Devil's Rise

While James was busy being taught by the Devil Ancestor. Mikael was already hard at work improving his devilry.

'I have broken into the vein opening realm, this is far too weak. I will quickly traverse this realm to reach the heart establishment realm and become a Knight,' I thought.

Right now I was adventuring in Wesser Forest. It was easy for me to stabilize my devilry in the Esquire realm. Such a weak realm meant nothing to me. In my former life, I was a dignified Redeemer of the First Battalion.

When I first was reborn here, I thought I had done something wrong. They taught me to exterminate devils wherever they may be as a Redeemer. Redeemers were the upper echelon of the humans in the Kalundar World. I was the leader of the first regiment of the First Battalion, beloved by the masses.

With my Goddess' light, I had purged many devils from the Kalundar World.

One day while I was fighting devils who came to invade our glorious lands, I chased one through a portal. The portal lead me to a vast world filled with devils. There I fought bravely against the devils with no way home.

After the ultimate battle I had against these devils on their home turf, I figured I would be welcomed into my Goddess' kingdom of light for my valiant service. I had given my life and everything I had to fulfill her will.

Sadly, I was horribly mistaken. When I died I was reborn as a devil! The very devils I hated, hunted, and fought without end my entire life. This was horrible, I nearly had a breakdown as a young devil.

Luckily fate gave me a favorable rebirth, I was reborn in the Hudson clan, a noble devil clan in the Xertzul Abyss. And I was a part of the first lineage. The ruling lineage of my clan.

My grandfather Vollmus was even the patriarch during my youth! Though my uncle, Samuel, took the seat when grandfather broke through to the Viscount realm.

As a devil I could no longer reach out to my Goddess, I soon renounced my faith and decided to forge my path in the Light Dao. It took me many years to properly understand myself as a devil and connect with the Light Dao as an individual, no longer using the blessing of my Goddess.

Now that I was an Esquire, it was time for my progress to start unhindered. From my understanding, a Redeemer should be a Count by Devil standards. I should have no problem reaching that realm if I work hard.

\u003cLight Flash\u003e

I covered my body in light and moved swiftly through the forest. Soon I came on a clearing with many low-Esquire wolves. This would be the perfect group to test my battle skills.

I brought out my sword, 'Hope's Deflector' to deal with these beasts.

"Howl," said one wolf as the others snarled and looked towards me.

They had spotted me; I was not agile enough in my approach. This may be more difficult than I expected.

\u003cVindication Slash\u003e

"Bark Bark," said the leader of the wolves. The wolves quickly got into a formation and surrounded me. Demon beasts that gathered in packs weren't stupid. They would not fall so quickly to my sword.

The leader seemed to be a mid-Esquire wolf. He was slightly larger than the rest, with grey and black fur. I need to take him down first to clean up the rest. If I take down the head, the rest will scatter without direction.

He was the most heavily protected in their formation. There were seven wolves in the pack, one wolf was already injured and walking away, two were with the leader while three surrounded me.

Taking out the leader wouldn't be easy.

\u003cBite\u003e

One wolf in the surrounding group came at me.

\u003cVindication Slash\u003e

I fought his aggression with my counter-attack, injuring him. He limped away with the other one.

"Bark Bark," said the leader of the wolves. The other wolves became more cautious, not daring to attack me alone.

I would have to give my all to chop off the head. Only with him dead could I make simple work of the others.

\u003cLight Flash\u003e

\u003cHowl\u003e x 4

\u003cClaw\u003e

\u003cBite\u003e

\u003cVindication Slash\u003e

\u003cVindication Stab\u003e

\u003cLight Flash\u003e

The exchange was quick, however, I did not land a killing blow on the pack leader. He now had a huge gash wound on his shoulder however, he would bleed out given time.

I sustained an injury to my leg when one bit me. Fighting demon beasts with your life on the line was difficult.

"Bark Bark," said the pack leader as the wolves fled.

Demon beasts were smart, they did not want to stake their life against mine. I was difficult prey, and they were sustaining many injuries.

'Should I chase them down?' I thought.

With the wound on my leg, I would be hard-pressed to run at them with my full speed. I would have to give up on that pack for now. I headed back to my campsite and cleaned my wound. It was a bloody bite mark, however, it wouldn't be a problem.

Tier-1 salve stopped the bleeding, I just would have to take it easy for the coming days. Staking my life and death against these beasts every day was the only way I saw to quickly improve my devilry.

I understood the Light Dao well, but true combat was the fastest way to temper my devil qi. Just absorbing fel shards led me quickly to bottlenecks. I sat up that night absorbing the low-grade fel shards I had received from the clan.

My devilry soon broke through to the mid-Esquire realm. It had only been a week since the fel awakening ceremony and I had already made progress with my devilry. This was significant progress. I had to work hard to not disappoint my clan.