Chapter 78
Chapter 78
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Who Are You to Speak to Me?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
078
“Are you Sein Demorus?”
The dark balls floating in Brando’s hands were even now devouring his mana, steadily amplifying their destructive power.
“I heard you summoned Demorus successor candidates to Carmil.”
Brando was utterly relaxed.
“They say you’re the first talent in Demorus history to earn the simultaneous backing of both Rasiel and Dante.”
“……!”
Those who hadn’t known this fact widened their eyes.
They had just realized the man before them was even bigger than they’d thought.
“But what the hell is this?”
Brando’s eyes darkened.
“Are you breaking the unwritten rules?”
There was no way he didn’t know this was all just a game for the lords.
It was as if he were scolding them: incidents like this happen all the time, so take your moderate gains and enjoy—why escalate things?
“Hey.”
And finally, Sein spoke.
“Who the hell are you to talk to me?”
“What...”
“Where does some Immortal Clan runt get off addressing a Demorus successor candidate?”
The Immortal Clan naturally selected successors too.
But their method wasn’t the same as Demorus.
“No, wait.”
They didn’t inherit bloodlines.
“You’re not even human—how dare a created freak speak to me?”
They were manufactured.
At that moment.
Roooar!
Brando’s dark balls spewed even blacker flames.
“Demorus successor candidate—you’ve finally crossed the line....”
His face flushed red—whether from rage or shame, it was hard to tell—as Brando spat the words.
“You’ll regret...”
But Brando couldn’t finish.
Crack!
A faint crack formed in the dark ball he held.
And Sein’s face was suddenly right in front of him.
“Hey.”
The Immortal Clan’s youngest, the last child of darkness ever created.
His skills might reach master level.
But that was nothing compared to those hailed as successor candidates.
“Felferon or whatever the hell showed up, got his ass handed to him by me, and slunk away.”
“……!”
Incredulous expressions.
They might have questions, but they wouldn’t get to ask.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!
The dark ball Sein had split went berserk and exploded.
“Gaaahhh!”
In an instant, Tonba Castle became an inferno.
He had gathered that power to target Sein, but losing control turned it into pure catastrophe.
Those who had been chattering happily and reveling like madmen.
“Guhk, guh guh...”
“Kyaaah!”
Were now screaming with black flames engulfing their bodies.
“What the—! Uwaaaaaah!”
Tonba’s lord was no exception.
But the one they should curse—Brando—couldn’t hear their resentment.
“Guhk! Guh hurk!”
He had suffered the worst of the dark ball’s rampage.
His face melting and sloughing off in the flames.
Clothes fused to his skin.
And the dark, intense eyes that emerged from it.
They looked utterly inhuman.
“It was you!”
Brando screamed at Sein.
“The demon you my brother’s been searching for!”
He’d heard the stories.
Ever since that day, Felferon had been quietly inquiring about him.
But with a witch involved, he couldn’t be easily found, and rumors said he moved cautiously due to his crimes.
“That hurts. Me, a demon?”
Sein smiled.
Only then did Brando’s eyes bulge as he thrust out both hands.
Just as the surging dark mana sought to form another massive dark ball.
“How about ‘Demon King’?”
Sein was already in stance.
Body low, hand gripping the hilt at his waist.
Iaido position.
Few would recognize it properly.
Whoooosh!
But anyone could sense how perilously immense the mana roiling off Sein’s entire body was.
“Die!”
Brando’s dark ball rocketed toward Sein at blinding speed.
“Slaughter.”
Sein’s sword slid free of its sheath.
Hummm.
A faint resonance hummed.
The dark ball halted midair, a long horizontal crack etched across it.
But Slaughter’s power was more than that.
Ssssh.
In front of Sein, to the sides.
Long lines slashed across everything.
KABOOOM!
The exploding dark ball triggered Tonba Castle to split in half.
*
*
*
“Insolent bastard!”
Carmil’s lord, Kampeji, drunk out of his mind.
His face burned with intoxication and fury.
“Some damn candidate punk!”
He knew candidates carried Demorus blood.
He knew that made them impossible to ignore, as Demorus themselves.
So what?
“Fuckin’ prick!”
He was the lord of Sector 5.
Not some lower sector trash heap owner—the lord of Sector 5! Kampeji!
He’d shelled out half a year’s taxes to request a Demorus.
“‘I hate the hassle,’ my ass?”
When Sein Demorus arrived at his domain, the guy had been the height of arrogance.
Not only ignoring his goodwill, but even speaking down to him.
“How much money did I spend!”
Because of that, he couldn’t even enjoy the party.
-Where is the Demorus successor candidate?
-Where’s the gentleman the lord mentioned?
Everyone asking about Sein, looking for Sein.
-H-He’ll be here soon.
He’d boasted boldly, and feeling this pathetic was a first.
“Sein... Sein!”
That arrogant little shit.
Smirk.
“But he’s just a candidate in the end.”
Soon, he thought of a clever ploy and grinned.
“He’s just a fresh successor candidate anyway. Right?”
“Yes, my lord.”
The knight supporting Kampeji replied.
“Tonba’s Tapu summoned the Immortal Clan’s youngest.”
The Immortals might rank below Demorus, but the gap was negligible.
“Even if he is the Immortal Clan’s youngest, he’s from the main house and has been active on the front lines for quite some time, I hear.”
Kampeji hiccuped as he spoke.
“Who do you think wins?”
The knight hesitated.
If anyone heard his answer, Demorus or the Immortals might take great offense.
But his lord was Kampeji above all.
Fail to answer as desired now, and the future looked bleak.
“Th-The Immortals have the edge, I believe.”
“Yeah? That’s right, isn’t it?”
Domain skirmishes were just games anyway—results might bruise egos a bit, but not like the bruise from this party.
“I need to tell Tapu to crush Sein Demorus’s momentum without mercy.”
“……!”
“What if that cocky bastard gets lucky and dies to the Immortal Clan’s youngest?!”
“M-My lord.”
“I’ll give Tapu the tribute I was going to send Demorus. I was thinking of switching allies anyway.”
“My lord... that’s too dangerous.”
Kampeji’s face flushed anew at the knight’s words.
“You! Are you looking down on me too?!”
“N-No, that’s not it.”
Scolding his knight, Kampeji reached his bedroom.
“Argh, tch. No decent talent anywhere! No talent!”
If only he’d been born in a place like Demorus, he’d soar through the skies and topple the New Empire.
Born in this pathetic Sector 5—what a lamentable fate....
“You’re late.”
Then, a voice came from his bedroom, where no one should be.
*
*
*
“Who the hell... are you people?”
Kampeji startled and spoke.
The drunken haze that had reached his head seemed to vanish in an instant.
“Aren’t you Sein successor candidate’s escorts?”
Sein’s group, who had attended the party in his stead.
Word was, one was trash from Sector 10, the other at least a candidate.
“…….”
The Sector 10 trash soured his mood, but a candidate wasn’t bad.
Solid muscles, beauty, red hair.
Plenty of nobles drooling—plus, a candidate had decent bloodline to breed, right?
“Could it be...”
His intoxication hadn’t fully faded.
“Did Sein send you?”
The Sector 10 trash was none of his concern.
Kampeji only cared about one: Roberta.
“Haha. Turns out Sein’s more generous than he looks.”
Considering his mood to send escorts to the bedroom like this.
He’d heard higher sectors often gifted such presents.
Grab.
But Roberta scowled at Kampeji’s words.
“Why the sour face?”
A new voice rang out.
“If you want to guard me, I can tolerate you badmouthing me, but not him.”
“…….”
“If you can’t hold your temper and flip out, it’s like spitting in my face.”
“I’ll... keep that in mind.”
Roberta spoke formally in public.
“It’s not Sein, then.”
Kampeji said, his excitement deflating.
No, his mood soured too.
“What brings you to my bedroom in the dead of night?”
Sein hadn’t attended the party, yet was in his bedroom.
He saw it as a protest, or plain disrespect.
“Oh, sorry. Sorry.”
Sein rose from Kampeji’s bed, waving a hand.
“I feel like I treated you too shabbily, so I came to apologize.”
“Hmm...”
Kampeji’s mood improved slightly at the words.
“Must sting. You spent all that money summoning me, and I wouldn’t budge on your requests.”
“Th-Thank you for understanding.”
Kampeji felt the alcohol slowly clearing.
Only then did he realize.
This situation wasn’t normal.
Gulp.
What Sein had just said....
“You could hold a grudge against Demorus.”
Maybe he’d overheard Kampeji’s drunken rant.
“N-No, that’s not it!”
The drunkenness faded rapidly.
“A misunderstanding!”
He’d touched something he shouldn’t.
Today’s overexcitement, anger at Sein, feeling dismissed.
No, something was off.
‘Come to think of it...’
He couldn’t recall the last time he’d been this drunk.
Kampeji prided himself on his tolerance.
‘Did this guy...?’
What if Sein had done something?
Then.
“No, no. Don’t say it like that. I just came to give a gift.”
Thud.
Something dropped at Kampeji’s feet.