The Banquet went on for almost an hour. Due to a long journey ahead, liquor was not brought to the table but upon the request of everyone present, a few bottles were bought by Azrakan.
After filling their stomachs everyone went towards their respective abodes. Athena, along with Black stayed at the same room where the banquet was held, as the room was changed into what it was during his first day inside the caves.
Athena, tensed about what was about to come next, was unable to sleep, just then,
*SNORE**SNORE*
Black, tired of the last two months training, was now sleeping like a dog. Watching Black sleep, Athena after giggling a bit on his own decided to get a good night sleep, as the days ahead would not be as comfortable as today.
The morning came sooner than expected. The sun was already shining brightly with a bit of wind leaking inside the room where Athena and Black were resting.
*YAWN*
'Morning Athena, how are you feeling today?' Black expressed himself full of energy after a long sleep.
'I am in my best condition, Black.'
'Now hurry up and complete your breakfast. We are leaving within an hour.' Athena responded towards Black greeting with a smile with a hint of anger.
Black, seeing various sweets sitting on the table, rushed towards it and started devouring them until there was nothing left to eat anymore.
'My lord, the soldiers are all ready to depart. And because the land of slaughter is full of thick grass, I recommend that you should also depart on a horseback.' Azrakan, suddenly appearing in the room, delivered his message while bowing towards Athena.
'I Would love a horse ride myself Azrakan, but we do not have any right now.' Athena replied to Azrakan's suggestion.
'That is not the case milord, we have a perfect horse for you waiting outside the caves.'
The horse Azrakan mentioned was an undead horse. It was once the horse that Luo used during his prime days. It was an obsidian black horse that was the fastest among its peers.
Athena excited to see an undead horse for the first time, collected his belongings and started heading towards the exit. At the exit, Draven, along with his entire order was standing there waiting for Athena.
Along him, was a black horse whose eyes were even more dark than its skin colour.
Athena, excited after witnessing it for the first time, started to rub its face while examining its entire body.
Even though the horse itself was full of death energy, it still had all its muscles intact which were enough to put all the other horses present there to a shame.
'Its name is Draco.' Black responded with eyes shining with admiration and pride.
Time was scarce. The end of claugust was just around the corner. Athena, was ordered to return before the end of claugust. Even though arriving a day or two late wouldn't have made a difference, but Athena wanted to arrive there on time and prove his worth in front of everyone.
After checking all the belongings, Athena, along with the second black order, departed from the cave of slumber towards the capital Pandemonium.
Azrakan, along with his group, quietly followed Athena in the shadows. And just like that, three days went by. Hunting monsters along the way and resting at night in their respective tents was all everyone had been doing.
The responsibility of preparing the food for everyone was given to some soldiers of the second black order. Everything went smoothly till today.
The hidden spies of the lot who supported Creed, were laying tow until now. At first, they were just waiting for the right moment for striking Athena.
But upon witnessing Athena's strength with their own eyes, the spies were now to scared to carry forward their plan.
The spies had no choice but to carry out the plan as the fear of the other side was scarier to them than Athena who had just changed recently.
During the past two months, everyone was present inside the caves of slumber, Athena had ordered Azrakan to keep an eye on everyone and to report if anything out of ordinary happened.
To his surprise, Athena found out that there were three spies among the second black order. Originally there were five, but due to the fight with the dark mage, two of them lost their lives.
The food prepared for today was mixed with sleeping potions. Athena was already suspicious about something. He was already aware about the spies since the banquet.
But Athena decided to play along to find out about the real perpetrators behind the spies. The food was then served everyone.
After some time, everyone except Athena had fallen asleep. The spies, realizing the perfect moment, decided to enter Athena's abode.
'So, what do you plant to do with them?' Black asked now being able to decide what Athena was thinking. 'Just wait and watch.' Athena responded with a slow but cold voice.
'Do it quickly, those undead can come back anytime.' Said the first spy to the other two.
As all three of them were scared to approach Athena, they decided to attack him together.
The person sleeping on the bed inside Athena's abode was stabbed countless times. Blood spilled all over the bed. The three spies, thinking they had done their job, were laughing menacingly.
'Is he dead?'
A sudden voice, echoed throughout the three spy's ears. Scared to face the person behind them, the spies decided to swing their dagger aimlessly towards the voice.
The room went silent again. The three of them finally decided to face the person behind them to confirm whether he was dead or not. The moment spy no 1 decided to look behind him,
'You guys really have a lot of nerve. For attempting to kill me, what should be the appropriate punishment for you?'
It was Athena. The person sleeping in his place was an undead of the death sword group. Athena, not able to decide on what to do with them, ordered Azrakan,
'Azrakan, I wan to know the names behind these spies. You have three days. Find them for me.'
'Yes, my lord.' And just like that, Azrakan vanished into thin air along with the three spies who were too frightened to do anything about it.
The next day, Draven, along with everyone else, were told what had happened the night before.
'I still cannot believe Prince Athena. Those three were one of the oldest members of my order. For the crime of not being able to figure this out, I ask of you for an appropriate punishment. Those three were my soldiers after all.' Draven requested Athena while bowing in front of him on one of his knees with sorrow and pain all over his face.
'Stand up Draven, the incident that took place yesterday night had nothing to do with you. The spies were something even I had not anticipated. But what is done cannot be undone. For now, we shall continue our journey towards the Pandemonium.
'As you wish, Prince Athena.' Draven, with eyes full of guilt, responded towards Athena with his eyes facing the ground.
The spies that tried to harm Athena, were of none other than Lilith's side. Due to the sudden attention Athena had received during the Walpurgis, Lilith was scared that the plan of making Creed the crown prince would crumble if Athena was kept alive.
And so, they decided to plant some spies in the second black order to monitor Athena and attempt an assassination if an opportunity arrives itself.