Way of the Knights

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"This seals aren't just cracked, it's almost practically gone… 

Raven muttered as he stared at the two seals above and below him. Together with Kyrie, Anastasia and small group of soldiers, they arrived at the seals - the one that seals the Devil Emperor's Pagoda not Anastasia's…not that one, Raven doesn't even want to recall that even happening. 

Upon his arrival at the Devil Emperor's Pagoda, his first impressions of the Broken Floor wasn't so good. It was barely patched up and obviously very fragile. 

He could tell that the sect did its best to fix it but the materials that were used to create the Devil Emperor's Pagoda aren't available. 

According to the records, it's creation took the combined efforts of three brothers; Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, one thousand days and numerous rare materials to create this thing. Amongst the materials, were a special type of metal called 'Primordial Epoch Steel' - the one that was used as it's foundations for the body. 

Records about how Primordial Epoch Steel was formed aren't much, all they knew was that it's extremely precious and hard to find. 

The sect already sent numerous people out to scour Divine Realm in search for this metal but they could hardly find any, in fact they'd be lucky if they could obtain a palm sized Primordial Epoch Steel. This of course hasn't even touched the matter of the actual forging itself. 

This is the reason why up until now, the Broken Floor still wasn't fixed. The sect isn't lacking in funds, what was lacking was the materials. 

So far, the best they could do is to seal the entrance to both the 9th floor and 12th floor. That's right, 9th not 10th since originally there wasn't a barrier that separates the 10th floor and the 11th floor. Due to the that, when the damage was done to the 11th floor, the 10th floor also suffered, the entrances on the 9th and 12th floor suffered as well and couldn't be closed using normal means therefore they had to seal it.

Right now, the seals that were originally intact; were damaged by the forceful descent of the Centurion Lancer and was left in shambles. It's also why Anastasia and her army suffered from multiple harassments of the ascending and descending devils. 

Raven stared at the seal, his face was extremely gloomy as he could see the extent of the damage. He could tell that Anastasia isn't well versed in the art of seals which explains why she said that it's damaged. But for Raven who had been playing with seals for a long time, it wasn't the same.

One might as well say that the seal had been broken at this point. He couldn't even sense if the seal was still functioning properly due to how dimmed they've gotten. The rune components were mostly erased it not, tainted by the evil will at this point. How could Raven feel relieved at this point? 

Heaving a long sigh, Raven placed a finger on his chin and began thinking swiftly. He stared at the seals, his thoughts running rapidly, he even employed the collective amount if this thought chambers in order to aid him. 

After a while, he took out a paper and began listing off several materials that he lacks. After some time, he finished and passed down the list to Anastasia. 

"Send one of your trusted men to buy the items listed here. Here's my insignia, tell them that they could deduct the cost of these items using that. As for the letter, send it to the Grand Elder himself. Under in no circumstances that it should be opened before it reached the Grand Elder's hands. Do you understand?"

Anastasia was surprised, however she could tell that Raven was absolutely serious about this matter so she nodded. 

"Go, bring me those items as soon as possible. We've no time to waste here. I'll be staying here to monitor the situation." 

"How about I personally go back instead?" Anastasia suggested. 

"Then I'll trouble you." Raven replied, "Make haste. I'll take over for now." 

"Understood. Please be careful." Anastasia nodded as she swiftly turned around and invoked the Return Seal to go back to Greece as soon as possible.

Raven watched her disappear and his expression turned somber. Kyrie saw that he's almost glaring at the entrance to the 12th floor so she couldn't help but ask. 

"What are your plans, Young Lord?" 

She saw Raven took a deep breath as he replied: "Nothing much just…trying to ruin some vile scheme." 

Although Raven didn't reveal much, Kyrie was still stunned by those words. 

'A scheme? Just what in world was he talking about? Could it be that…' 

"Oh no!" Kyrie shuddered as she connected the dots. She was horrified, she didn't even wanted to think about what would happen if her guess was correct. 

"Oh yes." Raven said with thick sarcasm on his voice, his facial expression was a bit contorted underneath his mask and his eyes radiated a soul penetrating chill. "Well fucking done though…it was swept under the rug without gaining much attention."

"Detestable!" Kyrie fumed, she clenched her jade white hands until her nails were digging through her flesh, it was obvious that she was furious.

"There's no use on fuming in rage for now. Save it for later." Raven calmed himself down, "What we should worry about is the fact that they might have contingency plans after this."

"How could they…! Ugh!" Kyrie was so frustrated, it was actually the first time that Raven saw her losing her temper like this. 

"They don't really need a reason you see…" Raven scoffed coldly. "Just the fact that they wanted to see the world burn is enough. Now be silent for a while and let me think…"

Without anything else to do, Kyrie could only bite her lips in frustration and remain silent in order for her not to disturb Raven's thought process.

***

"Grand Elder!" 

Back at the sect, Anastasia returned to Greece and swiftly bought all the items on the list. After receiving all of them, she immediately went straight towards the Storm Dweller's Peak; residence of the Grand Elder himself. 

An old man who's sitting on a reclining chair and was napping, jolted awake by the sudden shout of Anastacia, ever the gorgeous beauty that's resting on his lap woke up groggily as well. 

The old man squinted as saw a crimson-haired beauty rushing towards them. The old man's eyes twitched as he yelled: 

"The fuck are you doing, screaming and shit? Can't you see that we're napping?" His roars caused Anastasia to flinch. "And why the hell did you leave your post? I don't remember calling you back yet!"

"We have a situation." The old man was quite surprised when he heard Anastasia's serious tone. She then said: "The 9th Chosen arrived and helped us against the onslaught of the unceasing Devil assault. He took a look at the seals and I heard him say that it was almost gone. He asked me to pass this letter to you."

When the Grand Elder heard that the seal was almost gone according to Raven, his face already turned serious. He grunted and received the letter that Anastasia brought back, as soon as he opened it, the letter emitted a faint dark golden glow and Raven's voice could be heard. 

"Greetings, Zeus. This is 9th Chosen; Raven. I'll make this short and simple. The seals that were left on the 9th Floor entrance and the 12th Floor entrances doesn't function as you how might think it does."

The Grand Elder's eyes widened as soon as he heard this. Not only him, even the woman who's sitting on his lap and Anastasia were similarly surprised as well.

"It's tainted. Heavily so." Raven's tone went somber. "Judging from the rune arrangement I can tell that it's not meant to prevent the Sin's Children from descending, which made me reach a conclusion that; if they wanted to, they could've descended way earlier than this."

"The seal doesn't filter devils, instead it was made for something else entirely. And from what I could observe so far, unless killed through special means, the souls of devils were being sucked through these entrances while others fused to the seals, tainting them even further. I have no concrete proof but I saw it happening. Nevertheless, I allowed me to reach some conjunctures."

"The Sin's Children wouldn't die since their parents - The Sins, could just summon back their souls and recreate them through special means. What if, during all this time that our disciples killed the devils roaming  Asphodel, didn't actually died but had their souls re-summoned instead?" 

Anastasia and lady gasped loudly, her face was pale as she her felt horrified by Raven's words. Even the Grand Elder's face were contorting already.

"I can see past the 12th entrance." Raven revealed. "Even though I couldn't see them clearly. I could tell that they were preparing. The attacks on the Devil Slayer's Brigade were just for scouting. They'll be ready to flood not only Asphodel but quite possibly the whole Tartarus as well."

"Again, I have no concrete proof to show you but please send some reinforcements. Otherwise, Asphodel will conquered."

*Boom!*