[Author's Note: OK, here it is, the last chaptah of the day!]

"For having freed me from my curse, your loyal servant Choronzon pledges his eternal life to Master!" These words echoed into Asura's ears, leaving him confused.

"Wait, what? Okay, fine. Can you tell me more about yourself? Why were you inside the jade ring?" Asura asked. He had too many questions he wanted to ask, but for these 2 questions, Asura felt they were the most important.

"I am Choronzon, a fire demon from Muspelheim." Choronzon said in a low voice, his face turning slightly ugly the moment he mentioned his place of origin.  

"Muspelheim? What's that?" Asura asked. In the 12 years he had lived in this world, he had never heard of the term 'Muspelheim'.

"First, I will have to explain to you about the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil. The world you come from, is known as Midgard. However, very few of its residents knows of the other worlds, as the root connecting Midgard to Yggdrasil have heavily decayed, preventing most residents from other worlds to travel to Midgard."

"Currently, we are in the world known as Vanaheim, created by Vanirs, masters of magic and sorcery. Which is why this world is so rich in mana, compared to the other worlds. From the world of Muspelheim, together with a group of friends, we had traveled to this world in hopes of finding the long lost Vanir treasures. However..." Choronzon stopped speaking, and was trembling slightly, as if recalling something terrible.

Taking a deep breath, Choronzon continued. "When we found the Shards of Silforia after five hundred years of searching high and low, we were ambushed by dark elves from the world of Svartalfheim! In that fight, all my friends were killed, except for I, for I am fifth son of Surtr, the King of Muspelheim!" Choronzon's eyes were filled with sadness, as he recalled the sight of his friends being killed.

"Blessed with the power of Shadow Fire, my power was far superior to most demons. During the fight, I killed all the dark elves except for one, Nilfim! After six days and nights of exchanging blows, I almost won, but I had foolishly let my guard down while delivering the finishing blow!"

"Upon seeing an opening, Nilfim sacrificed a portion of his life force, unleashing a forbidden spell of the dark elves, 'Soul Banishment'! However, he also cast another curse on the ring, causing my soul to bend to his will!" At this point, Choronzon had already started to tremble with anger.

"For five hundred years, I was locked inside this ring, forced to 'test' whoever tried to inject his mana into the ring. Until today, I could only watch as countless people unknowingly fell victim to Nilfim's spell. Every single one of them had their powers increased dramatically, but their minds were also stripped by me! That man you killed, Doerba, was one of them!"

Asura had been listening silently the whole time. When Choronzon finished his last sentence, Asura's eyes widened in surprise. He felt slightly relieved that Doerba had not come after him willingly, but then he felt an intense hatred towards Nilfim, who had indirectly forced Asura to kill Doerba.

"What?! Tell me, how did Uncle Doerba get his hands on this damned ring?" Asura snapped.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Your loyal servant does not know either. It had already been several decades since I last possessed someone, and had fallen into a deep sleep, and did not see how Doerba obtained this ring. However, I had only possessed Doerba for five days before you ended his misery. Also, during the brief time I had spent possessing him, it seemed that Doerba was already under NIlfim's curse, was constantly watching Shane. When you entered the Blood Devil Residence and hurried to the emergency escape passage, Doerba had been following you the whole time." Choronzon said, confusion visible on his face.

What did this boy have, to make Nilfim manipulate Doerba to follow a mere boy?

Asura had already fallen into a deep thought, considering what Choronzon had said. "Hmm, this guy, what he said seems to have some truth to it... So this Nilfim person, what does he want with me? Could he be after the scrolls?" Asura thought. The only time he had interacted with Shane was when he was summoned to the Blood Devil Residence, and was given the sacred Secret Arts.

"Enough about all this, I'm getting a headache." Asura grumbled, sitting down the pitch black floor. It was too much information to process. The fact that there was a 500 year old fire demon had already left him confused. Now that he was also hit with the truth behind Doerba's surprising display of strength and his actions, he needed some time for everything to sink in.

"Ah, that's right! Choronzon, what is this power I can feel inside me? It's like there's a second source of power." Asura asked. He had almost drawn forth the power from the black sphere, when Choronzon had suddenly come out.

"Ah, that is my Demon Force. When your mana completely dominated my Demon Aura, you had already broken the curse on my soul. Free at last, the only way I could repay you was to fuse my Demon Force with your body. You made do as you deem fit with it, although now that I am out of Nilfim's control, he might already be chasing after you.I suggest you leave this city as soon as possible. Later, I'll show you how to use the Demon Force."

At the same time, the pitch black world disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, returning Asura to the third floor of the Warrior's Guild.

"Ah... what was that?" Appraiser Dior asked, slowly approaching the jade ring.

"I don't know either... It was suddenly glowing, then it stopped. Is it a treasure?" The receptionist stared at the jade ring with wide eyes.

Asura was stunned. Looking towards the stone table, he saw that the from pipe Appraiser Dior had been using,there was smoke coming out from the chamber. It was as if time had barely passed during the time he had spent in the pitch black world, which had felt like an eternity to Asura.

"Was I daydreaming?"

A low voice rang in his head, as if answering his thoughts.

"Master, why are you daydreaming? I can sense four killing intent directed towards you, coming from the floor below us!"

Chapter 24: Demon Force