While the primitive merman Razer, used its ability to transport the whole group through a current of water that emerged from underground, Daimon who was tightly holding that mist covered woman by her neck, casually asked.
"What is this place?", the question was directed to the two natives, naturally the one that willingly answered was Razer.
"Even if you ask me, all we know is that our ancestors were created by our guardian deity who passed certain instructions which we had to follow, our world is separated in four areas which are ruled by the four races".
"From strongest to weakest, there is the Sea clan, the Flesh race, the Black Night race and lastly the Bone race", listening to Razer saying that his clan was the strongest, the black mist covered woman glared at him, but she remained silent.
"It is obvious that your race doesn't get along with the other three, but why do you seem to not be hostile towards us?", asked Daimon.
Razer shrugged before saying.
"To be honest, the full instructions are only known by the old men that live in seclusion at the central tribe, we who live at the peripheral tribes only know that if we judge the visitors to be worthy, we are supposed to guide them to the central tribe, otherwise we are forbidden to interact with them".
"The other three races are different because unlike our Crystal Sea which is rich in life and provides us with a middle level of resources and food, the other three are more unbalanced, the Bone race has tons of food but low resources, the Flesh race has a high number of resources but low food, which is why they somewhat get along or more accurately doesn't kill each other on the open at least and then we have them…", said Razer as he pointed at the black mist covered woman before adding.
"They actually have everything they need to live but aren't satisfied with it, so they kidnap members of both the Sea race and the Flesh race, since the members of the Bone race can't give them what they want, as they have close to zero emotions", judging by Razer's hatred filled voice, the Sea race had a deep grudge with the members of the Black Night race.
Daimon nodded getting a rudimentary image of this place, since there were three different "races" that had nether integrated into their existences, it was obvious that the guardian deities of those three, were Nethereals, could be the so-called Lords that had been plotting and scheming in Neptune for quite some time, the one which was a mystery was the one behind the Sea race.
Seeing that they were about to arrive at what seemed to be a castle of some sort, built at the bordering area of the lightless zone, ruled by the Black Night race, Daimon asked one last question.
"What is the difference between the central tribe and your tribe?", he asked, to which Razer answered immediately and without any hesitation.
"Strength, only those tribes who have an Arch rank behind them can move to the central area, it's not discrimination but out of consideration, at least that's the case for our race, since the living conditions at the central area are harsher though the resources are also better, ultimately we share a bit of everything among all the tribes, following the instructions of our guardian deity".
"I see…", mumbled Daimon as he was lost in his thoughts for a couple of seconds, but he returned to reality when he caught a glimpse of the welcome party that was waiting for them.
At first glance, there was nothing in front of them besides a large wall which surrounded a castle made out of some kind of black mineral, but Daimon's infinity eyes could easily see through the tricks of those women.
Just like the one he was holding hostage, the members of the Black Night race were able to somehow turn themselves into a fluid form and hide in small spaces, in this case there were quite a few of them camouflaging on the wall of the castle.
Obviously, they were judging if there was a chance for them to take the hostage back, unfortunately for them, though Daimon feigned to not notice them, he also didn't leave any openings, in fact since they were wasting his time, he tightened his grip on the woman's neck to then shout.
"Should I take the gates still being closed as a reject to my offer!", listening to the demanding voice of the silver haired youth, the ones who were hiding on the wall, nearly lost it, but before they revealed themselves, the gates actually opened for a tall black mist covered feminine figure to come out.
Unlike the member of the Black Night clan, he held hostage, the one that came out was not only taller and stronger being at the peak of the Lord rank, but her appearance was different as well, besides the black mist there were some pink spots mixed into the nether that was covering her.
Another interesting thing Daimon noticed, is that the Black Night clan seemed to be completely conformed of females, which isn't that rare, Marlene's clan is similar after all.
"Welcome dear visitor, unfortunately when I received the call from my daughter, today's event had already started, but I made a temporary pause for you to come in and see whether the one you are looking for was captured by us, how about you let go of my daughter so we can "warmly" welcome you", said the woman with a suggestive voice.
Unfortunately for her, the "invisible" pink mist that was radiated by her with the purpose of improving the opinion of the men that were exposed to it, didn't work on Daimon, not only because it was nether-based but because her ability was trash compared to the one of a certain cunning charming fox girl.
"Lead the way", coldly said Daimon, without letting go of the hostage, which made the woman frown, though her face wasn't visible below the veil of nether that covered her body, Daimon could perfectly bypass that obstruction with his infinity eyes, strangely enough, the appearance of the members of the Black Night race below that veil of nether, was practically that of a human, they could even be considered attractive but Daimon found their aura somewhat repulsive.
And he wasn't the only one, there was a girl which was fuming from within Daimon's shadow, after seeing that "lowly thing", trying to seduce her young master, even Daphne glared at the woman.
Seeing that her plan didn't work, the woman looked at her daughter whose neck could be crushed any second by Daimon, and she gritted her teeth as she guided the group into the castle.
With the gates closing behind of them, Daimon observed their surroundings, the inside of the castle was quite elegant, there were quite a few members of the Black Night race observing them from the shadows, even on the roof, it was as if there were eyes looking at them from all the angles, quite a strange scene.
But Daimon ignored them all and instead followed the woman who was the one in charge of this place, all the way to an underground area which was heavily custodied, the moment Daimon set foot in that place, he realized how the prisoners were being kept without too much effort.
There whole underground area was brimming with nether, in fact Daimon saw an array on the ceiling which was gathering the black mist to then condense it into small black crystals, as for the source of the abundant nether, it came from a large open space which was divided into many platforms where people were… fighting each other.
Each platform had an array engraved on it, and each time the two people participating on it clashed, they produced a few wisps of black mist that were dragged towards the ceiling to then be transformed into those crystals, said crystals were then eaten by the members of the Black Night clan who were watching those fighting.
Speaking of which, the ones fighting went from members of the Sea clan, the Bone race and then there were humans as well, but none of that mattered to Daimon, the ones that drew his attention were a few people which he recognized.
The woman gazed at Daimon and then made a few secret gestures to all the other Lord ranked members of the Black Night clan, who secretly prepared for a fight to break out, but on the surface, she remained "friendly" as she explained what was this place.
"This is the gift we got from passed down from our guardian deity, the "Emotional Colosseum", unlike the barbaric Bone and Flesh races who will eat their prisoners alive, we don't need such crude ways to feed us, but instead convert the strong mana infused with emotions that the prisoners use when fighting against each other, into nether crystals for our consumption".
"Of course, we keep the prisoners well-fed and in optimal conditions… most of the time, unless we are talking about those who committed a great sin, like killing our kin, they receive a different treatment, not only they must fight daily, but the loser among them has to lose something as punishment, the winner gets to choose what to cut"
"Also, the colosseum is protected by the power of our guardian, so until the event that is obligatory held every two days has finished, no one can interfere, on the other hand those who participate can't be directly harmed by us, since they provide for us, a pretty nice deal, don't you agree?", said the woman, who didn't notice the darker mana that was spreading through the whole castle, with Daimon as the center.
…
While Daimon evaluated the situation, down at two of the many platforms, there was a brown cladded figure clashing against a barrage of yellow rays of light.
At the platform next to that, a dark green vine pursued an orange flash through the whole area for a couple of seconds, before finally catching it.
"Booom!", the result of the two battles were loud explosions caused by mana colliding against each other, to then reveal the winners and losers of the battle, for the winners, there were two girls, one slim with short green hair and dark green eyes and the other relatively tall with long brown hair and light green eyes.
As for the losers, one was tall with a robust complexion, disheveled dark brown hair with sand-colored eyes, who was now scratching the back of his head while sitting on the ground.
"Damn, I don't mind getting my ass handed by you since I'll for sure enjoy the "recovery" later, but those light rays are quite hard to deal with", jokingly said the brown-haired guy.
"Forget about that, the poison on that vine nearly broke through my fire barrier, I bet even an early-stage Lord ranks will find it hard to not be dissolved by the poison".
"Humph, in that case my Loren's light can burn holes through middle stage Lord ranks, you shrimp!".
"What did you say, Calvin bastard, my Haylee can poison peak Lord ranks to death then!".
"You liar shrimp, if that was the case then she could have taken us out of this damn prison!".
"Shut up, those bitches have extreme negative affinities, Haylee would need to learn how to use a positive oriented poison for it to work, which is something only possible when she reaches the Lord rank".
The exchange of insults and brags about the one who defeated them, continued for the next couple of minutes, which only made Daimon who was observing until now, inwardly chuckled.
'Well, I guess I should have expected it from the crazy bastards I have as classmates', he thought to then hear the woman that was in charge of this castle saying.
"Did you find the ones you were looking for?".
Daimon nodded in response as he pointed at Calvin, Michael, Loren and Hailee, which made the woman frown.
"Oh, them, as I said the ones who had committed the sin of killing our kin get a different treatment, so right now the losers have to get punished before we can even discuss about whether they are fit to let go or not, however you'll have to entertain us with a nice combat yourself for me to consider it".
"That little beauty next to you seems to be in particularly good "terms" with you, and you both seem to be decently strong, so if you two fight a high-quality nether crystal should be produced, let me prepare the stage for you…", before the woman could finish speaking Daimon interrupted her in cold.
"It seems you are misunderstanding something, I'm not here to ask, this is an order, let them go".
"WHAT DID YOU… aghhh!", the woman raised her voice only then feel as if a mountain was pressing down on her, and she wasn't the only onw.
"Ahhh no, what is this!!!".
"Help!!!".
All the members of the Black Night race fell to their knees, the weaker ones vomited blood, those that were in fluid form were forced to return to normal, before they fell from the roof and walls, landing head on the ground.
Daimon then casually waved his hand and black one-edged sword appeared on his hand.
'Nasha!', inwardly said Daimon as he used blink to appear near the roof of the underground area.
'Mm, let's do it!', said Narasha, Daimon pushed Disaster frontwards piercing the roof, directly cutting the runes engraved on the black mineral.
Black mist emerged from the array in great quantities but it was all immediately devoured by the capricious sword a if it was nothing, even asleep, Disaster didn't say no to a little treat.
"Nooo!", the woman could only see helplessly as the treasure handed to them by their creator was easily destroyed with a swing of the sword of the silver haired youth, all this while he still held her daughter hostage by her neck with his other hand.
"Crack!", the moment the array was destroyed and all the nether that was stored there was devoured by Disaster, an invisible dome that used to be surrounding all the platforms shattered and fell apart.
The ones who were waiting for the event to finish, were surprised to see the array being destroyed, all with the exception of Calvin, Michael, Loren and Haylee who recognized the mana pressure that was now flooding the entire area.
Calvin jumped to get up while Michael stretched his arms, their previously tired expressions were nowhere to be seen.
Daimon landed once again, next to Daphne, naturally all the prisoners had the same idea "escape", unfortunately for them, they were also hit by Daimon's aura and forced on their knees, the mermen included, the only ones free from that horrifying pressure were Calvin and the others who casually walked out from the colosseum to then reunite with Daimon.
"Yo, it's bean a while captain…", Calvin who had his usual carefree smile, took the initiative to greet Daimon, but then he noticed the pretty girl that was closely standing next to him.
"Oh, come on, last time the alfear and dwarf princesses and now a beauty from a race which I haven't even heard off, please make me your disciple!", exclaimed Calvin, to then feel Loren's accusatory gaze on him, which made him clear his throat a couple of times.
"Ahem, what I mean, is that we are glad to see you here", he said, Michael sighed and then nodded at Daimon.
"It's good to see you two are relatively fine", said Daimon, they were wearing gloves and boots, but with his infinity eyes he could see through them, and both Calvin and Michael were… missing their toes and fingers, the whole twenty of them.
It's not hard to guess what happened, from the moment they were captured, they were forced to fight against Loren and Haylee and they of course lost on purpose and took the punishment, sacrificing one finger or toe when they lost.
"Why didn't you use the thing I gave you to escape this place?", asked Daimon, with the life saving measure, he gave to each they should have been able to safely leave this place, even under the attacks of the Lord ranked members of the Black Night race.
Speaking of which, that woman from the Calamity Church, Layla, was sent away with Calvin and the others, but she was nowhere to be seen, neither were Scarlet and the others as well as the woman from the Church of Light, Sera, so there was a need for some catching up.
"Oh this, it was more dangerous outside than here because Alexander and other idiots decided to work with the natives of this place, so we took the decision to act as prisoners, they took our rings though", casually said Calvin.
"Yeah, besides a few losing fingers being cut can't be considered torture compared to having to share a cell with Calvin", said Michael.
"Humph, forget about the shrimp, the old man beat me up until he broke each and every one of my bones once a year to make me sturdier, it made it easier to bear with seeing the shrimp all the day for the past month and a half", added Calvin.
Loren and Haylee gave Daimon apologetic smiles as they greeted him, they also curiously gazed at Daphne who smiled at them, since it was clear they were Daimon's friends.
Daimon chuckled and then waved his hand taking a couple of pills from his inventory to then throw them at Calvin and Michael, who swallowed them without a second of doubt, their trust in Daimon was rewarded the next second, when they felt a slightly itching sensation on their hands and feet, before their fingers and toes regenerated on the spot.
"Ah, the wonders of having rich friends", jokingly said Calvin, alchemic products with regenerative properties were quite pricey, well, besides Loren, all the other members of the Elite class were filthy rich to be honest, Daimon and Calvin specially, so he was just messing around.
"We'll talk later, for now, it's time to take out some trash", said Daimon, he snapped his fingers and countless shadow hands came out of his shadow grabbing all the members of the Black Night clan and throwing them on the multiple platforms, including the one he held hostage earlier and also the woman who was in charge.
"Razer, the mermen that were held captive are your allies?", he asked.
The primitive merman nodded.
"Yes, I don't recognize them but I know from which tribe they come and they are in good terms with mine".
"Very well, I'll stop suppressing them, tell them to come, I'm pretty sure they won't like to participate in what's about to happen", said Daimon with a smirk.
"Uwaah, your bad habit is showing again captain, oh well, better them than us", said Calvin, which made Loren and Haylee giggle, they all knew Daimon unconsciously smirked when he was about to make someone suffer.
Razer called his race members back, they probably wouldn't have trusted Daimon, but since they knew Razer's tribe they didn't suspect and left the platform, as for the members of the Bone and Flesh races, Daimon took the strongest one from each group and separated it from the rest.
He then snapped his fingers and a cupule of white flames surrounded the whole area of the platforms, Daimon sat down and then casually said.
"Only one from each platform will survive, if a winner doesn't appear on a platform in the next five minutes, I'll kill all the ones in said platform, good luck".
"…", needless to say, but a sepulchral silence fell on the area, one of the few middle stage Lord rank members of the Black Night race shouted.
"What are you waiting for, kill him…", she couldn't finish her sentence before her movement was restrained by Daimon's aura, and a white ray of light pierced her head, killing her on the spot.
The corpse of the woman exploded in white flames which then joined the ones forming the white cupule around them, while the light ray returned to Daimon's body, ever since he learned how to use the partial release with the Comet Sword, he obtained the capacity to diminish the amount of mana and battle aura he used, since he could re-absorb the attack while only losing the proportional energy that was used to kill the enemy.
The woman who was the leader of this castle, looked at Daimon with a hatred filled gaze, because among the ones in her platform there was her daughter, but for now she had no choice but to oblige, so with a fierce and swift movement she used her hand to pierce the chest of a member of her own race.
Which triggered a domino effect, and not even a few seconds later they were all killing each other, not without getting rid of the outsiders first of course.
"Well, while they solve their differences, tell me what happened after we got separated?", asked Daimon to those four.
"It seems a lot happened on your side too", said Michael as he observed the massacrer that was unfolding on the platforms.
'You have no idea', thought Daimon but he didn't say anything, he first wanted to hear how things were on their side.
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