"Different religions have different definitions of what the transcended beings represent, but one thing remains the same across all of Merrum. The history of the archdemons," whispered Ailre, a far away look in his eyes.

"In the beginning, there was only Arshahet, in all his chaotic might. Feeling lonely in the vast darkness of the void, he created his first son, Merciel. Merciel is accepted as the highest among the transcended deities, second only to his father. Together with his father's help, they began creating Merrum. Back then there was only one continent, with no living beings apart from them," he continued, tightening his fists before going on.

"Merciel grew bored of the empty world, and asked his father if he could create children of his own. Arshahet gave him permission and offered him power, thus the minor deities were born. For a righteous god, he was rather uncreative, for all his children were human," as Ailre said this he nearly spat in disgust.

"Merciel's children praised him as the supreme god, and though this angered Arshahet, he allowed it to be so. Though things changed when Merciel began spending more time with his children, leaving Arshahet lonely once again. Feeling frustrated, he created kids of his own, he thought they would praise him and stay with him forever. However these children were created with malcontent, and so they turned out differently from Merciel. They represented all seven of Arshahets chaotic fac-"

"I can tell this will all be interesting, family feuds always are. But can you skip to the part about this... Morkesh, and why exactly she's so scary," interrupted Gray, growing bored of the long-winded creation story.

"Mordesh. She is the ruler of the seventh circle of hell, Amaymon's older sister. Amongst the archdemons, she is probably the most powerful when it comes to knowledge of magic. That's to say she is a world-level threat, and if I'm right and the queen is conspiring with her, then there will be no stopping her. We will need the royal family's artifacts to seal her avatar, and with two out of three of them being in the queen's possession, that will be impossible."

"So from what I understand, this isn't the cult of Amaymon, it's the cult of Morkesh?"

"Mordesh. But yes," replied Ailre.

"Look Ailre,-" as Gray said this he patted Ailre on the back, "-this seems very political. And as righteous a person I am, I'm not willing to involve myself in these matters. So if this isn't the cult of Amaymon, I'll be on my way. This whole Morkesh business, or whatever her name is, count me out," he said before walking out the cell.

"Gray, please. If you won't do this for us then do it for your kingdom. Once she's done with us, she'll move on to yours. If we let her get an avatar..."

"Ailre, let me ask you this. Do you think I'm strong enough to fight against the strongest warrior in your kingdom? Do you think that with my help, we'll be able to beat the queen?" In that moment Ailre seemed to see things from Gray's point of view. He was a soldier from a foreign country, sent on a mission that was now completely out of his depth. To ask him to fight against the monarch of another kingdom was unreasonable, almost as unreasonable as asking him to report it to his country. Even if they did believe him, what could they do? Wage war?

"Look, I'll report this to the higher-ups that I trust. They might send back up, or they might just watch your kingdom burn. Either way, this is goodbye," he finished before walking back to the barracks.

[Quest updated]

[Eliminate the current queen of Elden and prevent Mordesh from acquiring a physical vessel.]

[Quest difficulty: S-]

[Quest Rewards: Max Affinity with Alucard

Max renown within the Kingdom of Elden

+1000 Affinity with Amaymon

Key to the underworld

Title: Monarch Slayer {+200 to all stats}

True demon Promotion

Hidden rewards

[Accept] [Decline]

~The quest rose in difficulty huh? Not that I care anyway~ thought Gray as get walked to Tesse's room.

"Clean up, we're leaving," said Gray as he opened Tesse's room. She had just finished showering and was butt-naked. For a moment there was silence, realizing that this was going on for too long, Gray closed the door.

"Master..." whispered Tesse, staring at the door longingly.

***

The two of them left the barracks a few minutes later and after collecting all their belongings from the front desk, they left the city.

~So are you really okay with leaving the elven lands to Mordesh? This will prove to be an issue for us later on, it will hinder our plans for world domination~ warned the specter.

~And who said we are going to do that?~ replied Gray as he came to a crossroads. One path had a sign that pointed towards the capital city, the other was the path they had used to come here, the path that led back to Glistern and all the way back to Gray's hometown.

~The actors at play here are too powerful for us right now. I couldn't even defeat that old fart, Gazef. I need to head back to human lands, I need to gather more abilities, I need to build an army.~ As Gray said this he steered his horse towards the path that led to Glistern.

~Why the sudden interest, you weren't so keen on world domination when we first met,~ replied the specter.

~The fucking demons are making their move. If I don't do anything, they'll kill all my food before I get the chance to. Rather I rule the elven lands than let some demon whore do it.~

======================================

[System Information]

[Merciel]

The divine deity of Merrum, known as the avatar of righteousness. The different races of Merrum all have different names for him and what he represents, however, they all accept him as the second most powerful being in existence. Prophecy states that he shall one day wage war against his father, and end all suffering in the mortal plane.

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