Today was a beautiful day for the Gremory family.
The young heirs had gathered at the mansion to chat over tea, pretending to be elegant.
And today, Aikren was here.
Even though he was no longer the heir, he had been invited beforehand.
Besides, Sairaorg was not in any condition to attend.
His mind was far too weakened after witnessing part of Aikren's true form.
But that wasn't a problem right now.
Aikren Bael stood before the Gremory mansion.
The doors opened, and Venelana and Zeoticus were there to receive him.
"Good morning, Lord Aikren,"
Zeoticus greeted him politely.
Venelana remained silent, but wore a courteous smile.
"Good morning, Lord Gremory."
The black-haired boy merely nodded.
"We ask that you excuse us, but our daughter Rias has been somewhat irritable lately."
…Are they warning me about something?
Well, it made sense.
Rias had never been particularly intelligent, and as a child she could be even worse.
Her parents knew Aikren was now quite important and didn't want their daughter to put him on bad terms with them.
"Of course. I wouldn't let myself be influenced by a child."
"You're also a child."
After the introductions, Aikren headed to the room where the young heirs were gathered.
When the doors opened, he saw several children inside.
They all stared at him.
"Hello, dear and little heirs."
That seemed to snap them out of their daze.
As they stirred, Aikren conjured a more elegant chair, sat down, and rested his staff against the table.
"Ahh!"
A shout of dissatisfaction rang out as the host of the tea party stood up, slamming the table.
Rias Gremory.
A red-haired girl who now glared at him with irritation and hatred.
Aikren raised an eyebrow as he calmly sipped tea that had appeared out of nowhere.
He had his theories about why this heiress disliked him.
"Y-you! I told my parents I didn't want you to come!!"
Sip. ✅️ ✅️
A perfect checkmark.
"You hurt Sairaorg!"
Ah. So the current Bael heir had a good relationship with Rias Gremory.
I suppose I'll stop ignoring her.
"My dear, it was a completely legal duel. Injuries are, unfortunately, unavoidable."
Sip.
"My parents said you're very strong! You could've won without hurting him!"
"That's true. But as the stronger one, I choose how to use my power. If I want to hurt him, I will. If I want to leave him unharmed, I'll do that too."
Sip.
"That's super cruel! You have no humanity at all?!"
Seriously? Did you forget you're not human either?
The damage of the new Maou generation, I suppose.
"Well, I'm not human. I'm a demon."
Rias puffed out her cheeks.
Seeing she couldn't win this argument, she changed tactics.
"You shouldn't even be here! You're not an heir! You're lower status than all of us!"
Before Sona could respond to the insult against her fiancé, Aikren intervened.
He wore an amused smile—he found it entertaining to watch Rias's expression change every time he popped her balloon.
As the heiress of an important clan, she wasn't used to being contradicted.
"Are you sure about that? Let me ask you something. Do you have an army?"
Rias looked confused.
"Yes?"
Her clan had an army.
"Hm. Then let me ask another question. If you ordered your army to attack the capital, would they obey?"
At first Rias didn't understand the question—but when she did, she slammed the table again.
"Of course not—"
"Then it's not your army. It's Lord Gremory's."
Rias froze.
"You see, I do have an army that is completely mine. If I told them to attack the capital, they would do it without hesitation. (It's not like they have a choice.)"
"Now tell me—do you have prosperous businesses?"
"My clan does!"
"Then they're not yours."
"Do you have wealth?"
"…My clan—"
"Then it's not yours."
And so it continued.
Aikren popped Rias's balloons one by one.
Until finally—
Hic hic
Rias's face was as red as her hair, small tears forming as she pouted.
At last, Aikren stopped teasing her and switched to "teacher mode."
He teleported beside her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"You see, my dear, you can't live expecting everything to fall into your lap. And if you do… you shouldn't take so much pride in something that isn't yours yet."
He gently massaged her shoulders.
"I'm not trying to hurt you. But if you continue down this path, you'll eventually become arrogant for no real reason."
Rias stopped sobbing, and she—and all the young heirs—began to understand Aikren's point.
"Very well! With that settled, let's improve this."
With a clap, the room transformed, becoming far more elegant.
Servants appeared and began serving ultra-luxury cookies.
The previous ones had been luxurious—but these were ultra-luxury.
"So then, tell me about your lives…"
Sip.
And so the young demons began to socialize.
Along the way, he handed Diodora a pamphlet for nun-themed brothels.
He was still young—but who knew?
In a dark space,
Sairaorg sat curled up.
He had been here ever since he fell into a coma.
One could say he was inside his own mind.
And there—
Aikren appeared.
"Hello, 'heir' Bael,"
he said with a hint of mockery.
Sairaorg trembled.
He remembered nearly losing his sanity to this being before falling into a coma.
"My dear, you're a mess."
Aikren stepped closer.
"Poor your mother. She's slowly falling into sleeping sickness, and now she has her son in a coma."
Sairaorg kept staring at the ground.
"But you know, brother, I'm a good soul—for the right price. So tell me, what do you think of this?"
"I'll heal your mother… I'll heal you… and in exchange, we'll make a deal."
Sairaorg's eyes widened.
He looked at him with fear and skepticism—after all, he was his half-brother.
Did he really want his…?
"Y-you don't mean you want my—?"
"Well, we're demons. What else could I ask for?"
Aikren's smile widened.
"Think about it. No one would ever touch your mother again. You'd live in luxury. No illness would ever reach you."
"So? What do you say—shall we make a deal?"
Sairaorg stared at the outstretched hand of his half-brother.
"Deal."
They shook hands.
That night, the air in Hell was heavy.
As if something macabre was about to happen.
BOOOOM
A mansion exploded.
BOOOOM
Another.
BOOOOM
And another.
And it continued.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Laughter echoed—
not a single laugh, but as if thousands of beings were laughing at once.
Thousands of shadows flew overhead, blotting out the sky.
10,000.
50,000.
100,000.
Too many.
Far too many.
Aikren made his move.
Deploying more than:
120,000 low-class demons,
90,000 mid-class demons,
50,000 high-class demons,
10,000 supreme-class demons,
and finally—
1,200 Maou-class demons.
In terms of quality, it surpassed the army of all Hell combined.
Maou-class demons were usually limited to top Rating Game participants and the Maous themselves—
elite combatants.
And now there were over a thousand.
Demons indulging in debauchery thought they had taken too many drugs when they saw a colossal army descending from the sky.
They attacked the residences of the high-ranking members of House Bael.
Laughter and explosions echoed everywhere.
"That's him!"
"Overlord Vox!"
Vox tore through demons with a smile.
"It's him! The radio demon!!"
A gigantic Alastor annihilated demons with his eerie laughter.
And at that moment—
In a mansion far from the city,
Zekram Bael watched the lights of destruction in the distance.
At last, he turned his gaze away from the devastation—
and looked forward.
Tap tap tap
Footsteps drowned out even the explosions.
A being seemed to merge with the shadows.
A brilliant smile was the only distinguishable feature.
Finally, Aikren Bael emerged from the darkness and stopped ten meters from Zekram Bael.
"Aikren,"
Zekram spoke coldly.
"Are you absolutely sure about what you're doing?"
Aikren simply looked at him.
"Yes. I'm more than sure."
"Then… so be it."
Destructive energy formed before Zekram.
In skill, he surpassed Sirzechs—but in raw power, he fell short.
Aikren did the same.
Two masses of destruction collided.
And then—
Nothing.
No sound at all.
Everything within several kilometers vanished.
Destruction erased even sound itself.
Then—
Thousands of demons rose from the rubble.
"Protect Zekram-sama!!"
They charged.
Aikren could have summoned demons—
but instead,
his smile widened.
Shadows engulfed his body.
A distorted Aikren emerged—animalistic features, multiple eyes across his form.
A demon in the truest sense.
And with that, the power—and the thing that was damaging the world—took effect.
Demons screamed and began to lose their sanity.
Some who screamed twisted into deformed monsters.
"Don't look at it!!"
Zekram Bael warned his subordinates—he knew that seeing that thing drove one mad.
Then the thing opened its mouth.
Incomprehensible.
Were they screams?
Laughter?
Crying?
No one knew.
Sounds that should not exist.
With that cry—
demons fell to their knees and began to transform.
Zekram Bael burst his own eardrums to avoid hearing it.
Then the thing moved.
Each step shook the ground.
Its limbs moved unevenly, as if each were controlled by a different will—
yet it advanced.
TUMB
TUMB
TUMB
TUMB
TUMB
Each step thundered.
As it approached Zekram, countless hands seized the demons not yet transformed, dragging them into different mouths to be devoured.
Finally, it stood before him.
And though Zekram's ears were destroyed, he could still hear its voice—somehow.
"Didn't I tell you? Your status quo is over."
Zekram Bael felt fear.
For the first time in thousands of years.
He stared at the beast as his sanity slipped away.
"HAHAHAHA—"
Within that distorted voice, the laughter rang louder still…
TO BE CONTINUED