Naica Island.
At midday in the Demon King's capital, the blazing sun hung high, casting searing light across every corner of the wasteland.
Far out on the outskirts, well away from the royal palace and the bay, shimmering waves of heat rippled across the ground. This was a heavily guarded military stronghold far removed from the bustling commercial districts of the Demon King's capital—the True Night Magic Engineering Research Institute.
Lanqi walked alone across the barren expanse until he reached the entrance of the underground research institute, where saluting soldiers of the Demon King's Army ushered him inside.
Hyperion had no desire to visit Naica Island, where the palace was located, so Lanqi had let her relax by the bay on Lis Island and keep Xigelei company.
Over at McCarthy Restaurant, Thunder Lord Gareth and his cousin Tia were visiting as guests, ensuring the surrounding area was entirely safe.
Contemplating this as he passed through layers of barriers and heavy blast doors forged from anti-magic steel, Lanqi ventured deeper into the facility.
In contrast to the scorching exterior, the indoor air was pleasantly cool, and the glaring daylight softened into a gentle indoor glow.
Inside the institute, many demon researchers remained hard at work even through the lunch hour. Their murmuring discussions, the roar of heavy machinery, and the hum of mana conduits formed the only sounds within the laboratories.
Lanqi walked slowly past laboratory after laboratory lining the corridor, his gaze filled with anticipation for the demons.
At last, he arrived at the central containment control room at the facility's deepest level.
"Good afternoon."
Lanqi took off his rounded, narrow-brimmed trilby.
The sleek hat, paired with a loose coat over his suit vest, accentuated the quiet, understated poise characteristic of a scholar.
A figure inside the central vault quickly looked over at him.
"You're here. We've been working according to your instructions for a full day now."
Seated at an office desk deep in the room cluttered with magetech apparatus, the True Night Lord looked up and spoke to Lanqi.
It had taken a great deal of effort to capture the Fourth Progenitor, Eduardo.
Fall Lord Caliera's initial inclination was to send Eduardo straight to Purgatory City Pasqual to be sealed away immediately.
However, Lord Nameless McCarthy felt it would be a waste to simply bury the value of a Tier 9 Blood Clan progenitor like Eduardo.
And so, over the course of a full day under Lord Nameless's direction, they had launched an emergency project, while Lord Nameless's natal summon, the Poet of Great Love, began an all-around overhaul of Eduardo.
"Still, if we want to make him yield, we have to breach his psychological defenses—even if just for a single instant—so that he will willingly accept our terms," said True Night Lord Esmod, who remained cloaked in black fabric and shadow, only her ghostly blue eyes visible. "Every kind of torture has been tried, but Eduardo hasn't compromised at all. To make the Fourth Progenitor surrender... I see no hope of it."
Esmod shook her head with a sigh, sounding as if she wanted to convince Lanqi to stop tormenting Fourth Progenitor Eduardo.
Lanfu's methods were so brutal that even the True Night Lord had begun to feel shaken. She felt that unless Eduardo was thoroughly sealed away, she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
"..."
Lanqi was silent for a moment.
Just looking at those blue eyes had made him briefly wonder whether the Poet of Great Love was disguised as the True Night Lord just to prank him. Only when the Poet of Great Love popped her head out did Lanqi confirm that the demon swathed tightly in the black cloak was indeed the genuine True Night Lord.
By now, True Night Lord Esmod was already leading the experimental team. As the great demon with the greatest talent for magic engineering in the Demon King's capital, she could grasp the principles of the Forbidden Curse Seal taught to her by the Poet of Great Love almost the moment she heard them.
Unlike the True Night Lord, a brilliant woman of humble origins who had worked her way up through sheer effort to become a great demon, Mist Lord Orion was born a high noble of the Demon King's capital, Nekalis.
"When can we finally go eat? I'm starving and exhausted," complained Mist Lord Orion, who possessed jet-black hair and cold golden eyes, his blood-stained gauntlets dangling as he expressed his disgust.
Without a Tier 8 great demon general like him, it would have been genuinely impossible to cut through the body of a Tier 9 Blood Clan progenitor.
As a patrician noble of the Demon Realm, he rarely did such dirty work with his own hands. Furthermore, that female demon named Lanfu kept ordering him to employ all sorts of gruesome tortures that not even the Seventh Army Group of the Demon Realm would ever use.
Yet, out of gratitude to Lanqi for saving them, he had promised to do anything to help Lanqi.
And so he had joined the research team, lending a hand to the Poet of Great Love, Lanfu, and True Night Lord Esmod.
Looking at Mist Lord Orion, Lanqi felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to chuckle.
"Lord Nameless, why are you smiling at me?" Mist Lord Orion asked in confusion, noticing Lanqi's expression.
"I wasn't smiling," Lanqi replied, waving a hand dismissively.
"You definitely smiled. Tell me why." Mist Lord Orion stepped closer, pressing him while staring into Lanqi's face.
"...Maybe because seeing you just makes me happy?" Lanqi hesitated for a second, then broke into a bright smile, offering the response in a slightly doubtful tone.
Perhaps Orion bore a faint resemblance to an old acquaintance—especially those golden eyes—which had almost fooled Lanqi into buying into his cool, aloof first impression.
"I don't swing that way! I only see you as a brother—wait, no, you clearly have feelings for the princess! Don't make jokes like that!"
Mist Lord Orion recoiled hastily, then realized he had probably been played.
Although he hadn't known this Lord Nameless for long, he didn't mind being around him at all. After all, Lord Nameless was talented, elegant, and well-mannered—precisely the kind of person he favored most—even if he found the man rather hard to read.
"By the way, what kind of women do you like?" Lanqi changed the subject.
In the distance, the True Night Lord, who had been engrossed in her work, suddenly paused. Though she didn't turn around, she seemed to prick up her ears in their direction.
"What kind of question is that?" Mist Lord Orion blinked, thoroughly baffled by the abrupt query.
True Night Lord Esmod quietly resumed her work as though nothing had happened. She showed no signs of disappointment over the Mist Lord's response—or perhaps she had harbored no extravagant hopes to begin with.
"More specifically, for example: would the woman you present a ring to in the future be gentle-tempered or fiery? Deft and clever, or clumsy and dense? Someone who has accompanied you for a long time and knows you well, or someone who dropped out of the sky or was arranged by others to appear before you?"
Lanqi spoke with the practiced air of a psychological counselor, rephrasing the question and slightly slowing his cadence.
"Obviously someone gentle, deft with her hands, and who has been by my side for a long time," Mist Lord Orion answered almost reflexively.
Upon further thought, he realized Lanqi's phrasing was very subtle, almost as though leading him toward an answer; instinctively, he had felt no inclination to choose the latter options.
"If you truly found a wife you cherished beyond measure, and one day she was no longer young and beautiful, would you still love her for all time?" Lanqi continued to probe.
"I would."
Only this time, Mist Lord Orion answered more firmly and decisively than on any of the previous questions.
"I've been conducting some research on psychological tests lately, so I troubled you to test it out. Thank you for your help, Orion," Lanqi explained with a warm smile.
"And did your test reveal anything?" Mist Lord Orion asked, puzzled.
"I suspect that before long, you will find your destined partner," Lanqi said, nodding with utmost certainty.
"So that's what it was! You should've said so earlier. If you ever need help again, I'm always available," Mist Lord Orion beamed immediately.
He found conversing with Lord Nameless thoroughly entertaining, and Lord Nameless was an expert in such matters after all—he had even broken free from the Gentle Land of the Fallen in record time.
"Right, the Fall Lord asked you to head over. She said everything is ready on her end," the Mist Lord added.
"Thank you for your hard work. Go get some rest. You're also welcome to visit my restaurant; I've instructed the chefs to prepare lunch for you right away whenever you arrive."
Lanqi nodded, patting him on the shoulder in gratitude.
"Wonderful."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Mist Lord Orion promptly bade him farewell.
After seeing Mist Lord Orion off, Lanqi cast a glance toward True Night Lord Esmod, who had frozen in place in the distance for quite some time. He offered a faint smile that conveyed: That's as much as I can help you; the next step is up to you.
He then turned and walked alone down the sole corridor connecting the central containment vault to the testing grounds.
Stepping through the automatically parting illusionary gate of black cascading water, he was greeted by streamlined corridors and illusionary galleries. As if traversing an endless road, when light reappeared, he found himself standing within a circular, enclosed chamber.
Aside from Fourth Progenitor Eduardo, who no longer even resembled a human being, there was Fall Lord Caliera, who was keeping the Blood Clan duke restrained.
"I don't think torturing him for another few days and nights will make him yield either. Sealing him away in the ancestral land might be our only choice. Since you need to make a trip to Purgatory City Pasqual anyway, and I plan to head to the human realms, we can escort him over together," Fall Lord Caliera said, glancing at Lanqi with a shrug.
Even though Eduardo had been tortured into near-delirium by the Poet of Great Love, there remained an unbreakable core of steel within his psyche that defied every attempt to shatter or conquer it.
"Follow my lead to control his dreamscape," Lanqi conveyed his consciousness to Fall Lord Caliera.
Within this barrier of the Gentle Land of the Fallen, as long as Lanqi relaxed his mind and willingly sank into the illusion, Caliera would be able to read his thoughts.
After quite a while, Fall Lord Caliera opened her eyes, and Lanqi awakened from the illusion at the same moment.
"I understand what you're asking for, but the illusion you've woven is a bit... Eduardo might soon suspect which side is real," Caliera remarked, her face full of disdain.
She wasn't trying to rain on his parade.
Honestly, not only was this dreamscape far from wonderful, it was downright mediocre. She couldn't see how it could possibly cause an enemy to fall into blissful oblivion.
"Very well, he has entered the Gentle Land of the Fallen."
Still, Fall Lord Caliera had woven the dreamscape Lanqi had requested. Efficiency came first; she was not a demon woman who indulged in idle chatter.
"Don't worry, leave it to me," Lanqi said with confidence, then closed his eyes and entered Eduardo's dreamscape.
"..."
Caliera raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.
"This is clearly my innate magic, so why does it feel like it's become yours again?"
She grumbled under her breath with mild annoyance, then turned her attention to observing Eduardo's new dreamscape.
She was eager to see just how this Lord Nameless intended to wield her innate magic.
Chapter 594