Chapter 8: Loyalty part 1

The Great Demon Hektor was knocked away.

On the altar, only sword demon Pierre was left.

When Reji looked at him, Pierre also gave up neatly, directly raising his hands with the blades, making a gesture of surrender.

"I concede."

It wasn't just a simple concession.

Pierre quickly also explained his forfeit of the battle to Reji, and even to the other apostles around.

"If even my blades cannot break through my king's defense, then continuing to fight is meaningless."

The Sword Demon is an assassin of the demon race.

And what makes an assassin most desperate is a hard shell, a defense as solid as rock.

That was exactly the feeling Reji gave to Pierre.

The Sword Demon's gaze was fixed on Reji's waist area.

That was where he had successfully attacked from behind.

But there, aside from the torn garment indicating an attack had occurred, there was no blood to be seen.

Well, to say none at all, actually there was a bloodstain, but compared to what would normally be expected from an attack of a Sword Demon, which would at least result in a injured gushing blood, it was negligible.

Not to mention, Pierre then saw Reji dusting off his hands, which had directly grasped his blade.

Not even the Great Demon Hektor, for whom the physical aspect was an obsession, would dare to grab his blade with his bare hands, but the Demon King had.

And, It had left both hands unharmed.

This was enough to prove that the Demon King not only had the strength to go head-to-head and then knock away Hektor but also possessed an extremely terrifying physique and defense.

Indeed, there was no need to continue this battle.

Pierre hadn't finished speaking.

Because the king had specifically emphasized before the fight that they should give it their all.

As one of the apostles, Pierre naturally also had domain skills.

However, as an assassin, the deployment of his domain certainly wouldn't be as flamboyant and conspicuous as that of the Great Demon Hektor; Pierre's domain was very secretive, known only to himself.

"After my king repelled Hektor, I also deployed my domain against the demon king at the first opportunity."

"But what I saw behind my king"

Pierre paused here.

Then, for the first time, the other apostles saw a look of fear in the eyes of the Sword Demon.

"The number of dead souls behind my king was unprecedented."

"It was a sea of the underworld."

Pierre struggled to recall the phantom image revealed in the moment he tried to use his domain against Reji.

His power of rule is based on the number of killings to enhance attack power.

As the Sword Demon, he didn't know how many souls had fallen by his blade.

Among them, there were no lack of powerful souls.

These souls of the dead, gathered by the power of his domain's rules, formed stream after stream of soul streams, eventually converging behind Pierre into a vast and turbulent river of the underworld.

This was also known to the other apostles.

Among themselves, important abilities like domain skills are still individually understood.

Because of this. when they heard that Pierre had deployed his domain against Reji and described it with the term "sea of the underworld," they were incredibly astonished.

On their new demon king's body, just how many souls must there be, that even "river" cannot begin to carry the burden, and "sea" must be used to describe it at a higher magnitude.

'No… we should have been able to guess it earlier'

After the release of the domain by the Great Demon Hektor, one should have thought of the sea of evil flowers behind the new demon king!

To be frank, After hearing Pierre's words, Reji himself was a bit surprised.

'So, Sword Demon had also deployed his domain'

However, it seemed that Pierre was just probing and immediately ceased his action, retracting it, which was different from Hektor. As a great demon responsible for martial strength, Hektor is purely a warrior by design, who does not retreat. But the Sword Demon, being an assassin, knows how to be much more flexible and adaptable.

'So It seems, although it wasn't shown on the panel, the data records of leveling up through grinding monsters in the game must have been inherited as well'

Even Reji had a bold guess.

'Could it be possible that the sea of dead souls behind me, wasn't just from the monsters I grinded in the game?'

'But rather, could it represent my entire gaming career as "Reji"?'

'That would explain why it reached the exaggerated level of a "sea." '

Knowing that "Magic Chronicles" is an RPG game, so in terms of grinding, compared to those strategy games Reji played before, where you'd command millions or even a planet's army for battles, it's hardly worth mentioning.

As for committing evil deeds that are inhuman, that's even less worth mentioning, ahem, cough cough!

Now Reji also somewhat understands how he came to have such a sin value that seems like he had a cheat activated, in the millions.

No matter what.

His second playthrough's start, in terms of the game, would be considered the "prologue," right? It should be settled now.

This punch thrown.

Very beautiful.

"The Sixth Apostle, Wicked Demon Lordan, offers loyalty to Demon King, willing to do everything for my king, for the revival of the demon race! Ready to be dispatched!"

Initially, it was Lordan who first jumped out to question Reji.

And now, he is also the first to lead, the first apostle to announce his "loyalty" to Reji.

It can be said to be very demon-like.

Lordan knelt on one knee on the ground, his head bowed in Reji's direction, while stretching out one hand. This is a very traditional gesture of allegiance among the demon race.

Next, as the Demon King, Reji only needed to walk over, take Lordan's hand, and pull him up as a sign of accepting the allegiance.

Reji stepped forward, coming down from the altar.

He walked towards Lordan.

The Wicked Demon, hearing Reji's footsteps getting closer, stared nervously at the ground, secretly relieved, as long as Reji was willing to accept the allegiance.

After all, he was an apostle. His earlier questioning of the Demon King was, after all, for the good of the demon race, a precautionary measure. Without his questioning, the Demon King wouldn't have had the opportunity to demonstrate his authority before all of the demon race.

With this thought, Lordan even felt reassured.

Unfortunately.

This sense of reassurance didn't last long before it quickly turned into panic.

The reason was simple.

Reji was indeed walking towards Lordan.

However. When Reji reached the Wicked Demon, he didn't stop, but walked straight past him, without even a pause.

Reji's final destination was the Great Demon Hektor, whom he had knocked away earlier.

The Great Demon had already returned from the distant rubble, and when he realized that Reji's target was not Lordan but himself, Hektor also quickly knelt on one knee.

"Are you alright?"

Faced with Reji's caring question, Hektor was pleasantly surprised.

The Great Demon's robust figure, now bowing and lowering his head even more, as if trying to appear shorter than Reji, looked somewhat adorable.

"It's an honor to bear scars given by my king!"

"Please rest assured my king, I am ready to continue fighting at any time, to serve by your side! To serve my king!"

"Good!"

"The Seventh Apostle, Hektor, I accept your allegiance" Reji placed his hand on the palm of the Great Demon stretched out towards him.

Although Reji's hand, compared to the giant-like Great Demon, felt a bit too miniature, Hektor showed no disrespect, his broad palm even trembling a bit.

After receiving Reji's acceptance, he stood up, issuing another unwavering declaration to Reji.

"I, your servant, will dedicate my life to serve my king!"

'Well, well'

It's just short of adding "your servant" in front.

Reji thought to himself, now Hektor, just like in the game, despite being set in a fantasy background, always manages to throw in some classic ancient phrases. He had complained about this when he was playing, the game was just too much of a mishmash.