The black hole above Zatiel did not affect physical matter, but it began to extract the devils' consciousness trapped in the tower. Most of them should have died a long time ago, and although their bodies were still alive, their souls were broken, and the only reason they did not scatter was the runic formation.
After a day, a sphere made of howling ghosts formed above Zatiel. They were screaming, crying, roaring, and expressing all kinds of negative emotions.
The Neo-Demon saw the madness in the spirits of the devils that had endured Blood Duke's experiment, but it wasn't enough. He brought a tremendous amount of Abyss Aura from his space ring and began to fuse it with the evil and insane spirits above him.
This particular Abyss Aura was the one Zatiel gathered from the lower layers of Abyss to form the Chaotic Cores, and its purity was as high as it could be.
Fusing the evil spirits and Abyss Aura was not hard, but it would take some time, so Zatiel divided his mind and began to work on another task simultaneously.
The Neo-Demon formed a mighty Seed of Consciousness that contained most of his Mind Force and then fused it into the runic formation's core.
After a few minutes, Blood Child's body began to tremble, and then he stood up. His soul and body were working, but Zatiel was the one calling the shots.
The Neo-Demon's face was pale, and he had a massive headache.
'My consciousness has not healed, and its condition is even worse now that I split such a big part of it. I will need to consume one of the Soul Apples from the Garden of Creation to heal this wound, but it is worth it.' The Neo-Demon could see what Blood Child saw and had complete control over him.
Blood Child took one of Zatiel's space rings before leaving the underground tower and rising to the sky. The red fog could not hinder his perception, and he could see the entirety of the Blood Fortress.
It took a moment for Zatiel to map the fortress and locate all the Devil Lords and Rank 4 Devils.
'Some Devil Counts have perished. Luckily the Devil Marquises have not started fighting yet. It will take some time until I finish modifying the evil spirits. I will secure them in the meantime.'
Blood Child's speed was impressive, and in less than thirty minutes, he got near a group of Rank 4 Devils. They were five in total, and the only thing they felt was a tiny palm touching their heads before falling unconscious and being stored in a space ring.
The Devil Count leading this small group turned around when he felt something odd with his underlings, but the only thing he managed to see was a red flash leaving the scene.
The red fog and restriction over his consciousness were too much for the Rank 5 Devil's perception. He was not able to detect Blood Child until it was too late.
Blood Child began to capture all the Rank 4 Devils that followed Devil Counts in the next few hours.
He was too fast for those Devil Count to do anything about him. Things were different when it came to Devil Marquises.
Luckily for Zatiel, those Peak Rank 5 Devils had left behind their Rank 4 Devils to explore deeper into the fortress and search for treasures, so Blood Child was also able to capture them.
Once he finished his mission, Blood Child returned to the tower and handed the space ring to Zatiel, which now contained one hundred and sixty-two Rank 4 Devils. The other thirty-eight had died.
Zatiel had come to this dimension intending to capture these Rank 4 Devils.
Although his main goal was different now, anyone without a Devil Lord's battle power wasn't useful for his plan, so instead of letting them die as collateral damage, he went ahead and grabbed them all.
The Neo-Demon had finished fusing the evil spirits and Abyss Aura.
He now had thousands of raging ghosts tainted by Abyss' chaotic power that could drive anyone insane, especially if it is implanted right into their souls.
Zatiel left them inside the runic formation's core, ready to act at his signal, before leaving the tower. With the Blood Fortress' map and the Devil Lords' position in his mind, he advanced to the castle where the Blood Duke resided.
Blood Child had risen once again to the sky. When Zatiel reached his destination, the Runic Spirit took a deep breath and used blood energy to increase the pressure and air-flow speed that was about to pass through his larynx.
The Neo-Demon could not disperse that red fog that hindered people's vision, but everybody's ears worked perfectly fine.
"ALL THE DEVIL LORDS, HEAR ME OUT. YOU HAVE BEEN SENT HERE AS SACRIFICES TO THE BLOOD DUKE. I AM YOUR ONLY PATH TO SURVIVAL."
Blood Child's voice created powerful shockwaves that made the Blood Fortress tremble. They were strong enough to provoke nerve damage to Rank 4 life forms.
Talking with each Devil Lord personally would take too much time, not to mention that they would probably not believe him, and he may need to chase after them if they try to escape, so Zatiel chose a different path.
All the Devil Lords heard Blood Child's voice, but none of them came to him. Although some of them already had suspicions of this place, that doesn't mean they would believe the words of a stranger.
They also understood that Blood Child was strong and were not willing to risk their lives by getting anywhere close to him.
The Devils Lords were not the only ones who reacted to Blood Child's words.
The other two towers that were also sending blood energy and life force to the Blood Duke contained a giant fire snake and a woman with bone spikes covering her whole body.
They were Runic Spirits, and their hearts burned with wrath and killing intent the moment they heard those words.
The Runic Spirits recognized Blood Child's voice and took his actions as a sign of treason. To them, betraying the Blood Duke was an unforgivable offense.
They were about to warn the Blood Duke and handle the traitor along with the rest of the Devil Lords. Waking him up ahead of time would harm the Rank 6 Devil Lord, but it was better than giving time to the Devil Count and Devil Marquises to prepare against him.
Unfortunately, before they could act, Zatiel sent the raging ghosts to their runic formations.
If the Neo-Demon had attempted to influence their minds by external means, he would have never succeeded. Still, since they are Runic Spirit, he only needed to affect the runic formations.
The giant fire snake and the spiked woman shook as madness filled their eyes due to the thousands of chaotic voices that had invaded their minds.
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
They roared and released the full might of their energy pools.
The Runic Spirits' energies were like ancient beasts that rose to the sky, created toxic storms, and contaminated the entire Blood Fortress.
Although the Devil Counts and Devil Marquises were shocked by the powerful auras of the Runic Spirits, it was not enough to make them run to Blood Child. However, that changed when another pillar of energy rose to the sky.
The third one was much stronger than the other two and came from the Blood Fortress' center.
Zatiel had also sent raging spirits to the Blood Duke.
The Rank 6 Devil Lord should have robust soul defenses, but by mixing the evil spirits along with the life force he used to nurture his unstable and weakened soul, Zatiel was able to infect his mind as well.
The power of the Blood Duke was too much for the Devil Lords, and they understood that there was no way they could survive against him, even if they worked together. Their first thought was escaping this dimension, but if Blood Child's words were accurate, that was not an option.
None of the Devil Lords trusted Blood Child, but it was far more likely that their Devil Dukes had sold them as sacrifices than the old monsters hadn't realized that such a powerful entity inhabited the Blood Fortress.
"IN TWENTY FOUR HOURS, THEY WILL BE FREE. I WILL HUNT DOWN AND KILL ANYONE WHO IS NOT WITH ME IN TWENTY."
The Devil Lords heard Blood Child's voice again, and his message was clear.
You're either with me or you're dead.
