GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Their four-star demorgorg said to them. "You know what to do. I will give you 5 minutes to complete the binding process."

The initiates know what to do. They have seen it being done before and have trained for it. So they scrambled toward their assigned cells without hesitation. They had gotten access cards which they used now to open the doors of the cells. 

Inside the cell is their target. It is a demon pierced through from all sides by runic spikes. The spikes extend from the walls and pin the demons at the center of the cell. Each spike has penetrated the demon from one side to the other so their sharp tip can be seen after passing through the flesh of the demon. 

The demons are different in size and shape but they are all bleeding and have been bleeding for years. Their unpalatable situation has weakened to the extent that they are too weak to open their eyes or react to the existence of an intruder. Their current weakened state will make them easier to subdue.

Each initiate got to work immediately. They placed their hands on the demons. The loose chains on their body reacted immediately. They unwound and unraveled. Then they detached from the body of the initiates and flailed about like thin tentacles. 

The chains are still connected to the initiates at their roots. They are all connected to the backs of the initiates. 

The flailing chains then latched onto the defenseless demons and sank into their bodies. The chains didn't encounter resistance because they were intangible. But then they began to drag the demons towards the initiates. Something intangible shouldn't be able to do that. 

The spikes jutting through the demons withdrew at this point into the reinforced walls so that there was no resistance to the pulling of the chains. This singular action caused so much pain that the demons cried or screeched in response to their suffering. 

But the initiates didn't stop. The demons were pulled until they came into contact with the chest of the initiates. Then they were pulled further until they actually sank into the skin of the initiates just like the intangible chains that bind them. It was like a rock falling into the water, they caused small waves to ripple across the skin of the initiates. 

Every initiate fell to their knells in agony at that point. They had trained for the initiation by withstanding being beaten by hot rods. The pain of that kind of training is double-fold. There is the physical impact of the rod on their bodies and then the searing of their bodies by the heat of the rods. 

The hot rods practically cut into their bodies. They were scarred and healed repeatedly by the experience. It was to prepare for this moment. But that experience is mild compared to the initiation process. 

Their training only affected their bodies. The chains on the other hand had to be seared on their bodies and their souls. Even that doesn't compare with the agony that they are feeling now as the demons were thrust upon their existence.

Fortunately for them, the chains got to work on what they were designed for. The demons are being enslaved but the existence of the initiates has to be remolded into a prison that can take advantage of the enslavement.

The initiates trained for this too. They were made to carry a rock around for days. The rock got heavier over time. But they couldn't drop it for anything. They had to carry it with them whenever they moved or worked and it had to be on top of them whenever they slept. 

It was stressful and painful at first. But they got used to it and completed their training. They were told several times that it couldn't compare to the actual thing. But you can't really know the burden of assimilating another entity's existence into yours until you actually do so. 

Carrying heavy boulders does not do it justice. This is extra painful because it is a demonic entity that they are trying to assimilate, not a lifeless rock. Besides, the rock was outside their body, and couldn't resist. That is not so for the demons. If it is any consolation, the process is painful for both the initiates and the demon being enslaved. 

The weakened demons had woken up from their stupor when the spikes were withdrawn. It was agonizing to have their wounds reopened but their pain has only increased as their broken bodies were forced into shapes that would have been painful had they been completely healthy. It is just right that they would resist this callous treatment.

The demons tried to escape this unnatural grasp of their existence but they failed. A low-rank demon cannot resist the divine power of a low god much less that of a Celestial. 

Some lucky demons died then and there. Their existence was unfoiled and they became free of pain in death. The unlucky ones that survived the pain have their existence warped into a tool for power. 

The law of order in the skin of the initiates and the divine power of order in their tattoo worked together to form a divine Stigmata which functions as an engine that siphons power from the demon imprisoned within it. 

The tree father commented to himself and Helios, "The process is still excruciating and dangerous" 

He can see what's going on here. This perception of his is not special at all. He can see everything that goes on in his kingdom. He knows when someone enters it or leaves. He can kill anyone here too. He might as well be omnipotent and omniscient in his kingdom for all intent and purposes. At least, it has always seemed so the numerous times his might has been tested. 

He has been following this group of initiates since they left the sanctuary. He is particularly interested in their progress because the rune they are using is a new upgraded version. There is no physical difference from the previous ones so it will be very difficult to tell. The difference is supposed to be in how efficient they perform.