15 Cruel and Devilish

On a solar system which rested just outside the border of human space, multiple planets of various sizes with differing amounts of moons could be found.

However, despite the fact that each planet orbited the system's star at different intervals, each planet was virtually the exact same when excluding their different sizes.

Each planet was a moltern wasteland, riddled with numerous rivers and lakes that consisted of pure lava. No vegetation grew on any of the planets, unable to take root on the charred black stones that made up the planets' surfaces.

Only one intelligent species would not only survive in these extreme conditions, but thrive as well.

The Dymonic race.

Contrary to common sense, Dymons were naturally able to survive in any environment as long as it had an atmosphere. At most they would feel some slight inconvenience.

But Dymons were especially suited to these extremely harsh 'lava environments'.

As such, the terra-forming process of the dymons transformed each planet into this very environment, unlike a race like humanity who typically transformed worlds into lush green planets.

Because of this, it wasn't rare for the dymonic race to be seen as an evil species but to view their species as such would be simply unfair and willfully ignorant.

By their own admission, while they were indeed cruel and devilish, they weren't 'evil,' it was all just part of their society.

Like any other intelligent species, the Dymons did indeed have a society.

As 'evil' as their civilization may seem to be to the other intelligent races, Dymons were not just a collective mob of mindless barbarians.

They had their own culture, economy and ideologies. It was just that dymons' ideas of these aspects of society, excluding economy often clashed with other species. And unlike most species, Dymons would rather literally die than fail to uphold their culture.

An example of their culture would be their very distinct architecture.

Unlike the humans whose architecture was typically round or rectangular, dymonic architecture was very triangular in shape.

Most of their buildings took an appearance akin to that of a triangle-based pyramid with triangular 'horns' commonly protruding out of the pyramid's three bottom vertices.

The windows all took a shape of a diamond while their doors consisted of large triangles that opened vertically downwards.

Dymonic buildings were exclusively a dark yet gleamy and chromatic black in colour, with red trims highlighting the pyramid's edges.

Some of these pyramids reached only a height of around two metres while others rose to heights that matched or outmatched the mountains and volcanoes of the planet.

On the capital planet of this solar system; Deltos, this was no different.

Wherever there wasn't lava, there was a dymonic settlement; numerous dymonic buildings lined up in a 'beehive' like pattern, creating an orderly labyrinth of streets.

The largest of these settlements was a large city which stretched endlessly for hundreds of kilometres.

If one were to take a view of this city from high above in the skies, they would faintly see a black 'pentagon' which blended in well with the charred surroundings.

Surrounding the city was a pentagonal wall which was more than twice the height of the typical dymonic skyscrapers and took on the black and red dymonic aesthetic.

At the very centre of this city was 'The Deltos Spire;' a large dymonic building which broke the rule which dictated that said dymonic buildings took the shape of a pyramid, instead, it was a large triangular prism with it's triangle faces parallel to the planet's surface.

The Spire reached heights which dwarfed even the tallest mountains and volcanoes of Deltos, the result of 'dymonic ingenuity.'

On the roof of the spire, at each of the three corners, was a singular angular talon, akin to the three horns of the typical dymonic pyramids.

Each talon pointed towards the centre of the spire, at a 60° angle. At the exact area that they all pointed at, a single large blood red 'diamond' could be seen.

The diamond appeared to be both solid and liquid, incorporeal and corporal all at the same time, while three constant streams of red lightning originating from the three talons 'chained' the diamond to the spire.

Directly below this diamond, on the roof of the spire, there was a giant throne, two metres in height and half a metre in width.

As with all things dymonic, this throne was predominantly a pitch black in colour and was largely triangular in shape.

And on the throne, there sat a single dymon who was about the height of the average human.

But as a dymon his appearance wasn't anything near human.

Other than his dymonic black armour with red outlines, he had short silver-white spikey hair with two long black straight horns protruding out of them.

His skin consisted of dark maroon scales and the whites of his eyes were pitch-black in colour while his pupils were a dark crimson red.

His armour was visibly thick and covered his body from his shoulders to his toes, making him seem even more imposing than he already was.

This dymon was overlord; 'Eht'nemod'drolrevo' of planet Deltos, and his will governs the entire Deltos Solar System.

There were no other guards or advisors in this 'throneroom' because they were simply 'unnecessary.'

Against the overlord, all forms of attack and defense was impotent.

Such was the bare minimum for a dymon to become an overlord who governs a star system.

Directly opposite the overlord was a single female dymon who knelt down on one knee, showing her respects to the overlord.

Unlike the overlord, this female dymon looked much more like a typical human.

In fact, the only things 'inhuman' about her was her distinctly crimson red pupils and the pair of white horns that protruded out of her temples and curved backwards towards the back of her head, almost appearing as if it was part of her hair.

Everything else about her appearance was pretty much like a normal human female. She had fair white skin with long black hair that stretched all the way down to her legs.

Her build was that of a strong lean woman, with her dymonic armour exposing her tight biceps and thighs.

Despite the fact that this female dymon knew that she should not be fearful of the almighty overlord, she couldn't stop the periodical drops of sweat that trickled down the back of her neck.

But yet again, she also knew that this was also something to be expected. Just the pressure created by the overlord's psionic will could make weak minded beings tremble and even experience something close to a mental breakdown.

If she were to use the human's system, then the overlord would be rated as an 'S-class' psionic.

On the other hand, the female dymon would be regarded as a 'B-class psionic.'

In other words, despite being powerful by the human's standards, she still was at least 100 times weaker than the overlord.

The disparity between the two dymons could not be more overstated.

In truth, she could not regard herself as all that powerful, even though she was indeed a very powerful psionic.

Even if she were to exclude the dymon lords and overlords, she knew that she was still not an impressive specimen.

Between herself and the esteemed blackguard of his royal and imperial lordking or the apostles of the Alphos Legion, she really was rather weak.

And those were only the dymons.

Even 'lower' intelligent species had their fair share of powerful psionics.

She was even outclassed by some of the psionic 'hairless apes' that hailed from 'Earth.'

But the female dymon didn't concern herself with such things.

To her, it was rather pointless to worry about these matters.

To her, all that mattered was dealing with what was directly in front of her.

Her name was 'Edirp'dna'htols' but she often preferred to go by her human alias 'Elyssia.'

Although she only took on this name to make it more convenient for her to accomplish her missions, she found that she actually grew quite fond of her 'false' name.

In particular, she liked how simple and efficient it was, much like everything else produced by the hairless apes. Elyssia had no love for humanity but she still had to give credit when credit was due.

There was a beauty in simplicity that Elyssia enjoyed. But unfortunately, to her disappointment, none of her fellow dymonic peers shared the same sentiments.

Not only did they take pride in their convolutedly long names but every aspect of dymon culture that was unnecessarily inconvenient.

But Elyssia paid what she considered to be the faults of the dymonic race no mind.

That was a problem that dymons far more competent and capable than her can solve, if they even consider it to be a problem in the first place.

As for her, she would continue to follow orders set out to her.

She may be criticized by her peers for being blissfully ignorant but in her opinion, a life of bliss was better than one constantly plagued by worldly and universal problems.

After she silently kneeled on the ground in front of the overlord for a few long moments, he finally broke the silence.

"Please, rise."

It was only after Elyssia complied with the overlord's orders did he continue speaking.

"I remember that around five years ago, I sent you into human space in order to investigate an anomaly?"

Elyssia nodded her head to confirm his statement as she responded.

"Yes, I remember the details vividly my lord. You told me to investigate something you described as 'something that denied fate,' which you detected in the neighbouring human nation."

A faint smile grew on the overlord's face when he heard her reply. In fact, Elyssia even sensed a slight glint of relief in his voice when he spoke.

"And what did you find during your investigations?"

Even though Elyssia knew that she could only disappoint him with her answer, she didn't even hesitate to respond.

"I apologise but I found nothing my lord… Even within the capital of the Euronic Republic Union, I found nothing."

In response to Elyssia, the overlord sighed before he continued speaking.

"I apologise too."

Surprised by the overlord's words, Elyssia felt a look of confusion grow on her face as she questioned him.

"What do you mea-ggrh"

However, Elyssia found that she was forced to swallow her own words.

She gasped for air as she felt a sudden blunt force hit her in her stomach.

Soon after, her legs gave away from under her, causing her to fall down onto her knees.

As she gasped in pain, she managed to force a question out of her mouth.

"M-my lord?"

She noticed that the faint smile on the overlord's face has disappeared, instead replaced with a straight solemn expression which he kept while he spoke.

"Recently, a few weeks before your return, I sensed that same being from five years ago once again. Are you aware of what that means?"

Elyssia immediately understood the implications behind the overlord's words.

"That I failed to find the anomaly and returned prematurely?"

The overlord nodded solemnly when he replied.

"Correct."

With a voice full of authority, the overlord gave Elyssia his next order.

"Normally, failure would lead to a harsher form of punishment but I'm feeling lenient today.

You are return to human space and you are not to return until you find the anomaly. I don't care if you have to venture deep into humanity's territory, just ensure that you return to me with results."

Elyssia would only ignore her pain and return to her kneeling position when she responded.