Nothing was simple. Life’s decisions never were black and white matters, they were a whole kaleidoscope of pros and cons and no matter which choice one made, gratitude and regret would always follow, joined like Siamese twins. As such, a decision could almost never be an objective one. I had to ask myself what I valued, in order to choose.

Monsters, humans, elves? My relationships? Power? My past life? Isaac? What was it I valued and wanted? These values are the ones that guided my choice, or that was supposed to be the case. However, I sat down, next to a damn demon king, and was faced with an indecisive paralysis. The strength of this body that I was put into, this lich, had the power to turn the fates of entire populaces.

I could kill Fyren now, my fingers swept along my jaw, but then all demon kids die because of increased affliction. In a few hundred years, they’ll be wiped out. Killing Fyren is killing an entire race. I sighed and temporarily gave up. In my mind was a recurring thought that bogged me down recently. Should I go to the underworld and seek out the devil that the elves were bound to? Was it a simple matter of beating him and forcing him to undo the pact? Was I strong enough? If all that was possible, what then? Who’s to say that the elves wouldn’t be forced to make a pact like that again?

“Fyren, why did your father make deals with a devil anyway?” I asked.

The demon king turned his attention from the crackling fire to me, and guffawed. “You defend the humans, but you don’t know?” He hit his armrest a couple times and chortled his life away. “Ah, forgive me. I haven’t had a laugh like that in years.”

He leaned back into the chair and got comfortable again. “Lich, humans invaded us. Sure, we had wizards, but they were laughably weak, and were really only known for lifestyle or novice spells. Elves had no need to fight, and peace was all we knew, so we were weak. When rumors got out that an elven emissary assassinated the human king, war was afoot. The great war.

“We knew our forests, so we had territorial advantage. But against human knights who trained to fight, wizards who trained to fight, healers who trained to fight… Well, you get the point. Our advantage didn’t last very long. Half our population got wiped out, my father got desperate, and here we are.”

Hol’ up. I heard about that but, it was true?! I rubbed my head with both hands. All this crazy stuff made me want to return to Isaac and forget all about it. “So, was it true? Did an elf really kill the king?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

He scoffed. “Come on, lich. An elf? Kill the Karthaaz king? He lived in a fortress. Do you think a weak elf emissary could do that even if he wanted to?” Some flame warped around his hand and flickered, then it flew towards the fireplace. “That’s impossible, lich. We investigated, and apparently one of the noble houses in Karthaaz was behind it. They controlled much of the training and supplied arms to the major cities.”

Again, no lies. I sighed. Please don’t let me regret this. I wiggled around my inventory and the Shadowsiphon dagger appeared out of thin air. “You went to Reuland’s dungeon for this, didn’t you?”

Fyren froze. “Y-yes. I was right then, you got to it before me.”

I nodded, flipped the creepy dagger and caught it at the blade. “Here. As long as it doesn’t cause any harm to humans, then you can have it.”

He reluctantly took it. “You beat the dungeon for this. You won’t regret parting with it?”

“As long as it helps your people mature, then it’s worth it.” I stood up and opened a portal back home. “We’ll speak again, demon king.” I went through the portal back home.

The minute my ass touched the throne, I summoned Lilith. She came over to my castle as soon as she could. “I answer your summons, Great One.” She bowed to respect my displeasure when it came to kneeling.

I strolled down the few stairs from my throne and approached her. My hands cleared her hair and tucked it behind an ear, then I gently grasped her by the cheek. “You’ve hidden things from me, Darkviper.”

She immediately began shivering, and a pool of liquid formed by her feet. Lilith was terrified, and for good reason. I was infuriated. I feared that my actions and power would disrupt the lives of the people of this world, and so it did now that the Doomhorn and Darkviper clan were now all guilty of treason. I knew I couldn’t solely blame Lilith for my ignorance. But she wasn’t just another demon. She was the master of the clan that specialized in gathering information. She knew more than any other demon ever could. Yet, I was never privy to the second pact, nor the truth behind the origin of the pact.

I sighed. “I, am disappointed. You promised me your services in exchange for your clan’s safety. Yet, you’ve only discussed the bare minimum, and expect me to be satisfied. You’ve forced uninformed decisions for your own agenda.” Aether Imprisonment locked her mana away. “You will regain your magic when you bare all before me. For now, get out of my sight.”

She nodded with snot and tears smearing her face and wobbled away as best she could. The mere force of my mana raged throughout my territory because of how angered I was. I cast Pacify on myself a couple times.

“At your service, Master,” Agares the devil greeted when I summoned her.

“Agares,” I held the Scepter of the Lich God tightly, “take me to the underworld.”