A few days back, on his return flight from Cherishnot, Demon King Ukuter had a small, persistent tick in his mind—an itch of intuition and decided to derail from his set course unexpectedly.
This detour led him to the portion of the Celestial Lake that had been under his control. Ukuter and his secretaries touched down, sensing nothing out of the ordinary; and that, they realized, was the problem.
Strolling to the water's edge, Ukuter knelt and dipped his hand into the liquid. For years, he wouldn't have been able to do this without a ripple of hostility. But now... there was nothing. No resistance, no recognition—just water, cold and utterly inert.
"Nothing? That's particular…" Ukuter thought, perplexed. "Plain and ordinary." He couldn't withhold his grin, as he lifted himself up to his feet. "It no longer possesses any energy to make use of."
Ukuter's secretaries awaited at a distance, curious of the situation themselves. Their king returned to them informing them of the issue.
"Eh!?"
Sphe was first to react in surprise for a split second.
"That means Mi-Mi was right?" She crossed her arms across her chest. "Man, it must hurt for whoever didn't believe."
"What a juxtaposition. Now I know your brain is shallow, or rather has Low Synaptic Plasticity, so I should expect you to cling onto anything of any remote similarities, but I can assure the situations are vastly different."
Yun was quick to inform, noting the flawed logic in connection to the two situations.
Sphe felt her mouth fall right off her face, leaving Ukuter to feel the slap of second-hand embarrassment for her.
To prevent this awkward atmosphere from building any further he chipped back in with a few more words.
"Don't get me wrong your logic is not completely flawed, but now you're making an assumption that this self-proclaimed 'Great Demon Lord, Imuru' removed the magical properties from the lake? He was given control of it, but if you used your eyes during our visit it doesn't take a genius to realize he's very inexperienced and weak," Yun said to clarify his point.
Ukuter sighed, scratching the back of his head, a little annoyed by Yun trying to make this sound unnecessarily complicated for no distinct reason. "Let me get this straight, you want proof he removed the magical properties from this portion once he got control? There's a simple theory, that whatever was first in control did it themselves before passing on; doesn't that make sense?"
"That is an excellent hypothesis."
Yun was quick to bow, agreeing to the words of his lord in a heartbeat. "In fact, I'm certain that it is correct."
"Hm-mm."
Sphe glared at him intently, and rolled her eyes, from his pretentious display.
"And there he goes. Suddenly he's not all 'concrete evidence.'"
In response to Sphe's judgement, Yun gritted his teeth tightly to maintain himself, a menacing aura leaking through.
"The only concrete evidence my Lord needs is the words from his mouth!" Yun snapped back, his eyes boring a hole through the back of Sphe's head.
Sphe trembled holding back her temper to the boiling point where she finally burst, spinning around to address Yun.
"I Don't Need To Hear That From You Sycophant. The issues that arise from the Celestial Lake have to do with Ukuter, your master is the trouble maker. The only reason it didn't gain any power over our region is because Ukuter kept preventing it, but the elves from Fernum couldn't even have known he was the reason their portion took the initiative to attack them. What are you gonna do about it if I smeared your lord's name, huh?!"
Ukuter and Yun's mouth were parted in slight surprise.
"Ho—How incredible…" His voice quivered in joy. "That is indeed… correct. Fascinating, you managed to figure that all on your own?" He sniffled, rubbing his nose. "I'm truly impressed, as your senior."
Yun simply couldn't allow this remarkable show of Intelligence go unacknowledged.
"Alright… whatever," Sphe mumbled, still irritated at Yun's backhanded compliments.
"Excellent deduction," Ukuter respectfully complimented Sphe, bringing a light to her mood. "Though I never estimated it would try such an approach. If it reached its full potential, it would've given me some trouble."
"Now, despite how thrilled we all are of your advance in intelligence, we have other issues to worry about… reporting back to the Found Lineage."
Yun was quick to change the subject to what he found more important. This time it was something Sphe could get by as important.
Ukuter's demeanor stiffened, his face almost twisting to a scowl.
"We'll get the report written, and have the area bordered off, until they send someone from the island to investigate."
His words were cold and lacked any substance, the very words he spoke agitating him even further.
Like a nightmare that came to reality, a familiar cold cynical voice brought Ukuter and his secretaries to silence, as they all swiftly faced the same way.
Standing, with their arms crossed, was none other than Ukuter's sister, and the future of the yellow lineage; Ukanaki. She had a petite frame, her yellow hair was on the slightly darker side compared to Ukuter's, staring at Ukuter with a menacing gaze.
She strode confidently in her luxury, gold and black overcoat, right up to her brother's face, for a staring contest.
"Ukuter…"
"Th—"
"Don't bother."
Ukanaki swiftly cut her brother walking around to the empowered lake.
"I was here earlier so I figured it out that something is off. And the content you collected prior also has no value," She mocked in a deceiving whiney tone. "Argh! Goodness… I would say you're useless but that would be too polite."
Ukanaki shot Ukuter a look, spinning around right of her heels, theatrically approaching him.
"I'm sure you know, just how serious this is. I wanted to return back to mother as soon as possible, but I thought, oh, I'll wait for my dear brother… Maybe He'll Have An Explanation!"
She took a deep breath. "But, yeah~..." Ukanaki flashed her hand dismissively. "I didn't expect much from you, unmotivated and wasting our time. You know if you'd just do us a favour, and resign early. I'll even speak to mother for you."
Both Yun and Sphe observed in Ukanaki in equal measures of disdained silence. Their expression leaves nothing hidden under the table.
"Tradition!"
Yin broke his silence like shattered glass, his voice firm and dominant, locking his unwavering gaze to Ukanaki's, now that he'd caught her attention.
"Excuse me?!" Ukanaki gritted her teeth, glaring at Yun, eyes filled with contempt, her aura bubbling to the surface in a thin coating around her form.
"You're a high ranking demon as you claimed, I'm certain you heard me," Yun whispered, changing his tone as if to taunt her.
"Ma'am, don't take this the wrong way, but I'd suggest having your ears checked, if you wish to become the 8th Demon King."
Ukanaki's entire body visibly twitched, her mouth curling into a sneer.
"YOU WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!!"
"Who The Hell Do You Think You Are? You're Nothing But A Servant To Us! Yet You Speak To Me In Such A Manner. Ungrateful, Disrespectful, Low-life. We Picked You Off The Street And Gave You The Position You Have Today, And You Dare?!"
Ukuter shifted himself to the background with subconscious micro movements. Shaken and anxious from her fury, he held his head low, becoming a backdrop of the background. Sphe, attended to his side, placing an arm around his shoulder, pulling Ukuter into her embrace.
"I suppose you're finished?" Yun inquired, totally unfazed by her tantrum (In regards to temper tantrums; I guess age is just a number)
"You're mother recruited me for my skill and talent. I'm unsure of how you were made to believe such a skewed expression of me. Nevertheless, the issue here is the Celestial Lake, correct? Since you are present, allow us to write our report, and hand it over to you, and you can be on your way."
Calming herself to a degree, Ukanaki shook her head, stomping off. "Make It Quick!"
"Dumbass misfit faerie," She mumbled.
"Hmph… Children." Yun casually straightened his blazer, "or rather acts like one, in spite of her age. Perhaps her brain matches her stature."
"Wha~t… No freaking way," Sphe face brightened in amusement and more over disbelief. "Are you the same Yun?"
Yun tittered, having only a few uncomplicated words to say.
"I am your senior after all."
Sphe gave Yun a playful punch on the shoulder.
"Look at you acting all cool… but this time I'll let you have it for defending Ukuter."
"I'm merely an extension of Lord Ukuter's tough and… coolness."
Yun knelt, resting a hand on Ukuter's shoulder. "Lord Ukuter is more than capable of handling himself, they're just issues that need to be resolved."
"We must carry on, Lord Ukuter. We have an important report to fill out."
Ukuter kept his gaze to the ground, nodding softly to Yun's request, his expression carefully neutral.
Yun patted Ukuter on the shoulder, standing to his feet. "Excellent. Shall we?" Yun gave Ukuter the way, allowing him first to move forward, as they quietly followed suit.