He shrugged and said,
"Let's see if I can cast chaos spells now."
There's nothing he could do about it for now and he isn't worried because he isn't alone in his struggle. So he turned his attention towards something he could handle. He had been looking forward to doing more than making chaos flames that he couldn't control whenever they left his body. He spent the next couple of hours trying out what he could do now that his soul is stronger.
"It's no use." He said dejectedly
His long hours of practice made him realize that chaos was barely workable It wasn't like mana with various elements that could be controlled and made to manifest into infinite possibilities. Chaos energy is more than that. It is as if all the elements of mana have fused together and still clash against each other. It made it almost impossible to manipulate.
He made it work at the end of the day. The soul force of an origin god is nothing to scoff at and his spiritual power rating is higher than his chaotic power. But the best he got out of it was some crude manipulations less than what Viron was capable of. He could make shields, bolts, and flame balls with chaos energy but that fire rain spell is beyond what chaos is capable of doing. He can't use Origin energy externally because it will be affected by chaos energy around his soul and become unworkable.
He sighed and checked his stay screen.
NAME: AETERNUS (Legion-3)
TITLE: Child Of The Virut Plane. Eternal Chaotic Envy Demon.
RACE: Demon Of Envy.
BLOODLINE/SIN: Chaotic Envy.
DEMON RANK: Mid-Rank Demon.
HEALTH: 100%
STAMINA: INFINITE.
CHAOS ENERGY: INFINITE.
ATTACK RATING: Physique:81. Spirit:297. MAGIC:189.
DEFENSE RATING: Physique:189. Spirit:3640. MAGIC:189.
SOUL ESSENCE: 0
BIOMASS: 0
DIVINITY: 0
SIN RANK: Mid-1%
STRENGTH: Mid-27
CONSTITUTION: Mid-63
ACTIVITY: Mid-63
AGILITY: Mid-27
CHAOTIC POWER: Mid-63
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE: Mid-63
MAGICAL RESISTANCE: Mid-63
SPIRITUAL RESISTANCE: Eternal-91
SPIRIT: Eternal-27
PERCEPTION: Eternal-27
OTHERS
SIN ABILITY: The Envy of Power(DIVINE)- Make three copies of any magical ability or skill that you see at higher power.
MANA AFFINITY: 0%
LAW AFFINITY: 0%
CHAOS AFFINITY: 100%
STATUS: Chaotic.
"It's time for round two." He said as he began running back toward the center of the plane.
He decided to do something productive since Chaos energy wouldn't work. A fight is more productive. Killing demons will make him grow stronger and he might get some inspiration during battle.
His evolution has made him stronger, so he is looking forward to retaliating now that he could handle the one leading them. If one cannot handle the source of a problem then one will be drowned by the symptoms of the problem. So he won't stop at simply addressing the ambush, he intends to trace it back to their leader.
His confidence lay in the increase of the power rating of his chaos energy to 189.
The normal high-rank demon has a power rating between 140-180. They have a stat limit of 36 and a state of existence of 5. Boosts from Sin abilities will push their stats above that limit but he is confident he can handle it.
He took the same route he used to get to the edge of the plane. His journey from his birthplace to the ambush point took him three months while fighting, but returning to the edge for his evolution took 3 weeks because he ran for most of it. Now that he is a mid-rank demon, it took him 2 weeks of running to make the same distance. Unfortunately, there was no one waiting for him there.
"They probably couldn't wait for me anymore." He said after checking the surrounding for any ambushes.
At first, he thought since they were not a threat to him anymore, he might not sense them especially since the only three emotions he could sense directed at him right now are fear, jealousy, and hostility. The strong gaze had also returned to following him.
He continued walking forward since he didn't find his ambushers. Most mid-rank demons ran away when they saw his ominous visage. Some still fought him even when they saw that the places he walked by were burned into ashes. They are either too stupid to recognize the threat that he is or couldn't control their impulses.
In their defense, he is an anomaly. Every demon can sense the rank of another demon through the interaction of their mark of sin. A higher-grade sin mark will suppress a lower-grade sin mark during this interaction. The interaction will enable a low-rank demon to recognize a mid-rank one.
That's how demons know who is stronger than them but it isn't working in Aeternus's situation. These mid-rank demons can't sense any suppression from his sin mark. That means, he is of the same rank as them. Only the highly sensitive ones can sense the disparity in strength and know that he is fatal to them. The stupid ones can't sense that danger so they attack him.
Even the ones that are sensitive but have low self-control attack him too. They get an ominous sense of wrongness about him and a hint of danger. But every demon knows that when there's danger, there's reward. It becomes extra difficult to hold back when their sin is also envy and they have confidence in themselves. Demons of envy are the most sensitive to the uniqueness of his mark of sin.
Those two categories are the normal ones. The third category of demons that attack or approach him, do so against their will. They were sent to achieve an agenda by a higher power because smart, sensitive Mid-Rank demons don't want to be anywhere near him.
NAME: Tane
RACE: Demon of Lies.
BLOODLINE/SIN: Lies.
DEMON RANK: Mid-Rank Demon.
HEALTH: 100%
STAMINA: 100%
MANA: 213
SIN ENERGY: 341
ATTACK RATING: Physique:40. Spirit:81+42. MAGIC:46
DEFENSE RATING: Physique:57 Spirit:81. MAGIC:66.
SIN RANK: Mid-67%
STRENGTH: Low-20
CONSTITUTION: Mid-22
ACTIVITY: Mid-25
AGILITY: Mid-27
MAGICAL POWER: Low-23
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE: Mid-19
MAGICAL RESISTANCE: Mid-22
SPIRITUAL RESISTANCE: Mid-27
SPIRIT: Mid-27
PERCEPTION: Mid-26
OTHERS
MANA AFFINITY: 39%
CHAOS AFFINITY: 1%
SIN ABILITY: The Power of Lies(LEGENDARY): Your tongue weaves manipulative words laced with a spiritual influence equal to +14 of your Spirit Stat.
STATUS: Dubious.
He stopped underestimating the demon as soon as he saw his stats sheet. Tane had been able to afford the Legendary rank of sin ability which cost 100,000 units of resources, 100 times the cost of evolution. That isn't normal at all.
It is obvious that Tane had struggled to afford it since some of his other stats were lacking but he succeeded at the end of the day. This implies patience, careful planning, foresight, and a lot of resources.
These qualities don't need to belong to Tane, someone could have put him up to it. Or why else will a demon that can afford 100,000 units of resources not be able to afford the 100 needed for other stats? It is most likely that someone else provided him with the resources but prevented Tane from being perfect.
Trust is scarce among demons and it is common for a leader to engineer some weaknesses into their subordinates so that they will still be able to control them. That suspicion only increased when he considered the uses of the sin ability.
The power of Lies doesn't help demons of lies to lie better, it makes whatever they say believable. It turns lies into truth. There is a spiritual component to the ability and a boost of +14 gives this demon enough spiritual firepower to take out Viron. A power rating of 123 is no joke when a mid-rank demon has it. It will make Tane the perfect demon to deceive any mid-rank demon, for example, Aeternus.
Aeternus stopped 2 meters from this demon. He didn't talk, he just stared and continued to stare. Tane was tall but not as tall as Aeternus. His physical stats have been stunted in favor of his spirit. The light attire he wore made from some sort of leather emphasized his lean figure. He had blades strapped to a belt around his waist. He wasn't wearing any footwear or gloves.
This much clothing on a demon is an indication of order and civilization. Several sources of order in the abyss plane came to his mind but all of them need a high-rank demon to enforce it. They are also in areas beyond the domain of mid-rank demons so it is confirmed that Tane is not from these parts. The demons he had met until now wore one or two pieces of shoddy armor, carried crude weapons, and didn't bother with their nudity. Aeternus himself is completely naked behind his fog of chaos.
Tane spoke, "Are you the Ominous reaper? The low-rank demon killing mid-rank demons?"
Aeternus didn't answer. First of all, he didn't like that name. Second, he was thinking about killing Tane or letting him go. Thirdly, he didn't have a mouth or nose. Chaos energy had destroyed all of those while reforming his body when he was born. He will need to use his divine sense if he wants to communicate, but neither low nor mid-rank demons have divine sense. That's a privilege that only a high-rank demon has. Fourthly, he has a divine sense, he just doesn't want to talk.
Tane didn't feel awkward because of the silence and continued to talk. "It seems you're the one. The word is that you're silent and evil-looking. You sure fit the description."
"Where is your weapon?" He asked Aeternus.