"This is the area, and that seems to be the approaching army." Reign said as he stared ahead.
There was a cloud formed out of demonic energy approaching the place he was currently staying at.
A gentle breeze blew from the side, making the grass move to the side and gently brush off against his combat boots. The blue lines of his armor gently moved around while Reign simply stood in the path of the cloud of demonic energy and waited for the enemy to approach him.
There were hundreds of demon worshippers inside the cloud, as well as a masked woman that was leading them. He could see through the cloud clearly, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
He felt disgusted from the very core of his being while staring at the cloud and the worshippers. He wanted to do nothing more than to charge in and slaughter them all, but he would wait, for now.
They were currently on a field, there were some trees that populated the field, but they were sparse, tall grass that could reach midway to the knees was what was mostly present, while some flowers could be seen from time to time.
Where the cloud of demonic energy passed, however, would wither away, leaving black soil in its path. That was the nature of demonic energy, it corrupted and destroyed everything it touched. There were very few that could wield demonic energy without harming themselves, most of them being possessed that had managed to resist the influence of the demon and save themselves.
The worshippers had noticed Reign and their march stopped. The masked woman slowly moved toward him, not showing any signs of being alarmed. She came to about 15 meters from Reign before stopping and taking off her mask.
Her long black hair had turned dark purple and her eyes shone like rubies. The nails on her hands were long and sharp, whilst being black in color. Physically, nothing else seemed to have changed, her face remained the same, and her height, muscularity, and everything was the same as Reign remembered.
"Well look who it is," Lieara spoke with a gentle voice as she smiled at Reign.
"It has been a long time, Reign."
"I didn't expect to ever see you again, did you get lonely back in your world?" Lieara asked before giggling a bit. The sound of her giggling alone would be enough to make countless men fall down on her knees and drool at her, ready to do anything she wished of them.
"Why aren't you speaking, are you shocked to see me like this?" She asked with a confused expression before a smirk appeared on her face.
"Ohh, poor boy, why don't come over here and-" Before Lieara could even continue speaking, Reign stared at her eyes, and the cold look he gave was enough to freeze her body.
'This man, what kind of aura is this?' Lieara thought before she suddenly widened her eyes. Reign had disappeared, a small gale blowing from where he previously stood while the cold blade of a sword was pressed against her neck as he had appeared behind her.
"I see, you even started devouring her soul." Reign's words further shocked the demon who had taken over the body and was using it as her own.
"How much of her soul is left, about 1/5, no, 1/6?"
"Y-you, how did you?" The demoness trembled slightly as she didn't dare to even move.
She had browsed through Lieara's memories and had learned a lot, especially the mysterious man that had helped them win against the alliance that could somehow sense demons.
Even though Reign had left, the demons decided not to gamble and took precautions. Instead of inhabiting the body of a host and slowly taking it over, they would devour the very soul and do a hostile takeover.
That would make their power weaker and they wouldn't be able to perfectly possess a being, but it would be much faster. It was a somewhat crude method that would severely limit the future potential of the body they inhabited, but they could always take over a different person after reaching their goal.
The result would also make it much harder for them to be detected as their soul would be fully taking over the body. The soul of the person they were devouring would continue to be devoured inside, fully shrouded inside their own.
Because of that, the demons didn't know everything. For example, they had no idea that Reign could not only sense demons but could crush their souls and even free those that had been possessed.
Still, none of them truly expected that Reign would actually return to this world, especially not now. His strength was another thing that was unexpected, with the speed he had now shown, the demoness was certain that he was at least a high-grade Tier III combatant.
"Tch, you annoying human, what, are you angry at me, angry that I have ravaged the soul of your lover, taken over her body, her mind?" The demoness spoke with an angry tone as Reign kept quiet.
"She thought of you, you know?" The demoness suddenly spoke.
"It wasn't much, she didn't really love you or anything, but she was somewhat fascinated with you, and kept you close to her heart."
"Those were the memories I loved to devour, making them my own while letting her forget them, ah, the screams she had, the painful sensation of forgetting something important, those were truly wonderful." The demoness said with pleasure as she turned her head to the side in order to stare at Reign, fully expecting to see his face being twisted by rage.
Instead, what awaited her were cold eyes that seemed to pierce through her very soul. Her body shook, as did her soul.
"What's up with those eyes, why the hell are you staring at me, why does a lowly human dare to-"
"Be silent, you're pissing me off." Reign said as a soul-wrenching pain assaulted the demoness.
She felt as if her very soul was being torn apart by Reign. The pain she felt was nothing like she ever felt before. She couldn't even continue standing normally and fell down on her knees while Reign removed the sword from her neck.
"I hoped that I could save her, but it seems I was too late." Reign said as the pain the demoness felt subsided.
"But it seems your friends over there have grown impatient."
The cloud of demonic energy had started moving, the demon worshippers charging at Reign with zeal. Their saintess had been struck by him, and it seemed like she wouldn't be able to defeat the man that had suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Very well," Reign said before suddenly taking out two swords from his spatial ring and stabbing them through the legs of the demoness. The demoness cried out in pain as Reign stared at her coldly.
"I'll deal with you shortly."
He then suddenly disappeared from the spot as lightning was left in his wake.
The small army that was charging toward him suddenly felt as if a giant monster was coming at them. And they weren't exactly wrong.
[ Rage of the Kirin ]
The figure of a giant Kirin suddenly materialized around Reign as he charged at the enemy. The Kirin mercilessly plowed through the demon worshippers and low-leveled demons that were inside the army.
None of the enemies could withstand a blow from Reign as the only Tier III combatant present was the demoness that had taken over Lieara's body.
In a short span of 2 minutes, more than half of the army had been destroyed by the Kirin. Reign continued attacking them, the Kirin's powerful horns stabbed through the demons and worshippers as if they were made out of paper while its legs crushed any that were unfortunate enough to be caught below them.
It was then that Reign suddenly felt a powerful mana appear on the battlefield. Glancing to the side, he was able to see the demoness getting up and removing the two swords from her legs before staring at Reign with hatred.
Her power right now was enough to classify her as a high-grade Tier III combatant, something that could fight and defeat anyone from the kingdom in Riplas.
The power came with a price, however.
Because the way the demoness had taken over Lieara's body was a crude method and had left countless hidden injuries, she was unable to use her full power. After using her full power, which was what she was currently doing, the body would start breaking apart.
It was a last-ditch effort that she and the other demons would only take when fighting against an enemy that was more powerful than them and when there was no way to defeat or escape the enemy.
With her full power released, the demoness was now ready to fight Reign and return the humiliation of being forced down on her knees and having her legs pinned down by two swords.