"Leave," Taloth said, waving a clawed hand towards the messenger shade.

The lesser demon exited his presence in haste, and Taloth couldn't help but chuckle. Of course, any demon that had been unfortunate enough to deliver messages to him would thank the Devil himself for being able to escape with their life.

Taloth breathed in silently, letting the thoughts of the shade exiting his chambers dissipate from his mind. Instead of focusing on such trivial matters, he turned his thoughts to the message that the messenger had brought him.

"My lord, the Demon King requests your presence, immediately."

Of course, that was only the gist of the matter, as the shade had mostly been nothing more than a blubbering fool, stuttering and mumbling through etiquettes. The fear and quakes had been apparent in the mannerisms of the shade. It'd been a drag, but Taloth hadn't once lost his cool, hadn't once butted in, and hadn't once let out a whisper of a word or emotion.

Too scared. I've never been that scared.

Sure, Taloth had done his own fair share of cowering before his betters as he'd risen up the ranks, but at the moment, he didn't know a single demon that would make him feel fear—real, genuine fear. He'd far outgrown such childish and pitiful emotions; he was a demon that had been truly forged by the trials of hell, beaten and bruised but well on his way to the top.

And I've repaid every single demon that belittled me, a hundred times in their own coin.

Taloth grimaced at the grotesque mental images his mind brought forth at the thought of those who'd offended him. Their lives wasted because they'd decided to mess with the wrong demon. Taloth clicked two claws together, thinking. He hadn't gotten all of those who'd offended him, but very soon he'd make the rest pay.

Very, very soon.

Pivoting to the matter at hand, he wondered what had prompted the Demon King to seek his presence. As far as he could tell, he'd secured leniency from the King himself, granting himself more time to get him and his army on the baby world. By his estimate, he still had about three more weeks before his period of grace elapsed, and Taloth was working as best as he could.

The teleportation formation should be ready in about a week, and he was already well within the level bracket that the system would allow to step into the baby world. So as far as he could tell, everything was going to plan.

Unless... no.

Taloth didn't like the current thread his mind was pursuing, but he followed it anyway. Some demon out there must've sought an audience with the king and had probably said something to undermine his war efforts. Someone out there wanted him either off the baby world conquest or dead.

I might just be becoming paranoid.

Taloth shook his head as he dispelled his worries. With a grimace, he stood up from his throne, bending the first law of hell to do his bidding. Within a heartbeat, he was at the corridor leading to the Demon King's Court—teleportation by any form was warded against at the court.

Straightening himself to his full height and posture, he began heading towards the court, keeping his thoughts and emotions in the back of his mind. He'd done so well in the past week concerning keeping a calm facade that he almost chastised himself when his eyes widened after seeing the demon that was approaching him, the demon that was just leaving the Court—Demon Prince Kabash.

Seven hells.

Taloth inwardly cursed at the sight of the demon approaching him. The demon lord was notorious for a level of backstabbing that'd make most demons look like saints compared to him. While he loathed to cross paths with the Demon and had done all he could possibly do to avoid him as best as he could, it looked like there was no means to avoid the Demon this time.

"Demon Prince Kabash, I greet you," Taloth said, lowering his head in respect to his superior.

Taloth—still bowing his head—heard the demon grunt in response, brushing past him as though he didn't think Taloth was worth wasting his time on. He couldn't care less, but at the moment he kept his head bowed, only raising it when the footsteps of the Demon Prince had become faint.

Seems like the feeling is mutual.

Discarding the interaction with the Demon Prince, Taloth straightened up his posture, regaining the regality he'd been forced to do away with at the face of his superior.

Very soon I'll no longer have to.

With a barely audible huff, the demon lord continued on his journey, making sure not to pay any attention to the Delizats guarding the doors to the throne room. The pair of abominations were unholy even by hell's standards, and the brief sight of them made Taloth's skin crawl, but he did away with the emotion, instead focusing on steadying himself for whatever he'd encounter in the court. Feeling as confident as he could be, he walked in through the door held open for him by one of the Delizats.

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Without wasting much time, he observed court etiquette, bowing until his head hit the obsidian floor. The Demon King made no move to acknowledge the gesture, but Taloth knew that the King rarely ever did, and usually when he did, the demon going through the etiquette didn't survive past the end of the Court visit.

"Rise and sit," the Demon King's voice boomed finally.

That's a good sign.

Taloth rose to his feet, quickly walking to the seats reserved for lords and ladies before taking one for himself. The Demon King seemed as bored as ever as Taloth went through the motions of having a sit.

"When do you plan to invade the baby world, properly?" Zephyr VII asked in a disinterested tone.

Taloth resisted the urge to answer immediately; the Demon King Zephyr the VII was infamous for turning seemingly innocent questions into traps that whoever answered them would find themselves in.

"In two weeks' time, my king," Taloth said.

He'd spoken truthfully, no half-truths, no quarter-truths—just truthfully. The memory of his broken shoulder still fresh—as a Demon Lord, he rarely got injured. Besides, he had a feeling that the demon king had a lie detector-related skill. Of course, rumors like that had spread throughout the seven hells, but there was no evidence to actually back it up.

"Too long," Zephyr the VII said after a few heartbeats.

Taloth immediately wanted to point out that it had been fine to the Demon King a couple of weeks ago but stopped himself. Words like that would earn him more than a broken shoulder; in fact, words like that would probably cost him his life. Hells, the King wouldn't have to lift a finger to snuff out his life.

So he did the reasonable thing and kept quiet, waiting for the Demon King to get to the point, and like a well-written contract, the Demon continued on like he hadn't just paused the conversation.

"A Demon Prince has found a way to get you back on the baby world within the next three days."

Three days?

Taloth felt a little bit of unease start to creep in at the Demon King's words. If his line of thinking was correct, Kabash was most likely the demon prince that had made the suggestion, and if it was Kabash, then it probably wouldn't be good for him even though it seemed like it would be at the beginning.

At the top of his head, he could imagine that the Demon Prince would take credit for conquering the baby world if Taloth was successful with his conquest. Which wouldn't be a problem if that was the only thing the demon prince would seek; as far as Taloth knew, Kabash could request a share of his loot, or access to the most promising Towers and dungeons in the baby world, and he'd not be able to refuse because the Demon King was the facilitator of the sneaky demon's negotiation.

Negotiation.

Taloth resisted the urge to scoff at the word. Kabash had, in a sense, tied his hands; the only decision was to go through with whatever foul plan the sneaky demon had cooked up with the Demon King. To refuse was to forfeit his rank and, most importantly, his life.

"That's wonderful news, my King," Taloth said.

While indeed it would've been wonderful news to a dumb demon, to those who'd risen to his rank and beyond, something was off about the entire thing. As a demon, he was well versed in subtle manipulation, enough to know that all the pieces didn't fall into place perfectly unless there was a sinister plot in mind, one that he was sure the demon king knew about. After all, the King's rise to power was way more interesting than his.

King Zephyr the VII, the Conqueror of Worlds.

"It is," the king said. "Relas Touch shall facilitate your transfer to the baby world."

Relas Touch?

Taloth's mind started whirring at the name that had been given to him; he knew he'd heard about them somewhere. A couple of demons in the Prince and Princess rank frequently dealt with them. He rolled the name in his head as fast as he could until it clicked for him.

There.

Relas Touch was the Mining Enterprise, known for invading baby worlds at the earliest stage of integration and gaining access to valuable Tora before anyone could contest with them for the precious ore. As far as he could tell, the enterprise and the demons had a sort of alliance, and this was going to be his first time interacting directly with the Enterprise—or their representative.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Your Highness," Taloth said after collecting himself.

The Demon King hadn't even looked at Taloth throughout the conversation, and he had to wonder if the King was really all there sometimes mentally, but he never said anything to anyone, and neither did anyone say anything to him. The power the King possessed was so much that demons would rather not imagine that someone with a fractured mind possessed such... power.

"Good, and one more thing."

Taloth's demon ears perked up at the words of the King. If the Demon King had been reading off of an invisible script the entire time, then this would be the moment when the king went off the script. The tone and demeanor of the king had changed entirely as he stared straight into Taloth's eyes.

"You'll only be able to bring ninety-nine demons alongside yourself," the king said. "Let me be clear, you will lead that charge, and you will get me that world. Dismissed."

Taloth stood up from the seat and bowed to the king, his dismissal meaning that he wasn't to say another word. With a troubled heart, he exited the court, not paying attention to his surroundings as he mulled through the new information he'd just been given.

Ninety-nine demons.

A hundred if you included him, but still, it was an awfully specific number, making him wonder if the mining Enterprise had put a limit on how many demons they'd allow to pass through, or the Demon Prince had been the one to make the request, maybe to try and sabotage him. After all, with how much background work the Demon Prince was putting in, if Taloth was to fail in his task, the continuation of the incursion would fall to the Demon Prince.

Sneaky.

He wasn't sure, but that seemed like a reasonable conclusion, but when it came to Demon Prince Kabash, one could never be too sure. Taloth's entire form was tense as he set to putting together what exactly was going to be the ninety-nine other demons that were going to come with him through the Portal.

The brief interaction had thrown his meticulous planning into the mud, then the number of demons he'd be allowed to take with him wasn't even up to a fraction of what he'd have taken with him before.

No pitiful demons then.