In Troy, the capital city of Vancouver kingdom…
"How is the trial of fear progressing?" Julian, the king of the Vancouver kingdom, questioned.
"Its progressing slowly. Around fifteen children have made it out of the trial after six months." Zilan, the prime minister of the Vancouver kingdom, replied.
The two brothers were talking inside Julian's private chamber. The king of the kingdom wasn't interested in letting the information reach the ears of others outside his room.
"What about the person who we were going to send to the demon kingdom?" Julian questioned.
"About that…" Zilan shifted his gaze towards the door.
The door suddenly opened up to reveal a demon walking inside with a grin on his face. The demon was none other Nero, one of the nine demon commanders.
"So you are the king of the Vancouver kingdom, Julian Vancouver," Nero grinned. "Looks like I cam at the right place to assassinate the king of an important kingdom. Glory to the demon king!"
Despite the words sounding cringe, Nero said that with pride. This was how the nine commanders had to act and behave if they wanted the demon king to spare them.
"Oh, is that so?" Julian asked with a smile.
He lazily stood up from his bed, his golden-brown eyes staring directly at Nero. Julian suddenly activated his divinity, creating an atmosphere of suppression around him.
Zilan immediately dropped down to his knees. He didn't want to suffer the same thing he had experienced a few months back.
Nero on the other hand stood straight with a raised expression. He didn't look the least bit affected by Julian's divinity.
This brought a smile to Julian's face before he increased the power of his divinity. The pressure weighing on Nero's shoulders increased by multiple folds.
"Kid, you are wasting your breath in attempts of making me kneel," Nero sneered as his body started to morph.
It took the shape of a beautiful woman in her mid twenties. The beautiful woman had gray hair, the kind one might see on an old person's head.
Her eyes were pitch black and seemed empty, marking her as something not humane.
"Its a pleasure to meet you, Julian Vancouver." The woman smiled.
"Its my pleasure to meet you, guardian of Mistopia." Julian deactivated his divinity. "I am honored that someone like you is going to help us in such grave times."
The woman was none other than Hecate, who had used her powers to turn into Nero. The guardian of Mistopia had a smile on her face yet it didn't reach her face.
"Is it true that Phobos chains have loosened?" She questioned Zilan, who was still kneeling on the floor.
"Oh? That's something you didn't tell me." Julian said calmly.
"I didn't get the time to do that. She came inside before I could tell you about it," Zilan pointed out. "Yes, the chains on hope loosened about an hour ago. Albus is afraid that if we don't do something, Phobos will be released in the next few years."
Julian and Hecate both fell silent. Both of them were carefully planning their next move since Phobos was not someone they could take lightly.
"How much time do we have before that?" Hecate questioned.
"Six years minimum and ten years maximum. Once we cross the six years mark, Phobos can come out at any given point of time." Zilan replied.
"That's enough time for us to proceed ahead with the way things are going. The first trial should be over in two more months. Once that happens, we will gather those who passed the trial from A and Z class and make them enter the chamber.' Julian stated his plan.
Zilan wanted to say something then thought the better of it. The special exception made for class Z students had now been extended up to class a students.
"Are you confident that you can infiltrate the demon kingdom without making the demon king believe that you are the fake Nero?' Julian asked Hecate.
'If I use my powers carefully, I can stay inside the demon realm for the next five years without making the demon king know that it's me who is staying inside his domain." Hecate answered.
"That's enough time. Tell me all details about the demon king and his palace. All of our races are mostly peaceful with the occasional scums that pop up. I believe in the demon race as well but their king is another matter."
"Brother, why do you hate the king so much?" Zilan asked slowly, not wanting to offend his brother in any way.
"First, he killed father but I guess that's not half bad considering I got the throne. Second, the demon king bears a divinity that shouldn't be allowed to grow stronger."
"Which divinity is that?" Zilan frowned as this was the first time he was hearing about the demon king being a divinity holder.
"He is the sin of pride. The more time he spends as a ruler, the stronger he will grow. At his current level, he can easily provide some challenge to all three of us combine. Though we will win in the end, he will be able to last for at least ten minutes." Julian revealed.
"Wait… if that's true, he will grow stronger in the next decade and might even become the strongest in the entire world." Zilan mumbled.
"Indeed. As you know, the demon race has the seven sins. The elven race has the blessings of the nature. The dwarf race has the blessings of every single god related to forging. Every race has something like this." Julian explained.
The king of the kingdom knew that the guardian in front of him wasn't familiar with the different blessings of the races living in Clover.
"What about humans?" Hecate questioned even though she had a feeling that she already knew the answer to her question.
"Only those with human blood can hold the apex guardians of nine realms." Julian replied with a smile.
"Though there is a loophole here. Anyone with either of the those bloods can get the respective race's specialty." Zilan added.
"I know. I have seen it with my own eyes. However, why hasn't a sin like that ever gotten stronger before?" Hecate questioned.
"Its because the demon themselves never allowed anyone with such power to rise to such a high rank. You can consider the current king to be lucky since not only was he born to the royal family, he managed to gain the loyalty of four more sins."
"That's one tough enemy." Hecate commented.
"Indeed. That's why I want you to go there and gather information on him. I will proceed depending on whether he wants to conquer the world or not." Julian's eyes settled on Zilan. "Have you asked the demons to arrange a meeting to exchange Nero?"
"I have. They agreed to meet us a few hours from now."
"Its settled then. We will be commencing with the plan once evening arrives. I can't let the demon king kill another ruler just so he could level himself up." Julian replied with cold eyes.
"You won't have to worry too much as long as I am there," Hecate grinned. "Just remember. Once I complete my end of the deal, I want Jason Syrward."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺