Chapter 386: Despair and Dread
Chapter 386 of "Extra's Path To Demon King" starts with dramatic events: "Then from this moment forth, I hereby declare the formation of the Demonic Armada, and... Discover what happens!
"Then from this moment forth, I hereby declare the formation of the Demonic Armada, and I name you as the very first member of it," proclaimed Axel in resolution."Get up, Gareth," he commanded the forger. "Take this and stand in front of the frontmost building of the academy. The teleportation gate would activate and connect you to one of the surrounding regions of the capital."
Gareth nodded as he asked, "And my task?"
Axel explained, "I will need you to infiltrate the Vex family. The goal is to hamper its operations and loot its resources. You can get some artifact to hide your real strength and work inside, or ambush some of their family members and beat the information out of them."
He paused and added, "Though I would prefer if you do not go for the latter at the moment. Because I donāt want to alert them prematurely."
Gareth chuckled, "So, for now, I should mainly focus on getting information about where their most valuable items are and how to get them, and cause some minor problems here and there?"
"Exactly, and send reports if you find something big enough," Axel added.
Then Gareth went on his way, activating the teleportation mechanism of the island as Axel stood there in the silence of his own company. The emptiness in his heart seemed to scream louder and louder. Letting its presence be known to him evermore.
A sound of steady footsteps grew closer. Until the figure stood right beside. The entity spoke,
"Youāre much more humane than I thought you were?"
Axel snickered, "You surely jest, Sir Gilderon."
"What do you fight for, Axel Nomrad?" asked the Dragon Will.
He revealed with a broken smile, "To be truly Free...Free from all the shackles of this world."
A flicker of surprise flashed through the eyes of the once mighty Dragon; there was a deeper meaning to Axelās words, a much deeper context. For every living being is always a slave to something. Even the strongest of the strongest always bind themselves to someone or something.
"But if you lose everything on the path of it. Is it still worth it?" asked the Will.
Axel sighed and answered, "I donāt know."
"And yet you have already made the choice?" stated Gilderon, looking at the unconscious valkyrie. The will saw everything that happened with his own eyes. The little demon was madly in love with the human valkyrie. But circumstances forced him to make a choice. A choice too cruel.
"The Choice was already made long ago; now I am to understand why I had made that choice," replied Axel.
"A classic paradox? Is it?" muttered the Dragon will.
Axel laughed, "Isnāt everything a paradox? Do you live knowing how your life will end? Or are you given a choice before being born?"
Axel continued in a somber and heavy tone, "We come to this world without a choice. We leave this world without a choice. I truly do wonder...."
He looked at both of his hands, "How much of our actions and choices are even our own, or is it all preordained by something superior?"
A deep scowl found its way onto Gilderonās face. He tried to dismiss it all as mere ramblings from the little demon, as Axel was going through an emotionally vulnerable moment. But he was not able to ignore or answer any of the questions, for they hit him harder than they hit Axel himself, a being like him who has seen the vastness of the world.
Even he felt so small in front of such existential questions, for he could not deny those claims completely.
But then another chuckle from Axel followed, "Well, itās too early to think those things, and Sir Gilderon, I need a small help of yours at the moment."
The Dragon Will appreciated the chance to break out of those nefarious thoughts and nudged him to continue with a nod.
"Uh, you see. I will have to ask you to kill the remaining Suncrest princes and princesses, except Lumina, of course. I left those few alive." Axel asked with a dark smile.
"Hoh....not bad. You did not kill any students carrying the Suncrest bloodline because the soul brand of the Valkyrie would then make the Valkyrie always target you. But there wonāt be any consequences if a prince himself kills his siblings." Gilderon explained with a smile of his own.
"Sure, no problem," agreed the old will without hesitation.
In Lucienās body, he snapped his fingers, and the first prince, the second prince, and the third princess. All of their heads were cleanly severed from their bodies. A swift and painless death. With that, all the imperial competition of Lucien was cleared in one fell swoop.
Axel needed Lucien to gain as much control over the Suncrest Kingdom as quickly as possible. The more influence Lucien and Lumina gain, the less likely it is for the Suncrest king to take any drastic action against Sophia abruptly.
Even with the memory modification, the clash between Lucien and Sophia will remain in their memories, but the cause of it will be something else. But Lumina and Sophia will get close again. For that reason and for his own need, Lucien would have no choice but to shield Sophia against the king, at least on the political field.
"Uh, right, Sir Gilderon, one more thing. Could you please erase all traces of the use of the runic tools? Specifically, all the lingering energies of the runic weapons that I created, and the demonic energy as well," he spoke with an apologetic smile.
Gilderonās mouth twitched, "Do you realize how much energy I would have to waste to delicately do that work that, in a manner that it could not be tracked in any method?"
Axel only forced out a nervous laughter, "Sorry, Sir, but otherwise. I would, without a doubt, be imprisoned and interrogated. Until I am forced to spill out everything."
With some incomprehensible grumblings, the old dragon will used his golden energy like thin threads and needles, almost like weaving through a chaotic mix of all those powerful remnants and targeting only the lingering specific energies of his rune tools.
Then did the same for the demonic energies.
Though the entire process took no more than 5 minutes, Lucienās face had drained of color due to the delicate nature of the task. The Dragon could have evaporated all the chaotic mix of energies in the whole island with a snap and filled it with fresh mana. But that would raise more questions than answers when the three kingdoms investigate things thoroughly.
Right as Gilderon was done with the process, they heard a distant sound, multiple sonic booms one after another. Coming in this direction.
Gilderon spoke, his eyes flashing in gold, "Three human powerhouses. All at mid-fifth phase."
Axel nodded as he went closer to the pile of remaining ones that are alive. He stated hurriedly,
"They are envoys sent by the three great kingdoms. The lich could not completely intercept the distress signal sent by the principal to the great kingdoms, but the lich delayed it greatly, nonetheless."
"Sir Gilderon, please turn me unconscious, and my body needs to look a bit roughed up as well," he requested.
The last thing he saw before turning unconscious was a string of notifications shown by Prime Nexus,
The Dragon snapped his fingers again, and a piercing sound hit Axelās ears as he fell to the wet sand of the shore face-first with a damp thud. The Dragon will added some injuries to his flawless unconscious body just as Axel requested.
His eyes flashed in murderous delight for a moment, as he had the urge to kill Axel Nomrad more than anything. For this damn thing reminded him of the Emperor in so many ways. A demon who was not unlike a demon. A power so different from the norm that chaosbloods wielded, that it felt fundamentally wrong.
Axel Nomrad was an anomaly, not quite on the level of the emperor, but close. The potential was definitely there, and unfortunately, as it may be. Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, chaos with chaos.
Gilderon finally let the possession of Lucienās body go. The princeās body also dropped to the ground. Some grave injuries appeared on his body.
Boom!
Booooom!
Vrooom!
As the three loyal powerhouses from the three great kingdoms appeared right on top of the skies of the island. With no barrier to block them. They all looked down at once, and their pupils trembled with horror. At the site of close to 500 bodies of the students mutilated in the worst manner possible.
They did not need to stretch the fact about what they felt in the air, a chaotic mix of light and death energy. The clash between the principal and the high-lich was so great that the surrounding space was significantly weakened. Now, like a thin veil, compared to the concrete-like rigidity it should have.
All three powerhouses dived down, finding the alive students separated from the slaughter field. Even their condition wasnāt optimal. The dark ship was on the shore, obviously belonging to the high-lich who fought the principal. Then their gaze found the unconscious, barely alive body of Alric Stragoy, the strongest peak 5th phase seeker of humanity, in such a sorry state.
Death energy lingered all over his body, and even the whole island itself was covered in the same deathly, disgusting stench. They immediately contacted their kingdoms. Directly relaying the immediate set of information to their kings.