‘He seems strong,’ Ryuk thought, seeing how his hands were dodged, and above that, the sword he had prepared to use only met thin air as the figure vanished and landed at a distance.
“How dare a demon enter my land?” Ryuk called out, feigning anger and masking his own expression to appear enraged.
“….Are you Ryuk Devereaux?” Malphas inquired, his eyes glancing the young man up and down. The clothes he wore seemed to possess different types of abilities.
‘It’s an artifact,’ Malphas recognized the suit worn by the young man as a larger-grade artifact since it was able to conceal the young man’s presence.
Indeed, Malphas didn’t blink once, noticing how he was unable to sense any energy signatures from the young man. He took it as the work of the artifact worn by him instead of it being Ryuk’s ability.
Unbeknownst to him, the ability originally belonged to the young man, and the cloth only provide medium to conduct that power.
Malphas, unaware of such things, reached conclusions while analyzing things from a stranger’s perspective.
“Indeed, I am,” Ryuk stood, observing the devil in front of him. His eyes seemed to miss no openings while scanning for any irregularities.
First of all, if a demon of such demonic energy had arrived, it would have been impossible for Drishti not to notice. If she still hasn’t come, it only concludes that she’s currently observing him due to her growing interest.
Typically, appraisal and surveillance detection were done by the System, as without much strength of his own, Ryuk wasn’t able to do that himself.
“You seem stronger than last time I saw you,” Malphas remarked, playing with his finger on his chin while pondering the difference from the last time he met this individual.
‘….’ Ryuk observed him with confusion, though it didn’t show on his face.
He tried to recall if he had ever met this devil before. The devil’s confident tone only added to his confusion, as he couldn’t recall meeting him in this life or the past one.
“Can I know where we met?” Ryuk inquired, his hand tightening its grip on the sword.
If the answer was related to his past life, he would need to kill this devil here and now.
Ryuk was already pondering the arrival of Malphas and his search for him as a signal that he had some doubts about Belial being sent by him.
Though Ryuk was somewhat sure that the last time he spoke with Belial, he was in the devouring mist in Malevolia, and from his voice, it seemed everything went the way Ryuk wanted.
Of course, Ryuk was aware of how useful Belial was in ruining something, through interaction with him. This prompted him to intentionally give him the task of being caught and revealing Drishti’s name.
If the Demon queen sent a stronger army, then it would have been clear that she trusted Belial’s words, indirectly allowing him to gauge her IQ.
But now…
“You were three months or smaller at that time,” Malphas recalled an event that occurred on this same land a few years ago, where his master was saved by a woman holding the title of one of the strongest flagbearers.
At that time, the situation was something else, and now it was different.
“…I see,” Ryuk nodded, concluding that when he opened his eyes, he was in Heindal, so those three months couldn’t be about him after birth.
Thus, this devil was talking about when he was still in the womb.
Something which appeared indigestible and instigated his curiosity.
“Is Drishti Devereaux still the same as always?” Malphas inquired, glancing towards the battleship. His eyes pierced through any obstacles, tearing through any hard material before falling on a woman.
In that fleeting moment, Malphas’ gaze met with a woman seated on a small chair, her legs folded, and her hand casually supporting her chin as she looked back at him.
Malphas was a devil, higher-ranked than demons, and had the bloodline of an archdemon within him.
Fear would be the last thing his body would feel, but at that moment of sight collision, it were as though his body seemed to be thrown lifeless in front of a hungry beast, his heart crashing with mere shifts, and every fiber of his being screaming in fear as a sweat bead betrayed his calm demeanor, trickling down his forehead.
And of course, this didn’t go unnoticed by Ryuk, further prompting him to add, “Indeed, but I would like to know why you expect me to keep standing here while the demon queen has announced a war and not attack you?.”
Naturally, noticing that sweat bead on Malphas’ skin, Ryuk understood that Drishti was only held due to her interests, and she expected some show here but was definitely in a bad mood due to Malphas.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to just play along with her and give some show to entertain her.
But he at least needed to know the reason for Malphas to come here and also piece together what Malphas had said.
Esme once told him how the curse or infection spread across Titanora was a gift from Demon Queen Morana when, after being betrayed by someone, she had escaped to this land.
And from the conversation between Valhale and Esme, he had come to know how her father was killed by Devereaux Blair because he had supported Alisia Devereaux.
So, there could only be this time frame where the Demon queen could have met Alisia Devereaux.
But again, everything came down to a bigger confusion.
Alisia Devereaux was 120 years old or something, 98 years ago Esme’s dad died, and if it’s supposed that the Demon queen met Alisia at that time, then wouldn’t she be 22 years old?
The confusing fact was that Malphas just mentioned how Ryuk was only three or a few months old.
But wouldn’t he be born after many years?
He could think of Esme’s mother, possessing the Tenebri bloodline, halting her pregnancy, but a Devereaux?
Either way, this whole thing was confusing and had a single missing puzzle piece that needed to be fulfilled.
“Hm, indeed, I should leave this place, but take this,” Malphas spoke as he took out a red box from his suit, his white-gloved hands holding the box delicately as he passed it towards the young man who only glanced at it before lifting his hand to take it.
Ryuk wasn’t able to sense any anomaly or energy outside the box. Either way, he needed to at least receive the box since the way it was offered didn’t appear to be a rough packet that could just hold some poison or cursed item.
Not like anything like that would work on him.
‘…..’ Placing his hands in the red box, the fabric above appeared to be made of soft silk. Ignoring the fact he opened the box there without thinking much, his eyes not blinking once, his skin shrouded by a layer of ether in preparation for any surprise attack.
“This?” Opening the box, Ryuk’s eyes fell on a glass bottle filled with pink liquid, a heart-shaped glass cap on the bottle, with an aroma filling the surrounding space the moment it was opened, prompting him to lift his gaze towards Malphas and inquire, “What is this?”
Malphas finally fulfilled the duty assigned to him at the hands of the Demon queen, placing his hand on his chest slightly, nodding, and explaining to him, “It’s an aphrodisiac, My future Lord.”
“Huh?”
