Demon Lord of Greed

The Celestial Palace, Holyland, The Holy Kingdom:

In a large, wide conference room, an oval-shaped round table lies in the centre. At one end of this table is a chair, larger than the other ten, and on this chair sits a being of the SS- Class - rivalling in power with the third and fourth primordial demons. This being is the Celestial Commander, Leader of the Celestial Mages - Esmeralda, who is known as Esme by her friends, and as The Blinded One by her enemies. Despite her younger appearance, Esme is one of the longest living humans to ever exist, being blessed by the True God over 60,000 years ago.

"Young Karma," Esme speaks to her Subject, "Do you know what it means when a torch of life burns out?" She asks.

"Yeah, it means that person is dead, doesn't it?" Karma, Celestial of Repose responds.

Esmeralda nods in confirmation, "I see, so then you will understand my teary mood." She materialises three burnt out torches.

"Who… Who's torches are they?" Karma asks, now slightly worried. Esme shows the identity of the torch holders, revealing who had died. "Tone of Patience, Kin of Faith and…" Esme pauses for a brief moment, "Nebula of Pacifism."

Karma's heart dropped, it was evident by her expression, a multitude of emotions rushed through her mind. "B-Big Sis… Is dead?" She begins to tear up slightly, "H-how!? Tone and Kin too!? It doesn't make any sense!" Karma tries to process the information.

"The catalyst attack on the demon capital, Limbo, was successful - but there were two anomalies." Esme explains, as Karma mourns her loss, "Demon Lord Diablo and another demon, who's strength overpowered Nebula."

"Some… random demon? An INSIGNIFICANT demon SCUM killed MY sister? My STRONG Sister!? Impossible!" Karma grieves, using anger to cope.

"I understand your anger, this is a problem for us all, too." Esme says, "That's why I have called for a Celestial Conference to be held tomorrow night, in this room." She tells Karma, whilst sending an alert out to all of the other Celestials. "Especially since our declaration of war has most definitely not been taking lightly."

Karma wipes her tears away. "Fine by me… As long as that demon pays for what he's done."

…

Common Room Balcony, Tesmuth: Castle, The Sarauta Kingdom:

Gina had just lost, yet again, to the chess man - who is, in reality, Demon Lord Betelgeuse.

"How do you do it?" Gina asks, bewildered by her consistent losses, despite her previously unbeaten record. "You always seem to be one step ahead of me."

"I just read your mind, kihihi!" Bete jokes, "I'm kidding of course."

"Are you now?" Gina rhetorically asks, now skeptical, "TRUTH TREE!" Suddenly, a transparent branch of wood, cultivated out of light magic, pierces Bete's soul, however it causes no harm; instead, it reveals to Gina, through the visible magic forming into a tick or a cross, if the targets last sentence was truthful or not. Of course, the branch forms the shape of a cross, disproving any cheating allegations since the result is absolute. However, this does lead Bete to act even more carefully around Gina than he already was.

"Satisfied, your highness?" Bete asks.

"Not really, but since you are winning legitimately, I can't complain." Gina responds, "Same time tomorrow then?"

"Of course, but how long will this go on for, may I ask?" Bete questions, in order to deduce how much time he has.

"Either until I win against you, or, I lose a hundred times." Gina says, expressing her desire to be the greatest.

"I see, if that's what her majesty desires, that is what will happen." Bete replies, before the stand-by guards followed him out of the estate. Once he reaches an area out of sight, Betelgeuse immediately uses instant teleportation to return home and is met with an infuriated and confused Diablo.

"Bete," Diablo says whilst gritting his teeth, "What the FUCK are you doing?"

…

Back in the castle, Gina sits at the table, looking at the chess board, frantically tapping her foot out of annoyance. "Tch." She makes a sound, stopping her foot and lying her head on the table straight after. Gina takes a deep breath, sitting back up in her chair, just as little Charles approached her.

"Lady Gina, we have some troubling information regarding the trading guild incident." Charles says, fidgeting out of nervousness.

"Hmm? Troubling you say? Let's hear it." Gina requests in response.

"The fact of the matter is, there have been multiple eye witness reports about the identities of the culprits." Charles explains, "There were three individuals, who were taken to the guild by one of the victims, that are without a doubt the ones responsible…" Charles pauses for an extended period, sweating.

"What is it, Charles? Go on!" Gina insists.

"One of these three, as is backed up by multiple sources, was almost undoubtably…." Charles inhales, "Prince Hirohiko." He exhaled, finishing his revelation to Gina.

Gina stared at Charles with confusion, as she came to a conclusion, "I see…" Gina spoke, "You and I both know that this isn't possible."

"Yes, my lady, I have made sure of it," Charles replied, "But that only makes this news even more troubling."

"Take me to the Prince," Gina asks Charles "Maybe he can finally be of some use to me."

On the lowest basement floor of the castle, in the depths of the dungeons, Prince Hirohiko resided, caged in and chained up. Unhelpful towards Gina's reign over the Sarauta kingdom, and a threat to her future endeavours, the Prince had every right to fear for his life whenever Gina came to visit him.

"M-my Lady, h-how lucky i am to be graced with-"

"Quiet." Gina interrupts the Prince, silencing him almost immediately, as she walks towards his cell.

"What do you know about doppelgängers, Useless One?"

…

..

.

[Local Inn: Tesmuth, Last night]:

After the Trading Guild massacre, Shinji, Kasumi and Aki fled the scene and got themselves cleaned up before heading to the nearest inn to stay at for the night. Shinji, still in distress, was practically dragged along the whole time before he fell face first into the bed and fell straight asleep. Unable to afford a bigger room with the money they had stolen, Kasumi slept to the left of Shinji, whilst Aki slept to his right, both facing outwards.

"Still awake?" Kasumi asks, quietly.

"How could i not be?" Aki rhetorically asks, with the same degree of quietness.

"What happened in that basement today was… honestly scary." Kasumi says, "That's not the same Shinji i grew up with…. the brutality of it all was just-"

"Evil." Aki interrupts, "It was as if he were possessed by some sadist evil, we may be demons, but we are not evil - Shinji is not evil."

"Its still having a massive toll on him, his parents murder, not even revenge can remove that pain." Kasumi utters.

"Even so… despite the situation, this was too far."

Aki mumbled before the two of them instinctively ended their conversation.

…

Morning swiftly arrived and Kasumi woke up to a Shinji-less room, but, before she could fully realise it, Shinji walked out of the bathroom after using the shower and getting dressed.

"Good morning Kasumi, Is Aki awake?" Just as Shinji asks, Aki sits up in the bed and gives a nod.

"That's great, how about we sign up for the Adventurers Guild since things didn't really work out at the Trading Guild?" Shinji asks, even though he was the one that would typically make this decision.

"Sure thing, just give us a few minutes to get ready!" Kasumi replies, worried because of the sudden change in mood but unwilling to push it further.

The Adventurers Guild is the biggest guild among every human nation; it's where skilled humans can issue or accept different quests that are categorised by difficulty and can only be accepted by adventurers who's adventuring rank equates to the skill level required. The rank system splits adventurers into 8 ranks with 3 divisions per rank, with division 3 being the lowest and division 1 being the highest in its rank (III, II, I). Each Adventurer is initially tested to see which rank and division they should start in. The ranks range from 8 to 1, starting with Copper, then Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and ending with Crystal. Copper rank Adventurers are usually just beginners, regular E Class humans, whereas Crystal rank adventurers are very highly skilled Mage level, B+ to A- Class humans. There are only 5 Crystal rank adventurers and they are well known across the human realm as The Unbeatable Five.

Neither Aki, Kasumi or Shinji would have any trouble single handedly destroying The "Unbeatable" Five.

…

Home of Betelgeuse, Demom Lord domain, Realm of the Demons:

"Come on, loosen up a bit Diablo!" Bete says, trying to downplay the gravity of his actions.

"Betelgeuse… EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" Diablo erupts.

Bete lies down on his couch, looking up at Diablo. "Look, before you get any more mad, this isn't a first move of any kind!" He try's to convince the clearly unconvinced Diablo.

"How is going undercover to gather intel on and… PLAY CHESS with the enemy NOT making the first move?" Diablo rightfully questions.

"Well it's simple really, it's 'cause she was playing white." Bete smirked.

"…" Diablo paused out of disbelief that the leader of the demon lords, the 3rd Primordial Demon, would make a chess joke instead of explaining himself. Suddenly, in a burst of rage, Diablo released his full demonic aura, causing a shockwave to occur within the room. Not even a second after, Betelgeuse does the same.

"This isn't the time for jokes Bete," Diablo grits his teeth, "If you won't tell me what the HELL you are doing, then you and I have a problem that needs resolving."

"You're right, Demon Lord of Pride, we do have a problem, and since i'm not willing to answer your question, i don't see any peaceful way to resolve it." Bete responds, in an antagonistic manor.

"Then let us step outside for a moment,

Demon Lord of Greed." Diablo responds, giving Bete an intense glare.

"Don't worry, In here is fine." Betelgeuse Smirks as he generates and blasts a gigantic, spherical, concentrated primordial magic attack at Diablo, who stands prepared to counter.