The Demon King Descends to the Intermediate World After Ten Years and Gains Servants
"Heh heh... What a fine choice."
Kim Jae-hyun spoke those words and felt the contract linking him to his servants Ron and Rin. The brother and sister had become black mages bound to the Demon King.
They swore loyalty to the Demon King and, in exchange, received demonic power.
Now, with no need to gather mana, they would naturally advance to the sixth circle of magic the moment they absorbed enough knowledge and insight.
Yet Jae-hyun had no intention of letting them waste time learning.
"This is a gift I am bestowing upon my servants."
As he spoke, Jae-hyun placed both hands atop the heads of Ron and Rin. Both siblings had golden hair, but Ron’s carried a faint reddish tint and felt coarse, while Rin’s was a flawless, radiant gold that felt exquisitely soft and smooth beneath his fingertips.
Ron was undeniably handsome, yet his younger sister’s beauty surpassed anything even he could claim. Their mother, a once-lavished beauty of a count’s second son, had been raped and widowed, and that raw, untamed elegance had passed directly to Rin. It was precisely because the young noble had coveted a married woman that Rin’s beauty was so breathtaking.
Waist-length shining golden hair. Emerald-green eyes as beautiful as the stones themselves. A body that moved with perfect, serpentine grace. And within that flawless face lurked the same vengeful poison that had driven her to become a black mage. While she was not quite on par with the legendary Irene, she was still an extraordinarily beautiful girl—rare even among the most exquisite beauties of the continent.
And that hatred and vengeful fire burned in her heart.
Jae-hyun found Rin’s presence especially pleasing. He had once thought she might simply grow into a pure, innocent maiden, yet she had become a black mage bent on the destruction of the world through hatred and revenge. He longed to find Irene quickly, rescue her, and transform her into something even greater. No—Irene deserved far more. As the Demon King’s wife, she must be reborn as a demon itself, beyond mere magic.
Yet the sight of Rin alone was enough to spark genuine amusement in Jae-hyun. A smile tugged at his lips of its own accord.
As a reward for the joy he had given her, Jae-hyun resolved to grant Rin even greater power than Ron.
[Ron and Rin gain massive demonic power boost]
SWUUU!
A torrent of pure, enormous demonic energy erupted from Jae-hyun’s body and poured into Ron and Rin.
"Kuu… uuuuuh!"
"Augh! Uuuuugh!!!"
Ron and Rin clenched their jaws, enduring the overwhelming pain as the pure demonic energy flooded their veins. The sheer force of the storm it created battered the surrounding area.
WHOOSH!
Selina’s and Lucien’s magnificent golden and jet-black hair whipped wildly in the gale, painting the sky with dazzling flashes of color that only enhanced their already breathtaking appearances.
As the queens of the vampire and dark-elf races—the very pinnacle of beauty among their kind—their elegance was unmatched even across the Demon World. And yet they were also formidable. As the undisputed leaders of the continent’s greatest demonic power, their martial might was never to be doubted.
Thus they watched the spectacle before them with calm composure even as the demonic storm raged.
Jae-hyun’s power coalesced into a new ring of demonic energy near Ron and Rin’s hearts. The brother and sister, already fifth-circle mages, felt the sixth ring forming inside their bodies.
WHOOOOSH!
Still enduring the agony of the demonic storm, Ron and Rin gritted their teeth and held on. As if to reward their resolve, the sixth rings finally completed themselves within their cores.
They had become sixth-circle mages.
But it was not yet over.
"Kuuuuuuu!"
"Aaaaah!"
Ron and Rin nearly screamed. They would have screamed in agony had Jae-hyun not somehow stripped them of their ability to voice their pain. Instead they bit back the cries, savoring the torment in silence.
Jae-hyun had forced vast amounts of knowledge into their minds—far more than any sane teacher would have imposed. Not only the sixth-circle arts, but suddenly the seventh circle as well. They would feel their brains splinter even if they died from the overload.
Yet as the Demon King he was forging them stronger. Rather than suffer the pain of a shattered mind, Ron and Rin wept tears of agony while awakening the wisdom of the seventh circle. Thanks to that unyielding poison, they reached the pinnacle of the sixth circle in a single instant.
Still, Jae-hyun had no intention of stopping at mere sixth-circle mages. He was not a merciful man who would toil so needlessly for such an achievement.
The demonic energy flowing into them now began to form a seventh ring. Ron and Rin, basking in the bliss of having reached sixth-circle mastery, suddenly paled when they sensed Jae-hyun’s intent. They did not falter. Even the fear of pain could not dim their vow: they would endure anything to exact revenge upon this hateful world.
Humans were creatures of forgetfulness; even the strongest hatred and vengeful fire would weaken over time. That was why Jae-hyun had bound them to eternal memories of betrayal and hatred.
His own fury had not abated even after ten years. He now sought to awaken the same unquenchable fire in Ron and Rin.
"Kuuuuu!"
"Aaaah!"
The seventh ring began to coalesce near their hearts, but they bore it with even fiercer poison than before. Jae-hyun’s demonic authority had reignited the ancient hatred and vengeance they had once carried—hatred that had not weakened with time but had only grown sharper.
Peace? That was a luxury they no longer possessed.
Cold killing intent radiated from their eyes, aimed straight at the world. They would suffer any pain to gain the power required for vengeance.
And their resolve empowered them.
BOOOOOOM!
Finally, Ron and Rin broke through into the seventh circle.
They were now seventh-circle black mages—powerful enough to be called the strongest mages on the continent.
When the brother and sister stood revealed as seventh-circle mages, Jae-hyun withdrew his hands. Both had already reached seventh-circle mastery during the forced infusion. He had deliberately poured slightly more power into Rin, and as a result she now possessed even greater demonic energy than her brother Ron.
Yet the siblings were far more astonished by the fact that they had become seventh-circle mages in a single leap.
"Recover."
Jae-hyun commanded Ron with a short order. Ron immediately knelt and begged, "My lord, please heal my crushed hand."
"Recovery."
Instantly, the seventh-circle Recovery magic activated. The pain vanished in an instant, and Ron’s mangled hand clicked back into perfect alignment. He felt the truth of his new power surging through him.
Unlike ordinary mages, black mages specialized in destructive magic, so their healing arts were comparatively weak. Yet for a seventh-circle black mage even ordinary healing was formidable, and restoring a single hand was no challenge at all.
Likewise, Rin confirmed her own transformation with trembling hands and wept with overwhelming emotion.
The brother and sister, who had chosen the path of black magic out of hatred and vengeance, now lowered their heads before Jae-hyun. Only moments ago they had cursed their savior, yet now they understood: he was no longer a savior but the Demon King, the embodiment of their revenge, and the source of their salvation.
"Thank you, my Demon King!"
"This favor will never be forgotten. I will serve you faithfully for the rest of my life!"
Jae-hyun chuckled softly at their words.
"Loyalty, you say? Very well. First, I wish to hear how the continent has fared over the past ten years."
Jae-hyun wanted to know the current state of the world. Although Ron and Rin were hiding, they would still possess better information than he did—after all, he had never even stepped foot into the Intermediate World.
To his surprise, the siblings proved remarkably well-informed.
Lin spoke first.
"After the previous Demon King’s three nations collapsed, the remaining seven kingdoms divided the territories and privileges of those three fallen realms among themselves. Under the name of the Saint of the Astraea Holy Kingdom, the Holy Kingdom of Astraea issued a decree to exterminate demons, beastkin, and black mages. The other six kingdoms followed suit, placing bounties on demons, beastkin, and us. As for Venice Kingdom and Sardinia Kingdom—the two powers that lacked Hero companions—they are already in decline."
The moment Lin finished speaking, Jae-hyun nodded.
"I see. Is there anything else?"
"First… the stories of my lord’s former companions. May I speak?"
Lin asked cautiously. Still unaware that Jae-hyun had been betrayed by those very companions, she feared he might harbor dangerous emotions.
"Speak freely. After all, every one of them—except Irene—was a traitor who tried to kill me."
Although Jae-hyun had suspected the betrayal, hearing it confirmed from the siblings’ lips left him momentarily stunned. Yet they asked no further questions, assuming he would tell them later.
Lin began describing the traitors’ current positions.
"Saint Lucretia holds the highest authority in the Holy Kingdom of Astraea—higher even than the Pope. Court Chief Mage Jason Light serves the Minoa Kingdom and possesses power beneath even the king. He has married the princess of Minoa and plans to transfer the throne to her as his son-in-law. William Rodriguez and Kyle Tennant each rule their respective kingdoms of Gallia and Valua with absolute authority, just as Jason does. As for Griffith Ricardo, he has been granted a dukedom in the Habsburg Empire and is the emperor’s most trusted right-hand man."
After finishing, Ron hesitated, clearly wanting to say something more—something about Irene.
"What happened to Irene?"
Jae-hyun’s most burning question was this one. The traitors had claimed she had been brainwashed, and the crown prince had coveted her.
How had the Irene he had barely managed to save endured such torment? The question tormented him.
Lin answered in his stead.
"The Flash Magic Swordswoman Irene is now the wife of the current Emperor Ferdinand von Habsburg and the Empress of the Habsburg Empire. She is hailed as the most beautiful empress in continental history. Her daughter, the princess Seria, is already eight years old, and her beauty is expected to surpass her mother’s and claim the title of the continent’s greatest beauty."
Jae-hyun began to laugh—soft, cold, and utterly mirthless—while Lin finished her explanation.