Chapter 542 – An Audience With The King

Soon, the Void Order retreated, as the sun rose in the city of Nazeroth. They took advantage of the stealth of night to operate in the shadows (literally), but as the sun came up, the cloak of night they had once embraced would be no more. When that happened, the Knights of Nazeroth would be able to turn the tide on them. Not wanting to be captured and interrogated, the safest option was simply to leave.

Strangely, though… being so careful, I had expected them to have some sort of defensive measure against being interrogated—for example, killing themselves with a implanted poison in their mouths or something of the sort. Yet that girl… she just told us everything when all we did was tickle her a bit.

Then again, it could be that the girl there had some sort of special identity, but… well, no matter. All will be revealed soon enough—I had her under the control of my Soul Shackle anyway.

After telling Eve to go meet up with my father and Nael, I set off alone in the direction of the ring of royal Demon Houses—the Demon King’s castle, in particular. Eve was dubious at what I was trying to do, but I didn’t bother explaining it to her—and neither did she question, knowing that would only make me irritated. She just followed my words obediently, something I was grateful for.

In any case, this ‘ring’ of royal Demon Houses was not easy to get into. It was heavily patrolled with guards, especially after what happened last night, and-

-Ha, who am I kidding. This is nothing.

Turning on my invisibility using Shadow Magic and hiding my presence using a Psychic Spell, I waltzed my way straight through the guards, weaving between them casually like I was taking a stroll. Some especially sensitive ones would turn their heads at me for a moment, but none actually came after me. In fact, it was surprising they could even detect me somewhat in the first place—Chaos Magic amplified the effects of all my spells, meaning Conceal Presence should be stronger than most people’s. And yet, some of them were still able to sense me a little. I wonder if it has anything to do with Demoncraft…

Soon, I arrived before the massive castle I had been in once before. There were, of course, metal gates in front of it, accompanied by a thick purple magic barrier that would normally be hard to bypass, but Chaos devoured all forms of magic. Placing my hand gently on the barrier as to not trigger any hostility in it, I began absorbing its power through the Chaos in my veins.

Of course, I didn’t absorb all of it. That would be too obvious to anyone watching. I needed to keep the barrier still visible, but completely dysfunctional. Once I absorbed just enough for that effect to take place, I slipped my way straight through the barrier, and walked up to the front door, where there were two guards standing there.

Slowly, I walked right in between them. They were confused for a moment and sniffed the air, but couldn’t detect me.

“Hey, you feel that?” One of the guards asked. “Like there’s something here, but I don’t know what…”

“Yeah, I feel it too,” the other replied. “It’s… weird. But I’m not actually seeing anything, so…”

Emotionlessly, I raised my weapons at them. In one hand, I held my gun and pressed it against one of the guards’ temple, and with the other hand, I held my katana and pressed it against the other guard’s neck.

“… Don’t move.”

“…!”

They widened their eyes in shock. They still couldn’t see me or any of my weapons, but they didn’t need to see to be able to tell what they were. A gunpoint and a knife’s edge—those two things weren’t easy things to mimic. The two guards gulped in fear, not daring to say a single world or even breathe, for that matter.

“You, on the left. Go into the castle and call the butler here. He knows who I am.”

“W-W-W-What… you want me to…”

“Yes. Now, stop wasting time, or I’ll kill your friend here.”

“G-Go already!” The other guard whispered sharply, not wanting to die, and the first guard I let go quickly scurried off into the castle to fetch the butler.

As I watched him go, I felt the other guard attempt to pull out a weapon, but without even turning to him, I clicked the safety off on my gun.

“… I’d advise you not try anything. Or else… let’s just say it won’t end nicely for you.”

The guard gulped, realizing he’d been caught, and obediently remained completely still after that.

*****

Very soon after that, the other guard returned with the butler in tow. I recognized the butler’s face—we had met once before, during my first meeting with Luisfer.

As he came out of the doors, he immediately recognized where I was despite my invisibility. As expected—he was strong.

“… What is it you seek, intruder?” He asked cautiously as to not provoke me too much. It would seem despite knowing my location, he still couldn’t figure out who I was—understandable.

With a sigh, I took off my invisibility and conceal presence, revealing my true appearance. The butler, upon seeing this, immediately let out a sigh of relief as well.

“… You could have entered normally, young man, and told the guards to fetch me that way.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure if they were just going to straight-up try to kill me, so this was the more efficient way.”

“… Fair enough. Follow me.”

Saying that, he turned around and headed back into the castle. The two guards were, of course, confused at the exchange just now, and scratched their heads in inquiry.

“H-Huh? Wait, sir, you know this man…?”

“I already said that, didn’t I?” I sighed.

“Yes,” the butler replied. “Do not show disrespect towards him—he is an honored guest here, one even Lord Luisfer himself has to show respect for.”

Now, I like the sound of that, I thought with a smug grin, and followed the butler into the castle.

*****

– Meanwhile, Elsewhere in Nazeroth –

“Damn… they got away,” Xuan Ying muttered, thrusting his greatsword into the ground in anger. “I wanted to capture one and interrogate them, but…”

“It is alright, Master X,” Nael, the demon beside him, said with a bow. “I am sure the young master and Eve have found some useful information.”

“That we did,” Eve interjected out of nowhere, making her way closer to the group. “We managed to capture one of them, and interrogate some information.”

“Oh, Eve,” Xuan Ying said, turning around. “Where’s Kai Kai?”

“He said he had some… business, to attend to,” Eve stated. “He will be back soon though, don’t worry.”

“That kid… he’s really grown up now, huh?” Xuan Ying chuckled. “Oh well, I believe he’ll be fine on his own. He beat me in a duel, after all—even if I was holding back slightly. In any case… Eve, what information did you find?”

“As it seems, the perpetrator of all these night assaults going on in the city for the past few days are, in fact, the Void Order.”

“The Void Order…” Xuan Ying muttered. “I thought they were wiped out eons ago… but it would seem that was not complete.”

“I believed the same,” Eve said with a shrug. “But it is very clear now that they have spent many years developing themselves in the shadows, lying low, all for the day when they would emerge again and take over the world with the help of a newfound, extremely strong power.”

“And that power is…?”

“The same place we are searching for,” Eve said with a wry smile. “The Chaos Realm.”

“They… know about it?” Xuan Ying asked, slightly surprised.

“Not exactly,” Eve replied. “It’s more like… they know that it’s a place holding a powerful secret, but don’t know what that secret is.”

At this, Xuan Ying let out a deep sigh. “Whew. That’s good. And? How does that have to do with the city? Don’t tell me, it’s underground?”

“Not quite,” Eve said. “I am uncertain of where the exact location is either, but the reason they attacked the city was to look for someone—the same person you and Xuan Kai are searching for as well.”

Xuan Ying’s eyes widened. “Ruo Lan…”

“Yes. It is said that she holds the ‘key’ to enter that place, which is why the Void Order is attempting to hunt her down right now.”

Xuan Ying clenched his fists tightly. “Bastards…”

“I am sure the Lady will be fine, Master X,” Nael said. “She is strong.”

“… Yes, I know, but…”

“Well, that’s all the information we have,” Eve said with a shrug. “Oh, and also… we managed to plant a spy amongst the Void Order’s ranks. If nothing goes wrong and she doesn’t get caught… she could be a reliable source of information.”

“I see. That’s good. But still… where’s Kai Kai?”

“He will be back soon,” Eve said, averting her gaze.. “… Probably.”