Shadow of the Beautiful World

Led by a butler in a tuxedo and white gloves, Merlin walked quietly in the black mountain castle.

This is a very old castle, as can be seen from the green plants that climb the walls and the sense of alienation and loneliness lingering in this castle that does not belong to this era.

This castle was built on the highest mountain in Latvinia, a small country in Eastern Europe. From the walls of the castle, you can almost overlook the whole picture of this tiny country.

Probably the kings in the Middle Ages would like this sport very much, which will allow them to see the land ruled by them more intuitively.

Although in Merlin's view, ruling such a small country is not a sense of accomplishment.

His Majesty is waiting for you in the restaurant, honored guest.

The very gracious old butler saluted Merlin slightly and made a please gesture, and Merlin nodded to him.

Under the silent gaze of the guards wearing ceremonial armor, Merlin stretched out his black gloved hand and pushed open the door of the castle restaurant in front of him.

Accompanied by the sound of the heavy wooden door creaking, what caught his eyes was a quaint hall.

An oval table was placed in the center of the hall, with a rich tablecloth, and on the table was filled with all kinds of delicious food, and there were obedient maids holding wine, always ready to serve your Majesty and the country. The ruler fills his cup.

It was a king's dinner, and there was only one person there.

The owner of this place is sitting on the main seat of this hall. The wizard king Victor von Doom, who is wearing a strange iron armor, a green hood and a battle robe, is using elegant movements to cut a piece of well-cooked steak.

Without raising his head, he said to Merlin who walked into the restaurant:

It's important for you to visit me at this time, right? Friend.

Yes.

Merlin looked at the extravagant dinner in front of Doom. He leaned on the Dracula's Grave in his hand. He did not directly explain his purpose of coming, but softly commented:

It is rumored that you are a strict and great monarch, a benevolent ruler, but this extravagant dinner reminds me of those kings who didn't end well in history.

I love my people, there is no doubt about it, but they are also my subjects.

Dum didn't care about the other meanings in Merlin's words. He put the steak into his iron mask's open and closed mouth, and said calmly:

I keep them safe, I give them a better life.

So every night, regardless of personal beliefs, before they go to sleep, they should give thanks to me. Also therefore, I always eat the food first, and eat the best, which is the king's power.

The Wizard King of Latvinia raised his head and made an inviting gesture to Merlin. He said:

What's more, there are distinguished guests coming tonight. Although my country is small, I can still provide a decent enough meal. Come to the table, friends, food always makes people happy, so let's chat while eating.

Merlin was also not polite. One maid opened a chair for him, and another maid brought him tableware and poured wine for him at the same time.

Merlin raised the glass, and Doom also raised the glass. The two drank the first glass of wine in silence. Merlin coughed lightly, and he said:

The construction of the omnibus center has entered the construction stage. The engineer of the Onika Group has a very good sense of the people of Latvinia. He likes your country very much.

Of course, this is just a trivial matter, Your Majesty, I'm here for more important things, remember what we said when we parted last time?

Dum stopped cutting the steak, and he raised his finger, as if giving a silent order, and the other people in the restaurant immediately backed away without a sound.

After everyone had left, Doom looked at Merlin, eyes fixed on him from behind the iron mask, and said:

Do you have a plan?

Yes, we are preparing a plan against the great devil.

Merlin put a piece of cake into his mouth with a fork, squinting his eyes with pleasure at the delicious sweetness, and said to Doom:

In the implementation of our plan, maybe you can also participate in it. I mean, if you plan to give your mother's soul another go, then we can start preparing from now on.

But before that, we still lack some information. I believe that with your help, we can get that information and improve the plan that is beneficial to us.

Merlin took out a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket, placed it in the air, and with a light wave, the parchment was lifted by an invisible hand and brought to Dum's eyes.

This is?

Dum looked at the parchment in his hand, and he felt a strange power from it, which meant that this parchment was not extraordinary.

This is an 'old friend' of mine.

Merlin says:

Ask it, it will tell you everything you need, and of course there will be a request that may be a bit weird, but if you want to get it, you have to pay. I believe that an excellent wizard like you will not understand this truth.

etc.

Dum tapped twice on the table with his fingers, he looked at Merlin strangely, and said:

You want me to exchange with this unknown existence in exchange for the important information you need, but I have to bear the price

Yes, there is nothing wrong with your understanding.

Merlin seemed to be concentrating on dealing with the big lobster in front of him, saying:

This may sound harsh, but Lord Doom, believe me, compared to the guy you have to deal with, in this world, you will never find a more suitable partner than us.

click

Merlin snapped off the lobster's front claws, winked at Doom, and said:

Also, it's good for both of us, we each take what we get.

Through the things in your hands, not only can you know Mephisto's weakness, but you can also gain a group of real 'friends'. Even if our plan fails, it will not do any harm to you who hide in the dark.

It's a real bargain.—

A few months later, a lively place.

Satana, the daughter of Satan in disguise, is walking in this strange building. She is wearing a red hood and wraps herself tightly. She is looking for her target in this lively place.

This is the tavern of hell, which is located at the intersection of all hell dimensions. This is the neutral zone recognized by all hell lords.

Looking out from the window of this tavern, you can see the tower of twilight standing in the center of hell, where the lords of hell discuss things, and the most famous seat of Satan is also there.

When Satana was young, she went there once with her father. At that time, she was an innocent little girl. She thought that the throne of Satan was the most gorgeous throne in hell. After all, it symbolized all the authority of hell.

However, it is not!

Few demons or demons in hell know the true face of Satan's throne. It's just a dilapidated, crooked, even left-right asymmetrical seat made of a pile of rotten wood.

It sits in the purest of hellfires, being burned by flames from every dimension and yet remaining whole, which shows that it is indeed miraculous.

But other than that, Satana, who was still young at the time, couldn't understand that the throne of the king of hell could be so simple.

What still impressed her deeply at the time was that those hell lords were discussing things in the flame dome of the throne.

The place where each hell lord stands. According to her father, the closer a hell lord is to Satan's throne, the more noble it is in hell.

So every fiend or fiend who deserves to be in the meeting tries to move himself a little closer to that broken seat.

But even the most tyrannical and powerful one of them dare not put its claws on the throne, if it does, then the next moment, it will be swarmed by others and torn to pieces on the spot.

But Satana's father, Marduk, was an exception. After all, he was the only one who was thrown from the throne and was able to retire unscathed. He always enjoyed some privileges.

For example, other maharajas will only call themselves Satan when necessary, mostly for fraudulent occasions.

Marduk, on the other hand, could call himself Satan whenever he wanted, because he did have that name in the first place.

Well, anyway, because of the unpleasant things that happened in Limbo and Satan's Hell a while ago, Satana has to keep a low profile now.

Her father has been looking for her and her brother. Once her father finds her whereabouts, her fate will be miserable.

But today, Satana was very lucky. When she entered the third hall of this hell tavern, she quickly found her target among the various hell creatures.

Did anything interesting happen today?

Satana swayed her body, walked to her target, slapped the chair in front of her in hysteria with a paw, probably the snake demon who had drunk too much and slapped it on the ground, and then sat on the seat by herself.

The snake demon who was knocked down stood up drunkenly, planning to get up and do something.

But when it got up, it saw that Satana stretched out his finger and summoned a mass of hellfire with a concentration of madness, and burned the table in front of her again, probably for disinfection.

This scene made the snake demon resolutely persuaded, it turned around silently, and left here.

The person who snatched the seat was undoubtedly something it couldn't offend. Although it seemed a bit cowardly to leave without saying anything harshly, it was not those brainless Berserkers.

If you encounter such unlucky things, don't hurry up, why should you stay here and wait for love?

Nothing interesting.

The purple-skinned devil sitting next to Satana didn't care about this inexplicable accost. It drank the devil's wine in the glass with gusto, and said:

Just like an ordinary day in Purgatory. What about you? Stranger, do you have anything interesting today?

Yes, I have.

Satana gestured to the devil bartender, and soon, there was a skull glass filled with colorful and dazzling cocktails, which seemed to be the treatment only for bar regulars.

The Daughter of Satan raised the skull cup, and amidst the surrounding noises, she said:

I had a great time today. On the way here, I killed a lot of brainless demon assassins, fought with a fallen angel, wait, let me think about it, oh, yes, and snatched a bad luck The seat of the egg, and now intends to seduce a prince of hell, to overthrow his father's throne

How was it? Wonderful day, wasn't it? Your Excellency Blackheart.

Well, it's really exciting.

Black Heart, the son of the Great Devil Mephisto, the Prince of Hell with a straight red seedling, nodded expressionlessly, and said:

But I'm in a bad mood today, so I don't plan to make false claims with you. Before I plan to make a move, let's go, little girl.

Hey man, are you mad at me for trying to seduce you?

Satana put her hand on Prince Black Heart's shoulder in a very frivolous gesture, and she said angrily:

Don't be so boring, you know, this is hell, if you don't plan to drink with every guy who wants to take advantage of you, then you can only drink alone now.

Besides, the ambition of Your Excellency Black Heart has spread throughout hell. When you were young and frivolous, you said cruelly that you would usurp your father's throne, but you have not achieved anything until now.

Are you sure you want to use me? Not to provoke me?

Hei Xin slammed the wine glass in his hand on the table. This devil with scales all over his body and cool, messy black hair reaching his heels said in a deep voice:

Who sent you to be a lobbyist? You are really incompetent.

I just omitted those meaningless politeness. I speak more frankly and directly.

Satana took a sip of her wine indifferently, and she said:

If I make you uncomfortable by telling the truth, then I can't help it

I just want to offer you a chance. If you operate well enough, maybe you can seize a chance to overthrow your father who has the most gorgeous beard in the hell dimension.

whispering sound.

The Black Heart Prince smiled disdainfully:

No matter what you're looking for, it's definitely not me. Stay away from me. This is the last warning.

Hey, I thought you still had some ambitions in your youth, Your Excellency Black Heart. For a while, the children in hell all regarded you as a role model.

Because you're the only guy who says things that everyone wants to do but nobody dares to do, and that makes you a hero.

Satana snorted, she didn't care about the warning from the black heart, she took a sip of the cocktail, she said:

But now? Ah, the life in purgatory, the endless failures, the rebellion after another, made you fear your father, and the fear weakened your ability, and because of the fear, you are now willing to become Murphys Trusted pets”

click

Black Heart's fist was clenched, and sharp and poisonous black bone spurs jumped out of its arm. The low-level demons and devils near this seat turned and ran away in fright.

But Satana wasn't afraid.

She turned her head to look at Hei Xin, and said:

The old men are using their own methods to fight for the throne of the king of hell. Every maharaja has their own ideas. Before they go on the field in person, they will instigate their representatives to go on stage to warm up.

Whether you like it or not, black heart, you will eventually be sent to the arena as cannon fodder, and I know that you can't win!

The Daughter of Satan held out a finger, and she whispered:

Because the strongest of us children of hell, stand with me! He can eat you like a sandwich

This is your last chance, I will give you the last 10 seconds, if you don't want to listen to me

Satana raised her wine glass and said to Hei Xin:

Then let's go our separate ways, but when you meet my boss in the arena of the Lords of Hell, don't say I didn't warn you in advance.

The deadly bone spur on Black Heart's arm was less than an inch away from Satana's neck, but the Prince of Hell did not stab it.

Not only because of Satana's extraordinary courage and her eloquent tongue, but more importantly, as one of the oldest princes of hell, Black Heart knows that what Satana said is right

Those bloody old men are just as bad as hell.

Who are you? Your boss, and who is it?

Black Heart asked.

These questions don't matter.

Satana stuck out her tongue and licked her lips. The hell princess flirtatiously reached out and pinched the strong muscles on Hei Xin's arm. She said softly:

The important thing is that we formed a small group to give the old guys a little look, and actually, we were going to slap them hard.

Do you want to join in?

Facing Satana's question, Black Heart didn't answer immediately, until several minutes later, it turned around, retracted the bone spur, sat down again, raised the wine glass, and said to the bartender:

Give me another glass of wine, ah, this dull day finally has some meaning.