“All right! We are good to go!” Ren exclaimed with enthusiastic grin.

“Uhm, Master, are you sure about this? This looks weird no matter how I look at it.” said Sirinke. He was still in his miniature form.

Sirinke was talking about the fact that Ren had tied up the Aris clan demon after she refused to budge from the place she was sitting on.

“I refuse, I shall not go with you, you fiend!” she protested, but Ren just smiled mischievously. He took out a long rope from the Orin-Yakit crystal and pretty much lassoed her before tying her up head to toe. She was still injured so she ended up being tied up, then dragged along with them.

“It is for her own good, if I leave an injured demon here then I essentially let her die in vain, right?” Ren smiled, looking back at the demon he was dragging across the ground.

She just scowled at him.

“So much for words of encouragement!” Ren sighed and continued to walk forward.

“Master, how long will you continue to drag her with us?” Sirinke asked after seeing how uncomfortable Ren was with dragging her forward for half an hour.

“True, dragging her like this is going to exhaust me, so…” he used the ropes to tie her to his back. “Ta da! A makeshift rope backpack!”

“Oh Great Ones help us!” Sirinke looked at the picture in front of him. His leader had a tied up demon on his back, carrying her like a luggage.

“I told you let go of me! If you don’t put me down this instance, I will…”

“I am pretty sure if you could have done anything you would already have tried it by now, so saying empty threats is not going to help you much. Besides it’s not like I am your enemy, right?”

“No, you most definitely are my enemy. Ren Karatengu, don’t you dare forget, I shall take my revenge upon you, I shall pay you back thousand fold for what you did!”

“Does that mean I will get thousand cups of soup from you? That would be nice, thanks, so kind of you.” Ren said without a hint of shame.

‘What is wrong with this demon? He massacred the members of my clan and critically injured me, but then he tended to my wounds, and now is dragging me along with him? What in the name of hell is he thinking?’ Aris Noi couldn’t answer the dilemma she was facing. She couldn’t discern the thoughts of the demon that has captured her, his intentions eluded her completely. She only knew one thing-his intentions weren’t good.

“I suppose if I see demons that look like her I will leave her to them, I am not really much of a babysitter.” Ren said to Sirinke.

“That is a relief, if there are dangers ahead, an injured demon from another clan will just slow us down in long term.”

“Right, and we don’t have much time left. Oh, right! Noi, Noi! Do you by any chance know how much time we have until the trial ends?”

Aris Noi, currently tied up and carried on Ren’s back, growled slightly.

“Oh, c’mon! It’s not like it’s a secret right?” Ren said casually.

“Why should I tell you, out of all demons? You have caused calamity to my clan and even dragged me along with you, is this some kind of sick joke for you?”

“Not really, it’s just you are too injured to walk by yourself, so I thought to lend you a hand until you get better.” Ren replied in a matter of factly manner.

“You….you…” She couldn’t find the words to describe her feelings. If she didn’t witness him killing her clan members, she would have thought his words were genuine. ‘He is this good at faking his intentions and emotions, he almost caught me off guard!’ then she breathed a little slower. ‘But by the same token, he hasn’t killed me, that means he needs information, and if I can manipulate him, then I might be able to cover the distance even in my injured state. By the time we reach the end of the trial my body would have regenerated enough for me to land a killing strike on him. This way I can use his tactic against him!’ she thought of a devious plan to kill her captor, but doing this required sharing some information.

“Ren Karatengu, the trial shall end in nine days.” She said monotonously.

“Really? Thanks Noi!” Ren said casually.

As Ren kept walking, with Noi on his back and tiny Sirinke on his shoulder, he noticed that he reached an end of a cliff. It was strange, considering it was an underground place, but apparently you can walk even lower grounds.

The only way forward would be climbing down the cliff, but apparently there were those who already did that. There were demons fighting each other.

Ren looked behind him and saw that the tunnel entrance he came from was not the only one that led to here. The other participants must have come here from those entrances.

‘Well, at least it confirms my theory, the cave entrances really did lead to the same place!’ Ren found himself relieved that the lie he told his clan members was at least partially true. But looking down he only saw demons fighting each other, none of them looked familiar, no Tengu clan members, which meant that the tunnels that they took did not lead to here. But this was good news as well-if they weren’t here they would avoid being swallowed in the carnage he was witnessing right now. If they keep moving forward then they might be reunited with Tengu clan members at the path ahead, considering that many tunnels led to the same location it was logical to assume that overall destination was the same even if it was a twisted path. Sooner or later they would be reunited with the Tengu clan members.

“But wait a minute, those guys that are fighting…they are not demons. They are humans!” Ren exclaimed after he saw armored knights fighting demons. Now that he looked closer, there were many corpses on the ground, some were dwarves, elven, but the ones that stood out the most were the human corpses.

“Why the hell are there humans here?” Ren found himself asking that question.

“Unfortunately the Selection is open to anyone regardless of race, Master.” Sirinke muttered.

“That is truly unfortunate. I mean, the humans are just plain scary, just remembering how they wanted to eat Aijasyl sends shivers down my spine!” Ren found himself shivering from head to toe. “Humans are really terrifying….”

“Uhm, Master, you look awful lot like a human yourself.” Sirinke couldn’t help saying.

“Right, you are completely right. I can use it to my advantage.” Ren took of the hood he was wearing; now his hornless head was in plain view. “I suppose I can pretend to be human in case I get caught by them, but if demons catch me then it’s a game over.”

“Wow, that human is something all right!” Sirinke muttered as he was looking at a muscular human being battling countless demons.

The man was most distinguishable by his large upper body. His body was covered in chain mail armor, his head however was exposed. He had ash grey hair. He had a maniacal grin on his face. He was fighting bare handed. But the way he fought left little to the imagination.

With a punch he sent a demon flying and crashing into a sharp crystal. With another swing he decapitated another demon. When the group of demons surrounded him, he proceeded to punch the ground, sending a seismic wave across the ground, knocking the demons off their feet. Then he proceeded to punch them into the ground, creating craters size of boulders. His physical strength was so enormous-it was crazy.

When demons tried to drop gigantic rock pillars on him using earth magic, instead of being crushed by the weight of the pillars, he casually lifted them up with a single arm and proceeded to throw them at the very demons using the earth magic. The demons were crushed while he was unharmed and flexing his biceps. He was not particularly fast, but he was ridiculously strong. His power was overwhelming.

Then, three canine demons tried to overwhelm him by jumping at him three at once, but he proceeded to hold each one in place, proceeding to break each one’s neck with a bear hug.

Soon enough, the battle ground was littered with corpses. Before he killed all of the demons, the demons had the upper hand and the humans were all defeated, but now the sole victor was him.

“That some crazy power there.” Ren whispered.

To his horror, the muscle man looked in the direction where Ren was hiding.

“You might as well come out of there; I can feel your energy signature!” The muscle man shouted out.

“Oh, crap!” Ren knew that hiding there would be tantamount to suicide so he proceeded to get out of his hiding place, with Sirinke hidden in his pocket and Noi still tied to his back.

His sole option now was to pretend to be human. That was the only way he could survive against this guy.

“Uh, hello there” Ren said waving his hand in greeting, all the while thinking ‘If I don’t do this right he will kill me in an instant, I have to play the role of human just right.’

“Come out to the open so that I can see your face!” The muscle man said with an air of intimidation.

“All right.” Ren came out to the plain view, now his face was visible to the muscle man.

“NO WAY!!!” the muscle man approached Ren, now Ren found himself looking up at him from below. Feeling cold in his stomach, Ren expected the worst.

“Sabgyn! You are alive!” The muscle man proceeded to hug Ren in a manly embrace. Considering Ren still had Noi strapped to his back, she was saying ‘Please tell him to stop…’

Then the muscle man let go of Ren and gave off a beaming smile.

“Buddy, I thought you perished! I never expected to see you here out of all places.” Muscle man said with a laugh.

“Uhm, and you are?” Ren asked, doubting whether he was mishearing.

“It’s me, Long. Long Siur. Don’t tell me you already forgot all about me?”

“Oh, how could I forget…Long” Ren muttered uncomfortably.

“Sabgyn, Sabgyn. You are as unpredictable as ever! With the stunt you pulled in the Ashu city, I am surprised you made it here!” said Long “When the Captain returned without you I knew there was something suspicious…but to think her saying that you were dead was a lie…. I am kind of glad I left her group, haha.”

“Captain?” Ren asked, now more confused than ever.

“Oh, in case you are worried about Shadelin, I think she is fine, but after I declared my intention to leave her group, the others sided with me, so we all went our separate ways. To think, why we would follow a leader who let us all get brainwashed and serving the very evil we were trying to destroy. I can’t believe that Snake had poisoned us to the point that we served Aldan, out of all people! When I gained back the control over my body, I felt like I woke up from a nightmare. Oh, by the way, I heard you took care of Aldan by catapulting him out of the city…Man, did you save our butts!”

Long patted Ren on the back. Ren flinched a little due to expecting a punch. This was weird, apparently Long mistook Ren for his comrade. Ren had to play along.

“I don’t know what happened to her afterwards, nor do I know what happened to the other Marked Ones, I don’t keep in touch with them. Considering the fact that I thought that Shadelin let you, my best friend get killed…I no longer felt like following such a leader.” Long smiled. “But seeing that you are alive and well is such a relief!”

“Yeah, it feels good to be alive.” Ren said with obvious cringe.

“So I suppose you are here for the Selection of Demon King as well, huh? That’s great! Now that I found you here, we can be allies! Me and you, ox and the tiger, we can beat any obstacles in front of us!”

‘What the hell is he talking about?’ Ren found himself thinking.

“Though I am wondering, what happened to you after you got rid of Aldan? I want the truth, don’t spare any details.” Long looked at Ren with expression resembling a question mark.

“Well, honestly, I am not sure what happened, one moment and I am here” Ren made a silly expression while outstretching his arms.

“I see. So Aldan must have teleported you then. That sly fox, we are lucky city of Ashu had a barrier field around it that could be activated, if it wasn’t for that Aldan would have come back again. Strangely, I stayed in that city for a month, trying to find all the Intel on what exactly transpired there. During that time, Aldan did not dare show himself. He must have returned to his master Morphus, that demon who commands the army of Divine Warriors. Just thinking I was forced to serve his will makes me sick to my stomach!”

“But I owe you one buddy, you freed me from his control, well indirectly, Shadelin used the feathers from the fake angel you fought to make us snap out of the mind control. So much for a Dragon, she claimed to be the strongest, but she did next to nothing inside the city while being led around her nose by the Divine Lord! I joined her on a single purpose-to kill the Divine Lords! The insult I felt to my pride when I learned that I ended up serving Morphus, out of all people, even if it was briefly, it was unbearable. Apparently Morphus made us commit atrocities against our will, so now every one of us except you has a bounty on our heads. Living a safe life in the human kingdom was no longer an option. One of my allies told me that there was a portal leading to the demon kingdom and that there would be the Selection of new Demon King soon. I jumped at the opportunity. Rather than die a criminal in human kingdom, I shall live a king in demon world!” He said it with such a sense of grandiose foolishness that Ren couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

“Still, I am glad none calls me Ox anymore, the usage of our spiritual form types as code names was really annoying me! Right, Tiger?”

“Right, if you say so.” Ren was getting more and more confused about who exactly he was being mistaken for. Whoever it was, he apparently was a friend of Long’s, who was a colleague of his in a team called Marked Ones, led by someone named Shadelin.

“I mean, even the name of the group-Marked Ones, can you believe it? It was a homage to a group of thirteen heroes of the past, but using it as a team name, that Dragon sure had no taste in good names!”

“Dragon?” Ren asked.

“Right, we no longer need to use code names, so calling her Shadelin should be fine!” Long looked at Ren’s back and finally noticed he was carrying someone. “By the way, Sabgyn, who is the luggage?” Long peeked at Ren’s back and found himself face to face with an irritated sun lion demon looking at him.

“Wow, Sabgyn. I knew you were a bigger perv than me, but to this degree…” Long seemed somewhat astounded.

“She was injured, so I thought leaving her there to die would be too cruel.”

“I see, but I never knew you were into cat ears” Long mistook the sun lion demon for an animal person. Well, the animal people and demons have only one difference, the horns. Noi who was currently frowning had her horns covered by her ears, making her look like an animal person.

Now feeling somewhat safe about Long, Ren decided to walk forward and have a little chat with him. First he took Noi off his back and untied her.

Noi didn’t attack either one of them. She knew both of them were dangerous. Ren Karatengu, one who claimed to be the weakest, could kill dozens of demons in mere seconds, while his apparent ally Long could demolish any obstacle in front of him with his titanic strength. Those two were too powerful, if she did anything to alert them, she knew she would be killed on the spot. She now was healed enough to walk by herself, but she knew that she was in no condition to fight. It would take at least half a day for her to regenerate enough to be in fighting condition. Now she had to wait and bid her time. Wait for an opening to strike. But her own sense of paranoia kept telling her that her enemies were deliberately faking having openings in their defenses in order to trick her. Therefore, she couldn’t do anything. She chose to follow Ren and Long who were walking ahead of her.

While talking to Long, Ren learned more about the man Long mistook him for. Of course, Ren must have done a very good job of pretending to be him considering Long did not find him suspicious in any way. Long told him a little about his own past as well, how he left his sole family, his sister, in order to get revenge upon Divine Lords for their parents deaths. How he was recruited by Shadelin with the promises of getting his revenge. Apparently Long had a somewhat of a crush on Shadelin due to how strong she was, he described her as the only woman who could beat him. While listening to Long’s story, Ren could only wonder whether Long was a brick head or a complete idiot or both. He also told Ren how everyone in their group except Sabgyn was betrayed and poisoned by the person he referred to as Snake. Long did not know Snake’s true name, but he suspected he was connected to Divine Lords. When the mind control had been lifted off them, they found out Sabgyn’s supposed demise at the hands of fake angel, causing the group’s break up. Overall, Ren concluded, this Sabgyn person was the glue holding the team together, and without him they went their separate ways.

“I am so glad you are alive, Sabgyn. If I knew Aldan teleported you here, I would have come to this place much sooner. What a godly coincidence this is! What great fortune!” Long said with a happy expression.

Ren could only feel a little sad knowing that he was not the person Long thinks he is.