After I gave the order to bring in the two Dragon-born rulers, it wasn't long before they were in my presence, infront of my throne. Emily had also made it back, joining my side once more.

Even though the Dragon-born are known to only kneel infront of their king and the Saint, to my suprise, the Saint was on one knee infront of me alongside with the Dragon-born King, though — it was only for a short second, as the two of them quickly rose back up to their feet and looked at me with a mixed expression. The Saint had a human like appearence, with some dragon elements preserved and a small smile on her face. She was wearing a beautiful white and gold coloured dress, which reached all the way down to the ground and even then dragged a bit on it, with veils of gold finishing off the whole look.

Meanwhile the Dragon-born King was a lot less human. He looked more lizard like or I suppose, more dragon like than the Saint, which was completely understandable if you ask me. The Saint was apparently the only one who was an actual dragon, being the Golden Dragon, while the Dragon-born are just technically individuals with ancestors that were once mighty dragons. But I will give some credit — there are a few of the Dragon-born who were able to morph or 'take on' a full dragon form, though not for very long and these were mostly Dragon-born elders such as the Dragon-born King.

"Saint of the Dragon-born and Dragon-born King, to what do I owe the honour of meeting you two here in my throne room today?"

I asked, breaking the silence. The Dragon-born King remained silent, simply casting his gaze over at the Saint, who simply gestured to the King to remain quiet for now, before looking back at me and bowing lightly before me, before walking a bit closer towards me.

Litoya Zolota: "Mighty Demon King of Sins, I have come to you today for peaceful discussions about some recent revelations I have learnt from the Dragon-born King Drevarn. I wish to speak to you in private about it all, if that is alright."

She stated, before grabbing the sides of her dress and sort of 'bowing' I suppose, towards me. Emily looked a bit annoyed — maybe even a bit angry actually, as she gave the Saint a sort of deathstare. Most likely because the Saint requested to speak to me in private without anyone else around....

Emily usually doesn't like it when she's someone tries to separate me from her.

However, I was a bit more... Mixed with my reaction to this request. I found it strange - the Saint of the Dragon-born kind was oddly kind and even friendly towards me right now, despite her being technically my greatest enemy — considering that in the game the Demon King of Sins and the Golden Dragon Saint were not on any good terms with one another and basically hated eachother guts. So I expected her to bust into here and immediately transform into her dragon form before trying to kill me or something — but no, she didn't do that. I don't know if I am overthinking this or something, but that seemed like a bit of a... Well... Red flag, as they would say.

I thought about her request for a bit, before exhaling and rising from my throne.

"Very well. I shall speak to you in private. Emily, do make sure that the Dragon-born King feels right at home and please do not try to kill him. I would like to avoid angering the Golden Dragon Saint."

I looked at the maid with a slightly serious and even a bit threatening glare, which seemingly sent shivers down her spine, as she bowed towards me lightly.

Emily: "I understand... Your Excellence..."

"Good."

I replied, before turning around and walking up to the Golden Dragon Saint, before placing my right arm onto her shoulder, then proceeding to use a Teleportation magic spell, to move us both out of the throne room and into an office room which was located next to my bedroom and basically fortified and locked heavily down — as this place was where usually the Demon King would come to do some personal research or just I suppose relax every once in a while. Y'know, a Demon King has a lot of responsibilities, so even the great Avis Virtiosa needed a break or two here and there once in a while. And yes, I am talking about the lore I had learned from the game. Don't give me much credit.

After teleporting inside of this room, I walked past the Saint, before sitting down in the chair next to the offices main chair, before conjuring up a chair for the Saint to sit down in. She graciously thanked me, before taking a seat and placing her hands neatly into her lap after sitting down.

"So — tell me. What brings you to me here today, my Dear Enemy?"

I asked, trying to move the story along the normal path which was that the Demon King of Sins and the Golden Dragon Saint were complete enemies in the story. However, after I said that, the Saint simply smiled before exhaling and looking towards the ground.

Litoya: "I wished to know.... Why did you cancel your plans to invade the Kingdom of Evelia? As far as I understood from the Dragon-born King, during that meeting they had with you, you agreed to drop your plans of invading Evelia, despite being known for the complete opposite. I wish to know why and what brought upon this decision."

...Seriously?

She's concerned about me dropping my plans for the invasion of Evelia? Shouldn't that be something good and something that would be celebrated among all species, especially the humans who could have lost the most had the invasion been carried out? Why is she acting like my cancellation of the invasion isn't a good thing but a bad one?

Something is fishy here... And no, I do not mean the strong scent of the sea and gold that this Saint was giving off — although that was an intense aroma as well. It was stingy and even a bit like burning flame in my nostrils, which was weird because I am technically a skeleton and shouldn't even have a sense of smell...

Or the need to breathe.

I didn't let any of my inner thoughts get out as expressions or body language of course, just to make sure that the Golden Dragon Saint wouldn't catch on that something was wrong or that I wasn't actually the Demon King of Sins she knew. I simply kept a cold and expressionless gaze onto her, before exhaling heavily again.

"And why is this so important?"

Litoya: "Very simple - never in over a millennia that you an I have been around, have you ever dropped one of your plans or showed any mercy. You've been ruthless and merciless all this time — so I find it a bit strange how all of a sudden, you decided to show some mercy and not invade a Kingdom full of individuals, whose ancestors survived your invasion of the Kingdom of Inara."

...You know, I kinda hate that she has a point. Lore wise, the Demon King of Sins has never shown any mercy to anyone noir has he ever backed out of a plan that he has had. I mean — he quite literally went against the Gods of the world around a millennia ago, do you really expect someone like THAT to ever back out of a plan that he most of the time, if not, every time succeed in pulling off? I for sure as hell wouldn't expect that.

Especially considering the fact that this someone we are talking about happens to be an individual feared as a merciless tyrant of great power and influence all throughout the world.

I thought about her entire reply of reasons a bit more, before exhaling and leaning back into my seat, sort of 'closing' my eyes before lowering my head down towards the ground. I didn't really have anything to day against that whole argument if I was being honest — she had kind of placed me inside of a trap almost.

I thought about it for a few more moments, before sighing heavily and leaning forward a bit.

"All I did is recall my invasion, because I felt a little bit sorry for the pathetic display that your own king put on infront of the other Gold Crowns at that meeting that day."

Upon hearing my reply, the saint seemingly twitched a bit — almost like wasn't expecting this to be my answer and instead something else.

"I mean, seriously, what kind of ruler bows to another? He used language unbecoming of a king and even referred to my by my title, instead of my name — which only would be done by mere soldiers and generals, not a nations ruler."

I continued to explain, trying to twist the whole thing into the cover up story of me simply 'feeling bad' for the Dragon-born King putting on such a 'pathetic' display infront of not only the other Gold Crowns, but infront of me as well. Realistically speaking, the only unbelievable thing in this story was that I would feel 'bad' or 'sorry' for someone else and wouldn't just shrug it off. But other than that — I believe this story was shaped perfectly into a cover up to throw off the Golden Dragon Saint. And it seemed to have worked, as she looked at me a bit confused before seemingly thinking about something to herself for a bit.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A brief while of silence took place, as the two of us simply sat in this room all alone and the Saint was deep in her thoughts. The silence was honestly becoming a bit suffocating after a while - or at least, I think it was. I couldn't actually really feel anything from it like a human normally would, but that didn't really matter in my opinion. After another few moments, the Golden Dragon Saint sighed before looking at me again.

Litoya: "I have... Another question."

"Ask away."

Litoya: "....Are you really the Demon King of Sins, Avis Virtiosa?"

....Say what now?

Ain't no way she already caught onto me and busted my cover— right? Just wait a second Kizuna, no need to panic just yet. She had asked it as a question, not stated it as a fact — so she most likely doesn't know about it just yet. I quickly calmed myself down internally, while keeping a completely unphased appearence on the outside, as to not break my character or confirm her suspicions without even saying a word in protest. I simply let lose a light laugh, before looking at her with a cold deathstare.

"Are you suggesting that I am a fake? Do you want to test whether I am the real Demon King of Sins?"

I asked in a cold, serious tone. It seemed like my tone and gase combo was enough to send shivers down the spine of the Golden Dragon Saint, as she shed a sweat and looked away for a moment, seemingly thinking something over in her mind, before looking back at me and exhaling, shaking her head lightly.

Litoya: "No need. I do not doubt your authenticity. I do not know what came over me to ask such a question — please forget about it."

Easier said than done after you've already asked the damned question woman! I exhaled heavily, before leaning back into my chair a bit. Then, after another bit of silence, Litoya spoke up again.

Litoya: "One last question..."

"....I am listening."

After Litoya asked me the final question, I remained silent — not sure how to answer to it. However, that didn't seem to be much of a concern, as the Golden Dragon Saint got up and stated that she would hear my answer another day and that she'll head back to her kingdom with the Dragon-born King. So, with no real reason of keeping her here, I teleported us both out of the office and back into the throne room, where the Drevarn and Emily were waiting for us. The Dragon-born King and the Golden Dragon Saint then bid us a farewell, before being escorted by Emily to the castle exit, while I simply took my seat back onto the throne.

The question that the Saint had asked me as her final question was still in my head — doing rounds inside it like some kind of sports car doing loops randomly on a road. The question was so simple, yet I had no answer for it — not even when trying to use the knowledge I had from the game, as the question was something that wasn't even in the game in the first place. It was almost like... The Saint had asked me it with consciousness behind it. I mean, she is technically conscious in this world now, as it has become real, but she did something that no other character I've seen so far has done. She... Went off the script of the game. This whole meeting between the Demon King and the Saint, it never was in the game — main story, DLC noir any bonus stories.

No... This event, was something completely new to me. Something... That I didn't understand.

Oh right — you don't know the question she had asked me. Well, it's a simple one really. One that by nature is simple, but isn't at the same time.

The question was....

"...Do you think this is real?".

• • • • • •

- - - -

Summoned to Another World, but as the Final Boss

- - - -

• • • • • •

4 Years later....

The Human Kingdom of Evelia.

It was a late, dark evening. Rain was pouring down from the sky and the moonlight was shining down through the rain droplets — basking them in a silver like glow, that didn't waver a single bit. It was actually kind of hypnotising at times if I have to be honest. I was walking through the kingdoms streets, a heavy coat on me, with a giant hood hiding my face underneath. I was passing by all sorts of citizens of the Kingdom, each one wearing different clothes and some even holding some very old and early looking umbrellas to hide from this rain, while others just had heavy coats on with hats on — kind of like London was back in the 1800s. As I moved through the city, I was looking all around, searching for a specific place where I was trying to go to. A specific building in the Kingdom, where I wanted to get to, for some... Business, I had to attend to there.

However, this pouring rain made it a bit difficult to see very far away, especially because of the giant hood I needed to wear just to ensure that my head wouldn't get soaked while out in this rain. Then, someone bumped into me from my right side. It was man, dressed in a coat and hat, which looked a like like a detective would back in the day.

?: "Excuse me! I am very sorry! I'm in a rush!"

The man quickly apologised to me, before rushing off down the road. I simply stood in place, watching him run off before lifting my head slightly up, my crimson red pupil shining red for a moment. Bingo - I had found who would lead me to where I was headed to. I immediately began to trail after the man who had rushed passed me - making sure to catch up just enough to keep him in my sight, but not enough for him to notice me trailing him from a far.

I followed the man for a while, off to a less busy and less active portion of the city, where simply resident houses were located in a straight line, build next to eachother so close, that they may as well be one single building. The man had turned into the territory of one of these houses, entering it and seemingly locking the door behind himself. Inside, was a dim candle light lighting up the room, as I saw him through the window enter and embrace what I guessed — or rather, knew — was his wife, before walking off deeper into the house. After a bit of standing around in the rain, I used my magic to make myself imperceivable, before moving into the houses ground and walking up to the window, listening to what was going on inside.

I heard the man and the woman he had embraced in a hug talk about some things related to family, work and other usual conversations for a usual family living in a city in this era, before the two of them headed off into the kitchen to get some food. Now, you might be wondering — why did I exactly follow a random man on the street to his home? Was I planning on doing something cynical? Something morbid to him and his family? Well, no. I wasn't even close to planning on doing anything like that.

The actual reason for following him home was less about the man himself - but rather his one child that he and his wife had. Now then...

If I remember correctly — her room was on the second floor, to the left. I looked up, before using light flight magic to fly up to the window above and peaked into it. Through the window, I was a dark room, whose only source of light inside was the moonlight that shined through the drops of rain into the room itself. In the bed of the room, I saw a small girl, sleeping soundly in her bed. Bingo.

I simply phased through the window wall into the room, before lightly landing in the room and quickly using some very weak fire magic to dry off in an instant, before approaching the small girl sleeping in the bed, looking down at her. I was about to flick a flame onto my finger to see her better, however the sounds of footsteps coming upstairs caused me to quickly retreat into a dark patch of shadows, merging slightly into them. Then, shortly afterwards, the door creaked open, as the man and the woman - or the father and mother of the child - walked in and up to the little sleeping girl. The two parents sat down onto her bed, smiling to eachother before lightly patting her head and then kissing her on the forehead.

?: "Sleep well, my little Princess."

The man stated, before getting off of the girls bed and leaving the room with the woman, slowly and quietly closing the door after themselves. Once I was 100% sure that the two of them were gone, I slid out of the shadows before walking up to the girl once again, my footsteps making 0 sound as I walked, thanks to magic. I then raised my right hand into the air, before flicking a small blue flame onto my finger, creating a small source of light and bringing it above the little sleeping girl, allowing me to see her more clearly now.

Upon a closer and more detailed look... I couldn't really tell you much about her. She looked so innocent and rather adorable while sleeping so soundly like this, that it was a bit hard to believe that one day, she would be the one to draw the Sacred Blade of Hope to strike down the most feared being in this world. Speaking of which... I created a small portal infront of me, before reaching into it and pulling out the Sacred Blade, before staring at it and then lowering it closer to the little girl, the blade suddenly shining and lighting up. Would you look at that....

Even as a defenseless and innocent little child, you were worthy of drawing the blade all the time, as it recognised you as its true master and wielder.

....Such a shame then — that you'll probably never get to wield it at any point.

I stared at the shining sword for a couple of moments more, before placing it back inside of the portal and then reaching my hand down towards the girl and lightly rubbing her cheek. It was soft, and felt a lot like I remember my younger sisters cheeks feeling when I would pull them whenever she annoyed me too much.

I suppose that's one aspect all children have in common, but only do the women usually keep this kind of soft skin after they grow up.

I looked at the girl for a few more moments, before extinguishing the flame on my finger and sliding back, phasing through the window wall once more.

"One day, we shall meet for real. But for now - I suppose I will simply keep you alive."

I thought, before exhaling and then using one of my rings to vanish into thin air, sort of teleporting away while the rain continued to pour down. The girl opened her eyes slightly, looking off towards the window and out of it, with a confused and dumbfounded gaze, almost like she had heard someone say something just now.

However, after a small bit, she turned back away and slid back into a deep slumber - continuing to sleep away, as the hours of the night ticked on.

• Next Time •

[ (7.) Protector of The Hero. ]