Several minutes slipped past quickly in the cavernous cell.
Standing beneath the anti-magic steel pillar, the three great demons seemed to sense something and promptly ceased their whispered conversation.
Straightening their posture, they all turned their gaze toward the cell door.
When the Poet of Great Love returned to Pranay's special cell, a male intern prison guard accompanied her at the entrance.
Though bearing some injuries, his tier was evidently not high. It was hard to imagine the sheer mental willpower required for him to fight his way through the Great Demon Trial.
"Sorry to trouble you to pose as Mr. Pranay here for a while," the Poet of Great Love apologized, looking at the wounds on the young Domination priest.
"It is my honor. May martial fortune smile upon you and the Lord Bishop," the Domination priest replied with a bow.
In the distance, Pranay gave Antanas a strange look.
What was this "Bishop"?
Usually, when something was unfamiliar, asking Antanas was the right choice.
Yet Antanas was equally baffled. Earlier, in the cell on the fifth basement floor, she and Sinora had also heard the stand-ins mention "the Lord Bishop."
It seemed the new King was very close to a human referred to as the Bishop, and the elites substituting for their identities were lent to the new King by that Bishop.
Judging by the subordinates' attitude toward the new King, however, the new King and the Bishop appeared entirely inseparable—the Bishop's followers seemed to regard both as equal objects of their unwavering loyalty.
Antanas's imagination instantly kicked into overdrive.
Could the new King already be married, and her spouse was that very Bishop?
Just what kind of powerful and brilliant human would it take to win the new King's heart?
"Antanas, what are you daydreaming about now?"
The Poet of Great Love let out a helpless sigh, looking at Antanas with a gaze that practically invited her to ask whatever was on her mind.
He had an inkling that this demon's thoughts were veering drastically off course.
In fact, she shared an uncanny similarity with Senior Luvishir, the journalist from the press and secretary of the student council at Ikerite Academy.
The only difference was that Antanas merely liked gossiping in secret, whereas Senior Luvishir would publish it straight to the papers without a second thought.
Even now, the Dean of the School of Alchemy was still cooling his heels in prison.
"Have you... already formed an alliance with a Cardinal of the Resurrection Church?" Antanas asked after a moment of thought, glancing at Pranay before looking back at the Poet of Great Love.
She figured Pranay wanted confirmation on this as well.
Though she was interested in personal affairs, Pranay cared about business.
"Yes. Sigrid, the Bishop of Domination, is my companion," the Poet of Great Love admitted.
Since everyone present in this cell could now be counted as part of the Domination branch, there was no harm in speaking freely.
He intended to explain Sigrid's condition to the three great demons later anyway. As core combatants, they needed to know the truth.
The only one who had to be kept in the dark for now was Hyperion.
First, Sigrid forbade letting any priest of the Church of the Goddess of Fate discover her injuries. Second, Lanqi felt that if Hyperion learned she had clashed with the Bishop of Domination herself that day and almost ended up in a full-blown brawl, Hyperion would probably tear up and lose sleep every night while staying in the Protos Empire.
It was better to wait until they left the empire before revealing to Hyperion that "Side" was actually Sigrid, the Bishop of Domination.
Upon hearing this, all three great demons froze.
Pranay naturally understood what kind of figure Sigrid, the Bishop of Domination, was.
As for Antanas and Sinora, they had briefly caught mention of the human known as Sigrid, the Bishop of Domination, during the new King's earlier conversation with Pranay.
In all likelihood, she was a Cardinal of the Resurrection Church, possessing general-tier strength!
Pranay was secretly shocked that the new King had already reached an agreement with a Cardinal of the Resurrection Church.
Yet on the heels of that shock came overwhelming misgivings and dread.
The Resurrection Church was an entity one could never trust.
If one allied with them, the final outcome would be either devouring them or being devoured by them!
Pranay badly wanted to ask why the new King would collaborate with the Bishop of Domination, but asking in front of this Domination priest felt inappropriate and impolite.
This priest was an ally who had come to take his place and help him escape.
Before Pranay could find the right words, Antanas had already spoken up.
"What is your current relationship with each other?" she asked cautiously, a nervous edge to her voice.
Pranay clutched his forehead.
*What in the world is this gossip-monger asking?!*
"..."
The black-haired, green-eyed figure fell silent for a moment, not angered as the three great demons had anticipated.
"A bond of shared life and death. I promised I would never betray her," he said calmly yet resolutely.
"...!"
Antanas clamped a hand over her mouth.
From the sound of it, Bishop Sigrid was a woman, and her relationship with the new King was entirely too ambiguous.
The Second Princess already showed a distinctly overprotective, possessive streak toward the new King.
Didn't that mean having the Second Princess, the new King, and the Bishop together would be an unending disaster of jealousy?
*Holy shit!*
With Talia's overbearing personality, she would never allow the Second Princess and the new King to cross the line, nor would she ever tolerate a woman even more domineering than herself holding sway over the new Demon King...
Antanas could only count her blessings that the new King wasn't male; otherwise, everything would have truly blown up.
"You have decided never to betray the Bishop, but are you certain the Bishop will never abandon you?" Ignoring Antanas, who was caught in a mental storm, Pranay looked at the new King and boldly inquired in the most polite manner possible.
Even if it brought punishment upon him, this was something he had to confirm.
He could not accept the thought of the new King being betrayed one day.
"She won't. We have gone through life and death together twice, and we will soon face a third," the Poet of Great Love replied with a faint smile, shaking her head.
"Is that so..."
Antanas pondered this. To have weathered life and death together so many times and been drawn together by unseen forces—they were practically an unbreakable pair fated by destiny.
The excitement in her eyes became almost unbearable. She wanted nothing more than to witness the new King's love story unfold!
"I understand. Forgive my insolence," Pranay said, taking a step back. He bowed in apology to the Domination priest, though joy could hardly be concealed in his eyes.
He had never imagined fate would bestow such a blessing upon the demon race.
The bond between the new King and the Bishop had transcended life and self-interest; it could no longer be described as a mere transaction or collaboration.
Never in his wildest dreams had Pranay imagined the Domination branch belonged to the same camp as the Demon Realm.
The future was bright with hope.
Now, the only arduous task remaining was to help the new King win over Luoqi McCarthy to their camp during the three days leading up to the bishop election!
Once Pranay had fully swapped appearances and identities with the final priest, the Poet of Great Love looked at the three great demons.
"Antanas, Sinora, protect Pranay and escort him back to the teleportation circle as quickly as possible. I will follow shortly."
"Understood."
The great demons nodded and made their way toward the exit.
Chapter 451