Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Kretos headed to the place where he and Kir fought, upon arriving he saw many Lycans howling. The Lycans noticed Kretos's arrival and all of them immediately knelt on one knee. Kir's former adjutant Shera approached Kretos and bowed her head. 

"Thank you Demon Lord Kretos for granting our lord a wonderful battle." 

"Hmm... Do you not hate or fear me?" Kretos asked looking at the Lycans curiously. 

"We do not hate you, sir, as you have given our lord a satisfying death in battle. As for fear, we do fear you as one should, but at the same time, we respect you. The Lycan tribe has always believed in the winner takes all. So from here on out the Lycan Tribe is willing to die for you." 

When Kretos heard Shera's reply he smiled amused by her answer. He also saw that the other Lycans had no objections making him chuckle. 

'I kinda like the Lycan tribe.' Kretos nodded his head.

"Very well, as long as you don't betray me, I promise you victory in every glorious battle. But if you betray me then there will be no mercy." 

The Lycans then stood up and pounded their chest in unison. They then started howling but unlike the melancholic howl they were doing a while ago, this howl was more upbeat and warlike almost like a growl. 

...

While the Lycan tribe were pledging their loyalty to Kretos the Northern, Western, Southern demon tribes were discussing Kretos's declaration. As for the Eastern lands and the Middle lands they have already fallen into his hands. 

...

In the Southern Lands, the leaders of each demon tribes had gathered in the now abandoned castle of Demon Empress Nimune. 

"So what should we do regarding Kretos's declaration?" The leader of the Naga tribe asked the other demons.

"My tribe is the mighty minotaur tribe, we will never kneel to the likes of a Horned Demon." The leader of the Minotaur tribe spoke while huffing. 

"Are you saying our Horned Demon tribe is weak?" The leader of the Horned Demon Tribe glared at the Minotaur.

"Hmph, aside from Demon Lord Kretos and the once strong shadow clan, your whole tribe is just a bunch of weaklings who are only as strong as the puny humans." The Minotaur scoffed. 

"You stupid cow head, say that again, and let's see if you can survive?" The Horned Demon spoke while holding onto his sword. 

"Bring it little Horned Demon, I will rip you apart." The Minotaur gripped his giant mace and was ready to fight. 

"Boys how about you stop with the petty argument and let's get back to the topic at hand." A seductive voice tickled the ears of all present. This was the newly appointed leader of the Succubus Tribe. 

"Hmph, I don't need to continue with this stupid talk. The Minotaur tribe will not bow down and we will not go and respond to his summons." The leader of the Minotaur tribe said what he wanted and left. 

...

In the Western Lands, a similar conversation was happening. The big players of the Western Lands were already having internal conflicts after Darius's death, as the arrogant and prideful Vampire Tribe still wanted to rule over the Western lands. Of course, as no one from their tribe was as powerful as Darius the other tribes didn't allow that to happen.

 As their internal conflict was escalating they received Kretos's summons. Now that a bigger threat was looming over them, they decided to stop fighting for now. 

"I propose an all-out assault on the arrogant young demon!" The newly appointed leader of the Vampire tribe shouted. 

"Are you stupid? We can't even beat Darius with our combined might, how do you expect to fight someone that is so much stronger than Darius himself?!"

"I propose that we boycott the meeting. If almost all of us don't go, I don't believe Kretos has the guts to wipe all our tribes."

"How are you so sure?" 

"Based on his summons and wanting us all to pledge allegiance, we can all see how great Kretos's ambitions are. He wants to rule us, but if he wipes us out then there will be no one to rule over. Surely he wouldn't allow that." 

"I don't think we should think it's that simple. Kretos has never shown any sort of ambition, all he seems to care about is battle."

"Then how do you explain his recent actions?"

"Do you think he wants to gather us all to fight a war against the other races?" 

"... That actually sounds more plausible. This guy is crazy about fighting, he might want to start a war against the other races." 

"In our current conditions if we start a war now we wouldn't just worry about the enemy forces, but even our allies."

"Yeah, a war is going to be suicide for us."

"Also, why should we go to war with the other races? We already own most of the lands on the continent and our lives here are surely better than theirs." 

"I actually think we can win if we went to war. With someone as powerful as Kretos in the lead, I think we can enslave every other race."

"I don't think so, no matter how strong Kretos is he's only one person." 

The Demons at the Western Lands kept going on and on until they all finally agreed to meet Kretos and decide what to do from there. 

....

In the Northern Demon Lands, the Harpy and Tengu tribes were now an endangered species and were focused in trying to save what's left of them. Out of fear that Kretos might kill all of them, the Tengus and Harpies sent one representative. Most of the remaining tribes like the Werewolf tribe have decided to pledge allegiance to Kretos. But of course, there were some that didn't want to do so. 

"Are we really going to pledge our allegiance to some young demon that hasn't even lived for a half a century?" 

"Do we have any other choice?" 

"If we band together with the other tribes from all over the demon lands, no matter how powerful Kretos is we can beat him." 

"Is it really worth it to fight him in an all-out battle? Even if we do win many tribes will be lost, and we will be weakened to the point that the other races will strike us. The only reason they have never done so despite us owning a larger portion of the continent is that they fear us. But now that we lost four demon lords, our overall strength has drastically weakened." 

"But if we follow this madman that only knows battle, would we survive? I know most demons like the thrill of battle, and different tribes have been at war for centuries, but this horned demon is something else. In the span of a few years, he has killed all the strong demon lords, now that he defeated the strongest of the demon lands, he might set his sights on the other races. It might get worse, he might challenge the Dragons and those winged servants of the Gods."

"Then what do you propose we do, simply die by his hands?" 

...

While Kretos was waiting for the leaders of different demon tribes to arrive, Tsukiko alongside all the leaders of the tribes from the Eastern lands had pledged their allegiance to him. Kretos of course accepted them all under his rule. Tsukiko told him that even if he was their leader now, he can't boss her around willy nilly. Kretos felt like the way Tsukiko was acting was quite cute, as she pouted and stuck out her tongue. Even though she was a few centuries older she still acted like a little sister.

...

After a few more days of waiting the leaders of the demon tribes had arrived. They even brought a large force with them. Each tribe had sent their strongest warriors to meet Kretos. This was a tactic to intimidate Kretos. 

The other demons who had seen Kretos for the first time were a bit disappointed in how he looked. Was this young demon really the slayer of demon lords and a thousand demons? 

"It would seem that not all the tribes have come... Shera list down those that didn't attend, we will annihilate them later." 

"As you command my lord." Shera bowed her head and started noting down the tribes that didn't attend the meeting today. When the other demons heard Kretos's declaration some of them gulped dryly as up to this point they thought Kretos was bluffing about killing the whole tribe of those that defy him. The other demons on the other hand found Kretos's act to be too arrogant. Even the previous demons lords have never annihilated a whole tribe before. 

"Alright then, I won't say too much and get to the point. All of you kneel down and pledge your loyalty to me. Those that don't will have their whole tribe annihilated." 

Some of the demon tribes didn't hesitate to pledge allegiance to Kretos. The others, on the other hand, didn't move and continued to look at Kretos with defiance in their eyes. When one of the tribe leaders that wish to defy Kretos was about to say something, Kretos interrupted him by releasing an immense bloodlust. He then pressured everyone with the might of his mana. 

Feeling such a fearful bloodlust even the most battle-hardened warrior started shivering in fear. Adding to that was the suffocating amount of mana that made it hard to breathe. Kretos glared at those that were looking at him in defiance and spoke in an ice-cold tone.

"Bow or die, choose now!"