Chapter 486: Holding The Royal Court Hostage!

Within the royal court, it was deadly silent after Astaroth left. The enormous doors had barely settled back into place before the weight of the confrontation began pressing down on everyone present.

Damian, however simply leaned back on his throne and continued rubbing Rin’s fur with an almost disturbing amount of focus, his fingers moving slowly through the fox’s soft fur while Rin rested comfortably on his lap as though the entire court did not exist.

The silence stretched long enough for the uneasiness in the room to become obvious. A few ministers exchanged glances, but none dared speak. After witnessing Damian openly challenge Astaroth, the leader of the Council of Elders, no one wanted to be the first person foolish enough to test his mood.

Then Damian casually raised his hand.

Buzz!

A transparent isolation barrier exploded from his body and rapidly expanded across the royal court. It passed through pillars, walls, and everyone standing within the chamber before sealing the entire room beneath a faint shimmering dome. The ministers immediately stiffened. Several of them instinctively glanced toward the doors, but the sight of the barrier made it clear that leaving was no longer an option unless Damian allowed it.

Hints of concern appeared across several faces still, no one spoke.

Damian finally stopped stroking Rin’s fur and slowly lifted his eyes toward the crowd. His gaze moved across his ministers before settling briefly on his girls.

"Last night I received priceless intelligence. Not only will the capital be placed under siege in six days, but the Sin of Greed will also be coming for my head. And the first reaction my lovely girls could show to this was worry for their traditions rather than worry for the life of the prince they chose to devote themselves to."

Buzz!

The words landed heavily.

Several faces twisted into deep frowns while ministers and officials immediately lowered their heads. Hazel, Ruby, Racheal, Mary, and the others remained silent, their expressions tightening as the truth behind Damian’s words became impossible to deny.

They had argued against his decision to reclaim the Seat of Power. They had spoken about public opinion, ancient traditions, and the possible consequences of breaking the laws that had governed Velmora for generations. Yet none of them had first asked what would happen to Damian if Greed succeeded.

Only Loth remained standing behind the throne, staring at Damian with genuine shock. Her pale face slowly tightened as she listened to him, while Alice, standing among the officials, suddenly widened her eyes as the events of the previous night finally began falling into place.

Alice’s fingers slowly curled.

"So that was what happened," she thought.

Damian leaned forward slightly, his expression darkening.

"But of course, why wouldn’t you all make that decision? If I die, another prince will simply take my place and life will continue as usual. Just like Lin Qui was quickly forgotten after his death, while the same court and the same people he treated with nothing but generosity gathered like vultures over the spoils he left behind."

The words became sharper toward the end.

"Sire, don’t say that!"

The voice came from the back of the royal court and everyone turned.

A middle aged official from the Blood Demon family had stepped forward, his face pale as he stared toward Damian. He looked genuinely distressed by the accusation, perhaps believing that speaking up would prove his loyalty.

Bang!

Rin disappeared from Damian’s lap.

The fox shot through the royal court like a streak of light, moving so quickly that several people only realized he had left Damian’s lap when they heard the sound of his paws striking the floor. In less than a second, Rin appeared directly in front of the official.

The man barely had enough time to widen his eyes.

Boom!

Rin swung his paw and the official’s head exploded like a watermelon.

Blood, bone, and fragments of flesh burst across the people standing nearby as the headless body remained standing for a fraction of a second before collapsing violently onto the floor. Several ministers stumbled backward in horror while others covered their mouths to stop themselves from screaming.

A cold chill ran through the entire room as everyone’s gaze slowly returned toward the throne.

Rin calmly turned around and began walking back through the crowd. The ministers immediately moved aside, creating a path for him without hesitation. No one wanted to stand close enough for even a drop of blood to fall on them.

Rin walked through the center of the court and casually returned to the elevated platform before jumping back onto Damian’s lap. His bloody paw prints remained behind him. Then, as though nothing had happened, he settled down comfortably and began licking the blood from his paw.

The sight was so absurdly casual that it made the scene even more horrifying.

Damian did not even look toward the corpse.

"Now I will make this clear to every single one of you, only once."

His voice slowly deepened.

"I am not your emperor or your king. I am your God."

A violent chill swept through the room.

The black cracks around Damian’s eyes began spreading across his face. They crawled across his pale skin like fractures spreading through glass, reaching toward his temples and cheeks as a faint crimson pulse began beating beneath them.

"My ambition is greater than your culture. My life is more important than your traditions."

Several people immediately retreated.

The pressure pouring from Damian’s body became increasingly difficult to endure. The chief eunuch, who had remained standing on the elevated platform with the other attendants, instinctively jumped down and joined the crowd below. He did not want to remain anywhere near the throne.

Only Loth remained behind Damian.

Her body was trembling and her face had become pale. But she did not move.

Whether she remained because of loyalty or because her body had become too frightened to obey her thoughts, even she could no longer tell.

Then darkness began pouring from behind the throne. At first, it looked like a shadow stretching across the wall. Then it grew larger until the entire space behind Damian’s throne became a bottomless void.

The ministers stared in horror as the darkness swallowed everything behind him. The walls disappeared from sight. The royal decorations vanished. There was nothing left but a vast black emptiness that seemed to stretch beyond the limits of the room.

Then a pair of massive reptilian eyes slowly opened within the darkness. They stared directly at the people below and William’s face drained of color.

"Abyss..." he gasped before immediately covering his mouth.

Several people around him reacted similarly. The word spread through the room in terrified whispers.

The Abyss.

The inheritance that every powerful being in the universe feared.

Hazel, Ruby, Racheal, Mary, and the other girls stood frozen. Their expressions were filled with horror and disbelief as they stared at the darkness behind Damian. They had seen the strange black cracks. They had witnessed his terrifying strength on Earth. They had wondered countless times where the power that allowed him to defeat Kaizer truly came from.

Now they had their answer. And suddenly, another thought entered the minds of several demons. Lin Qui, the former Sin of Lust must have died trying to acquire.

Damian slowly rose from the throne.

Darkness continued pouring from his body while the cracks across his face pulsed with crimson light. His expression remained calm, but the voice that left his mouth no longer sounded entirely human.

"I will not be a pawn that will be used and discarded by mere demons. I am the man who will gather all seven deadly sins, then trample upon the heavens and become the sole God. And none of your lives are worth more than my ambition."

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

A furious roar erupted from the darkness.

The shockwave that followed surged through the royal court, causing several ministers to lose their balance and collapse to their knees. Papers and decorations were thrown into the air while the windows violently trembled against their frames.

Damian calmly stretched out his hand toward the terrified crowd.

"NOW KNEEL TO THIS GOD AND SWEAR YOUR ALLEGIANCE!"

No one hesitated.

The entire royal court dropped to its knees. Every person within the chamber immediately lowered their heads until their foreheads nearly touched the ground. Their bodies trembled violently with fear.

At that moment, the strange feeling they had always experienced around Damian finally made sense.

Thud!

Damian stepped down from the throne.

The darkness behind him surged forward and condensed around his body before transforming into the small figure of Abel. The black Chinese dragon stretched comfortably across Damian’s shoulders while Damian held Rin in his hands.

"I will keep the promises I made to your families," Damian said coldly as his gaze moved across the bowed crowd. "But I owe every one of you nothing more than that. The rest must be earned."

No one dared raise their heads.

"Should any of you ever choose anything over me again, I will happily repeat the tragedy of Aurelios and replace all of you with humans who will at least remain loyal to me at all times. This is not a threat. It is a promise."

The darkness within the room immediately began receding. It poured back into Damian’s body as though it had never existed. The black cracks across his face slowly disappeared, leaving behind his pale skin while the oppressive pressure gradually vanished.

Then Abel was engulfed by illusionary pink flames. The ministers remained frozen as the flames wrapped around the dragon’s body. When they finally disappeared, Abel’s appearance had changed completely. The small dragon was gone, replaced by what looked like a luxurious black furry scarf draped casually around Damian’s neck.

"Let’s go."

Damian looked over his shoulder toward Loth and she quickly nodded. Before she could react further, Damian reached backward and grabbed her hand.

Swoosh!

The world around them distorted.

Several ministers instinctively raised their heads just in time to see Damian and Loth vanish from their positions. When their vision stabilized, Damian and Loth were already standing at the opposite end of the royal court directly in front of the massive doors.

Several people stared in horror as they recognized that ability.

"Bathin..." Lord Talos gasped.

The room immediately became tense again.

Bathin was one of the prominent demons of Hell. A demon whose abilities had been considered exceptional even among the countless supernatural powers possessed by the higher ranks of the Underworld.

Krash!

The isolation barrier surrounding the royal court shattered into countless fragments of transparent light. At the same time, the massive doors swung open as an invisible force pushed them apart.

Damian stopped at the entrance and he slowly looked over his shoulder. Every person in the room immediately lowered their heads again as his black eyes moved across the terrified ministers.

"Pick a side. Stay aside. Or you will all die."

With those words, Damian turned around and walked out of the royal court.

Loth hurried after him.

The massive doors slowly closed behind them, leaving the most powerful people in Velmora inside the silent chamber.