In the Uninhabited Zone.
Scarlett was barely holding on, urgently in need of healing.
She flew unsteadily, finally crashing toward a vast, shadowy palace below.
She tumbled through a window, landing in the center of the grand hall.
Due to her injuries, her magic was incredibly unstable.
Her form flickered in and out, shifting between imitation and true body.
Suddenly!
A powerful oppressive force surged, striking her very soul!
Even for a demon, even for a Great Demon King, facing this many Demon King-level creatures brought fear.
On either side of the hall stood Demon Kings in formation!
Tall, short, thin, and stout—more than a dozen, in fact!
In the wilderness, a single Devil Mantis Demon King would be able to dominate a whole region, but here it was merely a street thug.
On the high throne at the far end, a girl dressed in a black gown sat quietly.
With her slender hand propping her head, she gazed at the hall's center with contempt and disgust.
She spoke coldly, "Scarlett?
I don't want your filthy, disgusting body defiling my floor!
Get out immediately, or… I'll kill you!"
A wicked red gleam flashed through her arrogant eyes.
This was the overlord of this territory, the Sin of Pride.
Her name: Nanavis.
Holder of the strongest combat power among the Seven Lords of Sin, the undisputed Great Demon King.
[Nanavis: Lv100
Race: Hybrid (Human and Demon)
Profession: Death Priestess
Titles: Sin of Pride, Sinful Hybrid, Tyrant…
Health: 4100
Strength: 1720
Defense: 990
Skills: Ultimate Domination, Sins' Cleansing, Demonic Avatar…
Equipment: None
Overall: 21,999]
"Nana, please save me!
I'm dying!
My body—it's been severed in two…"
Scarlett's face was twisted with pain as she spoke urgently.
Her body flickered weakly, barely holding itself together, already visibly split into halves.
The surrounding Demon Kings shifted slightly, sympathy evident in their expressions.
But none dared to speak.
They barely moved their eyes, remaining like statues.
The temper of this Great Demon King of Pride, Nanavis, was notoriously vile.
Immediately, Nanavis sneered.
"You're dying?
What's that got to do with me?
And you've left your filthy bloodstains all over my floor!
I'll kill you for that!"
Scarlett was on the verge of tears, desperation in her voice.
"Nana, please, don't be like this.
I came here to seek your help.
I beg you, please, save me—I don't want to die!"
"Hmph.
Then act like you're begging me."
Nanavis laughed playfully.
Upon hearing this, Scarlett forced herself to kneel in the center of the hall, suppressing her pain and the agony of her nearly split body.
Sweat drenched her bangs as she trembled through the pain and spoke, "I… I humbly beg you, Lady Nanavis, to save me.
Save my filthy, wretched body…"
Even after all this—
Nanavis looked irritated.
"If that's the best you can do, I think you're better off dead."
To an outsider, it might have looked like a meeting between mortal enemies.
In reality, they had been neighbors for thousands of years and had fought side by side more than once.
"I… I really can't go on!
My magic is almost exhausted.
My body will split in two any moment now, and I'll die!" Scarlett's face twisted further in pain.
Nanavis gave a casual, mocking smile.
"Heh, well then, if you bow to me a hundred times, I'll save you."
A hundred bows?
Hearing this demand felt worse to Scarlett than death itself!
Her heart felt like it had shattered.
Even the other Demon Kings were visibly uncomfortable.
At last, the Devil Mantis Demon King couldn't hold back and spoke up, "Lady Nana, please help her.
After all, she once fought alongside us.
And if she dies here, it wouldn't be easy to explain to the Demon God…"
But as soon as he finished, he regretted it.
"Did I give you permission to speak?"
Nanavis's eyes glowed with a crimson light as sharp as laser beams.
She locked her gaze on the Devil Mantis Demon King.
She slowly picked up a vibrant red apple from the table beside her.
"Splat!"
With a light squeeze, the apple burst.
And as the apple shattered, so did the Devil Mantis Demon King's heart!
This was why she was known as the strongest among the Seven Overlords.
The Mythic-class skill Ultimate Domination.
It allowed her to control any creature weaker than her in both level and strength, bending them completely to her will.
And if she wished to kill, she killed.
If she wished to resurrect, even a dead skeleton could be brought back to life.
However, the downside was the enormous mana consumption, allowing her to use it at most twice.
Many of these Demon Kings had followed her purely out of fear.
In the beginning, there had been as many as thirty of them.
Now, only a little over ten remained, as the others had all been killed.
And now, the Devil Mantis Demon King, once the strongest among them, had perished as well.
But to Nanavis, these Demon Kings were nothing more than pawns, mere toys for her amusement.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
In the great hall, the sounds of Scarlett kowtowing her head echoed.
Ignoring everything else, she desperately began to bow, fulfilling Nanavis's demand.
Finally, as her magic faded and her body threatened to split in two, she gritted her teeth and completed the last bow with her halfbody.
Seeing this, Nanavis smiled in satisfaction and extended her slender hand toward the shattered apple on the ground.
She linked its fragments to Scarlett's mana.
Then, she activated Ultimate Domination.
The broken apple began to reform, fusing back together, while Scarlett's cold corpse began to recover and knit itself whole once more.
"Gasp!"
Scarlett, once dead, sucked in a breath of air as she came back to life.
She could hardly believe she'd actually been resurrected.
However, the memory of Nanavis's behavior filled her with dread; it was disturbingly reminiscent of that Goblin.
They were both maniacs!
"Well, speak up—how did you end up in this condition?" Nanavis asked indifferently, biting into the apple.
Watching her take a bite made Scarlett's heart tremble; she was terrified that she might be 'bitten' to death herself.
This feeling of being under someone else's control was utterly despairing and helpless.