The Burning Fiend

In order to not scare the bandits he used his bracelet to hide himself from divine sense probes and avoided populated areas, he would sometimes stop to practice with his spear as he felt it actually helped him to fuse the laws, even if only slightly.

He learned that there were four tribes living in the Silver Canyon, and they primarily made a living by selling eggs of a rare breed of aquatic snakes, these eggs were considered a delicacy on the cities. But it was very difficult to obtain them as the captive aquatic snakes were saint level creatures, and they refused to mate so their unborn children could be eaten by their captors.

Just when Reynolds had thought that he had already seen the worst the Infernal Realm had to offer, he felt sicked again after observing the methods these tribes used to obtain the eggs. He was tempted to destroy the four tribes, but resisted the impulse as it would interfere with his task. He stayed away from those tribes from that moment and continue his way towards the bandit's lair.

It took him two years to arrive to what seemed like a small castle where the bandits lived in luxury. It seemed illogical to him, that the bandits could live this well without the support of a powerful clan, but he decided it was not his problem. He thought that it will be less expensive for such clan to from another group of bandits than paying for a 7-star mission to try killing him. Even more, he was sure that after his fight with the three 7-star Fiends coming his way... there will not be many people who will dare to become his enemy.

Inside the castle, a young man with gray hair and a body built that seemed more inclined to speed than strength was playing with the interspatial ring on his hand as if annoyed while muttering to himself. "Damn it! If I have known that he had another avatar, I would have used the 'silver poisoned arrow' that would have destroyed his soul regardless of where his other bodies were hiding... So much effort wasted, I guess the clan would not be happy with this... but then, they would only need to post an assassination mission and the problem is solved. There would not be much trouble after all." He muttered and then chuckled before jumping in fright as an unexpected voice sounded from behind him.

"So, my friend... it seems that you know what it is stored on the ring. Mind sharing that with me?" The gentle voice of the dark purple haired boy in front of him was disturbing, but he was more afraid because he knew who this person was.

"A 7-star Fiend? They sent a bloody 7-star Fiend to kill me!? How is this fair!?" The gray haired youth was more angry than fearful and Reynolds chuckled before taking a seat. "Not really, the mission is only ranked as a 4-star. But I took it in order to lure another three 7-star Fiends that are trying to kill me. Now that I answered your question... would you be so kind to answer mine?"

The young man seemed to have lost his soul, he took a seat depressed and emptied his glass of wine in a single gulp. He sighed and said. "It is rumored to be the legendary 'soul strips'. Apparently only extremely powerful practitioners of the Edicts of Death are able to strip the knowledge of the Elemental Laws that was imprinted in the soul of saints. After collecting enough of them, one can practically understand an elemental law without effort".

Reynolds was extremely curious about this and the ring floated towards him while the young man looked unwillingly but did nothing to stop him. Reynolds seemed to meditated for a while and said. "Do you know who is the owner of this ring? Do you know to what elemental law system are these soul strips related?"

The young man said in a depressed mood. "I don't know who the owner of the ring is, but the ring was supposed to be delivered to the Indigo Prefecture in the Bloodridge Continent". Reynolds blinked at this as he was planning to visit the Indigo Prefecture in the future, he considered for a while and said. "Last question... do you have another body that is not here?"

The gray haired youth blinked and then nodded. "Yes, this is not my main divine avatar... my lightning avatar is a 5-star Fiend and it is with the clan". Reynolds looked pensive for a moment and said.

"I am in a good mood, my mission is to destroy the bandit's lair and return the ring. Well, I better start killing the bandits and destroy the castle... who knows... if you star running, I might be too lazy to pursue you". The gray haired young man blinked and bowed to him before fleeing for his life, he could hear the screams of the people on the castle but it only motivated him to increase his speed.

Reynolds was floating over the castle and several divine sparks and interspatial ring floated toward him, he checked and found that most of the rings were not bounded. Then he threw the bounded rings towards the castle and a giant Ba-Serpent made of fire coiled on the castle burning everything it contained and soon a lava lake was formed on the place.

Reynolds fused with the Ba-Serpent and allowed the center of the lava lake to solidify, he then used it as a bed as the fire snake coiled on the small island maintaining the temperature on the lake so the lava would not solidify. He planed to train here while waiting for his guests and this lava lake would be a good place to help him in the fusion of the laws.

Reynolds started thinking about the soul strips, he was curious but decided that the best thing he could do was to return the ring. He could not even imagine what level one should reach in order to create the fabled soul strips and the person who willing to pay for it should have a similar level of power or influence. Reynolds was not willing to create unnecessary troubles for himself.

He knew that even having the soul strips he would not be able to learn anything from them with his current level, and it might take him millions of years to reach the level on which he could start pondering this technique.

Reynolds left the gray haired youth escape because he was supported by a powerful clan that dared to rob from these monsters, and he had clearly told him that he was going to return the ring. The clan might try to recover it, but it would have nothing to do with him and he had already being generous enough. He doubted that the clan would try to do anything to him after news of the coming battle spreads on the Infernal Realm.

---

A fox shaped metallic life form was flying toward the Silver Canyon and it would take another three years to arrive. Yura was restless as he started doubting his decision. 'What if the kid is not a divine beast? Did I waste all this effort for nothing? Hateful! He is even waiting for me to laugh at my face!'

Yura was a Hell Fox, a rare divine beast famous for its terrifying outbursts of anger and its divine ability that allowed him to burn the soul of his enemies. But this innate ability required too much divine energy, and he could only use it on extreme situations. Normally his innate ability did not improve his fighting prowess and only gave him an ultimate move reserved for survival or deterrent as at least one enemy would die if he was forced into a corner.

He felt that he was tricked and in his anger he wanted nothing more than to kill the new 7-star Fiend causing as much pain to him as possible. Onnel and Aruko frowned when they saw that Yura was losing his mind in one of his common outburst of anger which would normally lead to a massacre, they shook their heads and prepared themselves to deal with the rabid beast.

"I'm starting to regret accepting this deal... even if the pay is generous, I really dislike dealing with rabid dogs". Aruko muttered and Onnel could not help but agree with her this time, he shook his head and forced himself to think on the pay he would receive after this ordeal ended.

Not far from the Silver Canyon, another metallic life form approached, inside a gray haired muscular man was sitting next to a blue haired young woman. They did not talk much and limited themselves to enjoy the scenery as they traveled. A maid entered the luxurious room and said. "Lord Prefect, we will be reaching the Silver Canyon in half a year. Apparently the Burning Fiend already completed his mission and is waiting where the bandit's lair used to be."

The gray haired man smiled and nodded thinking that this time things were going well. He wanted to witness this battle and get an idea on how powerful the kid could become in the following centuries, yes he had the feeling that he would not have to wait a thousand years as he had originally thought. He chuckled to himself while the blue haired girl rewarded him with a heavy glare for disturbing the silence in the room.