After having devoured Kenner's descendants and capturing the Rank 4 Fiend Trent, Zatiel waited until more people arrived, and the cycle continued for the next couple of months.
Every time a Rank 4 Devil arrived, Zatiel would put them into a coma and store them inside his spatial ring. As for the offspring and consorts that had yet to awake their True Soul, he devoured them all.
For the Rank 4 Neo-Demon, consuming Rank 3 life forms was not of much help. They could restore his strength and energy pool, but they proportionate almost no benefit for his body. However, Kenner's descendants had a powerful Devilish Emperor Bloodline running through their veins, and although their purity was low, consuming more than five thousand of them was nutritious.
Individuals with powerful bloodlines and of a high Rank have a more challenging time procreating, but Kenner had a harem of more than three thousand women. That, plus his libido and the fact he was almost ten thousand years old, made that number of his progeny high.
Finally, after half a year, he had captured all the Rank 4 Devils under Kenner and ended the Devil Lord's bloodline.
Zatiel went back to the throne room, where Kenner was lying unconscious. The Devil Lord's powerful physique had already healed all of his wounds on its own.
The Neo-Demon meditate for an entire week until he was in optimal conditions.
He took rune crafting tools from his spatial ring and some resources before starting to work. The Neo-Demon did not have the Enlightenment Mist to help him now, so he had to push himself to the limit to create this new Doppelganger Fiend Rune.
It took Zatiel five days until he reached the part of the Animax Soul Rune where he needed to implant the True Soul of the Devil Lord.
'This is where the challenging part comes.' Zatiel used his Mind Force to increase his speed of thought, and his eyes glowed as he examined Kenner's True Soul.
The Devil Lord had several red runes covering his True Soul. Those were the contracts he had formed and that were still in operation.
There was only one that mattered to Zatiel, and it was the only one that had Kenner as the yielding party. It was the contract the Devil Count had signed with his superior, a Devil Duke.
Zatiel couldn't preserve all those red runes, and the moment they were broken, the other party would know that Kenner had died. That is why he captured all the Rank 4 Devils who signed a contract with the Devil Lord.
Slowly and with extreme dexterity, Zatiel advanced in the Animax Soul Rune.
It took him three days, using his Mind Force to push his body beyond its limits and the full might of his powerful eyes, but he was able to finish the Doppelganger Fiend Rune and preserve the red rune that connected Kenner to the Devil Duke.
The Neo-Demon stored the rune before closing his eyes and resting. Once he was better, and the fatigue had left his body and mind, he expelled the rune currently in his True Soul before inscribing the new one.
Zatiel's appearance did not change, but his soul force was now that of a Rank 5 life form at the Peak 2nd Engraving Stage. That was not all, since his soul aura was the same as Kenner's.
'The soul aura, memory, and personality are ready. Now it is the turn for the body.' Zatiel put his hand over Kenner's chest and began to manipulate the Law of Life.
The Neo-Demon's body began to change, and after an hour, he became a copy of the blue Devil Lord.
He did not obtain Kenner's physical might, and his physical stats remained the same. However, anyone who analyzed his body would find it identical to that of the Devil Lord.
The new "Kenner" conserved the wings and eyes of Zatiel. If he hid them, it would greatly diminish his battle power. Besides, he had a way to explain them.
Now that he no longer needed the Devil Lord, Zatiel took his space ring and opened his mouth before swallowing him. The moment the body reached his stomach, he felt a wave of energy and vitality fill his cells.
The Neo-Demon walked and sat on the throne before closing his eyes for a moment. After a minute, he opened them, and the viciousness they released was the same Kenner had when he was alive.
He killed all the offspring who could use their bloodline to find out the truth and captured the Rank 4 Devils whose contracts broke.
As for the consorts, it would be weird if the lustful Kenner all of a sudden stopped visiting his harem. So to be sure, Zatiel also killed them.
Now that his soul aura, soul force, memories, personality, and body were identical to that of the Devil Lord, Zatiel had thoroughly usurped his identity.
Instead of creating a force from zero, Zatiel took control of one that had already planted its roots in the Iron City of Dis.
While his expression made people think he was having evil thoughts, the truth was that the Neo-Demon was assessing his next movement and examining his power.
He felt how his constitution was growing stronger and how the second heaven was reaching its limit.
'All those people and Kenner's body were helpful. After I have fully digested them, I can seal a new star.' Zatiel was satisfied with his fast and yet steady and solid improvement.
He threw a few dozens of high-quality origin stones to his mouth and left his body to grow stronger on its own before beginning to handle the Rank 4 Devils.
'With six Rank 4 Devils, I can control Kenner's force and hide the fact that something happened. The rest will remain in my space ring until I can seal them in the Neo-Demon Realm. I will need them in the future, but they can never see the light of day again since they know the truth.'
Zatiel picked the four more powerful of the group and began to use Heart Seal on them. With the break needed between each seal, Zatiel was able to finish in ten days.
He took them out of the space ring and waved his hand, making them leave along with the Ice Devil and Faraci.
Once they exited the castle, light returned to their eyes, and they began to act like their true self. As for the fact that the red rune in their True Souls being gone, they could not process that information.
The Neo-Demon was deciphering his next move when a call reached him through Kenner's space ring. His eyes narrowed, and after a moment, he answered.
"Kenner, old friend, I heard rumors about something odd happening in your fortress and the fact your children vanished from the Iron City. Is there something I can do to help you?."
The voice belonged to a woman and was full of concern and worry, but Zatiel only sneered before responding.
"Kita, if that is all you have to say, then you are wasting my time!" Zatiel behavior was full of arrogance. His answer was identical to the one Kenner would have used, from his tone until the tempo and words.
The voice on the other side of the call remained silent for a moment before speaking again.
"There is no need to behave like that. I was only making sure you were okay. Anyway, the real reason I was calling is due to the Blood Fortress Incursion. It is supposed to start in a few weeks, but the rest are already traveling to the location Duke Krior gave us. They want to see if they can learn anything before entering. I wanted to know if you wanted to travel with me?" The woman's voice was truly enchanting, and it could affect weak life forms.
A thoughtful expression appeared on Zatiel's face after hearing that.
The Blood Fortress Incursion was a mission led by two opposing Devil Dukes. As its name suggested, the task was about invading the dwelling of an ancient devil named Blood Duke.
The Blood Duke was a powerful Devil Lord that failed his ascension to Archdevil. The most impressive thing about this Devil Lord was that he possessed a technique that allowed his body to reach the Void Stage.
When his advance to Rank 7 failed, and his life was nearing its end, he sealed his fortress in a unique dimension so no one could benefit from his demise.
The Devil Duke that Kenner served and another Devil Duke found the entrance to the dimension by chance as they explored some ancient ruins.
The first thing the Devil Lords did when they realized what they found was to try to kill the other and get everything for themselves, but in the end, none of them was able to succeed and decided to take a more civilized approach.
Each Devil Duke will send a force, consisting of three Devil Marquises, ten Devil Counts, and one hundred Rank 4 Devils, to explore the Blood Fortress.
Each force's goal was to obtain as many resources as they could and find the unique body refinement technique of the Blood Duke. As for how to respond to the other force, their instructions were simple: kill them all.
Coldness appeared in Zatiel eyes as he thought about the mission. He did not care about the Blood Duke's technique, but there must be some resources that will help his body in that place, not to mention two hundred Rank 4 Devils who no one would complain if they disappear.
"Ok, let's meet."
