They'll kill him if he refuses to join their alliance. Only a member of their alliance gets to keep the castle or it will weaken their alliance. Of course, they will give it up if a stronger alliance asks for the fortress. It's the general protocol that is executed in situations like this.
The flaming serpentine demon maintained. "I'm just saying. There is something fishy about this entire thing. How did a single high-rank demon take down a fortress in such a short time? Look at the fortress, it looks like it was eroded by something and I can smell a wrongness in the air."
The fat disgusting worm fly snickered and said. "I can't smell anything in the air. The fortress probably looks like this because of some unique spell. You're just a coward."
Its body vibrated with the snickering and mucus fell from it to drop on the ground. Then the mucus began to steam as it corroded the surface it fell on. It was even capable of corroding the abyssal stone but at a snail's pace, nowhere fast enough to damage the fortress in such a short amount of time. It's not like the worm fly can make the large amount needed to damage the entire fortress. So the display is not proof that even the worm can erode the fortress.
The blade demoness jumped in before their argument escalated. "I don't care about what you guys pick as long as it's not the spatial artifact."
Some of the silent ones turned to her after that statement. They had kept quiet till now because they didn't have anything to say and didn't care about the topic of discussion enough to join in. But now, something very important has cropped up.
One of them asked. "What do you plan to do with the spatial artifact?"
She answered curtly, "That's none of your business."
That declaration immediately caused toes to be stepped on and bottom lines to be crossed. As iconic and rich high-rank demons constantly engaged in strife, they have experienced the pain of losing their wealth many times.
In conflict, sometimes they win, and other times they lose and retreat. But their wealth stays behind to be looted by their enemies. Having a spatial artifact will change things and this demoness has the audacity to claim it for herself over the interest of others. She has to be out of her mind.
They were already about to fight when Aeternus finally came out. If he had delayed any longer, they would have been at each other's throats.
He sauntered out with his claymore over his shoulders. They all turned their attention to him.
The blade demoness became excited as soon as she saw his weapon. She said to the others. "You can do whatever you want with the others but I want that blade of his. I must have it."
The other demons didn't talk back this time around. They understood that the blade must be something good for her to change her mind but they are just glad that they have lost one more competitor. She is a really strong one too, so no one complained. They all descended to float above Aeternus and pressure him with their numbers.
He said to them. "Just 8 of you? I guess that will have to do."
"What foolishness there's 9 of us...."
Aeternus attacked before the disgusting worm could finish its condescending sentence.
Dark flames of chaotic energy bellowed out of him and spread into his surroundings. It started as a pillar that spread with him as the center because of the excitement of the chaotic flames. He had been holding them in when he drew them into his body during his fight with Danazel. Now he could let loose.
The tide of energy rose as high as 100m and hit the levitating demons with the force of a storm. They fell from the sky in unflattering manners. They weren't damaged because each of them had been alert. They hadn't been alert against him but against each other. You never know, anything can happen. Backstabbing is common among demons.
They were right to be alert. Anything did happen. The Ominous Reaper attacked them outright. He didn't cower or beg or even negotiate. Who saw that coming? Probably the flaming Serpentine demon who tried to warn them.
That demon is also the 9th demon that escaped before the fight started. He certainly suspected something bad. He didn't know what he suspected but he knew it was bad.
"Thank the abyss that I trusted my instincts." The serpentine demon said as he flee while looking backward at the pillar of Darkness that was consuming the castle within the fortress.
NAME: Gooro.
RACE: Demon of Fear.
BLOODLINE/SIN: Fear.
DEMON RANK: High-Rank Demon.
HEALTH: 100%
STAMINA: 100%
MANA: 5224
SIN ENERGY: 4985
ATTACK RATING: Physique:180. Spirit:180. MAGIC:180
DEFENSE RATING: Physique:180. Spirit:180. MAGIC:180.
SIN ABILITY: The Spirit of fear(EPIC)- +9 attack on spirit attacks.
Fear Empowerment(LEGENDARY)- an ability that boosts +9 to all attacks based on the amount of fear in the environment or within the target of an attack.
STATUS: Scared Shitless.
A demon of fear has a good nose for fear. They know how to manipulate it to their advantage and how to sense it. A place like the destroyed fortress should make the place the best battleground for Gooro. He gets empowered by fear and the fear that the defenders should have felt as they were defeated and killed would give him the maximum boost to his stats. Yet, there was no fear.
The place should have been full of negative emotions. Fear and anguish ought to abound, but it was like something had wiped everything away. The fortress felt bare and that is out of place for a place in the abyss. The disgusting worm was right, there was nothing to smell in the fortress and that's why Gooro could smell the wrongness.
Even odder is that there was no corpse either. Where did all the dead bodies go? Everything about the fortress was unnatural. Gooro thought so. He had been fidgety but he didn't dare show weakness amongst that group of hyenas. He tried to warn them, maybe arouse their suspicions. But no one listened to him. They were all focused on their greed.
He had promised himself to bolt at the first sight of danger. Even another anomaly would have made him run, so when he saw Aeternus, he created a fear clone and ran with his tail tucked between his legs. The clone wouldn't have fooled them if they were paying attention to him.
"That's no demon. That's an abomination." Gooro said shakily as he flew away.
Aeternus was more than an anomaly, he was an abomination. He is something that shouldn't exist. As a demon whose major means of attack is attacking with the soul, he could spot the spirit defenses of another demon. If he were to put it lightly, then Aeternus's soul is abnormally strong. The only other way to describe that soul is that it put the fear of God in Gooro's heart.
"I might have seen things. I might just be paranoid." He said as he stopped a safe distance away from the fortress.
No, he doesn't intend to return there, at least not yet. He decided to spectate the battle a little, maybe an opportunity will show up for him to take advantage of. It has to be a really good opportunity too because he doubts he can be of any use in a fight against Aeternus. But anything can happen in a fight.
His mind began to change as he saw dark flashes coming out of the pillar of darkness. Curved blades of flame flew out of the pillar and cut through anything they encountered. They carved long furrows into the ground, which then began to expand as it was eroded. It was a scene right out of a demon horror show.
He could only imagine what they were going through there. Thankfully he didn't have to imagine what was going on. The notification of the death of his alliance mates by their joint contract is enough to tell him that things are going badly for them. Nothing good is happening in that pillar of darkness.
Gooro turned around and began to run again.
"I'm not running away but to my Abyss altar. What if they send a message for help and I'm not there to receive it? That will be betraying our contract."
He said in consolation while he deserted his alliance mates. The contract states that they must come to help if the fortress of a member of their alliance is under attack and help is requested. Danazel is dead and none of their fortresses is under attack. If these ones want to join him in death then they can go ahead, but Gooro doesn't intend to join them.
Instead, he will do his job by faithfully waiting at the abyss altar for a call for help. If one of them survives and calls for help, only then does he have to get involved. Even then, it will not be at the cost of his life.