Ren: "Not sure what you are worried about"Kizilkoz: "That carefree att.i.tude of yours will get us killed"
Ren: "Oh, come on, there is nothing to fret over. Everything is going to be…."
As soon as he saw someone, he immediately ducked for cover and hid behind a rotting tree.
Not a trace of his relaxed demeanor remained.
Kizilkoz: "Are those phoenix demons…"
Grabbing her hand, Ren pulled her towards him, hiding her from the line of sight of phoenix demons. Before she could utter anything in protest, he ended up covering her mouth with his left hand.
He had a very good reason to be scared.
The one behind the rotting tree was none other than the heir of Altyn clan, Zirc Altyn and his clan members.
Even Human Ren was not foolish enough to ignore Zirc Altyn; the one demon that he was certain would kill him on the spot. No other way to put it.
Granted, in their past interactions Ren did manage to fool him by using a fake name of Refeng Peng, but once his lie was out, which was inevitable; then Ren would be at the Phoenix"s mercy.
Altyn clan and Tengu clan have been enemies for many generations. Ren"s usual tactic of talking and bluffing was not gonna cut it. Not against this opponent.
The only sane thing to do was to hide and pretend to be part of the scenery.
Like a desperate chameleon.
By now Ren knew that messing with a wrong demon was a sure way to die.
And with this fellow, Ren was not taking any chances.
Kizilkoz seemingly understood the dire situation they were in since she stopped struggling, allowing Ren to let go.
Trying his best to blend in with the rotting log, Ren started to watch what was going on in there.
To say that he was scared for his life would be a ma.s.sive understatement. And he was not alone.
Kizilkoz was visibly shivering from fright.
In the past, Altyn clan was suppressed by her father"s authority. But now that the Demon King was gone, Altyn clan was effectively the most powerful group within the Kalkan Kingdom.
And that fellow, Zirc Altyn, she could tell by his aura that he was as strong if not stronger the Demon Lords. Fighting against him was tantamount to suicide.
Her instincts were telling her to run or fly away, but running would produce sound which would give away her position and with the addition of broken wings flying was also a mute option.
It would take a miracle to not be found and killed under these circ.u.mstances.
Kizilkoz: "*Whispering*. You know, I suddenly wish it were Giant Gorillas instead"
Ren: "What a coincidence. I was thinking the exact same thing"
* * *
Surviving the trials of the Selection was no easy endeavor. This trial was no different.
The partic.i.p.ating demons had to fight against not only the beast tribes but also their rival clans.
When two clans crossed paths, a confrontation is almost inevitable.
In this case, Kirkas clan of wolf demons had a rather sad fortune of encountering the Altyn clan.
Even though there were only seven of them, their power was no joke.
As wolves, they knew well that their power depended on their teamwork and numbers, so they have partic.i.p.ated in the last two trials with their entire pack, allowing many of their members to survive.
Their pack numbered around thirty four members, but after phoenix demons were done with them, only eleven remained.
Not wishing to see his fellow warriors die in vain, the leader of the pack, the Alpha Wolf, challenged the leader of Phoenix demons, Zirc Altyn, to a one on one duel.
The outcome was obvious.
Needless to say, he lost, badly.
His right ear was torn off, right arm bent in the wrong direction, left leg fractured below the knee, five ribs broken, and his right eye was freshly gouged out, with a burn mark upon the bleeding eyelid.
He was a tragic sight to see.
It was remarkable he was still alive much less conscious and still resisting.
Now Zirc"s mighty grip was on his neck, slowly choking the air out of his lungs.
Zirc: "You have lost. Yield or perish"
Alpha Wolf: "M-m-mercy…"
Zirc: "Pledge your and your clan"s loyalty to my clan with a Master-slave contract, and I will let them live"
After being let go, wolf demon fell on one knee. He could barely move but for the sake of his clan, he had to make a choice.
Alpha Wolf: "Will you keep your word?"
Zirc: "Who knows? The alternative is for me to simply eat all of you, so what do you choose?"
There was no winning in this situation, the best they could do after their loss was to survive.
Alpha Wolf: "I-I-I Yield. Kirkas clan is yours to command, sire…"
Zirc: "Milord"
Alpha Wolf: "?"
Zirc: "Henceforth, you shall refer to me as Milord. Am I clear?"
The power Zirc exerted was far more potent than that of a Demon Lord.
Alpha wolf could barely keep his head up. The couple of other wolf demons were not so lucky, losing consciousness due to the sheer pressure that Zirc gave off.
When a mighty being exerts his power, the weaker beings were the ones most affected.
If a demon is a shark then the Demon Lord is an enormous whale, capable of swallowing the puny shark whole.
Alpha Wolf: "Yes…Milord"
Zirc: "Good"
Putting his hand upon Alpha Wolf"s sole remaining eye, Zirc"s face adorned a cruel smile.
Zirc: "Tell me your name. Utter a lie and you will know what is waiting for you"
Alpha Wolf: "Zaru Kirkas"
Zirc: "Excellent"
Three of Zirc"s claws made a contact with Zaru"s eye, injecting the eye with Zirc"s magic.
Zaru started to scream in agony as the magic mark spread, starting from his eye to the rest of his limbs, adorning his entire body with glowing white marks that resembled chains.
Since Zaru was a wolf demon, his dark fur made the marks rather easy to see.
Then the marks stopped glowing, leaving only whitened fur behind.
A unique way of branding a contract upon an individual, it did not require the consent of the enslaved party, the user just needed to know the victim"s name.
Granted, it only worked on those whose will was weaker than Zirc"s own, but there was hardly anyone aside from Demon Lords who could resist
Now the poor wolf demon was Zirc"s slave for life.
A rather convenient magic, stemming from the same family of contract spells. If a user of reached a high enough level, then he would gain another skill , which allowed the contract to extend to the subordinates of the subordinate.
It was a magic befitting of the Demon King he strived to become, the one who would control every demon in the kingdom.
Upon the activation of , the same chains that bound the alpha wolf now appeared upon the bodies of his clan members, since they were his followers.
This meant that all that Zirc needed to do in order to control demons of other clans was to use upon their leaders.
When he becomes the Demon King, there will surely be many demons who will oppose him.
Those of stronger willpower will be killed off.
The ones that are left will be subjected to , making them Zirc"s drudges for eternity.
This wolf clan was the first of the many that he would subjugate.
Now that all of the eleven wolf demons were converted into his slaves, Zirc"s uttered his command.
Zirc: "Bow"
All eleven of them, even the one with the broken leg, did exactly that.
Zirc"s power was absolute.
Truly a sight befitting the future king.
While they were not weaklings, his younger brothers, Jang and Kin were nowhere near Zirc"s level of power. They could only stare at him with eyes full of jealousy and admiration.
Six of the phoenixes partic.i.p.ating were all silver and bronze ranked demons, but Zirc alone was gold ranked, on his way to becoming the first Amalgam ranked demon since Akil Ras.
Believing all their foes were subjugated, seven phoenix demons and the enslaved wolf demons started to move towards the nearest portal that they could sense, which happened to be in the opposite direction of the rotting tree behind which two demons were hiding.
Ren: "That was close"
Kizilkoz: "No kidding"
She was shivering all over.
Ren may have been scared, but Kizilkoz was terrified.
When she had her clan, Kizilkoz felt safe knowing her clan would protect her.
But now she was in the most dangerous place and almost running into the most dangerous clan she knew of, alone, with none but her "potential enemy" by her side.
All things considered, it was a miracle that this eagle demon was still alive.
Ren: "Perhaps it is best for me to have a disguise"
Luckily, one of the dead wolf demons was wearing a mask, which Ren proceeded to remove from the corpse and put on his own face, much to Kizilkoz"s horror.
Ren: "A little smelly, but it will have to do"
If it was for survival, what is wrong with a little grave robbing, right?