The Author's POV

"It looks like another talented one has arrived."

His gaze landed on a human girl with long, glossy black hair and thin lips. By demon standards, she could be considered quite beautiful, though the Prince had no interest in her.

There were other things that piqued his interest, and that was not one of them.

The fact that her powers affected a large area was one of the things that piqued his interest and was something he could not allow to continue.

She needed to be disposed of before she became a serious problem for his plan.

In fact, everyone who belonged in the group she was in need to be taken care of.

"Let's see."

His eyes swept over the three women before pausing on the elderly man. He was the strongest of the group by far. His strength was comparable to that of a young Prince, and he posed the greatest threat.

He was not a significant threat to him, but he could still affect his plans, so he had to be dealt with first. 

Swoosh—!

Prince Konjak was a decisive individual. The moment he figured out what he needed to do, he set himself into motion.

Taking a step forward, he appeared right before the group.

"Humans."

He called out in a soft voice. His sudden appearance startled them, but not significantly. They appeared to have somewhat anticipated his imminent arrival.

This was good…

"There's no need to panic. I mean no harm… as of yet."

The Prince's voice was amicable. 

With a calm smile on his face, he addressed the four people in front of him.

"If possible, I would like to avoid killing you all. You are all incredibly talented in your own right, and it would be a shame to kill you all, so I am here to propose an offer officially. One, I'm sure you won't be able to refuse." 

Bringing his hand forward, three contracts appeared in his hand.

"I'm certain I don't have to explain to you all what these are, so how about it? Will you join my side? …I really don't want to kill such talented people."

While he brought the contract forward, the others gazed at the contracts before turning to face him. The shortest of them, the woman with orange hair, spoke with a frown on her face.

"I don't think you've done the proper math."

She turned to look behind her.

"There are four of us, but only three contracts. Do you seriously believe you will be able to recruit all of us if you cannot even count?"

"About that…"

The Prince smiled.

"It wasn't a mistake."

"What?"

"There's no mistake in the number of contracts that I'm offering."

The Prince repeated himself, his gaze falling on the elderly man.

"In the end, I've decided to offer three contracts to the three of you, excluding him. He is already past his prime and has reached his limit. I have no use for a person whose limit only amounts to this much. There are many other demons with more talent than him that I can recruit." 

Demons lived for a very long time. 

Much more than humans did, and the human in front of him seemed to at most have fifty years left in his lifespan. 

It wasn't short, but it certainly wasn't very much by demon standards.

Furthermore, he had reached the peak of what his powers could reach.

Simply put, he wasn't worth nurturing or bringing to his side. He had many other subordinates that were of his caliber, if not even better than he was.

"Don't worry, humans."

Seeing a noticeable change in the human's expressions, the Prince spoke up.

"I won't kill him. I can tell you care for him, so I'll keep him alive. Though he's useless, he's still quite strong. Perhaps I'll have him serve as some instructor or cleaner for—"

Boom—!

Before the Prince could finish his sentence, he was attacked by a terrifying force. The force was powerful, shattering everything nearby, but the Prince effortlessly repelled it by raising his hand to block it.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see a faint reflection of himself on the blade that had struck him.

"Hasty, aren't we?"

The Prince's gaze fell on the human girl with orange hair. 

Her expression was menacing, and a strong surge of mana emanated from her sword, which was held by the Prince's two fingers.

"You're not bad."

The Prince commented, feeling the power contained within the sword.

"However…"

Flick!

With one flick of his finger, the sword shut up, and he appeared before the orange haired girl. With his hand pressed against her abdomen, he mumbled.

"I don't like it when I'm interrupted."

Boom—!

Her body flew off into the distance, colliding with one of the closest dunes with a muffled thud, and sand flew into the air.

Since he hadn't gone all out, she was most probably still alive. 

Woom—! Woom—!

"Oh, my."

Immediately after her body was flung, the Prince was confronted by a series of formidable forces, which he also handled with ease.

Waving his hand, an arrow, a whip, and a complex spell stopped in front of him.

The Prince's brows furrowed as he shifted his gaze toward the perpetrators while observing each of the attacks in front of him.

Xiu! 

He was about to speak when the space behind him began to tremble, and the arrow that had been floating in front of him vanished, only to reappear behind him.

"Uh?" 

Just as he was about to react to the unexpected situation, a figure appeared next to him.

It was the orange-haired girl whom he had thrown not too long ago. 

Swoosh—! 

Her blade slashed through the air at a rate considerably faster than she had previously demonstrated. Upon seeing her, the prince frowned and veered off to the side, narrowly escaping the arrow that had appeared beside him. 

Although it didn't pose a threat to him, catching the arrow dead-on would still hurt. 

"Your struggle is meaningless." 

Touching the side of the blade that was heading his way, the blade's direction changed, and the orange haired girl stumbled forward. 

Twamp! 

"Akh!" 

The Prince took advantage of the opportunity and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying through the air. 

Just as he believed it was over, he felt a gentle force beside him, and an amethyst hue surrounded him.

"Stop it." 

That hue stopped dead in its tracks before it could even touch him. His eyes wandered toward the woman with purple eyes, and he shook his head.

"I don't understand. I offered you a good deal; why won't you take it?"

The deal was rather good. 

In exchange for sparing them, they were going to work for him. In his life, he had never mistreated his subordinates and had given them a lot of benefits.

What these humans in front of him were doing was, to say the least, stupid.

…and the Prince didn't like stupid subordinates.

His earlier enthusiasm for them quickly dissipated, and his eye flashed with ferocity.

"You know what? Nevermind. I'm no longer interested in taking the lot of you as my subordinates."

The devil contracts that floated in the air beside him dispersed into thousands of particles, and the Prince's terrifying power began to emerge.

He brought his hand forward and opened his palm. The very air around him came to a sudden standstill, and demonic energy burst out of his body, encircling the entire area around them. 

"Since that's the case, I no longer have the need to keep you alive. Say goodbye to—huh?"

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Cutting the Prince off, the entire pillar began to shake violently. Not only slightly, but the entirety of the structure shook, and as a consequence, several dunes dispersed in all directions.

"What's going on?!"

The Prince was obviously startled by the situation, as evidenced by the serious expression on his face as he looked skyward.

'For something like this to happen… is it his majesty? No, but he can directly go in… just who in the world…'

He didn't have to wait for long to get an answer.

Cr…Crack—!

The sky above cracked at that moment, and within seconds of that happening, a glass shattering sound spread throughout every inch of the world, revealing a large fissure that covered the entire sky.

At that moment, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and raised their heads to look at the sky.

Toward the large fissure that had appeared above. 

"What's happening?"

"W,what is that…"

It was only natural that panic and shock spread across the world.

What lay beyond the fissure was a far-off blue sky, which stood in stark contrast to the sky that existed within the world that was contained within the Pillar.

That, however, wasn't what drew the attention of those beneath. 

"Look!"

"There's someone coming out from the fissure!?"

Indeed, what appeared to be a hazy black figure emerged from within the gap in the sky, slowly floating in the air as if it were levitating.

Because of his presence, the entire atmosphere of the world shifted, and many people found that they were unable to breathe or look up at the sky at that particular moment.

There was something eerie about the figure… 

Something unexplainable and extremely chilling.

He didn't do anything unusual; he just floated there in the air and did nothing but look down at the world. But for some reason, anyone who looked at him could only feel the onset of their own death. 

He… 

He didn't seem too different from death itself.

"Who do I have the pleasure of meeting."

In front of the figure, Prince Konjak materialized out of thin air. He was unafraid, in contrast to the other people there. Even though the hazy figure gave off a frightening amount of energy, the Prince had complete faith in his own physical prowess.

He didn't think he would lose.

"Is there anything that you wish from me?"

Prince Konjak asked politely. 

His expression was one of happiness, and he appeared calm and collected in general. It was obvious that this was merely a pretense, as his body was tense. 

It was indeed true that he held some confidence in his strength, but that didn't mean he would come out of the fight unscathed. 

There was a high chance he could get crippled as a result of the fight, and if he could, he'd love to avoid such a scenario at all costs.

"Are you someone sent by his ma—"

"I'm not."

The figure eventually spoke, and his quiet voice reverberated throughout the area where the two of them were. 

Rumble—! 

A tremor ran through the sky, and out of nowhere, a sword materialized in his hand.

Tip pointed at the Prince; the figure opened his mouth again.

"I only need one thing."

He said, his cold voice drifting in the space like soft whispers.

"…For you to die."

SHIIING—!

As his words faded, the world around Prince Konjak began to turn upside down. Soon after, he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be his body, and he wondered to himself. 

'…Is that my body?'