With Sinora's help, Pranay slowly freed himself from the heavy shackles and restraining armor. Every movement seemed arduous, yet a new light flickered in his eyes—a longing for freedom and the future.
He took a deep breath, as though drinking in this long-lost hope and courage.
Recalling the new King's gentle yet firm persuasion, Pranay finally made up his mind, ready to follow the new King out of this cell.
Standing to one side, the Poet of Great Love quietly observed Pranay's every move with a deeply satisfied look.
Back at Purgatory Corridor Academy, he had long wanted great demons as foreign faculty. Now that wish was finally fulfilled—fortune truly favored the bold.
With these three great demons, his enterprise would surely flourish, whether on the Northern or Southern Continent.
The Poet of Great Love stood there with arms folded until Pranay was fully prepared to leave.
"My King, do you require my title mark? By my reckoning, it should be defensive and related to detection magic," Pranay bowed slightly to the Poet of Great Love and asked.
Conducting a demon ritual out in the open would likely attract the notice of the surface empire's powerful figures.
Herrom Prison, however, was a natural barrier of the great demons, capable of perfectly masking the aura of such a ritual.
Very few Great Demon Trials likely remained in the world today, and even fewer great demons had survived. So long as the mark did not conflict too severely with others, Pranay thought it might prove useful to the new King.
"Of course. Thank you for your trouble, Lord Pranay."
The Poet of Great Love had originally planned to bring it up, but Pranay had taken the initiative first.
Acquiring this mark would make him a six-mark great demon—a state suspended between great demon and quasi-Demon King.
"Forgive me for the slight offense."
"Not at all."
Receiving the assent, Pranay gracefully raised his hand, letting his palm hover in the empty air before the center of the Poet of Great Love's brow.
In the dim, frostbitten cell, the faint light began to tremble, and silence enveloped their surroundings.
Suddenly, circuit lines of a soul imprint flickered in Pranay's eyes, blazing with magnificent silver light that exuded irresistible magical power.
As the surging energy peaked at its critical threshold, Pranay's palm stirred an updraft of mana within the cell. His innate magic wove across his palm as flowing silver radiance gathered before the center of the Poet of Great Love's forehead, lifting the dark tips of her hair to flutter gently back in the draft.
Light and shadow intertwined, harboring boundless primordial magic within which the silvery currents flowed like a river of stars, mysterious and serene.
Through the supreme inheritance ritual of the demon race, a mysterious mark gradually formed at the Poet of Great Love's brow. The potent magic swiftly ebbed. Pranay drew back his hand, once again placing it horizontally across his chest in a salute to the new King.
"..."
The mana circuits that flashed through the Poet of Great Love's emerald pupils at that moment took on an added layer of intricate rhythm.
[Mark of Truth]
[Category: Soul Imprint]
[Grade: Orange Epic]
[Tier: 1]
[Passive Effect: Grants a certain degree of resistance to detection magic.]
[Note: The acknowledgment of Pranay of Truth.]
Several overlapping layers of translucent light and shadow within her emerald eyes intertwined and recombined, finally shattering and re-crystallizing into a completely distinct magic circuit.
And the demonic aura upon her underwent a genuine metamorphosis, radiating with particular intensity at this moment. Even with disguise magic masking her as human, it was as if one could glimpse demonic traits akin to a radiant holy spirit.
This eerie yet beautiful phantom indicated that the demonic royal path of the soul had already opened, filling all three great demons with an instinctive urge to submit.
This was partly due to the Demon King aptitude she now possessed, and partly because they were already her covenanted demons.
None of the three great demons dared to raise their heads.
It turned out the new King was already a five-mark great demon, and the mark offered by Pranay had triggered the transformation of the sixth mark.
Had they been back in ancient times, demons, humans, and other races alike would probably have felt a tremor of dread before a six-mark great demon far exceeding what the three of them felt now.
Yet very soon, all of this was reined in by the black-haired, green-eyed figure, every trace of demonic aura masked once again by disguise magic.
Lanqi sensed the new mark.
Much like the [Mark of the Fallen] obtained on the fourth basement level, it provided resistance against a specific type of magic.
Although there wasn't much worth detecting on his person to begin with, it would become significantly harder for others to appraise the full effects of his magic cards when he used them. His mana state and disguise magic would also be far more difficult to see through.
The black-haired, green-eyed figure soon noticed Pranay's unease before her.
"A splendid mark, Lord Pranay. Thank you," the Poet of Great Love praised, lightly patting Pranay on the shoulder.
This allowed Pranay to breathe a sigh of relief.
Behind Pranay, Sinora had known the new King would say that.
The King was so good to them. Even though both her mark and her brother's were weak marks unworthy of a Demon King, the King still treated them with what seemed like genuine fondness.
"Wait for me here for a moment. I'm going to bring a companion over. Antanas, Sinora, please explain to Pranay our arrangements in the Protos Empire for the coming period," the Poet of Great Love said to Talia's friends, then waved a hand to signal that she would be leaving the cell for a little while.
Now that he had Antanas the repeater, Lanqi had no intention of personally explaining their upcoming work and lives on the Northern and Southern Continents to Pranay all over again.
Watching the new King leave, the three great demons all let out a breath of relief.
They had never imagined they would live to see a six-mark great demon again in this era.
"Congratulations, Pranay! Your dream life is about to begin..."
Antanas smiled and beat Sinora to the punch, jumping in to describe the life awaiting him in Herrom and cutting Sinora off just as she opened her mouth.
Her tone was elaborate and brimming with cheer, even throwing in several specific job details she had conjectured on her own.
"Let me tell you, things around the new King will probably be thrilling beyond belief. The way she and the Second Princess are so intimate—I honestly think the two of them are crossing the line a bit! Wow, if Talia and Efatia saw it, I don't even know what they'd think," Antanas whispered to Pranay, sneaking glances at the cell door as she spoke, leaving Sinora standing nearby in utter daze.
Though Pranay's expression did not change much outwardly, the sheer astonishment in his heart was evident from his widened eyes.
In his impression, the path to restoring the realm should have been fraught with hardship.
Now it felt more like they were part of a sightseeing tour group.
Besides, Antanas had clearly just been rescued from her own special cell in Herrom Prison—how on earth did she already know so much gossip about the King?
Chapter 450