The next day.
Just as Orsaga stepped out of his hotel room, a familiar yet unexpected figure entered his line of sight.
At the same moment that he spotted her, the woman also noticed him.
Startled for a brief instant, Sarah's bright and attractive face quickly formed a smile. She bent slightly at the waist and greeted Orsaga respectfully, "My lord, good day. It's been some time since we last met."
At the same time, she couldn't help feeling a bit irritated inside.
'The world is so vast… Why would I run into Orsaga again, after two years?'
But she also understood one very simple truth—
This was a being who could crush her like an ant if he so desired.
Sarah was acutely aware of that fact.
So, even if she felt annoyed, her manners were impeccable.
The group of men and women standing behind her, seeing their superior behaving so humbly, quickly followed suit—bowing and paying their respects to Orsaga.
Taking in the faint, lingering scent of an dark god from her body, Orsaga nodded calmly. "Indeed, it's been a while. Didn't expect to run into you here."
Hearing his words, Sarah—who was originally planning to exchange a few pleasantries and leave—suddenly paused. A thought flashed through her mind. Her eyes flickered slightly, and she changed her tone, saying, "I wonder if you have a moment, my lord? My master has taken an interest in you. Perhaps the two of you could meet."
"Your master?" Orsaga rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then shook his head. "Better not. Sounds like trouble."
While collaborating with an dark god wouldn't be an issue for a demon like him—birds of a feather, after all—it was also obvious that such a meeting wouldn't be sincere. The fact that a god would personally get involved was itself a red flag.
And trouble was something Orsaga preferred to avoid.
So, he rejected her invitation without hesitation.
Surprised by his blunt refusal, Sarah froze for a moment. She assumed he was being cautious, perhaps wary of her master's power, and didn't dare meet so easily. Without pressing further, she only replied with a hint of disappointment, "I see. Then I won't disturb you further. I hope we have the chance to cooperate again in the future."
Orsaga casually responded, "We'll see," then turned and walked away without another word.
Once he had gone far enough, the people behind Sarah—who had been holding in their anger at his disrespectful behavior—finally showed their displeasure on their faces.
From their perspective, Orsaga's actions were blatantly disrespectful.
If not for the fact that he clearly wasn't ordinary—someone Sarah herself deferred to—and that now was not the right time to provoke a powerful enemy, some of them would've already stepped forward to challenge him.
"These people… not bad."
What they didn't know was that as Sarah watched their disgruntled faces, she didn't voice any criticism—in fact, she was quite satisfied.
She knew these men and women were all devout fanatics of her god, the kind who would gladly sacrifice themselves for their faith.
What she feared most was that their fanaticism would cause them to lose control, making irrational decisions that could jeopardize critical missions.
But now, seeing that they were able to restrain themselves—even when facing someone who had blatantly offended their god—Sarah realized these were people she could truly rely on.
Fanatics weren't rare. Even an dark god who'd clawed their way to divinity could amass hordes of followers. Producing a few devout ones from among them wasn't difficult.
But devout and rational fanatics?
Now that was rare.
People who were both absolutely loyal and capable of sound judgment—they were worth entrusting with real responsibility.
Such followers were invaluable, no matter the context.
---
Unaware that he had inadvertently just helped the other side complete a loyalty test, Orsaga had already walked out of the lavish hotel and was wandering in a direction he didn't even fully recognize.
In the dead of night the day before, someone had used the power of an Abyss Contract to transmit a set of coordinates to him—an invitation to meet.
And the other party to this contract?
None other than the Demon Lord Ignarok.
Of course, the one who passed on the coordinates was clearly not Ignarok himself.
A bigshot like that wouldn't bother with a mere High Rank Demon.
So the messenger was most likely a subordinate—just another demon in Ignarok's service.
---
Not long after, somewhere in a remote mountain range thousands of kilometers from Augustus.
Orsaga examined the area briefly and confirmed it was the location mentioned in the coordinates.
Though a barrier prevented him from seeing the mountain's interior clearly, the fact that such a barrier could block even his sight was enough to raise alarm bells.
Once he was sure, he raised his hand and made a few precise gestures in the air, following the pattern provided with the coordinates.
Like inputting a password, a semi-transparent spiral-shaped portal appeared before him.
Without any hesitation, Orsaga stepped through.
---
As he crossed the spatial gate, he experienced a brief moment of disorientation. The mild spatial turbulence didn't affect him in the slightest, and the strange sensation vanished the moment he landed on the other side.
Lifting his head to scan his surroundings, he found himself in a massive cavern.
From the markings on the walls and the scattered debris, it was clear this place had been violently excavated. Jagged stones littered the ground.
Although he'd arrived slightly early, several dozen demons had already entered the cavern ahead of him.
They were scattered about—some idling, some eating, others simply asleep.
Some were in their true forms, while others had adopted human disguises similar to Orsaga's. In fact, a few had gone even further in their disguises, completely erasing any trace of demonic features—they looked no different from native humans.
But all of them shared one common trait: their sizes had been scaled down.
Otherwise, just a few of the larger types—demons capable of spanning dozens or even hundreds of meters—would have instantly filled the entire cave.
Orsaga gave them a cursory glance.
"What is this, a conference?" he muttered under his breath, eyeing the odd gathering.
The demons who had noticed him entering through the portal also turned their attention his way.
Initially, they were just curious about a new arrival. But after taking a closer look, their expressions changed one after another. Some even began to quietly activate their inner power.
The reason?
They couldn't sense any of the usual Abyssal aura from Orsaga.
Normally, no matter how well a demon disguised themselves, among fellow demons it was nearly impossible to fully conceal that innate Abyssal scent.
It was how demons identified one another—something deep in the blood, impossible to mask.
But Orsaga's disguise was flawless.
So flawless, in fact, that it defied all logic.
Some demons had already begun to wonder if he was a native of this world—and were even thinking of attacking.
Sensing the rising hostility in the air, Orsaga didn't mind.
He just chuckled lightly—and in the blink of an eye, his appearance shifted.
A wave of heat radiated outward, accompanied by an overwhelmingly dense Abyssal aura.
Now standing where he was before was a towering demon nearly two meters tall, with a pair of curved horns on his head, crimson armor covering his entire body, and four wings extending from his back.
The ground beneath his feet crystallized instantly from the sheer heat he emitted.
Most of the demons in the cave instinctively stepped back, their eyes filled with caution.
As fellow demons, they could now clearly sense the pure, undiluted demonic bloodline flowing through Orsaga's body.
And among demons, bloodline purity was often directly tied to power.
They all promptly averted their gazes.
A demon in the form of an elderly dwarf calmly said to Orsaga, "The meeting hasn't started yet. Please wait a bit."
"Alright," Orsaga replied indifferently, having already guessed that this dwarf was the host of the meeting.
With a casual flick of his trident-like tail, an invisible energy blade shot out at high speed, slashing a section of the cave wall and carving it into a small, elevated platform.
His four wings gave a gentle flap, and his body lifted into the air before settling quietly atop the new platform.
____
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