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"Name your price. But if I win, I want your Jade Dynasty's core cultivation method. We shall cement this deal with a demonic contract so don't even of weaseling your way out of it. If you wish to back off, now is the time."
Malkam replied and raised his right hand, releasing a large surge of demonic energies to start writing the contract.
"Fine, I agree. Although with your limited aptitude, you can never master it, if you could understand 1%, in the future, there would still be hope for you. But if I win, I want all your consorts alongside your brothers bundled and offered on a red carpet for my imperial father. Do you dare agree?"
Helmut inquired with a wolfish grin. If before, Malkam stood with supreme confidence, when Helmut's words echoed in his mind, his hand and eyes trembled, if only for a second. If Incubi were born tyrants, then their greatest shame was to have their consorts robbed by another man.
In life, they could never tolerate such humiliation. And feeling Malkam's reluctance, Helmut pursued.
"If you wish to back off, now is the time."
Hearing his words hurled back at him, Malkam no longer floundered, and with his right index, drew purple lines to write the demonic contract. His index moved like a blur, and by the time he finished, not even a second had passed.
The two then cut open their fingers and signed the contract in their blood.
The blood had yet to dry, that Malkam stepped forward, letting the cultivation of an early-stage Legendary God erupt alongside his Light and Time Wielding.
"Very well, follow me to a proper place."
Malkam ordered with soaring momentum. But little did he expect Helmut's following words to be:
"Unnecessary. For you, I don't even need to stand up.
Innate Skill: Auspicious Clouds."
Helmut uttered, causing multicolored clouds to appear and swirl around his form, filling the meeting hall with crushing empyrean might all targeted at Malkam. Instantly, he found himself losing his strength at a rapid pace while his Light and Time Law Wielding vanished into thin air.
By the time his laws collapsed, Malkam couldn't even muster the strength to truss up a chicken. His eyes widened in fright!
"How...can this be?"
He stammered, unable to believe his eyes. How could such a dreadful ability possibly exist? And more importantly, why didn't his father warn him about it?! Alas, Helmut didn't give him time to ponder the question. With a grasping motion, he released irresistible suction forces that pulled Malkam toward him…
*SMACK*
...and with his right hand, swatted him like a fly!
*BOOM*
Malkam's princely body smashed into the ceiling, shooting across the sky before tumbling somewhere beyond the Royal Palace! Alas, Helmut was only getting started. With another grasping motion, he pulled Malkam from the ground, making him fly back into the meeting hall for a session of swatting.
*SMACK* *SMACK* *SMACK* *SMACK*
To the nearby maids' horror, Malkam, a Legendary God and the number one talent of the second generation was getting his cheeks swatted left and right by a sixteen years old teenager! He didn't even have the strength to struggle!
In a flash, his lethally handsome face swelled like a pig's. But while Helmut smacked his uncle's cheeks, on the side, Elia poured him some infernal tea.
"Elder brother, fattening pigs is a tedious task. You can't risk straining yourself. Please have some tea."
Elia offered while extending the teacup toward the swatting Helmut.
"Oh? You're indeed our house's most sensible fellow."
Helmut approved, and with his left hand, brought the teacup to his lips while with his right, he kept on swatting Malkam!
*SMACK* *SMACK* *SMACK* *SMACK*
Under the relentless swatting, the demon prince's cheeks and lips swelled to outrageous proportions while his eyes sunk in, and his teeth flew in disarray. Only when the tenth tooth dropped di Helmut stop his flaming hand to clutch Malkam's neck.
"Since you still need to seize your brothers' consorts, This Prince won't make things too difficult for you. According to hearsay, you're particularly picky about your harem members, and only choose those succubi, maenads, and lilims of the highest bloodline levels. Surely, imperial father will relish in those tributes.
You have fifteen minutes to prepare it all. Otherwise, it's not just your face you'll have to worry about."
Helmut ordered, and with a casual swat, sent Malkam flying past the door to crash in some alley of the royal palace. From beginning to end, Talroth didn't make an appearance. And taking their lord's condition as an excuse, the terror-stricken maids rushed past the door to run far, far away from those monstrous "guests."
Meanwhile, Helmut, Elia, and Krann exchanged mental messages.
"Uncle Krann, what do you think?"
Helmut inquired while folding his arms beneath his chest.
"It's too early to make a judgment. On this trip, Malkam is but a side dish. Our main task is to figure out the nature of Talroth's heart and relay our information to Master. But I must admit that until now, the situation appears quite troubling."
Krann replied in a message that echoed within the two princes' minds. The words caused Elia's face to contort into a frown.
"I don't understand. Talroth has made no move. For all intent and purposes, he does not just appear accommodating but seems willing to endure all our excesses. Why is it that troubling?"
A perplexed Elia asked in another silent message.
"That is the problem. The less response he gives, the more we should be worried."
At that time, within the Royal Palace's undergrounds, Talroth sauntered toward a secluded chamber. There, he cleft open space, creating a purple spatial door behind which another world lay.
Talroth stepped in, and the spatial door closed behind him. Though in the outside, Hell's crimson suns still hung, in that new world, a moonless, starry night awaited. A vast expanse of land stretched as far as the eyes could see. But in that land, only one, dark-purple tower stood.
With a step, Talroth vanished, reappearing within the tower's highest floor where two women stood bound against amethyst pillars. Though the two seemed endowed with a divine beauty their shackles couldn't suppress, one rippled with a feral bloodthirst and a yearning for savagery that made even her chains shiver while the other...well…
...with a beauty and sex appeal that reached empyrean perfection, words failed to give her justice. And as Talroth walked in, she raised her irresistible purple eyes toward him, shaking her head to dispel the long, black curls that clouded her vision.
"Isn't it my - royal - husband? Talroth, after so many eons, what brings you here?"
Asmodeus inquired with a smile that in the past, disarmed all deities. All, except for the man standing before her: Her beloved king consort. And as her words echoed, the green-haired demoness by her side trembled, and her dark-green eyes opened wide, gleaming with killing intent!
"TALROTH!!!"
Slivaz, the Zenith Ant Primogen all believed dead snarled with billowing resentment.
Talroth, however, faced them with a smile.
"Ladies, long time no see. Apologies but it appears that I am suffering my good son's inquisition. To placate his worries and mend the bridges between us, I have no choice but to make an irresistible offering."
Talroth explained in a perfectly relaxed tone.