Prime Originator

"Mom! Dad!" Lilith burst into joy before leaping into their embrace before she choked on her emotion, seeing the state of her parents. 

Lidoran and Liliana had yet the time to even wash up after returning to the clan as they were immediately brought to the food distribution square, where the food was said to be very potent in replenishing their malnourished bodies.

"Your daughter has been unfilial and let you both suffered!" Lilith cried guiltily. 

"Hahaha, all is good. What's important is that we are all alive," Lidoran patted his daughter's shoulders while Liliana soothed her back before he added, "And at least you still remember to come home."

"Mm!" Lilith nodded before she suddenly shook her head and mentioned solemnly, "Right, I heard that enemy pursued us to our doorsteps." 

"Un. It is Lord Havoc, the Desolate Netherbird Second Prince's right-hand man. Lord Jorn is confronting him as we speak," Lidoran informed seriously.

"This person has been a Mid-rank 2 Transcendent for a long time. Although Lord Jorn has also ascended recently, he is still new to this realm of strength and won't be Lord Havoc's opponent." 

"We need to send back up quickly, but I've been told not to worry about it. How can I not worry about it? This is a Mid-rank 2 Transcendent who is infinitely close to the Late-stage, not far from the Paragon level."

"Don't worry, father. We had made countermeasures for this," Lilith reassured before she suddenly added, "But just to be sure, I will go see the situation with Miss Soft Feather." 

"Miss Soft Feather?" Lidoran muttered. 

Shortly after, Lidoran and Liliana shifted their gazes to the big blue bird before they were startled with shock and surprise.

"This is…" Liliana uttered.

"A proud member of the Blue Luan Tribe, but also the princess of the newly crowned monarch, Bluewinter, a Paragon," Lilith introduced. 

"What's a Blue Luan doing out here? And a princess no less." 

"Ahem. I mean, it is nice to meet you, Princess Soft Feather."

Lidoran and Lilian were even more surprised after hearing their daughter's introduction, but they did not forget to greet Soft Feather shortly after. 

After a brief chat, Lilith said, "Then I will go with Soft Feather now, mom, dad." 

"Un." 

"Be careful."

…

…

…

Outside the Desolate Crow Clan, Jorn continued to confront Lord Havoc and buy time as neither side appeared to be in a rush to battle. 

"With someone of your caliber and stature, why do you continue to serve such a person like the Desolate Netherbird Second Prince? Does he deserve your loyally?" Jorn spoke.

"It doesn't matter how others view the Desolate Netherbird Second Prince," Lord Havoc stated coolly before saying, "I owe a great debt of gratitude to his mother, and I will see it through to the end that this debt of gratitude is repaid." 

"Although I don't know what you owe his mother, I do believe that it isn't enough for you to serve her son for a lifetime," Jorn stated before adding, "All you get out of this is your own sense of repayment."

"With the Desolate Netherbird Second Prince's character, he will not be grateful to you even if you save him many times. He will only take it for granted and demand more of you, working you like a dog until the day you die. Is that what you want?"

"Enough! I did not come here to be lectured on what and what not to do by you! I will only ask one last time; how did your Desolate Crow Clan suddenly grow stronger so quickly?!" Lord Havoc questioned sternly.

At that moment, a battle seemed imminent. 

However, just as Soft Feather's huge figure appeared over the wall, Lord Havoc felt something shattered in his pockets, causing his expression to freeze. 

After fishing out the shattered remains of a grey crystal, his expression quickly went from bad to worse.

"No! Something has happened to His Highness!" Lord Havoc bellowed. 

Bam—!

He immediately stomped the ground and took off into the skies before rushing back to Nethergrass city at maximum speed. 

With a short instance, his figure disappeared into the distance. 

Jorn's tensed and solemn look shortly relaxed dumbfoundedly just as Lilith and Soft Feather arrived with astonishment.

"Was that the enemy? What did you do to get him to leave, Uncle Jorn?" Lilith asked with surprise. 

Jorn shortly turned to Lilith with knitted brows before he answered puzzledly, "I didn't seem to have done anything…?"

"It must be my majestic presence that scared him," Soft Feather stated pompously before Lilith and Jorn gave a silent look speechlessly.

"What?" Soft Feather uttered. 

After a few moments of pondering, Jorn shook his head and said, "No matter what Lord Havoc's reason for suddenly leaving, I doubt this issue ends here. The Desolate Netherbird Second Prince is vindictive and narrow-minded."

"Right. The Desolate Netherbird Second Prince will not leave us alone. We should make use of this buffer time to quickly improve our strength and prepare for the next attack," Lilith suggested.

"Un, that's our only option," Jorn nodded before adding, "Although, if Prince Leon was here, he would be able to provide us with more options." 

"If… but we don't know when he will return," Lilith shook her head with a sigh, hoping Leon and the others would come back soon. 

Although she has her parents and the clansmen, she still felt like she lacked friends.

…

…

…

Dark continent

As the Battle Masters rushed to the secret realm's opening location, passing several more demon villages, towns, and cities on the way, they wiped out the smaller demon settlements and slipped past the bigger ones. 

In the heart of the demon land, an enormous abyss existed, where space was distorted and gravity was inverted. 

Hundreds of earthen chunks of landmasses floated above the abyss like space debris and rose slowly but surely higher towards the heavens. 

Thousands of demons gathered on these floating landmasses as the opening of the secret realm neared its completion. 

On the top of the highest floating landmass, a large red-glowing obelisk stood tall, full of runic engravings.

A single black-winged demon stood at the foot of it, both hands on a slab that stuck out like a sore thumb, continuously channeling mental power into it as the peak of the obelisk shot a solid and steady beam of black and red light into the heavens. 

The dark clouds shifted, gathered, and revolved around the abyss's perimeters, and the entire world seemed to pulsate, causing the floating landmasses to rise and fall as new ones descended from the dark clouds above. 

Rumble…!

Shortly after, the large chunks of landmasses clashed together with loud booms that roared like thunder, echoing far and wide as the initial shape of a colossal staircase to heaven was shortly formed.

Boom, boom, boom…!

Each piece of landmass moved and connected loudly in order, causing few demons on the floating landmasses to lose their balance and plunge into the abyss, leaving their life and death's situation unknown.

On a piece of unconnected floating landmass, a group of horned demons gathered among winged and multi-limbed demons with ugly expressions. 

"Soon, the secret realm will open, thereby lies the secret and opportunity to escape this prison world will come," a Four-armed Greater Demon spoke while gazing up at the distant obelisk in the high sky.

"…" 

The horned demons were silent without a comment, causing the Four-armed Greater Demon to pause with a frown.

"Hm? What's the matter, Yomu? Why the silence?" the Four-armed Greater Demon asked the Double-horned Greater Demon. 

"Something happened at home," the Double-horned Greater Demon spoke before adding after a brief delay, "My connection with my family is gone. They are most likely dead." 

"If I recall, your village was the closest to the Death Passage," the Four-armed Greater Demon recalled before stating with narrowed eyes, "Seems like the humans are coming for the secret realm this time."

"Hmph! Those pesky humans are even more ruthless and evil than some demons! They didn't even spare the woman and children!" a different horned Lesser Demon spoke.

"Speak of the devils. They're here!"

Once a Triple-horned Lesser Demon shouted, the group of demons standing on the edge of the floating landmass immediately shifted their gaze down to one corner of the abyss. 

…

…

…

"This is where the secret realm will open?" Young Zion muttered while standing on the edge of the abyss with folded arms. 

As the Battle Masters gazed at the floating landmasses above and the seemingly bottomless abyss below, Chief Valencia frowned. 

"Looks like we made it, but how do we get over there?" Chief Valencia asked.

"There will surely be a way once the secret realm fully opens," Young Zion answered calmly without a hint of urgency, seemingly waiting for something to happened. 

"Seems we can only wait," Chief Valencia nodded. 

Shortly after feeling the murderous gazes of thousands of demons above, Chief Valencia commented, "Seems like there won't be any other Battle Masters joining us." 

"So it seems," an Extremity-rank Battle Master uttered calmly without fear.

Meanwhile, Leon studied the revolving dark clouds that shortly fell on top of them as they stood on the edge of the abyss.

"Interesting," Leon rubbed his thoughtfully while muttering, "Such a colossal movement of dark clouds but not a hint of wind is produced. These dark clouds are not normal—or rather, they're not really dark clouds." 

"But it isn't important whether they are dark clouds or densely bundles of Darkness Profound Energy, but the fact that they seem to have the power to seal off this space…"