The Kind of Evil

‎"My Lord, I have been so eager to show you this..." Relius said as he offered a letter to Nemu, the letter being placed above his head like a servant.

‎Nemu looked down at the letter and saw the Holy Nation seal on it. He slowly reached out and took the letter from Relius's hand, intrigued by the content of the letter. He slowly and carefully opened the seal before he pulled out the letter inside.

‎There was only silence in the massive throne room but the sound of paper rustling on the glove. Nemu silently read the invitation letter from Aurelia to King Relius. He didn't expect that the Holy Nation was bold enough to bring guests into the inner layer of the Holy Nation.

‎"In three weeks, that would be on the same day of your daughter's birthday," Nemu said as he folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. "How are you going to do that?" He asked.

‎"This humble servant will stay here, My Lord. I believe, My Lord can pretend to become this lowly servant and go to the Holy Nation as me," Relius answered, lowering his head.

‎"That's not a bad idea, King Relius. I'll gratefully accept your offer," Nemu said in a soft voice as he crossed his legs and stared down at the queen, Amarylis, and her two younger siblings.

‎"Oh, My Lord! Your words are wasted on someone like me!" Relius bowed down, and then everyone else also bowed down their heads to the ground at Nemu.

‎"What else do you have for me, King Relius?" Nemu looked down at Relius as he stored the invitation letter under his sleeve.

‎Relius began to report on the growth of the cult's members. With the Holy Nation losing its power and influence gradually, more and more nobles fell to the hands of the demonic cult. Wealth, influence, and power those cult members had were multiplied because of the deep connection, slowly ruling over Central Neva.

‎Nemu listened to Relius's report, and there was no reaction on his face. He seemed to be careless about growth since he already established a few of the royal families and high-ranking nobles. It was indeed because of Holy Nation who had lost its power and influence.

‎"There are people who appear to be vassals from the Asghar family, My Lord. They came here and wanted to attend my daughter's coming-of-age ceremony. I'm wondering if they're our people?" Relius asked with hesitation, his gaze glued to the ground.

‎"What are their names?" Nemu asked, tilting his head.

‎"Lord Vije, Lady Sira, and Lady Lurein, My Lord. I did a bit of research about these names, but I didn't find any information related to them. However, they have the seal of the Asghar family, which validates their status..." Relius answered, lowering his head even further.

‎Nemu rested his head on his fist with a distant gaze pointed at the door. He never heard those names, however, he also didn't know much about the families in Neva as his job was to bring chaos to the world. He didn't care much about mere human names, but he knew it was necessary.

‎"The Asghar family... I believe my brethren have a connection with them, but only through one of the children. There are plenty of them, so they could be connected to us or not," Nemu answered as he looked at the sunlight through the stained glass. "Why does it matter who they are? It's your daughter's coming-of-age ceremony, and you have enough demons to keep you safe here," he asked, staring down at Relius.

‎"Yes, My Lord. I believe these people might have known something about us. Should we be worried, My Lord?" Relius asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

‎Nemu thought for a moment, remembering that Rasmus had been oddly quiet ever since his arrival in Central Neva. He heard about what had happened from Yaza and Kiel, and he had anticipated Rasmus making a scene, and yet there was nothing.

‎"Rasmus Blackheart is nowhere to be found. The last sighting of him was in the Spring Forest," Nemu said as he slowly got up from the throne. "Yes, you should be worried even if he's not around. He has a deep grudge against humankind, especially this nation. I'll send a few more powerful demons to protect you and your family," he added as he walked past Relius and down the steps.

‎"Thank you, My Lord! Thank you!" Relius bowed his head repeatedly at Nemu. "I will bring the items now..." he said, and then looked at his wife, signaling her to bring it to Nemu.

‎Nemu watched Relius's wife walk toward the table where a big jewelry box sat on top of it. The wife hurriedly walked back with the jewelry box in her hands and offered it to him.

‎Nemu carefully opened the box and saw a big blood-red ruby inside. A ruby that was as big as his big palm, glowing when it basked in the sunlight. He carefully lifted it above his head and looked at it thoroughly.

‎"My late brother managed to keep it hidden and safe during the rebellion that the Blackheart family did. We also have filled it with more souls in the past decade, My Lord. We don't know how many souls there are inside it, but we are sure it should be more than a hundred thousand of the finest and purest souls," Relius stood behind Nemu with his head lowered.

‎Nemu hummed, and suddenly the atmosphere in the throne room became tense. Everyone began to tremble in fear as their knees became weak and collapsed to the floor. It was suffocating enough that their lungs felt like being squeezed the air out of them.

‎"Yes... this is sufficient..." Nemu's voice was no longer soft and gentle. His voice became haunting-almost. "This is indeed a precious gem," he said under his heavy breath

"My... Lord..." Relius said under his shaky breath.

Nemu glanced at Relius and his family, realizing that he had unconsciously released his power. He immediately sucked his demonic energy so that only he could see it, the amount of demonic energy that he oozed was almost like a sea of darkness in the throne room. He almost killed Satan's loyal followers.

"You have done a great service, King Relius and all your ancestors along with your lovely family..." Nemu said as he turned around storing the gem under his sleeve. "Name me one wish, and I will grant you what you want," he looked down at Relius and his family who were still on the ground, catching their breaths.

"We want power, My Lord... we want to be invincible. Make my sons to become the strongest warriors in this world, and give my daughter an eternal beauty..." Relius answered, bowing down.

"Hmm, that's not a problem," Nemu lifted his left hand and pointed it at Relius's children.

Demonic energy came out of his fingers and entered the children's bodies. They didn't feel a thing, not even a slight tingle on their bodies. He then glanced at Relius and his wife, giving them the same amount of demonic energy into their bodies.

"Done, your children will become the face of the future," Nemu said as he lowered his left hand. "And you two will become eternally healthy. No sickness, no curse, nothing could harm you, not even the sharpest blade," he added as he put his hands behind his back.

Their eyes lit up as they began to bow their heads down to the ground repeatedly. They were all thanking Nemu and showing how grateful they were nonstop. Nemu didn't care about their words since they were just expendables and tools.

"I will take my leave, you don't need to see me off," Nemu said as he walked away. His footsteps and the sound of soft clothes brushing against each other echoed the throne room.

Relius and his family kept bowing their heads as Nemu left the room.

Nemu walked in the spacious hallway where he was surrounded by windows with the view of beautiful gardens on both sides. Every step he took, he saw a reflection of a shadow on the window, and slowly but surely, there were two of the shadows in the reflection.

"Seeing you two here, that's rare..." Nemu said as he kept walking.

"Something happened..." A soft demonic voice was heard like a breeze of wind.

"A surge of power was released, a power that surpasses us," another demonic voice was heard, but this time from a different direction.

"You mean from the Spring Forest? We already know that," Nemu responded as he kept walking, and saw the servants running away when they saw him walking.

"No, this happens a week ago," the first demonic voice answered.

Nemu suddenly stopped moving, and his gaze was cold and distant so suddenly.

"Where?" Nemu asked.

"The Trivula Forest," the second demonic voice answered.

"Ah, that place..." Nemu glanced over his shoulder. "Since we got this gem, should we go and visit that place now?" He asked.

The shadowy figures in the reflections whispered into Nemu's ears that sounded like a soft whistle before they all disappeared into thin air. Nemu stood there for a moment, his gaze cold and empty before he began to walk again.