Episode 152: Just the Beginning (2)
“What do you mean?! “They’re calling for a truce!”
“I don’t have that much authority. “The lords of the demon world are starting to feel frustrated with the sluggish war, and that’s it.”
Baal, who clucked his tongue, informed the emperor that support from the Demon World Alliance would decrease.
There was one reason. This was because the war, which had been entered into for profit, continued to drag on, and losses began to increase instead of gains.
The reason the demon world lords participated in the war on the continent was to make a profit. This meant that there was no reason to fight anymore as long as the balance with the church was maintained regardless of whether they participated in the war or not.
“We need to reclaim the northern part of the Demon World, and we need some time to rest anyway.”
“Tsk… … .”
The emperor could not say anything to Baal. Anyway, it is true that proper results were not achieved.
However, if the army of the demon world left the alliance like this, the allied forces formed to fight against the church could no longer advance and had no choice but to sit there like this.
“If we deal with the demon world quickly, won’t we be able to come back?”
“Maybe so.”
So all he can do is pray that the affairs of the Demon World are resolved as quickly as possible and that the Demon World lords who have found their leisure can rejoin the alliance.
Baal, unlike before when he had everything he wanted to say, saw the emperor groaning but unable to say a word, and immediately ended the communication with a chuckle.
“Your Excellency, preparations for the meeting are complete.”
And the moment he ended the communication, the waiting subordinate reported to him that he was ready.
It was a general meeting that gathered together all the lords of the Demon World, whose numbers had now decreased considerably. The intention is to gather the power of the Demon World and achieve his true purpose.
Baal was fiddling with the magic tablet around his neck. This crystal is the symbol of the devil.
‘I’ve been waiting for this day. I will become the new Demon King.’
Everything I have done so far has been for this purpose. He coaxed the demon world lords into joining the Allied Forces, and incited them to gradually withdraw from the Allied Forces.
In the process, he maintained his strength. There were some henchmen who had already been persuaded.
The only thing left to do was to use force to suppress those who dared to rebel against him.
“You’re here.”
“The human emperor wouldn’t have let it go, right?”
When Baal headed to the conference hall, all the lords of the demon world had already gathered there. Baal calmly went to his seat and sat down as if nothing had happened and began to carry out his plan quite naturally.
“The notification is over. “We no longer need to fight the church.”
“That’s right. “At first, we swept up the loot, but now we just split up our troops and got nothing.”
When Baal told them the results of the conversation with the emperor, most people nodded in the affirmative. There was a general public opinion that wanted to stop the war in the first place, so there were no obstacles up to this point.
“Then what’s left now is to deal with those black bugs that are spreading in the northern part of the Demon World. As some of you may know, they have been acting presumptuously recently, leaving the Demon World, interfering with the battlefield, and attacking elves.”
“Hmm! “It’s true that I don’t like it, but I don’t think it’s something I really need to worry about.”
However, when Baal changed the topic to Lucy’s demon lord army, a secret opposing opinion emerged.
It’s the same as the war against religious denominations. What he meant was whether the lords of other regions should be concerned about the battle against the Demon King’s army that is currently dragging on in the central region.
For them, this was actually an opportunity to increase their power.
“It’s a foolish idea. This is the result of watching the northern region perish with such thoughts. “If we leave this unattended and the central region collapses, they will become stronger and we cannot stop it.”
Baal snorted and directly refuted that opinion.
“Forget the foolish competitive spirit. Now is the time for us to come together again. “It is time to come together as one and reclaim the land lost to those monsters.”
“The ones who are fighting now should be the ones to come together as one. “Aren’t they the ones who can’t properly form solidarity among themselves?”
“what!? Have you finished speaking now!?”
However, Baal’s persuasion did not work well. The other lords, who were currently fighting against the Demon King’s army, did not properly unite and criticized the lords of the central region who were Yeoyeongbuyeong, and the lords of the central region who were incensed by this became angry and the meeting hall instantly became a mess.
In a way, it was a natural procedure. Since the lords of the demon world were equal to each other after being liberated from the demon king, it was unacceptable for someone to give orders to someone else and ignore them.
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“Everyone shut up. “It’s been this way every time since liberation, so there’s no way the demon world can develop.”
It was then that Baal raised his magical power and exploded to death.
Everyone flinched for a moment, then closed their mouths at the powerful force that erupted and looked at him.
“Look at yourself. “We are crazy about competition and greed, so we think of each other as competitors, fight with each other, and are unable to unite our strength.”
“You are overreacting, Baal. “We haven’t been like this for a day or two.”
The purple-skinned orc smiled and opened his mouth at Baal’s words, his bright yellow eyes flashing.
The lords of the demon world were rather uncomfortable with Baal’s attitude. Their purpose is simply to solidify their position within the demon world. However, the division of the Demon World lords was extremely annoying to Baal, who was aiming to unify the Demon World into one powerful force and become the peak, aiming not only for the Demon World but beyond.
“No, now we must become one again.”
Baal finally revealed his thoughts to the lords of the demon world.
At first, no one could understand what he was saying and just twitched their eyes.
“The continent is divided into two groups, the Church and the Union, and they are fighting against each other, making them weaker than ever. Missing this opportunity? What choice is more stupid than that? “We can achieve achievements that even the devil could not achieve.”
“Now, wait a minute. “You, really?”
Seeing his grinning face, the others finally sensed the unusual change and started making a big fuss. Baal, who did not care even after seeing such a scene, lifted up the demonic spirit he was wearing around his neck.
“The demon world needs a new demon lord. A true ruler who will lead us all on the right path.”
Then he made a bombshell statement.
The lords of the demon world are those who harbored a grudge against the demon king and betrayed him, barely breaking free from the shackles of his rule. For these people, the mere mention of the existence of the devil is a taboo that can cause fits.
“Are you out of your mind right now!?”
“I knew it. This is why I come from a noble background!”
Naturally, the demon world lords all stood up from their seats, raised their power, and strongly protested. To them, this was much more shocking than thinking about an external enemy.
It was not because the subject was Baal, but because he could not accept the existence of the devil himself.
“You can’t go against providence! This demon world needs a demon lord. “Otherwise, we will live in a state of being torn apart and fighting among ourselves, and then we will be eaten by bigger enemies, whether they are the Church or the Black Iron Bug!”
But Baal was also adamant. As he watched the demon world lords who had raised their power, he did not lose and fought them off.
“Ah, Agares!”
“You guys… … !”
And at that moment, those who left the Demon World lords and joined Baal’s side appeared. The lords of the demon world could not understand the appearance of the traitors and fell into a group stunned state.
“We killed the demon king of the past and took his power into 72 pieces, each of us embracing it. However, now 12 of those 72 people have died from the black iron bug. Thanks to this, 1/4 of the remaining power, or 15 pieces, is enough to restore the fragmented power of the Demon King.”
Baal twisted the corners of his mouth and lifted up the demonic spirit in his hand.
When other Demon Realm lords were focusing on war and loot. Baal, who had been particularly quiet, focused all his attention until just now on creating comrades who would share his cause.
In fact, it could have taken more time. However, thanks to Lucy’s demon army killing several more demon lords, the condition was accidentally achieved.
“no! Stop it!”
“The devil, the devil is resurrected!”
The lords of the Demon World, who had become mesmerized, rushed in all at once to kill Baal and his faction. However, Baal was faster at activating the demonic spirit.
‘The devil must exist.’
A storm so strong that even the strongest demon lords could not withstand erupted and swept all over the place.
A demon standing at the center of the magical power storm was floating into the air with its eyes flashing.
* * *
“Something strange in the demon world?”
[That’s right. But I don’t know for sure. I just sensed something.]
Lucy, who occupies a corner of the Demon World, detected a faint magic wave blowing from the other side of the continent some time after Baal succeeded in his plan and eventually awakened into the Demon Lord.
“What did you sense?”
[This is based on the most fundamental data that makes up who I am today.]
In response to Changhyun’s question, Lucy reported that what she just felt was based on old data that is barely manifesting now.
“Fundamental data. “Data from when you became the new Demon Lord?”
[That’s right.]
The data that Lucy talks about is the data that was first injected when Lucy, an ordinary artificial intelligence, was selected and brought here.
The majority of that data was data related to the Demon King.
The desire and will to kill traitors, conquer the demon world, and further conquer the world. It was the devil’s mission and instinct.
The data that had been suppressed for a while while accumulating countless additional data was suddenly brought to the surface.
[There is no way such a reaction could occur without a reason, so it is calculated that something unusual has occurred].
And that instinct also included indiscriminate hostility toward another demon king.
There is only one being that can become the pinnacle under the sky. The Demon King had a duty to eliminate challengers who threatened his position.
“But the place you are most concerned about right now is Ravizda.”
[There was also a need for time.]
He was worried, mentioning that he had attacked a city just before and made a proper provocation, but Lucy quickly finished calculating.
According to information obtained from a recent raid on the city, their backing force, which appears to be a space force, appears to be quite strong.
In this situation, if you continue to attack, the attacked Carthussa and the Dark Elves, or their more powerful allies, can retaliate with proper power, so it was necessary to take time to protect yourself and hide your power for a while before building up sufficient power. .
That way, a two-front war can be avoided. Then, in my spare time, I decided to focus my efforts on the demon world this time.
[If you organize the Demon World, organize the continent, and gather all that power into one place to conquer a new world, your allies can grow and evolve further.]
Rather, Lucy completely changed her plan and decided to invest greater power in the Demon World, which had been projecting only minimal power.