Chapter 332: The Tower of No Return

Location: Demonic Kingdom Palace

Place: Demonic Prison

The Demonic Prison Tower was one of the darkest places hidden anywhere on Earth. Located near the Demonic Palace, the massive structure had been built entirely from crimson-red stone, rising five stories above the surrounding grounds like a monument made for suffering rather than imprisonment.

For countless years, sacrifices had been dragged through its gates, and so much blood had been spilled within its corridors that the tower itself seemed to have become a witness to generations of cruelty. Powerful demons guarded its exterior, while lesser demons patrolled the inner floors without rest.

Among the demons, the prison had earned another name.

The Tower of No Return.

The name wasn’t an exaggeration. Each of its five floors was independently secured, with guarded passages connecting one level to the next. Escaping a cell meant nothing if a prisoner couldn’t survive the demons stationed throughout the tower.

No prisoner had ever managed it.

Inside, the halls and corridors had long since lost the original color of their stone. Dark shades of red covered the walls and floors, stained by the blood of those who had been dragged here and sacrificed. Some stains were ancient, others disturbingly fresh, while the suffocating smell of blood and decay seemed permanently trapped within the tower.

And once again, its cells were filled with hostages.

Demons stood guard throughout every section of the prison, watching the cells while demonic wardens continuously patrolled the corridors. The sound of armored footsteps never completely disappeared, ensuring that every prisoner knew someone was always watching.

On the second floor, the prison held some of its youngest captives.

Several cells held groups of children huddled together in the corners. Their bodies trembled as frightened whispers occasionally passed between them, yet strangely, almost none of them were crying anymore.

It wasn’t because they weren’t afraid.

They had simply cried too much already.

Their faces were exhausted, their eyes swollen and empty, as though they had gone far beyond the point where tears could offer any relief. Now they merely held onto one another and watched every movement beyond the iron bars, terrified that even the slightest sound might attract the attention of the demons patrolling the corridors.

Two floors above, the situation was hardly any better.

The third and fourth floors were filled with adult captives. Men and women remained gathered together wherever they could find space, while some sat against the walls and silently prayed to whatever gods they knew. Others had already given up speaking entirely, staring blankly at the floor while demons occasionally passed their cells without showing the slightest concern for their fear.

But not everyone had given up yet.

Inside one of the larger cells, a middle-aged man stepped toward the iron bars. In the human world, he owned multiple billion-dollar businesses and had spent most of his life surrounded by people who listened whenever he spoke. Even after being dragged into this place, some part of him still couldn’t accept being treated like an ordinary prisoner.

"This is absurd!"

The demon stationed outside the cell slowly turned toward him. A long spear rested casually in his hand as he stared at the man without saying anything.

"How can you treat me like this?" the man demanded, gripping the bars. "Where is my daughter? What have you done with her?"

The demon merely smiled.

That expression only made the man’s anger grow. Fear was still there, hidden beneath his voice, but desperation over his missing daughter pushed him forward despite every instinct telling him to remain silent.

"Do you even know who I am?"

The demon’s smile widened.

"No. Didn’t your mother ever tell you who you are?"

Laughter immediately erupted from the other demons stationed throughout the corridor. Their voices echoed between the stone walls, spreading through the prison until the entire place seemed to be filled with their mocking laughter.

The man clenched his teeth.

"You monsters...."

The spear moved before he could finish.

It passed between the bars and pierced straight into the man’s stomach. His eyes widened as blood began running down his clothes, and a collective gasp immediately came from the prisoners behind him.

Several women screamed.

The other prisoners scrambled away from the bars, pressing themselves against the walls as the injured man stumbled backward. His hands closed around the spear instinctively before the demon casually pulled it free, leaving him struggling to remain on his feet.

"What the hell?"

Another demon immediately turned toward the guard.

"You idiot! They’re needed for the ritual. Why did you do that?"

The spear-wielding demon looked down at the blood covering the tip of his weapon before giving an unconcerned shrug.

"My hand slipped. My bad."

"You... monster..."

The spear-wielding demon paused.

He slowly turned toward the wounded man, his expression changing from amusement to irritation.

"You know what? Never mind. He deserved it."

His companion raised an eyebrow.

"What changed?"

"He called me a monster. Do you know how frustrating it is to keep being called that?"

For a moment, the second demon stared at him before a grin appeared across his face.

"Hmm. Can’t blame you."

Their laughter started again.

The wounded man’s legs finally gave out beneath him, and he collapsed onto the stone floor. A woman immediately rushed forward and dropped beside him, pressing both hands against his wound as tears streamed down her face.

"Honey! Stay with me. Please... please stay with me."

Neither demon showed even the slightest concern.

The guard wiped the blood from his spear before returning to his original position, while his companion leaned against the opposite wall as though nothing had happened. To them, the people inside these cells weren’t hostages with families, wealth, or lives waiting beyond the prison.

They were sacrifices.

And there were several more cells filled with prisoners exactly like them.

Far above the crowded cells, on the fifth and highest floor of the Tower of No Return, the atmosphere was entirely different.

Unlike the lower floors, where dozens of prisoners were forced to share cramped cells, this level was unusually quiet. Only a handful of demons patrolled its corridors, and every entrance was guarded.

Here, there was one prisoner who had been treated very differently from everyone else. Someone whose arrival had attracted the attention of almost every demon stationed in this part of the palace.

Yuuta Konuari.

Beyond the cells holding the ordinary hostages, Yuuta had been imprisoned completely alone. Both of his wrists were locked inside heavy restraints and chained high above him, forcing his arms upward, while another set of chains secured his legs firmly to the floor.

His knees rested against the cold stone as his head hung forward, messy black hair covering most of his face. Yuuta remained unconscious, completely unaware of the unfamiliar place he had been brought to or the attention he was receiving from those outside his cell.

Yet the security surrounding him was greater than that around every other prisoner combined.

Several demons had already gathered outside the isolated cell, but despite their curiosity, none of them dared step inside. Instead, they remained beyond the bars and studied the unconscious human from a distance, occasionally glancing at the heavy restraints and security surrounding him.

Humans weren’t uncommon inside the Demonic Prison. The cells around them were already filled with men, women, and children waiting for whatever fate the demons had prepared for them. What made Yuuta interesting wasn’t his race.

It was how differently he had been treated.

"Who is this human?"

One of the demons leaned closer to the bars, trying to get a better look at Yuuta’s hidden face.

"Forget about his face. Look at the security around his cell."

Another demon narrowed his eyes as he examined the restraints. Yuuta wasn’t simply chained like the other prisoners; he had been completely isolated, and additional security had been placed around his cell as though whoever imprisoned him wanted absolutely no possibility of escape.

"That’s exactly what I’m wondering. How powerful is this human for them to put him in an isolated cell?"

The first demon looked toward the surrounding cells before returning his attention to Yuuta. Dozens of prisoners had been thrown together without much concern, while this single unconscious man had been given an entire secured section to himself.

"That’s not all. Every other human was thrown into the common cells, but this one was chained separately."

His gaze moved toward the marking placed near Yuuta’s cell.

"And he’s marked as a sacrificial lamb."

The demons exchanged uncertain looks. Humans being sacrificed wasn’t unusual here, but none of them could remember seeing this much security placed around someone who was supposedly only waiting to die.

A third demon, who had been quietly listening from farther down the corridor, finally pushed himself away from the wall.

"I don’t know who he is either, but I heard something."

The others immediately turned toward him.

"What?"

The demon glanced along the corridor as though checking whether anyone important was nearby before lowering his voice.

"I heard the Demon King personally brought this human here."

The conversation stopped.

For several seconds, the demons simply stared at him before slowly turning back toward Yuuta. The unconscious human who had seemed merely unusual a moment earlier suddenly became something none of them wanted to approach carelessly.

"What?"

One of them looked back at the third demon in disbelief.

"Are you sure about that?"

"That’s what I heard. The Demon King carried him into the palace himself and ordered that he be placed here."

The first demon’s expression changed as he looked through the bars again. His earlier curiosity remained, but he no longer leaned close to the cell.

"The Demon King himself...?"

"Yeah."

The third demon folded his arms.

"And apparently, no one is supposed to touch him without permission."

That was enough to make the demons instinctively put a little more distance between themselves and the bars. None of them knew who Yuuta was, what he had done, or why their king had personally brought a human into the deepest part of the prison.

But one thing had become obvious.

Whatever this unconscious human was meant to be sacrificed for, he wasn’t an ordinary sacrificial lamb.

"You there!" ℯⅇ𝙡.

The sudden voice startled all three demons. They immediately straightened and turned around to find one of the prison wardens standing behind them, a large axe resting against his back.

"Yes, Warden!"

All three answered together.

The warden’s eyes narrowed as he looked between them.

"What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be patrolling."

"We were patrolling, Warden."

"Then stop slacking." The warden gestured impatiently down the corridor. "Mark every prisoner and prepare the ritual hall. Now."

"Yes, Warden!"

The three demons immediately hurried away, disappearing around the corner without daring to argue. The warden watched them leave before clicking his tongue in irritation.

"Tch. Pathetic fools."

He adjusted the heavy axe resting against his back before turning toward Yuuta’s cell. His irritated expression slowly became more thoughtful as he studied the unconscious human hanging from the chains.

"What exactly is the deal with this particular human...?"

The assignment itself had been strange from the beginning. Out of every section in the Tower of No Return, he had personally been assigned to the fifth floor and given one very specific instruction concerning this prisoner.

If the human woke up, he was to inform the Demon King immediately.

No interrogation.

No punishment.

Not even permission to enter the cell.

The warden scratched the side of his head before releasing an annoyed breath.

"What a pain in my ass."

He tightened his grip on the axe and turned away.

"Never mind."

He had barely taken a step when a sudden chill crawled across his body.

The warden stopped.

His fingers tightened around the handle of his axe as an unfamiliar sensation spread across his skin. The corridor looked exactly the same. The torches still burned along the walls, and no alarm had been raised anywhere in the prison.

Yet something felt wrong.

"What the hell...?"

His eyes slowly moved back toward the cell he had been about to leave.

Yuuta was no longer unconscious.

His head had lifted just enough for the black hair covering his face to part, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes staring directly through the bars.

Every instinct in the warden’s body screamed at him to move, to reach for his axe, to call the other guards.

Yet he couldn’t move even an inch.

Yuuta simply stared at him.

To Be Continued...