The Calling of Wrath - Book 2 - Chapter 34 - The City (Patreon)

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Cassandra
Year 820 | Month 5 | Day 8

The city itself is surrounded by large walls, all black and crimson in color. And standing atop those walls are numerous soldiers wearing black and crimson armor. Fitting in with the style of Wrath in general.

Not that I have any complaints about their style. It’s a pretty good one after all.

The city is in a rectangular shape and the walls each have a tower at every corner of the rectangle, with a large gate at each of the ends of the rectangle. The shorter sides.

There are people slowly entering the city one by one, each of whom are being checked thoroughly by the guards. But I don’t see a single human amongst their numbers.

Just demons of all sorts.

According to the System, that is.

I’m personally not sure I’d consider some of them demons down there, but the System does, so whatever.

There are undead of all sorts both humanoid and otherwise, some looking almost completely human like vampires and others not. There are creatures called lesser demons, that all have deep red skin and smaller forms that are only a few feet tall and with wings, along with other types of demons.

Minor demons, greater demons, high demons, and so on.

I don’t see any archdemons here though, like the ones that I saw earlier.

And when I get close enough that the guards at the gate finally notice me, their reaction is a little extreme. To the point that all of the guards immediately kneel in my direction long before I even get to the gate.

But it’s not just the guards that do it. It’s also the people waiting to get inside of the city as well.

Every last demon here kneels down without a word. Almost like they’re waiting for me to speak.

I frown – or try to, what with my face being skeletal right now – then I just give a mental shrug and walk straight past the demons into the city.

And none of them try to stop me. In fact, I sense them relaxing a little after I pass. As if they were worried for their lives.

After entering the city and finding every single person in said city dropping to their knees at the sight of me, I eventually activate the stealth powers of my mask and cover the street in mist made from Wrath energy to let me escape into an alley. Strictly because I’m attracting too much attention.

At the very least though, it does teach me one thing about the demons.

They love their hierarchy.

It’s not just with me, because I can hear conversations around the city as I walk. Each of which is affected heavily by their hierarchy.

Lesser demons being abused and trampled on by all of the demons simply for being at the bottom of the hierarchy, high demons acting all high and mighty like nobles while everyone else treats them like they should act like that. And then there’s how they treated me thanks to my archdemon transformation.

I continue to move around the city, attempting to be sneaky as I do so but failing rather miserably. Mostly because I don’t know how to reign in my aura entirely, what with me never having had to completely conceal my aura before.

What’s worse is that these demons seem to be able to tell right away that I’m an ‘archdemon’ simply through my aura’s purity or some nonsense like that.

Which makes me rather curious, since my aura shouldn’t be changed from how it normally is just because of my transformation.

I wonder if they’ll treat me as an archdemon even after my transformation runs out?

Something else I find out while scouting for information though is a rather big one.

None of these demons seem to know what the System is.

When I asked a demon in the slums about it, they were confused and only knew of some myth about something like it existing in the past. Before something they call the ‘Fall’ happened and history was lost, when the archdemons remade the world.

Other than that, they’re clueless.

Probably because they’re living in the slums and aren’t educated.

Either way, the fact that the demons aren’t initialized into the System is clear.

Meaning the angel and I are the only ones in the System in this fallen plane is almost assuredly a fact. Unless the archdemons are in it too and are just hiding it.

Or the other higher ranking demons. I did just ask a lesser demon after all.

I try to frown again out of habit.

At this point I really need to find a…

My mind blanks out as I come to a realization.

Right. A library.

I’m still an archdemon for another half an hour or so, so I should take advantage of it.

So after asking another slum dweller about someone who might know where a library is, and then asking the one they point me to – terrifying both of them in the process thanks to my having to reveal myself before them to get them to talk – I head straight over towards the library. Only to find it guarded rather heavily by soldiers when I get there.

The soldiers let me walk inside, so it’s not a problem. Although I do see them quite literally executing some lower ranking demons that apparently tried to sneak in.

I try to frown again, only to feel myself growing more and more irritated with this form. Because I can’t do half of my habits in it.

But whatever. I have bigger problems right now.

And with that thought in mind, I travel through the library searching for as much information as I can fit with my remaining time in this form.

A process I have to rush rather badly due to how little time I have. And I can’t even stay in the library after I finish, instead waltzing right on out of it with the books in tow. With no one stopping me at all, instead looking terrified by my mere presence.

Huh.

This whole archdemon thing is coming in handy.

I certainly hope they keep thinking I’m an archdemon after I return to normal.