"Let me introduce myself," Carrera said. "I am Carrera, the King of Ruin, one of the Eight Kings under Lord Damien!"
"And, like that idiot purple, I'm one of the Primordial Daemons."
As for which Primordial Daemon, her blonde hair gave it away.
'Primordial Yellow…'
Yellow and Purple, two Primordial Daemons.
Hinata also caught a specific term in Carrera's introduction... Eight Kings!
A Primordial Daemon, merely one-eighth of something greater!
In that moment, Hinata's mind flashed to Artoria and Treyni.
She had been thoroughly defeated by the King of Knights, and she had no choice but to accept it.
Artoria's strength undeniably reached the realm of a True Demon Lord, far surpassing ordinary ones.
Add Ultima and Carrera to the mix.
The mere existence of these three filled Hinata with a deep, visceral despair.
'I can't win…'
Hinata's heart sank to rock bottom. 'The Holy Empire of Ruberios, and even Luminous, absolutely cannot win…'
"It's all my fault!" she declared. "I'm willing to accept punishment."
Hinata bowed her head decisively, driven by her conviction to protect the millions of people in the Holy Empire.
If sacrificing herself could save those she stood for, she wouldn't hesitate for a moment.
"Do whatever you want with me!" Her voice was hoarse and bitter. "I only ask that you spare the Holy Empire…"
"…"
Fortunately, it was Carrera here, not Artoria.
With Artoria's alignment firmly at +500 kindness, she would've pleaded for Hinata.
"Pfft, haha!" But this was Carrera, a Primordial Daemon with no shred of pity for outsiders. "Lord Damien, she's actually begging for mercy!"
"Just moments ago, she was all high and mighty!"
"How'd she switch to groveling so fast?"
"Hey!" Carrera stepped forward, grabbing Hinata's hair and yanking her up from her seat. "Is this your idea of an apology? Where's the sincerity?"
"Carrera…"
"Yes, my lord?" Hearing Damien call her, Carrera tossed Hinata aside and stood respectfully, awaiting his orders.
"I'm going to give her a chance."
"What?" Carrera was stunned, unable to defy Damien's will but thinking Hinata was ridiculously lucky to earn his mercy.
"Leave us, Carrera."
"But…" Carrera wanted to say she should stay to protect him.
Then she remembered this was Damien's Eden.
Within Eden, Damien was omniscient and omnipotent.
"Yes, my lord." Reluctantly, Carrera left the black box.
"Now, it's just the two of us," Damien said.
With a wave of his hand, the restraining suit binding Hinata vanished, leaving only a thin prisoner's garb that outlined her graceful curves.
"Thank you," Hinata said, not foolish enough to consider taking Damien hostage.
That would be absurd.
This man was Artoria's master and had tamed Primordial Yellow into complete submission.
A being of such power... Hinata, in her sealed state, stood no chance against him, even at her peak.
"Don't get too excited," Damien said with a smile. "You just said you'd do anything to save the Holy Empire, right?"
"…"
His words sent a chill of fear through Hinata.
She wasn't afraid of death.
But something like humiliation was beyond what she could endure.
If it came to that, she'd rather die on the spot.
"Then let's see your resolve," Damien said, pointing downward. "Now, strip naked and perform a dogeza."
---
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the Holy Empire of Ruberios, within the Night Rose Palace, Luminous stared at a crystal ball that had lost its image.
She realized something unexpected must have happened during the expedition to the Great Jura Forest.
"Hinata…"
The thought that Hinata might have been defeated seemed unthinkable to Luminous. "Impossible! That's my Hinata!"
Luminous knew exactly how strong Hinata was.
In this world, aside from a select few, no one could defeat her.
"Who could it be?"
"Who's scheming against me?"
Luminous clenched her fists, her vampire fangs even biting through her lip.
Hinata, above all, was someone she couldn't abandon!
"No!" she declared. "I must head to the Great Jura Forest immediately!"
Luminous was already bracing for the worst... perhaps the evil dragon had awakened and was harming those she cherished.
Even if she couldn't defeat Veldora, she had to bring Hinata back unharmed.
As for what came next…
The Walpurgis wasn't just for show.
If such an unexpected situation arose, the stronger Demon Lords, like her, wouldn't sit idly by.
"Oh my, can't wait any longer?" a voice teased.
"That voice?!" Luminous spun around to see a purple-haired girl in a black hooded cloak, lounging casually in a chair, watching her with amusement.
"Yo!" Ultima grinned. "Long time no see, Luminous."
"You!" Luminous wanted to say she had no time to play games.
But as she looked closer, she froze in shock.
"No way…"
"You… you've…"
The difference between a daemon and an incarnated daemon was vast.
The former was pure spirit, the latter a hybrid of spirit and matter.
If Luminous couldn't tell the difference, she wouldn't deserve the title of Queen of Nightmare.
"Oh, I've successfully incarnated," Ultima said, standing from the chair and unabashedly releasing the immense magicules she'd been suppressing. "Not only that, but that lord named me and helped me take that step!"
"Awakened!!"
Luminous's shock was beyond words.
Though she, too, was an Awakened True Demon Lord, there were still gaps between True Demon Lords.
In terms of magicule count, Luminous had, at most, a little over 3 million EP.
But Ultima?
Even a cursory sense told Luminous that Ultima's magicules far surpassed her own!
At the very least, they reached the 5-million-EP mark…
***
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