Rivers of the Night

Chapter 804: Demon

Theron sat in Urong’s private quarters. Though, they were now his.

The entire decor was a mixture of grey slate, black marble, and crimson rubies. Honestly... Theron felt that it was a bit tacky. The Demon Duke had not the slightest flair for design at all.

Theron wouldn’t exactly call himself an expert, but he had a propensity for keeping his living spaces very clean and tidy, and a lot of the time aesthetics and function went hand in hand. There was something beautiful about the feng shui of a place designed to make your life easier.

Maybe if he cared enough, he would have had this place renovated into something that didn’t feel like a gothic angsty teen’s wet dream.

’Actually...’

Theron smiled. It was easier done than said to him these days, now wasn’t it?

His Primordial Earth bloomed and the world shook around him. Then, sigils and glyphs began to dance in the air.

A gentle smile bloomed on his face as water thick with life and vitality grew through the tough marble. Energy was sapped of the things Theron hated and poured into those he loved.

Soon, the entire place looked like it had become a Wood Mancer’s wet dream instead, with a small river running right through for extra points.

All Theron had really done was stimulate the Mana Herbs that already lived here.

It would be a surprise to no one to know that Urong’s living quarters were built right on top of the most energy-dense region in the area. In fact, there was a Mana Crystal mine down below that existed to fuel his cultivation alone.

In such Mana-rich areas, Mana Herbs and special treasures of the Heavens were always abound. There was probably a Cloud Resonance treasure that was naturally birthed every other second here. It was just that Urong never gave a damn.

What good was such a thing to a Transcendent like him?

Theron shattered all the formations and redirection methods Urong left behind to form his own utopia. Then he fed the Mana Herbs already in existence with life and vitality until they bloomed enough to destroy everything he had already stripped of their structural integrity.

Now it felt like a true paradise.

"Good. Now I can relax."

Theron decided to move and took a seat right in the middle of the flowing waters. The only thing he had kept intact in this place was the bed. It had been quite a long time since he had slept in one, and he planned to take advantage after he was done here.

He pulled out the Illusive Grey orb and didn’t hesitate to pour his senses into it.

ROAR.

Theron felt his mind shake. In that moment, it felt like he was looking into the maw of a wild beast in humanoid form. It was chained, but it lashed out against them, pulling and snapping its teeth in an attempt to get a piece of Theron’s jaw.

It was a grey thing with thick leather skin. Its horns curved back and its eyes burned crimson.

But it looked almost... small, malnourished, feeble.

In truth, the creature was twice Theron’s size. Though the distance made it feel like it was trying to snap at Theron’s neck, in reality it was more like it was trying to bite his head off.

Theron didn’t even flinch. He looked at the creature curiously, and then he slowly came to a horrifying conclusion.

"You’re real," Theron suddenly said.

One might think that it was odd it took Theron so long to come to this conclusion, but his knowledge now was far wider in scope than ever before.

For example, he knew that the Nightingale Ancestor Bird wasn’t really a beast. Even though beasts could live for much longer than humans in a lot of cases, there was no way one would exist for that long.

The truth was that the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was more like a Manifestation, a Manifestation formed from the Resonance of the Nightingale’s Bloodline.

When techniques or Resonances reached a certain level, they could form a Manifestation just like that, similar to how some Treasures could form Spirits of their own after being nurtured for long enough.

Originally, that was what Theron thought he was seeing... but he was so very wrong.

This was real, and this... thing wasn’t human at all.

"You’re a real Demon." Theron’s eyes flashed.

Theron was fascinated.

Sometimes he came across books in the library that were odd. They seemed to allude to different biologies, different species of things that he had simply never come across.

Theron hadn’t assumed they were mistakes—how could he? But he had also never come across anything other than Humans.

He had always assumed he would just run into such races later. But now he felt like he could finally see the peak of the world, but he had yet to. Even the Transcendents he came across were just humans cosplaying as Demons.

But this...

Theron’s eyes flashed and his curiosity blazed. He walked forward through the smog of grey clouds until he was looking straight up at the large Demon.

He could feel its aura more now than ever before.

Were all the other Races extinct? Or was this a part of the story he had simply never seen before?

ROAR.

The Demon’s jaw unhinged and it seemed to gain an extra row of teeth as it screamed right into Theron’s face. But... it didn’t even seem to have a tangible form.

This close, Theron was also sure. Though this really was a Demon, it was nothing but a spirit restrained from going into the afterlife.

Theron reached forward and one of the arms of the Demon seemed to magically appear in his palm. Then, he smiled.

"You seem quite angry."

Theron’s gentle smile seemed to have a dangerous light behind it...

And then he tugged.

BANG.

The chain holding onto the arm of the Demon shattered into a rain of pieces.

The Demon was free.