Bael returned to the ground. The geniuses have now become aware that one of them is choosing to achieve greatness. All of them returned to the ground to evolve except two of them. One of them is Cain who was sent here by the demon lord and another one is a genius subordinate of the noble demoness of lust, that voluptuous demoness.
"I am sorry to refuse your hospitality of greatness. I have to return to my mistress." He said earnestly.
The demoness of lust has a firm grip on her subordinates. Unlike other demons, she uses something other than violence to convince demons to become her subordinates. She doesn't have the highest amount of quality high-rank demons for no reason. Her bond is so tight that this demon wasn't tempted by Aeternus's offer of strength. He would rather return to his mistress and continue living his perfect life.
'She might even reward me for saying no. The only one I can't say no to will always be my mistress.' he thought earnestly.
He was willing to brave the chance that Aeternus is bluffing about letting them go unharmed. He would rather die than be away from his mistress.
Aeternus stretched out his hand and the chaos spark flew into it. He said to the demon. "You're free to go."
The love-sick demon bowed before flying away. The geniuses had been watching the situation and saw that Aeternus did as he said he would and let the demon go. It didn't change their minds though. They reached the ground and started their evolution.
"What about you?" He asked Cain.
Cain considered for a while before shaking his head and returning to the ground to evolve. He had changed his mind. He too is highly loyal to the demon lord and would have tried to leave for her. But he doesn't want his sacrifice to be in vain and he doesn't want this opportunity to be lost.
The sight of that demon leaving made him come up with two possible scenarios. Either Aeternus meant it and he is letting them go, or he has a way to kill that demon remotely. If it is the first option then Aeternus is a better alternative to serving the demon lord. If it is the second option, then Aeternus is more insidious than the demon lord.
The demon lord would never allow a demon to go after refusing to swear fealty. The numerous prisoners that she eats are proof of it but the demon lord can't do something to a demon outside of her reach. She couldn't do anything to Aeternus even though she hated him. In other words, Aeternus is a better alternative to serve than the demon lord.
Aeternus watched Cain return to the ground and shook his head. He doesn't know what the demon was thinking but he is letting that demon go. It is not because he is benevolent, it is because his parasites worked exactly as he told them they would. So he can't leave the demon remotely with them.
The alternative is to kill the demon right here in front of his potential subordinates. They might doubt him and refuse to swear fealty. Will he kill all of them then? He could still have the leaving demon killed but why bother? It is that demon's loss anyway. He doesn't want a demon that will give up an opportunity for greatness in his household. The Lord of Chaos house is not the demon lord, he is not a beggar but a chooser.
He saw Cain's stat and his ability so he knew who sent him and for what reason.
NAME: Cain
RACE: Demon of Unforgiveness
BLOODLINE/SIN: Unforgiveness.
DEMON RANK: High-Rank Demon.
HEALTH: 87%
STAMINA: 83%
MANA: 7311
SIN ENERGY: 4383
ATTACK RATING: Physique:180. Spirit:180. MAGIC:180.
DEFENSE RATING: Physique:180. Spirit:180. MAGIC:180.
SIN RANK: High-82%
STRENGTH: High-36
CONSTITUTION: High-36
ACTIVITY: High-36
AGILITY: High-36
MAGICAL POWER: High-36
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE: High-36
MAGICAL RESISTANCE: High-36
SPIRITUAL RESISTANCE: High-36
SPIRIT: High-36
PERCEPTION: High-36
OTHERS
MANA AFFINITY: 46%
CHAOS AFFINITY: 1%
SIN ABILITY: The Power of Unforgiveness(DIVINE): Damage done to you is reflected back at its source at higher power and passes through every defense unhindered to deal true damage.
Mind Predator (LEGENDARY): All damage done to you is reflected as soul damage to its source and at a higher power.
Mark of Unforgiveness (LEGENDARY): Each reflection of damage creates a mark on the source of the damage which debuffs every ability of the source. The mark can be stacked to increase their power to the limit of 75% debuff which lasts 1 day. The power of the marks is directly proportional to the amount of damage to you. Your death will lead to the triggering of all marks of unforgiveness which will debuff your killer by 90% and will last 100 years.
POWER FROM OATH OF THE LORD:
The Hoarding of Gluttony(LEGENDARY)- Store 8% of the power of a slain opponent to be used in the future. You can only store 16 times your maximum power.
STATUS: Hopefull
Cain is a rare type of demon. He is a demon of unforgiveness. He has a divine rank basic sin ability which means that if he had fused sin energy and mana together as a mid-rank demon then he would have the opportunity to choose Accumulation or two other abilities. It is obvious that he chose the second option. High-rank demons usually have two sin abilities apart from the one they get from the lords of their noble house but he has an extra 1.
It might seem like a bad idea not to go for Accumulation but it might not be so in the case of Cain. It could be that the method of Accumulation for his sin wasn't appropriate for him. Such as needing to constantly get hurt to Accumulate empowerment. If whoever is hurting him also gets hurt and probably in increasing amounts too, he won't be able to Accumulate empowerment because the process will kill the source of his pain.
His choice isn't bad. It is even great since they enhance each other. If someone attacks him and succeeds in doing damage to him, then the amount of damage he receives is reflected in the soul of his attacker. The reflected damage will bypass all defense and will be higher than the damage he was dealt with. Damage to the body can be healed easily. Damage to the soul on the other hand is a very serious matter.
Chapter X.
What's worse is that each damage reflection will reduce the capabilities of his opponent until his opponent is helpless against him. His lack of Accumulation is supplemented by the ability from his Oath of the Lord from the demon lord.
The hoarding of Gluttony allows him to take some power from his slain enemies. This power can be used to recover his stamina or heal his health up to 16 times. This makes him 16 times more durable than anyone he fights. So he can afford to trade damage and will even win if all he does is stand doing nothing while he is attacked.
All of the sin abilities working together explain why he finished with those that have Accumulation and also why he was sent to deal with Aeternus. He isn't a threat to Aeternus alive, the problem will be after his death through the mark of unforgiveness.
Of course, he might cause a nuisance to Aeternus while alive but the creation of a mark of Unforgiveness due to his death will lead to serious consequences. A 90% debuff is not something that can be walked off. It can even lead to his death considering his precarious situation with Chaos energy.
"I wonder what will happen if we fight." He asked himself.
He began to think about the outcome of their fight to entertain himself while the fighting and evolution went on. A fight with Cain can lead to two possible outcomes, a successful reduction in Aeternus's situation or a waste of sacrifice. The uncertainty is because it is unknown if Cain's abilities will work on Aeternus in the first place.
Sin abilities that don't deal direct damage to him don't work on him. That mark of unforgiveness will be consumed by the Chaos energy around him and won't stick to him. Chaos burns everything.
The most important question is if Cain's damage reflection which is supposed to be able to pass through every defense can overcome Aeternus's damage reflection ability. Or will they be reflecting it between themselves until one of them tires out?
If it comes to that, then he believes that he will win in a competition of endurance. He could also avoid the competition entirely by killing Cain in one strike. If Cain dies, there will be no damage reflection and no creation of a mark of unforgiveness. But his death will trigger the debuff of the mark of unforgiveness that has been produced.
Killing Cain in one strike will render his ability useless and make Cain's death useless. If the demon lord knew that he can read others' statuses, then she wouldn't have sent someone with a glaring weakness to him.