Rise Of The Anti God

Damien nodded and focused on extracting the flower as fast as possible. Since she sounded so confident, Damien was sure he would at least be able to pluck the flower in time.

"Hyaa!" 

*Growl*

Damien heard Emily charging at the bear with a shout while the bear growled and charged at her. After that, the sound around his surroundings faded as his complete focus and concentration were on the green flower in front of him.

A few minutes later Damien heaved a sigh of relief as he instantly transferred the green flower to his soul space where Luna can access it to concoct the pill later.

He turned around and saw Emily sitting on top of the dead bear waiting for him.

'Wow...no wonder she was so confident. As expected of a genius I guess.' Damien was impressed with how Emily killed an ethereal beast having the same cultivation as hers within a few minutes.

Emily noticed Damien getting up after extracting the flower. She asked after getting off from the bear, "Sir Alchemist, is everything done here?"

'Now I have to pick the Crimson Berry for Luna.' Damien didn't forget about the deal he made with Luna otherwise the flower he plucked just now would go to waste.

He said to Emily, "I have something else to do here. You can go ahead and join with your friends."

The Crimson Berry was said to be spotted only a few kilometers from Damien's current location.

But the reason Damien wanted Emily to leave is not that he wanted to pluck it on his own but because he was at his limit, as he was maintaining his soul energy connection to the dead Flame Hog.

Because the Flame Hog took up most of his soul energy, he had to discard many ethereal beasts at the Middle and High Level of the Spirit Ethereal Realm and even one or two weaker Earth Ethereal Realm beasts since it was beyond his limit to maintain them all together.

If he didn't maintain his soul energy connection then its souls would completely dissipate and he wouldn't be able to raise it back to life. 

How could he afford to discard the corpses of such a powerful ethereal beast which even he couldn't cause the slightest scratch, let alone defeat it. He had been relying on the Fearless Trio to take away its corpse after they killed it.

Even though Damien's soul was at the Early Nascent Soul Stage, his soul was comparable to that of the Early Soul Transformation Soul Stage which lets him maintain his soul energy connection to such a powerful ethereal beast.

He had already discarded Doggy since he got a way more powerful ethereal beast to turn into his undead slave. He didn't want to waste his soul energy trying to maintain a weaker undead ethereal beast.

Right now, he decided to take a risk by taking the Flame Hog outside and transferring a part of his soul essence to it so that it could live on as an undead without needing a soul energy connection to him. In other words, it could roam around independently but Damien would still be able to order it around.

He didn't want Emily to witness the process of him raising an undead nor did he want to extract his soul essence in front of her which would seem strange.

Emily raised her brows surprised and asked, "But Sir Alchemist, it isn't safe for you here now considering how your cultivation is restricted. Please let me stay with you. Those two would be alright on their own or I would have received a transmission already."

Emily knew how important this mission was and she wanted to complete it without any mishaps, especially making sure nothing happens to Alchemist Azrael. It was her job after all. So, when Damien told her to leave him, she couldn't just agree right away.

Damien expected her reaction and said in an assertive tone, "Trust me, nothing is going to happen to me here. But if you don't go to where they are, you might lose Leo. Things are not as they seem." His tone got serious towards the end.

Emily got nervous when Damien mentioned she might lose Leo if she doesn't leave now, and couldn't help but wonder why he said like that. But hearing the seriousness behind his words, she knew Damien was not joking.

She quickly took out a messaging talisman and spoke in an anxious tone, "Leo, can you hear me?....Leo?....Leo? Are you okay?"

'No response...is he in the middle of a fight or did something happen to him?' She felt uneasy thinking whether something really happened to Leo in spite of having no idea what reason made Damien say something like that.

She hesitated for a while and then looked at Damien not knowing what to do. She didn't want to leave Damien unattended as it was her job to protect him but on the other hand, after what Damien told her, and hearing no response from Leo's end, she wanted to check up on Leo and find out whether he is okay.

"I am sorry, Sir Alchemist...I will quickly return right back after checking on Leo. Please stay here till I get back and send me a message transmission if there's any problem." Emily said in an apologetic tone as she bowed to Damien and quickly rushed in the direction where Marcus and Leo had left using her movement skills.

Damien sighed as he saw Emily leave in a haste. Anyway, he succeeded in convincing Emily to leave him alone.

He quickly took out the dead Flame Hog from his soul space as its corpse plopped on the ground.

Damien focused on his soul plane, trying to slice off a part of his soul essence.

"Anti-God Art's Second Stage - Shackles of Death!"

"Ughhhhhh!" He let out a muffled cry of pain as he cut out 10% of his soul essence in order to turn the dead Flame Hog into a self-sustaining undead. His body slumped and writhed in pain as he felt as if he had never experienced this kind of splitting pain before.

Anything involving the soul is a dangerous game to play and Damien still took the risk, having faith in his Anti-God Arts. It would take him a few months to recover that 10% of his soul essence but it was acceptable for him.

The huge pressure on his soul instantly disappeared as he cut off his soul energy connection to the dead Flame Hog.

However, he felt lethargic, and a stinging sensation in his soul plane making him hard to even focus on his surroundings. The aftermath of the pain was still there but he somehow managed to get himself up.

*Grunt*

The Flame Hog got up as its eyes turned black and a bizarre circular jet black mark appeared on its forehead. However, unlike the undead ethereal beasts, Damien had raised before, its aura was more malevolent and its eyes, hooves and fearsome tusks blazed with jet black fire instead of returning to its normal form.

It prostrated on its limbs in reverence when Damien looked at it.

"Luna, what is with this Flame Hog?" Damien asked with a perplexed expression seeing the hog having qualities similar to his Origin Seed.

However, he noticed that its jet black flames weren't as intense and ominous as his Fallen Flames.

"Ha...it's nothing. Since you gave it a portion of your soul essence, it basically altered its Fire elemental seed a bit giving it a slight nature of your soul...probably your Origin Seed. It will turn back to normal as long as it doesn't use its powers. You just have to command it when you want it to go berserk and its eyes and tusks will become like that. It also looks more alive, making it hard to for one to tell if its dead because of your soul essence inside it." Luna stated.

She continued, "In other words, you can say you created a True undead while the ones you created before were like Lesser undead."

"So are its flames as powerful and profound as my Fallen Flames?" Damien asked curiously.

"Of course not, it only has a ordinary Fire elemental seed and obviously has no Origin Seed. But since it has your death force and your soul essence, a fraction of your Death Laws has merged with its soul, giving its flames the jet black color. So, even though its flames won't be as powerful as your Fallen Flames, it won't be as weak as ordinary flames. Its flames would be dreadful compared to its original flames and its combat prowess would be higher."

Damien was impressed that he could even impart a fraction of his comprehension of Death Laws to his undead slaves using his soul essence. Moreover, he was elated at the fact that a ethereal beast two realms more powerful than him is his slave.

He also knew that he can now send off the Flame Hog anywhere within his soul perception range and still be under his command. He sent a command to the Flame Hog and its eyes turned back to normal and even the jet black mark disappeared, making it look like a normal Flame Hog.

'Wew...it looked kinda cool but freaky....well, now to find that Crimson Berry.'