The signing of the demonic pact was an event that would set hell's hierarchy for the following thousand years, and most families participated to it by associating with one of the main factions that populated hell. The caravan which Daniel and Sewah had encountered a month ago, was part of the entourage of the Beastmasters faction, and after a month of travel, they had finally arrived to their first destination, the city of Animalicus.
The lack of walls made Animalicus appear more like an immense town than a city, and the presence of as many demonic beasts as there were humans, made it look as if it was constantly under the siege of powerful demonic beasts. However, none of these beasts dared to misbehave.. Not only due to the connection they had with their tamers, but also due to the fear they felt towards the beast to which the Demon Lord was bound to.
A city that housed two different species, ruled by two different beings, and shared peacefully. That, was Animalicus.
The moment Daniel and the rest of the group entered the city, the smell of numerous types of beasts reached their noses, forcing them to curl them in disgust. Manure, urine, and the smell of wet fur was all around. A smell to which the inhabitants of Animalicus were extremely used to.
In the sky numerous battalions of demons on the back of wyverns flew in formation, ready to pounce against anyone that was brave enough to invade their territory.
"Ahh.. is this smell normal?!" Asked the young master to her guard, who did not appeared to be as bothered about the smell as Daniel, Sewah, and her young master were.
In the past month, the captain of the guards had gotten used to Daniel and Sewah, and based to the dynamics of their relationship and the interactions she had had with him, she had understood a few things. Daniel was in complete control of the life of the individual which she believed to be the leader of the Oni Tribe, as well as the fact that Daniel harbored no ill intentions towards them. He had spent the majority of the last month eating essence gems like candies, and whenever Sewah would try something on her or the members of her caravan, Daniel would punish him.
Most importantly, what she had understood about Daniel, was that his powers were beyond her comprehension. He was able to display the amount of power that he wished, he appeared to have a perfect comprehension of each and every element, and seemed to always have the right response to whatever question they asked, almost as if he was able to read minds.
Her impression of him had increased to a point where she wouldn't mind him interacting with her young master.. something which her protégé did not appear to mind either.
Amused by the expression shown by Daniel, Sewah, and her young master, the captain, whose name was Eken, chuckled underneath her helm and said "It is always like this, young master." She then appeared to remember an important detail, and added with haste "But don't point that out with the beastmasters! They will take offence!"
Just as Eken finished giving her warning, a battalion of five demons dived towards their direction while riding their massive wyverns in a spearhead formation. They then slowed down before touching the ground, and kept floating in place while the demon at the tip of the spear landed in front of the head of the caravan.
The leader of this team of wyvern riders was only one amongst the dozen of teams that flew in formation in the sky, and yet he was a high demon that had reached the noble level. It only took a look for Daniel to notice that he was more powerful than the captain, and slightly less powerful than the previous owner of Sewah's body.. But what was more shocking, was that his wyvern was in no way weaker than he was.
Once he landed on the ground, the leader of the battalion dismounted his wyvern, and approached the captain of the caravan. On his body no sign of belonging to a specific family of demons could be seen. His horns were regular demon horns, and he did not possess wings, tail, or oddly colored eyes. His only distinctive detail were the oddly sharp and long nails, which Daniel believed he had let grow on purpose. His body was covered by a light armor that did not appear to have any sort of use aside from the aesthetic one. Nevertheless, nobody dared to underestimate him.
"The Cruga family. We have been waiting for you. You are the last one to arrive." Said the demon with a serious tone that was only matched by his seriousness of his expression.
"We apologize for the delay. We have encountered geographical changes that we hadn't expected." Responded the captain without lying. It was not an odd event for Hell's geography to change drastically due to the constant fighting of noble level demons. For example, the area where Daniel had fought against the oni leader had turned from a canyon, into a desert of fine sand and dust.
The leader of the battalion knew that the captain of the Cruga's family guard was probably not lying, but just like his wyvern, he couldn't help but notice the large oni that was sitting on the third carriage. "Ro'ah, what are you doing with the Cruga family?" asked the battalion leader to Sewah, which was currently checking the state of his feet, ignorant of the fact that someone had spoken to him.
"The leader of the Oni Tribe decided to join our caravan, as he wishes to side with the Beastmasters side during the event." said Eken before Sewah could even realize what was happening.
The response given by Eken was what the leader of the battalion hoped to hear, and yet not something he could bring himself to be happy about. The Oni tribe was drastically different from the families who composed the faction of the Beastmasters. For him, while positive that they had an additional noble demon by their side, it was like welcoming a raider into a group of honest workers.
"What about the human? Whose slave is he? I didn't know the Croga family had the means to purchase a human." asked the battalion leader with curiosity.
The presence of humans in hell, while not an abnormality, was still rare enough to be easily tracked back. One family would hardly own a single human slave, and that only applied for families who had decided to side with factions who had joined the universal government like the Church of Damnation, or the Law of Mimicry. For a family like the Croga family to obtain a human slave, was particularly odd.
"He belongs to the oni leader." responded Eken.
Eken's reason for giving this response, was simple.
Since the Oni Tribe was known for attacking other families, and stealing their possessions, for them to be in possession of a human slave despite not being part of any faction allied to the universal government, made sense.. After all, if they wanted to backtrack the ownership of Daniel, they would not be able to, as his presence was proof of the destruction of his previous owners.
"Oddly well dressed for a slave of the oni tribe." muttered the leader of the battalion of wyvern riders, after noticing the clean clothes that Daniel was wearing.
Daniel turned to look at this demon, and with a polite smile, he said "They don't treat you that badly if you can use a weapon." his tone was as polite as his smile, and that was due to the green colored number present above the head of the demon.
However, while not outright hostile, the demon would still never trust a human. "Don't speak to me." he responded before turning to look at Sewah, and saying "You better teach this human to be quiet, or you might leave our ground without him."
Without even turning to look back at him, Sewah waves his large hand in a dismissive tone, and said ".. I don't care. Just kill him if you want."
Thankfully the guard took it as a joke and turned to look at Eken instead. "You can go find your place next to the other families. We will depart in two weeks as scheduled." He then said before jumping back on the saddle placed at the base of the wyvern's neck, and taking flight along with the rest of his battalion.
After being let in, Daniel and the rest of the group took a left right before entering the city, and followed its outer area until reaching a large plain. On this plain, numerous groups of tents had been erected, and divided into a grid.. Each occupied by one of the families that would side with the Beastmasters faction during the signing of the demonic pact.
The members of each family could be recognized from one another thanks to their particular characteristic of their bodies, and from what Daniel could see, at least a dozen of different families were present.
The general karma that appeared above the heads of these demons were positive and neutral, with only a few negative, showing that the benevolence of the leader of the beastmasters had influenced the type of demons that had decided to bend to his power.
In the following day the members of the Croga family set camp in the spot that was reserved to them, while a personal area was given to Sewah and Daniel to inhabit. After all, while not as powerful as the leaders of a few of these families, Sewah was still a noble demon whose power could not be denied. To treat him simply as the guest of the Croga family would have been beyond rude.
The territory which had been given to Sewah were three hundred square meters of a grassy plain. Right in the middle of it was a tent large enough for him to live in, and aside for a small tent for Daniel, there was nothing else in his territory.
Numerous beasts could be seen walk around as they pleased, some accompanied by demons, and some alone. However, regardless of whether they were alone or not, nobody dared to send them away despite how intrusive they felt to the members of the demonic families.
—–
Daniel's spatial ring, two days later.
Ever since Daniel had arrived to the territory of the beastmaster faction, he had closed himself in cultivation.. Not much time was left before the moment of Aeron's death, and every moment counter.
However, since his cover was that of a weak and harmless human, he was not able to cultivate outside, and had to hide within one of his pocket dimensions instead. That had created a problem for him, which he had been forced to solve by entering inside his pocket dimension along with a person he wished he could just leave behind.
"Why am I here!? Why can't I just stay outside and have some fun with that guy we met at the border? He looked strong, and his lizard wasn't any weaker." Said Sewah dejectedly.
"Because I don't trust you." responded Daniel while sitting on the ledge of a cliff. He was looking at Virgil and the rest of the group, who unaware of his presence, appeared to be cultivating peacefully. "I don't trust you enough to leave the ring to you. You would destroy it the very moment you leave this place."
"Hehe.. you know me so well." said Sewah without the slightest hint of disappointment. He knew perfectly well of how cunning Daniel was, so he had anticipated this sort of response. "Can we at least spar? I haven't even fought in this body yet."
Daniel turned to look at Sewah while popping one gem after the other into his mouth, almost as if he was savoring different flavors of candies. "Can't you see that I am cultivating?" He responded with the most emotionless tone he could muster.. A tone which, for some reason, made Sewah extremely irritated.
"You can still-" said Sewah in an attempt to retort to Daniel's words, but before he could finish, he noticed Daniel suddenly stand up.
"Something approached the ring. Stay here and keep an eye on them. If anything happens, I will throw your consciousness into the void." Said Daniel before teleporting out of the ring, and into his small tent. He then approached the fabric door of the tent, and pulled it aside.
What appeared in front of him, was not a demon.. But what appeared like the puppy of a race of demonic wolf.
Its size was similar to that of a normal wolf pup, and yet it also appeared extremely different. Black in color with three red stripes on its back and sides, and with a white and thin tail that was three times as long as the rest of the body. His paws were pitch black, and with small red needle-like claws that came out of the soft parts of its feet.
Underneath the pair of ruby-red eyes were two canines that went past the lower part of its muzzle like a sabertooth, and two that came out of the lower part of the muzzle and moved aside. The black fur around its neck was short, and yet, based on how much longer it was than the rest of the fur, it could be inferred that it would grow way past the rest of its fur, and turn into a mane.
Overall, despite the demonic traits that made it look a lot scarier than a normal wolf's pup, its look of confusion made it look extremely cute. Enough for Daniel to be unable to hold a smile that formed on his face the very moment his eyes landed on i.
"Hey there.." Said Daniel before squatting in front of the pup, and moving his hand in its direction.
