Way of the Knights

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Raven studied the Last Seal...

It looks like a large bottle cork filled numerous dazzling runes. It is also bound by numerous chains - not just any chains but the Chains of Order. At the center of the last seal, a lone sparkling gem could be found. The gem radiated with rainbow colored lights and was fluctuating with intense energy signals. 

This gem served as the core of this Last Seal, coincidentally, it is also the true body of Elder Flame - the Sun Rock. 

Beneath this seal is a deep hold filled with darkness. The only light source that could be seen within this darkness was the glow of the Chains of Order that's bound to the body of the Devil Emperor itself. 

Since the Chains of Order converge on to the Sun Rock, Elder Flame naturally became an important part of the seal. It can even be said that he's the one keeping the Last Seal intact. Without him, it would be too easy for the Devil Emperor to escape his prison. 

The place where the Last Seal is, was a secret to many. In fact, it's existence is only know to the officials of the sect. This place is directly connected to the Devil Emperor's Pagoda after all. 

With the combined efforts of the Chains of Order and Elder Flame, the Devil Emperor was thoroughly suppressed for the longest of time, however it seems that something strange was going-on since Elder Flame reported that the Devil Emperor is becoming stronger.

"..."

Raven inspected the Last Seal in silence. Everybody was tense since Raven's expression was somewhat somber. As he poured his consciousness over to the seal, he could make out it's entirety. He didn't dare to go in to deep of course since the Devil Emperor would notice him. Nevertheless, even without making direct contact with the prisoner, he could gleam several clues from his inspection. 

"...it's anxious." Raven murmured softly. "I didn't make any direct contact with it, I didn't see it either but I could feel it's anxiety and agitation. The Chains of Order doesn't have any problem either, but since this is the first time that I inspected it, I'm not really familiar with how much strength it has. So I'm going to take your word for it and say that it is getting stronger."

"It's anxious? Why? Isn't practically Immortal? Why the hell is it anxious?" Elder Flame was confused as well. It might be because of him being a rock that was born with intelligence that he didn't know how emotions work. Which is why he's confused and didn't notice it before. 

"I'd be glad if I knew the answer to that." Raven pursed his lips, "I can't though. You can't expect me to walk up to it and ask, 'Hey, prisoner that we've tortured for millions of years! Why the hell are so anxious?' right?"

"..." Elder Flame was rendered speechless with that retort. 

"Can you tell me what usually happens whenever you 'whip' it?" Raven asked. 

'Whipping' is Elder Flame's description of stopping the Devil Emperor from struggling free from the chains. Since the Chains of Order is connected to the Sun Rock (Elder Flame's body) it is inevitable that he feels terrible whenever it happens. In order to retaliate, Elder Flame will douse the Chains of Order with his flames to hurt it as well. Usually, that's enough to keep it still for quite sometime. 

"It groans in pain of course. My flames are rather vicious after all." Elder Flame replied, his tone was filled with boasting and confidence. 

"It doesn't scream or thrash around? Wait, don't tell me your Cleansing Flames aren't working on it?" Raven's face slightly twisted when he asked that. 

"W-well..." Elder Flame hesitated, but under Raven's glare, it's flame body could only shrink in fear. "Back then it did of course! It was rather loud and kept thrashing around too much that even this whole place was shaking. H-however, it's been imprisoned for far too long so it had gotten used to the pain. Now it only groans..."

Raven was skeptical since that doesn't make sense to him. Cleansing Flames is the bane of Evil. The Devil Emperor is the incarnation of Evil itself - or at least it's supposed to be. If the Cleansing Flames were so effective against minor devils, then it should also work on the Devil Emperor itself. 

He refused to believe that the Devil Emperor would develop a resistance against it's mortal enemy. It had to be known that the Cleansing Flames won't be extinguished unless evil was completely cleansed. Under it's assault, the Devil Emperor should've been burnt to ashes by now, yet it's still alive thanks to it's Immortality trait. 

Maybe it has it could get shed its skin anytime it wants in order to remove the Cleansing Flames instead, who knows. But still, the Cleansing Flames should still work against it. 

'Wait...could it be...'

Raven was suddenly struck with an idea. He then sank consciousness to the seal and inspected it closely once more. He didn't go deep this time as well since he didn't need to. This time, he paid close attention to the chains, following it until down until he saw some changes. 

His breath suddenly hitched, his consciousness snapped back to his body as his eyes flew wide open. He gasped and said:

"This is bad...it's corroding the Chains of Order!"

"What!?" 

Everybody was alarmed. Who wouldn't be in this state? 

"Is that true? Wasn't the Chains of Order a part of Heavenly Laws? Even if it manifested here to seal this abomination, it's connection to the Heavenly Laws should remain active. How can the Devil Emperor corrode it?" Theo asked with a pale face. 

"You also have to remember that the Devil Emperor isn't part of this universe in the first place." Raven explained as he calmed himself down. "It's existence wasn't permitted to exist here and the Heavenly Laws would undoubtedly strike it down the moment it exits but you also have to remember that this thing is strong."

"Not even our forefathers can kill this thing, they could only sacrifice their lives in order to seal it. The records might've forgotten to jot this down but the Devil Emperor either has a treasure or a special ability that could allow him to endure assault of the Heavenly Laws or its just that strong that it could totally ignore the Heavenly Law's existence."

"If it's the former, then it should be limited. But if it's the latter, then this is going to be really troublesome to deal with. By the way, my guess is the latter." Raven informed with a dark expression. 

"How can you tell?" The other Fire Keeper asked.

"The corrosion..." Raven replied, causing everybody to flinch. "If it can corrode the Chains of Order - the literal manifestation of Heavenly Laws' suppression, then it shouldn't be a surprise that it looks down on it since the Heavenly Laws couldn't do anything to it." 

Everyone shuddered at the thought. Raven didn't need to say anything more after that since it was already convincing enough, if someone still doesn't believe him at this point, then he could just casually mention the records pertaining about the horrors that the Devil Emperor brought upon humanity. 

The Devil Emperor surpasses the Natural-Disaster level in the danger scale. It goes way beyond that it's sheer existence becomes a threat to humanity and Divine Realm in general. 

The barren lands where Tartarus is, still hasn't recovered to this very day. It became like that just because that is the very land where the Devil Emperor and his army arrived first. Turning a lush and energy-filled land into a barren wasteland and polluting the air permanently just by arriving...such is the horror of the Devil Emperor back in it's peak. 

"What do we do now?" Elder Flame was panicking, "I-I'm not sure if I alone can't stop it. At this point, isn't it obvious that it's trying to break free?"

"I don't doubt it is exactly as you said..." Raven replied with a sigh, "It's probably corroding the Chains of Order and converting the very essence of Heavenly Laws in order to replenish it's energy."

"We're doomed then!" Theo cried out, the other Fire Keepers were panicking as well. 

"Compose yourselves." Raven said. "We still have time. If it truly has enough power to break free from it's imprisonment then it would've done so already. If I'd venture a guess, the Devil Emperor is cautious as well. It's a hundred percent confident about breaking free just yet. If I were in its position, I'd slowly accumulate until I am restored back to my peak condition before even attempting. That's most likely its train of thought."

"Elder Flame, use your judgment. You've been a part of the seal since the start right?" Raven asked, to which Elder Flame nodded, "Then you should have at least some level of recognition with it, tell me, how much has it recovered?"

Elder Flame was silent for a bit, then he replied: "I'd say about 50-60%."

Raven groaned in frustration, he didn't like that news.. Unable to endure it anymore, he took out a talisman on his spatial ring and called the Sect Master and the Grand Elder over. 

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