Monarch of Darkness

The distant sun was glowing brightly in the clear blue sky. But it's tyrannical might couldn't penetrate the thick canopy of gigantic trees. There were mid height trees below tall trees and the ground was full of lush green grasses. Evan was trading his path carefully as he was wary of sneaky attacks from magical beasts.

He had already separated himself from the group of students and he was now on his own in the vast Redwood forest. He looked infront of him and saw the endless forest waiting for him like the opened mouth of a desolate beast. Behind him also endless forest but density of the forest was much higher infront of him. He knew he would enter the core area of forest soon. 

Evan stepped forward cautiously but suddenly found out a sharply approaching aura. He crouched down quickly and hid behind nearby grass. He saw an enormous blue eagle with it's sword like wings flying toward him rapidly. The speed of the blue eagle was very fast and it quickly crossed past him. It descended at a speed of falling thunder and when it rose to air again, it was holding a pitch black creature in its sharp talon.

"What a agile eagle! The bloodline of ancient sky eagle flow in it. It can catch even shadow rats!", Evan exclaimed inside his mind. Evan had already seen the shadow rats through his soul conciousness. These shadow rats were extremely sneaky creatures with mastery over darkness element.

The blue eagle left the range of his soul conciousness as soon as it caught it's prey. Evan had nothing to complain. He was only intrigued by the shadow rats who were always moving in his vicinity. "Is there shadow rats everywhere in this forest?", Evan thought inside his mind.

He was planning to train for a while in the forest. He had already send letters to his mother explaining himself. So, he could train now with complete piece of mind. He had also another goal which was to build his own army.

Building a supreme army and conquering the planets was his ultimate goal. He had already analyzed why devils fell and he had also witnessed how cruelly gods and humans trampled on them. So, only by building a supreme army and conquering the vast lands could he bring the glory of devils back and give piece to those brave souls who sacrificed themselves that day.

Although Evan was still small but he was a prodigy since his birth. Armed with wisdom and knowledge which came from his love for books and scrolls, he was already equal to a genius scholar. Now he was planning to build his army and his first target was magical beasts! For why he was setting his first target on magical beasts, the reason was quite simple. As a devil with royal devil soul, he could control many magical beasts. Moreover, he had even completely memorized the ancient beast language. So, he was planning to start with magical beasts.

"Strange, why another shadow rat was behind me now?", Evan felt something was amiss while walking forward. He noticed another shadow rat within the range of his soul consciousness. He felt something was wrong but could not point at what was wrong exactly. He became more cautious and proceeded forward more carefully.

The core area of forest was more dense and magical beasts could be seen more oftenly here. Compared to outskirt, this place was the true land of magical beasts. Suddenly earth trembled infront of him and Evan hid behind a tall tree. After sometime he saw a group of rockhorn boars marching past ahead, trampling on every small vegetation in their awake.

Evan had no interest in them. So, he silently waited for their departure. He was just standing behind the tall tree while seeing the group of Rockhorn boars when he suddenly felt a cold shiver running down in his spine. He didn't know from where this premonition came but he swiftly moved his body to the side. 

A small handled axe went flying past him and deeply nailed on the tree. Evan knew someone was ambushing him and he used shadow ghost steps and ran ahead with all his might. Two arrows followed from behind and Evan managed to avoid them with his illusory steps.

Evan continued running with his shadow ghost steps. If he wanted he could have easily escaped using the teleportation ability of devil codex but he chose to not use it. He knew the importance of devil codex and he would not leak it's secrecy infront of anyone. Although devil codex was a very sophisticated object and didn't leak any spatial ripple outside but still vanishing Infront of enemies may cause suspicion. Evan would not leak any clue about devil codex despite the danger.

Evan ran with a great speed. His speed was almost equal to a profound transformation realm expert while using the shadow ghost steps. The herd of rockhorn boars were still ahead but he didn't have much choice. Without thinking much, he ran into the herd.

Suddenly a attack came from above. Evan didn't find any time dodge at all. It was a massive slash and came at a great speed. Evan hastily moved toward side but he still fell under the range of the large slash. When it was just going to hit him, another slash came from above and Evan blasted off by the fierce collision.

Blood and flesh scattered everywhere. The two Massi slash turned the Rockhorn boars into meat paste. Evan also collided with a tree fiercely but his physical body was tough. He only threw out a mouthful of blood by the impact and started to run again. Two fierce arrows missed him with a narrow margin.

Evan looked slightly at the sky. A masked figure stood opposite to an old man. The old man had sinister eyes and he was looking at the masked man with poisonous eyes. Evan had no time to see them clearly. He ran forward without looking back. 

In the sky, two figures were facing each other. "Who are you?", the old man looked at the masked man coldly. The masked man didn't reply but he didn't stop his cold stare. Seeing the masked man didn't replying the old man got irritated. His viper like eyes gleamed sharply. He moved his weapon which was a sword and swung it fiercely toward the masked man. The masked man was also holding a longsword. He also swung his sword in response. Two sword blast collided fiercely with eachother and sent shockwaves to the surrounding.

"Follow after that brat. I will be busy for a while", the old man shouted and two silhouettes moved toward Evan like two shadows. They were not flying in the air nor trading on the ground. They were swiftly moving using tree branches.