Many things happened in quick succession. This ritual site was Sodian's domain, under her complete control. Her will permeated every hidden mystery within. Therefore, linked to her main body, the site could instantly react to any sudden crisis.
Crack
Countless roots surged from the floor, a barrier enveloping the entire underground area, twisting and distorting the space within. Shackles activated to restrain the intruder, and a terrible curse was unleashed. Numerous magic barriers arose, blocking the monster's attack path, and a magic circle, interlocking like gears, appeared, instantly completing a black magic spell to repel the intruder.
Boom!
A near-perfect response, thoroughly sealing the sudden attack. A display of power befitting a high-ranking demon who had walked the path of magic for thousands of years, far surpassing even most transcendent mages.
"Kahahaha!"
"Keuhung!"
However, unfortunately for Sodian…
A 'near-perfect' defense wasn't enough against this opponent.
Crunch Rip!
The curse was chewed and swallowed whole. The barrier blocking the path was torn apart by sharp teeth, and the boundary controlling the distance between them began to falter. The shackles, barely holding on, shattered under the brute force, and the black magic, imbued with a sinister aura, didn't inflict significant damage on the monster.
"Ken, you dare…!"
Yes, a monster. It didn't care what was blocking its path. It only charged straight towards its single target, Sodian.
"Eliminate! This is my domain! Do you think you can defeat me so easily?!"
"Kekekekek!"
"Grrr—!"
The enraged Sodian struggled, but it was uncertain how long she could last. She was barely holding on with the help of her domain, but her resistance wouldn't last long against this fierce onslaught.
'…Amazing. I knew Davidson was strong, but I didn't expect him to be this powerful.'
Ken, watching from a distance, closed his eyes. Davidson rampaged like a puppy let loose on a walk. Seeing the ritual site being turned upside down by the aftermath, he felt a surge of PTSD, reminded of his beagle that used to wreak havoc at home.
'I don't need to interfere. I'll leave it to him and do what I need to do.'
Ken took a deep breath to calm himself and turned around. He had planned on joining the attack if necessary, but seeing the situation, it seemed unnecessary.
"…Is this it?"
Thanks to the barrier fluctuating from Davidson's rampage, finding his way wasn't difficult. More than anything, he just had to follow the strange pull that seemed to call him, just like last time.
He glanced at the giant Balrog, Duke Tuma Karaku, still bound, and approached the door on one side of the pillar. Duke Tuma could wait. Checking inside was the priority.
Thump thump
The closer he got to the door, the faster his heart pounded. Tension welled up within him.
Crackle!
Ken, his hand filled with magic power, ignored the resistance and forcefully opened the door. And what he saw through the opened door was…
"This is…?"
A vast space, unimaginable within the pillar. A large temple, entirely white. Large pillars and statues lined the sides, and a grand painting adorned the high ceiling. And all around, inscriptions in an unknown language, even Ken, who had lived in this world for a while, couldn't decipher, were written in gold. Judging by the atmosphere, they were probably scriptures dedicated to some god. He examined them with narrowed eyes and shook his head.
'A temple? Here? And no matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem like a temple dedicated to the Demon God… What is the Demon Dragon Duke thinking?'
Ken's steps inside the temple were directed towards a specific direction without hesitation. It was so natural that he only noticed it belatedly. But he didn't stop and silently walked through the temple corridor. Since he had decided to thoroughly investigate this place, it didn't matter where he went first.
He arrived at a space filled with beds lined up like a hospital ward.
"Is this where they offer sacrifices?"
No, looking closely, they weren't beds, but small altars. But considering that people were lying on them, it wasn't much different.
'…I expected this to some extent.'
The appearances of the sacrificed people varied greatly. Gender, age, race, everything. The only commonalities were that they all seemed to be adults and were lying emaciated, as if dead.
'It's a wonder there are still living people here.'
Thanks to some special magic, some were still barely alive, but most seemed to have long since expired, far beyond their limits. There were even some who had completely turned into skeletons.
'I stand corrected. It's not a hospital ward, but a morgue.'
And there, he—Miyamoto Ken, the Japanese man, the Count-class demon Ken,
Could confirm what had led him here.
He stared down blankly.
"…Huh? What is this?"
One of the dozens of small altars lined up. A man lay there, just like the others, emaciated and barely breathing.
"…Why?"
A familiar face, easily recognizable despite his gaunt state…
A being that looked exactly like Ken's human form.
***
"It's been a while, but you're back already? You could have stayed longer."
Heinz II, a vampire with a cold demeanor, sat in his office and tilted his head slightly. His gaze fell on a boy who looked to be in his late teens, sitting on the reception sofa with his hands clasped behind his head, looking away.
But he couldn't ignore his new master's attempt to start a conversation. He sighed softly at the persistent gaze, straightened his hands, and cautiously spoke.
"We'll have plenty of time together from now on. We have a lot to do, so a few days to catch up is enough. Mother is busy with the upcoming presidential election anyway."
"Hmm, is that really all?"
Temiran McCleare pouted at the repeated question. He averted his gaze and muttered softly.
"…To be honest, it's a bit uncomfortable. I'm a grown man now; I can't stay attached to my mother forever. But it seems like she still sees me as that little child…"
So he used work as an excuse to escape here.
Heinz chuckled at his spoiled complaint. Who would look at him and think he was an adult? No matter how you looked at him, he was just a boy going through puberty.
'Well, it's natural, considering he was confined and brainwashed until he came out.'
People didn't mature just by getting older. What was important was interacting with others, learning, and accumulating various experiences. Just like a child raised with the internet was more astute than an elderly person who lived their entire life in the mountains, Temiran's time had just begun to flow in a normal trajectory.
'Well, I've taken care of him enough, now he should manage on his own. As he said, he's not an ordinary child.'
Temiran was a former apostle who roamed the shadows of the world, and now a high-ranking hybrid, a Sacred Blood vampire. The only person in this world who could treat him like a child was his mother, Kayla McCleare.
"If that's the case, let's talk business. Let's discuss the Demon Realm you mentioned last time in more detail."
"Ah… are you referring to that?"
"Yes, I heard the gist of it, but I might have missed something."
At Heinz's command, Temiran straightened up with a serious expression, lowered his head slightly, and continued.
"As I said before, I only did some cleaning up. Most of the work was already done by my predecessor, so I didn't do much. Naturally, I don't know much."
Moreover, the Revolutionist died without properly handing over his duties, and Temiran was released into the world as an incomplete apostle. Naturally, his knowledge was lacking, but…
He wasn't completely ignorant, as he was still an apostle. He had to be familiar with the general framework to carry out his tasks.
"Kidnapping people from other worlds and forcibly sending them to the Demon Realm…"
And one of them was the kidnapping of Awakened from Earth, which had been carried out secretly until a few years ago.
"For what purpose?"
"To use them as mediums, of course. I only heard about it, but they say it's much easier to circumvent the world's laws by utilizing the characteristics of people from other worlds. If that's possible, there are endless possibilities."
It had been happening since shortly after Earthlings began arriving in Auterica and continued until just a few years ago. Since it was done secretly to hide their identities, the kidnappings weren't widespread, but considering the duration, the number of victims wouldn't be small.
'There must be a huge number of Earthlings who fell victim to them during that period.'
That probably played a significant role in the delayed discovery of Auterica as a dimension. It was a newly discovered dimension, so there weren't many dispatched there in the first place, and those who stood out were kidnapped without a trace, so the number of returnees was inevitably low.
'Perhaps I, too… and Hans, might have suffered the same fate if our first transport started from somewhere else.'
Since they were ignorant of this world and possessed unusual items from Earth, they would have inevitably stood out. Ken's face flashed through Heinz's mind. From what he had heard, Ken was definitely one of the victims of the kidnapping.
Then why did he become a demon and a settler?
"What? Demonization? What are you talking about?"
The answer to his question was another question.
"And completely erasing the characteristics of those from other worlds… wouldn't that decrease their value as sacrifices? I don't know of any way to completely remove those characteristics. My predecessor, the Revolutionist, wouldn't have known either."
All he found out was that Ken was indeed sent to the Demon Realm, but the rest was completely unrelated.
'Hmm, what's going on? Did he lie?'
Perhaps. Back then, his relationship with Ken was just that of fellow countrymen who had just met. He used 「Analysis」 to check the truth, but considering the difference in their levels, it wasn't foolproof.
'No, I confirmed it with Hela later. Besides, there's no reason for him to lie after we revealed we're both from Earth…'
Heinz frowned and shook his head, his mind in turmoil. Overthinking was making it more complicated. In times like this, he needed to think more simply.
For example—
Like Harley, who acted before he thought.
'Life in the Demon Realm is more fun than I expected.'
Harley, currently enjoying a thrilling monster life as Davidson. He had always been impulsive, but after replacing his entire body, including his brain, with monster genes, that tendency became even more pronounced.
'Now that the fight is over, shall we get moving?'
Although he hadn't noticed anything unusual while they were together, he might find something if he observed him closely. And if nothing came up, there was another way.
'A high-ranking demon should be able to regenerate a finger easily.'
A chilling smile appeared on Heinz's lips. Temiran, cautiously observing him, quietly moved away. Thinking it was better to stay home and rest.
***
A large tree lay sprawled on the ground, as if it had been felled. Davidson, sitting on it, chewing on branches with his three heads, turned his head.
"Woof!"
"Kahat!"
He stretched comfortably and then trotted towards the door of the pillar where Ken had entered. Leaving behind the devastated ritual site and the remnants of the Marquis-class demon Sodian, along with the shattered Devilwood.
But Davidson didn't immediately enter. He stopped right in front of the door. Where the giant, bound Balrog—Duke Tuma Karaku—was.
His three pairs of eyes stared at the barely breathing demon. There was no admiration for the powerful demon, nor pity for his plight in his gaze.
Gulp
Only appetite. Drool dripped from his three mouths. He was feeling a bit empty after his unexpected vegetarian meal. With such a rare delicacy right in front of him, how could he just pass it up?
That would be disrespectful to 「Devouring God」!
'Well, I'm in a hurry, so just one bite each.'
To be precise, one bite 'each'. It wasn't a big difference, so it didn't matter.
Crack
His three heads instantly swelled. Unlike earlier, when he had adjusted his size for combat efficiency,
He focused all his transformation energy on size alone.
Crunch! Crack! Munch—
By the way,
It was impossible for Harley to leave any meat behind.