......


    Silence filled the air as Shin and his group stared silently at the Demon General, who was looking back at them with a scary grin on his face.


    A speck of light seemed to have pieced the void and appeared beside Shin before turning into a pool of blood on the ground. Then it suddenly grew into a humanoid figure before turning into someone wearing a set of noble clothes with crimson color.


    This was Vladimir, who was currently wearing a grim expression on his face instead of his usual narcissistic attitude. Moreover, this Crimson Noblesse Spirit was currently emitting an intense bloodlust as he glared at the Demon General.


    Hano was slightly taken aback by the sudden appearance of this Elemental Spirit, but quickly recovered himself as he somewhat understood that these there possessed their respective Elemental Spirit Companions since they all were Transcendent Beings.


    The Demon General fist ignored the additional presence in front of him. But as he was fixating his ''eye'' on Shin – or rather Uno – Vladimir suddenly attracted his attention. "It has been a while, Noir of the Eternal Darkness and the right-hand man of Great Demon King Balanar – the Primordial Night that predates even the ''Day'' itself."


    This time, the Demon General named Noir finally showed some reaction and was unable to hide his astonishment. He did not expect that any would know not only his real name but the true name of his master as well.


    He was not the only one as Hano, who was standing at the forefront of the group, could not help but turn around while looking at Vladimir with an astounded gaze.


    The entire Council of Righteous Churches had done everything they could to investigate this Demon General, but they did not even get anything from the latter.


    Even with the help of those individuals from the Hall of Heroes, who led the victory of the Altas World against the invasion of the Demons during the repelling Era, were unable to uncover that much from this Demon General, much less his true name alongside his master''s.


    Now he had to re-evaluate Shin and the rest, especially with such a piece of crucial information that he just acquired.


    He now understood why those old men from the council had given their permission to let these three meet the captive Demon General.


    Little did he know that this all was just a coincidence.


    Noir, on the other hand, fell silent as he ''stared'' at Vladimir while trying to recall where he had met the latter. It was impossible for someone of this era to know anything about him when even those from the frontlines during the Repelling Era were unable to dig for any information.


    There could only be a single reason for this to happen. It was as if the latter was someone who fought against him and his master during that war and managed to survive in the end.


    But that would be impossible since everyone he and his army had encountered all died including Transcendent Beings and powerful heroes that they had encountered.


    Seeing that Noir was trying to recall anything about him, Vladimir took the initiative to introduce himself. "You may have forgotten about us, but we will never forget what you have done to our kingdom, especially the curse that your master has cast upon us."


    "We have promised to avenge our kingdom and make your master for what he has done," he added as an overwhelming killing intent filled the entire place – strong enough to fight against the dark miasma corrupting the surroundings.


    Hearing those words, Noir seemed to have recalled something and started grinning. "I see. You are among those lucky ones saved by the True Fallen at that time."


    "To think that you will be able to survive up until now despite your kingdom being completely corroded by my master''s curse," he paused for a moment as he finally noticed the current appearance of Vladimir and commented. "I see, so you have abandoned your original form that has been corrupted and used the power of the curse to turn yourself into an Elemental Being."


    ''The True Fallen? The Phantom King Kentas?'' Hano, who was listening up until now, could not help but raise his brows with this information.


    But the group was still unconvinced.


    Arthur even added. "That is more than the reason we can''t trust your words. This also doesn''t change the fact that you are nothing but a walking disaster."


    Noir continued to smile mysteriously at them before adding. "Don''t we already have a way to make sure that we can''t betray each other right in front of us?"


    The group was quite confused by his words at first, but they later realized what he was trying to imply and simultaneously turned to Vladimir.


    "You-... you also want to turn yourself into an Elemental Being and make a contract with-..." Hano said with widened eyes as he looked at the Demon General full of disbelief.


    In response to Noir, Vladimir also bore his fangs as he could see through what Noir was planning. "Do you think that I will let you form a contract with my host?"


    Noir looked at Vladimir with full contempt as he answered. "But you are not the one to decide whether to accept me or not."


    Realizing this, Vladimir quickly turned at Shin before shooting a piercing glare at his contractor. But he was also confident that Shin would not agree to such a proposition, especially when his contract with Shin clearly stated that he had to deal with Balanar and his generals for his revenge.


    Shin was also aware of this, so he also could not just accept Noir.


    "Moreover, I am also not interested in your host, but the other ''soul'' that he is keeping," added Noir with a profound gaze.


    Shin had also somewhat guessed it, so he was not surprised. After all, Noir had a sudden change of attitude and started to pay attention to them after discovering Uno''s existence.


    This made the situation a bit trickier.


    But as Shin was having a predicament of what to do, a voice rang inside his head while carrying a greedy and frenzied tone.


    [Let me devour him!]


    This voice was from another Elemental Spirit Companion that he had.


    Hearing the words of the nutjob, Shin''s mouth suddenly curved into a devious grin as a plan started to formulate inside his head.


    When the two saw that grin, they could not help but exchange glances at each other as they already had a ''bad'' feeling about this.


    This grin was too familiar to them as it was what Shin usually wore whenever he was up to something or about to cause trouble.


    Realizing this, they suddenly felt ''bad'' for the Demon General.


    There was a saying that was telling everyone not to trust the words of a Devil. But telling who the ''real'' devil between Shin and Noir, the two would always choose the former whenever he wore this grin.


    ...