Once the Rebirth Incarnation reached Zatiel's side and detected that the Demon Lord was already far away, he deactivated Doomsday Incarnation before breaking the space by his side, taking him and the Neo-Demon to the center of the ruined city.
Zatiel sat on the ground and began to stabilize his condition after deactivating his Law Avatar and Doomsday Incarnation. His face was pale, and most of his inner organs were either destroyed or harmed. The only silver lining was that his hearts, brain, and spinal cord were fine.
The Rebirth Incarnation did not remain still. He released his Sun Domain and began to explore the city.
A few moments after the incarnation left Zatiel, explosions and screams were heard all around the city. While this happened, the Neo-Demon reviewed the fight and analyzed his battle power.
'Horuda was severely injured due to his battle with Philistos and had used all of his life-saving cards. My battle power should be approximately that of Rank 5 Demon Lord at the 1st Engraving Stage. Using the full power of Rebirth Nightmare and the Rebirth Incarnations, I could fight someone at the 2nd Engraving Stage, but if they have sturdy spirit defenses, I would probably lose.'
Although his power was impressive, Zatiel knew there was room for improvement, especially in the Rebirth Eye's soul invading abilities.
The Rebirth Incarnation returned after fifteen minutes and brought five Rank 4 Demons. Three of them were dead, and the other two were just unconscious. He presented them to Zatiel before transforming in ash due to his vessel's soul, body, and energy been fully drained.
The Neo-Demon swallowed the three corpses and immediately felt his condition improving a little. He used his new energy to read the mind of the two living Rank 4 Demons, and once he learned the location of a functioning World Gate in the city, he devoured them as well.
Zatiel did not plan to remain in The Forgotten Lands. He immediately flew to the World Gate and left Abyss.
...
Unlike his trip to Baator, Abyss' battle only damaged his body, not his True Soul or True Will. Once he expelled Horuda's silver aura, his bloodline was able to regenerate his vital organs and limbs pretty fast.
After five days of resting in the Neo-Demon Realm's void, surrounded by endless elemental chaos, Zatiel fully recovered.
After he finished his healing, the Neo-Demon teleported to the Forness continent. Everything was just like when he left.
Zatiel sat on the ground and took a deep breath of Enlightenment Mist before working on his runes.
The ones Zatiel was making were identical to the ones he did with the True Souls of the defeated Devil Lords, with the only exception that the new ones had a Demon Lord's picture in the center.
In less than four days, Zatiel had used the True Soul of Horuda, Philistos, and Leina. He analyzed the Animax Soul Runes, and after seeing they were in top condition and fully functional, a smile appeared on his face.
'Excellent!. I finished much faster than I thought. With this, I can begin the first step of my grand scheme.' Zatiel's eyes shone with excitement as he went through his plans in his head.
He sent a command through his Chaotic-Core, and the next moment, Ezequiel, Sophia, Dante, Kilo, and Rax appeared in front of him.
Zatiel immediately noticed the change in the appearance of the father and son duo. Their bloodlines have grown tremendously in power, jumping from the King level to Peak Emperor.
He had obviously given the kobolds access to the Garden of Creation so that they could pick an Angelic Paragon's bloodline as their second bloodline.
From Kilo's back, six majestic wings made of white fire charged with lightning emerged.
'Fire and lightning. It is a great combo, capable of displaying immense power and countless applications, both in battle and training.'
After analyzing Kilo's wings, Zatiel turned to the old kobold.
Rax had six wings made of a dark red magma in his back.
'Fire, earth, and darkness. An interesting combination. It will be harder to practice and develop than those of Kilo, but they can allow Rax to display an amazing battle power if utilized well.'
Zatiel was satisfied with the choice of the duo. Of course, they still had a lot of work and improvement to do, but they were on the right track.
"I call all of you here to explain my new plan. We will invade, control territories, and extend our dominion in Avernus, Dis, Driller's Hives, The Forgotten Lands, Blood Rift, Wormblood, and the Realm of the Million Eyes." Zatiel saw how his trusted subordinates make shocked expressions after recognizing the names he just spoke, and a smile appeared on his face. "That is right; we will invade Baator and Abyss."
Making incursions in Baator and Abyss, stealing resources, and killing demons and devils was normal and something that many species that inhabit Principal Worlds and Planes do. However, controlling territories was something completely different.
The energies in those great fiend planes were poisonous for almost all the universe's races, making long periods of inhabitation not practical. Although Neo-Demons did not have to worry about that, there was an even more critical reason why trying to establish a domain was not possible, and that was the fact the fiends would attack them without rest.
Devils continuously fought against each other and were incapable of forming real alliances due to their nature. Still, the moment they detect an alien race trying to establish control over a region in Baator, they would all gather against them. And the same happened with demons.
Ezequiel and the rest knew this, so they remained silent and waited for Zatiel to explain how he would fix that flaw in his plan.
Zatiel did not make them wait and showed them the Animax Soul Runes he made with the Rank 5 fiend lords.
"These are Doppelganger Fiend Runes, and once you engrave them in your True Souls, you will become indistinguishable from a devil or a demon. Not even the consciousness of a Peak Rank 6 life form would be able to recognize your true nature. I made them using the True Soul of Demon and Devil Counts, so they will work even after your Paths of Power reach Rank 5."
The five Neo-Demon were amazed when they heard the abilities of the Doppelganger Fiend Runes. They could thrive in Baator and Abyss and gather legions of fiend under their command with those runes.
Zatiel sent the demon runes to Ezequiel, Sophia, and Kilo, and the devil runes to Dante and Rax. None of them hesitated even for a second and immediately engraved the runes in their True Souls.
The process was fast, and the moment the inscription was over, an evil aura could be felt from the Neo-Demons' souls as their appearance began to change.
The change in their bodies was minimal. Rax and Kilo had spikes emerging from their spines, Sophia's wings became like those of a bat, black scales covered Dante's body, and Ezequiel's skin became utterly white.
Anyone seeing them for the first time would be one hundred percent sure they were devils and demons.
After the group had time to get used to the changes in them, Zatiel continued speaking.
"Dante and Rax, you two will work together and head to Avernus. Your first mission is to control a small city, obtain information about the devils around you and the power hierarchy. Sophia and Kilo, you two will do the same in The Forgotten Lands." After seeing that the four Neo-Demon understood his instructions, Zatiel focused on the only one in the group who could already kill a Demon Lord on his own.
He was about to give Ezequiel his instructions when his Rebirth Eye detected something strange, and after a moment, shock appeared in Zatiel's eyes.
"Ezequiel, what is the tier of the star you sealed in your first heaven?."
When Sophia, Dante, Kilo, and Rax heard Zatiel's question, they immediately focused on the five-meter tall Neo-Demon.
"Thanks to the natural strength of my body, my first heaven was able to hold a weak Tier 2 star," Ezequiel spoke calmly, and it was clear for all he did not feel pride in his achievement.
However, everybody else looked at him like he was a monster.
'The Primordial Bloodline. When it comes to the body augmentation, even my Rebirth Eclipse Bloodline falls short.' Zatiel could only sigh in amazement of Ezequiel's physical might.
"Ezequiel, you will go to the Blood Rift. Your mission is to kill a Demon Lord, steal his title and domains, and bring me the True Soul of five Demon Counts. I will give you the runes I used to seal the souls of the ones I fought."
Although his mission was countless times harder than that of the rest, and he would be working alone, Ezequiel did not show anything and limited himself to nodding.
The Neo-Demon with the Primordial Bloodline understood that Zatiel captured alive the five Demon Lords he used for the runes, so he cannot do less.
