For several long seconds after Blanc disappeared, nobody in the village moved.
The air still felt tense.
Not heavy anymore.
Not suffocating.
Just wrong, as if the world itself had not yet fully recovered from the fact that a smiling white-haired nightmare had stood in the middle of their village talking to Loki like an upset lover and a disappointed elder sister at the same time.
Loki was the first to move.
He slowly turned back toward the village.
And immediately noticed every pair of eyes fixed on him.
Rigur.
Rigurd.
Gobta.
The other Hobgoblins.
Even Rimuru.
They were all looking at him differently now.
Not just with fear.
With that specific kind of fear that came after seeing a terrifying being get scolded like a child.
Loki's eyes narrowed.
The entire village stiffened at once.
"What," he asked, voice flat, "are you all looking at?"
Nobody answered.
Loki took one step forward.
The fur mantle shifted over his shoulders. Ragnir rested against one hand. His maroon-and-gold hair caught the light at the edges, and for a second he looked exactly like what Rimuru had first taken him for.
The final boss.
"Let me be very clear," Loki said, his tone calm in the most dangerous possible way. "If any of you are starting to think less of me because of what just happened…"
He let the sentence hang.
Then smiled.
"…correct yourselves."
The Hobgoblins nearly jumped.
Gobta straightened so hard his spine looked like it might snap.
Rigur lowered his eyes immediately.
Rigurd bowed his head.
Rimuru laughed nervously.
"N-no, of course not, Loki-sama."
Inside, however, he was in ruins.
'That absolutely happened.'
'I definitely watched the Demon Lord of all Demon Lords get cornered into obedience.'
'And now he's threatening us for noticing it.'
'This is so unfair.'
Loki held the silence a second longer.
Then seemed satisfied enough.
He gave a short hum and looked away as if the matter were settled.
Rimuru stared at him for another moment.
Then, despite every survival instinct telling him not to, he found enough courage to ask the obvious question.
"Um…"
Loki looked at him.
Rimuru swallowed.
"That woman from before…"
He hesitated.
"…who was she?"
Loki stared for a second as if debating how much patience he had for this conversation.
Then he sighed.
"My sister."
Rimuru blinked.
"…Your sister?"
Loki nodded once.
Rimuru's eyes widened slightly.
"I didn't know demons could have siblings."
Loki actually looked amused by that.
"We don't."
Rimuru tilted his head.
"…You just said she was your sister."
"She is."
"That sounds contradictory."
"It is."
Rimuru's internal voice immediately kicked in.
'Great.'
'He's answering in boss-riddle mode again.'
Loki shifted Ragnir onto his shoulder and spoke more clearly this time.
"We aren't siblings in the blood-relative sense."
Rimuru listened carefully.
Loki continued.
"All of us were made because of the creator god, Veldanava."
That name alone made the Hobgoblins go very still.
Rimuru did too.
Loki's expression had lost most of its usual joking edge now.
"The originals."
He glanced upward briefly.
"I'm the last born of 15"
"Those things that came into existence at the dawn of creation."
He looked back at Rimuru.
"They're effectively family."
Rimuru tried to process that.
"So…"
He hesitated.
"You mean there are fourteen demons like you?"
Loki looked offended.
"No."
He raised one finger.
"There are not fourteen demons."
Then a second finger.
"There are seven demons of origin."
A third.
"And seven angels of origin."
He lowered his hand again.
"I'm a hybrid."
Rimuru's eyes widened.
"A hybrid?"
Loki smiled.
"A Nephalem."
That word hit Rimuru far harder than it should have.
Because somewhere in the back of his old human brain, buried under games, stories, fantasy tropes, and half-remembered internet rabbit holes, that word carried a very specific sort of meaning.
His thoughts immediately spiraled.
'A Nephalem?'
'Aren't those the kind of things fated to surpass even the beings that made them?'
'What kind of monster is standing in front of me right now?'
Then another thought hit him.
'Wait.'
'If he's the youngest of fifteen—'
Rimuru glanced at him nervously.
'Does that mean there are fourteen other things stronger than him just wandering around?'
Loki's eyes shifted toward him.
Rimuru froze.
Because the Demon Lord's expression had changed into one of deep, deep amusement.
"Do not misunderstand," Loki said.
Rimuru felt his nonexistent stomach drop.
'He read that, didn't he?'
Loki smirked.
"I may be the youngest."
He tapped his chest lightly.
"But I'm still top three strongest."
Rimuru's mind went blank for a moment.
Then restarted incorrectly.
'Top three?'
'TOP THREE?!'
His internal voice cracked under the pressure of that statement.
'That's not reassuring!'
Loki looked almost pleased by his reaction.
Rimuru, still trying to recover, asked the next question before his courage had time to die again.
"So if there are seven demons and seven angels…"
He looked toward the sky where Blanc had been earlier.
"…that means there are fourteen originals?"
Loki nodded.
"Yes."
Rimuru exhaled slowly.
Then regretted that too.
Because it meant he had just learned that the world apparently contained an entire hidden family of primordial nightmares.
And one of them had already kissed Loki in front of him.
Rimuru immediately shut that thought down.
'No.'
'We are not revisiting that.'
Loki, meanwhile, had already moved on.
"We'll need bodies."
Rimuru blinked.
"…Bodies?"
Loki nodded as though that were an entirely normal continuation of the conversation.
"Yes."
He adjusted Ragnir again.
"Two hundred and one."
Rimuru froze.
The Hobgoblins froze too.
Even Gobta managed to understand that two hundred and one bodies was not the kind of phrase that led anywhere normal.
Rimuru looked up at him carefully.
"…What do you mean, bodies?"
Loki answered immediately.
"One for my sister."
"Two hundred for the demons she'll bring with her."
Rimuru's brain stopped.
Then slowly started grinding again.
"You mean…"
He looked down, then back up.
"You're going to make them?"
Loki tilted his head.
"Yes."
Rimuru stared.
'He says that so casually.'
'Like he's talking about building furniture.'
Loki looked faintly confused by the confusion.
Then he shrugged.
"We're heading to my lab."
He smiled.
A small smile.
"And when you get there…"
He looked directly at Rimuru.
"…try not to be too scared."
Rimuru swallowed.
Loki continued.
"There are quite a few monsters living in that palace with me."
The Hobgoblins looked horrified.
Rimuru somehow looked even worse.
His internal voice whispered what the rest of him could not.
'What fate awaits me?'
Loki opened a black circle in the air beside him.
Then looked back at Rimuru.
"Well?"
Rimuru looked at the portal.
Then at the village.
Then at the Hobgoblins.
Then back at Loki.
His smile was thin.
Very thin.
"Yes, Loki-sama."
Inside, he was already grieving.
'I miss when my problems were wolves.'
---
Deep within the Underworld, Blanc returned to her palace.
She did not walk in quietly.
The moment her manifested form reappeared within her domain, the atmosphere itself shifted.
Servants straightened.
Demons lowered their heads.
And in the great white chamber at the center of it all, two figures were already waiting.
Moss.
And Cien.
Both of them looked up at once.
And both of them froze.
Because Blanc looked…
Happy.
Actually, openly happy.
It had been so long since either of them had seen that expression on her face that for a second neither of them could quite believe it.
Moss was the first to recover.
He lowered his head respectfully.
"My lady."
Blanc drifted further into the room, the smile still on her lips.
Moss glanced up again.
Then cautiously asked,
"…What happened?"
Blanc turned toward him.
Her expression glowed with joy so intense it was nearly frightening.
"I found him."
That was enough to make both Moss and Cien stiffen.
Her little brother.
The one she had been obsessing over.
The one she had crossed worlds to see.
Blanc clasped her hands in front of her.
"He's wonderful."
Her smile widened.
"Even more than I imagined."
Moss and Cien exchanged a brief glance.
That was not reassuring.
Blanc looked at Moss.
"Gather everyone."
Moss blinked.
"…Everyone?"
"Yes."
"All the demons of my domain."
Her voice remained soft.
"They're going to be summoned by my little brother."
Moss stared at her.
Cien stared too.
Blanc continued as if she were announcing a pleasant outing.
"They'll receive bodies."
"And names."
"And they will serve my little brother wholeheartedly as their Demon Lord."
Silence followed.
Moss and Cien remained frozen.
Blanc's smile did not fade.
Neither of them spoke.
Not because they didn't want to.
Because their minds had simply not caught up yet.
Then, at the exact same time, both finally managed—
"…HUH!?"
---
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