A Demon's Journey

During dinner time, Azaroth was eating with his retainers.

It was a quiet one as all his retainers were thinking of something. Their thoughts were linked with the fact that they wanted to become better.

By destroying the minions in that elemental array, they understood that they already possessed the power to destroy their opponents. However, they hadn't completely mastered their powers yet.

Atleast, that training had provided them a direction in which they needed to work on.

Noah and Tiana another issue though. They had to learn to use their element and fight with it as well.

For Noah, it couldn't be considered much since he possessed the Sword Qi already but for Tiana, it was a point of great importance.

"Noah, Tiana, come to the practice area. I'll show you how to use both of your elements." Azaroth stated to the two in a tone that made it impossible for them to say no.

Noah looked excited as he heard Azaroth. He was exceptionally curious about his element. He resisted the urge to ask Azaroth right now.

Meanwhile, Tiana nodded slightly as she acknowledged his command.

Yrellea showed a slightly jealous expression as she glanced at Tiana.

'I want to be personally trained by master as well.'

As she realized her thought, she blushed in response.

Laura, who sat on the opposite side to Yrellea, noticed how her cheeks had turned red, "Eh? Elder sister, your face is all red. Maybe you trained too much today."

Yrellea was even more embarrassed as she realized that Laura caught onto her blush.

Sargan looked at Yrellea and spoke, "Come to the training ground later. I want to try something I have in mind."

Yrellea looked surprised as she heard Sargan but quickly nodded.

Laura noticed how everyone was going to train in pairs. She looked at Ralph and said, "Let's train together as well!"

"Alright."

Azaroth gave a nod of satisfaction to Sargan. He had performed wonderfully. He wanted them to form pairs with their comrades. But he also wanted them to reach this conclusion by themselves.

This was where Sargan came in. He understood his part and asked Ralph

Training alone and training in pairs led to different results. Training alone would allow an individual to develop physically.

His thoughts would be more singular and he would try to do everything on his own. There were many merits to this training. The one that stood out the most was that it increased the abilities of an individual greatly.

Training in pairs would result in good results as well.

If two individuals of nearly equal ability were to fight against each other, they would learn to formulate strategies. Their mind would work faster as they would try to beat their opponent.

Fighting against a human was much different than fighting against a minion created by an array.

No matter how well an array designed a minion, it would never compare to the intelligence or unpredictability of a human.

However, this training had its share of disadvantages as well.

Firstly, the individuals who form a pair must be of nearly equal ability. Otherwise, one would dominate too strongly and defeat the purpose of the training.

Secondly, this sort of training would begin to lose its effect after a certain period. The pair of warriors would become used to each other and know each other's tricks.

Hence, Azaroth planned to change their partners every week.

In this manner, they would learn to fight a variety of warriors. Although this was negligible compared to the warriors they will fight in the future, he could only give them a start. Walking down the path was something they had to do on their own.

~~

Nearly 2 hours after having dinner, Azaroth was found standing in his training field.

Noah and Tiana were near him. But they weren't on their feet.

Rather, they were out of breath, and their bodies riddled with injuries.

Azaroth had a cold look as he glanced at them with a look full of contempt, "What happened? I still didn't sense any sort of elemental response from you. Do you want a repeat of what you went through just now? If not then use it! Use your element!"

A purple aura was released from Azaroth's body as it targeted the two.

Tiana looked at Azaroth and felt her terror intensify.

'H-He is just like a demon. If I don't use my element, will he kill me?'

Tiana remembered her conversation with Azaroth earlier during the day. She began to feel as if she was going to die.

But at this moment, she heard an immature voice that shouted, "Again!"

When Tiana looked up, she saw Noah standing right in front of Azaroth, raising his arms and trying his best to manifest his element.

However, nothing happened. Noah failed in using his element once again.

A whip of dark ardor struck Noah and he fell on the ground. Yet, the little boy didn't stop. He grounded his teeth and stood up with greater resolve than before.

To Tiana, she felt as if she was seeing someone struggle against the terrifying demon relentlessly. Not giving up at all.

Slowly, she felt her consciousness return to reality.

"Focus! If you wish strongly, your element will undoubtedly respond!" Azaroth abruptly shouted up in a loud voice.

"Hyaaah!" Noah yelled while raising his arms.

This time, he felt it. Some sort of mysterious energy released from his palms. The feeling was quite comfortable.

To Tiana's eyes, she felt as if she saw a burst of wind that shook away that Dark Ardor.

When Azaroth felt that strong wind current, he soon had a smile, "Took you long enough. To grab hold of that feeling and practice. Do it until you can summon it with your will alone!"

"Yes, boss!" Noah spoke with an excited voice before he jumped high in the air in happiness.

Azaroth then looked in Tiana's direction and noticed she had stood up as well, "Well, well. Looks like he lit up a fire in you as well."

After trying for another half an hour, Tiana finally managed to summon Ice and used it!

Azaroth gave her the same instructions as he gave to Noah.

He then went on to observe his other retainer's training.

The pair he decided to visit first was Sargan and Yrellea.

Sargan possessed Lightning Ardor and Yrellea possessed Water Ardor.

To Yrellea, Sargan's Lightning was similar to those Lightning Snakes. If she managed to learn how to use pure water in this training with Sargan, she would completely nullify the Lightning Snakes.

In a way, her element had been pitted against the element over which it had both enormous weakness and immense superiority.

If she learned to make good use of her element, she would be able to reverse the situation.

For Sargan though, it didn't matter much. His opponents were gnomes… He had to use tricks to kill them so sparring against someone would be better for him than training alone.

Azaroth observed their sparring for some time. Sargan was the one clearly winning here.

It was natural for him to be winning. Yrellea didn't know how to make use of her element completely. Thus, she was hesitant about using it for defense.

Even though her offense against Sargan was decent, there was almost no point when she couldn't defend against Sargan's attacks.

Even when she dodged Sargan's attacks, she was forced to move along his tune.

Azaroth continued to observe the two for some more time but clearly, there was nothing more to see here.

He proceeded towards Laura and Ralph's training area.

For Laura, Ralph was a perfect opponent since he was quick, strong, and used the flame element. Laura was confident that she could complete her training as long as she trained with Ralph.

And for Ralph, Laura's long-ranged attacks were perfect to get used to the long-ranged attacks of Ice Trolls.

It was just that in this situation, his element possessed some supremacy while in his training array, the surrounding temperature would be so low that his flames would be weaker than Ice.

But still, it was a good experience for both.

Azaroth observed for a short period only and he noticed that Ralph was winning but only narrowly. It seemed that Laura knew how to use tricks and traps as well.

Atleast, he could be relieved about their training now.

Soon, Azaroth began to think about what was going in the Sinyalian Kingdom.

According to the rumors, the Inquisitors were on the move.

These were the elite guards directly under the king. It was said that if the Royal Guards were the shield of the Kingdom then the Inquisitors were its sword.

Each one of its members was specially trained to perform the most important tasks of the King.

They wore a mask to conceal their identity, and it was stated that they possessed supreme authority on the field. They could even command a general if they were present on the battlefield.

"The king is getting really serious in acquiring Laura. Interesting."

Azaroth smirked as he guessed what would happen to him in the future.

Unknown to him, within the kingdom, a certain inquisitor knelt in front of the King as he accepted the King's command.

Violet, short-hair, neatly combed to reveal a full, good-looking face. Hooded sapphire eyes, set wickedly within their sockets, lay his eyes on the King.

This was Shun Gordon. The youngest Inquisitor of the Sinyalian Kingdom in its history. This was a piece of information that was only known to the selected few in the Royal Palace.

However, this young man possessed another peculiar title known as "The Golden Mayor" in the southern part of the Sinyalian Kingdom. And he also possessed another unique title famous in the nobility "The Temporary Noble."