It was still early in the morning, and Caeldaemos still had several hours before he had to head to Galgalake, and he stared up at the ominous structure.

“Uh… What is this?” He asked.

“It’s your new, wait… Our home!” Geon exclaimed.

Before them stood a large black fortress half the size of the Galgalake palace.

“You have to be kidding me….” Caeldaemos hid his face. “This literally screams, ‘Hey! The Demon-Lord lives here!’ What were you two thinking!?”

Liara looked away guiltily. “To be honest, it was my idea.”

“Whyyyyy!?” He demanded to know.

“I’m sorry!” She apologized.

“Ho, ho, ho!” Toto laughed. “I think it is a fitting place for you!”

“Even you!?” Caeldaemos was stunned.

“Come on! You’re going to love the inside, Dad!” Lily exclaimed while pulling him along.

With a wave from Geon’s hand, the drawbridge lowered and let them inside.

The inside looked normal enough. There was a training ground and storage area that Geon set up to be refrigerated, and all the bathrooms were perfectly plumbed.

“I gotta say, I am impressed, Geon.” Caeldaemos patted her head.

“Thank you! I worked really hard on this!” Geon cheerily rubbed her head into his hand.

“Oh! This is my office!” Rana excitedly opened the door to the large room. There were already several boxes of records and documents strewn about.

“Still moving in?” Caeldaemos joked.

“I’m, well, I was working the other night, and then I got called to the town square….” She made her excuses.

They continued walking.

“Ah, here is your office, my lord.” Toto opened the door.

It was clean, with plenty of documents and records neatly stacked away.

“Night and day difference.” Liara teased her friend.

“Thanks, Toto.” Caeldaemos smiled.

“Of course, my lord. My office is right beside yours through that door.” He pointed at a door on the left.

They moved on to the next few rooms, which were his other wives’ offices and sitting rooms. Eventually arriving at Caeldaemos’ bed chamber. Toto left the bed chamber to the family while heading to his office to continue organizing it.

It was a massive room with an equally enormous bed shaped like a heart. He looked over at Rana, who hid her face.

“You really liked that throne bed, huh?” He chuckled.

“I’m sorry!” Rana cried.

“Hahah! I love it, Rana! Good choice!” Liara exclaimed.

He looked above the bed, where a depiction of a large group of familiar-looking women faced off against a mighty-looking red dragon.

“Really?” He asked.

“We felt it fitting.” Sophia joked.

They checked out the connected rooms to the main room. One was a massive bath that could fit them all at once. Another was a large walk-in closet. Caeldaemos cried when he saw a toilet big enough for him to use. He hugged and kissed Geon on her cheek several times, embarrassing the dungeon core. The last was a room where he could establish a domain for teleportation.

“This is great! I love this!” He cheerily stated.

“We can move in as soon as possible,” Liara stated.

“That’s good to hear,” Caeldaemos said as he heard the door shut. “Huh?” He turned to see Mari, Lily, and Geon had retreated, leaving his wives and lovers.

“To battle my-!” Liara started but was interrupted.

“Stop!” Rana cried.

“What?” Liara was surprised.

“I wish to nominate Diana as the new captain of the raid group!” Rana stated.

“B-B-But!” Liara sputtered.

“I second,” Listamati said.

“I also agree.” Sophia giggled.

“I don’t really care! I am here for my lord!” Orelia exclaimed.

Liara seemed to want to cry and turned to Caeldaemos for support.

“Does my vote really count?” He asked.

“Nope.” All the ladies but Liara and Orelia stated.

Liara’s shoulders slumped, and Diana placed a comforting hand on one.

“Trust me, Liara. I might not lead us to a complete victory, as that is likely impossible, but I will bring us a satisfactory defeat.” Diana said with a smile.

“Fine.” Liara giggled.

“Now then.” Diana turned to Caeldaemos. “Let’s begin.”

Caeldaemos almost ended up late heading to Galgalake, but everyone in Hallibrush was surprised to see all the Demon-Lord’s lovers’ golden auras of satisfaction. It was a glorious defeat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Valen stood at the ready at the entrance to the palace. It had been a couple of days since the notice had been sent out. He hoped the Demon-Lord would show up soon. Something was wrong with the queen, and he was getting worried. It was the same with the heroes as well. If it was true that the Demon-Lord freed the empress of the demons, he hoped he could do the same for his queen.

His Crys-Link went off. “Sir Lucas.”

“General! He’s here! The Demon-Lord arrived at the entrance to the city. We are escorting him to the palace right now!” The knight stated.

“Finally. Could you put him on? I would like to speak with him.” The general requested.

“This is the Demon-Lord.”

“Listen, I know you came here peacefully, but I fear something is wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once you get to the palace entrance, I will explain. I just wanted to forewarn you at the first chance I got.”

“Understood.”

Several minutes passed, and the general saw the Demon-Lord approaching with a squad of knights around him.

Though his presence was powerful, it was not oppressive. General Valen stepped close to the Demon-Lord and began escorting him inside.

“What is the situation?”

“Her majesty has been… strange. Same with the Heroes.”

“How so?”

“They are not acting like themselves. Ever since the Hero of Sylfaerune arrived.”

“Wasn’t he was banned.”

“That is what I thought, but the queen changed her mind a month ago and brought him here. Since then, many have been acting differently.” General Valen explained as they headed toward the throne room.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“How are you unaffected?”

“I had been dealing with the sky pirate issue and recently returned.”

“I understand. I will see what I can do to help. I swear in the name of Io.”

General Valen sighed in relief as he watched the haze of silver light roll over the Demon-Lord. “I heard what you did for the royal family of our ally. I had hoped it to be true.”

They arrived at the doors to the throne room.

“Don’t be alarmed. If the queen is under control, I will rush to free her first.” The Demon-Lord stated.

“Understood. I will keep the knights at bay.” The general motioned for his men with him to form up behind them.

“Now announcing! The Demon-Lord!”

The doors opened, and they entered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Caeldaemos entered the hall, he saw the five heroes standing before the staircase to the throne. All of them are in armor with weapons at the ready.

Multiple screens of various rulers were floating in the air, observing the situation.

He internally sighed at the foolishness of Gabriel. He was unsure how the fool did it yet, but he had all the Heroes under his control, along with Queen Meryl.

“Welcome, Demon-.” The queen was interrupted by the large form of the Demon-Lord appearing before her.

“Destroy Curse.”

Queen Meryl screamed in pain as darkness rose from her to collect together. A moment later, the curse sped toward and struck Gabriel.

“AHH!” The hero screamed in pain as the curse rebounded on him.

“W-What…?” Queen Meryl weakly asked.

“Later.” Caeldaemos rushed to free the other heroes, but Gabriel managed to get out an order to attack.

Summoning his jager mace and shield, he entered combat with Greggory.

“Hero’s Call.” The five heroes activated their ability and weakened Caeldaemos.

He clicked his tongue as he backed away from Greggory as he was stronger than before.

“Ice lance.” Hana let loose a barrage of magic attacks to kill.

“Queen Meryl! What is this! Stop! He is an ally of my nation!” “I thought we were to discuss things!” “What is going on!?” The various rulers exclaimed.

“They’re under control!” Caeldaemos dodged a few more attacks from Hana and Lindsey while struggling against Greggory, and Haley kept him on the defensive. “Gabriel has used something called the Silver Tongue! It is a powerful mind control ability!”

“What? How can you know that!?” Gabriel attacked from the flank, cutting Caeldaemos’ arm. He used a magic circuit sword that could barely cut through Caeldaemos’ dragon-scale armor.

“Because I am also an Other Worlder.” He jumped back. “Demon-Lord’s Call.”

By activating his ability, Caeldaemos reduced their strength and raised his own by 30%. He was now 10% stronger than them.

“No! She promised!” Gabriel cried as he watched Caeldaemos bear hug Greggory from behind.

“Destroy Curse.” The curse rebounded back to Gabriel, stopping his attacks.

Caeldaemos rushed about and caught Haley by her ankle. “Destroy Curse.”

Gabriel dropped his sword and shield.

With Hana and Lindsey so close together, Caeldaemos appeared behind them and grabbed their shoulders. “Destroy Curse.”

Gabriel fell to his knees after two rebounds hit him at once.

“What… happened? I… Gabriel.” Greggory regained his sense first and glared at the fallen man with absolute hatred.

Caeldaemos moved to Gabriel and picked him up. “You should have kept quiet. Losing an eye should have been enough of a lesson to not do evil things.”

“P-Please!”

Creating a small domain, Caeldaemos ripped the silver-colored tongue from Gabriel’s mouth.

After being dropped, Gabriel writhed on the ground, moaning and screaming in pain.

The other Heroes regained their senses and stepped up around the Demon-Lord.

“I’m sorry. We never meant to.” Hana apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, Hana. This was not your fault.”

Gabriel crawled away from them. “Ahh Waven! You promi me! You aid I wou be ru’er!” He yelled but couldn’t speak properly due to his missing tongue.

“Who is he talking to?” Hana asked.

“Ahh Waven?” Haley commented.

“Then you must give me more.” A powerful and oppressive voice pressed down on all of them.

“What…?” Even Caeldaemos felt that.

“Yea! Ake ii aaaaaa!” Gabriel cried.

Enormous pressure pushed them all to the ground. Caeldaemos was having difficulty standing and could not move.

Gabriel laughed hysterically as he spread his arms out while on his knees. “Ahh Waven, come!”

It was then that a loud snap was heard.

They looked on to see that Gabriel’s arm had broken.

“Wha…” His flesh ripped open, and more bones began to break. “AHHHHHHHHH!”

Gabriel writhed on the ground in pain as his body bent, broke, and tore.

Everyone in the room was terrified of what was happening.

Caeldaemos felt he had to stop this, or something horrible would happen. Raising his hand, he intended to engulf Gabriel in white fire.

“Tsk, tsk. Be patient my love.”

The oppressive force pressed Caeldaemos down to his knees, and black tendrils sprouted from the ground, tying him down. His blood ran cold as he remembered them. It was when the previous Demon-Lords tried to take him over.

After ten minutes of endless screaming, the grotesque transformation finished, and a tall woman covered in blood stood.

“Ah, much better.” A black mist rushed around her, cleaning off all the blood and viscera, revealing her dark skin and raven hair.

She turned to face Caeldaemos and the Heroes. Her eyes were black voids with long, triangular tattoos beneath her eyes. She smiled down at Caeldaemos as she approached him. “So good to finally see you, Caeldaemos.”

She knew him?! How did she know him!?

“What?” Hana was in shock.

The woman removed his helmet.

“Baron Delormond?!” Queen Meryl, who had been out of earshot, exclaimed.

“Who are you?” Caeldaemos continued to struggle against his bindings.

“Ash Raven, or as known by those here, the Evil Goddess.” Ash Raven stated.

“It can’t be….” “Oh gods…” The fae-folk rulers who knew the truth of Halturnafey knew of the goddess.

“I thought gods could not enter the world,” Caeldaemos stated.

She shrugged. “True. This is merely a large fragment.” She looked at him with a sultry smile. “Speaking of fragments, you have four of the previous Demon-Lords.”

“You tortured them!” Caeldaemos angrily shouted, straining against the bindings.

Ash Raven laughed. “I may have started things, but those foolish Divine Gods continued it. I was able to step in a bit with Laugantraunt the Pestilence. Some of my best work.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you destroyed so many lives,” Caeldaemos growled.

She grabbed his chin. “You may be the finest of the Demon-Lords, but it saddens me that you let go of your hatred. If you join me, I will fulfill any desire you may have.”

“Fuck you!” He shouted.

“Well, I guess that is the best I can do. You did destroy both my Eye of Entrapment and Silver Tongue. Thus, I have no way to control you.” Ash Raven shrugged. “So, I will have you return my power.”

She summoned a massive battle axe. “I would have loved to have you. A pity.”

The axe fell, and it was met with a blade of light.

“Dammit! Use your Hero’s Call, Caeldaemos! It will free you!” The golden-haired woman shouted.

Caeldaemos quickly focused, adding the Heroes as his allies, and made Ash Raven his enemy. “Demon-Lord’s Call!” A powerful silver light exploded from him, breaking his bindings.

“Oh! It’s you!” Ash Raven laughed as she battled the golden-haired woman. “No wonder I was able to take him over so easily! You lost your divinity!”

“Silence! God of Tartarus! I will send you back!” Sylvia continued to battle Ash Raven, but things turned for the worst.

Crack! Squelch!

Ash Raven’s axe shattered the woman’s sword of light and buried itself in her chest. Before she could withdraw it, Caeldaemos, with a battle roar, blasted her away.

“Kyaa!” Ash Raven cutely screamed.

Caeldaemos was furious. All of the hatred of the previous Demon-Lord burned within him against Ash Raven. She was the true source of all their pain and suffering.

Ash Raven held her limp arm. “Well. This turned for the worst.” She reset her arm. “Oh well. We shall see each other soon enough, my love.”

Black tendrils erupted from the floor and latched onto the ceiling.

“NO!” Caeldaemos wanted to crush Ash Raven but instead chose to protect everyone. He quickly created a domain to save them all.

Ash Raven brought down a section of the roof and quickly escaped.

“What the hell just happened!?” A snide ruler demanded to know.

“Caeldaemos! Can you save her?!” Hana cried out from near the woman.

He hesitated for a single moment. Dammit Cael! She just saved your ass! He rushed over to find her body disappearing into motes of light. “No!” He tried casting Panacea and Restoration, but neither worked as her body was gone.

“Dammit!” He shouted in anger and regret.

“Demo-I mean, Caeldaemos, she did say something,” Hana said.

“What did she say?” He asked.

“Meet at the temple.”

He wasn’t sure what it meant, but perhaps Sylfaerune wasn’t completely dead. “I think she might be alive.”

“That should be impossible for a half-spirit.” Queen Meryl spoke as she approached.

“Yeah, I learned about that recently, but what if she was special?” He asked.

“Like how?” The queen asked.

“She is the mortal incarnation of Sylfaerune.” He stated.

All present were shocked to hear the news.

“A goddess!? But why would she defend the Demon-Lord?!” A ruler demanded to know.

“I…” He had an inkling of the answer, but the pain that she caused stopped him. “Look, I have support from Io. That should be enough to prove I am no enemy.” Caeldaemos stated.

“I know you not to be our enemy, Cael.” The emperor of demons stated.

“Thanks.” He smiled up at him.

“But didn’t you say gods can’t enter?” Greggory asked.

“I did. But I think Sylfaerune was stripped of her divine power and sent here. Ash Raven sent a fragment of herself. So, it looks like there are ways around it.”

“Are we all going to ignore the fact that we now know that the Demon-Lord is a baron of Galgalake!?” A snide ruler exclaimed.

“YES!” All the other rulers shouted him down.

“We have something far worse in the world now, and I think he has proven himself enough.” The elven queen stated.

“I agree. I heard from one of my daughters that you saved her. You have my gratitude.” The spirit king bowed his head.

“Thank you all,” Caeldaemos replied. “I need to head to the temple. Sylfaerune will likely have more answers.” Caeldaemos moved to leave, but the queen stopped him.

“Stop.” He turned to face her. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Baron.”

He sighed. “I owe you that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours passed, and Caeldaemos finished telling his story to the various rulers and heroes.

“How cruel….” Haley was crying.

“I cannot believe a goddess could do such a thing.” Greggory trembled with anger.

Hana placed a hand on his arm. “So, you were Michael Lemos?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She sighed. “It was said to be a freak lightning that killed you. But to think it was Sylfaerune.”

He smiled. “Io had been supporting me all this time. Besides, I turned out okay.” He chuckled. “Allow me to formally introduce myself.” Caeldaemos used his etiquette lessons and performed a graceful bow. “I am Caeldaemos the Benevolent, the first ever good Demon-Lord of Owltrelus and Baron of Hallibrush. I swear by Io that what I saw is true.”

A few of the rulers on the screen sighed in relief.

“Then.” The emperor of Vualdulin spoke. “What of the Evil Goddess?”

Caeldaemos looked up at the screen. “I honestly don’t know. But as I said, Sylfaerune may have answers.”

“The stranger who saved you?” The elf queen asked.

“Her and the gods. I have a way to speak with them.” Caeldaemos stated.

“Then go.” Queen Meryl ordered. “Find the answers we need and return here. How long?”

“I should have something by tomorrow morning.” He answered.

“Then we shall reconvene at noon. Return here by then.”

Caeldaemos bowed his head. “Yes, your majesty.”

“Dammit, Meryl! Not only did you get a capable demon as a subject, but the Demon-Lord himself!” The emperor of the demons laughed.

“Don’t be jealous.” She watched as he left with the heroes. “He probably won’t stay long as a subject.”

“Huh? Wait… He is massive, and you are tiny! You’ll die!” He exclaimed.

She shrugged. “That is for me to find out.”