Chapter 598: Paimon’s Mistake

Duke Paimon sat beside Astaroth, his brown striped robe draped loosely over his shoulders and his hood lowered to reveal his face.

At first glance, he looked remarkably human, with the features of a tiger subtly incorporated into his appearance. His striped ears, short snout, and thick mustache gave him an unusual charm, but there was nothing particularly intimidating about his demeanor.

For someone who commanded the loyalty of an ancient, high tier blood race and held the title of Duke, he appeared almost disarmingly humble. He carried none of the arrogance Damian had come to expect from the nobility of the Underworld.

"I watched your battle against Lazarus with my lovely daughter, sire. I must say, she fell for you in an instant. I told her I would come here to confirm you are truly the man we saw on the screen, and that seems to be the case," Paimon said with a hearty laugh.

He rubbed his mustache with one hand, his expression brightening as he recalled the battle. "I’m sure she would be delighted to know his majesty is truly as huge as a mountain despite being just a demigod."

Astaroth chuckled at the remark, clearly entertained by the Duke’s straightforward manner.

"Then why don’t you offer her up to his majesty?" he asked casually, as though suggesting something as ordinary as sharing a bottle of wine.

Paimon shook his head with a smile.

"I apologize, but his majesty already has too many women. My daughter deserves someone who will love her and only her." He spoke without hesitation, and there was no trace of mockery in his voice.

If anything, he sounded like a father who had spent considerable time thinking about his daughter’s future and had reached a firm conclusion about what he wanted for her.

Damian raised an eyebrow. This was the first time someone had refused to offer their daughter to him as part of a political alliance. Most nobles would have considered such an arrangement a tremendous opportunity, especially now that he possessed the inheritances of Lust and Greed and had defeated Lazarus.

Even those who feared him would have been tempted to secure a connection to his throne through marriage. Yet Paimon had dismissed the possibility without appearing remotely troubled by what he might lose.

Damian found the refusal unusual, although he could hardly fault a father for wanting his daughter to be loved rather than added to an already crowded household.

"Then I believe you don’t plan to let your daughter marry a prince, because I will be killing all of them in due time?" Damian finally asked, his tone calm but carrying an unmistakable warning about the future he intended to create.

"Of course not. It won’t be ethical to ally with one prince and marry off my daughter to another," Paimon replied with a laugh and a shake of his head.

Damian nodded firmly. That answer was reasonable enough. Paimon understood where the Underworld was heading and had chosen his allegiance accordingly. There was no need to make an issue of his refusal to offer his daughter, especially when the Duke had already demonstrated his willingness to stand beside him.

Damian had no interest in forcing every potential ally to surrender something personal merely to prove their loyalty. There were more important matters to settle, and he preferred to judge Paimon by what he could contribute to the empire rather than by a marriage that neither party particularly desired.

Pa!

Astaroth clapped his hands together, drawing everyone’s attention back to the purpose of their gathering. His expression grew more serious as he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.

"Now, let’s get down to the main purpose of this meeting," he began. "The main purpose for this meeting is for Duke Paimon to witness the same power I witnessed. The one that convinced me to stand beside you despite being a demigod."

Damian’s calm gaze shifted toward Paimon, and his eyes narrowed slightly. He understood what Astaroth meant. The Duke had already expressed his willingness to swear allegiance, but a verbal declaration was hardly sufficient when dealing with someone who had remained neutral since Lucifer’s time.

Paimon needed to understand what he was pledging himself to, and Damian had no intention of allowing the man to commit himself blindly.

"Is he prepared to take the oath?" Damian asked.

Duke Paimon nodded firmly.

Before Damian could offer him the terms, orange smoke billowed beside the Duke’s chair, gathering into a scroll that unfurled in midair. Words began to burn their way across its surface, each letter forming with an eerie glow that illuminated Paimon’s striped features.

The Duke reached out and accepted the scroll, showing no hesitation as he read the oath taking shape before him.

"I solemnly swear an oath of loyalty to the Prince of Velmora, to stand by him at all times and to never expose any information shared with me in confidence. Should I default on this, may all my hearts burst and my soul crumble in an instant," Duke Paimon declared.

Damian stared at him with genuine shock. He had expected to present the terms of the oath himself, perhaps adding a punishment severe enough to discourage betrayal, but Paimon had gone further than he anticipated.

The Duke had chosen his own punishment and bound his life to his declaration before Damian could even offer the terms. There would be no room for excuses if he ever attempted to betray him. His hearts would burst, and his soul would crumble in an instant, leaving him no opportunity to escape the consequences.

Such an oath was not merely a political gesture. It was a willingness to place his own existence on the line for the sake of his allegiance.

"Duke Paimon, I admire your dedication, and for that reason, I won’t hold back," Damian said.

He snapped his fingers, and the world around them vanished.

In the next instant, they stood beneath a dark sky illuminated by a crimson moon. Black clouds gathered beneath it, stretching across an endless expanse of darkness that seemed to have no horizon. The ground beneath their feet was swallowed by shadow, and far below them, a massive crimson eye stared upward from the depths of the realm.

Its enormous pupil remained fixed on the newcomers, its presence so overwhelming that the surrounding darkness seemed to pulse with every movement of its gaze. The air carried an oppressive weight, not merely because of the power contained within the eye, but because the realm itself felt like an extension of something ancient and unfathomable.

Kaja and Cain abruptly straightened, their eyes widening as they recognized the significance of their surroundings. Neither had expected Damian to reveal such a terrifying inheritance so casually, and the sight of the enormous eye beneath them left little room for doubt about the nature of the power their master possessed.

Paimon, however, remained strangely calm. His expression changed from the humble warmth he had displayed moments earlier into a cold, stern look. A deep frown settled across his face as he regarded the crimson eye, and for the first time since arriving, he appeared to be confronting something that demanded his full attention.

"I see... Now it finally makes sense." Paimon nodded lightly in Damian’s direction.

His voice had lost its earlier playfulness, replaced by a measured seriousness that suggested the revelation had confirmed a suspicion.

"How deep have you gone in awakening its powers?"

"Much deeper than any previous Demon Lord has ever gotten. We both share a mutual understanding and goal, so I have no reason to fight over his body just yet," Abyss responded.

The realm shook as the voice rolled through the darkness. Kaja and Cain froze, their expressions shifting from surprise to disbelief.

Even Astaroth, who had already witnessed the relationship between Damian and his inheritance, could not entirely conceal his reaction to hearing Abyss speak so openly on Damian’s behalf. The entity was not merely tolerating its host. It was acknowledging their shared understanding and admitting that their interests remained aligned.

The significance of that declaration was impossible to overlook. Abyss was among the most terrifying inheritances in existence, a power that had claimed countless lives and threatened to consume those who attempted to wield it. Yet here it was, openly acknowledging Damian as a partner rather than a vessel to be consumed. Whatever their eventual relationship might become, the fact that Abyss was willing to cooperate with him at this level was proof that Damian had achieved something no previous Demon Lord had managed to accomplish.

"I plan to acquire all the seven deadly sins and then all the ten commandments of Heaven. I will unite Heaven and the Underworld under one rule," Damian declared calmly.

Paimon’s eyes dilated with surprise. He had expected ambition from the man he had chosen to serve, but he had not anticipated a goal of such staggering magnitude.

Acquiring all seven Sins was already an undertaking that could plunge the Underworld into an era of unprecedented warfare. The Ten Commandments of Heaven presented an entirely different challenge, one that would bring Damian into direct conflict with the powers governing the other half of existence. Yet he spoke as though these were merely stages in a plan he had already decided to carry out.

For the first time since meeting Damian, Paimon felt a genuine pang of regret. He had refused to offer his daughter because he wanted her to find someone who would love her exclusively, and he still believed that desire was reasonable.

Nevertheless, the revelation forced him to reconsider the political implications of his decision. Had he known the full extent of Damian’s ambition before declining, he might at least have negotiated an arrangement that secured a closer connection between their families.

Becoming the father in law of a being who intended to unite Heaven and the Underworld would have elevated the prestige of the Mink Race beyond anything they could reasonably achieve through neutrality alone.

With Abyss supporting Damian, his chances of success were no longer something Paimon could dismiss as the delusions of an ambitious demigod.

The darkness gradually faded, and the room returned around them. The scent of wine, the polished furniture, and the quiet atmosphere of Astaroth’s residence replaced the oppressive presence of the crimson moon.

Damian rose to his feet, his towering figure casting a shadow over everyone in the room. The demonstration had served its purpose, and he had no intention of lingering when there were still matters requiring his attention in Gildreach Vault and Velmora.

"Lord Paimon, please head over to Gildreach Vault. I have already put people in place to appoint you to the appropriate position," Damian instructed before turning toward Astaroth. "I will stick to the plan as we discussed earlier, and if anything changes, I will let you know."

Astaroth nodded with a smile. "If anything new comes up, I’ll send over my messenger to get in touch with you as well."

Damian returned the smile. "I’ll appreciate that."

With the arrangements settled, Damian turned and walked out of the room, his expression carrying the exhaustion of someone who had far too many problems to solve and too little time to solve them.

Paimon and the others watched him leave, the Duke remaining silent until Damian had disappeared from sight. Only then did Astaroth notice the peculiar expression on his face. The Duke looked like a man who had just realized he had made a mistake that could haunt him for the rest of his life.

Astaroth chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "Don’t tell me you already regret your earlier statement."

Paimon released a long, weary sigh and rubbed his forehead. "I thought I was doing my daughter a favor, but I ended up destroying any possible relationship between her and probably the most powerful being in the universe. Old age has truly blinded this fool."

His lamentation only made Astaroth laugh louder, the sound filling the room as Paimon sat there contemplating the consequences of his own good intentions.