"Sigh..."

'Why do I feel so exhausted..?' Eduardo could see the maids that came out of nowhere tidying up the place and getting ready to leave.

They all gathered in the same spot they appeared in and with the blink of an eye, they disappeared...

The prince and the princess flinched when they heard Eduardo sigh, as they were sitting next to him.

The princess, Allethea then whispered "Is uncle tired? But for the time that we have been here, I didn't feel tried or hungry at all..."

"I agree, I don't feel any fatigue or discomfort...well, other than the mental fatigue, I feel fine." The prince, Elpidius whispered back to his sister, but unknown to them that Eduardo could hear everything.

Everyone watched in awe as the maids left, some thought that they were hallucinating and some thought that this 'Violet' is very powerful...

"Alright. now that everything is clean and everyone has calmed down, would you like to continue with the reaction?"

"Yes, let's continue." The emperor said with a fake smile on his face, he wanted to get this over with.

"Yeah, I was already getting tired of this break." Caver said, he was sipping on some tea that the maids served him before they disappeared.

He looked so relaxed and not worried at all...well, most of the demons looked relaxed, they were laughing and chit chattering very loudly.

"I apologies your majesty for the long break, there were more to clean than expected."

"It's fine." The demon king waved his hands dismissively, he took a bite of the cookie in front of him.

"Thank you your majesty for your great generosity, now let's start."

Some of the nobles couldn't help but notice how much 'Violet' talked to the demon king with such respect...some thought that she might actually prefer the demon king over the emperor...

________________

"Commander of the zero corps?" The emperor said as he looked down from his throne at a hooded figure.

"Yes." the hooded figure answered with his head hung low.

"A soldier sent to survey the demon realm has reported that the zero corps commander has participated in the subjugation this time" he stated.

"He was extremely strong and brutal, as the rumors say."

"I heard that he's the demons king's most prized talent. A prized talent..."

"It's making me miss someone." He was obviously referring to the third hero, Deon hart. a smile formed on his face...he didn't expect less from him..

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"looks like I have some flies I need to get rid of when i go back..." Caver smiled as he glared at the emperor 'did he plant some flies to spy on me? why would he need them when he have planted the perfect spy right by my side?' Caver thought that Eduardo was wasting his time.

"Of course your majesty." Jaykar bowed his head 'I need to take care of this, and improve the security in the castle...' he sighed as he glared at Ririnell, who was responsible of the castle's security.

"okay! I understand..." Ririnell pouted, she was mad at Jaykar for scolding her so openly Infront of the other commanders 'thank god sir Arut isn't here...'  she was thankful Deon wasn't here seeing her get scolded.

Some of the corps commanders snickered at her, a small blush formed on her cheeks.

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"If that's how they want to come out, we should make preparation as well."

"I seem to have the perfect candidate, too. what do you think?" he smiled mischievously at him.

"!!" 

"I am going to give you a special opportunity to make an achievement-" before Eduardo could finish his sentence, the hooded person bowed his head.

"I ACCEPT THE ROYAL ORDERS!" his scream filled the empty hall..

"Yes, why don't you become 'that talent' then?" you could almost hear the sarcasm in his voice, he knew that he was sending him to his grave...but he still smiled kindly at him...

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"So you already knew, sending him to his death bed, huh?" The demon king raised his eyebrows, a chuckle escaped his lips. he laughed at how stupid the hooded person is.

The emperor frowned, he didn't know that they would show him in the black box as well 'well, they did show the demon king...are they going to also show that?...come to think of it, why hasn't they come out yet?...'

"Please refer from fighting in the reaction room. the reaction is focused on Deon hart, but you're also going to react to important people in his life."

"I see..." Eduardo looked suspiciously at the black box '...did she just read my mind?' he thought that she answered the question that was on his mind indirectly..

"Whatever, I was just joking around. no need to be so sensitive." Caver said with a nonchalant attitude, the demons started laughing...that made the nobles furious.

Cruel sighed, he's not sure if he's an important person to Deon but it seems like he'll appear on the black box ether way...

'does that mean they're going to show my family?...this's f*cking annoying' he thought that the only good thing that came out of this is seeing his baby brother.

"As I said before, fighting is not allowed in the reaction room. I wouldn't hesitate to remove you from here."

Violet's firm voice made shivers run down their spins. they closed their mouth soon after.

"That's better, now let's continue"

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"The 8-year Battle..."

"For the glory of the empire, that place overflowed with blood."

A land filled with swords with blood everywhere, the sun shined upon marking the start of a new day...but for Deon it felt like any other day in this hellish place.

"Amongst them, with the noble sacrifice of the vanguard in the front line..."

'No, they are merely meat shields forsaken by the empire...' Deon looked emotionlessly at the lifeless head he just cut off..

"This is simply hell." 

"DO NOT FALL BACK!" A solider said as she held her shield up high.

"FIGHT COURAGEOUSLY! FOR THE EMPIRE!!!" another solider shouted as his sword clashed with the enemy's sword.

"I did not want to come to this hell, nor did I want to risk my life fighting..."

'HA, for the empire? what a joke!' 

________________

Deon's voice ran through the entire room...It felt like he was reading a story more than describing his surrounding or his experience..

There was no emotions in his voice, like he was reading a script..

A few gasp and screams could be heard. seeing the battlefield, filled with blood and dead bodies everywhere with soldiers risking their life for the empire was a...terrifying scene, it gave them a conflicting feeling.

some felt pity, some felt like it was their duty and there was no need to feel bad for them and some felt nothing at all...

Deon describing the noble sacrifice as nothing more than meat shields for the empire was partially true...but the nobles didn't want to face reality, they all wanted to believe that their soldiers were doing a noble deed for the empire..

The demon king frowned as he glared at the scene 'why is Aurt in the battlefield? and in the front line of all...?' they left a talent like his Arut in the front line? in such a dangerous place? he felt like they were mocking him...

meanwhile Cruel felt like stabbing himself in the heart, words can't describe how guilty he felt...

'This is all my fault...why couldn't i stop them from taking Deon that day? why couldn't i be fast enough to prevent my parents from dying?...' he had to stop his train of thoughts, he needs to focus on the reaction..

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(1306 words)

...hello? did you guys miss me?

I'm so sorry i took so long to post this chapter T^T...

I've been studying for my finals, it start next week 😭 but the guilt of making you all wait is worse than me not studying...

I'm sorry again for the wait, as always thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed!!