Volume 6: Chapter 5: Meeting of Demon Lords (Part 3)

Rangon Aiu: "The recent activity of humans is very alarming. Many of their warriors attacked my territories"

Shin Palak: "Mine as well. Their Holy Knights had become quite a hassle to deal with"

Sacronus Kanat: "There is a rumor that heroes have appeared. Those who shall not rest until the Demon Kingdom has fallen"

Rangon: "Sounds a little ridiculous, don't you think? Our ancestors battled against three dozen of the so-called heroes. A few heroes will not make much of a difference"

Sacronus: "If the sources are valid, these heroes have received Divine Blessings. Somehow, they have managed to tap into the power of the gods of another world. You all know what this means"

Implication of his words was crystal clear.

The threat of gods might be looming over them once again.

Nine hundred years ago, demon-kind fled to this world just to escape from gods. Beating them on their own world was an impossible task, so running away to another world was the only option, for the sake of survival.

If the human heroes of this world managed to obtain Divine Blessings, it meant one of the two things: either that the humanity found a way to contact the gods of another world or a god of another world has come to this world.

Either way, it was dire news.

When the gods managed to invade into this world in the past, only a few managed to break through. But even a small number of deities managed to give humanity enough power to wage war upon the entire Demon Kingdom.

In the end, the gods were defeated, but the demons suffered heavy losses as well.

As someone who actually participated in that war two hundred years ago, Sento knew exactly what awaited them if they let the humanity and gods have their way.

Even one deity could be a game changer for humanity.

After Serena was sealed away within the diamond stone, Sento hoped that all the matters of gods could be left behind.

But if more gods of Alem manage to invade into the realm of Sulum, then another war was inevitable.

Sento: "Are you sure about this? Was there really a deity involved?"

Sacronus: "Of that I have no doubt"

Rangon: "If humanity manages to bring such gods to our world, then the efforts of the First Demon King and her Demon Lords would have been for nothing"

Sacronus: "That is regretfully so"

Sento: "If they summoned a god, that deity must be destroyed or sealed away. We must cut off the humanity's way of communication with the realm of Alem…"

Gindan: "*Irritated* None of that even matters!"

Korgan: "Gindan?"

Before this, Korgan did not pay much attention to the meeting, opting instead to keep repeatedly replaying the spy snake's recording.

Seeing such an outburst from the leader of serpent demons was rather uncharacteristic of her.

Shin: "Is something the matter?"

Gindan: "They took my child…Altyn clan kidnapped my heir! My golden snake!"

In the Kumis clan, there is a long-held tradition of passing down the mantle to the chosen heir, the golden snake.

Among demons, there is a very noticeable pattern on how the power is passed down from parent to a child.

The general belief is that only one child out of the litter would inherit bulk of the power, while the others would be weaker by comparison.

Kumis clan practiced this belief to its logical extremes.

Due to this, each member of Kumis clan tried to have as many children as possible, but only one would inherit the 'true power', manifesting as a golden mark upon the child's neck.

After the power had been passed down, only that golden snake would have it. The parent could have more children, but none of them would inherit the true power of their line.

By taking Gindan's heir, the Altyn clan essentially took away the only candidate who could have been the future leader of the Kumis clan.

If the golden snake is not returned back to its clan, the Kumis clan will never recover their lost might.

It was a crushing blow unlike any other.

For Gindan Kumis, this matter meant the life or death of her clan, so it was obvious why she was so desperate.

Gindan: "I want my child back. I took so many mates just to have a perfect heir, if I lose my heir, my clan will never regain its strength"

Korgan's suspicions clearly hit the mark.

Gindan indeed could not find any suitable females, so she had to resort to becoming a female herself in order to conceive as many children as possible with all kinds of male mates.

It took a lot of trials and errors, but finally she managed to have herself a golden heir.

And now, the Altyn clan took away the one child who was most precious to her.

Gindan: "*Tears up* I don't even know if my little snake is still among the living…."

Korgan: "From what I know, your child is still alive"

Gindan: "?"

Korgan: "But your heir is only living on stolen time"

Gindan: "Korgan! Speak! What do you know?"

Rangon: "Do tell us, please, Korgan. This matter concerns me as well"

Sacronus: "Some of our children and grandchildren were taken. If they are still alive, we need to find a way to save them"

Korgan: "This is purely a speculation on my part, but the Altyn clan is likely to wait until the Blue Moon Festival to perform a certain ceremony"

Gindan: "What ceremony?"

Korgan: "Consuming of demons. If performed under the light of Blue Moons, the power of the sacrificed demons and the energy of their souls can be transferred to the ones performing the ceremony, permanently. You have roughly a month before the Blue Moon Festival"

Gindan: "How do we stop it?"

Korgan: "Interrupt the ceremony"

Gindan: "Against the Altyn clan?"

Korgan: "Not my problem"

Rangon: "It seems we cannot force you to aid in our plight against Jaulon"

Sento: "Not as long as he has me"

Sento was still standing on guard, waiting for the other Demon Lords to make their move.

As the matter stood now, Sento was stronger and younger than all of them, so none of them dared to make a move against Korgan.

Shin: "With the aid of the two of you, not even Jaulon would be our match"

Sento: "Why don't the four of you just fight against him yourselves?"

Shin: "We are not confident we can win. But with your aid…"

Sento: "Stop right there, lady. From what I am seeing, you guys are so full of crap"

Shin: "?"

Sento: "Four of you are simply cowards, all afraid of Jaulon. You couldn't even beat Korgan alone unless you ganged up on him, and with me here, you still have the numbers advantage, but you are too scared to act"

Sento's assessment was spot-on.

If Korgan had both of his arms, this would have been a different story altogether. Losing his dominant limb definitely made him much weaker than he was in his prime, not to mention his old age.

Hearing Sento's words, the other Demon Lords couldn't hold back their anger and shame.

Some even ended up looking down in depression.

Sento: "Out of all of you, only Korgan was brave enough to stand up against the Altyn clan"

Gindan: "But it is Korgan's heir who started this whole mess in the first place! If he did not attack the Altyn clan, none of this would be happening!"

Sento: "So what if Young Master really did attack the Altyn clan? It only shows, like father like son. Both are braver than all of you combined"

His words alone struck them like burning hot coals.

In the world of demons, might be important, but without bravery, that strength was worthless.

Demon Lords may have been powerful, more powerful than most demons, but in the end, they truly were cowards.