Way of the Knights

---

"Welcome back, Young Lord." 

Raven was welcomed by his subordinates as soon as he came back to his now owned pocket dimension. Their voices were filled with glee and passion as they welcomed him. 

Kyrie almost couldn't conceal the joy on her face. She never thought that the where she will become the true Leader of the Battle Maids, will ever come. Yet with Raven's appearance, she easily achieved it. 

As his personal Battle Maid and one that Raven decided to keep by his side, Kyrie received favorable benefits. Although Raven didn't go into the full details nor deliberately sang praises on her work, his simple act of wanting her to remain as his personal Battle Maid spoke volumes, which is why along with his official coronation as the heir of Chronos, Kyrie simultaneously became the true leader of the Battle Maids. 

To this, Kyrie couldn't think of how to express her immense gratitude for her Young Lord. Being the Leader of the Battle Maids isn't just an empty title. It comes with many benefits that will certainly promote her strength. 

Raven was somewhat surprised but he didn't show it. He merely smiled and said: "Mn, I'm back. I'll be in seclusion for a bit. If anyone comes tell them that I'll at least need a week or two." 

"Understood, Young Lord." Kyrie and the Soldiers said as Raven returned to his personal quarters. 

Raven just came back from his appointment with Sect Master Lucas. He brought back some documents that he needed to study as well as some items that'll help him raise his combat effectiveness. 

Although the ceremony caused large waves in the sect, Raven's identity as the Heir of Chronos is still mostly hidden. Most of the people are still trying to guess who was the one so for now, he'll have some quiet. Raven decided to take advantage of the situation to educate himself so that he won't be clueless when time comes. 

Once he returned, he sealed up his room and immediately entered the Crown Space. Upon arriving at the Cultivation Eden, he sat down and began reading the documents that he brought back. According to Lucas, the contents of these documents contain the crucial information about the matters of the sect. It also contains the list of his responsibilities and details on how he should deal with them. 

Raven didn't waste time and began memorizing the contents of the documents. And although he was prepared for it, he was still shocked to realize just how much responsibilities weighs down on the Sect Master's role. 

First and foremost, the reason why the Sect Master doesn't stay on the sect 24/7 is because there are some matters that he had to attend to which takes precedence. 

The Tomb of the Apocalypses was just one of the secret realms that he had to personally pay attention to. Aside from that, there are still at least four other secret realms that holds secrets and unknown dangers. 

Aside from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, there are still more batches of soldiers who accompanied the Devil Emperor to wreck havoc into the Divine Realm. These groups had been subdued and imprisoned along with the Devil Emperor but not together. They were divided into batches and imprisoned accordingly.action

These creatures that accompanied the Devil Emperor were called: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Ten Commandments. The Five Calamities. The Seven Dark Disciples and the Four Devil Kings. One could say that the Seven Deadly Sins are included in this list but they were imprisoned in the Devil Emperor's Pagoda and were personal creations of the Devil Emperor so they are on a different category. 

Each of this group are imprisoned on their own secret realms. And to Raven's shock, these secret realms are located precisely at the hidden world where the Mount Olympus were. 

He could still remember back in the day when they arrived for the first time at the sect. They were inside the Warship then and they saw how aside from the towering Mount Olympus itself, the surroundings were covered in white fog. 

It turns out that, the white fog they saw was defense mechanism. An enchantment that the previous generations casted amongst the lands of the Hidden World to hopefully prevent the followers of the Devil Emperor to contact each other. 

Much like the Devil Emperor, his followers also designed a way to release some of the minions away from their prison. However, their efficiency is certainly slower and weaker compared to the Devil Emperor itself. Still, they can't be ignored. At the end of the day, they were the followers of the Devil Emperor. Leaving them alone will cause some problems in the future. 

They were not allowed to communicate with each other, lest they formulate a plan to escape their prisons and free the Devil Emperor. That isn't something that the sect could allow. 

Therefore, the previous generations created a massive bewildering formation that releases a white fog that would prevent the minions of these prisoners from meeting. Additionally, the sect master would sometimes send the War Gods outside to search and eradicate them, thinning their numbers in order to slow down whatever plans they have. 

The Sect Master must constantly visit this prisons personally to monitor the situation. There are times that they will fight back so the Sect Master should always come prepared and vigilant. 

Amongst these prisoners, the most troublesome ones are the Seven Dark Disciples as they were the ones who managed to successfully break out of their prison once. It happened during the 5th generation, and almost spelled the end of the sect. Thankfully, they managed to control the situation and put them back to their prison. 

However, the damage was already done. The Seven Dark Disciples managed to convert some disciples of the sect to worship the Devil Emperor, creating the first batch of the 'Exiles'. Somehow, these 'Exiles' managed to escape the sect and flee to the Divine Realm where they managed to blend with it's citizens, making the enforcers unable to track them down. 

Aside from monitoring these Secret Realms. The Sect Master must also leave the sect every once and while to socialize with the other important people at the Divine Realm.

Although the sect is strong, it's only because of the support of the people who support their cause. These people are the ones who were willing to provide the sect with resources to continue functioning. It's a customary gesture to express gratitude by paying them a visit once in a while. This was usually done by the Sect Master but if there are important matters that he had to attend to, he could send a Envoy/War God to take his/her place. 

Reading all of this, Raven was already feeling the stress. Unfortunately, the deed is done. He's already the Heir to the Sect Master's position so he could only smile wryly and rise up to the challenge. 

"...or I could switch with the next Zeus, making him/her the next Sect Master and I the Grand Elder, that way I could relax instead. Hmm, that won't be a bad idea." Raven thought deviously, making himself chuckle. 

Now he could more or less understand why Alwina - wife of Lucas, always complained. The Sect Master position truly is incredibly stressful. 

This is still just the beginning though. He haven't even touched up on the matter of handling the sect itself. Although he won't be managing it alone, he still remains the decision maker so it would just add on to the stress itself. 

"There are still others ways like..." Raven murmured, "I don't know...getting rid of the Devil Emperor's followers. I mean we already dealt with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. With the Heavenly Sacred Doctrine doing it's thing as well as the Chains of Order fortifying their seal, they could only dream about escaping."

"If I could somehow replicate that effect to the rest, then I could lighten up the burden." Raven thought, "Well, that's if the Devil Emperor would stay put and let me do all of those things - which is something I heavily doubt would happen."

"There's also this..." Raven picked up another document, this time relaying the overall plan to eradicate the devils once and for all. "Not that I doubt our forces but this plan had many loopholes that the Devil Emperor could exploit."

"So far, I still doubt that there are no spies within our rank. That just can't be. If there really is none, then I would seriously look down on the Devil Emperor. Well, there's still a possibility that there is none but I'm more inclined to believe that it at least planted one or two spies amongst our ranks."

"I have to make sure to keep my eyes peeled. Just in case..." Raven's eyes narrowed upon the thought. As much as possible, he didn't want to hurt his own people but Raven's not the person who easily tolerates betrayals. 

Raven sighed after reading through the documents and massaged his temples. He drank some tea to calm down, once he recovered from his exhausted state, he stood up and said:

"Okay, time to inspect treasures...."