Chapter 21: Old Thing, You’ve Grown Weaker

On a gloomy, winding path in the Demon Realm.

Bain walked in front.

He suddenly stopped, turned around, and stared at the hunched figure behind him, cloaked in a gray robe.

“That Demon King,” he said in a low, suppressed voice, overflowing with rage, “really thinks far too highly of herself.”

He slowly raised a bony hand and pointed toward the distant silhouette of the Demon King’s castle, his finger joints letting out faint creaks from the force.

“What does she take us for?

Tools?

Lapdogs?

Or decorations to show off her rule over the demon race?”

He let out a cold laugh, the blue flames in his eyes flaring violently.

“We are the leaders of the Undead and the Lich clans, survivors of millennia of war.

We are not ornaments for her to flaunt her authority!”

Eben beside him continued walking at an unhurried pace.

He did not reply.

Seeing this, Bain’s fury only intensified.

He suddenly grabbed the corner of Eben’s robe and yanked him to a stop.

“Eben!”

His voice rose sharply, echoing along the silent path.

“Are you just going to watch as our interests are damaged?

Watch her turn those human wastes into demons and elevate them to her inner circle?”

He stepped closer, his bones clattering with a warning sound.

“The Demon King is openly cultivating her own faction now.

Servia, Cassie, Phriel… which one of them isn’t a scrap she picked up from the human hero party?

And now?

They enjoy favor and luxury in the castle, while we old retainers are pushed out of power.

Can’t you see it?”

Eben looked at him calmly.

Behind the layers of cloth, his eyes showed not the slightest ripple.

After a moment, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

“Bain, everything you say, I understand clearly.”

He paused, his tone still even.

“I know she is weakening us.

I know she is reshaping the power structure of the demon race.

And I also know that if this continues, the foundations we built over thousands of years may indeed be erased by her hand.”

Bain sneered.

“If you know all that, then why do nothing?”

Eben raised a withered hand, like the roots of an ancient tree, and gently pried Bain’s bony fingers off his robe.

The movement was slow, yet impossible to resist.

“But we cannot,” he continued, “seek power for ourselves at the cost of betraying the overall interests of the demon race.”

Bain froze for a brief instant, then burst into mocking laughter.

“Hahahaha!

‘Betraying the demon race’?

Eben, you’re still spouting that sanctimonious nonsense?”

He stepped closer, the blue flames in his eyes nearly bursting out.

“You talk about unity, but have you forgotten who split the demon race for a thousand years?

Who caused the clans to slaughter each other until Morgana appeared and barely forced a ceasefire?

Which one of us who survived doesn’t have the blood of our kin on our hands?”

He jabbed a bony finger at Eben’s chest, nearly piercing the gray robe.

“You!

Eben!

You personally slaughtered seven lich elders because they opposed your control of the Knowledge Tower.

Where was ‘for the good of the demon race’ then?

Where was ‘we must not divide’ then?”

Eben remained still.

But behind the wrappings, a faint shadow finally passed through his eyes.

Bain gave him no chance to respond, his voice growing sharper.

“Those humans who were turned into demons are already eating away at our positions.

Phriel is learning forbidden magic in your clan.

Cassie controls magitech development.

Servia has become her wife.

And us?

We old clans are being hollowed out bit by bit through loyalty tests and resource cuts!”

His teeth ground together, his skeletal frame trembling with rage.

“If we don’t act now, once she finishes purging dissent, everything we built over thousands of years will vanish!”

Eben fell silent for a long moment.

When he finally spoke again, his voice was lower, heavier.

“Bain… I am indeed troubled by the loss of power.

Every outsider she installs, every reduction of our resources—I see it all clearly.”

He slowly lifted his head, gazing toward the faint outline of the spires of the Demon King’s castle in the distance.

A trace of ancient pain flickered in his eyes.

“But what I know even more clearly is this—if we act now, the demon race, unified only recently, will plunge back into civil war.

And the human race is waiting for exactly that.”

Hearing this, Bain stopped laughing.

Then, slowly, he laughed again.

The sound was cold and hollow.

“Hmph… Eben, you’ve truly grown weaker.”

He shook his head, mockery dripping from his words.

“The Necromancer Lord who once terrified all demons has become a timid old thing?”

He pointed at Eben, his voice low but cutting like a blade.

“You!

You’ve gone from a being feared by countless others to this pathetic state.

Do you even remember what you’ve done?

Do you remember how you climbed to your current position?”

He sneered as he pressed closer.

“Stop pretending to be noble.

Stop fooling yourself.

Your hands are dirtier than mine.

Your ambition runs deeper than mine.

And those things you did… I remember them all.”

Eben stood there, silent as a statue.

He neither denied it nor grew angry.

Only beneath the layers of cloth did his lips press together almost imperceptibly, as if tasting a past he did not wish to recall.

Then, he said nothing at all.

He simply turned around and continued walking forward, his steps slow yet firm, disappearing into the thick fog.

Bain stood where he was, watching his retreating figure.

The blue flames in his eyes flickered uncertainly, as if struggling.

After a long while, he muttered in a low voice.

“Weakness… is contagious.”

“But I’m not the same.”

“I will never kneel and wait for death.”

In a forest along the border of the Human Empire

Three wolf-headed humanoids sprinted through the woods, claws carving deep grooves into the soil.

Heavy panting echoed through the silent forest.

The leading wolfman suddenly turned his head back, his eyes bloodshot, forcing out a growl.

“Run faster!

That monster is about to catch up!”

The two behind him ran desperately.

One of them spoke with a trembling voice.

“That’s impossible… wasn’t she sealed in the deepest dungeon?

I’m just a normal patrolman… how could I run into something like that?”

Before the words had even finished—

“Hahahahaha…”

A crazed laugh suddenly rang out from all directions, like venomous snakes drilling into their ears, freezing all three in place.

The laughter was clear yet twisted, filled with undisguised delight and the excitement of a predator before the hunt.

“Hahaha, run!

Keep running!”

The voice seemed near and far at once, as if whispering right beside them.

“I just finished a big meal, the flesh is still warm… and now I’ve stumbled onto some little desserts.

How interesting~”

The three wolfmen instantly formed a tight back-to-back circle, claws bared, tails stiff, terror filling their eyes.

The leader forced down his fear and roared.

“We’re just a patrol unit!

The main battlefield is already over, the Demon King’s army has withdrawn!

There’s no reason for you to hunt us down!

We haven’t done anything!”