After landing in the docking station, Thomas and Lulu had their Sin Shards checked briefly before being released.
Out in the city, Thomas took a deep breath while dazzled by the view of the city. One wouldn't expect such magical place in the demon realm but he was proven wrong.
[This is only because moon demons like the clean and pristine. Everything they make must be gorgeous and a spectacle to the eyes. They are the most perfectionist of demons.] Said Kez with contempt in his voice. Despite having moon demon blood in his veins, he raised in the sun demon territory and couldn't help but share the feelings of his fellow sun demon.
"I have some money on me so we should find a place to stay first."
He noticed the farther away you get from the borders of the flying island, the cheaper it was. Using the funds he "borrowed" from Demon Lord Erak'von, Thomas got a cheap room on one of the inns on the center of the city.
The room was not very large but it had two beds and one bathroom, the bathroom though....] Let's just say it was quite different from what he's used to.
For the rest of the day, Thomas entered in deep meditation. At least that was how it looked to others, while he was in fact immersing in the memories of Kez once more.
............
Following the previous events, Ganak joined the cat-eared low rank demon in their group. A small team of thieves living in the lower city near the the bottom.
Life there was pretty hard down there with living conditions being horrible at best. For the next ten years, they lived on petty theft and scams.
At that point, Ganak developed his strength and was on par with high-rank demon when they received the first big job.
A client who name and clan was unknown hired them to steal the cargo on a very special airship whose route to Verdal City would take it through Arghot City first.
They were informed that the cargo was a prototype for a device that would enable for one locate themselves and move within the dimensional rifts that had opened everywhere in the cosmos. This discovery was very important and it would innovate galactic exploration in ways one can't imagine.
The vessel was scheduled to arrive in five days and remain in the city for a two hours before parting through the teleport formation at the at the very top of the upper city. This meant they would have only two hours to secure the package and leave the place.
The payment done entirely in Seven Sin Crowns, with 30% being paid upfront and the rest only after the job was done.
This was a serious amount of money, so much none of the crew seemed to understand how much it was worthy with the exception of Ganak. He knew the true worth of a Seven Sin Crown, it's over a hundred times the currency on planet Astru and it's only produced by the Demon Palace.
In the end the plan was simple and straightforward, Ganak and Horn will approach landing station and cause a disturbance, drawing some of the officers to the ground floor. With the higher floors less crowded, Shadow will neutralize any opposing force as Sting infiltrates the ship and opens the way to Shadow.
According to the documents they received, the package is not on the huge vault on the bottom of the ship but on a secret compartment near the captain's chair.
Once the package is secured, they activate the one-time use Teleport Jewels provided by the client to escape the ship.
"Shadow, I don't know about this job. It's too risky, and you are not in a perfect condition." Ganak couldn't shake the feeling something bad is suposed to happen. How could a job offer that high of a pay, it is too suspicious.
"Dear, I understand but we need this. As soon we get the money, the sooner we get out of this dammed city." Shadow caressed Ganak's hair before guiding his hand to her belly. "We can't let our child grow in a place like this."
"Fine..."
On that fateful day, things went perfectly well maybe even a bit too well. The distraction was successful and Shadow acquired the device but things took a unexpected turn when the Teleport Jewels didn't activate when it was time to leave.
Instead, the demon warriors and generals along with their demonic beasts all surrounded the group of four. In the demon domain, there was no such thing as arrest or human right and upon surrendering, Sting and Shadow were executed right away.
"NO!"
Ganak saw the death of his comrades through the windows from the bottom floor and his eyes turned bloodshot. By, this point, the guards changed their attention to him.
Leaving the trance, Ganak grew worried and upon locking back, he noticed that Horn, the last of his comrades was nowhere to be seen.
It turned out the cowardly gray demon was too scared by the death of shadow and Sting and fled as soon he could.
As more and more warriors come to surrounding him, his blood boils and from the depths of his eyes rose the sun along with traces of purple.
"Ahhhh!"
Everything went black and by the time reason returned to Ganak, he was standing in the middle of the building and surrounded by dried bodies whose eyes have melted and the blood evaporated all in seconds.
To kill that many high-ranking demons like that was only possible with the might of a noble demon and Ganak understood that. He finally did it, the power of his dormant physique awoke at last and with the nearly endless energy Ganak killed every warrior in the vicinity.
Now as the only one alive he dashed to the higher floor and hugged the lifeless body of his beloved.
He knew very well reinforcements were coming but he couldn't bear to leave her like that. They were almost there and were much more dangerous than the warriors from the powerful auras felt from afar.
Then upon moving his eyes back to his woman, he saw a thin black square on her hands. 'Is that the package. Is it worth it?'
Taking the artifact in one hand and his beloved's body on the other, Ganak ran to the back the hangar where dozens of demon ships were parked. Instead of going for the bigger ones, he chose the one at the further east. It was a small-sized scout vessel with focus on pure-speed.
After leaving Shadow's body in bed at the back of the ship, Ganak began fiddling with the runic interface.
"Systems, check. Weapons, Check. They only forgot to charge it but it still works." Inserting his hands in the two holes in the console, he pulled it to him and the ship immediately responded.
As soon the runic engines engaged, the airship speed up towards the sky and leaving city faster than the chasing ships.
Even Ganak was shocked with the speed shown when he heard a strange beeping.
Beep* Beep*
It was the device on his pocked, it made strange noises and not a second later he lost the control of the ship.
"Sh*t, what is this..." Before he could react, the vessel went to a totally unknown path to the sea and to a moderate-sized dimensional rift.
Flying over the gray water, enemy ships followed right behind.
He pulled the controls and infused more and more of his demonic energy but nothing worked. He knew getting in one of these was certain death and while the prototype he stole is suposed to enable one to travel through the rifts, it was only a prototype after all and couldn't be fully trusted.
At his back, eleven crafts approached at high speed. The energy fluctuations showed they were charging their attacks and it wouldn't take long for his ship to be destroyed.
Stuck between near death and certain death, there was one only choice.
Ganak clenched his teeth as the vessel went into the rift, disappearing from the face of the demon domain.
A unknown time passed and by the time he awoke, Ganak found himself in the middle of a blue sea unlike anything he's ever seen.
"Where... am I?"