Chapter 413

Chapter 413
## Chapter 413

### Dark Nest (3)

“Crisis! Extreme crisis!”

[“Hurry up, engage the shield…! No, assemble the battalions first…! Curse it all!”]

“Unbelievable! Not a single scout detected them until they reached our doorstep?!”

The legions of Helheim had materialized directly within the core of the Dark Nest’s central fortress.

This abrupt incursion threw the Dark Nest fiends into utter pandemonium.

Such a frantic panic was entirely logical. The fundamental design of the ‘gates’ was intended precisely to prevent an ambush of this nature.

Furthermore, this location served as their command center, the nerve hub of their entire campaign, linked directly to every domain under their banner.

Their fortifications here were meant to be completely impenetrable… yet their security had been circumvented with staggering ease.

“My, my~ This is quite surprising. They are reacting rather systematically, given that they have never encountered a predicament like this before. Truly fitting for the reputation of the Dark Nest.”

[“…Tsk!”]

Hella, the architect of this lightning strike, calmly surveyed the unfolding chaos, utterly disregarding the Marquis-level fiend, Serentata, who glared at her with narrowed eyes and a violently fluctuating aura.

Though she intended the remark as genuine praise, Serentata clearly interpreted it as a mocking insult.

She had anticipated that the defenders would shatter under the weight of utter panic… yet they were managing to maintain cohesion despite the overwhelming confusion, executing a remarkably systematic and effective defense.

This display was vastly superior to the erratic forces of the Strange Duke, which she had dismantled without effort.

“Regrettably, all of this is merely futile defiance.”

A chilling grin spread across her features.

From the exact instant she materialized in this realm… or rather, the very moment Davidson set foot upon this ground… the final conclusion had already been sealed.

Naturally, transferring her legions from the forward outpost directly into the heart of the Dark Nest’s stronghold using her 「Heavenly Demon’s World」 as a gateway had been no minor feat…

‘…Yet that forward outpost stands upon a primary gate, a crucial node in the Dark Nest’s network. And I personally… laid the groundwork for this stronghold. Failure was never an option!’

The endeavor had required immense labor.

She had dedicated a massive amount of time and calculation to orchestrating and executing this precise maneuver.

Such rapid success would have remained out of reach without the sacred shard she had wrested from Ken.

‘…It is no wonder the Dragon Marquis is consumed by such profound rage. After all, that shard was not his only loss.’

Hella offered a muted laugh.

Possessing deep expertise in the profane arts, she could effortlessly reconstruct his grand design simply by analyzing the apparatus left behind in the subterranean sacrificial vault.

He had intended to reconstruct his own flesh using the vestiges of the Demon King, and he had planned to anchor the transformation with that very sacred shard.

‘…Given the ease with which he commandeered the sanctuary, he might have even aspired to ascend as a novel divine emissary.’

Yet, at the precise precipice of initiating the grand transfiguration, an intruder had slipped inside and plundered his entire collection of artifacts.

It was an ambitious enterprise he had nurtured across multiple centuries.

His current fury was entirely justified.

This theft was the exact reason the Dark Nest and Demoniac were presently locked in a savage, existential conflict.

‘…Though it resembles less of a balanced war and more of a merciless bludgeoning by the Dark Nest, while Demoniac desperately clings to survival.’

Did she harbor any… pity for their plight?

Not in the slightest.

She was fully aware of what the Dark Duke had intended to unleash.

‘…He presumed he had completely eradicated them…’

Her ultimate weapon.

An entity universally dreaded, yet fundamentally misunderstood by all.

Her intrinsic allure, a seductive authority exponentially magnified by her ascension toward the mantle of a Demon King, had already ensnared countless elite fiends, converting them into her absolute zealots.

“Hehehe—”

[“………”]

Hella, with a dark, mocking expression playing across her face, fixed her gaze on Serentata, the Marquis-grade fiend who was watching her with extreme vigilance, his entire frame coiled tight.

He possessed a colossal, reptilian physique, an elongated, slender neck, a pair of devastatingly muscular arms, and a massive, winding tail…

Yet despite his terrifying form, and despite his claws gripping a massive battleaxe and a jagged broadsword, Serentata found himself completely paralyzed.

‘…The moment I strike, my life ends.’

His battle-tested instincts, forged through centuries of bloodshed, shrieked a warning, leaving his muscles entirely unresponsive to his will.

The atmosphere encompassing him, the concentrated malevolence saturating the chamber, the very fabric of reality itself… everything was bearing down upon him with a suffocating weight, shattering any thought of reckless action.

Rumble—!

Thump— Thump—

While he remained frozen, ensnared and incapable of shifting his stance,

…the legions of Helheim, having completed their march across the barren wastes, began to… stamp their boots in unison, their spiritual pressure erupting as their battle roars reverberated through the grand hall.

They arrayed themselves directly behind Hella with weapons bared, their battle lines flawless, their intent to slaughter so thick it could be felt physically, poised to blitz forward at a moment’s notice.

The defensive barriers of the Dark Nest, buckling under this concentrated malice, began to shudder and develop massive fractures.

This destabilization was the direct result of 「Heavenly Demon’s World」 tearing open breaches within their perimeter.

Serentata recognized the truth instantly.

‘…Curse it, the day is lost.’

This was an encounter completely beyond his capacity to win.

They possessed secondary fortifications, latent ambushes, and still held a massive numerical advantage… yet the psychological momentum had entirely dissolved.

‘…Even so, it is far too early to yield. Victory is not my mandatory objective.’

He ranked among the paramount champions of the Dark Nest.

Should he capitulate, this central fortress, and potentially the entirety of the Dark Nest’s sovereign territory, would crumble into ruin.

His amber, serpentine pupils shifted rapidly, hunting for any tactical alternative.

‘…If I can merely… stretch this confrontation out… until the Dragon Marquis makes his return…!’

He solidified his internal resolve, steeling his fighting spirit…

“…I can practically hear the gears turning in your head. Tell me, how long do you intend to just… stand there like a statue?”

…only for a detached, amused, and thoroughly… mocking voice to pierce through his concentration, shattering his train of thought.

Those few casual words alone… and his psychological fortitude, already heavily strained, began to disintegrate at an accelerated pace.

And he was far from the only victim.

“Huu… Haa…”

[“Ugh… I had heard the tales, but… I never anticipated it would be this overwhelming…”]

“Oh, Great Dragon Marquis…”

Dissent and terror rippled through the Dark Nest combatants who had managed to assemble despite the initial disruption.

When even Serentata, a mighty Marquis-level entity, was visibly faltering… it was completely expected that the rank-and-file would break.

[“This cannot be… How…? She possessed nowhere near this degree of power previously…!”]

“Such insolence.”

Hella, crossing her arms with a frigid and condescending demeanor, cut off his frantic exclamation.

To think that an insignificant creature would presume to… evaluate her limitations using his own… pathetic perception.

This ascendancy was the fruit of the sacred shard she had recently claimed… though she felt no need to deliberate on such trivial mechanics.

It belonged to her now, and that was the sole reality that mattered.

“It appears you are in dire need of some… corrections. Now then…”

Her ruby eyes, burning with the absolute authority of ‘Domination’—one of the legendary 「Seven-Colored Eyes of Domination」—flared with the cold light of a supreme predator.

Her spiritual pressure, harmonizing perfectly with the fanatic legions arrayed behind her—those who offered unconditional obedience to her every whim—erupted outward in a massive shockwave,

…binding itself to the fundamental laws of the Fiend Realm itself.

[“Kneel.”]

A solitary utterance, an absolute decree.

The subsequent consequence was… cataclysmic.

Kaboom—!

Rumble!

Thump!

A thunderous concussive wave, akin to a violent tectonic shift, resounded, and then…

…the vast majority of the Dark Nest combatants, who had been standing in defiant opposition mere moments ago, collapsed instantly, their bodies slamming into the stone flooring with bone-shattering force.

Goliaths, monstrous beasts, aberrant flora… fiends of every conceivable lineage prostrated themselves in the dirt before her presence, their skulls pressed low in absolute capitulation.

A mere handful of elite, high-ranking lords, possessing exceptional mental fortitude, managed to desperately push back against the crushing gravity.

[“………!”]

“How can this be?!”

Yet even those survivors were completely paralyzed by sheer bewilderment.

They comprised the frontline elite of the Dark Nest, the most dominant coalition across the entirety of the Fiend Realm.

Yet they had been brought to their knees by nothing more than a spoken word!

“Huu…”

Hella let out a gentle exhalation.

Thump— Thump—

She could perceive the shift clearly.

Her authority, her sovereign weight as a true ruler of this realm, was expanding exponentially with every ticking second as she stood triumphant in the inner sanctum of her rivals, watching their subjects grovel at her feet.

‘…At last, I comprehend why the status of a Demon King carries such absolute finality within this world.’

Throughout the Fiend Realm, the subjects of a Demon King were fundamentally… religious devotees.

Having previously cultivated multiple independent manifestations possessing near-divine authority, she possessed an innate understanding of how to wield this metaphysical leverage to maximum effect.

Simultaneously, she recognized the absolute… stupidity of the 15th Demon King, Tanuin.

Had that fool not been blinded by endless avarice, had he dedicated his efforts to solidifying his domestic dominion rather than hunting for external power… he would never have been dismantled so easily by the Dragon Marquis, even with the intervention of the Human Divinity.

‘…Avarice can serve as a potent catalyst, but it functions equally as a fatal blind spot.’

Hella advanced by a single pace, her stride measured and deliberate, her stance completely open and devoid of defensive posturing.

Yet the remaining Dark Nest combatants, irrespective of their desperate internal vows, found themselves utterly incapable of launching an assault.

They could do nothing but gaze upon her figure, their vision clouded with profound terror and sublime awe.

“Kneel!”

Siana, who had maintained a quiet, vigilant posture in her shadow, suddenly bellowed, her tone piercing and dictatorial.

She herself was an Earl-grade entity, a veteran commander of high standing.

Upon her directive, the surviving fiends, those who had been agonizingly fighting to resist the downward pull, finally reached their breaking point, their limbs giving way as their bodies crashed into the ground.

“Lower your gazes.”

Ken, his eyes narrowing to slits as his vision swept across the prostrate ranks, commanded in a frigid, predatory tone.

His spiritual pressure, now operating at the tier of a Marquis-level fiend, redoubled the agonizing weight in the chamber, forcing anyone who dared lift their head right back into the stone.

[“Prostrate yourselves before your sovereign master—!”]

Tavares, the Marquis-grade Balrog who had seamlessly transferred his allegiance and was now spearheading the vanguard, bellowed with absolute, sadistic delight as he witnessed his former peers groveling before his new allegiance.

““This is the imperial audience hall of the Demon King!”“

Serentata, hearing that absolute declaration, closed his eyes in bitter resignation.

The Monarch. The True Ruler. The Sovereign of the Fiend Realm.

The supreme entity who occupied a position above all monstrous lineages, governing as the living proxy of the Fiend Divinity.

…Acceptance was his only remaining path.

Here, within the absolute center of the Dark Nest’s sovereign domain,

…a new sovereign, the 16th Demon King, had officially claimed the throne.

And it was completely divorced from the Dragon Marquis whom he had sworn to elevate.

Clang—!

The battleaxe and broadsword he had been maintaining such a desperate grip upon slipped from his numb fingers, clattering loudly against the stone.

Slowly, inevitably, he lowered his skull, his massive frame trembling violently under the irresistible metaphysical weight, his palms coming to rest flat upon the floorboards.

[“We offer our allegiance to the new Demon King!”]

Thus,

…as his forehead finally made contact with the earth,

《Your sovereign authority as a Demon King has advanced. Your metaphysical imprint has achieved greater clarity.》

…the Dark Nest, the most sprawling and militarily dominant coalition within the Fiend Realm,

…was completely absorbed into Hella’s dominion.

An absolute, swift usurpation—a masterclass in… seizing the hearth while the master of the house was away on a distant campaign.

—

The forward command encampment of the Dark Nest, situated directly along the active war zone against Demoniac.

[“…What? Repeat what you just stated.”]

Krushaior, the Dragon Marquis, his six ocular organs widening in absolute rejection of reality, demanded clarification, his voice a volatile mix of bewilderment and shock.

Such a reaction was entirely natural.

What living entity could possibly maintain composure when presented with such… utterly preposterous intelligence?!

“The g-gates are…!”

Yet the subsequent utterances of his panicked herald left no room for the illusion of a misunderstanding.

It was entirely outside the realm of possibility for him, whose auditory senses were so acute they could isolate the individual steps of insects, to misinterpret a report… yet the impossible had manifested regardless.

[“That is completely absurd!”]

He instantly triggered his localized spatial displacement technique, attempting to force a transit back to one of his primary logistical staging areas.

However…

[区域“………”]

…the space remained entirely inert.

His titanic, scaled frame never shifted from the front lines.

He attempted the transit multiple times, adjusting the coordinates to various defensive nodes, even targeting his personal inner sanctum… yet the result remained unchanged.

The spatial pathways had been completely severed and sealed.

And even he, who possessed absolute, unconditional administrative clearance over every gate within the Dark Nest’s borders, could not force a breach!

He understood the mechanical cause. He had just received the explanation from his trembling herald.

His draconic features contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury, his fangs grinding together with a sickening crunch.

During his temporary absence from his domain,

…his central fortress had been completely usurped via a flawless infiltration strike.

Consequently, every secondary territory anchored to that central hub had systematically fallen in a chain reaction.

Snatched by that… wretched Helheim mongrel!

[“Grrrr—!”]

He released a cataclysmic roar of pure indignation, a primal, monstrous shockwave that caused the ambient atmosphere to vibrate violently.

He had been deceived and stabbed in the back, not merely once, but twice in rapid succession!

Never in his existence had he been subjected to such absolute degradation, not since he had originally claimed the title of Dragon Marquis, and not since his failure during the prior succession conflict for the throne.

[“I shall tear you apart! Both of you—!”]

Naturally, he still possessed the physical means to travel.

He was merely deprived of instantaneous gate transit.

However, his present position was dead center within what had formerly comprised the Dark Duke’s sovereign borders.

While this territory had offered immense tactical leverage for his offensive campaign… it simultaneously meant that navigating the physical distance back to his central fortress without spatial shortcuts would require an immense duration of time.

Furthermore, he could not simply abandon the bulk of his army to make the journey in isolation.

Should he attempt to confront that clever mongrel without his full military backing… his own survival would be placed in severe jeopardy.

“Kyaa!”

“M-Marquis… Gah!”

He began to purge his mounting fury by physically slaughtering the auxiliary fiends stationed nearby, their bodies instantly pulverized within his crushing jaws, their black ichor painting the soil.

He maintained this destructive tantrum for a considerable duration, his wrath completely overriding his cognitive control…

…until he froze entirely in place, his movements arrested by the sudden receipt of an unexpected… telepathic frequency.

[“…Pieta? Have you finally exhausted your tricks? Grown weary of acting like a cornered rodent?”]

Precisely as the legions of Helheim initiated their grand orchestration of conquest,

…a localized communion between two distinct… casualties of absolute betrayal commenced.