[I made quite a small chapter this time, since i couldn't find enough material to cram in here. Fair warning, i want to make this story quite slow, although it may not be as slow as i think. Enjoy and thx for reading!]

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With just a few words, all the respect, fear and admiration I had for the woman crumbled down, leaving behind just scorn at her words.

Demon Lord? Even jokes have their limits.

“I’m thankful to you for saying me, but it seems you have got the wrong person. I apologise for troubling you.”

I bowed and apologized to her, in order to quickly leave and let this woman do whatever she wished to do.

“Nay. The noble blood of his highness Neeram shall not be mistaken by us. Without doubt, the blood of our Master Neeram flows in thy veins, powering thy existence”

“True. I might be related to the demon lord, but to designate me as his direct descendant is too wrong. I’m nothing but an experiment, a play on creating an artificial being”

“Artificial or not, in this world, thou art the closest to our master.”

“Master?”

“Forgive us. We are Sylvia Zoltive, the Pegasus, the retainer of his highness Neeram Ellris Zoltive”

“Re-retainer of the Demon Lord?”

Retainer of the Demon Lord?! If I reported her presence…. Nothing would change. In the end, I’m the useless creation from a failed experiment. Even if they believed my words, they would find some excuse to execute me for treason. The only reason I’m left alive is only in order to maintain the Church’s public image, and nothing more. As soon as they find a reason, no matter how impossible it may seem, my head will be rolling.

“I- I see”

I could only reply as such. Because this person, this, Sylvia, she alone, without a doubt, could entirely destroy this kingdom, merely because it suited her fancy.

“Master Nexus, please realize it. Thou art of royal blood, and the blood is of the great Demon Lord.”

“Wh-why do you need me?”

“The revival of Ascalon.”

She replied solemnly, her expression turned serious all of a sudden.

Ascalon. The empire which once was the greatest power in all of the continents. And I am its prince. But, since the Ascalon empire is nothing but a relic of the past now, my royal standing is also similar.

“Isn’t Ascalon, well…”

“That is why, it is to be revived. And a country needs its king. And an empire needs an emperor. Thy do understand what we mean?”

Haaah. In the end, it was all just to make me a public figure. A tool. I did hate the way my life is now, but at least I could pride myself on being my own master.

I could only sneer at the woman who came to make me a tool.

“Sylvia-san, I cannot comply with your request. I’m sorry, but please leave me alone”

“We’re afraid that is not possible. Thy art the last remaining of the royal blood, and the last required piece.”

“I see. Then, even Sylvi- no Pegasus san should know the requirements of becoming an emperor.”

“?”

“Strength. In the end, an emperor is the symbol of an unstoppable strength, a force to be reckoned with. And, with me as an emperor, well,..”

I gesture at my sickly looking body, and look back at her. She looks at me, her expression unreadable.

“We shall see to it. By the time of thine coronation, we will make thou a force to be reckoned with”

She fires my words back at me, her expression still unreadable.

“I understand why you need to use me, but I’m only one of the experiments. The others are still alive, just like me. I’m the failure of a series of failures. A body with capabilities weaker than that of a normal human’s, and my mana pool is nonexistent.”

I reason with her, hoping that she would just back down. But no. I remembered. The curse which affected me—

“That is of no consequence. Thine black hair and eyes of fire are all that we need. Forget making thou stronger, we only need thine image.”

Her words. Minute by minute, they’re ticking me off. Even if I have no chance of beating her in a fight, my body was tingling, filled with desire to defeat this woman who spoke to me as if I were a tool.

I hate it.

Before I knew it, my voice had gone cold.

“Revival of Ascalon? As if I care. You revive your own country, not drag someone who has no relation whatsoever into it. Or has the pride of the great Ascalon empire died to this extent?”

“But thine blood is—“

“My blood is not mine. I myself am nothing but an artificial lifeform. A being created through magic. A failure created by magic. Ascalon is a dead empire. An empire of fools and one which has no relation with me.”

Revive Ascalon? Bah! I couldn’t care less about some country that abandoned me. When I lived in these slums for all the 14 years of my life, there was no person from Ascalon to save me. If anything, the existence of Ascalon only made my life worse.

My words seemed to have struck a nerve, since the person before me has been leaking a tremendous amount of killing intent. Her beautiful azure eyes were replaced with eyes of unmistakable wrath, as she stared down at me. My legs trembled from her stare, but I stayed my ground, refusing to budge.

“Thine courage is admirable, to speak of the great Ascalon as such before us, without a shred of fear.”

She stops and ponders, maybe thinking up her next move. She was an existence I had no hope of even touching, and this person was obviously not happy with me.

“We’re afraid we have to take thine suggestion. We will listen to your advice.”

Huh? I could only look perplexed at her words. What advice did I give?

“We shall search for another of the royal blood, and we shall make him the Emperor of Ascalon.”

A replacement strategy huh. Fine. Just leave me alone.

“So for now, won’t thou die?”

“GUHAAA!!”

I could only look down at my torso, where out of nowhere, a large hole opened up. Almost 30 cm in diameter, it went through my chest, like a see through hole. My blood drenched the mud, and I could taste the blood welling up in my mouth.

I collapse onto my knees, still looking at the ghastly wound. Red flesh and a thick liquid dripped down, and I could see something white in the midst of it. My bones huh.

I cough up the blood, and put my arms on the floor. My entire body was shaking, as if it couldn’t even begin to bear the damage. My arms were trembling, threatening to let me fall.

A sharp pain hit my shoulder as the bone that popped out took on the strain of my body weight. I collapsed onto my side, gasping for the air I could never breathe.

I look up at the woman, my vision defocused. Her eyes were filled with happiness at my fallen state. Shit. Shit. Shit.

I could only stare at her, as the blood gushed out of me and my vision faded.

The last thing I saw was her face, that despicable and hateful face.