Aikren Bael, with his unbreakable smile, walked through the districts of debauchery.
Yes.
They were now entire districts.
Two months had passed since he had started his business.
At the moment, he was in the process of inspecting his new district, which was about to begin remodeling.
But before that—
"Lord Aikren, please answer a few questions!"
"Lord Aikren, what do you think about the Maous' statements regarding your business?"
"Lord Aikren, a few words for DN, please!"
Journalists surrounded him the moment he appeared.
It seemed they had been waiting for his arrival.
"Easy, easy."
With those words, they stopped and watched attentively the overly important child.
"I currently have a meeting with a venerable Maou shortly, but rest assured, dear citizens, that I will not allow these essential businesses for us to be destroyed!"
With that, he struck his staff against the ground, and everything changed, turning into gigantic casinos and more luxury venues.
And above all—
A radio booth.
With that, he disappeared, leaving Husk in charge, who had finally regained his position as an overlord, though he still hadn't managed to break free from his leash.
Finally, two days later, Aikren headed toward a very luxurious carriage, staff in hand and arms behind his back.
And so the luxurious carriage made its way to the mansion of Satan Lucifer.
He was going to speak with Sirzechs Lucifer (formerly Gremory) about his new businesses, since it seemed the new Maous didn't like the idea of trading in souls and "debauchery."
When he stepped down, both servants from his own estate and servants of Maou Lucifer were waiting for him.
"Welcome, young heir,"
they said in unison.
Aikren didn't care and followed the maids to the hall where he would have the meeting with Sirzechs.
With a resounding noise, the double doors of the hall opened, and inside sat Maou Lucifer, already seated.
The room was filled with expensive decorations and a round table made of the finest wood.
Aikren entered, his smile ever-present, and sat down elegantly.
The doors closed.
Everyone left except the Maou and Aikren.
And—
the twenty hidden bodyguards.
"Very well, Lord Sirzechs, what did you want to talk about?"
The Satan of internal affairs stared at him for a few more seconds.
"Young heir Bael, although I admire your desire to increase our economy, I must say that your methods are obsolete and give a bad image of our society."
Perfectly suppressing his laughter, the young demon merely widened his smile.
"Oh? I believe that my methods, as you call them, are more than effective and viable."
Before the red-haired demon could reply, he continued:
"You see, the methods I use are completely safe (for me) and perfectly controllable (with an iron hand)."
Without ever losing his smile, and without anyone noticing, he suddenly appeared with his chair to the right of the Maou.
This surprised not only the Maou himself, but also his bodyguards.
"You see, Maou-sama, when our ancestors tried to follow the path of 'vulgar' debauchery, they failed due to small details."
Taking tea from a cup that no one noticed he had produced, he spoke eloquently.
"First: they didn't have enough strength."
"Second: they had no control over their population."
"And I have both. The subordinates under my command are completely trustworthy and have the strength to manage the population, and there is no risk of betrayal, because if they do…"
Something slowly changed.
As if reality itself didn't understand what was happening.
The young demon's eyes turned reptilian—
thin as needles.
Horns appeared on his head,
one of a goat and the other of a bull.
His red pupils grew even brighter while everything else turned black.
"I would make sure their souls were completely destroyed."
His smile widened, his voice slightly distorted as he lightly accessed his true form.
Sirzechs was shocked.
"A super-demon,"
he thought.
Or at least something similar.
"And if you don't agree with this, I have bad news for you."
Without any magic circle appearing (now that he thought about it, he had also teleported without one…), several documents appeared.
"I have signatures from Zekram Bael and eight members of the council in my favor, and they support my actions, stating that this could be beneficial for Hell."
Those filthy old men had demanded one thousand complete souls—
which he handed over with feigned resignation.
Sirzechs read the papers and finally suppressed a sigh.
"Even if your methods damage morality, if the council says so, we can do nothing. We'll decide later, heir Bael."
Morality.
Pfft. Lucifer's morality?
By Satan, what irony.
"I'm glad we settled this. Then I'll take my leave, Lord Lucifer!"
And with that, he left the hall and then the mansion.
Finally, Sirzechs said:
"Let nothing leave this room."
The next day:
"Breaking news: the third super-demon is born!"
It seems his bodyguards weren't very trustworthy.
Sirzechs met with the other Maous regarding the new super-demon.
Ajuka was interested.
"A natural super-demon… it seems Hell is about to be shaken."
Serafall disliked it.
"That mischievous child is corrupting the television network! Demons are more interested in a show called 'Yes! I Slept with Your Sister, So What?' than in a magical girl show!"
(Seriously, are you surprised?)
Falbium was sleeping.
The news reached his father.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
he exclaimed in a cold voice.
"Hm, I didn't see the need,"
Aikren replied with his usual joviality.
"We could have closed important deals if it were known that you were a super-demon."
Of course, the most important thing was pleasing Zekram.
"Look, Father, if you want to talk about that, you can do it later…"
With a distorted voice, emerging from the abyss, he said:
"Don't you think?"
Lord Bael shuddered and looked in surprise at his now unfamiliar son.
"Whatever. I have things to do. I'll take my leave."
And so he merged with the shadows and disappeared,
leaving a stunned Lord Bael behind.
Two weeks later, Aikren was in the highest office of his district, looking down at the increasingly addicted demons.
A small demon—whose soul he naturally owned—appeared.
"Sir, we've been having increasingly frequent attacks in our districts, and more and more businesses similar to ours have been launched."
This was the eighteenth time he had received this alert.
It was enough.
They already had the population sufficiently hooked to endure the terrifying plan he had in mind.
"Alastor."
Behind him appeared a very elegant demon.
"It seems my moment of stardom has arrived,"
he spoke in a voice that sounded like a radio broadcast.
He had been given an army of more than ten thousand mid-level demons, four thousand high-class demons, and one thousand supreme-class demons.
Of course, all of them had increased their strength, including Alastor, since as a dimensional demon he could grant more power to his subordinates.
"It seems your radio show is going to become very 'popular.'"
Alastor merely smiled.
And so the two smiling demons decided what to do.
That same night—
"Enemy attack!!"
Demons—many demons—emerged from holes and began launching attacks.
After a brief investigation, it was discovered that the attacks were distributed among wealthy merchants and some smaller, though still demonic noble, houses.
Thousands of strong demons attacked noble residences.
They targeted new brothels and casinos recently opened by businesses trying to compete with Aikren.
They attacked important sites belonging to noble houses—
casinos, brothels, and rival establishments.
And the most terrifying of all:
"HAHAHA! A giant Alastor attacked and devoured demons without mercy!"
Though he left some alive.
Why did he leave them alive?
So they could be "invited" to his first radio broadcast.
Aikren remained calm as all of this happened.
The Maous who supposedly upheld "morality" did nothing when their establishments were attacked.
They were probably waiting for his business to fail so they could later destroy whatever new establishments remained, since those wouldn't have as much backing from the big players.
As he watched through the eyes of his subordinates, seeing his "rivals" fall one by one, Aikren simply smiled.
The next day—
A mysterious radio program was broadcast for the first time in this world.
"AAAaaAaa!"
Terrifying screams echoed from radios spread throughout the city.
And mixed with the screams was laughter.
Little by little, repairs began on the destroyed places—but every time they tried, the same thing happened.
They were destroyed again, and on that mysterious radio program, screams and laughter could be heard once more.
The day had finally arrived.
The day of his party, where he would be introduced to demonic nobility—
though he was already well known.
Incidentally, he would also meet his fiancées.
Yes—fiancées, plural.
Apparently, being a super-demon and the controller of a new business with a terrifying background gave him the right to have more than one fiancée.
Wearing a different but equally elegant suit, Aikren stood behind the stage, about to be called.
"Let's see how this goes…"
TO BE CONTINUED