The commotion raised his hand and the team flinched as the amount of power he held in his right hand. The fire is not bigger than a fist but the heat that came out of it turned the air they breathe into dry scorching.

Crypt Master and Captain Kael stood unaffected but the other all moved away from the man, covering themselves with essence.

Azaroth waited, already planning how to use his chaos essence in a wave. It might not be about to stop the attack but at least it should be enough to make him escape.

"Commander Apex." Captain Kael said mildly. Although Kael might be a low level master, he’s still powerful and he’s ready to stop him if need be. "The Lord won’t be happy if you do anything like that."

Commander Apex blinked, he didn’t even know he have began a technique, his body is just reacting to a possible threat. He looked at Azaroth with a frown while dispeling the technique and thought to himself. ’This boy is like a snake coiled inward for now, he’s still going to show its venomous head’

Then Apex smiled. ’I will crush him then’, outloud he said. "You will give me the crystals."

Azaroth did. For a moment there, the fight in the crypt got to his head and he forgot he’s not even powerful enough to be a threat to anyone. He forgot that he is not powerful. He brought the crystals out and gave it to him.

Apex nodded im satisfaction and stored it in his ring. "Good, good. Arc, you better teach them some manners. They’ll die painful for it at this rate."

Crypt Master nodded thoughtful but he said nothing.

Apex gestured to Kael and the Captain nodded while he stepped forward. "You guys have passed, the reward is your life because you won’t have kept it if you prove to be useless. But you tell us you are useful. Keep this up and you might just gain your freedom." He said it all with a flat voice.

But everyone know. They won’t even gain their freedom. The Inferno Legion either swallow everything or burn it. Nothing will get out of it grasp.

But they bowed and thank him as if they believed him.

Commander turned to Crypt Master. "I must return, bring the portal around."

Crypt Master gestured and the portal appeared.....only it opened above midair. And he act surprise. "Ah! What just happened! Why’s it appearing there?"

He gave him a dirty look and then Commander Apex gestured and a stairs made of condensed fire sprang up in front of him leading up towards the portal that opened above them. Kael followed him and without looking back even once they entered the portal and the fire stairs disappeared.

Azaroth looked at the casual display of power. Making fire solid must be hard enough but to make a stair out of it. If Commander Apex is this powerful what about the others in the Inferno Legion?

Crypt Master saw the look in his eyes and nodded. "He’s impressive isn’t he?"

Azaroth nodded, he couldn’t deny the power of Apex. "And he’s a Master level too?"

Crypt Master nodded. "Once you stepped into the realm of masters you’ll see that things are different. Master rank is divided into –new, low, mid and high Master. And the gap between each is like the sky and the land. And although Kael is also a Master, he’s just a new Master."

"Commander Apex on the other hand is a low Master. And do you know that the two of them are considered are prodigies? I don’t know Kael’s age but he’s one of the first set of Hound. Although he was already powerful before he was captured."

The Commander kept talking. "Do you guys know that the amount of power any organization have in the world now is measured by the amount of Masters they have? So if you really want to make anything of yourself then it’s better to become a Master in five years."

Azaroth watched the crypt Master. "If it’s measured by how many Master they have then doesn’t that mean that it’s rare? Hoe can we do it in five years when others haven’t been able to mass produce Master level?"

Crypt Master smiled, glad that the way Azaroth looked at things is always different. "Do you know what makes Master rank rare? It’s the Awakeners themselves. Most have already reached their limit at a very low rank and no matter how much they train and how much resources they use they won’t ever advance."

"When the Yama project began the Inferno Legion go to all their territories. Noble or common born. They brought out the best of the best. The prodigies above prodigies. The Inferno Legion wants power to expand to the east and claim the continent and then create an empire that will spill into the rest of the world."

"To do this they need more power. More Masters. So right now, the same experiment training like this is happening all through the different forces of the Inferno Legion. They are trying to speed up the rate at witch prodigies naturally advance. That’s why they don’t focus only on their fire technique."

Azaroth narrowed his eyes. Why’s the crypt Master jumping from one conversation to the next? It’s almost as if he’s saying something else but Azaroth couldn’t put it together.

Stallus spoke first. "So we are prodigies." She said flatly as if this is the first time she would have the tag applied to her name. And the others felt the same way.

Except for Azaroth, since his birth he knew that the only thing he needed is to find the path to power. And now he’s found it, he knew just where he should go.

The crypt Master laughed. "Do you think you get here by chance? All I’m saying it! The limit that makes people to stop advance doesn’t apply to you guys. Not at least till you get to Master rank. All I’m doing is just speeding up your natural advancement!"