Chapter 268 – C268. Azalea’s Surprise

“A Devil?”

 Erin uttered those words, slightly surprised as she could sense the chaotic mana that oozed off the handsome man in a red suit as he casually strolled towards them with his hands in his pockets. 

 He had white slick back hair and glowing scarlet eyes that seems as though it could comprehend everything within his line of sight. 

 His lack of caution in their presence show his abundance of confidence as he moved past the stunned General of the 3rd regiment of the undead army, the soul dominator himself. He completely disregarded the Presence of the Wraith as he steadily approached them.

 Lezor, who hadn’t sensed the presence of an intruder in his regiment was at a loss for words as he hadn’t expected any of the men to survive that last attack but was surprised to sense someone behind him.

 As a Soul Dominator, his strength came in the form of the limitless supply of souls he could summon to fight for him. However, he had unfortunately faced an opponent that was his natural enemy. 

 As the ArchLich could absorb and use the power of the souls he could summon, he would only end up feeding him more power no matter how many souls he decides to summon.

 Seeing as the one hiding in his unit was a Devil and not a demon, he was relieved as he assumed he must’ve been summoned here by his master, Lord Zerahut.

 As a General, he had scouts that had kept track of the undead army in a whole and this was naturally aware that most, if not all of the other regiments of their army had been absolutely devastated.

 Giving that his master also had access to the same information or more, he was sure he should also be aware of this and would’ve already made a counter move against their enemies. 

 The sudden appearance of this Devil was most likely because of that move. This was probably one of his master’s trump cards and as luck would have it, he had made it here just in time to help him get rid of the dangerous opponents that had rendered his most powerful skill useless.

What a wonderful move his master had made. Although his soul summoning was the ability that made him comparable to a true demigod, he was still a high-level Wraith.

 A King class monster that was virtually unkillable and had various other abilities that would prove useful against that damanle ArchLich.

 Having come to a convenient conclusion on what he believed was the present situation, he decided to address the Devil so they could settle on a plan of action against this unlikely pair and was about to say something when his mind suddenly froze as he could not process any further thoughts as his body was suddenly split in two. 

 [Ah… Wha… the… hell …just… happened..]

 Unable to understand how a spiritual entity like himself had been split in half for a moment, he was unable to voice anymore doubts as his body had suddenly been split into countless tiny pieces and shattered in a spectacular display before turning into specs of dark energy that was then absorbed by the Devil who had moved quite a distance away from Lezor. 

 Most would have completely failed to notice but Erin had seen the Devil’s movements as he casual slice Lezor into countless pieces with only a single swipe of his claws before returning his hand to his pocket with a speed that space had struggled to keep up with.

 It seems this Devil had dominion over souls as well and could also absorb or consume them. Its claws had sliced through a spiritual entity and reduced it to pure energy that could be absorbed. 

 With such an ability, he would be able to damage Erin as long as he got close enough but it was still unknown how powerful he was or what he was specialized in. 

 With the destruction of Lezor and his army, the three of them were now the only ones left in what should’ve been a battlefield with more than 3,000 fighters. 

 [Well, hello. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance this lovely evening, I am known as Azalea. An Arch Devil summoned by a certain individual to attack that castle given the chance. And who might the two of you be?]

 His polite words and gentlemanly demeanor were only contrasted by the fiendish smile plastered across his face as he made a slight bow after coming to a halt a few meters away from Erin.

 There was no reason for him to be so honest with them even if he was just that confident in his strength but perhaps there was an agenda hidden in between his senility casual words. 

 Devils were evil and fiendish creatures of pure energy, they were master manipulators and smooth talkers when they choose to be. Their words, even when true could not be taken a face value as there was always a hidden meaning that could lead to one’s downfall when dealing with one. 

 Seeing the Devil restraining his aura as he politely awaited her response, Erin composed her self and decided to do the same. She elegantly bowed and adopted an enchanting smile even though she found these sorts of things troublesome and would rather not engage in such complex conversations. 

 “My name is Erin Cron— Hmm I mean I’m Erin and this is Emrys. Do you mind telling me which family summoned you?”

 Seeing as she didn’t have enough information to come up with any accurate predictions she decided not to humor the smiling Devil and get straight to the point. 

 [Oh… such a straightforward question. I must admit, I hadn’t expected that. Still, I’m afraid it will go against my contract if I were to disclose such an information to a third party.]

 Surprised by her simple question and lack of a response to his approach and restrained aura, the smile on Azalea’s face got even wider as he grew more excited by the prospect of these two to entertain him.

 “Is that so. Then I suppose you can’t tell me why they wish to attack the demon’s king castle can you?”

 Receiving a response she had accurately predicted, Erin sighed inwardly and she rephrased and restrictured her question making a second push. 

 [You guessed it. Once a Devil signs a contract with their summoner, we are bound to that contract and can’t divulge anything about the contract or the summoners to outsiders.]

 Smiling brightly as he spoke, Azalea casually glanced at the floating Emrys when his smile suddenly froze after hearing Erin’s next words. 

 “Is that so. You devils sure do like messing around with others by only speaking in half-truths, don’t you? I am well aware that there are several clauses built into a devil’s contract that allows them to break their own rules given the right circumstances. From your actions so far, I’m sure you already have a way out of your contract, isn’t that right?”

 [Huh, I didn’t expect someone so knowledgeable to be part of the current enemy’s ranks. If I’m correct, you should be the one the five are after right? The one who had to usurp the castle from under their noses. I didn’t think you would be much but I’m actually impressed.]

 Azalea’s eyes had widened after hearing Erin reveal something that should’ve been a tightly guarded secret. It was a fact that Devils were dangerous to deal with and would constantly try to trick their summoners into freeing them before killing the foolish mortal but the true details were hidden under the glaring truth.

 Behind the bed of lies mixed with truth spewed out to their summoners, all a Devil actually needed you to do was sign a standard contract with them while ignoring most of the minute details that seemed unimportant.

 Naturally, most summoners would only focus on the important details of the contract that prevented the Devil from betraying them while bound by the contract and returning to the underworld after the contract had been completed.

 However, there were sometimes clauses such that nullifies the contract the moment the Devil dies or loses. But if those clauses weren’t looked over and rewritten, it could simply mean a Devil could nullify a contract the moment he admits defeat to an enemy even though devils had massive egos that generally would not allow that.

 There were countless such clauses in a contract that made the idea of summoning devils such a dangerous thought. However, it was incredibly hard to summon a Devil in the first place so such information should not be widely known. 

 Yet, this girl was not only aware of it but had read him to the extent that she knew he had succeeded in manipulating his summers to ignore one of such clause and he could easily free himself from the contract whenever he saw fit but was only going along with it in hopes of some excitement. 

 Such impressive observations and deduction skills from only a brief exchange was something only an elite few could do and he had judged based on this and the strength he felt from her that this was the behemoth the family wanted him to kill. 

 “Hmm? I’m not sure I understand what you mean by that. Lord Ty did not usurp anything as everything that exists in this continent naturally belongs to him.”

 [Huh? Lord Ty? Do you mean to tell me you’re not the strongest being in this region? The behemoth in charge?]

 Confused by her response, the expression on Azalea’s face had completely changed as he narrowed his eyes and unleashed his terrifying aura. 

 The air in the space around them and instantly changed as his aura suppressed every living thing around him even though it didn’t seem to be doing much to Erin and Emrys. 

 While he was a master manipulation, he didn’t appreciate others trying to fool him with pointless lies. He had scanned this entire region the moment he came here and blended in with the undead army.

 He was even aware that the entire army had been spied on by a couple of capable undead but had predicted leaving them alone would provide the best entertainment for him.

 Due to this, he knew amongst all the living being he could sense in the entire region, only this girl could stand above them as she surpassed them by leaps and bounds. 

 If there was a supposed Lord Ty that was capable of lording over such a powerful nymph, he would’ve already been aware of it. 

 His wisdom skill could not be tricked either so the only truth in this world was the one he had concluded. This nymph was the enemy’s leader and she was trying to deceive him for reasons he could not comprehend. 

 This annoyed him to no end.

 [I see you have no intentions of admitting the truth then. That’s okay. I am the Devil of lies and deceit, thus, the truth can never escape my grasp as long as I draw out the lies from your very being, what’s left would be nothing but the truth.]

 With a serous expression for the first time since facing them, Azalea took this seriously as he activated his unique skill and the world seemed to stop, everything in existence had suddenly disappeared. 

 •Dimension Shift – Plane of Lies•