The hunt for Archdemons was much harder than finding the demons than I thought it was. Their numbers were fewer than the demons, and I could only guess they immediately used their ritual to travel to another planet to gather more mana.
Since the elephant looking Archdemon, I had yet to encounter another one. I'm guessing that my imposing new form didn't help, and they didn't want to tangle with me, so were keeping out of my sensing range. In order to get the drop on them, I would have use Kumon to go to a random location and hope an Archdemon is there.
My hunger grew within me, keeping me from thinking of ways to find an Archdemon. Momentarily giving up, I use Kumon to just go to a random planet. Stepping through the void, I come into a world that looked just like all the others I've been to. Lush green trees, vast fields and oceans. No creativity at all. But as I was dwelling on how each planet was created, my ever-growing hunger once again stopped my line of thinking.
Viewing a river trailing from an ocean, I decide to follow it as there is definitely always a settlement near a body of water. After a few minutes of following it, from my height, I can see the resemblance of a town, but no mana signatures enter my field of perception strangely.
Approaching the town, boats sway in the river along with no signs of life in them. Doors to the houses flap open and closed as if no one were in them. Did I already devour these people and not realize it? Stepping through the town, I spy something laying in an alley. After a closer inspection, it was a person's body, shriveled up like a dried-up husk. I recognized it as what happens when a demon drains a person of their mana.
Then, I identify body after body in the same state, littered throughout the town. It was apparent by now, that I had come to a planet that already had a demon running rampant on it. No sooner had I thought that, did something enter my field of perception, heading to me fast. I only had enough time to turn before the demon was in the middle of the street looking at me.
His giant bat wings furl up around him to form a cloak that covered his humanoid body that stopped short of his bat ears. He crosses his furry arms, as his eyes look me up and down, while he taps his foot impatiently.
"Hmmm." I can hear him say as he stands there. From my mana sensing, I could tell he was no doubt an Archdemon. Perhaps the most powerful one that I've encountered so far. I had no idea if he was on the verge of evolution, but it sure felt like it.
"I have heard that it isn't uncommon for our rituals to place two demons on the same planet, but I doubted that. Now I see that it is true. Unfortunately for you, my uninvited friend, I do not require assistance. If only you were here about seven days ago when I was against the church, maybe then you would have been useful." He says.
I should have processed what he said sooner, maybe I would have had a chance to escape then, but it took me too long to piece together the sentence.
'Wait. Did he say seven days ago?'
I can feel a sudden shift on the planet, as a wave of green rapidly approaches us from the sky. As the green passes over us, a sickening feeling hits me, almost as if I was missing a piece of myself. Slightly panicking as I know what this means, I attempt to use Kumon, only to find that nothing happens. Just my luck, to go to a planet that was minutes away from an extermination team from arriving.
Looking back down, I could see the uncaring look in the demon's face as he looks up to the sky.
"Augh, more surprises. No matter, I will deal with these pests myself. Do not interfere." He tells me as his great wings unfurl and he launches into the sky. For a moment, I consider letting him die to the extermination team, but from the Deacons memories, I knew that was a bad idea. The deacon didn't exactly know how strong they were, as the team varied, but he knew the requirement to join the team was being a C tier Proficient in Light magic. That was just the bare minimum and there were six of those running around.
The demon was an excellent source of mana to increase his mana pool on evolution, he couldn't afford to let his prey just suicide into the church like that. There was no way he could escape without a confrontation with the church, plus, he did want to limit test his new form anyway. On top of that, he really didn't have anything to eat yet, so his hunger was raging within him. Not wasting anymore time, he used Kumon, heading in the direction the demon did.