Chapter 587: The Real Demon

The hall was deadly silent, with many of the clan representatives no longer daring to meet Damian’s gaze. The corpse of Drogath still lay where it had fallen, the blood slowly spreading across the polished floor, serving as a brutal reminder of what happened to the first person who had challenged him.

Elsa remained seated on Damian’s lap, but her expression had changed completely. She had expected the argument to escalate into a confrontation, perhaps even a brief struggle between Damian and the clan patriarchs, but she had never expected him to deliberately push the situation toward violence and kill one of them without hesitation.

Yet somehow, that violence had achieved what years of political maneuvering could not. The hall was peaceful now. Not because everyone had reached an agreement, but because everyone was terrified of what would happen if they did not.

Damian’s gaze slowly moved across the representatives before settling on them with open disdain. "Hmph! Apart from the elves and mimics Gildreach has no legitimate clan. Every race allowed and annexed by Lazarus were only added for the purpose of labour. In terms of military prowess, you are all shit!"

Buzz!

Several faces twisted upon hearing Damian’s words. Aurelia’s golden eyes narrowed, Cyran’s crystalline features hardened, and Brinna’s small hands clenched around the fabric of her coat. Even Veyra’s usually unreadable expression briefly changed. Elsa turned her head toward Damian, almost as if she needed to make certain that the man sitting beside her was actually the one speaking.

Damian noticed their reactions and released a mocking laugh. The sound echoed through the enormous hall, carrying none of the restraint expected from a newly crowned ruler addressing the nobles of his realm. Instead, it carried contempt.

"Mine demon clan... Gold demon clan... Gem demons... Goldleaf... Hahahaha... Fucking jokes!" Damian laughed. "You are not real clans, you are merely labourers shaped by thousands of years of slavery in your posts, allowed to from clans and bear the title of nobility but we all know none of your clans are recognized as nobility beyond the walls Gildreach Vault. You were only deemed nobility here because Lazarus needed you all."

Buzz!

Everyone sucked deep breaths, their shaken and resentful gazes shifting toward Damian’s throne. None dared interrupt him. Even those who were furious understood that Drogath had just demonstrated what happened when anger overcame caution.

Damian leaned forward slightly, his enormous body casting a shadow over Elsa as his eyes continued burning with that unsettling light.

"Lazarus was too weak to subdue you guys and gave you the title of nobles and because of that you have forgotten you roots. But that’s alright. I’m here to remind you all of who you are." Damian hissed.

Thud!

"YOU ARE GOING TOO FAR!" Aurelia stepped forward with burning golden eyes, her demigod presence bursting violently from her body.

The pressure shook the hall, and several attendants stumbled backward as the Gold Demon matriarch finally allowed her anger to overwhelm her fear.

Brrrr!

White flames suddenly erupted across Aurelia’s entire body and her scream tore through the palace.

She stumbled backward before instinctively running toward the exit, her hands clawing at her burning body as the flames consumed her from head to toe. Everyone scattered in panic, desperately moving out of her path as the white fire followed every movement she made. None of them dared touch her. They were terrified that whatever had ignited her would spread to them as well.

Aurelia eventually burst through the entrance and lost her footing on the palace steps, tumbling down them as her body rolled across the stone. Yet the flames did not weaken. If anything, they burned fiercer, coating her metallic body in white fire as she screamed and rolled desperately across the ground, trying to extinguish something that clearly could not be extinguished through ordinary means.

The eunuchs and attendants surrounding the courtyard stood frozen with pale expressions. Some looked toward Elsa, others toward Damian, but none dared take the initiative to help Aurelia. The woman continued screaming outside, her cries carrying through the open entrance and into the court.

Within the hall, nobody spoke.

Damian watched the scene without even blinking before slowly turning his attention back toward the remaining representatives.

"I have killed three dukes of hell, I have purged several clans to extinction, do you think I would hesitate to do the same to a bunch of nobodies who have no real standing in the underworld? Do you really delude yourself to believe that I won’t purge your men, and enslave your children and women?" Damain hissed. "Do you fucking think we run a democracy here?"

The question hung heavily in the air and nobody answered.

Every head lowered.

Even Elsa was horrified by what she was seeing. She had known Damian was ruthless. She had witnessed his battles, seen the aftermath of his conflict with Lazarus and understood that the man beside her was capable of terrible violence when pushed.

But this was different.

He was not reacting to a threat anymore. He was dismantling the political structure of an entire realm through fear, making certain that every noble in the room understood that their previous status meant absolutely nothing to him.

"It doesn’t matter anyways... Your armies are being disarmed and your people surrounded by your replacements as we speak!" Damian’s voice turned cold. "Your land, wealth and positions were shared back in my court in Velmora two months before Lazarus attacked."

Buzz!

Every representative raised their face and horror spread across the room.

They had not even realized that Damian had already begun moving against them. The realization was far more terrifying than the threat of violence itself. Damian had not come here to negotiate control of Gildreach.

He had already taken it.

"You all will be stripped of your nobility and the nobles of Gildreach Vault will be replaced by much stronger and militarily capable clans that can truly protect its walls from invaders... What becomes of your clans is what I came here to discuss. Will you submit, become honorary citizens and enjoy the same wealth and life as you have had under Lazarus but without the nobility status or will you resist, get purged and the remnants enslaved and forced to work on mines?"

Bam!

Without hesitation, everyone began falling to their knees. Bodies struck the polished floor one after another as heads slammed downward in submission. Even those who had been furious moments earlier abandoned their pride without a second thought.

"WE WILL SUBMIT YOUR MAJESTY, SHOW MERCY!!!!!"

Their voices echoed throughout the hall.

Damian stared down at them for several seconds. Then the cold gleam in his eyes shifted into a cruel smile.

Elsa shuddered.

For the first time, she truly understood the kind of man she had married. She could finally see why Damian had been able to kill Lazarus. He was more terrifying and ruthless than her former husband by a thousand times.

In fact, it would not be wrong to say this man was no different from Sol, except that he didn’t discriminate against other races.

Elsa rasied her gaze toward the man whose arm remained firmly around her waist, her cheeks still faintly flushed from sitting on his lap.

Before today, she had privately believed that she was the one doing Damian a favor by marrying him, offering him Gildreach and the resources accumulated under Lazarus. She had thought she was bringing something valuable into the marriage.

But as she watched the terrified nobles kneeling before him, listening to the screams of Aurelia still echoing from outside, that thought disappeared completely.

Now it had become painfully clear he was the one who had done her a favor by accepting her marriage proposal.