Elion found that it was no surprise that the castle halls were eerily dark, lit dimly by the occasional dark flame torches that cast long, shifting shadows along the walls.

The walls themselves were made of the same black, shapely granite stone, giving the entire place a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

What surprised him more was how empty it all was. Every hall they turned into, there was not a single demon in sight.

"Everyone is out in battle," Zenith commented, as if reading his mind.

Elion’s eyes followed the subtle sway of her hips as she walked ahead of him, his gaze lingering for a moment longer than necessary.

"The battle has grown rather grim," she continued, "neither side seems to be winning right now, we are all stretched thin, fighting on three fronts."

She paused briefly before adding,

"Though demons are more resilient in a war of attrition... it is still one race against four... possibly five if things continue in this manner."

Elion nodded slowly in agreement.

"You don’t seem to be bothered by the possibility of losing though," he commented.

She glanced back at him calmly, taking a moment longer than was necessary to answer.

"You are right," she said, "I am participating more out of necessity than anything."

Her gaze lingered on him for a moment before she looked back to the front.

"Though I expect the battle will become more skewed in the coalition’s favour with you back."

Elion let out a short laugh and shrugged lightly.

"You think too highly of me."

"How can I not? It’s well deserved," she replied with a faint smile. Unfortunately, the way she said it was more unsettling than it was encouraging for Elion.

After turning through a few more halls, they made their way toward a set of stairs and began heading lower into the keep, their footsteps echoing faintly in the otherwise quiet corridors.

There were a few narrow windows along the way, set deep into the thick stone walls, and from what Elion could see through them, it was pitch dark outside.

But he couldn’t tell if it was actually nighttime.

He had heard the eerie rumors about how the ambient mana in demon territory was corrupted and tainted to the point where it affected even the sky itself, leaving it in a perpetual state of darkness, and blocking out the sun entirely.

If that was true then there might never be daylight here at all.

’Quite fitting.’ He thought inwardly.

"We should be arriving at the room teleportation circle soon," Zenith commented as they continued walking.

"The teleportation range only goes as far as the general vicinity of the great forest." She said, letting him know what to expect once he got teleported out of the demon territory.

"That’s alright," Elion replied, "I will be fine from there."

The demon territory was located on the northern side of the great forest, across the great river, and it shared a border to the southeast with the beastmen clans, and another to the east with the empire of the goddess of light.

In Elion’s current timeline, that territory was still abandoned after so many years, and in fact, he had heard from his father during one of his basic homeschooled geography lessons that it was slowly being swallowed up by the great forest as time went on.

Apparently, none of the current great powers had seen any need for them to lay claim to that territory. Which was odd. Those closest to the area should have probably been at least the first to do something like that, but from what he knew, no one had even attempted such a thing.

Maybe there was a general rule or something else at play that he wasn’t aware of that they knew.

He suddenly got an idea.

If he ever got strong enough to reach the level of a sage or saint, that alone would place him on the same pedestal as some of the great figures who ruled the different races of the world, so... wouldn’t it be nice if he claimed that territory as his own?

He chuckled inwardly. If he was already being branded as a heretic, then he might as well play the part and poach the fabled demon’s lands for himself.

And then what if people started calling him the new demon king? A faint smile tugged at his lips as he entertained the thought for a moment.

’No way.’

He snorted inwardly. He just couldn’t see himself taking on that kind of role. He doubted one needed to be inherently evil to be called the demon king, or if he would have to do some kind of atrocious acts to be branded such.

That was not a path that he would ever go down. People, however, were quick to throw accusations and labels at people. Maybe someone would call him the demon king for the fun of it, and before he knows it, mages would be looking to hunt and kill him for fame and glory.

The possibilities made him smile. But still...

He gave it more thought.

Once he managed to attain four, maybe five, or even six bloodlines, what kind of being would he become?

He certainly wouldn’t be human anymore. And what if he obtained a demon bloodline?

That thought lingered.

It naturally led him to think about why demons were persecuted so heavily by the other races.

Of course, he had always been told the same story, that the demon king was a tyrant who craved power and sought total world domination, and that demonkind in general were flesh-hungry, mindless beasts who killed for sport and fed on human flesh even when they didn’t need to.

Maybe that was true to an extent. The incidents were well documented, after all. But he doubted that someone like Zenith would partake in such.

And surely, there had to be many more like her. Then again, he considered another angle.

Just like how his incubus bloodline affected his thoughts and impulses, maybe a demon bloodline did the same, twisting one’s desires, making them crave flesh, chaos, destruction...

But even then, he was certain that if he could resist his sexual urges heightened by the incubus bloodline, then he could do the same for whatever urges came with a demon bloodline, or any bloodline-related urges for that matter.

And more importantly...

Though the thought was tempting, he didn’t need to become an evil entity to take on the demon king’s territory; he just didn’t feel like there was any need, and since the demons were simply sealed off in another realm, and not wiped out.

What would happen if the old demon king returned one day and decided to take back his territory, only to find that some brat had lay claim to it?

Now wouldn’t that be quite a spectacle?

But he did like the idea of having his own personal space once he became strong enough that no one would push him around.

...That part, at least, was tempting.

Zenith suddenly stopped walking, and Elion, who had been lost in his thoughts, bumped into her backside. He sighed softly in satisfaction as he felt something round and soft bump against his thighs and groin for the briefest of moments.

"Hm..."

At the same time, he looked up, confused as to why she had stopped, only to see that she had frozen completely in her tracks, looking forward, down the hall.

A short distance ahead, there was a towering blue-skinned demon in their path, walking toward them with heavy footfalls that made the ground beneath them vibrate faintly.

Elion looked back toward her face, just in time to see Zenith bite her lip, but she recovered rather quickly.

"Elion," she spoke under her breath without looking back, her voice barely above a whisper, as she moved her hand behind her back and revealed a shimmering black gemstone, "you see that door at the end of the hall?"

Elion glanced back past the approaching demon, who was still heavily walking toward them while keeping his eyes fixed on Zenith, and sure enough, there was a large door at the far end of the hall.

They had just barely reached the end of the hall. Probably their destination. However... judging from Zenith’s grave expression, things were not looking good for them, and it was clear w.hy

’Who is this demon...’ Elion thought as he gave a slight nod to indicate that he had seen the door.

"I am going to try and distract him," Zenith continued quietly, "when you see an opening... run as fast as you can into that room."

Without looking back, she pressed the crystal into his hand at an angle the approaching demon couldn’t see.

"Take this. You need it to activate the teleportation formation, just pour your mana into it once you reach the circle engraved into the floor."

Elion accepted it smoothly without giving away too much from his movements.

However, the way the demon’s brow furrowed made it clear that he had already sensed something was off.

He was only about thirty metres away now. Zenith started walking again, as if nothing had happened, likely trying not to raise suspicion.

Elion didn’t ask questions, particularly about why they weren’t sticking to the original plan of simply walking past anyone they ran into by using his disguise.

This was probably the kind of demon whose strength rendered such tricks useless. A mere level three illusion spell wouldn’t fool someone like that.

Soon, they were standing right in front of him.

The towering demon wore light armour, yet even that seemed heavy in presence, and resting on his shoulder was an immaculate broadsword, polished and deadly, as if he had been on his way to war.

"Zenith."

His voice came out like a roar, even though he spoke calmly for his size.

"My liege has requested your presence."

Zenith nodded without hesitation.

"I will go and see him as soon as possible."

"Hmmm..."

He grunted in response, though it sounded more like a deep rumble vibrating through the air. Then his gaze shifted slowly toward Elion. He sniffed the air curiously, taking in a deep, deliberate inhale.

"Why does this one smell like..." he paused briefly, sniffing once again as if to confirm something, "...human?"

Zenith’s head snapped slightly toward Elion.

Her lips moved silently.

"Run."