He continued on his journey while his words reached the demon noble immediately after the death of the messenger. The demon noble obviously popped his lid in anger.
In A City Within The Domain Of Demon Nobles.
Planning, scheming, trickery and world invasion start at the high-rank demon level. That's why the domain of high-rank demons has fortresses constructed around abyss altars. An invasion needs an army, and an army needs order. So high-rank demons are the first pillar of order in demon society. While mid-rank demons manage territories and rear demonic beasts, high-rank demons manage fortresses and invade worlds.
Demon nobles take it one step further by constructing cities and forces that answer them. At this stage, demons can establish a house. A house is needed if a demon noble intends to fight for the seat of the demon Lord. There can be only one demon Lord in all of the abyssal plane. There are multiple planes in the abyss but lesser than a thousand. That means there are less than a thousand demon lords in all of the abyss belonging to the high heaven realm.
Demon Nobles have to compete for that special spot. The competition is intense, so much so that there are only 8 cities out of the maximum 9 around the capital city at the center of the plane where the demon Lord lives. That means, there are only 8 established demon nobles in all of the abyssal plane. There are more demon nobles in the plane but they are not strong enough to carve out a place for themselves in the plane. If something were to happen to the demon Lord, only these 8 have a real chance of getting the seat.
Even rarer than the number of established demon nobles is the number of them that has a spatial artifact. A demon Lord has one due to his or her unique position in the abyss. That leaves demon nobles to rely on themselves concerning that need.
If they could have a spatial artifact, they would be able to prepare for different scenarios and carry a lot more on their person. Ever been in a fight but your weapon gets destroyed? What do you do next? If you're lucky you probably have many weapons on your person that you carry around just for rare occasions such as these. If you're unlucky then you're the reasonable demon that doesn't carry multiple weapons that will weigh you down and hinder your movements around.
Something like a spatial artifact could change the balance between the nobles. So imagine the reaction of demon nobles when they heard that some mid-rank demon has one. They were surprised, jealous, and greedy for the spatial artifact and what else it may contain. Was it a fortunate boon or an unfortunate bane for that weak demon? Only time will tell. But regardless, a good thing needs strength to keep.
Even more outlandish is the disrespectful behavior of that obviously stupid demon at the request of a particularly powerful demon noble who thought his prestige should be more than enough to cower the mildly lucky demon. He even went further than disrespecting the noble, he insulted the entire noble house by killing the messenger. He even had the guts to say words of challenge to him.
"Didn't you hear that I killed a messenger before?"
"Insolent Demon." The demon noble shouted angrily from his seat.
It was offense after offense. Finding that spatial artifact had gone to the demon's head. He has become stupid enough to disrespect a glorious demon noble.
He beat his chest and said, "To think that I, Salazar the Blade of destruction, have fallen so low as to be ridiculed by some upstart demon."
Salazar, the blade of destruction is a lean demon more than 5 meters tall. His skin has a metallic sheen to it. He fights using his body so he doesn't need weapons. His body can morph into different bladed weapons so he doesn't have to worry about running out of weapons but that doesn't mean he doesn't need the spatial artifact. To be rejected like that felt disrespectful.
He felt really disrespected. It is one thing to have someone above you that has blocked your path of advancement, it is another thing for a lucky simpleton to make fun of you. As they say, when a big matter finally brings you low, small matters will have the opportunity to strut in front of you.
He wasn't the only one in the throne room. With him are 11 other high-rank demons that are the commanders of his army and members of the High Council of the family.
He said to one of them. "Alkazhi, you go and bring that demon to me. Dead or alive, I don't care. I only want the spatial artifact. This is your chance to prove yourself. Do not fail me now."
His voice was as loud as a roar. Alkahzi stood up from his seat and bowed. "You will is my command."
Then he left the throne room and began his quest for Aeternus' head.
Demon Noble Salazar watched Alkazhi go. Yes, he has been brought low by the demon lord and can be disrespected by insolent demons but that doesn't mean he will allow it to happen without swift and heavy retribution. Does the stupid demon not know how well he performed in the last plane war more than ten thousand years ago? Does the demon not know how he became one of the 8 to establish the city?
"And to think I was going to simply torture him slightly. I was a fool to be so generous. I opened myself to the ridicule." Salazar murmured to himself.
It is too late for that demon's ignorance now. He won't even take the demon in if the comes crawling to him pleading and begging for his life. The grace period he gave the demon is over. Now that demon will experience what it means to disrespect one of the 8. They say experience is the best teacher, but there are some experiences that kill you.
Salazar is confident of the success of his subordinate. A high-rank demon against some mid-rank demon smuck is more than enough. Alkazhi might be young and average among high-rank demons but he has the advantage of being the subordinate of a demon noble, he has a boost to his power.
Any demon that swears an oath to a demon noble will receive a sin ability from the demon noble based on the rank of the receiver. It will be based on the unique ability of that demon noble acquired over his/her evolution. So swearing an oath to a demon noble will make a demon more powerful. Yet, high-rank demons would rather stay in their fortresses and be their own boss rather than bow to a demon noble.
The thing is, if you, as a high-rank demon stay in your fortress and mind your business, no one will come to disturb you when the fight for the throne of demon Lord begins. If you are the subordinate of a demon noble, you will have to fight the subordinates of other demon nobles who have received the same boost as you. So why bother swearing an oath of allegiance? That's why Salazar has only 11 high-rank demons as his subordinates.
Salazar would have loved to march over to the region of mid-rank demons and put Aeternus in his place himself but he is too powerful to even enter the high-rank demon's domain. The numerous expensive upgrades that he acquired during his evolution require a lot of sin energy to sustain and of a particular quality that can only be found close to the center of the plane. So he has to be content with sending a subordinate. Sending his subordinate on errands isn't the only benefit he gets from them, he receives a boost to his strength too.
Alkazhi flew straight for Aeternus. As a high-rank demon, it is a sign of your prowess and intelligence if you can fly. It is one of the reasons why he was accepted as Salazar's commander. The demon nobles might need high-rank demons as subordinates, but they won't take just anyone that shows up. So Alkazhi is unique and because he is a subordinate of a demon noble, he is powerful too.
He was able to reach the border between the domain of high-rank demons and mid-rank demons before Aeternus got there. The concentration of sin energy drops across this border enough to make any high-rank demon feel suffocated and lose their sin energy quickly. So he stood waiting, some distance away from the border.
He didn't have to wait for long before he saw the walking incarnate of darkness. Aeternus looked like a shadow without definite edges or lines, with a fog of darkness making him seem three-dimensional instead of the cut out of a shadow. His eyes were blazing in a dark red fire that locked onto Alkazhi.