A Demon's Journey

The contract stated a deal between her father and Jonas.

Her father's business dealt with assigning people to the nearby mines and excavate precious minerals.

He would receive a commission based on the profit generated by the mines. If the number of mines under his control increased, he would be able to excavate more minerals and thus generate greater profit.

This was precisely what Jonas targeted.

He had stated that he would hand up ownership of three additional mines in exchange for the whereabouts of his daughter.

In addition, there appeared to be an extra clause in his contract. If Jonas and Tiana's relationship lasted longer than five years, Jonas planned to promote him to the regional accountant for his region.

This was a high-ranking post, and Tiana knew her father aspired to achieve it.

However, to think that he wasn't even willing to hear her thoughts about it truly disappointed Tiana.

Tiana didn't hate Jonas for proposing such a condition. He possessed the capital and was using it for what he wanted. It was a very human thing to do.

But for her parents to actually have accepted this condition before even asking her about it truly annoyed her.

Sargan spoke from behind the door at this moment, "Master told me that something like this might have been the case. He told me that it's your decision to make."

At this moment, Tiana's mother spoke out, "So what? We arranged a marriage for you with one of the most respected Noble Families in the Kingdom. You would have lived a life of happiness. Every decision we took was for your sake. For your happiness."

Tiana looked at her mother with a forced smile.

Before she could answer though, Sargan snorted and spoke, "For her happiness? Are you kidding yourself? Do you even believe your own words?!"

"Have you ever sent a message to her in the Rhodes Mansion to ask her how she was doing?"

"Without even considering what was going on in her life, you presume she was enjoying a happy life. Did you really think about what her life would be like when Jonas Rhodes proposed an arranged marriage to her? Have you done any research on the Rhodes Mansion before asking your daughter to marry Jonas Rhodes?"

"Let's set it aside for a moment. I'll assume she was only doing her duty as a filial child. But tell me, have you ever considered why she could have fled? And she had come to meet you today to relieve you of your worries by informing you that she was leaving for another kingdom, where she would live happily from now on. But now you're telling her to go back into that hell."

"Along with your daughter, have you even sold your conscience? It amazes me that you can actually be so shameless."

Sargan's voice seemed to have gotten quite emotional as he finished speaking.

Hearing such words made Tiana's thoughts flutter. She'd never dared to think seriously about such matters since, in the back of her mind, she knew that her parents would disappoint her.

However, the words spoken by Sargan were forcing her to think deeply about it.

She couldn't help but glance at her parents with an annoyed look.

Even though she had been their obedient child, there was still a trace of rebelliousness within her. At this moment, she felt that her parents were wrong and it would be right to resist them.

"…I apologize, mother, father," Tiana muttered as the room began to freeze slowly.

Before her parents could speak another word, they felt the cold reaching their blood and freezing their bodies slowly.

Soon, a layer of ice appeared over their bodies and prevented them from moving.

Tiana soon stepped forward and touched their bodies that had been coated with her ice. She sent some Ardor in their body and soon walked out of the room.

She met up with Sargan and spoke to him, "I have frozen them with my ice. They won't be able to move till morning. We can easily run away in this time."

Sargan didn't look surprised and he responded, "…You are too kind. You should kill them. They won't ever accept you as their daughter after this incident."

Tiana shook her head and replied, "Even if they had their selfish motives, there is no denying that they gave birth to me and took care of me for all these years. I do not plan to repay kindness with evil. However, it would also be too foolish to go along with their demands. Thus, I am breaking my connection with them. From now on, I will have nothing to do with them."

Sargan didn't particularly agree with her thoughts but he wasn't in a position to criticize her decision.

Azaroth had only told him to deal with her if she betrayed them. Since she hadn't betrayed them then he didn't need to take action.

The two silently left the Prento Village.

Their actions today would only spread in the early morning. Even if the entire village started searching, it would be too late for them to find Sargan and Tiana.

They would be long gone atop their horses.

Azaroth had asked them to return straight back to Kloras Town. There was no need to try and confuse the search parties.

While they were returning, Tiana seemed to have calmed down. She looked at Sargan and asked him, "Did Master knew about all this? Was this why he let me meet my parents?"

Sargan looked surprised by those questions. He then shook his head and responded, "Boss told me a few possibilities of what I should expect in Prento Village while you are meeting your parents. He also gave me a few tasks, such as kill all the warriors near your parents' house. And then search for some sort of chest or treasure in his study room. Luckily, I found this contract right placed in the chest where he keeps his gold coins."

"I see…" Tiana then realized she had been too hasty in making her judgement.

Tiana suddenly remembered that after she informed Azaroth of her desire to meet her parents, his routine hadn't changed a whole lot. In fact, after she cleared her trial, he was also teaching her more Ice Techniques and then go and work on something secret in his training ground.

'He guessed it just by the information he had on hand.'

She couldn't help but admire Azaroth a bit more. Along with admiration though, there was a hint of dependency in the back of her mind.

Now, even her parents were trying to cheat her. Even though her feelings for them hadn't completely vanished, she was still quite displeased with them. She knew that Azaroth had great plans for her, but she still felt a sense of freedom when she was with him.

The Rhodes Mansion had felt like a battlefield to her. Other than Josephine's occasional support, everyone was using vicious schemes against each other.

She hadn't even done anything against any of them yet she had been poisoned just to prevent any future trouble.

But by Azaroth's side, she had trained hard. She had suffered greatly in those training but it had made her stronger.

Moreover, as she passed his trials and grew stronger, she felt that the cultivation was quite addictive.

Her confidence grew as she became more powerful.

Moreover, she greatly valued her friendship with Laura, Yrellea, Ralph, Sargan, and Noah.

It had already been a few months and she was familiar with them all. They all respected her as she was the oldest one within their group. She also felt that she actually belonged in that group.

'…If this was your true motive master then I am truly enthralled. You have won me over completely.'

Tiana couldn't help but think with a slight smile on her face.

~~

Azaroth returned to Kloras Town a day earlier than Tiana and Sargan.

After returning, he didn't meet up with anyone. He went straight to his personal training ground and pulled out his clone's fetus.

Azaroth stared at the fetus with an intense gaze. He began to remodel it. Because of his Demon God's Blood Essence, it was developing extremely quickly.

Suddenly, the clone's fetus began throbbing intensely. Azaroth understood that the clone's fetus now wanted flesh to develop.

The bloodline had already stabilized, now he required flesh to cover that blood and create a body. Azaroth was planning to create a body with the same ratio of human, demonic, and celestial blood as his current body.

This was because it was the perfect ratio. It also left behind a certain prospect to enhance it even further.

Azaroth pulled out all the Beast Corpses he possessed including the Abyssal Hounds' corpse as well as Peter's Corpse.

It could be considered that there was a mountain of Beast Corpses in his personal training ground.

The mountain of the beast corpses was rapidly shrinking in size. The flesh, including the bones, of these beast corpses, was completely absorbed by that terrifying red-colored fetus.

Naturally, the growth of Azaroth's clone fetus was extremely quick as well.

The small clone fetus looked to have grown to Edwin's size in just a few hours. Although the rate of growth had slowed, it hadn't ended yet.

Nearly all the Beast Corpses had been swallowed to create his clone. The only one that remained was the Abyssal Hound's corpse and Peter's Corpse.

One was a 5 Star Warrior while the other was a 5 Star beast while they were alive. This nourishment increased the power of his clone even more.

Soon, the clone surpassed Edwin's height by a few inches.

Edwin was merely 5 feet 10 inches while Azaroth's clone was 6 feet 1 inch. After his clone had reached this height, Azaroth no longer worked on increasing his height. Instead, he focused on developing his muscles.

The terrifying Violet Hell Flames appeared and were burning his clone.

While the clone's muscles were being burned by the Violet Hell Flames, they were quickly recovered by absorbing the bones and the flesh of the two remaining corpses.

Peter's corpse had soon vanished from existence while Azaroth noticed that his clone's muscles were nearly done.

He increased the intensity of his flames and focused on refining his bones now. He continued to refine the bones of his clone until the Abyssal Hound's Corpse had vanished.

Azaroth felt that he was more or less done. What remained was creating the meridians and connect his entire body.

He recalled his Violet Hell Flames and then focused on the blood within his Clone's body.

What he was focusing on was his own Blood Essence that he had extracted from his totem.

Although he had fused it with his clone's fetus, he hadn't activated it.

Soon, it did activate. And Azaroth immediately controlled his Demon God Blood Essence using his Spiritual Energy.

Because his Blood Essence was imprinted with his Spiritual Mark, it was under his complete control. Thus, he could easily control and divide its power.

Azaroth was using his Demon God Blood Essence to create Devil God's Meridians. These meridian were ten times thicker than a normal human's meridian's channel and could absorb more energy from nature at a quicker pace. This was especially true for Death Energy.

The process of creating his Devil God's Meridians was quite slow though. He had to maintain his concentration level for nearly an entire day. But this wasn't that hard for Azaroth.

If he didn't possess even this much willpower, he wouldn't have reached the rank of a Demon God in his previous life.

A day later, after Azaroth had finished creating his Devil God's Meridians, he began the process of splitting his spirit into two parts.

The majority of his spirit was now injecting itself within the clone's body. This could only be achieved with the assistance from the array he had constructed on his training ground.

Along with his Spirit, Azaroth also split up his Ardor. He injected it within his clone's body as well.

A few hours soon passed as this process continued…