"You should be ashamed of yourself, old fool..."


    The eyes of Og-sth and Ashur widened as they stared at the empty sky above the crater.


    There, floating above the barrier, was a character no one would have ever expected to show up.


    Og-sth was shocked beyond belief,


    "You... How did you... How is this possible?!"


    The entity floating above the barrier sneered,


    "That is none of your concern, you old fool."


    Og-sth let out a scream,


    "How did you escape your shakes?! Set me free!"


    Turning to Ashur who was now looking at him with a nk look, he roared,


    "The heart! Give it to me, now! I''ll tear your soul apart!"


    "Will you stop embarrassing yourself?" Lyx said with a deep frown.


    She then turned her attention to Ashur,


    "Young dragon..."


    Ashur responded respectfully, "Mydy..."


    Seemingly pleased with his response, Lyx nodded,


    "If I had known you nned oning here, I would have warned you to start clear of this idiot. I nned on leaving him here for a few extra centuries."


    Og-sth screamed in rage, "You nned on leaving me here?!"


    "Silence!" Lyx said, her voice shaking the foundations of the fragmentednds.


    Ashur was beyond surprise,


    "My Lady, you have managed to recover so much in such a short time?"


    Lyx nodded with a nk expression on her pristine face, "Indeed... Thanks to the boy, I am free. I am grateful."


    Stretching her ck scaley hand to the barrier, she spoke,


    "This barrier was made by Tian to keep the old fool in. What he didn''t ount for, was me."


    Her eyes shone with a deep ck light as an astronomic amount of Devil Essence swarmed around her.


    The sky was immediately covered with clouds of darkness, plunging the already dark world into even deeper darkness. Hundreds of sigils and runes began floating in the air, revolving around the entirety of the forest with tremendous speed. It was a magnificent sight.


    "Break."


    A crack appeared on the surface of the invincible barrier. The dark clouds all swam into the crack, painting the transparent barrier ck. The cracks continued to spread as Lyx poured in more and more Devil Essence.


    And then, the seal that had held on for thousands of millennia, was shattered...


    BOOM!


    It was as though the floodgates had been opened...


    "Ha... Finally."


    A sigh came from Og-sth as a tremendous amount of Devil Essence poured towards him. The Primordial Devil was finally free. His body left the ground as he hesitated towards the free sky.


    "I''m free!" Thick Devil Essence exploded out of him like an ocean of darkness. His body didn''t stop ascending until he was face to face with Lyx.


    "How long has it been, Lyx?" Og-sth said, his voice filled with anger and relief at the same time.


    "Shut it, you old fool. You should be thankful that I am not one to keep grudges. The only reason you are free now is because the Devil race needs your knowledge and power." Lyx said, a distasteful expression on her face as she red at Og-sth.


    Og-sth grinned as he spoke, "Of course. I have no need for that bastard''s heart anymore. However, I have reason to believe that Celestial might be working for Tian. He is possessing the body of this useless mortal. Allow me to get rid of them."


    A torrent of wild Devil Essence soared to the sky, like a tear in space. Lyx frowned deeper,


    "You will not touch a hair on his head."


    Silence...


    Og-sth eyes had healed as soon as he had been freed. His body had also begun to change into something more befitting of the status of a Primordial Devil. Three curved horns and a long ck tail protruding from his tailbone, as well as a body covered in thick ck scales. Og-sth was a terrifying enemy...


    Staring at Lyx with venom and insanity in his eyes, he growled,


    "What do you mean?! Have you forgotten that the Celestials are our enemies?! I don''t care if he is your toy or lover boy! He needs to die!"


    Another pir of Devil Essence rose into the air, this one ten times greater than that of Og-sth,


    "Although you cannot die, I can still give you pain that will make you wish and yearn for death."


    The entire fragmentednd began to shake at this disy of power...


    Og-sth frowned,


    "How did you get so powerful?! When did you release your seal?!"


    "Like I said, that is none of your concerns. If you didn''t hold such a high status, you''d be on your way to the valley." Lyx said coldly.


    "So what you are saying is we should just let them, especially this mortal, live?!"


    Lyx replied in a frigid tone, "That is exactly what I am saying. If you even think about touching him, I''ll simply reseal you."


    Then, she turned her attention to Ashur,


    "I''d advise you to bring the boy back. He is going to die otherwise."


    Ashur nodded, "Of course. However, there is a question I must ask..."


    Lyx hesitated for a while before she nodded in agreement. Ashur nodded as well, then his eyes narrowed dangerously,


    "Is the devil army decimated?"


    Og-sth who was seething at him being ignored took this as an opportunity to butt in,


    "You Ignorant fool. There is no way the Devil Army can fall. Even after the copse of the Devil Mountain..."


    Ashur frowned, "After the copse of the Devil Mountain, you Primordial Devils either went into hiding or were sealed. A majority of the devils were hunted down and killed. During the Thousand Millenium War, seeing a sole devil, let alone a devil regiment, was incredibly difficult, if not impossible to do."


    Lyx waved her hand dismissively,


    "If you think the Devil Mountain was the only stronghold we possessed, you''d be highly mistaken."


    Lyx paused for a moment, then shook her head,


    "Regardless, knowing all this will do you no good. Now that we Primordial Devils are unsealed, we shall set our other brethren free and resuscitate the Devil Army."


    Ashur frowned, "Just reviving your army is going to do nothing. How are you going to face Tian and his heavenly hosts?"


    Lyx and Og-sth exchanged looks. Lyx then turned to Ashur with a contemtive look on her face,


    "The Golden Emperor might be strong, but he is not unkible. Even we seeming immortal Devils can die too. Nothing in this existence can escape the grasp of death. It is an unavoidable eventuality."


    Ashur sighed, ''Do they n on just winging it?''


    He had no idea what their ns were. However, he didn''t care all that much. As long as they didn''t interfere with his, he would not make a fuss about it. Although he felt that the existence of the devils was nothing but a cancerous tumor, they were a necessary evil if he truly wanted to face Tian.


    "I see..."


    Lyx nodded, "If that will be all."


    Og-sth had a confused expression on his devilish face as he spoke in a raspy voice,


    "So that''s it?"


    Lyx threw him a sideways nce before she paused, almost as though she remembered something. Turning back to Ashur who stood still on the spot, she hesitated for a few seconds before finally opening her mouth,


    "Do you know what this ce is?"


    Ashur shook his head, "I can guess that it is some sort of prison realm. However, I can''t be so sure."


    Lyx nodded, "You are right and wrong. It isn''t any ordinary prison. Rather, it is a pen."


    When Ashur heard this, his expression darkened.


    "Tian uses this ce to keep entities he still has some use for. Enemies that pose too much of a threat, he kills. Enemies that pose too much of a threat, but he can''t kill, he captures and ces them in ces like this."


    Ashur frowned, "That means there are many others like you and the other Primordial Devils in this ce?"


    Lyx nodded, "Yes. Perhaps this information might help the boy."


    A look of surprise appeared on his face. Before he could ask any more questions, she had turned around and was floating away. Meanwhile, Og-sth stayed behind, staring down at him with a brooding expression on his face,


    "A devil never forgets..." He eventually said with a sneer.


    With that, he turned around and disappeared into the horizon just like Lyx. As soon as Ashur was sure they were gone, he copsed to the ground.


    A pool of blood slowly spread out from his body...


    "Looks like I pushed it too far, huh," Ashur said with a bitter expression.


    Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and sat up, even as blood leaked out from all the holes and pores on his body, painting his red. {Draconic Transfiguration} didn''t seem to be capable of doing anything in this situation...


    ***


    Within Cain''s subconsciousness...


    Cain couldn''t tell how much time had passed. After he had been attacked by Og-sth, he cked out. The moment he regained consciousness, he found himself here.


    On an ocean of darkness...


    There was no light, and there were no other objects as well, besides a beautiful golden sun that floated above the inky ckness. The golden sun rested on a dull grey canvas of sky.


    Seated on the waves, Cain continued floating for what felt like an eternity. In this ce, he couldn''t think. He couldn''t differentiate past from present and present from future. He couldn''t differentiate himself and his thoughts from one another...


    This scared him a lot...


    He had a feeling that if he was not careful, he would simply turn into a memory of himself, a shell of what he truly was.


    Suddenly, another entity appeared in the boring world of his subconscious mind...


    Rising from the depths to disturb the ck waves, was the glorious and magnificent head of a gigantic Golden Lizard... Dragon.


    The Golden Dragon stared at Cain for a long while in silence once it broke through the waters. Eventually, Cain looked up and gazed into the eyes of the magnificent creature,


    "Took you long enough."