The Villain's Retirement-Chapter 13: Demons (4)

"Eh?"

Zayn covered his mouth as he swallowed his saliva, eyes widened as he saw a surge of mana coat and hover beneath my skin. Zayn had been watching the whole time from the safe place and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Back in the Demon Realm, Zayn didn’t truly understand the Shadow Legion.

Few did. Not even the upper ranks. Even among demons, it was a name spoken quietly—a force that served the Demon King, yet stood apart from his inner circle. A balancing blade, said to be equal in weight to the Citadel or Valier’s highest subordinates. However, very rarely does the Shadow Legion show up. Some even believes it was just a mere story.

However, Zayn, first heard about the Shadow Legion when he was six. He was playing hide-and-seek with his personal maid when a very drunk and tall muscular furious man with pointy mountain got horns stormed to the throne room.

This man was naturally the Demon King Valier.

"Ard!!!"

Valier’s voice thundered through the hall, and the pillars near the entrance shattered as if struck by an invisible hammer.

"Why has he crossed into the human realm again?" Valier roared. "Has he grown so bored of his duty that he now toys with mortals? Or is he conspiring with the Human Emperor behind my back?"

His black gaze burned with contempt.

"What could possibly amuse him in that wretched, crawling world of filth?"

The maid standing beside him were cleaved into two. Her torso was spraying blood as it collapsed. Her life snuffed out the moment Valier turned to him.

"Please calm yourself, my Liege," Valier’s most loyal attendant had said, voice tight. "The young master is watching and you just murdered his maid in front of him."

Zayn never forgot that day. It was the day he stopped considering Valier his father.

Two years later, he saw Ard again.

While they were having dinner as members of the Demon King’s family, Ard appeared.

He carried a human corpse—someone important, judging by the silk and sigils— across the room and and placed it onto the table along with the food before he kneeled.

"Ard of the Shadow Legion greets you, my Liege," Ard said. "This vessel belongs to the Third Prince of the Eastern Kingdom. I present it to you."

All the demon heirs on the dinner table were shocked.

They had expected their father to lash out and kill the teenager, but instead he was praised. But Zayn knew what had happened.

Valier was pleased.

"Good. What reward do you seek?"

"The Ring of Suppression."

His expression twisted in disgust.

"What is so entertaining about that ring?"

"May I not have it?"

"No."

"I see. Then I shall take my leave, my Liege."

Valier fumed.

It was that moment Zayn had taken interest of the Ring of Suppression too.

Four years later, the Demon King had perished. Zayn and Ard were now in the Human Realm. Ard still looked the same as before. That was why it was hard to ascertain how old he was. He still looked no older than eighteen years old.

But Zayn understood who Ard was.

He also came to understand Valier’s hatred toward Ard—not just for his defiance, but for his nature. The Demon King Valier had spoken about how he had wandered the human realm almost every day a decade ago after all.

Which was unsettling for a demon.

After all, Ard was not going with the mindset of a conqueror, invader, or terrorist,

He was there to visit. That, more than anything, disturbed Valier.

Ard was always or on default like an empty casket—emotionless, hollow. His expression rarely changed, and his crimson eyes had always seemed lifeless, devoid of warmth or intent. Unlike most demons who moved with malice, Ard acted out of obligation to the demon throne, or so he claimed.

But what about his visits to the human realm?

Why did he go there at all?

Zayn thought about the ring on his finger and the ring on Ard’s too.

Something had shifted after Zayn began wearing the ring of suppression.

The realization unsettled Zayn. After all, the ring affected him as well, but only marginally. Best it did was mask his demonic energy regardless of what happens to his psyche. Was it because he was merely using a copy? Zayn still hadn’t figured out. Even wearing it himself, he was a afraid because he couldn’t understand it.

Ard was different.

He wore the original artifact. And it was as if it was doing more than suppressing power and masking his demonic energy—it was reshaping him.

It was like he was turning more human. Just like how the human man in the story wanted his beloved to know what love was.

Though still distant and reserved, Ard no longer radiated the same suffocating presence. He really looked at best like a normal young man with even hardly any fighting experience.

Zayn stared at Ard.

’But is it alright for him to be using his powers in front of everyone?’

In the world of magic, the mana used by humans and demons was fundamentally the same. It all belonged to the world itself; those who wielded it were merely borrowers. Because of that, mana alone could never reveal whether someone was human or demon.

However, there were other ways to distinguish mana users.

Some possessed attributes—water, fire, light, and the like. Not all mana users had one, but those who did were called mages. Attributes often carried lineage, tying a person to a specific clan, house, tribe, or bloodline. Through them, identities could be inferred.

"A shadow attribute?" someone among the knights muttered.

"He’s a mage?!"

"And look at that flow of mana... so smooth."

Ard swung his short blade through the air and shadow-tinged mana ripped and wove effortlessly along its path, forming invisible arcs before bursting forward as blades of condensed energy, slicing cleanly through the air.

Ghzz!!!

I stared at my sword. Silvery waves with slight shadow lines clung to my blade, hovering just above the edge. Though it was slightly dark, sparks flickered within it—compressed, violent, and lethal.

’As expected. With the Ring of Suppression on, my usual strength is sealed,’ I thought, confirming my earlier suspicions.

A heartbeat later, shock rippled across the battlefield as the lesser demons fell one after another.

"..."

"I knew it!" Corre laughed under his breath and slowly brushed his hair back in disbelief.

"Huh?"

Jane and Ellie stared, disbelief and confusion written plainly on their faces.

This time, I moved my body as mana coated my legs too. I could do it without anyone noticing, but I made sure everyone could catch up with my movements.

In an instant, the world blurred. I crossed the distance faster than any of them could track and drove my blade through a demon’s heart—then another—clean, efficient.

"Not only a physical reinforcement magic user," someone muttered. "He’s absurdly skilled with a sword."

"Who is he...?"