Rise Of Demon King

But if I do not know what I am up against, then I will get caught by surprise when he makes his next move.

There is less than three weeks left before the Second trial begins and before it, there is going to be a Banquet of Good Will. Good will my a.s.s, all of the clans who represent themselves will be concealing their appearances and would be forbidden from fighting each other while in attendance. If it were not for that rule, then the banquets after the first trial would have always become a ma.s.sacre.

By tradition, after the first trial, a week before the second trial, a banquet is held, in which all of the partic.i.p.ating clans are represented by a few members; each members will be wearing a mask in order to prevent any conflict. During the banquet, demons are forbidden from fighting each other, lest they suffer the consequences of no longer being eligible to partic.i.p.ate in the Trials.

"Still, is he not worried about the Banquet? How can he be so carefree?"

Karli couldn"t help but wonder.

What in the name of Kalkan kingdom is going on in that demon"s head?

* * *

"While I did say I will be teaching you absorption skills, I did not say that would be the only thing I would teach you. A demon"s abilities work both with mana and martial prowess, but unlike mana that can be cultivated by talent and perseverance, it takes time and training to make your body strong. Which is why, you are going to need this."

Master Korgan brandished the Karatengu family sword, Sword of Kara.

A single edged sword of pure black, shaped like a very long feather.

"That sword… is it…"

"Yes, it is our family"s heirloom. I believe it is time for me to pa.s.s it on to you."

Master Korgan presented Ren with the sword of Kara, which Ren proceeded to take from his grandfather"s hand.

The sword had almost no weight, almost like he was holding air in his hands, and it moved so swiftly that Ren almost thought that the sword was a large feather, dangling in the wind.

"This sword can only be lifted by members of our family. It was created by our ancestor, Kazan Karatengu after he lost his horn in combat. Sword of Kara was made from Kazan"s Karatengu"s horn."

"Made from a horn, wait…that"s just like the weapon of Kas clan that Akjan mentioned!"

"Indeed, both types of weapons were made with demon horns at their core, giving them extraordinary powers. However, our family sword was also enchanted to only respond to the bloodline of the one who created it. Thus, we, crow demons, are the only ones who can lift this sword off the ground."

"The sword seems very light to me."

"For everyone else, the weight is impossible to lift, to them it will be as if a mountain came crushing down on them."

"Wow." Ren was clearly awed.

"But that is not the only property the sword possesses, Ren, may I?" he asked for the sword back, Ren proceeded to hand him back the sword.

Concentrating his mana upon the sword, Master Korgan swung it at the tree that was about ten meters away from him. From the sword, sharp black feathers shot out like arrows and proceeded to bury themselves in the tree.

"It"s like they are projectiles!"

"Exactly, the sword absorbs the user"s mana and creates feather projectiles that shoot out in the direction the user chooses to. Also, the feathers are as hard as steel and they have the same property as the sword. Once someone is pinned down by the feathers, nothing other than a hand of Karatengu can lift it. Now, try it out yourself."

Concentrating the mana that Akjan transferred into his body, Ren made the mana enter the sword, but he miscalculated the amount of mana he used and released it at the wrong time.

He wanted the sword to release the razor sharp feathers when he swung it downwards. But instead, when he lifted the sword up, he ended up shooting countless black feathers into the sky.

Soon, it started raining razor sharp feathers.

"Incoming!" Master Korgan slammed his hand upon the ground, creating an earth dome to protect him and his grandson.

Then, the shower of razor sharp black feathers stopped.

"I may have gone overboard, sorry, grandpa."

"Worry not, the sword is not easy to control, you should have seen what your father ended up causing when he first wielded it, he ended up making houses nearby look like porcupines! Ha ha ha! Those were some good times~"

"I suppose that is why you had me train far from the mansion."

"Exactly. And as you see, none ended up being skewered."

Ren proceeded to look around, and then he found something weird looking.

Pinned to a tree by her tail with a black feather was an unconscious Frost wolf demon.

"Uhm, grandpa, I might have skewered someone after all."

* * *

What happened?

I remember…Ren Karatengu wielded a strange black sword. Then, many black feathers started to fall like raindrops. I ended up losing my balance off the tree from which I was observing him…

…I pa.s.sed out.

My tail hurts. Right, one of the feathers ended up pinning me by the tail to the branch, preventing my fall.

I am no longer hanging on a tree…But I can"t see anything…No way! Have I gone blind?!

"You placed the wet towel too close to the eyes, I told you to place it on the forehead to alleviate pain, not on the face!" it was the voice of one of the Tengu clan members, namely one named Jop Tengu.

"Sorry, sorry."

Then the person who apologized left, Karli proceeded to take off the wet towel on her face, apparently it was placed there to cool her head.

This was the Karatengu clan"s infirmary.

She looked at her tail, it was neatly bandaged up.

"How did I end up here?" she asked of Jop Tengu.

"Young master came here with you on his back, he said something about a training accident and how you ended being caught in the middle of it. He applied first aid on your tail and brought you here as fast as he could. Also, he asked me to apologize on his behalf."

"Apologize? Apologize for what…?"

Her mind flashed back to when she was watching him. When the feathers started to rain down, they cut through everything they touched, almost as if they were spears with razor edges.

She panicked and jumped off before almost getting skewered, then she ended up pinned by her tail to a tree preventing her fall.

Then, another wave of feathers came down and landed too close for her comfort. She ended up pa.s.sing out when feathers landed right next to her head, just inches from taking her life.

Karli gulped.

He almost killed me…and he wasn"t even serious about attacking me. I am lucky to be alive…

"Well, you can stay overnight, if you need rest…" Jop didn"t even get to finish before Karli stormed off.

"Well, I suppose infirmaries are not the best resting place for any demon." Jop shrugged.

* * *

Observing Ren Karatengu while he is training is tantamount to a suicide. I can"t risk doing that again. I will just have to observe him while he not training.

Karli ended up seeing him ride a six headed monstrosity, called hydra, which he called Fanghead. He was riding it over fields, making it eat giant rats, Jilan snakes, and giant rabbits. Apparently this monster was the one responsible for the decrease in pests that plagued the fields.

But there was another reason in decrease in vermin, the seeds that Ren Karatengu had planted were carnivorous, obeying only his will, and trying to eat everything else.

Even the Tengu clan members were afraid of harvesting the fruits of the carnivorous plants, so far, only Ren managed to pluck their fruits, the carnivorous plants obeyed him because in their eyes, he was their "papa", as he called himself in front of them.

Am I the only one who finds it weird that the leader of this clan, a hornless demon, riding a six headed monster, and then domesticate carnivorous plants that eat everything that comes near them? Is this clan ok? Or am I the only one who is freaking out over stuff like this?

Karli shook her head, she would need to observe Ren more, maybe, when he falls asleep he will reveal his secrets.

Karli knew for a fact that some demons talk in their sleep, they end up accidentally revealing their inner thoughts.

Thus, she chose to observe him sleep. Concealing her presence with magic, she watched him snore for three hours straight.

She almost ended up sleeping herself, but when she detected his movement, she proceeded to wake herself up.

Wake up Karli! You and your brother"s lives are at stake here! I can"t afford to nap right now!

Ren Karatengu was walking around strangely, with closed eyes, almost as if he was in deep trance.

He walked into the kitchen and started cooking things, still with his eyes closed.

What he made could be considered an abomination, more like a piece of burnt artwork than food. Then he proceeded to put that food in the storage s.p.a.ce.

Apparently the head chef explicitly forbids him form coming into the kitchen, but when he was sleep walking he forgot all about it.

What the h.e.l.l is he doing now?

He took a stringed musical instrument and proceeded to climb on top of the roof of one of the buildings. There he started playing a rather interesting melody that sounded beautiful combined with the night winds.

But what he did next made Karli cringe.

He started to take all of his clothes off except for his underwear and began playing the instrument in a mad cacophony.

Demons inside the houses could not hear the sounds of him playing that mad symphony because of the winds that cancelled out the sounds and the many layers of walls that separated them from him who was on top of the roof.

But Karli, who was close by, saw with her own eyes as he started dancing like a loon to his messed up melody before lying down on the rooftop. Then he started to snore again.

What is wrong with this demon!?

Then his body ended up slipping down the roof, he seemed to be falling to his doom, but instead, he ended making a flip through the air and landed on his feet.

But instead of walking away, he proceeded to lie on the ground and snore harder.

After that he climbed on the roof again and jumped into a mud hole he dug up just days prior.

With a splash he landed in the mud, he climbed out of it and lay with his back on the ground. Unbelievably, he was still snoring with closed eyes.

Is he really sleeping or just pretending to do so?

After a half an hour he stood up, still sleep walking and proceeded to climb one of the taller trees that were near the Karatengu family mansion.

There, hanging by the branch with his hands and feet, he proceeded to sleep for the next several hours.

I don"t care anymore…

Karli ended up closing her eyes.

When she woke up, Ren was still on the tree, but only hanging by one leg. Then, his leg slipped.

Karli panicked, thinking that Ren was going to fall, she was too far, and she was observing him from ten meters away.

But as luck would have it, Ren was caught by his leg by a snow white fox demon. She quickly climbed the tree and caught him before he fell.

That demon"s name…Akjan Tang…She seems very close to Ren Karatengu. He spends more time with her than anyone else in the clan, and from the atmosphere around them I can tell they are close…

Could it be… she is his wife?

That would explain a lot.

But he asked me to be his concubine, so how exactly is she going to react to this? Maybe she already knows, but she is still so devoted to him…Is he a demon worthy of such affection?

Karli shook away the thoughts in her head.

It doesn"t matter, as long as I know that their relationship comes first, there should be no problem.

* * *

If Akjan Tang is his wife, then it makes sense why he invited her younger brother, Akjin Tang with him to chop wood.

Karli observed both of them heading towards the forest, with axes in their hands.

"Well, Akjin, this is the proper way to wield an axe!" he demonstrated how to do it several times, but then the ax head ended up shattering.

"I may have overused the ax." Ren muttered. Then he proceeded to throw the parts of head of the ax in the direction Karli was hiding.

"Elder brother, I have an ax, you should just relax while I cut everything down."

"Don"t be ridiculous, if I let you do all the work I don"t think I can look my clan members straight in the eye. I know, I will use darkness mana to make a perfect ax, of course making it become the perfect shape is not easy, but I will try anyways."

He ended up creating shovel with darkness mana.

"Not a shovel, an axe." He threw the shovel behind him, Karli barely dodged it.

"Not tweezers, an axe, I tell you!"

He threw it again.

"A rake, why?! Concentrate me! Concentrate!" he ended throwing away the rake before creating a scythe.

"Oh for goodness sake, just give me the axe." He ended up throwing away the scythe.

Meanwhile, Karli ended up having to dodge any tool that he created and threw in her direction.

Is he trying to kill me? It is almost like he is aiming them in my direction! Just as I thought, he knows I am here, this must a warning…do not tug on my tail or you will get burned.

Yet, I still don"t understand his thoughts…

This is going to be dangerous…but I need to know…

* * *

"Another flower for my collection." Ren plucked a flower and proceeded to put it inside of a small book.

"Elder brother, why do you collect flowers? It"s not like they going to be very useful?"

"Kiddo, it"s about having a hobby. I love collecting flowers, one of my greatest dreams is to collect a large variety of flowers, one of each kind, and then plant my seeds until I can grow something truly worthwhile."

"But what if the flower is not the type that likes to get picked?" Akjin pointed at the flower with lots of spikes on it, it was obvious the flower had adapted to have sharp edges and spikes to prevent it from being plucked.

"No matter, if the flowers don"t come to me willingly, I will force them, until there is no choice but to surrender." With a pair of garden scissors he cut off the tip of the flower that had many sharp protrusions.

"In the end, I will have a large collection, it will be complete only when I acquire one of each type of flower and plant my seeds, until then, every flower I find is my prey to keep and make my own."

"Sounds like it will take a while, elder brother."

"Oh, yes, it will take a while, but in the end, even if I have to take the flowers by force, the end result will be worth it. Here, take a look what I have so far…" he showed Akjin his preserved flower collection along with seeds of each flower glued to the bottom.

He already planted seed of each one, now he was eager to collect more…

* * *

This is even worth than I feared, he does not intend to stop at several concubines, but he intends to have one concubine from each kind.

He wants to have one concubine from each clan he conquers, and he is eager to conquer more and more.

He did not look like the l.u.s.tful type…no, I must have not noticed his nature. If his l.u.s.tful appet.i.te for female demons is severe to this degree, then how many would it take to satisfy him?

If the concubines don"t come to him willingly, he will force them.

I am sure he meant every word of it. He knows I am watching him, this must be his way of telling me that I have to come to his bed chambers willingly or else he shall act accordingly.

I see…I can either surrender on my own terms or be completely subjugated. Either way, I am at his mercy.

To think, to think I could beat him…I was too arrogant.

But if that is what he is planning why is he taking his time…

Of that could only be one reason, he is taunting me.

He knows I am not ready to do it, so he is purposely mocking me, and when I will fail, he will chain me up to a wall and have his way with me.

Why have we joined this demon"s clan? What have we done to be under the claws of such tyrant?

* * *

Karli came back after spying on Ren, she informed her brother of what she has observed about Ren, but for some reason he did not seem surprised.

"I expected as much from someone like him. He truly has us by the strings, does he not?" Korkau stated solemnly.

"Yes, speaking of which, what have you been doing for the past few days and why do you look so beat up?"

"I asked for Demon Lord, Sento Draco to train me, I thought if I just got a little stronger I will be of better use to master, so that he would not think of getting rid of me just yet. I can no longer rebel due to contract, so aiding my master is the only thing I am good for."

"I still don"t understand, we may have pledged our souls to him, but that does not make him my master…he is not…I just can"t accept it."

"Whether you accept it or not is irrelevant, the only thing that is for sure that the only reason we are alive because we have some use to him. He will most likely use my strength in order to protect his territory while you will be responsible for bearing his future heirs, come to think of it; he had planned this out from the start. The fact that we are only catching on to his plans only now is depressing to say the least. He is at least five steps ahead of us, all the time."

Karli growled in anger, but she could not deny her brother"s words.

Then her eye caught something weird.

It looked like a giant horned turkey, walking around.

Obviously, it was a demon wearing a costume. After him, many others, wearing different costumes followed.

One demon was dressed as two tailed fox, another one as a racc.o.o.n, and there was even one dressed as a giant roach.

"h.e.l.lO THERE EVERYBODY! I AM THE h.o.r.n.y TURKEY, ANNOUNCING THE FIRST ANNUAL COSTUME PARTY!" the horned turkey took off the head part of the costume, revealing Ren Karatengu underneath it.

"What in the world…" Karli didn"t get to finish.

The one who emerged looked like a giant chicken.

"WHO IS CHICKEN ENOUGH FOR A CHICKEN?!" a voice sounded out, it was a familiar voice. The demon took off the hood of the costume, revealing the face of Master Korgan Karatengu.

Karli and Korkau just stared at them in disbelief, other Tengu clan members simply cheered, and started to make punny jokes.

"You better watch out, or will slither into the house…" a lizard demon dressed as a Jilan snake muttered.

Korkau simply sighed; Karli however had her jaw drop down.

Seeing the clan have such a weird event followed by music and a feast was weird to say the least.

They were in two words, excitable bunch, and their leader was the weirdest one of them all.

To think a Demon Lord such as Korgan Karatengu would partake in such a foolish endeavor, he wasn"t acting his age, to say the least.

"Tengu clan…They are all insane!" Karli came to such a conclusion after she saw Ren dressed as h.o.r.n.y turkey dancing with other clan members who were dressed as racc.o.o.n, fish, and other creatures.