Chapter 257: Devils

"You ask how I know? The question should be, why wouldn't I know? Ever since the recent war with the humans, I have sensed a certain element. You forget that I myself am a demon. We have close ties to devils. You could almost call us cousins. If you ever study the history of demons back before the first war, when life was almost wiped out. You would find that demons and devils once lived alongside each other. At that time, man, beastkin, demons, devils, even gods, and goddesses all lived on this planet. But because of that one war and the intervention of a higher power, things became different. The records do not explain it all, but from what I know, that higher power split off the devils and gods to their own realms, and then the system was introduced." Creige explained.

"Wait!" Sei held her head. She felt like it was about to explode with all this new information. "You are saying that the demons have records of when the system actually came to be?" 

"It did not state who created it or why, but it was introduced after the higher power split the realms. My guess is that there are many realms higher than the realm of gods and more evil than the devils realm. You could say that we only know a fragment of what true power really is." Creige words were a shock to both Sei and Claine. Especially Sei, who has read up on these things multiple times. 

"I know about other higher planes. There is a record of it in the archives in the realm of gods, but I do not know what the planes are. But I have studied and studied and gone over all documents about the system but never have I ever heard about anything dealing with a great war and how it was created after the fact." Sei couldn't understand why someone from a race in the mortal world knew so much. But then again, this was a man who could easily tear space and time, which was something that should be out of his range of power. The more she thought about it, the more confusing it all was. She really wished to know just who is Creige. A demon who does not live with other demons. She really couldn't help but ask: "Just who are you?"

"The husband of my wife. Who else would I be? More importantly. If you wish to take on the devils race, you will need more than just you gods. Although those from the realm of gods are very powerful, they do not have the correct power that can significantly hurt the devils. For that, you will need the power of dragons. Dragons have something special in their magic that is harmful to the devils. What that something special thing is, even I do not know." Creige explained.

"But you called them weaklings. Why is that?" Sei asked. She did not go into what Creige said about dragons since he already said he did not know why.

"Because most are no match for me." Creige simply said. His arrogance shooting through the roof. At Creige's answer, Sei did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Umm… May I ask one question?" Claine finally spoke up.

"Mm..." Creige nodded his head.

"You call them devils but are they made up of other races just like the realm of gods?" Claine asked.

"That they are, but one thing you have to understand as well... Devils look no different than you and me, except their appearance is more sickly looking. The only big difference is that they all have one special trait." Creige answered.

"And that trait is?" 

"The death element. You see, the death element corrodes and breaks down a person's mentality. It will slowly drive them to go insane. They will become more violent and unfeeling. It is something that will change a person completely. For a person who does not have this element, if they are exposed to it, it will slowly corrode at their bodies, slowly sucking the life out of them, making them living zombies until… They finally turn to become an undead." If Kana heard these words right now, she would probably turn deathly pale.

"That explains everything! That was why the people of the theocracy are all like that now!" Sei shouted. Now everything made sense, but something worried her even more now. "Creige, if a god or goddess is exposed to this death element for long periods of time, what would happen?" 

"If it is a god or goddess, they would be a little more resistant to it. Without the element, they will slowly go mad.  The first signs should be black lines forming on the skin that are visible to the eyes. Once the process starts, it will continue to progress faster and faster until finally..." 

"Yuthia!" Sei began to panic. She herself had those lines as well. So she knew that there was no way Yuthia did not have those lines. But as they spoke, Yuthia was in the midst of it all in an area very dense in the death element. Sei turned and was about to teleport out of the room when a big hand grabbed her shoulder. 

"I wouldn't go. I can already sense that you have taken in a good amount of the death element. It will take some time to be purged out of your body. If you go back there now, you are asking to be turned into a mindless ghoul. What is worse is you have the dark element like me. The dark element is something that is closely tied to the death element. It will cause the death element to quickly progress faster than that of a normal person." Creige slowly let go of Sei's shoulder. Sei turned around with tears in her eyes as she looked at Creige for an answer. " I will go try to bring her back. As you two are my wife's friends I can not let you come to harm either. But while I am gone I need you to help protect this land. I should also mention that demons will not be affected by the death element. Even me who is of the dark element."