Chapter 34

“Sorry… for making you cross them.”

“Hm?”

Inside the Council, physical conflict was impossible.

After glaring at me with murderous eyes for a long while, Karzos stormed off, fuming.

Beside me, entering not through the Door of Silence but through another entrance—the Door of Flame—Velada muttered in a voice like a mosquito’s buzz.

“This is all because this noble body is powerless. Even here in the Council, for the mere Familiars of a rank 20 Archduke to strut so arrogantly is only because…”

“No need to apologize. I didn’t reject them for your sake.”

My goal was the Star Scar.

Gamigin certainly had one. But whether Furcas possessed one was uncertain.

If so, there was no reason to help summon him.

Not to mention, the Incarnation’s shell they targeted already had an owner.

“Still, my pride cannot allow it! To show such disgrace before my contractor…! In that case, I shall reveal my true name! Once, I commanded the Seventh Legion of the Grand Marquis himself—”

“Not interested. More importantly, why are you so powerless?”

Among demons, the only law was strength.

The reason Karzos hadn’t shown courtesy before Gamigin’s Familiar was precisely because Velada was crippled.

Was there a flaw in the summoning process?

But if that were true, then she could always switch contractors and regain power—so no one would dare mock her so openly.

As expected, Velada only let out a heavy sigh and lowered her head.

“There are… circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

“I will tell you later. For now, the meeting begins soon…”

“Doors will now close! Those holding voting rights, please take your seats!”

Right on cue, the clock tower rang six sixty-six, and the entrances slowly shut.

Through the Door of Flame, the Door of Silence, and the Door of the Abyss, demons entered and took their seats.

Each door represented an Archduke they supported. Unsurprisingly, Karzos at the Door of Silence represented Furcas.

Not every member there was Furcas’s Familiar, but most sided with him.

The Door of the Abyss represented another Archduke, still unknown.

And the Door of Flame gathered all the rest—those who belonged to neither faction.

I spotted a familiar face in the seats of the Abyss.

Aldrick, the butler who had given me my invitation.

He filled the cup of a demoness seated beside him—broad-brimmed hat adorned with raven feathers, elegant dress.

When her eyes met mine, Velada clicked her tongue and turned away.

“Tch.”

“You know her?”

“Nothing worth mentioning. More importantly, keep your guard up. There are plenty who loathe seeing a human in the Council.”

She warned me to be cautious; even the smallest slip could be used against me.

I could feel it too—the unease of the demons around me as a lone human calmly took a seat.

“Now, I declare open the 168th Supreme Council of the Demon Realm!”

I straightened my posture, forcing my mind to stay sharp.

From Gate appearances to classifications and scales, and even their ultimate purposes—

I could not afford to be exposed here.

But my resolve began to crumble just five minutes in.

The reason was simple.

“First, according to tradition, we will begin with the demonic ritual. Each representative, please rise in turn and proclaim the motto of the territory you ruled in the Demon Realm. Following that, the chairwoman of the Witches’ Trade Association, who generously sponsored this assembly, will deliver the Cursing Address…”

…Too long. And utterly pointless.

Two hours total, and they filled it to the brim with empty ceremony.

For all its name, the Council was little more than a loose collection of powers, each belonging to a different nation—interactions rare and trust thinner still.

So came the pledges of loyalty to all seventy-two Archdukes, even those absent.

Then the pompous speech from Rubietta, the Witch Association chairwoman, waving to the crowd.

Then lectures on improper attire, followed by meaningless recitations of Council bylaws in ancient tongue.

By the time those ended, an hour and a half had passed.

I had begun nodding off, drooling on myself, until Mala-nim tapped me awake.

Wiping my chin, I lifted my head—just in time.

“We now begin the main session. The Council has two principal agendas: first, the selection of the next Archduke to descend upon Earth; second, the allocation of resources necessary for the summoning.”

At last, the moment to discern who would descend, and when.

The process was complex, but boiled down to two things:

The Dimensional Core to open the Gate, and a vessel for the Archduke’s Incarnation.

A Gate’s rank was determined by the Core’s size and purity, and only a Special-grade Gate could allow an Archduke to cross.

Likewise, the vessel had to withstand housing the Archduke’s soul, which meant vast sacrifices were required.

Knowing just these two details in advance would make it much easier to respond later.

Destroy the Core early to sabotage, or if an Archduke with a Star Scar was slated, let them descend and then strike them down.

Best of all, I wouldn’t need to worry about Special Unit casualties.

I could simply show up at the predicted site and unleash my full power.

Even if discovered later, the first few times would catch them completely off guard.

So then—who would be honored as the very first target?

My heart quickened with anticipation.

But then Karzos raised his hand.

“Wait. Before that, I have something to say.”

“What is it, Lord Karzos?”

“It seems we have a traitor among us.”

“A traitor?”

His finger pointed toward the seats of the Flame.

Naturally, I glanced behind me—but I was the last row.

When I shifted left and right, his finger moved with me.

I nudged the demon with glasses in front of me using a tentacle and whispered.

“Get up. He’s calling you.”

“Wh-what? Me?”

“That one is a worthless human who should never have been allowed to sit here at all.”

“…….”

Me?

As every gaze turned to my mask, Karzos strode forward with confidence.

But the vice-chairman seated in the center rose to block him. Wrinkles deepened across the old man’s face in displeasure.

“There is no issue with the Council’s screening, Herald of the Symphony. This seeker of the path of magic proved his worth by crafting a vessel.”

“That is not what I refer to, esteemed Lord Kravec.”

“Then what problem do you mean?”

“A very great one. This ‘Patel’ was attempting to flood the Sea of Decay even before attending the Council.”

At those words, Velada’s expression hardened beside me.

That was the very first thing she had scolded me for—spreading my tentacles into the Sea of Decay without Council sanction.

The chamber’s mood instantly shifted into that of a hearing.

Thanks to the addendum read before the session began, Karzos could even speak Archduke names aloud without restraint, and he launched into his accusations with relish.

“The Sea of Decay is the last legacy of the late Archduke Forneus, ranked thirtieth. Moreover, it borders the continent where our Silence faction resides.”

“But that alone cannot be held as a crime. The sea has flooded periodically since time immemorial; this was simply the season returning once again.”

“No. This time responsibility must be assigned.”

“And why is that?”

“Because of his actions, humans are now rallying to destroy the legacy of Lord Forneus!”

The chamber erupted with murmurs.

Of course they wouldn’t let it slide.

He fully intended to make me pay for insulting him earlier—wringing it out of me like blood from a stone.

“For the first time in decades, Awakened are assaulting the Sea of Decay. As Furcas’s first representative, I declare: this black mage Patel may be an agent of the Ability Bureau!”

“Karzos! That’s enough of your drivel!!”

“Khmm…”

Velada slammed the table, fury bursting from her.

Sharp. He was right on the mark.

I hadn’t expected the Special Unit to penetrate all the way to the sea’s core, but it was true—I had helped them.

Having heard everything, Vice-Chairman Kravec turned his eyes to me.

“Do you have a rebuttal to Lord Karzos’s claim, Patel?”

I looked around.

Even without Awakened senses, I could clearly feel the stance of each faction.

Silence seats: hostility.

Abyss seats: indifference.

Flame seats: wariness.

No one would risk siding with me against Furcas’s faction.

No one—except one.

In the midst of the Abyss seats, a woman watched me with open curiosity.

I didn’t know her name, but I could guess her identity.

Not just anyone could send an outsider an invitation.

“I can’t understand the fuss. If you wanted to protect the Archduke’s legacy so badly, you should have done so yourselves long ago.”

“You—!”

“Now that you fear I might take it, you try to interfere? That’s all this looks like.”

“Reckless fool! What lies within is far beyond what a black mage like you could endure!”

Beyond me?

Before coming here, I had intended to uproot the Seed of Calamity at the core anyway.

To be precise, I only wanted the Star Scar lodged within it—but either way.

I gazed calmly around the chamber.

“Until tonight, I was merely Velada’s contractor. That meant my actions were not bound by your rules.”

“Fool. You accepted an invitation, did you not?”

“And receiving one forces me to be your subordinate? I could just as easily have torn it up, tossed it in the trash… Honestly, I nearly threw it into the river.”

“You dare insult the Council!?”

“Enough.”

As the uproar grew, Kravec intervened.

“Lower your tone, Lord Karzos.”

“But he trampled the Council’s authority and slighted an Archduke!”

“Then you should have been a Familiar of Lord Forneus. What remains in the Sea of Decay belongs to no one.”

“Still, to flood the sea in order to claim it—that’s outrageous!”

“Not outrageous at all. The proof is right there.”

Kravec pointed to Mala-nim, twirling Velada’s hair where she sat at my side.

Indeed, I had already prepared a vessel for an Incarnation.

All that remained was to open the Gate, and in theory an Archduke could be summoned.

The Seed of Calamity was nothing less than a maelstrom of power, born from the manifestation of an Archduke’s true body.

In other words, it functioned just like a Dimensional Core capable of spawning a Special-grade Gate.

There’s no law that says you can’t come out twice through the same hole.

Karzos, having jumped in only to get nothing, looked like he wanted to add more but couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Grinding his teeth, he returned to his seat, still brimming with hostility. Kravec, however, gave me a warning as well.

“Patel. Whatever your original intent, once you set foot in the Council, you must refrain from claiming ownership over the Sea of Decay.”

“Fine, do as you please.”

I backed off easily.

Even if I got hold of the Seed of Calamity, I had no way to summon an Archduke myself.

On the contrary, if the demons rushed to summon one before the Special Unit conquered the sea, that was exactly what I wanted.

Their chances of success would be vanishingly small.

“If you’re just going to sit and let the humans take it, why not go big and summon now? That said, I won’t provide the vessel unless it’s to bring forth Lord Gamigin.”

And who knew?

If luck was on my side, maybe something amazing would appear—like the <SSR-grade Monstrous Cat Gargantua> I once drew.

“….”

“Khmm…”

“Well, it would indeed be the best method, but…”

“If that happens, however…”

The demons all let out uneasy murmurs at my suggestion.

What was the problem?

All I’d done was suggest they try a proper summoning.

Another faction could provide the vessel. As long as the true body descended in one strike, there’d be no issue.

If casualties threatened, I could step in to stop it myself. Yet their reactions were oddly hesitant.

Even Karzos—who moments ago swore the Sea of Decay could never be surrendered—was wavering.

Despite this being the perfect chance to summon Furcas using an Archduke’s legacy they’d been clamoring about.

“Patel… that’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Why?”

“The Archduke’s legacy you humans call the Seed of Calamity is indeed a material on par with a Dimensional Core. But at the same time…”

“Because it has no master, anyone can use it. Which means what comes out may not match our intent.”

“M-Madam Chair!”

At that, the raven-feathered woman who had been listening to Velada rose and descended to the center.

The one who had used Aldrick to send me my invitation.

So she was the Council’s chairwoman.

“Call me Trishy. Your sharp tongue earlier was quite impressive.”

“Thank you.”

Highly likely not her true name.

Inside the Council it was hard to tell, but the body she occupied was clearly an Incarnation.

That meant she was probably an Archduke, not a Familiar.

Still, since she hadn’t declared it herself, I kept it polite and asked:

“But what do you mean by ‘not knowing what might come out’? Isn’t the goal to bring down an Archduke?”

“As a human, you may not know. But in the Demon Realm, there exist beings equal to—or more dreadful than—our Archdukes.”

“More dreadful beings?”

If even the chairwoman—who appeared to be an Archduke—feared them, then what in the world were they?

Unlike me, who could make no sense of it, every demon in the chamber fell silent without exception.

Demons followed the law of strength.

They prized hierarchy, showing no mercy to the weak.

They were sensitive to titles, and would never speak recklessly of those above them.

“Yes. A being bound to only one rule, feared more than anything. A being that even some Archdukes—those few who could stand equal to the old gods of the heavens—were crushed by.”

Thus—

After layers of caution, Trishy finally revealed to me what they truly feared.

“The one whose very thought brings terror. We have always called that being—”

“….”

“‘The Apostle of the Outer God.’”