Duarno and Leona followed a pale skinned teenager who was carrying her master on a wheelchair while guiding them with her utmost enthusiasm. Zich and Cassie followed them just a few steps behind with peanut currently in Cassie’s arm.

Aurbus suggested Cassie, Zich and Leah to stay behind as it would be more safe within the manor, given the formations Thanatos had made around it. At least that’s what the [Lich] claimed.

But the parents couldn’t risk it by trusting their child with Thanatos, and so the curious princess and her two servants were also following them deeper into their main base.

The place was huge from the inside, with pale skinned people working in the inner sanctums of the base. You could practically guess their age from what their body conditions were.

Duarno had heard of it earlier, but now that he was seeing it firsthand - it was a completely different feeling. The [undead] did indeed give off a smell of dark magic that somewhat resembled that of the devils, especially the younger ones like the assistant that was guiding them right now. The teenager was definitely a human not long ago. Aurbus was in a worse physical state for Duarno to identify if he was a human or an elf, but most of those from Thanatos were generally fanatical humans who willingly turned them into [undead] to achieve immortality, so Aurbus was most likely a human too once upon a time.

‘Fools.’ Duarno thought. ‘It took us centuries to take control over our innate dark mana and not die a premature and painful death riddled with mutations and here they are, willingly embracing it and living such a miserable life where one cannot even walk properly.’

“How old are you anyways, Aurbus? Tell me about what you were, before you ended up half dead on a wheelchair.” Duarno inquired, curious about why he would choose such a pathetic path of life and how long had he been suffering in the dead body that was half bones now.

It might have been sensitive if someone else asked it, but it was one of the princes of the devil kingdom, the sole collaborators of the Thanatos in the entirety of Atlas, and the only race who the [undead] looked upto. And well, Aurbus couldn’t bear to offend him.

“The diary I wrote says I turn 173 this year, 103 since I chose the path of immortality.” He took out a worn-out diary that was deep hidden within his robes.

“To be frank, I have no recollection of who or even what I was in my past life.” Aurbus spoke as his bony jaw dislocated once again.

“Was it worth all this suffering?” Leona suddenly chimed in, as the teen fixed Aurbus’ jaw.

“The suffering you speak of is temporal, a necessary sacrifice to achieve what is truly tangible and not a pipe dream anymore.” Aurbus retorted as he flipped through the pages of his diary.

‘It doesn’t look like it, given how it seems like you might pass on any moment.’ Leona wanted to retort but let it go because she knew it was no use debating fanatics or believers.

“Aurbus Reinhood. A valiant explorer. Had a brilliant son named Riguel, and two cute grandsons, Oforn and Olaf. All of whom perished in a plague when he was out exploring. This shock coupled with the things he discovered in the ruins of the past era - Your highness, the Reinhood this book speaks of died far before I became a [Lich].”

** **

In front of the couple, a dozen robed beings were at the center of what seemed like an Altar, as they occupied a specific position on the magic circle that was beneath them and channeled purplish black cloudy hue that arose from their bodies.

“We are amidst the process of enforcing the materialized form of [Hands of Corruption]. The process might take at least a quarter more.” A pale middle aged man approached Aurbus.

‘I wonder what’s taking Isolde so long to extract just a bit of life essence.’ Aurbus thought as he glanced at the quaking magic circle. Relying on Isolde may be not that good of an idea anymore.

“Your highness, it seems we might have to wait a bit more and we might require your assistance to quicken this matter.”

“Alright. I will see what I can do.” Duarno wouldn’t mind lending a hand if it meant leaving this place a second sooner. Besides, these [undead] were the ones immensely helping the devil kind with the [Hands of Corruption].

“Your highness, please use the [Dominator] skill and purify the dark mana as much as you can.”

The purplish black hue started gathering around the devil prince’s abdomen as he sat in the lotus position. Duarno closed his eyes as he spread out both of his palms, and started channeling his mana throughout the body. Eventually, a pure purple mist started gathering on his left palm while a corrosive black ball started demystifying on his right one.

The [undead] working on the magic circle felt their dark mana leave though their bodily orifices as more and more of it started gathering in front of Duarno’s abdomen, but soon a feeling of salvation and bliss came pouring within them as pure hue started flowing within them with a wave of Duarno’s hand.

For [undead], or specifically those containing dark mana, this must have been the best they would have felt in eternity. After all, having corrosive dark mana gnaw at your soul every moment of your existence isn’t that pleasant of an experience. This was one of the reasons that the dark mana enamored Thanatos sees the devil race in positive light, especially those from the royalty who almost command an unprecedented authority over the dark mana.

Duarno let out a small stream of purple flow towards the pale skinned teenager too, seeing her expectant expression.

The lady assistant, with glimmering eyes, stared at Duarno with a wide, thankful smile on her face.

‘I wonder if this could cure big sis Isolde’s sadism. She would finally leave toying with her ‘dolls’ for a bit and enjoy this bliss.’ She muttered under her breath. However, that feeling didn’t last long as the magic circle started devouring dark mana from wherever it could find, leaving Duarno and others almost manaless in no time.

Luckily, it didn’t take long for the long awaited message to pop up.

[Hands of corruption](sealed)(owner-bound)

Information classified. Only owners are allowed to access it.

Duarno picked up a scroll from the center of the magic circle and inspected it. Even though the blue box said that the info was classified, he could somewhat guess what it was.

A skill that was supposed to turn the tides of the war and help us push back the elven advances.

Those pesky elves, who once were mere fragile neighbours, have now started barging in our devilian territories. They have started to use the power of their holy whatever-it’s-name-is tree and began purifying our lands blessed with the dark mana. The territories lost to them are no more suitable for any devil kind to survive. Coupled with the [Light] magic they master in, the elves were a born nemesis.

Only a skill that could rejuvenate the now dead lands with dark mana could be capable of turning the tides.

“Is that it?” Duarno asked.

“Yes, your highness, but if you grant us an opportunity to serve you as you stay in Mumur for a night, then…”

“No need for that. Brother Jonas has assigned an important duty to me by handing Fyov over to me, I can’t let it go unaddressed any longer. Just prepare a carriage and rations for our trip to Mumur.” Duarno waved his hand as he stopped Aurbus from speaking any further.

Aurbus understood very well that he could not retort when Jonas was mentioned so he agreed, asking someone around him to prepare the said things.

Duarno sighed as he tightly gripped the scroll in his hands. It was a power so immense that even he felt enticed for a moment. Only when he glanced at the serene face of dozy peanut trying her best to not sleep, most probably so that she could warn her Da if the monster once again came her him, did he realise that such power would not be worth losing things he had now. He had seen his mother and half of his siblings lose their lives to the petty politics of the royalty. Being the youngest didn’t help as he was used as a political tool most of the time.

Were it not for general Leonhard to take him in and shield him from the shenanigans of the royal courts, he would have very well been poisoned or murdered by someone from Jonas’ faction.

Fortunately, Duarno’s luck hadn’t run out yet and General Leonhard spear headed a faction of nobles and formed a front to counter Jonas’ unending offense on his siblings in the era of political unrest, effectively saving the royal bloodline from extinction.

This recent lack of unity in the devil kind, that arose after the death of Duarno’s father, was probably the very reason elves became bold enough to attack the devils and claim their land.

Thanatos, too was divided in which side to support but sadly had its leaning towards Jonas.

Duarno kept the scroll in his pocket as he let go of any greed within him. It wasn’t as if Duarno lacked ambitions. He also realized the fact that power was necessary if one wished to protect what they loved or achieve what they desired. It was the very reason he pushed Leona to level her skills up, even when she had skills enough to protect herself and peanut from quite a lot of threats.

But what use is power if you lose your own self in achieving it? The live example of it was Aurbus. The last thing Duarno would want was to end up like him.

“What’s troubling you? You can share it with this awesome wife of yours.” Leona pointed at herself and said after seeing the conflicted expression on Duarno’s face. The ninth prince too realized that he had not been himself ever since he visited Jonas in Buzrok. If this continues, only Leona would have all the fun.

“Nothing much. Just planning how I should spend tonight with this awesome wife of mine.” Duarno came closer and whispered in her ears before winking and letting out a grin of victory.