The Damned Demon

In the royal meeting hall, there was a long and wide oval jet-black marble table with at least a dozen dark ivory-colored chairs surrounding it.

The entire hall was big and spacious, with lines of servants and maids standing inside, making sure everything was in order.

Such meticulous preparation happened every day once since not only the queen but the royal members would be sitting together to eat and discuss any important matters concerning the House.

Despite all of them being members of the same house, this was considered a formal occasion unofficially.

The doors on the front opened as Seron, Rebecca, Oberon, and Silvan entered. Seron, Rebecca, and Oberon had their backs straight, and chin raised as they walked towards the table without glancing at anybody else.

Just their rigid and intimidating expressions, especially that of Rebecca and Oberon, were enough to make the servants in the hall shudder as they made sure to not even accidentally make a mistake lest they invite trouble upon their heads.

Comparatively, they were fond of Prince Silvan, who didn't seem scary as his family and had a pleasing demeanor.

Just as they took their seats, the large doors opened, and everybody immediately kneeled on their right knee upon the arrival of their queen and her entourage, which included Ceti and the Bloodborn Guards.

Her handmaiden pulled up the chair for her as Rowena sat down while Seron and his family got up to bow to her before taking their seats.

Oberon's eyes shivered briefly upon seeing her intoxicating beauty. Just thinking about how that filth laid hands on her yesterday was enough to not let him sleep the entire night.

Silvan and Ceti exchanged brief smiles before he made himself comfortable in his seat while Ceti stood on the side.

The moment Rowena picked up her cutlery, Seron and his family followed as well before starting to eat.

If Asher saw this, he would be surprised by how extravagant the dishes were. Even if vampires only needed blood to survive, he knew the nobles ate solid and delicious-looking food as a symbol of their status.

The atmosphere was strangely silent, especially since everyone here clearly remembered what happened yesterday, and they couldn't even tell what the queen was thinking.

Right after Rowena finished eating, Oberon leaned his head forward and asked respectfully, "Your Majesty…how is the royal consort doing?"

Ceti raised one of her brows upon hearing his question. She thought he would be the last person to give any importance to the consort, especially after getting insulted by him.

Rebecca furrowed her brows, wondering why her son would be wasting his energy asking about the well-being of that cripple. However, knowing her son, she remained silent, thinking he was doing this for a reason.

Seron shot a glance at Oberon as if he was anxious about what he was up to.

Rowena lifted her gaze and said briefly, "He is fine."

Oberon slightly curved his lips and said, "Good to hear that, but…forgive me if I am overstepping here, but I think the royal consort could use some fresh air. Maybe he isn't having a good time here," As he said this, he looked at his father and squinted his eyes.

Silvan, who was sitting beside his brother, rubbed his cheek as he looked on with a focused gaze.

Rowena pulled together her brows as she said, "What are you talking about?"

Seron cleared his throat and chimed in, "What my son meant to say is that your consort has been stuck inside his room for almost his entire life. He had barely seen the world outside of this castle, and now that he has a soul, he must be feeling quite confused and suffocated by having to be inside this castle every second of his life."

Rowena's expression didn't change as he said, "It is for his own good. Did you forget about the assassin?"

Seron immediately shook his head, "Of course not, Your Majesty. I was going to mention that to validate my point that if we at least let your consort learn some skills or some martial arts to help and defend himself…then maybe he could better protect himself or buy himself more time in situations like what happened before. At the same time, he also won't feel confined by being inside the castle all the time. It would only be beneficial for him no matter how we look at it."

Rebecca raised her chin and said, "My husband is right. The worst would have happened if not for that mysterious expert saving the royal consort. We can never truly protect him, but we can at least lower the chances of him getting in danger. Of course, power is supreme, but if he can at least know what all to watch out for or to discern ominous signs, it might be better for him to experience the outside world. Learning to sense death is better than not seeing it coming at all."

Oberon also nodded with a certain glint in his eyes while Rebecca subtly smiled after exchanging imperceptible glances with her son.

Rowena contemplated, and after a few moments, she asked with a squint, "What are you two exactly proposing?"

Seron briefly shook his head and said with a narrowed gaze, "We are proposing that we send him to the Tower of Hell. We know how hard it would be for you if a part of your attention was always diverted toward protecting him. We were hoping to relieve you of that burden."

Oberon subtly curved his lips, hearing those three words.

Ceti felt that they had a point. By always making sure that cocky consort was protected, the queen would always be distracted and wouldn't be able to focus on her duties as a queen. It was better he gets sent off there and even gets his ass kicked by someone. Of course, she knew he would be lucky to not experience any hell there, thanks to his status and his crippled condition.

Rebecca immediately chimed in, "Of course, he can't participate in the trials, but since he is the royal consort, I am willing to personally train and watch over him. He couldn't be any safer over there. No assassin would dare to get into the Tower of Hell…nobody ever has."

Rowena's expression became contemplative as she thought about it for a while. She then softly nodded as she said, "I do feel that he should know what all dangers to avoid rather than be blind and stand no chance. So I will send him over there," She also remembered Asher saying he didn't want to be useless and so she thought this would do good for him.

Ceti couldn't help but feel glad since this could mean that she didn't have to see his annoying smile and her mother also wouldn't have to tend to him. She felt as if this day was going better than she expected.

Oberon's eyes shone with a dangerous light and then shot a glance towards his father.

Seron glanced at him and then looked at the queen as he said, "The royal consort might feel intimidated by this idea. But for his sake, I hope Your Majesty will insist that he should go."

Rowena nodded as she said, "He will be there."

—

The royal consort's room was surprisingly empty since he was supposed to be there. However, nobody knew that he was in a different dimension altogether.

In a dimension where there were only broken mirrors for a sky and blazing green volcanoes, and scorching land with hellish dark green flames covering the earth, only the Master of the Ring of Damnation can exist in this place without getting obliterated.

And right now, Asher, who was in his elf form, was training in this hellish place. He knew it was not practical to rely only on his Hellbringer form all the time and wanted to hone the senses of his night elf body.

Because of this, his effective MP was normal, though the ring's 'durability' slowly trickled down since he was still in the Dimension of the Damned. Apparently, the ring needed to expend mana to let him stay in this dimension. However, within this dimension, his mana gets depleted at a highly reduced rate compared to outside. He could probably stay for half a day if he wanted to.

He was trying to learn how to use his Blade of Damnation effectively. Since he had never come upon such a peculiar weapon before, he was trying his best to master this weapon lest he end up using it awkwardly like how he did for his first quest.

In that quest where he almost cut off the girl's forearm, he learned the hard way that his ring blade wasn't meant to be used for hand-to-hand combat since the blade was too sharp and would cut against his own flesh and bone.

This made him think that this weapon was not that practical or useful to him in hand-to-hand combat.

But right as when he wished it, the ring blade underwent a subtle transformation by providing him a curved handle in the middle, allowing him a reasonable degree of control for hand-to-hand combat.

And the more he trained with it and got accustomed to using it, the more he was astonished by discovering the things he could do with this ring blade.

But he still felt an itch since he couldn't try out what he had learned against someone. He couldn't accept any quests right now since he wanted to first master his new weapon instead of relying on his Hellbringer form, which should be a last resort. It would not be wise to fight in his Hellbringer form right away, considering the time limit.

He wished he could spar against someone to test his skills. And the moment he thought that, his eyes widened upon feeling the earth subtly shake underneath him and the feeling of his life force being sapped from him!