The Strongest Demon Lord in the Modern World - Chapter 53

Leaving the comfort of the bed and the slithering naked seductress behind, Aziel stood up and grabbed his clothes laying around on the floor.

“We should go visit the plaza at the city center to buy a couple of extra choice clothes for you… dear master…” Lydia’s gentle, enticing whispers broke the silence as Aziel was about to dress up.

He shrugged his shoulders at her suggestion, not too bothered by it. After all, the first time he donned some rags to cover himself was when he was about to make first contact with Dinah’s tribe. Before that, he basically spent a great deal of his existence without such commodities.

Even more so, he could still utilize his transformation technique and return to his armored, scaled giant battle form. His current human appearance was merely the result of his latest evolution.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Quickly putting on the shirt and the pants from yesterday he looked towards the window as he added. “I need to go out for a bit. We can talk later.”

With that said, Aziel walked towards the door. Pulling it open, he turned his face over his shoulders before walking out and throwing out one more sentence.

“Act normally when we are not by ourselves and you can come back tonight as well. You were… satisfactory, I guess.”

Having said what he wanted, Aziel stepped out of the room, closing it behind him, and leaving the naked woman remain laying in his bed.

He didn’t waste time for breakfast, after the short session of interrupted cultivation Aziel felt the need to get back closer to nature. He felt a call, a pull coming from deeper within.

Deep in thought about the nature of [Aether], he didn’t even realize where he was going, he just let his feelings take control. Soon, he felt the fresh air, bringing him back to reality. Looking around, he realized that he went straight to the same park he visited yesterday, right back to the side of the artificial pond.

The same gnarly, old willow tree he laid against yesterday was looming over his head, covering him with its comforting shade once again.

Yet, when he arrived, Aziel was surprised to find out that unlike yesterday he wasn’t alone this time around. Someone else has already taken ‘his spot’, having an open-air training session.

It was that same girl with the ponytail that he had met yesterday, and she was practicing some form of martial arts under the tree. Looking around, Aziel also noticed that she was not alone either. The same old man, that was with the girl yesterday, stood behind the tree, leaning on his adorned walking cane, and was watching over the girl’s practice. From time to time, he would call out and stop the girl and would offer some advice and guidance to fix and improve her mistakes.

Also, the same sharp-eyed young man was sitting inside of a black jeep-like vehicle, being ever-so vigilant. His piercing gaze was constantly scanning the surroundings without faltering.

Aziel was somewhat surprised to see the same trio of strangers he had met yesterday. What were they doing here?

As he was paying attention he noticed the strange, albeit familiar resonance inside his core. Surprised and shocked, Aziel was unable to contain his curiosity and approached the strange group.

The old man merely graced him with a fleeting glance before returning his attention to the girl standing in front of him.

Since he didn’t feel anything special, Aziel didn’t pay any heed to them the last time, he didn’t take a look at the girl, nor the old man, however now, after observing the duo more carefully, he was shocked by what he found.

Adding to the girl’s exquisite face and tenacious body, she carried an almost heroine-like quality in every single one of her movements. Each swing of her arms, every simple action she took seemed like a small declaration of victory, every kick, thrust she made felt as if a goddess was casting judgment upon the unworthy mortals.

Still, it wasn’t her appearance and technique that caught Aziel’s attention. To him, these ‘dance-like’ graceful moves were nothing special. No, what he was shocked was what he felt radiating from deeper inside of her. It was undoubtedly [Aether].

“Hmm… This is unexpected… I never thought these humans can actually sense and use it…” Aziel was aught by surprise as he did not expect to meet another cultivator on Earth. From his experience, although it was limited, he was all but assured that this realm had no practitioners at all.

However, upon taking a closer look, his surprise quickly faded.

“No, she seems to be not fully aware of it. It is too weak, too… basic. She shouldn’t at most be at the first or second level of the Mortal Realm, barely more than a seedling.”

As Aziel continued his observation, he only now noticed the unique shirt the girl was wearing, as well as the traditional martial arts suit the old man was in. Unlike yesterday, he wasn’t donning the greyish business suit, but a traditional-looking dark purple robe with golden embroidery at its rims. The girl’s attire was similar in fashion, only that it was loosely fitting long-sleeved shirt with wider, long sleeves.

Azel hummed, as he looked at their practice session with growing interest.

It somewhat reminded him of the training sessions of his knights back in his previous life. How they spent each morning restlessly practicing their movements, fixing their breathing, and then ending it circulating their cultivation techniques to increase their [Mana] inside their cores.

Ever since coming in contact with this world’s energy, Aziel always wondered, was [Mana] truly inferior to [Aether]? Or was it just a different name for the same form of energy? Yet, there was a clear difference… Whilst the former was more closely related to the spiritual aspects, the latter was the life force behind all living beings, be it flora, the wildlife… or as it turns out humanity.

Looking at her, Aziel wondered how strong she truly would be. The internal energy inside her was far inferior to the ones on those that relied on [Mana] for those just starting their path to cultivation.

He was all but certain, that not just she haven’t even started the first couple of stages and her body was barely stronger than that of a fit mortal. A cultivator could harness the powers of nature, and the universe calling forth powerful spells and creating miracles with a snap of their fingers.

All that would be far beyond the capabilities of simple martial artists like they seemed to be.

As Aziel’s curiosity was gradually satisfied with just inspecting the girl, he gathered himself and continued watching the morning practice.

As time passed, every now and then he would smirk at the mistakes, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Eventually, the girl noticed the stage, silver-haired boy criticism, which she quickly grew annoyed with. After some time, feeling she took it long enough, he paused his exercise and asked hotly.

“Who are you and what are you doing there, you creep?! What are you looking at me for? Do you even understand what we are doing?!” She snapped.

Instead of a response, Aziel chuckled at the accusations thrown in his way.

To him, these primitive martial techniques were barely more than primitive dance moves. His knowledge and experience as one of the Thirteen Demon Lords granted him ample opportunities to master these physical arts. He could be said to be the embodiment of the true martial spirit, especially in this world.

Let it be the basic cultivation techniques or the art of killing and warfare; there was nothing that he did not have a knack for. Being a hands-on leader of his people, he wasn’t like most of the other leaders, his brothers, and sisters. He was actually well versed in all kinds of unarmed close-quarter combat techniques.

The girl’s shambling forms and unrefined skills were laughable in his eyes.

His knights’ entry-level martial techniques, the “Sanguine Hundred Forms” were much more sophisticated than what the girl had used. Not to mention that the “Sanguine Hundred Forms” was mostly used only as of the base, for the newly initiated and those that did not yet advance from their beginner ranks. It was used as a form of maturity, once mastering these basic moves, they would be able to advance further after taking a successful exam.

Any official member, that has accomplished this trial, would have long since forsaken these techniques.

Nonetheless, Aziel was not about to argue with her, nor did he have any intention of getting closer to them. After learning what he wanted, he was about to leave anyway, thus he decided to take the higher route and nodded his head as a form of apology.

“Think nothing of it, girl. I was just merely passing by and found your practice session interesting. That is all.”

“Hmpf! Then buzz off, and stop leering at my-” Before she could finish, the old man standing behind suddenly shouted with a raised, colder tone.

“Kora, that is enough!”

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