Chapter 313 - Stirring Up The Hornet's Nest
The black-winged demon, shocked by Daniel's sudden actions, immediately stepped back with hurry.. Retreating into the safety of the black mist he had created. However, no matter where, or how far back into the cloud of darkness he walked, Daniel's gaze followed his movement as if there was absolutely no blockade in between them at all.
Worried that the black mist he had emitted was simply not enough to hinder Daniel's senses, the demon focused on letting out more and more of it, to a point where it condensed into a complete manmade darkness that shrouded the entire main hall.
However, it was all a waste of time.
Daniel was eager to test his newly acquired power in battle, but the more he spent time allowing this high demon to showcase his powers, the more he realized that he was not a threat to him. So, Daniel decided to impatiently cut things short by pursing his lips, and exhaling heavily.
The winds that came out of Daniel's mouth were as faint as feeble wisp at first, but the more he exhaled, the more the male demon was stripped of his will to fight. That simple breath charged with wind essence was able to push away the dark-like power as if it was a simple cloud of smoke dissipated by an unstoppable gale.
The mother and daughter looked on in shock as the most powerful assassination technique of their family was dispelled in a matter of moments, as their father and husband, who was now on his knees next to his weapons.. Completely visible.
"Look, I am stuck in hell. I have no allies, nowhere to go, and apparently I have already made a powerful enemy for myself." Said Daniel to the demon from within the darkness with which he surrounded himself, and casually looking at him.
Daniel's words were able to shake the demon mind enough for him to listen carefully.. And it was only then, that he looked at Daniel with a dubious expression, and asked "What does that mean? How are you stuck in hell?"
Instead of responding with words, Daniel turned the dark essence that had turned him into a human-shaped black hole, back into immortal essence, causing for his real appearance to become completely visible.
"A-A human.." Muttered the demon in shock. As a demon, he had never belonged to any group that wasn't his family. When he was younger he was set to join one of the factions, where he could have grown more powerful, but his relationship with his long time lover, and brought him something he had always believed to be thousands of times better.. A daughter.
Now with a family to take care of, the male demon had decided to stay, and be the second in command of their family. That, was the cause why he had never been able to leave Hell, or see a human that was not a prisoner brought from the outside universe.
With unbelieving eyes, the male demon stared incredulously at his daughter, who looked back at him apologetically. She had decided to leave that detail out of her explanation, as she did not think that her parents would have believed her, as well as a favor to Daniel, who for some reason, had decided not to harm her.
"You said it yourself. You would not have been able to injure this guy the way I did.." Said Daniel as the body of the oni appeared next to him. Then added "..And even if you explain the truth to his father, after he will kill you and your family, he will definitely look for the real culprit. So, since I don't like people hunting me around, you might as well take me to him, and bet on me winning."
He then casually walked out of the hall.
The moment Daniel left, the male demon's wife approached him "What do we do? Do you think he is strong enough?" She asked with worry.
"I can't imagine myself being able to win against him." Said the male demon while slowly standing back up, and picking his weapons. "He is right. There is nowhere to run.. Unless he kills him, we will all die.. be it today, or tomorrow. But if he can't kill him, I will be able to buy enough time for you to escape"
While the three members of the family looked at each other in worry, Daniel was standing outside of the hall. In his hand, was the rock which contained Sewah's consciousness, and he was looking at it while grinning contentedly.
-----
Bordering the territory which belonged to the Na'roga family, was a massive canyon carved into a range of golden mountains. However, despite the color, these mountains were not made out of gold, but gold colored dirt and sand.. making it look spectacularly odd for someone who was not from Hell.
At the bottom of this massive canyon, the sound of cheering resounded like war drums.
These cheers were, of course, caused by the hundreds of demons placed in a circle around a badly made fighting pit, and sitting on the edges of the golden stones that stuck out of the thousand meters tall walls.
Sitting on a throne made out of beast bones, was leader of the Oni tribe.. A demon with short horns, almost hidden by his exaggerated amount of hair, and red skin with black stripes full of large and deep scars. Next to him, was a club made of the rib of a beast that one could assume was thousands of meters in length at the moment of its demise.
The few oni demons who surrounded the leader were nothing to scoff at either, as most of them had already reached the High Demonic stage. The strongest of them, just like the current leader of the Na'roga family, were close to reaching the Noble stage.
At the moment, this powerful being, along with the members of his tribe, were looking at a group of civilian demons fight to death within the fighting pit placed at the bottom of the canyon.
Of the hundred demons who had joined the battle at first, only four had remained. Three of them were relatively young looking demons who wielded maces and swords, while the fourth one, was a slightly muscular demon who appeared to be extremely comfortable with the rudimentary spear he was holding.
"AH! I knew the hunter would come this far! Pay up, sucker." Said a fat and yet muscular demon to the taller demon that stood right next to him.
"Fuck you! Have you not seen how cowardly that puny demon killed my warrior?! I'm not paying!" Said the taller demon while grabbing his club and pointing it menacingly at the fatter demon.
However, the fat demon was not having it, "LIKE HELL YOU ARE NOT!" he shouted while grabbing his own club.. But before he could even pick it up, the taller demon bashed his weapon on the fat oni's head who, while able to survive the first few hits, was not able to survive the following thirty.
The power of the tall oni was enough to send shockwave to the surroundings, causing the demons within the ring to lose their balance, and fall on the ground.. But while nobody cared about the murder that had just happened next to them, ruining the show to their leader was a whole other thing.
As the taller demon kept smashing his club on the dead body of the fat oni, an oppressive power came from behind him. Feeling this horrifying power envelope his body, the tall demon turned around in terror to see one of the few sons of the oni leader, a massive demon with horns slightly longer than his father's, and a dark green colored skin.
He was walking towards him barehanded.
While the approaching Oni was powerful to a horrifying degree, the tall demon knew he had no chance of escaping his fate.. so he instinctively entered into a fight or flight state of mind. However, his pride as an Oni was too big to convince him to run, and the moment the second oldest sons of the leader arrived in front of him, he lifted his club and tried to repeat his previous work on him.
Unfortunately, the odds were against him. The moment the club touched the son of the leader, it shattered into thousands of pieces. The tall demon's full power was not even enough to make the flesh flesh of the oni tremble.
In response to this pathetic attempt, the Oni grabbed the tall demon by the neck, and after placing his other hand on his shoulder, he lifted his head with enough power to rip it from his neck, as well as pull the demon's spine out of his body. He then threw the demon's head aside, and walked back to sit next to his father.
Of the four demon within the pit, the hunter was undoubtedly the best fighter. He had reached so far into the event by keeping his head low, and strike whenever one of his opponents would make a mistake, but while that had taken him so far into the deathmatch, it had also forced his three opponents to give up fighting each other, and group up against him.
The series of attack that followed were more than the hunter could take, but luckily, he was capable enough with the spear, and while constantly walking backwards and avoiding the three young demons from surrounding him, he was able to keep them away masterfully.
His experience as a hunter had also taught him to always be aware of his surroundings, and keep an eye on where he was walking.. An ability that the three demons did not possess.
The bravest of the three stepped over one of the many corpses that littered the ground of the fighting pit, and jumped over the spear-wielding hunter. At the same time, a second demon approached him from the right. The third demon, scared and tired, stumbled over one of the corpses, and fell on the bloody ground.
The hunter was waiting for this to happen, so he stuck the handle of the spear to the ground, with its point directed towards the jumping demon. He then let his body fall over the corpse that was laying underneath his feet, avoiding the slash of his enemy's sword.
Once on the ground, he grabbed the mace that was right next to the corpse's hand, and waved it against the demon's head. *SQUELCH*
After killing one of the three remaining demons, the hunter stood back up on his feet. He then walked past the impaled demon who had fallen straight into his trap, and approached the third demon, who was now sitting on his behind.. scared beyond belief.
The hunter looked at the remaining demon apologetically "I am sorry.." he said before bashing the demon's head with the mace.
"YEAAHH!!!" Shouted one of the demons from outside the fighting pit. While most of the others looked at the scene in silence. He was one of the only two demons who had put their money on the hunter, instead of the warriors who were now laying dead on the ground.
To the winner of the event, freedom was promised.
Tired and mentally exhausted, the demon looked at the oni leader with eagerness. But when he expected to hear the few words that would have granted him his freedom, he instead saw a club thrown straight at his chest with enough power to go directly through it, and dive a hundred meters deep into the ground.
The club belonged to the oldest of the leader's sons, who looked at the still falling corpse of the shocked hunter while muttering "This is a fighting pit. Cowards are not allowed to come out of it alive."
The many oni that observed the event were expecting this to happen, but that took nothing to the demon who had bet on the hunter, as the winner was based on which participant would be the last one left standing, and not who would come out of the pit alive.
After the first son of the Oni leader killed the hunter, the many oni began to disperse.. when from in between them, came a voice that called for their leader's attention.
"Boss. Lero, the kid of the Na'roga demon you have slain, is here to see you. He claims to have two gifts for you." Said a muscular and tall oni, who stood out from the others thanks to his impressive height.
To respond was not the oni leader, who after killing his old enemy had become rather annoyed with his daily life, but one of his sons. "Let him through." he said, causing the the large crowd of demons to listen to his command, and part into forming a clear path.
From the edge of this large crowd, the figure of the black-winged demon appeared, followed by an individual covered by a hooded brown robe.
Lero walked all the way in front of the Oni leader, who looked at the hooded individual with interest. "Your father would have killed you if he had known you would walk in front of me bearing gifts." Said the oni demon with enough power to cause a few of the members of his tribe to pass out. "Show me." he then added after turning towards the hooded individual.
Fully aware that the oni demon was telling the truth, Lero grabbed the hood of the robe that was covering Daniel's appearance, and ripped it off.. What was shown, shocked the group greatly.
"A HUMAN!"
"That is a real human.."
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! Human slaves are so rare.."
The group observed Daniel as if he was the rarest of the objects in their world, while from beside the oni demon, the oldest of his sons said "Father, to have a human fight against demons in the fighting pit would be rather enjoyable."
Clearly amused by the idea, the oni leader nodded in approval.
"What is the second gift?" Said the second of the leader's sons.
Lero did not move, and instead turned to look at Daniel, who stepped forth, and with a wave of his hand, made the corpse of the third of the oni leader's sons appear. On his face, was a polite smile.