Chapter 319 Generals of Pandemonium
Right after the conference, we moved towards Diane’s tree for the award ceremony. All the monsters in Larm had been organised into their respective races and were standing in attention, while a few seats had been set up for the leaders of the sectors of Larm.
A stage was elevated before the group, with the monsters that contributed the most already standing in attention, waiting patiently for our arrival. If this were a human ceremony, there would have been a lot of formalities to get out of the way before getting to this part, but clearly these guys preferred to get straight to the point. I did not dislike this type of thinking.
Once the leaders sat down, I was forced to go up on stage to make an announcement.
“Uh, been a rough couple of weeks, huh?”, I spoke directly into the minds of everyone present. This method of communication was 100 times better than using a sound amplification tool. “At least, it wasn’t a coarse one… haha… ha.”
No one found my pun amusing. I just wanted to find the closest rock to bury myself in afterwards.
<<Ahem. The speech>>
‘Hm? Ah, yeah. That.’
I straightened up and looked at the people intensely.
“The universe seems to keep putting us in quite the rough situation. First, we got attacked by a crazy tyrant, then we got attacked by a crazy god, then we lost two tyrants at a go. Our home was exposed to the dangers of the outside world for the very first time in a long while. But, as if that wasn’t bad enough, two of the remaining tyrants chose to bully us because we no longer had our tyrants protecting us. Some of us died, or got injured greatly, but we’re all fine now.”, I felt a little bit weird adding in that last part. “Unfortunately, I can’t pretend to really understand how hard things were during that time, as I wasn’t available. For that, I greatly apologise.”
I took a bow. Even if things were beyond my own capabilities, I was still the one who promised to fight alongside them if they chose to work with me. I was lacking greatly as a leader.
“Fortunately, even in my absence, a group of brave soldiers took charge of the situation and led the entire scenario to the best possible outcome in the end. Today, we’re gathered here to celebrate those brave men and women who fought hard to ensure that as many of us survived.”
I gestured towards the group standing behind me.
From the left to right, Taiku, Tsuna, Oki, Yunna, Nukeme, Kara, Arisu, Sylphie and Reiman.
These guys were the ones who played major roles over the course of the battle. Reiman had been charting down everything, so he’d come up with contribution values and said those above a certain mark were the ones who I should be presenting awards to.
I extended my hand to Taiku to shake his. He held it with a straight, composed face.
“Captain Taiku of the Goblin Captains. Thanks to your leadership on the battlefield and your insight, most soldiers were able to fend off against much stronger opponents. You have proven that you truly are worthy of the position of captain. For your efforts, I present to you the skill [Heart-to-Heart].”
“W-What!?”, Taiku, dumbfounded, finally broke composure. His body shook and his smile started to turn crooked.
I knew he was excited, but it was starting to look creepy.
[Heart-to-Heart] was a skill under the [Greed] skill tree. It allowed the user to lock on to a target they were relatively close with, then borrow their physical abilities for a bit. As the skill levels up, the more physical abilities one can access and the more targets the user can lock on. If the skill ever evolved into [Heart Thief], the user could lock on to even people they aren’t close to in the slightest to use their physical abilities.
For someone like Taiku who lacked the proper physical abilities to properly be in the frontlines, this was the best way to ensure his safety. I also heard that he’d been feeling a bit down about the fact that he couldn’t actively contribute as much as the other captains did.
Before snot started running down Taiku’s face, I moved on to the next person, Tsuna. I then grabbed her hand.
“One of the greatest contributors. I head you managed to single handedly kill an exceedingly powerful foe. I hope you enjoy this gift.”, Tsuna was a bit hard to figure out.
I could have easily decided to present Gorm to her right now as that had been the only thing she was constantly egging me on for, but I chose to do something else. There had been a thorn in her side for far too long and I now had the ability to help her remove it.
With a simple handshake, using [Chained Mammon], I stole Zana from her. The old coot that was constantly trying to take over Tsuna’s mind was now sealed away in my stomach, thanks to my ultimate skill. Ultimate skills really were unmatched, huh?
“Huh? Just now, I can’t feel her in my mind anymore.”, She muttered under her breath, holding her head.
I moved towards Oki.
“Uh, here you go, bud.”, I grabbed my former Sigma Sine Armour and gave it to him. Apparently, he wanted fire armour to go with his fire mallet and since the armour could take on particular attributes, I just gifted it to him.
“Oh, this armour will be excellent.”
I ignored him and moved on to the next person.
‘Hmm, Yuuna. I’m glad she told Reiman what she wanted earlier, or I’d have been in a little bit of trouble today.’
“For Yuuna, a grimoire. And not just anyone. The [Grimoire of Immortal Flames].”, I handed the thick book in her hands.
You’d be surprised by the unholy number of things the agent had looted and kept in her treasury. This book was graded as [Divine], which is the second highest rated item class, just underneath Godly. Apparently, a god used to own this before it lost it.
‘Ha. Loser.’
“W-Wow! This is amazing!”, She quickly scanned through the contents of the book. “And I can actually read it! Haha! You see this, Tsuna? This could’ve been you, but you focus on the less important things like men.”
“Oh shut it, you old crone.”
“Old? Can’t you see my physique? I’m a prime example of the sweet power of youth!”
Master and student started arguing, so I moved on to the next person. I shivered when my eyes met his.
“Ugh… Nukeme. Your efforts were greatly appreciated. For your reward, I’ll uh…”, I was getting shivers talking to him. “I’ll let you touch my hand.”
“What!? I get to touch my goddess’ hands!? This… kekekeke.”, he licked his lips lustfully and stretched forth his hand.
Warily, I reached my hand out to him. Certainly, he was the ugliest out of all the captains, but that wasn’t why I didn’t want to touch him. No, I didn’t want to touch him because he was a pervert. A disgusting, creep pervert.
In fact, I refuse to touch him.
After enduring what felt like hours of his beady eyes boring into my soul, I quickly withdrew my hand and instead took out a pair of daggers.
[Aurum] and [Argentum]. A golden dagger that can sense treasures and a silver dagger that forces its victims to spout the truth. They were definitely the perfect tool for a stealthy, money loving freak like Nukeme.
“Although not as grand as touching my goddess, a gift she held is still grand.”, he immediately took the daggers then sniffed them.
“Haah! They even smell like you.”, He stuck out his tongue to lick the blade.
‘What the hell is wrong with this freak?’
I moved on to Kara who was standing attentively with shaking hands. I grabbed her by the hand and moved her a bit further away from Nukeme.
“H-Hinotori?”
“Sorry. It doesn’t sit right that you’re so close to that creep.”
She laughed when I said that, making me turn a bit bashful. I scratched the back of my neck, and almost made a joke, but I could feel eye boring into the back of my head. 8 spider eyes to be exact.
“Kara, without your barrier, Reiman wouldn’t have been able to execute his plans. For your display of great ingenuity and brilliance, I gift you this [Staff of Fortuna]. This was once wielded by an extremely powerful magician, and it can boost one’s magic power to impressive levels.”
I gave her the staff and walked by.
It was among the things I stole from the treasury in hell. Fortunately, my stomach existed in my soul and body, so no matter where I was, I could eat anything to store it. The [Staff of Fortuna] was a legendary Grade item, meaning the chances of you ever finding another one like it were close to non-existent. I checked to make sure it wasn’t a [Soul Weapon] as well, since those things were a bother.
“What have you prepared for me?”, Ever the confident runt, Arisu stretched out a palm for her reward.
Rather, I tapped her on the head, messing up her hair.
“Hm?”
When I removed my hand, a tiara had appeared to replace it. This tiara had multiple jewels of varying colours that seemed to serve as highlighters for the pink diamond sitting in the middle.
“For you, the [Crown of Wisdom]. Because you’re too stupid for your own good.”, I whispered the last bit, but Arisu heard that and bit my hand.
“Ow.” I withdrew quickly and glared at her.
The [Crown of Wisdom] would hopefully help her to think better and make more rational decisions when doing anything. I mean, there were no negative reports about her decisions or behaviour in this fight, but knowing just how basic she was, I couldn’t count on her to be this safe the next time something like this was to happen.
Besides its practical use, the tiara looked good on Arisu. Like a cute little princess.
“Now Sylphie. Due to your non-stop work, our forces were kept supplied with the best of the best weapons and armour, some even being enchanted. Thanks to your tireless efforts, a majority of us were kept alive.”, Sylphie was the other person who I didn’t know what to gift.
When she was asked, she said something about wanting to spend time with me, but I wasn’t going to give her that. After all, I was going to be a parent. It wasn’t time for me to be scandalous.
Rather, I decided to get her something else. Something that had been a thorn in my side and would probably excite her.
I presented a sword to Sylphie. The sword the tip of its blade chipped off, multiple cracks etched into the side, giving the impression that it could fall off at any point in time.
“This is [Scorching Winter]. A shitty weapon with cool effects.”
I did warn that if it betrayed me, I would break it. A few months later, I finally acquired the power, so I paid it back tenfold for that one incident in the South.
“Thank you very much, Lady Hinotori! I shall, uh, make use of this chipped sword somehow.”
She sounded unconvinced. I gave this sword to her as a way to see how good her skills were in practical terms. This was more of a test than anything.
“It’s a soul weapon. One that was owned by Kaleb Zen. I thought you’d be more excited to see it.”
Her eyes widened once I elaborated a bit further. She then eyed the sword intensely, but frowned almost immediately.
“Are you certain?”
“You can choose to believe me or not. I said what I said.”
“Oh no! I do believe. I’m just a bit surprised that you would actually give me such a rare treasure. Thank you very much!”
Now, for the last person.
“Yo, Reiman, my man. Wassup.”
“Ahem!”, Reiman made a loud noise to cancel out my informality. I growled at him for doing that, but he paid no mind to me.
‘Buzzkill.’, I sent a telepathic message to his head to let him know my feelings.
“Lord Reiman. Supreme Commander of the West and the genius who kept everything running. For you, I have two gifts.”
“Eh?”
“First, is the skill [Enhanced Processing].”, I gave him a sort of basic skill that could evolve into a really important skill should he keep using it, which he definitely was.
“Second. I will give you a second name.”
“What!?”
The entire field grew murmurous. All the creatures started talking, looking at us with shock and some with envy.
“I probably shouldn’t be saying this out loud, but I want you to know that you are the subordinate I value the most. For that reason, I will call you Hideo!”, I declared boldly. “Now go out and prove a man worthy of this name.”
That’s right Reiman, live up to the GOAT himself. Do not disappoint me!
“Truly… you are the best master one could ever hope to serve.”
‘Yes, yes. Praise me more!’
He bowed down to me. Just then, the others followed her lead and went down, bowing to me.
[YOUR SACRED IS REACTING TO THE INTENSE LOYALTY THESE SOLDIERS HAVE DISPLAYED]
‘Huh?’
[AN AUXILLIARY CHAPTER HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE SACRED |CHAMPION OF DARKNESS|]
[AUX CHAPTER: [Generals of Pandemonium]]
[In the absence of their liege, the generals of Pandemonium will appear to wreak havoc. Demonic entities of mass power that make the world tremble with their presence.
Registered Generals: Reiman, Taiku, Tsuna, Nukeme, Yuuna, Oki, Kara, Arisu, Sylphie]
--Registered Generals have access to certain benefits of your [Sacred] and can actively participate or serve to move your [Sacred] forward in your stead--
[NOTICE TO ALL FAMILIA MEMBERS]
-Anyone who demonstrates enough loyalty and valour can be included in the Generals of Pandemonium list, effectively making them one of Hyakkiyako’s best subordinates! Pour your heart and soul into your master’s cause! –
Huh? What’s this? A notification to everyone in the familia? What the heck? Ah… wait. It’s going beyond that? Even non-familia members can hear it? To everyone in Larm? What the hell!?
DING!
[There are a few candidates that can be included in the |Generals of Pandemonium| list right now. Would you like to see them?]
‘Hm? Sure.’
[Shiroi, Gorm, Kuro, Kiara, Ulva, Amethyst]
‘Uh, I see. I’ll do this later then.’
[You have received the title [Emperor of Larm]]
[You are now recognised as the supreme leader of the entire Larm Forest. Every denizen will immediately recognise your authority upon a single glance, and your power in Larm is incomparable]
‘Oh? Noice! I guess that’s that.’
“Ok, the awards ceremony is over. I guess we can all disper-”
“I apologise, but we’re only starting now.”, A few dryads popped up before me.
“Huh?”
“We wanted to demonstrate our gratitude for your efforts in uniting Larm, so the awards were meant to just kick off the ceremonies. Now, we shall begin in earnest.”
“What?”
“Please sit down patiently and wait for event to finish, then we proceed to the feast.”
‘Nooo! I take back my praise. These guys have got to be worse than humans. Who continues on to the boring part after the main event!?’
<A/N: Sorry for the late chapter… I was, uhhh, uhhhh… I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Comment, review and drop power stones!>
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