"Was it necessary?" Guy inquired, still holding an outwardly cheerful demeanor.
"Was what necessary?" Velzard stated, her mood visibly worsening as the temperature in the room dropped near absolute zero, even the usual magic keeping the food warm failing to resist the wrath of the dragoness as his snacks froze.
"Taunting Milim? What are you trying to accomplish by threatening Veldora in her presence?" Guy grabbed the ancient dragon, who was in her teenage girl form and pulled her into his lap.
Velzard resisted his attempts for a bit but quickly gave in and settled in the much taller demon's lap, continuing on. "Veldora told her who she is! That young, irresponsible fool must be reminded to keep his mouth shut about things he doesn't understand."
"Let's postpone your family reunion a little bit. First, I need to get to the bottom of what is going on in Tempest. Momonga might be a lot more than we suspect. He has kept your brother in check and gotten Milim and possibly Ramiris on his side, which could spell danger for the rest of us." Guy squeezed her waist and slowly moved his hands upwards towards her breasts, knowing she enjoyed his attention.
"You are a fool if you think I will let them do whatever the hell they want. Milim is changing, and you cannot even begin to understand what consequences might follow." Velzard hissed, leaning more into his chest.
"Then enlighten me. You're too worked up." Guy planted a kiss on her neck. "Let's get you in a better mood."
Velzard growled, slapping his hands away, and stood up, standing with her back towards Guy. "You are not taking this seriously. I won't be distracted!"
"I am." Guy approached her, embracing the dragoness from behind once more. "Let's go through Walpurgis first, and then we can decide on further steps. You know if you or I get seriously wounded, Rudra won't hesitate to use the opportunity to strike."
"Momonga, whoever he is, is playing with forces he doesn't understand. Darling, you already have a third player on your hands; you just refuse to see it. If Milim is taken away from your side of the field, you'll be at a heavy disadvantage. But all you have been thinking of as of late is whose skirt you can get under!" Velzard turned around as her youthful form matured and grew in stature to resemble an adult, albeit with exceedingly long hair.
Despite Guy still being taller, she seized his face, digging her sharp nails in as his magicules spilled out. She pulled him closer to her face and snarled, "I am growing tired of your games as much as I am growing tired of dealing with that brat. She shouldn't have existed, and you know it. My older brother made her just to spite me."
"How about I make it up to you? You'll have my undivided attention." Guy gave her a toothy smile as dark blood rich in demonic energies trickled down from the deep dents in his face, made by the impossibly sharp nails of his longtime wife. "Once we are done with Walpurgis and have the full picture, we'll decide on what to do next about Veldora since he is connected to Momonga somehow. Maybe it will be easy to make Momonga dance to our tune then.''
"You have given that promise before and never kept it. You are lucky I even let you keep Raine and Mizeri." She hissed while tightening her grip, causing more spiritual damage.
Ignoring the pain the dragoness was causing, he grasped the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. { This time will be different. You will get all the attention you desire, and no one will get in your way. }
{ You are cruel to me, darling. I deserve better. I deserve no more lies and deceit. } Velzard aggressively kissed back, digging in deeper as she held him close. A mere moment later, she broke the kiss, pulling back Guy by the hair and adding with a whisper, "If you break the promise again, there will be nothing to revive left of your next toy."
"I won't." he pulled her closer, cupping her shapely ass. "From now on, you're the only woman for me," He whispered, what at best was a half-truth and at worst an outright lie depending on his mood.
Velzard smirked, leaning closer, and then resumed aggressively kissing him, her tongue invading her husband's mouth. { If you finally learn how to behave, I will ensure you don't even need to think about other women and get all you want from me. } as her hands started to wander around his toned body, reaching for his abs.
{ How can I possibly say no to that? } He chuckled in her mind, letting the dragoness have her way.
Once again, Milim barged into his office, a pair of loud thuds from doors smashing against the walls, and, once again, the chosen maid of the day being spooked enough to nearly faint. "Momonga, Guy announced a Walpurgis!" She shouted at the top of her lungs without breaking momentum and crashed into the massive office table, throwing everything on it off.
"We have to do something!" She slammed her fists into the poor furniture that wasn't designed to withstand a natural catastrophe like her making a wide crack.
"I heard you," Momonga calmly responded while rescuing a cup of pens that were sent flying as a consequence of Milim's rash actions with Spatial Manipulation. "Is it starting right now, or do we have time to prepare?"
"In forty days-"
"Chief, Guy just announced Walpurgis!" Another screeching voice rang throughout the office from Ramiris flying in, quickly circling him.
'This will be one of those days,' Momonga grimly mused while observing Milim and Ramiris notice each other in surprise.
When it starts raining, expect a flood as people say, and it seemed that it would be the theme of the day as another predictable yet unwelcomed implied piece of news came with it. Luminous had finally grown desperate enough to call upon other Demon Lords to help her and had successfully negotiated with the oldest Demon Lord to do so.
{ I apologize for directly contacting you Lord, but- } Clayman was next to contact him.
{ If it's about Walpurgis, I already know. } Momonga cut him off without hesitation while trying to tell the two Demon Lords in his room to calm down.
{ In that case, I'm sorry for the delayed news. } Clayman apologized profusely, his internal shuddering evident through his emotional apologies.
{ It's fine. Resume your duties and be ready to attend a meeting on the matter within the hour. } Momonga shut him off, feeling another insistent message coming in, this time from Frey who was also very tense.
'I need to put someone in charge of Demon Lord matters. Maybe Milim? She wanted more responsibilities to keep up her guild membership.' Momonga let the message come through, and to no one's surprise, Frey was informing him about Walpurgis and that it would be starting in forty days. After responding the same generic response as he did with Clayman, Momonga turned his attention back to the two demon lords already present in his office, and at this point, the both of them were arguing about what to do with the announcement since they both were allies working with Momonga.
{ Hey Momo, I just got a message from Suphia- } Buku also contacted him, nervous.
{ Walpurgis? }
{ How did- right, Milim already told you. Any response you want to relay, boss? } Buku sounded amused, probably imagining Momonga bombarded with messages.
{ Just tell her I am informed and will use Milim's help to figure out our next steps. Also, mention that I will notify Carrion if I plan to take action on the matter. }
Gathering all the subservient current and former demon lords in one room wasn't hard and was quite fast. Just one order later, he was already sitting in the seat of honor with Buku to his right and Milim to his left.
Ramiris occupied one of the regular seats, watching Milim with unveiled envy about her friend's superior position. The pixie, despite the high position she enjoyed, was still among the servant staff, while Milim was one of the Lords ruling over her and the rest. The two constantly bantered over that, which was of mild concern to Momonga, but it was the norm by now.
Frey arrived next by popping into the room and, with a bow, took her seat in silence, awaiting the order to provide her input on the matter.
Moments later, Kagali and Clayman entered through the door.
'Clayman too. I sense… Unlike me, he is enslaved, and that woman… that's Kazareem, there's no mistaking it,' Frey observed the last arrivals carefully.
"Kagali, you can start with introductions so there are no misunderstandings," Momonga ordered the beautiful pale deadman woman, who promptly bowed.
"Of course, Lord Momonga. As you have probably guessed, I once was Demon Lord Kazareem," She addressed Frey.
"I thought Leon killed you! How did you return? And why didn't you reclaim your position? You know that Carrion and I would have voted for reinstating your position," Frey questioned.
"Until now, I didn't have a suitable body to exercise even a fraction of my known power, being reliant on an inferior material humanoid. But enough about that, there are more pressing matters to discuss." Kagali took a seat beside Clayman.
"So, I need you all to convince Momonga to declare himself a demon lord so we can go and kick Luminous' ass and Leon's too while we're at it!" Milim glanced at her adopted father with a smug expression, assured her request would be fulfilled by the rest of the Demon Lords there.
"If anyone can declare himself a demon lord, then such a title carries no weight," Momonga retorted. "What I need from you all are solutions on how we can deal with Luminous without causing a total war between all Demon Lords."
"Usually a duel would suffice, but I cannot vouch for how powerful Luminous is," Frey spoke up, sending information over via Thought Communication about what she had witnessed in the past Demon Lord duels.
"She's an awakened Demon Lord but still a cry far from me or Guy. Momonga should be able to crush her easily," Ramiris commented, proudly puffing her chest out.
"Or feed her to Rubedo," Buku nonchalantly added.
"Heh heh, let's not go to such drastic methods right away when there are other means available," Ramiris let out a nervous laugh alongside Kagali of all people.
"How does one become an awakened Demon Lord, both you and Milim are ones if I'm not mistaken?" Momonga addressed the pixie who was nervously looking around for signs of Rubedo appearing, as if mere mention summoned the ghastly creature of soul-rendering destruction.
"I was exposed to too much demonic energy and fell from grace, but the rest usually awakened after killing a lot of people for one reason or another. Come to think of it, shouldn't the chief be one already? One hundred thousand souls in one go should've been enough," Ramiris pondered aloud.
"I presume there must be some additional requirements that must be fulfilled before an awakening happens. If just a certain number of people was all that was required, then there would be a lot more awakened Demon Lords throughout history. Being a demon lord seed would be one such requirement, but thus far we have been unable to determine the other factors hidden by the world's laws," Kagali voiced her opinion.
"We still have time to look into what the requirements are then. We will leave the option of me just declaring myself a demon lord on the table, but I prefer to cause awakening to legitimize the claim more directly and gain the apparent power growth. Meanwhile, Kagali and I will look into the matter more thoroughly. If any of you have more to add, please speak up," Momonga stated.
"Three Demon Lords voting in your favor is already enough to stop Luminous from trying to get the entire council involved, but if Kazareem reclaims her position, we have five guaranteed voices, and I'm sure Carrion will take your side as well, Lord Momonga. Lady Milim and I could arrange a meeting with Guy and get her reinstated and he won't care too much to deny it," Frey suggested.
"I prefer if you called me by my true name which is Kagali, I was a lesser version of myself as a Demon Lord," Kagali declared frigidly, not breaking eye contact with Frey.
Being called Kazareem reminded her of being imprisoned in the ugly and decaying form that she couldn't break out from. Kagali was her birth name, one she only now could proudly reclaim.
"Of course, from now on I will address you as Kagali," Frey slightly tilted her head.
"I'm sure Dino's vote can also be easily bought, and it wouldn't take much convincing to make Draguel take our side as he has long looked at expanding into the former Ruberios lands," Clayman, who had been silent thus far, spoke up, sending more details through their mental link.
"Contact both, but do not make any promises. Pero has plans regarding Ruberios. For now, do not make the impression that all of you work for Tempest, and stage conflicts if needed. We will make gradual announcements after we have dealt with Luminous. Dismissed," Momonga ordered.
With some time left, the first order of business was to properly investigate how to trigger the demon lord's awakening, and only then go for other methods. Perhaps it would be time for him to reach the so-called pinnacle of monsters and stand on par with other monstrously powerful beings like Demon Lord Guy.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by Sluethen, clagan, shynavyseal, Cay, NuggetLover, aidan_lo, FantasyTroll, and Gil.
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