Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

The world of Labh Salem was a complex maze.

It was not assured that a particular region would stay under the control of a particular faction forever. Unlike Anfang, where only the kingdoms waged wars against each other, the conflicts in Labh Salem were often multifaceted.

The world of Labh Salem had 27 major continents. It also had islands, neutral zones, and artificial lands. However, the fight between the two factions was often concentrated on these 27 continents.

The divine side, or the divine faction, consisted of gods and their followers. They had a strong presence in 10 continents.

The demonic faction consisted of the demonic entities and the powerful demons supporting them from the Immortal Planes. They had established their firm hold over roughly 13 out of 27 continents. The remaining continents were either supposedly neutral continents or huge conflict zones for the two factions.

To split things further, the witches governed seven of the 13 demonically affiliated continents. The half-blood clans ruled three continents.

The demonic entities themselves were relatively straightforward to define.

Mana and Spiritual Force were like a form of the essence of the boundless cosmos. And those who harnessed these essences could be referred to as the Practitioners of the Paths.

The Practitioners of the Paths who practiced unconventional techniques, Skills, spells, artifacts, etc that required them to kill were called demonic entities. Demonic entities could therefore be anyone or of any race.

The demonic entities often sent their forces to the lands ruled by the divine factions, infiltrating the enemy region to cause unrest and eventually gain control. The infiltrators often tried to cause chaos within the lands ruled by their enemies to shake the faith of the regular people. A classical case of sowing the seeds of distrust in the minds of people who wanted to stay faithful to their gods.

The Helenbora coven that Eren had eradicated was one such infiltrating group that had just entered the continent of Onianum. Unfortunately for the coven, they met up with a stranger who was more than what they could handle even after a lot of preparation.

In the lands ruled by the divine faction, the laws against demonic entities and demon practices were strict. Kingdoms and empires used every means at their disposal to get rid of them. That's because the demonic entities would often bring death and destruction to the regions they were active in.

The most notorious demonic entities had bounties placed on their heads. The bounty hunting missions were available to all the citizens of their respective kingdoms, whether they were part of any temple or not.

In the Onianum continent, some people made a living hunting demonic entities. Just like the notorious demonic entities, the bounty hunters who slayed them would also come into the limelight from time to time.

There were some bounty hunter-specific organizations as well. These organizations concentrated on capturing the demonic entities in well-planned traps. They would then torture them to get more information about their peers active in other parts before targeting the connected demonic forces and their respective organizations.

Things were a bit difficult for the demonic entities in the Onianum continent as it was a stronghold of the divine faction. As such, the demonic entities active here often liked to work alone. But it wasn't that they didn't have a system in place. Various demonic organizations were created to counter kingdom forces and the forces of the divine, AKA Templars, hunting them.

The Templars played a significant role in countering the demonic organizations and unfettered demonic entities. Receiving purging missions related to demonic entities was nothing but a regular Tuesday for such Templars.

Ishgaar's Templars was one such force that had been in the process of hunting Helenbora coven ever since it had landed on the continent of Onianum. They had taken a harsh stance against the Helenbora coven with the means available at their disposal, forcing them to take shelter in the Brol forest, where Clauria and her subordinates met their end.

If the Templars did well in the tasks they were assigned to, the gods backing them would often bless them in order to promote faith within their followers. They would support the talented entities and help them grow at a faster rate than their peers, allowing them to go further in their respective Paths.

As such, the Practitioners of Path would often try to become Templars themselves. In Onianum, becoming a Templar was the best decision one could take. Or at least that was the common conception within the masses.

Ishgaar's Templars was one of the top-ranking Templars in the Onianum continent. They were often as cruel as their supposed enemies who were the demonic entities. Each of these Templars was a force to be reckoned with.

Often, an Ishgaar's Templar would work alone in hunting the demonic entities. This was because the set of Skills the God Ishgaar granted them was not the Skills the Templars could use and deploy while being surrounded by their allies.

God Ishgaar offered one of the most destructive forms of the Skill Tree to his followers. Almost all of the Skills in his Skill Tree caused a huge amount of damage to the surroundings. The special Skills available in Ishgaar's Skill Tree were one of a kind and could be easily distinguished from the regular Skills.

This was the reason why the Helnbora coven initially thought at first that Eren was part of the Ishgaar's Templars. He had come alone to intercept them and he had some unusual ways of implementing magic.

These two aspects about him were enough for the witches of Helenbora coven to have their doubts– the doubts which ended up taking their own lives. Of course, the witches had gathered a limited amount of info about the forces active in Onianum to begin with. They had done the basic homework that was required in their infiltration mission.

As such, the information Eren received about the Onianum continent from the witches' memories was also incomplete and only touched on the basics. Not that he was complaining. To him, this basic information was all the cards he needed to establish a foothold in the Onianum continent.

After digesting the witches' memories related to the world of Labh Salem in general, Eren felt that Onianum continent was the best starting point he could have asked for. He wanted to establish a firm foothold here by joining the divine faction.

After claiming the Faustian rune fragments, Eren concluded that hunting demonic entities was the quickest way for him to wield his divinity to the fullest.

This was all the reason he needed to join the side he was not supposed to join. He just needed a perfect veil to pull off such a feat.