The door opened and in came another person. A man that looked to be in his late twenties which was on the older side of the scale here. He was dressed like a religious scholar with quite a pious aura around him.

Dai Zhi gave him a nod and moved to the other side of his desk.

"Take him away. Do what you have to get the information out of him but don't do it in the city, I'd rather not have anything disturb the 'Magister' while he is here."

"Yes," the man bowed respectfully from the waist, and unlike his refined looks, walked up to Ade and grabbed him by the neck like a chicken before dragging him away.

Abe struggled and gasped as if he couldn't breathe. If Dai Zhi didn't know any better even he would have been fooled by his impeccable acting. He couldn't help but feel a little pride in his abilities, chalking up the sudden boost in the Blood Arts to his own dormant talent rather any external factors.

He sat down in the oversized chair and tapped on his desk. The desk's surface opened up and a crystal mirror protruded out. It was in the shape of a tablet almost half a meter across.

Dai Zhi placed his right hand over its surface prompting a response.

A plethora of images and what looked like chat windows popped up on the crystal's surface. Dai Zhi scrolled up and down for a few seconds before suddenly stopping on a short video clip.

It showed the silhouette of a hunched man kneeling in front of what could only be defined as the physical manifestation of death itself.

Above his body was an ethereal projection of a humanoid figure in black robes with pair of obsidian wings adorning its back. One of its skeletal arms held an anthropomorphic skull and the other cradled a blue flame.

It didn't have any legs or even a face under the hood as it floated in the air above the man. (Image in Authors note and discord)

Slow heavy chanting filled the room as the camera panned out to reveal an entire field of corpses strewn behind the man. The source of the chanting was unclear since there was no one else left alive but the voices were very real.

Dai Zhi scrolled down a little to see the title and some more information about it.

"The insignia of Acheron reveals itself. Another Death Lord has been chosen through the trial of fire and ice. Who is next?!"

Dai Zhi felt his blood pumping despite the designedly snappy title.

"Another one has shown itself. How many does this make now? I need to finish this quickly and get to the greater world before the start of the new skirmishes," he mumbled to himself before moving on to another image of an armored figure with dual swords standing across an army of demonic creatures.

"The next generation of War Lords reveal themselves across the outer battlefields! What is the Temple of War hiding?!"

*Sigh*

**

A few thousand kilometers below ground in the hidden world beneath the strata, a small makeshift camp of a few dozen individuals was bustling with life.

Young faces moved back and forth, bringing overcooked food and drinks to one another. Music filled the night as many familiar faces laughed and danced without a care in the world.

Henrik was standing in front of one of the campfires talking to a few enthusiastic boys.

"No no, you don't understand. Not all of them are the same. Some like it when you're rough and commanding while others will pummel you into the ground. Look at Lovi for example. She is nice, outgoing, a bubbly personality, right? But she comes from a matriarchal family so her values are a little different from ours."

He pointed at one of the half a dozen boys intently listening to his lecture, "You! Go tell your want to 'make' her yours."

"Roger!"

The boy stood up without any hesitation and ran up to the girl named Lovi. She was a relatively short girl that was laughing and talking with some other girls. The boy stopped right in front of her and could be seen saying something with a grin.

Lovi was taken aback at first but a smile bloomed on her pretty face soon after. She extended her hand which the boy grabbed. But before he could say or do anything else, her hand rotated 360 degrees as if it wasn't even connected to her body, and followed by a loud crack, the boy fell to his knees.

She released her grip, allowing him to return to the campfire where a deathly silence had taken over.

"See, now that's a good example of what NOT to say to a girl that will be taking over her clan in the future."

The boy had tears streaming down his face as he stared at his twisted wrist, "I-I feel like you could have just told me that instead of making me experience it in person."

***

Authors Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ

___

Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/91/02/58/910258ae699eb2d83a236ba1c6d023cc.jpg

Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : https://urlzs.com/19d8y

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