**Bulma Town, Baguta Barony.**
As usual in the Risen Kingdom, even at night the sky remained shrouded in dense black clouds, with lightning rumbling and flashing incessantly.
Far from the bustling town of Bulma—where regular monsters went about their normal lives performing various activities—the entire settlement was on high alert after the murder of the ogre Toric by a human.
Suddenly, a dark violet spatial portal opened in a secluded corner of Bawalia Beach, just two kilometers north of Bawalia Port.
Out stepped eight distinct figures: Lucifer and his group, along with two female monster war captives.
The moment they arrived, Lucifer cast an isolation illusion barrier that spread in a circular area roughly fifty meters in diameter. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.
After deploying the barrier, he looked at everyone seated on the molten-colored sandy beach and said, "Everyone, we'll spend the night here. I've already cast the isolation barrier, so no one outside can see us or enter. Rest easy."
As he spoke, Galathor raised his hand.
Lucifer nodded at him. "Yes, Brother Galathor? What do you want to ask?"
"I just saw how easily—no, effortlessly—you defeated Gorgathar. It was unimaginable," Galathor said. "But why didn't you finish him off? You extracted my revenge by amputating his limbs, yet he can regenerate them over time."
He continued, "And my second question: why can't you teleport us directly to your duchy using that ancient teleportation magic? Why spend more time on this cursed land?"
Lucifer smiled faintly. "Second chances, Brother Galathor. Everyone in this world deserves a second chance to rectify their mistakes, misunderstandings, grudges, and hatred. Sparing him was an act of kindness—I wanted to give him that opportunity."
He went on, "When I asked why the natives of the Risen Kingdom hate races like humans, elves, and dwarfs, he claimed we're new, inferior races born to serve them while they are noble beings. Utter bullshit. That bastard lacks common sense. Who knows how he even became king."
Lucifer shook his head. "Monsters of the Risen Kingdom revere God Augustus, just as people in the Human Alliance and other nations do—as the God of Hope and Light. From what I know, Hemis and Piccolo kingdoms also worship him, with churches dedicated to him. So if both sides worship the same entity, there must have been a time at the beginning of this world when our ancestors were the same. How, then, did these demons and monsters become 'noble and royal races' while we humans and other humanoids became inferior in their eyes?"
He gestured emphatically. "The ideal should be coexistence. But they follow some unknown teaching that elevates themselves while looking down on everyone else. It's all damn nonsense. Why can't we live peacefully when there's no unforgivable hatred or enmity passed down from ancient times? That's why I gave him a chance—to live and rectify his mistakes so we could coexist. But if he doesn't learn his lesson… the next time we meet will be his last day."
"Thanks for the information, Brother Galathor," Lucifer added. "I didn't know he could regenerate lost body parts while recovering. That'll take quite some time, I imagine."
"Now, for your second question… I still lack deep insight into spatial magic. I'm studying it, but I can only alter its structure right now, not expand its range much. At present, I can cover about 2,200 miles in one go. The distance to my territory is roughly 3,458 miles, so I'd have to drop everyone in the middle of the sea and cast it again. That's why I'm not using it."
As Lucifer finished, Valdren raised his hand. Lucifer nodded, giving him the floor.
"How is my daughter Crotivia faring? And Jasper and everyone else?" Valdren asked.
"They're all doing fine," Lucifer replied. "About four months ago, Jasper and his family left Lustbound Heaven Kingdom and joined my duchy as well as the Velmora family. From what I know, Lustbound Heaven likely leaked information about you to the Risen Kingdom and sent you here as a slave along with many others. They wanted to put indirect pressure on me. I don't exactly have amicable relations with them—or with Purefield Duchy. Truth be told, my Westirifer Duchy is basically at odds with both. But don't worry about them. Everyone is safe and living happily. If you want more details, you can confirm everything with Crotivia once we reach my territory."
Just then, Zyrelia piped up. "Dad, I'm hungry."
Mara nodded vigorously, and soon everyone else—including the war captives Flegris and Karzha—showed signs of hunger too.
But Flegris suddenly remembered Lucifer's words back in the underground prison: that she was nothing more than livestock to him, and he was eager to try werewolf meat. Her body began trembling violently. Hallucinations flooded her mind—everyone staring at her with predatory smiles, as if she were fresh, juicy, well-seasoned meat ready for roasting.
Karzha, the dragonkin, looked equally terrified. Monsters had always treated humans and humanoids as livestock and delicacies. Now the roles were reversed, and the fear was crushing.
Seeing their reactions, Lucifer's lips curved into a mischievous grin. He decided to tease them a bit more.
He glanced at Vance with mock seriousness. "Say, Vance, should I prepare some honey-grilled tender werewolf meat… or maybe a rich braised dragonkin bone soup?"
Before Vance could even open his mouth, Mara's eyes lit up. "Daddy! I want the honey-grilled tender meat—but I also want to try the braised bone soup! Zyrelia and I will help with the skinning, deboning, and cleaning. Pretty please, can you make both?"
Lucifer blinked, caught between amusement and mild exasperation at his sweet, innocent shadow-daughters' deadly serious enthusiasm. He had only been teasing the captives.
The moment Mara spoke, both Flegris and Karzha fainted dead away at the same time, their minds filled with horrifying visions of Lucifer wielding his nightfeast cleaver like the Grim Reaper's scythe. To them, he was far more terrifying than any actual death spirit monster, Morghyra.
Lucifer stared at the two collapsed beastwomen with a slightly bewildered expression, then turned to Mara with a chuckle. "My beautiful princess, I wasn't serious. I was just teasing these two. We're not going to eat them."
"So, Papa, what are we going to eat if not these two meat supplies?" Zyrelia asked innocently.
"They aren't meat supplies," Lucifer laughed, ruffling her hair. "I said all that just to scare them. For tonight's dinner, I have some python meat in my spatial inventory—should be enough for everyone, including these two beastwomen. Let's prepare that first, then we'll head home. Aaah… I'm tired."
He pulled out two large chunks of python meat, each the size of a full-grown pig, and tossed them to Galathor. "Big Brother Galathor, neither Vance, my daughters, nor I have eaten anything today. The whole day was spent rescuing you and Uncle Valdren. I used healing spells on both of you as well as on vance.
so you should be in top condition now. It wasn't physically exhausting, but I'm mentally drained. I'm going to take a short nap. In the meantime, you can take Uncle Valdren help and prepare this meat. I've given you salt and everything else you need—just make something edible."
He handed over the supplies, then instructed Vance to keep an eye on the two beastkin women.
After that, Lucifer lay down near his daughters, pulled both of them into his warm embrace, and slowly closed his eyes.
Galathor stared at him with gazes full of unspoken questions. Deep down, he wanted to protest: *Lucifer, you bastard… i don't know how to cook either! I'm even worse than Vance and your daughters!* But he didn't dare wake him. With resigned sighs, he turned to the python meat and left everything to fate.