The Youkai King

III

Amaterasu wanted to release a tired sigh. It should not come as a surprise seeing how quickly the situation went out of her control. Not only the major Gods and Goddesses, but also all the deities of Shinto Religion wanted to meet Naruto. She had to magically expand the interior of the Royal Palace to accommodate everyone. She could not blame them though. Although they had chosen or sent countless of Champions beforehand, none were powerful enough to match those from other factions’ champions. But this time it was different. And even the lowest level deity could see it, or in this case, sense it.

Naruto, even in his soul form, was almost as powerful as Amaterasu herself. And then there was his reputation of being the Savior of his previous world. His achievements and character awed everyone, but at the same time raised some concerns. Especially Susanoo, he asked some doubtful questions. Blunt as always. But he had his points. After all, if Naruto was as strong as their leader just in his soul form, he would easily surpass her when he would get a body. If so, then what would stop him from going against them?

She had answers ready for those kinds of questions but she liked how Naruto handled it, it had much more impact than her ready-made words.

“Look, I sacrificed a lot by coming here to help you guys. If you have any doubts or problems, just send me back. I don’t want to create conflicts with the people I am helping, and I am sure, you don’t want to be constantly wary of your own Champion.”

With that, he sat down… on the ground… and asked that if anyone had problems with him or even have minor doubts about his motives, they were more than welcome to come up to him and have a chat. That was not all. He also pointed out that he wanted to get to know everyone, be it a major god or goddess or a low ranking deity. Needless to say, his popularity skyrocketed within half a day. And any doubts that anyone had about him were washed away. Even Susanoo grudgingly accepted him.

But what they did not know that, even in his soul form, Naruto was a lot stronger than Amaterasu. But just to be on the safe side, she taught Naruto how to hide his power in his soul form. She even gave him a beads bracelet, enchanted by her, to help him with the task.

The outcome of the first meeting between Naruto and the rest of the Shinto faction went better that she had expected. Yes, the outcome was good but it went out of control, in a really good but tiring way. The gods, goddesses, the deities did not want to leave Naruto alone. At the end, she had to put her foot down and dismiss the meeting to almost everyone’s displeasure.

Now, she was heading toward where Naruto was temporarily resting, which was her office room. Very few had access to that room but Naruto was a very special guest. As she was opening the door, Amaterasu hoped Naruto was not too tired with all the talks, which stretched to few days. But against all her expectation, she saw Naruto deeply focused on her working table. She did not know why he was so fascinated with something so simple.

Naruto turned to her and gave her a silent bow, before retreating back to his chair.

“Thank you for what you have done out there,” Amaterasu stated before even sitting down, “You really wiped out all the doubts they had and proved your conviction to everyone.”

“I just don’t want my reincarnation to create any kinds of conflicts, at least not for you.” Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

“Ohoo~” Amaterasu raised an eyebrow delicately as she sat down.

“Well, sometimes these small doubts can give birth to larger suspicions which can lead to fear and then finally to conflicts. But the funny thing is, all of these can be avoided if everyone gets to know each other well, maybe over an informal meal or over some idle talks.” Naruto explained, his face held a small smile.

“Are you talking from experience?”

Naruto did not answer that, just chuckled all the while he brushed the back of his head. Amaterasu noticed that he usually would do that when he was embarrassed or would feel awkward.

“And for that, once again, I thank you.” Amaterasu gave a sincere smile as she spoke those words.

She paused for a few seconds before finally touching the topic, for which she asked Naruto to meet her privately, “I know you need your rest but I need to confirm these with you.”

With that, she gave a paper to Naruto.

“Those who were marked as ‘Legends’ in your world, I could not bring their souls. Other than them, rests were fine.” A sly smile formed on her face as she started describing, “But I was still able to hassle out two more souls. So, in total, I got four souls, including you that is.”

Naruto’s eyes snapped to meet Amaterasu, and a while later, his smile matched her, “I am not gonna ask how you did that, but thank you. And,” Naruto slightly shifted in his chair, “I don’t want to sound narcissist but I was marked as ‘Legend’, right? So how …”

“Well, for you,” She released a deep breath, dramatically, “Let’s just say, I had to go through a lot of hassles and keep it at that.”

From the look Naruto gave Amaterasu, she could see that he wanted to know, but she was glad that he dropped it for now. But she knew that later at some point he would ask her again without any intention of backing down.

Naruto looked down at the paper again. And just from his eyes, she could see what he was truly feeling as he read through the names of the souls she was able to bring here. His feature turned very gentle one time, and next, he just gave a small chuckle. Another time his lips just curved upwards but at the end, his eyebrows shot up. He blinked few times then looked back at her.

“I personally asked all those souls, written there, if they want to come over to this side to join you on your next adventure. I explicitly told them the costs of such choice. And yet, they all agreed.” Amaterasu leaned back on her chair, smiling back at her emotional champion, “But do remember that after their rebirth, even though the soul will be the same, they will have different names, different viewpoints, and different looks. The chances of being exactly the same like before, without a god’s intervention, are less than one percent. Of course, I am talking about appearance-wise. Yes, they may have different personality but at their core, they will be almost the same person.”

She thought he would take some time to think it over. But his answer was instantaneous, “I will accept and love them all the same, no matter what. And I am sure they will do the same without any hesitation.”

Amaterasu nodded at those words, and give Naruto some time as he once again went over those names. Finally she started again, “And this contains all the information regarding your new body.”

With a small smile, Naruto gently put the paper that he was holding to his side. Then he took the next one. But before even opening it, he looked at her, “Why did you not bring my old body? I mean, I am appreciating what you are doing but wouldn’t it be better if you just bring my old body here and do some magic voodoo on it or something?”

Amaterasu laughed openly at that. It seemed that Naruto still did not understand the concept of ‘Magic’. But it was understandable, and it was her job to guide him as much as she could. But first, “I told you about how I traveled to your universe, right?”

“Yah~,” Naruto scratched his chin with his right hand, as his left was holding the new paper, “You found an artifact around three hundred years ago? After the ‘Great War’ between ‘The Three Factions’, right?”

“Yes,” She nodded her head, “Not just us actually, I heard that other factions also found quite a few artifacts as well. I am not sure why, but we think the balance of the world shifted somehow during or after that battle and resulted in the birth of these artifacts. But that is not the main point. The artifact we found allowed us to visit few other worlds, spiritually of course, especially if the world had a strong similarity to our culture or religion. And one of those world was yours. Now, as I traveled there spiritually, I could not bring your body or anything worldly since my power was restricted depending on the universe; I could just bring the souls.”

“I see,” Naruto nodded with a thoughtful look. Quickly, he composed himself and asked the next question, “Isn’t there any way for you to travel physically? I mean to other worlds?”

She chuckled at the questions, of course she saw this coming, “I will give you the details later but for now let’s just say to leave our world, our universe we will have to pass through a gate. And the gatekeeper there is one of the three strongest beings in our universe s. These Three Beasts, as every god and goddess like to call them, are so strong that their names are not even on the ‘Core Stone’.”

Naruto was listening to her words with fascination but suddenly he interrupted, which was very rare, “Core Stone?”

“Ahh~ That is a large stone situated at the core of the Earth which has the names of the ‘Top Ten Strongest Beings in the World’. You can see it after every hundred years. Biblical God created it to maintain the peace between the Gods. I do not know what made him think so, and I doubt anybody knows. I will explain the details later.” Amaterasu explained. It seemed that she got a bit sidetracked.

Naruto hummed but did not say anything. After a while he asked another question, “These ‘Three Beasts’ are the strongest here?”

“Yes, but like I said, we will have a thorough discussion about it later, along with the ‘Top Ten Strongest Beings in the World’. But now I want you to look at the body I am preparing for you.” Amaterasu pointed at the paper that Naruto was holding with her eyes.

Naruto blushed as he rubbed the back of his head again, and soon started going through the paper. She could see the questions forming but he did not ask them immediately, rather he went through the full report. After he was done, he put down the paper. But instead of throwing the questions, he just looked at the paper with a thoughtful expression.

Finally, the first question came, “Why ‘Oni’?”

“You wanted me to reincarnate you using a ‘Kitsune’ body, right? But unfortunately, there are some complications. You know that our universe has many kinds of beings, right?” Seeing Naruto nodding at her question, Amaterasu paused for a moment, “I will try to keep things simple, for now. I do not want to overwhelm you with information.”

“Thank you for the consideration, Lady Amaterasu,” Naruto smiled at her, “Again, not to brag, but I was a Hokage. So I think I can take it.”

Amaterasu chuckled hearing that, “If you say so,” Still, she paused one more time to quickly organize the information in her mind, “Our universe has many kinds of beings, of different origins. So it should not come as a surprise that we have different types of energy, power-sources if that makes sense. We have total of six types of energy. Divine energy used by the Gods and Goddesses; Draconic energy used by the dragons. Light and Dark energy which are respectively used by beings of Light and Darkness. And then we have regular energy that can be used by Humans. The strongest types are the Divine energy and the Draconic energy. And they have their own categories as well. I will not dive into that, not today. I will explain it later with demonstration.”

“Sounds fair,” Naruto nodded his head, “But, you said there are six types.”

“The last one is Life energy. It is also known as life-force and Chakra. But there is something you should know, Chakra here is not the same as the one from your world. It has some similarities with the natural energy of your world, but again I must stress, it is different. So, you should treat it as something new.”

Naruto simply nodded back.

“So, coming back to the main question, why am I using an ‘Oni’ type of body? It is because of all the mixtures. As per your request, I will be adding some soul-samples from your world into your new body. Unfortunately, not all youkai bodies were acceptable to this union. After much research, it turned out that a ‘Kijin’ type of ‘Oni’ is the best choice. That particular type of Oni can also obtain Divine energy. So, that is the reason.”

There was more information, but she left them out deliberately seeing how tired Naruto looked. She would take her time later and tell everything, there was no need to rush.

“I see,” Naruto slowly nodded his head.

“Don’t worry,” Amaterasu chuckled lightly, “You will not have a gigantic body or a hideous face. You will look exactly like your previous self, I will make sure of it, but you will have some minor physical alterations.”

Naruto sighed as his fingers tapped the table, rhythmically. She could see that he was processing all this, so she let him be. Finally, he stopped tapping the table and looked at Amaterasu.

“If you believe this is the best, then I think you should proceed.”

Amaterasu nodded at Naruto, satisfied that he had no problem with her choices. But she could not help but ask, “Are you sure that you are okay with those soul-samples?”

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, “Well, I did want the soul-sample of someone like Madara just to have some fun with his power. But I think his soul fell into the category of ‘Legend’. But still for you to get these two soul-samples are more than I could ask for.”

As long as he was happy, she was fine with that. But she did not know why all the soul-samples he wanted were from the souls of those two particular ‘Clans’,

Senju and Uchiha.

Guess she would find out later why he wanted to combine the soul-samples from these two clans.

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X

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The Avalon Kingdom

Almost everyone was present at the round table. Everyone was waiting for him, their king, to start. And even though they wore blank expressions, Naruto could feel that they were anything but calm.

“Three nights ago,” The moment Naruto started, everyone shifted on their seats, “Kuroka, a turned devil, killed her master. The reason for her action was that her master wanted to perform questionable research on her young sister, even though he agreed before not to touch her. It started as a heated argument which quickly turned into a brawl to a death battle, all because the devil just did not back down. After his death, the whole clan descended upon her and she was barely able to get out of there alive. While she was on the run, she made the decision to come to Avalon. It was not to seek asylum for her, rather she wanted us to make a deal on behalf of her. She would turn herself in if we can protect her younger sister.”

The corner of Naruto’s lips twitched when he felt the tension in the room rising, regardless he needed to continue, “The first thing we did when we took her in was to send a message to the Nekoshou Clan and Kuro Oni clan since they were in the underworld. Next, we started to create a team that was to reach out to the devils. Before the team could officially go to the underworld, a reply message from the Kuro Oni clan came but not from the Nekoshou clan. Despite everyone saying otherwise, despite knowing it was a hasty and spontaneous decision, I went to the Underworld, to the Nekoshou clan compound.”

Naruto stopped, unintentionally, as the images flashed before his eyes once again. The dead and the violated bodies of the Nekoshou lying all around him, their spirits crying out to him, in despair… in rage.

He had lived through the Fourth Shinobi War from his old universe, he had lived through the Great War from his current universe. He was used to deaths, and of the nefarious acts of vile monsters. But that did not mean he was used to it. No sane being could get used to this.

“All the Nekoshou were killed; they were killed in their own compound,” Yasaka spoke up from his side, taking the spotlight away from him. His gaze went toward her. It seemed like she understood the turmoil inside him and decided to lead the discussion.

“From what we had gathered so far,” Yasaka continued, “One hour after Kuroka’s escape, few devils unofficially formed a large group to raid the Nekoshou compound. Their motives are unclear as of now. But, the names of the suspects can be found in the report,” Yasaka pointed at the unopened thick files in front of everyone, “The Nekoshou were caught off-guard during the attack, and they were outnumbered. The fight escalated because the Nekoshou fought back viciously thinking that their assailants are strays. And by now, all of you already know about the outcome of that battle,” Yasaka took a deep breath before again pointing at the files, “Again, all the details are in the report. The timeframe, names of the suspects who led the attack and the ones who joined the attack.”

Yasaka paused and Jiraiya immediately picked up, “After securing the compound, our king and I came up with a quick plan to intercept the execution of the Shirone, the younger sister of Kuroka. After rescuing the young Shirone, our king approached the Satan and the devils with the full intention to hear them out. They spit on his goodwill, figuratively,” Jiraiya let out a cold smile, “So, our king broke their strongest devil, literally.”

When Jiraiya stopped, no one else picked up after him. For a moment, only heavy silence reigned inside the room.

“So, what is our next course of action?” Silvia Lightwood, another Fae of the Old, asked.

“We fight back!” Magari, the Nekomata with seven tails growled out her words, “We tore off the façade of the new devils and show the world that these vile beings did not change,” Her vicious gaze turned to the only empty seat, “It seems, even though this meeting is of utmost importance, we have an absentee.”

“I know you are livid, Magari, more than any of us. And you have every right to be,” Yasaka’s gentle voice placated the angry Nekomata, somewhat at least, “As for our absentee, none of us here can deny his remarkable contributions to our kingdom,” Yasaka pointed at the empty seat, “But keep in mind that, when he joined us, he was quite resolute to maintain his neutrality.”

“A neutrality he cannot maintain, not this time. He must choose a side.”

“And the way current events are transpiring, he will,” Jiraiya interrupted with that smug tone of his. A tone everyone was familiar with. He knew something that others did not know, not yet.

“Do you have something to share,” August spoke up from the side.

The smug look on Jiraya’s face, in an instant, turned into a calculative one, “Just know this, if the current situation goes to an extreme state, he will not betray us, and he will not help the devils, not without letting us know about it,” He raised his arm to stop Magari from interrupting him, “And that is all we can ask of him… for now.”

The silence fell onto the room once again. Naruto knew that they were, again, waiting for him.

“We had a contract, a solid one, which should have ensured the safety of the Nekoshou clan. But it did not,” It was hard to keep his emotions in check, Naruto knew why, but he pressed on, “If the roles were reversed, they would have demanded the heads of the culprits. And if we were to disagree, they would have invaded our lands and taken the heads forcedly. They would have trampled on our land as if it was theirs. They would flaunt their might and show us, to our face, how insignificant we are. And then, they would tell the world that they had only done what was right… Nothing more, nothing less.”

Naruto smiled, an empty and hollow one, “So we will do the same to them… Nothing more, nothing less.”

The decision was made. The goal was clear. Honestly, it was quite clear from the start when he saw the stance of the devils in the stadium. But now, it was his job to choose the best path leading to that goal.

The path where his people come out on the top with the least amount of bloodshed.

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X

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The Underworld

Zekram Bael’s gaze went toward the door when he heard the footsteps. A moment later, Ajuka opened the said door and came inside, his face was stiff and he looked apologetic as he addressed their guest, “I am sorry Sun Wukong, but it seems Sirzechs cannot come because his meeting with the Clan Heads is not going to end anytime soon. I hope me being his replacement will not hinder our discussion.”

Ajuka’s lies were all part of his plan. They were trying their hardest to hide the fact that Sirzechs lost so badly in a fight that he went into coma. If that information were to leak, he would lose a lot of political cards, which Zekram was sure that the devils needed the most at this time.

But it would all go to waste if his hunch regarding the Youkai faction would be proven wrong. And this was where Sun Wukong came in.

“It is better this way I suppose,” Sun Wukong then turned toward the last member inside this private room, “Before we start, here is my end of the deal. After this, my debt to you, Mephisto, and in extension to ‘The Devil Faction’ will be fully cleared. Also keep in mind that I will not be revealing anything that I am sworn to keep as a secret.”

Just from those words, Zekram understood that one of his premonitions was on spot as well as how the discussion would turn out. It seemed that Naruto Ōtsutsuki did not reveal the fact that he defeated Sirzechs Lucifer.

“I hope you will not deny answering most of our questions under the guise that you are to keep them as secrets,” Zekram pointed out.

Wukong snorted openly at him, “Please do not compare my honor to yours.”

It was an insulting comment and gesture, but to Zekram it had no effect. He turned toward Mephisto and nodded who got the hint.

“Sun Wukong, could you tell us what you know about ‘The Youkai Faction’?” Mephisto asked.

The smile on Sun Wukong’s face after hearing the question greatly worried Zekram. ‘How ignorant you are’ was what the old monkey’s expression was telling him.

“You really do not know anything, do you?” Just as he feared, that was how Wukong answered. But without waiting for anyone, he continued, taking a blow from his old pipe, “There is no more ‘The Youkai Faction’. What all of you are looking for is ‘The Avalon Kingdom’. The kingdom was formed ten years ago when Naruto Ōtsutsuki married Lady Yasaka, who, at that time was the Leader of the former Youkai Faction. It is not clear but I believe that ‘The Shinto Faction’ has some hands in this unification since the capital city of ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ is called ‘Amaterasu’. How much support did they give, now that is something no one knows as of yet.”

Zekram frowned. The severity of the situation just became worse if the Shinto Faction was allied with the Avalon Kingdom.

Wukong took another puff and went on, “I have seen many wonders around the supernatural world, but I have never seen such a miracle. The city… Amaterasu. Every corner, every street, every building has a charm of its own... has its own story to tell. But what struck to me was the people. It did not matter if you have horns or tails, white wings or black wings, light energy or dark energy, hideous face or exquisite features; everyone was mingling with one another casually and had silent respect for others. There were no masks, no hiding, everyone was going on with their daily lives in their true forms. Yes, a lot of them were Youkai, but it did not look like they had any special privilege because of their race,” He chuckled at the end, “There is so much but I do not think I can describe it with words alone.”

“Can you tell us where their capital is?” Ajuka asked.

Zekram frowned again but this time he did not show it through his outer appearance. He knew that it was the wrong question to ask and just as he thought,

“That I cannot tell.” The answer was fast and short.

“I am sure that by now you know of our…”

Ajuka was rudely cut off as Sun Wukong snorted at him, even though his eyes could not be seen because of the strange shades he was wearing, Zekram could tell that thee old monkey’s gaze held no respect toward them.

“Yes, everyone, every supernatural faction, knows about ‘The Nekoshou Massacre’; but not from the devils’ perspectives,” Sun Wukong let out a humorless chuckle.

Zekram could feel the blood draining from his face. It could not be.

The old monkey continued on, “I think by today early hours, every faction, from top governors to mere civilians, learned about the massacre. ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ has released copies of the agreement you had with them, along with the statement of the supposed convict Kuroka. They also released pictures of the Nekoshou clan compound, or whatever was left of it.” The sneer on Sun Wukong’s face was clear this time, “No one is buying the bullshit you are spreading.”

This was the worst outcome that Zekram could expect.

The devils had royally fucked up. There was no sugarcoating this event. Was he frustrated at what the devils did? No. The Devils were the embodiment of Seven Sins. They were bound to do immoral deeds. Telling a devil to follow a righteous path was like telling a wild tiger to go vegan. It was just not possible. So, he was not frustrated at what the devils did, but he was irritated at how they did it. This was not the first time where some devils, be it the older generation or the younger one, would group up together to perform malicious activities. But those were all done in secrecy. If someone would slip in any way, then they would shrewdly shift the blame on the stray.

After all, they had an image to maintain.

But this time, the incident went out of control. If it was a skirmish… heck even a nasty battle would have been fine; but massacre out in the open? Something was amiss.

After the declaration of the youkai king, he immediately did some personal investigation. He already knew all the names of the devils who were there. So he quickly organized a private meeting with the older ones that participated in this mess. What he understood was that it was the younger ones who initiated this fight. And it was not clear, but some of the older devils pointed out that it felt like they were being incited.

And that was all he needed to know. It did not matter to him if the incitement was strong or weak, or that at the end the acts were carried out by the devils only; as long as he could use some solid points to shift the blame or at least defend themselves.

So Zekram asked Serafall, since she oversaw Foreign Affairs, to spread out the details of ‘The Nekoshou Incident’. Of course, it had some slight fabrication and it put the blame on a third party. For the time being, they were pinning the blame on the Old Devils. But the reasons he included should have been solid. Of course, to increase the validity of his claims, he asked a lot of the guilty devils to examine their minds. The results, of course, were slightly altered to show that they were ensnared by some sorts of spells.

Even though Serafall had an issue with her behavior, he trusted her capabilities. But for ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ to spread the news faster than them, and to more factions, told him just how competent they were. It seemed like he kept underestimating them.

“Who do you believe?” Mephisto asked.

“You have to understand something here Mephisto,” Wukong turned toward Mephisto, his voice grim, “First and foremost, the severity of the situation cannot be taken lightly. Yes, the whole thing started because of the crime of one Nekoshou. Yes, the fight was initiated by some devils. But this is a massacre we are talking about. A massacre carried out by the devil on foreign soil. And the worst part is that the Devil Faction did not inform ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ what transpired here. You went on to execute a little girl to please your own people. What was the rational thinking behind this?”

Zekram did not say anything. He knew that the way the old monkey was behaving, he would not trust a single word from him… or from any devils.

“Now if this is all, then I will be leaving.”

Before Sun Wukong could get up, Ajuka stopped him, “You know, you did not tell us anything other than their faction’s name.”

Sun Wukong did not stop. He got up, took a long puff and then turned toward Ajuka, “Naruto Ōtsutsuki, the first king of ‘The Avalon Kingdom’, is believed to have reached the ranks of the ‘Top ten Strongest Beings in the World’. The might of their military is quite unknown but I heard that the mightiest individuals of the Kingdom are given a title, known as ‘Daiyōkai’. It is similar to how you,” The old monkey pointed at Ajuka, “Use the name ‘Beelzebub’ as a title. From what I heard that quite a few of the ‘Daiyōkai’ titleholders are Ultimate class youkai. And from what I have seen, I can clearly tell that they are the most advanced faction in terms of magic and technology. Lastly, I pointed out this before but it seemed it eluded your mind, but the Kingdom may be associated with the Shinto Faction.”

When he was done, he took another puff, “Is that enough boy?”

Silence fell upon the room, but just for a moment. Zekram looked at Wukong, “As a guest, we are showing as much hospitality as we can whereas you are doing nothing but belittling us. Do realize who you are speaking to?”

A pause… before Wukong burst into laughter; not a mocking one but a genuine laughter, “And here I thought that you devils have changed. But it seems I was wrong. It was always about you first, everyone else later.” His laughter turned into small chuckles, “I do realize who you are, but do you realize who I am and who I serve currently?”

Then his gaze swept through the room.

“I will take my leave now.”

And he did not wait for a second longer as Sun Wukong was gone through a custom teleportation spell.

The room once again became silent.

After some time passed, Zekram stood up and without saying a word, he left the meeting room.

Zekram directly came to his private chamber. Contrary to his whole compound or any of his other personal rooms, this was a very simple room. It did not have many things, including furniture, but there was one object that stood out from the rest. Silently he walked toward the chair, and before sitting down, his fingers gently brushed the arm of the chair. This habit was formed two hundred years ago, when the new Satan drove the original ones away; and he finally got what he always wanted.

Lucifer’s Chair,

The symbol of true authority,

And a reminder that he was not a mere servant anymore.

His reminiscing about the past stopped when he saw the table in front of him.

The table was custom-made, to match the chair. On top of it there was a chessboard and the pieces were placed neatly on their starting place; except the black side was missing the king. He waved his hand over the board and the two black bishop pieces vanished.

Day one, after the massacre, the strongest devil ever to live was soundly defeated.

Day two, after the massacre, the two hundred years of the clean political image of ‘The Devil Faction’ was tarnished.

“Five more days, hmm~”

Zekram sat down on the chair.

In a chess game, the death of a king would result in an instant defeat. Because that was the rule. But the reality was completely different. Since in the actual world, there were no rules, no limitations. He had lived for thousands of years. He saw firsthand that victory could still be achieved with a single pawn piece, of course it was very rare. It was not easy to get back up when his side was in pieces… but it was not impossible either.

So would they get the final victory? The thought made Zekram laugh; a faction which was created since the birth of men, against a ten years old Kingdom. Still, he would have to tread carefully. He had already underestimated them twice.

His mind then went back to the core of the problem. The incident had one abnormality. Someone or something or some organization subtly initiated the massacre, in a way that would put the full blame on the Devil faction. And it was done perfectly, a ten out of ten in execution, if Zekram was being honest. But, the question was, who was this third-party targeting? Was it ‘The Devil Faction’? If so, the culprits would be the descendants of the original Satan. But the only devil who could pull this off was Rizevim. The conclusion made him concerned. After all, Rizevim was every bit of shrewd like his father and Zekram. One of the main reasons, they won the civil war was because Rizevim did not participate directly. Zekram was sure that even if he joined the war they could still win, but with a lot more casualties.

But what if the enemy was after ‘The Avalon Kingdom’?

Regardless, it was time to pull some strings. Even if the Kingdom got two strikes first, he had no intention of giving them the third one.