Mai POV:
I placed my hand over the handle of my rapier, ready to draw it at any moment as I walked through the cold and dimly lit passage.
I found out that a cult that thinks of Ashborn as a God of Death is hiding here. How can someone worship a Demon Lord? I need to stop them.
Plus, if I'm not strong enough to deal with some cult trying to destroy the church, how am I supposed to kill Ashborn?
After everything happened, I decided to go solo and left during the night, leaving a note for Aiden and Megan. It has been almost half a year since I saw them last.
A cold gust of wind blew past me, making me almost draw my sword as the magical light crystal started flickering. When I looked at them, I saw they had something engraved in them, and it made me think of Cale. He was always fascinated by things like that and could spend hours studying them.
I continued to walk forward until I started hearing voices.
"Now, everyone, we have brought enough sacrifices to summon the strongest demon for our god as a gift." A crazy voice said, and I saw around a hundred people in hooded cloaks and around a few hundred people tied down.
"For the God of Death!", "For Ashborn!" Came the cheers of other people while the captured tried to scream and break free from the chains.
Demon? If I remember correctly, Cale has told me something about them once. If I remember correctly, he said that the demons are sorted by lineage, and the strongest demons are the primordials, or as they are also known progenitors, are the oldest and most powerful demons, each being referred to by their signature colors rather than an actual name.
Purple Primordial: Violet
White Primordial: Blanc
Yellow Primordial: Jaune
Black Primordial: Noir
Green Primordial: Vert
Blue Primordial: Bleu
Red Primordial: Rouge
How can they do something stupid like summoning a demon? Are they trying to get themself killed? A demon like that could be worse than Ashborn, and they are thinking of making it serve him.
I need to stop them before they finish.
I tightened the grip around my rapier but hesitated. Would I be different from Ashborn if I killed them now?
Doubt filled my mind as I watched, hidden behind a stone pillar.
No, they worship Ashborn and are trying to summon a powerful demon.
But I'm alone... How could I possibly fight a hundred people at once? Not even Cale could do something like that.
I took a shaky breath, steeled my resolve, and drew my rapier, ready to attack. I will only wound them so they can't attack or summon the demon.
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Cale Valentine POV:
"My liege, we have dealt with another self-proclaimed demon lord who has challenged you," Ari reported.
I sighed in annoyance. This was the fifth time they challenged me. I decided to deal with the first two personally, but now I just leave it to one of my shadow generals to do.
It sometimes gets annoying when I'm in the middle of reading a book or checking up on a project the shadows are currently working on, and then I hear obnoxious shouts or even see magic being fired toward the castle.
I once got so annoyed that I squashed one with Ruler's Authority.
"Good job Ari." I then turned to look to the right and saw it again, "How long has he been there?" I asked.
"He has been there even before I entered the throne room." She said, and I looked at the ant looking at me with pleading eyes.
Ever since I evolved into a True Demon Lord and was named Ari and Luca, this ant has been coming out of my shadows and looking at me with those eyes.
Well, this ant is quite powerful. Even without a name, it can put up a good fight against a general and is good with construction work.
Should I name him? He reminds me of that one ant in the series. What was his name again? Bart, Barry, Blake, Beau, Bennett? For someone that can remember everything I read once, it's surprising I can't remember the ant's name.
It continued to look at me with puppy-like eyes. I rubbed my forehead in annoyance before sighing, "Fine from today, your name will be..." I paused to think of a name for the ant, "Beru. That will be your name."
Instantly a wave of magicules left me and enveloped the now-named Beru in a purple cocoon, and his evolution started.
"Ari, how is Project Anti-Angel going?" I asked while we waited for the evolution to finish. While I'm strong enough and the same with my shadow to withstand the angel attack in a few hundred years, I don't want my castle to be destroyed.
"We are almost finished with the magic turrets, my liege,"
"Good," The Magic Turrets is a small project that, when finished, would be capable of one-shotting any B-Rank being and wounding stronger enemies.
I was watching it interested if Beru would get a human form like the others.
The evolution took more time than usual, "My liege, thank you for granting me a name. I will make sure to make everyone know the greatness of my liege." He said, kneeling after the evolution was complete.
Hmm... He didn't get a human form like the others. That's interesting. I'm curious why that happened. He still looked like an ant but a huge humanoid shadow ant with a light purple glow, neon eyes, sharp claws, and two transparent, slightly purple glowing wings.
Beru was looking at me, scared like I would be disappointed with his evolution, "Now that I have given you a name, I'm expecting great results from you." I said, looking at him.
"Of course, my liege, I won't disappoint you."
"Your first task will be..." I couldn't finish the order. I stood up from my throne as a small electric shock went through my body, and I instantly knew Mai was in danger.
"My liege?" They both looked at me with worry.
"Stay here and protect the castle," I ordered them and used shadow exchange to the shadow I left to protect Mai.
I was engulfed in my own shadow, and the next thing I did was to protect Mai.
A fireball hit me in the back, scorching my clothes, but it didn't do anything to me as I had resistance to magic.
"C-Cale..." She said weakly before passing out.
I quickly observed Mai, who was wounded and bleeding, "Mio take her somewhere safe," I ordered in an emotionless tone before turning to the group of mages, "I will dispose of them."
When they were a safe distance away, I turned around and released Monarch's Ambition, I was angry at her. How could she be so stupid? Is she trying to get herself killed?
My glowing purple eyes stared at them, "Y-You are only a k-kid. You w-won't be able to stop us. W-We are f-followers of A-Ashborn," The one I assumed was the leader stuttered out as he was pressed to the floor due to Monarch's Ambition.
"Oh really, I don't remember seeing you..." I said, my aura intensified as my sword materialized in my hand with purple sparks of electricity, "Unfortunately for you, you are too alive to be my follower. Let me fix that."
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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