Chapter 371: Sudden Development; Golden-eyed Stranger
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Wisps of smoke rose from the Demon Prince's body.
He felt his hot blood coursing through his body as he held his spear. Waves of ominous and dark energy profiled from his body, causing the fabrics of space to tremble before his presence.
The Demon Prince stared at his surroundings with a little of resentment. Nobody aside from his was around; he's just surrounded with all sorts of machines that are created for the sole purpose of training. Still, it didn't stop him from resenting these objects due to the humbling experience they always brought to him.
That said, he knew that he's making decent progress. Previously, he could only last inside the gauntlet for a mere hour, and even then he would come out beaten and reduced to a pathetic state. Now, especially after his father's treatment of the curse, he's able to last for an hour and a half while also coming out relatively fine.
Anybody who's aware of the difficulty of the gauntlet will know just how huge this progress was. It's a little unbelievable how such a simple thing as having a mind free of distractions could help raise one's battle awareness and instincts.
Feeling tired already, the Demon Prince decided to call it day. He wiped his sweat off and returned his spear to his spatial ring. He then teleported to his room and hopped into the showers to freshen up. That was then followed by a luxurious meal and a period of relaxation.
Afterwards, he stood in front of the clear glass windows that displayed the ever-so-vast and seemingly boundless velvet blanket of stars.
Staring at the vast expanse of the cosmos, the familiar yearning he always had returned to him. He was reminded of his ambitions and his reasons why he's working and training this hard. Yet despite his efforts, he still couldn't see any hopes of getting anywhere near his dreams.
The Demon Prince is aware of his status in front of the Divine Council. Personally, he doesn't agree, but the guys who stood at the top of the alliance had much bigger fists than he does, so he could only agree to their terms.
Because he, along with his people, were branded as Space Pirates, joining the alliance through various means became impossible for them. People of the alliance wouldn't be friendly with them; their fellow Space Pirates wouldn't be either.
It's tough living like this, especially since if only his father didn't do the things he did, things could've been way easier and smoother for them.
But you know what they say: 'There's no use crying over spilled milk.'
What's done is done, and they could only make the most out of their situation. Still, there's hope left for them, and the Demon Prince was working hard for that small chance.
He knew that he was talented. Despite his status as a Space Pirate, he knew that his potential was a cut above the common folk of the alliance. Surely, if he was given a chance, he could prove himself to them. And once he does, he will be able to reverse their situation and bring them to the real path to glory.
Maybe, along the way, his family could be made whole again, too.
Yet so far, nothing has happened yet. There's not even a sign or a hint on how far his goals were from his current progress. He could only blindly run forward and hope or pray that he's close.
Because if he was really being honest, he's feeling a little tired.
Shaking his head, the Demon Prince decided to discard thoughts like this. They're not helping after all. And even though he could feel the exhaustion catching up to him, he couldn't afford to stop.
So instead of focusing on these depressing thoughts, he might as well go to sleep and get some actual rest. Hopefully, by the time he wakes up, nothing will remind him of this again.
The Demon Prince activated the privacy field within his room and dismissed the view of the windows, covering it with plated walls. He then hopped onto his bed and covered himself in his warm blankets, feeling his consciousness drifting further and further away from wakefulness.
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BOOOOM!!!!
GASP!
The Demon Prince woke up startled. He quite literally jumped off his bed with bleary and red eyes with his spear summoned to his hands, warily eyeing his surroundings for any and all threats to his life.
A deep frown marred his gradually returning wakefulness as he saw that there seemed to be nothing for him, making him wonder if he was still dreaming.
Boom!!
However, another explosion proved that what he felt earlier was indeed right. He could feel the aftershocks of the explosion rebounding in his room.
The Demon Prince was greatly alarmed, of course, because although they are used to attacking and being attacked, an explosion of this magnitude hitting the fleet was simply unheard of. Especially considering where they are.
And so, with his mind and thoughts whirring to wakefulness and action, he wore his battle armor and turned on the surveillance from his room.
What he saw surprised him greatly.
At least 50% of the screens were turned off and showing no signal, meaning that they were deactivated somehow. In his surprise, he couldn't help but notice that these screens turned out to be from areas that are of great importance to his people.
As for the remaining ones that are still showing something, he couldn't tell anything clearly either because they're either on fire or going static.
This certainly made it difficult for him to judge how bad their situation truly was, but if there's one thing that's certain, it would be the fact that they're under attack.
'Oh shit! We're under attack! '
It might be because he literally just woke up, but his thoughts were still lagging behind. Still, knowing that they're under attack raised enough alarms on his head that completely woke him up, and thus, he teleported out of his room to see just how bad the situation truly was.
And once he's out there, he almost wishes that he didn't do so.
Swoosh! BOOM!
Crash!
The Demon Prince had to evade some debris flying towards his location as soon as he appeared. When he recovered, he looked around and saw a sea of flames burning everything around him.
He looked up and saw streaks of light running laps over the entire ship. Narrowing his eyes, he saw that these turned out to be small ships with a single pilot inside.
Each of those small ships flew a little too close for comfort, and sometimes they would leave behind a trail of destruction in their wake.
Aside from this, the Demon Prince also saw his people running scared and panicking all over the place. He literally saw a handful of them stupidly running over the flames, which immediately incinerated them to ashes.
He couldn't help but curse the idiots. How could they not feel the threat of these flames? They burn brightly at space and are capable of melting the metal plates of the ship! What made them think that they could just walk over it?
These flames contained the power of Concept Laws; how can they be ordinary flames?
With a furious stomp of his feet, the Demon Prince neutralized the flames. This allowed him to see the extent of how they badly damaged this part of the ship.
He then spread his senses to cover the entire fleet to create a battle plan, but he soon realized that the situation turned out to be far more complicated than he thought.
'Where is my father? Why is he allowing this to happen? ' He thought to himself in wonder and frustration.
Brandishing his spear, he marched towards the throne room, wanting to see what his father was doing that prevented him from interfering.
On his way there, the small ships did their best to stall him, but he proved fiercer than their artillery and flamethrowers. He could just casually deflect their attacks, and if they fly a little too close to him, he could definitely bring them down.
The only thing they could do is to at least stall him, but even that was challenging to do. So, despite their efforts, they were unable to stop him from arriving at the throne room.
This place still remained intact despite the incessant carpet bombing of the fighter jets. They couldn't even leave a scratch on its exterior, so they could only move on to squishier targets.
The interior of the throne room still remained untouched. The chaos outside couldn't penetrate here, it seems.
Upon entering, the Demon Prince immediately searched for any traces of his father.
He did see him. But he wasn't alone.
No, he wasn't with any of his ministers, aides, officers, or slaves. There's only one person with him, and that person isn't even a demon.
It was a human.
A human with short and curly blonde hair with a pair of bright golden eyes flashing with barely disguised amusement and mischief. The human brought out several things out of thin air and asked his father;
"So? Coffee, juice, tea, or just plain water? Which one do you like?"
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