Emergence of the Demon Pillar Cult

"Masaru, I still feel that grandfather was not happy with our arrangement," Liliana said the very thing she held in her heart, ever since Matteo confronted her grandfather for her she began to think of his safety more than her own, and she knew how stubborn her grandfather was.

"It's fine, besides we already notified Salvatore since that idiot wants to battle Voban so eagerly, this will distract Voban away from us. And your grandfather would not dare to touch you while knowing of me" Masaru spoke warmly while gently caressing Lilliana's face, the poor girl blushed beet red at how caring Masaru was treating her, it makes her feel safe, cared for and loved.

'How am I ever going to repay him?' She thought to herself.

"Masaru, Father said we have a mission at Piz Bernina" Erica called out from the door stopping the two that was close to kissing when Erica saw this her face flushed from envy stomping all the way to Masaru, grabbing his face and gave him a deep kiss.

Normally Erica would not do this but Masaru almost lost his consciousness from the shock he just received, even Lilliana almost passed out from embarrassment. When Erica pulled away, Masaru instead pulled her into his embrace together with Lilliana, holding the two of them firmly within his embrace.

When he had his fill of holding his two beautiful fiancees's he gave each of them a light kiss on the lips causing both of them to blush but their eyes became a bit hazy, Masaru gently caresses their heads before turning to leave, it was time to do some work.

When Masaru left the two of them alone, Liliana scowled at Erica, "I almost had my first deep kiss but you had to steal it" Lilliana pouted when she saw Erica was unaffected by her gaze.

Erica licked her lips with a playful smile, she said with a slight teasing tone of voice "It tasted heavenly when I feel my tongue dancing with his"

Lilliana who heard this blushed but stomped out of the room thinking she should continue writing her book that Masaru enjoys reading to vent her frustrations. Erica who saw her best friend walk away could only giggle at how cute she was, she knew that her friend was serious about Masaru just like she was which is why they could stick together despite her teasings.

"Masaru, here is a report of a Sacred Beast sighting in Piz Bernina" Paolo hands over a folder to Masaru with a solemn gaze, Masaru nodded when he took it and opened it. After reading it he felt perplexed.

"One eyed Ogre? I always read about them but this will be my first time dealing with one. But isn't a demon suppose to unleash bale aura?" Masaru asked with a uncertain voice glancing at the photo that was taken,

Paolo nodded, "Yes, however, this one is definitely a one eyed ogre. Although it is a weak demon you still have to remain vigilant. It appears some stray magicians are there as well, I am not certain what their background is but to infiltrate Italy so easily means they have a solid backing"

Masaru nodded while closing the folder, he was quite curious of the group of stray magicians. But more than that, he was more eager to test his powers after undergoing growth during these past few years "I will be leaving then"

Just as Masaru was about to leave, he was stopped by Paolo who had a warm smile on his face, "I heard you pulled Lilliana out of her organisation" He said while feeling quite proud of his son.

"I did, that grandfather tried to sacrifice his own granddaughter to lick the feet of a Campione that should just retire," Masaru said nonchalantly, not caring about the fact he was completely disrespectful towards Liliana's grandfather. But that was just the way Masaru was, once someone has intentions to harm his family, he would never show them any respect.

Paolo laughed after hearing what Masaru said, normally he would have scolded someone else. However, it was a fact that Masaru was his trump card he had against the council and the Campione's they were supporting for the sake of their protection over Italy.

So even if the two Campione's withdraw their protection, Masaru would continue to protect Italy and the Copper Cross Knights. This was Masaru's own plan and the choice he made a few years back, this was set in place so Paolo did not need to follow orders that went against his principles and family. "Well just be careful, you never know when that old vampire will come for blood"

Masaru smiled wryly while nodding at his father before leaving the office, from the looks of it he will have to accelerate his plans to enhance his Organisation, Hiei. After entering his personal office, Masaru pulls out his cellphone speed dialling his personal assistant, after a few rings she picked up.

"Young master?"

Masaru was not flustered at her seductive voice, he knew this lady was already a mother and married but she enjoyed the time when Masaru used to easily get flustered with her seductive voice to the point it became a habit.

"Patricia, can you proceed with the first phase of our plans?" Masaru said while taking his seat behind a beautifully carved, oak desk. Behind him are rows of Bookshelves containing information he had been gathering throughout the years, in the middle of the office was two three-seater couches facing one another with a coffee table in between and a fireplace on the other end of the office.

Glancing at the folder on the table, taking it into his hands he smiled wryly knowing that in this folder, it contains the information behind the forces that were responsible for killing his parents, he had never forgotten them. He simply did not see the point to kill them just yet, he was waiting for them.

To reach the height they dreamed of for their business, and then he would smash it down in front of them. Only that way would he feel his hatred quenched.

Patricia who heard her young master's order knew something happened to make him move sooner than planned but since everything was in place they really only needed a go-ahead. She would never expect that Masaru was simply going to start taking control of the forces of Italy, only that way he could ensure the safety of the people.

"We have been waiting for your orders, but are you certain?" Patricia asked wondering if it was fine to move ahead of schedule.

Masaru laughed softly before nodding his head feeling proud he scouted this hardworking mother to assist him in managing his company, although he still needed someone who could control the dark side for him. "Proceed with it, also I want you to start taking over Orphanages near the south of Italy near Sardinia. Once that is in place, gather all the orphans from the other Orphanages secretly, move them all over to Sardinia"

Patricia tilts her head within her office wondering what her master was planning.

"We will train the children and have them work for us in the future in whatever direction they wish, we can then branch out in many kinds of businesses in this way" Masaru explained, although that was his plan on the surface. He intends to use this method to scout special children who contain mana and train them into special forces for his organisation.

"But it will be lucrative" Patricia said feeling that this move was brilliant but it was simply too much unnecessary cost to bear, although Hiei was already a profitable company.

Masaru chuckled before explaining his reason for doing so, "It's fine, I can handle the cost. Let us start with only twenty of the brightest orphans which we will focus on special education, the rest will get basic support. I will leave the choice up to you" 'I will have to get someone from our side of the world to select the special children' he thought inwardly.

Patricia nodded before closing the call,with the phone call over. Masaru placed the folder to the side, after finish reading the report in regards to the one eyed ogre. He called out to a servant to prepare his transport for Piz bernina.

The efficiency of the servants were first class, by the time Masaru came out of the mansion there was already a car waiting for him. When Masaru climbed into the car, he glanced at the driver who held the door open for him "Piz Bernina"

The driver nodded his head, closing the door after Masaru climbed in. After a moment, the driver started the car when he got in, and drove the route to Piz Bernina.

Masaru closed his eyes while remembering the contents of the mission 'Wonder if my authority level would increase if I capture the Ogre? It's a demon after all' Masaru thought with a smirk, 'But first I have to find out who those stray magicians are'

>\/<

Next morning, in a large corporate building situated in Milan. It was the temporary Head Office of Hiei, that Masaru established to hide the location of their true Head Quarters.

"Ma'am, we have already purchased 70% of the Orphanages that given to us on the list" the secretary of Patricia glanced at Patricia who was married, and had children. yet she still maintained her looks as if she was in her twenties, which was enviable.

Blonde curly hair with jade green eyes, her figure was modest however the aura surrounding her was like that of a Queen that causes many people to mistake her for a short-tempered person but she was gentle although strict. "Have you pulled the report on the list of children?" Patricia asked.

The secretary nodded placing the report on the table, Patricia went through the reports wonder who to choose.

"Have all of the children go through a few tests and give me only the top fifty of them, also could you please send a batch of flowers to Lilliana and Erica to congratulate them for living together with Masaru under one roof" Patricia smiled teasingly at the Secretary who nodded her head before leaving.

Patricia heard about Masaru's past from Paolo, a child that grew up on the streets without a mother, She still remembers it like it was yesterday, how the nine-year-old boy came to seek her personally as his acting CEO for his company, the straightforward manner sent chills down her spine due to excitement as she felt working for this child would be beneficial for her family.

After working for a while, she was shocked out of her mind when she realized how smart this child was for his own age. Yet due to his past, she acted like a mother towards him and continued to spoil him despite his complaints, he never once got angry for treating him like her son.

Thanks to this boy who gave ideas for her, she started realized how much this boy's plans was helping her with her family because now she had contacts with the best doctors, schools, and many other organisations of other sectors. With this, she could give her child the best life, and for that, she would always be grateful to Masaru.

'Wonder what that boy is busy doing that made him move' She thought while working through a few constructions proposal that had close ties to a recent project.

>\/<

Masaru was currently wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans with black mountain boots. The icy winds blew regulary, and the frequency increased the higher they went. Yet despite the coldness, Masaru did not feel cold at all. His eyes swept across the surroundings keeping his vigilance.

"Young Master, don't you feel even a little cold?" One of the bodyguards came asking, the bodyguards were only a formality since Masaru did not like being surrounded by Reporters who wanted to get more information from him about Hiei, or people that can't wait to kiss his butt for benefits he rather just have these men become his meatshield on such occasions.

"It's fine, unlike you all. I am probably a monster ever since I became a Campione" Masaru said with a wry smile, "Heed my call, my name is Masaru Yozu. The successor of Solomon, materialize before me. Key of Solomon, Lesser key of Solomon"

Two magical grimoires materialized before Masaru, one had a white cover held shut with a single red ribbon string, while the other had a black cover held together in blood coloured chains. "My ring..." Masaru muttered as a bronze coloured ring on his right hand middle finger materialized.

The mana fluctuations around Masaru became silent, not a single ripple was caused due to the unleash of his god authority. In fact, there was traces of mana being absorbed by the two books that were floating before Masaru, with a single flick of his finger the black book suddenly burst open the moment the blood chains loosen a bit.

A Bright crimson coloured light burst out from the pages, almost blinding the bodyguards who stood behind Masaru.

The sound of something falling on the ground alerted the bodyguards, yet the blinding light prevented them from seeing what had appeared.

"Young Master Run! We will protect you!" One of the guards cried out while the others sneered, 'Run? We are all blind, and if Young Master is the same. Isn't this the same as asking him to die!?'

The guard that cried out felt his face burning hot when he realized that point as well, feeling ashamed and hoped that Masaru would not misunderstand his intentions.

When the lights dimmed out, what entered the sights of the guards caused them to flinch, their bodies shivered. It was only an ordinary creature from the underworld, but this thing was infamous for it's Illusion Speciality making it quite a problematic opponent if one was not prepared for it.

It was at the height of forty centimetres, long nose, two tiny horns on its bold head. Dark brown coloured skin, with a hunch back. Long bony sharp fingers, wearing nothing but a rag around it's waist. Behind it's back was barely visible wings, this creature's official name was dream Imp, but many prefer to call it demonic imp and its appears resembled that of a goblin very much despite being much shorter than the latter.

There were five of these imps standing before Masaru, each of them rubbing their hands smiling broadly, revealing their sharp teeths, lips covered in endless leaking drool. Their eyes were fixed on the bodyguards but they did not dare make a move, for their instincts told them the one who summoned them was their master.

"Search for the one eyed ogre" Masaru said while glancing at the imps nonchalantly, it was not the first time Masaru had summoned these mischievious little creatures who loved to prank humans into thinking their are ferocious. Yet, without their illusion power. They are nothing, hench they would put up the scariest kind of gesture they could do, just to create an illusion that they were predators.

"Kwee! Kwee!" The dream imps all nodded their heads vigorously rushing out into the woods in search for the one eyed ogre, all of them were eager to please Masaru in hopes that they would be called more often into this world that was filled with life, something that only existed in their dreams till they were summoned by Masaru the first time.

There was an occasional roar that Masaru heard from a distance ahead of them, however, from the sound, it was still way ahead of them before they would reach there by foot, according to the body guards speed. The sound of metals clashing became clearer, the more near Masaru came to the destination 'Could it be that someone was already fighting against the One Eyed Ogre?' Masaru thought

The wind was blowing more cold air but for Masaru, it felt like a breeze like any other till he reached high enough to see someone he would rather never see.

Salvatore just finished his task of stealing a heretic god from Voban was now currently hunting an One Eyed Ogre along the way, "Man it is so weak! Why are the monsters in the game much stronger" He complained while he was slicing the skin of the Ogre,

"ROOOARRRR" The one eyed ogre roared out of anger but also pain. If it was a human it would have a complaint that Salvatore was simply bullying him but Salvatore simply considers the ogre nothing more than a hunting game he would like to enjoy with a stronger opponent.

'It really is weak' Masaru thought looking at their battles, he knew that Salvatore was holding back his strength to enjoy the battle much longer. But Masaru felt something was amiss, because the ogre itself was much weaker compared to what it should have been. Not to mention...

"Summoned?" Masaru muttered, he could sense the familiar magical waves which was similar to how he summoned Dream Imps. Thanks to his constant research on Solomon, he knew instantly that this kind of magic was something only a certain cult would have their hands on.

"Demon Pillar Cult..." Masaru said with a wry smile, this cult was only a small group of fanatics that enjoyed causing trouble all over the Europe and yet no one was able to discover their members. Each time they came to respond to each incident, the members of this cult would have already vanished.

Seeing that there was no one around them, Masaru turned to leave.

"Ah Masaru" Masaru turned around when he heard Salvatore called out to him, he saw the head and the body of the one eyed ogre separated from one another, collapsing on the ground. While Salvatore was smirking at him.

Seeing the body not decomposing, Masaru could not help but squint his eyes. 'a Summon that leaves a corpse?'

It was common sense by using the summoning magic of Solomon that when the summons dies, they would break down into particles. Yet the one before him did not, this intrugued Masaru. Ignoring Salvatore, Masaru walked towards the corpse.

"oi! You can't go ignoring--"

Just as Salvatore was about to reprimand Masaru for ignoring him, a rain of fire came crashing down upon the two of them. Instinctively Masaru raised his hand, several magic circles appeared with complex runic letters and numbers forming a circular formation.

A Black vortex materialized in front of the magic formation sucking in the fire rain aimed at the body guards and Masaru, he did not care about covering Salvatore who could protect himself otherwise he was not worthy of being called a Campione.

As expected, Salvatore turned his body into steel making him invincible against these fire rain. "Masaru, let's see who catches the enemy first"

When Masaru heard this fool thinking of turning their situation into a game he could only nod, otherwise he dreaded how this fool would suddenly join the enemy side for fun just to have a battle of his life. Also, in hopes that Salvatore will let him go later without asking for a duel. He was simply too tired to deal with this fool, even for a short moment.

When the enemy realized their magic was doing nothing they could only scoff before turning to run away, Masaru could not help squint his eyes when he saw the symbol on the robes of the enemies. It was a golden pillar with a crimson coloured devil face ontop of it, it was the symbol for the Demon Pillar Cult and he did not expect that this small incident he would be one of the few first people to lay their eyes on this peculiar cult.

Masaru took a first step, suddenly the ground beneath his feet lit up a alchemy formation which he learnt after studying the grimoire, Key of Solomon. With just a single step, his body flickered for a hundred metres away from his initial position, this was an alchemy spell which actually nothing more than a spell for separating contents from one another, but what Masaru separated was the concept of "distance" within the space.

And it was called, Ground Shrink.

"Run!!!" One of the cult magicians cried out in fear seeing how Masaru could leisurely close the distance between them.

"Now... Let's try this..." Masaru muttered as he flick his figure sending a circular magic formation containing numbers of the ancient Israel times, it was a marking formation used by Solomon to mark demons and angels in order to monitor their locations.

Masaru's intentions was to mark each perperature before he started catching them since he knew it would not be easy to catch them.

"HIII!!!! What is this!?" One of the cult magicians cried out when the dream imps that was sent by Masaru pounced towards them, it did not take long for the eyes of the magicians to become dazed as they fell into the illusion casted by the Imps. Yet mysteriously, each magician that was caught by the illusion suddenly collapsed, dead.

'Just what---' Masaru began to investigate the cause of death but paused the moment he could no longer sense the rest of the magicians who managed to get away, without pause he conjured several magical runic formations sending out probing ripples to search for the magicians that escaped his markings and yet he could find nothing.

'The body is still alive' Masaru turned his sight back to the "corpse" at his feet, inspecting it for a moment before coming to an conclusion. "Braindead?" He muttered feeling something was amiss, he still felt that whatever this man experienced. Was a different concept of death. That was what his intuition told him.

"Dead---" Masaru waved his hand materializing a massive magic formation beneath his feet that expanded rapidly, and the purpose of this magic formation was to sense death aura. a Peculiar kind of presence that normally assosiated with necromancers, or undead species.

"To think it would be Undead?" Masaru said, pinching his chin lightly trying to figure out who would use necromancy in this age so openly, It did not take long for the appearance of the undead to be spotted approaching them from the distance. Once more, out of curiousity Masaru flicked his finger sending a Marking Magic formation flying towards one of the undead.

When the undead came in contact with the formation, it immediately erupted into an explosion taking several undeads along with it.Masaru could not help but squint his eyes, feeling something was amiss. Thus he continued playing with the undead.

Seeing this, the body guards shivered, feeling their hearts growing cold at how nonchalant their young master could kill creatures that took a team of professional knights to kill. It appears they had underestimated Campiones.

Glancing at the location where the corpse exploded, Masaru could not help narrowing his eyes in surprise. He managed to catch the sight of a dark energy leaving the body for a instant dropping to the ground, disappearing as if the ground sucked it up instantly.

"Heretic God? or an unknown Campione?" Masaru muttered to himself, feeling something much grander was amiss here. 'Why do I sense the aura of a living person from these undead?'

Taking out his phone, he started to take photos while using his alchemy formations to preserve some corpses without causing it to explode so he could investigate it.

Shortly Salvatore came running covered in rotten meat and he smells like a deadman. "Masaru! It appears these people explode when you touch them"

Masaru looked at Salvatore with a trace of surprise, but shortly shook his head. 'No wonder he is a Campione... Even without the Authority, he is the truest son of Emphimeteus, a real bloody fool'