Allfather

Drake was led to a bigger house and more decorated with a courtyard and garden planted with glowing flowers and pillars holding up a canopy over it. He took the stone path up to a garden. Seated at the garden pulling weeds and planting bulbs was an old cultivator at the rank five. He was bald and had a mustache. He wrinkled and had glowing yellow eyes. He was on his knees in dirt getting his black robe and pants dirty. He didn't seem to mind. He also pulled out vegetables he was growing, placing them in a basket. Drake walked up alone, "Master Allfather '' he said bowing. The Allfather kept his back to him while still working in the garden. "I heard Taive died?" He said without turning around. Drake pursed his lips speechless. "Yeah…sadly we did.." he said with pools of regret festering inside of him. "Still plan to keep fighting?" He asked. "Yes!" Drake said confidently. "You do and you do it without my support. I warned you both one last raid towards the castle and you failed to do that" the Allfather told him. Drake sighed in frustration. "Please just give me time! I'll come up with a new plan!" Drake said. "No. We have lost enough already to your delusions Drake. You're not a King Slayer. You're not the Red Demon despite the similarities you share with the name. I let you and Taive think otherwise. I had faith that you would make a miracle happen. You failed that dream and now our people suffer for it. Witches are finding a way to take down Rabbit Hole. I have to think of the people" Allfather finally faced him wiping his hands with a rag. He sat upon a stone bench by the garden. "Our future is out in the world not a hole in the ground!" Drake stated. "You may be right. But this is what we have now. We wait for the King's Test to either liberate us, or show that the King you want dead is too strong. Right now the latter is true!"

He took a sip of tea sitting on the bench. "Drake, you are a good hearted man. You and Taive were my best students. Cultivators on the level of four. You could lead these people to take my place when I either go to the celestial step or pass away. But I'm not long for this world Drake , someone must take over. Honestly, Taive was my successor, but…" he was interrupted by Drake. "But you have me instead? The second choice?" He was annoyed at this. Allfather shook his head. "I've raised you like a son, you and Taive both. You're becoming lost in this obsession with the King's Test. That mask on your belt is evidence" Drake looked down at his smiling mask. He put a hand over it "it's not just a mask. It's who I really am. I am the Smiling Demon and I plan to kill the Witch King before the King Slayer even arrives! You trained me to be a warrior and that's what I plan to be…listen…I appreciate your worry master. Yes, I have gone mad. Those children suffered" he seemed to be lost in thought and his face scowled. He remembered being in a raid party that tried to save abducted children from witches. Wit, Taive, and Drake were all members of that party. But they got captured by Mistress Crow and her group. Mistress Crow was cruel in many ways. Due to the station in the group as the leaders. They had to watch as each man was tortured with fire. The last man to be burned was Wit. But the worst part was the children being eaten in front of them as well. That's when Drake lost his mind. "If I hadn't been an Iron element we never would have survived that. But I wasn't strong enough to even save the children! Neither was Taive" Drake explained.

Allfather sighed, his face was filled with hurt as well. "Yes… the children killed weigh on me too" he said sipping tea with sadness on his face. "Then join us in this fight master! Please!" The elder looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Who would protect our people? I'm the only rank five cultivator here. I'd feel better if you joined me in the ranks" Allfather stated. "I'm working on it," Drake said. Allfather pulled out a scroll and handed it to him, "Found a spell of sorts that might help you. It's called the Iron Skin. It can produce the effects of having metallic skin if you put enough chi in it. This isn't just a spell but also a rank five body cultivation technique to make your body harder. Being that your element is iron being encased in it will help grow your soul core" Allfather told him. Drake took the scroll looking at the inscripted runes on the scroll. "Thank you" Drake said, rolling up the scroll.

"Isn't this offering support?" Drake said sarcastically, giving his master a smirk. "Not really. It's more of another tool to help you help yourself. I'm not sending more troops out there to be skewered on to Briar Giants, or have witches feed on them. You want to stop them then you must use your own means. All leaders must learn this for themselves high time you did" Allfather explained. Drake shook his head in annoyance. "So I'm supposed to have six members of my Smiling Demon cohort assist me in sneaking through the Briar Wood, into the castle, and hope we kill the Witch King? Doing all this without an army?" Drake stated. Allfather nodded, "How do you think the Slayer is doing it? From all reports from our radio waves from other realms he has many tactics. One tactic in particular from one realm he snuck into the Demon King's city undetected and crippled the army by destroying their weapon warehouses. Then took on their strongest before fighting a crippled army? The Demon King is dead. So you tell me what's to be gained from this information Drake?" Allfather waited. Drake was deep in thought. "Patience and stealth?" He answered. "Exactly! A strong leader knows patience is their strongest ally at times", Allfather stated proudly drinking his tea. "Patience right now isn't smart. I shook a hornets nest. Best course of action is to burn the nest away!" Drake said proudly. "Then you will die. If you don't start using that tactical mind that I help cultivate then you will fail at every turn. You have six people relying on you? Best put their interests before yours" he stood and began walking into his hut. "Thinking on it while you cultivate Drake. Put that spell to good use" he said leaving Drake alone in the garden.

/////////////////

Drake went back to his quarters and began practicing the spell. He burned the runes into his Mind Palace creating another orb over his blue sea. 'All these spells I've acquired and I still can't use them properly. Maybe he's right. Patience may be my ally right now. I need to master Iron Skin. Then move onto Iron Spike. It could boost my combat tremendously. I mainly use Iron Mind to throw my ax, controlling it from a distance. Alright, getting stronger with the tools I have. Damnit! I hate it when he's right' he thought as he focused on the spell. He was shirtless and stood on the magic circle carved into iron. Spirals began to etch into the skin of his arms, glowing blue. From his fingers to his elbow it started to become coated in a shiny silver. He focused pouring all chi into the spell till his mind started to ache. He was able to hold it for ten minutes all the way to his shoulder almost to his full chest. He could feel his soul core slightly enlarge till finally he collapsed on the ground exhausted. He sat and replenished his chi and went back for hours more till he finally passed out on the circle.

/////////////////

In the outskirts of the Land of Madness appearing out the Gate was a young man with white hair and a gray cloak over him. He wore a half oni mask covering his nose and mouth. He had a scar over his right eyebrow and red pupils. From his ears dangled rectangle earrings. He looked up at the vermillion cloudy sky. Landscape in front of him was a lush forest with trees with black and red leaves. Upon the trunks were fruit growing out of them. All crimson in color. "My suggestion is to not eat the fruit Slayer. Or should I be calling you Red Demon now? Don't you think it's a bit theatrical?" The Gate said with a smile. "No. Plus your master gave me the idea anyway. I won't eat the fruit? Anything else I should know about this place?" He asked. "Oh now we're asking for advice? I've tried talking to your ass every chance I get and now you wanna hear me out?" The Gate said annoyed. "Why not?" Red Demon said bluntly. "Fine! Welcome to the realm called The Land of Madness! It's infested with all sorts of nightmares. And somehow life thrives here. Makes no sense. So best of luck. I guess one bit of advice other than the fruit. Watch out for trees too. They're not always just trees", the Gate said lastly before the face dissolved out of the ring. 'Great' he thought as he turned back to the forest. 'So Witch King runs this place from what I remember from Raijin's books. Best find a place to lay low for now' from the corner of his eye he saw two crows with glowing red eyes. He squinted at them. 'Those aren't ordinary birds?' He thought as two blades formed in seconds from chi and then shot at the birds with tremendous speed killing them. The birds had no time to move. He was then a blur as he sprinted through the forest.