?" the General said, a smirk on his face. "Finally recognize me and the trouble that you are now in?" He made a grand gesture of opening his arms wide.

He was a cocky one.

"No, I just realized you're quite literally a cockroach." I scowled at him. "A disgusting, filthy cockroach." 

There was more emotion in my words backed by my previous life’s memories.

This demon was not only one of the perpetrators of the War for Supremacy, he escaped death then and during the Second Demon War, surviving all the way to the third.

I hadn’t meant he was a cockroach in terms of the bug. He was a coward that stirred up shit and then hid in the shadows to try and take every advantage he could. I truly detested this general.

On multiple occasions he slipped through what people thought was a sure death, I hadn’t known he was even a demon general the being was incredibly cautious.

I kept a smile stretched across my face as I realized I would have a wonderful opportunity here to get rid of him before he could do all of the damage he had done in my past life.

"You are far too smug," General Zaydelin stared at me. "I think you don't understand. You're trapped in here with me." He held out his arms and shadows flicked away, jumping to the sky around me, blanketing my entire soul world in darkness.

Laughter filled the air as he seemed to already be celebrating his victory.

Sitting on my throne of skulls, I could only grin. "Oh, General Zaydelin, I think you are very mistaken. I am not trapped here with you. You are trapped here with me." I waved to the side, the blood from the battlefield jumping into the sky.

Inscriptions glowed over the darkness that General Zaydelin had wrapped my soul world in, red light bleeding through the dark night. I encompassed not just the sky, but the ground and everything in it. How dare he try to take control of my soul. Here was a battlefield that I felt infinitely confident in.

As I stood up from the throne of skulls, a sword of blood formed into my hand. The smile hadn't left my face. It was plastered on there, both with the idea of carving up this troublesome demon, and for enjoying watching his face fall from the overconfident grin to one of confusion.

His brows pinched down as he stared up at the giant wall of inscription that would keep him from going anywhere. The demon general's focus landed directly back on me. "What are you?" He asked, his hands warping into larger shadowy claws, flickering shadows at each tip. He was now suddenly far more on edge.

"Me?" I asked, my grin only growing wider. "Oh, I am simply an eighteen-year-old human from this world." I shrugged. 

The demon laughed. "You’ve given yourself away, ‘from this world’, clearly you understand there are more. Which organization sent you and how have you gotten here, despite all the barriers that have been in place?" The demon general asked, his eyes narrowing to pinpricks.

Yet, he wasn't making the first move. I had at least invoked a modicum of caution in him. 

After all, he knew that when fighting in someone's soul space, perception was everything. Him blanketing the sky was simply an act of making me feel trapped or feel weak.

Showing him it had no effect on me, and in fact, he was the one trapped changed things. I was well versed in the art of fighting in my soul.

There was a game of confidence between the two of us, and I was fairly certain that I was winning. After all, I felt absolutely confident that I could destroy this demon general.