Chapter 75

The sky was darkened, painted a deep, bright red that seemed to seep into the very fabric of the atmosphere, casting an eerie glow over the landscape below. Clouds gathered around, not stormy but dark in a deep black color, resembling the void of space. From these abyssal clouds, rain poured down, but it wasn't ordinary rain. It was a red liquid, thick and viscous, resembling blood more than water. It dissolved upon contact with anything but air, leaving no trace behind. It fell quietly, almost hesitantly, drenching nothing and marking nothing. It felt wrong—uncanny, defying all logic. Yet, in the presence of demons emerging from the depths of hell, logic seemed irrelevant.

Xain, Marcus, and the angel stared up at the sky above the mansion, their faces illuminated by the otherworldly glow emanating from the portal. It appeared, or more accurately, tore open, revealing a swirling vortex of crimson energy that seemed to defy the laws of physics. The portal was bright, nearly as bright as the sun, but unlike the sun, it had no effect on the eyes. Out of the portal stepped twelve beings, each unique and set apart from the others. But one thing was certain: all twelve of these beings were demons, powerful ones that eclipsed the power of the priest.

"Ah," one of the demons, who bore a striking resemblance to a human man dressed in attire befitting nobility, opened his mouth, releasing a seemingly satisfied sigh. "Finally back into a material reality. How I've missed clean air," he remarked, casually twirling a loose strand of his ear-length orange hair between his fingers. With a subtle shift of his gaze downward, he directed his attention towards the current trio, accompanied by the mercenaries who had awakened from the sheer presence of these beings.

"Would you look at that, an audience to witness my arrival," the noble demon remarked with a smirk, his malevolence shining in his rose-red eyes. Another demon, humanoid in form with a masculine physique clad in full crimson-red plate armor that seemed to writhe with an unnatural energy, kneeled before the noble demon.

"My lord, what will you have us do?" The armored demon inquired, his voice deep and smooth, almost calming in its tone.

"What I expect you to do, Kazon, is to kill, butcher, destroy—general chaos to bring about more fear, rage, sadness, and what have you," the noble demon replied, dismissing the armored demon with a wave of his hand, as if he were a mere inconvenience.

"Um, a-are yo-you not go-going to acknowledge me?" Verandez, visibly trembling and heavily stuttering, managed to muster the courage to speak up.

"Of course! How could we not recognize the boy who brought us here!" replied one of the demons, its tone oddly cheery. This particular demon had a peculiar appearance—a swirling mass of darkness adorned with a bright red robe. Its mostly blank white mask bore a permanent smiley face etched onto it. Floating next to the trembling Verandez, it extended a part of its swirling, smoky body to wrap around his shoulder.

"Thank you for opening the portal to hell. Don't count on the others saying thank you because they're way too stuck up and full of themselves to do so," the demon said, patting Verandez on the shoulder, the gesture oddly comforting despite its ethereal form.

Meanwhile, the rest of the demons focused on someone else—a young girl wearing a maid dress, kneeling with tears pouring out of her eyes. Despite her tears, she wore a smile, as these were tears of joy.

"My Lord, you're here after all these years! You're finally here!" Kit? exclaimed with joy, her eyes gleaming with adoration as she looked at the noble demon. The noble demon looked at her with an uncaring smile. "Oh yeah, you were the one that was here, Eriza. Good job on getting me here," he said, though it was obvious that he didn't actually care all that much. Either Eriza didn't notice or, if she did, she didn't care. "Thank you, my lord! Your kind words have made these past two centuries worth it!" Eriza replied in joy, her devotion unwavering, as Verandez stared at her, utterly confused.

"What... What are you talking about, Kit?" Verandez asked, clearly not understanding their conversation. Eriza turned to him in annoyance. "Tch, you're so damn annoying!" she snapped, causing Verandez to reel back in surprise. "W-why are you talking t-to me like tha-that?" he asked, unsure as to why she snapped at him. "Hey, come on, Eriza, don't be mean to him. He's the one who helped us get here," said the smoke demon, defending Verandez before excitedly adding, "Oh! Can you show us how you control him? I've been wondering about that ever since you said you had that ability!"

Eriza sighed. "I don't have a reason to—" she was cut off mid-sentence. "Show it, Eriza," ordered the noble demon. Eriza immediately smiled. "Yes, my lord!" she said before walking over to Verandez, who tried to back up in fear. But Eriza grabbed his hands and said, "You're doing this to help all of us, remember?" Verandez was confused. "I am?" he asked as Eriza smiled and replied, "Yes, you are." Verandez, as if going through a reset, suddenly looked lost. "Whoa! Who are all of you? What are all of you?" he asked, as if it were his first time seeing all these demons.

"Ha! These damn monkeys are so easy to manipulate!" laughed one of the demons, his voice dripping with mockery as he directed his gaze at Verandez. With two horns protruding from his head, a masculine humanoid body, purple skin, black sclera with blood-red slit eyes, and black hair, this demon looked the most like a typical demon out of the twelve that emerged from the portal. As these words exited his mouth, every demon, excluding the noble one and the armored one, stared at him in shock.

"What was that, Arnan?" asked the noble demon, turning to the horned demon, who stopped laughing and looked at the noble demon with fear. "So-sorry, my lord, I didn't mean to—" Before he could finish, the noble demon placed a hand on his shoulder and put a finger over his lips. "Shh, you'll face your punishment later for insulting us like that," the noble demon said with a dangerous smile. "But for now, go do what you're meant to," he continued as the horned demon Arnan nodded. "Y-yes, my lord." The noble demon turned back to look down at the people below and said, "Enough talk, let's not keep the people waiting. It's time for us to do what Ercale failed to do. Let's take over Aetheria!"

Meanwhile, "I don't know if I should feel happy or insulted that none of them noticed me," remarked Mincs quietly, reflecting on the complete lack of attention she received despite being present the whole time.