Part one hundred forty five — One Minute

　"So, Kai," Ravessia said, once introductions concluded, "is it true you killed Belial and absorbed him?"

　"Yes," Kai said.

　"You make it sound so easy," Mirella observed.

　"He was difficult," Kai admitted. "But I won."

　Ivy, seated slightly behind him, glowed with obvious pride.

　"To be expected of her son," Orinthia said, warm. "Your mother was something else entirely."

　"You knew my mother?"

　"Of course. We were friends, actually."

Mom never once mentioned having friends.

　"Nice to see her son grown so strong," Aeon added, genuinely fond.

　Vaelith spoke then, cutting through the pleasantries.

　"Do we all agree he should take the empty seat?"

　Agreement came easily, unanimous.

　"To prove he's worthy of it," Vaelith continued, "he'll face one of us directly. If he holds his own for one full minute, he's recognized properly."

　"Let me face him," Aeon offered immediately.

　"No," Vaelith said, flat. "You'd end him before the fight even started. Neither you nor Nyxara are permitted to participate."

　"Fine by me," Nyxara said.

　"I hate you, you know that?" Aeon told him.

　"That pleases me greatly to hear," Vaelith replied — rivals, clearly, but old friends beneath it.

　"Let me," Ravessia offered. "If that's alright with you, big sis."

　"Go ahead," Nyxara said.

This is not going to end well for me, Kai thought, resigned.

　The chamber dissolved around them, replaced by a dimension of Vaelith's own making.

　Kai and Ravessia found themselves suspended in midair, the other six watching from above.

　She didn't bother with a stance.

　"Come at me with everything you have."

　"You're sure about that?"

　"Don't worry."

　His katana appeared, and the moment he drew it, the entire dimension's pressure shifted instantly.

Going easy won't earn me a single second against a primordial demon who's also a Demon Lord.

　"Release two percent," he told Null-Subconsciousness, and it complied instantly.

　Ravessia felt the chill, her own casual smile sharpening, though she still didn't draw the blade at her side — content, apparently, to meet him bare-handed.

　Wings unfolded from his back.

　He took his stance.

　"Begin," Vaelith said.

　She vanished — too fast for anything to properly track — and reappeared directly in front of him, a single punch sending him staggering backward before he'd even registered the strike had landed.

　She was above him a heartbeat later, a kick driving him into the ground.

　He barely had time to stand before another punch nearly caught him square in the face — he dodged, barely, the shockwave alone throwing him clear across the arena.

　"Quick on your feet," she said, approving. "I like that."

She's not even trying. That's the actual terrifying part.

One minute isn't over yet, he thought, desperate. She's going to destroy me before it even ends.

　A fist, glowing with destructive energy, appeared before him without warning.

"Kairos' Eye," Null-Subconsciousness activated — boosting his defense, granting him fractional foresight into her next movements, sharpening his own adaptability considerably.

　"Oh, you're moving better now," Ravessia said, genuinely pleased, pressing the attack.

　He blocked with his blade; his counter-slash passed clean through her like she was an illusion — she'd simply moved too fast for the strike to matter at all.

　She appeared at his back an instant later, a kick aimed at his skull that he dodged, the shockwave still throwing him wide.

　She reappeared in front of him again, energy gathering in her palm.

I'm done for.

　"That's enough," Vaelith said.

　Ravessia stopped instantly.

　"You held your own well," she told Kai. "But you'll need to improve considerably more before you're ready for Vahlreth or Skorne."

　"Thanks," he said, breathless. "I'll try."

　She patted his head.

　"Good boy."

　The dimension dissolved, the chamber returning to its familiar shape.

　Ivy looked genuinely, deeply impressed.

　"You held your own against a primordial demon."

　"Told you," Nyxara said, satisfied. "He's more than capable of sitting among us."

　"From today," Vaelith said, "you're formally recognized as one of us."

　When they looked toward Aeon's seat, he'd already vanished.

　Orinthia shrugged.

　"Since he's gone, I've got some business with a few humans to settle myself."

　She left, the others following in their own time, until only Nyxara, Ravessia, and Kai remained.

　Ivy praised him properly, warm and genuine, and Ravessia offered a small, apologetic smile.

　"Sorry about that."

　"You call that serious?" Kai asked.

　"She wasn't taking it seriously at all," Nyxara said, cheerful.

　"You're kidding," Kai said, disbelieving.

　Ravessia only laughed, promising to visit soon for "proper training" — a promise Kai privately hoped, fervently, would somehow never actually happen.

　He turned to find Nyxara gone too.

　"That little—" he started, sighing. "She just left me here."

　"I believe we should head back now," Ivy said, amused, and together they stepped through the mist gate toward home.

　Ivy opened the mist gate back into Horizoncrest, and the moment Kai stepped through, the noise hit him first — the entire town, it seemed, gathered near the gate, waiting.

Oh no.

　"LORD KAI!" someone shouted, and the crowd erupted into cheering that made him want to immediately turn around and walk back through the gate he'd just come out of.

　"They already know," Ivy said, entirely unbothered by his obvious panic. "News travels faster than people, apparently, even between realms."

　"How," Kai said, mostly to himself, as the crowd surged closer.

"Word likely reached Horizoncrest through demon-realm channels well before your own return," Null-Subconsciousness offered, unhelpfully precise as ever.

　Eris reached him first, pushing through the crowd with her usual determined confidence, throwing her arms around him without hesitation.

　"You're back. And apparently a Demon Lord now, on top of everything else."

　"Apparently," Kai said, still faintly overwhelmed. "It's a whole thing. I'll explain properly once I've had a chance to actually process it myself."

　"The king of Ashford's here," she said, already pulling him toward the mansion. "And the prince of Myrath. Sophia too, and the High Priestess. They've been waiting."

Right. Guests. Politics. The thing I'm apparently supposed to be good at now.

　Before any of that, though, something practical had been nagging at him since the meeting — a gap in his own understanding he'd been too distracted to address until now.

　"Actually," he said, pausing before they reached the mansion's doors, "I need something first. Anti — sorry, Null-Subconsciousness. Give me the full breakdown of currency across the continent. I've been trading, negotiating, running an entire growing economy, and I genuinely don't understand half of what anyone's actually offering me half the time."

"Understood," it said, and Kai swore he could feel something almost like amusement in the flat delivery.

"Human kingdoms use the Crown as their primary currency, with the Copper as the smaller unit and the Royal Crown as the higher denomination. Elven kingdoms use the Elaris, with the Elen as the smaller unit and the High Elaris as the higher. Dwarven kingdoms use the Dorn, with the Dornite smaller and the Grand Dorn higher."

　"Okay, that's manageable," Kai said. "What about further out?"

"The Empire of the East and South uses the Jade Holy Coin — a very high-value currency, generally reserved for significant transactions rather than everyday trade."

Right. So every time Elaine's mentioned Jade coins in passing, that's been a considerably bigger deal than I realized.

　"Thanks," Kai said. "Genuinely. I've been nodding along in half these trade meetings with no idea what I was actually agreeing to."

"I am aware," it said. "I chose not to mention it previously."

　"Wow. Thanks for that."

　"One more thing," Kai said, turning to Ivy. "I need a proper, updated world map. Not the rough sketch we've been working off. Something actually complete."

　"I'll have it for you shortly," Ivy said.

Shortly turned out to mean considerably longer than Kai expected — nearly two full hours, during which he greeted guests, made careful small talk, and privately wondered what could possibly take so long for someone who usually had everything ready before he'd even finished asking.

　When she finally returned, map in hand, she looked faintly apologetic.

　"My sincerest apologies for the delay, Lord Kai. I wanted to ensure it was properly comprehensive."

　He unrolled it and immediately understood why — the thing was enormous, detailed down to individual trade routes, marked with kingdoms and territories he'd never even heard mentioned before.

　"This is genuinely impressive," he said.

　"I know," Ivy said, entirely without false modesty.