Korkau Jou and his subordinates were captured by the Demon King and thereby imprisoned. The rest of the clan fell prey to the other clans attacking them at their weakest time, causing many to be enslaved or outright killed.

Of the clan, the only one left was Karli Jou, Korkau Jou’s younger sister by blood. Of course now, she no longer was the head of the clan, and more like the last member of clan of Frost Wolf Demons.

She didn’t know what happened to her brother. When he was captured, he was imprisoned in a dungeon in known location close to the Ras clan’s location. But now that the Ras clan was annihilated, she expected to find what was left of her clan in there but sadly there were nothing but bones there.

She continued her futile search for several more days. When she thought she lost all hope, while she was walking by the streets, she received an invitation.

The invitation was addressed to her specifically; the stamp on the letter was from Kas clan.

Kas clan was thrown out of order recently, and it has lost its leader as well, but unlike Jou clan, their clan did not fall apart, instead they regrouped and switched the location of their clan. They also seem to have a new leader.

When she went to the said location, she was surprised to see a castle. When the demon on top of the castle saw her, he immediately signaled the other demon to open the gate.

The gate, a gigantic five meter tall metal door connected to chains slowly opened, inviting her in.

Inside, she was greeted by a royal-looking room, with thrones at the end of it. Three thrones, on the left side sad an elderly demon, with wrinkled face, large stomach and three horns. On the center throne sat a rather handsome looking demon, also with three horns, but the look in his eyes betrayed his rather twisted thoughts. The throne on the right was empty.

“Welcome to our humble residence.” The young demon stood up from his throne and greeted the Frost Wolf demon in front of him.

Her appearance was of a cold beauty, an aura of cold air surrounded her. her hair was greyish white, her horns were on top of her skull near her large canine ears. She was wearing simple blue clothing that concealed most of her body, but a meter and half long tail stuck from behind her, making it obvious to tell the type of demon she is. All in all, she bore a striking resemblance to her brother Korkau Jou, albeit less muscular.

“So it was you who called me here, who are you? Why did you invite me here” Karli Jou cut right to the chase in an irritated manner.

“Oh, so direct, I like that…” the male demon continued. “Do not worry, I did not summon you here without a purpose. But I suppose I should start with the introductions, my name is Nar Kas, the current leader of the Kas clan.”

“As for why I asked you to come here is for a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“Do you know where my brother is?”

“Sadly no, I regret to inform you but it seems like before he died, the Demon King had arranged for your brother and his allies to be executed. That is most likely why you couldn’t find them when you went to search for them inside the prison dungeon.”

“How do you know I visited the dungeon?”

“You should not underestimate the spy network I have in my grasp. I have eyes almost everywhere inside the kingdom, but enough about that.” He chuckled. “While I cannot give you back the lives of your clansmen, I can offer something you might want.”

“What is it? Don’t tell me you summoned me just to recruit me because the answer is no, I don’t answer to a demon weaker than me.”

“Oh, how harsh. But no, I don’t intend to recruit you, not yet…Instead I would like you to offer you critical information.”

“Information?”

“The identity of the one who dealt a blow to Korkau Jou that caused him to lose and be imprisoned by the Demon King.”

The air in the room got cold all of a sudden.

“What did you say? My brother was defeated by the Demon King, what you are saying makes no sense… It’s a lie, it has to be a lie…”

“It is no lie. Your brother did not suffer defeat at the hands of the Demon King, but another demon. My spies were watching the building, to see the outcome of the confrontation. What they saw might surprise you.” He paused to make sure she was following. “A certain demon broke in to the building your brother and the Demon King were in through the window. He entered the room and defeated your brother, allowing the Demon King to apprehend him. When he exited the building, my spies were able to see the emblem on his back. He is from the Tengu clan.”

“Tengu clan… Wait, what is the use of you telling me this?”

“Well, it just so it happened that less than two month ago, my brother chased an escaped slave. The slave had entered the Karatengu clan’s territory with my brother following him. But tragically, my brother met his end by the hands of a Tengu clan member.”

“Your point?”

“There are not many demons capable of handling demon of the caliber of your brother who is one of the strongest in his generation or my brother, the best Kas clan ever produced for millennia” he said it with a visible discomfort. “The Tengu clan is not known for its strong members, so it narrows down the choices of suspects. But based on the reports from my subordinates, I was able to obtain the picture of the said clan member and after talking with the retainers of my brother, I was able to conclude that the one who defeated your brother and murdered mine are most likely the one and the same” he pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve and gave it to Karli Jou.

“His name is Ren, Ren Tengu. He is the one responsible for the destruction of both of our clans.”

She looked at the face. “He seems human”

“No human can do what he did; he is most likely a late bloomer or an extremely good user of disguise.”

“I see. So that was the information you wanted to give me?”

“Indeed. Also, I would like to give you this” he tossed a small flask to her. “It’s a potion that will allow one to rank up at least four levels in an instant, allowing for extreme power output. Consider it my way of assisting you, keep in mind it will take a toll on your body if you use it. It was very expensive, so use it carefully.”

“In exchange, of course, I would like you to try to kill him.”

“His clan will protect him, I can’t do it while he is inside Karatengu territory.”

“That is why, the Selection will provide a perfect opportunity for you to hunt him down. Many clans will be busy killing each other to notice an extra corpse, and there will be less demons to protect him. He is a strong demon, I am certain he will enter the competition. Of course my clan will be entering the Selection as well, but I hope you wouldn’t harm us and direct your anger against him instead.”

Just like that an agreement was forged. Karli Jou would leave the Kas clan fair by itself and not interfere with them during the Selection, while she got the information on someone she wanted to hunt down and even got an elixir to accomplish her goal. At the end both parties shook hands in agreement.

When she left, Kar Kas who silently sat on the throne asked his son.

“The deal didn’t seem to have any advantages to us. Why did you help her?”

“The reason is simple, father, Information. With her confronting this Ren Tengu, we will be able to gauge how strong he is based on whether he will survive her. If he doesn’t, it’s a single threat eliminated without wasting any of our resources, but if she loses, then it’s a single threat less regardless. She currently is under an illusion that we are her allies, so we will be safe from her reach.” He smiled. “Of course, if she knew her brother is imprisoned under this castle…I wonder what kind of expression she would make?” His grin widened to reveal a maniacal smile. Korkau Jou was still alive, but shackled. Nar Kas was in the process of trying to force him to be his subordinate, but Korkau Jou’s mind was strong, breaking his will would take some time.

After knowing the identity and the appearance of the demon responsible for her brother’s demise, Karli Jou entered the first trial of the Selection, bent on desire to kill her enemy.

At first she found herself inside the land of crystals. The area she was in made her want to fall asleep, but she fought the desire off with the sheer rage she felt in her heart towards Ren Tengu.

“Ren Tengu… Ren Tengu. Big Brother, I will avenge you!” She said in angry voice.

She went forward ahead of every demon, many were either slow or asleep. She found herself before an extremely large canyon, of which she was at the bottom of. There was no way to climb up, it was too unstable. The canyon has many large cave like entrances underneath it that kept going and going. By the sound of the echo, she could tell it was a labyrinth of crystal rock. Most likely this was the point of the trial where demons have to choose an entrance into the underground passage, which meant every demon that want to complete this trial will have to pass through here. This was a perfect place to wait for her prey to arrive.

Meanwhile, Ren and his companions were walking forward.

“You know you didn’t need to step on those demons” Shaula said to Ren.

“They looked like brown boulders, I couldn’t help it.” Ren admitted.

“They were members of the Aiu clan” Sirinke said with cautious look. “They are extremely strong despite their looks, but they have the bad luck of having extreme sleeping habits. I doubt stepping on them would wake them, but we can never be too sure.”

“Yeah.” Truth be told. Ren stepped on many of them, so at least one might have woken up, but Ren chose not to say that out loud.

“It seems we are at the bottom of the canyon, there is nowhere to go but forward, at least the way is not confusing” Akjan remarked by hearing the echoes of the sounds.

“Hey Shaula, can’t you just fly us upward to the top of the canyons? I mean, you do have the wings.” Ren asked.

“I can’t do that. I already tried to fly up high, but the gusts of wind are too strong for me to navigate upwards, besides it’s hard to fly with someone else.”

“Strong winds? I don’t feel any winds here.”

“The higher you go, the stronger the winds get. It seems like there is a sand storm on top of the canyon right now, there is much sand particles in the air when it tried to go higher, but by the virtue of being inside the canyon, we are protected from most of the wind and sand.”

“I see.”

“The Great Ones must have chosen this location for our first trial for that very reason. It would make it hard for any demon able to fly, thereby making it an even ground for any demon by forcing them to walk forward.” Orin analyzed the situation.

“Wow, that is some deep thinking, Orin” Ren remarked.

“It is nothing special, Boss. I am merely stating what I observe, nothing more.”

“Alright.” He turned to Aijasyl. “By the way, do you know what those giant holes at the bottom of the mountain are?”

“Those are not holes, they are entrances” as they approached closer, they could see that the crystal mountains had entrances that seemed to be going indefinitely.

“I suppose we all should enter one of them, but which?” Aijasyl asked from her perplexed clansmen. But then she saw her leader randomly pick one.

“Ok, I am going in this one”

“Ren, wait, what about a plan? You can’t just go into one just like that…” his mentor was baffled by his simple mindedness.

“I don’t think it really matters where we enter, if this isn’t the right one we can just go back and enter the other one, so it isn’t a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?! How can you say that?”

“Lady Aijasyl, let’s just follow Boss’s advice, I am sure he knows what he is doing” Orin told to protesting Aijasyl who was still in her teacher mode.

Now the Tengu clan members entered the underground entrance after Ren.

A demon that was hiding outside the entrances now dropped down and looks at the entrance Ren Tengu entered.

“I finally found you, Ren Tengu” She whispered. It was a perfect place to get her revenge. Somewhere he cannot escape from.

She entered the underground entrance after them, fully intending to kill.

Tengu group kept going further and further through the tunnel. The space was very wide; it kept getting wider as they got deeper. The cave seemed to be going downwards but the inside was still bright due to the crystals glowing in the dark with their green, red, blue shine.

“Say, I noticed that some of the sleepyheads back there were not demons, there were humans as well, what is going on? I thought the Kalkan kingdom existed in different reality than human kingdoms? Or Grandfather was just jesting?”

“What Master Korgan said was no jest. Kalkan kingdom used to once exist alongside the human kingdoms and their world. Back then, it was half of the kingdom called Kizilalem. The first Demon King, in order to protect the entirety of the demon kind, sacrificed his life in order to teleport half of the kingdom to the parallel reality. But the two realities are connected by the portals. By being permanently teleported here, the Kalkan kingdom has flourished greatly. The portals however are imperfect. While they do prevent anyone with a soul from entering it, unless it is entered with extreme speed, they temporarily allow entrance for anyone during the time of the Selection.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s the Great Ones’ will. Anyone can participate in the Selection. Even the native humans of this reality or the humans coming from the reality our kingdom long left behind.”

“Those portals, was there any time human beings have used it to invade?”

“The portals have been used like that both ways, if there is a magic user sufficiently powerful, the portals can be bent to serve on command. Keep in mind, barriers, the lines along which our kingdom was cut off from the kingdom of Kizilalem are the portals as well. So, it shouldn’t be any surprise if there are many humans coming in to partake in the Selection.”

“Isn’t that really bad? Having a human Demon King that is.” Ren asked.

“It would be detrimental to our culture and everything we stand for.” Aijasyl admitted. “But it’s the will of the Great Ones, we don’t really have much of a say.”

“It is true boss. Kalkan kingdom may be inside another reality, but it is still connected to the Tazak kingdom through the portals, even though they are worlds apart.” Orin chimed in. “So, threat of humans will be very extreme.”

“I see” Ren said with a sigh. ‘He says that to someone who looks like this. Oh boy.’

They arrived at a place with six separate pathways after walking for a few hours.

“Will you decide where to go at random as well?” Aijasyl looked sheepishly at Ren who was scratching his head.

“Well, it is not so easy with this case, back there were many choices, but I suppose going with my gut is not a bad choice either. After all, I think all of the tunnels go to the same place regardless of which one is chosen.”

All of the Tengu clan ended up looking at him with wide open eyes of disbelief.

“Ren, when you say that, you don’t really mean…”

“Boss, could it be…you know what the Great Ones could have planned?”

“Ren Karatengu, offer an immediate explanation for this, this instant!” Kizilkoz who kept silent while walking now was demanding answers.

“Ah, Kizilkoz, I forgot you were here. Sorry”

“Sorry? How could you forget that someone who swore a contract to you would be here? Are you trying to get me angry?”

“Well, you are very tiny in comparison to everyone else” Orin, who towered above everyone at almost three meters said while patting her on the head with his lower left hand.

“Humph! It’s not like I finished growing! I am still young!” Kizilkoz proclaimed.

“Come to think of it, how old are you guys? Don’t ask me because I am not completely sure.” Ren nonchalantly asked from his close compatriots.

“I am nineteen” Aijasyl answered.

“Eighteen” Akjan answered.

“Twenty four” Shaula said meekly.

“Twenty two” Orin answered.

Hearing everyone else’s responses, Kizilkoz’s face turned somewhat sour when she said her age.

“Fifteen” She said barely audibly.

“I didn’t hear you” Ren said with his hand on his ear.

“I said fifteen! You weirdo for a leader!”

“Ouch! Ouch, ouch. No need to be so harsh. Well, it does seem like you are the youngest one here though”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who couldn’t even tell his age!”

“True enough, I suppose I am about the same age as Aijasyl, maybe…” Ren shrugged. “Well, I suppose that would be true, or not. Maybe I am younger… no most likely older…”

“If your own age such a mystery to you, then why do you ask everyone their ages?” Kizilkoz was rather irritated with his behavior for talking about nuisance.

“Uhm, would you like to know our ages as well?” Sirinke said to interrupt the conversation.

“NO THANKS!!!” All six said at once.

Sirinke meekly took hold of his scaly tail, looking like a wounded puppy.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just one of the leader’s weird habits” Sukesir assured him he did nothing wrong.

“So then, should we just go in this one, Master Ren?” Quo, a female demon with striped hair and zigzagged horns asked.

Just as Ren was about to reply, he heard a voice.

“Found you…” the voice was strangely melodic but it was rather icy sounding in a sense that the air felt cold.

A figure of a female demon, wearing robes that concealed her appearance, appeared on top of a high ground with one hand extended, dozens of ice arrows in the air waiting to be fired. “Now, you die!”

She swung her hand, the ice arrows now shot downward.

“Look Out!” Ren shouted, beckoning everyone to scatter, but it was too late.

Several of the Tengu clan members were able to use their own magic to defend themselves (Akjan, Aijasyl, Sukesir, Shaula, Kizilkoz, Toro, and Gema), had very tough skin impervious to small damage(Sirinke, Orin), or were lucky enough to avoid being pierced (Ren, Neer, Maro, Shara, and Lowa), but few were not so lucky.

An ice arrow ended up piercing Aron’s chest, Lecro’s leg, Rona’s back, Quo’s thigh; Riosa and Mara were struck through their hearts, killing them instantly. The others who were not immediately killed by arrows or were struck in non-lethal spots soon found their bodies being quickly encased in ice.

“The ice, it’s spreading through my body…”

“No, it can’t be…please…”

“I can’t die here like this…”

Their pleading cries were met with the horrified expressions of their comrades. Before they could even approach them, the figure that shot the arrows jumped down in front of the frozen demons.

“Begging for your lives? How pathetic” she touched each one of the demons encased in crystal-like ice. The ice around each one she touched shattered after two seconds after she touched them. Their bodies shattered with the ice, scattering into unrecognizable red mush.

“Help…” Aron, the last one to be killed was begging while looking at Ren’s direction. His comrades who were killed so fast, the ice user was extremely fast, she killed everyone in almost blink of an eye. “Please…” the ice user was standing right in front of him.

“Weak don’t deserve to be spared.” She touched the ice that encased him, causing it to shatter.

“How dare you” Aijasyl acted before anyone else, she violently threw green fire at her foe that ended up grazing the ice user.

The ice user’s coat ended up in flames so she simply threw away her coat, revealing her face.

It was a female demon with bluish white hair, glowing yellow eyes, wearing loose but fitting clothing of an assassin, her horns were shaped like fangs, and upon closer observation one could notice the sharp canines, the long white tail, and the white ears on top of her head. She was slim but visibly muscular. Her hands were covered in frost and her clothing had patches of white fur that resembled a coat of a wolf.

“You… Who the heck are you” Aijasyl attacked her again with her flames, but this time the female demon answered with the magic of her own.

“Ouch!” Aijasyl’s flames ended up being frozen, along with her hand.

“Everyone, attack her together!” Shaula unexpectedly took on the job of the leader.

With all of their power combined even this powerful foe would be at a disadvantage.

All of them rushed at the ice user, fully intending to kill.

The ice user just smiled, clapped her hands together, and then moved both of her hands in circular motion, aura of frost enveloping her surroundings. Her attackers were momentarily blinded by the rush of wind and snow.

When the frost wind cleared, they could see six giant humanoids made of ice standing between them and the ice user.

“Prey upon them, Ice Giants!” she commanded her creations.

Each one ended up attacking a group of the Tengu clanners.

Orin was dealing with one Ice Giant, while others couldn’t deal with Ice Giant by themselves. Sukesir and Sirinke had their hands full with Ice Giant that was intending to swallow them with its razor sharp jaws. Neer and Lowa were running away from an Ice Giant who was extending its hands to catch them. Maro and Shara were also busy with an ice Giant, but instead of running, Maro was hitting it with brute force from top while Shara hit it from the bottom. Toro, Akjan, and Kizilkoz were fighting off two Ice Giants simultaneously, while Lowa and Gema were tending to injured Aijasyl.

Ren himself wanted to help with the fight against the Ice Giants, but before he could take out the bottled Magic from the Orin-Yakit crystal, the ice user appeared right before him, intending to kill.

“Ren Tengu, you will not escape!” She fired out her ice magic at him from very close range from which there was no way to dodge.

“Boss, look out!” at the last second, Orin jumped in front of Ren and took on the full brunt of the ice blast. However, before he was hit by ice blast he ended up launching an explosion at his enemy, causing her to be launched backwards, visibly injured.

“Orin!” Ren shouted out in horror and tried to move towards him, but he soon found out it was impossible. While Orin did take the full power of the ice blast and now was encased in ice, it seems like that the radius of the attack was extensive enough to freeze someone near the target, namely Ren. Ren’s legs were completely frozen, he couldn’t budge an inch, and he could only move his upper body.

‘If she touches him he will die, I have to do something’ Ren was panicking, while the ice user was thrown away by the explosion, there was no telling when she would strike again. And the fact was, there were five Ice Giants (Apparently Orin destroyed one) rampaging around, trying to kill his Tengu clan. “I have to get him out of ice, but how….Wait! That’s it!” he remembered what Master Korgan told him about energy manipulation.

“If your will is stronger than the will of the original user then you can control any energy regardless of the type” The words of his grandfather echoed in his head.

“Right, I need to steel my resolve, it is not the time to panic, it is not the time to panic, oh, who am I kidding I am panicking!” Ren gulped and breathed in and out. “It is true I am scared, scared for my life, but I am far more scared of losing them, so….” Ren pointed his hand in the direction of the ice encasing Orin. “I will not let you die here, you hear me?”

“CONTROL!” With his consciousness he felt the ice that was encasing Orin; obeying its creator’s will. Because its creator was simultaneously controlling five Ice Giants, the willpower within ice was not as strong as it would have been had the creator of the ice been focused on the ice alone. But Ren could tell the Ice User had extremely strong will, not something easy to contest with. Ren extended his willpower, wrestling with the control of the ice, he could feel the willpower of the ice user clash against his will, but he did not stop and stubbornly pressed on. Ren imagined himself extending an invisible arm to grab an orb that represented the magic contained in the Ice encasing Orin. While the orb was originally in the hands of the ice user, now Ren’s imaginary hand clutched on to the orb, refusing to let go, and eventually tore it from the control of the ice user.

“CONTROL!” Ren repeated, now the ice encasing Orin was under his control. “Scatter!” the ice around Orin dissipated and dispersed in different directions. Orin now was free and unhurt, but now he was falling on his knees, breathing hard. The ice clutching to Ren’s legs shattered in the same instant as Orin was freed. Now Ren was free to move, albeit with shivers passing through his body from cold.

“Orin, are you alright?”

“Boss, what just happened… Look out!” he shouted out.

An ice Giant was swinging its enormous fist at them, intending to crush them with the sheer weight of its body.

Ren quickly pushed Orin out of the way, before dodging a punch from the Ice Giant.

Meanwhile, watching the Tengu clan fight her Ice Giants, Karli Jou wiped the blood from her mouth. “That explosion user, he was no joke, just before I froze him, he ended up blasting me with an explosion. My body took some damage from it, even with my strong physique he is something to watch out for. I am lucky to have frozen him” then she saw Ren shatter the ice that encased the beetle demon, with beetle demon surviving. “No way, how did he… he must have used a fire type magic to free him” she commanded her ice giant to attack them. “No matter, suffocating in ice must have drained his strength, now that beetle demon can no longer protect you, Ren Tengu” She was smiling, watching the Ice Giant attack them with its powerful physique.

Then, she saw something strange, after Ren dodged the Ice Giant’s first attack, he did something so that the Ice Giant’s second punch never connected.

The Ice Giant’s arm stood motionless, mid-motion, right before Ren’s face, but not moving an inch, while Ren had his hands in front of him.

“Shatter!” He said in an authoritative voice. The Ice Giant’s body now lost its stability and proceeded to break into countless pieces. In a way it looked like glass falling on the floor, turning into a pile of unrecognizable pieces of what once was whole.

“No way, my Ice Giant, he just destroyed it” Karli Jou’s determination wavered slightly from the slight fear she felt within her. ‘How strong is he, I thought he was weak from his looks, but was he actually hiding his strength?’

Ren, who was using his willpower to take control of the Ice Giant to destroy it could sense the minute changes within the magic that controlled the Ice Giants. The willpower that controlled the magic making up the Ice Giants had waned. This was a perfect opportunity.

Tengu clan was not faring very well against the Ice Giant; many were thrown like ragdolls while the stronger ones had bruises. The Ice Giants seemed to have limited ability to regenerate themselves when they took damage that was not too serious. Partially because of that Tengu clan members were on the loosing edge.

Although he never did this before, Ren extended his willpower to encompass the remaining four Ice Giants. Now that the ice user’s willpower has waned, Ren was able to wrestle the control of the four Ice Giants.

Before the Ice Giants could kill his remaining clan members, Ren commanded them.

“Cease at once!” the Ice Giants stopped at their tracks, frozen in place.

“Impossible, he made my Ice Giants, my magic, turn against my will? What in the world did he do to them?” She was getting increasingly paranoid, if he could do that to her magic, Great Ones know what he could have done with Magic of her brother who is stronger than her by far.

“Attack her!” Ren commanded.

Now her own creations were attacking their former Master.

Karli Jou dodged the attacks of Ice Giants with leaps, jumps, and dodges.

“Cease this, you are my creation, you will obey…” she ended being punched by one of her Ice Giants. From the force of the punch she was thrown towards a wall, visibly injuring her.

“If you will not obey me, then, SHATTER!” She commanded her creations.

Ren, who had her Ice Giants under his control bid them to ignore her orders.

“No…they wouldn’t disappear. It’s my magic, it must disappear when I tell it to…it can’t be…it can’t be…”

“You are done” Ren approached her, panting; the other Tengu clan members looked injured as well. Some were partially frozen; apparently the Ice Giants had the ability to freeze things by touch.

“No.” She looked at him angrily. “If I am going to perish, I am taking you with me, Ren Tengu !!!!” She quickly shot several ice spears towards the ceiling. She now knew her magic was ineffective against Ren Tengu, so the only way to kill him would be to crush them under the falling boulders.

Currently all of them were inside underground crystal tunnels, meaning if the crystals in the ceiling were to fall down, everyone underneath would be crushed.

“My life is a small price to pay for revenge.” She whispered.

The ceiling of the cave shot by the ice spears now ended up being destabilized, falling rubble upon everyone.

Ren watched in horror as his Tengu clan was underneath the failing rubble.

Then, he caught sight of Sirinke, who was completely frozen, but not shattered. Right before the rubble hit them, Ren rushed towards Sirinke and using the ice magic from the Ice Giant he shielded them both from the rubble with an ice shield.

“Oh, my head” Ren looked over and saw Sirinke, still frozen, but not shattered. “Don’t worry, I will free you” He took control of the ice and scattered it, leaving Sirinke unharmed. The ice Shield protected them from the rubble, but now it was the time to dig out.

With unconscious Sirinke, Ren was left alone to open a path to get out of the rubble. He managed to dig himself out and pull Sirinke out as well. The lizard demon was particularly heavy to lift, requiring Ren to exert quite a lot of effort to get him out as well.

Then, what he saw made Ren gasp in disbelief. There was a giant wall of crystal where the other Tengu should have been. The crystals must have fallen down from the ceiling, which meant…

“No! All of them couldn’t be dead!” Ren Shouted. “Akjan, Aijasyl, Orin!! Anyone, please answer me!”

From the side of the crystal wall that was in front of him a voice answered him.

“Ren? Is that you there?”

“Kizilkoz, I am so happy to hear your voice, you are ok. Thank Great Ones.” Then he regained his composure. “Everyone else, are they…”

“Everyone is here with me, some were injured, but all are alive… wait, where is Sirinke? Sukesir says she can’t find him. Don’t tell me he has….”

“Don’t worry, he is here with me.”

So it was like this, the falling crystal boulders ended up separating Ren and Sirinke from his clan members. It was like a wall that stood between them. Even the way from which they came from was sealed.

“Boss, don’t worry, I will blast this pile of crystals!”

“Don’t! Orin! You will only make this worse!” if Orin made a blast then there was not telling how much damage the falling rocks could cause. Not to mention the fact that the underground tunnel they were inside of was clearly not stable, so any disturbance could cause a cave in.

“Ren, that crazy ice magic user…Is she over at your side? We can’t find her at our side…” now it was Akjan speaking

Ren quickly looked over, seeing none but unconscious Sirinke, he replied. “Nope, it seems like she fell victim to her own action.”

“Whew, that’s a relief.” Akjan sighed. “But if we can’t break this wall, then how exactly are we supposed to regroup?”

“Akjan, are there any pathways from where you are?”

“There are three paths leading forward, but the path we came from got blocked by the rubble.”

“There are two paths near us as well. So, you guys, take one of the paths and keep going forward, me and Sirinke will do the same…”

“Wait! Are you suggesting we leave you?” now it was Aijasyl voicing her opinion.

“Indeed, that is the case.”

“We are not going to abandon you!” Akjan and Aijasyl said simultaneously, surprising Ren.

“You guys… I am sorry. But this is how it must be. If you try to go towards me or me going towards you by breaking through this wall, then there is no telling how many might die from the cave in caused by our actions. Enough Tengu clan members have perished today, I will not let anymore of you to get hurt.”

“But…”

“Aijasyl. This is an order. All of you take one path and keep following it until you reach the end.” He sighed. “Don’t worry, with the way things going now, there is a high chance that all of these caves intersect with each other sooner or later, and they without a doubt will lead to the same location. So, guys, please be safe.”

“Fine, if that is your order, Master Karatengu” Aijasyl begrudgingly complied.

“Ren, could you please promise me that you are going to be safe and that you will see us again?” Akjan sounded very nervous, so to reassure her, Ren replied.

“I promise I will find you guys, don’t worry I will be ok.” On the inside he was thinking ‘I will be Ok?! What kind of a lie is that! Of course I will not be ok! I am trapped inside the cave, with an injured lizard demon, while the rest of my clan is on the other side of the wall! I am so scared’ He shivered uncontrollably, but now was not the time to wallow in self-pity, now was the time to act.

“Keep going forward; when our cave paths intersect we will be reunited!” Ren said in a confident voice. ‘I really hope that our paths intersect, I just said it in order to ease the tension and not have them panic.’ The truth was, he didn’t know if cave paths even went to the same location, much less intersect each other.

After Ren left the area covered by rubble while carrying unconscious Sirinke on his back, towards one of the opening path, underneath the rubble a sound could be heard. Shifting of rocks, the rocks were trembling, as if something was emerging from underneath them. From the inside, a layer of frost was spreading to the outside. When the ice completely ended up covering the rubble, a sound of snapping of fingers resounded, followed by the rocks being pulverized to snow dust.

Karli Jou emerged out of the rubble, hurt, with one lame leg, slightly bleeding from head to toe, but the injuries were not life threatening. Yet, she needed some time to regenerate. In this shape she wouldn’t be able to go far.

“Damn him!” She cursed under her breath. She clearly underestimated him, even using her strongest spell “Ice Giant” was ineffective, not to mention the fact that he took control of her magic. “My mana, they were created from my mana, why did they obey him then?” she was slightly aware of how mana control works, but she never thought a demon could control other demon’s magic, it was a fearsome ability. She now knew that Ren Tengu was not someone to take lightly. She thought she could take her revenge if she went all out, but it seems it is not going to be enough.

“That demon, not only my magic is powerless against him, he has multiple allies to back him up.” In her mind she saw Ren Tengu as someone on a level similar to her brother, a bronze ranked demon, one of the stronger demons. Her encounter has proved to her that he definitely is the one responsible for her clan’s downfall, only he could be strong enough to beat her brother.

“Aw, curse it!!!” after being unable to stand up due to her leg, she resorted to making a cast for the lower leg made of ice. Considering it was her own magic, she manipulated its shape in order to make it into shape of leg armor and shoe. The cast stabilized her leg allowing her to walk normall-ish. This would only temporarily fix the injury, besides her body was too weak right now. The best she could do right now was to follow Ren Tengu, wherever he went.

She faced the two pathways in front of her, there was nowhere to go back, and the place she entered from was covered in rubble, untouched. It was evident that Ren Tengu did not go back but forward. But there were two separate paths ahead, which one did Ren Tengu pick?

In the end she decided to pick the entrance to the right, unaware of the fact that Ren had picked the left path instead.