It Starts With A Banquet

10 years had passed since Lothair found a way to suppress the effect of his healing spell. Although with every repression attempt that he made, the amount of pain that he needed to take to counteract the sanity was also increasing.

It came to the point where he made his specialized priest gown filled with barbed steels — a portable iron maiden with gruesome mechanisms that constantly caused an extreme amount of mortal torment on his inner organs such as livers, lungs, heart, and many more painful acupuncture latching permanent beneath his skin.

And as a result, his blood was forever dripping from his stomach and waist — until at the lower part of the gown where it met with the ground that it was perpetually drenched in bloody red.

Although, he didn't really wore this get-up every day. Only when a massive fight was about to unfold where he needed to channel a lot of healing factor from his Ayin reserve.

Aside from that, Lothair and his army were still fighting as they wreaked havoc in its wake within that 10 years. Despite such an attempt, Lothair had only fully covered 1.9% of the Baha Continent, due to how big it actually was, and how excessively strong some demons were.

Some of the wars even lasted 6 months and 1 year at worst. With his main goal being the destruction that his army left in their wake, jumping from powerful demonic dominion to another was less than advantageous.

Within that short timeframe however, Lothair still had numerous notable feats.

For his most famous record, Lothair managed to strike down the unmovable wall that was isolating the very Nether Country that had him taste the life of enslaved — clearing the path for his army to continue his conquest towards the next Nether Country.

Obviously, doing such an act would garner the attention of the Overlord within that Nether Country. However, it was found that the Overlord of Glazed Iron was deemed missing. Ears of the demons who heard this news publication began to twitch in opportunity, plunging the Nether Country into an even more chaos now that the true ruler wasn't present in their throne.

Rebellions were appearing left and right, with many demons that were stronger than Lothair began to make their move to claim the new Overlord's title. Which in the first place, wasn't really possible.

The title of Overlord is gained when a demon reaches the height of supremacy and influence akin to an unstoppable force of nature. An Overlord was able to make a Nether Country, but claiming a Nether Country doesn't make one an Overlord.

Regardless, a Nether Country itself didn't really possess any sort of name either. Instead, it was differentiated by its well-known trait.

The Nether Country where Lothair's village and Thornar Town resided was referred to as the Country of Headless Banquet, which was represented by the lack of celebration for things and events within that country.

Save for others celebrations like X-mas, which was already niche enough that only 5% demons within the Nether Country knew it existed. Then again, the X-mas here didn't really hold any kind of banquet either.

Though, it's less of a behavior or tradition. The reason why not a single event or celebration held any sort of banquet was because of the taboo held within the Nether Country.

Holding or participating in a banquet was seen as frowned indulgent by the Overlord of Glazing Iron. Not only that having such a feast would leave many opportunities for demons to poison one another, it was also associated as the symbol of rebellion to the demonkind by the government — which of course, the one that the Overlord built.

Yes, aside from the universal taboo such as the prohibition of the act of healing, every Nether Country could invoke their own taboo, but never revoke any of the available one.

Although, there was little to no information about the very reason who holding a banquet was made into a taboo by the Overlord of Glazing Iron. Some underground scholars hypothesized that it could be something related to the event of the 'Seven Deadly Crisis' — which was already very obscured to a selectful of historians of this era.

Now with the amount of ongoing rebellion, the amount of sinful banquets should also be increasing in the Country of Headless Banquet. Being remembered for such an event, Lothair decided to hold a grand banquet from his spoils of war along with his Manic Puppets.

Under the protection of the moon, a festive atmosphere was spread around the blue forest glade.

"It's time to feast!" Lothair held his cup high in the sky. His face was already intoxicated by alcohol before the banquet even started. "After this, all of you will become a sinner in your own Nether Country!"

""We will become a sinner in our Nether Country!"" The Manic Puppets yelled in unison.

"Wait, we will become a sinner!?" urged one of the Manic Puppets.

"Who cares, this grilled steak is peak!"

"The honey cockatrice! The smoked black boar!" The Magic Puppet pushed every dish within her arm-length into her mouth. This puppet in particular was the former blade dancer who challenged the Holy Witch because of debt. Now, he didn't really care for anything except for becoming a predator for the banquet's feast. "This is gwoood! Oh dear aether, this is my new religion now!"

"Esteemed Puppeteer, may we know which chef prepared this scrumptious feast?" asked a graceful 'magus' Manic Puppet as he eyed his plate of lavish curry, rich in seasoning with vegetables and meat alike.

"There isn't any gastronomy practitioner here other than me." Lothair then proceeded to consume a full mug of lager. "Puah! That's the answer for your question."

"Wait, now that I look at it closer." One of the Manic Puppets who sat near the blade dancer began pointing his finger at Lothair. "Uhm, forgive me for my impudence, master, but aren't you the owner of that, uhm, what's he called again? The Catastrophic restaurant thing!"

"Catastro-Bistro??" The other Manic Puppet pointed out.

"Yeah! Catastro-Bistro!"

"That Catastro-Bistro!? That super cheap but good restaurant that took every corner of many Nether Country's capital!??"

"Oh I know about that one." The Manic Puppet with darkish hunter apparel went on to vanquish all of his drink before talking. "Catastro-Bistro, formerly known as Tail and Lightheaded, a mid-rated restaurant within Galapa City. The one that stood near the well-known Magus Academy Incident.

"There was this genius head-chef named Cassadin Chaperone. After a few months of leading the kitchen, he began helping the owner to expand his business, taking the lead for every decision, the restaurant Catastro-Bistro became what we have known today."

"That name is a fake one." Lothair cackled. "I just like the sound of it, and just leave it at that in my curriculum vitae."

"Hunter guy, how in the bloody aether you know that much??"

"Hmm, there is this business rival of Catastro-Bistro who paid me to kill the one who kept the gear running. I got my informant on everything that I can grasp about that demon. Before the night of assassination, however, I decided to have dinner in their Luxury Platform."

"Didn't know you're that prestigious. Only those with a heavy pocket could buy a seat on the Luxury Platform of Catastro-Bistro."

"After experiencing what I would call as once-in-a-lifetime bliss, I went back to my sponsor and shot my bowgun in his head instead!"

"HAHAHAHAHAH-"

"You son of cockatrice, that's hilarious, bwahahahah!"

"No wonder, I have been questioning on who the hell made that cocky Sircusez." Lothair was infected by the contagious laughter. "If only you display yourself to me when I'm still running the business, I might put you as a 'Solver' on the Country of Bleeding Waterfall — far away from this whole conquering fiasco that we're having."

"Hey, to be served and to be served this colorful feast made by the direct progenitor of Catastro-Bistro is more honorful!"

"Now you're being a boot-licker."

"I prefer to lick this drum-stick instead."

With the Lesser Puppets gaining their share of banquet outside of the grand wooden table inside the bluish glade, it might be the most festive night that those demons would ever have been.

It only took a single disastrous visit — a single 'Overlord' to ruin this eventful night.

Just as one of the Manic Puppets brandished his bowgun to the enigmatic shadow in the sky, the 'hell screen' performance had begun.