Bound by chains sizzling from the flames of hell, a dragon lay resting in a range of mountains flowing with fire. The heat blossomed life, a dozen at a time, the heads of feisty dragons would crack out of their shells. Coddled in the warmth of their mothers' wings, the children grew with full bellies and love enough to spoil them rotten.
However, amongst these hatchlings, one child was often left neglected, for his father was chained by a thousand binds and its mother long dead. It would crawl and cry until some of the scraps left by the others would make it in through his razor teeth. Even then, he would be scolded and eyed, but thankfully, being a hatchling came with the privilege of not caring for people's mockery toward him.
But alas, with his mother lost in the past, and his father bound to chains by the dominion of hell, the child perished, with but a scale of its existence left behind as memory. Furious, the father struggled against the chains holding him down, but his struggles only served to remind him that he was nothing compared to those who existed beyond the realities of his world.
Klianstien Ironfrost, a dragon that once threatened the throne of the deep lord, was forced into captivity while his betrothed perished trying to prevent it all from happening. Their child born in his father's image was neglected by the pride of dragons, and despite his sister's numerous attempts to approach the hatchling, her flame only made the young frost dragon suffer even more.
With time as Klian grew weaker than his prime, the chain too grew weaker until eventually he and his sister were able to tear them off. By then, however, something far more menacing had presented itself to their valley as the god of this world brought them the dragon slayer that slaughtered all but the two straying dragons.
And in a foolish attempt to get back at the humans, Klian froze countless human villages with his breath, while his sister tried her best to steer him back to his senses. Maddened in rage, and unwilling to be captured or killed, Klianstein Ironfrost became a menace that froze so many that he wiped legions of families right out of existence. Soon enough, however, Rose and him were both captured for their crimes and in a plea to let his brother be spared, she became a slave to the soon-to-be father of her children.
"This chaos, it reminds me of-"
"Don't say it," back in the present time, Rose hushed her brother as they looked at the half-frozen half burnt city of Hestemia.
The battle lasted not more than a few minutes when the demonic army had retreated to safety so the dragons could be as reckless as they wanted to be. Now left with a city of rubble, and tortured souls burned or crushed inside it, the two dragons reminisced over their tragic past.
"The rest of the army left in the emperor's domain…" Turning to his sister, Klian suggested a plan he had in mind. "From what I remember, that Nabe devil girl confessed that the other war generals have left the emperor's castle, I doubt the guards will be able to defend themselves against us if that's the case."
Rose took a moment to mull over the idea, however, the chance to get revenge on the army that had slayed her pride, she just couldn't let the chance slip even if there was bound to be danger. Shifting her gaze away from the city, Rose looked at her brother with a bright, genuine smile.
"Had it been any other time I would have smacked you in the head for suggesting this, but even if the dragon slayer was there, I couldn't say no to carnage after this, can I?" Letting her intentions be known, Rose called upon her son, Hawthorn to teleport them as close to the emperor's domain as possible.
With a devilish smirk, Klian let out a hearty cackle, and before long the two disappeared far away from the skies of Hestemia.
***
Handing the war over to the dragons, Haruki teleported everyone into a dungeon portal and then when becoming certain of their safety, he made use of Asmodia's powers to take them all through the otherworld. The demons had no trouble traveling in a straight path to the bright door waiting for them at the end of the ever-lasting dark, the monsters and human prisoners on the other hand turned into small conjoined balls of mass that had to be carried by the demonic army.
Passing through the door, they arrived at the village of elves that was once home to countless elves before they were chased off by the Lamenian army. At the very sight of their overgrown home, the few elves that were left in Margarette's army were delighted to be back, except for a few who were deeply hurt by the haunting memories of what happened the last time they were here.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm "They were all supposed to be under Moriyana's mind control spell, keep an eye on them, and if they act up, slice their throats with no restraints," noticing their gloom as well as joy, Haruki ordered Riley to keep a close look on them all.
'That red-headed elf, Amara Natura, she reminds me too much of Moriyana, it doesn't help that she's the general of the elves or I would've gotten rid of her.' Glaring right at the beaming elven general, Haruki wasn't shy about his fascination with the beauty, but contrary to the assumption of those who noticed, he had nothing good in mind.
"I'll be off then," Riley said before rushing past Haruki.
Brought back to his senses by a gust of wind as she passed, Haruki turned back to his other companions standing behind him. Apart from his close aides, every other demon lord was also present behind him. Having no clue or direction about what to do without their powers Reya, Dues, and Inferno were obviously lost, while Merciella and Klaus didn't seem too pleased for being forced to tag along.
"You peeps chatter, I'm tired of being with babying you all," saying that, Klaus swiftly excused himself and walked away to admire the natural beauty of the overgrown elven city. Being half-elf himself, he was more fascinated by its remains than anything Haruki was going to talk to them about.
"All of you can rest as well, I doubt we'll need to fight any threat anytime soon now," Haruki advised, confident in his judgment.
And with Atlas now gone, and the human populace down to a few thousand in the world, the demon lords truly had no reason to worry about fanatics of the dead god. Sending them off to find a place to stay, Haruki shifted his attention to the others, but before he could say anything Stella jumped closer to him with a look of rage and her hands placed on her hips as if acting defiantly.
"Why did we have to kill all those people?" She complained, her tall frame slightly shadowing Haruki at this point.
"Fay, take Stella away," looking past her, Haruki locked his eyes with her mother.
Weighted with heavy eye bags, Fay seemed drained for having already held Stella back for so long. Even then, she simply let her shoulders down and clambered onto her daughter's arm to drag her away.
"Stella, come with me, and please, don't make this difficult. I'm starving for sleep," despite being a demon that didn't require sleep to function, Fay's level of exhaustion had gone so high that her immortal body was struggling to keep up.
"But!"
"Shush!" Margarette stomped her feet against the ground before the little rascal could complain any further.
Astounded by her strict aunt's action, Stella jolted forward and bumped into Haruki's head. Although it didn't affect the demon lord at all, his daughter fell to the ground and a slight dose of poison rippled through his skin.
"Ouch!" Stella cried, falling onto the ground.
'She has grown too fast to be an adult.' Was the general thought of everyone surrounding the girl before Haruki picked her up using a gentle pair of shadow hands.
"Okay, now that's Stella, I want you t-" Right as Fay tried to grab her daughter again, she felt her weight leaning completely over her body from the side. As she turned her head, Stella was suddenly fast asleep from the small dose of poison that had just invaded her intricate biology. "I guess, she was tired too."
Having no clue about the changes in Haruki's body, Fay picked the most convenient guess as it would help her get to sleep as soon as possible. After a while, as she stumbled away with Stella's much taller body in her arms, Haruki dismissed everyone else as well except for Asuka.
"Your lips…" Taking a closer look at her, Haruki noticed the cherry color had turned slightly pale. "Rejuvenation…There."
Healing the effect of the poison he'd left behind after their kiss, he sent her off as well as quickly as possible. The strange actions by her master were troubling Asuka quite much, however chalking it up to fatigue, she didn't think much of it just yet.
'He did suck all of my levels at once, maybe that…No, it must've been his fight with Dominion that drained him so much.' Exploring her thoughts, she quickly joined the others and left Haruki alone for the moment.
'Your touch has become a toxin, I told you there will be repercussions!' Asmodia complained to him, but Haruki simply ignored her piercing voice.
'She'll be dead once I'm done with taking over this world and killing that fucking Valkyrie.' Isolating his thoughts to himself through multi-thought procession, Haruki managed to fool Asmodia into reading the empty process in his mind that was thinking absolutely nothing.
"Master Haruki!" Breaking his time in a lonesome, a barely familiar voice called out to him.
Glancing over in the direction of the voice, he noticed a horned demon dragging a human prisoner toward him. But even more so, what interested him more were the dried streams of tears running down her pinkish cheeks.
"Master, I-I'm Greta, I am-No! I was…" Lowering her head, she struggled to speak through her quaking lips. "I was Miss Moriyana's general, and I-I Just wanted to ask what to do with this human?"
"Hmm?" Looking up at the human standing, Haruki was somewhat baffled to see a familiar face. "Maria, the overseer of the Lamenian council, I thought you might've died by now."
Gulping in fear, Maria bowed to Haruki until her head was pressed against the ground.
"The emperor threw me in a dungeon after I made the deal with Queen Margarette to hand over Lamenia, but please, oh lord, please! Don't throw me back there!" Peering up with pleading eyes, she begged for better treatment than the rest.
Bringing his foot under her chin, Haruki gave it a gentle tap and coursed her body with crippling poison. Shriveling up in an instant, Maria couldn't even keep her mouth open to scream. Her muscles began contracting and her mind began steaming out fumes.
"What?!" Crawling away in fear, Greta had no clue what had happened to her.
"If she survives, heal her up with potions and offer her body to the male soldiers so they can blow off some steam from the war we've just been through," with that, Haruki too decided to retire to sleep.
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