"My idiot little brother's mess shouldn't be pinned on little Damien."
Velzard turned her gaze to Luminas. "You have a problem with him? Take it out on him directly. We won't interfere."
"Eh?"
Veldora had indeed been unreasonable in the past.
But after spending time reflecting and cultivating himself, he had finally learned basic human concepts like courtesy, honor, and shame.
Even though he was vastly stronger than Luminas, he couldn't bring himself to shamelessly keep picking a fight.
Naturally, Rimuru and the others wouldn't help Luminas attack the Storm Dragon either.
At most, they would stop Veldora from bullying the weaker party, allowing Luminas to face him on relatively equal footing and settle the matter fairly.
Damien felt the same way.
"Veldora is now one of the Dragon Gods of my Monster Kingdom," Damien stated calmly. "As for his old grudge with the vampire race, I will give you a proper resolution on his behalf."
"But let's keep things separate."
"Right now," Damien continued, "I need you to tell me whether you're willing to stay in the Monster Kingdom as an honored guest."
"Honored guest?"
Luminas wondered if she had misheard.
Was this really how Damien invited people to be his guests?
To an outsider, it sounded a lot more like house arrest.
"If you're uneasy, I have a second option."
As he spoke, Damien extended his hand toward her. "Become one of my companions. Walk the same path as me from now on…"
"Huh?"
Luminas froze.
Wait—what?
Had she missed a few sentences somewhere?
How had she suddenly been invited to join?
"Is there a problem?"
"I mean… I don't understand at all!"
Luminas couldn't follow Damien's train of thought. He simply smiled and explained, "Take a look around. How does our lineup look to you?"
Lineup?
Luminas glanced around the hall.
Yeah… she saw it. A whole stack of Demon Lords, nearly all of them stronger than her.
Alright. She roughly understood now.
She herself was one of the Ten Great Demon Lords.
Since she had been able to join that group, why couldn't she join the Monster Kingdom?
…Could it really be the same thing?
"You're certainly powerful, but…"
Luminas was about to refuse when two new figures suddenly appeared in the hall.
The moment she saw them, her heart shook violently. "You two?!"
It was none other than Sky Queen Frey and Lion King Karion.
As fellow members of the Ten Great Demon Lords, Luminas naturally recognized them.
"Hm?"
The problem was that Frey and Karion's impression of Luminas was… somewhat awkward.
In their memories, the person who always attended the Walpurgis Banquet was Demon Lord Valentin—a burly middle-aged man.
So what exactly was going on here?
"Lord Damien?" Frey looked at him with clear surprise.
Karion spoke up first, then immediately understood the situation. "Ah… so that's how it is."
Demon Lord Valentin had actually been Luminas's proxy—usually one of her twin brothers.
Every time the banquet was held, Luminas would have one of them impersonate her and attend as the vampire Demon Lord.
The veteran Demon Lords had long since seen through it, but they kept quiet out of respect for her little hobby.
Only the younger ones like Frey and Karion had genuinely believed Demon Lord Valentin was the real deal.
"Why are you two here?"
Frey and Karion's sudden appearance left Luminas stunned.
"No, wait—your strength… how?"
It didn't take long for her to notice the glaring difference.
Their power levels had completely transformed since the last time she had seen them.
The Lion King and Sky Queen, who used to hover around 400,000 magicules, now sat at roughly three million.
Such a massive leap couldn't be explained by ordinary training.
The only possible explanation was awakening.
"You've both become True Demon Lords?!"
As she spoke, Luminas didn't look at them—she stared straight at Damien. "Did you help them achieve this breakthrough?"
She wasn't underestimating them.
She acknowledged that Frey and Karion had the potential to become True Demon Lords one day.
But Demon Lords of only six and five hundred years old were still centuries away from that threshold.
It was impossible for them to have reached this level so suddenly.
And yet…
Luminas couldn't imagine what kind of power would be required to help others awaken.
Did such an ability even exist?
"Thanks to Lord Damien's blessing, we were fortunate enough to step into the realm of True Demon Lords," Frey replied evenly.
She had always been one of the Ten Great Demon Lords, equal in status to Luminas. Now that her strength had surged, she felt no fear whatsoever.
They were both women. Both Demon Lords.
Who was going to intimidate whom?
"So the Sky Kingdom and Beast Kingdom have already chosen to submit to him?"
Luminas was beginning to grasp just how terrifying this development was.
If both nations joined, three-quarters of the southeastern continent would fall under Damien's control.
Never mind Milim's Dragon Nation for now.
Clayman's puppet kingdom would have no hope of resisting conquest.
At that point, the Monster Kingdom's territory would expand to nearly one-third of the entire continent.
Even Luminas found that proportion staggering.
"Is that so strange?"
It really wasn't.
If joining Damien could raise someone's magicules from 400,000 to three million, grant a full Demon Lord awakening, and bestow an Ultimate Skill…
Any monster who craved power would join without hesitation.
"Understand now?"
Damien continued, "One-third of the Central Continent already belongs to me."
"So tell me—who do you think my next target will be?"
"The Eastern Empire?"
Luminas had been about to mention how powerful Emperor Rudra was—the legendary Hero.
But then she looked at the Storm Dragon God and the White Ice Dragon God.
Even without knowing Damien's exact strength, the presence of these two True Dragons plus more than ten awakened Demon Lords made the answer obvious.
Could the Eastern Empire and Rudra really win?
Luminas could only say… it was extremely doubtful.
***
Hey, everyone! I'm currently working on a new Marvel project, and I'm really excited about it. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, feel free to give it a read:
[Marvel Apex Predator]
Synopsis:
What would happen if you were born into a world filled with bizarre races wielding even stranger powers, as a species whose sole purpose is to evolve by devouring every other race?
Chaos.
That's exactly what happens when the universe's one and only true Apex Predator is born into Marvel.
This is the story of how Xenomorph tears apart the cosmic food chain and reshapes the hierarchy of life itself.