Still, no one refuted him. He is their leader and their objective was to ambush Aeternus, then kill him. They may not be able to ambush him, but killing him is still possible. They just had to catch up to him. So they ran after him.
They should be faster than him because of their stats and rank, but reality proved differently. Aeternus, the low-rank demon had a speed equal to mid-rank demons. One of the first lessons that Soverick learned in the academy is about habits and footwork. He learned to walk and run right. The techniques are not transferable because of the difference in anatomy and physiology but the knowledge is, so the techniques can be simulated within his mind and imitated with his body. That is why he has a speed equal to them.
Even so, the natural order of things is that he should tire before them. That didn't happen either. There were the first to start huffing, then they slowed down. They lost him in about 10 hours of chasing him. So they returned to their spot to wait for him. They couldn't return empty-handed, at least not so soon after failure. They would wait a while before returning to report to their superior.
Meanwhile, Aeternus continued on his journey to return to the edge of the plane. He killed more mid-rank demons along the way and successfully evolved his mark of sin. That means he has met the requirements to evolve. Evolution for a demon is a very important matter. It needs to be taken seriously. He will also be rendered unconscious during it. So he needs somewhere safe to perform it.
The only safe place he can think of is where he was birthed. That place will only have weak fledglings. He had been left alone by them for years so it should be safe for him to evolve there. Low-rank demons won't even be able to disturb him there. The occasional weak ones that get to him, if they don't run away from him, won't be able to overcome his natural defenses.
The varying level of concentration of sin energy restricts demons. The areas with low concentration will make demons of certain ranks sick and in discomfort. A mid-rank demon cannot live in the area where fledglings stay even for a short while. The sin energy in their body will leave them and escape into the atmosphere. Prolonged exposure to a low concentration of sin energy that isn't a plane outside the abyss will lead to death.
He ran past where he was born to the very edge of the plane. The plane of an abyss is flat like the main planes of the realm of high heaven but unlike the main planes, there is no protection for the inhabitants of the abyss plane. There is a barrier at the edge of the main plane that can only be breached by a transcendent. But here in the abyss, one can fall off the edge into oblivion. The edge of the plane also doesn't have any sin energy and will make it almost impossible for low ranks to find him. The divine sense that has been monitoring him also couldn't extend this far.
He sat down about 100 meters away from the edge. Chaos energy was leaking out of him but he didn't mind. He didn't feel any discomfort. He only felt an itch in his mind due to the leveling up of his mark of sin. It was an indication that he was ready for evolution.
"Hopefully, this doesn't kill me."
His mark of sin is his source of chaos energy. It could be that evolving it would allow higher quality Chaos energy to flow through. It could be a problem that might lead to his death. He didn't worry about it much, he would face it when it comes. For now, he needs strength. That gaze monitoring his actions is an indication that he has already drawn the attention of a big shot of the plane.
In everything, strength is absolute. It is more so in the demon society where only the fittest survive. Without strength, one will become prey just like he preys on mid-rank demons to grow stronger. The mid-rank demons have all disppeared without a corpse. To prevent that from happening to him, he must grow stronger. He must evolve.
He made his soul force enter the soul mark to open it. More chaos energy burst out of it like a dam. The energy gushed out of his soul into his body and into the ground he was lying on. Then it began to spread over the barren, rocky ground like a dog.
A screen appeared in front of him. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs ɴovᴇl(F)ɪre.ɴet
-EVOLUTION INTERFACE-
4: Origin Energy: INFINITE
5: Chaos Energy: INFINITE
1. DEMON RANK: Low - Mid.
2. SIN RANK: Low - Mid.
3. CHAOTIC POWER: Low - Mid.
4. MAGICAL RESISTANCE: Low - Mid.
5. CONSTITUTION: Low - Mid.
6. CHAOTIC POWER: +9 STATS.
1. STRENGTH ( Mid ): 100 Units.
2. AGILITY ( Mid ): 100 Units.
3. ACTIVITY ( Mid ): 100 Units.
+1 STRENGTH = 100 Units.
+1 CONSTITUTION = 10,000,000 Units.
+1 ACTIVITY = 10,000,000 Units.
+1 AGILITY = 100 Units.
+1 PHYSICAL RESISTANCE = 10,000,000 Units.
+1 MAGICAL RESISTANCE = 10,000,000 Units.
+1 SPIRIT = 1,000,000,000 Units.
1. COMMON: Make a single copy of any magical ability or skill that you see at lower power. Cost: Free.
2. UNCOMMON: Make two copies of any magical ability or skill that you see at lower power. Cost: 100 Units.
3. RARE: Make a single copy of any magical ability or skill that you see at equal power. Cost: 1,000 Units.
4. EPIC: Make two copies of any magical ability or skill that you see at equal power. Cost: 10,000 Units.
5. LEGENDARY: Make two copies of any magical ability or skill that you see at higher power. Cost: 100,000 Units.
6. DIVINE: Make three copies of any magical ability or skill that you see at higher power. Cost: 1,000,000 Units.
LOA CODE: ABBZYW59NH57GAT4A