The Demon King's Vengeful Declaration
'Still, he did not receive a man's essence, so the taste of his blood should remain that of a virgin's.'
At those words, Selina forced herself to believe it and glanced toward Lucien.
She had personally slaughtered seventy villagers. The sensation of cleaving through flesh had left her in a state of dizzying, sexual ecstasy, her expression twisted in raw, overwhelming pleasure.
"Haaah~"
Lucien wore a refreshing smile, arms crossed in pure contentment.
The sight of the dark elf beauty with raven hair and alabaster skin—dressed in a tight tank top and short leather skirt, arms folded—had been breathtakingly beautiful. Yet right beside her lay the grotesque, mangled corpses of the slaughtered humans.
"......"
Seeing the blood pooling on the ground, Selina, a vampire, felt no real bloodlust. The blood was simply too low in quality.
There was a hierarchy to blood's flavor, after all. The purer the virgin, the more exquisite the taste. Beautiful noblewomen produced even better nectar, and high-level warriors or mages, whose mana ran deep, tasted fine as well.
Holy power was a deadly poison to demons, but ironically, the blood of priests and paladins had always tasted remarkably pleasant to vampires.
Among them, the Holy Saint Lucretia—virgin, beautiful noblewoman, and supreme holy being—had become Selina's current target.
'Considering Lucretia's blood, I don't find it particularly appealing.'
Thinking this, Selina ignored the blood and urged Jae-hyun again.
"My Demon King, perhaps we should leave soon?"
"Kuk, you're right."
Jae-hyun agreed and returned all the summoned monsters to the Demon World.
The village was still blanketed in the fog of Pos Caisse, concealing everything that happened within its boundaries.
This was why the monsters could be summoned without detection.
But if he wandered the outside world using the Demon King's power, the fact that the Demon King had appeared in the Intermediate World would spread in an instant.
Human forces would converge, and even the other races and dragons would lend their strength, creating endless trouble.
Fortunately, Jae-hyun possessed the perfect disguise.
"Selina, Lucien, Ron, Rin! I will soon lift the fog of Pos Caisse. Gather here immediately."
He did not reveal his purpose, but the command itself was what mattered.
The Demon King's orders were absolute. Those belonging to the darkness were never to disobey, and could never disobey.
Ron and Rin, blood siblings who had shared a lifetime of mutual hatred and pain, might have felt deep brotherly affection, but the moment their Demon King issued an order, they would be forced to choose between their feelings and slaughtering each other.
That was the absolute power of the darkness.
So they answered with nothing but "Yes!" and rushed forward without a single doubt.
Jae-hyun swept a haughty gaze over all four of them in turn.
The arrogance of a being who looked down upon the entire world at his feet.
"I, as the Demon King, hate and curse this world. I declare every intelligent creature living on this land—except those bound to the darkness—as my enemy, and I will slaughter them all. I will not kill the betrayers who once deceived me when I was the Hero. Instead, I will deliver them the most miserable torment, ensuring they never die easily. They will die wishing for death, while the living will envy the dead."
Ron and Rin trembled violently with intense exhilaration.
'This man... it's possible!'
'Our wish... can only be granted by this man!'
They immediately dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.
"We will serve and follow the Demon King for as long as we live!"
"Everything about me, including my body, belongs to the Demon King. I will dedicate my body and soul to the Demon King and follow him for the rest of my life."
At their words, Jae-hyun chuckled and deliberately stroked only Rin's head, showing clear favoritism.
He paid no attention whatsoever.
He was the Demon King, and he was law itself.
"Kuk kuk, very well..."
He then explained the reason he had called them together.
"I gathered you here for a disguise."
"A disguise?"
"A real one?"
Ron and Rin looked puzzled, so Jae-hyun drew forth the Holy Sword.
A miracle occurred.
Until now, Jae-hyun had radiated the overwhelming presence of the Demon King. Yet now, no matter how he was looked at, he felt nothing of that power.
He looked just like a human.
'Not... originally a human, but...'
'Now he's not human anymore. He's the Demon King?'
Selina and Lucien, who already knew this power, remained calm, but Ron and Rin were bewildered. The Demon King had suddenly felt like a human—specifically a hero!
"Using the Holy Sword's power, I can conceal my Demon King's presence and present myself as a human, a Hero. Kuk, no. Actually, I am still a Hero. A Hero who is also the Demon King."
He spoke, then pressed the Holy Sword directly against Ron's head.
"Holy Sword. Hide the darkness."
Whoosh.
Brilliant light erupted from the sword and enveloped Ron's body.
"Ugh!"
As a being of darkness, Ron flinched. But the light from the sword did nothing to harm him. It merely wrapped around him for an instant.
"Wonderful?"
Rin let out a startled cry. It was only natural; the transformation had been astonishing.
The mana of black magic had completely vanished from her brother's body. In its place pulsed pure demonic energy.
It was as if they were looking at an ordinary mage, not a black mage.
"With this, I can completely hide the fact that you are black mages. Try casting a powerful offensive spell toward the sky."
Jae-hyun commanded Ron.
"Ar, yes."
Ron, still feeling dazed by his own state, set aside his doubts and stood. Using the Demon King's order, he fired toward the sky.
"Flame Cannon!"
He unleashed the sixth-circle attack spell, Flame Cannon. A beam of compressed flame shot from his fingertips and exploded in the heavens.
Ron and Rin could not hide their shock. Ron's magic was undeniably powerful, far exceeding a normal sixth-circle spell. It carried the overwhelming might of a true seventh-circle black mage.
Yet the spell itself contained no trace of black magic. If black magic had been concealed, the power would have dropped to eighty percent of a normal mage's, rendering it average at best.
But Ron had not hidden his magic at all. The spell had come out with full, intact power and zero traces of black magic.
"Until I release the Holy Sword's power, no matter what spells you cast, no one will ever discover that you are black mages."
The only downside was that black mages might mistake him for a real black mage and attack him. But with the Demon King's approval, he had no worries.
And anyone who annoyed him beyond reason—whether they were a black mage or not—would simply be killed. After all, he was as tyrannical and dictatorial as any previous Demon King.
'Oh my god!'
No one would suspect him of being a black mage! He could now infiltrate human society without worrying about bounties or international chases!
"Kuk kuk kuk, humans will soon stop trusting mages and begin to suspect one another."
Ron understood one of Jae-hyun's plans.
He wanted to make mages in human society so thoroughly distrusted that no one would ever be able to rely on them.
If countless black mages scattered across the world, their hidden powers exposed, leading to chaos between mages and non-mages, the resulting disorder would be unprecedented.
"And there's more."
Jae-hyun suddenly poured holy power from the Holy Sword into Ron.
"Kyah!"
Rin screamed and staggered backward. As a black mage, the overwhelming holy energy instinctively terrified her.
Her brother, however, took it head-on.
"Eh...?"
Yet Ron did not scream in agony. He merely let out a dazed sound. Nothing had happened to him.
"Pure holy power will no longer affect me at all. The holy power I had processed into the shape of aura is useless now."
Ron gasped in admiration. Even holy power was no longer effective on him?
This was beyond imagination.
One of the weaknesses of being a black mage had been eliminated.
"By the way, even human black mages can't use holy power?"
Lucien said, intrigued. Ron and Rin exchanged glances.
Something was wrong. They both thought the same thing. Rin spoke first.
"You, Saint Lucien. You didn't know this?"
"No, this is the first time I've heard it. I couldn't be sure. Unlike pure demonic existences like demons, humans have free will, so I didn't know the effect."
Jae-hyun answered. At those words, Ron felt a chill run down his spine.
"Does that mean... if I made a mistake, I might have been killed?"
He asked out of lingering curiosity, despite knowing it was pointless. The holy power Jae-hyun had just unleashed had been enough to make a seventh-circle black mage like Rin scream and flee in terror.
If even a seventh-circle black mage could not withstand it, then a true seventh-circle mage would have been torn apart instantly. It was on the level of Saint Lucretia's concentrated holy lance.
Jae-hyun nodded at Ron's words.
"Exactly. So I performed an experiment on you. Rin is my attendant. I wouldn't kill her, but you... you can die."
Jae-hyun spoke with chilling coldness. Ron realized then that the being in front of him was truly the Demon King.
No resentment arose. As a subject of darkness, obeying the master's order to die was only natural.
"I see..."
His heart still raced, however.
"Nevertheless, with the Holy Sword's power concealing my identity, I can operate freely even within the Holy Kingdom without being discovered. And I will once again appear to the world as the Hero, hiding my Demon King's claws. Kihihihi..."
I will trample the Saint's authority as a Hero beneath my feet.
Jae-hyun burned with vengeful fury at the thought.
And shortly after...
The Demon King and his four subordinates finally crossed the borders of the former Frank Kingdom in a single breath and headed straight for the Holy Kingdom of Astraea.