The frequency upon which wild beasts, those that haven't even awakened their origin essence seas moved towards Parachenko Village increased dramatically.
The Kovacs Clan had been situated in this location for over a thousand years, and during that time, wild beasts, and their descendents had learned not to stray too close to the boundary of the Village, lest they become food on some mortals or Fae Masters dinner table.
There were mostly birds and deer, in addition to a couple wild wolves and the occasional bear, but these animals practically walked right up to the large wooden constructs that the Kovacs Clan had built, before getting killed instantly by a patrolling Fae Master.
The upper echelons of the Clan didn't think much of it, but Arthur knew that they were under the influence of a Beast King.
Any Beast King, even a knight Ranked Beast King could command just about any mortal ranked wild beast to do their bidding.
Patrolling the skies and surveying the land was the first thing a commander should do in a war. Something which the Kovacs Clan wasn't used to.
Arthur, over the course of the past few days, increased his daily cultivation time dramatically, with the help of the Rank 2 wood essence fae.
His origin essence regeneration had more than doubled, and he had reached zero quartz origin essence, without too much trouble.
He smiled slightly, peering at the large crystalline substance within his origin essence sea.
The differences between hadron origin essence and zero origin essence was a matter of states.
Vapour, liquids and solids were all found in nature, while hadron and zero could only be artificially induced using an external influence.
Hadron origin essence increased the explosive power of a Fae, increasing its strength for a limited time.
Zero origin essence could be drawn out for much longer, increasing the duration of certain Fae's abilities but a little less than double.
The energy within zero origin essence may, to the outsider appear stagnant, frozen, as if it was trapped in an eternal freezing abyss, however, just like hadron origin essence, it could change in an instant, providing a Fae Master, with what seems to be a limitless amount of origin essence.
In combination with the effects of the Blood Fruits, Arthur could now firmly go to-to-toe with a Rank 2 Fae Master, with just his physical body. Perhaps a liquid ruby origin essence Fae Master might not even be his match.
Arthur let out a deep breath.
"It's not enough.... In just less than a week, the beast tide will come. I won't be able to reach Rank 2 before then. I will by the time the second beast tide comes and that is when my plan will be put into action but....".
To be perfectly honest.... Arthur had never performed this particular ritual before.
He didn't know if there would be any side effects, or any sort of time-lag between when he would take the Sovereign Boundary Physique, and when it would integrate fully with his own Body, Mind and Soul.
In more than seven hundred years, the Fae Master who created this ritual would spread it across the Thirty Three Heavens, making it so that any Human Fae Master could take the fabled Sovereign Boundary Physiques for their own.
There wouldn't just be a huge war between Fae Masters who desire these Physiques, but also between the Myriad Races who want the Sovereign Boundary Physiques under their own control.
Arthur had never seen this ritual be performed in person, nor had he ever heard of the waiting time, or incubation period for the Physique to adjust.
He had seen Human Fae Masters in the past who didn't have Sovereign Boundary Physiques, possess them nearly 800 years in the future, but didn't question how they obtained them.
Such a thing was obvious, but how they obtained them was the real question.
"Theoretically, it should react just like how Andrea awakened it, suddenly and without any warning. The process connects Andrea and I, our Bodies, our Minds and even our Souls. It will make the Boundless Forest Yearning grow in "reverse" and towards me. Then, once it takes root within me, I shall sever the connection....".
If Arthur ended up taking some of Andrea's memories, such a thing would be negligible. If he ended up taking some of her Will, some of her Emotions, or even some of her Desires, that might be bad in the long run.
If Arthur could reach Rank 2, he was confident in his ability to exorcise such "impurities". At Rank 1 however, it might become a problem if he wanted to advance further.
It was a slippery slope either way, he thought.
There was no Fae in this world that could be considered, "omnipotent".
And as such, there was no Fae Master that could be considered "omnipotent" either.
The closest thing to it, was Rank 9.
Arthur sighed once more.
"Anxiousness is not the enemy. Patience is not my problem. All I need to focus on is reaching Rank 2. Once that happens I could even kidnap Andrea and perform the ritual. I just have to wait until this beast tide is over, and then I can put things into motion....".
Arthur unconsciously tapped his foot on the ground, something which he stopped the moment he realized he was doing it.
He glanced down at his foot for a few seconds, smiling gently as he shook his head.
He chuckled slightly.
"When was the last time I felt this emotion? Nervousness? Hesitant? Tense, even? The last time I felt this alive was when-".
Arthur blinked a couple times slapping his forehead as he shook his head again.
"I can't even remember! Is it this young body which is influencing me? Or is it just that the idea of having one of the Sovereign Boundary Physiques is causing me to jitter?".
Arthur's body tensed up slightly, as he let out a pleasurable moan.
It had been several hundred years since Arthur started walking the demonic path. His heart had become ice, long ago.
Emotions weren't useless, but those that held him back, those emotions like kindness, gentleness, tenderness.... all of them were useless towards the current Arthur.
Everything he had shown Dominic.
Everything he had shown Niklos.
Everything he had shown Andrea.
Everything was fake.
Things such as hate weren't to be used lightly either. They could focus Arthur, hone his senses and push him closer and closer towards his goal, much farther than any type of "kindness" could.
Too much hate though, and he would become like the First Man, or Formless Night Shadow. Completely engulfed by their own Emotions, they became monsters that massacred anything and everything in front of them.
Losing control wasn't a good thing.
Arthur had yet to.... completely let loose in this new life of his.
Killing those two Marina Clan Fae Masters wasn't exactly what Arthur had in mind when he killed them. He wanted his Fae back, so he killed them and took them.
When he spent the night with Andrea, he had to be careful, so as to fully make her fall for him. The next morning, with those two girls wasn't anything either, just a physical release.
What Arthur needed, what Arthur craved more than anything else.... was to vent.
"Against people would be great. But this beast tide is the next best thing.....".
His polite smile would've sent shivers down the spine, and hairs raised at the back of the neck.
A demon.... a true demon, knew the difference between right and wrong, and understood that morally their actions were not justified. They took lives, took liberties, took everything they could get their hands on, by lying, cheating, stealing or tricking if they must.
Yet, they did it anyway, uncaring of the thoughts of the majority. And regardless of the consequences it may bring.
Anything less, and they couldn't call themselves "demons".