The Demon Monarch System

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'I knew I wasn't foolish. There's no ruin present,' Apollo thought to himself as he failed to sense even the slightest hint of a ruin's possible entrance. It was all charred ground with no anomalies.

Of course, his knowledge on the matter was also lacking, preventing him from understanding what warranted the appearance of a ruin. Still, Apollo felt that as these were confirmed coordinates, there should at least be an apparent sign of entry.

Meanwhile, as Apollo focused on the entrance to the ruins, the two by his side focused on something much different.

"My spot in his heart is greater than yours," Sapphyr teased with a triumphant smirk. The way she saw it, there was absolutely no way that Geneva occupied a greater position in Apollo's heart.

"How so?" Geneva tilted her head with a charmingly mischievous expression, "As I recall, I'm stronger than you hun~."

She was right. Whereas Sapphyr was a simple Greater Demon, Geneva was already an Archdemon! Granted, she was a limited one. However, she was still a genuine Archdemon, nonetheless.

"Tch! That's means nothing. Not only did I know him first, but I was also the first one to be turned into a demon, so obviously he favors me more! Enough with your foolish argument," Sapphyr scoffed, also producing a fair point.

Typically, the one who came first possessed more favor. After all, Typhir was the one who held most of Apollo's trust. Even these two beauties were incapable of coming close to their bond.

In response to Sapphyr's statement, Geneva merely scoffed before tightening her grasp around Apollo's arm, "That may be true, but I bet I'll be the one to be more useful~."

Finally, Apollo groaned before flicking both of their foreheads, "Enough! I'm trying to focus and your bickering is stopping me from doing that! Both of you possess immense worth. Now shut up!"

A crimson glow radiated from Apollo's eyes, causing both girls to quiet down with meek expressions. One of the aftereffects of such pure Ira was the ability to produce fear. After all, the opposite emotion of anger was fear.

In other words, while tapping into that emotion, Apollo was able to elicit the opposite emotion in others.

"Thank you," Apollo nodded before scanning the area once more, only to receive the same answer. Since scanning it with his perception wasn't working, Apollo opted for the more direct route, landing atop the coordinates as Fuhrer appeared simultaneously.

With his appearance, Apollo sought Fuhrer's input, "Do you sense any ruins?"

"Of course. You're looking in the wrong place," Fuhrer said before saturating his palm with Ira. "Remember how I said the Monarch left deep deposits? I mean that literally, they are buried deep within the surface of the Nihilistic Rings. Sometimes the entrance emerges, other times they are buried even deeper."

Since Apollo couldn't sense it, that meant this situation was undoubtedly the former.

But, before he made his next move, Fuhrer looked at the two wrapped around Apollo's arms and revealed a smirk, 'I suppose his earlier words have already cast a spell over them. Hopefully, they retain sound judgment.'

Afterward, Fuhrer focused his attention back on the ground before bombarding it with a heavy palm. The earth shook, before collapsing in on itself. Gradually, a staircase formed from dense bone appeared and it extended down, reaching a shocking depth.

Yet, despite the appearance of the ruin entrance, everyone took a step back from it, excluding Fuhrer and Apollo. The bones used to forge the steps produced an eerie feeling. 

It was enough to provoke some fear even from these demons who had witnessed gruesome deaths.

"What an adverse reaction, I didn't expect the Ira stored here to be so pure," Fuhrer muttered before squatting before the staircase and using his finger to prod it. While it was far from perfect, the Ira here was slightly purer than Apollo's.

"Forget all that. Whose bone is this staircase forged from? And just how far down does this thing stretch?!" Valac exclaimed in shock. At a glance, they seemed to belong to demons, or at the very least, something on par with them.

"These are not the bones of demons. The Ira has simply saturated the bones to make it appear that way. These bones are, in fact, the remains of quite a few Titans. Hence, why the races loathed the Monarch so much," Fuhrer said with a content chuckle.

Meanwhile, Apollo did the same. 'What a ruthlessly amusing method of burying one's enemies,' Apollo thought. To mock their foes' death by using their bones to forge constructs was a truly hilarious yet ruthless move.

Although his memories of the Monarch were fleeting, Apollo was already beginning to like his character because this was a stunt that he would pull as well. Truly two birds of a feather.

While aware of their apprehension, Apollo commanded everyone to follow after him as they descended the steps. After reaching the tenth step, a string of silver flames illuminated the staircase.

Since this was an area filled with Ira, Apollo felt that other than Hellfire, there was no other explanation for the origin of these flames. However, while the flames gave them a view of the staircase's end, Valac continued to shudder as he clutched Apollo's shoulder.

"Damn!! Does no one else feel that? This place is frightening!" Valac scowled, which caused Apollo to turn towards him.

"You know, for someone who's so mischievous, you sure are a wimp," Apollo chuckled. But then Valac's eyes widened as Apollo grabbed him by the nape and tossed him down the steps.

Although he tried to unfurl his wings to fly, Apollo extended his hand and covered Valac's body in his Aura of Domination. By activating the Dominator's Clutch, Apollo stopped him from making a single move.

"Stop being scared!" Apollo remarked lazily. Soon enough, the muffled thud of Vala's body hitting the ground echoed.

"Oof," Furcas muttered while peering over Apollo's shoulder, "Haha! You got him good, young Lord!" 

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Suddenly, a terrified shriek sounded from down below, causing Apollo to take a look.

Valac remained on the ground, but he released a blood-curdling shriek as he noticed a decrepit body inching towards him. It resembled a demon, but nearly all of its flesh had fallen off, so it was hard to tell what it really was.

Meanwhile, Apollo retrieved Gram before lightly swinging it, which caused a wave of dense Ira to hurtle towards the moving figure. However, instead of the figure being defeated by the strike, it deflected the wave of Ira, changing the attack's target.

A portion of the staircase was blown apart by this action, but Apollo simply narrowed his eyes. 

'Hmm? It deflected that with ease?' Apollo muttered before jumping down while holding Gram beside him. As he grew closer, he got a closer look at what caused Valac's fright.

The simplest way to describe what Apollo saw was a zombified demon. Its expression was listless and its appearance teetered on the edge of death, yet it exuded a sensation of boundless vitality.

Not long after Apollo landed, Fuhrer followed. "Oh? Well, that's a surprise. It's an animated corpse that the remnants of pure Ira have reinvigorated. And, judging by its current state, it used to be an Archdemon."

"No wonder…" Apollo muttered. Parrying his strike powered by Gram was no simple matter. At the very least, it required at least an Archdemon to do so. And, while he poured little Ira into the strike, Gram increased each of his attacks by at least 150%.

When factored in together, the 25% increase in strength and the 125% increase in attack power translated to a substantial boost in Apollo's destructive ability, yet the animated corpse fended off the attack with ease.

"Also, you're allowed to claim its Ira if you defeat it since it is nothing more than a corpse moving from a shred of Ira's sentience," Fuhrer revealed. 

"Any takers?" Apollo offered while looking around. Since his Ira was locked, there was no reason for him to take part in this battle. 

Eventually, two people exhibited signs of wanting to try their luck. 

"Do you wish to give it a go?" Typhir questioned while glancing towards Sapphyr. Just as he took a step forward, she did so as well.

"I do," Sapphyr nodded.

As a result, Typhir took a step back while gesturing for Sapphyr to go ahead. 

She didn't dawdle, unsheathing the rapier at her side while advancing towards the enemy.. Immediately, a surge of black flames coated her rapier as she readied herself for battle.