"I didn't think he would lose himself so soon." Through the Heart of Primordial Sin, Thomas could clearly feel an aura of sin active in this island.
And given the meteoric rise of the aura grow multiple levels at once, he guessed Arthorias had lost himself to the evil aura and become an Wraith. He had no idea as for what sin has taken over his soul and how it happened, only that it's a good thing.
He then took a last look around, the strong fire and light elements rich in the deadlands were much weaker than before.
Probably because this place has fulfilled it's purpose of sealing the Archis. Whatever was the seal the beasts used, it worked by concentrating a mass of pure light and fire attribute forces to suppress the tainted aura of the crystal heart, on the other hand the lack of balance between the elements cause the phenomenon that made the deadlands a forbidden for beasts and daemons.
If it wasn't for his physique and elemental affinities, Thomas would last even a day in this place. But now it was recovering to it's former self, he could feel other kinds of energies and elements returning.
Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Wood, Light and Dark.
"With the dark elements now present in this place I should be able to use
Now he knew it worked, Thomas didn't think twice and dived into the shadow and headed straight to Xamak mountains.
Once he got close enough, he felt all the beasts inside the mountain now in a much better condition, including the common beasts with no combat power. Most were gathered outside of the mountain, they seemed to be expanding the settlement in order to accommodate all the beasts.
Coincidentally, there were a couple powerful auras adobe the sixth star, it seems even the rulers of the Verdan Mountain Range had come here as well.
[Brother?!]
Lulu's voice suddenly resounded in his mind.
Few moments later, Thomas appeared at the top of the mountain. "Great to see everything is fine."
"huh?" Lulu froze, for a moment she didn't even notice Thomas' presence.
"Listen carefully, my enemy has lost his mind and has turned into a monster that only seeks carnage. Very soon, his power may even surpass the limits of this but that is something I won't allow to happen."
As expected, Lulu was a very smart beast and she understood what he's going to say. "You are going to fight off the demon that came with you, aren't you? I felt his ominous aura as well. But, are you sure you don't need me? I should be of enough assistance."
All the divinity inside Thomas' body gushed through his energy pathways, and infusing into every cell of his body.
"No, that guy is an enemy I must deal with by myself. Weren't even supposed to be here in the first place. I also need to find the path back home, but don't worry, I will get back here first once I defeat him to pay back what I owe you guys."
Saying so, Thomas immersed in the shadows once again and parted towards the north where the City of Glamadon once was.
It didn't take long for Thomas to suddenly stop and emerge from the shadows before reaching his destination. The reason? A enormous shadow one could see from afar that made him stop in his tracks.
With a quick look, one may think it the creature turn out to be dragon but upon close inspection it looked much worse and scarier than any dragon.
The creature he saw was as tall as a small mountain and it hard two big bone wings extending out of it's back. The big mouth in it's belly and two curved horns in it's head gave it a even more bizarre look.
If anything the thing before him was the perfect embayment of the word demon than all other demons he has ever met.
"Hey, why won't you come out." Thomas then turned focused on a specificity direction.
"I see the young prince has lost himself to sin." A silver flash crashed onto the ground near Thomas and a silver-haired man appeared in it's place.
"Sage, you finally showed yourself." Thomas knew he was being and this person turned out to be the Sage.
Aaron's city sage Thomas previously meet and helped him save Lulu. A old demon that fell upon this world many years before.
The sage acted as if he didn't see Thomas' hostility, then tided up his hair as he replied. "As you already now. This world follows the law of the jungle and It's not our place to interfere in it's internal conflicts. I suppose you have acquired that Archis thing right?"
"..." Thomas didn't agree nor negate.
"It doesn't matter, I have tried to find it before but realized a I couldn't do it because of all the light and fire. But a light-oriented demon should be able to accomplish what this king could not, seeing you are here now further verifies my guesses that you have gotten the origin of sin. Now, hand it over kindly if you wish to leave this world not feeling any pain..."
"So now you reveal yourself for what you truly are..." Thomas reached out and grasped towards the air from where a long spear surged and attacked.
It was just pretense, with no real intent to hurt anything or anyone, but it carried the heavy pressure of his blood and a fierceness that could frighten even the mightiest of beasts.
'I knew this guy was no good thing!' Having watched numerous shows and red through lots of books, how could he not know those seemingly good guys with no desires and anything that seemed to drive them were the worst.
The corner of the sage's eyes curved like crescent moons, and at the last moment as the spear tip passed through his body as if it wasn't even there followed by a surge of venom green gas that soon transformed into a cloud that covered over ten kilometers.
And this cloud was so dense it even formed small drops of liquids and even thin crystals were condensed out of this green cloud. Thomas has ever seen.
That, is the true form of demonic energy only few demons could wield, Sin Force.
It wasn't an afterimage, illusion or even a projection, no, it was his spear that couldn't touch the Sage's body.
Thomas recued multiple steps and kept a high guard, making sure to keep some distance as his observed the old demon before him.
Ever since he first arrived at Aaron, he had no idea how the Sage was like. He's been here for at least twenty years yet he acted as if nothing else matters and simply focused on his own things while occasionally lending assistance to those who needed.
But in the end, a demon is a demon and now he knows every demon is infected by the crystal heart's aura of sin and how powerful it truly is made him realize a mere demon shouldn't have the power to suppress the baleful aura even the system had difficulty in keeping it in check.
'The look in his eyes...' Staring directly towards the old sage he noticed, those eyes that were previously smart and clear of any impurity were in fact filled the shadow of a colossal figure endowed in shadows.
And when those eyes looked back at him, there was something else, it was greed, one that almost reached the point of obsession. Thomas knew how hard it is to resist to the baleful aura.
Even with the Archis sealed the deadlands, it still held enough influence to strengthened a demon's aura of sin, making it easier for one to fall into temptation.
In the end he could only see all of this thanks to the crystal heart which heightened his senses to the power of sin. Otherwise, he would remain unable to see anything.
"I see... So you fell too, didn't you?" Just like Arthur has fallen into sin, the Sage has enraptured by his own greed and had in fact become a creature not any different from Arthur himself.
As for the what or who all this greed was directed towards? It was obvious he wanted the Archis within himself,