215. Storm (2)
215. Storm (2)
- 1 -
Early morning, when everyone was beginning their busy day.
Yet a heavy silence had settled over the capital, Pandemonium.
The streets upon which the Demon King's wrath had descended had halted all daily life, wholly preoccupied with gauging his will.
'The plan has been smooth so far.'
In the room the chief physician had departed, I gazed out at the red sky. A moment of quiet reflection.
I had devised and executed many plans up to now, but this time the outcome was difficult to predict.
Because everything would be decided in a single moment.
'This is the Demon King's power...'
After the Demon King's wrath arose, this entire colossal city had fallen silent as if frozen.
In an atmosphere where even breathing properly was difficult—as though the mana itself had congealed—even the palaces of the seven archdukes near the Demon King's palace were trembling with unease.
Among them, the only place maintaining a tranquil atmosphere was the palace of the Gluttony Duke.
The deeper the silence caused by the Demon King's fury grew, the thicker the darkness there became as well.
"Is Her Highness... alright?"
The head lady-in-waiting's voice reached me, and I turned around.
'The Second Demon Queen.'
I studied her complexion.
Looking at Stella, who was lying on the bed, her face was still pale.
I approached her side and placed my hand on her shoulder.
An act of touching a Demon Queen's body without permission.
Yet no one present pointed it out.
Since the only people here were those who knew I was her half-sibling, and not a bastard.
"Haa..."
Her breathing gradually eased.
Since it was a poison I myself had composed, not Leviathan's, it was also easy to adjust the symptoms caused by that poison.
Her life was, for the moment, beneath my hand.
"Rita."
"Your Highness."
Our hands touched. She casually laced her fingers through mine, but I did not push them away.
...In truth, it seemed I no longer wanted to push them away now.
"Come here and sit."
Stella pointed beside her own bed.
A sense of distance far closer than I had imagined. I would have refused in the past, but I accepted it.
The trust and affection Stella had shown me all this while had been unexpected.
As time passed, I could realize that she was regarding me not simply as a younger sibling, but as something deeper.
And that was the same for me as well.
Though my feelings were not the same as hers...
That fact was endlessly uncomfortable, but I composed both my expression and my demeanor and looked toward the head lady-in-waiting.
"Head lady-in-waiting."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
The form of address for the child of an archduke was awkward, but I would have to grow accustomed to it now.
I whispered toward her.
"Get moving. You must track both of their movements."
"Understood."
Before the chief physician's report reached the Demon King, Semira and Leviathan had to move first.
'They will know that as well.'
Once the Demon King began to move in earnest, both of their movements would be restricted.
So they would try to move.
They simply had not yet discerned the right moment.
I had already created that opportunity for them. A moment where, if they did not move now, it would be judged that there would be no more chances.
Now all I had to do was watch.
'When they move...'
That would be the end.
Soon, two spires would collapse.
- 2 -
Tok-tok-tok-tok.
A lady-in-waiting with golden eyes was advancing, clutching a bundle of documents to her chest.
'If I just deliver this...!'
Her eyes shone with resolve and desire.
Semira, the First Demon Queen, was a beautiful and strong woman befitting a Demon Queen, but at the same time, she was arrogant, as befitting one of the bloodline of the Duke of Pride.
She did not know how to look after those around her, and placed no value on anyone other than those who swore loyalty to her.
It was only natural that discontent arose even within her own bloodline.
'When she was merely one lucky cousin among the many of the Archduke.'
She was the same.
She even thought that Semira was a woman who had not been properly verified.
'Now, once she falls from power...'
Then, she could raise a woman closer to herself to the position of Demon Queen.
Or pledge loyalty to Stella and seize higher power.
The lady-in-waiting was sincerely thinking so.
- 3 -
She was dying.
Though she was staring at the sky with her green eyes, nothing was visible to her eyes anymore.
'I'm afraid.'
"Ah..."
Her sight had already vanished so she saw nothing, and her tongue had stiffened so that only a groaning sound escaped her.
The grassy scent of the garden had begun to fade, and the sensation of the sheaf of documents in her hand was also growing distant.
Sarak-sarak...
Only the rustling sound of the undergrowth, made by a single attendant who had received orders to watch over her 'death', filled her senses.
And when only her hearing remained at the last, that sound became everything that filled her insides.
...
And when finally even that sound vanished.
She realized.
'I am dead.'
So it was.
- 4 -
The wind knocked against the window.
Rain, slick like oil, slid down the glass.
The more I focused on that sound, the more my mind felt as though it was drifting away from this world.
Through the gaps in that sensation, a single voice pierced my ear.
"Come here."
Stella was beckoning me.
As I drew closer to the bed, her pale face became more distinctly visible. The deeper the darkness grew, the clearer her figure became instead.
It was not that she repelled the darkness, but that it seemed to avoid her on its own.
Outside the window, nine shining citadels were visible in the same manner.
The palaces of the seven archdukes and the two Demon Queens.
They were among the few structures permitted to rise into the sky in Pandemonium, including Stella's residence.
"Are you not in pain?"
Now I could place my hand on her body without any bewilderment.
No, it seemed I should be keeping my hand there now.
"A little."
Her lips trembled slightly.
The illusory fever was more fatal to those with strong mana. Her powerful mana would only be amplifying the pain.
"Entrust your mana to me."
There was not a single tremor in my hand resting on her shoulder, yet I felt an emotion that pierced my chest.
The shape of her collarbones had become much more pronounced in just a few days.
Even though all of this was part of my plan, seeing her in such a painful state brought about the illusion that a corner of my heart was growing heavy.
"Shouldn't you let me show an even more pained appearance."
Stella shook her head.
Though her usual dignity had completely vanished and she appeared weakened, her gaze alone remained the same.
She was resolute. Not as a Demon Queen, but because she was herself.
"It's alright."
Stella nodded at my words.
No words were spoken, but deep trust resided in her eyes.
Her mana, flowing out in an imposing stream, passed through my body.
Her mana was incredibly powerful.
As befitted one who inherited the blood of an archduke, wielding the power of darkness.
But it was not something unbearable.
I took control of her mana, circulated it, and then sent it back to her.
"Haa..."
Her face became much more at ease.
Her outward appearance was unchanged, but her inner condition would have stabilized considerably.
"I'm so glad you're here. Truly..."
Stella took my hand.
Eyes that swirled with emotions difficult to explain through any relationship—older sister and younger sibling, Demon Queen and heir candidate to the Demon King.
She needed me.
And I was using her.
I suppressed the contradictory emotions that were arising.
- 5 -
Amidst everything sinking within the gloom.
Seven shining presences sat surrounding a round table.
Even beneath the shadow of the Absolute One that had covered the entire capital of the Demon Realm, they alone could emit their own light.
But a tension unlike before hung in the air between them.
Because the accusation and death of two women were further entangling an already complicated situation.
"A letter bearing the seal of Samira Ishtar was obtained from a woman whose identity cannot be revealed."
Asmodeus, the Duke of Lust, raised his voice.
"Please explain how this came about. You two."
"And this?"
Velpegor, the Archduke of Sloth, held up a poison vial.
"Duke of Envy, a poison vial engraved with your crest was said to have been found beside the corpse of another lady-in-waiting."
A situation where, after it was revealed that someone had been slowly administering poison to the Second Demon Queen for a long time, each side was accusing the other of being the culprit.
Even as the two archdukes were freely voicing their opinions, the Duke of Pride and the Duke of Envy, who were the related parties or perpetrators, had yet to offer any response.
Those who had received the name of the Primordial Sins.
The seven archdukes had gathered to resolve this situation and report to their liege.
"So."
Silence settled over the round table.
What tore through that silence was a voice that sat on the seat of Pride.
"What are you telling me to do about it?"
A handsome man with platinum blonde hair, leaning back in a luxurious chair.
He spoke with his usual lofty attitude.
No fear whatsoever was contained in Lucifer's white eyes.
It was an attitude as if no threat toward himself existed at all.
"Step down your cousin from the position of Demon Queen."
What answered him was a voice as cold as a sheet of ice.
The owner of the voice was a man who boasted a large, splendidly formed black horn protruding from his forehead.
A man wearing a black suit beneath a black and red coat looked at Lucifer with a still posture.
"Utter nonsense."
Lucifer's white eyes met Satan's red eyes.
Pride and Wrath.
The two sins that had most frequently clashed since the Primordial era once again harbored heat.
"She is a woman who attempted to bring down the Second Demon Queen on her own volition. She cannot be left in that position."
"Who do you dare to judge? Matters concerning a Demon Queen are not something for us to debate. Are you thinking of rebellion? Satan."
"Hah. Rebellion?"
Kung!!
Following the body of the red-eyed man who shot up from his seat, an aura like brimstone fire erupted.
The two archdukes of the Demon Realm glared at each other.
As their auras clashed, light and flame whirled above the round table.
"Rebellion? Then Ishtar. What that woman committed, is that not rebellion?"
"Indeed. It is not rebellion."
A cold smile hung on Lucifer's lips.
He was recalling an event from hundreds of years ago.
When Satan had invoked moral justification in a conflict of bloodlines to invade his own territory, Satan had pushed forth the exact same logic that Lucifer was now stating.
"It is a mere family squabble. Haven't you also commonly experienced the women of your house fighting? Just like back then."
Satan's eyes glinted dangerously. The incident from back then was akin to a dark history even for him.
Since it had been a time when his control over his own family was lacking.
Lucifer's face, facing him, remained composed.
But the light emanating from his body was steadily growing larger in opposition to the flames.
His aura was no less fierce than Satan's, yet he allowed not a single hint of that ferocity to show on his face.
"Ah, my apologies. You only have a single wife, don't you. There aren't many women who can endure your temperament. Do take better care of your wife."
Words offered as if giving advice, but in substance, it was mockery akin to 'have you even experienced enough to know women's circumstances'.
Satan was not one to fail to understand that.
"Ha...! So you intend to sit back and watch this?"
"Yes."
Flames seemed about to erupt from Satan's horns and mouth at any moment, but Lucifer nodded his head with an imposing attitude.
"Matters concerning a Demon Queen are not for us to debate. However, the shame of our family is another matter. The sin that woman committed has stained the name of the Duke of Pride."
Around the round table, the fire and light surged once more.
But the two forces merely kept each other thoroughly in check, showing no sign of fully erupting.
Satan, baring his fangs, answered with scorn.
"You've become a backroom old man. Lucifer..."
"I wonder. Only as much as someone who has become a jackal."
"...This is a spectacle."
The auras of Lucifer and Satan wavered for a moment.
With fury and bafflement.
The sneering voice had come from another corner of the council chamber.
The Gluttony Duke, who had been sitting quietly in his seat, was glaring sideways at the two.
No emotion was contained in his eyes, but his unfathomably deep darkness did not retreat in the slightest even before the auras of fire and light.
As if he already knew who this entire chaos would benefit.
"Beelzebub..."
"What is the meaning of that?"
But the two archdukes did not back down at all.
It would be more accurate to say they could not back down.
The Gluttony Duke's words were an unmistakable provocation. Yet his true intent lay elsewhere.
Because while Lucifer and Satan were busy keeping each other in check, he could further expand his own influence.
"It means both are utterly pathetic. One blinded by politics to the point he cannot even govern his own family, and another blinded by jealousy to the point of losing face."
Even as he spoke, his eyes were directed at Leviathan.
At the starting point of all this chaos, and the last seat that would soon collapse.
How that would appear in the eyes of the other archdukes was obvious.
Total disregard.
"You...!"
Within the council chamber, three forces began to clash.
The light of Pride, the flame of Wrath, and the unfathomable darkness of Gluttony.
"Now, now, now. Let's calm down."
What blocked the three-way collision was a single man's voice.
A middle-aged man with shortly cut silver hair and neat monocle glasses. He possessed the appearance of an ordinary gentleman off the street.
"This is a place for council. What use is there in clashing so recklessly."
Hwook!
But the moment he rose from his seat, the auras of the three archdukes subsided in an instant.
"Tch."
"..."
It was not because they restrained themselves, but because the middle-aged man's power was that strong.
The Archduke of Greed, Mammon.
The master of the trading company that supported all dungeon lords, and the younger brother of the current Demon King.
And the only one among all the archdukes who maintained neutrality.
Every archduke present knew.
That his neutrality had always been upheld by force.
"If things continue this way, a rift may even form in the order of the Demon Realm itself. You would not desire that either, I'm sure."
Mammon's voice was gentle, but a firm warning was contained within it.
"Hehehe... And besides."
As he let out a hearty laugh and shifted his gaze, the eyes of all the archdukes gathered on one spot.
"Isn't there someone else we truly need to have a serious conversation with? Isn't that right? ..."
Toward the one man in this place who was the only one unable to assert his presence.
"...Leviathan."
The archduke with the green glow in his eyes silently raised his head.
His face was expressionless. As if saying what was coming had come.
But deep within those eyes, something lethal was still writhing.
Even until the very last moment, countless calculations were continuing inside his head.
About deeper chaos, or perhaps a stable 'downfall'.
It was then.
Kung!!
A footstep heavier than thunder resounded.
The massive doors of the council chamber where the archdukes were gathered swung wide open on both sides.
Hwook...!
The light of the archdukes dimmed in an instant. Like fireflies placed before a candle.
Something deeper than darkness filled the council chamber.
The shadow of the Absolute One.
"Your Majesty...!"
The archdukes rose from their seats in unison and bowed their heads toward the door.
The eyes of Leviathan, his head bowed, lost their strength.
The time for choices had now come to an end.