Chapter 16 The Necropolis

Sixteen hours prior.
The Demon Realm, Nykarlys.

Beneath a sky thick with thunderclouds, the Demon King’s palace, shrouded in mist, loomed like a mirage.

A winding path snaked through the Demon Realm’s front plaza, leading directly to the castle's imposing gates.

Inside the Demon King's throne room.

"Hmm…"

Hyperion slowly awoke from her slumber, emitting a soft, weary hum.

Her long silver hair cascaded down like a waterfall, gently covering her black gauze dress, the hem of which spread lightly at the foot of the throne.

At this moment, her amber pupils no longer feigned a human appearance but had reverted to their true demonic eyes. Her hair was no longer simply tied with a ribbon; she could feel the cool touch of the Demon Realm's jeweled hair ornaments.

Hyperion dazedly raised her head, realizing she was sitting on a majestic throne.

This morning, she and the four great demon lords had just arrived in Brildar, the capital of the Kriti Empire. Before she could even meet Miss Unity, the allied spy from the Canberra Kingdom responsible for contacting them, she had rushed to take Antanas and the others to the Void Gate in Brildar, entering the Shadow World right at nine o'clock.

The courtyard of the castle was paved with intricate, mysterious patterned stone slabs. An indoor fountain splashed with faintly blue particles, all the way to the deepest part of the throne room. Rows of armor as black as ink stood on both sides, and the hall was filled with a suffocating, deep aura.

Last time in the Shadow World, she had also opened her eyes here, finding herself in the infernal Pandemonium, and she had been the core of that meeting.

Without a doubt.

She had returned to the royal palace in Nykarlys, the Demon King's castle.

If she wasn't mistaken, this was the final node in the Blood Moon Corrupted World series of Shadow Worlds.

At the end of the story, she would see the end of this era.

Unlike last time, when she was frightened, she was now thoroughly familiar with this throne room.

It was practically her home.

And there was also a trustworthy Kaliella-mama.

Hyperion breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her princessly demeanor.

She gazed at the assembled ministers seated on both sides of the throne room.

The demons gathered in the hall had various appearances, but most were dignified and awe-inspiring.

Some of the demon nobles possessed magic as powerful as, or even more powerful than, Antanas and Prana.

Presumably, today was another major issue for the demons, gathering the great demon lords here.

Soon, Hyperion spotted several familiar figures in the seats.

All four great demon lords, Antanas and the others, were present.

They also seemed to have a subtle, just-awakened expression.

Hyperion couldn't help but feel a trace of relief.

This time in the Shadow World, she wasn't starting alone and lonely in the Demon Realm.

Instead, she had four great demon lord challengers with her.

It seemed Antanas and the others had all gained civil official identities in the current Demon Realm and were her absolute supporters.

But no matter what, it didn't matter. With Kaliella here, she wouldn't be alone or afraid.

That's right, where was Kaliella?

Hyperion subconsciously wanted to turn her head to look for Kaliella's location.

"Your Highness, who are you looking for?"

A flat female voice came from behind, the tone cold and biting, making Hyperion's hair stand on end.

The chill that welled up from the bottom of her heart made Hyperion shudder, wanting to activate her invisibility spell and flee this place.

This voice… wasn't Kaliella?

"…"

Hyperion forced herself to remain calm, desperately controlling her expression.

As long as she was still the demon princess sitting in this position.

Even if the supporter behind her wasn't Kaliella, there wouldn't be much danger.

But the problem was, where had Kaliella gone? Kaliella was neither beside the throne nor below the stage.

Hyperion turned her head slightly.

She saw a grim-faced, cold-tempered female great demon lord standing behind her, her eyes like a pool of stagnant water, making Hyperion feel a chill.

The other party was indeed a mature beauty, but she had a morbid air about her. Behind her, a scorpion tail with distinct joints swayed slightly, as if a deadly venom was about to drip from the tip at any moment.

And when the other party saw Hyperion, she actually smiled.

There was a smile on her face, but not in her eyes, or rather, her dark pupils were a chaotic mess, making it impossible to see what she was thinking.

"Is there something you want to say, Your Highness, staring at me like that?"

The scorpion-tailed great demon lord stared at Hyperion and asked.

"It's nothing, I just think you're very beautiful."

Hyperion nodded politely, quickly turning her head back and sitting upright on the throne.

"Oh?"

The scorpion-tailed great demon lord seemed surprised by this answer, and even her voice had a hint of emotion that had never been there before.

The other party didn't ask any further questions, just glanced at the clock, waiting for the time for today's assembly to begin.

Hyperion fell into anxiety.

Not only because of the strange and dangerous great demon lord behind her, but more importantly, Hyperion couldn't figure out where Kaliella had gone.

This scorpion-tailed great demon lord might not be as strong as Kaliella, but the powerful aura on her still made Hyperion feel immeasurable.

The other demons in attendance below the steps showed respect to her, Hyperion, but correspondingly, many also showed fear to the great demon lord behind her.

The existence of the scorpion-tailed great demon lord made the atmosphere in the entire throne room even more solemn and oppressive. All the demons were carefully considering their attitude, fearing to anger this evil star.

Hyperion hesitated, unsure whether she should ask the great demon lord beside her who had replaced Kaliella at this moment.

The other party was a powerful demon, and her temperament seemed very aloof, with a sense of the accumulation of years.

But Hyperion didn't feel a normal maternal instinct from the other party at all, only a chaotic sense of evil.

It might be dangerous to even talk to this scorpion-tailed great demon lord.

If she had a choice, Hyperion would rather run straight down from the stage and find the Ice Witch.

But she was a princess now, and it wasn't appropriate to do strange or impolite things, and she couldn't bring the attention of the scorpion-tailed great demon lord behind her to her teacher. Hyperion was very sure that this scorpion-tailed great demon lord was at least a general-level existence that Prana spoke of, and she already possessed the pressure of a six-seal quasi-king, only a little bit different from the seven-seal Kaliella.

Before figuring out the situation, she chose to remain silent, waiting for the other party to speak.

Normally, Hyperion was used to getting along with great demon lords. She was surrounded by friendly great demon lords every day and could maintain good relationships with the great demon lords of this era, like Maya Kei and the others.

The question came up again.

Where was Maya Kei?

Where was Mist Kei?

Where was Thunder Kei?

How come those three had disappeared like Kaliella as well?

With these two generals and one civil official here, Hyperion would feel no fear of any vampires, and could even exchange two moves head-on with a ninth-order.

This timeline felt extremely foreign to Hyperion.

The more Hyperion thought about it, the more she couldn't understand whether this familiar yet strange new timeline was really connected to their last Shadow World and the old Demon King's Castle, Nykarlys.

"Speaking of… how have the vampires been recently?"

Hyperion couldn't help but ask the scorpion-tailed great demon lord behind her.

Since the Demon King's castle was still intact and the demons could still gather here to hold meetings, it meant that the situation outside might not be too dangerous.

If she wasn't mistaken, Lancelot was once again starting in a different location than her.

He might still be leading the allied forces to fight the vampires to the death as the Prime Minister of the Polant Empire.

Just thinking about Lancelot being alone, with no one supporting him or accompanying him, Hyperion felt a pang of sadness.

"…"

"Your Highness, are you still nostalgic for the vampires?"

The scorpion-tailed great demon lord chuckled, her voice floating into Hyperion's ears.

"What do you mean?"

Hyperion didn't understand what the other party meant.

The vampires outside were staring at their northern borders every day, and they were mortal enemies with their demons and the Polant Empire. How could she not care about the vampires?

"The vampires surrendered three years ago and are very stable now. You don't have to worry about them anymore."

The scorpion-tailed great demon lord replied concisely.

She didn't pay much attention to the vampires.

Just like she wouldn't remember the names of her defeated enemies.

"Your Highness, you only need to focus on the Demon Realm. The past is the past, there's no need to keep even half a shadow of those old dreams."

The mysterious great demon lord behind Hyperion sighed, seemingly used to the princess's nostalgic behavior.

"…"

Hyperion was speechless, listening to the great demon lord speak.

The vampires lost?

How many years had passed?

What was there to fight in this Shadow World then?

She originally thought that the last Shadow World of the Blood Moon Corrupted World was the final battle of the war, but she didn't expect that they had already arrived after the war, becoming a state comparable to clearing the game.

Why was it so smooth…

Hyperion felt that this great victory was a bit unbelievably good.

"Has Your Highness dreamed of some bad memories of the past again?"

The scorpion-tailed great demon lord observed Hyperion's expression and asked her.

"…Yes."

Hyperion pretended to have just woken up, her eyes showing a hint of confusion, and submitted to the great demon lord.

Since the other party didn't mean to hurt her, she should just nod in agreement.

And for some reason, the other party's soul-stirring voice made her not want to resist her.

No, this seemed to be a mind-controlling demonic sound.

Every cell in Hyperion's body was telling her that the great demon lord behind her was not a good person, but she had almost lowered her guard because of the other party's voice!

If she didn't often hear the demonic sound of the Great Poet, and if Hyperion hadn't been trained by Lancelot in the music classroom of the Purgatory Corridor Academy to have resistance to musical magic, Hyperion felt that she might have obeyed the scorpion-tailed great demon lord without even realizing it.

Even though everything in this world can be Kaliella, Talia can be Princess Kaliella, the Ice Witch teacher is Snow Woman Kaliella, and Lancelot is Male Kaliella, but this scorpion-tailed form of Kaliella didn't feel right at all.

Everything was strange.

Peace was filled with ominousness.

The more Hyperion thought about it, the more anxious she became. Hyperion really didn't know what was going on now.

[Shadow World: Eternal Punishment Immortal Endgame]
[Level: Eighth Order]
[Total Number of Challengers: 9]

Just as Hyperion was thinking about the answer, she saw the information that appeared in the Shadow World—

[Twelve years ago, you followed him back to the Polant Empire.]
[It wasn't long before the Polant Empire immediately became the first front line after the war started, suffering from the Howning Empire's crazy retaliation and full-force advance.]
[For your safety, Kaliella ordered you to be recalled. You returned to the Demon Realm under the protection of Sigrid and the Demon King's army.]
[Although you didn't want to leave him alone on the front line, you had to protect Sigrid and return to the Demon Realm for the sake of the overall situation.]
[Six years ago, the vampires launched a key battle that determined the course of the war, the Oberon Battle, the Encirclement Battle of the Evernight Land, and the Nykarlys Defense War, all broke out in the same year.]
[After paying a huge sacrifice, the northern countries led by the Polant Empire successfully withstood the offensive and merged with the demons, protecting Nykarlys, a key logistical and military-industrial support base for the Demon Realm.]

Hyperion read to this point, and the heart that had been hanging finally dropped.

The Shadow World prompt she saw should be the story of the witch's perspective in the past twelve years under this projection timeline.

[Under the desperate protection of the Fallen Lord Kaliella, you, who should have died many years ago in late autumn, lived again.]
[Your survival ultimately didn't bring any change. The defeat that should have come still came, and the victory that should have come still came. You knew that you shouldn't be a burden to him and could only watch him go further and further away.]
[You know that his body is like mysterious iron and his heart is like crystal. Before the end of the troubled times, he will not waver in the slightest. Even if fate takes away more from him, it cannot stop his strength. You are destined to gradually fall behind him.]
[And you guarantee your survival, waiting for him to return one day, leaving him with a pure land of the soul forever, that is the most important thing you can do for him.]
[Three years ago, the northern countries led by the Polant Empire were victorious.]
[But you have not been able to wait for him to return.]
[You are very worried, you don't understand what's going on with him now.]
[But you are now overwhelmed with self-care. There have been many disturbances in the Demon Realm recently, and you also need his help. You can only find a way to find him.]
[Mission Objective 1: Protect the little spark left behind by Kaliella.]
[Mission Objective 2: Understand the state of mind of the Black Sun, Lancelot. (Incomplete)]
[Mission Objective 3: All challengers survive until the 21-day deadline ends.]
[……]

"…?"

Hyperion's heart trembled after reading it.

The little spark left behind by Kaliella?

What happened to Kaliella?

She didn't understand what the content of the second mission objective was about, but the first mission objective was undoubtedly hers.

"Excuse me, the Fallen Lord Kaliella…"

The more Hyperion thought about it, the more anxious she became. She finally couldn't help but inquire to the great demon lord behind her, her tone slightly weak.

"Forget about Kaliella, she is a thing of the past. At this moment, you only need to remember my name, the Defiler, Melo Gath."

The scorpion-tailed great demon lord said proudly, her voice full of the domineering aura of an absolute powerhouse.

"Now I am the Regent of the Demon Realm, not them."

She looked down at the ministers below with a slightly malicious smile.

Hyperion was stunned for a moment.

Kaliella, a thing of the past?

She tried hard to hold back the tear ducts that she was about to lose control of, pursing her lips, her eyes flashing with hot, crystalline light, and finally couldn't stop the tears from starting to fall.

She couldn't accept this fact.

Coming to the Shadow World of this era, her biggest expectation was to see Kaliella.

As a result, as soon as she arrived twelve years later, Kaliella was gone forever.

"I don't want to not see Kaliella…"

She sobbed aggrievedly, tears wetting the dress she was clutching tightly in both hands.

"Your Highness, I should have said, don't mention Kaliella in front of me again. Were you just challenging my authority just now?"

Melo Gath smiled gloomily, bending down and staring at Hyperion from the side, her viper-like gaze chilling.

"…"

Hyperion's weeping suddenly stopped, and her pupils were also locked by Melo Gath, unable to move.

Her spine tensed up as if she had fallen into an ice cave. She had never encountered such a terrifying female demon and that cold, damp magic.

At that moment, she felt that if she continued to anger the Defiler, she might be given a punishment beyond death by the Defiler on the spot.

"Don't be afraid, Your Highness, how could I hurt you? After all, I am your aunt."

The Defiler, Melo Gath, turned to a mask-like smile and said to Hyperion,

"As long as you obey me, you are my good girl, no one can take you away from me…"

(End of this chapter)