In a city filled with hundreds of dead bodies, devils stood motionless. The blood of humans drained from their corpses and flowed toward the Fate Demon. As he absorbed the blood, a crimson magic circle below him glowed, establishing a connection with the fallen devils.
Suddenly, a devil appeared before him. "I am Mammon, the demon of greed. Today is your lucky day, you devil. I'm going to join you." With a puff of black smoke, Mammon entered the Fate Demon, who felt his power change. "Finally! Finally! I have a devil! A devil! A devil!" he screamed.
The demon's lithe body grew bigger, his legs turned into those of a wolf, and his head became a wolf's head. Claws formed on his hands, and golden armor appeared over his skin.
"What happened to Master?" a demon asked.
"Since a demon's body is so close to a devil's, when they contract with one, they take on the devil's true appearance," another demon replied.
The Fate Demon's eyes narrowed. "Just you wait, Rei." A memory flashed in his mind. An old man, a shadowy figure, stood amidst the corpses of demons, with flames consuming everything nearby. To his left was a huge, shadowy fox. These were old Rei and old Tenko.
The old Rei, his blue pupils shining from the shadows, said, "You thought you could kill me?" He caressed Tenko's head. "Well, think again. You are now going to die along with all your companions."
The Fate Demon, scared in the memory, said nervously, "But don't you try not to kill people?"
Old Rei chuckled. "I don't kill people unnecessarily. However, you not only threatened my country, but also my friends, my relatives, my kids, and my grandchildren. I can't overlook that."
As old Rei pointed his Chaos Scepter at the Fate Demon, the demon felt his connection to fate weakening. Rei then used an indiscernible blast of energy. The Fate Demon knew if it hit him, he would die and not be able to revive. With a swing, he cut off his own head.
The memory ended there, but the story continued. Tenko chuckled and looked at old Rei. Old Rei caressed his head. "Our plan succeeded, Tenko. Time to turn the world upside down."
In the Midgard, Kaiser and his team finally crossed the border into the principality. "Don't worry," Ben said. "With my connections, I might be able to gather enough information about the spikes and falls of nearby organizations."
"I don't think that would be necessary," Lyla said.
"What do you mean?" Emilia asked.
"Actually, I have a plan too," Kaiser added.
"If so, that will be great," Luc said.
"What?" Adreil said. "You have a technique you never told us about?"
"Are you going to use sorcery to locate Rei?" Sentry asked.
"No, it's a little different," Kaiser replied. Tenko looked confused.
"Then how?" Hella asked.
Both Kaiser and Lyla sat on the ground. Lyla clutched her writing brush, which was green with golden words and a green stone at the bottom. The brush hairs were an olive-green. Kaiser took out his sword, which had two upward-poking spikes that looked like horns, a red gem embedded in it, and a chain coming from the bottom. The hilt was black and crimson, and the blade was crimson.
Lyla and Kaiser closed their eyes. Kaiser found himself in a dark abyss with a black sky and lava-filled volcanoes on the ground. As he walked, a woman's voice, fully covered in lava, said, "Oh, my dear Kaiser, have you come?" She took on the form of a beautiful naked girl, though her body and everything was made of lava, and moved closer, trying to seduce him. Kaiser remembered that when he first awakened his scepter, Erebus had tried to kill him. But during their face-off, Kaiser's strength had exceeded hers. Kaiser hadn't understood the mind realm, but his will was strong enough to overcome her, which made Erebus fall in love with him.
Kaiser had no interest in her. "I want your help with something, Erebus," he said.
"Yeah, but how about we take a little break?" she said, clinging to him.
Kaiser's expression remained unchanged. "Stop. I have no interest in your antics except for what I want."
"Oh, why is that?" she said seductively. "You only want to work. Play with me too."
"I want you to look at another scepter and try to trace its power back to its master," Kaiser said.
"Oh, no fair," Erebus said. "But since you said so, I will."
In Lyla's mind realm, she walked on a soft, green field. A woman materialized, wearing vines as clothes and looking human. Unlike Erebus, Nyx, or Chaos, this woman cared about life. Her name was Gaia. "What is it, dear Lyla?" Gaia asked.
"I want you to trace a scepter to its master. Can you do it?" Lyla asked.
"Lyla, it might be difficult, but I can do it," Gaia said.
Both Kaiser and Lyla opened their eyes. "Okay, we've got the solution," they said in unison.
Near another city, Bart was walking when he saw a festival with puppets being used for a show. Unlike other puppets, these didn't have strings attached to the puppet master's fingers; they moved on their own with magic. Bart stayed for a while until the show was over.
"How do you move these puppets?" Bart asked the man.
"Oh, you must be interested in puppet shows," the man said. "Sorry, boy, you don't possess magic, so you can't do this."
"No, I don't want to perform," Bart replied. "I just want to know its mechanisms." Bart thought to himself, "If I know its mechanisms, I might be able to use my sorcery to make an army of rock puppets move as well."
The man said, "I see. You want to learn how to make puppets. Well, I don't know how to make them, but I can guide you. Go to the puppet master. He lives in the south of the city near the mountain. He'll teach you how he makes puppets."
"Thanks for your guidance," Bart said. "Bye."
"Sure," the man said. As he watched Bart leave, he muttered, "He seems like a good boy. i should keep a watch on him."