Shubh, clad in black tendrils, her void-kissed wings folded behind her back, expected rot. Corruption. Decay.
Instead, she found...
Peace.
Demon children napped in sunlit fields. Citizens strolled slowly, so reading, others sipping wine or honeyed tea, laughter soft and unforced. Shops were open—but no one shouted. There were no taxes. No guards marching in power-drunk lines. Just... calm.
And then she t the governor.
Not a demon lord, but a forr scholar nad Malrik, a Tier IV demon who greeted her with a kind smile.
"You ca to kill Lady Soma, didn't you?"
Shubh tilted her head, suspicious. "Where is she?"
Malrik chuckled. "Asleep, of course."
Shubh's eyes narrowed.
He gestured toward a large, floating shell-shaped palace drifting gently over a lake. "Hasn't left her chambers in three years. Occasionally dreams sothing wise, and we write it down. But mostly… she naps. Her dream aura keeps the city calm. You can try waking her."
Inside the Palace of Dreams
The halls shimred with soft pink and gold light. Floating jellyfish-like lamps humd lullabies. Shubh walked in silence, feeling an unfamiliar warmth settle in her chest.
When she reached the throne room, she didn't find a tyrant.
Just a demon girl—barely into adulthood—curled in an enormous plush bed, tangled in blankets, hugging a pillow that looked suspiciously like a plush version of Leon.
A sign hung above her:
"DO NOT DISTURB UNLESS WORLD IS ENDING."
Shubh stood there. Stared. Waited.
Soma opened one sleepy eye, blinked twice, and yawned.
"Oh… hello… are you here to kill ?"
Shubh blinked.
"…Yes?"
Soma nodded slowly. "That's fair. I'm a Demon Lord. But... maybe tomorrow? Or never? Everyone here's really nice. And I hate fighting. Makes my horns ache."
Shubh frowned. "You rule this place?"
Soma shook her head lazily. "No. I just sleep. Malrik does the ruling. I just... exist."
"…So you don't conquer, torture, enslave, or oppress?"
Soma furrowed her brow. "Too much work."
Then, after a pause, she patted the space beside her.
"You look tired. Want a nap?"'Shubh looked at her speechlessly, for the first ti f her existence she felt ..speevhlesss.
"What are your powers?" Shubh asked, sitting near the Demon Lord of Sloth as she patted her large pillow.
"I... dream of the future," Soma answered lazily, stretching as she hugged her oversized body pillow.
"So you can see the future?" Shubh asked.
Soma gave a slow nod. "Yes."
"Hmm, then you're useful," Shubh said, standing up. Without hesitation, she grabbed Soma—pillow and all—lifting her like a sack of potatoes.
"W-Where are you taking ?" Soma asked drowsily, dangling in Shubh's grip.
Shubh smirked. "You'll dream for my Lord."
Soma yawned. "But aren't you here to kill Gluttony too? Won't you also have to kill the Mad Demon King?"
Shubh paused mid-step. "Hm? What do you an?"
Soma, still clinging to her pillow, muttered, "You'll see it yourself soon. Anyway, leave here for now. Co back after you've killed the Mad Demon King. Then, I'll go with you to et your Lord."
Shubh considered the offer, then nodded. "Fine."
With that, she gently put Soma back onto her massive bed. The Demon Lord of Sloth imdiately curled up, hugging her Leon pillow tightly, already halfway back into sleep.
Outside the palace, hours later…
Shubh floated out into the twilight city again, a dazed look in her eyes. For the first ti in her existence, she didn't want to destroy sothing.
No rage. No heresy. No filth to cleanse.
Just a Demon Lord who didn't rule.
And a city that didn't suffer.
She sent a ntal connection back to Leon. "She's… harmless, my Lord. Just a sleepy idiot with a plush version of you."
Leon's voice crackled through the orb: "...She has a plush of ?"
"…Yes. She calls it 'Supre Snuggle.'"
There was silence for a few seconds.
Then: "...Let her live. As long as the city remains peaceful."
Shubh sighed, almost relieved.
"As you wish, my Lord."
****
Shubh stepped into the domain of the Demon Lord of Gluttony, expecting the grotesque sights she had grown used to—decadence, corpses piled high, starving subjects feeding a bloated tyrant. But what she found was… far from it.
The city was vibrant, the air thick with the scent of sizzling ats, freshly baked bread, and exotic spices. Streets were lined with open markets, citizens bustling about with baskets of food, cheerful conversations filling the air. There were no starving beggars, no wailing servants, no terrified subjects forced to feed a monstrous ruler.
Shubh narrowed her eyes. "This isn't what I expected."
She made her way to the grand palace, where she finally found the infamous Demon Lord of Gluttony—Odan.
He was… not what she imagined.
Seated on a massive throne, Odan was a towering figure, his body muscular rather than obese, his deep golden eyes reflecting a sharp intelligence. He held a large roasted leg of so unknown beast in one hand, biting into it with slow, deliberate ease. Despite his title, he did not seem like an uncontrolled devourer.
Without looking up, he spoke. "You're the one killing Demon Lords, aren't you?"
Shubh smirked. "That depends. Are you afraid?"
Odan chuckled. "No. I'm just curious." He took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. "I've heard you only spared one other—Sloth. Should I be worried?"
Shubh crossed her arms. "That depends on whether or not you deserve to die."
Odan set his food down and finally t her gaze fully. "And what makes one deserve death in your eyes, assassin?"
"Corruption. Oppression. Cruelty."
Odan let out a short laugh. "Then you're in the wrong city."
Shubh frowned. "You're the Demon Lord of Gluttony. Aren't you supposed to be a mindless beast devouring everything, ruling through excess while your people starve?"
Odan smirked. "I have one rule: every family in my city must bring food once a day. Any food, at any ti of their choosing. In return, I protect them. No demon armies harass my people, no starvation exists in my domain, and every soul under my rule has a full belly every night."
Shubh watched him carefully. "That's it?"
Odan shrugged. "I like eating. They like living. It works."
Shubh stayed silent for a mont, considering. She had seen countless tyrants, monsters hiding behind civility, rulers pretending to care while draining their people dry. But here… there was no fear in the people, only respect. No suffering, only prosperity.
Finally, she let out a small chuckle. "Hah. You're too busy eating to care about ruling properly, so you made a deal that lets you eat in peace while keeping everything running."
Odan grinned. "Exactly."
Shubh turned away. "Fine. You live."
Odan raised a brow. "Just like that?"
She nodded. "You may be a glutton, but you're not a monster. And I'm not here to kill for no reason."
Odan smiled. "Then I'll prepare a feast in your honor. Stay a while. Eat."
Shubh glanced over her shoulder, a smirk playing on her lips. "Maybe after I kill the Mad Demon King."
With that, she left the palace, her path now set toward the final, most dangerous target—the ruler of all demon lords.
"Another oddball," Shubh mumbled as she stepped out of the castle, glancing around the city.
"Hmm, I guess not everyone is an idiot," she mused, her gaze sweeping over the streets.
So far, two Demon Lords had turned out to be different from what she expected. Unlike the corrupted, power-hungry rulers she had encountered before, these two were simply… existing. Managing their domains in their own lazy or indulgent ways without oppressing their people.
Still, they were outliers. The true centerpiece of the continent, the real reason she had co, was the Mad Demon King—the one who sought to rule over the entire world. He was different. He was not so fool lost in indulgence like Sloth or Gluttony. He was a conqueror, a tyrant, and an embodint of destruction.
"He's definitely not a fluke like those two," she muttered, a dark grin forming. "So I can kill him. Good."
With that, Shubh spread her vast, void-like wings and shot into the sky, cutting through the air with terrifying speed as she made her way toward the Central City, where the Mad Demon King awaited.
****
The skies above Central City were dyed in an unnatural shade of crimson, thick with swirling clouds of chaotic energy. Shubh descended from above, her wings casting a long shadow over the demonic tropolis.
Unlike the other Demon Lords' domains, this place reeked of war and tyranny. The streets were not filled with bustling citizens but with marching armies, enslaved demons, and cursed creatures twisted by madness. Black spires pierced the sky, pulsating with eerie red light—monunts of the Mad Demon King's absolute rule.
The mont she stepped onto the grand plaza, four figures erged from the darkness.
The Four Demon Generals.
Each radiated a terrifying presence, their eyes glowing with insanity-fueled loyalty to their king.
The talk of soone killing all Demon Lords have already been spread in whole Daemon Continent, thus these four were ready to intercept the one who is killing everyone.
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