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A nine-foot-long and 3-ter tall golden lion appeared in the middle of the room following Cedric's, who's disguised as Derrek, whistle.
The beast has a thick golden coat, shimring and oozing with power and heat. Its mane was like a fiery shoal of golden fire, dancing mystically as the lion snarled and bared its teeth at the cultists.
This was none other than Aurelion - the Radiant Sunlion and Cedric's companion beast. He had grown up in a terrifying existence much like his master. Although he's only Tier 6, thinking that he's weak would be a terrible mistake for his enemies because just like his master, Aurelion was Aurelion, he's not his Tier.
The intimidating presence of Aurelion already frightened so of the cult mbers, even more so when they felt the scalding heat he was releasing. They could feel the corruption within them reeling in pain and fear as if it t an elent that could kill it, and that's not wrong.
Aurelion is a unique beast, a Radiant Sunlion - the last of his kind. He held the potential and the power of a True Sun within him, nurtured by Cedric who comprehended, completed, and improved the 『Aspect of the Sun』.
After several seconds of snarling at them, Aurelion turned into a streak of light and blitzed around the room like a pinball. Each ti he hit a corner, he would send out lasers of concentrated sunlight and sunfire to ricochet across the room. Once there was enough, he returned to his master's side with his maws wide open to spit out the miniature sun that burned all the darkness away from the room.
The cultists scrambled to defend themselves. So tried to run towards the exit; so failed before reaching it while others managed to get their hands on the door. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge. No matter how much strength they used to force it open, the door was sealed shut and refused to open.
That's when they saw a massive rune plastered on the door. To their dawning horror, they don't know what kind of rune was that, but they do know that they don't have enough ti nor strength to rid of it, which ans that they're trapped here.
After realizing this, they tried their best. They truly did...however, the enemy was too strong. Aurelion chewed on them like toys, ignoring their attacks like they were nothing.
The beast was playing with them. They were outclassed even though their numbers were greater than the enemy. Aurelion saved the leader for last since his master wanted to personally deal with that one, the rest was fair ga.
Aurelion's playti ended rather shortly. It didn't even take him 15 minutes to take out the rest of the cultists. Without these people, the Cult of the Demon Saint was permanently crippled, all that was left was the leader - who looked as if he just lost his soul.
The sun lion took him by the collar and threw it towards his master's feet. Cedric, who was casually relaxing on the chair, watching as the carnage ended, leaned forward. He waved a finger and an invisible force lifted the despairing leader of the cultist towards him.
"I don't know who you are, nor do I care..." the leader hollowly stated, "But if you think that eliminating us would end the cult's existence, then you're dead wrong."
"You...all of you don't understand. Humans can't win this war. The only way for us to survive is by joining them and becoming a valuable asset within their ranks. You all are a fool to think that we'd be able to get rid of them. They've existed for far longer than we have. Their foundations go way deeper than any of you could imagine."
"Resistance is futile, this was a losing fight to begin with. You are dooming us all by stopping our operations." It was Cedric who continued his statent for him, much to the astonishnt of the leader. "...that's what you're gonna say next right? Psh, I've heard that before. Do you have anything new?"
"Y-you...you don't get it..."
"I'm pretty sure I do." Cedric replied, "The Demon Race is way stronger than us, yes. Their foundations run deeper than what we can imagine, yes. We won't be able to survive a direct war with them, yes. That's what you and the rest of your little cult mbers think, right? So yes, I am pretty sure I do understand what you're trying to say."
"Even so...what of it?" Cedric raised a brow after asking this, causing the leader to be stunned. "So what if they're stronger? So what if it's a losing fight? So what if all of this turns out to be a wasted effort? What do those have to do with anything?"
"I'm not a complicated person." Cedric stated, "I see you as traitors that's why I eliminated you, plain and simple. I see the Demon Race as my enemies, that's why I kill them. I fight to survive, if I die amidst the battle, then that's on . What does the rest have to do with any of that?"
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"Now that you know that, you may disappear knowing that your efforts were entirely useless, enjoy whatever hell greets you on the other side."
Cedric grabbed the man's face and ignited his entire body on fire. The man squird and scread in pain as the flas burned him from inside out. The scalding heat of the flas burned him to his soul, but before he completely disappeared to the afterlife, a shocking shift occurred.
Darkness suddenly blossod in the very depths of the man's soul. Cedric frowned as he sensed the foul stench of sinful energy oozing out of the soul. He retracted his arm as the sin tried touching him.
The darkness then took the form of a ghost. This ghost had pale blue skin and it was cracked like a tree bark. The veins glowed bright orange as hot lava flowed in them. The figure has a pair of goat horns on its head, coiling around its skull to form a crown. Its black eyes with crimson red pupils stared at Cedric with a sneer on its face while its two pairs of arms crossed around its chest.
"Well...well..." the phantom's deep and gritty voice echoed across the room. "Here I was wondering what the commotion was all about, it turns out that my little plaything has caught himself a Young Sage...how very fortunate. Mind telling your na, Little Darling?"
Cedric scoffed, not even the slightest bit intimidated by the presence or the aura of the ghost. It's a good thing that he's wearing a disguise right now or else his true identity would've been compromised.
"Isn't it given that you should introduce yourself first before asking for soone's na? Or is the Demon Race lacking that kind of etiquette? Well...not that it's surprising if you don't." He shrugged in reply.
The ghost seed amused before saying: "Right, pardon my lack of manners then. My na is Deliora, recently promoted to 132nd Demon Lord of my race."
Cedric stared at the phantom, digesting that tidbit of information before replying: "Derrek, an orphan, and this generation's Sun Sage."
"Oh my, a Sun Sage eh? I wasn't aware that your Humans still have an idea of what that thing even looks like." Deliora replied with a rather amused and sarcastic expression.
"Well, what can I say...your race's Demon King swallowing up our sun left a deep impression on us, and we're nostalgic creatures in nature so we tend to record history so that our young ones won't forget. It has great benefits if I do say so myself."
"...and you? How co a recently promoted Demon Lord has this much free ti to extend your tendrils all the way to this place? An impressive feat, by the way, but still confusing. Shouldn't you be...I don't, trying to defend your title? As far as I'm aware, the competition for the title and resources should be rather intense on your side."
Deliora visibly flinched in surprise after hearing Cedric casually reveal what he knew. The recently promoted Demon King doesn't know how to properly control his expression, and Cedric takes advantage of that.
"My, it seems that your intelligence network runs pretty deep."
"Not really." Cedric casually deflected the accusation. "It's just an educated analysis. Your kind are simple-minded after all. Might make right...that's how it works on your side, correct?"
"Indeed." Deliora sighed, "We're not that different after all."
Cedric inwardly sneered at the poor attempt of the Demon Lord to sway him to their side by weaponizing empathy. This might work on soone else but certainly not him.
"Eh, I don't really think so." Cedric casually shrugged in reply, "Anyways, you still haven't answered my question though, which I find unfair, to be honest. How did you manage to reach this far? Are we really that undefended?"
"Well...kind of." Deliora casually ntions, completely unaware that he's already been swept by Cedric's montum. "I an, it's not really that hard to sneak in, especially when your defenses are busy dealing with a horde or two...even more so with the help of a Black Sky."
'Hook, line, and sinker.'
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