Sapphire City...

Formerly known as Salmon City.

It had not even been a complete month since the civil war that rocked it to its core and yet it had been transformed so much.

The war had caused grief to quite a lot of people and by that I do not refer to the Plebeians or the Greats, I refer to the common people who lost relatives due to the rampant Flame Demons.

None of them cared who had won the war at the time and it was understandable but it became information they could not possibly ignore when the winner began to show his hand.

First was the news that it had not been either the Great or the Plebeians who were truly victorious, with the latter losing all of its military power but a different individual altogether.

An individual who made use of his private force to quell the unrest and was the reason the damage of the Flame Demons had ended as quickly as it had.

An individual who had the guts to 'stick it to the man' and rob the Great families of their conjoined wealth.

Wealth the public had had no idea they had.

And wealth they had never seen fit to use to assist the less fortunate.

None of them were sympathetic to the Great families' plight and frankly hailed the thief;

The Malevolent One.

So you can imagine their appreciation that this Man had also been the reason so many of them were still alive.

Of course, what they heard was not exactly how things had gone down.

Hal had had his Emissaries take to the city streets and embellish the tale as much as they could.

So much so that they depicted Hal as an invincible expert of a much higher caliber than Hector Edgar at the time he was alive.

Then again, what else were they supposed to think after they were told that the true villain of the story had attempted to use all of them for a Blood ritual that would make him stronger?

This villain loved carnage and violence so much that it had instigated the Plebeians and the Greats against each other.

They all owed their lives to the Malevolent One.

And it was why they deemed that title unbefitting of such a 'Benevolent' figure.

The tales spun for the public were long but it was far from being the only thing that was done.

Every commoner family was gifted a Cultivation technique of the Green grade which everyone in the family could make use of.

This opened up a whole new world for these people who had all but given up completely ever becoming powerful experts.

Now, they saw it in their reach.

That was not all,

As long as any of the families could produce Phenomenon Realm experts, they would get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the Benevolent Lord in person and receive his Blessings to indoctrinate the family to the Blessed status.

However, while there was still a clear social class, monikers such as commoners or peasants were done away with because as none of those families had failed to receive a Cultivation technique from the Benevolent Lord, they had become 'Favoured Families' pending their progress into Blessed status.

All remnants of the Plebeian families were indoctrinated as Blessed but as they had not yet produced a Cosmic Phenomenon Realm expert, they were brought back down to Favoured.

None of them was showing any sign of resistance anymore as Hal had completely stumped it out of them.

Then we arrive at the ladies and not just those who dreamed of returning to former glory but the multitude of ladies residing in Sapphire city who had heard fables of the looks and prowess of the Benevolent Lord.

There was even an unconfirmed rumor that he was only in his early twenties.

Not just in looks but in age as well.

His looks were said to be incomparable and enough to make any woman, regardless of her marital status swoon, but not many had ever been opportune to meet him and the ones who did refused to speak of his looks.

However, one thing was clear of their expressions when they spoke of him; he was either just as the rumors made him out to be or he was even better.

So you might be wondering, Why would Hal go to all this trouble in an insignificant city?

Well, you see, Hal saw potential in it and felt it was the perfect place to be the 'Core of his Corruption'.

He had always considered making the city his base of operations and a location he could always fall back on even after he went off to explore the continent, however, he became even more convinced it was the right path after he became a Mid-World Devil.

While the Mid-World Devil Bloodline level was not the highest, it marked the beginning of the Devil's need to Dominate and corrupt and they were key to becoming stronger Bloodline-wise. While advancing Bloodline levels was a mere dream to most of them, they would still grow weaker within their level.

So much so, their peers would quickly outclass them.

Even though his Bloodline was at the Primeval level and all he was doing was really unlocking its potential, it did not exempt him.

As Tiberius was quite gloatful about, Devils had the most troublesome Bloodline requirements unlike Demons like he and Myra who merely needed to satisfy their vices.

His being Bloodlust while Myra's was carnal pleasure.

Anyway, Hal had two options;

He could either begin to amass his subordinates of corruption or put himself under an already established Devil or Demon.

Although, a Devil who submitted to a Demon would be shunned by his/her peers.

Anyway, submitting will satisfy the need for a territory no matter how small and the Devil can then carry out corruption under its Master and over its Master's subordinates.

Needless to say, it did not matter which path the Devil decided to follow, the Queen would still reigned supreme over them all.

Anyway,

Not to mention that there was no Devil around for him to submit to, even if there was, Hal would not even consider submitting.

One good news though was that his {Network of Souls} was no longer limited to only those who he marked and contracted.

The moment he placed his 'Root of corruption' at the center of Sapphire city, anyone who had ties to the city was now subjected to {Network of Souls} which has already proved a capable strike from his battle with Arya.

However, even if the seed was placed, it would not germinate if he did not garner the loyalty, gratitude or subservience of every individual currently residing in the city.

Excluding visitors of course.

They had to be indigenes.

Presently, he already had the majority on his side and could give orders whether by proxy or personally and it would be obeyed but majority was not all.

He needed the minority as well.

Luckily, all of his men were those that could slum it with the best of them and were now going from house to house to know exactly what the denizens truly desired which would be the Devil's way into their hearts.

The landmass of Sapphire city was quite large but it was nothing they could not traverse as cultivation Experts and sooner than later, they would all be brought under the wing of the Mid-World Devil Hal, to do with as he deemed fit.

But until then, words that painted him in a good light would continue to be preached and he would stay on the public's good side.