The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1489: Chapter 211 - The Seven Deadly Sins (5)

"If you’ve agreed to these terms, then I’d like us to establish a formal pact," His Majesty said. His voice remained calm and polite despite everything that had happened so far. "A written contract would be preferable. It ensures that neither side can casually abandon the agreement whenever it’s convenient."

Satania stared at him for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

"You jest, human?" she asked. "Do you honestly think the benevolent us would do something like that?"

The way she spoke was strange.

She kept referring to herself as "us" rather than "I."

It wasn’t the first odd thing I’d noticed about her, but it still felt weird every time she did it. Most people would assume she was talking about a group, yet she clearly meant herself. Then again, Satania wasn’t exactly someone who cared about sounding normal. At this point, I would’ve been more surprised if she acted like a regular person.

"Do you believe we would commit some form of betrayal," she continued, "and that forcing us to sign a piece of paper would somehow prevent it from happening?"

Her smile widened slightly.

"Just so you understand, human, there are very few beings in this world brave enough to demand such things from us. The fact that you’re even trying is honestly amusing."

The room remained silent.

Nobody seemed particularly eager to interrupt her.

"We keep our word when we choose to keep it," she said. "We agreed to this arrangement because it interests us. That’s all. Whether we betray you or not is something we alone decide. You do not get a say in that matter."

The arrogance in her words would’ve sounded ridiculous coming from almost anyone else.

From her?

It sounded like a statement of fact.

Then her aura exploded outward.

Only for a moment.

Just a brief pulse.

That was all it took.

Every hair on my body immediately stood up.

The pressure was suffocating.

It felt like my instincts were grabbing me by the shoulders and screaming that something unimaginably dangerous was standing right in front of me.

My breathing almost stopped.

How could someone possess this much power?

I genuinely couldn’t understand it.

It wasn’t just strength.

It felt wrong.

Like standing in front of a natural disaster that had somehow learned how to talk.

The terrifying part was that she wasn’t even trying.

This was probably nothing more than a casual display for her.

A tiny fraction of what she was actually capable of.

"Now then," Satania said casually, as if she hadn’t just terrified everyone in the room, "We do hope you’re the one who remembers your end of the bargain."

She rested her cheek against one hand.

"Because if you don’t, we might wake up one morning and decide to erase this country with a single attack."

She said it so casually that it somehow became even more threatening.

There was no dramatic declaration. And no shouting.

Just a simple statement.

Like she was discussing the weather.

"If we feel like it," she continued, "we could simply send our undead armies here and have them kill every single one of you."

A soft laugh escaped her lips.

"Our undead are already dead. A dead person cannot truly be killed again. That’s what makes them so useful."

Her grin became wider.

"And every battlefield creates more soldiers for us. More corpses. More souls. More undead."

She sounded genuinely pleased by the thought.

"Then those undead create even more corpses, which creates even more undead. Fufufufu..."

The way she laughed made her intentions painfully obvious.

She didn’t view this arrangement as a partnership.

She viewed it as an opportunity.

His Majesty might gain soldiers.

He might gain military support.

He might even gain victory.

But Satania would gain something much more valuable.

An endless supply of death.

And judging by the expression on her face, that was exactly what she wanted.

"Well then," she said after a moment, "standing around here talking is becoming rather boring."

She stretched lazily while still sitting atop her undead mount.

The giant creature didn’t move an inch.

It remained perfectly still beneath her.

"We think we’ll head back to our castle now."

Then she paused.

"Oh, right."

Almost as if she had remembered something trivial.

"We’ve already stationed a million undead in your territory."

A million.

She said it so casually.

Like she was mentioning a small gift.

Not an army large enough to drown entire nations.

"So feel free to use them however you like."

Several people in the room looked stunned.

I couldn’t really blame them.

A million undead wasn’t the kind of number people casually threw around.

Before anyone could respond, Satania casually tossed a small stone toward His Majesty.

He caught it without difficulty.

The object looked completely ordinary.

Nothing about it suggested it held authority over an undead army.

"That stone allows partial control over them," she explained.

Then her expression sharpened slightly.

The playful amusement vanished for a brief moment.

"However."

The room instantly became tense again.

"If you attempt anything against us and decide to use those undead against us, we won’t hesitate to destroy you."

There was absolutely no doubt in her voice.

Not even the slightest hint.

She wasn’t threatening him.

She was informing him.

Those were two very different things.

"Those undead still belong to me," she continued. "Should you ever decide to betray us, they won’t follow your commands."

She smiled again.

A pleasant smile.

The kind that somehow felt more dangerous than outright hostility.

"So don’t get any funny ideas."

I found myself staring at her.

Honestly, she was unbelievably unreasonable.

Then again, she was one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Expecting reason from someone who literally embodied one of the greatest flaws in existence was probably asking too much.

On top of that, she was considered the strongest among them.

Power had a way of changing people.

Or maybe it simply removed the need for them to pretend.

When Satania declared that it was perfectly acceptable if she betrayed His Majesty, but completely unacceptable if he betrayed her, she didn’t sound hypocritical.

She sounded sincere.

Which somehow made it worse.

The arrangement was ridiculously one-sided.

Everyone knew it.

She knew it.

His Majesty knew it.

The difference was that nobody could actually do anything about it.

Strength settled arguments surprisingly fast.

Although His Majesty appeared calm from the outside, I could tell he was furious.

His posture remained composed.

His expression remained controlled.

His voice never wavered.

Yet there was tension hidden beneath all of it.

The kind of tension that only appeared when someone was forcing themselves not to react.

His jaw tightened slightly.

His eyes narrowed for just a fraction of a second.

Small signs.

Easy to miss.

But they were there.

"Well then," Satania said. "We’ll be taking my leave."

And just like that, she vanished.

No flash of light.

No dramatic farewell.

No magical explosion.

One moment she was sitting there.

The next moment she was gone.

The sudden absence felt almost strange.

The pressure she brought with her disappeared as well, leaving the room noticeably lighter.

Even then, nobody spoke immediately.

His Majesty continued staring at the place where she had been.

Several long moments passed.

Then his teeth clenched.

"How dare she..." he muttered.

The anger in his voice was impossible to hide.

His blood was boiling.

That much was obvious.

At this point, it looked like he regretted making the proposal altogether.

More than that, it looked like he genuinely wanted Satania dead.

Unfortunately, wanting something and being capable of accomplishing it were completely different matters.

As much as he might hate her.

As much as he might want revenge.

As much as he might dream of seeing her destroyed.

He couldn’t do it.

Not now.

Not later.

Possibly not ever.

Satania’s power was simply too overwhelming.

Too monstrous.

Too absurd.

She existed on a level that most people couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Against a being like her, even an Emperor could do little more than grit his teeth and endure the humiliation.

I think he knew that better than anyone.