I reported everything that I had told Bahmt to Bugat, even the fact that Othidas was basically one with me now since I thought that Bugat deserved to know. After all, he was his grandfather and keeping a secret about something like that isn’t something I particularly like to do. Bugat showed expressions of surprise and many other conflicting feelings, but in the end what he really cared about was that he was alive.

“So, my grandfather can hear what I’m saying right now?” Bugat asked while looking straight at me.

“Yeah, if you want I can let him talk to you for a bit,” I replied while inwardly telling Othidas to start talking.

“Just a little exchange of words is fine with me,” Bugat said, more relaxed than before.

‘“Hey boy, you’ve sure grown up!” Othidas’ deep voice came out of my mouth this time instead. “Already took up the position of demon king eh!”

“I made sure to keep that promise with you at least,” Bugat spoke. “But you didn’t keep your promise to come back from the war that day…”

“I’m alive now and that’s all that matters anyways,” Othidas chuckled even though there were hints of sadness. “I won’t be able to see you in my old body anymore, you’ll have to settle for this guy instead.”

I could tell that Othidas’ words were directed at me, so I let out some complaints. Bugat laughed while he leaned back on his throne. Like this, the minutes passed until finally we had no more to say to each other. It was about time I left for the Southern Kingdom, but I needed to ask Bugat for a favour first since I planned on holding that tournament to find myself a subordinate.

“Do you happen to have anything lying around in your treasury that you think the humans would kill to get?” I asked in a polite manner. “I really need it for this thing I’m planning on doing.”

“Of course!” Bugat exclaimed. “You brought my grandfather back so why wouldn’t I? How could the worth of a little piece of treasure be compared to the worth of a family member?”

Bugat’s horns reflected the pleasant look on my face as he lead me towards his treasury once again. My plan was almost ready! All I had to do was bribe a person of status in the Southern Kingdom with whatever I was about to get, to hold a tournament for me. I didn’t even have to show up until the last day to see who won the chance of becoming a loyal subordinate. To get participants, I could just tell the person I manage to bribe to offer some incredibly generous benefits that every citizen would kill for, it wouldn’t be worth much compared to the treasure I would give away anyways.

Once I arrived in the familiar room sparkling with treasures, Bugat handed me a nut sized ruby that was oozing a fiery aura.

“This is a Fire Gem, they are worth quite a bit in the human realm since they’re rare one of a kind items,” Bugat explained carefully. “But here in the demon realm, they’re more common, not so common that anyone could find it but it’s more abundant than in the human realm.”

“You sure know a lot about the human realm don’t you!” I expressed with curiosity.

“You pick up a few things after attacking their world for a few decades,” Bugat muttered quietly.

“I’ll see you in a week then Demon King!” I said as I gestured farewell. I pocketed the gem in a pocket on the inside of my coat and started heading in the direction of the nearest portal that led to the Southern Kingdom. Soon, I had crossed back into the realm where I first set foot in this new world.

The portal was located in a forest, just like the portal near the Northern Kingdom. With my enhanced eyesight, I spotted the capital city of the Southern Kingdom, Cliffin, a few dozen miles away. Probably at my top speed I could reach there in a little under 30 minutes. After about 25 mins of continuous running and passing by countless villages , I could see a road filled with travelers and merchants that led to rising walls in the distance.

“Hey Othidas, how do I change my appearance?” I asked as I hid behind a large tree on the side of the main road. Many wagons pulled by horses were passing by, heading towards the entrance guarded by knights who were checking everyone’s IDs. I could just fly in, but in case anyone spotted me flying over the wall as Ryan—who was well known in the Northern and Eastern Kingdoms, I would be disguised and unrecognizable.

“Just manipulate the darkness energy around your face to reflect a different face,” Othidas explained step by step. “First, imagine a face. Second, imprint that image onto the darkness energy surrounding your actual face, and you’re done”

I couldn’t think of anyone’s face to conjure, they were mostly demons and monsters after all until I thought back. Using Chiyian’s face wouldn’t hurt, who doesn’t want to feel younger again? Even though it might be a bit disrespectful to Chiyian, at least he’ll know that he was used well.

I followed Othidas’ instructions, but I didn’t know if I succeeded or not so I created an object similar to a mirror with darkness energy. Keep in mind that my power was still suppressed and concealed, so that none of the people around felt the immense pressure that would have weighed down on them. I saw brown hair and a youthful face when I glanced at my reflection. It seems like it worked, my face now looked exactly like Chiyian’s, minus the body shape. WIth my appearance successfully altered, my black trench coat rippled in the wind as I flew over the wall and landed in a dark alley.

I successfully bypassed all the guards and I was pretty sure I hadn’t noticed anyone’s presence focused on me. I was in the clear, now all I had to do was infiltrate the castle or somehow meet a noble to take the bribe.

The alley was filled with garbage, there was rotten food and wrinkled papers in every corner. I even spotted a homeless guy with leftover food stuck in his beard. After continuously walking down winding alleys, I eventually found one that led to the main pathway which was lit up by lamps and had residents hustling about.

Right when I was about to step out into the light, I heard movement behind me so I instantly turned around. Within the few seconds I had turned around, that homeless guy that had been sleeping had disappeared. Being spied on was really annoying, especially since I knew where all the people were hiding.

“You can come out now, I’ll let the five of you go if you do me a favor,” I projected so that all the people tailing me could hear. “I’ll give you 5 seconds.”

“5” Still no movement, but I could feel that they were growing skeptical.

“4” One men turned towards the others and started speaking with them.

“3” It seems like they were arguing if I was bluffing or not, but they’d soon find out that I wasn’t.

“2” I could see that four of the five were preparing to show themselves, but one that was perched on top of an abandoned balcony hadn’t shown any signs of movement yet.

“1” Right as I was about to stop suppressing my power and let them feel the pressure, four middle aged men appeared around me in a circle. They had surrounded me, but their pitiful power levels of between 40-50 really made me want to get down on my knees and laugh my heart out.

“At least you aren’t so weak that you couldn’t spot us,” a man looking to be about 30, with already greying hair and a pretty bulky build admitted. “You’re better than all the other kids that wandered into these allys.”

“Before we start all those negotiations, can the fifth guy come down please?” I asked earnestly.

“We don’t have a fifth guy, our leader is right here-” The man looking to be about mid thirties directly behind me made a slip of the tongue. It seems like the teenager perched on the balcony was in fact, these group’s leader. It made sense since his power level was much greater than these men, almost quadruple at 156.

Everyone immediately stared daggers at the man that had made the mistake, I thought that was all that would happen but… an actual dagger came flying from the teen boy’s direction and pierced through the man’s heart. All that was left now was a corpse with blood pooling around it, lying on the ground. With no reactions though from the others, it seemed like this was a regular occurrence.

“If you won’t come down out of your own free will, I guess I have no choice but to come to you,” I said casually. In a flash, I had arrived behind the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. He was visibly startled, I could even see sweat dripping down his back, seeping through his clothes. Short and straightened black hair rustled against my hand that was still firmly grasped on the boy’s shoulder.

“You should listen, if you don’t want to die,” I whispered in his ear. I made sure to project some killing intent in my voice to show that I was being serious and that I wasn’t joking around.

Confirming my suspicions, it didn’t seem like this boy was a part of the Southern Kingdom’s Knight’s Order. No badge, symbol, uniform, nothing. Just plain old ragged clothes that would blend in with the dark. Yet why would someone strong enough to be the captain of the Knight’s Order be roaming the dirty alleys of the city? Unless… they had a special or secret mission which was unlikely. He wouldn’t go tarnishing his reputation like this otherwise. It was more likely that this teen boy that looked no older than 20 had been cast away for some unknown reason.

“I’d prefer if we talked down there where everyone can see you,” I spoke comfortingly even though I was doing anything but that. “I would hate to be forced to kill all of you…”

“Fine!” the boy seethed. “But you’ll listen to my demands first-” He was pretty unwilling to back down and arrogant, I had no other choice but to force him to step down through some unwanted slaughtering.

In the span of a few seconds, 2 of the remaining 3 that had been looking up at the two of us collapsed on the ground with holes where their hearts had been. They were just like the man that had been struck by the boy by the dagger from before, corpses surrounded by a pool of their own blood. I had made sure to leave one alive, the man that looked to be in his thirties with greying hair since he was the second strongest out of everyone here.

To the boy who had only felt a breeze of air pass by, it was like I didn't move at all but two of the group’s members were already dead. An expression of realization and fear appeared on his shocked face. Even his body was frozen still, not wanting to budge an inch. If that had been him, he wouldn't even had time to know what hit him—it would be instant death.

“I think you have a grasp of my power now,” I said, amused. I hadn’t broken a sweat and my heart hadn’t even sped up, this kind of performance was child’s play to me.

“Y-Yes sir,” the boy stammered. He even added in a sir in there which was unnecessary, but I was accustomed to it, what with Z addressing me by that every few hours.

“Good, let’s start talking then!” Without any hesitation and with my hands in my pockets, I stepped off the balcony and landed gracefully in the middle of the ambush that was no more.