In the core of the territories dominated by the Aeternum Empire, there was a majestic white magic tower filled with impressive runic formations.
The magic tower and the large city built around it shared the same name, Rasputin, in homage to its creator and leader.
On the magic tower's upper floor, a handsome young man with blonde hair and green eyes was sitting on a throne. His body was not overly muscular, but it carried a tremendous physical strength, and runes were covering his skin.
This man was one of the youngest Origin Runemasters of the empire and an overall genius, Salazar Rasputin.
A couple of meters in front of Salazar, a five-meter tall man was kneeling. The might of this man's soul force made clear he was a Rank 5 life form, but still, he was adopting a respectful and somewhat submissive posture.
"Are you sure there is no sign of mobilization from the Order Corps?" There was a severe expression on Salazar's face as he spoke that question.
"Yes, my Lord. A squad led by three Rank 5 life forms was going to deploy five days after the massacre of the clans that had sided with us. However, without any explanation, they were ordered to stand down. I did thorough research and learned that the corps' Vice-Captain gave the order to stand down a day after he met the new Head of the Empire Comercial Association."
When Rasputin heard that, he frowned, and all sort of information passed through his mind.
The Order Corps was a punitive force from the Aeternum Empire, and their mission was to punish all those clans who disobeyed the rules and codes from the empire. They were feared and respected for their power and the fact they only responded to the Emperor.
Tritus Fonder, on the other hand, used to be a nobody. Rasputin would not even have known his name if it wasn't because he helped the previous Head of the Empire Commercial Association deal with him.
However, after the events occurring in the Daybreak Magic Tower, Tristus came back as a Rank 4 life form. He got control over the Empire Commercial Association in less than two days, and his influence just kept expanding. One of the reasons he was able to amass so much power so fast was the Soul Rune Convention he was organizing in the name of Zatiel Daybreak, and that only one hundred people could attend.
"Tritus Fonder is that man's puppet, or else there is no way he would have been allowed to leave with his life and given such an important task. The Vice-Captain of the Order Corps is a Rank 5 life form at the 6th Engraving Stage, and the only thing that could have drawn his attention was the Soul Rune Convention."
When the tall man heard Rasputin's words, a complicated expression appeared on his face before speaking.
"My Lord, should not we forget about that man?. Taboo Existences are incredibly difficult to handle once they have developed their strength. We have hidden our identity very well, so I don't see what gain there is in continuing clashing against him." After he spoke those words, the man saw how the runes that covered his body glowed and frozen his soul, body, and energy.
Salazar's eyes were cold as he looked at the man, and his body released an evil aura that made the entire magic tower tremble.
"Frederick, if you think he would forget about us if we no longer attack him, then you are only useful as a weapon and nothing more. He had shown more than once that he would seek revenge for the slightest grievance, so there is only one path for us now, and that is to kill him before he kills us."
The tall man, Frederick, did not dare to respond and kept looking down, even after the evil aura and restrictions over his body were gone.
"Hmph, Taboo Existences may seem impressive when they are young, but they are all a bunch of trash that did not manage to reach eternity and perished beneath time. His skill will undoubtedly face a bottleneck he would not pass, while I will keep rising higher. Besides, who says he is the only Soul Rune Master." Salazar's eyes shone with pride as he spoke those last words, and shock appeared in Frederick's face.
"Go and tell that ma..." Before Salazar could finish his sentence, an expression of agony appeared on his face.
"Lord Salazar!." Frederick was startled, and before he could get closer to Salazar, this one rose his hand and stopped him.
"I am fine." Salazar was grabbing his head, and after taking a moment to focus, he continued speaking. "Go and tell that man we need to meet."
Frederick did not dare disobey, and after bowing, he left the room.
After he was alone, Salazar's expression twisted as he experienced immense pain.
"What is happening to me. What is causing these attacks of pain and why so many of my memories are lost?."
A Rank 5 life form like Salazar should remember every detail of his life, from the moment he was born. However, not long ago, he found out that he had forgotten years of his life.
Salazar was sure someone was targeting him, and he did not dare to leave his magic tower.
How could he know that what he experienced was the side effect of a man he knew most of his life being erased from space and time?
........
In the Neo-Demon Realm's void, Zatiel was floating unconscious among the giant waves of elemental chaos.
To most life forms, being surrounded by elemental chaos would only worsen their condition, but to a Doom Bringer, it only granted beneficial features.
The Neo-Demon's Apocalyptic Star in his stomach swallowed elemental chaos, refining it and then sending the purest form of this one to the rest of the body, but that wasn't all.
In Zatiel's stomach, there were also dozens of golden stones. These were high-quality origin stones, and they were replenishing his Soul Origin and helping the True Will recover.
After a week of resting, the Neo-Demon finally opened his eyes. The first thing he did was assess his condition.
'The wounds on my body were profound, and the energy of that devil was hard to purge. Luckily, my vital organs were not injured in the fight, and thanks to my unique regeneration ability, I am physically fine now. On the other hand, that woman's spell hurt my True Soul, and my True Will needs to rest before being at full capacity again.' Zatiel was satisfied with his condition; after all, he fought two Devil Lords that were an entire Rank above him.
He communicated with the NRAI and learned that all the Neo-Demons were able to endure the Three Severings, and they were now in the process of strengthening their True Wills.
A smile appeared on Zatiel's face, and the next moment, he sent a command to the NRAI and teleported to the Beta Heavenly World.
He appeared in the Fornes continent, close to the Underworld Forge. The giant gate used to swallow souls was gone, and Hades was sitting above the forge.
Zatiel understood that the ancient Being of Laws was enhancing the forge's ability to gather the pieces of his existence scattered throughout the universe, so he did not bother him.
He took Xenia's broken body from his spatial ring and used his Rebirth Eye to analyze her True Soul.
"Good, the True Soul fell into a coma, so I will not need to waste time weakening it."
Zatiel took a deep breath of Enlightenment Mist and made hundreds of materials appear before starting to work.
The Neo-Demon processed the materials until transforming them into a red liquid, and then he used it to create runic lines in the air.
The Animax Soul Rune Zatiel was creating was a very difficult one, and if it wasn't for the help of the Enlightenment Mist, he was not sure he would have been able to complete it before his True Soul reached the Peak of Rank 4.
Once the rune was seventy-five percent completed, Zatiel began to extract pieces of Xenia's True Soul and fuse them into the runic lines.
The rune's final form was that of a pentagram, and in the center, you could see the Devil Lord's figure.
A wide smile appeared on Zatiel's face as he detected the power of the rune.
"Excellent, with this, I will be able to act freely in Baator."
