"How dare you?" the demon rumbled, genuine anger finally breaking through his composure. It was clear he had never expected us to retaliate, let alone this way.
Aurora scoffed.
"No," she said coldly, "how dare you. You spineless demon. To think you would attack a Grandmaster while hiding behind your rank and numbers."
Before anyone could react, she moved.
In the very next heartbeat, she was in front of him again. Her index finger pressed forward and pierced slightly into his forehead, just enough to draw a thin line of blood and let lightning crackle against his skin.
The demon froze.
His eyes widened, shock and fear replacing arrogance. He didn’t dare move, not even to breathe too deeply.
"Move," Aurora whispered, her voice calm and deadly, "and I’ll make sure that dirty brain of yours evaporates forever."
The reaction was instant.
All around us, the warships shifted. Weapon systems whined as they recalibrated, abandoning Primus and locking onto Aurora and the demon she held in place. Cannons glowed brighter. Tension flooded the void.
I watched it all without moving, my perception calmly tracking every ship, every fluctuation of Essence, every trigger that was seconds away from being pulled.
"Well," I said at last, a small smile forming on my face, "I think the mess was handled rather beautifully."
"Now," Aurora said calmly, her finger still resting against the demon’s forehead, "as we already told you, we’re here at the request of Dravon Emberlord. Call him. Now."
The demon’s fear flickered for a moment, but he forced it down. His jaw tightened, and he let out a harsh laugh.
"You understand what you’re doing, don’t you?" he said through gritted teeth. "This is demon territory. You dare attack us here? One order from me and these ships will erase all of you."
I clicked my tongue. He was wasting time.
I raised my palm.
The void answered.
Across the surrounding fleet, warning lights flared violently. Alarms screamed as systems failed all at once. Massive warships that had been perfectly aligned moments ago began to tremble, their hulls groaning under pressure that did not come from outside but from within.
The demon’s eyes widened.
"What are you doing?" he shouted. "Stop it. Stop this now!"
Aurora smiled, her expression almost gentle.
"I’m not doing anything," she said lightly. "You made the boss angry."
I slowly clenched my palm.
Space twisted.
Metal screamed.
One by one, the surrounding ships began to fold in on themselves, armor plating collapsing as if crushed by invisible hands. Weapon snapped. Engines imploded. Entire sections of hull compacted into distorted masses of scrap.
Panic erupted within the ships.
Hatches blew open as demons fled their ships, throwing themselves into the void, activating emergency flight techniques just to escape being crushed alive. One ship after another was reduced to floating chunks of twisted metal, drifting helplessly through space.
Only the massive command ship remained intact.
The demon in front of Aurora stared in horror, his bravado completely gone.
"Stop... please," he shouted again, his voice cracking as his gaze locked onto our ship, searching for me. "I’ll call Dravon. I swear. Just stop it!"
I loosened my grip.
The destruction halted.
The void fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the distant alarms still echoing from shattered wrecks and the ragged breathing of the demons floating outside.
I spoke, and my voice echoed through space itself, reaching every single one of them.
"You have ten seconds," I said evenly. "If Dravon is not here by then, I will kill every one of you."
"Will you really kill them?" North muttered beside me, her eyes fixed on the demons drifting helplessly in the void.
I didn’t answer immediately.
My gaze stayed locked on the Transcendent demon, who was now desperately trying to contact Dravon, his voice raw as he shouted into the void, sending signal after signal through whatever channels he used.
"If I have to, I will," I said at last.
For a brief moment, my mind returned to the decision I had made back then, when I had killed the Ronic ancestor and framed the Del Reys without hesitation. The weight of that choice hadn’t disappeared with time. I simply learned how to carry it.
North studied my face for a few seconds longer, as if searching for doubt.
She found none.
She nodded once and said nothing more.
The void trembled.
Just like before, space rippled ahead of us. A ship emerged from the ripple.
It was smaller than the massive command vessel but still heavily armed, its hull marked with the same horned insignia of the Demon Monarch. Its engines burned steady as it came to a halt at a safe distance, careful not to provoke further action.
The air felt different. Three figures stepped out into open space.
All three were demons. The same trio who had come to Armus. Dravon, the silent Korvath and the crazy Mazikeen.
Dravon looked around once, taking in the wreckage, the floating survivors, the ruined fleet. His gaze lingered briefly on Aurora.
"I am Dravon Emberlord," he said, his voice carrying clearly through the void. "And I was told my name was being used rather loudly."
The surrounding demons visibly relaxed, as if Dravon’s arrival alone had pulled them back from the edge of death.
"Oh, Dravon, you’re finally here," Aurora said cheerfully as she pulled her finger away from the demon’s forehead. She stretched slightly, her earlier killing intent vanishing as if it had never existed. "As you requested, we’re here to meet you."
Dravon, who had looked imposing just a moment ago, faltered.
The weight of his aura flickered and then vanished completely. He blinked several times, his eyes locking onto Aurora as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
"You..." he said slowly. "You’re the elemental."
"Bingo," Aurora replied with a bright grin.
Then she stepped forward and appeared directly in front of the three of them. She moved closer to Mazikeen without hesitation and gently placed her palm against the demon girl’s cheek, as if greeting an old friend.
"Mazikeen, dear, are you doing okay?" Aurora asked warmly. "I hope Dravon isn’t piling too much work on you."
Mazikeen froze.
Her cheeks flushed a deep red as she stumbled over her words, clearly unprepared for the sudden closeness.