Elizaveta, seated on the throne with the golden mask covering her face, looked at Zeke and spoke.
"Zeke Draker, descendant of the Dragon Slayer Terakan Draker. Son of Arthur Draker." With those words, she slowly rose from her seat.
She then stepped forward.
Tssst—
As she took a step, a golden bridge formed beneath her feet, shimmering in the air.
Elizaveta ascended the bridge and gazed down at Zeke.
"I've been waiting for you."
Zeke looked at her and replied.
"You attack someone else's territory without even a declaration of war, and now you're spouting nonsense like that."
Pzzzt—
As he finished speaking, lightning bolts crackled from Zeke's body.
The Demon Realm warriors who had been glaring at him tensed and raised their staffs.
Since they were subordinates of Elizaveta, most appeared to be wizards.
Elizaveta addressed her underlings.
"Enough. All of you, lower your magic."
At her command, the demonkind hesitated before retreating.
As Elizaveta took another step, golden stairs manifested this time.
She descended them with elegant poise.
Reaching the bottom, Elizaveta stood at eye level with Zeke and continued.
"Zeke Draker, I have a proposal for you."
Zeke responded immediately to her words.
"You're demanding I hand over Anastasia, the Third Princess of the Demon Realm, aren't you?"
Elizaveta shook her head at that.
"No. Anastasia—that child is nothing more than a cute, clueless little clown running wild without a care."
Contrary to Zeke's expectation, the First Princess Elizaveta showed little interest in Anastasia.
She looked at Zeke again and opened her mouth.
"What interests me is you, Zeke Draker." Zeke fell silent for a moment at her words.
Then he slowly spoke.
"I don't know what you mean. I'm not interested in demonkind women." His remark drew angry growls from the demonkind behind her.
"Such an insolent human!"
"How dare that wretch speak such nonsense to Her Highness!"
"We should capture him and tear him apart alive—it wouldn't be enough!"
Zeke ignored the demonkind who spat curses and addressed Elizaveta again.
"Cut the nonsense and get out of Mycenae right now. If not, I'll annihilate your soul and erase your very existence."
The hall filled once more with the enraged shouts of the demonkind.
Elizaveta raised her hand, and they fell silent again.
She spoke calmly to Zeke.
"There seems to be a misunderstanding. Zeke Draker, what interests me is your ability." Elizaveta extended her hand.
A brilliant light rose from her palm.
An intricate magic circle of strange patterns intertwined and began to spin.
Zeke sensed an ominous energy from the light she had produced.
'That...'
The power of a mighty constellation was compressed within that small glow.
Elizaveta said to Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, I seek strong talent. To gather exceptional individuals, I spare no investment."
She extended the brilliantly shining light from her palm and continued.
"Join my faction. In return, I'll grant you the chance to shed the shackles of humanity and become a great noble of the Demon Realm."
Surprisingly, Elizaveta proposed that Zeke become a demonkind and serve as her subordinate.
Zeke tilted his head at her words.
"Can a human even become a demonkind?" Elizaveta nodded.
"This light is the authority I received from my father. His authority is 'Contract.' Once our contract is formed, you can easily cast off the bonds of humanity."
She offered to use the authority of one of the Demon Realm's rulers, an archdemon, to bring Zeke under her wing.
Zeke asked Elizaveta about the extraordinary proposal.
"Why go so far as to use an authority just to recruit me as a subordinate?" He gestured toward her underlings behind her.
"You must not trust those guys much."
Zeke's provocation sent the demonkind into a frenzy, baring their teeth.
"Grrrr! Mistress! Allow me to kill that wretch!"
"I'll separate that human's bones and flesh right now!" "Insolent fool! Your soul will crumble to dust without a trace!" It was then.
Shaaa—
A sharp killing intent emanated from Elizaveta's body.
The frenzied demonkind trembled in fear and backed away.
From within the golden mask, Elizaveta's eyes gleamed with an icy blue light.
"Who dares cause a disturbance while I am speaking?"
The demonkind bowed their heads and shuddered under the killing intent she directed at them with a mere glance.
Her presence, which overwhelmed hundreds of demonkind through sheer aura alone, was undoubtedly different from the Third Princess of the Demon Realm, Anastasia.
Elizaveta turned back to Zeke and said.
"Zeke Draker, I'll answer your question. But remember this: My patience has limits, and the moment your rudeness exceeds them, you die." She extended her other hand.
A massive screen appeared in the air.
The four divided sections displayed different landscapes of the Demon Realm.
The unending volcano of Gehenna that teemed with ferocious magical beasts, Abaddon sunk in abyssal darkness and fog, the barren, endless wasteland of Pandemonium, and the Abyss where ceaseless strife never ended.
These were the four worlds ruled by the six overlords of the Demon Realm.
"The Demon Realm is bound by a treaty prohibiting incursions into each other's territories. It is an agreement among the domain rulers." She pointed to the Abyss.
"Most conflicts arise in the Abyss. That realm houses both the merciless overlord of the six demons and the unyielding ruler of strictness, making strife inevitable." Zeke interrupted her.
"I'm not here to hear about the Demon Realm's affairs. Just say whether you'll withdraw from Mycenae or not."
Elizaveta ignored Zeke's words and continued.
"Recently, that treaty has been broken."
Zeke furrowed his brow at her statement.
'A conflict has broken out within the Demon Realm?'
Elizaveta pointed to one of the four sections on the screen.
"Unusual movements have been detected from Gehenna and Abaddon."
As she spoke, images appeared of magical beast soldiers from Gehenna and undead soldiers from Abaddon marching somewhere.
Zeke watched the scene silently before speaking to Elizaveta. "You're telling me to become a demonkind now to stop those guys?" Elizaveta dismissed the screen and addressed Zeke.
"Strictly speaking, that's not the only reason." Her eyes shimmered blue once more.
"Their movements are also tied to events in the phenomenal world. They intend to revive the sealed demon king in response to Narak's summons." Zeke sensed something off in Elizaveta's words.
'No way...'
She looked at Zeke and said.
"Zeke Draker, allow me to elaborate on the terms of the contract."
Zzzing—
The light of the authority, now floating in the air, shone brighter than before.
"If you become a demonkind and aid me, Pandemonium will ensure the demon king does not descend upon the phenomenal world."
*
"Why are those bastards so quiet all of a sudden?"
Felix gazed at the Demon Realm legion, whose movements had slowed, from atop the outer ramparts.
After the massive ice boulders from the south gate had swept through the monsters, the battlefield had fallen silent.
Klone, standing beside Felix, slung her mace over her shoulder with a sigh of relief and lit a cigarette.
"Hoo... Why the hell did those damn demonkind bastards suddenly invade and cause all this shit?"
The traces of the fierce battle with the demonkind legion remained vividly before the ramparts, littered with dead magical beasts and monsters.
The Black Spirit Unit had all performed exceptionally, but Felix and Klone's feats stood out the most.
This was because Felix, who had inherited paladin swordsmanship, and Klone, a holy knight of Rubern, were particularly effective against demonkind.
Moreover, Felix had received direct instruction in swordsmanship from the arch paladin through his connections with the Draker family and the Holy Kingdom.
Baord had taught him how to properly harness the power of the former arch paladin, Pab, dwelling within him.
Thanks to that, Felix displayed strength at least on par with a red knight when facing the demonkind legion.
Just then, Liam, standing nearby, pointed beyond the ramparts with his sword.
"Something's moving."
Felix and Klone focused their gaze ahead.
"What is that?"
Where Liam pointed stood a single imposing tower exuding an overwhelming presence.
As far as they remembered, no such tower existed around Mycenae.
As the Black Spirit Unit fell into confusion, Hades appeared in the air.
"Damn it all. Looks like those crazy Demon Realm bitches are seriously pissed off." Felix turned to Hades and asked.
"Lord Hades, what do you mean?"
Hades clicked his tongue and replied.
"That's an invasion fortress owned by a Demon Realm princess. I haven't seen that form in any records. It's either the latest model or an ancient relic—one or the other." At Hades's words, Klone gripped her mace and furrowed her brow.
"Invasion fortress. What a stupid name. Screw it all—just charge in and smash it." Hades crossed his arms and shook his head.
"Were you really a nun back in the day? Don't talk nonsense. The inside of an invasion fortress is no different from the Demon Realm itself. You'll find high-rank demonkind swarming in there. If you think it's the same as these puny magical beasts or Demon Realm monsters, you'll get in over your head."
Even the gutsy Klone hesitated at the words of the dragonkin Hades.
But then, something began emerging from the tower.
Kwa-kwa-kwa—
In an instant, wyvern-like magical beasts darkened the sky.
Kaaak—
The magical beasts flapped their wings and flew toward Mycenae.
The problem wasn't the magical beasts.
"Those demonkind are riding on top!"
Armored low-rank Demon Realm warriors rode atop the magical beasts.
Even low-rank warriors possessed strength far superior to humans, making them a grave threat.
Felix shouted to Hades.
"Lord Hades! Can't you erect the barrier again?" Hades yelled back.
"You think I can just whip up a large-scale barrier like that? To avoid the sanctions of karma and cast something like that, even I need complex magic formulas and a massive amount of mana, you fool!"
Since Zeke and Hades weren't formally contracted, he couldn't directly intervene in the phenomenal world.
Thus, there were clear limits to what he could do to help.
It was then.
"All units, prepare for battle."
Duke appeared, drawing his sword.
The Black Spirit Unit members, tense, donned their powered suit helmets again and raised their swords.
As Duke prepared to strike the approaching enemies from above with his gale technique, it happened.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Surprisingly, the lead enemy exploded mid-air and plummeted.
"Huh?"
The highly tensed Black Spirit Unit turned in confusion at the unexpected counterattack.
At the same time, the ramparts began to change.
Chrarararak!
Sharp bone walls adhered to the outer ramparts, and a golem in the form of the Zoin tribe was summoned to the front.
The golem emitted light from its eyes and mouth as it shot down the incoming enemies from the sky.
Moreover, grotesque summons with four arms floated in the airspace above, their eyes flashing red.
Whenever they did, the incoming magical beasts began acting strangely and fighting among themselves.
Seeing this, Duke involuntarily let out an exclamation.
"My god!"
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Amid it all, ironclad golems appeared, taking positions atop the ramparts and assuming alert stances to block the approaching foes.
At the base of the ramparts, Zeke's shadow legion rose.
In an instant, a great army materialized, leaving Duke and the rest of the Black Sword Knight Order with their mouths agape.
Hades, watching from the air, chuckled.
"I wondered where he'd gone after closing the gate. Looks like Zeke's shown up."
Zeke had designated Mycenae in defense mode and summoned his summons to establish a defensive line.
Guardian Toad and Caligula blocked the enemies descending from the sky, while the shadow legion firmly guarded the ground.
The Second Princess Yekaterina watched all of this from within the tower.
Kwaaaang!
Yekaterina, with her blood-red hair, slammed her fist into the throne's armrest, pulverizing the sturdy Demon Realm mineral into dust.
Still clad in armor engraved with an imposing demonic statue, she rose from her seat.
"Prepare the entire army for sortie."
Her red eyes gleamed as she shouted.
"I will invade that place myself!"