The Greatest Sinner

After Evan left Rave's lab, he got on his riding beast and took off. Evan decided not to go back to his tower, as it just didn't make any sense. He had waited a long time for this moment, and it would finally happen. After all this time, he would join the Demonic Tree.

Of course, Evan could have done it before, but urgent or more promising things kept coming up. But, right now, the best option was to join the Demonic Tree. What's more, by the time Evan flew to the Demonic Tree base, Rave would have already informed the organization's top about him.

Evan decided to join the Demonic Tree now because he needed second level spells. Also, if Evan doesn't join the Demonic Tree, Rave would come after him in a year and kill him. Of course, Evan had already proven his loyalty by his actions, but he doubted it would interest Rave.

The Demonic Tree base Evan was headed to was called - Devil's Horn. It was several dozen kilometers from Vextin and Darkfil.

Devil's Horn was a semi-secret Demonic Tree base. This meant that all members of Demonic Tree knew about its location, as well as some allies. Therefore, this base was located in a place where it would be difficult to find. The Devil's Horn was located in one of the largest mountains north of The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes.

If a mage didn't know that the Demonic Tree base was there, it was impossible to know something was hiding in the mountain. What's more, it wasn't just the geographical location of the place that gave the concealment. It was the numerous formations.

Demonic Tree members were constantly flying out of Devil's Horn on their riding beasts, and it would have been very noticeable if not for the special formations. Its were set up by the strongest members of the Demonic Tree. Therefore, most mages could not realize that there was an illusion in front of them when they looked at the mountain where the Devil's Horn was located.

The Demonic Tree had quite a few spells aimed at stealth, illusion, and so on. This was because the Demonic Tree usually operated stealthily. They weren't afraid of anyone, but they didn't want unnecessary noise that never did any good.

Unlike the Demonic Tree, the Merciful Death were constantly creating and engaging in some conflict. But even if they eventually emerged victorious from these conflicts, this did not mean that their actions were justified.

The Demonic Tree preferred to mind their own business and only destroy those who got in their way.

The Demonic Tree had quite a few people like Rave, who devoted all their free time to experiments. There was no point in them wasting their time on pointless battles. Rave had only left his lab a few times recently, one of which was when he saved Evan from a mage's attack on a stage - Three-Pointed Star.

...

A few hours later, Evan was already approaching the said mountain. Avice gave Evan a special stone, and he knew exactly where the entrance was and which mountain he should fly into.

<This mountain is enormous, though it looks most ordinary. The formations that the members of the Demonic Tree set up conceal everything perfectly.> Evan thought and headed towards the peak of the mountain.

That was where the main entrance was located. As Evan flew close enough to the mountain, he felt his movements gradually become slower. He realized it was the effect of the formations, which soon disappeared.

<As Avice said, they know my face and let me through. However, it's likely that every light and dark organization already knows what I look like.>

At that moment, Evan wondered why he hadn't been contacted by any dark organization other than the Demonic Tree. It seemed a little strange to him, but it was also possible that the Demonic Tree had already shown long ago that they were interested in Evan in the dark world. In that case, there was no point in the other dark organizations trying to recruit him. This boded big problems for them. No one wanted to quarrel with Demonic Tree, not even Merciful Death.

When Evan got past all the layers of barriers and formations, he saw the true sight of the Devil's Horn. The mountain had many entrances and exits from which mages were constantly flying in and out.

The Devil's Horn was as big as an entire city. It was a place with its own infrastructure. There were houses, restaurants, the armory, the library, and so on.

At the top of the mountain was the most significant number of mages in red robes. They were all members of the Demonic Tree and were preparing to depart. Some were talking, some were checking something on the map, and some were getting their gear ready.

When Evan landed at the top of the mountain, many mages turned their attention to him. He wasn't wearing a red robe. That meant he was either a member of another dark organization who had come here to make some treaty. Or he was a newcomer.

Either way, he was drawing attention to himself since there weren't many newcomers. The Demonic Tree leadership carefully selected potential applicants, so only the most deserving in their opinion could join them.

Of course, there were fewer newcomers than there could have been because of such strict selection rules, but the Demonic Tree worked for quality, not quantity. All dark organizations operated in the same way. The fewer members there were, the less likely it was that any of them would cause much trouble.

The light organizations operated very differently. Anyone could join them if he passed the exam. So the light organizations had many more members than the dark organizations, but most of them were a little weaker.

But, the core members of the light organizations constituting the core were not inferior to the core of the dark organizations. Of course, there were exceptions such as Rave, which could be compared with only a few people in the whole of The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes.

<It looks like they're already waiting for me.> Evan thought, looking at the girl at the entrance to the Devil's Horn.. She gestured for him to follow her.