Chapter 496: Planet Eadmire III

Nine's eyebrow twitched as he surveyed the mountains of papers before him. The sheer number of them made him wonder how he would ever manage to go through each one to find the right contract.

On top of that, he had no clue how the contract Alec signed differed from the rest spread out before him!

He let out a frustrated groan at the mere thought of the time it would take to find the contract he needs as he approached the papers, and the slightly open door shut behind him.

He crouched down and without hesitation grabbed the paper closest to him before brushing off the dust and studying the unfamiliar symbols scrawled on it.

Nine's eyes paused on the dark inked signature at the paper's bottom half. The signature form appeared unsteady, as if the hands of the person who signed the paper were shaking as they held the pen and wrote the name.

In the quiet room, a deep sigh slipped from his lips as he read the unfamiliar name on the paper that was definitely not written in Alec's handwriting and tossed it away. He grabbed a few more papers to scan them, but in that instant, his eyes lit up, and he threw all the papers in his hands aside.

"Ah... I can just take them all! If I can take one, then why not take them all! Haha, why didn't I think of this sooner!"

Nine clutched his knees and rose to his feet. He gazed at the storage rings on his fingers, and a broad grin spread across his face as he emptied the contents of one of his storage rings into another and began filling it with the papers before him.

After ten long minutes, Nine let out a chuckle and sat down on his heels in the center of the room, still surrounded by numerous empty, dusty shelves veiled in spiderwebs. But the mountains of papers that once cluttered the room were now safely stored in his storage ring.

He quickly wore the ring and scanned the dimly lit room one last time to ensure he hadn't missed any papers. After a moment, he rummaged through his cloak and took out a small pulsating crystal.

"Haha, I should leave now. It's a shame I won't be able to see the expressions of those who would find this room empty-!"

He shut his mouth when suddenly a deep and tired voice resonated from outside the room where he stood.

"Who's there?"

Nine's eyes dilated, and without a second thought, he crushed the crystal in his hand that would teleport him far away from this planet. In a flash, a brilliant light burst from the crystal and enveloped his body. But just a moment before he disappeared entirely, the room door swung open with a resounding bang.

A handsome youth, who appeared to be fifteen years old, clad in grey silk clothes, entered the room and peered at his fading body with a confused expression. Nine's breath hitched when the youth gazed into his eyes with a pair of golden eyes that were eerily similar to his.

The youth's long peach-colored hair, tied in a high ponytail, cascaded down his back as he blinked and reached out his pale hand towards Nine's fading body enveloped in light, as if to catch him.

Nine's heart nearly jumped out from his chest when the slender fingers phased through the light, almost grasping his body, but his body scattered into countless particles before the youth's fingers could grab onto something.

The shimmering particles danced in the room for a fleeting moment and then also vanished into the air. The youth's surprised expression was accompanied by a soft 'oh' as he gazed at his empty hand.

"I missed him... He had the demon's badge, but his soul and body were too pure for him to be a part of us."

He rubbed his fingers and surveyed the vacant room with a smirk.

"It's been a while since I encountered someone from my race... and he dared to steal right under my nose."

"Haha... truly remarkable."

He turned his gaze back to the old demon who had ascended the stairs to reach the second floor, likely drawn by the sound of the forcefully opened door moments ago.

"Master? Why did you come down-!"

The old demon's words were abruptly halted as he glanced at the empty room.

"Wait... is not this the room where the dark contracts are kept?"

He quickly hurried outside the room and inspected the door of the room, where a large horn was drawn, and let out a shuddering breath.

"Oh no!"

The old demon's eyes widened as he remembered the cloaked man who had climbed the stairs just a while ago. He thought it was another human who had willingly allied with one of the demons or shadow generals to obtain strength and a demon's badge, but it turned out he was completely mistaken!

He glanced at the youth standing in the room's center and lowered his head. This same youth held the title of the second shadow general, named Ceano.

Ceano looked young, but he was the oldest among all the shadow generals. The man just liked his young appearance. He was also the strongest among all the shadow generals, even more than the first shadow general who belonged to the dragon race. However, unlike the other shadow generals working under Azazeal, he had only one goal — to become the strongest.

The man did participate in the war happening in the other end of the universe because it was important if he wanted the dark side to win, but he always ignored what he thought was not useful to him in achieving strength.

"I am sorry, master. I made a grave mistake..."

The old demon stopped speaking when the youth across from him raised his hand and staggered toward the room exit.

"It doesn't matter. It's not my duty to take care of every single thing. Besides, this building has been deserted for a while now after the demon king's death, and the other demons were too arrogant to put some guards here, thinking that no one would ever dare to step on their planet."

"Let's not stress over it too much and chill. The one who took the contracts is already gone, who knows where, and I don't give a damn. I am not gonna waste my energy hunting down some unknown person just for some useless contracts."

Ceano stretched his neck and began ascending the stairs to head to the third floor to rest. The old demon stared at his back and let out a sigh before he decided to contact a few powerful demons to discuss the matter of the contracts. The demons would then secretly search for the person who stole the contracts.

After all, if the countless enslaved individuals bound by the contracts crafted by the shadow generals and other powerful figures were to discover this, it would be a calamity. Those individuals would go all out to locate the thief who took the contracts before the demon race, aiming to break free from the darkness that compelled them to obey the contract owner's command.

At the same time, in another place surrounded by lush green trees reaching up towards the sky filled with dark clouds and numerous twinkling stars.

The serene atmosphere on the planet was disturbed when a bright light flashed in the dark sky, and Nine's body appeared in the light that scattered into particles.

He immediately lost his balance mid-air because his body had just traveled such a vast distance at a speed even greater than light, making his head spin violently. Nine shook his head to clear his vision as his body edged closer to the trees, but just before he could crash, he managed to regain his balance mid-

air.

Nine's eyes were still a bit hazy as he gripped his chest and glanced around to figure out where on earth he was. After spotting no signs of life, he landed among the trees and settled on the uneven ground before leaning against a tree to calm his still-thundering heart, partly due to the crystal he used to leave the demon's planet but mostly because of the golden pairs of eyes that he saw before escaping.

"Who was that person...? Damn, he looked so young, but I felt a chill running down my spine when he held out his fingers to grab my body."

After a minute, Nine looked at one of the storage rings on his finger that held the contracts and burst into laughter.

"But I did it! Haha, after a year and a month of struggle, I finally got it!"

He checked the contracts to make sure he wasn't dreaming and he actually wandered around the demon's planet for more than a whole freakin' year and stole the contacts right under their nose.

"Done... now my the next destination is the Sacred Divine Land."

Nine's smile stiffened when he glanced around to take in his surroundings.

"Well, I guess it would take me some time to figure out where I am and how should I reach the Sacred Divine Land when I don't even know its location."

"Haha... nice one."

He fiddled with the storage ring that held the contracts and let out a dry smile.

"I also have to find the contract I need among all these. I can't even destroy them as it would affect the bodies of the people who had signed them."

"I hope Kyle has a way to completely erase the darkness within the contracts..."