When Damien exited his spiritual world, he immediately entered meditation to refine the remnant spiritual energy left by the old man's will.
'I had hypothesized that something like this was possible, but I never thought I could actually put it into reality.'
When he thought about it, he figured that this must be a relatively unique circumstance. That old man's soul had been degraded to the point where it wasn't even a soul anymore. It was just a remnant will.
And as a will, it was basically a bundle of spiritual energy that held a sliver of consciousness. What he had done was just eliminate that consciousness and take control of the ownerless spiritual energy.
If the old man still had a remnant soul remaining, he probably wouldn't be able to do the same thing. After all, a soul was far more complicated than anything he could fathom at the moment. Even his own soul injury had yet to heal.
Putting away his thoughts, Damien continued refining the spiritual energy and merging it with his own spiritual world, slightly increasing his mental power in the process.
'But in the end, that old man wasn't anything special. In the past, he may have been a peak 3rd class at most, and the ones who enslaved him were probably at 4th class…hm? What is this?'
Damien suddenly noticed a foreign energy signature within the old man's spiritual energy. When he investigated, he found a circular seal with mysterious patterns on its surface.
'It looks a little familiar…but not really.'
Damien pondered where he had seen a similar pattern before. He hadn't seen many seals in his life, since they weren't commonly used in Apeiron and he didn't do much research in the Cloud Plane. It didn't take long for him to find the memory.
'That's right! The seal me and Zara used to form our contract was somewhat similar. However, this one seems more ominous for some reason. If I follow that line of reason, shouldn't it be a slave seal?'
It made sense the more he thought about it. The old man had said he was bound to the temple, unable to leave. If there was a slave seal planted on his consciousness, it was only natural that he would be trapped within the temple.
'But now that I've refined his spiritual energy, am I going to be the next target of this seal?'
Damien hurriedly sectioned off the slave seal and placed it inside his Mind Prison. Although it wasn't a guarantee, he at least had a stopgap in case what he thought of actually came to be.
'I should save refining this energy for later. I don't know if the slave seal will act up when all of it is gone. Also, studying this should be beneficial for me in the long run.'
He didn't like the concept of owning slaves, but a slave seal didn't have to be malicious if one didn't use it in such a way. For him, it was a preventative measure.
There were many people he now carried that he couldn't trust. Mainly the Demon forces within the Sanctuary. They were suppressed in that world, but if he ever wanted to make use of them, he would need to bring them into the real plane.
And if that was the case, he needed assurance.
'Especially for Elitra. That girl actually has a ton of talent that was suppressed by the Nihility Flame's antics. If I can use the slave seal to guarantee her loyalty and then bring her out to grow, she can be a strong ally in the future.'
As for the other demon forces, he wasn't sure since he hadn't interacted with them much.
'It's a shame that my strength is too low. I can't use this on the Demon King because he can easily break a seal I place on him as soon as the Sanctuary's restrictions are lifted. It's the same with his maid, who is most likely more powerful than me.'
For him to put them into use, he needed to observe them closely and get a good grasp on their personalities first. But Elitra was a good go-between.
The Demon King obviously cared for his daughter heavily. If he learned that Damien placed a slave seal on her, he'd probably go berserk.
But if need be, Damien could use that information to threaten Lucius.
'It all depends on the situation. I hope for successful cooperation, though, so let's hope I never have to reveal it to him.'
These were all future plans, though, so Damien didn't dwell on them much. He soon opened his eyes and stood up.
'With that old geezer gone, the Inheritance Site should start functioning properly again. Then again, is that something I want?'
The only reason the journey was so smooth so far was because that old man wanted to bring the most suitable host candidates to one place while also venting his frustration on the rest.
If the inheritance site went back to its proper goal of finding an inheritor, things might become much more complicated.
Damien sighed. But just as he was doing so, he felt the surrounding space begin to liquefy.
'Oho? Looks like the dining hall space is returning to normal.'
Just as he thought, he soon caught view of the other five who were in the hall with him. Each one was holding a different weapon in their hands.
"Demon Queen~ you look a little worse for wear! Do you want this Young Master to give you a massage?" Damien spoke with a grin.
Of the group, the Demon Queen was in the worst shape. She had bruises all over her body and her clothes were nearly shredded to pieces. Even now, the whip in her hand kept trying to slither up her dress into her forbidden area.
"Shut up!" The Demon Queen snapped. She wasn't even in the mood to argue.
"A lustful woman met with a lustful weapon. Is this perhaps fate?" Feng Qing'er said slyly.
The three non-Demon Kings in the room all snickered at Eliza's plight.
Damien was honestly starting to feel bad for the Demon Queen. She obviously had exalted status and power up until now, but after meeting Damien she seemed to have become pitiful.
But he didn't care much for the pitiful Demon Queen. He turned his attention away from her to look at the one man who had always caused danger bells to ring in his head ever since they first met.
"Demon King Eden, it seems you've acquired something good. Should I be the first to congratulate you?"
Eden smiled indifferently. "No need. It looks like you've obtained nothing, but I'd be a fool if I believed my eyes, no?"
"The Demon King sure is wise. So? Now that the six of us are gathered here, what do you plan to do?" Damien's eyes sharpened. He released his full aura all at once. Qing Tan and Feng Qing'er did the same.
Demon King Eden glanced at them for a moment before diverting his gaze. He looked up at the ceiling with a forlorn expression, as if his gaze could pierce through it and see the sky above.
"Haa…indeed. What do we do now?"
