The Vampire Demon Lord appeared, but no one bothered to bow their heads to him.
Because he wasn’t the demon king.
The vampire demon lord looked a bit nervous. When he arrived at the end of the huge gate decorated with gems, he spoke,
“Inform them that I am here.”
“Yes.”
The gatekeeper responded briefly to the vampire demon lord and opened the huge gate.
Uhk!
The scent of death emanated from within. It was a stench one wouldn’t get used to, no matter how many times they felt it.
But somehow, he preserved.
‘I almost ruined myself.’
He sighed in relief after he almost stopped himself from frowning.
As one of the demon lords who ruled the Devildom, why was he this nervous?
The vampire demon entered with a determined face, and a veil of darkness obscured his vision.
Unlike the hall, which was decorated with dazzling gold and jewels, this place only had the energy of death and darkness.
Then, he hears a voice.
[Vampire. Did you take over the land of Lust?]
It was a strong voice that could make a soul tremble.
Even the vampire, who had risen to the rank of demon lord, felt suffocated at this, and he answered carefully.
“We failed.”
…
Silence passed down
However, after the two-word answer he gave, the demon lord felt a huge amount of death energy swirling around him.
[Three months, he abandons his homeland and goes to another dimension, and you fail?]
“There was Katos, Wrath; you know that Katos always remains there, and he is already at the level of a demon lord.”
The demon lord of Wrath shouted at the vampire.
[Is that even an excuse?!!]
Thud!
“Kuak!!!”
The vampire demon lord staggered at the wave of energy that came from the sound and knelt down on one knee.
Even if they were both demon lords, their strengths were on different levels.
The master of darkness, similar to death, was none other than the Demon Lord of Wrath, one of the great demon lords who divided the Devildom into 5, and he was the 5th.
So even if he was the vampire demon lord, the gap between him and the 5th Demon lord was akin to one between an adult and a child.
Feeling a sense of despair take over him, the vampire tried to control his breath. He accepted the condition that he gets to hold his position as the demon lord despite coming under Wrath.
But now he was regretting it.
‘I will die this way.’
The Demon King of Wrath was a being who was true to his own name. Always angry.
And it wasn’t just angry; he was angry with enough power to destroy the opponent.
Even now, if the vampire lord wasn’t a demon lord, he would have been killed immediately.
The vampire demon lord took a deep breath and said
“Still, I went right before the fall. At that moment, he returned.”
[They are all excuses!!]
“Instead!!”
The vampire shouted loudly, fearing that the demon lord of Wrath would kill him.
The demon lord of Wrath asked.
[Instead?]
“I-I have interesting news.”
[If it isn’t interesting, your land is mine as of today.]
Simply put, it means that the vampire lord will be killed, and his land will be taken.
As the Demon Lord of Wrath said, he could make all this happen in one day.
As he heard it, the vampire thought.
‘This has to be interesting to him, right?’
If it wasn’t interesting, Wrath was bound to kill him.
Lust, all because of that jerk!
If only it wasn’t…
[Speak up!]
“Y-yes. The thing is…”
He thought of the human who attacked him without fear.
“A human has entered the Devildom.”
And fortunately
[Oh. A human?]
Wrath had shown a reaction that betrayed his interest.
Jamie frowned at the words of Duke Katos, who had appeared out of the blue.
“… Gaia’s contractor? And how do you even know my name?”
“This guy, coming up here suddenly and making up all this bullshit?”
Obviously, except for the Demon Lord, Beiros thought everyone else was below him, so he approached Katos.
Jamie pulled Beiros by the neck and pushed him to the side.
“Kuak!
“Get out of my way.”
Ignoring him, Jamie asked again.
“I will ask again. I am the contractor of Gaia?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I cannot reveal that yet.”
Katos declined to answer.
When he made people curious like this, Jamie thought he was messing around, but Osiris also spoke about Gaia.
‘He said that Gaia must have intervened for the reincarnation to happen.’
An old god who is presumed to have existed since the beginning of time
It wasn’t known who Gaia was, but it felt like it was someone he was deeply entangled with.
At that time, Katos said,
“One of the great darknesses has begun to move.”
“What do you mean?”
At his sudden words, Trika, who was silent till then, asked with his eyes shining in purple.
He asked in a voice which said he could guess what this was about
“If it is great, then it has to be that?”
“Right, Lust.”
“Look at him being arrogant in front of His Majesty!”
As Katos spoke briefly to the king, Beiros tried to approach him, and Jamie didn’t stop him this time.
There was no need to
“I will rip that head off and take your rank.”
Katos looked pitifully at Beiros, who was approaching.
“Is this the one we have in our wheel? I feel sorry.”
At the same time, darkness rose from below and began to wrap around Beiros.
He resisted the darkness and tried to move, but the gap between the 6th and 2nd rank was too high, and the darkness which bound him slammed Beiros to the wall.
“Kuak! This bastard….!”
Beiros struggled to get out, and the more he did, the more tightly the darkness gripped him.
Demon Dragon Beiros was captured without even being able to do anything.
He was said to be someone who possessed the power of a demon lord, and this proved it.
Beiros was defeated at once, so the difference was felt.
Jamie felt interested in Katos’s strength and asked.
“What is this wheel you spoke of?”
“Fate”
“Fate?”
“Even this must be fate. Ultimately, my predictions are wrong because I cannot calculate everything, so who can be blamed?”
“I cannot understand you.”
Trika, who couldn’t understand it, spoke to Katos.
“Duke, explain it in a straightforward manner; this is an order.”
No matter how much Katos was a demon that reached the level of a demon lord, he was under Trika now.
And if it was an order, he had to follow it.
Katos bowed his head.
“… Lust.”
“Are you out of your mind, as Beiros said?”
Originally Katos should have called him Your Majesty.
However, since he was speaking without all that, Trika felt a little confused.
And Katos said
“At this time, prepare the self to face the great darkness.”
From start to end, he kept muttering these words.
Jamie hated these sorts of people the most.
These were the fussy ones who say what they want and not what needs to be said for the other to function right, and there is never an actual point that can be understood either.
It wasn’t known if Katos was always like this or if he just had the talent to annoy people.
“Uh, Duke Katos. Are you here to have fun? If you have something to say, spill it out. What are you making up now?”
“I am speaking the facts.”
“Isn’t it funny? The moment you come, you call me the contractor of Gaia, and when I ask what that is, you speak about darkness like a madman. What is wrong with your head?”
“It is true that a great darkness is approaching.”
“This one is crazy.”
Jamie looked tired, and Beiros added.
“It looks like he has gone crazy. I saw a lot of crazy ones.”
“Shut it if you are weak enough to be stuck there.’
“Yes.”
“You speak a lot for someone who is done after one hit.”
“…”
Beiros, who couldn’t counter, went silent.
Jamie didn’t care and asked Katos.
“So what is this great darkness?’
“Answer, Duke Katos”
As Trika urged him, he said
“The Demon Lord of Wrath. He is after you, Diablo Volfir.”
The Demon Lord of Wrath.
One of the five great demon lords who rule the Devildom.
He has the most violent nature of the five demon lords, and his existence was known to be a monster that didn’t like the end of violence.
And that one was coming for Jamie?
“You mean Wrath is coming here? I didn’t hear anything about it!”
Trika asked in a bit of haste.
“My alter ego confirmed it is him.”
“Alter ego?”
“This is also my alter ego. I exist everywhere in the Devildom.”
When Jamie looked at Trika with a questioning look, he said,
“Unlike the other demons, the existence of Duke Katos is in a contract with me. He is a being with many secrets, but his strength is real, so I wanted him by my side.”
“But you should have figured out what kind of man he is.”
“Even if we try to search, it is impossible to find me.”
“Why?”
“Because I am one with the core of Devildom.”
At this, Jamie, Trika, and Beiros were shocked.
The core of the Devildom is the dimension stone that makes up this land.
And Katos was speaking of being one with this. This meant that Katos was the Devildom then.
“But it is different, Diablo Volfir.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“I am a fragment of a contract. A being who fled to the Devildom to avoid the eyes of Gods.”
“Can you not tell it clearly for once!”
“Simply put.”
Katos looked a bit worried and then said,
“I am an information aggregate created by Gaia to convey the history of the past ‘Bless’ to you.”
Bless was a planet inhabited by numerous races, including humans. In other words, it was the name of the world Jamie lived in.
Katos was a creation of Gaia and had all its history recorded inside.
“It is Akashic….”
“Akashi…”
Something he was hearing for the first time
Diablo Volfir.
Jamie found an old book in a peaceful world where the war with the 12 Gods hadn’t raged yet.
There were exciting things in it.
Much older than then, the narrative spoke of the world right after its creation.
At the time, of course, he thought it was a simple storybook as it was so unrealistic.
And there was a character in it called ‘Akashic.’
“A doll who was blunt with no emotions, never said anything unneeded, and always recited the needed information clearly, which made everyone hate it. Yet, the doll knew everything about the world.”
“Did you read Abel’s Friends?”
“Yes, that was the title.”
“I see.”
Contrary to the darkness around, Katos’ voice felt a bit longing.
“You have feelings?”
“… that isn’t important now. The Demon Lord of Wrath will come to take you, Diablo Volfir.”
“Phew. Let’s move out first.”
At the talk of Wrath, Trika sighed and quickly left the room. It looked like he wanted to prepare for the war right away.
The war will not be easy this time. The opponent is one of the Five Great Demon Lords.
And among them, this one is known to be the most violent.
“Why am I being aimed at?”
“I do not know. Wrath is a creature whose existence is made of emotions, while I follow instinct and logic.”
“I need to do some preparations too. We cannot mess around anymore. Release that one too.”
When Katos looked at Beiros, the darkness binding him vanished, and he landed down.
And he looked at Katos with a wary look as he said,
“I will leave first as there is much to prepare.”
“Right. You are a commander too.”
“Then, bye.”
Beiros immediately followed Trika out.
There was probably a rush to inform others that Wrath would break through the gates.
Just as the two of them left, Jamie asked for the last time.
“First, should I call you Katos? Or Akashic?”
“To me, a name is just a form. You can call me whatever you want.”
“Then Katos. One last question.”
“What is it?”
“Let the history of the past be asked since you survived. And I cannot briefly ask either.”
“A good thought”
“Then, uh…”
Jamie hesitated to ask the question.
Was this the right thing to do?
But the truth had to be known.
This cannot be avoided forever.
Katos knows everything, so he had to know this too.
Jamie, after mentally preparing for the answer, asked.
“Am I… real?”
To that question, Katos stayed silent for a while.
