Previously...
Bang!
Suddenly something clashed with the demonic monsters which instantly knocked them out. The Elf and Demon King immediately steadied up their magic and weapons, preparing themselves for whatever was coming at them.
***
"Who goes there-"
"Hey you, is this where that damned world tree is at?"
Well shit, it was none other than Eruhaben in the fucking flesh. Deon wanted to punch the golden dragon but resisted the temptation of doing so. If he did that, they'd immediately realize that he's Cale since no one should know about their identities.
"...Your majesty, somethings off about them. I think it's be best to keep your guard up."
"You're right, their auras are pretty powerful."
Deon whispered as he went behind the Demon King and put his hood on. Luckily for him, he made sure to bring a cloak so that meant he could cover his face. He tightened the neckpiece around his neck to make sure it wouldn't fall off mid-battle incase a fight did happen.
It was definitely weird to wear a hood with a corps commander uniform but whatever works, at least it was dark red and it matched with his uniform. Though his hair did stick out a lot since it was white but they are in the Demonic Realm, so maybe they won't notice.
"What right do you have to ask me that?"
"Right? Do I need a right?"
Eruhaben exposed his reptile pupils to the Elf King who was taken back. Dragons were obviously higher than elves and fairies in terms of ranking and were higher than some demons if not a majority of them, they are beings that are just behind the Demon King and the Divine.
Deon looked at Hana who was hiding behind him. He could see her giving the golden dragon a dirty look that seemed to say — I don't even know you but I already hate you, so don't come near me.
"I'm gonna destroy that blasted tree once and for all."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
"And why not?"
"Even if I don't really like the elves that much, the world tree is necessary."
Caver went in front of the Elf King who stood still in place. He didn't know why this reptile was intervening and trying to destroy the world tree but he couldn't let that happen. The world tree was necessary to tell him when a hero would eventually appear, which is why he cannot let it die.
"Are we fighting again?"
"I guess, if he doesn't want to back off."
"This'll be my first fighting with you then."
Deon walked alongside the Demon King and pulled out two daggers, one made by the power of death and another dagger that was white, it was the world tree branch he stabbed himself with back in Nameless One.
Could he even fight Eruhaben? A better question is, can he fight him without him knowing he was Cale or would he eventually get caught mid fight?
"A human? I didn't know demons could actually like humans."
"That's none of your business I believe."
The Demon King said as Deon pointed the dagger at Eruhaben. Well, he fucked up because he accidentally pointed the world tree dagger and not the dagger made from the power of death. He could see Eruhaben widening his eyes as he got closer to him.
"You- where did you get that dagger?!"
"I was gifted it just recently, why? Do you have a problem with it?"
Deon put on his 'I don't even know who you even are' act and pretended that he didn't know Eruhaben. He may have fucked up with pointing that dagger at him but he still have a chance to get away without being caught that he was Cale Henituse or at least having no recollection of being him.
"If you don't like it so much I can use another dagger to stab you with."
"Arut, calm down."
Deon sighed, he wasn't even angry. He was just... provoking that son of a bitch of a dragon, can he even kill Eruhaben anyway? Probably not, he is weaker than his past self despite his plate suddenly becoming stronger. Well, it worked well in his favor since the others wouldn't be able to notice him immediately due to the fact his past plate was glass and the one he had was close to wood and he could use his ancients powers to an even better extent than before.
"I won't fight but he will."
"What- you-"
Deon immediately turned around and transformed the dagger made of divine power into a longsword and blocked Choi Han's attack from the air. It hurt badly but he didn't care and shielded Hana from the raven-haired swordsmaster.
"You bastard..."
His anger and resentment increasingly grew after he saw Choi Han try to attack Hana. Seriously, are they targeting children now? Just how twisted have they become to do that was a question that popped up in Deon's head as he gave a death glare to Choi Han who only looked at him emotionlessly but with his eyes wavering.
'Ah, I see. His eyes are shaking because it reminds him of me and Raon.'
Deon scoffed as he noticed the trembling in Choi Han's eyes. Still thinking about him even after he died huh? Maybe he would've missed them if they weren't the direct cause of his death.
"You have the nerve to attack a kid you know? I mean I'm a demon king but even I wouldn't kill a kid without hesitation."
Caver turned back to Choi Han who now had his back turned against the white and raven head duo. Even if Deon didn't like the Demon King as much as he did anymore he had to agree with him.
Could he even consider the Demon King as one of his favorite characters now if he was one of the causes why he was sent to war? Actually, that may be just because most if not all of his favorite characters had black hair or were main characters.
(Out of every character, he's one of your favorites? It's okay me too Deon, me too)
"I told you, he's not really friendly to strangers."
"Sounds like to me he's just a wild dog. If I were you I'd get the owner to put it on a leash, oh wait. Does the doggy even have one?"
Deon taunted Eruhaben and Choi Han who had veins showing up on their faces that looked like it could pop any moment. Looks like his provocation worked, these guys were so emotionally weak that it baffled him. He guessed it was true when people said sometimes strong people were the weakest people when it come to emotions.
"You son of a..."
"Choi Han, stop. He doesn't know anything about him."
"But he!"
"Stay rational Choi Han. We'll find him soon."
(Rational my ass you loss your rationality long ago lil bro)
What a bunch of lunatics was what both Caver and Deon were thinking while they looked at the otherworldly duos argument. What kind of person attacks a kid and gets offended when they get the same treatment back?
"I knew they were bad people..."
Hana sulked in Deon's arms with teary eyes. She didn't like them at all, they just tried to attack her mama! She summoned an array of magic arrows and aimed it towards Choi Han out of a fit of rage.
Clang!
"Hana...?!"
Deon looked at the arrows, they were bright and a mix of dark red and purple. The typical color you'd see when casting magic, if you ignored the dark red aura that came with it. Caver looked at Hana, then he looked back at the arrows and sweatdropped. Is a kid at her age supposed have this much power?
Deon looked back to where Eruhaben and Choi Han were supposed to be at but was replaced by the fog of dust that was caused by the collision of Hana's magic attack. He couldn't see their silhouette anymore and concluded that they had teleported away the moment Choi Han deflected Hana's attack.
"Looks like we're heading back now. I'll have to tell the other Corps Commanders to watch out for them as well."
"They are annoying."
"Oh dear, it seems that Our Zeroth Corps Commander is angry. I'll hand you a glass of wine when we get back, how does that sound?"
"I will work with a hundred and ten work efficiency with whatever it is you wish for."
Deon immediately replied back with a pair of shining eyes as the Demon King teleported him and Hana back to the castle. The wine from the Demonic Realm is even better than the Henituse duchy's wine, maybe even better than the Gods wine but he hasn't tried it yet if they do have one.
He opened his eyes and saw that the Demon King was already heading into the castle.
"I'll see you in the next meeting. Ah but you don't really need to participate in it so don't go if you don't want to."
"Yes your majesty."
Deon took a swift bow as the Demon King left to head to his office to summon the Corps Commanders.
He brought Hana to his room and handed her over to Ed who happily agreed, he could see the look at betrayal on Hana's face as he left.
As soon as Deon left the room, he walked across the hallways quickly, passing by every demon in the castle as he made his way to the meeting room. And by the time he made it, Deon could see the rest of the corps commanders sitting down as if they were awaiting for his arrival.
"Sir Arut, you're here!"
"You sure are diligent with participating in every meeting, Sir Arut."
Ririnell jumped up from her seat while Jaykar crossed his arms. Deon could see Oelle about to comment something but Dernivan immediately covered her mouth and prevented her from doing so. He ignored the corps commanders usual shenanigans and made his way to his seat right next the the Demon King and rested his cheek on his palm.
"Let's begin our meeting now that Arut is here."
The corps commanders gathered around the meeting table calmed down and sat back down in their seats as they looked at Deon who sat silently. The one thing they all had in mind was that if he was uncomfortable or interested in the topic since they were about to discuss about waging war against the Empire and Human Realm.
"Is it true we're finally going to war against the Human Realm? It seems like a big loss to the Empire if you ask me."
"Why would he do something so idiotic? He could have just stuck to fighting against the border every so often-"
Tap, tap, tap...
Deon tapped his finger against the surface of the table, the corps commander immediately stiffened up. Usually when he tapped on the table or played with a cube it meant he was either bored or interested. When he tapped against it slowly it meant that he liked the idea, when he tapped against the table quickly it meant that he was against that idea.
'It's so boring, I should have brought the cube with me... Why did I even leave it?'
Deon tapped the table slowly and internally sighed while the other corps commanders continued their discussion. He was aware of what they were thinking but chose not to stop it, he was too lazy to do that and took too much energy to correct himself.
"He's just so eager to die isn't he? He feels so much guilt from killing his family but he can't die, not with the amount of responsibilities he has."
'That's true.'
Deon nodded to himself as the Demon King continued to talk about the emperor. It was true that the Emperor felt loads of guilt after that incident that was caused by Starbe.
"Anyway, we both will head into war three days after Arut leaves for his mission. So prepare yourself."
"What?! They're going to attack us when our strongest weapon is gone?!"
"Those humans are indeed cunning."
Asild and Jaykar voiced out their opinion. The empire was indeed very cunning for launching an attack three days after the Zeroth Corps Commander would leave for a mission.
'Three days? This never happened.'
Tap.
No, this was good. Although the war was delayed by three days that meant that he now had three days to prepare himself. He should ask the God of Death for a protective necklace, Deon knew he'd get a new one from Ririnell but Cruel wouldn't have one.
The corps commanders sat back down as they heard Deon's last tap. When he tapped slowly one last time it meant that it was the best course of action to go with. That meant that from here on out, there was no turning back now.
"Then I'll begin to head out."
Deon got up from his seat and headed towards his room where Ed and Hana were. He could see Ed waiting outside while Hana was still inside of the room.
"Ed, get me a cloak. Don't let Hana know."
"Yes Sir Arut."
Ed immediately understand where Deon was heading and brought a cloak from a different place to not alert Hana. Deon immediately took the cloak and began heading towards the gate outside of the Demon King's castle.
***
This chapter might not make sense because it was one am when I wrote it...
Were getting closer to the war arc im actually kind of scared I DIDNT FINISH THE NOVEL IM ONLY ON THE PART WHERE CRUEL DIES 😅😅😅
SOMEONE SEND A LINK TO THE NOVEL RQ FOR ME or else ill have to go on hiatus to find a site to read it on.... if i get it now i can binge read for an entire week while in school and work... ~300 chs is nothing to me 🙏🙏🙏