Overwhelming Rage

"Princess..."

A maid behind Yueye anxiously tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "They're from the Undead Demon Race... They serve the Fourth Demon God. We... shouldn't confront them directly."

Yueye said nothing. She merely watched Xuan Ye, who was half-kneeling on the ground, her silver eyes flickering with uncertainty.

Seeing this, the maid knew the princess was unwilling to give in. She could only steel herself, step forward, and bow slightly to Valen.

"Earl Valen, the Moon Demon Race is handling this matter. Please do us a favor."

"This half-blood traitor holds secrets of our race. By the rules, we should take him back to our clan for punishment."

At her words, a strange smile appeared on Valen's pale face.

Take him away?

He hadn't planned on killing this "Moon Demon" just yet.

A living Moon Demon genius, raised with a human education and harboring murderous hatred toward the Demon Race, was worth far more than a corpse.

His real target had never been this insignificant fourth-tier fighter. It was the Moon Demon Race behind him.

Hadn't the Moon Demon Race always proclaimed its love of peace, even doing business with humans?

And now a "clansman" had appeared, raised in the human world and wielding a butcher's blade against demons.

What a perfect excuse.

Why did it have to be your Moon Demon Race?

Why did this race, which advocated peace with humans, have to produce such a bloodthirsty traitor?

What exactly were those caravans traveling between the Human and Devil Realms transporting?

Who knew whether you were secretly colluding with humans and plotting some scheme against the entire Demon Race?

A living traitor was a thorn that would remain lodged in the Moon Demon Race's throat forever.

If he died, it would simply please everyone, and he would have been executed.

But as long as he lived, the Moon Demon Race would always bear a stain that could never be washed away, a handle others could use against them at any time.

As the Number One Clan under the Fourth Demon God, the Undead Demon Race had coveted a place among the Top Three Demon God Races for far too long.

The Sun Moon Star Three Clans stood united, making it impossible for them to shake their position.

Now, a crack had appeared.

He would drive that thorn deep into the flesh of the Moon Demon Race.

Xuan Ye didn't understand this silent exchange, but he understood what he saw.

He could feel that he had somehow become a bargaining chip.

A spark of the will to survive reignited within his nearly depleted Inner Spiritual Power.

The Moon Demon Race... really seemed to be trying to protect him!

He forced himself to remain upright and said nothing, watching how things unfolded.

Valen savored the ugly expression on Yueye's maid's face and spoke at his leisure.

"You want to take him away? That's not out of the question."

"But..."

He pointed a white-gloved finger at the corpse of the fifth-tier Berserker Demon whom Xuan Ye had beheaded, then gestured toward the demon who had turned to ash in the distance.

"My loyal subordinates can't have died for nothing, can they?"

"Princess Yueye, don't you think your Moon Demon Race owes me an explanation?"

The maid's face instantly turned deathly pale.

She knew Valen was extorting them.

But they were in the wrong.

Was she supposed to make her incomparably noble princess, a peak seventh-tier powerhouse, bow to a mere sixth-tier earl and even pay compensation?

It was a terrible humiliation!

The maid could no longer hold back her anger. She abruptly turned to look at Xuan Ye, who was half-kneeling on the ground, her eyes filled with hatred and resentment.

It was all this damn half-blood's fault!

If not for him, the princess wouldn't have had to suffer this humiliation!

She now completely agreed with Valen: this man, raised in human territory, hated the Demon Race to his very bones.

He deserved to die!

But the princess's will could not be defied.

The maid took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her murderous intent, and bowed to Valen once more.

"Earl Valen, our Moon Demon Race will remember the friendship of the Undead Demon Race."

"If you're willing to let him go, we'll reward you handsomely."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Valen's brow suddenly furrowed, his patience seemingly exhausted.

He took a step forward.

"Boom—!"

The aura of a sixth-tier powerhouse erupted without restraint, like an invisible mountain crashing down on the maid.

She was also sixth-tier, but weaker than Valen. The force of his aura made her grunt and stagger backward several steps, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

Valen didn't spare her another glance. His gaze passed over her and fixed on the Moon Demon princess, who had remained silent from beginning to end.

"Your Highness Yueye."

"Ever since you arrived, you've had your maid speak to me."

"What, are you too proud to talk to me?"

"Is this how the Moon Demon Race asks for help?"

A twisted sense of pleasure welled up inside Valen.

He wanted to humiliate her.

Yes, Yueye was a peak seventh-tier powerhouse. If they actually fought, he wouldn't stand a chance.

But so what?

Word about this "Moon Demon Race traitor" had already been sent to the Demon Race leadership.

If Yueye dared to attack him here over a traitor, he could send word before he died.

What would the Moon Demon Race do then?

Attack a friendly earl for the sake of a traitor who had grown up in the human world and slaughtered his own kind?

Yueye couldn't bear that accusation, and neither could the entire Moon Demon Race!

He was certain Yueye had no way out.

Being able to humiliate a princess of one of the Top Three Demon God Races in front of so many demons filled him with indescribable satisfaction.

Under Valen's relentless gaze, Yueye finally moved.

Her silver eyes slowly turned toward Xuan Ye.

Then she spoke.

Her voice was cool, yet carried an unquestionable authority.

"Was it you who hurt him?"

"Huh?"

Valen was stunned.

So was every other demon present.

I hurt him?

What was going on?

He was a traitor who had killed my subordinate. Wasn't it only natural for me to hurt him?

Yueye paid no attention to Valen's bewilderment.

For the first time, her gaze settled clearly on Xuan Ye.

Was this the person who was "in the same boat" as her?

No.

Not at all.

Even when her peers in the clan had excluded and bullied her, hurling the most vicious insults at her, the Yueye she remembered had still worn a clean purple dress and maintained her dignity.

But the boy before her was covered in blood and grime, his clothes in tatters, his whole body reeking of death and blood. He looked utterly wretched.

His face no longer showed even a trace of the Moon Demon Race's beauty and elegance.

And yet...

For some reason, looking at Xuan Ye in such a pitiful state caused a flame, suppressed within Yueye for countless years, to explode within her!

It was as if she saw another version of herself.

If she hadn't been Agareus's daughter, if she hadn't had the protection of her title as princess, would she have been trampled into the dirt at his age, bullied and covered in wounds?

That Overwhelming Rage instantly drowned out her reason.

"Vmmm—!"

Terrifying demonic power surged skyward from Yueye's petite body, churning the clouds and wind.