Devil of Corruption

It took Regis quite a while, but he was able to reach the black sphere.

He could see that the faint green luster on its core seemed to be pulsating.

'Disgusting…' 

Thought Regis as he observed it.

On the way, he noticed that this black sphere seemed to have the fewest black river coming from it.

However, the red shining dots on it seemed even more attractive to him than the ones below.

'Well, let's just get this done with.'

Regis did not dally and longer and picked up a shining red dot with his hand.

Boom—

A tremendous pressure suddenly bore upon his body.

It was a pressure that could never be compared to the ones he experienced before.

Regis felt like his soul was being torn apart.

It reached the point where he could not even scream nor struggle in pain.

Bzzzzz—!!!

Suddenly, a loud noise disoriented him as his sight became black.

Above the location where Regis was earlier, a rupture appeared in the red sky.

As the rupture opened, a massive emerald green eye appeared.

It looked around the area.

However, it glanced repeatedly at the place where Regis had been a moment earlier.

***

"Wha-What happened?"

Regis asked out loud as he held his head.

The extreme headache that assaulted him made him incapacitated.

Fortunately, it went away after a short while.

Seeing the greenery around him, it didn't take long for Regis to realize that he was back in the forest.

Not knowing how many hours had passed, he hurriedly got up and went to the camp.

"Brat! Where have you been!? If you arrived even a minute later, we would've killed you and ate you ourselves!"

One of the demonic humans shouted as soon as he saw Regis.

'As if.'

However, Regis only rolled his eyes.

After all, he already knew that he and the other children were important to whatever the demonic human leader was planning.

Therefore, he only let the demonic human's words pass from one ear to another.

Nevertheless, he did not really comment out loud.

Doing so would only be detrimental to him, after all.

They soon got ready and continued their journey.

***

Opening and closing his eyes repeatedly, Regis wondered, 'Just what the hell happened back there?'

The pressure he felt made him feel goosebumps.

In fact, just remembering it sent chills down his spine.

'It's different… it's as if…'

He was facing something he could never hope of defying.

Only one being could meet these criteria.

'A god…'

However, upon a second thought, it never really made any sense.

After all, he was able to enter that area upon forming a star using demonic power.

It was then that another word popped up in his mind.

The only being that could contend with gods.

'A devil…'

Regis's heart beated thunderously at his realization.

It was at this moment that a memory surfaced in his mind.

[Corruption Manipulation]

Absorb, control, and manipulate any type, form, and kind of corruption…

"Now, what the hell is this?"

Regis cursed out loud as he tried to connect the dots of what happened to him.

'So that's how it is…'

It took him a minute or so of deep thinking before he reached a conclusion.

According to the information he received in his memory, Corruption Manipulation was an evil craft that stemmed from Rebelina, the Devil of Corruption.

'There are four devils as there are four gods… then that means that the four black spheres I saw earlier were…'

Something that represents the four devils.

'Then the pressure earlier…'

…was an encounter with a devil.

Regis calmly spoke in his heart.

He really couldn't deny the effectiveness of his gift of Tranquility.

However, no matter how calm he got, the fact that a devil might have set their eyes upon him made him worry.

'Oh well, worrying won't do anything…'

Regis thought as he focused his attention to his new evil craft.

***

Clank— Cling—

Shing— Shing—

Sounds of metal clanging resounded in a clearing inside a forest.

A girl wielding two swords performed continuous sword strikes with flawless precision.

However, the middle-aged man who she was currently fighting was able to fend off her attacks easily.

'Her improvement in the way of the sword is truly… monstrous.' The middle aged man, Doron, thought as he defended effortlessly.

'The only pity is that there's no weight behind her attacks…'

Despite seeing the calm expression on his face, the little girl's shell-pink hair bounced as she continued her attack.

"Dahlia, let's just focus more on aura training okay?" 

Doron spoke, but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

The little girl, Dahlia, continued her attacks.

'Just a little more…'

Dahlia thought as she tirelessly dual wielded her swords.

She knew that she was lacking in aura.

However, she believed that she could make up for it with her swordsmanship.

'I know that I would still need aura in the end… but I don't want to be as helpless as I was before.'

She just wanted to have the ability to fight.

The ability to at least not be helpless.

This determination was what enabled Dahlia, someone at the Starless Realm, to achieve what was thought to be impossible.

Crack—

Hearing a subtle sound, Dahlia grinned.

On the other hand, Doron widened his eyes.

He was filled with shock as he looked at the steel sword in his hand.

Although he was not a swordsman and he wasn't fully utilizing his aura, he was still a Master Warrior.

A being who had formed four aura stars in his heart.

Just the slightest reinforcement of his aura would be able to make even a simple twig cut a block of metal.

However, his weapon now had cracks on it.

Doron looked at Dahlia in astonishment.

It didn't take long for him to realize what she did.

He and Dahlia had been sparring for about five hours at most.

However, from the start of their spar, Dahlia had only attacked a single point on Doron's sword.

Not a millimeter more, not a millimeter less.

This led to his sword cracking even with the reinforcement of his aura.