A storm of Blood and Ash fell over all of Jarkarr, and visibility had been cut down to nothing, through the gloom, a bird with flames for wings, and a body resembling larva flew over the silent, dead world.
Its movement left long trials of flames behind, and it opened eyes looked down with a hint of amusement before it made a deep sound that by all right should emerge from a throat of an animal thousand of times its size, it turned around and flew towards space where it settled on the shoulder of a chubby man.
The man had eyes that glowed like lit coal, and he had a wide smile that did not reach his eyes. The Third Prince had finally reached Rowan after these few months because he was distracted by other matters, and with the time frame the Third Prince operated on, these months were like seconds to him.
He sat on the bleeding head of a Demon, whose death appeared to be quick and must be quite surprising because by the sneering expression on the face of the demon which had been perfectly captured even in death, it last thought was most likely to be those of disdain.
After so long, he never tired of playing weak, and moments such as these was always a source of endless amusement to him.
He was the first person to make a deal with Boreas and crossed through to Jarkarr.
Fury was powerful in his own right, but he was still arrogant, while he had been bargaining with Boreas, the Third Prince was beside him, and unlike the little runt, he had an endless sea of treasure.
Boreas had been making deals with the Third Prince while speaking with Fury, and Fury had no idea what was happening.
Coincidentally, at the moment of his appearance, the Demon arrived as well.
This was a Duke ranked demon, a creature equal to a fourth circle Dominator, just a step below a Demon Prince. It was rude like all Demons were, arrogant in its might, and the knowledge it was a creature from a Supreme World.
The Third Prince had toyed with him for a few seconds, sadly there were bigger fishes to fry and he had to cut his game short, the only peculiarity of these whole encounter were the words of the Demon, “you are the target?” He would be visiting the Great Abyss in the near future to cull some Demons, of course, this might positively affect Trion in the long run and the many thousands of worlds the Great Abyss was battling at the same time, but he did not care as long as his overall interest was not affected
If Rowan was here he would recognize this demon whose head was now nothing but a glorious chair, it was the same as the one he had seen long ago inside the timeline that the Primordial Record ripped away.
In that timeline, when he was on the verge of destroying this planet, he had seen several beings of power who lasted the longest before Jarkarr was destroyed, and one of them was a Demon that walked on all fours like an animal.
Rowan had been expecting the presence of this demon and had made contingencies for its appearance, but nevertheless he was glad for its absence during the battle with Erohim, either by luck or something else, the Third Prince met the Demon and the result was the head of the Demon Duke being turned to his stool.
He kicked his chubby legs like a child, “Once more, this bloodline of yours amazes me, dear boy. The sorts of unfathomable creatures you are you able to summon is astonishing! I can’t believe even I do not recognize them. Is it possible that one day you might be able to summon me?” The Third Prince broke down in laughter, which was a very strange sight for his lips were opened wide in laughter but a frown stained his face. 𝙣𝒗．𝒕
Rowan would have recognized this effect, it was that of a single man with many minds.
He began to crack his fingers unconsciously, “Is it the Aranthion Bloodline, Mersiah, Svrtyrrhic, Truinic, what sort of Empyrean Bloodline did this brat awaken? Where did he come in contact with it? Haa, this is driving me crazy! How the hell is he getting so strong in such a short time, the temptation to take him apart to uncover every little detail of his glorious body is almost too much for me to take! Dear boy, surely you would understand if your father wants to enter deep inside you.”
The Third Prince laid on his back and looked at the stars, his eyes squeezed together in thought,
“I was wrong, dear boy, when I said you were no son of mine. How many are the deaths now, bird? No, let me count… 745,237,665 people are dead… and counting, Oh ten more just died, oops that another thousand that just died, and to think this is just your first year of life! Ha ha, we have a jackpot on our hands. But what the fu*k is this runt Fury doing here? Goddamned kids of these days, everyone just has to be stylish. This might be troublesome. Is he going to be able to escape death?”
The Third Prince adjusted his sitting, the head of the demon had many horns sticking out of it, and he had to gingerly arrange himself to avoid all of them.
He had been going through the Spatial storage of the creature while scattering countless treasures he deemed as useless into space, maybe someone lucky would come across them floating in the void someday and with it become more than their destiny allotted for them.
He was interested in Karma and Destiny, and so every single treasure he discarded, although meaningless to him, he left marks inside them that would be difficult for most gods to even notice, he would be alerted if something special happened as a result of his actions.
The Third Prince made a satisfactory noise when going through the Spatial Storage he discovered what he wanted—three bottles of prime Hell Brew straight from the Great Abyss, the bottles shined as if they contained molten magma, and the smell was so strong, a single sniff would turn an Incarnation State Dominator lungs to ash.
Uncorking one of them, he placed the bottle to his nose and appreciated the intense flavor for five entire minutes, as he allowed the wine to breathe before he took a long gulp, and he smacked his lips as he relaxed and then sighed in contentment, “Oh, that hits the spot. Rowan don’t die too quickly in that arrogant runts hands, that would be such a shame, but it would be a good thing to learn if you survive that there are some things even Empyrean should fear. You still have two terrifying tribulations coming, if you survive them all, you would be capable of knowing the truth. I hope your mind is as sharp as your swords! You would need them both.”
The bird by his side began to nudge him, it had been feasting on the eyes of the Demon, the Third Prince smiled and poured a few drops of the Hell wine on his left hand, and the bird sipped from his palm.
“Cheers to the battle. Cheers to war!”