The ruined streets of Lubelius were quieter now.
There were still workers hauling stone, priests offering blessings over reconstructed homes, and holy knights patrolling the districts that had once been reduced to rubble. But compared to the chaos of the past days, the city had finally begun to breathe again.
Within the headquarters of the Holy Knights, however, the atmosphere remained tense.
A meeting room had been cleared.
A long table sat at the center, though no one was seated yet. The Ten Great Saints stood around it in uneven silence, some with arms crossed, others with eyes lowered, all of them still carrying the aftershocks of what had happened in the Barren Lands.
They had been defeated.
Thoroughly.
Humiliatingly.
And before they had even fully digested that, an even greater truth had fallen on them.
Their god.
The being they had prayed to.
The one they had offered faith and devotion to for years—
Was none other than Demon Lord Luminous Valentine herself.
No one had quite found the right words for that yet.
Then the doors opened.
Hinata walked in first.
Luminous followed a moment later.
The room straightened immediately, though in a way that was noticeably less smooth than usual. Some did it out of old habit. Some out of respect. Some perhaps simply because they did not know what else to do.
Luminous noticed all of it.
She stepped forward without ceremony and stopped at the head of the room. Hinata remained to the side, her expression calm, though her eyes flicked across each of the Saints in turn.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Luminous did.
"Well," she said, voice even, "you all know now."
It was direct.
There was no effort to soften the truth or wrap it in something easier to swallow.
She was Luminous.
That alone was explanation enough.
Bacchus was the first to react.
He scratched the back of his head and let out a breath through his nose.
"Yeah," he said. "Hard to miss at this point."
A few of the others gave faint, uneasy glances his way, but nobody rebuked him.
Glenda folded her arms and leaned one hip lightly against the table.
"I have to admit," she said, "I imagined a lot of things. This wasn't exactly at the top of the list."
Fritz nodded a little too quickly.
"Same."
Saare clicked his tongue.
"Still doesn't make sense."
Luminous looked at him.
Saare met her gaze evenly. He had enough pride not to look away now, even if he was still standing in front of a being who could erase him without effort.
"You're a Demon Lord," he said. "And we've been worshipping you as God."
Luminous raised an eyebrow.
"And?"
Saare frowned.
"And?"
He looked genuinely irritated that she'd answered like that.
"Yes," Luminous said. "And?"
The room went quiet again.
Leonard was the one who stepped in before the tension turned into something less productive.
His posture was as straight as ever, voice measured and controlled.
"I think," he said carefully, "what Saare means is that this changes certain assumptions."
"That's one way to put it," Garde muttered.
Luminous gave a small hum.
Then she looked around the room.
"Then listen carefully."
That settled them.
Even Saare went still.
Luminous continued.
"I did not gather you here to ask for your approval. Nor do I intend to beg forgiveness because your sense of religion has become inconvenient."
Her eyes swept across them one by one.
"I protected this land before any of you were born."
"I ruled it when your nations were still weak, fractured things."
"I built this order because the world is ugly, and because humanity, for all its self-righteousness, requires something to rally behind if it is to survive."
No one interrupted.
There was too much weight in her voice for that.
"If that offends any of you," she said, "then leave."
Luminous did not blink.
"If any of you decide that learning what I am makes it impossible to continue as Holy Knights, then you may leave now. There will be no punishment. No retribution and no pursuit."
Hinata's gaze shifted very slightly at that, but she said nothing.
Luminous continued.
"The door remains open."
Silence followed.
Long enough that the absence of sound itself began to feel deliberate.
Then Arnaud straightened and spoke first.
"I have served the Holy Knights for years," he said. "I did not join because I thought God was simple."
That earned a few side glances.
Arnaud ignored them.
"I joined because this land needed defenders."
He looked directly at Luminous.
"That part has not changed."
Garde nodded slowly after him.
"Same here."
He crossed his arms tighter.
"You being a Demon Lord is… a lot."
That got a small, humorless snort out of Bacchus.
"A lot," Bacchus repeated. "That's one way to describe it."
Garde ignored him and kept speaking.
"But Lubelius is still Lubelius. Our people are still our people. My sword doesn't care what title you use if the work stays the same."
Litus was next.
She had been quiet since Luminous entered, but now she lifted her chin.
"I'm angry," she admitted.
That surprised no one.
"But not because you're a Demon Lord."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"I'm angry because no one told us."
Hinata took that one without flinching.
Litus let out a slow breath.
"But even then…"
She glanced around the room, then back at Luminous.
"I didn't become a knight because I needed a spotless story."
"I became one because someone had to stand between ordinary people and the monsters beyond these walls."
Her mouth tightened faintly.
"You're still doing that."
That seemed to shift something in the room.
The others began to settle into clarity.
Grigori gave a small nod.
"My faith was always in duty first."
Glenda smiled faintly.
"Besides, if I quit now, all this trauma would have been for nothing."
That drew the first real laugh.
Even Luminous's expression changed, if only by a fraction.
Fritz raised one hand awkwardly.
"For what it's worth," he said, "I was definitely shocked."
"That makes all of us," Bacchus said.
Fritz nodded.
"Yeah. But… I mean…"
He looked between Luminous and Hinata.
"…the Commander knew."
Hinata met his gaze.
"Yes."
Fritz exhaled.
"And she still stayed."
That was harder for the others to argue with.
Because Hinata was many things.
Cold. Demanding. Brutal in training.
But never faithless in the things that mattered.
Saare looked at Hinata for a long moment.
Then he looked at Luminous again.
His expression was still hard, but the sharpest edge had gone from it.
"I still don't like it," he said.
Luminous looked unimpressed.
"You are not required to."
Saare's mouth twitched very slightly.
"Good."
He folded his arms.
"Because I'm still staying."
Bacchus laughed under his breath.
"There it is."
Leonard stepped forward then, resting one hand on the back of a chair.
"The Holy Knights are not children," he said. "We can adapt."
He looked around at the others.
"If anyone truly wishes to leave, this is the moment."
No one moved.
Not a single one.
The silence that followed was very different from the earlier ones.
This one was firm.
Hinata finally spoke.
"Then it's settled."
Her voice was calm, but there was unmistakable relief beneath it.
Not much.
Just enough.
Luminous looked around the room once more.
Then she gave the smallest nod.
"Very well."
No speech followed.
---
At El Dorado, things were considerably less solemn.
The castle of Leon Cromwell gleamed beneath the afternoon light, a polished monument to wealth, discipline, and Leon's excellent taste in architecture.
Inside one of the wide reception halls, however, refinement had once again been invaded by chaos.
A black circle opened in the middle of the room.
Loki dropped out of it.
He landed on one knee, steadied himself, then stood up with a small grunt and brushed dust off his maroon coat.
"I'm home," he announced.
Velzard was off the sofa before he had even finished speaking.
"Loki!"
She crossed the distance immediately and nearly crashed into him with the force of her hug. Loki barely caught himself in time, arms flaring slightly as she wrapped around him.
"You're back," she said, sounding genuinely pleased.
Loki blinked, then laughed softly.
"Well, yeah. That tends to happen when I survive things."
Velzard pulled back just enough to look at him.
"And?"
Her eyes shone with open curiosity.
"What happened?"
Loki opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Then sighed with theatrical weight.
"Luminous tried to kill me."
Velzard blinked once.
"That sounds predictable."
"It was very rude," Loki said.
From the far side of the room, Rain nearly snorted into her drink.
Misery, standing nearby, only shook her head.
Leon was seated in his usual chair, one leg crossed over the other, looking entirely unimpressed.
"That is what happens," he said dryly, "when you behave like a menace."
Loki pointed at him.
"See? This is why people don't confide in you."
Leon didn't bother responding to that.
Instead he looked at Loki more carefully.
"You look better than expected."
"Thanks," Loki said. "I teleported away before things got truly inconvenient."
Rain raised an eyebrow.
"Inconvenient."
"You fought Luminous and Dagruel at the same time."
Loki shrugged.
"Exactly. Very inconvenient."
Velzard's attention sharpened.
"Dagruel joined too?"
Loki nodded.
"Mhm."
He untangled himself from her and walked a few steps deeper into the room.
"Luminous painted me as the villain. Which, in fairness, was easy."
Rain leaned back against the wall.
"Because you are one."
"Allegedly."
Velzard watched him for another moment, then smiled faintly.
"You're in a good mood."
Loki looked at her.
"I had fun."
That part, at least, was completely honest.
A new voice entered then.
Guy Crimson had not been in the room a moment ago.
Now he was.
He stepped in with his usual irritating ease, red hair catching the light as if the room itself were designed to flatter him.
Loki saw him and immediately sighed.
"Ah."
"The problem arrives."
Guy smiled.
"Funny. I was about to say the same."
Loki dropped onto the nearest couch and stretched out like he owned it.
He did not.
Leon's eye twitched.
Guy approached without hurry and stopped in front of him.
For a moment, he simply studied Loki.
Then he spoke.
"I asked you this before."
Loki looked up at him.
"And I ignored you beautifully."
Guy ignored that.
"I'll ask again."
He folded his arms.
"What do you intend to do with your strength?"
The room quieted.
Even Rain straightened slightly.
Misery's gaze sharpened.
Velzard looked from one to the other.
Loki blinked once.
Then he leaned back and answered with complete honesty.
"I just want to have fun."
No hesitation.
No performance.
No grand ambition.
"No world domination," he continued. "No divine purpose. No ten-thousand-year scheme."
He shrugged.
"I don't have some glorious final goal."
He grinned a little.
"I just want to enjoy myself."
Rain looked disappointed.
"That's it?"
Loki turned toward her.
"That's a great goal, actually."
Misery exhaled quietly.
Guy did not look surprised.
If anything, he looked as though that answer confirmed something.
"Fine," he said.
Loki narrowed his eyes.
"That sounded dangerous."
Guy smiled.
"There's an army."
Everyone in the room looked at him.
Guy continued.
"At the border near the Eastern Empire."
His voice remained casual, but there was a deliberate weight beneath it now.
"A national force that has been stirring revolution for years. They've been growing in strength, killing as they go, swallowing smaller powers, destabilizing territory that should have remained quiet."
Leon frowned slightly.
"You knew about this already."
"Of course I did," Guy said. "It's annoying."
He looked back at Loki.
"They want to throw the world into disorder and call it rebirth."
Loki lifted a brow.
"That sounds pretentious."
"It is," Guy said.
"Usually I'd send Rain and Misery to clean it up."
Rain blinked.
"Usually?"
Misery looked at him carefully.
Guy nodded once.
"But not this time."
That made the room still.
Then Guy's smile deepened.
"This is a chance."
Loki sat up a little.
"A chance for what?"
Guy's crimson eyes gleamed.
"For you."
He paused.
"To fully evolve into a Demon Lord."
That landed.
Even Loki stopped joking for a second.
Leon's expression hardened immediately.
"No."
Rain looked sharply at Guy.
Misery's eyes widened.
Velzard tilted her head, curious.
Guy continued as though none of them had spoken.
"The force numbers around seventeen thousand."
He said it plainly.
"If you kill them and harvest the souls…"
A small shrug.
"You should have enough."
Loki stared at him.
Then a grin began to spread slowly across his face.
A dangerous one.
An excited one.
Leon stood immediately.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Guy glanced at him.
"Probably."
"You cannot be serious," Leon said. "You've spent all this time deliberately keeping him from evolving, and now you're handing him a battlefield."
Rain stepped forward.
"Guy-sama…"
For once, even she sounded unsure.
Misery followed a second later.
"This is sudden."
Velzard, on the other hand, looked openly intrigued.
Guy remained completely unmoved.
"Yes," he said. "It is."
Leon's voice sharpened.
"This is reckless."
Guy looked back at Loki.
"Yes," he said again. "That too."
Loki was grinning now.
Actually grinning.
The kind of grin that never ended well for the people around him.
"Seventeen thousand?"
Guy nodded.
"At least."
Loki slowly stood.
His excitement was obvious now, rolling off him in waves.
"Oh, that's a lot."
Rain folded her arms tightly.
"I don't like this."
Misery nodded.
"Neither do I."
Leon looked as though he wanted to physically drag the idea back out of the room and kill it.
Guy ignored all of them.
"I'm not changing my mind."
Then he looked directly at Loki.
"So?"
Loki laughed.
"Oh, I'm going."
Leon closed his eyes.
"Of course you are."
Loki stretched his neck once, then rolled his shoulders as if preparing for a pleasant evening walk rather than a massacre large enough to change his existence.
"Well then," he said. "I guess I'll go hunt an army."
Velzard blinked.
"You're leaving right now?"
Loki looked at her, clearly delighted by the idea.
"Yes."
"Before any of you can become reasonable."
Leon took one step forward.
"This is insane."
Guy's smile never wavered.
"Probably."
Loki looked at him one last time.
"When I come back stronger, I'm fighting you."
Guy laughed.
"I look forward to it."
A black circle opened beneath Loki's feet.
He looked around the room one final time.
Rain still looked confused.
Misery concerned.
Leon furious.
Velzard excited.
Guy calm.
Loki smiled.
Then he dropped through the circle and vanished.
The room remained silent for a long moment afterward.
Leon was the first to speak.
"…You are a terrible influence."
Guy smiled lazily.
"I hear that a lot."
---
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