Stryke rejected Kaze’s invitation, but Kaze still treated her warmly. In his eyes, even if Stryke didn’t fuse anymore mystery and become a highgod directly, she would have the strength of a six-star fiend. Thus, he didn’t mind treating her favorably. Having a friendship with a six-star fiend isn’t a loss.
Not just Kaze, but the other soldiers and the captain interacted with Stryke, advising her and teaching the common sense of the Infernal Realm.
Since Stryke didn’t join the Chaotic Sea Army, she had to wait for more people from the material planes to appear before she could leave. While she waited, Stryke continued to comprehend the Law of Wind and attempt to fuse the third mystery.
A few decades later, the teleportation array lit up again. Unlike when Stryke arrived, this current batch had no deities, only ten saints. Only two were humans, but the rest were saint-level magical beasts. One of them, a golden-furred lemur, barred his teeth at the soldiers. Not only that, he screeched and started beating his chest.
The black-haired soldier frowned. “Stop screeching! Do you think you’re powerful? Let me tell you, saints like you are nothing more than ants in the Infernal Realm.”
As if to prove his point, the black-haired soldier slapped the lemur. Black divine power condensed on his palm, and vaporized the golden-furred lemur upon contact, not even leaving ash. This wasn’t the first time the black-haired soldier taught the newcomers a lesson. The saints from the previous batches shivered as they watched the aftermath.
“Be good and stand to the side and wait like good little boys.” the black-haired soldier said. None of the saints dared to disobey him.
“There’s barely enough. I’ll send them to the Winlot Tribe this time,” Kaze said.
The black-haired soldier shared a look with the captain. The tribe they should send these newcomers to should have been to a more distant tribe, but Kaze chose Winlot because it was closer to the city. Both knew it was to help Stryke enter the city faster.
“Alright, all of you stand together. I won’t be responsible for you survival if you don’t gather close enough.” At this, the saints huddled closer together. Kaze nodded in satisfaction. He also sent a smile toward Stryke, who also grouped together.
Next, green divine power surrounded the deities and saints. They and Kaze flew into the sky in the next second. The deities and saints, except Stryke, marveled at the sheer speed they traveled at. Of the group of hundred people, only ten were deities. It was not like Kaze or the other soldiers hadn’t tested them, but they were all ordinary demigods, not like Stryke.
Still, he was in a good mood and gave each demigod an inkstone as a welcoming gift. He also informed them about the seven continents and two seas, and about the rulers of hell, the Sovereigns. Of course, this was for the deities, and the information was useless for saints.
After an hour, the group entered the sea, making the newcomers realize that the landmass they were on was actually just an island. Days passed, and the group passed several islands. Although they were called islands, each one was larger than most continents in material planes.
Suddenly, the group saw a bunch of deities flying towards them with ill intent. The demigods prepared to fight while the saints felt hopeless. In a fight between deities, any stray attack could kill them, but against their expectation, the moment the incoming deities saw Kaze, they all paled.
“Not good, the Chaotic Sea Army!”
“Not good, flee!”
As the deities fled in all directions, Kaze snorted, too lazy to pay attention to these random deities. He turned toward the group and taught them another lesson. “In the Infernal Realm, meeting bandits is common. Unless you have enough strength, you can only die under their hands. If you’re lucky, they’ll spare your lives.”
“Is the Infernal Realm so dangerous?” the demigod asked. “Is there no safe place?”
“Of course it’s dangerous, but you can still guarantee your life by staying in the city. Killing and robbing are forbidden in the city. All offenders will be killed, no exception,” Kaze said. “Generally, only highgods can afford to rent or buy a house in the city. Of course, you can also join the army and you will be granted a small apartment. However, most of you are too weak, so don’t even think about it.”
Along the way, the group encountered a few more bandits, but without exception, they all fled the moment they saw Kaze. Or rather, the armor representing the Chaotic Sea armor he wore. Unless the bandits had a death wish, they wouldn’t attack members of the Chaotic Sea Army. To attack a member of the Chaotic Sea Army meant challenging the majesty of a Sovereign. Once they committed such a sin, they would not be spared, even if they hid in a material plane.
Along the way, Kaze threw out batches of saints, not caring for life or death. If they were lucky, they might survive and become a demigod. If they weren’t lucky, then who cared? As for the deities, he deposited them nears tribes. Nearly a year later, only Stryke and Kaze remained.
Stryke wasn’t surprised because she already knew that Kaze was taking her to a city, specifically Blazewing City. Her eyes widened in shock after catching sight of the city. She knew that the city had a circumference of a thousand kilometers, but seeing was believing. “Kaze, how powerful is Blazewing City. I think it should be quite strong from its size, right?”
Kaze laughed. “As you know, we’re currently in the Chaotic Sea, and the Chaotic Sea is divided into thirty-six prefectures. In any other prefecture, Blazewing City would be enough to be the number one city, but too bad that it’s in the Atlantis Prefecture.”
“Why is that?”
“Because of Arcadia,” Kaze said. “Arcadia is the most powerful city in the entire Infernal Realm. So far, there are less than a hundred highgods living there, but most of them are just servants. There are only three citizens of Arcadia.”
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“Then why is it the most powerful city?” Stryke asked. She knew that land in cities cost millions of inkstones, but it didn’t explain why Arcadia only has three citizens. “Is it because the homes are really expensive? No, if that was the case, Arcadia can’t be called the most powerful city.”
Kaze smiled, eyes full of yearning. “Only seven-star fiends are qualified to purchase a home in Arcadia. Not only that, but the cheapest land requires you to pay a drop of Sovereign’s Might.”
“Sovereign’s Might?!” Stryke said. She had heard of this legendary item. They were worth one trillion inkstones at market price, but no one would be willing to sell such a treasure, making it a priceless item. “Do those three citizens have brain problems? Why would they be willing to waste a drop of Sovereign’s Might?”
Kaze laughed. “That’s because of the lord of Arcadia.”
Stryke stared at him. “Who is he?”
“He’s one of the Seven Rulers of Hell, a Sovereign!”
Stryke sucked in a cold breath. She retracted her statement about those three people being idiots. Even if she only had one drop of Sovereign’s Might, she’d be willing to purchase a home, too. Suddenly, an intense desire to purchase a home in Arcadia filled her.
It only took a few hours for Kaze and Stryke to arrive in Blazewing City. Because Kaze was a soldier of the Chaotic Sea Army, Stryke wasn’t required to pay the one inkstone entrance fee. After entering, Stryke explored the city, marveling at the prosperity and power.
Kaze only accompanied Stryke for a meal before leaving. He was still on duty, so he didn’t have much free time to spend in Blazewing City. After Kaze’s departure, Stryke found a hotel and booked a room for a decade. She planned to sign up for the fiend trial tomorrow.
The next day, she went to the central plaza of the city, where two enormous castles stood out. One was naturally the Fiend Castle, and the other was a grand castle seemingly built out of black scales and exuded a terrifying aura. This was the Chaotic Sea Castle. Compared to the Fiend Castle, where missions were issued, the Chaotic Sea Palace was more of a place of commerce.
Stryke had heard that the Chaotic Sea Palace was willing to offer high prices to purchase miraculous treasures formed by heaven and earth. She had heard that a lucky deity sold a miraculous treasure for a drop of Sovereign’s Might, but what did it have to do with her? Stryke had just arrived in the Infernal Realm recently, where did she have the time to pick up a miraculous treasure?
She entered the Fiend Castle and signed up for the next fiend trial. Stryke was quite lucky because the next trial would begin in a month. The wind goddess explored and enjoyed the delicacies of the Infernal Realm while waiting. Soon, the day of the fiend trial arrived.
There were over a thousand trial takers, and most of them were highgods. Still, a god like Stryke didn’t stand out too much. Hell, there was even a demigod participating. She didn’t know what the demigod was thinking.
To become a god, a demigod had to master half the profound mysteries in an elemental law or fuse two profound mysteries. Because of this, only gods had the possibility of fusing multiple mysteries before becoming a highgod, a hidden expert.
Maybe he wanted to pass by luck?
Stryke no longer paid attention to him because the fiends taking charge of the mission appeared. With her sharp ears, she learned that the ten experts were all five-star fiends. Five-star fiends only had fame in a single area, like local celebrities. Conversely, this also meant that the mission shouldn’t be too dangerous.
If a six-star fiend led the mission, then Stryke would have to be wary.
The fiend trial wasn’t difficult, just a bandit elimination. The only reason five five-star fiends led the mission was because of the abnormally high numbers of highgods that belonged to the Toya Bandit Lair. It was an astonishing thirty highgods. The number of gods also reached a thousand.
To pass the fiend trial and become a fiend, the participants had to kill five gods or one highgod. For Stryke, killing ordinary highgods was as easy as killing gods, but she didn’t deliberately show her strength. She only killed ten gods and collected their belongings before stopping.
The Toya Bandit Lair actually had two experts that fused two profound mysteries, but under the siege of the five-star fiends, they were dealt with without any casualties. Naturally, the Toya Bandit Lair disappeared from the Infernal Realm, but no one cared. Bandit groups appeared and disappeared endlessly in the Infernal Realm. That likely wouldn’t change unless the Infernal Realm disappeared.
After officially become a one-star fiend, Stryke’s legend began.
It didn’t take long for Stryke to become a two-star fiend, a three-star fiend, and even a four-star fiend. A million years later, she had already become a highgod. Of the nine she profound mysteries of wind, she fused six, stepping into the ranks of the seven-star fiends. With her abilities as a Windreaper Mantis, Stryke was among the stronger seven-star fiends.
Currently, she was flying toward Blazewing City. She had left it over nine hundred thousand years ago when she became a six-star fiend to travel the Chaotic Sea. The only reason she was rushing back was because she heard that a seven-star fiend wanted to challenge the Blazewing Fiend for ownership of the city.
This wasn’t the Infernal Realm that Linley stepped in. Seven-star fiends were rare peak experts and asuras were even rarer. Each seven-star fiend’s name echoed in an entire continent or sea, and an asura’s fame echoed throughout the entire Infernal Realm. A battle between seven-star fiends was as rare as a battle between asuras of the future.
“Hm?” Stryke’s movement slowed as she saw a boat-shaped artifact over a hundred meters large. Artifacts needed to be nourished with divine power over a long period of time to become artifacts. Because of this, defensive armor artifacts were incredibly rare and expensive. For a deity to possess such a large artifact for the sole purpose of traveling spoke of their power or background.
‘Could it be an asura?’ Stryke thought. Even a seven-star fiend wouldn’t spend so much money on a meaningless extravagance.
“You must be the Windreaper Fiend,” a clear and soothing voice said. “Are you traveling to Blazewing City to watch the duel?”
“Yes,” Stryke said.
“In that case, how about traveling with us?” the voice asked.
Stryke only hesitated a second before flying to the boat. She hadn’t fought an asura before, but she had the confidence to save herself in case of any accidents.
When she landed on the deck, she saw that half of it was converted into a pond and a pavilion floated in the center. A myriad of flowers dotted the pond’s surface, and each released an enticing fragrance.
Sitting inside the pavilion was an androgynous deity with immaculate features. He had soft features, but those eyes contained a destructive intent, as if one look could destroy the world. Stryke felt like if he wanted, she would just die from a single thought.
Aside from those eyes, he had six crown-like horns and wore priestly black robes. Attending to him was a glamorous maid with a seductive body and a man clad in deep blue armor.
The unknown expert gestured toward the seat across from him. “Come, take a seat.”
Stryke did not hesitate, and sat on the opposite side. Soon, the maid filled out a cup of wine for her. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
The man in black smiled. “You can call me Akasha.”