The moonlight tinted the clouds over the Demonic Continent silver, but the city of Bazu still teemed with energy.
Amid the dark stone streets and twisted buildings, a tavern stood out with its vibrant light and infernally loud music.
Shouts, laughter, and the clash of mugs formed a chaotic symphony of celebration. Inside, creatures of the most varied races and shapes reveled without a care.
The strong smell of fermented drink would make an ordinary human pass out.
Among the noisy crowd, a child with vibrant purple hair and mismatched eyes drank merrily, sunk into a small barrel of beer.
Her childlike appearance didn't seem to fit that environment, but no one seemed to mind.
Beside her, a demonic adventurer with a goat-like face, curved horns, and a sheepish grin spoke loudly, his voice lost in the tavern's din.
"I'm telling the truth, little girl!" he exclaimed, banging his wooden tankard on the table. "Milis is fighting against the Great Forest to exterminate everyone! Even my cousin joined the war to pay off a debt!"
The girl blinked, confused.
"But… why are there demons fighting too?"
The goat-man laughed heartily, leaning over the table.
"Hahahahaha! Because this so-called Legion saved many demons who were slaves! And they even took in a bunch of rejects from our continent. People that some didn't want around. That's why! Hahaha!"
The girl, although paying attention to the conversation, devoured everything in front of her at a frightening speed, as if she'd been starving for a whole year.
"And there's more!" continued Kaei, the goat demon.
"Didn't the beast race help us in the last three wars we started?! Hahaha! In my opinion, the Demon Kings should gather their armies and help this so-called Beast God crush Milis!"
Another demon rose—a brute of ashen skin and incandescent eyes.
"What nonsense are you spouting, Kaei? The beast race betrayed Laplace in the last war!"
Kaei snorted.
"Apart from the fact that Laplace was a lunatic, humanity captured children of the beast race! Did you want them to see their children die?!"
A heated argument began to take over the tavern.
In the midst of the confusion, Kaei looked again at his small drinking companion.
"And you, girl? What do you think of all this?"
He seemed to finally realize how young she was. He blinked, confused.
"By the way… aren't you a bit too young to be drinking…?"
The child laughed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"I'm much older than I look! I must be at least five thousand years older than you, hahahaha!"
Kaei shrugged. Among demons, that wasn't so uncommon, although he thought she was exaggerating her age.
"About the war four hundred years ago…" she continued, with a pensive look.
"I hadn't been reborn back then! But, four thousand years ago, the Beast God Giger was an excellent ally! Unfortunately, he was also killed by the Golden Knight… What a shame!"
The tavern fell silent for a second. Some demons exchanged suspicious glances.
"Right… She introduced herself as the Demon Empress, didn't she?"
"What? Hahaha! That's impossible!" laughed another demon.
The laughter echoed, including the girl's own. Even so, with each new round of drinks, the demons felt more and more apprehensive.
As the night progressed, the more she spoke, the more uncomfortable the demons felt. The girl knew too much to be so young.
But the alcohol flowed and loosened their senses, so they didn't mind too much.
The drunken revelry continued. They argued about wars, alliances, and betrayals until the sun threatened to rise.
The next morning, Kaei woke up thrown over a table. His head throbbed, and the vision in his right eye was… strange.
A note was stuck to his forehead with fruit goo:
'A gift from the Demon Empress. Demon Eye of Absorption. For paying my tab. Thanks!'
"Is this… is this real…?" he murmured, after vomiting for the third time.
Meanwhile, the girl ran through the city streets with renewed energy.
"Haaaaah! Now I can last another year or two!" she exclaimed gleefully.
She stopped on a rooftop and looked toward the horizon. Her eyes spun like the reels of a slot machine, until a blue eye with a distorted pupil took its place.
"Hmm… hasn't the world been at peace for the last hundreds of years? There was also that guy who attacked Atofe…"
She thought for a moment, then let out a loud laugh.
"In any case… this so-called Beast God is quite interesting! Hahahaha! He's like Laplace, only from the beast race!"
She turned, her hair flying in the wind.
"I'll talk to Badi first! Hehehe!"
With a leap, she vanished across the rooftops.
"The world isn't so calm anymore…"
---
In Hobbit territory, in a less explored part of the Great Forest, there was a small bar built in the typical local architecture.
The building had a low ceiling, tiny windows, and doors so narrow that anyone over 1.50 meters had to stoop to enter.
There, sitting at a reinforced table in the back of the establishment, an elf with wavy blond hair and a dwarf in black armor spoke in low tones.
The elf was Elinalise Dragonroad, the same one who once traveled with Rudeus Greyrat, and the dwarf was Tallhand, with a thick, orange beard.
Both had been members of the old adventurer group "Fangs of the Black Wolf."
Their conversation was interrupted by occasional laughter and the muted sound of clinking mugs.
But then, the bar door creaked as it was forcefully opened and someone had to duck to pass through.
A man with a lively expression, face like a monkey's, wearing a light leather vest and several pouches strapped to his waist, entered laughing.
"Heheh, I finally found you two!" he said, approaching.
Elinalise recognized him immediately and spoke with surprise.
"Geese? Where have you been?"
Geese, the demon-race rogue, with a loose tongue and wandering spirit, opened a wide smile.
"Hehe, for the past few years, I was looking for Paul and his family in Begaritt and then on the Central Continent, but I heard he was here in Milis, so I turned back. On the way, I heard about you two and came running. What are you doing here?"
Tallhand and Elinalise exchanged glances, and the three sat together while taking turns sharing parts of their long journey.
They recounted how they had rescued Paul and Zenith from the Immortal Demon King, Atoferatofe, and how they had returned through the Great Forest.
Geese scratched his head, thoughtful.
"I understand why you didn't want to enter Milis… I chose the Hobbit route for the same reason. Things are too ugly there… But tell me, when are Paul and Zenith coming back with the daughter?"
The atmosphere changed immediately. Elinalise looked away, and Tallhand fell silent. Geese sensed something was wrong.
"Hey, hey, it can't be… Didn't you say that Paul was a North King now? He… he's alive, right?"
Elinalise sighed heavily.
"That idiot joined Milis… We don't know why, but… he was killed by the Beast God, Rygar Adoldia, while fighting against the Legion of Iron."
Geese's eyes widened, stunned.
"Rygar killed him?!"
"You also knew him?" asked Elinalise, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course I did! We even traveled together for a time! One of Paul's daughters is his disciple! And… damn, Ghislaine is even his wife now!"
Elinalise confirmed with a nod.
"Yes… We found that out too. I can only think that Rygar killed Paul without knowing who he was. After all, Paul was fighting for Milis… That idiot!"
Tallhand spoke, his voice firm and sad:
"It's a shame. Paul had his flaws, but he was doing everything he could to save his family."
He stood up, and Elinalise did the same and said with a resentful grimace:
"He won't be missed!"
She looked at Geese, "We already sent a letter to Ghislaine. We hope she'll talk to Rygar and prevent Zenith from being killed too."
Geese was still processing the news when he murmured:
"You're not going to do anything?!"
Elinalise turned calmly.
"Hm? Of course we are. I'll tell Rudeus that Aisha is fine and that her father is dead. Tallhand will return to the dwarf territory and wait for news. Maybe Zenith will survive."
"I mean rescue Zenith!" Geese retorted, indignant.
The elf's expression hardened.
"And what do you expect us to do? We've already asked Ghislaine. If even she can't save her, being the Beast God's wife… why would we be able to? Besides, the Legion of Iron has launched a massive war campaign. Entering Milis now would be suicide. For me. For Tallhand. For you too."
She paused for a moment, resolute.
"So, come with us or stay here. But don't try to play the hero. If Zenith survives, great. But I'm not going to make the man who killed a North King with a single blow my enemy."
She turned her back and walked out with determined steps. Tallhand stopped by the door and cast a final glance at Geese.
"Don't go after her, Geese. Ghislaine received the letter. She'll do something… Who knows, maybe Rygar wasn't even thinking of killing Zenith in the first place."
With that, the dwarf left the small bar, leaving Geese alone, surrounded by the muffled sound of Hobbit laughter and the pain of an unexpected loss.
---
In a Milis military camp, set up on the edge of a rocky ravine near the borders of the Great Forest, three armored knights leaned over a large leather map spread out on a wooden table.
Mana lanterns hung from the tent poles, casting a bluish light over the men's tense faces.
The canvas opened with a sudden movement, revealing a fourth man.
Tall, muscular, his armor adorned with symbols of the Church of Milis, and his navy-blue cloak bore marks of past battles. He was the detachment's commander.
The three knights straightened and saluted him.
"Have we received any orders from command yet?" asked the commander, his voice grave and heavy with frustration.
"No, sir, but it shouldn't be long." replied one of the knights, a young man with a helmet of golden plumes.
The commander ground his teeth. "We're on the vanguard! Damn it!"
After the brutal advance of the Beast God, who cut through the battlefield like a force of nature, destroying everything in his path just over a month ago, Milis's armies had retreated.
Since then, they had been in a defensive position, receiving only instructions to erect magical barriers and prepare retreat routes.
The expectation of all the armies was that Galgard, the Divine Warrior, would confront or at least hold off Rygar, allowing Milis's offensive to regain traction.
But Galgard had not moved.
On the table, there lay an open scroll with a crystal in its center—a magic circle created to detect presences with absurdly high levels of magical power.
This barrier was sensitive only to those who exceeded a certain threshold—a specific precaution against Rygar, as it would detect presences for miles around.
"Those damn orders never come," grumbled the commander.
"Retaking the hill ten kilometers from here will give us an unequaled terrain advantage. If we let them take it first, it will be us under pressure. Prepare the soldiers to march. Now!"
It was at that moment that the barrier's crystal cracked with a dry, piercing sound.
Everyone froze.
"The barrier…" murmured one of the knights, pale as wax.
"The Beast God is here…?" said another, his voice trembling.
The commander clenched his fists, sweat dripping down his forehead. He knew what that meant.
"Change of plans. Order everyone to withdraw immediately! Quickly!"
But he didn't have time.
A colossal shockwave tore through the camp like an incarnate thunderclap.
The tent was instantly ripped to shreds, the maps flew like leaves in the wind, and the three knights were hurled in opposite directions.
The ground split, cracks opening beneath the impact.
The commander, an experienced Water Saint, was the only one to stay standing thanks to bracing himself at the last second.
His eyes witnessed the chaos: tents being torn apart, men flying, and the ground itself being ripped by the explosion's pressure.
The deafening sound was like the roar of a mythical beast.
And then came the true attack—a wave of fire that spread violently.
A flaming sphere erupted like a miniature sun, unleashing an infernal blast.
The heat was overwhelming. The flames swept over everything, consuming men, wood, steel, and stone in seconds.
The commander tried to cut through the explosion, but he didn't have time.
The flame wave engulfed him before he could even scream. His body was pulverized instantly.
Everything happened in less than a second.
High above, hovering with his arms crossed, Rygar watched the destruction with analytical eyes. His expression was calm, almost bored.
"All right… that was a waste of mana," he murmured, watching the flames still dance among the ruins. "They weren't all that."
The hot breeze blew the charred remains of the camp, while Rygar hovered in the air, looking satisfied.
"I think I'll fight hand-to-hand for now…"
And then he vanished in a blur, leaving only smoke and ashes behind.
-----
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