The Demon Monarch System

----

While the others held pained expressions on their face, Apollo continued to contemplate how to attune every aspect of his internal state. He had tried to do so once before, however, the slightest disharmony of their functions resulted in immense pain.

'I can get the Diabolic Heart of Wrath and the Tainted Temple to work as one due to the residual sensation of becoming an Iraym, but to add the Infernal Nucleus, that means I would have to treat my body as my mind and vice versa. That's harder than simply stating it sounds,' Apollo thought to himself. 

Several moments later, he exhaled and released his apprehension. First, he started by rotating his Infernal Nucleus. He isolated his control over it by utilizing 100 percent of his mental strength.

From there, he slowly dwindled the amount used until he found the bare minimum to keep it active. Surprisingly, he found that it only required 40 percent of mental strength to uphold it. Then, he split his mental strength into two halves like they were taught inside the Teaching Hall.

While his Tainted Temple vibrated, numerous tendrils detached from his Diabolic Heart of Wrath. On the first try, black veins appeared on his neck as he withheld the roar of pain he wanted to emit.

Silently, Sapphyr and Xezym caught wind of his irregular state and looked in his direction. 'Hmm? Blackened veins? Is he experiencing some type of corruption or is he trying to merge his body with darkness itself? If so, he is too far away from that level to do so.' 

Although Xezym formed his own opinions, he was partly correct. Since Demons were inherently beings born in a dark world, they could be deemed as beings who merged with the darkness just like Xezym, Salem and their kind did. Except, their darkness wasn't as mellow.

Moreover, the practices of a Demon damaged one's self far more than the Spirit's arts did. Nevertheless, when he returned to a better state, Apollo tried to do so once again. This time, the black veins appeared once again, however, they weren't as intense.

From the first experience, he learned what not to do. Additionally, it allowed him to shave another percent of the limit needed to keep his Infernal Nucleus active. While the others gave in and took extensive breaks, Apollo continued until the brink of exhaustion.

Only when that point came did he take a much-needed break. At that time, Sapphyr approached him, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you trying to do? Xezym has told me what you're doing is similar to merging with a dark origin."

"It's a family technique, it's a torturous one so outside help is impossible to beseech. Don't worry, I'll accomplish it soon enough," Apollo responded while glancing up at Sapphyr from a seated position.

"I understand that, but you must remember, you can't perform Union until you have expanded your Soul Temple enough. Once it reaches a suitable size, it won't be as painful to fill it and let the dark energy permeate the spiritual walls," Sapphyr replied.

As a result, Apollo's eyes widened with understanding, "What did you just say?"

"After your temple reaches a-"

"No, the last part," Apollo interjected. In response, Sapphyr repeated what she said. 

'That's it! That's where I've gone wrong. I've been approaching this matter like a human all along, I need to start acting more like a demon. Unlike these humans, my body doesn't differentiate my energy. In other words, I can automate this process if I do it properly,' Apollo thought.

Before taking any action, he first recuperated to his peak state. With the help of his pendant, it was fairly quick when compared to the rest. This time, he attacked the issue from a different angle. All of his energy coagulated and then congregated outside of his Diabolic Heart of Wrath.

In contrast to his first attempt, he sent all of his energy into his Infernal Nucleus once again. However, he kept fine control of it all. From there, he churned the energy until it felt as if his body would explode. 

Forcefully, he sent the energy to one set of meridians without pause. Afterward, he immediately followed up by sending the same energy through the second set of meridians. At some point, his anima began to emit Hellfire. 

As a result, on both his Infernal Nucleus and his Tainted Temple, the engraving began to deepen. The fine lines that were missing on his Tainted Temple appeared at a sedate pace. On the other hand, he continued this action without focusing on the engraving process.

Upon reaching the 10th revolution, the pain lessened. On the 25th revolution, his body started to devour the energy, increasing his physical parameters. In fact, even Xezym could sense Apollo's muscle fibers filling in strength.

If one looked closer, they'd see his skin starting to turn an odd color. The one that appeared when he morphed into his Iraym form. Fortunately, before that happened, Apollo opened his eyes.

'I got it! But, any further progress would have bad aftereffects,' Apollo thought as his abrupt stop caused the changes to subside. Similar to the others, he switched to breaking down and reinforcing his Tainted Temple for the remainder of the lesson.

By the time the lesson concluded, his Tainted Temple was at least 30 percent large. If he continued at this pace, it wouldn't be long before he could sustain his first demonic summoning. Yet, before that, he wanted to visit Ashiraem once again.

Until Azridan returned, he was without guidance. Saehtyn only left him with enough information to learn how to travel back and forth between the worlds. On the other hand, he wasn't selfless enough to give free assistance to some unknown existence. 

The only reason he intervened was due to the scent of Azridan's residual soul on Apollo's soul. Any other guidance would need to come from Fuhrer, hence, why he wished to venture back to that world as soon as possible.

"That is all. You may use the facilities inside here as much as you please now that you've been deemed a bonafide Institute student. But, I must warn you, refrain from using the last door in the middle hall for now. If you don't, I'm sure you'll run into some characters you'd rather not at this moment," Sapphyr stated before leaving the area.

Since he had already been to the facilities here, Apollo also took his leave. There wasn't anything here worthwhile, he returned to his room where privacy was guaranteed. Before engaging in another round of cultivation, he nearly half of the current Crystallized Chaos in his possession for Ouroboros.

It was clear he intended to enter deep, uninterrupted cultivation by the number of resources he left for them. With everything in place, Apollo closed his eyes and returned to doing what he did earlier.

To accelerate the process, he laid 30 Anima Crystals around him. Should his reserves be depleted, he would use them to instantly refill his tank. Although this was strenuous on his meridians, if he wished to advance faster, he would need to be more ruthless to himself.

Like this, well over a month passed. When Apollo opened his eyes, he was already in his Iraym Form. The saturation of Pure Demonic Anima in his body and the ambient environment the crystals created a pseudo-state of Ashiraem. This allowed him to enter this form

And, before it disappeared, Apollo performed the actions needed to enter Ashiraem. Except, this time, he consumed much more resources than last time. Since there was Temporal Dissonance, he didn't need to worry about coming back at an odd time.

After confirming it by entering inside again, Apollo would base his plans on a 10x time flow. Before stepping inside, he whistled to Ouroboros. 

Due to the state of his room, Ouroboros also reverted to his horned-serpent form. Without delay, he claimed a place on Apollo's shoulder and the two entered the portal to Ashiraem.

Right before it closed, he turned to Elaia, "Next time, you'll accompany us as well. If you want more power, you'll need to abandon this world. I'll show you something that shall make you question if vengeance is what drives you."

----

'Zwooooop!'

Both Apollo and Ouroboros landed inside Ashiraem. At a glance, Apollo could tell the place he was dropped was random. While he could sense the feeling drawing him to Fuhrer again. It was quite a distance away.

Nonetheless, Apollo smiled, "It seems like we have some slaying to do." With an excited expression, Apollo kicked off his back foot and performed an explosive dash.