Aki ran to an old man that was sitting down with his legs crossed. He was looking down, his hands on  his knees, and his palms open and pointing up. He wore a cloak like Mia, but instead of being red and gold, it was white, and was covered with symbols. There were so many symbols that it looked similar to when a kid would doodle on a piece of paper until there were no more places to draw on.

"Old man, we need your help!" Aki told the old man.

"What did I tell you youngins about interrupting my beauty meditation?" The old man looked up exposing his old, but still youthful face. He had a long and lengthy beard that reached down to his chest.

"Please, old man. This is no time for joking. Mia was using her scouting magic when she suddenly fell into a seizure."

"I'm not joking! This is serious! Don't you know that I'm getting old now? I don't have my handsome looks anymore... Nevertheless, let's have a look at Mia shall we." The old man stood up from his position, walking over to where the commotion was.

"Old man Julius, please help," Godfrey asked him.

"Shush! And let her go. You'll be doing more harm than good with you holding her like that."

Godfrey did as he was told, letting go of Mia, and laying her on the ground.

"Now, let's see here." Julius's eyes shined blue as he looked over Mia. In response, some of the symbols on his cloak also activated, glowing blue.

"Well, her mana has been attacked directly. It's damaged, but she should be able to recover. As for the seizure..." Julius waved his hands, activating some symbols on his cloak. "Paralyze."

After being paralyzed, Mia's body stopped convulsing, but she still remained unconscious.

"Thank you, old man," Godfrey said, giving a long bow.  "You said that her mana had been attacked directly? I've never heard of this happening. Not only that, the place we sent Mia to spy on was over 300 meters away."

Julius nodded while stroking his beard. "Well, this usually only happens to beginner sorcerers, but Mia isn't a beginner. Not only that, the cloak she's wearing has been enchanted to defend against these kind of attacks. Whoever did this must be a top of the line sorcerer."

"Stronger than you?"

"Well, I specialize in healing. So I wouldn't be surprised if they were stronger than me."

"Ok then what about the Grand Sorcerer?"

"I wouldn't say they are stronger than the Grand Sorcerer since the Grand Sorcerer can definitely do this without problem. I'd put them at below the Grand Sorcerer, but we don't have a lot of information. There is a chance they are stronger than the Grand Sorcerer."

Godfrey nodded, pondering his next course of actions. "Well, we cannot back out now. The King has sent us here to investigate, and we must not disappoint. Old man, can you stay with Mia?"

Julius nodded, already getting ready to meditate again.

"Erik, and Aki. You two come with me to the village," he ordered them. "Aki, lead the way!" 

---

That'll teach them! No one spies on me and my disciples on my watch. I wonder how they are doing though. When I suddenly saw a floating invisible eye, I noticed that there was a magical connection using an energy that I was unfamiliar with. It wasn't Aether, but it did come from Aether. It was like a lesser version of Aether. 

Following the connection, I saw a woman surrounded by a group of people. Naturally, I tried communicating, but they didn't respond. I might have gotten a little impatient and sent a burst of energy through the connection, but that's their fault for spying.

That eye was interesting though. Let me try that. Focusing on the space in front of me, I gathered the Aether in my surroundings. The eye wasn't made up of Aether, but I tried to use the same basic structure with Aether, and what do you know it worked. In front of me was one singular floating eye, and I was connected to it. Not physically, but magically.

Using this connection, I could look through the eye. Interesting, but it was kind of useless to me. What use was sight when I had a more superior vision by detecting energy. I quickly got rid of the eye as it dissipated into magical particles.

With nothing else to do except wait for my disciples to wake up, I tried to sleep. My body didn't need sleep, but I didn't really want to be awake for 8 hours so I let my body go into slumber, a state where time would pass faster for me, but losing a part of my consciousness. Or at least I was about to when I suddenly felt a cluster of humans approaching the village, and they were all armed.

"What does the Rahan Empire need with our village?" I heard the guard ask.

Expanding my senses, there really were a lot of them. Most of them were insignificant, less energy than what Gabriel, and Zeke had, but one did catch my eye. 

A knight clad with crimson red armor. By his side, a long spear of the same color. Even with my blessings, this guy could probably beat my two disciples.

The red knight spoke, "The Rahan Empire has suspicions that this village is keeping something here."

"What could we be keeping here? This is but a small unaffiliated village," the guard replied.

The red knight slammed his spear on the ground, startling the guard, and the villagers watching from afar. "Do not lie. We will only say this once. Show us what you are hiding, or this village along with its residents will be erased from the world."

The guard took a deep breath, taking a second to compose himself. "Alright, but please don't harm the residents. The thing you're looking for is in that house."

"Smart man. Soldiers! March!" The red knight was now heading towards us, his small army behind him.

Annoying annoying. What should I do? I don't want to wake my disciples up, but this should be good practice for them. Actually, let me have some fun for a bit. I still have yet to see how I compare in power to this world.

The red knight stopped in front of the door. Raising his leg, he kicked the door open, sending the door flying towards me. Without lifting a finger, the door disintegrated before it made contact with me.

The red knight was greeted with a pitch black room, and in the middle was me, sitting on a black throne. 

This was a simple thing I did, casting my divinity around the room, making what seemed to be a void, and I also formed a throne fit for a god. This shroud of my divinity also served to hide my two disciples which still lay unconscious.

The soldiers upon seeing me exclaimed their fears.

"Demon Lord!"

"The end of times have come."

"The second Demon Lord!"

It was interesting, but what piqued my interest the most was calling me the "second" Demon Lord. Where was the first then?

The red knight yelled out, "Silence! If you disappoint, or embarass the Empire, I will kill you right here and right now!"

He turned towards me, lifting his spear. "A demon? I do admit. You look strong, but compared to the demons I've faced, you don't even have a hint of energy. I thought this would be a fun venture, but it seems to be a disappointment."

Hmm, is it because I'm enshrouded in my divinity of nothingness that he cannot feel my energy? This is good to know for the future, but I do not like this mortal talking to me like this.

The red knigt channeled his energy which was again a different energy from Aether. It also wasn't the same energy as what that girl used. It was a red energy that made his spear give off an aura of red.

Drawing his arm, he threw the spear at me, creating a loud shockwave.

I checked in on my disciples. Good, the shroud absorbed the sound, and they're still sleeping. 

Looking back at the spear, it was slow. The spear travelled towards me, aimed for my head, but it was laughably slow.

One of the arms that made up my body reached out to grab the spear before it could hit me.

"Cute toy," I said, enhancing my voice. "You can have it back."

I pointed the spear back towards the knight while another arm reached out and flicked the spear, sending it flying towards the knight.

I didn't enhance the spear with any energy, but the attack was still strong enough to send the knight flying towards his soldiers, his chest piece cracked.

He channeled the same red energy, which from what I saw was boosting his regeneration. Several of his men tried to help him up, but he brushed them off. "I don't need your help."

With the help of the red energy, he managed to stand up like nothing had happened to him. I checked his body, and the damage he had recieved had miraculously disappeared. Interesting.

I stood up from my throne, revealing my full height. "I should make this clear. I am not a demon. I am a god."

The red knight laughed. "That's funny. Well, you can call me the first god-killer after I'm done with you."

He grabbed the spear still sticking out of his armor, and charged at me.

Once again, I caught his spear, but upon grabbing the spear, he let go throwing a punch at me which I also caught.

Another punch, another kick, all of which I caught. He sent out a burst of energy causing me to let go. 

Tsk, boring.

"You're weak," I said. "But you'll make good practice for my disciples."

I trapped him in a bubble of my divinity as I awoke my disciples using the connection I had with them.

"Zeke, Gabriel. This is your first task. Defeat the red knight."