The Demons were losing.
The Army of the Radiant Empire fought the advances of the Infernal Legion led by Lilith Zevra—Queen of Demons.
Her invasion of the mortal plane—meant to spread her sovereignty—was utterly failing.
The Radiant Empire's heroes proved more than capable against her Legion's best.
Now, with a great number of her men slaughtered and with the Infernal Houses swiftly losing all trust in her, she was left with no other choice.
She invoked the ancient rites and called upon Azrakul, the Primordial Demon.
She gave her blood and prepared to lose her crown to the demon of myth and legend that possessed unfathomable power.
The ground shook as her blood met the circle. The Legion watched in rapture, shadows bending toward the light.
Then—where they expected a god—instead stood something none of them could have ever foreseen...
...A human.
---
Liam turned, his eyes sweeping first across the Infernal Houses' generals, each one a more terrifying sight than the last.
They looked like any other human in face and figure—but only that. Each possessed a horn protruding from their head.
And their forms? Clad in armor of imposing black, heavy in ways that made one not even dream of piercing through them.
Then finally, his eyes landed on her.
The Demon Queen.
A sight of her alone was enough to make most fall to their knees.
She was the greatest contradiction of insurmountable beauty and terror reality could ever conjure.
Her most arresting feature was the waterfall of luminescent, snow-white hair that cascaded past her waist, a glaring contrast to the shadows she commanded.
From her crown sprang a pair of wicked, obsidian horns tipped with a dangerous, blood-red hue—a clear mark of her infernal lineage.
Liam couldn't tell what froze him in place—fear or reverence.
However, when her voice came, loud and imposing:
"Who are you?"
He became certain it was most definitely fear.
'I died...'
His spiraling thoughts were severed as his vision was blotted out by screens of stark, alien light.
---
[Synchronization Complete.]
[Designation: "Infernal Sovereign" — Activated.]
[Warning: You are not the real Demon Lord... yet.]
"What?" Liam muttered in confusion as he looked down at the screens.
[Starting System Information Synchronization...]
It came as a throbbing headache, the information drilling itself into Liam's brain. With each passing second, he had a greater understanding of his situation.
He gripped his head, letting out low groans as the pain continued.
---
"Do the ancestors mock us?" one of the generals, Moloch, growled. "We summon our god and get a human instead?"
"It truly is a cruel joke, almost unbelievable even," Garad, another general, agreed.
"Your Majesty," Moloch turned to the queen. "I say we swiftly slaughter the human before his existence desecrates this sacred act any further."
The other demons agreed, one even drawing his blade.
However, Lilith simply stayed quiet, her face flickering with a hope that died with each passing moment as she gazed at Liam standing in the middle of the circle.
[Information Synchronization Complete.]
"Your Majesty..." Moloch began again, only for Liam's voice to cut through, silencing him.
"Shhh..." His eyes swept across the face of every demon present.
"So, you speak, human? Before we slaughter you... tell us how you got here," Garad stepped forward, hand on hilt.
Liam paid him no mind. His voice came low and resonant when he spoke again—steady, deliberate.
"Listen close... do you hear that? it's the silent tremble of existence each time it remembers my name."
He took a step, and then another, walking across the summoning circle.
[Detected: 22% Audience Fear Response]
[Converting Fear → Essence: +22 EP]
[New Directive: Maintain Belief Threshold above 30% to stabilize System Integrity]
"For eons, that sound has haunted kings and coward gods—the sound you hear when all creation ceases to breathe."
Liam stopped, turning his gaze briefly to the Demon Queen before looking toward the great throne that rose at the end of the hall.
"Some would tell you I had fallen... that death was the one thing that could cage this god."
His eyes locked onto Garad as he approached him, slow and steady.
Until he stood before the demon general face to face, looking into his eyes unflinching.
"But tell me, general... what grave is deep enough to bury sin?"
He leaned in slightly, his voice a low growl.
"What manner of prayer pure enough... to cleanse the ash of my throne?"
"NONE!" Liam suddenly roared, his voice crashing through the hall like thunder.
[Fear Spike Detected: 43%]
[Belief Probability Rising... 27% → 33%]
[Manifestation Threshold Reached]
[Skill Created: 'Infernal Dread (False Aura)']
The air became heavier as shadows rippled at his feet. The demons stiffened.
Moloch's hand gripped where it rested on his sword. Even Garad took a step back.
"Did you expect salvation to look like you? Did you think you could comprehend my image...?"
He turned away, pacing with deliberate calm.
"I dreamed through the wars of angels and slept on the bones of what were once empires."
[Belief Rising: 40%]
[Essence Conversion +79 EP]
Liam's steps echoed as he reached Moloch.
"And now I awaken... to find my children praying to ghosts."
His gaze swept over all of them once more.
"Look at you. Torn and bleeding, crawling towards extinction."
"This world had forgotten the weight of my voice... so let it remember the name it fears to speak."
He paused, locking eyes with Lilith.
"That silence you hear isn't peace—it's reality realizing..."
He spread his arms wide, his shadow flaring unnaturally across the walls.
"...that the Originator of Sin has returned."
---
The demon queen's eyes widened. For a moment—just one—something flickered behind them.
Hope.
Then she dropped to a single knee, head bowed.
"We bow before the Primordial Demon."
The generals hesitated. The air was off, heavy with an unseen pressure. Garad's throat bobbed as he swallowed. Then, one by one, they too knelt, lowering their heads.
"We bow before the Primordial Demon."
[Belief Threshold: 45% — Stable.]
[Essence Gained: +210 EP]
[Skill Evolved: 'Infernal Dread' → 'False Sovereign's Presence.']
Liam stared at the glowing panels no one else could see, his heart hammering.
They were actually believing it.
And somehow... reality was starting to believe too.