"So what was life like under the rule of monsters?" Damian asked curiously.

"Better than anything humans would have offered those creatures."

Buzz!

Damian frowned immediately but remained patient enough to wait for an explanation.

"The supernatural races had no reason to completely eradicate humanity because even if they wanted to, they couldn’t," Rin explained calmly. "Witches were still technically human. They were simply humans born with a deep connection to the forces of nature. Meanwhile, the Sons of Yaka were descendants of a Duke of Hell who fathered children with a human woman. Their bloodline inherited pyrokinesis powerful enough to allow them stand toe to toe with the other races."

"The war happened because humanity sought to wipe them out first. So when the supernatural alliance won, they forced humanity to coexist beside them as equals."

"No... that’s complete bullshit," Damian said flatly as he shook his head.

For once, he refused to let humanity shoulder all the blame.

In a world where your neighbor could transform into a wolf, drink blood, fly through the night sky, or spew fire from their hands, how could anyone blame the weaker race for trying to protect itself from the stronger one?

"Why do you disagree?" Rin asked calmly.

"Because racism, tribalism, and bigotry are rooted into the DNA of every living creature," Damian replied without hesitation. "It exists for a reason. The nature of life itself is to fear and distrust anything that looks different or doesn’t belong to your colony."

"Survival..." Hazel muttered quietly while nodding in agreement.

Even demons and angels behaved no differently.

The same instinct existed within them too.

Truthfully, even they found themselves unconsciously looking down on Damian simply because he was human.

Not even demigods were free from that flaw.

So from their perspective, humanity’s fear made perfect sense.

"You are partly correct," Rin admitted with a nod. "The so-called equality established by the new world government was far from equal. Humans were killed silently for almost any reason imaginable. Their opportunities became increasingly limited as industries involving strength, endurance, and physical labor were gradually monopolized by supernatural races with overwhelming advantages. Humanity was slowly suffocating beneath a system forced upon fundamentally unequal beings."

"However..."

Rin’s eyes sharpened decisively as it stared directly at Damian.

"Just because you fail to understand something does not give you the right to exterminate it entirely."

Its voice became colder.

"The conflict evolved far beyond self-defense. Humanity’s fear eventually matured into a movement dedicated to erasing every non-human existence from the planet. Walls could have been built around human territories. Boundaries could have been established peacefully. Humanity could have chosen separation instead of annihilation."

"But they didn’t."

"The sheer extremity of humanity’s hatred was what forced supernatural races, many of whom were ancient enemies, into forming a united alliance. Humanity’s tragedy in that world was ultimately self-inflicted."

Buzz!

Damian frowned deeply.

Even if Rin’s words carried truth, he still understood why humanity had acted that way.

If an entire town repeatedly lost loved ones to vampires, werewolves, witches, and creatures beyond human understanding, how could anyone reasonably expect ordinary people to calmly separate "good monsters" from bad ones?

What were they supposed to do?

Continue living in fear forever while their children wondered whether they would survive the next night?

Still, Damian had no interest in debating morality.

He came here to learn about the only prince who might one day stand beside him.

"Continue," Damian said calmly.

Rin nodded.

"The Prince of Pride lost his father during the civil war. He was born into an influential military family. His grandfather served as a general while his father was a colonel before his death."

"When the monsters won, every family connected to senior military officials went into hiding. They became immediate targets for radical supernatural factions seeking revenge. Entire bloodlines were wiped out during that period."

"Even the prince’s mother drank poison."

"But he didn’t."

Rin’s voice lowered slightly.

"He organized the largest funeral procession humanity had seen in decades and declared his parents heroes of mankind. More than anything else in existence, he was proud to be human."

"And that was when he awakened his inheritance," Damian cut in quietly.

"Yes."

Rin nodded firmly.

"It didn’t take long. He started a new war completely alone."

"A purge."

"In barely ten years after obtaining his inheritance, he exterminated every supernatural race on the planet. Not even women or children were spared."

"To humanity, he became the one true God."

"They called him the Sun because no matter how dark things became, they believed he would always rise."

"That was the level of faith people placed in him."

Rin suddenly began giggling softly, yet its body trembled strangely as it spoke.

Damian frowned.

It wasn’t just Rin.

Hazel, Ruby, and Racheal all wore pale expressions filled with lingering fear, as though they were recalling some ancient nightmare they wished to forget. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"When he finally ascended," Rin continued, "even the underworld condemned his actions."

"But his response was simple."

"He claimed he had merely cleansed a diseased world."

"Afterward, he began raiding neighboring galaxies in search of more devotees. And to celebrate the beginning of his wonderful relationship with his brothers, he attacked the settlements belonging to every prince except Lin Qui, since Lin Qui was also human."

"In every world he conquered, he repeated the same atrocities."

"Every race that wasn’t human was wiped out."

"In his eyes, he was merely purging viruses from existence."

"Even his territory, Aurelius, was purged of nearly its entire demon population," Hazel added quietly while shuddering. "Only absolutely necessary demons were allowed to remain."

"He even tampered with the reincarnation cycle itself," Racheal said with a shaky voice. "He redirected human souls into his territory, summoning the most skilled and talented from different timelines and planets spread across the universe. For the first time since the beginning of existence, a demon realm became populated primarily by humans."

"All the Dukes oppose him," Ruby added. "The only reason he stopped raiding other territories was because he became bored of it."

"He once openly declared that there was no need to conquer more worlds because every territory gathered by the other princes would eventually belong to him after he became Demon Lord."

Ruby tried sounding composed, but Damian still heard the fear hidden beneath her words.

And honestly He understood why.

Damian felt both terrified and excited simultaneously.

As a human, some part of him felt pride knowing someone from humanity had risen to such terrifying heights.

But another part of him realized that this same monster was one of his greatest future enemies.

"He doesn’t care about protocols, traditions, or council approval," Rin said tiredly. "Everyone already knows he intends to exterminate anything standing in his way once the succession war begins. That’s why the Dukes have spent centuries preparing for a civil war capable of collapsing the underworld itself if left unchecked."

"And that," Rin concluded while staring directly at Damian, "is why even more Dukes are likely to stand against you."

Damian’s frown deepened.

"Because I’m human," he muttered, "and they think I might side with him."

"Exactly."

Rin nodded immediately.

"If you present yourself as a threat to demonkind, everyone will turn against you eventually. But if you show kindness and restraint toward demons, they’ll embrace you and grant you special treatment because they’ll hope to use you against the Sin of Pride."

Damian slowly rubbed his temple, his expression darkening further.

Every single time he learned something new about this hidden world it somehow ended with another threat to his life.