This Long Day Ends

Hearing Ian's words.

The great Demon reacted.

"Hm?"

Its gaze fixed on Ian, who was standing at the edge of the magic circle.

In an instant, the Demon's terrifying aura withdrew. Though it was still far taller than Ian, it lowered its head and "looked" at him with those burning eye sockets. Then it dropped to one knee, one enormous claw pressed to its chest.

It made a gesture of reverence and loyalty.

"At your service, Your Majesty Satan." The great Demon had clearly recognized Ian. A loud, hoarse voice, layered with multiple echoes yet extraordinarily respectful, rang through the Batcave, its manner filled with deference and fearful sincerity. There was no helping it. Ian's reputation in Hell was far more frightening than Lucifer's.

Lord Lucifer was magnanimous.

The new Satan was clearly petty and narrow-minded.

Just how vengeful and small-minded he was had already become known to every Demon in Hell.

"Your Majesty... Satan?"

Bruce's pupils contracted sharply beneath his mask. He looked at Ian, his gaze complicated to the extreme. He knew Ian's identity was special and that he was entangled with both Heaven and Hell, but the title "Your Majesty Satan" meant authority—and trouble behind it—that far exceeded his previous estimates.

He was not merely the Demon King of Hell he had guessed at before.

He really was Satan.

"Mm-hmm. Good attitude."

Ian ignored Bruce's reaction as if he had long since grown used to scenes like this. He nodded at the kneeling Demon, his tone casual, as if he were giving orders to a servant in his own home.

"Get up. I've got a job for you—more precisely, I need your head." For anyone else to come right out and say something like that might have sent the Demon into a rage.

But clearly, the new