<h4>Chapter 7: Inked With Hope</h4>


    Anger and annoyance painted across his face as his muscles began to tense, veins bulging as he tightened his grip on his ymore. Berserker attempted a downward sh directly at me, catching everyone off guard.


    The de inched toward my spiritual orb without a moment''s chance to dodge or weave out of the way. Ty''s only thought was filled with fear at how fast he was able to close the distance as the edge of his ckened Berserker drew closer to slicing Ty in half.


    Ty felt a tug before being pulled back by a woman inked in ck and red skin with purple wings on her back and beautiful purple hair flowing down her ck form. Her de crashed into the Angelic Warrior''s de in a sh of energy.


    The Demon King caught my soul in his hands, stating, "I told you, nothing goodes from these people!"


    Valerian shouted, "Get out of our way! That soul is the property of the Angelic Race!"


    Ty shouted back, "Then why did you just try to slice me in half?!"


    Valerian scoffed andughed as his de was forced against the Demon Woman''s de, maintaining a cold expression. "It does not matter if you''re shed in two or four pieces. You have made your intentions clear.


    We will take you back in a bag of dust if we need to!" His yelling began to make the walls shake as the monstrous guards behind the Demon King began to unsheathe their swords, but the Demon King raised his hand toward them, waving them off.


    Standing fully upright with her ck Katana at her side, she stated, "You will pay before I personally kill you all for ruining my father''s Day!" Her eyes began shining bright purple as Valerian scoffed and said, "You little bitch, you think I''ll just let you get away with that."


    Aurelius interjected, cutting them both off, and said, "Just hand over the tinum soul, and all this nonsense will be over." He pushed up his sses as sweat began to fall down his brow, stating, "You aren''t going to let over 2,000 years of no inter-conflicts be destroyed due to some pathetic soul. After all, they are a dime a dozen, and you might identally find another one when we look the other way. So just hand him over before this gets escted, Mr. Demon King."


    The Demon King''s voice dripped with anger as he stated, "I am not one to repeat myself. If this soul does not wish to leave, then I will not have him do so. He is in my realm, and my order rules above yours here."


    "That is entirely incorrect, you pathetic worm," Aurelius stated before pulling his sses off and saying, "The King won''t be happy to find out I killed his pathetic dog!"


    As Aurekius began to Slowly unsheathing his de, Ty focused his attention back on the Demon King, stating, "I have two questions."


    Ty noticed excitement stered across the Demon King''s face that had quickly faded from anger. "Are you strong enough to beat them?" Ty asked


    Giving a smallugh, the Demon King stated, "Of course, I could have killed them all the moment they walked in, but that would cause nothing but problems. And your next question?"


    "You promise that signing this contract will give me the best shot to get my life back?"


    The Demon King replied, "No, I can''t promise it will get your life back, but it will give you the opportunity to return to the Mortal Realm and continue a life in some form. With all my power, a dead body is still a dead body in the Mortal Realm.


    "It''s not like here where I can freeze a body. Plus, you''ve been dead for a—" The Demon King''s words were abruptly cut off as Aurelius, propelled as if by a strong gust of wind, lunged at him with a fierce attack.


    The Demon King swiftly intercepted the assault, catching Aurelius''s de with his hand and flinging the angelic warrior to the side. Without missing a beat, Aurelius retaliated, guiding his sword with precision and bellowing, "Thousand Cut Barrage." With a swift diagonal sh, he unleashed a barrage of small, green wind arcs that sped towards the Demon King.


    The Demon King''s happy expression quickly faded to boredom as he stopped even trying to dodge the attack, stating, "This is a division captain? Guess they bring anyone up these days, huh?"


    Without responding to the taunt, Aurelius forcefully ced his hand on the ground, eximing, "Thousand Chains of Confinement!" Almost immediately, a luminous mark shimmered to life on the Demon King''s chest. From it, countless chains sprang forth, ensnaring the Demon King and rendering him motionless.


    With a focused gesture over his own chest, Aureliusmanded, "Seal." The chains binding the Demon King began to glow a searing red, further solidifying their grip and ensuring the Demon King''s immobilization.


    "Now that I have you confined, it''s time to collect the soul and be done with this pathetic farce. I have much better things to be doing with my time."


    The Demon King, still unfazed, stated, "So I guess they aren''t gonna give you a choice. So what will it be, Ty? At the end of the day, I don''t mind too much, but this is the most fun I''ve had in over a thousand years or so. I''d love to keep up with the fun. What say you, boy?" Throwing up the paper from his hand in the air, Ty took a moment to think.


    The only vision that came forward was Jade holding his lifeless body, crying and begging him to stay with her. At that moment, everything became apparent, and he simply replied, "Yes. Whatever it takes," before dodging the de of Aurelius and jetting toward the flying paper. He slung himself through the center, creating an inked signature on the center where the nk space had resided.


    A bright sh of light emerged from the paper as the Demon King proimed, "Yes! Now, all of you Angelic bastards, get out of my domain!" Easily breaking through the chains that had confined him, he added, "This is nothing but child''s y, and I won''t be entertaining it anymore."


    Aurelius, looking worried and annoyed, drew his de once more as the bright light from the paper and Ty''s soul engaged in a dance of light and fire.