Book 3: Chapter 5 (4/8)

The next day, Kain gave Ateia the order to halt the plan of invading other countries. Ateia thought Kain was afraid of Noe after the fight between Noe and him. She brought this good news to Emperor Acilianus and he felt the same way as well. Kain further gave the order for Emperor Volsky to open Mage Academies all over the Dryardian Empire allowing children who were born with Elemental Soul to start training magic as early as the age of three instead of ten like the Mages Council set.

Emperor Volsky reported to Kain that there were some Rogue Mages who refused to serve him and deserted into Magical Forests as they felt Kain was even worse compared to the Mages Council. Rogue Mages wanted to be free, not the other ways around. Kain set too many rules which upset them which was why they deserted. Emperor Volsky was afraid that if this rate kept going up, all Rogue Mages would soon stop serving him and deserted as well. Long story short, Kain opened the Hell Gates and commanded all Thirteen Demon Lords leading their armies to hunt down all the Rogue Mages who deserted and publicly executed them in front of other Rogue Mages. After conducting a slow-execution style by cutting all body parts until those deserted Rogue Mages died, Kain gave the command for Master Whistler to revive them to repeat the process again, again, and again. The slow-execution style repeated more than fifty times and took more than forty-eight hours to complete.

After making sure he got the attention of all Rogue Mages to know how cruel he can get, Kain publicly stated, "Adrik Volsky is your Emperor. Serving him isn't a preference or an option, but a shall. Unlike the Mages Council, I can create unlimited armies at my fingertip. There is nowhere that you can run away from me. Even if you come back to the Mages Council, my demon armies will still capture you and bring you back. Just because I halt my invasion against other countries, doesn't mean I'm afraid of Noe Clerico. One day, the real battle between him and I will occur. When that day comes, I will come out as the victor as no one can stand against my true power. I don't need your loyalty because the moment you defected from the Dryardian Empire, you are no longer useful and became nothing but a bunch of useless rascals in my eyes. However, because I am a kind-hearted man, I will give you one chance to make the right decision. Either sworn loyalty to Emperor Volsky for all eternity or experience the pain repeatedly without the possibility of being able to die permanently."

After hearing Kain wouldn't let them die but torture them repeatedly if they make the wrong decision, the deserted Rogue Mages sworn loyalty to Adrik Volsky for all eternity. Other Rogue Mages who were thinking of deserting also cleared that stupid thought from their head and told themselves to never defect from the Dryardian Empire.

Per Kain’s order, the Dryardian Empire started to focus on strengthening its economy while slowly rebuilding its military and navy forces instead of rebuilding rapidly as he commanded before. Inside Kain’s Palace, Kain and Jaane continued to spend a peaceful happy time together every day after their daily meditation.

Two years later, Jaane was pregnant. Nine months after that, she gave birth to a daughter, and together with Kain, they named her Liliana Bersk. Another two years passed, Jaane gave birth to a son and Kain named him Zander Bersk. Unlike their parents, Liliana and Zander weren’t born with Elemental Soul and have to train as warriors. The good thing was, both Liliana and Zander were very smart and quickly advanced into tenth-tier warriors before they turned forty years old. For whatever reasons, Jaane couldn’t bear any more children after giving birth to Liliana and Zander. Even so, Kain was more than satisfied having the opportunity of spending every peaceful day of his life with his wife and two children.

Kain wasn’t slacking off in his training either. After finding out how strong Noe was, Kain decided to be patient instead of immediately attacking the Mages Council regardless of how many times Watcher Tykan pressured him. Watcher Tykan even offered to get Evienne out of Anwyn’s castle so Kain can use [Soul Bridge] to conjure her to battle but Kain staunchly declined.

Kain no longer treasures Evienne as his Soul-Bound Creature. His only intention was to wait until being able to use the Magical Portal Key again. He wanted to open the portal connected to the Hell Realm where he can travel to the Devils’ planet using his physical body. Evienne betrayed him, and she must pay for her decision. Additionally, Kain wanted to turn the Devil Overlord into his new Soul-Bound Creature after killing Evienne. If the Overlord refuses, Kain will just simply kill her and force the next Overlord to be his Soul-Bound Creature. And of course, if the new Overlord also refused to be bound to his Conjurer Soul, Kain will kill that new Overlord as well and repeatedly do the same thing until an Overlord will accept to be his new Soul-Bound Creature. If Noe Clerico could come to the Devils’ planet, killed two Devils, turned them into his minions, then left like it was his backyard, then Kain could do something much worse.

As long as Kain didn't travel to Hell Realm using his astral form, he can kill as many Devils as he wanted without being afraid of receiving punishment from Watcher Tykan. More importantly, knowing Watcher Tykan needed his help in liberating some planets under Watcher Zorim's control. That was why Kain didn't care much despite Watcher Tykan warning him not to cause too much chaos on the Devils' planet.

Bifjorkian Theocracy. Flumen city. Inside the Temple of the Mages Council. A portal opened near the Holy Mage’s room and put all the Executioners who were standing guard on high alert. A man walked through the portal as it immediately closed after that.

The man looked around and saw at least twenty Executioners were surrounding him while chanting for their magic spells. The man smiled, and said, “I’m home.”

One of the Executioners recognized the man and asked, “Arthur? Arthur Castillon? I thought you were dead.”

“I have news to report. May I speak with the Holy Mage?”

“Please wait here, allow me to ask-”

Before the Executioner could finish his question, the Holy Mage’s room door was opened as Gwenn Bigham walked out to greet Arthur. She said, “Arthur, I’m jovial you are back. From what Adela told us, we thought you have died inside that Magical Dungeon.”

Arthur nodded his head and said, “I thought so too. Holy Mage, I have news to report but would you please summon Lord Clerico as well?”

Seeing how excited Arthur was, Gwenn could guess that Arthur must have discovered some big news which was why he wanted to report to her and Noe at the same time.

Gwenn said, “Of course. Follow me to the Meeting Hall.” Gwenn then turned toward an Executioner and said, “Let Lord Clerico know that Arthur Castillon had returned. Let Lord Clerico know that Arthur and I will be waiting for him in the Meeting Hall.”