Inside the grand hall, the elite members of the Ritsuzen clan were mingling and conversing with one another.
Despite the number of people gathered, the atmosphere in the massive room remained remarkably muted. Bound by their strict aristocratic etiquette, everyone spoke in polite, hushed tones, their murmured conversations blending seamlessly with the soft classical music playing in the background.
Ritsuzen Kyora and Azelior Astaroth were deep in conversation when the butler finally returned, escorting the three requested individuals into the grand hall.
Elder Ritsuzen Gensai led the way. His face was visibly darkened and his eyes were stormy; it was painfully obvious he was not thrilled about being summoned and paraded in front of Devils. Following closely behind him was his son, Riku. Aside from a slight, nervous flicker in his eyes, the eight-year-old managed to keep his fear relatively masked.
Trailing even further back, completely separated from the father-son duo, was our protagonist, Ren, keeping his head quietly bowed.
Seeing their arrival, Kyora politely disengaged from Azelior. He raised his crystal wine glass and gently tapped the side with a silver knife.
Clink! Clink!
The crisp, ringing sound easily cut through the hall. The hushed conversations instantly ceased, and even the live classical music faded into dead silence. In a matter of seconds, every single eye in the room was fixed entirely on the Clan Head.
"Today marks a momentous occasion for the Ritsuzen clan, and I am deeply honoured to welcome the noble Astaroth family as our esteemed guests. Please, give them a warm round of applause," Kyora announced smoothly.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Came the incredibly sparse, stiffly polite applause from the proud clan members, who could barely hide their inherent disdain for the Devils.
"Now, a significant gathering such as this would simply not be complete without adequate entertainment," Kyora continued, completely undeterred by his clan's response. His commanding voice echoed clearly through the quiet hall.
"Therefore, I have arranged for a live demonstration of our younger generation's talents to properly entertain our honoured guests. Please welcome Ritsuzen Riku and Ritsuzen Ren"
At this, the clan did not clap. Instead, they simply turned their collective, scrutinizing gaze toward the two young boys.
Diodora Astaroth also spared the children a brief glance, though his faint flicker of interest was heavily masked by the fact that he was still completely bored out of his mind.
"Hmph!" Elder Gensai huffed in visible annoyance, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. Since Kyora had already forced his hand in front of the Devils, the Elder had absolutely no choice but to silently accept the situation.
"A month ago, these two children agreed to a formal duel to settle some... personal discontentment," Kyora explained smoothly, his voice echoing through the silent hall. "However, I find that a standard sparring match would not be nearly entertaining enough for our honoured guests. Therefore, I have a slight modification to suggest—"
Kyora paused for a fraction of a second, his dark eyes flashing with cruel calculation.
"—Why not elevate it to a duel of life and death? The victor lives, and the defeated forfeits their life."
Hearing this sudden escalation, a dark, genuine spark of interest finally ignited in the eyes of the Ritsuzen clan members. They had always considered an inferior, magic-less anomaly like Ren to be an eyesore. Seeing him forced into a death match where he had an almost guaranteed chance of perishing would finally relieve them of this pathetic thorn in their side.
"Hmph! I agree," Gensai spoke up first. He didn't think anything untoward could possibly happen to his genius son, so he had no reason to object. The rest of the clan simply nodded along in cold, unfeeling apathy.
Azelior Astaroth, on the other hand, chuckled softly. "Ho? It seems the old saying about humans being crueller than Devils is entirely true. Haha! How fascinating."
Seeing no disagreement, Kyora was about to finalize the terms of the match before a sharp, commanding voice rang out.
"I disagree!"
It was Ritsuzen Kaguya, aggressively pushing her way to the front of the gathered crowd.
Seeing his daughter break her usual icy composure, Kyora's eyes gleamed with dark amusement. 'It seems my suspicions were correct; Kaguya truly does care for the boy.' "Hm? And why is that?" Kyora questioned mildly, feigning ignorance.
Kaguya froze, momentarily unable to formulate a logical reason. She couldn't possibly admit that she cared about him, could she? If she showed genuine affection for Ren, he would fall under even heavier scrutiny. Given his current lack of strength, he would be devoured alive by the vicious Ritsuzen elders sooner or later. But if she didn't speak up now, Ren would be forced to fight for his life!
Steeling herself, her genius mind quickly fabricated a ruthless excuse. "The boy is a personal experimental subject of mine. I intend to study the exact biological reason behind his practically non-existent mana pool. With our noble clan suddenly producing such a pathetic anomaly, I fear more similar trash might eventually appear in our pure lineage. We cannot allow such genetic defects to become the norm of our future, can we?"
"Hm, it seems our esteemed successor has a point," Kyora nodded in mock agreement. "But an anomaly is still an anomaly. Just like a harmful bacteria invading a host, the most efficient solution is simply to purge it from the system entirely. The rest of the clan has already agreed, and we simply cannot let them or our honoured guests down, can we? Now then, without further ado, let the match begin."
"Wait—!" Kaguya desperately tried to argue, but a small, warm hand suddenly grabbed her pale fingers.
Turning her head in shock, Kaguya was about to speak, but a quiet, youthful voice cut her off.
"It's okay, Nee sama." The voice paused, trembling ever so slightly. "I will do it." Then, the voice lost all its hesitation, hardening into absolute iron. "I will win."
Seeing the fierce, unyielding determination burning in Ren's eyes, Kaguya could only helplessly shake off his hand and bite her tongue, stepping back into the silent crowd.
**********
The crowd seamlessly parted, carving out a wide, empty circle in the very centre of the grand hall. The two boys, Riku and Ren, now stood facing each other across the polished marble floor.
"Are you ready to die, inferior?" Riku sneered apathetically.
Ren didn't bother to reply. He simply stood perfectly still with his eyes closed, breathing in a slow, measured rhythm. His small hand rested steadily on the hilt of his longsword at his waist, ready to draw. 'Hoo...'
"It seems both children are ready," Kyora commented smoothly from the sidelines. "Then..."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Begin!"
Shing!
The crisp, deadly ring of drawn steel shattered the silence. In a fraction of a second, a faint, pure white light, his meticulously cultivated Ki, flared to life around Ren's small body.
Before Riku could even begin to raise his hand to cast a spell, a sudden, blindingly fast shadow flashed right past his side.
Squelch!
The sickening sound of flesh and bone being effortlessly torn apart echoed through the hall.
Spisssshhhh!!!
A massive geyser of crimson blood erupted into the air, raining down in heavy droplets onto the pristine marble floor and the horrified front row of the crowd.
Absolute, suffocating silence descended upon the grand hall.
No one could have possibly imagined such an abrupt, brutal end. They had all confidently assumed the match would be entirely one-sided, but not a single soul had dared to consider that the other boy would be the one dealing the killing blow.
"Touki..." Kyora whispered, his usually stoic eyes widening in genuine, unadulterated shock. But then, almost instantly, his expression smoothed back into its cold, calculating baseline. 'It seems the Astaroth family will simply receive my second choice as a servant instead,' Kyora thought, already coldly determining Ren's new fate.
Elder Gensai, on the other hand, had a face darkened to absolute pitch-black. His eyes were wide, practically bulging with a horrifying mixture of absolute disbelief and uncontrollable, murderous rage.
Azelior Astaroth watched the bloody spectacle with immense interest. This time, however, his focus was entirely locked onto the surviving boy, his gaze filled with newfound solemnity.
In the crowd, Kaguya let out a heavy, shuddering breath of relief. "Whew."
On the other side of the hall, Ren stood trembling several paces behind the collapsed, bisected remains of his opponent. His pale forehead was heavily beaded with cold sweat. His tiny hands shook violently around the hilt of his blood-stained sword.
Then, without any warning—
Blergh!
Ren dropped to his knees and started vomiting violently onto the marble floor, completely overwhelmed by sheer, visceral horror. He had used his full, uninhibited strength, completely overestimating his opponent. He hadn't even considered that it would be this easy. Now, he was absolutely mortified by the reality of his very first kill. Even though he had spent weeks mentally steeling himself for this exact moment, the sickening sensation of a cold steel blade slicing completely through a warm human body without meeting any resistance was a horrifying trauma he had never experienced before.
Huff... Huff...
Ren gasped for air, his mind spinning. He truly didn't know that taking a human life could be such a terrifyingly easy matter.
**********
"Hm, an unexpected result," Kyora admitted apathetically, completely uncaring of a younger generation's brutal death on his pristine marble floor. "Butler, clean this up."
"Yes, Master," the butler replied without missing a single beat, having long since grown numb to deaths within the estate.
"What do you think, Lord Astaroth?" Kyora then turned his attention back toward Azelior, seamlessly pivoting to business.
"Hm, not bad, not bad. The boy certainly has some talent," Azelior praised smoothly.
"Then—" Kyora paused for a calculated second before continuing, "—how about placing him in young Diodora's peerage?"
"The boy is indeed qualified," Azelior agreed. He then turned his gaze downward. "What do you think, Diodora?"
Seeing that the question was pointed directly at him, Diodora replied with a bored drawl. "Eh... he's good, I guess. But he's not even a girl," the young Devil complained, clearly already thinking entirely with his lower head.
His eyes briefly drifted over the crowd before landing on Kaguya. "Now, that girl who was objecting earlier... she was much better. But it seems she still lacks... something," Diodora muttered in dissatisfaction, unaware of his fetish for holy maidens yet.
"It seems Diodora disagrees," Azelior commented smoothly.
Hearing this, Kyora was slightly dissatisfied; his opening plan had failed. 'It seems I will need to find another opportunity to officially dispose of the boy,' he calculated coldly.
Despite the fact that the rest of the clan members openly wanted Ren dead, Kyora still stubbornly held onto his meticulously crafted, civilized facade. He considered himself a progressive visionary, not a barbarian who indiscriminately executed his own blood without a valid political excuse.
"But—"
Hearing that single word, Kyora's ears perked up.
Azelior continued, "Our noble family still has another rather promising child. Although she is not of the main lineage, she is certainly qualified to take this boy in as a servant instead."
"Mm. It is a pity that a talented member of our Ritsuzen clan cannot enter the main lineage, but I suppose this will have to do," Kyora agreed with a sigh of mock pity, completely sealing the boy's lifelong fate without ever once asking for his input.
"This will have to do indeed, Lord Ritsuzen." Azelior extended his hand for a formal handshake, clearly preparing to dismiss himself and his son from the bloody banquet. "I will personally bring Latia here in a few days' time to collect him."
"Hm, yes. A pleasure doing business with you, Lord Astaroth." Kyora shook the Devil's hand firmly, his eyes gleaming with the success of his new political bridge. "But before you depart, let us first toast to our new alliance."
"Haha! A final toast, then!"
Clink!
The crisp ring of crystal wine glasses echoed over the sickening smell of fresh blood.