<h4>Book 2: Chapter 72</h4>


    The fight, if it could be called that, didn’tst long.


    Lukas looked at the terrible sight before him.


    Gurd was lying on the ground, covered in blood, and Sedi was stepping on his face with her muddy feet.


    Lick~


    Sedi licked the blood that covered her fingers.


    Her entire body was covered in blood, her own blood. But the injuries on her body were nothing but a scratch whenpared to Gurd.


    Nevertheless, she felt dirty.


    After all, this was only a mortal.


    Crunch.


    “Kuk…!”


    Gurd groaned as she applied more pressure to his face.


    He’d beenpletely overpowered. Nevertheless, there weren’t any signs of surrender on his face.


    This caused a slight stir in Lukas’ heart.


    A rtionship built upon power. That was the best way to describe the rtionships between Demons. There were no other beings who were more loyal to a forced rtionship than the Demons.


    One of the reasons that these beings were the most disgusting in this universe was because they submitted to the strong and oppressed the weak.


    But now, even after being defeated by Sedi, who was clearly stronger than him, Dragul’s fighting spirit had not been suppressed. He hadn’t given up at all, and it was clear that he was looking for an opportunity to counterattack.


    Just like… just like a human.


    “Hey, Lukas.”


    “…!!”


    The moment Sedi called Lukas’ name, Dragul raised his head. Then, he looked at Lukas in shock.


    “Lu… kas?”


    Ignoring his reaction, Sedi continued.


    “This guy is probably one of the strongest beings in this universe, right?”


    “Right.”


    Her question bothered him a bit, but Lukas still nodded.


    In the end, it was probably right.


    There was probably no human capable of dealing with Gurd on their own. The fact that there was even a title like the Five Dukes meant that these Demons were much more powerful than their peers.


    Of all the beings in this world, Dragul was definitely one of the strongest.


    “Hah.”


    Sedi’s expression became cold at his answer. She stared down at Dragul, whose face she’d been trampling beneath her foot for a while before lifting her foot away. Then, she kicked him in the stomach.


    Dragul rolled across the ground a few times before getting up and staring at Sedi, who simply smiled at his fierce re.


    “I really want to kill you, but I’ve decided to let you off the hook this once. But if you keep giving me attitude, you will die.”


    “…who the hell are you people?”


    “How strange.”


    Sedi tilted her head to the side and muttered in a soft voice.


    “You, can’t you feel what kind of ‘level of existence’ I am?”


    With Gurd’s strength, he should have felt it from the first engagement.


    The gap between his opponent and himself.


    He could never win.


    And yet, this Demon continued to disy hostility toward Sedi. Even though he could die if she decided to change her mind.


    “…right. That’s right.”


    Gurd spoke in a harsh voice, as if he was chewing the words before saying them.


    “I can feel some kind of irresistible auraing from you. And it’s likely that any Demon weaker than me would have no choice but to obey you.”


    Unless they were too weak to recognise the difference in levels like those whom she had killed before.


    Sedi couldn’t help but make a puzzled expression.


    “Then why?”


    “The only being I will ever obey is the Demon King.”


    “So you would follow only the Demon King, even if it meant that you would die here?”


    “That’s right.”


    Lukas was speechless.


    There wasn’t even the slightest waver in Dragul’s voice,


    This wasn’t fear or brainwashing. It was true obedience that came from the heart. No, it was devotion(1).


    He never expected to see this in a Demon.


    “…”


    Sedi’s expression became strange.


    In the entire multiverse, the race known as Demons only had one truly ruler. The ck Horned Demon God.


    This was natural. After all, the ck Horned Demon God was the first Demon. An embodiment of the purest hatred. And regardless of where they were born, all demonic beings were bound to him in a simr manner to the way one would be bound to their parents or ancestors. It was an inherent rtionship that could not be ignored or rejected.


    For example, if Sedi were to encounter a demonic being who was a higher level of existence than she was while exploring the multiverse, she would have no choice but to obey them.


    There was only one reason for this.


    Because that was what the ck Horned Demon God wanted.


    And so was this.


    It was the will of the ck Horned Demon God that caused these Demons to invade this universe.


    She wasn’t certain if he had predicted that the Great Game would begin soon and nned this invasion, but it was clear that these Demons were the Demon God’s creation, his children.


    And yet, this being did not obey Sedi. There was only hatred and hostility in his gaze.


    What was the reason?


    Was it the presence of the Demon King who made them submit to him?


    Was it an unexpected change caused by a random probability?


    Or perhaps… it had a connection to the uing Great Game.


    Sedi wasn’t sure. And she also had the feeling that she wouldn’t be able to think of the answer regardless of how hard she tried.


    “Ha.”


    She snorted.


    Deep thinking had never been her specialty. And she wasn’t interested in it.


    In any case, she understood one thing.


    ‘Capable of killing me?’


    It was nonsense.


    Look at Gurd. He was one of the strongest beings in this universe, and yet, he was barely able to scratch her.


    If Sedi had fought with her full strength instead of being so careful, the stupid fight would have been even more ridiculous.


    It wouldn’t have even been a fight.


    ‘Letip was wrong.’


    There was no threat to her life in this world. It simply didn’t exist.


    She turned her head to look at Lukas. He seemed to be using some kind of magic to hide his rough appearance, but it wasn’t difficult for her to see his true self beneath it.


    “My business is over.”


    “…what?’


    “I said my business with you is over.”


    Her pride had been bruised.


    Sedi clicked her tongue.


    She should never have taken that bastard Letip’s words seriously. She couldn’t believe that she’d be apprehensive and worriedly sought out this man.


    It was the first time that she’d thought about relying on someone other than the Demon God she followed.


    That fact made her feel even more humiliated.


    She didn’t want to stay there any longer. Just looking at Lukas’ face made her feel extremely ufortable.


    “I’m leaving. Don’t forget our promise. You can’t kill this guy.”


    After saying those words, Sedi turned around and left without hesitation. It seemed that she was nning to directly return to Northern Irnd.


    “…”


    After she left, silence fell upon the alley.


    Lukas looked at the still panting Gurd, and Gurd looked right back at him.


    “…are you the same as that woman?”


    “…”


    When he didn’t receive an answer, a strange light shone in Gurd’s eyes.


    “I’d felt a strange presence. It was strange, but at the same time, it felt familiar… That’s why I came here. I thought that I wouldn’t know what it was unless I checked for myself.”


    He was probably talking about Sedi.


    She and Gurd were both beings created by the Demon God, so it was not strange that he’d find her aura familiar.


    But Gurd’s next words proved that Lukas’ spection might not have been correct.


    “At first, I thought it was that woman. And even after fighting her, I didn’t think I was wrong.”


    The fact that he spoke in past tense made Lukas feel strange.


    It was as though he was saying that the familiar feeling didn’t juste from Sedi alone.


    Gurd stared deeply at Lukas.


    Then, he said something that even Lukas had trouble responding to.


    “But after she left, I finally realised. The familiar presence that I felt wasn’t from that woman. It was from you.”


    (Note:


    1. Just a slight exnation, because this sentence was a bit hard to properly rewrite in english. The words the author used that I tranted as ‘obedience’ and ‘devotion’, in a sense, actually mean the same thing. They can both be tranted as ‘obedience’. The difference is their usage. The first, tranted as ‘obedience’, means obedience to a master(like from a ve)… or like a soldier to their superior. The second, tranted as ‘devotion’, is more like obedience to God. So basically, what it’s saying, is that Gurd, and possibly the other Five Dukes, basically view the Demon King as their God.


    I felt that it was a really impactful sentence that lost some of its true meaning in trantion, so I decided to just exin a bit.)