Chapter 153: Radiant Dawn
Jack’s ears perked up. "Holy site?"
"The Temple of Radiant Dawn," Seryth explained. "It’s where we commune with the divine forces that give the Aurion our power. Any outsider who wishes to benefit from our clan’s services must first demonstrate proper respect."
A holy site. Which meant potential contact with divine entities. Which meant a possible meeting with Draven, the god who’d given Jack his pendant and held the keys to his class advancement.
"Fine," Jack said immediately. "I’ll pay your respects."
Seryth looked surprised by his quick agreement, but nodded. "I’ll arrange an escort to take you there after you’ve finished here."
Jack turned his attention to his reanimated servant, who had remained kneeling silently throughout the conversation. The undead demon’s hollow eyes were fixed on the ground, its posture submissive.
"Lift your head," Jack commanded.
The servant obeyed, raising its burnt, one-armed form until its hollow eyes met Jack’s red eyes.
"You will look at me when I speak to you," Jack said firmly. "When I ask you questions, you will answer while meeting my gaze. Understand?"
"Yes, my lord," the hollow voice echoed.
"What’s your name?"
The reanimated demon paused, as if searching through fragmented memories. "I was... Kyren. Before you claimed my soul."
"Kyren," Jack repeated. "Your first task is to gather all the corpses on this battlefield and bring them to one location. Can you do that?"
"Yes, my lord." Kyren rose to his feet with jerky movements, his single arm hanging at his side.
As the undead demon began the grim work of collecting bodies, Jack walked among the scattered corpses himself. Fifty-seven demons lay dead across the scorched earth, Aurion and Thal’Gorin alike, killed by his Celestial Descent.
One by one, Jack placed them into his system storage. Bodies vanished as he touched them, absorbed into the dimensional space where he kept his collected resources. Demon hearts for emergencies. Blood for sustenance. Cores for power.
He left one corpse out, a Thal’Gorin shadow demon whose body was relatively intact.
[DING!]
[Demonic Frenzy: DEACTIVATED]
[HP reached stable threshold]
The notification appeared as Jack’s frenzy finally ended, the passive drain having brought him low enough that the system automatically deactivated it.
The crystal’s warmth had kept him sane throughout, but now the power faded completely.
Jack felt the difference immediately. Weaker. Slower. More vulnerable.
And hungry.
Not the overwhelming Blood Hunger that came when frenzy ended prematurely, but a gnawing emptiness that reminded him his body had been burning through resources for the past hour.
He knelt beside the remaining corpse and drove his hand into its chest.
Seryth made a sound of surprise as Jack’s fingers closed around the demon’s heart. He ripped it free with practiced efficiency, dark blood coating his arm up to the elbow.
Without hesitation, Jack raised the heart to his mouth and bit into it.
The taste was familiar now, slightly pleasant, but not revolting either. Just sustenance. Power in physical form.
He tore another chunk free, swallowing quickly, his body already beginning to absorb the demonic essence.
Seryth took an involuntary step backward, her light flickering with what might have been horror. "You... you actually eat them?"
Jack didn’t respond. He was too focused on consuming the heart, on replenishing what the frenzy had drained. When the organ was gone, he moved to the corpse’s throat.
His spear found the carotid artery. With a swift motion, he tore it open.
Dark blood sprayed across the ground, and Jack pressed his mouth to the wound. The liquid was thick, warm, carrying that same metallic taste mixed with something darker.
He drank deeply, letting the blood flow down his throat, feeling his body respond to the sustenance. The emptiness began to fade, replaced by a comfortable fullness.
[Consuming demon heart and blood]
[+8 Demonic Essence]
[Current Demonic Essence: 66]
Jack pulled away from the corpse, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Blood stained his armor, his face, his hair.
He must have looked like something from a nightmare, a white-haired human covered in demon blood, red eyes still carrying traces of the frenzy that had just ended.
When he looked up, both Seryth and Kyren were staring at him.
Seryth’s perfect face held an expression of carefully controlled horror.
Her wings had spread slightly, an instinctive defensive posture.
She’d just watched a human, supposedly a Soul Warden here to mediate their conflict, rip a heart from a corpse and drink its blood like a beast.
Kyren, being undead, showed no reaction beyond his hollow stare. But even the reanimated demon seemed to radiate something approaching unease.
Jack stood, wiping more blood from his face. "Is that a problem?"
Seryth swallowed hard, her light dimming further. "I... no, Soul Warden. You may do as you wish." Her voice was steady, but Jack caught the tremor beneath it. "I simply... didn’t expect..."
"That I’d be willing to consume demons?" Jack finished. "I do what’s necessary to survive. If that makes you uncomfortable, you’re welcome to leave."
"It’s not normal to eat demons. We may consume demon cores, but we don’t eat their hearts or flesh."
Jack looked puzzled at this point. He just assumed this was a common practice because the system pushed him to do it.
And on his travels, he learned that S loved to eat hearts. That he was a connoisseur when it came to hearts.
She didn’t leave. But she also didn’t come any closer.
’FUCK!!’ Jack was having mental turmoil at this point. ’I thought this was common practice. Demons think I’m a cannibal now because I eat their kind to live.’
"Enough, let’s get going and make our way to your holy site."
---
The walk to the Aurion City took less time than Jack expected. Seryth led the way, her wings folded tight against her back, while Kyren followed several paces behind his master. The reanimated demon’s jerky movements and hollow eyes drew stares from every Aurion soldier they passed.
As they crested a small rise, the city came into view, and Jack stopped.
It looked eerily similar to the capital where he’d been held hostage months ago.
The same white stone architecture, the same soaring spires reaching toward the sky, the same grand archways that spoke of wealth and power.
But this city was populated entirely by demons.
Light demons, specifically. Their radiant forms moved through the streets like living stars, each one glowing with varying degrees of brightness.
Some were dim, barely luminescent. Others blazed so brightly that Jack had to squint to look at them directly.
Jack thought this was weird, their demons. So why did they almost look like angels?
They entered through the main gate, and Jack’s senses were immediately assaulted by the sights and sounds of a functioning demon city.
To his left, a building with red curtains and soft lighting spilled warmth onto the street. Demons lounged in the windows, their forms partially obscured by translucent fabric.
A brothel, Jack realized, noting the suggestive postures and inviting gestures directed at passersby. Even demon societies had their vices.
"Hey, pretty boy! Why not come in for a bit?? I wont bite. Hehe." A demon said from a balcony, she was barely clothed and her chest looked like it was about to burst.
’Wow, I guess demons need to get laid too.’
Houses lined the streets, some modest, others grand. Demons went about their business with the casual normalcy of any civilization.
Children played in courtyards, their smaller forms darting between adults with high-pitched laughter that sounded almost human.
Then the smell hit him.
Fresh bread. Sweet pastries. Something baking that carried notes of honey and cinnamon.
Jack’s head turned toward a bakery on the corner, its windows steaming from the heat of ovens within. A demon stood behind the counter, pulling golden loaves from a stone oven with his bare hands.
The scent reminded Jack so strongly of Clarence back in Sorne that he felt a pang of homesickness.
Clarence, the old baker who’d always slipped him an extra sweet roll when he was younger.
’I wonder if he’s doing alright,’ Jack thought, watching the demon baker work. ’It’s been months since I’ve been home.’
But he couldn’t afford to think about home right now. Not when he was standing in a demon city, covered in blood.
Demons on the street gave him a wide berth. None made eye contact.
They would glance his way, see the blood coating his armor and face, see the hollow-eyed Kyren trailing behind him, and immediately look away.
Some crossed to the other side of the street. Others ducked into shops to avoid passing too close.
Word had spread fast. The Soul Warden who’d killed their champion and consumed demon hearts was walking through their city.
Seryth led him through winding streets until they reached the heart of the city. There, rising above all other structures, stood the Temple of Radiant Dawn.
It was magnificent. White marble columns supported a domed roof. The steps led up to massive double doors etched with intricate patterns.
The entrance was flanked by statues of winged demons in prayer positions, their stone faces serene and beautiful.
Light crystals embedded in the marble pulsed with a gentle rhythm, like a heartbeat.
Seryth stopped at the base of the steps and turned to Jack. "This is as far as I go. The temple priests will guide you from here." Her luminescent eyes studied him for a moment.
"Whatever happens inside... be respectful. The divine forces that dwell here do not tolerate mockery or disrespect."
Jack nodded, his gaze fixed on the massive doors ahead.
He climbed the steps slowly, Kyren following close behind. Other demons in the street had stopped to watch, their glowing forms creating an audience for whatever was about to happen.
Jack reached the front doors and placed his hand against the smooth marble surface.
The doors began to creek open.