"I don't have time for your nonsense; tell me who you are." asked the leader of the shadow demons.
"You pest, you dare to talk to me this way." A terrifying presence was released from the body of the three-horned demon. He said, "I am Demon Lord Shanx, the Lord of this land. Bow down and plead with me for mercy, or I will slaughter every one of your tribe."
"I don't know who you are, and I don't care which lord you are, but you dare to threaten my tribe and me." said the Shadow Demon as he disappeared from his place as a black mist.
The Demon Lord Shax was laughing at the Shadow Demon when he felt a presence appear behind him and attack him with a claw attack. The attack landed on the back of the laughing demon lord. The Shadow Demon retreated after attacking once. In this first interaction, both have been able to roughly guess their opponent's strength.
The Demon Lord was surprised when he felt a burn on his back, where the attack of the Shadow Demon created a scratch mark, while the Shadow Demon was surprised by his opponent's defense.
"You have managed to successfully trigger me; now I will show you why everyone is so afraid of me," said the Demon Lord as he said Blast."
A red lightning beam came from the sky out of nowhere and hit the shadow demon, giving it no chance to escape. When the dust settled, the Demon Lord laughed and said, "This is the fate of those who go against me; I am in a bad mood." He had not even completed his sentence when he felt a claw penetrating his heart, and a voice came from behind. "You lost because you are too overconfident."
The Demon Lord laughed before turning and punching the Shadow Demon and throwing him like a cannonball. The impact broke apart every wall and boulder with which he came into contact.
After some time, the shadow demon finally stopped; he coughed up some blood and looked at his opponent, who had already regenerated his heart. The Demon Lord turned back and disappeared from his position before appearing in front of everyone again.
He was standing in his original position; the only thing that changed was that he had his hand raised in the air. He was choking the neck of the leader of the shadow demons.
The eyes of the Demon Lord shone in a red glow as he said, Look, is this the strongest person in your tribe? He is only that much. Submit to me, or I will slaughter all of you."
The shadow demon leader laughed while coughing, "You can kill us, but you will not be able to make us submit."
"Really," a cruel smile appeared on the Demon Lord as the lightning gathered in his hand and started zapping the Shadow Demon, stunning and burning his whole body.
"I am giving you one last chance; bow down," the Demon Lord said in a loud tone that caused the wind to flow so fast that it became even hard for them to look him in the eyes.
The shadow demons started discussing with each other; some were unwilling to submit, while others only thought of saving their lives.
Finally, the second leader of the Shadow Demons stepped forward and bowed down to the Demon Lord, saying, "I am willing to acknowledge you as my master if you forgive my family."
Many other tribe members followed him and bowed down one after another. The leader who was getting electrocuted felt pain for the first time. His eyes were teary. He couldn't believe the person he trusted the most would betray him.
The Demon Lord laughed and said, "See, this is what Abyss is all about; here, you crush the weak and bow to the strong."
"As for you other ants that dare to disrespect me, I will erase you all from existence." Go die with your leader if you plan to be dense like him."
He snapped, and big lightning appeared in the storm.
Many powerful lightning bolts turned into big electric balls and started to move toward the shadow demons, but just as they were about to reach them and eliminate them all, a giant vortex appeared out of nowhere and sucked them all in before going to the sky and blasting.
"Don't go too far, Shax." A cold voice came from the sky.
The Demon Lord Shax, who was in a playful mood before, became cautious. "How dare you come to my territory, Vriyavaxus? Don't you know it is forbidden to invade the territory of another Lord? Are you trying to start a war?"
"It would be better if you didn't talk about rules; you are the one who broke the rules first. Don't you know it is forbidden to attack a newly formed race by the Demon Lords?" said the voice from the sky.
"Where have you hidden yourself, looser? Do you dare to appear in front of me?" said Shax.
"I am busy right now; see you soon, Shax," said the voice as a giant vortex appeared and sucked away the shadow demons who had not yet submitted.
The vortex spun at a breakneck speed and disappeared in the sky.
"Don't dare to come in front of me again," said Demon Lord Shax as he looked at the vortex.
After traveling for a long time, the vortex came to the land and put all the shadow demons it carried to the ground. The leader of the shadow demons said, "Thank you for helping us."
A burst of laughter came from the vortex: "You don't have to thank me. Everything I did was for my own sake. I am impressed by the capabilities of your race, and I would like you to join my forces."
He stopped for a while before continuing in a cold and cruel tone, "But the place you are at is very dangerous. It will be a constant struggle for you even to survive here. Decide carefully; your decision now may decide the future of you and your descendants."
The Shadow Demons started chatting with each other to make a decision, and after the final voting, it was decided who would follow this Demon Lord and who would fight for their freedom.
The voting results were shocking: 75% of the Shadow Demons have decided to follow this Demon Lord. Everyone had different reasons: someone wanted to stay out of danger, someone wanted to give their family a better future, some felt grateful to him, and some wanted to grow by serving this Lord.
The leader of the Shadow Demons didn't say anything. He looked at the remaining few members and said, "Follow me." He didn't know where they would go or what to do, but he had a clear goal: to survive with the remaining members and revive the tribe again. He didn't want to serve anyone; he knew they were just tools for the Demon Lords.
The Demon Lord Vriyavaxus was a little disappointed when he saw that he could not convince the remaining 25% of the members, but he sighed and took the rest of them to his territory.
The remaining 25% would become the food of the Abyssal Creatures in a few days. It was a waste, but he had already done all he could.
"From that day, Shadow Demons have been trying to run away from one place to another and survive in the Abyss; despite many challenges, they have raised their numbers to double from before. They are way stronger than before, but they live in shadows most of the time and are still looking for solutions to find a safe haven," said the Yakshini.
"Many Demon Lords were behind them when they saw how useful Shadow Demons can be, which made their lives even harsher. They struggle to survive even today. If we are able to form an agreement with them, then it will be very beneficial for us," she added.
"That's a very wonderful plan, but how exactly will we use shadow demons to our advantage, and how will we summon them?" asked Rishi.
The Yakshini laughed and said, "I know everything about the creatures like them; I have a way of making them act like a symbiote. They will increase the power of the one they possess while they will be able to get stronger very fast, escape from the Abyss, and move around in the sunlight."
"Move around in the sunlight? Is sunlight their weakness too, like vampires?" asked the curious Rishi.
The Yakshini laughed, "It's not like that, while they may become weak, disappear, and become shadows when exposed to sunlight. It doesn't particularly destroy them out of existence like vampires.
"But how will we ensure they don't harm our guild members? After all, they are demons, and I can never be at ease when dealing with them."
The Yakshini patted Rishi's head and said, "Don't worry about that; I will take care of it." Rishi's face became hot and red when he saw that. It wasn't very comfortable for him. It was as if she was treating him like a child.