“You mean you can summon even MORE Otherworlders, Razen?” The large and aging king looked shocked as he asked this question to the head mage, a man of seemingly equal age, though who had changed bodies numerous times already.

The mage wore an elaborate robe and carried around a magical staff as a conduit for his power. As the King asked this, he nodded, “We believed the connection we had with this new world would collapse shortly after we commenced that initial summoning, but our magical probing has shown the opposite. The barrier between that world and this one is destabilizing, and we may be able to take advantage of it to summon even more otherworlders.”

One of the high-ranking nobles seemed skeptical, asking, “Wasn’t it just a few months ago that you told us another ritual would be impossible from that world?!”

Razen nodded without a second of pause, “That’s what we thought, and by all accounts that should’ve been the case. If I had to guess, there’s some unseen factor we’re not accounting for here. I believe we should keep a close eye on whatever this factor may be while we commence new summoning rituals.”

One of the nobles addressed the King in worry, “My Lord, I fear our mages won’t be able to keep up with these constant otherworlder summonings. Sure, they might bring us great power, but I fear we may not be able to sustain such long endeavors. That’s not to mention what the first ritual brought us! A mage we can’t control! Do you know how many mages she could’ve killed had we not stopped her on FIVE different occasions? We cannot risk our mages like this under a promise of potentially getting more; it's too much of a gamble!”

“I respect your opinion,” the King began, “but this is too vital an opportunity to waste. We don’t know when another opening like this will occur. Razen, you have my full permission to recruit as many otherworlders as you believe we can. Taking in the concerns of this country’s nobility, do try to give the mages some time to breathe between summonings. I think a few days to a week will be enough.”

“It will be plenty, my Lord. Thank you.” Razen replied with a polite nod toward the King.

“You will have all the resources you may need, spare no expense for this project, it needs to succeed!” the King proclaimed with a wave of his hand.

With that, the meeting ended and the various members of it dispersed throughout the castle. Razen knew he had a lot of work ahead of him. Organizing an otherworlder summoning was as much a magical difficulty as it was a political one, convincing so many nobles to hand over their mages for so long wouldn’t be an easy task, and in the end, he may have to take a more direct role in the ritual itself, but for what they and he could gain from it, it was worth it.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

“Well in order to become a Demon Lord, one needs the recognition of the Ten Great Demon Lords! The main way to do this is through getting recognition at Walpurgis. Luckily for you, I asked some of the Demon Lords and they agreed to vote to host one!” Milim stood proudly across from Tanya who sat at her desk in the Military HQ. Rimuru sat on a nearby couch alongside Benimaru and Hakurou with Vesta, Otto, and Kurt on a couch at the opposite side of the room. Eiga, meanwhile, stood professionally behind Tanya with her hands behind her back.

“How does one even call a Walpurgis anyways? You mentioned them being a lot more casual than the ‘prelude to great wars’ that the human nations seem to document it as.” Tanya mentioned as she looked towards Milim for answers.

Milim smiled, raising one finger as she said, “It's simple! You need the support of three Demon Lords in order for a Walpurgis to be called. Of course, Demon Lords aren’t required to attend. Many Walpurgis are glorified tea parties anyways, so some tend to not show up. But for an event like declaring a new Demon Lord, it's likely most will attend, if nothing else just to see if you’re let in.”

“And which Demon Lords did you get to support you with this Walpurgis?” Tanya asked. It was good to know who these were, if they were allies of Milim they could be made into allies of herself, after all.

“The first one is my friend Ramiris and the second one is Carrion. Ramiris is my friend and so just went along with it, meanwhile Carrion was interested in a new Demon Lord appearing on his northern border.”

‘So the Beast Kingdom’s taken an interest in us? It was probably inevitable. If Dwargon could hear about such a large gathering of majin in the forest, surely the Demon Lord Carrion would too. Best to stay on his good side, from what lycanthropes that come from the region say, the Kingdom’s main focus is on strength after all.’

“And when is the Walpurgis planned to occur?” Tanya asked.

“Oh, tonight!” Milim said with a smile.

“Tonight?!” Tanya shouted in shock, practically slamming the table.

“Yeah… Is that a problem?”

Tanya grumbled but quickly collected herself and sat back down.

Milim continued, “Oh yeah, you’re allowed to bring two subordinates. Only two though, someone once tried to bring a whole army and someone got pissed off and killed them all. From then on it's been only two.”

“I see…” Tanya tapped on the desk and looked around the room at the candidates, “I’ll be bringing Eiga and Benimaru. That is if neither of you mind.”

Eiga made a proud salute and smiled, her bladed tail swaying rapidly behind her, “I’ll gladly attend with you, Ma’am!”

Tanya turned to Benimaru as he nodded, “I’ll follow you to the depths of hell, Chancellor.”

“Huh? I could go…” Rimuru muttered, feeling somewhat left out of the major event.

“Rimuru, I’m not risking this nation losing BOTH of its leaders in a single night,” Tanya muttered.

“Good point…” Rimuru responded with a dejected look on his face.

With her companions decided, Tanya began, “Hakurou will be placed in de-facto command of the military in my absence. Keep the military on high alert, we don’t know if one of the Demon Lords may use this as an opportunity to strike. Even if it's unlikely, we must be prepared.”

Vesta rubbed his chin before asking, “Wouldn’t this be a good time to test out the Tempestian Barrier Defense System?”

“Wasn’t that project still in testing?” Otto asked.

“Yes, but we believe it to be functional now. Although still technically an early prototype, it's better to have something than nothing. Worst case scenario it just doesn’t work. Either way, it would be good to test how long we can maintain it without issues.” Vesta responded with Otto nodding along.

“Tempestian Barrier what-now?” Rimuru asked, confused by all this technical mumbo-jumbo they seemed to be spitting out.

Tanya shook her head and explained, “Think of my barrier but applied to the entire city. If an attack were to be launched at Tempestia, like let’s say a giant beam of magic or an aerial bombardment, the barrier would protect Tempestia from taking the hit. It doesn’t guard any attacks that occur inside Tempestia, but attacks made from outside can be guarded against to a degree.”

“Ah, so it really is just a giant shield around Tempestia… Just how far are you guys along in your research? Next thing you know you’re going to be making a nuclear reactor.”

“That’s a project for later. Right now our focus is on defense. Vesta, you’re free to use the barrier as you please.” Tanya nodded towards Vesta who made his own nod in response.

“Would you agree that now would be a good time to deploy the Panzer corps?” Otto asked Tanya who thought for a moment.

“I know they have better magicule cores but still… Eh, I suppose there’s no harm in it. You can mobilize the First Tank Company. Try not to use more power than you can refill, the tanks should be in full fighting condition in the event of an attack.”

“Understood, Kanzlerin,” Otto replied.

Tanya turned to Eiga whose posture stiffened in response, “Send out the Blade Lions and the Direwolves that evolved into Demon Wolves after I named them. Have them be on constant patrol and leave the Goblin Riders and other military units on reserve in Tempestia itself.”

Eiga made a firm salute in response, “Yes Ma’am!”

Tanya now turned to Kurt, “Kurt, make sure the 203rd is at the ready in Fort Veldora. If anything comes up, especially aerially, Gabiru and the battalion will go and deal with it along with any other appropriate forces. Also, have all the lizardmen mobilized in Eidechia just in case.”

“Understood!” Kurt proclaimed.

“I think that should be it.” Tanya muttered to herself, now looking up at Rimuru, “I’ll leave the rest to you, you’re ultimately the second strongest one here. If something big happens, it may be down to you.”

“Of course, I understand. Though I can’t help but think all this preparation might be a bit excessive…” Rimuru muttered.

“Yeah, I think you’re overreacting.” Milim muttered after standing in the center of the room, bored as Tanya rambled on about ‘military preparations’ and ‘defenses’.

“That’s easy for you to say,” Tanya grumbled.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

The sun had long since set over the horizon, the light of the full moon shining down onto the city below. While many slept calmly that night, just as many did not, would not, or could not. It seemed like every corner of the city held an armed guard, every street another formation of men, and throughout the entire city. One would be forgiven for assuming Tempest would be going to war.

Tanya gazed out of the window of the General Staff Headquarters onto the street below. Looking down, she saw the pale blue light of the moon reflect off of the green armor of the new tanks as they rolled down the street. As they neared the street’s end, they split off, forming into different groups as they formed defensive parameters around the city.

‘Just what have I gotten myself into…?’ Tanya mused with a long sigh. She knew, or rather had hoped, that becoming a Demon Lord would safeguard her future, the nation’s future and the world’s future. If Tempest could be protected, then there wouldn’t be anything stopping her.

She would tear this world from its roots and build a new one out of the old one’s burning ashes. It wouldn’t be easy, and it wouldn’t be painless. In her first world, it was a slow and painful process. Hundreds, thousands, millions even, died over centuries in revolutions, wars, factories, in all sorts of ways, all in a means to an end. 

Creating a modern world with peace wasn’t possible, or rather, it wasn’t practical. Corrupt kings will fall, nobility will collapse, and countless will die in bloody struggles over power and modernization. 

There was a reason that the rifle was called the ‘great equalizer’.

Rimuru didn’t realize it yet, and Tanya didn’t intend to tell him, but so many more would die in such a short time for her world to be realized. Modernization would come, the monarchies of the world, with some strange exceptions due to the nature of this world, would collapse, and democracies would take their place.

Rimuru seemed to believe this as well, but Tanya knew it hadn’t yet processed for him what the true price of it all would be. But despite all of that, all of the impending blood, conflict, death, and destruction, Tanya believed that Tempest had to survive it all.

Tempest was the conduit, the tool to bring about the world she wanted, and if it fell, she’d have to start over, or who knows if she could start at all. Tempest was the gateway to a modern world, and if being a Demon Lord had even a chance of helping prevent its destruction, it’s what she needed to do.

This world was hers to correct, hers to fix. It was a greedy plan, one far from her supposed modest ambition of an executive role in the rear echelon of the army she had once desired in the empire. This was a far greedier ambition. If she had to live in such a cursed, backward, medieval world, she’d be damned if she didn’t fix it.

‘This has to be done. A revolution needs bodies to fuel its furnace and blood to oil its gears, and I will make certain that it does not come from Tempest.’

Tanya turned her gaze away from the window, turning around as she saw a glowing purple line appear on the floor. Emerging from it was an elaborately-designed door, designed way too dramatically for Tanya’s liking. After it fully emerged the doors swung open to reveal a dark misty void of blues and purples.

Stepping out of the void was what on the surface appeared to be a simple maid with long green hair and deep green eyes. Almost immediately Tanya could tell who she was ‘If her hair is anything to go by, she’s the Green Primordial, Vert. Noir didn’t tell me much about the other Primordials, but it's not entirely surprising to see one serving the one that seems to be the strongest. There’s also a chance this isn’t a primordial but just a high-ranking green demon, but I doubt it.’

Milim pretty much bounced forwards toward the demon with a wave, “Hey Misery!”

‘Misery?! The Primordial is NAMED? What kind of name is Misery? Actually… Considering the fact we’re demons, I suppose I can see where it comes from. I may be the outlier with a name like ‘Tanya’.’

The maid bowed towards Milim, “I have come to pick you up, Lady Milim.” As she raised her head she turned to look at Tanya. For a brief moment, Tanya could see confusion and shock in her eyes, though she quickly suppressed it, “I assume you are Lady Tanya?”

“That is correct,” Tanya responded, trying to get any sort of read on the demon, but with her power surpassing Tanya’s, she wasn’t able to see much with her skills.

‘I hope this isn’t a consistent trend among the Demon Lords… If all of them are strong enough to entirely resist my [Transcending Eye], I would be at a disadvantage.’

“I have come to collect you and Lady Milim.” Misery said with a polite bow once more.

As Milim began to walk through the portal, Tanya, Benimaru, and Eiga followed, with Misery shortly behind them as the gate closed and descended back into the floor.

As Tanya walked through the purple mist, she found herself in another room, seemingly far from Tempest, though where exactly she wasn’t sure. The room had a large circular table with numerous seats positioned around it. A glowing magic emanated from the center of the table, reaching up into the sky above, which, despite being a fake, was still littered with stars like the true night sky.

The walls of the room stretched far above her head, made with elaborate designs clearly meant to be dramatic. For a group of people called ‘Demon Lords’ Tanya certainly thought it was fitting.

The only one currently sitting appeared to be a red-haired man, however even a slight inspection could tell the sheer power he had. The man was a threat beyond no other.

‘No doubt in my mind that's Guy, the Primordial Red. I’m not even certain Veldora would beat him. Just how powerful is he?’

With his power being so far beyond Tanya’s, she had no way of even getting a glance of his skills or power, only able to gauge him from his aura alone, one which now overflowed into the area around them. A human in his presence would probably die instantly from the pressure.

Tanya was guided to a seat by the maid as Milim sat down as well, giving a quick and happy wave toward Guy. After a few seconds, another Demon Lord came through one of the many portals along the walls of the room, a muscular man with golden eyes and a presence fitting of a King. Tanya knew who he was instantly, the Beast Master of Eurzania, Tempest’s southern neighbor. 

Unlike Guy, his presence was much less intimidating, relatively speaking, and showed a clear power difference among the Demon Lords. His power was weak enough for Tanya to get a good look at his race, confirming her suspicions of him being Demon Lord Carrion.

Following behind Carrion were two of his subordinates who took their place standing by the door. Both were lycanthropes of exceptional strength, though not strong enough to evade Tanya’s [Transcending eye]. The first of the two was a white-haired tiger lycanthrope, though unlike Eiga she seemed to be an actual tiger rather than an evolution of a blade tiger.

The second one was a woman with black and yellow hair wearing a revealing white kimono which Tanya noted as looking more like a bathrobe. Further analysis showed her to be a snakeman lycanthrope and the stronger one of Carrion’s two subordinates.

Who followed next was a well-endowed woman wearing a suggestive red dress with a pair of large white wings and bird-like feet. Despite her animalistic appearance, she could still be considered a remarkable beauty, though Tanya considered her nothing but another Demon Lord.

Similar to Carrion, she could identify her instantly, ‘Demon Lord Frey, Sky Queen of the Harpy Kingdom of Fulbrosia. They’re also our southern neighbor with her domain being next to Carrion’s. Best to not aggravate Fulbrosia or Eurzania if I can.’

After Frey came a man in a well-kept white suit with a black bowtie. Out of all the Demon Lords currently present, he seemed to be the most formally dressed. He came in carrying a glowing multi-tailed fox in his arms, calmly petting it as he sat down.

‘He’s the weakest so far, but with those skills, I can see how one could make up for it.’

His skills, [Demon Marionette] and [Marionette Dance] seemed to grant him control over majin, likely even those a bit stronger than him. Fortunately, with Mental Influence Nullification she was safe from magic like that, but still she knew to remain cautious.

Nevertheless, she knew who he was as well, Demon Lord Clayman of Jistav. He, Frey and Carrion were amongst the most active Demon Lords, meaning Tanya’s documentation from human nations spoke of them often enough.

Next came what appeared to be a small fairy. Tanya hid how startled she was to see what seemed on the surface to be a glorified pushover be considered a Demon Lord, but a glance at her skills seemed to show some potential. Her [Small World] skill, while Tanya couldn’t fully tell the properties of, seemed to be powerful in the right, albeit very specific, circumstances.

What was behind her was significantly more intimidating. As the fairy flew in, a giant beast of magisteel stomped in behind her. ‘The magisoldier project?! The hell is it doing here?!’

The beast behind her was nearly identical to the blueprints Tanya had seen of the magisoldier project. While there were numerous design changes and the golem was noticeably larger than originally designed, there was no doubt that it was at least based on the magisoldier project.

While the beast was strong, Tanya seriously doubted that there was anyone in the room that would be defeated by it. Clayman, perhaps, but that was it.

Following the fairy was another blonde-haired man, this one wearing dark robes and coming in alone. Due to his strength, Tanya couldn’t get a good read on his skills or power but could tell he seemed to have descended or evolved from a human rather than a demon or monster.

Next was a seemingly older man in black robes with fangs sticking out of his mouth, giving away his race as a vampire, with a maid and butler following him in. Again Tanya failed to get a good read on his power, but she could tell obviously that the maid that followed him was significantly stronger.

‘Veldora once mentioned fighting a female vampire demon Lord, that’s probably her hiding for some reason. I’d have to guess she doesn’t have a high opinion of Veldora after what he did to her city…’

After him through another portal was a blue-haired man who towered over everyone else with power to rival Veldora’s. Despite this power, his aura was actually fairly tame, kept down to the levels one would expect from a normal human. ‘That’s probably Dagruel. Veldora told me about him. He’s about his equal so I should watch out for him.’

The last to arrive was a young-looking man in a purple shirt and green cloak who looked like he’d rather be sleeping than be there. His power was also impressive, though still not fully as much as someone like Guy.

A blue maid, now standing on the side behind Guy, stepped forwards and spoke, “I will introduce all the participants. Demon, the Lord of Darkness: Guy Crimson. Pixie of the Labyrinth: Ramiris. Dragonoid, the Destroyer: Milim Nava. Giant, the Earthquake: Dagruel. Vampire, the Bloody Lord: Roy Valentine. Fallen, the Sleeping Ruler: Deeno. Harpy, the Sky Queen: Frey. Deathman, the Marionette Master: Clayman. Demonoid, the Platinum Saber: Leon Cromwell. Lycanthrope, the Beast Master: Carrion. Lastly, Demon, Chancellor of the Imperial Tempest Federation, Tanya von Tempest. This concludes the introductions.”

There was some bickering and talking among the Demon Lords as Tanya closely observed all of it, though all of the conversations were too casual to gain anything useful from. After about a minute, Milim proudly stood up, “Thank you, everyone, for coming to my summons and I declare the start of the banquet of Demon Lords, Walpurgis!”

After a brief bit of applause, Guy spoke up, “So, I hear this friend of yours has declared themselves a Demon Lord? It's certainly interesting to see a Demon try for the position. Here I thought I’d be the only demon amongst the Demon Lords.” Guy spoke with a smile, but in his eyes was the same sheer confusion that Misery had.

Tanya looked at Guy, finally letting her aura loose for the first time in months, “A friend of mine has a philosophy, one that I can appreciate if nothing else. He says ‘power without ideals is empty, and ideals without power is nonsense.’ If I am to safeguard the nation he and I lead, I believe it is only right that I use the power that I have to safeguard our ideals.”

Guy smirked, “You seem to have a smart friend, Tanya, your name was? I’m curious who named a demon like you.”

Tanya had been anticipating a question like this since before she decided to become a Demon Lord, but since then her planned answer has changed. It may cause unneeded conflict, but it would give her some much-needed legitimacy.

“The person who named me was Veldora the Storm Dragon.” Many eyes looked in shock at her statement, even Milim seemed surprised at this, and the vampire’s maid seemed to be boiling with a hidden fury, “Let me properly introduce myself,” Tanya stood up and continued, “I am Tanya von Tempest, Chancellor of the Imperial Tempest Federation. Our nation is one of monsters that has sprung up within the Jura Tempest Federation. We rule by the divine right of Veldora, who, prior to his disappearance, requested that we safeguard his domain and those within it under his protection.”

“So I take it you intend to claim the entirety of the Jura Forest?” Guy asked as Tanya sat down. In response Tanya simply nodded and Guy continued, “Of course, being named by the Storm Dragon, whether true or not, isn’t enough to make someone a Demon Lord on its own.”

“Guy if I may,” Carrion asked.

Guy nodded, “Be my guest.”

“I would like to make an offer to you, Tanya. A respectful duel between our two parties, a fight until one side cannot fight any more. We both brought two subordinates tonight, so we will have three fights. The first will be between lets say, Suphia and your lycanthrope. And the second will be between Albis and your Kijin. The third will be between you and me, a final test to see if you have strength worthy enough to be called a ‘Demon Lord.’ I assume that’s fine with you, Guy.”

“I’m perfectly fine with it, that is if Tanya accepts,” Guy said, the gazes of the Demon Lords now turning towards Tanya.

“If it's a challenge you want, then I’ll gladly accept. Though, I do hope my victory won’t harm relations between our two nations. I was hoping to arrange a trade deal after all of this ended.” Tanya gestures for her subordinates to get closer, both seemingly more than ready to prove their strength.

“Hahaha! Don’t worry about a thing! This is merely a test. I take my role as Demon Lord with great pride, it would be disrespectful to the title to not make sure all new Demon Lords are strong enough to be called one. So long as you show proper strength in this battle, win or lose, I would have no problem calling you one. After all is said and done, if you still want to trade I’ll gladly have a meeting with Tempest.”

Guy raised his hand as the table disappeared and the chairs rapidly moved further away from each other. Tanya turned and nodded at Eiga who gave a firm salute and walked into the center as a green barrier was applied around them.

‘I place my faith in you, Eiga. You should have no problems. Give em’ hell!’

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

Eiga stepped forwards, looking up as towering green barriers reached into the fake sky above. Approaching the center as well was a woman with long white hair and two ears perking out of the top of her head. Her eyes glimmered with a fierce determination to win, almost enough to make Eiga feel bad that she had to crush her hopes.

The outfit the girl wore was hardly designed specifically for combat, only merely accounting for ease of flexibility that an agile fighter like her needed. The girl wore no armor as if mockingly trying to say she didn’t need it as she didn’t intend to get hit.

Eiga’s outfit could hardly be called fit for combat either, being a white military uniform with a black-furred cloak. But she wouldn’t be fighting in this. As she approached, she clenched her fists, covering her hands and lower arms with armored gauntlets.

When she first learned to use them they were made of high-grade Magisteel, but over time she got them stronger, now they had evolved into Adamantite, leaving her confident that nothing the tiger girl did would so much as scratch her armor.

“So why aren’t you in the Beast Kingdom, huh? With your strength, you could easily sit comfortably among the strongest.” The girl, whom Eiga had heard was named ‘Suphia’ asked.

“My master helped me at my weakest, so I shall continue serving them at my strongest. I expect you feel the same for your master as well.” Eiga said as the two finally stopped approaching, standing a few feet apart from each other in the center.

Suphia got low, ready to pounce at her opponent, “I suppose I can’t blame you there, I’d suggest you consider joining us if you ever leave that demon, but I take it that’s not gonna happen.”

Eiga nodded, reading herself to fight as well, “You’d be correct. I will serve my master until my death.”

“And I’ll do the same,” Suphia said with a smirk.

Guy Crimson, watching this alongside everyone else, raised his hand and shouted, “Begin!”

Suphia dashed to the side instantly, her agility was far faster than Eiga’s, but Eiga’s reflexes made up for the difference. Each time Suphia dashed in for a strike, it was immediately blocked by Eiga’s gauntlets, oftentimes creating little more than the sound of clanging against metal.

Suphia attempted to strike from behind, aiming for a blind spot, however barely dashed out of range of Eiga’s blade-tipped tail, taking a minor cut in the process. As the cut healed, Suphia took a few steps back, looking for any sort of opening. Ultimately, the plan was simple; overwhelm her opponent.

Suphia dashed again, moving quickly and making small but fast attacks all over Eiga’s body, hoping to weaken their concentration and defenses. As her speed continued to increase, so did the frequency of her attacks. Then she suddenly dashed forwards, locking her hands with Eiga’s as she tried to overwhelm her with sheer strength and force of will.

Realizing Eiga’s strength matched her own, she pushed harder, launching electricity through her hands to shock her opponent. However, as the electricity moved its way through Eiga’s gauntlets, Suphia could only hear her laughing.

Suphia looked up at Eiga, confused, “What are you laughing at?”

“My apologies, it's just that Ranga tried the same thing.” Eiga made a smirk as her gauntlet ran with electricity different from Suphia’s, this one black in color as it quickly launched itself at Suphia, forcing her back from the shock.

Electricity exploded out of Eiga in a wave, and as Suphia looked back up toward her opponent all she saw was a full black suit of armor with two crimson eyes staring at her through the opening in the helmet.

Black lightning sparked all across the black armor as the Blade Lion slowly approached her. “This is the full extent of my skill. It would be disrespectful to not go all out on a worthy foe.”

Suphia gritted her teeth, once again attempting to strike forwards, going for the same strategy as before. This time however, there were no weak spots, every inch was armored in a metal beyond what most weapons could pierce. Instead, each strike made by Eiga in retaliation grew closer and closer to hitting their target.

Eventually, Suphia was knocked away by a fist launching her across the arena into the green barrier before landing on the ground.

“You’re definitely strong,” Suphia muttered, grinning as her human form was suddenly replaced by a towering white tiger. The tiger stood tall over Eiga’s armor, launching forwards as it launched an attack, batting Eiga away.

Despite some tumbling, Eiga managed to land back on her feet, effectively unharmed by the attack. “If you want to fight like beasts…” Eiga’s armor disappeared in a puff of black smoke as a black-furred blade lion now towered over Suphia’s tiger form, “...Then I’ll gladly meet your challenge.”

“The hell are you?” Suphia asked, having assumed she was fighting a normal lion lycanthrope this whole time.

“I evolved from a Blade Tiger to a Blade Lion, and from there I evolved into a Lycanthrope to assume a human form to better assist my master. I’m afraid I’ll have to end this battle now, you fought well, and I would certainly love to fight again.”

Suphia growled with anger and launched at the lion. The lion leaped to the side, slamming her down onto the floor mid-jump, Eiga’s other front paw swinging down and slashing a deep cut into her side before knocking her back across the field to the green barrier.

Suphia collapsed onto the floor, now assuming her human form again. With that Guy raised his hand, proclaiming “The winner of this duel is Eiga.” Guy lowered his hand again as the barriers fell, Suphia returning to Carrion as her wounds slowly healed thanks to her skill.

Eiga returned to her own human form, offering a salute before returning to Tanya who gave her an approving nod.

She had done her part, the rest was on Benimaru.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

“Your friend put on quite the show it seems,” Albis said, approaching the center. “Lucky for you I won’t be so easily defeated.”

Benimaru walked up to the center to stand face to face with Albis as he shook his head, “I wouldn’t make any bold assumptions yet, but I’m sure someone like you could give me a fair fight.”

Albis made a warm smile as the two now stood feet from each other in the center just as Suphia and Eiga had minutes prior. “A Kijin huh? It's not often you hear of your kind, getting to fight one will certainly be a fun experience.”

“I can’t say I’ve fought a lycanthrope before aside from Eiga. Lucky for you, I’m able to best her, even if it's a fairly close match. Don’t expect me to be an easy opponent either.”

“I wouldn’t even suspect such a thing. With your aura, I can tell this will be a wonderful fight.” Albis said with a growing smile as she readied her staff.

Benimaru placed his hands on his sword, drawing it out as he readied for combat, “Likewise.”

Tanya watched on from the distance, trying her best to hide her confusion, musing, ‘Why does it sound like they’re flirting? Are they here to fight or fuck?!’

Before Tanya could be any further confused and embarrassed, Guy raised his hand, commencing the fight.

Albis launched forth, transforming her legs into a long snake tail as she jabbed it at Benimaru who quickly blocked it with his blade.

Albis took this split-second initiative to its utmost advantage, launching numerous attacks with her staff, mostly in attempts to disarm him of his weapon or otherwise leave an opening. 

Each attempted strike brought with it a wave of electricity threatening to shock him should she land a hit, however, each strike was blocked or deflected masterfully as Benimaru began to gain ground. 

This clashing of staff and sword continued for well over a minute before Albis launched a strike of electricity at Benimaru, prompting him to position his sword to face her as he planted his feet firmly on the ground, funneling the bulk of the electric magic into his sword as a pseudo-lightning rod, mimicking Eiga’s own skill.

As the strike ended he came out of it with minor damage and a blade supercharged full of magicules. His sword was rapidly coated in a black flame by manifesting said magicules. 

He dashed forwards, slashing with greater intensity at her staff. Had he wanted to, he could cut straight through it, however out of respect he launched the flat edge of his katana against it instead, flinging it across the arena as he stepped forwards, slashing through her chest.

Albis jumped back and immediately found herself surrounded by a barrier, looking forwards as she saw Benimaru clasp his hand, “[Hell Flare]!”

The insides of the barrier were immediately engulfed in black flames, leaving scratches and major burns all over her body as she collapsed once the flames subsided seconds later.

Despite holding back significantly with the flames, it still caused excessive damage. However, thanks to her regenerative abilities, she would recover in a short time.

As the barrier retracted, Guy raised his hand and declared, “Benimaru is the winner!”

Benimaru walked over to the staff on the floor, picked it up, and handed it back to Albis as she picked herself up off the floor. With a polite bow to the still-startled Albis, he returned to Tanya.

“It's all down to you now, Chancellor. It’d be embarrassing if you were the one to end our win streak.”

Tanya rolled her eyes, “Yeah yeah, I get it. Here, take this.” Benimaru looked at Tanya with a confused expression as he was handed her rifle and pistol.

“You’re fighting without your main weapon?” Benimaru asked.

“It’s only fair,” Tanya said with a smirk, walking towards the center as the green barrier rose up once more, separating her from her subordinates.

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“I didn’t think my subordinates would be pushed around so easily. Shows that there’s always further to go when it comes to strength.” Carrion stood at the center, arms at his side as he had a smirk on his face.

Tanya expected him to be more upset about his subordinates getting the floor wiped with them, but she certainly wasn’t complaining.

“Indeed there is. I’ll do my best to give you a fair fight. The arrangement still stands correct? I’ll show you a good fight and we can talk diplomacy later.”

“You’re an interesting Demon, I’ll give you that. Hell, if you can beat me I’ll make an alliance with Tempest, always good to have another Demon Lord as an ally. Us younger Demon Lords need to work together, after all.”

“Already calling me a Demon Lord, huh? Lost your confidence already?” Tanya asked with a smirk.

“Haha! Judging by the skills of your subordinates, I have no doubt that you’re strong enough to be a Demon Lord, but beating me is another thing entirely.”

Carrion got into position with his halberd as Tanya got in position seemingly for a fistfight, her computation jewel beginning to glow as she readied numerous formulas.

“Well, shall we begin then?”

Carrion nods, turning to Guy who raised his hand once more, “Begin!”

Carrion, immediately taking the initiative, launched an attack at Tanya. While dodging his numerous attacks thanks to her superior speed an unexpected slash seemed to find its target, only to be blocked by a precisely conjured barrier.Taking advantage of the opening, Tanya quickly stepped forwards, launching her fist, reinforced with skills and magic, directly at his chest, sending him flying to the edge of the arena.

Carrion, despite the damage, managed to land comfortably on his feet as Tanya launched into the sky. Carrion began pursuing her, launching upward as well to meet her in the sky.

Higher up, numerous glowing red spears of magic manifest around Tanya, launching at rapid speeds toward Carrion. Despite their speed and rapid fire rate, Carrion continued to dodge them, one merely grazing his shoulder as he swung his massive halberd once more.

Again, Tanya manages to dodge it but in doing so, creates an opening for Carrion to exploit. However, his strike is blocked by yet another barrier. Once more, Tanya dashed towards him, punching him twice in the chest before raising her leg and slamming her foot down onto him with enough force that it sent him straight into the ground.

Tanya slowly lowered towards the ground as numerous small glowing orbs appeard all across the arena. Tanya hovered only a few feet above the ground as she addressed her opponent, “Each one of these orbs contain enough force to wipe out a city if I so desire…” Tanya clenched one of her hands, causing an orb to condense before rapidly expanding into a glowing sphere of fiery inferno, held back only by her own barrier. “I’ll give you one last chance to forfeit the battle if you don’t want to experience it.”

Carrion shook his head, “I’m afraid I’ll have to refuse, if you think that these orbs alone can defeat me, then you’re welcome to try.”

“If you say so. Don’t worry though…” Tanya raised one of her hands up, closing her fist as all the orbs condensed, all beginning to glow as Carrion leaped forwards to attack, “I promise to hold back.” Tanya clenched her fist, the entire arena now engulfed in a bright light, leaving many of the spectators forced to look away else they would be blinded.

As the crimson fireball finally faded along with the smoke, what was seen was Tanya hovering over the battlefield, untouched while Carrion sat on his knees, noticeably scorched and injured, but still alive and already beginning to heal thanks to his Intrinsic Skill.

Guy raised his hand as the barriers faded, all the radiation in the arena dispersed by Tanya herself as he proclaimed, “Tanya is the winner of this duel!”

Carrion  stood up and began to brush the dust and ashes off himself as he continued to heal from the damage. He laughed as he approached Tanya, extending a hand, “I had a feeling you weren’t bluffing. I’m certainly impressed. If that was you holding back I wonder just how much power you have crammed inside that tiny form.”

Tanya shook his hand, ignoring his comments about her physical size, with her being among the smallest Demon Lords, roughly tied, although perhaps a bit larger than Milim.

With that, the two returned to their seats, the room now looking exactly like it did before the beginning of Walpurgis. Guy looked at Carrion as he spoke, “I assume that satisfied you, Carrion?”

“Haha! Certainly!” Carrion responded, “It would be an insult to the title of Demon Lord to not permit her the title.”

Guy nodded, “Then if there are no objections…” Guy looked around, not a single objection raised, “Very well, then I hereby proclaim Tanya von Tempest as the Eleventh Demon Lord! Now onto the new issue that’s arisen…”

‘New issue?’ Tanya thought, confused.

Carrion sighed, “Here we go again…”

“If I remembered this was coming I would’ve reconsidered remaining silent…” Frey muttered.

“Since there are now eleven of us, we need a new title for the ‘Ten Great Demon Lords’. Last time it took us so long to make one we ended up going with the title humans started calling us.” Guy said, looking towards Tanya as if expecting her to answer.

‘How long do they have to spend trying to come up with a name in order for humanity to come up with one for them?! Is this even that important?’

“From that look you’re giving me, I assume you want me to make a new name?” Tanya asked.

Guy nodded, “You are the reason we have to, after all. It’s only right.”

Tanya sighed, leaning back in her chair as she thought of some name that would convince a group of people who seemed to like grand gestures and titles, “Why not just be the ‘Eleven Great Demon Lords’?”

The other Demon Lords looked around and all basically shrugged as Guy sighed, “I suppose it's better than going through hell for another name. In that case from now on we are the Eleven Great Demon Lords!” Guy proclaimed without much further fanfare,which only made sense, especially considering that the name change was a fairly minor one.

Despite this minor name change, his maid once more stepped forwards, “I shall now once again introduce the Eleven Great Demon Lords…” She then spoke the introductions once more, all introductions being the same until the end, “...Lastly, Demon, the Devil of the Dragon: Tanya von Tempest.”

‘I just can’t escape that nickname, can I?’ Tanya grumbled to herself as the subordinates of all the participants clapped at the new proclamation. Nevertheless, Tanya breathed a mental sigh of relief, glad that the hardest part was over. Tempest now had the safeguard of having a seat on the Demon Lord Council.

The fighting was over, but the politics of it all had just begun.

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The banquet began rather quickly, Tanya had brought some of Tempest’s wine which, while made only in a limited capacity, was still of fairly high quality. She wasn’t much of a fan of wine herself and had instead spent the last several months attempting to cultivate or find a reliable source of coffee. But she knew from how much it sold for in Dwargon that it was easily worth its weight in gold.

“I’ll certainly give it to Tempest, this is some quality wine,” Carrion said with a smile as he took a significant swig of it.

“If I can get capitalism to spread far enough, then soon enough It’ll be way easier to spread it across all sorts of markets, but for now it's only sold in Tempest and Dwargon.”

“Capitalism?” Carrion asked, confused about the meaning of the term.

“Ah it's an economic system, too complicated for me to get into now, all you need to know is that it's much more effective than communism,” Tanya said with a smile.

“Communism…?” Carrion asked, only getting more confused.

“Ah well…” Tanya realized that nobody here knew about modern economic systems, “Well it’s another economic system, one of two things I hate most. Communism and religion. After all, the only good commie is a dead commie.”

“Right…” Carrion muttered.

The banquet was only a minor part of the affairs she wanted to handle today. She had her own people she wanted to speak with, but first, she had people that wanted to speak to her.

The giant turned to Tanya, looking down on her and asked, “Tell me, do you have any way to prove Veldora was the one who named you?” The giant stared down at Tanya who looked back unflinching, considering her means to prove it.

‘I don’t really think I can honestly. Well, there is that way…’

“There’s no clean way to show who named me with a hundred percent certainty, however, I can show you one of my talks with Veldora within the cave if that will suffice.”

“Show?” Dagruel asked.

Tanya snapped her fingers as her Illusion Master skill went to work behind her, manifesting into a visual replication of the cave where Veldora was sealed with him residing in his imprisonment and Tanya standing nearby, leaning against a large rock.

Within the illusion, Tanya spoke to Veldora, “So about these Demon Lords, how much can you tell me about them?”

Veldora folded his arms and looked up in thought, “I don’t really bother with small fry, but there was a female vampire demon lord I fought about two or three millennia ago. That woman couldn’t take a joke. I burned down their city and they got all pissy with me.”

“Veldora, I’m pretty sure that would piss anyone off,” Tanya stated as she stared at the dragon, unimpressed.

“R-Right… Looking back now, I do feel slightly bad about it, I believe her name was… Lu… Lurus? Milis? Lurumilacha? I can’t remember.”

As the illusion continued displaying Tanya and Veldora’s conversation, Tanya could practically hear the vampire maid’s blood boil.

Veldora continued, “Oh there was also this Demon Lord who was a giant, Dagruel. I fought him multiple times but a victor was never determined.”

“Wow, you actually know how to remember someone’s name,” Tanya said with folded arms, mildly annoyed at how little information the Dragon was giving her.

“Hey! It’s not that I forgot that Demon Lord’s name, it's that I never bothered to remember it! Why would I care about someone that insignificant anyways, they barely did anything to me.”

“Well, do you know any others?” Tanya asked, visibly annoyed now.

“Hmm, there are two I can remember. The first is Milim, my big bro's only daughter and the other is that Demon Guy Crimson, but as a demon, I assume you’d know more than I do.”

“I see, well I suppose that’s good enough knowledge. I doubt I’ll be facing them any soon but it’s good to know who to look out for, even if the information is lacking.” Tanya muttered and stood up.

“Hey! Don’t blame me! I’ve been here for three hundred years!”

“Yeah yeah, and whose fault is that?” Tanya grumbled, gazing up at Veldora who looked away.

“Anyways, I’m heading out, I’ll come by tomorrow.”

Tanya snapped her fingers again, the illusion fading as she turned to Dagruel and asked, “Was that good enough?”

Dagruel nodded, “Nobody could’ve so accurately mimicked Veldora’s appearance, voice, and speech patterns without having seen him directly. It's still not guaranteed that you were named by Veldora, but I do believe it to be the most likely possibility.”

The Demon Lord Valentine then stood up and bowed, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking my leave for the evening.” The vampire suddenly left as the reason became obvious with the maid’s aura flaring all over the place in anger.

With her proof given, the Banquet continued with smaller conversations, often between those right next to each other. Tanya’s interest quickly turned toward the giant Golem standing near one of the portals.

“Hey, your name was Ramiris, right?”

The small fairy lifted her head from the drink that was roughly two-thirds of her size, “Huh? Yeah?”

“That golem you brought, that’s from the Dwargon Magisoldier project, isn’t it?” Tanya asked while she took a sip of her own tea, having passed on any wine.

“Hm? Oh yeah, I found the husk in that Dwarven nation. I’m surprised you can tell.” Rarmiris quickly flew up and placed a hand on her chest, proudly stating, “It’s the best in spirit engineering! It utilizes Earth Elementals for the weight, Water Elementals for the joints, Fire Elementals for its power, and Wind Elementals to regulate its temperature! All of the elements working in unison into a single Colossus!” Ramiris gave a proud laugh at her creation.

Tanya looked at the fairy with a smile, though internally questioned why the fairy had just given away how she made it to Tanya. Regardless, Tanya pushed on, “It’s certainly a brilliant creation, but have you considered adding magic-casting technology to it?”

“Magic what-now?”

“Well, utilizing certain technologies and magicules in the right way, you could, in theory, have it cast magic on its own, allowing it to apply magical barriers to itself and even to an extent cast magical spells.”

“Oooh! That sounds interesting!” Ramiris quickly flew over until she was inches from Tanya’s face, “Tell me how! Tell me! Tell me!”

“Right right, I’ve made a few magical machines myself, but I will say I haven’t fully utilized spirits in my tech just yet. But by using magicules, you could apply magical shielding to make it even stronger, after all, it's easier to replace magicules than it is to replace its armor. Also in theory, with enough magicules and the right spells, you could even make it fly.”

Ramiris’ eyes lit up more, “Come back with me to the labyrinth! You can become my disciple and together we’ll make the ultimate Colossus! HAHAHAHAHA!” Ramiris began a maniacal laugh as she thought of all she could do if she obtained Tanya’s knowledge on magical technology.

Tanya waved her hand, “Maybe sometime soon, but I have a nation to run. If you tell me where this Labyrinth is I can bring you a Panzer to play with.”

“What’s a panzer?” Ramiris asked.

Milim quickly raised her hand, “It’s really fun! You get to go around and blow things up with it!”

“Ooh! I wanna blow things up! Here, I’ll tell you where the Labyrinth is!”

After explaining where she lives, Ramiris returned happily to her seat, daydreaming about all the possible upgrades she could make with shields, explosives, and potentially flight.

Tanya immediately considered how to add spirits to the Magi-Tanks. It would provide numerous advantages at the cost of being more expensive due to the needed spirits. It would basically create a whole new type of tank, but one that was a lot easier to maintain.

Whatever the case, she knew she would soon be creating great weapons of war.

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“That fucking Dragon!” Luminous slammed her maid apron down onto the floor as she slammed the door to her room behind her, leaving herself in solitude.

“That dragon recruits a Demon as a subordinate and then sends her there to MOCK ME!” The vampire ripped off her maid outfit as her normal one appeared in its place in a puff of smoke.

“I’ve only heard the term ‘communist’ been used once and that was by Hinata to reference what she thought the Empire’s government was like. There’s no way that wasn’t a deliberate jab at us! Then that showing of Veldora… He was trying to mock me!”

Luminous slammed her fist into the wall in front of her in her rage. “That damned dragon is a lot smarter than I thought he was. He’s been plotting from the second he was sealed away… Why didn’t she tell me about that demon?! It was just supposed to be a slime damnit!”

She knew her rage was unfounded, she had only told her of certain events, and even then things were subject to some changes. But she had notified her of major individuals and events, she knew a power was going to emerge from the Great Jura Forest and that Veldora would return, but she said nothing of the Demon that seemed to be bringing it about.

There was only one answer, that demon didn’t exist before. That demon’s presence has caused a shift that she couldn’t anticipate. Whether it was the Dragon’s meddling or a mere coincidence didn’t matter. That demon was a threat, the only question was… what the hell do they do about it?

Before she could contemplate a solution, she heard a voice appear from nowhere, “I believe I can help you with that.”

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Thanks to various editors and helpers on the Discord who helped with things like plot decisions, grammatical errors, and other aspects of the chapter:

Dtrackt, Terraman60, Cat, and Phymiath

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