Chapter 922: The true intentions
West of the Northern Region---
*Bzzzzt*
Amon walked out of the instant space portal with lips trembling with anger and clenched fists, "Get ready, we will rush back towards the Asak Giants Tribe immediately. And spread among all the soldiers that whoever breaks a tree branch without direct orders, I will kill him myself!!"
"A tree branch? ...But king, the Asak Giants have set up defenses and are awaiting our arrival, let us head further north and attack the Mendel Giants Tribe." The Emperor's demon quickly advanced to change Amon's mind
*Pam* Amon slapped that demon, sending him flying, then continued on his way as if nothing had happened, "Execute immediately."
"Yes, my king!!"
"...What's wrong?" A number of other demons asked in a low voice, this was not Amon's usual style
*Bzzzzt* *Bzzzzt*
The rest of the demons emperors who accompanied Amon to the central region left one after the other, they just sighed as they looked at their leader's back in silence, thinking that he must be envious...
A moment ago-- Central Region
*Disturbance* *Disturbance*
"Hahaha, I still can't believe our king has this much authority now!"
"The lord loves us! The lord trusts our abilities!"
"Hey, I want another half-snake leg here!!"
"Are we out of giant meat yet?"
"Hahaha Congratulations, brother Sakar!" Other than the officers and officials who started preparing for the feast with the soldiers below, Charles handed over the letter and left, only Sakaar, Morin and Amon remained on the tip of the hill looking down at the army.
"Brother Amon, Brother Morin, I hope you two don't hold a grudge against me in your hearts." Sakaar sighed as he observed the situation in the army.
"Hehe, strength has always been the dominant element among us demons and you are the strongest among us at the moment." Amon patted Sakaar on the shoulder with a laugh, "But that might not last long, you should continue gaining strength quickly before I overtake you."
Morin also nodded, "You are the strongest right now and you deserve the title, just stop being lazy."
Amon had high enough confidence that he would pass Sakaar sooner or later, in terms of talent alone and mutation speed he is not far away from Sakaar, but in terms of devotion to eating and battling he is more focused, Sakaar is always carried away by thinking about other things that occupy his mind and restrict his progress.
Sakaar simply does not act like a demon, of course he kills and eats corpses and collects blood and other demon basics, but he does not put all his heart into these things, his head is always working and thinking about things that waste his time that should be invested in increasing his strength.
"That's not what I mean." Sakaar shook his head, "Amon was the first one the Lord recognized. If it weren't for his wise move in following the Lord and protecting him during Jabba's attack, and then sticking by his side until he proved to him that he was not just a monster, the Lord wouldn't have thought of us demons. He might have treated us as a threat like the First Heaven Chosen did and eliminated us before he could start fighting the Giants... In this alone, we are indebted to Amon."
Then he looked at Morin, "And you were the first to acknowledge the Lord. After you learned from your follower at the time, Amon, that there was a human with these abilities, you did not try to take them by force or attack him like any other demon would have done, but rather went to thank him and declare your loyalty to him even though he was much weaker than you at that time, this was the reason that pushed the Lord to bring us closer to him and allow you to spread his techniques among the rest of the kings until it finally reached me..."
"That's true, but you're not without contributions either," Amon nodded then pointed down at the organized army, which even during the feasts the demons were standing waiting their turns, "If it weren't for you, we would have remained monsters in the eyes of the Lord forever."
"...Has this really changed?" Sakaar muttered as he looked down
"What do you mean?" Moren asked
"I didn't make the decision to attack the North in a fit of anger, I wanted to test something, because I knew that the Shadow Swords would try to use the Lord to stop us..." Sakaar continued without looking at them, "I was prepared for two reactions from The Lord, the first was for him to come himself to stop us, that would mean he doesn't trust my abilities as a leader but at least he still sees us as part of the army, then I would take this opportunity to explain my plan to him and ask him to give us a little more freedom."
He was silent for a moment before he continued, "The second is for him not to bother at all, then I would be sure that he has lost all hope in us and that he sees us as useful monsters, and that he will try to get rid of us when the opportunity arises. In that case, I would have started preparing, I wouldn't want to die without a fight."
*Gulp* Both Morin and Amon did not think Sakaar's movements were so deep.
"But instead of this and that, he made me equal to his son Caesar? He even gave the demons the right to form an independent army!?" A puzzled expression appeared on Sakaar's face, "What am I supposed to understand from this?"
"...He finally appreciated our efforts?" Morin looked at Amon
"No, he could have given us a piece of land as a reward and we would have been overjoyed, why would he give me the same status as his son who accompanied him for years in the cave, who gave him the terrifying merger law of Death Fire? Caesar is the undisputed second man in the Empire, yet here he is saying in the scroll that Caesar no longer has the authority to tell me what to do?" Sakaar waved the idea away, "No, you both underestimate the lord too much, everyone underestimates him!"
"...If I'm not mistaken, this is his way of deciding what to do with us." Sakaar continued, tilting his head slightly to the side, "He can't decide whether we can truly serve the Empire or are a potential threat, so he gives us free rein to see what we will do if no one gives us orders, and he gave us one piece of evidence to stick to if we want to survive, which is the final law of the decree: Sakaar will be held responsible for any bad behavior by any of the demons that might tarnish the image of the Empire."
"...Don't think we're truly free, I assure you that if we make any bad or selfish decisions to satisfy our instincts, say we decide to eat a portion of the immigrants from the northern region instead of sending them to the southern region, the Lord will abandon us immediately and begin preparing to wipe us out, and he will do so with a clear conscience then." Then he looked towards Morin and Amon, "And don't you think that we have become invincible due to our numbers and strength, the first heaven chosen made a handful of white dust that enslaved us for hundreds of thousands of years.. and The Lord, who created the warlords, can create something to destroy us as well."
"....." The two looked down, clenching their fangs, Sakaar's words ruining their joy... No wonder Sakaar said he *accepted responsibility* when he took on this terrifying position! "Brother Sakaar, if you had left this much thinking behind you and devoted your time to digesting your food, you would have undoubtedly surpassed the Martial Emperor Realm by now," Moren spoke jokingly, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little.
"Listen well, we have two paths, no third..." Sakaar ignored Moren's words, or perhaps he wasn't listening at all, and continued after a long silence, "The first is to prove to the Lord that we are a second army that can be relied upon, and this means that you monitor every move your followers make carefully and avoid any mistake, even a small one. Make them all act like humans, so to speak, and if we succeed in this mission, then we will surely prosper under that man. But if you and your followers are unable to curb yourselves, then we have the second option, which is to start preparing to defend ourselves, and perhaps we will succeed in seizing a planet for our own... Think about it, and it is better for you not to underestimate anyone with either option, as both will require a terrifying effort."
Six Days Later--Planet Poison Rock--Imperial Palace
"Your Majesty, First General Harus requests a meeting."