The Four Princes, Beta, and Vyne proceeded to the castle of the Dragon-ranked who had challenged the four royal men.

In two of their heads, they couldn’t help but think that this weak being (hardly worth of their attention) had enough confidence to actually attempt to fight him.

The other two knew full and well who they were going to fight--amuse, possibly, would be the better term to describe what they were meant for.

Belial and Leviathan followed behind Lucifer and Satan who walked with drooping postures and a thick black cloud seemed to be pouring rain over their heads.

They had no absolutely no idea as to why their comrade’s were acting in such a strange manner.

Then there was Vyne, who also apparently served the so-called “Erebus”. He treated them even colder than he did his own grandfather, which was certainly saying something they just didn’t know what it meant. Their interactions with Vyne had been few and far between seeing as Satan had been the closest to Lucifer’s grandchild.

For him to receive them so... distastefully also left a bad taste in their own mouths.

“Here we are,” Vyne declared as they emerged from the forest. A grassland stretched before them and a glorious castle sat in the distance. “Careful, or you’ll run into some of the traps recently laid,” he said. “Pesky humans poking their nose where it doesn’t belong,” he elaborated, clicking his tongue. “Honestly, I’m surprised Grandfather and Satan didn’t get hit by one at all, perhaps we’ll have to add more later on... Hmm...”

Everyone noted that he didn’t tell them where to look or even give so much as a hint.

So, they all followed the demon’s exact steps.

Dangerous. Vyne’s hatred of them was getting dangerous.

They arrived at the front of the castle, Vyne swung open the door which was always left unlocked.

“Lord Erebus is in his throne room,” Vyne said while visibly relaxing as he entered his home. He slipped into the persona of a faithful servant as he guided the others through a myriad of hallways. “Treat him respectfully,” he ordered his technical superiors as they stopped in front of the doors to the throne room.

“Ah, you don’t have to tell us!” Satan said with a laugh while patting Lucifer’s back, the one who learned an unforgettable lesson.

Lucifer averted his gaze, attempting to not recall his rage that overcame his reasoning and nearly led to his death.

Belial rolled his words at Vyne’s words. “Just open the doors.”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Vyne muttered, pushing open the door.

The Four Princes and their tagalong stepped inside of the large but mostly empty throne room. A single chandelier hanging from the ceiling basked the room in a dull light but everything mostly remained in the shadows.

There were three figures already inside. A person on the throne and two on either side of the raised platform.

The man who sat on the throne barely gave off enough strength to be considered more than a paltry human. He exuded a rather weak and apathetic as he looked at them. Belial and Leviathan weren’t offset by this as they also restrained their strength--but Lucifer and Satan both tensed up when they laid eyes on the man.

Unlike the last time, there were only two others with Erebus: Mae and Triton. The others were busy finishing the arena for them to fight in.

Mae and Triton being the great friends (slackers) they were opted to stay inside rather than help the others.

“Hello!” the man on the throne said cheerfully, his tone was not befitting of the serious atmosphere. His revealed crimson eye shone and glimmered with mirth and amusement. “I was waiting for so long for you to finally finish. What took so long?” Erebus directed his question towards Lucifer.

The demon awkwardly cleared his throat. “The journey from the Main Continent to the Pure Continent takes some time even with pre-prepared teleportation spells. It only took us a few days...”

“Ha-ha, I guess that’s true!” Erebus exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Well, you’re here now. That’s all that counts.”

Leviathan stepped forward, brushing a lock of black-blue hair from his face. “You must be the challenger, correct? I am Leviathan.”

Erebus’ eye flicked uninterestedly toward the man who had spoken out, a chill entered Leviathan’s body. “Wait your turn, I was speaking to Lucifer,” he said, voice icy.

The demon opened his mouth to retort, but Satan quickly yanked back his friend.

“Forgive his actions, Erebus,” Satan said with a quick bow of his head.

Belial and Leviathan’s eyes widened while the dragon waved away the demon’s words.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

Lucifer cleared his throat once more, the mood was unsettling.

“Nya~ Can I say something?” Mae asked, her (fake) accent returning.

“No,” Erebus answered far too quickly for Mae’s liking.

Of course, his terseness elicited a response from Mae: she stamped her foot against the ground in indignance. . “Nya! Erebus, you’re so mean to me--nya!”

The black-haired man clicked his tongue and turned his attention back to the men who stood there awkwardly. Vyne had slammed the door shut behind him, so there wasn’t a single person in this room who didn’t make them feel awkward.

Being the royalty that they were, the Four Princes had met a lot of strangers and other folk... yet they had never met such an eccentric bunch. All of them felt strangely powerful and one couldn’t help but feel slightly inferior in their presence.

This was something that they were not used to.

Inferiority.

In their long existences, they had always been the one who stood on top.

“Follow me,” Erebus declared. “Don’t dawdle,” he scolded them as he slid past and pushed open the recently closed doors, turning to the left and heading off.

Mae and Triton followed in suit, then the Four Princes and Beta trailed behind awkwardly.

They exited through the back of the castle, heading down the plain where a large coliseum sat.

Satan let out a low whistle in amazement. It had been built in such a short time yet it managed to look as if it had always been there. It must have cost a staggering amount of money in order to build such a grand coliseum, even he would have an air-filled wallet after this. And he could finance an entire kingdom without any problems.

As he thought... the financial prowess of the dragons was too overwhelming.

The group walked under the large archway and into the arena that had been constructed while Triton and Mae broke off and headed in another direction. The seats were full of people who were thundering loudly.

“Hello, everybody! I’m the announcer for this~ It’s Tear of the Moon Goddess!” Tear’s voice boomed through a sound amplification spell.

More shouts and cheers ensued.

“A-and I’m Weryn. Don’t forget about me!” the voice of a young boy pleaded desperately.

Tear cleared her throat. “First, we have the miserable mutts from Tartarus, the Four Princes of Hell!”

A vein popped on Leviathan’s forehead. “Bi--”

“--And then! We have the amazingly handsome and dashing, all powerful and incredibly intelligent, Lord Erebus!”

The crowd erupted in loud cheers.

“Do you hear that? Everyone’s expressing their boundless love for our glorious master! Of course, mine transcends theirs and is the purest form of--”

“Tear,” Erebus said quietly yet the girl managed to hear him, in fact, the entire arena silenced when he spoke.

“Yes?” she answered him, her voice filled with love and adoration.

Erebus cracked his knuckles in irritation. “Shut up and get on with it.”

“How overdramatic,” Belial muttered, putting his fingers in his ears to tune out the noise of Tear profusely apologizing to Erebus and demanding for punishment.

“I quite like it,” Satan retorted, casting his gaze around at the grand arena that had been constructed so quickly.

“What? You like this?” Belial asked, surprise coloring his voice.

The demon thumped his chest proudly. “Of course, I’m the one who wanted the arena made!”

Belial and Leviathan deadpanned at the same time, “So it was you.”

Lucifer was the only one who remained silent, he was beginning to regret his decision to fight Erebus.

No, not beginning, he regretted it the moment the words came out of his mouth. It was too late to turn back now, the dragon would probably chase Lucifer to the corners of the world if the demon tried to escape.

This, he decided, was terrible.

It wasn’t a fight to the death, but it would certainly feel like one.

“Beta,” Lucifer said.

“Yes?”

“Go sit in the stands and observe, this will be a good learning opportunity for you.”

The demon scrunched up his face. “How so?”

Lucifer laughed lightly, a tinge of fear coloring it. “You’ll see that your definition of absolute power was incorrect.”

“I don’t quite follow,” Beta admitted.

His lord pointed at Erebus who stood in the middle of the arena pretending like he was stretching. “That’s the peak of power.”

“A single man? He hardly seems worth the title. I doubt he’ll be able to hold up against any of you, let alone all of you at the same time,” Beta said while observing Erebus.

He was way too relaxed. Was it overconfidence? No, it was more like he was indifferent. The man stretched his arm over his head, his face completely blank like he was a corpse. That was wrong. There was something in his eyes--enjoyment? Beta couldn’t quite place the emotion.

“That’s what I thought before, I was wrong.” Lucifer shook his head, remembering Erebus’ boundless strength. Now go, observe carefully. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Understand?”

“As you wish,” Beta muttered while bowing his head quickly before turning to go the other way so that he could sit in the stands with the others who were watching.

When the plus one had finally cleared out, the atmosphere inside of the arena intensified.

“Now then,” Weryn said, his boyish voice resounding throughout. “Let’s begin the slaughter--I mean, battle. Te-he?”

Tear’s voice followed in a valiant cry, “Start!”