Rise of The Demon General

”I’m not sure I trust you enough for that, mate,” Amon replied.

”Come on, mate. Don’t be like that,” Bo Wu said. ”Have we not gone through so much together? You know all those swearing and anger the last time we spoke were not truly me, don’t you? It was that asshole who got attached to me against my will.”

”I don’t know, mate. You were already attached to that asshole when we first met. For all I know, you might be more of an asshole than that asshole.”

”Can we please stop saying mate and asshole?” Dao Su said. ”In his defense, I say Bo Wu here is chill. We talked a lot. You should give him a chance.”

”Wasn’t it you who said that a hell beast has an unstable mind?” Amon asked. ”He could just be playing you to gain your trust.”

”Bo Wu is different. I am an excellent judge of character. You can take my word for it.”

”I don’t take anyone’s word for anything,” Amon uttered. He picked up the jewel containing Bo Wu’s soul. ”I will judge your worth myself. We are going to talk a lot, and you are going to tell me everything you know about Hai Di. I will be meeting him a month from now, so I want to know who I am up against.”

”Gladly, mate. I have no love for that asshole,” Bo Wu replied. ”A warning, though. I don’t have much to tell. I was caught by that dude only shortly before he extracted my soul and fused me with a portion of his pet’s consciousness. It was this portion that knew of him, but sadly, good Dao Su here has exorcised it.”

Amon turned to Dao Su. ”You cannot split the partial soul and seal it somewhere so I can interrogate it?”

”That’s not how soul imprint works, my friend. I can only keep the main soul, which is Bo Wu here.”

”Hm, perhaps you should have tried erasing Bo Wu’s soul and see if you could keep the other one, instead.”

”Hey! I heard that!” Bo Wu protested.

Amon stored Bo Wu’s jewel in his black space ring. He told Dao Su, ”I will let you get back to your plaything. Remember to call me when it’s time to give it a test run.”

”Sure,” Dao Su replied.

Amon left Dao Su’s workshop and headed to Zee Whang’s. Entering the room, he saw Zee Whang inside a huge battle puppet bigger than his previous supreme puppet. It possessed many mechanical limbs that could extend and had ends fixed with different tools. One had a plier, the others had a drill, a welding torch, a grinder, a hammer, and many more. These limbs helped him perform various tasks without needing to do them himself.

”I see that you are back to your bad habit,” Amon remarked.

”The hell is that supposed to mean?” Zee Whang shot back.

”Never mind. Is this your new Supreme Puppet?”

”Yes, I called it my Neo Supreme Puppet,” Zee Whang said with pride.

”Okay... What about mine? Have you completed it? I have given you all the materials you requested. Don’t tell me you use them all for your Neo Supreme Puppet.”

One of the Neo Supreme Puppet’s arms pointed in one direction. Amon looked over and saw something large covered by a cloth. He walked over and removed the cloth. It was his Titan Battle Puppet, but different. Its outer layer was bulkier and looked very sturdy. Its overall color was black metallic, but its chest had a gold stripe running from its neck to its lower torso. He saw a fine gap along the center of this gold stripe.

”What is this gap for? Wouldn’t this become its weakness?” Amon asked.

”Behind that chest is its ultimate weapon. It is one of my greatest achievements. I truly have outdone myself. You won’t find any other puppet maker who can create that kind of weaponry with the same resources I used.”

”If you are done congratulating yourself, how about activating it for me?”

”It is voice-activated. Just told it to activate. It still considers you as its primary master. I never changed its control input.”

”Activate!” Amon uttered.

The dead eyes of the Titan Battle Puppet flared to life with bright blue lights. It rose to its full height. It was slightly larger than before. Amon told it to follow as he walked back to Zee Whang. While the Titan Battle Puppet was large, Zee Whang’s Neo Supreme Puppet was still twice as large.

”What grade is my Titan Battle Puppet?” Amon asked Zee Whang.

”High-tier Ancient grade,” Zee Whang answered.

”Really?” Amon asked in surprise as he looked back at the Titan Battle Puppet. If it were true, this Titan Battle Puppet was much stronger than he was.

”Yeah, remember the junk from that dimension we cannot escape, many years ago?”

”Do you mean the ancient battleground?”

”I don’t know the name. Anyway, you asked me to repair the broken weapons, but not all the junk is weapons. There are plenty of tools and even scraps of ancient battle puppets.”

”I see.” Amon never sorted through the broken things picked up from the ancient battleground. He asked Lin Li and the battle puppets to collect everything that seemed valuable. He instructed them to give everything to Zee Whang afterward to see if anything could be salvaged.

”There are plenty of rare materials, even ancient Zilliums, to power high-grade battle puppets. Combining the materials you gathered for me, I was able to whip up a battle puppet of that power level. Does this feat finally make you realize what a great puppet maker I am?”

”It certainly does,” Amon uttered.

”Tch! Your tone doesn’t reflect that,” Zee Whang grunted.

”What I’m wondering is, why not use it for yourself?” Amon asked.

”Why do you think I have not?” Zee Whang asked back.

Amon looked at the Neo Supreme Puppet Zee Whang was piloting. ”That thing is also High-tier Ancient grade?”

Zee Whang grinned, but otherwise said nothing.

”Why not use this opportunity to overpower me and take control?” Amon asked.

”What for?” Zee Whang asked back. ”I will have to fend for myself out there if I do. Unless I can be sure that I can be the top dog out there, I don’t want to bother. Also, I like the solitude here.”

”Alright. Have you finished with that batch over there?” Amon asked while pointing at the group of battle puppets lining up neatly at one side of the room. If one counted them, they numbered a hundred.

”Yes. I managed to upgrade ten to high-tier runic. The rest is mid-tier runic.”

”Good.” Amon walked over to the lined-up battle puppets. He stored them in his black space ring. After that, he refilled that side with another batch of battle puppets.

”This is the eleventh batch. How many more do you wish to upgrade?” Zee Whang asked.

”All the battle puppets in my puppet army.”

”Do you mean the royal puppet army you stole from me?” Zee Whang uttered with sarcasm.

”You lost the war. The winner claims the spoil. If you are not satisfied, you can challenge me any time you like.” Amon glanced at the Titan Puppet before adding, ”Are you regretting giving this puppet to me now?”

”Tch! As I said, I no longer have an interest in a power struggle. So long as you leave me in peace, keep me away from the disgusting humans, let me do what I like, and continue supplying me with resources, I don’t mind continuing our cooperation.”

”Excellent. Then we are both in agreement with this arrangement.”

”You know. High-tier runic battle puppets are as strong as Lord Stage cultivators. With so many in your possession, you can easily conquer Aetheria if you return there.”

”That is true, but I have my sights on a bigger target now.”

”Sure you do. A greedy human like you will never be satisfied, no matter how much you gain.”

”I’m glad you understand,” Amon said.

”That was meant to be an insult, motherfucker,” Zee Whang cursed.

”I will return to give you the twelfth batch next week.”

”Fuck you. I do one batch in two weeks.”

”You no longer spare your time with this Titan Battle Puppet. Surely, the extra time can be used to expedite the upgrades. I don’t believe this task is difficult for the best puppet maker in the world, or am I wrong?”

”Tch!” Zee Whang uttered, but otherwise didn’t refute.

Amon stored the Titan Battle Puppet in his black space ring and left the room. He exited the prison dimension. Outside, Lin Li and a few battle puppets stood guard. They were in an abandoned warehouse not far from the darkness-element ley node he had drained not long ago. Amon closed the portal and stored the prison box.

”Brother, should we return to the Mercy Domain? It has been almost two years since we travelled around for the ley nodes. You want to join the Domain Lord’s meeting with Yao Ai, don’t you?”

”Of course. If I am to proceed with my plan, I must learn more about the other domain lords. I may have learned a great deal from gathering information in this Commitment Domain over the past few months, but it is not enough. Meeting the domain lords directly is the best way to understand their characters. Too bad we don’t have the time to travel to Devotion Domain. We will do that after the meeting.”

”Should we leave for Mercy Domain then?” Lin Li asked.

”No. I will send a message to Yao Ai that I will meet her at the border between the Mercy Domain and Mo Wang’s territory. This way, we don’t have to travel too far. We will arrive before the time for the meeting.”

”Is there anything else to do here?”

”I have already hit the current limit of my infernal cultivation. I want to break through before we head for the meeting. Protect me while I attempt it.”

”I understand. I will keep watch from the outside.” Lin Li exited the warehouse and flew into the sky. She watched from above so she could see everything around the warehouse. She also widened her senses to detect anything that approached the place.

Inside the warehouse, Amon instructed the battle puppets to spread out and cover every entrance. He also summoned the Sun Ray Hawk. It stood quietly beside him as a sentry.

Finished with the preparation, he sat cross-legged and consumed the Mammoth Pill.