Emperor of Steel

Unlike the Middle-Earth where humans and fairies could live, the Devildom was rather barren.

With sulphur smoke clouds in the sky and dry flaked red ground, it was obvious that trees and plants wouldn’t survive there, and those that grew there were all poisonous or evolved to eat small demons.

Despite the harsh environment, a large number of demons lived in Devildom.

It was because there were a few zones in Devildom which were favorable for survival, like the oasis in the deserts.

There were cities and towns in the Devildom and the powerful rulers would look after them.

Karinsha was one of the cities, and it was a territory that was under the demon lord Lucifer, who was one of the 7 monarchs of Devildom.

Demon Lord Lucifer.

He was the descendant of Uriel, once the head of the angels.

Uriel was an archangel who fought against the gods by falling into temptations during the War of Worlds and was the ancestor of all the other angels in the world.

Uriel’s immediate lineage, Lucifer, had the power of an archangel and had numerous fallen angels around him along with humanoid demons.

Karinsha, located at the border, was the home for more than 500 angels and humanoid demons.

It was a land where the Vampire King Leviathan was aiming to capture as it had numerous populations of edible plants.

Sebastian, who arrived there through subspace, sighed.

“Hugh, Your Majesty is being too much.”

Even if he was a demon, this mission wasn’t great for Sebastian, who had little power except for stealth and poison.

“Once I get back, I need to go away some other place like that bat guy. If I stay with His Majesty I’ll be made to do such things again and aga…”

“Euu, you cat!”

Shocked by the voice that came from behind him, Sebastian slowly turned his head in the direction of the voice.

A fallen angel with black feathered wings and an ax on his shoulder clasped with his hand.

He looked like the city’s guard.

‘Running away might be tough.’

Fallen angels were the fastest among the demons.

In addition, they had teleportation ability, so they could just jump straight at the enemy,

So, instead of running away and provoking him, Sebastian asked, “What is it, kid?”

“I have never seen you before, where did you come from? A spy for the Vampires?”

When the angel asked with doubt, Sebastian shook his hand.

“Aee, you too. Would any spy run around like this? I am just an old man who came here under the command of my Master to run an errand.”

“Hmp…!”

The fallen angels had the ability to read one’s mind.

Of course, that didn’t mean that they understood one’s inner feelings, but they were capable enough to know if the man was telling the truth or not.

And Sebastian didn’t lie. It was true that he came there to run an errand for his master.

Moreover, demons who used other demons as slaves usually used the lower level demons such as Sebastian.

“I guess you’re telling the truth. Don’t do anything useless. Or I’ll have to eat you right away!”

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sebastian bowed to the guard and then stopped walking when he saw the bulletin board in the town square.

‘Eh?’

Like in the Middle-Earth, the town board was used to write the orders of the kings and lords.

Sebastian opened his eyes wide to see what was written on the board.

‘Is this because of this that the demons didn’t accept the summon?’

When he read it, it seemed like he had to dig more into the matter, so Sebastian went out of the town and crossed the border.

He went to the Vampire King’s town.

If what he saw was indeed true, then his Master would be quiet upset.

The next day.

Sebastian, who returned to Middle-Earth safely because of Luke’s summoning circle for lower demons, told Luke the entire story.

“What? There are official letters everywhere in the Devildom?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. There was something saying that they shouldn’t answer a warlock’s call.”

Sebastian said as follows.

In the past years, the summoned demons to the Middle-Earth were all missing, and even Kauren, the notorious General of the Vampire King’s men, was reported to have been overtaken.

The greatest damage taken was by Vampire King Leviathan, but the other demons couldn’t just let it go. They too were unsure when their precious demons would begin to disappear.

And if there was a loss of power, then they would have to face war over territory.

As a result, the 7 Monarchs of the Devildom issued a decree for their men to not respond to any summons for the next 100 years,

“Honestly, this happened 500 years ago too, and that time, the lords have asked to not respond to the summons of any warlock as well.”

“Huh…!”

At Sebastian’s words, Luke was flustered.

‘Then, since that time when I reached the 9th circle of dark magic, I couldn’t find a single demon.’

Things made sense, and since his time as a Rakan, Luke rarely summoned demons.

He thought that maybe the demons could identify his blood and didn’t answer!

“So we can’t summon demons any longer?”

“I don’t think it’ll be like that. I spread rumors about His Majesty.”

“Rumor?”

At Luke’s question, Sebastian replied with a wicked smile, “Yes, that the reality of the disappearing demons was different.”

The rumor that Sebastian spread was this.

Leviathan secretly signed a contract with the warlocks and attempted to enter Middle-Earth and lied to deceive the eyes of the other demon lords.

Of course, if Leviathan heard about the rumor, he would search for the source, but what of it?

By then, Sebastian would have come back to Middle-Earth already.

“Hmm, you think that it’ll work?”

“Of course! I heard the old demons screaming, ‘the demons lords and the young demons are silently pushing their men to Middle-Earth while making us stop’.”

Smirk.

Luke smiled.

“Though I didn’t ask, you did well. I will reward you for that.”

It wasn’t sure as to how effective the rumors spread by Sebastian would be, but Luke thought that it would probably succeed.

There were not many demons who could hold down their curiosity.

“Huhuhu, how so?”

“Yeah, I will increase your magi.”

The source of a demon’s power was magi.

Luke approached Sebastian and placed his finger on his heart.

A small amount of Aether flowed from Luke’s body to Sebastian.

The Aether that flowed soon turned into magi and began to mix with the existing magi inside Sebastian.

Brrr!

Sebastian’s eyes wavered, and his body dropped to the ground.

At some point, the trembling stopped, and he knelt in front of Luke. He then said, “I am grateful, Your Majesty! I will be your loyal servant all my life!”

Luke recently learned a new ability that dealt with Aether.

It was that Aether could be transformed into various forces and given to others.

Of course, the amount he could give was still small, but it was of magi. However, it was enough to help and strengthen the power of the people.

“Anyway, it is almost over, so we need to stop.”

It would take some time for demons to be caught even with the rumor.

Yet, Luke went back to the Royal Palace without feeling any regret.