Chapter Eleven:
A few leaves fell and the wind blowing across the demon realm, became a bit colder. The two months flew by quickly. Athena, drenched in sweat and dirt, was still sharpening his sword techniques when Azrakan approached him,
'Milord, almost sixty days have passed now. The month of Clawgust will end in just a week.'
The time for Athena to leave the cave of slumbers had arrived. Athena, after listening to what Azrakan had to say, without any reaction, performed all of his sword techniques he had mastered one last time before his departure towards Pendamonium. (The name of the capital of the demonic realm is now Pendamonium.)
'You have grown a lot, milord.' Azrakan, with a cold voice, praised Athena about his recent enlightenment.
'It was all possible with the help of you all, Azrakan.' Athena expressed his gratitude towards Azrakan, his entire order as well as Black who had helped him grow at an enormous rate during these past two months.
'We just guided you at the basics, these achievements are all yours, Athena.' Black, excited by the transformation of Athena.
'Azrakan, prepare a hot bath for me and a banquet for everyone present here, for the last time before we leave this place for good.'
'At your order, milord.'
With a silent gust of wind, Azrakan vanished in thin air, showcasing the increase in his strength because of Athena's enlightenment as they were now connected by a soul pact.
'Black, what level am I at right now?', Athena, excited to realize his current strength in terms of the power level of the demonic realm questioned Black with eyes full of curiosity.
'If you go all out, you can even take on an Incept stage Archdemon right now.' Black, answered with a genuine joy on his face.
Even though Athena, was currently at the veteran Prince demon stage, his strength was above to that of a novice Archdemon.
'I guess this much is enough for me to prepare for whatever comes next.'
Athena, satisfied with the results of his rigorous training for the past two months, held his hand in midair. A pitch-black sword with a hint of red aura of its own, came flying towards the hand Athena had lifted in air.
It was the sword, that Azrakan was protecting in the deepest chamber of the storage room. Its name was, 'The God Slaying sword.' But Athena, cringed by the current name of the sword, decided to name it 'Dark fire'.
A pitch-black sword, sharp enough to even cut the skin of a dark troll (a monster with extremely thick skin.) where even archdemons had hard time slashing, with a symbol of infinity engraved right above the hilt of it, with the name of its creator, 'Luo' written on it.
Yes, Luo. He was the creator and also the previous owner of this sword. From the day the sword was created to the day Luo met his demise, he used this sword effortlessly. And now it had become a part of Athena's body.
The chambers started closing as soon as Athena started to step out of it, as if recognizing its master leave. The aura inside the chamber still remained the same. And so did the other treasures that were stored inside of it.
A loud sound of footsteps was ringing throughout the entrance of storage room. Athena, along with Azrakan arrived at the entrance of the storage room after Azrakan reported him that the banquet was ready.
The moment Athena crossed over the giant gate made, the gate closed itself just as it had opened itself earlier.
The ring that was fixed inside the gate floated midair landing itself on Athena's hands. The surprising fact about all of this was that all the treasures and elixirs that were inside the storage room were now placed inside the ring.
The ring Ganondorf had given Athena was no ordinary ring. But we will get to that part later.
After wearing the ring on the index finger of his left hand, Athena started to head towards where the banquet was arranged. It was the same room where Athena had rested after his fight against the dark mage.
The entire hall was filled with the second black order. Upon watching Athena enter the hall, everyone simultaneously, standing up from their respective seats, greeted Athena while bowing their heads.
'Welcome, prince Athena.'
'Please be seated, everyone.' Athena's word filled with aura echoed throughout the entire hall. The room itself was nothing ordinary. As if, the room had extended itself.
The aura Athena emitted, was now equivalent to that of the Archdemons. And the precise control over his mana was unheard of even among the ranks of the Archdemons.
'It seems you have surpassed me since a long time ago, Prince Athena.' Draven asserted his thoughts after getting closer towards Athena's seat.
'It seems I have, Draven.' Athena responded with a hint of mischievousness in his eyes.
*HAHAHAHA*
'Prince Athena, along the course of these past two months, along with my soldiers, I have come to a conclusion.'
As soon as Draven announced his words, all the soldiers along with Draven, bowed towards Athena with one knee on the ground and their head towards the ground, emitted these words with a unique sync to it,
'We the Second Black Order, swear our fealty towards you. We shall become your swords and carry out every order that shall be given to us with utmost sincerity.'
The sound of the soldiers echoed loudly throughout the entire hall.
Athena had already predicted this. Azrakan, hiding in the shadows had already discovered this piece of information and relayed it to Athena when he last visited him.
'Everyone, Arise. I thank you all for trusting me with you lives. And I shall do my best, so that the second black order shall claim the spot of the strongest among all the black order soldiers.'
The words of Athena had encouraged the entirety of soldiers including Draven.
'Everyone, now that you have decided to follow me, let me introduce you to my first loyal subordinates, the death sword group.'
The moment Athena, announced his words, twenty-nine unknown figures, appeared from thin air, bowing towards Athena while wearing capes to prevent anyone else from discovering them.
It was Azrakan along with his subordinates. Every single one of them were at least at the stage of a greater demon. And the leader was someone, whose level could not be measured by anyone present in the room.
Everyone was amazed and terrified by the sudden appearance of the death sword group. They did not expect Athena to already have a group as strong as him under them. Just a few months ago, he was called the trash prince of the pandemonium.
Every soldier of the second black order, upon witnessing the strength of Prince Athena and his personal subordinates, once again realized the reason they had decided to join his side. Just then,
'We have a lot to do, so enjoy the banquet the best you can, as this might as well be the most amount of food you all will get till, we arrive at Pendamonium.' Athena, watching the tension between the soldiers due to the death sword group, announced to start the feast.