Chapter 9: A Demon's Awakening

Ash quickly blocked the sword of the soldier that was faster than he expected. He thought he was an elite, but it seems that the guy was stronger than he expected.

"Emperor's blade? The royal guard of the Ursine wanker on the throne?" Ash tried to get a rise out of him.

He does not know what the guy's otherworldly power is. And he wants him to mess up so he could see it with lower risks.

"Scum that helps the infected, you are marked for death." The blade didn't get agitated, but he was clearly mad.

They clashed blades and Ash tried to get a feel for the guy first. They were the royal guard of Ursus after all. It was an opportunity that he couldn't throw away.

"Never known defeat? When you're this weak?" Ash smirked at him and thanked Emperor in his mind for some quick rhymes.

The blade raised his hand and Ash focused on him to see what arts he'll be going to use.

But what he didn't expect is a black blade of corruptive energy suddenly stabbing him in the back.

"Impressive, I aimed for your spine." The blade was honestly surprised he was able to dodge that.

It is an ability of the Emperor's blades that have been merged with a shard of the eldritch demons from the north.

They have dimensional abilities and if one doesn't know it. They'll be instantly killed because of the element of surprise.

The demons also have a property to claim the very land they roam on. Corrupting it with black miasma that makes the very earth as dark as coal.

And it would be uninhabitable for thousands of years due to the lingering energy there that would result from it.

Ash hissed from the wound on his back that ran through until it reached his abdomen and he noticed something major, his wound wasn't healing.

Before he got stabbed again, he caught one and threw it back at the blade with enhanced kinetic energy.

Though it disappeared before it hit the blade in the face. Only a few centimeters away in hitting. "That was a cute attempt." The blade mocked him.

Ash dissolved the sword that ran through him by absorbing its energy and his eyes turned bloodshot immediately.

"Kaaagh! Argh!" He kneeled on the ground as he panted with all his might, but it felt like there was no air entering his lungs.

The energy that made the sword was much more harmful than originium's. The pain was almost at the same level of his surgery that tore him apart cell by cell.

Ash tried to recover, catching his breath. And the blade started to walk towards him. Thinking it was standard procedure and he couldn't function due to the otherworldly demonic magic.

"Who's weak now, scum." The blade raised his sword and was about to cut him, but Ash glared at him with his eyes leaking blood from the blood vessels popping.

His enemy was stunned, his hand couldn't move his sword that was like frozen in time in the air.

"That hurt you fucker." Ash growled and his horns were starting to glow crimson.

The blade got attracted to his hand by ergo telekinesis and Ash was about to slash him in half with all his might.

He quickly used more of his eldtrich powers and black miasma covered everything for dozens of meters.

Ash could feel a minor block on his arts and he felt sluggish, but he ignored it and cancelled the miasma.

"Impossible!" The blade's trajectory slowed down and he was able to parry Ash's strike that got weakened due to his prior action.

So he just flew away like a ragdoll. The blade righted himself on the ice and glared at Ash behind his helmet, but he suddenly felt a huge drain on his stamina.

With Ash absorbing his bioenergy. The blade turned into a victim of surprise too and he kneeled on the ground.

"You cheeky motherfucker, you've got some pretty terrifying arts eh?" Ash thought they were super dangerous. And it was just one of them too.

"Ursus doesn't lose scum, we'll find you. And we'll kill you." The blade accepted its defeat easily and Ash slashed him through the neck.

Though before he could feel the bite of his blade on the soldier's flesh. He noticed many energy signatures form around him like the attack from earlier.

Ash created a force field, but its formation wasn't instant and several black blades stabbed him.

"Urgh." He groaned from the searing pain of the damage it did to him and he knew better than to absorb them, pulling them out one by one.

"Any damage to his helmet?" One of the ambushers asked the blade that checked the condition of his comrade.

"Slight damages, no lasting effects. Combat effectiveness compromised." They noticed that Ash's opponent was exhausted.

But they were watching from far away and the fight wasn't that long. So they were puzzled.

"Great, just like STD's. They appear out of nowhere and give you a bad day." Ash frowned and saw a squad of them.

There were ten of them in rank and file. Looking towards him as they brandished their swords.

"You are formidable, but the emperor's blades do not lose." One of them announced and all of them lunged at him.

"Come!" Ash formed an energy sword at his off hand as bait and prepared a trap.

Before the blades could swarm him, he roared and a super oscillatory wave of supersonic sound got released from him.

The squad of the Ursus royal guards were blown away and the close ones even got shattered bones.

But Ash was starting to get exhausted, the containment of interdimensional demon magic from earlier actually ate through his insanely fast.

So he bent light and turned invisible. 'I can't fly away from here, they'll find my team... And they're elites, I'll gas out then a perimeter search would be done and they will find me.'

Squinting his eyes, he looked for the ones who were close together and made his move.

Levitating, while dampening sounds and wind currents by turning drag to zero, he went for a trio of them that stood side by side.

His swords stabbing through the middle of their chests and releasing a shockwave inside. Liquiying their organs and most importantly, heart.

While the third one got killed by a sword that formed out of nowhere just like their abilities.

'Take that you bastards.' He knew that they'd be alert now, so he hoped they would huddle and would use all of his energy for a little trick.

"He's invisible, perimeter arts now!" The blade's noticed immediately and the remaining seven of them used scorched earth tactics.

Their demonic magic of black miasma covered hundreds of meters and sapped Ash's energy.

He jumped quickly in the air and planned to levitate. But the blades won't let him to.

Charging up their magic, the remaining ones began barraging him with explosive energy spheres of mid range attacks.

Ash went wide eyed and he had to focus on defending himself with a force field. He steered away other shots, but controlling the demonic energy was hard to influence, hence more usage of his precious reserves.

Before he could recover and fly away for a breather, their miasma also covered the area he was in, spherically. Trapping him in corrosive demonic mist.

He dropped down on one knee to the ground and the blades didn't wait, quickly pelting him with their arts and energy swords they could create out of thin air.

Feeling desperate, Ash concentrated his energy and was about to force fuse atomic nuclei for a thermonuclear explosion.

But his forcefield shattered and like Dante, he got skewered by multiple swords at once.

"You fought valiantly, but this is the end." The Blades were about to slash at his neck.

"Guhahaha! This is what I've been waiting for!" He laughed and suddenly stood up. Surprising the blades who immediately backed off, thinking he had a suicide attack.

"These pesky attacks of yours are annoying." He took out their swords out of him and his wounds that were bleeding like a faucet sizzled, closing.

His arms started to pulse, vein like protrusions on them glowed and his right arm grew. His horns changing shape.

Stomping on the ground, the icy tundra that was around them changed immediately. Fire and brimstone appearing all around them.

With a howl, Asmodeus crouched and grinned at them with a toothy smile. Bloodlust in his eyes as he transformed to a more demonic form. (pic)

Walls appeared all over them and an arena formed. "Fight! Ursus trash!" He ran at the elite squad ferociously.

The ground cracking every time he took a step. The blades weren't idle and began to pool their arts for a black shield on them.

Ash's huge right arm that were as big as Patriot's now crashed onto their shield. "Cowards! Stop hiding!" His hand glowed a bright orange and the ice turned water began to boil very rapidly.

The miasma around them were ineffective on him and their attempts on attacking him with some energy blades did not pierce his skin.

His hand squeezed their energy shields like it was a water balloon and it popped. "Heh, finally got you." Ash grinned at them and got ahold of one of them.

He gripped the blade on his torso and snapped him like a crispy churro.

Ash then stomped on the corpse's head. "No!" Their reaction to it was severe.

The demonic shard in their armor got released and its power started to contaminate anything that it could touch.

It was immediate chaos, with the blades trying to stop the demonic incursion while trying to stall Ash.

And he wasn't going to do nothing. One by one, he bulldozed through the Blades and destroyed even more of their helmets.

Causing them to fight an uphill battle. "Ursus' elites. You will die here and be forgotten by your empire." Ash pierced them one by one with his clawed arm, ripping the Ursus royal guards apart.

He started to locate the demonic shards inside of the armor of the blades and took them. Small pieces of compressed demonic flesh and crystals.

Originite fused with demons. He lifted it up and dropped it down, straight to his gullet as he crunched on it deliciously.

The demonic energy inside being metabolized by him. Like a true Oni, Ash devoured his fallen foes for sustenance and strength.

His mind getting more and more polluted. "Power, do you want more?" He heard a voice inside of his head and he craned his neck towards a particular direction.

Further up north to the Infy Icefield. "A demon..." He could feel a similar aura to the shards of the blades.

Quickly running towards the location, he entered a cave and there were weapons there that were pulsing.

A swordspear with violet energy pulsing all over it. two other crimson blades that looks like blood is combined with its body.

And what caught his eye is an intricate great sword. "Pick me up." He heard it again and he grinned.

With his right hand, he picked up the sword and Ash looked at it with interest. But it suddenly stuck to his hand and absorbed his demonic energy.

It also sucked up an unbelievable amount of blood from him. The obviously cursed sword would have killed lesser beings in an instant.

The blade started to glow red as his blood soaked it. The guard flaring outwards to show that it's activated and ready for more bloodshed. (pic)

Veins appeared on it and started pulsing like it was alive. And because of its property to absorb demonic energy, Ash's mind cleared and his transformation began to revert.

"Ahhh, what in the world is with this sword?" He groaned and his memories started to return to him.

"Power, kill anything in your path with the power." Ash heard a voice in his head and it was connected to the sword.

He bound the eery and corrupted energy of it tightly back to the sword and it returned to its inactive form after putting up a bit of a fight.

"This thing's dangerous... All of these are." He looked at the other weapons.

Ash then groaned, feeling that something wasn't right with him. Like he contracted an illness.

He felt the demonic energy inside him that he took from the blades and it was trying to take control of him.

"I need to take care of that." He contained it as well and chained it down with his energy.

"This is gonna be a problem..." He frowned and thought he'd have to contain it until he's ready to use it. And using it against other people would be a war crime.

Just on his basic understanding of it, the demonic energy would most likely possess people and turn them into eldtrich horrors. Weaker than the demons or the Emperor's blades, but demonic beings still.

Or it would simply corrupt them to the point of turning them into a pulsating mass of flesh. It was that horrific.

"Fucking Ursus assholes." He grumbled and looked at the sword on his hand. Ash stabbed it to the ground and checked what would happen.

Because he feels a connection with it, like it was alive. And when he walked around a dozen meters away from it, the thing floated and flew to his hand at breakneck speeds.

"Jesus!" Ash expected it, but the way it clung to him still surprised him. "I guess I'm stuck with it now." He looked at the other weapons and he also took it with him.

"With my bad luck, some random guy would pick this up and try to find me because these weapons are connected to each other." He grabbed them and thought they'd do something like his sword.

But it was just quietly sitting on his hand, not really doing anything. "Maybe another wielder that I can trust can use these?" He thought about it, but it was demonic in nature, he could feel it.

And the demonic influence on it was much, much stronger than the emperor's blades.

"I can think about it later, I just need to store this somewhere safe or put it on me at all times." He sighed and took it with him.

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The mining teams for oil and minerals were done and put their goods in the containers for transport. With Ash purifying the uranium with his arts so they won't need to bring back tons of rock with them.

"Sir Ash is late, we've already been waiting for him since noon. It's about to be sundown." Margaret had a bad feeling well in her stomach.

"Isn't he just maybe talking and playing with Reunion? He'll come back for sure, or he'll call us to go to his position." Degenbrecher shrugged.

"Speaking of, isn't that him? Oi!!! Boss!" Exusiai was looking around with binoculars and saw him from far away.

And when he got closer, they saw he was in bad shape. Margaret's eyes went wide, the two commanders immediately running to his side.

"Sir Ash!" Margaret was about to use her arts to heal him, but he raised his hand. Though they still supported him.

"What happened? Who did that to you? Is it Reunion?" Degenbrecher squinted her eyes.

"No, no... It was a group of pricks called the Emperor's blades." Ash took off his clothes that were torn to shreds.

"The Emperor's blades!?" The two gasped and he nodded. "How many!? We need to get out of here!" Degenbrecher shouted to the teams in the rear.

"No, it's fine. I took care of them, one popped up and used some weird crap. But then, when I was about to kill him, 10 more showed up. I killed them all nicely." He massaged his temples.

Everybody was stunned and they noticed the weaponry he had with him. Looking ominous and eery, like it would take your soul as compensation.

But they ignored it and hurried to get the hell out of dodge. There may be more coming, Ash can take care of them. But he was obviously not in the condition to do so now.

"Help him get into a chopper Margaret." Degenbrecher ordered and the blonde nodded, putting his arm over her shoulder.

"Ash, what happened to you? You look different." Franka put her hands on his horns and he sighed. "I may be entering my race's puberty or something?"

He didn't know exactly, but he did know that he was starting to change. And maybe not for the better.

His body heat was much higher now, and look more aggressive due to his horns and the black marks on his body.

It didn't look like oripathy thankfully, and he just has this wild look on him now, more rugged.

"You're like a stove boss!" Exusiai clinged to him and used him like a warmer. It was cold as hell in the north of Ursus after all.

"Get off of him Exusiai, it is inappropriate for an unmarried woman to do that." Margaret chided her and Texas pulled her off of him.

"Exusiai, boss Ash isn't a kotatsu you know?" Croissant smiled wryly and Ash sighed.

"It's fine, but let me rest for now..." He plopped down on a seat and he has never been that exhausted before.

Before he fell unconscious, he texted the Reunion leaders that the Emperor's blades are roaming around in the area.

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At the Reunion camp where the freedom protesters were all satisfied after eating their fill and not worrying about food.

Patriot, Talulah, and Alina received a message. And the one who isn't busy which is Alina read it. "Emperor's blades? Who are those?"

She tried to find Talulah or Patriot to ask about them because they might be a threat to Reunion.

And she found Talulah who was swinging her sword to train.

"Talulah, we got a text from Ash that he fought a squad of people called Emperor's blades. Says we should be careful." Alina reported to her.

Talulah froze for a moment and she slowly craned her neck towards her best friend. "W-what did you say?" She broke into a cold sweat, he skin cold and clammy.

"What are these emperor's blade people?" Alina tilted her head and Talulah immediately ran towards the guerilla shield guards of Patriot.

"Do you know where Patriot is!?" Talulah ran like the wind after the shieldguard pointed to his direction.

"Patriot! There are Emperor's blades in the area!" Talulah yelled in urgency and Patriot craned his neck towards her direction so fast.

"Are you sure!?" He stood up immediately and was ready to run to the camp. Thinking that they were there.

"Ash messaged us that he fought a squad of them. Eleven of them were killed by him he said." Talulah pointed to her phone and Patriot forgot about it, he was an ultra boomer after all.

"What a monster." Patriot shook his head in disbelief. He thought he could take those numbers on now that he's getting back to his prime. But Ash was just a teenager.

Patriot couldn't imagine his limitless potential. "Come, we evacuate now." Patriot and Talulah ran back to the camp and sighed in relief that there were no inhuman supersoldiers in sight.

The two rallied everyone immediately and Patriot let the shieldguard guide them to another area.

Talulah and Patriot waited in the camp where the majority just left and they were quite tense.

After an hour or so, an unnatural mist formed in the area and Patriot whispered. "They're here."

Talulah furrowed her brows and gripped her sword tightly.

"Talulah Artorius... You fight for the filthy infected when you are Duke Kaschey's heir. What a disappointment." The blade mocked her ideals and she didn't reply.

She was too tense to speak and focused on preparing to fight.

"Does Ursus have nothing better to do?" Patriot brandished his glaive and was thankful to Ash that he warned them in advance.

"Buldrokkas'tee, the empire of Ursus will accept you back in open arms. Why be with the draco that has everything to prove?" The blade tried to get back Patriot to Ursus.

"I am an infected myself. The empire has taken my family from me due to their policies concerning the infected. Do not speak of me going back to Ursus again, blade." Patriot's baritone voice was much stronger than normal.

Back in the past, his son was the leader of a rebellious uprising. And as the so called Patriot of Ursus that was a war hero of the empire. He watched helplessly as his son was killed.

"I see, then we will watch with great interest on what Talulah can do for the infected." The blade returned back and did not want the smoke against Patriot.

He is nigh invulnerable after all, the man's armor got repaired by Ash and his shield replaced by one of the strongest materials that man can make.

Patriot's physique as the last pure blooded wendigo was simply abnormal. He could not be damaged by normal attacks. Even strikes that can take down skyscrapers do not damage him much.

Arts are like water guns against him, his resistance to it is unreal. Calling him a tank is disrespectful to him. He's more so a reinforced bunker.

"Should we pursue? They now know we're around the area." Talulah was worried that they'll find them.

"Me and my shieldguards will just patrol more often. Good thing that we received this device from Asmodeus." Patriot pointed to his tablet that was like a phone for him.

"Yes, let's be more careful from now on." Talulah sighed in relief and was really thankful that they had Patriot on their side.

"But Ash faced a squad of them huh..." Talulah got dazed, she was sure that even one of them would be a hard fought battle if it came to blows.

And she had no idea how it will go too. "He is really special, that man. If he can send messages to us, then he must be fine. Come on, let's go." Patriot gestured them to go and they followed the tracks of their group.

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Ash woke up to Margaret overlooking him and guarding. With a groan, he sat up and Margaret looked at him with concern.

"Sir Ash, are you alright?" He nodded at her and looked around. "Where am I?" Ash sighed, cursing the Emperor's blades.

"You're in lady SilverAsh's room in their estate." Margaret explained and patted all over his body to check if there was any problem with him.

"Hmmm? What is this?" Margaret took off the blankets on him and she went wide eyed.

Ash was a bit sluggish due to just waking up, so his brain wasn't fully functional yet.

"Ahhh..." He was pitching a tent and the one eyed dragon even made a little peek at his boxer's.

"Forgive me, sir Ash." Margaret quickly put the blanket back and he got depressed. The first time he passed out, he awoke and Margaret saw him with morning wood.

"It's fine Margaret, it's natural. It happens, don't think about it anymore." He sighed and felt a migraine coming.

SilverAsh then entered the room and saw him hunched over while Margaret is blushing and awkward.

"Ahh, she saw you pitch a tent?" She snickered at him and Ash glared at her. "H-how did you know?" Margaret was shocked.

"I saw one when we were in puberty, Gnosis woke up with one." She shrugged and Margaret was ashamed that she did not know about it. And it brought dishonor to her master.

"Can we not talk about this anymore please?" Ash groaned and the feline let it go. "How are you doing?" She asked him and sat on the side of his bed.

"Pretty good, as you can see... Fine and dandy." Ash rolled his eyes and SilverAsh smacked him on the chest.

"Don't be sarcastic, I heard you were injured... Your clothes were torn like it received stabs. And it was drenched in blood." SilverAsh frowned at him.

"Call for a meeting, with everyone important there. We need to talk about the threat of Ursus, I fought their elite royal guard." He remembered their demonic feel and saw that his newfound sword is nearby.

Though they can't feel the evil and corrupt aura it was leaking. Everyone just thought it was eery and dangerous.

They quickly gathered and Ash looked at the participants. It was Gnosis, Degenbrecher, Margaret, and SilverAsh.

"Listen here, I'm going to tell you guys about the Emperor's blades." Ash started to draw what one looked like and gave it to everyone there.

"What are their abilities sir?" Margaret squinted her eyes and wanted to be prepared in the future if they ever do find themselves against them again.

"Remember our talk about the Infy Icefield? These guys are using the power of the demons." Ash explained and they gasped.

He then described everything that they could do, their horrible powers and that area would've never been able to be inhabited by people once again if he didn't turn the energy that seeped everywhere null.

"So these are the elites of Ursus..." SilverAsh had a thoughtful look on her face.

"I'll make parameters, if Margaret is excellent in strength, mobility, combat ability, tactics, and arts. Then they're all outstanding, a cut above her. Not to mention their demonic magic." Ash frowned, the people there would die for sure.

It wasn't the overwhelming power they had, it was the hax that was the problem. They're no Patriot, but their demon magic is too severe for normal people.

And when they're in squads, they would be nigh unstoppable.

Ash then cursed that he wasn't able to get a sample of their powers. But he thought it was a good choice not to, he's probably the only one in the whole world that can handle it confidently.

"Did they manage to return?" SilverAsh asked seriously and he shook his head. "I killed them all, and there were no observers in a 5 mile radius once I took care of the squad." He informed them and they were relieved.

"So we know that they won't be knowing about you. This is a good chance, Ursus would investigate that area and will think that there's a threat there." The matriarch nodded in satisfaction at their advantage.

"But what do we do now about it?" Degenbrecher asked and they can't exactly take on Ursus just like that. Even with Ash's hold in their economy. They have no forces.

"We wait for the completion of our mobile city for now and get as many infected as possible. And we will also start to train them." Ash thought that they should get their own military.

SilverAsh's small band of people isn't enough at all, and Asmodeus' employees are just normal workers. They need genuine fighters that will train and be strong.

"How about we also start to gain more alliances? Your only alliance to a nation is Kjerag. You have to gain more political influence and power." SilverAsh suggested to him.

"That's a good idea... The twin empresses have been wanting to meet me for some time now. Especially when I performed in Leithanien." Ash ignored the two empresses because he didn't give a fuck.

If they try to incriminate him, he'd pull out of Leithanien faster than the man with the best pullout game.

And his taxes were so huge, his riches were much higher than the high nobles of Leithanien. He is the backbone of their economy.

"I'll strike up a deal with them." Ash planned on dealing with the biggest problem of the twin empresses, remnants of the witch king. The previous tyrant that ruled Leithanien.

"You go and do that, we have time on our hands. But I'm feeling big things will happen." SilverAsh furrowed her brows. The geopolitical situation is slowly getting more chaotic.

"I will go to Leithanien first, Margaret. Come with me, Degenbrecher can't come because Leithanien will surely be hostile against her." He sighed and Margaret nodded at him.

"Yes, sir. By your will." Margaret bowed and they prepared for their political battle in Leithanien in order to bolster Deliverance's influence.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.