The Primal Hunter

Even if the devil feared death… submitting and becoming part of the Demon Prince was practically akin to its death. Something truly extraordinary had to pressure it into fully submitting. As he was connected to the Cerulean Devil, he knew it was not at all ready to give up yet. Still, he chose to believe in the Chosen as he got within range of the Cerulean Devil, who looked ready to tear the contact apart… as everything stopped.

And then, it descended. An aura unlike any he had ever experienced before overtook his entire Soulspace as it crushed everything beneath it. All emotions were replaced with fear, as the Demon Prince could barely look over the Chosen of the Malefic Viper looking much bigger than he truly was.

In the sky, the clouds scattered as an orangeish glow fell over the Soulspace. Looking up, the Demon Prince saw two massive irises stare down at him as he had never felt smaller or more insignificant… and then he felt a slight tap on the contract, as the Cerulean Devil had placed its palm on it.

Just like that, the eyes disappeared, the pressure was gone, and everything returned to normal as the Chosen spoke casually. “Well, that ended up working out somehow. See you on the other side.”

And with that, he was gone, leaving only a frozen Demon Prince and Cerulean Devil behind.

Jake opened his eyes in the outside world as he disconnected from the Demon Prince’s Soulspace, and he felt the slight gap he had entered through close for good. The heart he was grasping in his hand no longer had the same suction force, so he let go and instantly pulled out his hand as he jumped back, blood splattering out, but the healing circle was still active, rapidly mending the wound. Not that Jake believed that was necessary.

”Lord Chosen, what-” one of the ritualists began as Jake cut him off.

”Just wait for it,” Jake said with a smile, and as if on cue, a shockwave of energy erupted from the Demon Prince’s body as he was enveloped in light. Within this light that Jake could only look inside using his Sphere of Perception, he saw the Demon Prince disappear for a few moments before he reappeared again shortly after, now a changed demon.

The light faded to reveal his form as he stood there with his eyes closed. The forehead gem was gone, and his body had grown a bit in bulk, but the most notable difference was the head. Ten horns circled his skull, each of them pointing toward the ceiling, making it nearly look like he was wearing a crown and definitely making helmets extremely difficult to wear.

Using identify, Jake smiled.

[Cerulean Demon Lord – lvl 280]

He felt the nervous demon ritualists all around, staring with apprehension. Jake also looked at the newly born Cerulean Demon Lord as he asked a pretty important question: ”Are congratulations in order, or did we just birth some mindless beast?”

Finally, the Demon Lord opened his eyes as he breathed out, and threw a look at Jake that contained an odd mix of gratitude, respect, and fear. Yet he remained polite. ”Thank you… I am still getting used to things.”

Jake nodded as he felt the aura of the Demon Prince. It didn’t really necessarily feel that much more powerful than before. Only by a little. Which perhaps shouldn’t surprise Jake, as the Demon Prince had come third on the Era’s Leaderboards, only behind himself and Ell’Hakan. It wouldnʼt have made much sense if he had somehow jumped up in power from this ritual, as he was already close to how powerful one could be for his level. It wasn’t like Jake had just given him a bunch of stat-increasing titles.

However, he had definitely changed. His Path had evolved, and his future prospects were now far brighter than they were before.

Then, a bit late in Jake’s opinion, the pentagon pentagram finally broke fully apart, marking the end of the ritual for good. With it naturally came the sweet system notifications of levels gained.