I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, meditating, when I first heard them.

I could hear metal scraping against the lock on my door, as well as feel someone burrowing into the ward I had set up, his or her spells gradually passing through my own, in order to bring down my ward.

Truthfully, I had kind of expected for something like this to happen, though certainly not on the first night. I mean, I had walked into the summit, and become a very visible member without any strength to back me up, in the eyes of everyone else there.

After all, I had declared myself level one hundred and fifty back there. My level was nowhere near the amount of authority I held, and some had resented me for that. And, among people who are used to getting what they want, sending people after someone they perceived as both weak, and threatening, was no big deal.

I just wonder if these people were given orders to bring me back alive or not.

Anyway, their mage finally broke down my ward, and a second later, I could hear a click from the lock on my door. Taking this as a cue, I—of course—jumped out my window.

What? Did you expect me to fight them in the close confines of my room?

No, I needed more space for this, and I didn’t want to get blood all over the furniture.

Jumping out the window was made easy by the fact that I was wearing the clothes from Ascension Island again, in the form of my typical long-coat ensemble. Nightfall was in my left hand, ready for the draw, while I held an old favorite in my right.

Very quickly, I ran to the center of the massive clearing, breaking the sound barrier as I applied a little mana to myself.

There were ways to make it so that the ‘boom’ didn’t happen when the sound barrier was broken, but in this case, I didn’t stop it.

Reaching the center, I slid to a stop, and turned around.

Behind me, four people dressed in dark clothing were racing after me, just as fast as I had gone. They, however, were silent as they pursued me.

One mage, two swordsmen, and one marksman, judging by the bow and quiver he had.

Oh man, this is going to be fun, after all.

Seeing that I had stopped in the middle of the clearing, and hadn’t continued running like they had thought I would, the four of them also slid to a stop, the ground buckling a little in their wake, and the grass being torn out by their feet.

From amongst their midst, a sinister sounding voice came.

“’Least you know what’s good for you. If you come quietly, we won’t be forced to hurt you, little girl.”

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Ah gods—

they’re so…cliché!

At least I know that they are trying to kidnap me, not kill me. Though, arguably, getting kidnapped by a noble who’s probably sadistic and power-hungry might be worse than death. I wonder how many others these people have kidnapped?

Luckily, they were all standing clustered in a group. I grinned a little to myself, and raised the weapon in my right hand towards them.

I haven’t tested it against actual targets yet, but that matters not.

I know the Boomstick will do it’s job well.

As I raised it, pointing the muzzle towards the four would-be-kidnappers, they figured out that it was a weapon.

Unfortunately for me, the mage and the marksman peeled away from the two swordsmen, who dropped into a ready position.

Taking aim between them, I pulled the trigger on the Boomstick.

Instantly, the hefty projectile, enchanted with explosive circuits, sped out from the barrel of the gun. Well, I say gun, but it was basically a tube with a trigger.

Anyway, there was a small flash, as I used stored mana to shoot the projectile, which impacted right between the two swordsmen almost as soon as it had left the barrel.

For just an instant, time seemed to stand still, the projectile having been buried into the ground. Then, a burst of white heat happened, and the two swordsmen were devoured by the following explosion. I threw up a quick shield, and was glad for it as charred body parts started raining down around the crater now in the middle of the clearing.

The mage and the marksman were staring at me, and I could nearly see their horrified expressions underneath their cloth masks, which covered their mouths.

I grinned at them as I activated [Demon Lord Transformation], and completely let loose my aura. It visibly affected the air around me, manifesting itself in hues of red and gold, and a smell like charged ozone filled the air.

With most of my stats now tripled, I could easily catch the mage, who immediately went to flee, and immobilize him.

The marksman stood his ground though. I wasn’t expecting that at all, since the people who engaged enemies at long range typically were the first to fall back.

He, of course, shoot arrows at me. And the arrows, of course, didn’t reach me.

Why? Well, they fell right in front of me, each of them split right down the middle.

I had unsheathed Nightfall to hamstring the mage earlier, and now used it to cut down the arrows before they reached me.

This guy was only at Rust’s level, despite likely having trained his whole life for this. In fact, I feel a little insulted that whichever noble had sent these guys had so badly underestimated me. They all seemed to be around my level, if not a little higher. However, my level is nothing compared to my stats, which are pretty much blown out of proportion. 

So, I’m able to completely curb-stomp those at my own level.

I mean, I didn’t even have to use any mana to subdue any of these guys.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

By the time it was all over, people began coming out to see what the commotion was. After all, there had been several loud explosions in close sequence, one being the sonic boom I had caused before, and then the other was from the Boomstick.

The first to arrive was Jasper.

I guess he also got some speed bonus or something after becoming a Demon Lord, since he got here right after combat had ended.

“Are you okay?”, was the first thing he asked.

I nodded my head, and pointed to the mage and the marksman, who were confined within an earthen cage.

“Yeah. Someone just got it into their heads to send these after me, to try and kidnap me.”

“Ah. Any idea who might have done it?”

“No, but please, feel free to interrogate these two however you wish. I’m going back to my room.”

I really didn’t want to deal with the clean up for this stuff, so I made some flimsy excuses; like I was tired, or that there was something I needed to do.

I also wanted to avoid any questions coming from more people arriving. I could already see a few figures exiting the buildings, and heading this way.

Skirting around the edge of the clearing, I made my way back to the Elven building.

Inside, my room was in disarray, since the four kidnappers had followed me out the window, but only after quickly tossing everything around to make sure that I hadn’t tricked them, and was still hiding in the room.

It meant that I had to spend and hour or so cleaning everything up, and putting it all back into their proper places. 

After that, I continued meditating.

The next day, there were a few black faces at the summit.

Several people had been greatly angered by the events of last night, the violence that happened during what should be a peaceful summit.

Amadeus started off the summit today with a speech.

“This summit was called in order to stop hostilities between the various nations and races governing our three continents. It was not, however, called to let anyone pursue greater power, violence, or their own personal agendas. Last night, someone decided to make one of the dignitaries ‘disappear’. Unfortunately, the ones who were to carry out this task committed suicide before we could find the mastermind.” He gave a pointed look around the table, and swept his eyes around the stands around, making it clear that this was a serious issue.

“When this culprit is found, I will personally deal with them. That is all I will say on this subject. Now, please start the discussions.”

He sat down again, and someone suggested they debate about something pointless, and whether or not it should be more, or less pointless.

I turned to Amadeus.

“You know, I’m perfectly capable of dealing with the culprit myself? There’s no need for you to step in.”

“Actually, I have to deal with this myself. It shows that I have control over the summit.”

Eh. That’s a pretty good reason.

Well, for most of the summit, I pretty much just spaced out. Discussions on stupidly minute details apparently bore me. Who would have guessed?

Anyway, the time spent in the summit hall felt like a blur to me, with every second dragging on into the next, and the minutes taking hours to pass. 

When it was finally over, it was time for dinner.

We were able to snack on foods brought in during the discussions, which served as a lunch, and let the discussions continue for the whole day.

In other words, it extended the torture.

Gods, why did I ever think participating in this was a good idea?

Dinner, thankfully, was fairly good. It seems that many of the people present for the summit brought their own cooks. Since these cooks worked for some of the most powerful people on the continents, it a given that their food would be incredible. Now, imagine all these fantastic cooks gathered in one place for once; learning and improving from each other. Yeah, the food coming from that kitchen is amazing. I think that given another few weeks, all these cooks will be able to create nearly miraculous dishes.

Well, after demolishing whatever came out of that kitchen, I decided to check out the Demon’s building, and talk to Jasper, and the niece I hadn’t known existed before yesterday.

While the building looked almost exactly the same as the Elven one, there were little subtlety’s that separated them. For one, the Demon’s building seemed much more…lively. I could hear the sound of laughter and merry-going even from outside, while the Elves tended to eat silently, lost in their own thoughts.

It made for a warm and friendly atmosphere, which surrounded the Demon building.

I walked up to the entrance, and found that I was smiling despite myself, getting caught up in the feeling around the building.

I shook my head, and pushed open the door.

Just inside, the banquet tables were filled completely, and demons of all shapes and sizes sat at them, drinking beer and eating good food.

I walked between two of the banquet halls, looking for Jasper.

But, when I passed the tables, I noticed that the conversations behind me seemed to just…die out. I stopped in the middle of the hall, and spun around, trying to spot Jasper anywhere.

I didn’t find him. There were, however, a few dozen hostile stares drilling holes into me.                             

Crap. This is exactly why I didn’t go to the Demon continent.  

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