—–

So Lucifer was, in fact, the Dragon King all along?! The Dragon given the title of the leader and king of all Dragons within the continent. He was the leader of the Dragon Clan of Midgard.

Apparently, he had children and a wife, too. At some point, the Demon King, however, came looking for help in his territory…

“The Demon King you always talk about, how was he?” I asked.

“He was an unsuspicious man, very strange indeed. Sometimes I simply couldn’t believe he had the title of Demon King. But I knew he had a good-hearted personality and that deep down, he only strived for peace,” He explained.

“What did he look like?” I asked.

“Haha, you would be surprised by how his actual appearance was. He was no intimidating figure, nor any kind of monstrous being. He was but a human-sized demon with white skin, black horns, a long and pointy tail. He was a very classic-looking demon with no apparent unique features aside from the plainness of his own appearance… But within him, he held a strong conviction and an even stronger power dwelling inside of his soul,” Said Lucifer.

“Power…?”

“The first time we met, there was conflict right away….” Sighed Lucifer.

.

.

.

Back then, Lucifer lived within the mountainous regions of the Dragon Peaks, where he lived and governed his Dragon Clan in peace. The forests were bountiful, and there were always beasts and monsters to hunt for food. The mountains were large and held big caves. They could live comfortably there without issues.

He and the other dragons thought they had it for life. They would keep living peacefully and have good lives in this place, but the war that broke out made some of them nervous. Nonetheless, because they were so far away from civilization, they never considered that it would never affect them. And because they were so strong, there were very few things they could actually fear.

However, the Demon King one day showed up there, and conflict quickly broke out. He asked for the help of the Dragon Clan so he could defeat the Human Empire that was trying to take over his people. He was here merely to ask for help without giving anything in exchange to the dragons.

Obviously, this was incredibly selfish, and they disliked him right away. They fought the Demon King, and the dragons won, apparently fending him off of their territory.

“Never come back again!”

“If you come back, we won’t hold back anymore!”

“You’ll die by our hands!”

The Demon King was left alone. The dragons had not decided to help him despite the important task that was happening, and how he believed that even if they didn’t want to get involved, that war would naturally reach them and eventually force them to fight. If he could add them to the Demon Kingdom, then they could have a backup army and allies to ask for assistance, instead of simply being cornered by the humans and being killed one by one.

And that’s where Lucifer understood, as the Dragon King, that there was some truth in his words. He had gathered his dragons back then and asked them all what they believed, but because they were so obsessed with living in isolation only with their close family members, dragons were always against the idea of helping compete with strangers or outsiders.

“But if we don’t join this, the world itself will eventually force us to do so, and by that time… we’ll be hopelessly hunted down like beasts!” Shouted Lucifer.

“King, how could you even think about such a thing?”

“We dragons can fight back against whole armies,”

“You’re exaggerating. Don’t let the words of that Demon get through to you, King….”

Lucifer understood that he had to help the Demons win if he wanted to keep the peace of his clan. The relaxed life that they’ve been thoroughly enjoying.

Dragons were powerful, but there was always a bigger fish in a world where everyone could level up, gain skills, Jobs, and even evolve. That bigger fish on the human side was in the form of S-Rank Adventurers, superhumans with the power to take down Titans and Dragons, and even more, the terrifying Heroes, powerful Unique Skill users summoned from another world through a special yet costly ritual.

He knew that humans had more than one means to kill them if they wanted. Lucifer had fought humans this strong before, back when he was younger, and explored the outskirts of the territory, as he was chased down and almost killed by an S-Rank Adventurer that wanted to harvest him as mere materials. If it wasn’t because his father back then intervened and killed this human with his might, he would have gotten killed instead.

“Humans are stronger than you imagine! This is an opportunity to have an alliance with the Majin and finally become an official Nation… Isn’t being recognized as a nation what Father always wanted? Living isolated lives will never lead us into progress!” Exclaimed Lucifer.

However, most of the dragons couldn’t agree with him and flew away from his cave. On that day, only his family and close friends remained with him and his ideals. But he couldn’t possibly involve his wife and two children in this, these three people were the three precious treasures he could never risk, and perhaps, they were the reason he was so resolved into fighting and winning.

“I will come back after this is over. Take good care of them, Drakonia,”

“Lucifer… I know you’re doing this for us, but-”

“If I don’t do it, then who will do it? I love you… Please, be safe,”

“Take care… and don’t you dare die,”

“I won’t,”

As he saw his two little children sleep on their nest, his dragon wife licked Lucifer’s face and hugged him, and then, she saw him fly off into the skies, with his four close friends, the only allies he could bring with him, who were fighting for the same resolve.

That day, the Demon King’s castle was suddenly visited by five enormous figures in the sky.

—–