To carry out his grand plan, Solam had to draw upon the power of the Abyss's origin. But the Abyss had laws of its own. To borrow its power, one first had to be a demon—or, more simply put, a resident of the Abyss. At the very least, one had to be acknowledged by the Abyss. That was crucial.
At the same time, drawing upon the Abyss's power required a powerful spellcaster with profound mastery of magic to guide it. The ritual required for that guidance was enough to make ninety-nine percent of spellcasters in the multiverse turn away in despair, not to mention that the preparatory work was extraordinarily complicated and precise. Ordinary people simply could not manage it.
At least, Solam himself could not. Not within a short period of time.
So Queen Laeral Silverhand had no choice but to make a sacrifice. Aside from the first requirement, she met all the other conditions. And since Solam had no other options, he could only talk Queen Laeral Silverhand into it.
Queen Laeral Silverhand had initially been extremely resistant to the request. But after Solam repeatedly promised that once the grand plan was complete, he would help her "redeem" herself and escape her demonic form, she eventually accepted.
How much of that was because Queen Laeral Silverhand was also curious about the Abyss's primordial power was impossible to say. After all, every mage possessed an intense curiosity. That did not change with alignment or stance.
"You look pretty relaxed. Aren't you worried at all?" After venting for a while, Queen Laeral Silverhand finally began discussing serious matters. Although she had recently been making final preparations among the fortresses occupied by Solam, she had continued keeping track of basic outside information. And honestly, demons were so terrible at keeping