The Demon Realm's culture did not celebrate "giving one's life for righteousness."
Its harsh environment and scarce resources had made competition among its inhabitants brutal for ages. Even within the same clan, killing and devouring one another were commonplace, let alone among enemies.
The Demon Realm had a classic saying: "The dead are all meat."
Enemy or kin, once dead, they were nothing but meat.
In a world like that, benevolence and righteousness were luxuries.
Even those who kept fighting the Demon King, like the Insect Emperor, did not necessarily do it for some greater cause. More often, they fought for their own interests—just as the Four Heavenly Kings had joined the Demon King for theirs.
When the Demon King had been at the height of his power, the Insect Emperor Heramachia had struggled for years without finding more than a handful of allies.
But now, with the Hero gripping the Demon King by the head and smashing him all the way into a mountain, anyone could see he was doomed. Not one member of Demonkind remained loyal to him.
After a while, Pan Long returned.
Holding a battered iron boot, he dragged the Demon King leisurely out of a Mountain Cliff that had become a new valley. Almost all the black blood had drained from the Demon King's mangled body, and only his armor kept the corpse from collapsing into a puddle of mush.
With a clang, Pan Long tossed that heap of trash in front of Heramachia.
"Brother Insect Emperor, see if this thing's still breathing," he said. "If he is, I'll set him on fire."
The Four Heavenly Kings and the others swallowed together. They made up their minds never to anger this powerful Hero.
Clearly, this Hero was not easy to deal with. If they angered