Demonic Dragon: Harem System-Chapter 794: These insects are getting too confident.

The mayor was trembling so much that his knees knocked together, producing a dry, almost comical sound, contrasting grotesquely with the blood splattered on the marble. The metallic smell was already beginning to dominate the room, mixing with the expensive incense and transforming luxury into something nauseating.

Daniela tilted her head, observing him as one might analyze an insect trapped under a glass.

"So?" she repeated, her voice too calm. "Are you going to talk... or would you prefer I resolve this quickly?"

The man opened his mouth, closed it, tried to swallow hard. He failed. A sob escaped.

"P-please..." he stammered. "I-I'm just... an administrator..."

Strax let out a slow, theatrical sigh, clearly bored. He took his chin off his hand and tapped his fingers on the table, a rhythmic sound that made the mayor shudder with each tap.

"No," he corrected. "You're an incompetent intermediary with delusions of importance. Administrators don't order people executed without knowing exactly who they're dealing with."

He leaned slightly forward, his golden eyes gleaming with predatory attention.

"Now," he continued, his voice firm, authoritative, laden with something ancient and absolute, "I'm going to ask again. And you're going to answer properly this time."

The mayor nodded frantically.

"Who's in charge behind you?"

Silence.

Strax didn't change his tone.

"Who," he repeated, "really runs this city?"

The man began to cry. Not discreetly. It was an ugly, desperate cry, mixed with mucus and pure panic. He brought his hands to his face, rubbing it as if he could erase reality.

"I… I didn't mean to…" he stammered. "I was just following orders…"

Strax snapped his fingers once. Daniela stepped forward.

The mayor almost shouted.

"HIM!" he yelled. "The Monarch of the White Flames!"

The name echoed through the room like an ancient blasphemy.

For a second… nothing happened.

Then Strax began to laugh.

It wasn't an explosive laugh like before. It was low. Deep. A laugh that seemed to come from a place too dangerous to be comfortable.

"Ah…" he murmured, leaning back in his chair. "So it's him."

Cassandra tilted her head slightly, curious.

"Sounds familiar," she commented.

"Very," Strax replied. "Annoying. Theatrical. Convinced that fire is synonymous with power."

He turned his gaze to the mayor, who could now barely stand.

"You realize," Strax said, almost sympathetically, "that this doesn't improve your situation, right?"

"I-I can help!" the man blurted out, desperately. "Trade routes, safes, names, betrayals… everything! Anything you want!"

Daniela crossed her arms.

"They always say that."

Strax stood up again. This time, slowly. Each step he took toward the mayor made the man recoil, until his back hit the table.

"The point," Strax said, "is that you think you just bought time."

He placed a hand on the table, leaning forward to be exactly at the mayor's eye level.

"But actually…" he smiled, "you just made things easier."

The man blinked, confused.

"H-how…?"

"I was going after him anyway," Strax explained, almost casually. "He's been a nuisance for far too long. You just confirmed that this city was already contaminated."

He straightened up and looked around the room.

"Governments like that rot quickly," he continued. "Little men at the top, imaginary monsters above them… and nobody really responsible for anything."

Cassandra stood up too, walking slowly until she was beside Strax.

"What do we do with him?" she asked, indicating the mayor with a minimal gesture.

Strax looked at the man once more.

He didn't see an enemy.

He saw a symptom.

"Remove him from office," he replied. "Publicly."

The mayor's eyes widened.

"W-what…?"

"Today," said Strax, "you will announce your resignation. You will confess to corruption, illicit deals, submission to outside forces. You will say that the city needs a 'leadership transition'."

He smiled slightly.

"And then… you will disappear."

"D-disappear…?" the man repeated, his voice faltering.

Daniela approached, resting her elbow on his shoulder with dangerous intimacy.

"Consider this generosity," she whispered. "Other options involve pieces."

The mayor nodded quickly, tears streaming uncontrollably.

"Y-yes… yes… of course… anything you want…"

Strax turned his back to him, already disinterested.

"Prepare a hearing at dawn," he ordered. "And have this place cleaned up. It's starting to stink."

He made a vague gesture with his hand, pointing to the bodies.

Cassandra watched the mayor being practically dragged out by trembling guards who had witnessed everything without daring to intervene.

When they were alone again, silence returned.

Daniela let out a satisfied sigh.

"I admit," she said, "I love it when you go into that tyrannical mode."

Strax gave her a sideways glance.

"Don't confuse efficiency with pleasure."

Cassandra smiled.

"But you seemed to enjoy yourself a little."

He sighed, looking at the tall windows.

"Perhaps," he admitted. "But now we have a monarch to overthrow."

The smile that appeared on his face was not one of joy.

It was one of anticipation.

Cassandra watched the hall in silence, her gaze fixed on the marks left by the brief, yet definitive, display of power. The blood-stained marble, the bodies already being hastily removed, the servants feigning normalcy while trembling inside. When she finally turned her eyes to Strax, there was more curiosity than concern in her expression.

"Very well," she said, crossing her arms. "Let's say the old man disappears and his name is forgotten in two weeks. How exactly do you intend to take control of the city?"

Daniela leaned on the table, tilting forward, intrigued.

"Yes. Because, although I love the part where everything explodes or falls to its knees," she smiled slightly, "cities tend to be more… complicated."

Strax shrugged.

It was a simple, almost lazy gesture.

"I kill anyone who opposes me," he replied, as if explaining something too obvious to warrant details, "and I give advantages to those who join."

Cassandra didn't react immediately. She knew him too well to find that answer simplistic. She waited.

Daniela, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow.

"Straight to the point. I like that."

Strax continued, walking slowly to one of the high windows, observing the city outside. Piled-up rooftops, narrow streets, smoke rising from furnaces and kitchens. Ordinary life. Ordinary people.

"People don't follow ideals," he said, without turning his face. "They follow needs."

He rested his hand on the window frame.

"They need to pay bills. They need food on the table. They need enough security to sleep without a knife pointed at their children's necks."

Cassandra nodded slowly.

"So you're going to buy loyalty."

"No," Strax corrected. "I'm going to make it the most logical option."

Daniela crossed her arms, thoughtful.

"And how exactly?"

Strax finally turned to them.

"Lower taxes for those who cooperate. Real protection for merchants who accept my authority. Exclusive contracts. Priority on routes, escorts, access to resources."

He made a sweeping gesture with his hand.

"And above all, predictability. People tolerate a tyrant if he's consistent."

Cassandra let out a slight sound of approval.

"That's… frighteningly pragmatic."

"Governing isn't about being loved," Strax replied. "It's about being needed."

Daniela chuckled softly.

"I still prefer when you say 'because I can.'"

"That's just the foundation," he replied. "The rest is maintenance."

He walked back to the table and leaned against it.

"Besides," he continued, "we already own the biggest guild in the city."

Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

"You say that very casually."

"Because it's a fact," he replied. "Control of mercenaries, caravans, protection contracts, information. Gold circulating where we want it to circulate."

Daniela smiled, remembering.

"And as far as I know, we're well-known."

"Feared," Strax corrected. "Respected. And, for some, admired."

He tilted his head slightly.

"When the announcement of the mayor's resignation comes out, the city will panic for about a day. Maybe two."

Cassandra added:

"And then someone will ask who guarantees that the bread will keep arriving."

"Exactly," said Strax. "And the answer will already be ready."

Daniela snapped her fingers.

"The guild."

"The guild," he confirmed. "Which, coincidentally, answers to us."

The silence that followed was not one of doubt, but of calculation. Cassandra walked slowly around the room, absorbing the plan like someone fitting familiar pieces into a new formation.

"And the Monarch of the White Flames?" she finally asked.

Strax's gaze hardened slightly.

"He comes later. We can't govern a city while a larger shadow hangs over it."

Daniela smiled, excitedly.

"War then."

"Correction," he replied. "Cleanup."

Cassandra stopped beside him.

"Do you realize that, from the moment you officially take over, everything changes?"

"I know," said Strax. "It ceases to be conquest. It becomes responsibility."

Daniela tilted her head.

"Does that bother you?"

He thought for a moment.

"No," he replied. "It irritates me. But it doesn't bother me."

Cassandra smiled slightly.

"Then we are indeed doing this."

Strax looked at the two women, one on each side, as comfortable in that chaos as he was.

"It's already done," he said. "The city just hasn't realized it yet."

…

The room was small, subterranean, made of ancient stone blackened by time and fire. No decoration. No official symbol. Just a wide circle on the floor, marked by whitish fissures, as if the heat had tried to escape from there many times… and never succeeded.

The mayor was kneeling in the center.

There was no longer any trace of authority in him.

His fine clothes were soiled with dust and dried blood, his knees scraped, his hands trembling so much they could barely hold together in supplication. Sweat ran down his round face, mingling with tears.

In front of him, standing, was the man.

Tall. Broad. Immobile.

The little light came from torches fixed too far away to illuminate his face completely. Only his eyes were visible—light gray, cold, too deep-set to belong to anything human. They didn't blink. They showed no curiosity. They watched like a predator watches something that's already dead, but hasn't yet realized it.

"I… I wasn't to blame…" the mayor stammered, his voice broken, almost childlike. "I swear… someone stronger took the city. I just… I just obeyed…"

He dragged himself a few inches forward, his body failing to support its own weight.

"I-I can help… I can give names, routes, safes…" He swallowed hard. "Please…"

The man sighed.

It was a low, tired sound. Not of anger—of boredom.

"It took you long enough," he murmured, his deep voice echoing through the room like something spoken directly inside the mayor's skull.

The man took a step forward.

The light reached just enough to reveal a minimal, crooked, cruel smile in the absence of any real emotion.

"It always takes a while," he continued. "But it always shows up."

The mayor frowned, too confused to understand. "What…?"

"A new worm," the man replied calmly. "Seeking attention."

He raised one hand.

There were no words of power.

No long invocation.

No warning.

The flames simply appeared.

White.

Not bright—opaque. Dense. Too silent.

They enveloped the mayor's body like a living cloak, rising up his legs, his torso, his arms. The fire didn't spread quickly—it consumed. Every inch burned from the inside out, as if existence itself were being incinerated.

The scream came a second later.

Short. Sharp. Cut off too quickly when his lungs failed.

The man watched everything without moving.

Without haste.

When the flames ceased, no body remained.

Not even bones.

Not even ordinary ashes.

Just a whitish residue on the ground, like burnt marble dust… and the faint smell of something that should never have existed.

The man lowered his hand.

He sighed again.

"I have to start being faster," he muttered to himself. "These insects are getting too confident."