Chapter Ten:
The doon leading to another chamber, miraculously opened itself, as id waiting for Athena to come in. The energy, this unexplored chamber emitted promptly after its door was opened, was very unusual. Before Athena could realize what was going on, the door leading towards the chamber closed itself, leaving Athena and Black inside of it.
'No way, this cannot be, how is this possible?' a small whisper filled with extreme pain and sorrow, echoed through Athena's ears. It was Black.
A demonic human, whose aura was similar to a demon who had almost reached the mastery of its demi-god state, was sitting on a giant throne. The throne, with all the elegance in the world present in it, was even more magnificent than the throne of Asmodeus himself.
'Who is he, Black? How is he related to you?', Athena with an extended face full of quires looked towards Black, this time with a strong determination to get the answers he wanted to here.'
'The person in front of you, is the being, who was once closest to the owner of the throne, and the was the second strongest inside the entire demonic realm, my most loyal subordinate, and the demon who was once called the sword of the demon god, Azrakan.'
'During the time I was still a demon prince, Azrakan was the captain of the seventh order soldiers. During my first mission, my father, Lucifer, had assigned him and his order to work under me. From then on, Azrakan, impressed by my strength and wisdom, decided to swear his utmost loyalty to me along. And so did his entire order. In his prime, he was famous as 'The Death Sword'.'
Black was in anguish upon watching the state Azrakan was in. He protected me till the day I was @! #$%.
The restriction had once again prevented Athena from discovering the entire truth about the being who was standing right before him. This time, Athena was furious. Due to the repeated interference of the restriction, he was left hanging on one end of the rope.
'Are you the prophesized deity, who is supposed to prevent the @! #$%# .'
'You look weak. Even a flick of finger of the ******** would kill you right now. But as you are the one chosen by the destiny, I , The Death Sword, shall personally imprint the teachings of the long forgotten *******.
Athena, was now beyond furious. Even though the truth was before the very eyes of his, he was neither able to hear nor read it. With eyes full of agony and frustration, Athena blindly charged towards Azrakan, not knowing the consequence of what he was about to face.
'ATHENA, STOP!! HE IS NOT SOMEONE YOU CAN FACE RIGHT NOW!' Black screamed with his voice filled with sorrow, tried to stop Athena.
But it was already too late. The sword of Azrakan was already an inch far away from Athena's neck. At that very moment, Athena dodged his slash and continued his attacks while flawlessly preventing Azrakan's attack by a hair's inch and attacking precisely at his weak point.
Athena was furious, but following his instincts and the flow of energy using his demonic eyes, he swung his sword right across the point where the energy was concentrated the most.
*SWISH**CLUNG*
Athena tried to land his slash countless times, but for some reason, his sword strikes were being deflected. It was as if his strikes were not even reaching Azrakan's body but was deflected midair.
'It's the enhanced aura, Athena! You cannot cut it unless you imbue aura to your sword itself.' Black yelled from afar.
'So that was it.'
Right at that moment, Athena's sword was imbued with a pitch-black aura.
'How do you know this technique?' Azrakan questioned Athena with his eyes filled with joy and anger at the same time.
At that very moment, while Azrakan was distracted by Athena's aura, Athena, swung his sword with the maximum amount aura he could exert while still keeping enough stamina to perform a few more strikes. But the strike that Athena had just landed, was enough for Azrakan to lose his strength. After a few more strikes, Azrakan, loosing his mana core fell down on his knees.
'So, you indeed are the chosen one.' A voice full of rejoice and wisdom echoed throughout the chamber.
'A long time ago, I had given up my soul for this very moment.'
'I, The Death Sword, Azrakan, along with my entire order, hereby pledge my sincere loyalty to you.
The moment Azrakan Uttered those words, an entire undead legion, with almost 30 members all at least at the greater demonic stage appeared tearing the ground from below.
Athena was astonished. A death knight, comparable to an archdemon along with his entire order had pledged their loyalty towards him.
'Athena, the order before you, is a group I raised myself. They all will all be in your care now.' Black with his eyes filled with pride and rejoice, instructed Athena about his newly appointed order.
But instead of being content about it, Athena was rather dejected. He still didn't know what all of this was for. Black noticed the sudden sorrow.
'The moment you reach the archdemon stage, the truth shall become a bit comprehensible for you.'
Black's words brought Athena a bit of assurance.
'My lord, on the back of my tomb, lies the medium that will help you increase the understanding of you power to you.'
Azrakan responded with a cold voice befitting that of an undead. Athena, curious about the contents of this medium, went at the backend of the chamber. An old wooden box imbued with a dark energy familiar to that of Athena.
The box, contained a book, along with some elixirs and an old rusted sword. As soon as Athena opened the box, the demonic aura, recognizing its owner, rushed inside Athena's body.
After a few moments, the book inside the box disappeared. The book had now been absorbed by Athena. Similar to the data transfer Black performed, the contents of that book were now inside of Athena's mind.
As soon as Athena came back to his senses,
'Azrakan, the second order soldiers, are still inside the cave of slumber. Pass my message to them without revealing yourself. They are to stay here until I call for them again. Furthermore, do not disturb me unless some grave danger falls upon you or if the end of Clawgust is nearby.
'Yes, milord.'
Azrakan, along with his subordinates disappeared inside the ground, upon receiving Athena's instruction.
It had now been two months since Athena had locked himself inside the storage room.
'Milord, the end of Clawgust is just around the corner.' Azrakan stated, while bowing down towards Athena with one knee of the ground stated.
'The time has come then. I was almost done with all the preparations as well.' Athena whispered to himself while stretching his body after a long period of training.
'Order the members of the second black order to gather at the exit of the cave. The time has come for us to return to the Capital.'
Athena, with eyes full of energy, ordered Azrakan while sharpening his sword.