Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

At Grid's gesture, six portals were created beside the throne.

Pointing at the rippling portals, Grid said,

- Since I became the Demon King among the seven Great Demons, now six Great Demons remain. Where would you like to go first?

Su-ho stared at the six portals for a moment, then asked Grid,

"I've got something to ask."

- What is it?

"If you're a Constellation, then doesn't that mean the other six Great Demons are all Constellations too?"

- No.

"No?"

- I'm the only Great Demon who became a Constellation. Because I'm the only one who raised a partner player all the way to the seat of Demon King. So if we're being strict about it, those others aren't Constellations but sub-Constellations.

"I see. But can I even damage a sub-Constellation? You said even in the East-West War, you're just a symbolic existence."

- It doesn't matter. Whether the opponent is a sub-Constellation or a Constellation, the system will make it work that way.

"What do you mean? Explain it in detail."

- Back when the Great Demons weren't the six Great Demons but the Seven Great Demons including me, each of us received the mission of gathering the Runes of the Seven Deadly Sins scattered across different worlds and becoming the next Demon King. And through you, I gathered all the runes and became the Demon King, which caused the East-West War event to occur.

"And then?"

- But because I'm a Constellation and a symbolic existence, I can't step in directly, so I have to find a Demon King proxy and an avatar-class player to act in my place, and in that process an event where the other six Great Demons are dealt with is bound to unfold. Then the system will naturally adjust things so you can fight sub-Constellations. Otherwise, the East-West War wouldn't be nearly as entertaining.

As expected, before the system's amusement, there was nothing impossible.

"Then the levels will naturally be adjusted to my level too, right?"

- Right.

"Then instead of going to them one by one, how about calling all of them here at once?"

- At once?

"You're a Demon King now, so why should we be the ones going around? If anyone's coming to meet anyone, they should be the ones coming. Call them. Have some dignity as a Demon King. Let's not be the ones making the trip."

After thinking for a moment, Grid grinned.

- Let's do that.

Then he snapped his fingers once more, and soon another new portal was created.

- Come.

At Grid's tilt of the chin, Su-ho followed him into the portal.

***

After taking the portal, they arrived at a circular arena that called the Colosseum to mind.

This place was called the Hall of Demon Gods, a dueling ground prepared inside the Demon King Castle for fierce duels.

Demonic spirits were carved into the walls there, and white fragments that might have been bones or might not were scattered across the ground, mixed into the dirt.

Throughout the Hall of Demon Gods, portals were spread out in the formation of a hexagram, and they were standing at its center.

- Just as you said, I sent invitations. It may be impossible to bring them all here at the exact same time, but once they've seen the invitations, they'll come here on their own.

"Being Demon King isn't all that special. Even after becoming number one in the hierarchy, you still can't call all your underlings at once."

- The seat of Demon King is just a hierarchy the system created. It's not like I seized that position with my own hands. I only won the seat of Demon King by absorbing a few Stigmata, yet the idea that the other Great Demons would truly acknowledge me because of that is laughable.

On that point, he agreed.

Su-ho nodded.

Just then, one of the six portals lit up and someone revealed himself.

He had a sturdy inverted-triangle build, and his upper body was bare. He wore no shoes either.

He was wearing something on his lower body, but even that was just leather-like wrapping like some barbarian's garb, and what stood out even more than that attire was the fact that his skin was a deep blood-red color.

Su-ho had seen him before.

It was none other than Ras of Wrath.

"Uaaaaah!! So it's you!!"

[ The Great Demon of Wrath, Ras, uses Ruler-Class Fear. ]

[ Dragon Blood activates. ]

[ Due to the Dragon Mind effect of Dragon Blood, Fear is not applied. ]

Ras's voice rang out thunderously.

As expected of the Great Demon of Wrath, he was full of rage from the very moment he appeared.

But even though he used Fear the moment he came in, now not even Ruler-Class Fear stripped away buff effects anymore.

'Looks like it's because I became a High Player.'

At Ras's booming entrance, Su-ho smirked.

"Your character's really consistent."

- That's why he showed up first.

"But why's he that angry? Is he always like that?"

- No, I wrote on the invitation that the player who killed you on Earth last time had come. That's why he came first.

"Ah?"

So that wasn't an invitation but a challenge letter—no, a provocation letter?

No wonder he came storming in like that.

Then again, it was only natural.

After suffering a humiliating defeat to Su-ho before, Ras had been waiting for the day they would meet again.

And among the six Great Demons, he was the demon with the most anger.

It was only normal that he'd be the first to come charging over.

When Ras, breathing furiously, swung his hand, the pair of enormous morning stars that were his favorite weapons were summoned into his grasp.

"I have waited for the day I would meet you again...!"

"What an honor. But before that, you do know how the situation stands right now, don't you?"

"They say you're that bastard Grid's avatar? Fine then. If you defeat me directly, my true body, rather than a human contractor, then I will gladly acknowledge you and participate in the East-West War as a Great Demon!"

"Sounds good. But are you sure it's okay for you to come at me alone first? If you need it, I can even allow a joint attack with the other demons."

"Utter bullshit!!"

He lightly needled him just in case they might come at him together, but Ras immediately refused and charged in.

As expected of the Great Demon of Wrath, provoking him had excellent cost-efficiency.

When Su-ho stretched out his hand and summoned the Blood Sword, Grid asked,

- But do you not need my help?

"Do I have to? I beat him back then without your power. Why would I need it now?"

- True.

He had seen the notification saying that by becoming the Demon King's avatar, he could inherit and use the Demon King's abilities.

But did he really need Grid's power now against a guy he'd already subdued once?

He did not.

"Uaaaaaaah!!"

[ The Great Demon of Wrath, Ras, uses Rampaging Wrath. ]

[ The Great Demon of Wrath, Ras.... ]

When Ras let out a roar, all kinds of skill effects activated and strengthened him.

He soon charged at Su-ho like a runaway tank, and Su-ho stood still in place like a matador, holding up his sword and aiming it at Ras.

Boom!!

Ras came rushing in and smashed together the morning stars he held in both hands.

A powerful shockwave erupted and blasted the surroundings away as though explosives had gone off.

But Su-ho was still standing there exactly as he had been.

He did not budge.

There was no impact either.

It wasn't swagger. It was the truth.

He had deliberately taken the hit, but the power was weaker than expected.

When Su-ho's reaction remained calm, Ras grew even more enraged and lunged at him like a dump truck.

The two gathered morning stars exploded at Su-ho's head at the same time.

KWA-AAAAANG!!

A tremendous roar rang out, and for an instant the entire Hall of Demon Gods shook, but the one who should have been shaken—Su-ho—did not move in the slightest.

Su-ho furrowed his brow and muttered,

"Sss.... I had pretty high expectations since you're supposed to be a sub-Constellation-class Great Demon, but if this is all you've got, then honestly this is pretty disappointing."

"Shut up!!"

Ras, provoked by Su-ho's taunt, made his stats surge even higher, then raised the right morning star and brought it down again like beating a drum.

KWAANG!!

The violent thunderous noise had barely ended when this time he lifted the opposite morning star and slammed it down onto the Blood Sword once more.

KWAANG!!

The barrage continued.

By some principle or other, while maintaining the posture of stepping on empty air, he poured the full weight of his body into it and hammered at Su-ho's Blood Sword like a madman beating drums.

His strength was tremendous.

If one looked at pure strength alone, he was probably the strongest among the Seven Great Demons.

But unfortunately, that standard only applied among the Seven Great Demons, not to a comparison group that meant anything to Su-ho.

Su-ho swung his sword once more toward the falling morning star.

Slash!

A sharp cutting sound.

At the same time, Ras's hand scattered through empty air as though kicking at nothing.

The head of the morning star had been cut cleanly in half.

And not just one, but both.

Not the thin shaft, either, but the thick heads themselves had been split apart. And he had done it with a single slash to both morning stars at once.

But even more unfortunate was that Su-ho's slash did not end there.

After twisting his waist and cutting wide in a single motion, Su-ho immediately turned his body and swung his sword once more as if turning through a spin.

Then, on Ras's chest—before he had even fully fallen to the ground yet—a thin red line appeared.

Pu-kwaaaak!

A mass of blood with an alien form that could never be seen from a human body burst out in a single gush.

Ras fell to the ground.

The damage was heavy.

But Su-ho did not stop there and turned once more to cut him again.

A chilling sound rang out, and Ras's leg was severed.

He did not die.

Su-ho knew very well that he had a body that would not die from no more than this much damage.

He did not burn, either.

Because Su-ho hadn't used Paladion, which granted the holy attribute.

After shaking Ras's blood from the blade, Su-ho looked toward the other portals.

While he was fighting Ras, other Great Demons had come out through two of the portals and were watching the battle between Su-ho and Ras.

Su-ho tilted his head.

"Both of you, come at me together."

Both were familiar faces.

They were Envy, the Great Demon of Jealousy, and Gluttony, the Great Demon of Gluttony.

Unlike Ras, the two did not sneer. They attacked all at once and launched a coordinated assault.

But the result was the same.

He slashed the belly of the huge Gluttony and severed the ankle of the small and nimble Envy.

Around then, Lust of Lechery appeared.

From that point on, they did not even exchange words and simply continued attacking immediately.

The flustered Lust swung a whip, but Su-ho cut through both the whip and the demon's torso in one stroke, and the next to appear was Pride of Pride.

He too, the moment he came out, was driven relentlessly without a moment to catch his breath and forced into a groggy state.

The fight ended in an instant.

While they were all trembling and crawling across the floor as they healed their wounds, Su-ho counted heads.

"One's missing?"

It was Sloth of Sloth.

When Grid pointed at the portal connected to Sloth's dwelling, Su-ho strode into it without hesitation.

Then, not long after, a huge bear-like fellow came back out through the portal together with him, caught in Su-ho's grip.

The sword marks all over his body were just a bonus.

After throwing Sloth down in the center of the Hall of Demon Gods, Su-ho looked at the six Great Demons writhing on the floor and said to Grid,

"I'm seriously worried."

- Worried about what?

"If this is the level of so-called sub-Constellation-class Great Demons, then when the East-West War breaks out, it feels like I'll be the only one busting my ass. Honestly, tell me. You asked me for help because you knew it'd be like this, didn't you?"

- Kuhahahahaha!

At Su-ho's words, Grid laughed sincerely.

Su-ho did not find it funny.

"I'm not joking."

- What are you so worried about? You already have more than enough of those shadow knights you boast about.

"Shadow knights are shadow knights. No, actually, this might be better. Since it's come to this anyway, it'd be better if I just handle it alone. Once I secure all the shadows of the West Demon Realm people, the Black Army will become much stronger."

Listening to Su-ho's words, Grid spoke while still wearing a smile.

- Su-ho.

"Yeah?"

- Do you know why I said we should subjugate the six Great Demons?

"You said we had to organize a Demon King Army."

- So I'm asking if you know why it has to be organized.

"Because war is a fight of numbers, isn't it?"

At Su-ho's question, Grid shook his head.

- I told you, didn't I? Since you've become my avatar, you need to understand the power I possess and learn how to use it. So I'll tell you now. With all six Great Demons now subjugated, I'll explain how you can become even stronger by using my power.

It was right after Grid finished speaking.

Snap!

As he flicked his fingers, a system notification rose before Su-ho's eyes.

[ Demon King Grid bestows the power of the Demon King upon you. ]

[ You have acquired Dominion Core (SS). ]