Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Rody rolled over almost immediately while ignoring the pain he felt from his broken nose (caused by his face slamming into the ground) to face his first wife despite the aching pain in his chest.

He was determined to fight despite the pain...

As he faced Raelyn was had dropped the act and was now smiling with excitement, there was a part of the Duke's mind that still felt that she could be redeemed... At least he still wished to try.

Raelyn dashed towards Rody as he attempted to defend himself with his Ordinances but was forced to stop because of the pain in his chest which got even worse and forced him to one knee,

"Arrgghhhh" Rody yelled while clutching his chest tight just before his first wife struck his jaw with her knee.

The knee strike lifted Rody and Raelyn wasted no time punching his midsection which lifted him even higher into the air.

The disparity in their physiques (Rody had retained the even larger size he gained with the activation of his bloodline ability) made this battle between the two spouses even more interesting to a smiling Hal.

The battle was taken into the air once again but this time was absolutely one-sided with Raelyn taking control and delivering deliberate punishment to her husband which went further to weaken him physically while the heart demon in his chest weakened him mentally and emotionally.

At the moment, Rody's attention was split with him attempting to focus on the physical battle between him and his wife (which he was losing) while also trying to focus on the battle he was having with his heart demon (which he was also losing).

All in all, the longer this went on, the worst it was for the Duke.

Raelyn no longer even allowed him to make use of his hands to clutch his chest as she had delivered deliberate attacks to his arms to make them mostly useless, especially with his increasingly weakening body.

Thing was, while Hal did not really feel sympathy for the Duke, he did note that the man had not yet learned his lesson.

He was not even making progress in his attempt to defeat his heart demon because he had not let go of the anchor... He had not let go of what the heart demon was holding on to which was his(Rody's) affection for his wife.

Even as he got punished and even as he swore in his heart that he hated her, a part of his mind still held on to some pretty unrealistic hopes.

Now, to be fair, Hal's plans were already in motion, and even if Rody managed to defeat his heart demon, it would not be instantaneous and the time it would take would be more than enough for him(Rody) to be weakened enough to be branded with the Devil mark...

... Once branded with the Devil Mark, there was nothing he could do anymore.

Due to the punishment he had already received at his wife's hands, defeating his heart demon would no longer help him but Hal still found it a tad disappointing that Rody was not attempting victory.

He was struggling with the heart demon and wrestling to keep hold of the anchor when he should have been letting go.

Raelyn did something somewhat similar to what Rody had done to her when he had been trying to get past her to attack Hal but she was much more active with her attempts.

Multiple strikes to Rody's jaw and more than a few hits to his midsection while she held him up in the air all the while.

The final strike that sent the Duke hurtling to the ground was a strike to his head that had him face-planted from that much high up.

*Bam!*

*BANG!*

Almost a second after Rody landed, Raelyn landed as well and she smashed the bones in his arms with incredibly planned hits that she delivered with a sadistic smile on her face.

In the air, the Duke had been incapable of mustering any strength because whenever he tried, his heart demon would stop him, and being back on the ground after just forming a crater did not change this.

Once she had broken his arms, Raelyn went after his legs.

The Duke was helpless...

He had lost... Woefully...

His cultivation as a five-star Cosmic Saint and his two Elemental Ordinances had been completely useless against the unholy combination of his wife and the blue-eyed bastard.

What made it worse for him and made this defeat an even harder pill to swallow was the fact that Rody now knew with certainty that Hao was not as strong as him... He wasn't even a Semi-saint.

Neither his wife nor this blue-eyed bastard was as strong as him and in a normal situation, he should have had no trouble defeating them both even if they attacked together... And yet he had lost.

Rody knew what was to blame for this defeat... He know the only reason he had been defeated was that his opponents knew his weakness and had planned quite well beforehand to exploit that weakness...

He knew it was his love for his wife that caused his defeat but that didn't make things better or change the results in any way.

His epiphany was useless...

He was at their mercy...

Was this his end?

Raelyn pulled him up and forced him to kneel to the blue-eyed bastard who walked over with confident strides and a confident smile.

Hal knew he had won and was taking his time to revel in the victory.

Rody could still feel the pain of his heat demon in his chest and he knew the dangers of a heart demon...

He knew that a heart demon was not just going to cause him pain... In fact, the pain was only a by-product of the heart demon's actual actions which was to destabilize his cultivation foundation and send him into cultivation derivation that would, at best cause him to lose a large portion of his cultivation and at worst, kill him.

He decided to stop being an idiot with a death wish and finally let go of the anchor the heart demon had been holding on to.

Once he let go of the anchor, defeating the very demon was a much more easy task... Alas, it did not make a difference.

Hal slammed a palm on the Duke's chest and flooded him with Devil energy that immediately saturated the inside of his body to tie his entire being and everything that made him who he was to Hal before branding him with the Devil mark which sealed him as a part of Hal's force.

The first thing the Duke felt after the mildly painful branding session was silence.

His Heart demon was eradicated (or more accurately, it was taken away) by the one who put it there.

Rody Arkene felt serene...

When he opened his eyes, Hal had a long contract drafted we ready to be signed,

"Sign this with your blood," Hal said and despite a part of Rody's mind wondering what the hell this was, the mark he had just been branded with prompted him and made him feel powerless to protest or disobey.

Rody signed the Contract in his blood and it was made official that he was, from that moment on, a subordinate of the blue-eyed bastard.

"And that is that. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Hal said with a chuckle as the contract rolled up and vanished into his right palm.

Rody was speechless in the sense that he had nothing to say and not in the sense that he was in awe.

He still hated Hal and Hal could tell but he did not give a shit.

Why should he care?

Sure, he could have tweaked the Duke's personality and changed his reactions but not only did Hal not see the point in doing this, but he also loved that animosity.

It kind of fueled him in a wicked sort of way and had nothing against it.

Anyway, Hal was actually thinking of how it had felt to brand and contract a Duke while also noting that the seed of his darkness had been planted in the Arkene Duchy.

Just by contracting the Duke, the entire Duchy palace was corrupted and connected to the Devil seed in Sapphire city with the connection only to get stronger by deliberate actions he would have the Duke taking moving forward.

While it should not be publicized and not be made loud in order not to draw too much attention to the changing situation, Hal still charged the Duke with spreading the word of his faith as quietly and anonymously as he could.

Hal made Rody a Priest of sorts with the ability to indoctrinate denizens of the Palace with an earnest belief in him.

Rody was also given the ability to give other trusted people the ability to spread the faith.

All in all, the entire Duchy was to be brought in order.

"As you wish," Rody said in a polite tone despite the anger and helplessness he was feeling.

As he bowed, Hal noticed a necklace cord around his neck and he grabbed it to remove the necklace from his neck... The necklace with the Orb piece hanging off it.

"I'll be taking this" Hal said with a smile before stretching his hand towards Raelyn who quickly took hers off and put it in his hand with polite courtesy.

Hal held both necklaces up with a mild smile and the Duke looked on in anger but alas, there was nothing he could do.

All that was left was to accept the fate he had been dealt and do as he was ordered...