Chapter 449: Presence Of The Demon King

He then spoke again. "You will have those outsiders leave this place at once."

Nathan’s eyes widened as he raised his head to face the direction of the ruler. "My king, I don’t understand."

"My words are not to be debated." The Demon King’s voice cut in. "You will have those outsiders leave at once. Whatever reason you have for keeping them here, I do not care. I simply want them gone."

"My king, but—" Nathan wanted to argue

But a sudden aura descended upon the throne room which made Nathan’s eyes widen in fear.

The pressure was immense that he immediately lowered his head and dropped onto both knees, bowing deeply before the throne.

The Demon King stood from and began walking forward. As he approached, the veil hanging before the throne parted, finally revealing the figure that had been concealed behind it.

He was tall and imposing, with pale, almost mask-like skin. Dark markings ran down from his forehead and around his eyes.

A red eye glowed from the center of his forehead, while his mouth stretched into a wide, jagged grin lined with sharp red teeth.

Long strands of black hair fell around his face and shoulders, framed by four enormous curved horns that rose from different sides of his head.

"I should have your head for making me stand," the Demon King said, his voice carrying a cold menace, "much less forcing me to repeat myself."

Nathan said nothing.

The Demon King stared down at him. "You will do as I have asked. That is all."

Nathan then said. "Yes, my king."

——

About an hour later...

Ethan was alone in one of the rooms, sitting with his legs folded him as he worked on a sheet of paper placed atop a small wooden stool.

He moved a quill-pen moved steadily across the page, adding to the rough diagram he had been working on for some time.

The door opened, and Isabella stepped inside.

Ethan looked up and smiled when he saw her, setting the quill down.

Isabella smiled back as she approached,

"Hey, I came to find you... You’ve been in here ever since you returned from the discussion with your father."

Ethan’s expression tightened slightly. "Yeah."

Isabella sat down beside him and looked toward the paper. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the strange components he had sketched on it.

The drawing was a roughly ten-inch concept for a compact cellular base station. It was shaped more like a small equipment rack than the enormous towers used for conventional communication networks, with a pair of foldable antennas sketched at the top and several compact modules arranged beneath them.

Ethan had been working out how he could fit the necessary equipment into such a small frame while still giving it enough range to cover their quarters.

"Okay. What exactly are you drawing?" She asked.

Ethan glanced at it, "I’m trying to figure out if I can build something that’ll bring cell service into this place before Percival completely loses his mind."

Isabella nodded. "Do they actually have the components here to build something like that?"

"Yeah, actually. They do." Ethan nodded. I should be able to work it out pretty quickly."

Isabella looked at the diagram for another moment before turning back toward him.

"Well.. is everything alright?...You’ve been quiet since you came back. And I can tell something’s bothering you."

Ethan sighed. He then told her about his conversation with Nathan, explaining what his father had proposed and how far Nathan was willing to go to make him stronger.

When he finished, Isabella muttered "Oh." then went quiet for a moment as she looked down at the diagram again, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Ethan leaned back to rest on the wall. "The crazy thing is, I’m genuinely tempted to do what he wants."

Bella turned back to him, but said nothing as he continued.

"I’ve never really killed anyone particularly so strong before... okay maybe Audrey, not sure...but I know that when I killed Dark Nova, I could tell that I somehow became stronger."

He glanced down at his hands.

He was referring to the sudden increase he noticed in his stats. The system’s progress indicators had risen more rapidly than he had expected, but that was something he couldn’t exactly explain to Isabella.

She knew nothing about the system, and Ethan had never found a way to properly put its mechanics into words.

"But I don’t want to start intentionally looking for people to kill, you know?" Ethan said, glancing toward Isabella.

She nodded. "Yeah. I understand."

Isabella took his arm, leaned her head on his shoulder, and they both fell silent.

After a while, Ethan tried to start a lighter conversation. "By the way, how has it been going with Bettie?"

"She’s been making progress," Isabella replied.

She then went on to explain how Bettie had been adjusting and gradually becoming more accustomed to being a Blessed.

"There is one thing that’s been a little uncomfortable, though," Isabella added. "I have to spend hours being the other me."

She made an exaggerated expression of displeasure, which made Ethan chuckle.

He grew thoughtful for a second, then said. "Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you."

Isabella lifted her head and looked at him. "What is it?"

"I just realized I’ve probably been a pretty bad husband for never asking you about this." Ethan paused. "We haven’t really talked about how you’ve been dealing with all the things you’ve learned about yourself."

"You know... finding out that you’re a goddess, learning about the things you’ve done." He had an apologetic expression. "I know she says you’re both the same person. I understand that. But there are experiences she talks about that you, specifically, have never lived through."

Isabella smiled softly. "Babe, you don’t have to worry about me. I don’t exactly feel overwhelmed by any of it."

She rested her head on his shoulder again.

"And honestly, I don’t feel surprised either. I know it sounds weird, but when she reveals these things, it doesn’t really feel like I’ve learned something new. It feels like I’ve always known."

"So I don’t particularly feel any certain way about it. It just feels normal to me." She gave a small shrug. "I guess it’s probably because, like she always says, we’re the same person."

"Ah, I see," Ethan said.

"Yeah, that’s about that it." She said, then thought for a moment before continuing. "Although something that might be interesting to know is that I apparently have another Blessed here on the continent. And she’s connected to a few of the summons that you and my father have."