In the years after the Cataclysm, when the first survivors were discovered, Earth was abuzz for a time.
The arrival of the survivors from the otherworld beyond the Gate is a singularity in human history. Humanity learned new world technologies from them, and realized that they could benefit from each other.
However, as survivors continued to cross the Gate, their scarcity diminished, and their treatment became problematic.
The survivors, former nobles, generals, and other high-ranking individuals, wanted to be treated similarly on Earth.
But in a democracy, nobility and royalty are only honorary titles; they have no taxing power, no territory, and no pardons.
"His Majesty Leon Dragonia Lionheart, Queen Beatrice Alighieri Spero, please enter!"
If it's anything more than an S-class hunter, the treatment is bound to give a nation pause.
In Taiwan's Presidential Palace there was a huge welcome ceremony with soldiers and service personnel on standby.
There were surprisingly few reporters, given the size of the event, because Leon didn't like them.
[How dare you speak your mind in the presence of the King, will you stay away!]
Leon disliked the rudeness of reporters who pointed cameras and microphones at him, and the Lionheart King's anger would send them to the hospital with low-frequency radiation, so they had no choice but to avoid him.
As a result, it became a national rule that only a handful of reporters were allowed to cover Leon, with carefully selected questions.
It was a rare occurrence for the media to bow down to a single individual, but those who witnessed the debilitation of senior reporters believed that the Lionheart King had the power to curse people.
In any case, the state's treatment of this otherworldly king set a model guideline for the South Korean government.
Basically, you should expect to be treated with the same respect as modern monarchs, such as the British royal family, and feel comfortable giving in to any demands.
Japan alone has shown extreme caution in its treatment of South Korean President Ahn.
President Zhao was fully aware of this.
'This is the king of an absolute monarchy.'
After the collapse of China, Zhao, who had dispatched diplomats with little fanfare and arranged annual visits by presidents and royalty from various countries, had never prepared a state dinner with such care.
'I've got my jjambap, I'll eat it anyway!'
He had even served the Pope so Zhao desperately tries to pass this off as casual.
"Haha, Your Majesty, how about our official residence, which is currently unused and operated as a museum?"
"Hmm, it was built over a hundred years ago?"
"Yes, after the Civil War, President Chiang Kai-shek built a new official residence and opened it to the public."
President Zhao welcomes state guests to Taiwan with a VIP full-course meal when they first arrive.
And it's clear that Leon liked the way he was treated.
'Good! That's a green light! He'll return to Korea as it is!'
Above all, he had a reason to be extremely protective of Leon──
'If this guy loses his temper and suddenly goes on a rampage, I'll definitely die.'
He was a demon follower, well to be fair, President Zhao is not a demon follower.
Like any other politician, he pursued his own excesses, and in the process ran afoul of the Demon Archduke of Pleasure and Decadence.
'Damn you, Shi Yan, I only got in because I was lured in by the promise of a great new recruit!'
A high ranking member of the council, promising to introduce him to a nice girl, was met by the Demon Duke of Fallen, who made him lose all will to resist.
[If you listen to me, I will give you immortality, when the Earth is ours]
President Zhao was a devout Christian. He wasn't particularly interested in immortality, as he planned to go to heaven when he died, but he knew that if he refused on the spot, he would die.
The power of the Demon Archduke is so terrifying and powerful that no earthly entity can stand against it. Just one of these demons would be enough to devastate the planet.
Shouldn't we be on the side of the victor?
President Zhao made a choice to survive, a choice he now regrets terribly.
If anyone were to ask him why he served the demons, he would say this.
'Because I didn't know! I didn't know that there would be an Otherworldly survivor who could defeat the Demon Archduke! If I had known, I would not have done it!'
Quai tells him to bide his time until the twentieth, but Zhao is eager to send Leon back.
"I'd like to know how you liked your meals, hehehe!"
And just like that, the feast was over, with food going down their throats and up their nostrils, and they were about to move on to the next part of their schedule.
"I'm surprised."
"What do you mean?"
"I've had a lot of meetings with people representing the government lately. They're polite to this king, but they've got a secret agenda."
"Yeah? What, what's that——"
No way, he's realized I'm a follower of the demons!
No way! I don't want to be a demon follower, so I've been avoiding demonization blessings as much as possible!
"I'm just as guilty these days. They beg to sell my stuff because they're dumb drones. All the while abandoning the source of their power, their faith."
Leon grumbled, but it was only natural.
The star iron weapons, blessed crops, and high-tech equipment of the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods are strategic equipment that countries around the world are eager to acquire.
Any other head of state would use Leon's visit as an opportunity to make connections, but President Zhao just wants Leon to leave Taiwan as soon as possible.
"Ah~ Speaking of which, I have a gift for the president."
"Ah, it's my honor, Your Majesty."
Leon smiled and handed the president a box.
"And this?"
Leon carefully opened the box, and inside was a necklace with an old-fashioned design. It was a necklace that even he, who had just turned sixty last year, felt comfortable wearing around his neck.
"It's a necklace made of stellar iron. It doesn't have much power, but it has the ability to preserve health and ward off evil."
"I see."
Ward off evil? Does it drive away demons?
"I have received a precious gift, Your Majesty."
"Go ahead and try it on."
Since he had been given something that he could use directly, President Zhao had to present a good picture while trying it on.
"It looks good on you."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Actually wearing the necklace made him feel refreshed and energized.
"Then thank you for the day. You and the queen may rest in your quarters for a while. It was an honor to have both of your majesties visit our republic."
Finally, it's over, and after a final photo op with a gesture of closeness to Leon, they're on their way.
As they boarded the limousine to his official residence.
"Thank you for your work. The Chief of Staff is pleased──Kii-yin?!
The driver, a lowly demon wearing human skin, who was waiting in the limousine, suddenly screamed.
"What, what?"
"Off, off, off! Grrrrrr—!"
The demon disguised as a chauffeur scratched at the dull leather and spat out a stream of blood, its body bubbling as if it had been exposed to high levels of radiation.
'It's the necklace!'
It was easy to find the culprit. The necklace around his neck was generating a shaped light that was bombarding the driver demon.
"I gotta get out, I gotta get out—!"
Just as the demon was about to open the door and get out, President Zhao realized he was fucked and stopped him.
"Ah, no, there's a bunch of reporters outside, if you go out—!"
Zhao unknowingly grabbed the driver's hand.
He thought of the disaster that would happen if the people discovered that his driver was a demon and the end of his political life.
"Ah, no—, let go, let go, ah—!"
And to his surprise, the demon could not escape his old grasp and began to shudder, slowly turning to ash and disappearing.
"——"
Watching the scene, President Zhao was at a loss for words, his eyes filled with fear. The only people in the limousine were the ashen driver demon and himself.
Zhao brushed off the ash and moved to the driver's seat.
'I'm going to have nightmares tonight.'
* * * *
"Pour! Drink!"
"Gulp~! Opa, stop!"
Drinking with a woman younger than his daughter would not be too much of a denial for a politician.
"Heh, heh, heh, what do you think, President, isn't the water good today?"
Smirking and wiggling his fat ass, was the head of the Iranian administration.
'I used to hang out with him because we had similar hobbies.'
Today, he's here to meet an idol trainee he's going to introduce to him.
"Mr. Shi Yan, when is the idol trainee you're going to introduce me to coming out?"
"Uhhhhh— Not in a hurry. I've got them waiting for you outside!"
With a wave of his hand, the door opened and a dazzling beauty walked in.
Hair like silver melted down and stretched into threads, eyes that sparkled like large amethysts. Her bewitching smile made his old heart flutter.
"Oh, she's so beautiful, Shi Yan, you've done something great!"
Such a stunning beauty is an idol trainee, and if she took a selfie and posted it on SNS, she would be considered the most beautiful woman of the year.
He sighed to himself as he saw the aura of a woman he wanted to reach out and touch, but didn't dare.
"Really, it's the same thing in every world."
It was a different world, a modern, unfamiliar culture, but Beatrice recognized it as a symbol of the pleasures of any world.
Alcohol, drugs, and sex appealed to the most primal of human pleasures, and Beatrice had burned too many handsome men, beauties, and slimy, floundering degenerates.
"Desire must be tempered."
She couldn't help but be offended by this excess of pleasure and the corruption it caused.
People sold their family, country and even world, because they couldn't control their primal needs.
But apart from that, work is work. Beatrice had to extract the information she needed from this degenerate.
"So–shall we begin?"
"Hmph, your voice is heavenly~"
As Zhao drooled and looked at her with dirty eyes, Beatrice smirked.
"Rest assured, you will 'never' wake up until tomorrow morning. First—shall we start with your nails?"
It didn't take long for the sweet dream to turn into a nightmare.
* * * *
The Demon of Pleasure and Decadence Archduke Quai was busy preparing for the 'banquet'.
A demon from his secretary's office approached him and reported.
"The demon who was the chauffeur of the president has been extinguished."
Demons dressed in human skins have been assigned to key figures in the country, including President Zhao.
During Leon's visit kept they tried to stay as far away from the TTG Temple as possible, but——
"Who did this?"
"The Present said it was the necklace he was given."
"That——"
Of course, it's true that demons are reluctant to wear items imbued with holy power. But to have even a lowly demon vanish in an instant when a mere necklace of stardust is placed in front of them?
"It wasn't that bad even in Lionheart."
There must be some other trick up his sleeve. At Quay's nonchalance, the assistant demon, somewhat impatient, said.
"Do you want me to instruct him to remove the necklace?"
"No, it's too late. He's probably up to something."
"Well, that means——"
"He's already realized we're here, so maybe he's just waiting for us to make the first move."
"——!"
The secretary demon purred in fear and Quai sighed as he watched the scene unfold.
Who could frighten immortal demons so much?
The Magician Queen was a formidable foe, but it was the Lionheart King who was truly terrifying.
A terror that neither the immortality of the demons, nor their great magic, nor their overwhelming numbers could subdue.
It would take more than strength to defeat him.
"Let us speed up the preparations for the banquet, for it must be ready by the twenty-first."
"Will that— work? Even the Lord is dead——"
What Quai was preparing for was a power greater than any that could corrupt any being.
No mortal had ever stood before that terrible castle of corruption, symbolizing the Lord of Pleasure and Decadence.
Dothraddon, who had never imagined that he would be defeated by a single mortal in a mortal world that was all but destroyed, died without ever being able to use it.
"Well, I'm not Dothraddon, so I can understand your anxiety."
Besides, it's not the Demon Lord who's preparing the banquet now, but Archduke, Quay.
Without the new Lord of Pleasure, Beatrice, there was no one else to unleash its full power.
"But hey, even I can push just one person over the edge."
The Lionheart King made a mistake.
A fatal mistake.