The commotion caused by Mika and onikiri was not small, immediately attracting the attention of asuramaru and the other demons.
"We've found the King. Let's head over quickly; it seems there's the aura of another demon as well."
Saying this, Ghost Box King took the lead and flew in the direction of Mika and onikiri.
asuramaru frowned. He felt that the aura of the demon facing the Demon King felt very familiar. He shook his head, thinking no more of it; there was no time for idle thoughts now.
Shinya seemed somewhat indifferent, crossing his arms over his chest.
"What's the rush? The King isn't that easy to deal with."
Despite saying so, he didn't dare to be rebellious and followed along.
Before long, the demons spotted Mika's figure from a distance.
Mika currently looked like he was eleven or twelve years old, draped in a pitch-black hooded cloak. On the hood were a pair of cat ears condensed from Demonic Aura—this was a brand new version that even Yuichiro had never seen!
Mika was, after all, the Demon King, and the world they were currently in was his own fantasy. onikiri was being beaten into a somewhat pathetic state, though he hadn't sustained any heavy injuries.
onikiri panted heavily, feeling extremely stifled in his heart. He had to respond carefully even to Mika's casual attacks; if this continued, he would likely be worn to death.
Yuichiro had disappeared after being forcibly brought in by him. Looking at it now, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing; at least he didn't have to spend extra effort protecting Yuichiro.
While dodging Mika's attacks, onikiri observed the surroundings, thinking if there was any way to counter him.
"Eh?"
onikiri let out a light sound of surprise as he noticed the group of demons rushing toward them.
With almost no hesitation, onikiri stopped dodging. He parried a four-pointed star-shaped spear of Demonic Aura with his blade, then kicked off the ground forcefully, leaping into the air to slash at Mika.
Mika felt a trace of oddity. This fellow had been very conservative since the start, knowing he wouldn't gain any advantage, yet now he was charging straight in. Something was wrong!
Sure enough, just as Mika intended to turn onikiri into a pincushion, he felt a premonition. Two shields of Demonic Aura appeared, one in front and one behind, protecting Mika within.
Clang! Clang!
Two sounds like the clashing of metal rang out.
"Tsk!"
Seeing that he hadn't succeeded, onikiri wisely chose to retreat. Immediately after, countless sharp spikes grew out of the shields; had onikiri been a step late, he would have been turned into a sieve.
"Well, as expected of the King, truly impressive. Even though I was so far away, I was still detected."
Moonlight Rhyme lowered her hand, and the arrow behind her vanished. There was no point in attacking now.
When asuramaru drew close, he saw onikiri. onikiri likewise saw asuramaru, and both sides were somewhat surprised.
onikiri gave a casual greeting.
"Yo, Shorty, you're here too?"
The other demons were stunned. They looked at onikiri, then at asuramaru, their expressions all questioning: Are you sure you're not a traitor?
asuramaru felt a bit helpless but still spoke calmly to the demons beside him.
"That reckless demon can be cooperated with; he's not an enemy, but he might be a competitor."
Mika looked coldly at the five newly arrived demons; none of their auras were weaker than onikiri's.
"I don't care who you are, get out of my territory."
Since the King had spoken, the demons had no time to dwell on the relationship between asuramaru and onikiri.
Mika hadn't attacked directly, which meant there was room for talk.
byakkomaru and Moonlight Rhyme were too lazy to speak, asuramaru wasn't particularly invested in the Progenitor's mission, and Shinya was also a demon.
Thus, Ghost Box King naturally stepped forward to speak with Mika.
"I..."
Just as Ghost Box King stepped forward to speak, a spike shot out like lightning, piercing through his chest. He fell straight down.
The other demons were slightly further away and barely managed to dodge the attacks aimed at them.
"If I kill you all, no one will disturb me anymore."
He hadn't attacked directly just now because he was merely looking for an angle of attack. He was the Demon King; did they really expect the King of Hell to eat a vegetarian meal?
"Whew~ That was close!"
Ghost Box King's voice rang out again; he had somehow appeared above Mika's head.
As for the Ghost Box King who had just fallen, he had already turned into a shattered coffin.
"You were the one who started it."
...Sanguinem.
"Hey, kid, where's Krul?"
Luke looked at Lest Karr, his expression very respectful.
"Lord Lest Karr, do you know there's a place in China called Dunhuang?"
Lest Karr asked impatiently.
"I don't. You're not going to tell me Krul went to China, are you?"
Luke shook his head.
"No, I'm just curious if you have some connection to Dunhuang, because you have quite a lot of 'wall paintings'."
Lest Karr felt he couldn't keep up with Luke's train of thought and didn't know what to say.
Seeing Lest Karr's bewildered expression, Luke nodded in satisfaction.
"If you don't know, go ask your subordinates if any of them understand English. It's a profound and extensive language."
Lest Karr hated this side of Luke, but he was originally just curious about why Krul had disappeared. Since Luke was unwilling to say, he didn't bother asking further.
"Dunhuang, wall paintings... is that some kind of metaphor?"
After parting ways with Lest Karr, Luke found Crowley.
Crowley was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. In front of him, two figures—one tall and one short—were half-kneeling. They were Chess and Horn, the two unlucky souls whose memories had been tampered with by the Progenitor.
"Yo, a new way to play?"
Crowley looked toward the smiling Luke and sighed helplessly.
"Sigh, stop teasing me. My retainers were used as pawns by the Progenitor; I'm quite troubled by it."
After Ghost Box King and Moonlight Rhyme entered Mika's inner world, Shihō Kimizuki and Yoichi had fallen unconscious. Chess originally wanted to kill everyone, but Horn was more cautious and sensed something was wrong.
Since they weren't far from Sanguinem anyway, Chess and Horn took every single person still breathing at the scene back to Sanguinem.
Horn, who found the incident strange, immediately found Crowley. Once they compared information, everything was wrong!
Not long after, Luke's group of Vampires also returned to Sanguinem. Returning with them were the people from the Hyakuya Sect brought by Rig.
Luke was indifferent.
"Anyway, Urd and the others don't know. Don't worry about it so much; we have a big shot carrying us this round, we can just sit back and relax."
Crowley knew Luke was referring to Rig. That man's research on the Progenitor was truly thorough. Crowley stared at Luke meaningfully.
"Why do I get the feeling you're not the type to obediently follow arrangements?"
Luke smiled and said casually.
"Don't try to guess me; you can't fathom my mind! Hurry to the plaza; Rig is probably preparing to perform his ritual. Urd requested all Progenitors to be present."
After Luke finished speaking, he didn't stay long and turned to leave.
Crowley watched Luke's back as he walked away, saying nothing.
Once Luke's figure completely disappeared, Chess asked with some confusion.
"Lord Crowley, is there some plan between you and Luke?"
Crowley rubbed Chess's head, his tone filled with helplessness and tenderness.
"It's nothing, just some things I need his help with, similar to my previous relationship with Lord Ferid. Let's go, let's head to the plaza and see."
You will get 30 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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