In his talk with the Demon King Lucius, Damien had learned a great deal about the Demons' current situation.
Basically, these mortal Demons were sheep to be herded and separated based on how much they could provide.
Although these Demons were born with the Nox corruption within them, not every Demon had the qualifications to receive the power of the Demon God.
The way it worked was simple. Every 10 years, the Demons above the age of 16 and below the age of 26 were to gather together for a sort of right of passage.
During that right, the present demons would be bathed in the Demon God's power. It was from this point where things changed.
For some, that power would simply flow through them and disappear back into the earth. These demons would then have their memories wiped before they were sent back to Acier to continue their normal lives.
As for the rest, there were a few paths they could take. The strength a demon received from the Demon God's baptism was dependent on their affinity with the Demon God's strength.
Essentially, there was no concept of leveling for their race. The lucky ones would straight promote to the Demon General level of strength; while the rest would become Captains.
And depending on how much of the Baptism they could actually absorb, even within these classifications there were differences in strength.
But the ones who actually adapted to this process and promoted ranks were the lucky ones.
90% of the Demons remaining would enter a strange realm between acceptance and rejection. Their bodies didn't completely reject the power like those who remained mortal, but they didn't accept the power and allow those demons to straight promote.
This tug of war taking place in the body of someone who had no strength at all naturally led to adverse consequences, birthing the abominations that Damien had come into contact with so many times.
But because every demon who survived the right of passage had their memory wiped, news of the creation process for abominations never spread. The demons simply believed that the right of passage was a trial of strength, and those who didn't return had died with honor.
In Damien's opinion, this was an extremely reckless and self-sacrificing method to do things, but he understood why it was so. The Nox never cared about the lives of the demons it controlled. They were merely tools it needed to interfere with the Primordial Undying Tree's plans.
And with the high fertility rate that mortal demons had, there was no need for the Nox to ever worry about running out of specimens.
And due to this method of herding, the structure of Acier was similar to a class system, with 5 levels representing the status one held.
The first layer was by far the largest, containing the thousands of mortal Demons that existed within the city. The rest of the layers followed the layout of the army.
Thousands of Captains in the 4th layer, hundreds of Generals in the 3rd, the 4 Demon Kings in the 2nd, and the Apostles living within the pantheon in the 1st layer.
It was a system that clearly indicated the hierarchy. Even though the Demon Kings were the Demons' strongest force, they merely resided in the second layer.
With Damien's strength, he didn't even need to worry about the first three layers. The only Demons that could pose a threat to him were at the very top of the pyramid.
So he continued thinking about the oddities of this pitiful Demon race as he strolled through their ranks.
After leaving the 5th layer, Damien had used vector control to refract the light around him and become invisible. He didn't think the Apostles would be monitoring the area, but he decided to be safe.
And without suspense, whether it be Demon Captain or Demon General, none of them were able to even sense that something was wrong.
Soon enough, Damien arrived near the peak of the mountain. At this juncture, he switched his approach.
While vector control manipulated natural forces, it still used mana to do so. Damien didn't have the confidence to say that traces of said mana wouldn't be discovered as he moved from this point on.
Instead, Damien turned to his Demonic Bloodline. It was a bloodline that contained a rich energy of darkness. He hadn't grasped many of the mysteries of this bloodline, but since it was related to darkness, the concealment aspects were the easiest to grasp.
Since he already had experience from being spiritually connected to Zara, Damien was able to maneuver around this bloodline ability with ease.
His body was shrouded in a layer of darkness before melding into the environment. Similar to a spatial ability, it was like Damien was currently present in a separate plane from the real world.
Damien cautiously approached the 4 parallel castles that stood imposingly in front of him before directing his gaze at the one on the far right. Slowly creeping towards it, he came to a sudden halt.
'Something isn't right…'
Damien furrowed his brows. His danger sense was telling him that taking a single step further would result in heavy consequences.
Being careful not to let the scent of mana leave his body, Damien slowly guided his mana into his eyes.
And that was when he saw it.
A massive shimmering golden dome that encompassed the entire periphery of the castle. It was barely an inch away from Damien's body, making him break into a cold sweat.
'Damn, not only would I have been discovered, but I probably would've also been targeted by the barrier's defensive mechanisms. That's literally the worst-case scenario.'
He knew he couldn't continue forward without alerting all four Demon Kings as well as the Apostles' spies located within their castles. But he still needed to somehow make contact with Demon King Lucius.
'It's been smooth sailing so far, to the point where me being wary of these Demons feels embarrassing. But of course, nothing will go completely perfect.'
Damien pondered. He didn't have a method to contact the Demon King, and when they met, there was no way to receive one.
After all, the Demon King had been a mere projection at the time. And since he didn't want news of their motives leaking, he hadn't even told his Generals what his purpose was. They only knew to set up the meeting between the Demon King and Damien.
'Ah, right! I can just ask her!'
He had a nice little maid waiting for him within the Sanctuary, who just so happened to be the daughter of the Demon King.
'That sounds like the plot of an isekai…'
Thinking something nonsensical, Damien vanished into the Sanctuary. As expected, Elitra had plenty of methods to contact her father on hand. When Damien returned to his former position, there was a paper talisman in his grasp.
'Mm, I knew it. Having a maid is far better than not having one!'
Damien grinned, pouring some mana into the talisman.
"Hello?"
A solemn voice soon responded from the paper. Damien's grin widened when he heard it.
"Father-in-law, your son-in-law has come to pay his respects!"
