Chapter 209 208. Demon King Tchort.

[Azazel.] He said telepathically.

[Yes, your majesty, Tchort.] Azazel replied instantly, and the Demon King, Tchort, could imagine Azazel kneeling with his head on the ground.

[You have greatly disappointed me.] Tchort said with a nonchalant look on his face, and he could imagine Azazel trembling right at this moment. Of course, it was a pity that Tchort himself couldn't see that delightful sight.

[I, I, I have c-caused great inconvenience to your majesty.] Azazel said, stuttering.

[Your incompetence has foiled my plans; how are you going to take responsibility for it? Just because you are my contractor doesn't mean we are equals. If you don't remember, let me remind you, you are a "servant" while I am your "master." The contract was about "Trait exchange," and that was it.] Tchort said while grinning from ear to ear.

"Trait exchange" contracts are the type of contracts where a "trait" is exchanged, though it was more like copying. The traits which are exchanged are not the traits they gained with the help of the system, but their own unique trait. Whether a human, demon, elf, dwarf, or undead, these too can be considered as their own unique trait, and this can be exchanged with the help of the "Trait exchange contract." And it was also something Tchort himself made; it is the only one of its kind.

It was with the help of this contract that Tchort gained the "vampire" trait for himself and granted the "demon" trait to Azazel; of course, it was just a sham to get Azazel into signing the contract, since he, Tchort, was a Demon King, making somebody a demon wasn't that much of a big deal; he just needs a pinch of his own demonic energy to change somebody into a demon, and if it's a human, the task is a ton easier. Just thinking about how he got Azazel to sign the contract makes Tchort grin.

He had other uses for his "scapegoat," so he made him into a demon since no matter what, demons have to obey the Demon King, and that was ABSOLUTE.

[I, I remember it very clearly, your majesty Tchort. It is just that there is a certain man who has somehow managed to foil all of 'our' plans, I was thinking about how to make him come into my domain, so that I could kill him first and continue with the others, as if he is alive, he will do something and foil our plans again, thus I plea for your generosity, your majesty.] Azazel rambled, but the words "certain man" piqued Tchort's interest, as he too remembered a certain man who wasn't in any of his lives; he remembered meeting him in the Switch Academy, where Tchort had stayed to cure his boredom.

'Eshwar Frost, was he?' Tchort remembered being told that name the day before the challenge took place.

'He certainly is strong enough to foil my plans.' Tchort thought and trembled...

"!" Tchort's eyes went wide open when he realised the feeling he felt just now was fear. He then remembered Eshwar's glare when he mumbled "release" at the end of their fight; though the man in front of Tchort seemed extremely weak, that single word from his mouth sent shivers down to his very core at that time.

(AN: From ch 30: A Ranked Vampire (2).)

Eshwar's trait was something that could kill a vampire in a blink of his eyes, as he could just freeze a vampire entirely and push him off balance; that was all he had to do to kill any vampire he wanted. Tchort had made up his mind to kill that man that day, but he was forced to escape because the force behind his punch when he mumbled the word "release" had almost reached Tchort's heart. Because of the vampire trait he had gotten from Azazel, without a heart, he couldn't heal; hence, he was forced to retreat back then, but...

That was the one and only humiliation Tchort wasn't able to payback tenfold, that day he had ran like a coward with his tail between his legs, he, the Demon King was forced make a run for his life, there is no way in heaven that he would simply accept that, and he won't forgive Azazel for making him remember such unpleasant memories.

[You have exactly 21 days before the wave starts again. If you don't do something about that man by that time and continue on with the plan, I shall give you a very painful death; I swear it on my name as The Demon King Tchort.] Tchort warned and took the other way around since he knew that if he wanted to punish Azazel, then he would need a reason, that was purely because of that trait exchange contract where Tchort added, "I, Tchort, will not hurt 'Azazel' without a reason," he added that condition purely because of his curiosity and now, that was coming back to bit him, that condition was two sided, it was kind of reassurance that Azazel won't plot against him and make somebody else kill him, he had already experienced that kind of betrayal from other humans in one of his lives, so he added that condition, but now, he couldn't help but feel his anger raise to an uncertain level, making him want to kill Azazel even at the cost of having a tiny part of his soul getting destroyed.

The sky turned dark as if responding to his rage and started to rain profusely.

[Thank you for your generosity, your majesty.] Azazel thanked him.

[You may leave.] Tchort commanded.

[Yes, your majesty.] Azazel said and waited for Tchort to cut off the telepathic link.

"Tsk." Tchort clicked his tongue in annoyance and remembered Eshwar's face again, but he trembled this time too.

'Eshwar Frost!' Tchort muttered in his head and glared down at the human domain as thunder struck one of the human domain's still standing buildings.

"Haa..." He sighed and shook his head to dismiss his unnecessary emotions.

'I can't believe I got worked up over a pest.' He thought and grinned widely.

"Humans~ humans are so easy to manipulate, hehehe." He laughed ominously.

"Ah~ now that I think about it, wasn't there another human that I used to create a massacre? I wonder if he is still useful ~"

"Did he manage to kill off his sister? Well, let's go look for him, if he is still alive, I can use him to create more massacres." Tchort mumbled and disappeared from the cloud.

***

In Sector Seven.

In the middle of nowhere stood an almost broken, massive castle with many people rushing around; it seemed like they were preparing for something, as many were employing crimson-red hues to fix the castle, which was holding itself together with a thick network of blood-red tentacles.

One woman stood out even among all of those people bustling around; everywhere that woman walked, the people around her stopped whatever they were doing and bowed their heads to her while she ignored them as if they were mere bugs and continued to rush towards the giant door, which looked like it was screaming "crown room" with all the fascinating designs and jewels adorning it.

Instead of walking into the crown room, she swiftly walked past it and made her way towards a certain room that existed at the end of the long hallway she was walking in.

She arrived at the door, halted, took a deep breath, and opened that heavy door effortlessly. Behind the door was a red-haired, handsome man kneeling with his head on the ground. Next to him were a luxurious throne, a luxurious leg rest, and a fancy table with chess band pawns on it.

"...." She carefully walked into the room without making a single sound and stood behind the man with at least ten steps between them.

*

"Haa..." The red-haired handsome man sighed a sigh of relief, with cold sweat trickling down on his forehead.

SNIFF

He sniffed the air once and stood back up, walked towards his throne, and sat on it.

"You're here." Azazel said.

"Y-yes, your majesty." Mairéad flinched and replied.

"Prepare! Master is making haste; we have to kill White Swan, no, Eshwar, or we shall perish at the master's hands." Azazel commanded Mairéad, who was bowing her head.

"Yes, your majesty." She replied, but didn't move from that place.

"....What is it?" Azazel asked and frowned deeply.

"Yes, your majesty. From the human spy we had planted among the humans, we had received a report saying that White Swan had silvery eyes the last time he made his appearance." Mairéad reported and continued.

"We believe he was another person who imitated perfectly as White Swan; since even though 'White Swan' wore a white mask, he never intended to hide his identity as Eshwar from us. So, the pawns are thinking that it might be difficult to target Eshwar or White Swan directly, but instead we can simply target 'him' and bring him over here to bait Eshwar. If it's him, Eshwar will definitely come to his rescue." Mairéad said this and even gave her own opinion.

"Very well. Ask the Rook to move this time and ask him to bring him alive; if he is alive, even if Eshwar doesn't come to his rescue, we can still extract a ton of information from him." Azazel commanded.

"Yes, your majesty."