Darkness akin to black clouds flowed down from a high mountain over a snow-covered field.
The darkness devoured the sunlight, making the immediate area around the mountain seem like night.
Inside the mountain, they'd managed to hollow it out and create a base to harbor over twenty thousand people and demons.
[Yawn.]
A demon, Belphegor, yawned while looking at the people all around him.
He was sitting on a chair that looked like a wheelchair and frowned as if he didn't like what he was seeing.
[Why was the plan pushed forward so much?]
You could feel the annoyance in his voice.
"I heard something happened."
A low voice came out from someone that was covered in bandages—it was an unpleasant voice that resembled a hook with an iron.
Belphegor looked at the Bloodseker, the person standing next to him.
[Something?]
"I heard that the Demon King has appeared."
SLAM-!!
Belphegor got up after hearing what he said.
[What?]
The Bloodseker's eyes shone as he got up.
'Belphegor stood up?'
He'd never seen someone as sloth as Belphegor, not even on the Hwan or Earth.
Although he had a perfectly working body, he moved in a wheelchair because he didn't want to be bothered with moving. He also never took the time to listen to the reports that the apostles gave him.
He'd stopped himself from reconstructing his body while his soul was locked inside his Hell Equipment because he couldn't be bothered doing so.
He also hadn't taken the proper time to absorb the Root of Evil to obtain 'Divinity,' so one could easily see how much of a sloth he was.
[What nonsense is that?]
That Belphegor got up.
His face paled.
It looked so pathetic that one couldn't think he was an archduke, and there was fear in his voice.
The Bloodseker frowned.
"Is the Demon King that strong?"
To be honest, he had almost heard nothing about the Demon King after all the time he had been working with the Demon Cult.
He had just heard that Satan, Belphegor, and Mamon struggled against him in the past.
[Is he that strong? That strong?]
Belphegor laughed in disbelief.
"Isn't he still a human?"
Before becoming an archduke, the Bloodseker used to be a human, so he knew the body of a human was fundamentally different from a demon's.
He had to put up a lot of effort to be able to get the power they had since birth.
'It took a lot of time.'
He moved the demonic energy inside his body.
To stand on the same ground as those that had been born with the destiny of being an absolute being called an 'archduke,' he had to spend thousands of years practicing the demonic arts.
He had absorbed the blood of thousands, tens of thousands of humans.
'But still…'
In the end, he wasn't able to go beyond Satan—he hadn't been able to go beyond his limit.
[A human?]
Belphegor's eyes trembled.
He extended his hand and grabbed the Bloodseker's collar.
[Listen carefully. He's a monster. A monster that has lost his mind!!]
A human?
Who would dare ignore the Demon King just because he was a human?
No, to be honest, he'd ignored him at first.
Demon King… To be more precise, before he was called that…
When he declared war against all archdukes, he'd ignored him because he couldn't be bothered with that, and then…
All seven archdukes lost.
They were all devoured because of one monster.
[Aah, how could something like this… He… he died! I felt it!!!]
He'd felt his energy disappearing through the dimensional wall.
Although his soul was trapped in a piece of Hell's Equipment at the time, he'd clearly felt it.
He'd been overly excited for a moment at the thought of becoming free from that monster, but…
‘He's alive?’
[Ugh, aah.]
Belphegor trembled in fear.
The Bloodseker clicked his tongue while looking at him.
'He reminds me of a martial artist that has seen the Heavenly Demon.'
Where he used to live in Hwan, there was a being who awakened fear in all people.
The Heavenly Demon…
Those that met that being were devoured by fear and lost their minds, just like what was happening to Belphegor.
'The Demon King is on par with the Heavenly Demon?'
Nonsense.
Bloodseker shook his head.
Since his arrival on Earth, he'd met numerous rulers from Hell—from Satan, to Belphegor, and Mamon, but they all felt worthless compared to the Heavenly Demon.
He was a god, someone that was on top of all demons.
'Even if the Demon King is strong…'
There was no way he could be compared to the Heavenly Demon.
There was a reason he'd used a forbidden technique and escaped from Hwan.
He’d realized he might never be able to become a ruler if he stayed there.
'One day…'
* * *
His eyes began shining with madness.
He was following Satan because he couldn't go beyond his limitations as a human, but he had the dream of killing them all and getting to the top, and to make that dream come true one day, he had to win the war at all costs.
[W-we must run.]
"What?"
The Bloodseker laughed in disbelief.
How strong was the Demon King that he was reacting in such a way?
[I'll go back…]
Crack-!!
Belphegor had turned around when, suddenly, a darkness spread and grabbed his shoulder.
BOOM-!
He was shoved back into his wheelchair.
A being wearing a red mask walked toward him, covered in darkness resembling a curtain.
[Belphegor, sit down.]
[Sa… tan…!]
Belpegor glared at the being wearing a red mask.
[What happened?! The Demon King is alive?! What nonsense is that?!!] he screamed.
Satan put more strength on the hand that was holding Belphegor's shoulder.
BOOM-!!
The huge mountain shook.
[Ugh!]
Belphegor moaned in pain.
Satan kept talking while making a confused expression.
[I'm also not sure.]
[What…?]
[I'm not sure how the Demon King was able to resurrect himself,] he said as if he were chewing something.
The resurrection of the Demon King…
After they reached Earth and found the Root of Evil, they hadn't considered him a possible variable.
That was obvious because he'd disappeared into the dimensional wall.
One could safely go beyond the dimensional wall using Hell's Equipment, but Satan had ordered Amon to make the Demon King clash with the energy that administrates dimension.
Even a god shouldn't have been able to survive that, but the Demon King had managed to survive.
He hadn't died.
[…]
There was a short silence.
[What are you planning to do now?] Belphegor asked in a low voice.
[We'll have to fight,] he answered without hesitation.
BOOM. Once again, Belphegor stood up.
[Fight? Satan, are you out of your mind?!]
[Is there any other way?]
Satan glared at Belphegor with cold eyes.
One couldn't reach an agreement with the Demon King—they'd realized that after fighting against him for a thousand years.
That guy was…
Crazy.
[W-we should make him collaborate with our plan…]
[He just thinks of us as food. You know that. Don't you remember what happened to us, the seven archdukes, before?]
[He never bares his teeth at his subordinates!]
[Ah, so you're going to become his subordinate?]
Satan narrowed his eyes.
Becoming a subordinate of the Demon King…
That was something they couldn't do.
It didn't matter how scary he was—they were still archdukes.
The blood of a ruler has been flowing inside them since birth. They couldn't even fathom the idea of them being under someone.
[Ugh…]
[Forget about that. We have to kill him before he recovers his strength.]
[Recover his strength?]
[I investigated him a bit…]
Satan kept talking in a low voice.
[It seems like, unlike us, he arrived on Earth two years ago.]
[Two years…]
Belphegor's eyes shone sharply as if he knew what Satan was trying to say.
[It seems like he's been increasing his strength while hidden among humans.]
[That means…]
[Yes.]
Satan nodded.
[He probably lost his strength because of the dimensional wall.]
[…]
Belphegor remained silent.
The Bloodseeker, who had silently been listening, joined the conversation.
"But weren't angels going to participate in this war?"
[Raphael…]
The darkness surrounding Satan fluctuated.
Because of the Demon King's manipulation, they couldn't avoid a frontal confrontation with the angels.
If they'd followed the original plan, it was something that should've happened many years in the future.
[There's something I just thought of…]
He thought of a way to face Raphael and kill the Demon King simultaneously.
It should've been impossible before, but there was something he could do.
Satan looked at the cultists and demons
[Leaving that aside, where's Kalgia?]
"I'm not sure. The connection was cut short after it went to investigate the Demon of Prophecy."
[Again?]
Satan shook his head.
[Well… I guess this much should be enough.]
Kalgia wasn't going to be helpful in a war anyways.
Kalgia was someone who specialized in summoning and black magic—someone similar to Amon.
[Satan… Can you really kill that Demon King?]
[If things go according to the plan…] Satan said firmly.
[And if we manage to kill him…]
[…]
Belphegor remained silent.
He gulped.
It wasn't hard to imagine what Satan wanted to say.
[We will be able to get the Sea of Demonic Energy.]
[Exactly.]
Belphegor's eyes filled with greed.
It was a reward so sweet that it could make him stop being a sloth.
[Good. Tell me that plan.]
Belphegor took a seat again.
'Two years…'
It was a short amount of time, even for a human who didn't have eternal life.
'It's possible.'
He thought there was a chance they could pull it off.
'It's only been two years.'
A very short amount of time.
'Even if it's that monster…'
There's no way he'd recovered his strength in just two years.
