King of succubus

424  Zakiel and Tifania's report.

"Now that the precarious tasks are settled; let's move on to the main subject." He speaks soberly without worrying about the complex eyes of others.

He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

His action revealed Elena's scarlet red Crystal.

Seeing the crystal, everyone ignores Isaolet and focuses on him.

"My lord, this crystal is... what I believe?" Zakiel asks in a heavy tone.

"Yes, an enemy emissary brought it to me. But this detail is not important. Zakiel, tell me instead what happened during your mission." Alvine then gives this order.

Zakiel, for his part, closed his eyes followed by Alvine and all the other shadow soldiers.

"??" Curious to know the reason for their mysterious actions, Tifania and Isolet also close their eyes.

Immediately, the two found themselves in a dimension specific to Zakiel, with Alvine and the others floating next to him.

Zakiel immediately begins his report. "After leaving this place, Lady Tifania and I are directed to the place most likely to host the stolen crystal; one of the largest and most senior among the planets managed by members of the order; the N•6 detention center." Throughout his explanation, the topography around them changes.

Alvine and the others found themselves in the middle of the space vacuum, floating in front of a particularly large planet that stood out for its greenery.

"...This is the planet where Elena and Askald were prisoners, yet I destroyed it," Alvine mutters in a thoughtful mood.

"Indeed, this planet may look like the planet you are referring to, but it's not the same. They tried to regenerate the planet so it could have its former sealing powers, but it wasn't a total success." Zakiel answers the question that somewhat worried his lord.

Then, he then continued after noticing Alvine's nod.

"At first glance, the planet seems to be at hand; but this wasn't the case. The planet has in it... a hell’s gate."

"...A hell’s gate, you say? Like a black hole?"

Zakiel nods at Alvine's hypotheses, who wanted confirmation.

"Yes, that's it, my lord. If you'll allow me, I'd first like to show you our journey before explaining the details and my opinion."

"So do it."

As soon as Alvine gave his consent, the environment around them changed once again; under Zakiel's supervision.

Alvine and the others found themselves on the planet; they were like spectators watching a cinema in augmented reality mode.

Zakiel and Tifania, who had just arrived on the greenish planet were suspicious for several reasons.

"This planet is strange," Tifania whispers these words while looking around her with bright red eyes which shone like two small blood moons in her orbits.

"Indeed, I find that our entry was too easy. In addition, the absence of the guards worries me more than...?" He stops with questioning eyes.

He looks under his feet while frowning.

Feeling that her colleague had discovered something, Tifania follows his example and looks at the herbaceous ground under her feet.

But her eyes, which could even be beyond obstacles, saw something more worrying.

"Is such a thing...possible?" She stutters with confused eyes.

Zakiel didn't answer her question, being obsessed with what he saw underground.

Hundreds KM under their feet, the core of the planet that was supposed to be present wasn't there.

Instead of a core, it was a black hole swirling under their feet, in the middle of a planet.

"It's a hell’s gate, right?" Tifania mutters with furrowed eyebrows.

"Probably. I think I now know why we landed here with so much ease." Zakiel answers her question.

But the agitation could be perceived in Tifania's eyes. "The hell’s gates are wildly unstable, and their explosion won't even spare people like us."

"It's not the time to panic, Lady Tifania; it seems that our enemies have prepared a somewhat worry trap for us." Zakiel's eyes were always as cold as usual as he uttered these words.

But unlike him, Tifania's anchored face contradicted his; especially when she heard Zakiel's words. "We must withdraw from here and--

"It's a bad idea. Opening a three-dimensional portal could influence this gate. This will probably lead to its destruction." Zakiel interrupts her before she finishes her sentence.

"I know that, but maybe we can fly in the sky and try to pierce the barrier that covers the planet. The danger won't be ruled out, but we will still be sure to have enough strength to fight against those who are waiting for us outside."

Hearing Tifania's proposal, Zakiel couldn't help but look at her momentarily.

'Her proposal is surely the right and most reasonable. I felt some intelligence scouts’ presence since we approached this planet, but I did not expect our enemies to remain on hold.

-Above us, there's probably an army waiting for us on foot. In addition, even if this barrier is not powerful enough to eternally retain two supreme beings, it's strong enough to force us to spend a large amount of magical energy if we want to make a piercing.

As soon as we leave, our enemies will attack us without respite; there is even a high probability that they'll capture Lady Tifania and extract information about us.

-But if we decide to stay here, the Lord will probably send other subordinates who will fall into the same net as we are currently. I'd not worry at this level if the lord was still as cold and detached from his feelings as before. But now, ...in any case, it's the worst decision to make.' Zakiel's brain turned like an ionic engine as he tried to find a parade.

After a minute of long silence, he gets up on the ground and looks straight into Tifania's eyes. "We'll cross the gate under our feet."

"...What are our chances of surviving if it ever explodes?" Tifania seemed to have had the same idea as him after careful consideration; hence her unexpected cold blood.

A satisfying little smile appears stealthily on Zakiel's lips when he sees her cool blood. He then turns his eyes away from her and focuses on the black hole buried under their feet.

"I'm not as competent as Shadow when it comes to the power of space. But from what I see, this gate is as destructive as one of my lord’s weakest arcane."

"Do you mean we will have a chance to... overcome?"

"A chance to survive? No, not even a nano percent."

"..."

"But you should know that since you had been a victim of one of his arcane." Zakiel continues without changing his expression; which led Tifania to wonder if he was teasing her or not.

'What a strange guy. Although I've been traveling with him for a few months, I still can't know what he thinks; he's like his master’s shadow.' Tifania whispers in her mind.

She then shakes her head, knowing that it was not the ideal time to take care of trivial details.

"...I see. I had asked the wrong question. The right question would rather be to know is... Our chances are how many percent if we want to cross this unstable portal without triggering its explosion?" She then asks.

"...I don't know, but it's the only option available to us. In addition, I can feel the monarch Askald's energy flow inside this portal; we must cross it, not only for our good but also to accomplish my lord's mission." Zakiel retorts in a sober and relentless voice.

"Hehe~, I feel like you're reading my thoughts."

With this last flashback, Alvine and the others found themselves in the throne room.

As Zakiel had announced, he showed what he wanted his lord to see.

But despite everything, a mystery always remained in suspense to be elucidated.

'They returned safe and sound; it remains to be seen whether they were able to cross this black hole or adapt to other schemes.' Alvine mutters in his mind while looking at Zakiel; waiting for the latter to continue her report.

But instead of continuing his report, the latter nods his head towards Tifania.

Seeing Zakiel's signal, Tifania gets up from her chair and takes out a red pyramidal crystal, similar to the one that floats around Alvine and Isolet, in her space ring.

Seeing the crystal in Tifania's hands instead of Zakiel's, Alvine frowns towards the latter.

**I had taken my precautions before giving it to her. If she had tried to flee with the crystal, the spell I had placed on the crystal would've allowed me to locate her; no matter where she'll go with it.** Zakiel gives this explanation to Alvine by telepathy.

'...I see, he wanted to see if we could trust this woman or not. Decidedly, my subordinates are starting to look more and more like me.' Alvine couldn't help smiling ironically when he heard Zakiel's justifications.

"This black hole intrigues me; did you learn anything special about its caster after crossing it?" Alvine asks while attracting Askald's crystal to him with his gravitational magic.

impossible for me to cross it without triggering its explosion; her spatial powers exceed mine."

13:49

"Hoho? That's surprising. But understand one thing, our enemies didn't intend to kill you or capture Zakiel shakes his head. "It was difficult to cross it; without Lady Tifania's help, it would have been impossible for me to cross it without triggering its explosion; her spatial powers exceed mine."

"Hoho? That's surprising. But understand one thing, our enemies didn't intend to kill you or capture you; their objective had to be something else."

"..."

Alvine's assertions made everyone confused in the room; especially Zakiel and Tifania who had lived through the ordeal.

But unfortunately for them, he didn't explain. "Well, for now, everything’s going according to the initial plan; even if there have been some complications."

He stores the two crystals in his shadow before continuing "Our enemies likely have one or more allies in peak supreme ranks."

Tifania frowns. "How can you be sure of it?"

"Because of this black hole. It's not an ordinary spell or an enchantment, but probably a higher supreme arcane; also called universal arcana or other strange names." Alvine mutters soberly.

But his answer didn't go unnoticed in the ears of others.

"But, milord, how can you be sure that the caster of this spell is a high-ranking supreme entity!? Even your two monarchs' father doesn't have such a high rank. Plus, I've never heard about someone reaching this rank." Tifania speaks with her heart overwhelmed by confusion.

Alvine sighs slowly. "Tifania, what do you know about supreme beings? You are not old enough to understand certain things; I had fought five entities that had this rank."

"Huh!? Are you saying you were at a higher rank than the superior supreme rank?" She asks with a ridiculous smile.

Alvine pets Isolet's head and expresses himself. "Not only me, even Isolet, who's present with us claimed to have reached this rank five times in a row."

"...This little girl?" Tifania's eyes looks at Isolet, who was humming under Alvine's petting, with skepticism.

"A little girl? Isolet's soul is almost the same age as mine; will I dare to believe that you come from the same era as us?" Alvine asks with a sneaky smile.

"...Sigh, that explains a lot of things; especially her familiarity with you." Tifania had a blank expression as she difficultly articulate these lines.

She was curious to know more, but just by seeing Alvine's expression, she knew that it was not the right time.

"Alright. For now, that will be all. There are other topics to discuss, but we'll talk about them later." As soon as he said, Shadow and his clone suddenly appear in front of him.

Shadow had wrinkles under his eyes because of his exhausted look; his clone was no better either.

"My lord, I've gathered...everyone." Shadow's voice was rock as if he had just passed the gates of hell.

Alvine was ruthless, he passed the most boring task he was supposed to take care of to his clone and his subordinate.

"Sh-Shadow; what happened to you?" Heepha asks with confused eyes.

Shadow ignores Heepha's question and waits for Alvine's answer.

"You did a good job, Shadow. I know you're exhausted, but you'll assist me a little bit more."

"Uh! If these are your orders, I've no choice but to respect them."

Alvine's smile became sneaky when he heard Shadow's answer. "Shadow, I feel like I'm forcing you to obey me."

"...That's not the case, my lord; it's just that...

"Well, it's perfect then."