Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest

A cruel smirk split Elaris' face as he bolted toward Adam, the noise of his spinning drill echoing with his judgment.

"For the sin of attacking my queen, die, demonic gnat!"

His drill ruffled Adam's hair, mere centimeters from tearing through flesh. Victory was at his fingertips, yet his lips twisted at the thought of Adam as Sylvie's loyal dog.

Can a dog that bites its master's hand ever truly be trusted?

He shook his head, banishing the doubt. The lethal liquid squirting from his spell and dissolving the ground spoke for him. However, his eyes widened the next second as Adam's immobile frame blurred.

The drill about to slaughter him missed its mark by a few centimeters, piercing the space between his arm and side instead of his torso.

In the same fluid motion, his abyssal blade flashed like dark lightning, the icy edge biting into his iron-like barrier.

However, it ignited upon impact. Chaotic dark flames roared into existence, devouring the bright mana and engulfing Elaris' wide eyes.

SHATTER

Like glass, the defensive spell exploded into a rain of fragments. The blade flashed a hundred times before he could blink.

Then? Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Dread's icy fingers gripped his heart and tied a suffocating knot around his neck as he saw Adam halt any movement. Like a statue, the demon stood motionless, prompting the question "Why?" to rumble in his mind. And the answer came a second later...

As if the frozen time had resumed its relentless flow, the taste of blood filled his mouth. Sharp pains followed, forcing him to roar in confused agony as he reached for his arms.

Before he could, they plopped to the ground, sliced into dozens of pieces. His legs came next, sharing the same fate. Dark flames engulfed every piece and turned them into cinders before blood even smeared the wooden floor.

If terror gripped him before, now his heart almost exploded as he spat blood and roared that it was a nightmare, that he'd wake up soon. Yet, he didn't. Instead, his embroidered robes exploded into shreds as burning cuts dug into his sizzling flesh. The torture and the scent almost drove him mad, but when he thought it couldn't become worse, it did. His vision split in two, then five, then a hundred, as the morsels rolled to the ground and combusted like a rotten haystack.

In his last seconds, his mind shuddered as he finally understood why Adam had stopped moving. Why would he continue after such a devastating onslaught? Worse, he had seen nothing but a few flashes... and this was the result? Had he known about Adam's surreal strength, he would have sided with the elven council to kill that bitch! Yet, there was no medicine for regret, and he died, his heart full of it.

Behind him, the noble council hurled their fists upward and roared in unison.

"The traitor is dead! Support Adam!"

"We'll never bend the knee, Sylvie. You're no elf. Not even demons are as treacherous as you."

Meanwhile, Sylvie's brows creased, and her lips curled in displeasure.

Though she didn't care for Elaris much, losing him before stabilising her status would complicate her plans. Worse, Adam threatened to thwart them with his strange state.

She bit her nail, using Adam's immobility to ponder. Muninn had erased all his memories—she was sure of it. Without them, he shouldn't have a sense of self, and even if he kept it by a divine miracle, there was no way he could move or use energy with such horrifying proficiency. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

She took a deep breath, her eyes darting to the hiding raven, and her voice icy.

"Explain what's happening. I know Odin is watching."

Against her wish to find answers, Muninn flapped its wings and barreled down the balcony it had taken refuge on as it cawed in confusion.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As it landed on her shoulder and shared Odin's observations with her, Bart's eyes widened at Adam. There! He had noticed it—the slight twitch of his arms and the chaotic vortexes narrowing into fiery slits.

Fists tight, he stopped his vain struggle against Sylvie's bindings and thundered.

"She's an apostle of Odin. You hear me, Adam?! She's colluding with the gods we hate so much. Zeus stands behind her, too."

He gritted his teeth, exaggerating the narrative to force more reactions out of him as he scrutinised the slight trembling turn into tremors.

"She's even about to summon Zepar, Baal, and Asmodeus! You must kill her before she comes after Luna! Yes! You heard me right! She's their target!"

If tremors jolted Adam's body at the mention of Odin and Zeus, a raging inferno engulfed his figure when he heard the demon kings' names. And when he spoke about Luna...

ROAR

Everyone's eardrums exploded, blood seeping from the orifice as a deafening dragon roar reverberated. Angry gales rose and collided with their bodies, the power enough to send them tumbling or on their rears.

The elven council's legs trembled, a primal fear swallowing their rational mind. They cried and pleaded, their faces distorted into pitiful grimaces as they prostrated toward Adam. The smell of ammonia rose from their wet pants, but they didn't care. They only cared about surviving the terror ripping their hearts into shreds.

That was the primal fear dragons induced in all lesser species, and Sylvie was no exception. She clutched her chest, her eyes trembling and watering. She felt confused... terrorised... Why was she trying to fight a monster? She didn't know anymore.

"Caw."

Before despair forced her to surrender, Muninn came to her rescue.

With an overwhelming caw, it infiltrated her mind and zeroed in on the memory of the roar. In the blink of an eye, its glinting talons shredded it into pieces before it left her mindscape and returned to her now stable shoulder—just in time to hear her sigh.

"Apologise to Odin in my stead. We need an urgent change of plan." Silver and dark mana wafted from her narrowed eyes as she stomped the ground determinately. "He's too much of a threat to be left alive."