Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

But that was a matter for later...

While he would be sure to seek out the base and retrieve all that was kept there, which should by right being to him as he brought about the demise of the previous owners, he had more pressing matters to attend to. Matters that could not simply be solved by beating up those two idiots.

...

Present time...

Artyom had now retrieved his sword Artifact with the blue gem glowing with the cosmic energy that had been stored inside it for a destructive release.

Ivan was clearly on guard even though he had a much more relaxed take on the whole situation.

Merely eyeing Hal with a look of annoyance and suspicion.

After all, why would someone who had just survived an assassination planned by a faction appear seemingly out of nowhere just to talk?

An assassination by a trio of Cosmic Pagoda experts. 

Ivan knew for fact that had it been him in Hal\'s shoes, the chances of survival while possible, were slim. And that was not without sustaining injuries.

And yet, from what his grandfather had said, which Ivan knew to be true, there was nothing suggesting Hal had been injured or overly bothered by the attack.

Even though there was said to be a Dane woman at the Cosmic Aurora realm to battle the trio with, the fact that they had won was definitely not something to be ignored.

To be honest, Ivan dreaded a one-on-one battle with this young man who was setting up a reputation of being a monster.

That was not to say he would back out If a fight if there ever was one, after all, there was the more likely scenario that Hal had used up the necessary trump cards that allowed him to be victorious against the trio and was more vulnerable now than he ever was before.

That said, Ivan relaxed with the knowledge that attempting to kill him, which he believed to be Hal\'s plan, in the Doxon family territory where there were already reinforcements in the form of the family\'s fighting force on their way to the hut was foolish.

Anyway,

Hal\'s attention was on Artyom as he said,

"Seriously, You still draw your sword against me? Can\'t you see that Ivan is your real enemy?" 

And then to Ivan, he said, 

"And you, can\'t you see it\'s only a matter of time before he can\'t take being pushed around by you anymore and finally snaps? Can\'t you see that it\'s inevitable for the both of you to one day be at each other\'s throats? Surely, no bond is so strong that it can keep you together through all stages of your lives.

Eventually, you will both wish to succeed and your dreams will clash." Hal said with the patience and charismatic tone of someone merely pointing out inevitabilities.

"Oh? Then what would you have us do?" Ivan asked with a light smile.

He might have meant it as a joke to mock Hal but the blue-eyed Devil seemed to take it as an active attempt to indulge in the conversation and decided to answer, 

"It\'s not about what I want you to do... It\'s about what YOU want to do. The both of you... Tell me, Ivan, what do you want?" Hal asked.

Ivan shrugged, 

"I want my grandfather\'s approval. I want to be duke" Ivan said with a shrug. The things he wanted were not really secret to anyone anyways.

Hal shook his head lightly,

"Of course you do. Even when you speak about your life ambitions, you can\'t keep your grandfather out of it. Those are some deep issues man, but one issue at a time.

What about you Artyom, what do you want? Is it to forever support Ivan or to one day be your own man? To take the Doxon Family by storm?" He asked and all eyes turned to Artyom with Elora still sipping her beverage as Artyom had his eyes focused on the ground.

For a while, the Doxon lad kept quiet and Hal decided to prompt him, 

"Artyom, are you with us? Ivan was honest about his ambitions no matter how disturbing they might seem, I think that means you should be honest with yours as well" he said to which Artyom looked up and sneered, 

"I know what you\'re doing?" He said, 

"You do?" Hal asked with wide eyes of surprise as though the idea of Artyom knowing anything was genuinely surprising, 

"Of course I do. You\'re trying to get us honest and get me to say something I shouldn\'t..." He was not yet done speaking when Elora interrupted, 

"Well, there\'s our answer" she said to which Artyom looked over at her in confusion, 

"What?"

Elora shrugged, 

"You want to be Duke as well. You want the same thing Ivan wants. Why else would you not want to be honest?"

Ivan\'s brows furrowed as Elora spoke and Artyom noticed.

"It doesn\'t matter what I want! What matters is what Ivan wants. Killing you will clear the way for me – I mean Ivan– to become Duke. Without you, grandfather\'s faction crumbles."

Ivan nodded along, 

"You\'re right Artyom. What is most important right now is to get rid of this pest. All other issues, especially your inability to lie about what you really want and simply remain my subordinate can be discussed after that" he said with a glare at Hal who shook his head, 

"I just can\'t stand it" he said.

"Can\'t stand what?" Ivan asked.

"Someone being so untrue to themselves" almost as soon as he was done talking, there was a loud rattling sound of chains as Elora attacked Ivan with a chain sharply tapered at the end.

Ivan thought to nonchalantly repel it when he felt the pressure coming off those chains. A pressure that caused his eyes to widen.

Elora who used to be at the late stage of the Cosmic Aurora realm was now at the peak just like him.

Advancement might be gradual but he knew for a fact that it was not yet a whole month since she advanced to the late stage.

Advancing again was inconceivable.

Or so it should have been had Elora not had enough time to refine the energy within the seed Hal had deposited inside her which resulted in the sudden boost in cultivation that had actually capped off her efforts to progress.

With such advantages after one night, there was another reason for her to want to experience it again.

Anyway, Ivan repelled the chain with a serious expression while he took on a battle stance.

Elora sneered, 

"Your days of tyranny are over. It\'s about time Artyom realized waiting on you hand and foot and only fighting for the achievement of your goals is no way to live" she said.

While she spoke, Artyom waved his sword in her direction, sending the powerful burst of energy within it towards Elora but suddenly Hal was between Elora and the attack, and with a wave of his hand he diverted the attack towards the roof of the hut which resulted in a loud explosion on account of the roof\'s destruction.

As the roof shattered and debris rained down, Hal closed the short distance between him and Artyom before he surrounded them with a dome if Astral energy.

Despite such an impressive display from Hal (the smacking away of the charged energy from an Aurora grade Artifact) Artyom still sneered as he held his sword in front of himself while he summoned a deadly looking barbed speat that was his Cosmic Armament and standard of all members of the Doxon family.

"What...?" He began but Hal interrupted.

"We don\'t have much time for you to make your stupid and annoying comments. Even now, many experts are hurrying to this part of the residence all to offer assistance to you two. 

I need to get this done fast" he said and cracked his knuckles,

"Get what done?" Artyom asked and Hal\'s eyes turned nightmarish dark as he let out his Devil presence.

"What the...?" Artyom said before Hal vanished only to reappear behind him and hit him so that he fell facefirst...

*Bam!*

*Crack!*

... Cracking the ground floor.

Artyom olled over and was quickly back to his feet.

With both his hands holding a weapon each, none of which he wished to let go, he endured the pain in his face to charge spear-first at Hal who smiled sinisterly before grabbing the sharp and barbed head of the spear with hands that were now a devilish crimson hue.

With better control of his bloodline, Hal could isolate the change in his complexion (I.e the transformation into the Mid-world-Devil form) to certain parts of his body.

The Devil-hand had more than enough resilence to endure the sharpness of the spear which he used to pull Artyom closer and hit their foreheads together before his opponent could attempt to swing his sword.

*Bang!*

Hal took no damage but to say Artyom felt like his head had been split open would be an understatement, 

*Bam!*

As he fell backward from the force of his forehead\'s connection with Hal\'s, Hal kicked him in the chest.

A kick so hard that it sent him smacking into the wall of the dome which covered him and Hal.

Then Hal stood over him, grabbed the front of his shirt, and used it to pull him up,

"I thought about killing you two but quickly scrapped the idea as pointless. What good would it do to just kill you? If anything, that would be showing you mercy.

No, what I want is to see you and that idiot tear each other apart. I want to see you ruin the laid-down plans of your fathers and your entire faction. I want a rivalry to the death.

According to Elora, you definitely had the ambitions that could put you against Ivan but you\'re too much of a coward to push through with it.

Not to worry though, I shall rid you of that cowardice." Hal said with a sinister smile before grabbing Artyom\'s neck to brand him with the Devil mark.

But this was nothing like the ones he had ever given before.

This branding did not feel ensnaring...

It felt painful...

Like hot iron pressed against a normal human skin...

Like knives cutting a normal human body over and over again...

The pain in actuality only lasted a second, but to Artyom, it felt like hours.

Hours he was to be tortured by the pain of the branding...

It was no wonder he yelled so loudly almost everyone in the Doxon Duchy Palace heard, 

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH"