Lord Demon is behind you

"Welcome to my Demon King City, Your Excellency the Brave."

As she finished speaking, everything around her mingled like smoke.The whole scene twisted and dissipated little by little, and finally merged into the endless emptiness, leaving only the flowing darkness, sticky wrapped around the body——

The brave felt that this scene seemed a little familiar.

Could it be... Could it be that, no way.

The worst premonition seemed to come true.

"Could it be, this is...?"

"Well," the princess nodded generously and admitted, "You should have had a similar experience before, right, when you faced the vagabond band on the fifth floor."

That's right, the feeling now...is exactly the same as when Shaka and Lana were stuffed into the illusion of spiritual power.

"Of course, this is not an illusion, but my spiritual domain. On the one hand, I will not use that kind of opportunistic mental power; on the other hand, now I have almost unlimited magic power with the help of the Demon Throne, It is far more reliable, powerful, and free than the fringe power that has been cut off from inheritance. But after all, they both exert influence on the brain, and the operating principles of the two are the same."

"Exactly, when..."

The brave man couldn't help but took a few steps back.The place where the wall should have been was now empty.

"You want to ask, when exactly did you enter my spiritual realm?"

The princess was also gradually submerged in the darkness; only her voice drifted near and far.

"Then let me tell you this desperate fact. In fact, I have been monitoring you and controlling everything since you first stepped into the Demon King's City—— When you entered the ninth floor, my domain began to encroach on you."

"Why do you seem so surprised? You know, this is my Demon King City, a stage I built for you. Every step of your progress is under my prediction; although because of the accidental blending of the former Demon King , the result is not so perfect, but it doesn't matter. This is still within my tolerance for error, as long as he is not allowed to step into my core territory with you."

That is to say, using that secret passage to separate the hero from the devil—is this something she planned in advance?

The endless darkness spread further, and finally completely isolated the figure of the princess at the other end.No matter how much the brave man opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything other than darkness again, just like sinking into the eternal night.

For a moment, he even wondered if he had suddenly lost his sight.

"The moment you entered that shortcut, you stepped into an illusory scene independently constructed by my magic power. Your mind and spirit are all taken over by my magic power, and you can only see what I want you to see Arrived things——

"Just like now," her voice suddenly moved behind the brave man's ear, and the skin there felt the warm blowing of the breath, "As long as I think, I can make you indulge in this blindness forever. Your purpose There's darkness everywhere you go; you can't hold on to anything, you can't see anything—so you can do nothing but depend on me."

The brave man jumped away like an electric shock.But in fact, he himself didn't know whether he "jumped away": his body became sluggish, and he couldn't feel the existence of the ground under his feet.He couldn't even confirm whether he was still "standing".

A soft laugh came from beside him.

"...Then, what happened before... Are the conversations you had with Princess Jiali and His Royal Highness the Third Prince also false?"

In desperation, the brave man no longer cared about using the honorific title.

"Well, those prisons are completely empty, and my bad-witted sister and stupid brother are not here at all. Everything you saw just now is a projection I created directly in your brain. But That scene is basically not fabricated by me, right? It did happen, I just reproduced it once."

She said regretfully, "There is no way, it took too long for you to come all the way here. Those pampered nobles who were originally locked in the prison could not withstand the test of hunger within a few days, crying and shouting. They begged me to let them go out, and would rather become my slaves; that ambitious brother also knelt down and begged me for mercy on the third day of torture... If he can really persist until you reach the ninth floor On this day, I might respect him a little bit."

"However, I really want you to see that scene no matter what. It's so funny that the idiot brother insisted on pretending to be calm even though he was terrified to death-he never thought that such a day would come, he never expected He's going to shoot himself in the foot."

—It's not good, it's very bad.

The brave man further realized how terrible the current situation was.The two witches on the fifth floor at least had traces of their spiritual power, but the princess's spiritual control was complete and absolute.In the face of this kind of power, he...has no way to resist at all.

"In order to kill multiple birds with one stone, I also added the elements of mind control to that virtual scene. It stands to reason that as long as you listen to the conversation, you will receive strong spiritual hints, which will have a strong impact on the goal of saving mankind and the companions around you." Suspicion and disgust are right—but because of the influence of the previous demon lord on you through the voice, this failed.... That dwarf really did something superfluous. Why can't you be completely separated from that guy? "

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. It's quite impossible for you to resist me anyway; you're mine already."

When the witch's voice came to his ears again, the brave man felt that the holy sword he was holding in his hand had also disappeared.No, it wasn't the holy sword that disappeared, but his own hand and sense of touch—at this moment, he couldn't force his fingers to bend at all, and he couldn't even feel the existence of his fingers at all.

"—Look, just like this, I can easily hold any of your perceptions in my hands... so that you can't feel anything except me."

Immediately afterwards, there was a slippery touch on the wrist.A pair of gentle hands took his fingers and slid upwards gently along the back of his hands, making him tremble.

— Unable to dodge.

"Your Highness, you..."

"—I'm a witch." She interrupted with a smile.

"I am the owner of the Demon King City, the holder of the Demon King Throne, and a new generation of Demon King. I am no longer a princess at the mercy of others; now I am strong, strong enough. Strong enough to beat my The enemies were all crushed and smashed, and... they took you, my beloved, into their palms."

"Well……"

The situation in front of him caused the brave man to let out a slight gasp,...probably.

However, he cannot hear his own voice, so he cannot judge.

The darkness receded like a tide, and the whole space was as bright as day.

This is no longer the damp and dark scene before, but a place that the brave are very familiar with - the magnificent hall on the ninth floor of the Demon King City.

He was standing alone at the bottom of the long steps.On the steps, sitting on the gorgeous Demon Throne is Princess Irene in a pure black dress.

The witch on the throne looked down at her with an unpredictable smile on her lips.Then she slowly stretched out her hands forward, making a movement of closing them in the middle.

A pair of huge snow-white jade palms that were as wide as a person's feet suddenly transformed into shape on both sides of his body, as if the arms of a princess had grown up, following the movements of Her Highness the Princess, they closed towards him, wrapping his body in their hands between.

The brave man wants to struggle, but at this moment he can't even confirm the position of his limbs, let alone control them to take action.He was involuntarily grabbed by the pair of giant hands, and then lifted up gently, floating into the air.

"It's like... now—"

——All of this is an illusion, and the brave man knows it very well.The scene in front of him is too fantastical to be true; however, the sense of oppression in this scene is too strong.

He lost the sense of touch to perceive his limbs, and also lost the vision to see his own limbs; however, he could easily see the pair of huge palms in front of him, and could easily feel the touch of the opponent's fingers as they lightly passed over the skin.

——The whole person is easily pinched in the hand and played with wantonly, such a self... like a toy.

"Ah, what a wonderful feeling..."

The princess on the throne slightly parted her lips and let out a sigh.

"This is exactly what I've been longing for the most. To be able to gently caress and protect my most important treasure in my hands...

"From now on, you are mine. I will use these hands and the power of the demons to destroy all rude opponents, hostile enemies, and all delusional ones who dare to ask extravagantly of you You won't be allowed to escape, nor will you be taken away; it doesn't matter if you can't fall in love with me for a while, we have plenty of time anyway."

treasure……

The strange thing is, I don't know if the scene in front of him is too surreal, or his fear is also blocked by the princess's spiritual power - at this time the brave man doesn't feel very scared, but just feels very absurd.

Moreover, what about "protection" and "treasure"... the kind of words that seem to treat fragile objects, even if they are applied to human beings, they should be said to girls who are as delicate as jewels, right?

The brave really felt that those words didn't fit him at all.

No matter how obsessed and affectionate the other party is, he can't bring this emotion to himself.

"I will turn you into an immortal creature like me," she said with an expectant smile on her lips, "and... in our long lives, I will use my spirit to wrap you again and again One day your obsession at this moment will be completely eroded by me, whether it is protecting human beings or implementing justice, all will be replaced by traces of love with me. At that time, you will love from the bottom of your heart I, rely on me forever, and be happy with me forever—”

"Your Highness, do you want to... tamper with my memory?"

"It's not something as simple as tampering with memories," the princess smiled more happily, "it's a way to make you fall in love with me from the bottom of your heart. You know that? Soldiers will use self-suggestion before fighting To strengthen your combat power—similar to that, as long as I repeat the words 'you love me' in your ears millions of times, you will one day accept it as an established fact .”

This should be a kind of brainwashing.

The brave man felt a pang of sorrow.

"You... in the end, why did you do this?"

Although he felt that he shouldn't say something that stimulated the other party's spirit...but he couldn't understand it.

"Your Highness," he murmured, "I know you... like me, but I don't think I deserve it. I'm just an ordinary—"

"Stop saying things like that now."

The princess stepped down from the Demon King's throne and stared at him from afar.

"Why must there be a reason for 'like'? Whether it's me, or they who were eliminated by you, I don't need any reason for your love."

The giant white hands dispersed.Darkness engulfed everything again.

In the endless darkness in front of him, the figures of former companions emerged one after another around him——Emily, Stella, Xuelu, Olga, Lana, Saka, Wilka, Ludi, Xi Sylvia...

The figures of the girls gradually blurred, and finally only Princess Irene was left standing in front of him.

"I have the same feelings as them, and we can understand each other. Therefore, I don't hesitate to share a little bit of strength with them, give them some meager hope, and let them have one last dream that can fight for happiness. Of course, the ending is the same as I thought. Exactly the same; you took each of them down. You took those miserable lives, and one step at a time, you finally came to me."

The princess bent down and touched his shoulder with her fingers.

"You will eventually become my lover, and I will protect you under my wings. This is the script I have arranged; in order to achieve this goal, whether becoming a witch or destroying human beings is just a means available to me."

"—"

In this final explanation, the brave man finally guessed the whole truth about the Demon King's Castle.

"you……"

He intermittently, almost squeezed the guess out of his throat.

"Did you... do it on purpose...? Actually, you already knew what kind of creature a witch is... But you still used your companions, concealed the truth of the conversion ceremony, and became a witch with the help of everyone... just for the sake of it." ..."

"Yes, it is like that."

Princess Irene approached the hero with eyes hiding a deep smile.

"I wasn't deceived by that idiot brother to become a witch. In fact, I decided to become a witch from the very beginning, in order to gain the power to protect you. However, the ritual requires the concerted efforts of ten women— —Although there are enough women present, most of them are not willing to become demons, right? Especially saintesses, elves and dwarves, their hatred of demons is almost melted in their souls.

"So I chose the demon king's confession as an opportunity to encourage others. Do you understand? Driven by his unreasonable behavior, excessive anger can easily make them lose their minds. At this time, I will add fuel to the flames Say a few words, and then start the ceremony - sure enough, no one objected.

"The ceremony was established. In this way, I became a witch."

Had she deceived and used her former companions so thoroughly? !

"You—uh!"

Suddenly there was a deafening popping sound from behind.

The brave man only felt his body sinking suddenly; like the blood suddenly flowed back to his limbs and bones, the five senses returned to his body at once.

Here is the original dark and tortuous prison scene.

Several slime monsters are scattered around, and the slime all over the body is trembling.Princess Irene stood opposite, and there was a puddle of unevaporated slime on the ground not far in front of her, which seemed to be the corpse of a slime monster.

It looked like something was attacking her, and she summoned slime monsters in time to shield her...?

The princess frowned and looked behind the brave man.

"What is that, a dwarf's toy?"