As Rex stood there, between Rashuun and Izumi, Victor was slightly suprised. Rex was there without his ussual mage disguise, so Victor kept tactically quiet and just looked at the scene in front of him. He was sure some sort of a scheme was afoot, so to ensure he did not mess things up for Rex, he just stood by. Anyway, this was Rex issue, so he was smart enough to let the man cook. With Rex not being worthy enough of their attention the three princes turned their heads to Rashuun, she was their prize after all. They had quite a rivalry between their clans so being able to claim the famous queen of desire and at the same time get one over the other two clans would be quite the jackpot, so they wasted no time and started their tirade about unworthyness and other garbage that Rex zoned out for the most part.
Their strategy was quite simple. Nobody said blood mage Rex had to accept their challenges and whatnot personally. He was a mage after all, and one whose main discipline was not combat focused due to its unique nature- the ability to enslave. Plus it was often times that mages of demonkind would use proxies and champions to fight for them. So, with all his girls in the know, and Izumi and Rashuun being the ones who would negotiate for benefits, Rex was not even present here. No, Rashuun and Izumi was flanking a man whose name had been uttered in the highest adn most powerfull courts and councils- Neo, a mercenary with a consistent and supposedly capable raid team who had been selling their deep floor expedition spoils exclusively in Blythe. The three demons were not quite so well informed, so coupled with his powerfull concealment of his mana and aura the poor sheep had no idea what kind of deep shit they were stepping in.
After a few minutes of their useless bragging and ridiculing Rex, one of them finaly spoke of the main issue
"Never did we thought that a true archon, even if blood mage would be quite so weak. We expected better." Rex did not like the stupid grind on said half frog half goat faced man, so he just sneered back at the fool
"Unfortunately for you, this sir is not Rex, as you have asumed. The exelency's name is Neo, and I would advise you to be carefull with your choice of words. He can be quite vindictive." Izumi spoke, maintaining a perfect composure. The same was with Rashuun, who being a queen for centuries had a perfect control over her facial expressions. Then Izumi continiued
"Unfortunately for you, our beloved deemed it not worthy to meet you, and since the exelency here was more than willing to recieve a favor or two from him, he is here in case any of you need some manners taught." Rashuun spoke with a light smile "So get on with whatever it is you wanted from us. Izumi san here is speaking with teh authority of my beloved, and his exelency Neo wis here to ensure that in case some muscle is needed, we have everything covered."
With Rashuuns words spoken the trio did waste no time and all nearly shouted at the same time
"I DEMAND A DUEL OF RIGHT FOR QUEEN RASHUUN!"
"Former queen." Izumi added and Rashuun chimed in "Izumi san is right. I am no longer the queen of my clan. What I am more interested in is just what do you three believe is of equal value for that ancient tradition to even be invoked. I am quite incredible after all."
"Why dont you all head in the Hallowed Dome and continiue your dealings there?" Victor intervened for teh first and most likely only time, and following Izumis and Rashuuns nods, and the annoyed faces of the demon princes, everyone entered the grand colleseum.While teh rest of teh girls acompanying Rex were wearing cloaks and hoods, they still exuded a charm of sorts, eliciting quite a few imaginitive gulps from demon princes entourages.
They stopped in a rather large hall with quite a few large tables and sat there. Each group at their own table, with the ones talking sitting around a table in the wery center. At the center table sat the three demon princes, Victor and Rex with Rashuun and Izumi. Only after a few minutes of more pointless boasting did the demon princes finally got down to the nitty and gritty details anout their challenge.
Challenge. What a great word they used to describe their act. What they did was nothing more than gambling something of theirs and expecting Rashuun as the prize if they won said gamble. And as they stated whatever they believed that Rashuun was worth, said Succubi facial expression was getting more and more angry. She was not liking what was valued similarily to her very being. But before Rashuun could explode Izumi started to laugh almost histerically, stopping teh almost exploding succubi, as well as the three demon princes. Once she stopped her face instantly became cold as she spoke
"If that is how you wanted to insult us, you have achieved your goal. Forget that whatever challenge of yours based on whatever." she looked at Victor and continiued "They have vasted both our time and goodwil, as well as challenged us." Then she looked at Rex "Sir Noe, would you be kidn aenough and champion for us to wash away this insult with their blood?"
"I get to keep their storage artifacts." 'Neo' spoek with a grin on his face as he stood up, cracking his neck.
"So, who of you, pieces of shit, is going to die first?" He asked with a devilish grin on his face. He caught the frowns on all three princes, their followers who had heard their entire conversation, and even the scowl Victor had for a second, then the grin on said mans face as he started to rub his hands in excitement.
The frowns on the faces of teh demon princes dissapeared as almost instantly, replaced by amused laughter. Then one of the three spoke
"Know your place you ant, and be happy we are willingto show some respect for the laws of the Trade cities, else you would already be squashed. Mere A rank."
It was at this moment the bolsterous laughter stoped, as a powerfull aura started radiating from Rex.
"Not only are you shit at controling your own aura, but it seems you are also extremely stupid to boot. Which part of Rashuuns and izumi sans respectfull adress towards me did you not percieve a warning of the greatest proportions. They werent even slightly vary of your SS class aura, nor did they show you overly great respect, and yet, they did so to me." at this point Rex aura had already surpassed the levels emited by the three princes. All three were of the innitial SS class stage, and Rex aura was flaring at the level of high SS class. That was tow lesser stages above the trio, but at this level of might, every next level was wastly different.
"To add insult to injusry, not only did you all showed blatant disrespect and disdain towards me, but you even went so far as to insult our intelegence with your trash of an 'challenge' but you just had the gall to threaten me. So, come, lets get in the arena, and see just how you squash me as a bug. governor Victor, you bear witness to their acts. I demand duel of honor with all three of them. Adjudicate."
Victor still with a sparckle in his eyes schooled his facial expression and spoke "As an official of Blythe, and the Free trade cities, I have seen the offense, and have recognized the demands for just retribution. In accordance to the laws of Honor, stated in the threaty of Heavens, the three Demon princes have been officially challenged to a duel. Your response gentlemen." Victor was the embodiment of neutrality right now as he acted as a judge. The three demons gritted their teeth. What just happened was anything but good. They realized just how deep shit they were in right now. Not only had they encountered a much more powerfull entitty on the other side of the negotiation table, said entity was extremely skilled in concealment and aura suppression, causing them to break enough rules and laws that gave said man the right to challenge them.
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That in itself was the least of their problems, since the challenge itself could be dodged, if there was no official servant of the laws present during the occurence of said incident. In such a case all they would have to do was cough up solid amount of treasures and the problem could be hidden under the proverbial rug. Now however, said challenge could not be avoided, and with the difference in power, it was almost a guaranteed death sentence.
"Lets get on with it. Deep floors wount clear themselves. I dont have all day." Rex added impatiently, causing the trio to flinch for the first time during their interaction, beads of cold sweat falling of their terrified faces.
"My uncle is a Duke. I believe we can solve said issue" finaly spoke one of the sweating trio, looking desparately for a way out.
"Oi. I am quite sure a Duke is still nothing when compared to a top sect from the sect Alliance, so your attendants can just inform him to come once they go back. I welcome the exercise. Now off to the arena. Or I will drag you by your neck." Rex voice was now cold, and a hint of anger and impatience was exuding from him. With a pulse of cold killing intent, that caused the followers behind the princes to fall to their knees and shiver in fear, Rex sent a clear message. He does not like to waste his time.
With shivering legs, the trio then followed him, resigning themselves to their fate,, or plotting a way to get out of this alive. While killing them would be easy feat, that did not serve the greater plan of his. He needed more people to fear the powerhouse that lived in Blythe to ensure no fools decide this place was a good target for looting or other such ideas. So Rex would just take a few limbs from each prince once he had trashed them nice and proper for their audacity. The sheer idea that Rashuun was an object to be bought and sold was irritating, no repulsive in his mind. Once a girl became his, he would never share or let go of her. Rashhun was no exception. He liked the former succubi queen an he was more than happy to have her around, so their actions irked him, even if he did not mind Rashuun spread the news of her being claimed.
It was the demon princes fault for believeing they could just do as they want with all the aviable info on their side, while not facing any consequences. But well, Rashuun did say something about them getting easy and overwhelming victories for the last few centuries in their skirmishes with the local barbarian tribes in their home continent. Nevertheless, the message had to be sent, and these were messengers enough.
A few minutes later the four main characters of this altrecation were in the middle of the arena. In the stands only Rex core group as well as the entourages of said demon princes. On the side of the four, stood Victor, and spoke of a few necessary legal nonsense, that Rex paid little attention to. Once Victor stopped speaking, Rex asked in the same cold and scary tone
"So, will you fight one on one, or will we save time and you come at me all at once. I would prefer this to be over with sooner."
The trio all audibly gulped, looked at one another and nodded. The responded in unison
"We will go togeteher!"
Rex smirked, but just nodded in agreement "So be it. Governor, Innitiate it." Rex then addressed his friend who quickly created a large distance between himself and the three nobles, as the nobles and Rex withdrew their weapons. And the moment Rex drew his blade, the are became even more chilly. His swords exuding a deadly aura- something the trio who had all spent soem time on the battlefield clearly recognized. That was a blade bathed in countless lives, and blood. So much so that the weapon itself could be called a cursed atrifact. A title given to weapons that wield incredible power, yet deman just as equal and terrible curse. It was yet another warning flag they got as he did not seems the slightest bit bothered by the sinister aura the sword was emmiting.
"Do you not feel it?" one of the trio asked, his face as white as entirely freshly fallen snow.
"That is not something you should be concerning about right now, it it?" he asked back, as he slowly took a stance of soirts while observing the trio. AS soon as Victo was a safe distance away he screamed "BEGIN!" and the trio dashed towards Rex, each from a different angle, hoping to either pin him, or attain some sort of an opening to strike. if they impressed him, they just might get out of this unschated.
The next moment crushed their hopes as Rex did the same, but with a much greater explosive power and speed, and just a moment later the first two wails were heard in the place. Two blade holding hands, each adorned with a rather expensive looking space ring, dissapeared from the ground they fell on, marking this endevor quite profitable. Then, not giving the third any time he rushed him as well, and in no time whatsoever the third unlucky arm joined her friends in his storage ring.
Rex looked at the three amputee demons holding their stumps with their free hands, all holding back their pain, yet still doing their best to be aware of any attacks.
"Kneel properly and beg for mercy and forgiveness. Then you can leave to return home. I expect there will be no next time." he spoke to the trio, who in a very short monent were on their knees, dong just as Rex had told them to.
"I am keeping the rings as i nexchange for your lives. Be happy you get to live another day." With that said Rex made another swing, pure wave of energy shot past the trio, slamming into the enchanted stadion walls. Rex then turned to look in the dirrection Victor was, speaking just loud enoug for Victor to hear
"Enchantment is solid. Will hold even peak SS class attacks."
With that out of the way, the demon princes were quickly collected by their groups where they recieved a quick round of healing to stabilize their wounds. They had a decently sized distance to cover while returning home, and it was quite undesirable that any of them die on their way home.
With the demons no longer around Rex quickly had a short conversation with Victor about the enchantments in the arena, and they did a few more tests, all of whom were passed with flying colours. They were quite satisfied with the job both dvarves adn dark elves had done, so Victor would start using the arena to earn more money for the city to develop it even further. Then Rex and his women quickly returned home where they all sat in one of the dining rooms, and discussed today.
"You took them out too soon. Can it even be called a fight?" pouted Aina, earning an agreeing nod from both Val and Mel. As orks from the dungeon they had se nplenty of fighting, so they had expected a more exiting fight, to say the least.
"They insulted me and my woman, as well as they dared to start ogling you. They are lucky I needed them to spread fear and terror among their own kind of me. If I did good enough, there should be no more annoyance coming from that side of the world. For now."
His words elicited quite the grin from Rashuun, who wasted no time to quickly occupy his lap, planting kiss after kiss on his neck, and enticingly whispering in his ear. The earlier display of anger and brutality for her had doen quite a bit to get said demoness quite horny. Something that could be cured in only one way, And Rex had no reason to deny her. As his hands roamed her body, slightly aleviating the woman in question, he quickly spoke a few words to his other girls, and then in a hasty manner moved to one of the bedrooms. It was time to help the lady in his arms to went her needs.
The next morning Rex informed Brogni, and visited the dwarf as previously talked about. As Rex was brandign a few womend Brogni had recently aquired, he also inquired about his older requests regaring certain species of slaves he was interested in, but unfortunately, while known to exist, said races were extremely ellusive or just few in numbers, in addition to some superb skill that allows them to remain uncaught. Luckaly, Rex was in no rush to aquire them, so he took it all with a light heart, not minding it much. With that question solved he returned to his mansion, had breakfast with the girls as always when he was home and thought over his plans for the future.
He would spend a few weeks diving the dungeons in the Sect union territory. Both the monster one and the one with giant/human hybrids. During that time he would gather more information on the Echlisiarchy, then according to what he learns he would decide the final fate of said nation. They had rotten far too deep, had far too much corruption and depravity. Sure, some might call him a hypocrite for his actions and his stance here, but he did not care. One cannot compare apples to oranges and hope to make solid point.