The red claw was flabbergasted by the reply. The room fell silent, the air thick with tension.
The red claw asked in bewilderment, "Why?"
Silas rebutted in a firm tone, "Why should I take a demon's help?"
"...Uh?" The red claw thought for a moment and replied, "Because you can get stronger?"
"No, demons aren't trustworthy, especially you who changed my body entirely and even live within it like it's a famous inn," Silas said, his voice steady.
"If I won't live in my body then who will?" the red claw retorted, its voice tinged with irritation.
"Me," Silas answered without hesitation.
The red claw was shocked by the immediate reply.
"Where would I live when my main body was, nah. Is it even my body?"
"Leave it, if you don't want to get stronger. Then be it,"
"You gave up quite easily," Silas remarked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
Red claw glared at Silas and said, "Your eyes speak volumes, you're very stubborn."
Silas smirked a little and said, "At least I will listen to you."
Silas spoke again, "How do you intend to make me stronger?"
The red claw explained, "Become my messenger."
"What do you mean?" Silas asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Establish my religion here, in this world," the red claw stated.
"A demon, establishing.... A religion?" Silas's cheeks flushed slightly as he struggled to contain his laughter.
"Yes, that's corr—"
"Keuk... Oh." Silas immediately covered his mouth with a hand and grabbed his stomach with the other.
"You... You just laughed," the red claw accused.
"No, I didn't," Silas denied firmly.
"You did."
"I didn't," Silas insisted, his brows furrowing.
"You don't want to listen to me."
"I don't, I mean I do," Silas stammered.
The red claw sighed and turned into a red mist.
The red mist enveloped Silas and vanished.
"Huh?" Silas was bewildered.
Suddenly, a sharp pain arose in Silas's chest. His eyes bloodshot, his body stiffened.
"Urgh..."
A voice reverberated in his brain, originating from within his sea of consciousness.
Within Silas's sea of consciousness, he saw a massive hand piercing through the clouds, reaching for him. The hand was larger than the Himalayan mountains.
Silas, however, was not in his current form. Within the sea of consciousness, he was the thousand-faced demon, the conqueror of the martial world.
He stood on a rock, waves crashing against it, trying to throw him into the sea.
The figure was a quarter less than two meters tall. He appeared no older than someone in their 20s. Wearing a black robe that fluttered in the raging winds, he had long ebony hair reaching his waist. His sharp eyes were locked on the hand.
"So, this is how you want to play it, huh," Silas muttered, manifesting a glamorous sword in his hand.
"Although I cannot use the nameless Qi with this body, it's fine," he said, gripping the sword tightly.
"I will show you, demon. The peak of the martial arts of an era," Silas declared, his voice echoing across the consciousness.
The hand's finger pointed toward Silas, energy gathering around it. The energy was malevolent, crimson and repulsive.
It soon formed a short sphere. Just at that time, Silas swung his sword and muttered under his breath, "Heart Sword."
---
After a few seconds, Silas lay cold on the sea's surface, floating. His lower half was completely blown off, along with the rock.
Silas coughed blood from his real body. His eyes reflected his shock.
"H... How?" he gasped.
Silas glared at the red claw, which had just manifested.
"The sea of consciousness, in that place you can only manifest something you have, especially when it's someone else's sea of consciousness," the red claw explained.
Silas knew it was true, but he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. After all, he had never seen something like that before.
Silas then said, "The Profound Realm or... Astral Manifestation."
Silas had been one step away from reaching the realm in the past before getting stabbed in the back.
At Silas's words, the red claw smirked and said, "Now, you will listen to me."
"I refrained from damaging your soul; otherwise, you could've suffered permanent damage. Be grateful," the red claw continued.
Silas could only glare at the red claw as it spoke.
The red claw then said, "Establish a cult. The world isn't so small that a lone person like you could do anything."
"Now that you are using my body, you should also pay me back. There are forces beyond your imagination and strengths above your perception. Although you were stronger in the sea of consciousness, it must have been your previous body which got reformed into mine. Still, that strength is useless in front of large numbers. You cannot fight the world by yourself," the red claw spoke in a serious tone.
"You act like you're my guardian or something," Silas said in an annoyed tone.
The red claw spoke coldly, "You're nothing more than a sword for me. You will listen to me and eradicate what I ask you to."
Silas thought for a moment and sighed.
"For now, at least," Silas said indifferently.
After a moment's thought Silas frowned.
"However, how would I recruit outstanding individuals? If there are any, they would be already recruited," Silas questioned.
Both of them stared at each other for a long time.
"This..." The red claw hesitated before speaking. "Why should I help you with everything? Are you some kind of child who needs his parents' help for any work?"
"Even if that's the case, you're too weak to be called a cult leader. I won't even take in someone like you as a guard for the cult's gate if I ever started a cult in the mortal world."
Veins bulged on Silas's head; it seemed like the word "guard" had struck a nerve. He had already been beaten and battered within the duke's estate by them and left in the mud coldly.
"Become strong before entertaining any idea of establishing the cult. If you were as strong as you were in the sea of consciousness, it would've been easier. Tch," the red claw sneered.
"Weren't you going to make me stronger?" Silas questioned.
"I did say that before, although you had already achieved much before you got this body. So any minuscule help is meaningless to you," the red claw replied.
"Then why should I help you create a cult?" Silas asked.
"If you don't want to, don't. But I can always invade your sea of consciousness again,"
"Alright," Silas reluctantly agreed.
"Before you go, tell me your name."
"Call me whatever you like," the red claw spoke dismissively.
"Claw," Silas said, having already prepared the name in advance, knowing the personality of high-and-mighty individuals.
Claw blinked in silence for a moment and vanished.
After that, Silas got up and went to take a shower as he had coughed up a lot of blood. He checked the time on the clock.
"2:03 am. I went to bed for meditation at 11:32 pm. Because of this demon, I wasted my precious sleep time," Silas muttered.
Silas turned off the lights and went to bed again. He slept through the night peacefully.
---
At 10 am in the morning, two people were chatting in a casino. The room was filled with the clink of coins and the murmur of voices.
"The boss is quite angry," one of the men spoke while leaning on the chair. He seemed exhausted, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.
"You're right. Because of the fight between us, Gramut Mountain's Brave Bandits and Mad Savage Bandits Of Lorgen Mountains," the other man said, stirring his tea and taking a sip. The tea was bitter, but it helped clear his foggy mind.
"Those bastards were crawling below our feet in the past. They've grown arrogant after devouring some minor bandit hideouts," the first man said, his voice trembling with rage.
"Truly, we will crush those fuckers today such that they won't dare to rise again," the second man agreed, his fist clenching tightly around his cup.
Bandits from both sides were calling reinforcements for the fight. The location had been chosen as the border of both mountains. The fight was supposed to be in three days, so the bandits were concentrated on building their forces.
The air was thick with tension as the bandits prepared for the clash yet to happen.