Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Folding my legs over one another in the lotus position, chilling air ran from my lungs into the crisp air. Feeling the icy snow touch my flesh, melting away at the slightest touch, the prayers of my followers ran through my mind.

The demons that had left under the Faceless lead were now spreading my glorious name. Some of these acolytes asked for power, others wealth. Answering their prayers with cold indifference, I foresaw over a hundred planets, Midgard included.

The divinity I was taking was thrilling. Hearing my people's cries of love and hate had filled me with a sense of achievement I never knew I craved. It didn't matter if they cursed me or cheered my name to be the only true god. The feelings of hate were wrath, and those that loved me followed their sins. No matter what they did, I grew.

But I wanted more. I wanted it all.

Divinity ran through my veins like a raging sea, crashing against my flesh refining me with each passing second. My mind had begun to grow, to evolve, but it was not enough. Julius had shown me a truth I took to heart.

The core of power was my demonic bloodline, which had long fused with my other blood; I had tried repeatedly to use my adaptation to push past my demonic limit. While my power had grown, when compared to Angels or Abyssal Fiends, I fell short, very short.

So I was giving up on my physical advantages, at least for now. Lilith was still MIA, and that left me little wiggle room to evolve, at least for now. I had no way to improve past this bottleneck.

So for the past year and a half, I have been dealing with all my many techniques. Crimson Winds being my primary focus, that could improve my Qi by a factor of ten. When crafting the Spear of Noctem, I was interested in going over most of my techniques, but my body was stuck locked due to the Flames of Hellfire.

That had forced me to go through everything in my head. However, I never really had the chance to apply all my theories. I had delayed for far too long, and things were changing.

Zariel had used Bael to give me Crimson Winds, and I knew he did it for a reason. It was a monstrous technique I panned on abusing till my body began to break down.

According to this manual, the max Crimson Winds could raise my divinity was by a factor of a hundred. Nevertheless, War of Kings would raise my power the longer I fought indefinitely. Although at the price of my sanity.

While I would love to meddle with War of King more, Crimson Wings was my main focus due to the familiarity.

Taking a few hours to calm my sinful mind, now plagued with the voice of my acolytes, a scarlet glow began to rise from my body. Wrapping around me, the taste of sweet iron filled my mouth. Savoring the delicacy of my succulent blood, a passing divinity stormed inside my heart; with no core for divinity to rest, my body needed to become stronger to resist my brutal power.

Star-Lord, Realm Lord, and Heavenly Lord were the three realms of the Lesser God Realms, and they were also known to focus solely on divinity; Improving its nature, the next deity stage would enhance your body, then your soul.

Wrapping myself in a bloody wind, the skies of Midgard twisted to scarlet, filling the land with my blood. I continued to push to the limit analyzing all the components of Crimson Winds; Racing past the thirtieth layer, cracks appeared, and blood ran. Pooling over my flesh and beneath my feet, I continued to push my limits.

Running Soulforce through me, a pulse from my soul ran from my skin, as I could feel my body beginning to adapt.

Coughing up another mouthful of blood, my eyes turned bloodshot. Charging past the thirty-fourth layer, I held on as long as my Soulforce could last, which was around five minutes to date.

I had long since comprehended Chrimson Winds, but applying what I needed was different; my body could not handle this power, at least not yet.

"that's enough," Idun swiftly commented, appearing like a fairy descending from heaven, "save your divinity." She said, knowing all gods struggled to maintain divinity due to an inherently slow way of obtaining divinity.

"It's fine; by my comparison, a single drop from my infinity ring is enough to last five minutes," I explained palely, bubbling blood from my lips.

Firmly holding on, not releasing Crimson Winds, I remained locked in a struggle of anguish and pleasure. My bones were shaking against my muscles, cracking under the rising pressure of divinity, while my very blood burned like hot tar. Yet, it felt oddly comfortable in some strange way. I was beginning to love this pain.

"You keep this up, and I think you may end up killing yourself," Idun claimed, pursing her worried lips. I chuckled and ran my eyes over her delicate features, admiring her azure eyes that seemed dim.

"Then I die. I am a bit curious about what will happen. Will I go to hell to be reborn or Noctem?" I carelessly replied, not in the least bit worried of dying. Although I am a soul bender, If I die, I truly die, don't I? Devils have the luxury of being completely immortal.

"Why are you here?"

Idun sighed and crossed her lips. "There is a bit of activity going on with the cocoons. It seems like Freya and Mimir are about to awake."

"Oh?" Growing excited, the scarlet glow around me withered, "Great, finally. Let's see if they survived."

"I knew it! You are experimenting on them!" Idun screamed, pointing blame as I turned the other way.

"Nonsense, where did you hear such a thing!" I shamelessly said, hiding my smile as she trembled in anger.

"You just said it!" She bellowed, and I shrugged.

"Prove it!"

Taking my leave, Idun fumed in anger. Chuckling, I teleported into the throne room where Mimir and Freya resided. Holding my eyes firmly onto the cacoons beginning to crack, I crackled in laughter.

"Idun," I said as she appeared by my side, "Can you put a barrier to block any access energy."

"I can try, but if this breaks the legacy, I may not be able to stop it." She claimed softly.

"Then don't, but for now, try."