"Growl!"

SMASH

Dorian threw the body of a now dead Igloo Demon away, blood spattering out from its desiccated form. He absorbed its Soul Spell Matrix almost casually, his Balance Demon form shivering as he dashed forward.

"Hup!"

With one large, powerful leap, he managed to clear the white stone castle walls that guarded the central castle. When he landed, he threw up a small cloud of dust, the remains of this castle relatively untouched for decades if not longer. None of the Demonic Remnants had appeared to be coming from the castle itself, but only from the surrounding area.

The courtyard that he landed in was empty. The floor was cut from the same white stone that could be seen everywhere on the cliff, lined with age. Several smaller buildings connected with the courtyard, as did the main area of the castle in front of him. He didn't sense the presence of anything living, either within the smaller buildings or the castle itself.

thud

thud

Various noises echoed out quietly as the other members of the Demonic Council followed behind him. Some of them were lightly injured, Kandor cradling a broken arm and Priscilla with blood dripping down her face, but the rest seemed otherwise fine. Those two, in particular, paused and took in some type of healing medicine, working on restoring their wounds.

"We've wiped out all the remnants. I can't sense any more within range." Dorian spoke up, his eyes narrowed as he glanced from side to side.

"Take a moment to prepare, before we dive into the castle." His voice echoed authoritatively.

Internally, his thoughts were somewhat scattered.

'Leader?! What on earth are you doing here?!' Now that he was outside of combat, he could safely be surprised at Leader's presence. The Demonic archer was a being he hadn't truly seen in a while, not counting the memory of Leader he'd fought. Those attacks were clearly from him, however, of that Dorian was certain.

'He must not know who I am… right?' His mouth drew thin at the thought, slightly unsure. Leader was rather… unpredictable.

'If anything, as I am now, I am pretty much what he thought I was back then. I can't see any reason he'd want to attack me.' After a few moments, he nodded his head stiffly.

'It must have something to do with Fifteen.' It was the only thing he could think of.

"Great Demon Disciple…" Dorian turned to his left as Baron Radishow called out to him. Hallow stood right behind the Baron, his arms glowing with blue light.

"Yes?" He responded, his voice calm.

Despite being cut off from the Laws, the Demonic Councilmembers had performed admirably. They successfully managed to keep up with Dorian, the remnant energy they could still use proving well adequate.

'It won't last them too much longer, though, not if we get into many more big fights.' He noted as he scanned the Councilmembers. Already he could see the exhaustion in some of them.

"Hallow has found the trail to the Anomaly." Baron Radishow nodded over at Hallow. Hallow stepped forward, nodding back as he turned to look at Dorian.

"As you well know, the Law of Envy allows me to manipulate space to some degree. I have finely trained my abilities with this Law, granting me a very powerful sense of spatial awareness. Even without access to the Law, I can still pan my senses over the surrounding areas, using the remnant energy from my Soul Spell Matrix." Hallow explained himself thoroughly, not leaving any room for possible confusion.

"I've met Fifteen before. Every being in existence has their own unique soul wavelength. No two souls are identical. I've trained in spatial sensing for dozens of years and can be considered an expert in this." Hallow continued,

"It's part of why I am good at tracking or hunting for things." His eyes flashed slightly guiltily as he looked at Dorian, likely thinking about how he'd been tracking Lord Inigo and mistook Dorian for him. Quite understandable, given that Dorian actually was Lord Inigo.

"As a result, I can faintly sense his location now that I'm this close to him." Hallow pointed to a space on the right side of the courtyard, within the main castle area,

"He's in a room deep within the castle."

Dorian nodded. It was about what he had expected.

"Alright! Let's move out!" He took a moment to send a sweeping glance at the rest of the Demonic Shades. They all seemed to be more or less ready to go.

They moved forward as a team, with Dorian leading the way. They directly left the stone courtyard, scattering a cloud of dust in their wake.

The entryway to the castle was clear. They moved down an open-air stone corridor until they ran into a heavy wooden door. Dorian walked up and, with an almost casual push, opened it.

The door opened smoothly, revealing a well-lit hallway. There was no sign of rust or damage despite the clear age of the castle, everything functioning perfectly.

Glowing crystals lit up the carved stone walls, a faded black carpet covering the floor. There were slitted windows on the side of this corridor, the light they let in merging with the light from the crystals in an uneasy swirl of color.

Their group moved down the corridor fearlessly. Hallow's spatial sensing allowed him to search for and detect any hidden traps, while Kandor's powerful soul, thanks to training in the Law of Greed for so long, allowed him to sense traps of a magical or spiritual nature.

In no time at all, they moved through three separate passageways. They found themselves in the depths of the castle, moving quietly. On the walls, grandiose paintings of powerful Demons hung, images of them being worshipped by the masses or slaughtering enemies. The air took on a very clear Demonic feeling, as if they had entered an ancient stronghold of the Demon race.

'Well, it used to be that.' Dorian mused as his claws clicked on the hard stone. His movements created small echoes that chimed in the air ominously.

Abruptly, at almost the same time, both Hallow and Kandor yelled out.

"Careful!"

"Something ahead!"

Their group had just turned a corner and found themselves in front of the entrance to what appeared to be a receiving hall. It was a type of grand hall where those that were waiting to meet the king might stand, unworthy or unable to stand in the throne room where the king conducted his business.

This hall was large, the largest room they'd found in the castle yet. Eight different pillars could be seen supporting the arching roof, painted a pale grey. The base of each pillar was covered in gold and decorated with detailed carvings of Demonic beings. In the back of the room, the door that led to the throne room could be seen, a towering edifice that glowed faintly with black light.

Apart from the pillars and the door, the only other thing notable about the room were the ominous figures set in the background.

The race of these creatures was indeterminate. They were tall, easily 4 meters in height, fully covered by a set of grey armor. Large grey swords that were bigger than Dorian was tall were strapped to their backs, reminding Dorian faintly of the Grakons he had seen on Blizzaria. The faceguards they wore were shaped like dragon heads, built to look intimidating.

There were seven of these figures standing there, unmoving, directly in the path of the door that led to the throne room.

Despite standing still, Dorian was overcome with a powerful feeling of danger as he looked at them.

"These… these are Guardian Knights from the Third Great War?!" Baron Radishow sputtered out, his voice shaking with disbelief,

"What are they doing here?! Damn that Fifteen!"

Dorian's eyes flashed as he heard the term, recognizing it with his perfect recall. It pulled him back to some of the research he had done a while back, when he was trying to figure out who Yukeli was.

The Third Demon War, Third Great War, or the Yale Demon Invasion, depending on who you asked, was a massive war that swept across thousands of planets. Entire species were wiped out, with billions of beings dying.

Guardian Knights were a type of relatively well-known force that served the High Generals of the Demon Army, like the Dream Mentor who left behind the Exotic World of Ballians with its many Dream Zones.

They served as powerful bodyguards and elite warriors that would faithfully serve each High General. Betrayal was never a risk from Guardian Knights for a rather simple reason.

They weren't actually living beings with a soul. They were incredibly realistic golems, created from a mix of Magic and Arrays, complexly woven together. They were similar to Artifacts, but also very different.

"There's seven of them. A perfect number to match all of us." Priscilla's voice was cool as she stared at the figures, rolling her shoulders.

"Guardian Knights are extremely powerful, though they are weaker when they can't draw upon Law Energy. Despite that, without access to the Laws, even I won't be able to defeat one." Damal, the physically strongest Shade here, even without his Law of Pride, grunted out loud, his muscular arms crossed.

'Seven of them…' Dorian stared at the ancient golems, a frown on his face.

"Fifteen is beyond that door, Lord Obelisk." Hallow chimed in from the side, pointing,

"He is waiting for us within the throne room."

Dorian stared at the room for a moment, sighing. He stepped away from the entrance and walked over to one of the surrounding walls.

"Hup!" With a grunt, Dorian punched forward hard with his hand, the claws of his Balance Demon form stabbing forward.

'Perfect Body! Activate!' He activated the Ability for a split second.

CLINK

A huge amount of force was concentrated in his body, force that exploded forward to smash into the walls of the castle.

The blow visibly caused the castle walls to bend, shivering ever so slightly. Almost immediately after, however, the walls snapped back, only a faint white mark left over as a remnant of his blow.

'The walls are super tough, like the other castles. I would probably need several hours to break through, if I can at all, without being able to access any of the Laws.' He shook his head, giving up on the option.

"Alright. I guess we'll have to go through them." Dorian walked back over to the entrance, ignoring the odd looks the Demonic Shades gave him.

'There are 7 of them… a perfect number to counter us, but also a perfect number to counter the members of the Demonic Council if they had all showed up.' The Master of Sloth had never arrived.

They didn't wait. The longer they took, the more energy would fade from their system and the poorer they would fare.

Even worse, in the eyes of the Shades, the longer they took, the more time Fifteen would have to wreck anything left behind by the Demon Emperor and destroy any of the Inheritances.

The moment their group stepped into the room, the Guardian Knights all shivered. Slowly, the metal heads of the golems turned to zero in on their team.

"Everyone! Split off and take on one at a time! Work together if you get overpowered!" Dorian bellowed as he jumped forward, his fists clenched.

The Demonic Shades rushed forward with Dorian, and the Guardian Knights began to rush back, both groups charging at each other.

BOOM

They collided and another melee broke out.

.

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