Volume 6: Part one hundred thirty three— What the Demon Actually Wanted

　Ivy found me at the edge of the refugee camp, still moving between temporary shelters, still trying to learn as many names as I could manage in a single afternoon.

"I have it," she said, quiet, the same careful weight in her voice she'd carried the last time she'd needed to deliver news I wasn't going to want.

"Tell me," I said.

"The demon was sent by Demon Lord Belial," she said. "Specifically to manipulate Myrath into war against you. Not incidental cruelty. A deliberate test."

A test. He erased a kingdom to run a test.*

"If he wanted to test my strength so badly," I said, flat, "why didn't he just face me himself?"

Ace, I asked, half-rhetorical, any theories?

Because he's scared, Ace offered.

Nah. I don't think that's it. Belial doesn't strike me as the type who scares easily. He's got other reasons.

"Is that everything?" I asked Ivy.

"No," she said. "There's more. The king wasn't simply persuaded. He was placed under direct mind control. And Belial's actual intention—the reason behind all of this—is to absorb you."

"I think I'll pass on that," I said, dry despite the weight of what she'd just told me. "Why does he even want to absorb me, though?"

"Likely your Null mana," Anti-Subconsciousness offered, brief as ever.

"Was provoking Enzo part of the plan too?" I asked.

"I believe so," Ivy said. "Given the king was under direct control, it's reasonable to assume the entire confrontation—the insults, the specific provocation—was engineered deliberately, rather than left to chance."

　Something in my chest went very still and very cold.

"Demon Lord Belial," I said, slow, my own expression settling into something I felt more than chose, "the insult thrown at me isn't actually the issue.

"The issue is that he provoked Enzo into wiping out an entire kingdom, just to test my strength.

"He knew Enzo wasn't me.

"He did it anyway."

　My aura began bleeding outward, unhurried but absolute.

"Well," I said, quieter now, "if he wants to test my strength that badly, I'll pay him a visit."

　I stopped, mid-thought, something catching my attention entirely out of step with the gravity of the moment.

"Wait—hold on a second," I said, turning to Ivy. "How did you actually defeat that demon, anyway?"

　Ivy smiled, warm and entirely unbothered by the sudden shift in tone.

"Anything for you, Lord Kai."

"That," I said, "does not answer my question."

　The demand for answers had been building for days, quiet at first, then considerably less quiet, until finally a delegation of Myrath's own former citizens requested—insisted, really—on hearing the truth directly from me.

　I gathered them in Horizoncrest's largest open square, thousands of faces waiting, grief and fear and quiet fury all tangled together in equal measure.

They deserve the whole truth. Whatever it costs me to give it to them.

"Your king marched on Horizoncrest," I said, direct, no softening. "He was under the control of a demon lord named—someone I won't name here, for reasons of my own.

"That demon manipulated your kingdom's military faction, and personally provoked the confrontation that led to what happened to your home."

　A murmur moved through the crowd, disbelief and anger both.

"My own ally, Enzo, responded to your king's provocation with considerably more force than either of us intended," I continued. "I won't pretend otherwise.

"What happened to Myrath was real, and I understand if that makes trusting me difficult."

"Why should we believe any of this?" someone called out, sharp, grief-edged.

"You don't have to believe me yet," I said. "You can believe what I actually do next instead."

　I felt the words forming before I'd fully decided to say them.

"I intend to rebuild your kingdom," I said. "Fully.

"Under Horizoncrest's protection, so no one manipulates you into a war like this again."

　Silence.

　Then, disbelief, open and skeptical.

"Rebuild an entire kingdom," someone repeated, incredulous. "That's not possible. Not for anyone."

Wait. What did I just say. Did I actually just promise that, out loud, in front of thousands of people who have every reason not to trust me?

"You did," Anti-Subconsciousness confirmed, unhelpfully precise.

You've got to be kidding me.

　I stood there a long moment, my own promise settling heavier than I'd expected, watching thousands of skeptical, grieving faces wait for me to either take it back or somehow prove it wasn't an empty gesture.

"I don't know exactly how, yet," I admitted, honest despite how little that honesty probably reassured anyone. "But I meant what I said.

"Give me time.

"Watch what I actually do, not just what I say."

　The crowd didn't fully believe me. I want to be honest about that.

　Some of the arrogance I'd expected showed through plainly—a few voices, sharp and doubtful, questioning whether someone who'd only ever known destruction could actually manage creation on this scale.

Fair skepticism, honestly. I'd probably doubt me too, in their position.

　I left the square that evening with the promise hanging over everything, unresolved, and turned my full attention toward the people who might actually help me figure out whether it was even possible.