The Throne Room of The Demon King’s Castle

“It was nice talking to you again, little Scarlet,” Arkaz says with a warm smile on his face, and his son, Leonidas, says, “Stay safe on Earth, okay?”

Then, after getting a smile in response with his granddaughter raising one hand with her thumb sticking up, Arkaz cuts the link with the magical item he had Leonidas make and send to Earth. Something that lets him contact those over there.

The screen vanishes, turning back into blood again and leaving the throne room in complete silence.

“Her negotiating has improved,” Arkaz says while glancing at his son, finding him to have started walking over to the balcony already. So he gets up and follows after him.

Once he makes it out there with him, Leonidas asks, “You know what you just did.”

Arkaz snorts as he leans against the balcony railing.

“Do I now?” he asks with a smile on his face.

Leonidas turns to look at his father with a conflicted look on his face as he says, “You lost that negotiation on purpose.”

The Demon King just hums at that, turning to look up at the blood moon high in the sky.

Silence fills the balcony with the only noise being that of the fighting demons in the distance visible from the balcony.

“And if I did?” Arkaz says while leaning over on the balcony railing with a faint smile on his face.

Arkaz sees his son staring at him for several seconds before Leonidas sighs and turns to look out at the Battlefield while muttering, “If you just let her win, then… she may never come back here again.”

“I doubt you’ll have to worry about that,” Arkaz says while putting a hand on his son’s head, to the boy’s obvious displeasure. “She’ll come back. Even if she wins the bet, she’ll come back one day.”

She’ll probably be coming sooner rather than later, considering how the void creatures are supposed to reach Tartarus before Earth.

Arkaz doesn’t say that part out loud, keeping silent even though his son already knows this.

“You’re right though, she has improved her negotiation skills,” Leonidas says, bringing Arkaz’s gaze back to his son right when the boy pushes his hand away from his head. Leonidas then turns to look at Arkaz, meeting his gaze as he asks, “That your doing?”

The Demon King smiles and turns back to look out over the battlefield again and answers, “She probably picked it up when she was shadowing me for a week draining my life energy.”

His son snorts at that out of the corner of his eyes before leaning over the railing himself, placing his head on his arms as he seemingly sulks.

Is he… jealous?

Arkaz snorts in amusement and just pats his son’s back, saying, “She’ll warm up to you eventually.”

Probably.

Scarlet

I let out a sigh of relief the moment the connection ends.

That went well I think.

“You realize he let you win that negotiation, right?” Tar comments, and I nod my head with a frown.

Yeah, but I kind of bet on that a little just to help the humans a bit. After all, we need every advantage we can get to win this.

I focus on Red to find him looking between me and the pool of blood that’s still floating there with astonishment on his face. Like he didn’t expect me to actually be able to get that bet confirmed with the Demon King.

“Well, I’ll leave it to you to bring news of that bet to the people,” I tell him with a smile, snapping him out of his shock.

“You…” he mutters before suddenly grinning at me and appearing right next to me in a blur to slap my shoulder, sending me down to my knees in his enthusiasm, “you may’ve just saved the human race!”

And he doesn’t stop with one slap, instead slapping my back in what I think is supposed to be a congratulatory or thankful pat but is instead rather painful.

“We should head out, but know you have my gratitude for giving my son a future,” he says as he finally finishes slapping me, making me stand up straight again while reaching back to rub my shoulder and back. Meanwhile out of the corner of my eye I notice Satan giving Red a death glare. “On that note, why don’t you marry-”

“Not happening.” “Not on your life filthy human!”

I blink in surprise before focusing solely on Satan, who had just spoken at the same time as me. And Red does the same, looking at the oni with disgust.

Please tell me I’m not going to have to break these two up again?

“Looks like the oni still hasn’t learned his lesson yet,” Red says, his voice coming out with a rather dark note in it. One that has a shiver running down my spine.

“You’re going to have to break them up again,” Tar says rather dryly, making me let out an internal groan.

“Are you really going to pick a fight with me right now, Red?” Satan says, his voice taking on a gravelly tone as black flames begin building up around both him and Red. Meanwhile a ball of black flames surrounds me, probably for protection.

Are you kidding me?

“Please stop fighting you two,” I tell the two with a scowl on my face. “Or at least wait till I’m back at the frontlines. I want to go hunt.”

While Red looks hesitant, Satan immediately stops and bows towards me with a polite, “Yes, Your Highness. As you wish.”

And now Red just looks awkward instead.

“Red, please take me back to the frontlines,” I state while crossing my arms. And to my surprise, he actually does what he’s told.

How nice of him.

Now if only he wouldn’t go getting into fights with people who could kill him when he’s one of the strongest fighters we have on humanity’s side. Then things would be much nicer for us.