Aeternus had kept his chaos vessel in his inventory so that it won't get in the way of his running. It's practically the only weapon he can use since he has to try not to burn whatever he touches into ashes.
Tane nodded his head in understanding. His beady eyes scanned Aeternus'for the sight of his spatial artifact. But his sight couldn't get past the dark fog obscuring Aeternus' figure. Word had gotten out that the ominous reaper could make his sword disappear and reappear in his hands as if he is plucking it out of thin air. That information had drawn the attention of many.
A storage artifact is a very rare thing in the abyss. A demon Lord has a storage space granted to them by the abyss. The rank before that is that of a demon noble. Demon nobles have perfectly fused energy and should be able to make spatial artifacts but most of them can't. In short, numerous high-rank demons and demon nobles want Aeternus' spatial artifact. One of them sent Tane to acquire it.
Tane moved on when he couldn't see anything. He began using his sin ability.
"My Lord has heard tales of your valor. He is impressed with your talent, so he has decided to add you to his household. He has sent me to invite you to the city of Fallen's Ark and to the noble house of Fallen." He brought out a demon emblem of the house of Fallen to prove his origin.
Aeternus rolled his eyes. Hearing a demon speak in such a cultured manner makes them sound like a hypocrite. You would think they have basic manners but these same demons will eat you up if you show a sign of weakness, literally. He could also feel a spiritual influence on his soul that wants to cloud his judgment.
"So what do you say? Will you join me on my return trip to Fallen's Ark?" Tane asked.
Aeternus ignored him and resumed his journey. He had an aim in mind, one of the fortress cities in the domain of high-rank demons. It is there that he would be able to get access to bigger prey and abyss altars.
Tane may have lied about the invitation but what he said enlightened him about some things. Now he knows that whoever is behind the envy demon is a demon noble. He is also sure that if he follows Tane, then he might be killed, enslaved, or tortured. All of those bad things aren't mutually exclusive either.
Tane caught up to him. "You sure are enthusiastic about this."
Then he continued talking, spewing lies like a fountain of it.
Aeternus ignored him. He ignored him when he said, "Wait, that's the wrong way. Fallen's Ark is that way."
He ignored Tane as he tried to convince him. When Tane finally asked, "Can I see your sword? I heard it's cool."
Aeternus cut his head off in one swift and smooth motion. He burned the body and everything on it.
"I shouldn't have worried." He said when he noticed that the mark of vengeance didn't form on him.
Then he resumed his journey. He hadn't wanted to kill Tane because he is too weak a prey for him. The difference in the value of various demon ranks to the progress of your mark of sin can range from 100 to 1,000 times. A mid-rank demon is worth at least 100 low-rank demons. Tane is worth close to 500 low-rank demons, while the weakest high-rank demon is worth 100 Tanes.
So killing a mid-rank demon is a waste of time. The other reason why he didn't want to kill Tane is that he is a messenger of a demon noble. Tane had the emblem of the fallen family and killing him is disrespecting the demon noble. That emblem signifies the authority of the head of the fallen family and should grant whoever holds it passage and safety in most of the areas in the abyss plane.
Each member of the family has sworn an oath of allegiance to the head of the family, so their scene of death will be transmitted to the head of the family. This oath will render torture for information useless. Also, a mark will form on the killer which will allow the head of the family to track whoever it is. He had been worried about the mark but it seems he shouldn't have.
The mark formed but failed to stick to him. It was burned up when it came in contact with chaos energy. But he didn't relax. The absence of the mark will only make it difficult to track him not impossible. It doesn't change the fact the head of the fallen family has its attention on him or the fact that Tane was sent to him. There are also many demons constantly watching him so his act of killing Tane is not a secret.
He didn't walk for long before a group approached him. They were a rag-tag group of 5 mid-rank demons. They didn't plan to ambush him or if they did, they messed it up. The 5 of them were waiting out in the open along his path. They showed their weapons when he reached them.
"Stop right there." One of them stood in his path and shouted at him.
The other four surrounded him in a circular formation. They were closer than a meter to him
"Give us everything you have or else." The one that shouted earlier grinned and said.
They were robbing him. He didn't care if they were being stupid or were ordered to do this. A fog of darkness burst out from him in answer. The fog enveloped everything within a radius of a meter around him before shrinking back into his body.
His surroundings had cleared up. All five demons had disappeared. Their entire existence was broken down to energy to fuel his mark of sin and ash that scattered into the wind.
He resumed his journey as if nothing happened. The various demon spies and stalkers felt dread when they saw that scene. It was a fight that took about a second. They didn't see what happened within the cloud of darkness but whatever it is, is very deadly to mid-rank demons.
The demon spies reported to their higher-ups while the stalkers gave up on their plans to kill him. The stalkers were acting on their own interests, so they can give up. The spies have people whose will they are acting on, it is not their place to determine when to give up.
More demons fought him. Most of them were ignorant demons that haven't heard about him. Some of them were sent to test him, while no one cared enough to tell the stupid ones that he is dangerous. But they all died. It was not a pleasurable fight either. The only interesting thing that happened on his journey to the domain of high-rank demons was when he was stopped by a messenger from a demon noble.
"Another demon noble?" He asked himself.
The moment Aeternus saw the demon, he suspected that it served a demon noble. The demon had a lot in common with Tane. They were both short and well-dressed. It was until he moved closer that he noticed a glaring difference between the two of them apart from their sin and looks.
The demon of pride stood unsure in Aeternus' way. The demon did not have confidence in his personal strength, but it should have confidence in the emblem he was wielding.
"My liege has called for you. Come with me immediately." The demon had said after showing its emblem.
If Aeternus had vocal cords he would have laughed. He could only be content with shaking his head in amusement.
"Do not doubt me. My emblem is real." Saying so, the emblem emitted an aura of might and nobility.
'So what if the emblem is real?' Aeternus snickered to himself.
The aura that the emblem released was proof of a demon noble. It could be any demon noble and Aeternus wouldn't care. Especially when that demon noble is asking him to come forward of his own volition and offer up his head on a silver platter because of fear. Why else would the demon noble send a low-rank demon to give the order? Either this is a sick joke or the demon noble thought he would simply cave in because of a simple emblem.
The first noble had been reasonable to send a well-crafted mid-rank demon to coerce and fool him into coming with the messenger. This one didn't care enough for that.
His divine sense reached into the messenger's mind. "Didn't you hear that I killed a messenger before?"
Then he shot a bolt of chaotic flames at the low-rank demon that incinerated it. People say "Don't fault the messenger." That means don't take your frustration out on innocent messengers or envoys. But what if he wanted to send a message through the messenger and the quickest way to get that message to its destination is if the messenger dies?