That night, the Plains Faction demon lords were thrown into the underground prison.
Even as they were dragged away with their bodies battered beyond recognition, they shouted with undiminished ferocity. It was closer to sheer stubbornness than anything else.
"We swore to die alongside Lord Barbatos! Whether on a battlefield or in a town square, it makes no difference! No evil scheme of yours can break our oath!"
It was a cry drenched in genuine, heartfelt conviction. Whether moved by their comrades' fighting spirit, or simply trying to erase the brief moment they had doubted Barbatos from their memories, the Plains Faction demon lords competed to hurl abuse at me.
"That's right! Don't bother with your petty tricks, you lowly traitor!"
"The only thing you'll take from us is our lives—and nothing more!"
They screamed and wailed that death was easy and living was hard.
Along with me, the Neutral Faction demon lords escorted them. I spoke to them.
"Gentlemen. Please don't act on impulse. You have no involvement in Paimon's death. At least, that's what I believe. Only the guilty should be punished. For that, I need your cooperation."
"Lord Barbatos would never carry out an assassination!"
One demon lord shrieked at the top of his lungs.
"Are you denying that you are innocent?"
But the vast majority of the Plains Faction demon lords either couldn't hear my words or refused to listen, and simply clung to their stubborn defiance.
Eight demon lords were each thrown into solitary cells, spaced far apart, and even after being locked away they continued to shout their vows to die alongside Barbatos.
Only two—Brother Zepar and Brother Beleth—maintained silence with distinctly different expressions. Brother Zepar closed his mouth wordlessly, as though he didn't know what to say. Brother Beleth wore a smile at the corner of his lips, as though he might burst into laughter at any moment.
Barbatos… I don't know what expression she wore.
Because I didn't look at her.
No sooner had every last Plains Faction demon lord been scattered into their cells than I, with Daisy serving as my escort, went first to the solitary cell where Brother Zepar was being held. Every cell was thoroughly coated in anti-magic, and the prisoners had their limbs bound tight against the walls.
Brother Zepar was likewise restrained body and soul. When I opened the iron door and stepped inside, Brother Zepar fixed me with a hard stare. What are you here for? His gaze asked that much.
"Allow me to cut to the chase, Brother."
"Brother...?"
Brother Zepar gave a dry smile. So desolate was it that it conjured the image of desert air.
"You still have a reason to call me that, do you?"
"Say what you will. Just know this — if nothing changes, come tomorrow, Barbatos will be dead."
"..."
"Barbatos truly did assassinate Paimon."
*Thud.* Brother Zepar's body lurched. Despite being bound limb and limb against the wall with specially forged anti-magic steel chains — and despite having already lost an arm and been stabbed repeatedly by a poisoned blade — the solitary cell trembled for an instant.
"That wretched tongue of yours — if only I could silence it right now...!"
"Brother. Whether you trust my words or not is beside the point. You need only treat it as preparation for the worst. Think of it that way, if you will."
I spoke on, calm and measured.
"Hypothetically — if Barbatos did in fact assassinate Paimon, and there is ironclad evidence to that effect — what would you do then? And there's more. Marbas deliberately waited for our Plains Faction to attack the Mountain Faction."
"Deliberately...?"
"Didn't you find it strange?"
I drew my pipe from inside my coat and lit it. Naturally, Daisy leaned in and sparked the flame for me.
"Marbas claimed he had no choice but to execute Barbatos in order to restore balance between the factions. But if he truly only wanted to punish Barbatos, there was no need to stand by and watch until the Mountain Faction was nearly annihilated."
"What are you saying?"
"He should have allied with the Mountain Faction and attacked the Plains Faction instead."
I exhaled a plume of smoke into the air.
"But Marbas allowed the Mountain Faction to be almost entirely wiped out. Only after that did he move to purge the Plains Faction. Do you understand what that means, Brother?"
Brother Zepar did not retort. But it wasn't because he didn't know the answer. He simply shut his mouth because the very act of answering me was loathsome to him.
"There is only one answer. Marbas dreams of a dictatorship ruled by the Neutral Faction."
"……."
"No, perhaps 'dictatorship' is too strong a word. It's more like he's come to feel that he can no longer trust either the Mountain Faction, who committed a massacre, or the Plains Faction, who carried out an assassination. Marbas has concluded that no one outside the Neutral Faction is fit to rule demonkind."
It was the truth.
Originally, there had been a pact between Marbas and Sitri to attack the Plains Faction in a pincer movement. But Marbas attacked one step late, trying to minimize casualties among the Neutral Faction. Since he had already decided to purge the Plains Faction entirely, he must have judged that the Mountain Faction's numbers needed to thin out as well.
In the end, Sitri had been used by both sides.
By me, by Marbas, and by the Mountain Faction's traitors alike.
……This was no bright place where a pure-blooded Demon Lord could live without a care. Pandemonium — a place where ten thousand demons gathered, true to its name. By now Sitri must be weeping endlessly while receiving treatment from the mages……
And the moment I pictured Sitri shedding tears, I thought — 'Good.' I truly meant it.
The more hostility Sitri harbored toward the Neutral Faction, the more it benefited me in the end. Sitri's reliance would settle ever more firmly on me alone. His growing disillusionment with Marbas, his sense of betrayal — all of it was good for me.
So that's how it was.
I was that kind of guy.
"Brother. Just imagine that the Plains Faction comrades neither confess their innocence nor admit their guilt. What kind of script do you think will be produced? No — let me tell you."
"……."
"The entire Plains Faction will be executed. Every last one of them, with the suspicion that they were all involved in Paimon's assassination firmly cemented in place — not just Barbatos, but all of them. The Mountain Faction falls, the Plains Faction is annihilated. It's Marbas's victory."
Brother Zepar closed his eyes. Even at a glance, his expression was pained.
"Marbas isn't hoping for the Plains Faction to confess their innocence."
"……What are you trying to say to me……."
"Please. Confess your innocence."
I pleaded with earnest desperation.
"That is the only path for the Plains Faction to survive."
"You don't understand a thing."
Senior Brother Zepar muttered it offhandedly.
"Even if we confess our innocence, His Excellency Barbatos will still face death regardless. Once His Excellency is gone, what will remain for us? Do you truly believe the Plains Faction will still exist after that?"
Senior Brother Zepar let out a soft, mocking laugh.
"……Senior Brother. This is a political matter."
"You truly don't understand anything at all, Dantalion. Fundamentally, you are ignorant of the human heart. This is the matter least of all about politics. His Excellency's death is the Plains Faction's death. If you cannot grasp that, then you will never understand anything at all……."
Senior Brother Zepar opened his eyes. Past his wrinkled lids, gray irises emerged. They were visibly worn with pain. Yet within them, a fierce light still smoldered.
"The question of life is ultimately decided not by how one lives, but by how one dies. The manner of one's death is not determined by the way one accepts life. However, the way one accepts death determines one's life. We have resolved to die alongside His Excellency Barbatos. We have decided that we will die together, without fail."
"……."
"Perhaps I've forced a painful position upon you."
Senior Brother Zepar looked at me slowly.
"You were His Excellency Barbatos's lover, but you were also Paimon's lover. Ah, that's right. Because you mediated between the two factions, there was a brief period of peace. A cruel irony, in the end. The entire Demon Lord's army left peace and war in the hands of a single person — you……."
Senior Brother Zepar sighed bitterly.
"Watching His Excellency Barbatos and Paimon argue over you, I briefly deluded myself into thinking peaceful coexistence might actually be possible. But it was nothing more than a fleeting dream. In the end, you were unable to choose a side. These past few months will remain forever as the worst mistake and nightmare of your life……."
"……."
"His Excellency Barbatos likely did truly assassinate Paimon."
I opened my mouth.
"Then, please acknowledge our innocence!"
"No. Dantalion, it's the exact opposite. You still don't understand anything."
Brother Zepar's lips curled upward slightly. Both his beard and the corners of his mouth were stained a dark, blood-red.
"His Excellency Barbatos would never resort to assassination, even if death were imminent. The same holds true regardless of whether the target is Paimon. No — precisely because Paimon is his sworn rival, he would absolutely never choose assassination. That is a matter of a Demon Lord's pride."
"...I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying."
I furrowed my brow. Half of it was acting, and half of it was genuine.
Brother Zepar was being deceived just as I'd intended. What he was thinking, what he had decided — I could read it all as clearly as markings on a ruler. But the words Brother Zepar was now uttering were not part of my plan.
It was like a great current flowing forward, only to spiral around somewhere in the middle. That was the feeling.
"Had His Excellency Barbatos committed assassination, it would not have been an act befitting a Demon Lord."
"......"
"Dantalion. He did it as a young lady who loves you."
Probably.
My expression must have gone rigid right about now.
"She is someone who would never let hardship break her pride or her convictions. Not for the sake of something else. She will uphold her convictions until the very day she dies — for her own sake. Ha, truly, is she not someone who loves herself?"
That is precisely why.
"Precisely because of that," Zepar continued.
"If she were to set aside her pride, it would not be for her own sake — it would be solely for someone else's."
Say it to the end.
"For your sake."
I already knew that much.
"His Excellency Barbatos loves you just as much as she loves herself. Exactly that much."
Already from that moment when I killed Paimon. No, far before that—I had known.
That everything had started because of me—I had realized that long ago.
So don't you dare force me to relive it in front of my own face.
"The Demon Lord Barbatos, whom our Plains Faction worships, has not ended. It's simply that something as immense as her convictions has been born within her. If that something is love, then Dantalion—I will gladly acknowledge the contradiction of His Excellency Barbatos."
The reason Barbatos had shed tears upon realizing my betrayal.
The reason she had wept endlessly, without a single word of protest or excuse.
It wasn't because she had been betrayed by me, her political partner—she was silently sobbing because, as a woman who loved, she had been betrayed by the man she loved.
"I cannot simply let His Excellency Barbatos depart alone. I, Zepar, have served His Excellency from the moment I understood the meaning of my birth. I will remain by His Excellency's side until the very last moment. ……Dantalion. Regrettably, I cannot accept your proposal."
With that, Brother Zepar closed his eyes once more. It was a dismissal.
I walked out of the solitary room without a word. There was nothing else I could do but walk out.
After trudging through the damp, musty corridor for a while, my body tilted and I collided with the wall. My heart was pounding abnormally. My breathing grew labored. As I slid down the wall and collapsed, Daisy carefully caught my body.
"Hah, *hic*…… hah……."
It was because of the tobacco. Yes—my heart was racing out of sheer nicotine intoxication. There was no other reason. These episodes happened from time to time.
Daisy gazed down at me with her black eyes, expressionless. I gave a crooked grin. I could feel the corners of my mouth trembling, but somehow I managed to form a smile. Never losing one's composure was the most important vice of all.
"What are you smirking at? Everything is unfolding exactly as planned."
"……."
"Help me up, you fool."
Daisy quietly supported me to my feet. After a moment, the dizziness subsided. My heart settled down as well. My usual self. The me that always was had been restored.
Good.
The seed of doubt I had planted in Brother Zepar's heart had bloomed in full. The scenario was hurtling toward perfection.
Now, only Barbatos remained.