NOVEL WEB Chapter 131: Demon King Ranks
But getting back to the matter at hand.
The Martial Artist Technique Rankings were ranked in this order from lowest to highest:
1- Practiced
2- Accomplished
3- Minor Completion
4- Greater Completion
5- Mastered
6- Integration
Cassius being able to advance the |Fiendish Demon King Arts| to Greater Completion was already a grand accomplishment. Yet, it wasn't the only technique he progressed to Greater Completion, as he also got his |Demon Dragon Integration Arts| to Greater Completion!
With the former technique, he was able to embark on the Path of the Demon King, which was something that any number of Demon Kings would kill to have. However, seeing as only the Top 5 Demon Kings were privy to how to start and progress on the Path of the Demon King, the other Demon Kings could only devour each other in hopes of becoming stronger. They could also take from human blood sacrifices in the mortal realm, but that method was highly impractical.
From the |Fiendish Demon King Arts|, Cassius learned of yet another ranking system.
For those who progressed down the Demon King Path as Demon Kings, there were six ranks, most of which were undersaturated:
1- Lesser Demon King - The lowest rank, newly ascended or ruling a small domain.
2- Greater Demon King - A more powerful ruler with established authority.
3- Archdemon - A mighty and feared leader commanding vast legions.
4- Demon Emperor - A near-supreme ruler with dominion over multiple regions in HELL.
5- Demon Overlord - A master of the demonic hierarchy, commanding countless Demon Kings (normally).
6- Demon God - The highest possible rank, considered a divine-like being of absolute power.
Each rank was further split into Early, Middle, Late, and Peak stages. Yet, for just about every single Demon King in the current era, none of these rankings even mattered.
According to Hellion, who was surprised to figure out that he knew of the Demon King Path, the Top 5 Demon Kings were Demon Overlords. And this was where it got weird, as there were no Demon Kings below the Demon Overlord rank. Of course, this didn't mean that no other Demon King was stronger than a Lesser Demon King; it was just that they embarked on a separate, more "unrefined" path.
To Demon Kings of old and new, the "unrefined" path was simply the one that most other races—and even their own kind—used. Excluding the Angelic Path of the Heavenly Kingdom, the Demon King Path truly was the more "refined" option.
However, as to why there were only five Demon Kings presently walking the Demon King Path, it was rumored that those same Demon Kings wiped out all others when the Demon God vanished many, many years ago. It was even said that there used to be tens of thousands of Demon Kings, and the Demon Realm was far larger than it was now.
But with time, things change.
The Demon King Path was now nothing more than an urban myth, something that only the five most ancient and tyrannical Demon Kings could verify the veracity of.
So far, Cassius had progressed to the Peak stage of the Lesser Demon King Rank, which he assumed to be pretty decent. And that was with him practicing the Fundamental Body Refinement Manual and Demon Dragon Integration Arts on top of that.
The latter was a very simple technique. All Cassius had to do was focus on the Demon Dragon Bloodline within himself and concentrate in an attempt to amplify the amount of the bloodline present inside him. By doing this, both his proficiency in the technique and his Demon Dragon Bloodline improved.
On the note of bloodlines, his Bloodlines, as of now, looked like:
{[Bloodline]}
1. [(SS-Rank) Demon King] - [100%]
2. [(SS-Rank) Ordinary Phoenix] - [42.6%]
3. [(S-Rank) Oracle Sphinx] - [100%]
4. [(SS-Rank) Demon Dragon] - [1.8%]
And then there was…
5. [(SSS-Rank) Duke Vampire] - [0.001%]
"Wait… Hold up! What is that last one!? And when did it get here?!" Cassius's eyes widened in shock as he was in the process of clearing a Low Purple-rank Gate in the winterlands of Russia.
"...This is… Could this be the reason for how I can now see through people's bodies for no apparent reason?"
Things were beginning to piece themselves together inside his head. Yet, even if everything now made a lot more sense, why he had this Bloodline in the first place was still a complete mystery.
"This isn't some sort of damn spider-bites-the-man-and-the-man-turns-into-Spiderman incident, is it?" Stay tuned to empire
Cassius tried recalling if he had ever had a run-in with a bat, but his mind drew blanks!
"If it's not that, then was I at some point bitten by an actual… vampire???" His voice, on the brink of relapse, echoed throughout a vast snowy field.
The Yetis in the area, who populated this Gate, all turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Their eyes were quickly consumed by a savage red glow, and they charged toward the voice. As they were the size of mountains, they destroyed entire forests in their maniacal rampaging.
Though, for Cassius, it was more annoying than anything to listen to all this rumbling.
He casually tossed out a few Rare-ranked Evoballs, and out popped dozens of A++ and S- - Rank Evomon. Nyxvoldar, at the forefront, was the smallest and leanest of the bunch, but with his flowing shadowy electric mane to back his presence, his S-Rank aura radiated outward.
Nyxvoldar was so powerful now that even the Cassius from a month ago would not stand a chance against it. There was no questioning its strength. And when it blurred forward at a mere two and a half meters in size, entire snow mountain ranges were uprooted and violently thrown into the air.
Cassius threw a glance at Nyxvoldar and the massive Evomon tagging fast behind before refocusing on this new Bloodline of his. Although he still had no idea where it came from or how he acquired it, he knew of its SSS-Rank status. He also paid attention to the noteworthy word placed behind the 'Vampire' word.