Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Sassy slid away from the other beasts who did not simply tear the monsters apart but also proceeded to eat their flesh. Hard-crusted exterior and all.

Through his connection with the beasts, Hal could tell it was quite beneficial to their development and also staved a Devilish appetite they had been developing. 

Even Borus was part of the feast which showed that even though he was second in command after Sassy, he was still a Demon, Nay, Devil Beast.

While Hal snuggled up with his green serpent with whom he always found an increasing attachment, he could not help but ask as he observed the feasting, 

"Don't you want to join?" 

While he was not exactly enamored with the act, he also was a staunch follower of the belief that as long as it made his forces stronger as well as took away any evidence that there was more than one opponent he had had to fight off, then it was fine.

Sassy hissed and coiled half her body around him only to place her head beside his and hiss into his ear, 

"It doesn't look quite appetizing to me. How about you give me your blood instead, Master?" She said.

Hal chuckled, 

"You are getting more articulate." Hal said with a proud nod before he offered her a drop of his blood and watched her twist in the enjoyment of its energy.

He also observed a further evolution but it was practically the start of another long process.

Once the beasts had devoured all the monstrous bodies, Sassy led them into the portal to the habitat which Hal opened for them and once they were in, they began to digest it and their transformation into Devils to the next level.

Meanwhile, Hal stood over Beldar's body and looked almost as though he was at a loss.

'Should I leave his body here and just bring Ehrlich out here or should I take him in there so that Ehrlich will see him when he's awake?' He asked. Mostly to himself as he projected runes that cleansed the floor of any residue the monsters had left behind.

'Does it matter?' Grimoire asked with a deep sigh.

Hal looked shocked,

'Does it matter? Of course, it matters. It matters a lot. Presentation is key, Grimmy' Hal said with a mental shake of his head.

Then he left Beldar to walk into the cave only to walk out later with one hand grabbing one of Ehrlich's ankles as he dumped him right beside the dead Dystopian.

'Now we just wait till he wakes up. Or I just wake him up because I will be really peeved if I cannot even attend a part of the party the Sheik is sure to be throwing right now' He said as he pulled off Beldar's spatial ring which was surprisingly still intact.

Having being made to accommodate increase in sizes.

Since the owner was already dead, the soul imprint was gone and he could peruse it and see that Beldar had taken the time to receive payment before coming to wait for them in the cave.

The ring was filled with Blue gems and from Hal's count with the use of accurate perception, it was about six hundred thousand blue gems.

'That's a lot. I am tempted to steal it' Hal sighed before picking up the monster creation scroll that had actually floated outside with Beldar.

Then he moved over to Ehrlich and began projecting Runes on him that were of the electrical nature and would quite literally shock him back to consciousness...

...

*BZZZZRRRR....*

"Ahhh" Ehrlich yelled and sat upright on the forest floor to see Hal waving a hand in front of his face.

"Hey there, sleeping ugly. I was really starting to wonder how long you were planning to let me handle everything." He said with a smirk.

Ehrlich patted his chest and it still felt slightly sore, 

"What did you do to me?" He asked with a bit of breathlessness in his voice.

"Oh relax. It was only rank four runes that can't really do any permanent damage to a Cosmic aurora-like yourself. At least not when they are used in singles." Hal said and stood from the ground to perform stretches.

Something about what Hal just said caught his attention, 

"Wait singles? How many rank four runes did you use on me exactly?" He asked.

"Oh, about a hundred, give or take twenty." Hal said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

"What?!" Ehrlich yelled and made to stand but the quick movement only aggravated the ache he was already feeling.

Hal shook his head, 

"You really should relax. And I would not have had to do it if you hadn't fallen unconscious from a single boulder. That's a shame on you for being so weak.

If this is what I have to look forward to, I'd rather remain a phenomenon realm cultivator for the rest of my life."

Ehrlich's eyes widened, 

"So it's my fault that you almost killed me? Are you insane?"

Hal shrugged, 

"Yes and maybe to both questions respectively. And before you relieve your pain with cosmic energy and come bounding at me like an angry beast, you might want to take a look at your surroundings."

Ehrlich did so and noticed the clear sign of combat but the last thing he actually noticed was the dead body right beside him, 

"Beldar? You killed him?" He looked shocked.

Hal took a bow with a mockingly serious expression, 

"Yes, my good sir, I did. And don't worry, I promise to tell anyone I can that I did your job for you." Hal said.

Ehrlich swelled and stood to his feet having relieved his pain with Cosmic energy, 

"Why would you kill him? There was information we could have gotten from him and we can not get that from a dead body!" He practically yelled.

Hal stuck his left pinky in his ear and wound around as though Ehrlich was being too loud, 

"Will you stop yelling? Besides you also tried to kill him!"

Ehrlich narrowed his eyes, 

"No, I did not! And even if I did I would have at least gotten information useful to the princess before doing so" he said with an angry look at Hal.

Hal sighed,

"You mean information he told me before I killed him?" He asked.

"What?" 

"You heard me. In that spatial ring are all the blue gems he earned from the sale of his technique or at least the inferior and tainted copy he sold, excluding the Sheik's share of course. The scroll beside him is the original and I am almost completely certain he is the only one who can activate it.

He did not come to Haron on his own, he came with twenty brothers of his tribe and they came to destroy the continent from the inside but soon realized they had been stupid and had sorely underestimated the empire." Hal said.

"So where are the brothers?" Ehrlich asked.

"He killed them after a disagreement. At least that's what he told me." Hal said.

Ehrlich shook his head, 

"Have you considered that he might have been lying to you?" He asked with a skeptical expression.

Hal nodded, 

"That is possible. But if I could fall for his lies, why can't you?" Hal asked with a light smile.

"I always know when people are lying to me" he said.

Hal raised a brow, 

"Oh really? Have I been honest so far?" He asked with a serious expression.

Ehrlich sighed, 

"Yes. Much as I wish you would lie to me and I can finally discredit you in front of the princess, you have only told me the truth." 

Hal bowed, 

"Nothing else could ever gladden my heart." he said with a hint of theatrics knowing with his devil senses that Ehrlich really believed he was being truthful.

Ehrlich then turned on him with a finger in his face, 

"That still doesn't make it okay to kill him."

Hal shook his head, 

"I don't think I like your way of showing gratitude." He said.

"That's because I'm not showing gratitude"