The young girl was lying on a bed of white silk. Her hair, pure white like her father’s, was spread out on the pillow, but her face was twisted by an invisible pain. Black veins, pulsing with a demonic glow, ran under the pale skin of her neck and arms. Despite all that, nothing could hide her supernatural beauty...

"The sleeping beauty," murmured Klein.

"She is resisting well for a kid..." commented Diavolo as he approached the bed, his eyes analyzing the flows of energy with a terrifying acuity.

’The mana of the Archdemon Gremory was powerful, but what I see here is of a completely different nature,’ thought Klein.

Diavolo performed some mudra...

"Wow, what is she doing here?" exclaimed Diavolo, his voice breaking the heavy silence of the room.

The opening of his spiritual eye projected a golden and silver glow that seemed to tear the veil of reality, revealing a monstrous silhouette superimposed on the body of the elf, which only he could see.

"What’s going on old man?" asked Kaiser.

Diavolo turned abruptly toward Patriarch Ingram.

"Did you have some things you didn’t tell us?" he asked.

Patriarch Ingram frowned.

"What are you talking about? We tried everything to stabilize her mana... but this demonic mana infection is progressing without logic..."

Diavolo let out a brief laugh.

"It shouldn’t be possible for her to be here, unless she was summoned."

Klein felt the tension rise a notch.

"Who exactly are you talking about?" Kaiser grew impatient.

"The Demonic Princess of Sloth... Shaytan..."

Shaytan, one of the twenty-two regents of the infernal realms, and not the weakest of the twenty-two either.

"Well, I see why it was so difficult to exorcise her. It is impossible to exorcise a prince or princess without killing the host."

He knew, from his knowledge from the novel, that the bonds between a high-ranking demon and its vessel were woven at the soul level. Attempting to break this bond by force amounted to tearing the very fabric of Sierra’s existence. The same went for Helia’s bond with the Seraph Jophiel.

While they were thinking of a plan, Sierra suddenly moved, she thrust her arm forward and grabbed Klein’s wrist.

...

"Shit!" swore Kaiser, instinctively trying to break free, but his body suddenly seemed to go numb.

Sierra’s eyes opened abruptly, awakening her moon eyes whose sclera were completely black.

"I was waiting for you..." said Sierra, or rather the entity that occupied her, as their two bodies instantly fell into a deep sleep, collapsing onto the bed.

Silence fell back over the chamber, disturbed only by Patriarch Ingram’s heavy breathing.

"Looks like Baby boy is already popular in hell.~" commented Diavolo with a smile, his hand in his pockets.

Patriarch Ingram rushed toward the bed.

"What’s going on? Is he dead?"

"No, your daughter or rather Shaytan has just invited my disciple into her mental domain..." replied Diavolo calmly, observing the fluctuations of mana around the two sleeping bodies.

"So what do we do now?"

Diavolo shrugged.

"Well, there are two possibilities: either the two wake up. Or he dies and Sierra becomes Shaytan."

The patriarch clenched his teeth. Shaytan’s corruption was not a simple family matter. If such a demon fully incarnated at the heart of the Luna clan, the consequences would be apocalyptic.

"If he fails, then our entire Yggdrasil will be in danger," growled Ingram. "I must call the guards, isolate this area, warn the other clans..."

"No. No one other than Sierra will leave this room."

Ingram turned toward him, disbelief and anger fighting on his face.

"Are you saying you are stronger than a Demonic Princess? You claim you can contain Shaytan alone if Klein fails?"

Diavolo Star Giovanna burst into loud laughter, once again showing his golden teeth. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"They are not that strong. And it’s only a possibility, I trust this guy. He is not going to fail."

***

Kaiser stood up slowly, his silver hair floating slightly in the breeze as he scanned the prairie with his gaze.

He found himself in the middle of a vast green expanse, a landscape that seemed too peaceful although the air was saturated with that smell of burnt dust and putrid flesh characteristic of these cursed lands.

In the distance, an imposing volcanic mountain, spitting clouds of ash that rose toward the sky.

< Activation of the skill: Eyes of Predation >

Immediately, bulging veins appeared at the corners of his eyelids as his aura flowed toward his pupils, tinting them a vivid red.

His vision changed, the world slowing down... Several hundred meters away, he spotted a metallic structure.

"A cage?"

Inside, a familiar silhouette, her albino white hair and white eyes leaving no doubt about her identity: Sierra Del Luna.

Guarding this prison, a gigantic wyvern was perched on a rocky spur, its dull green scales reflecting the reddish light of the distant volcano. Klein let out a slight laugh.

"Why do I have the feeling of being in a fairy tale of the knight who saves the princess?" he murmured to himself.

He began to walk at a slow pace, his hands plunged into the pockets of his long silver coat.

Suddenly, the earth cracked in front of him. A green and muscular hand, ending in dirty nails, shot out. Then a second hand appeared, followed by several others, as massive silhouettes painfully extracted themselves from the earth.

Several orcs, classified as superior rare rank monsters, stood before him, their protruding jaws dripping with viscous saliva.

They brandished crude stone axes, their bloodshot eyes fixed on him.

"I see..."

’This domain is not only manipulated by Shaytan, but also by Sierra herself,’ he thought, his predation eyes analyzing the distortions of the surrounding mana. He noted the way the spiritual energy of the Luna clan intertwined with the demonic corruption, creating an unstable resonance.

’To understand what is happening here, I should learn more about her past.’

He recalled the information he had gleaned at the academy about the ninth in the general ranking and especially in the novel.

"If I remember correctly..." Klein’s smile widened.

"She was a... problem girl..."