I WAS The Rank–1 Hero-Chapter 111: Concequence

Location: Somewhere around Tartarus; Demon Continent.

Time: Present (same time as the special training session).

….

In the midst of the dense land surrounded by spiky mountains, the top was covered in thick black fog, the full moon cascading over the borders of a grand castle.

The large blocks of brick walls were completely black, mirroring the atmosphere outside.

The rooms in the castle had yellow lights emitting from the glass windows. The castle was three stories tall, and the walls stretched across 2 sq. km. Each tower surrounding the castle was guarded by demons holding weapons and artifacts.

For a castle guarded and maintained by demons and monsters, it was extremely luxurious inside and out. Even the fortress of the five kingdoms seemed insignificant in front of this.

For as long as the demon continent existed, it was ruled by a single entity. There were a total of five kingdoms, each with a different elemental affinity, mirroring the human continent.

But unlike the human continent, which was divided into five kingdoms with five different kings ruling them, the demon continent was different. There was no such division, but there were commanders, mainly of high status, ruling under the hands of that single entity who controlled it all.

Leaving those matters aside, there was some kind of hustle going on inside the grand demon castle.

Inside the castle, in a spacious grand hall with no roof above, as moonlight brightened the space with its white hue, ten figures were seated in long stone-backed chairs—five on both sides of a violet carpet, forming a runway leading to a humongous throne.

The figure on the throne was distorted, unclear, as it seemed to be covered in black mist. Its face was hidden. But its body—just a mere glance at it, and anyone could conclude that the being seated on the throne was someone of power equivalent to a god.

A voice rang throughout the grand hall, catching all ten figures' attention.

"Nathalia."

He called out one name seated among the ten. Nathalia, whose vision was covered by a blue blindfold, lifted her head toward the throne.

Parting her lips and bowing her head slightly, she spoke up.

"Yes, my lord, Amadeous."

Nathalia addressed the entity on the throne by calling his name—Amadeous, the one whose mere existence shifted the power balance between the gods.

A mortal who ascended to the realm of gods, now holding power that even rivals the supreme god 'Ylthea', governor of authority 'Paradox,' and the creator of this universe.

Amadeous was the reason the demon continent developed this far, even surpassing some of the technologies humans could still only dream of.

Amadeous, despite his face being covered in black mist, was predictable to Nathalia. She could already guess what he was about to ask.

"Why did you let go of those human pups?"

The other nine members flinched at that question. Despite some being Fallen and Dragonite, they were unable to withstand the pressure Amadeous was emitting.

And looking directly at him?—not a chance. None of them were able to muster the strength to look straight at him, except for one.

Nathalia looked directly at Amadeous's face, her expression unreadable even to all the others present here.

She joined her hands in a praying position, and her angelic wings shook for a second before she answered.

"I apologize for going against your orders, my lord, but…"

Silence fell over as some of them flinched.

No one had ever dared to contradict Amadeous before, except her. They still didn't know the reason why even their ruler allowed her to oppose 'his' statement.

Only Nathalia was the one who could look at 'him.' Only she had the strength to do so. After all, she was the last 'Fallen Angel' in existence.

And she even held a Deity as a personal maid. She was an anomaly herself. Her very existence was a mystery to the other nine.

In the past, some even dared to dig deeper into her origins, but… they were all found missing afterward.

There were ridiculous rumors surrounding her—that she was a mistress of 'him.' Otherwise, why would 'he' give her such freedom?

Nathalia, pausing for a brief moment, continued.

"...my god Oneiro, assigned me a direct command to let those human pups go."

Murmurs spread across the grand hall among the other nine members. They knew exactly what Nathalia meant. It was called 'A Divine Call,' given directly to Apostles by their Gods.

That was all they knew, but the current location of the Gods was still unknown.

Some believed that the gods had grown tired and used their Apostles to create a friendly arena between them. Others believed the gods had long perished. Some even went as far as to believe that they had created a new universe, abandoning the current one.

But in reality, none of them were correct—not even a tiny bit.

Where the Gods were currently and what they were up to was something far beyond their tiny minds could comprehend.

No one could even begin to guess what a god was planning.

But one thing was certain. Unlike in history, gods now had no direct control over this world, nor did they interfere with anything.

That's why they had chosen their Apostles, blessing them with a portion of their Authority so that the disputes between them could continue even among mortals.

The number of beings aware of Authority Holders and the Gods was only a select few in the human domain, but they were vast in the Demon domain.

This was evident in the fact that no kind of religious church existed among humans to worship the thirteen gods—heck, they didn't even know that these gods once existed.

Only a few legendary stories remained as fairy tales, with only minute traces of remembrance, which were quickly forgotten after reading them once.

Tapping his fingers on the handle of his throne, Amadeous thought for a moment before 'he' spoke.

"Hmm… Oneiro ordered this…?"

A brief pause—the way 'he' called Oneiro, the God of Dreams, the one who bestowed 'his' authority over Nathalia, was as if Amadeous was of equal position as 'him.'

Nathalia, however, kept her mouth shut. She was a clever one, with the ability to handle a particular problem in hundreds of ways, all reaching the conclusion she wished for.

But before anyone could speak, a Fallen with black wings, blond hair, and green eyes, seated on the fourth seat, spoke up hesitantly.

"I-If I may, my lord…"

Amadeous turned his gaze to him, making the Fallen shudder.

"...T-There was a slight interference two days ago."

He tapped on a transparent cube in his hand, and after he did, a large transparent screen popped up from it.

It displayed a portion of a map, mapping the southern portion of the demon continent, where the human kids had been teleported.

As the screen popped up, all the eyes present inside the grand hall moved toward it.

They all seemed curious, but Nathalia, however, knew what he was about to show.

Amadeous called out the Fallen's name.

"Riven."

After hearing his name called from his lord's mouth himself, Riven, the Fallen with black wings and blond hair, spoke with excitement.

"Y-Yes, my lord."

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Amadeous continued.

"That's some keen senses. Well done."

Nobody understood why their lord praised Riven. They kept analyzing the map he had shown, where at a certain area, there seemed to be a large density of Essence pointed out. To be fair, in the demon continent, such a thing was ordinary—even a Fallen was able to emit Essence greater than the one displayed on the map.

So… why was he getting praised for it?

Was there something they missed? They all thought the same thing.

Riven, however, his expression changed to pure joy. Being praised by his lord himself was truly a blessing for him.

Hesitantly, he lowered his head.

"I-I did my best…"

Amadeous turned to Nathalia and inquired.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Nathalia seemed to be quiet for a second. A grin crept onto Riven's face.

Holding in his laughter, Riven thought.

What you gonna do now, bitch?

He was always frustrated by the fact that Nathalia got special treatment from their lord, so this time, he was going to let her know her place.

The others were still processing what was on the map.

Composing her tone, Nathalia explained.

"The shift in Essence flow in that region was due to another Authority Holder."

"...!"

Riven was shocked, and not just him—all the others as well.

Another Authority Holder? What bullshit?! Riven cursed.

There was no way this could be true.

How could there be an Authority Holder here? Their existence was limited, and their appearance was rare.

They had only known Nathalia and Lilith, her maid, as Authority Holders.

And their powers were beyond anyone they had ever seen in their life.

And now—there was another one in the demon continent?

Never minding the silence, Nathalia continued.

"The humans had not one, but two Authority Holders with them."

"...!"

"...!"

The more she spoke, the more shocked the others became.

T-This has to be a lie! There's no way my lord will believe it—

Riven's thoughts were cut short by Amadeous.

"I sensed it too."

The moment he spoke, everyone else's faces turned pale.

Amadeous now seemed more lost in thought. His voice echoed throughout the hall. He was about to call off today's gathering.

"Today's contact ends here—"

But Riven, before he even realized it, cut off Amadeous's words.

Everyone turned to Riven, their faces telling him that he was now done for.

Even Riven himself didn't believe that he had dared to do this.

Amadeous spoke in his usual tone.

"Speak."

Riven flinched. He stood up, bowing his head to the ground, groveling as if his life was about to end.

"I-I deeply apolo—"

"I didn't ask for your apology."

Amadeous's voice was serious, looming with authority and power. The pressure around the hall intensified.

"..."

Sweat dripped from the black-winged Fallen's head as he stuttered.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

What would he do now? He had subconsciously cut off his lord's words—he didn't really mean to. But he had his reasons, and a solid one at that. Every one here might have had the same question as Riven after hearing Nathalia's last answer.

So… Riven asked.

"Nathalia just said that there were two Authority Holders on the humans' side…"

He was breathing heavily.

'...Isn't Nathalia and her maid Authority Holders too? Then why did they let them go?"

It was a valid question. Why did they let them go? Their numbers were the same on both sides, so they must have been equally powerful, and knowing Nathalia's achievements, she must have won the battle.

With this question in everyone's mind, all of them turned to Nathalia.

Nathalia, who was expecting this, smiled internally. They were all—all nine of them—playing into her hand the entire time. Her main objective was to get someone to ask this specific question.

Lifting her head, she answered.

"It was something to do with one of them possessing a certain authority…"

A pause. They all waited for her to finish.

"...Because one of them was a wielder of Paradox."