In his own throne room, the demon king was closing his eyes, recuperating, and preparing for what was to come.
At that moment, the door slowly opened.
And entering was his closest aide.
"Is something wrong?"
The demon king asked in a low voice, still not opening his eyes.
"Sir, all preparations are complete."
The aide began to report.
"As you commanded, the entire demon race has gathered, and most of them are down there, waiting for your declaration of war against humanity."
Only then did the demon king open his eyes.
He had waited for this day for a long time. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
He had failed once before.
But there wouldn’t be a second time.
Slowly, the demon king stood up from the throne, then walked towards the only mirror here.
Then, he stared at his reflection.
Since Erza Dicathen was the vessel for his soul, at this moment, he had no choice but to use this body.
"But, I don’t hate it."
This prince was very handsome after all.
Next, his gaze slid down to his own obsidian armor.
After many days of repair, this armor had returned to its peak.
All the cracks from time and battles had disappeared without leaving any trace.
It also looked much brighter than before.
Then, the demon king’s gaze shifted to the two pairs of jet-black wings on his back.
Beautiful without a single dead angle.
"Hey, what do you think of me, aide?"
Without any hesitation, the aide replied:
"Amazing, sir. Befitting a supreme ruler like you, my demon king."
Satisfied with everything, the demon king stepped out onto the balcony, then glanced down at all his compatriots.
— The wise demon king!
— Long live the demon king!
— The great demon king!
There were so many demons in this place.
So many that the demon king’s field of vision could not possibly take them all in.
And, all of these demons had one thing in common.
That was, they were extremely loyal to the demon king.
This feeling was familiar.
In this same place, with this same scene, hundreds of years ago, he had declared war on humanity.
But, the demon race was defeated by the appearance of the seven great heroes.
But now, everything was different.
Humanity was fighting against each other.
What a bunch of fools.
The Demon King quickly raised his hand, causing all the noise to disappear.
It was his power, his majesty.
"I only have one thing to say."
The Demon King’s eyes instantly became solemn.
"Since hundreds of years ago, our demon race was the species that stood at the top of the world, above all other species. The species that was destined to become the rulers."
Or it should have been.
"But, because of humanity, we were robbed of that position."
The top species was defeated by a lowly species?
"And look, what kind of life you guys are living!?"
The demon race had now disintegrated, each going their own way.
Some were captured by the damn humans, becoming their toys, their slaves.
"In short, they are nothing more than trash."
Taking a deep breath, the demon king continued:
"And you are okay with that?"
"I can never be happy with this result."
That position should have belonged to the demon race.
"We should be the ones allowed to trample humanity underfoot, not them!"
They were the demon race.
"The most proud and powerful race on this planet."
The demon king clenched his palm into a fist.
It was time to say the most important thing.
"And in this place, right here, I declare an all-out war against all of humanity!"
Yes, the demon race had lost before.
"But that was because of the appearance of those we could never have expected."
"Now, those people are dead! That means this is our chance!"
This was not cowardice.
This was seizing the opportunity.
"This is my command, and you are not allowed to disobey!"
Before departing, the demon king had one last thing to say.
"Kill them all, not a single human is allowed to escape."
And the next second, the entire space exploded.
— Long live the demon king! Long live the demon king!
— I have waited for this day for a long time!
— Damn humans, now is the time for you to die!
— We will use their blood to drink, and their flesh to eat!
— The wise Demon King will lead us to glory, to victory!
The military base of the Eldrathor Kingdom.
It was one of the largest weapons storage facilities in this kingdom.
There was only one purpose.
That was to prepare for the landing of the demon race.
Here, everyone must work really hard.
They were not allowed to rest.
Because time was extremely urgent.
That was why lunchtime was probably the only time they were allowed to rest, other than sleep time.
"Phew, that’s really tiring."
On the observation deck, a soldier sat down and sighed.
"Since you chose this job, you have to endure it."
The other soldier smiled tiredly, then handed his colleague a piece of bread.
"Is this all we have for today? How bland."
"Haha, you should feel lucky that you still have something to eat."
"Okay, okay, thanks."
Although he felt very dissatisfied, what the soldier said was right.
They should feel lucky that they didn’t have to eat their own feces to survive.
Just like that, the two of them began to enjoy this bland bread together.
Since this place was a military base, of course there was nothing to entertain them.
All they could do to keep themselves from going crazy was to chat.
"How long do you think it will take for those demons to begin their invasion?"
"Hmm... If we count the time it takes for them to enter human territory, and the time it takes for them to gather their forces, it should be at least a week."
"We have quite a bit of time, huh?"
Both of them sighed at the same time.
But then, one of the soldiers suddenly noticed something amiss.
"Hey, do you see that thing over there?"
There, a dark mass was rapidly approaching their base.
"It looks a bit like... a rain cloud?"
Feeling curious, the guard put down the bread, then went to the binoculars.
And when he saw what it was, his body completely froze.
"Hey, what did you see?"
The remaining guard frowned slightly, feeling confused by his colleague’s reaction.
"...This isn’t good..."
He moved his lips, his body also began to tremble.
"Inform everyone and inform the Eldrathor kingdom."
"...The demons are approaching. And maybe... we’re about to die."
Just like that, the Eldrathor kingdom’s military base was destroyed in just one day.
Not a single person survived to tell what they saw.
And so, the war began.