Eren smiled before answering honestly.
"That message was mostly intended for cultists. I guess you could say it was for everyone who decided to stand against me.
As for you specifically..."
Eren caressed the area of the wound inflicted by the Demonmir. The wound had been healed. But for some reason, the butcher still felt like it had blood on it.
"I'm all bite and no bark. You will come to know my message to you eventually."
Eren didn't know what Kirin was up to or how she was planning to do exactly what he had explained to the cultists. But he knew that news of her deeds would soon spread throughout the kingdom.
"It was you who killed Nico Chains and the rest, weren't you? It has to be..."
Demonmir asked in a threatening tone. The butcher answered right away with a smug look on his face.
"And it was you who sent the Escalon guild after me and my guild members. It was under your command that a certain ambush happened. You tried to influence House Derringer to withdraw from the tripartite deal.
Apparently, I'm still a long way behind when it comes to launching offensives. Don't worry though. I am a quick learner. I'll soon balance the equation before tilting the scale in my favor."
Demonmir could see unwavering confidence in Eren's eyes. It was not a question of IF but WHEN. Suddenly, there was a nagging sensation in Ottoman's head to kill the man in front of him. It was as if the Demon Prince's soul fragment was dead set on killing Eren even at the cost of wasting a pawn like Ottoman.
'He... he is trying to steal my domain. My domain! This Prince's domain.
Unforgivable!
Kill him!
Kill him!
Kill him!
Kill him!
Kill him!'
The voice in Demonmir's face kept getting louder and louder with time. He didn't know that the Demon Prince would have a personal grudge against Eren for whatever reason. And no matter how illogical it was, the current Demonmir couldn't disobey that command.
"AAARGH!"
Demonmir cried as he felt his head would explode due to the Demon Prince's voice in his head. A transcendent-grade ax appeared in his hand all of a sudden before he swung it in Eren's direction.
Eren felt a threatening sensation coming from Demonmir. He could immediately tell that there was something wrong with the man as his eyes started diluting and his pupils started changing their color from blue to red.
Eren became wary of Demonmir's direct attack. But he wasn't scared of it even if it was launched by a Master-ranked entity. That's because the attack was only meant to look scary and did not have any direction or edge behind it.
'This demon thinks too highly of himself. I need to punish him for his blatant disrespect to me.'
Hansen thought to himself as he watched Demonmir preparing to launch an attack on Eren. But it turned out that he didn't have to intervene. Someone else already did that job for him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Altair appeared between Eren and Demonmir and showed everybody that he had stopped playing spectator. He effortlessly parried all of Demonmir's attacks and made him stop his attacks with his soul sense.
Altair's soul sense and the interference generated by it was all Ottoman needed to calm the Demon Prince's voice inside him. The soul fragment decided to put itself to sleep when it realized that Altair was a serious threat to the current vessel. This was the same time that Altair got tired of dueling with Demonmir before launching an offense.
Swoosh. Zoom. Boom.
Altair effectively redirected all of Demonir's attacks before launching an uppercut at him. The ranker was thrown about 20 feet in the air and hit the solid-looking defensive barrier. Demonmir soon crashed to the ground in the same manner as Eren did because of his attack.
"Wild animals are either locked in a cage or shot to death. Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you are a kingdom-approved demonic ranker."
Altair spoke in a grim tone while looking at Demonmir. He then turned around to receive Eren's strange gaze.
"I thought you hated me?"
Eren glanced doubtfully at Altair before speaking his mind. The latter also replied promptly.
"Who told you that?"
"Should I consider how you behaved with me as your way of showing care?"
"I was merely testing you. It helps when there's a conflict to act as a base for such tests."
"So you have no problem with me having multiple partners?"
"I have had nine wives. Who am I to judge you?"
Eren and Altair's banter stopped midway when the latter dropped a metaphorical bomb on him. The butcher was stunned by Altair's revelation about himself.
Altair pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders before commenting.
"Eren, you have shown your potential very well. I completely approve of you and Altashia being together. It seems she has chosen well."
The butcher made an "I am still doubtful of you" expression at Altair before dropping his guard. He came to realize that had he not shown the kind of potential he had displayed, the Crimson Ghost would not have intervened.
Not that he needed Crimson Ghost's help at that time. Not really.
That's because Eren could feel a peculiar feeling from Demonmir when the latter launched an attack at him. This was the same feeling he had when he was surrounded by creatures of wrath in the Domain of Wrath.
'I... I felt like I could control this asshole to some extent had I used my Domain of Wrath here. What's going on?'
Eren asked Alephee in a confused manner. The latter chuckled before answering.
'Do you remember that I told you that your Domain of Wrath is a plane-bound Ability? The Demon Prince who is considered the ruler of that plane also has the same Ability. The same Demon Prince whose soul fragment currently resides within Demonmir.
I am guessing this demon has been losing his authority over the plane ever since the Domain of Wrath has been offered to you. He is calling you the usurper for the same reason.'
