Millennium Sleep

Gaolun stared into Lucas's eyes. His smile had disappeared, replaced with an expression of shock, after a moment, he recovered from his surprise and smiled again, but this smile was different than the one before.

'This young man truly does have demon blood running through him, willing to let others suffer and die to get what he wants. The only thing separating him from us is his family, his only true connection to humanity; I wonder what path he would go down without his love for his family weighing him down. So this was the reason he wanted to take his father's throne? So he could be with his family again, not due to him discovering who his true father is?'

Gaolun had been staring at Lucas for quite some time without saying anything as he was pondering Lucas's possible future and debating whether or not he should continue with his plan. After all, Gaolun established this plan based on Lucas being a possible risk due to him potentially discovering something. Due to Gaolun's silence, Lucas had started feeling quite anxious for some time now.

'Were my terms truly that difficult to accept? I can't even have a small portion of my family survive this? If we truly can't come to an arrangement, what will happen? Even though I thanked him for making the trip if he gets angry due to me wasting his time, will I survive? I don't even have full confidence in being able to flee, much less fight.'

As Lucas was having these thoughts, he started to prepare for the worst-case scenario and circulated his power inside him. This was when he realized something was horribly wrong.

'I feel that my power has weakened substantially, and if I try to restore it just disappears again; what is going on?!'

Lucas finally realized something and looked at the runes and formations around the room. His eyes widened as he saw all the runes had a slight, almost unnoticeable glow to them, and the once bright red chain was slowly becoming a darker crimson. Gaolun's thought process was interrupted as he saw Lucas looking around the room and becoming more and more panicked. He gave a small chuckle as he prepared to take action.

'What a damn shame if I had observed more instead of jumping straight into action, perhaps I could have manipulated him into becoming a new general of the current emperor. No point thinking about it now, though, time to get this started.'

At this time, Lucas's mind was racing.

'How did this happen? Has this been a trap since the beginning? If so, who have I offended in hell that has enough power to command this general to come here and take care of me himself?! It's too late to think about this. If I can't even run, then I will at least die fighting!'

While Lucas had been in his state of panicked thinking, Gaolun had materialized a large black sword so dark that it would give the impression that one was looking directly into the void if they stared at it. Gaolun charged at Lucas, barely giving him any time to react as he drew a white sword with golden edges. This was not Lucas's sword of choice as this was a holy sword given to him by the church. Not only would it hurt for him to wield it, but he would also barely be able to do any damage with it because he could not draw out the holy power of the sword due to him being a demon. Even though he knew using this sword would be completely ineffective, he did not have an option since the runes drained his power so much he could not materialize his demonic sword. Still, deep down, he also knew that it would not matter if he could as his demonic sword was many times weaker than Gaolun's because while Gaolun's sword gave the feeling of looking into a void, his merely gave the feeling of looking into a dark room at most; clearly displaying the difference in power they held. When Gaolun's demonic sword clashed with Lucas's holy sword, his sword immediately changed from white to a washed-out grey before starting to crack as the impact launched his body across the room. Lucas hit the wall with resounding force, causing a small crater and a web of cracks to spread throughout the walls. Lucas vomited blood as Gaolun approached, ready to knock him out and seal him before things escalated further. Gaolun was already worried about the damage he had caused to Lucas as he did not want to push him so far that he would be able to tap into his true power. Lucas was barely able to look up at Gaolun as he approached, many thoughts and images flashing through his mind causing him to chuckle as he collapsed onto the floor, awaiting his fate.

'How could I truly have been so stupid, A powerful general approaching me offering to assist me after I've merely subdued a few low-level demons? Ha, what a joke; I can't believe I actually deluded myself into thinking I had become important enough to justify a visit from a general that has the power to topple kingdoms with a single order. I'm sorry, mother, I'm sorry, sister, and I'm sorry, my only true brother, for being so foolish and naive. I wish for your happiness, goodbye.'

Lucas closed his eyes, awaiting death, when he felt something stirring in his heart.

"Do not give in, my son. You can't give up here; your future will be a glorious one! I will help you this once to use the power hidden inside you, realize who you are, awaken your bloodline!"

Lucas heard an extremely imposing voice in his mind that would make even the bravest human soldiers and war heroes cower in fright. As the voice faded, Lucas felt a will inside him, and his blood started to boil, but his body was not ready for this power yet as his skin started to crack open, blood spilling everywhere. The runes Gaolun had prepared were as bright as the sun as they tried absorbing the power spilling from his body.

'Shit, I have to end this now!'

Gaolun increased his speed, but he was not fast enough as Lucas rose to his feet, holding onto a terrifying sword, one that gave the feeling of looking into a black hole as light itself bent around the sword as it gave off a crimson red aura. Where the blade met the hilt, there was a shining, crimson red demonic skull that gave off a metallic luster. If anyone in hell were to see this, they would stop in their tracks and bow immediately as this was the crest of the true emperor of hell. If the circumstances were different, Gaolun would merely stall for time as the power Lucas's body was clearly not ready for was destroying him, but this was not an option as Lucas would be many times faster now. All he could do was keep charging and hope he would be able to knock Lucas out before he got a handle on his power. Still, he would come to realize he was too optimistic as he saw a flash before Lucas fell to the ground, completely unconscious from exhaustion and severe injuries.

'Have I succeeded? I actually managed to survive this?'

Gaolun smiled before realizing something was horribly wrong as he fell backward and witnessed the lower half of his body collapsing forward. He had been completely cut in half. He had a forced smile of irony on his face as he felt his life quickly escaping him.

'Right after truly believing I survived, this is what happens, ha if the other generals knew of this, they would surely laugh and keep laughing over my grave. Well, I better at least complete what I came here to do. If I couldn't even do that after giving up my life, then I might as well get an inquisitor to imprison my soul for eternity for lack of competence.'

Gaolun concentrated the last of his life force and spoke the incantation needed to seal Lucas for 1500 years. The runes around the room dimmed as their power transferred to the stone slab and chains in the middle of the altar. The chains floated to Lucas, lifting and pulling him to the stone slab where he was completely sealed and put into a deep sleep for the 1000 years to come. Gaolun watching all this happen, started turning to ash; having lost the last of his power and life force and witnessing the seal being successful he closed his eyes and welcomed death's embrace.