“Why did I have to be paired up with you?” Korkau muttered, obviously irritated by his situation.

“I could ask you the same thing, though I do find the face you are making rather adorable to look at. Oh, you are pouting now”

Lumina teased Korkau with her hand on her mouth.

“Shut up! We are only going to work together until Young Master is found, but afterwards… I never want to see or hear from you ever again!”

By now, Korkau had just about enough of this irritating Dragon demon.

She may be Lotus Draco’s younger sister, but unlike Lotus who was calm and reserved, Lumina was anything but that.

Her easygoing attitude and constant teasing made Korkau truly wish she was his enemy. At least then he would have no qualms about killing her on the spot.

Just looking at her green and yellowish scales was enough to enrage him.

Two of them were Frost wolf and dragon type demons.

Both were strong willed and thus, it sparked a friction between them.

But for some strange reason, Lumina seemed to enjoy tormenting Korkau with constant teasing.

Korkau couldn’t know that Lumina was there when Lotus fought with Korkau, and Lumina ended up getting a little crush on him. Teasing was her unique way of showing affection, which Korkau misinterpreted as hostile maneuver.

Because two of them were sent together to search for Ren, Korkau had to reluctantly work together with Lumina.

Since it was Akjan Tang’s orders, who everyone by now accepted as Ren’s right hand demon, they could not say no, refusing would have been the same as betrayal.

If they ever chose to go against the vows of loyalty required by the contracts they forged with Ren Karatengu, the contract will kill them on the spot.

In the past, demons used to believe promises and then later betray each other, resulting in massive casualties. After that, usage of contracts became a much better alternative.

That was the reason the contracts are utilized so much in this day and age, due to being infallible.

Contracts bind the souls of the ones who make the deal and if one side breaks the terms of the agreement, then that side will suffer a backlash that usually causes irreparable damage to their soul, most often resulting in death.

Even if one does somehow survive the backlash, they would suffer some form of damage.

In history, there were multiple cases where demons had survived breaking the terms of contract, but their fates made death look tame by comparison.

One demon lost all his magic powers and was cooked from inside out after a couple of days.

Another demon’s body slowly melted away, painfully, keeping him alive until he was reduced to a literal puddle.

And another demon was left alive, but only his head was functioning, the rest of his body remained catatonic for the remainder of his life.

Contracts are not to be taken lightly.

The general idea is that breaking the terms of contract is a horrible idea. Even if one manages to survive it, it would not be worth it.

After someone breaks the contract, they would be lucky if they die on the spot rather than be left alive to prolong their suffering.

Korkau and Lumina were not about to break their end of the contract.

The area they were told to search was near the demon marketplace.

But looking around the area, Lumina and Korkau saw no sign of their lost leader. If anything, looking for him, they ended up in the area with abandoned buildings and old architectural structures.

“This is a lost cause, let’s go back”

“Wait. I can hear something…”

Following Lumina’s ears, they stumbled upon an alley, only to witness a rather gruesome scene before them.

There was a person wearing dark clothing and a mask upon his face and demon who ended up being his victim.

Masked man had a dagger stabbed through this demon’s chest.

Using the same dagger, masked man stabbed the demon mercilessly, repeatedly, and then proceeded to break his neck before tossing him aside.

“Too boring.” He muttered, before looking up and seeing Korkau and Lumina.

“Witnesses”

In a moment, he disappeared, only to reappear right in front of Korkau, plunging his dagger towards him.

Luckily, Korkau managed release his frost aura, freezing the masked man’s dagger and hand that was holding it, on the spot.

Due to the extreme cold temperature, the dagger ended up shattering, but strangely the masked man’s hand did not.

With a flex of his hand, the ice coating it ended up breaking into pieces.

“Interesting. Perhaps you are strong. Do entertain me a little”

Masked man proceeded to attack Korkau.

He jumped forward and unleashed a furious barrage of kicks and punches.

Using Demon Lord Mode, Korkau managed to keep up with his attacker for about ten seconds, only to get punched in the jaw and be sent flying with a kick to his torso.

Feeling blood in his mouth, Korkau decided to resort to using his magic.

As the masked man came at him again, Korkau unleashed the highest level of magic he could currently use, the ‘Level 6 spell: Ice Prison’, enhanced by Demon Lord Mode.

It worked perfectly.

The masked man was now trapped in a gigantic cube of ice.

“I did it!”

Korkau smiled at his victory.

“I knew it! I just needed to train harder to reach the next level of power!”

“Korkau! Look out!” Lumina screamed.

“What?” Korkau looked behind him with a wide open jaw.

Much to Korkau’s horror, the ice was shaking.

In a moment, the ice prison he made with his strongest magic was shattered into pieces, with the masked man inside still alive and in one piece.

“That gave me the chills” He cracked his neck. “Not bad. But it’s still not good enough to beat me”

He disappeared again, only to deliver a powerful drop kick at Korkau’s face.

It was obvious by now that masked man was a teleportation user, and a very skilled one at that.

Masked man was too fast for Korkau to react on time.

Korkau felt that his nose was clearly broken.

His vision was getting blurry, the masked man was coming closer; he could hear his footsteps.

It was like the sound of death approaching.

“I will not let you!”

As his vision adjusted, he saw Lumina Draco fighting against the masked man.

Using her magic, Lumina proceeded to use her Mantle of Salamander from the start, imbuing her physical parameters to deal fire-type damage.

But as the masked man blocked her attacks with his bare hands and legs, he did not seem to be burnt; not in the slightest.

‘How can it be? Even with the Mantle of Ice, Korkau’s body experienced damage from my Mantle of Salamander. Could it be? No way…’

The only way someone could shrug off magically enhanced physical damage is to be levels of power higher than the attacker.

Like a single burning candle could do nothing against a lake, her powers had no effect on him.

‘If physical attacks wouldn’t work, then how about this?!’

With a war cry, she unleashed her long ranged attack, her roar imbued with fire magic.

She unleashed a bright blue flame from her mouth towards the masked man.

This flame was hot enough to melt metal on contact.

Blue Fire, it was a technique that could be considered one of the signature techniques of the Draco clan, just like golden fire is the signature technique of Altyn clan.

As soon as the dust from her attack cleared up, there was none there.

For a moment, she naively believed that her attack managed to blow him away into smithereens.

But the voice behind her proved otherwise.

“What a waste of mana”

With a swift movement, he proceeded to knee her in the stomach, before pinning her to a wall by the neck and smashing her head through it repeatedly.

Then he proceeded to kick her so hard that her body broke through a wall of an abandoned building.

As he approached her to deliver the final blow, he blocked a punch from behind him with his palm.

Korkau was in his True Demon Form, using absorption to enter Demon Lord Mode, his entire body covered in Mantle of Ice, in a sense; he was using his strongest form to finish the masked man off from behind.

His sneak attack did not work.

Masked man’s battle reflexes proved to be impeccable, allowing him to stop Korkau’s punch.

‘The Spear of Ice’, that was the name of the attack Korkau used. Upon contact with the target, the spear of ice would extend through the body of the victim, on the part of the body Korkau hit.

But after Masked Man blocked his punch, the ‘Spear of Ice’ did not activate.

Korkau knew he cast the spell correctly, so there was only one explanation why his attack did not work.

“You suppressed my magic! But how?!”

“Did you figure it out just now?” Masked man’s fingers squeezed Korkau’s fist, breaking several of Korkau’s fingers.

Korkau screamed in pain.

After subjecting Korkau to a merciless, one-sided beating, masked man grabbed him by the throat.

“As soon as I am done with you, that Dragon demon is next”

But then, Lumina attacked the masked man, who proceeded to block her attack with a single hand. At the very least, Korkau managed to break free.

Now it was a two on one.

Lumina and Korkau now were forced to fight together in order to have any chance of surviving this guy.

Lumina with her Mantle of Salamander and Korkau with his Mantle of Ice; Fire and Ice working together against a common foe.

For a moment, they thought they could beat him.

They were proven wrong after about five minutes.

Lumina was on the ground, one wing broken, beaten to the point she could not stand up.

And Korkau found himself yet again at the mercy of the masked man.

Korkau’s bruised face cringed in pain. His right eye was swollen, and after his ordeal, he was no longer in his True Demon Form, but in his base form.

No matter how hard he tried to break free from masked man’s iron grip, the hand on his neck did not flinch.

“So long”

Before the masked man could kill him, he heard a voice behind him.

“Would you mind putting down my student, young man?”

As Korkau looked at the source of the sound, he saw his mentor, Sento Draco, one of the two Demon Lords of the Tengu clan.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Masked man asked in a bored tone.

“Someone who will teach you a lesson” Sento flew down and landed on the ground, forming a small crater on the place he landed in.

“Is that so?” Masked man let go of Korkau’s limp body. Korkau fell on the ground with a thud; too weak to fight.

“In that case, bring it on!” Masked man seemed to be a little elated at having Sento Draco as his opponent.

As they circled each other, Sento sent a telepathic message to Korkau.

“Take Lumina with you and get as far away from here as possible. I will take care of this and catch up with you”

“Yes Master”

Korkau immediately obeyed his superior’s orders.

Out of all the Tengu clan members, Sento Draco was easily the only demon who Korkau looked up to.

Surely, if it was Sento Draco, even this masked fiend would be no match for him.

With injured Lumina leaning on his shoulder, Korkau retreated from the battlefield.

* * *

“What was that thing?! A D-d-demon L-l-lord?” Lumina fearfully asked, her usual cocky attitude was gone, now replaced by a scared meek persona.

It seems like masked man’s ‘treatment’ made her completely loose her composure.

She was holding on to Korkau’s hand, afraid to let go of it.

If it were the usual circumstances, Korkau would have immediately grown angry with her, but since they barely managed to stay alive after the encounter with the masked man, he couldn’t really blame her.

In truth, he was just as, if not more scared than her.

All the thoughts of him growing stronger over the last couple of months seemed like lies in the face of someone holding true power.

That masked man, he fought the two of them at the same time, but the still easily bested them. They barely escaped with their lives after his savage beating.

Masked man delivered way more damage to them than they did to him. Korkau and Lumina were so hurt and bruised that they could barely walk.

“I don’t know. But all the Demon Lords are supposed to be old folks, right? About the same age as Master Korgan, with exception of Sento, I think. But this guy, he didn’t sound old, if anything, he was young and at the peak of his power.”

“No kidding. With how strong he is, do you think Lord Sento will be ok?”

“Do you realize who you are speaking of? This is Lord Sento Draco we are talking about, the Demon Lord of your clan! If there is anyone who can beat that masked man, it’s him!” Korkau was confident his teacher was strong enough to face the masked man.

After about half an hour of waiting, Sento Draco showed up.

Apparently, he flew towards them.

“Lord Sento, you are ok!” Lumina cried out in relief.

“Master!”

“Hey, kiddos” Sento awkwardly smiled.

“Did you beat him?” Korkau asked.

“Well…” as they saw the state of his right arm, both Lumina and Korkau gasped.

Sento’s right arm was bending at an odd angle. It was obviously broken.

“What happened?” Korkau’s expression betrayed his terror.

“It was kind of my fault. I let my guard down, thinking he was pushover…but it turns out he is far stronger than he looks. I blocked his serious attack with my hand and this happened.”

“I managed to fight him off the rest of the duel rather evenly. In terms of full power, his power is slightly weaker than mine, but without a doubt, he is on the same level as me, a gold ranked demon. Definitely a Demon Lord level demon”

“He is a demon? Are you sure?” Lumina was just as shocked as Korkau.

“There is no mistaking it. I caught a glimpse of him using his demon eye repeatedly. But what gave him out was what he did near the end of our duel. He used black fire that ate my flames.”

“Black fire? But isn’t that…”

“The signature move of the Karatengu clan” Sento confirmed Lumina’s suspicions.

“Are you saying that was a member of Karatengu clan? Could it be…Young Master?”

Korkau could no longer be sure what to expect from Ren Karatengu, his alleged leader.

“No. At the very least, I could tell, that was not Ren Karatengu. Their fighting styles are not the same, nor are their personalities. I could not get his mask off of him, but I can tell you one thing for certain, that was not Young Master.”

As someone who sparred with Ren, Sento knew that Ren’s style was purely evasive and defensive, and he did not have much offensive ability.

The masked man, in contrast, had not that much defense, but his extreme offensive ability and speed more than made up for it.

He was a juggernaut, in more senses than one.

“But then, what about the Black flames?” Lumina enquired.

“If it is a signature move of the crow demons, it doesn’t mean it could not be taught to someone else. Take Aijasyl for example, she is not a crow demon, but Master Korgan taught her how to use black fire” Sento explained.

“I see, so it can be taught, huh” Lumina nodded in agreement.

“So did you finish him off?” Korkau asked.

“No. In truth, he exceeded all of my expectations. I barely managed to get away from him after blasting him with combined fire, lightning, and wind magic, which he managed to survive unscathed. Prolonging the battle would have attracted unwanted attention and would have caused too much destruction. So I chose to retreat.”

“So, not even Lord Sento was strong enough to best him”

Korkau couldn’t help but think.

‘Now there are not one, but two demons who have handed me my ass. So that’s what true power is’.

Korkau was slowly developing an inferiority complex about his lacking in power department, considering he just ran into a man who pretty much all but turned him into a pancake, it was understandable.

“I am afraid not, if anything, he is a Demon Lord level threat. In terms of level, he is my equal. Strangely, he was not using Demon Lord Mode, but just his raw power. If he is able to use Absorption, then I am afraid to imagine how much of a threat he would be. Out of all the demons I have seen since being freed, he is easily the toughest one.”

“It is best for us to retreat and hope not to encounter him again. If we make someone like him our enemy, then there is no telling what will happen.” Sento concluded.

“Lord Sento, could you please come with us? After we ran into him…I am not sure if we can manage this on our own.”

Lumina could not hide just how much she was scared, holding on to Korkau’s hand so tightly that it hurt.

“Gladly” Sento smiled.

As they started to walk forward together, Korkau asked.

“Lord Sento, about your arm…is there any way I can help?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, young one. I may not be a Phoenix demon with an insane regenerative power, but I am still a Demon Lord of Draco clan. It should be good as new in three days at most.”

‘He can heal a broken arm in three days? What kind of an outlandish body you have, Lord Sento?’

Both Lumina and Korkau couldn’t help but think.

* * *

“Well, that sure was something”

The last blast ended up crashing him through several walls, but Death Hand managed to survive it.

Death Hand stood up and brushed the dust off his clothing. The mask on his face cracked and the pieces fell on the ground.

He would have to buy a new one yet again.

That Dragon demon, the one who came after he beat the two previous demons… he proved to be very strong…exceptionally strong.

So strong, in fact, that Death Hand had very hard time fighting him.

At some moments during their duel, he thought he was going to die.

But the sheer thrill and excitement of fighting someone strong enough to kill him led his demon blood to influence him, making him enjoy fighting against a worthy foe to his heart’s content.

Finally, he could go all out.

As the fight dragged on, neither one could overwhelm the other.

They countered each other repeatedly.

It was a battle between two Demon Lord Level opponents.

Sento was stronger and more powerful, but Death Hand was faster and unpredictable.

With his extreme physical strength, Sento tried to overwhelm Shengyn, but Shengyn proved to be extremely durable, only getting pushed back from the impact of Sento’s strikes.

Using light type magic, Sento managed to momentarily disable Death Hand’s teleportation, allowing Sento to deliver a triple elemental blast at Death Hand.

Death Hand’s demon eye allowed him to teleport by usage of light type magic. Sento being able to use the same type of magic allowed him to momentarily synchronize with Death Hand’s teleportation, temporarily disabling Death Hand’s teleportation.

After seeing that Death Hand survive the impact of his spell at full power, not willing to prolong the fight, Sento decided to retreat.

But the battle damage on Death Hand’s body was nothing to sneeze at.

If an ordinary demon were to be hit by that, no doubt, he would have been shredded to pieces.

But Death Hand was no ordinary demon.

Using all his magic and willpower, he managed to survive the blast, but he did take some damage.

He was bruised from head to toe, but otherwise unhurt.

Still, it has been a while since he had taken this much damage.

Fighting someone at the level of a Demon Lord…It seems to be far more exciting than he initially thought.

It was his first defeat in this demon world, but somehow, Shengyn was rather happy about it.

In fact, he was thankful to that Demon Lord for showing up.

Now, the passion in his heart had been lit up like a flame.

This feeling of fighting against a worthy foe….he wanted to feel it again.

The hunger for battle, the thirst for an opponent who could potentially best him….

Death Hand enjoyed this fight to his heart’s content. It was a feeling he enjoyed above all else. And now he wanted more…

‘If all Demon Lords are this strong, maybe I will pay a visit to one….’

Thinking about it, Death Hand smiled.

“And who better than the Demon Lord of the strongest clan in Kalkan Kingdom, the Altyn clan!”

Jaulon Altyn sure will have a big surprise waiting for him in the future…