The Burning Fiend

Reynolds watched the distant island with curiosity, he knew that the island was ruled by five clans, and that they have created a private army to control the important parts of the city, which were mostly the 'Arena', the 'Free Castle' and the residential area restricted to the five clans. But Reynolds was completely sure that these five clans could not have enough power to maintain their control over the island, there must be a powerful combatant of at least Asura level to be able to avoid others coming for trouble due to greed and fame.

There was no 'Fiend Castle' within the island and most of the areas were not under the protection of the private army, thus there was no charge to enter the city nor an established curfew to follow, but somehow the independent business was flourishing without trouble.

Reynolds turned to look at his wives and daughter and said. "I do not like this place... there is too much unknowns in here, so my idea is to go to the 'Free Castle' and look for the things we might need before leaving". He could see the unwillingness of Talia, she had wanted to play on the city and was pouting trying to use her misty eyes to beg, but Reynolds only chuckled at her antics.

"Stop playing, it is not worthy to put your family in danger so you can play!" He said with a serious tone making her blink and finally understand that he was not joking and nodded reluctantly. The metallic life form made its way to the island, and they continued flying on their own to the gates, they saw the members of the private army that seemed composed entirely by Highgods increasing Reynolds's suspicions regarding this place.

Rosarie and Koral were walking in each side of Reynolds while the other three women were walking a couple of steps behind them, they noticed that the place did not seem luxurious or even well cared for in comparison to the other cities they had visited before and the girls started to frown not very happy with the first impression they got for this place. 'I guess this is what happens when the army does not control security in most of the city'. Reynolds transmitted his thoughts to his family as they walked towards the castle in the distance that seemed the most popular place in the area.

They passed by a few restaurants that seemed a little run down and not very appealing, there were more stores selling slaves than they would have expected giving the place an aura of lawlessness that for Reynolds found exciting, he was not a good person and certainly not a hero. He would protect his family and friends, but the rest of the people was either prey or toys, and he couldn't help but smile a little cruelly as he watched a group of Highgods that approached looking at them while smirking as they were surely using their divine sense to find that there was no Highgod among his group.

He understood that his name was not as well-known outside the Jadefloat Continent, so it was necessary to create a little deterrence to avoid future problems. Without a word he glared at the approaching Highgods and his eyes shinned with purple light, a moment later the group of six Highgods turned to ashes without making a single sound only leaving behind a few interspatial rings and divine sparks, as proof of their existence, that soon floated to Koral who wasted no time collecting them as they continued in their way without stopping.

The people in the area witnessed how the six Highgods turned into ashes with a single glance and trembled in fear making sure not to provoke the young demon, a member of the private army however smiled with happiness and flew at high speed to report that their 'guest' had arrived and was moving toward the 'Free Castle'. Reynolds noticed the Highgod flying away but decided not to interfere, killing the entire private army could prove problematic and perhaps the example of the previous Highgods would suffice to avoid further confrontations.

Talia felt proud when she noticed that the surrounding deities were looking with fear and respect toward her father and even stopped breathing to avoid being noticed. They finally made their way to the 'Free Castle' and started moving toward the highest floor where they expected to find the books they needed or at least the most interesting things the place had to offer.

---

Mosi was sitting in the underground hall of his palace located in the very center of the area at the western part of the island, where the five great clans had their residences. He was drinking wine while a couple of beautiful 7-star Fiend women danced while barely dressed to entertain him, the happiness they felt to be able to show their bodies to their beloved master was clear in their eyes and their delighted smiles.

Mosi frowned as he felt that one of his slaves was trying to connect with him through his telepathic link and sighed in annoyance. 'Speak'. He did not take however his attention of the two women and even lifted his cup to better perceive the fragrance of the wine. 'Master, the Burning Fiend is here. He is moving toward the Free Castle, but though I cannot say for sure... he does not seem to have the intention to stay on the island for long as he did not look for accommodations before going toward the commercial area'.

Mosi stood abruptly with a clear smile on his face and started to pace along the hall thinking how to invite him without causing conflict and decided that he would simply approach him directly, he was about to leave when he stopped and turned to look at the still dancing women. "Go back to your place". After giving his instructions he turned without looking back, the girls stopped dancing and bowed deeply with aggrieved expressions before transforming into a pair of small foxes wearing silver collars and running towards a fire place to lay there as a couple of well-trained pets waiting for their Master to summon them again.

---

Reynolds was looking at the Deathgod Golems with surprise, he had heard of these items before, but he had never come across one of them. He used his divine sense and noticed that these golems seemed to have runic arrays as their main structure, his curiosity increased as he kept examining the Deathgod Golem uncaring of the annoyed glare the clerk was giving him.

The clerk was about to complain about his rudeness when Reynolds threw him an interspatial ring and said. "I want ten of this, be quick about". Reynolds was clearly annoyed and his aura made the clerk tremble, he stored the Deathgod Golem in an interspatial ring that already contained another 9 Deathgod Golems and unbounded the ring before giving it to Reynolds with an apologetic bow not daring to speak.

Reynolds took it and gave a Deathgod Golem to each of the women with him while saying. "Bound these golems with your blood, they would be good shields in case you need them". He seemed to consider for a moment and took another looking at Rosarie. "You can play with this one, lets see which one of us manage to reproduce the runic arrays that made them work first, should we?" Rosarie smiled delighted and stored the golem before jumping to his arms and kiss him with passion.

They left the trembling clerk and moved toward the book area where a bored looking man was reading a thick book. He lifted an eyebrow in annoyance when he felt Reynolds approaching and grunted without planning to leave his book. Reynolds frowned annoyed by the attitude of the people working on the 'Free Castle', he released his aura to cover the clerk and his book started to burn making him tremble in disbelieve and fear.

"I'm looking for advance level or rare books on runic arrays and refining. Be quick and show me what you have". Reynolds said with apathy and annoyance, the clerk hurriedly extinguished the fire on his book looking dejected and fearful as he noticed that the many members of the private army just looked to different directions clearly unwilling to take part on this.

He decided to swallow his loose and ran to look for the catalog and then to the unsealed boxed that contained the books Reynolds was looking for. The clerk returned after a couple of minutes with four books that read 'Advanced Refining of Soul Poisons', 'Deep Reflexions on the Possibilities of Refining Souls', 'Dissertation over Spatial Runic Arrays' and 'Soul Branding with Runic Arrays'.

Reynolds smiled, he gave the books of poisons and refining souls to Jenne for her to see if they were useful to her while he examined the other two books with an excited Rosarie. After a few minutes he noticed that Jenne was already lost herself while reading the books and chuckled. "How much for these books?" The clerk trembled and said. "L-Lord, 30 million for the f-four books". Reynolds took the inkstones requested and paid for the books, he smiled mischievously and put his arms around Jenne from behind while taking the book from her and storing it in his interspatial ring, she turned to look at him with a betrayed and crestfallen expression.

He chuckled and said to her after kissing her forehead. "You can read later love, lets see if there is something else in this place before we leave". Jenne was unwilling but tagged along as the other women seemed amused at her misfortune increasing her sense of betrayal, Reynolds felt slightly guilty and embraced her trying to pacify her while at the same time he was trying not to laugh.

(A/N- Sorry for the delay... Between getting busy with other things and changes within the site a delay was inevitable)