The moment Erika's words faded, the chamber plunged into silence.
Not the calm kind, but the heavy, suffocating quiet that crawled under the skin and refused to leave.
Then it came.
A low, guttural voice rolled through the air, thick and venomous, each syllable vibrating like the growl of a beast dragged from the abyss.
"...Greeting, my Master."
The voice alone felt like a curse. The enchanted seals around the chained figure rattled violently, straining as though even they feared the weight of his words.
Allen.
His presence was suffocating. A tide of demonic aura burst forth, pressing down on everyone like invisible chains. The flickering light bent against the darkness that oozed from him, casting long, distorted shadows across the chamber walls.
Yuuta's body reacted before his mind did. His breath hitched, his chest tightened, and the strength drained from his knees as he turned toward the source of that voice.
Those eyes.
Piercing Golden, glowing faintly in the gloom, locked onto him with the intimacy of a predator recognizing its prey. It wasn't just a look—it was a spear, driving straight into his heart and pinning him in place.
"A… Allen…" Yuuta's voice trembled, the name escaping him in a whisper he hadn't meant to say aloud.
The silence thickened.
Every soldier, every captain, even Sara herself, froze where they stood. Not a breath was wasted. Not a single weapon wavered.
"My Master" Allen said showing Abosulte Loyalty to him.
"...Master?" a squad captain muttered, his voice barely more than a rasp.
The word spread like wildfire. Master.
Shock painted itself across every face.
Rika's lips parted soundlessly, disbelief choking her voice.
Elga's claws scraped against the floor, muscles coiling with suspicion.
And Sara—calm, collected Sara—her eyes widened just slightly, the faintest crack in her otherwise unshakable mask.
"You…" Her voice cut through the room, low and sharp, trembling with restrained disbelief. "You are his current Master?"
Yuuta staggered backward as though the accusation itself had struck him. His mouth opened, closed, then opened again. The words he wanted refused to form.
"W–Wait, what? Me? Master? No—no, that's wrong!" He shook his head wildly, raising his hands as though trying to push the very thought away. "I think… I think there's some mistake. I'm not… I'm not a master of anyone!"
His protests dissolved into the chamber, thin and fragile against the weight of suspicion.
The silence that followed was different now. Sharper. Deadlier.
It was Elga who broke it. Her growl rumbled like thunder as she stepped forward, claws gleaming under the torchlight.
"Enough lies!" she roared. "Everyone—raise your weapons! He is Demon king current Master!"
The chamber exploded into movement.
Steel hissed free of scabbards. Spears leveled into place. The grinding of mechanisms echoed as rifles cocked in unison. A forest of blades and barrels turned toward Yuuta.
He froze. His back scraped against the cold wall as he stumbled away from their killing intent. His stomach knotted violently, his pulse hammering in his ears.
"W–Wait!" His voice cracked as panic clawed at his throat. "I'm telling the truth! I don't know him! I swear it—I've never met this person in my life!"
Yuuta had lied—because when he first saw Allen in chains, he remembered Erza and Fiona warning him about a high-ranking demon. But never, not in his worst imagination, did he expect that demon to be Allen… and now Allen was forcing him into this nightmare.
Allen lifted his head, a mocking smile curling across his lips despite the chains that bound him.
"My master… don't abandon me like this. My heart—" he placed a clawed hand over his chest with exaggerated drama, "—it hurts."
The soldiers stiffened, their grips on their weapons tightening. The weight of his words pressed down on Yuuta like a curse.
Yuuta's face twisted with panic and anger. "Shut up, you evil demon!" he shouted, his voice cracking under the strain. "I'm not your master!"
The word slipped out too quickly.
Demon.
It cut through the chamber sharper than any blade.
Elga's eyes flared like embers. She bared her teeth, a dangerous snarl curling her lips.
"When," she hissed, stepping closer, "did we ever say… he was a demon?"
The blood drained from Yuuta's face.
He slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide with horror. The word burned on his tongue, mocking him. He had revealed too much. Far, far too much.
Weapons pressed tighter, killing intent like a thousand invisible knives grazing his skin. It would take only a single command to reduce him to nothing.
But Sara… did not give that command which is mercy to Yuuta since captain can't kill anyone without Chief order.
Sara's expression shifted. The hard edge of authority remained on her face, but beneath it—just for a fleeting instant—there was something else. A shadow. Fear.
Her Vampire eyes narrowed, unblinking, pinning Yuuta in place as if he were not a man but some dangerous relic dug out from the abyss, a thing that should never have been disturbed.
Her voice cut through the suffocating silence.
"...Are you," she asked slowly, each word weighted with disbelief, "from the Nova World?"
The words struck Yuuta like a hammer to the chest. His heart jolted violently, breath catching in his throat.
"Nova… what?!" His voice cracked, spilling out too quickly, too loud. "No! No, I'm not! I'm not from another world—or planet—or whatever you're talking about!" His hands trembled as he threw them up in protest, his tone desperate, frantic. "I swear—I'm just a normal human!"
But his desperation only betrayed him. The more he spoke, the weaker his denial sounded.
The chamber remained silent for a long moment—until Rika stepped forward.
Her eyes were unnervingly calm, her tone steady and cold. "He's lying."
The words dropped like stones into still water, sending ripples through every soldier present.
Everyone knew of Rika's gift. She could read lies—not through magic, but through instinct sharpened to something terrifying. The twitch of an eyelid, the shift of breath, the faintest quiver of the lips—nothing escaped her. To be caught in her gaze was to stand naked before the truth.
"This man knows about the Nova World," she said firmly.
Shock spread through the chamber. Murmurs rose and fell like a wave. Fingers tightened on hilts and triggers. Even those who had doubted moments ago now looked at Yuuta as if he had grown horns.
Yuuta's knees nearly buckled. "I–I don't! That's not true! I don't know anything about Nova, I just read on some random story book!" His voice cracked. His words tumbled out too fast, he was afraid.
Sara's stare did not waver. She tilted her head, studying him with renewed intensity. When she spoke again, her tone had sharpened to a blade.
"Then answer this. Do you know about Eden?"
The name slammed into Yuuta like ice water. His stomach dropped. His mouth went dry.
Eden.
He couldn't—he mustn't—
His lips moved before his brain caught up. "N–No. Not at all. I don't know anything about—"
"He's lying," Rika interrupted, her tone leaving no room for doubt.
The weight of her certainty pressed down harder than any blade.
"Eden? Yeah, I know… it's the same place, right? Where Ada and Eve were created—the Garden of Eden." Yuuta said desperate to get out of situation.
But Rika's expression hardened. Her lips pressed into a thin line, eyes sharp with disbelief.
"You're lying," she said coldly. "Don't play dumb. You already knew about Nova Eden."
Sara's eyes narrowed. Elga, however, did not wait. Her beast-like grin spread wide, baring sharp fangs. The sound of her knuckles cracking echoed like breaking stone.
"See?" she snarled. "I told you. He's a monster from another world, hiding under human skin." Her clawed hand pointed directly at Yuuta. "Look at his eyes."
"I–I'm not a monster!" Yuuta's voice was hoarse, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "I'm human!"
But even as he spoke, something betrayed him. His eyes shimmered—faintly, just faintly—crimson light flickering across them like the dying glow of embers.
The soldiers recoiled. Weapons clattered as grips tightened. Fear spread like wildfire.
Elga's grin widened. "Human? Those aren't human eyes."
She lunged, claws outstretched, ready to crush him where he stood.
Yuuta stumbled backward, heart pounding in his ears—but no command came to strike him down. No voice cut through the tension, which make Elga more furious she wants to kill someone.
Sara didn't move. She didn't order. She only watched.
Why? Yuuta thought desperately, terror gnawing at his insides. Why isn't Erika stopping this?
But Sara wasn't frozen out of indecision. She was frozen because of the feeling coiling inside her chest. It wasn't suspicion. It wasn't unease.
It was fear.
Erika's eyes darted to Yuuta. Her chest felt tight, a painful squeeze that left her breath shallow. She didn't want to believe this. This was Yuuta—the same man who had risked his life to shield children without hesitation, the fool who stood against impossible odds even when he had no reason to.
And yet…
The memories struck like lightning.
The shattered glass.
The crushed Kurai Arka spider.
That inhuman strength.
And before that—the port. The moment Allen appeared. The sudden storm of aura… and the moment it stopped.
Her lips trembled. She didn't want it to be true. She wanted to believe in him. But her instincts screamed otherwise.
A bitter laugh tore from her throat, hollow and sharp.
"Chief," she said, turning to Sara, her voice shaking. "Didn't I warn you? That day at the port… there was a man at the center when Allen appeared. The one who stopped that storm."
Her sword trembled as she raised it, pointing straight at Yuuta.
"It was him. Yuuta. Fiona's so-called boyfriend."
Sara's fists clenched. her gloves groaned under the pressure. That day at the port had been chaos—too much smoke, too much distortion. She had not seen clearly Yuuta pictures Because it was blur. But now, standing before her, the pieces snapped together.
Her gaze sharpened. The chamber chilled, the air thick enough to choke on.
Her words slithered out, low and venomous, trembling not with rage but with recognition.
"Are you the Sons of Disaster?"
Yuuta's blood turned cold.
He forced a shaky breath, his voice weak. "N–No… it's my first time hearing that name—"
"He's lying," Rika cut in, her voice trembling, but certain.
The chamber fell silent. Everyone in the chamber wanted him dead. Not a single blade wavered, not a single voice rose to defend him. Even Erika—who once stood by his side—had long since betrayed him. The crushing realization twisted in Yuuta's chest, filling his mind with suffocating stress.
And Yuuta had nowhere left to run.
Sara did not give the order to strike.
She didn't move at all.
Her silence wasn't mercy—it was fear.
Because beneath Yuuta's scent she smell Dragon, beneath his trembling façade, she could feel it. The faint trace of a dragon's presence clung to him. And more than that, the sheer threat radiating from him was undeniable. Something ancient. Something dangerous.
Sara's chest tightened. She didn't want to admit it, but Yuuta scared her.
Yuuta, however, saw none of that. All he saw were their eyes.
Cold. Disgusted. Suspicious.
The longer they stared, the more unstable his breathing became. He knew those looks too well. He had seen them all his life—eyes that whispered rejection, eyes that stripped him down until he was nothing but filth.
It was why he had changed himself.
Why he had forced his personality into shapes that would be accepted.
The jokes. The humor. The forced smile of an extrovert.
All of it just to fit into a world that never wanted him.
And yet, even now, even after all of that—those eyes still looked at him with nothing but contempt.
His voice cracked out, so faint it barely reached them.
"Don't… don't look at me like that…"
Elga stepped forward, towering over him like a beast. She was six feet of raw muscle and fury, her shadow blotting out the light as she loomed over Yuuta. Her claws flexed, her lips curling back into a sneer.
"Just looking at your face," she growled, her voice low and venomous, "makes me sick."
Yuuta's lips trembled, but he said nothing. In his heart, he clung to one memory—Erza's voice, gentle and unwavering, telling him once that he looked handsome. Those words had been enough to carry him through countless moments of mockery.
But then—
"You disgust me, Satan."
The word tore through him like a blade.
...Satan.
The orphanage. The punishments. The whispers that branded him cursed. The children's jeers, the adults' cruelty. The endless nights of silent suffering.
The rage burned through him before he could stop it.
"I… am not Satan." His voice was low, trembling, dangerous.
Elga tilted her head, a cruel grin twisting her lips. "Huh? Did you say something?"
Elga's eyes narrowed as she studied Yuuta. In that fleeting instant when she spat the word "Satan", she saw it—he faltered. His breath hitched, his gaze wavered, as though that single word had pierced deeper than any blade.
And then, a grin spread across her face. Cruel. Predatory.
So that's it, she thought. That word shakes him. He stumbles when branded a demon.
To Elga, it wasn't just a reaction—it was an opportunity. If she could provoke him, force him to strike first, then she'd have every right to kill him under the guise of self-defense. All she needed was to keep pressing, keep twisting the blade of her words until he broke.
Her voice dripped with venom as she stepped closer, towering over him.
"You disgust me, Satan," she sneered, savoring every syllable.
Yuuta's fists clenched. His body trembled. He lifted his head, meeting her gaze with eyes that burned.
"I said," his voice rose, cutting through the chamber, "I AM NOT SATAN!"
Elga laughed, sharp and mocking. "The truth doesn't change just because you scream it. Satan is who you are. A monster. And if you strike first—" Her grin widened, revealing fangs. "—then I'll finally have the right to kill you."
Her claws twitched, ready to move.
Yuuta's breath shook. His chest rose and fell in uneven bursts. His heart thundered in his ears. He looked her dead in the eyes, and this time, when he spoke, his voice carried the weight of something greater than rage.
It was raw. It was primal. It was power.
"I—AM—NOT—SATAN!"
The chamber shattered.
The floor split apart with a deafening crack. Glass exploded from the windows, shards scattering like falling stars. A crushing wave of gravity rippled outward, unseen but undeniable, slamming every soldier to their knees. Weapons clattered from their hands. Armor groaned under the weight of his power.
Not even Sara could stand.
Her legs buckled, her teeth clenched as she fought against the force—but it pressed down mercilessly, heavier than any venom, heavier than any curse she had ever endured.
Elga was thrown flat against the ground, her claws scraping desperately against the stone. She could barely move, her breath ragged and shallow. Her eyes lifted, trembling, to meet Yuuta's.
And what she saw stole the air from her lungs.
Yuuta's eyes were no longer human. They glowed with a crimson radiance, swirling like twin abysses—devilish, unearthly, terrifying dragon.
Allen's chains rattled as he threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing like a hymn of madness.
"Magnificent…!" Allen's voice boomed, dark and gleeful. "Do you see now? Do you see, mortals?."
"This is my Master!"
To be continue.....