As Noah spoke, the air around the Demon Lord did not just turn heavy. It turned into a vacuum.

Noah had no intention of letting the watching crowds or the distant eyes of the universe see his true hand.

He flicked his finger, and a silent, invisible domain expanded, isolating the two of them and the twelve generals from the rest of the world.

To the Emperor and the citizens, time seemed to freeze, the scene turning into a blurry, static image.

Inside the domain, Noah's expression remained cold.

He did not even look at the demon. Instead, he scratched Beelzebub behind the ears.

"Beelzebub," Noah murmured. "He's a bit too loud for a pet. Talk to him. Tell him his options are very limited."

"As you wish, master," Beelzebub replied.

The small black cat hopped off Noah's shoulder, landing softly on the cracked stone.

Suddenly, the cat's eyes shifted from a playful yellow to a deep, murderous crimson.

A voice that sounded like the grinding of tectonic plates erupted directly into Lucius's brain.

"Which noble lineage are you from, whelp?" Beelzebub's voice echoed with the weight of a thousand hells. "I am Beelzebub, the Progenitor of the Voraciel clan. Kneel before you lose the right to have legs."

The Great Demon, who had been preparing a wave of destruction to wipe out the Twelve Generals, froze.

His violet flames flickered and nearly went out.

The name Beelzebub was not just a name in the Demon Realm. It was a law. It was the Sin of Gluttony, a being that existed before the stars.

"Master Beelzebub?" Lucius's voice trembled inside his own mind.

The towering monster actually took a step back, his shadow wings folding in fear.

"Is it really you? I am Lucius, from the Yenine demon clan. I... I have been trapped here for a million years!"

Beelzebub's tail flicked with annoyance.

"Yenine? Isn't that clan under the Vexthar family rule?"

"Yes, Master!" Lucius answered, his voice filled with a sudden, desperate hope.

"The Vexthar family, the Sin of Greed, governs us. Thank you for coming here to rescue me! I knew the Royal Families would not forget a noble ancestor!"

Lucius felt a surge of joy.

He thought a Legend of the Demon Realm had come to save him from these strange humans.

But the next words from the cat turned his blood to ice.

"I am not here to save you, Lucius," Beelzebub said coldly.

"I am here to offer you a different path. Accept my master, Noah Aldric, as your supreme lord. Do so, and you will not only live, but you will taste an eternity you cannot imagine."

The silence that followed was thick with shock.

Then, Lucius's violet eyes turned dark with fury.

"What did you say?" Lucius roared mentally, his pride as a Great Demon exploding.

"You have taken a human as your master? A Progenitor Demon like you is serving a bipedal monkey? No wonder the other six Royal Families despise you! You are a shame on our race! You are a disgrace!"

Lucius began to struggle violently.

His demonic energy lashed out against the invisible walls of Noah's domain.

He wanted to break free, to tear this cat apart, and to feast on the human boy who dared to claim ownership over a demon.

"Master," Beelzebub sighed, looking back at Noah.

"He is the unruly type. We cannot be gentle with a Yenine. They are born of greed and pride. They only understand the foot on their throat."

Noah's eyes drifted toward Lucius.

"Oh. That's a shame."

Noah did not move his body, but he reached out with his will.

Deep within his soul, the Crown of Destruction pulsed.

He did not use his physical strength. He used a direct Law.

Instantly, Lucius felt the universe reject him.

It was not just pain.

It was the feeling of being erased from the pages of history.

Every cell in his twelve foot body began to vibrate, turning into grey dust that did not even fall to the ground.

It simply ceased to exist.

"NO!" Lucius screamed.

For the first time in a million years, he felt the cold breath of true death.

Normally, Lucius was cocky because he followed the "Source" law of high tier demons.

He had hidden his Life Source deep within a secret vault in the Demon Realm.

Even if his body was destroyed in this universe, he would eventually respawn back home.

But as Noah's power touched him, Lucius realized with horror that this human was reaching through the fabric of space and time.

Noah was not just killing his body.

He was tracking the spiritual thread back to the Demon Realm to delete the Source itself.

"Master Beelzebub! Stop him! I agree! I agree to everything!" Lucius shrieked.

"Please ask him to stop, or I will be gone forever!"

Noah smiled, but he did not pull back his hand.

The grey ash continued to spread up Lucius's legs.

"Sir! Please!" Lucius's massive body began to shrink as he tried to take up less space, trying to hide from the Law of Destruction.

Only when the grey dust reached the demon's heart did Noah stop.

He held his hand a single nanometer away from the final strike.

Lucius was shaking so hard his obsidian scales were rattling.

He almost collapsed.

"Now, little demon," Noah said, his voice echoing inside the domain like a god's decree.

"Give me your Source. I don't have all day to play with a stray dog."

"But... but Sir," Lucius panted, his voice a pathetic whimper now.

"My Source is not here. It is located in the Yenine Vault in the Demon Realm. I cannot pull it here across the void!"

Noah narrowed his eyes, sensing the truth in the demon's soul.

"Fine. Then you will sign this."

Noah waved his hand, and a contract written in golden and black ink appeared in the air.

It was not made of paper.

It was made of the Law of Destruction.

"This contract states that you will never betray me, you will follow every order, and you will hand over your Source the moment you regain access to the Demon Realm," Noah explained coldly.

"If you even think about breaking a single word, the Law of Destruction hidden in your soul will trigger. Your body here and your Source in the Demon Realm will vanish instantly."

Lucius did not hesitate.

Compared to total erasure, slavery felt like a gift.

"I sign! I sign!" Lucius shouted.

He pressed his demonic seal onto the contract.

As the contract vanished into his chest, the towering, terrifying Great Demon began to glow with a soft light.

To hide his identity from the world, Noah forced a transformation.

The twelve foot tall monster with shadow wings and horns shrank down.

His red skin turned into soft white fur.

His terrifying horns vanished.

A moment later, a small, fluffy white puppy with a wagging tail stood where the Demon Lord had been.

"Much better," Noah said.

With a snap of his fingers, the domain vanished.

The Emperor and the citizens suddenly felt time snap back into place.

They blinked, their eyes adjusting to the light.

They expected to see a bloodbath.

They expected to see the Demon Lord tearing the Twelve Generals apart.

Instead, the sky was clear.

The purple darkness was gone.

The jagged cracks in the ground remained, but the terrifying Great Demon had vanished without a trace.

Standing in the center of the square was Noah Aldric, looking perfectly calm.

At his feet, a small white puppy was yapping playfully, chasing its own tail.

"What... what happened?" the Emperor stammered, his golden shield fading.

He looked around frantically.

"Where is the Demon? Where is the catastrophe?"

"He was loud, but his foundation was weak," Noah said, sounding slightly bored.

"My generals and I sent him back to the void he came from. He won't be returning."

The square was silent for three seconds.

Then a roar of cheering erupted.

Thousands of people began to scream Noah's name.

The "thief" and "commoner" was now the savior of the Empire.

The emperor looked at the Twelve Generals, then at Noah.

He realized that if Noah wanted to take the throne right now, no one could stop him.

The smartest thing to do was to make this boy an ally at any cost.

"Sir Noah," the Emperor said, bowing his head slightly, a gesture that shocked every noble present.

"You have saved Aetherion. You have saved my life. The Sorus family's lies were a stain on this crown. Kael Sorus is dead, and the truth is clear."

The Emperor waved his hand, and a royal scroll appeared.

"By my authority, Noah Aldric is hereby recognized as the legal and sole heir to the Sorus Estate."

"Not only that, but for your service today, I wish to grant you the title of Grand Duke of the Empire, with lands second only to the Royal Family."

The crowd gasped.

A Duke was a ruler of stars.

A Grand Duke was nearly a king.

Noah looked at the scroll and then at the white puppy, Lucius, who was currently biting his shoe.

"The Duke title sounds like a lot of paperwork," Noah said casually.

"I will stick with being the Count for now. I like the Sorus estate just the way it is."

"However, I expect the Empire to stay out of my business."

The Emperor nodded frantically.

"Of course! Anything you require!"

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