Transfer of Power

Artemis had already known of the two forces that were going to converge his position but was worried about neither, the reason he knew of the demons is due to being the emperor of hell as such he was able to somewhat sense demons. He could even sense the demons all the way in the of Ovrosta.

Due to the distance though he could only feel their presence and not their location. As for the terrifying council of grand mages heading to him, how could he not know? When each of them had focused their gaze at once on his son it was as if heaven itself was pushing him down the only reason his son did not feel such pressure is because of the "shield" of mana that was around him at the time.

Artemis already had a plan for each threat, for the demons he would simply subjugate them they would make an excellent group of initial followers, he had to remember to thank the current "emperor" sending them his way. Although he was slightly upset due to the fact that the group of demons was scattering.

'This is likely due to the power that they had felt on the way here, looks like I will have to remember to chase them down later.'

As for the mages heading his way well, this was actually a good thing! Artemis had been thinking about the problem of how his son would sufficiently learn magic and this would be the solution. He decided that he would train his son a little more before leaving and having his son lie to the mages to join them.

It was estimated that it would take two days for them to arrive if they traveled at their fastest and three days if they were slower. This wasn't due to them being slow but simply due to the sheer distance between the two locations. The approximate distance was 12,000 kilometers between the two!

Due to this, two to three days travel to cross such a distance was already considered a godly speed! What Artemis could not stop thinking about the most though is how his son could affect mana at even such a large distance away. Truth be told the amount of mana that was drawn from that distance was actually extremely microscopic.

If it was any other mage that had been there they would not have noticed the difference in mana in the slightest. The only reason those eight were capable of noticing it was due to the fact that they were essentially gods in the mage world! These men were the only TRUE grand council mages in existence.

On the surface, any mage that was accepted by the leaders of the Holy Empire to reside in their sacred temples were considered to be grand council mages but on the inside things were much different. All mages on the inside besides those eight were simply considered council mages without much authority with the eight being considered the true leaders and only them having the right to have grand added to their title.

This was due to the fact that these men had already long surpassed the lifespan of mortals even they did not know when they would die as the youngest one of them was already 249 years old! When one obtains the rank of council mage they would be able to sense approaching death whether it be from age or external forces they would know about it.

This was the "curse" one would have when they reached such a high level resulting in many mages desperately trying to find ways to gain a longer lifespan causing them to die without actually accomplishing anything because of their constant fear and panic.

Only ones that were able to look past death and accept it were able to forge on slowly increasing in power until they reached grand council rank. After obtaining this rank all signs of death would disappear and it was rumored that should no external forces act upon them they would be able to live forever.

Initially, this rumor was dismissed by the grand council mages as they saw it as a way of masking one's fear of death. Eventually though as time went on the grand council mages began thinking further about the subject and became more and more convinced that such a thing may be the case.

At first, they simply thought they could not sense the age of their death looming due to the fact that they obtained such an increase in lifespan that death would be so far away that the signs would simply be almost impossible to notice. As the rumor blew up again this time being believed by the grand council many mages started becoming even more desperate sometimes resulting in loss of life from an experiment gone wrong.

Due to this fact, the restrictions in becoming an official council mage became many times stricter as they only accepted people that already accepted that they would die. Restrictions on the materials provided to official council mages were also in place to keep harmful experiments to a minimum resulting in even less being able to break through to grand council mage.

Right now the only eight true grand council mages in existence were considered humanities trump card which is why many people panicked when they witnessed for the first time these eight mages come out of their grand temple and disappear on the horizon as flashes of light.

Artemis stood in front of their temporary home taking the time to truly take in all the destruction around him caused by his son. As Artemis began walking around looking at the devastation of the town he was unaware the complete despair his son brought upon Krodden.

--Krodden's POV--

After the magic waves had subsided there were a few moments of complete silence as the demons were processing the power they had just felt. After a few moments, a very light pitter patter was heard followed by another and another. Each demon began slowly and quietly back away as they prepared to flee.

Krodden quickly came to his senses as he realized he needed to rally the demons or they would surely take off and the demonic empire would never see them again. It was one thing if they were lost in battle with them being able to at least seal the powerful being but if the empire were to lose their strongest demons and leaders while having the being still be fine it would be an absolute catastrophe for the demonic empire.

"Wait there is no need to fear his majesty obviously knew of this beings power and devised a plan along with a tool that will ensure our victory! If you run you will simply be labeling yourselves as cowards!"

All the demons momentarily stopped to think when they heard they would be labeled as cowards by the empire. Demonic culture praised the strong and absolutely bullied the weak even if they spent all these years establishing their reputation it would all be ruined if the empire called them cowards.

These thoughts only lasted for a moment though before one of the fleeing demons spoke up.

"Bullshit! We all saw you freeze as sweat as well you were obviously not expecting this amount of power and now you say his majesty knew of this?! Even if this is true then that would only make him a retard simply sending us to deal with such a threat, he should have sent the entire demonic army to deal with such a foe!

If you want to be stupid and try to face such a being then suit yourself I'll be sure to piss and spit on your grave!"

After saying this the demons all nodded in unison before once again fleeing. Seeing this Krodden was at a loss of what to do.

'Even if I chase them they would likely take their chances trying to fight me to the death rather than come with me to fight that thing.'

Krodden thought for a moment before a regretful expression appeared on his face.

'I'm sorry your majesty but I can't just give my life for nothing.'

With this thought Krodden picked a random direction before fleeing just like the others, abandoning the demonic kingdom. So on this day not only did the demonic empire lose many powerful leaders and fighters but also lost their most powerful general all for nothing while the supposedly powerful being remained unscathed.

--Grand Council Mages POV--

"Andrew how long do you estimate before we get there, it is quite far after all!"

The rest of the mages shook their head at the question due to the fact that, one he did not use Andrew's proper mage name and two, he was a grand council mage with amazing comprehension abilities yet he could not calculate the time needed to reach the destination at their current speed? After a moment Andrew yelled back in slight annoyance.

"We could get there in two days if we speed up but I am enjoying the current speed as it allows me to take in more scenery I mean it has been a while since we've left that stuffy old temple. So with that in mind if we keep at the current one it will take us a day longer what do you all think shall we take some time to enjoy the scenery? That kid isn't going anywhere anyway!"

The other mages nodded their head agreeing not to move at their highest speed so they could enjoy the scenery more. there was also the fact that they already had imprinted Lucas's magic aura in their head luckily for Artemis to due to their focus on the mana and the slight interference from the "wall" of mana at the time they did not notice the demonic aura that Lucas was also giving off.

As such, they continued onwards to the small now destroyed town ignorant of the true significance their actions would have in the future.

--Artemis POV--

After walking around observing the know destroyed town for a few moments Barthiz finally returned waiting for Artemis to tell her what to do.

"What I'm about to do will be extremely painful I hope you can bear it."

Artemis turned around and strode towards Barthiz at a quick pace before she could even think about being scared or trying to run. Just as Artemis reached her she finally processed what he said as huge amounts of fear began to well up inside her as she started to cry begging for mercy. Seeing this Artemis frowned before slapping her and beginning to speak.

" I am merely going to transfer a large amount of power from me to you and your body will be in much pain as I forcefully hold it together so instead of exploding it adapts to the power so you can contain it safely.

Your actions though cause me to be very concerned about your fear of death so I will tell you this once. The mission I am going to give you is extremely important if you fail I will not allow your soul to dissipate as I will now also place a soul mark on you.

With it, I will return you to life before killing you in the most painful ways imaginable so for your sake I hope you do not fail me."

Barthiz nodded her head shivering in fear of both the pain she was about to face and the pain she would face if she failed the mission. With this Artemis began transferring a small amount of his stored power while using the rest to hold encase Barthiz's body, holding it together as she received his power.

Of course, this was only a small amount of power in his eyes but to any other being whether it be human, angel, or demon this would be considered a terrifying amount of power that would cause each of them respectively to run and hide.