The five fellows, seeing that their whining and crying did not deter their usually soft-hearted younger sister, quickly scrambled to their feet and mustered their best defenses. However, they were merely Rank 5 to Rank 7 fellows, while Zaine was a bona fide True God; how could they match?
They were even lucky she was kind enough not to use a Divine Law or Divine Energy, so when the lightning came down, the five brothers were able to defend against more than half of it individually, while the rest struck their heads, causing their hair to stand on end and their bodies to smoke a little.
Zaine harrumphed and sat back in her seat with Chel and Bria, who burst into raucous laughter at their older brother's plight. After all, these five bastards were not the gentle and protective type, often beating them up when they were younger.
Mephisto's lips twitched as he had the butlers of the Devil Castle take his sons to their seats, where they sat in silence. Of course, they put significant distance between themselves and Zaine's seat out of fear of their crazy little sister.
With the theatrics over, the coronation began immediately. Mephisto said a few words that highlighted the key achievements of his reign, and when said out loud, the devils actually felt emotional.
Holy hell, our King is so valiant! When he came to power, there were only 36 Devil cities, and even then, the monarchy's control over them was loose. In his time, he expanded the cities by double and created a decentralized system that spread over all the cities while also dealing with the barbarians at the frontier.
That's right, the 'Devil Realm' did not actually belong to the Devil Race as a whole. As shown from Kuro's experience, the devils had originally occupied a part of the main plane but provoked the dragons and got beaten into hiding.
The specific place they chose for that hiding was this realm that was originally inhabited by myriad races, monsters, and the like. Over the years, these races were slowly annihilated by the devils, who profited off their deaths to expand their civilization bit by bit.
Now, the devils occupied more than 70% of the realm, but that last 30% was mostly filled with barren lands or useless hazardous zones. There was only a small portion left that belonged to some remnant myriad races, of which the most troublesome were the barbaric bulls, the minotaurs!
Devils had various advantages; the foremost was their mental prowess. Psychic power, some minor elemental power, and definitely the power of emotional manipulation through seduction or the like.
However, these advantages that rendered most sapient beings and even monsters waylaid before them were to terrible effect on the simple-minded and honest minotaurs. Yeah, you could seduce a minotaur as a succubus, but the fellow would pounce on you with that baseball bat-like rod and churn your insides.
Anyway, succubi could handle all rods as their physiognomy would expand or contract based on their prey, but minotaurs could go band for band with succubi in terms of sexual prowess. They could go on for days and release enough semen to fill a small lake.
Mind control did not work on them at all, and emotional manipulation to make them feel despair and then harvest it was useless. They scratched their heads stupidly when brokers tried to trick them into signing fatal contracts, and they simply swatted away tricksters like flies without caring about their antics.
The only way was to use telekinesis and elemental control effectively, which was how Mephisto fought them. Even he, with all his power, could only ensure a stalemate on the battlefield. After all, the number of devils who could fight would always be inferior to the number of minotaurs who could fight, as their entire race was born warriors.
Still, Mephisto's revelations were considered to be among the best in their history of rulers, causing there to be wide applause and cheers. Mephisto himself felt amazed when he actually sat down and read all he had done, feeling proud of his work.
Crysta especially had her eyes brightened because she knew all of this by heart. After all, she compiled the list and had always been watching her valiant husband from behind, not willing to let anyone deduct even one of his many merits.
Loki was moved, not giving much thought to his grandpa. After all, that was his family, and grandpa was always kind to him, so he had severely underestimated how ferocious Mephisto was on the battlefield.
After the speech came the gift-giving. Devil Lords stood up one by one under the call of the Butler Charles, giving their magnificent gifts worth thousands of platinum to Loki. The young man did not look down on them despite his family being far richer because that was his family's money.
These gifts were the first few things that truly belonged to him in this world, so Loki received them all with both hands.
His extended family began giving their gifts, which were significantly more lavish. These royal devils would depend on Loki's favor to continue enjoying their status and benefits, so they had to invest in winning a place in his heart.
Then came his close family, with the five brothers collectively presenting him with a special staff that was ornate. This was a special piece of equipment that was forged with a culmination of special materials they had acquired throughout their lives, which reached the Pseudo-Origin Rank and significantly boosted the lad's cognitive abilities!
Loki grasped it and felt power rushing to his brain, his thinking ability enhanced greatly while there was a significant calming effect. This made him more suited to making political decisions without allowing intrusive thoughts and emotions to interfere inappropriately.
Chel and Bria chuckled and brought forth an Incense of Devilry, which would automatically release a pink mist that could cause everyone other than the user to have heightened senses, eliciting better pleasurable responses for those affected.
As the king, Loki would naturally indulge himself. He had to have the ability to cause his partners to die from overindulgence aside from his natural abilities, and this item would help with that.
Zaine emotionally presented her very own Intelligence Booster item, which buffed psychic power. While this rank was the lowest among the gifts, being merely Epic, it had the most significance to Loki because his mother had worn it from as far back as he could remember.
It was also a growth item, but Zaine never upgraded it because she was saving it for her son. Now, it was time to pass it on, and Loki placed it on his forehead, hugging his mother tightly.
Finally, Mephisto and Crysta also presented their gift, which was a special token that allowed Loki to traverse the realm as he wished, without being bogged down by distance. This was something Mephisto had painstakingly acquired and was why he assisted Draco of Hellscape in the previous timeline to slaughter Darkrow.
It was a fragment of the Orb of Worlds customized for the devil realm and would suit Loki well.
The coronation ceremony came to an end, and there was the reception, which was full of feasting and merriment that lasted many hours. Naturally, there was heavily present debauchery as well as despicable games played to amuse the crowd, with the highlight being Asmo taking on five male incubi of renown in a public orgy.
The event closed with everyone returning to their residences, waiting for tomorrow, which would signify the first day of the new king's rule. It would be from then that the fate of the Devil Race would change forever!
For Loki, though, tonight had another significance. As he returned to his chambers while being escorted by Zaine and Martha, he hugged his mom and kissed her goodbye, for Zaine had to go back to the Divine Realm to assist Eva and Shuangtian.
When his mother walked through the portal, Loki, with his hands folded behind his back, turned to Martha with a smile that wasn't a smile. Seeing this, Martha's heart leapt to her throat as heat coursed throughout her body, understanding what was about to happen next.
How many years? How many years had she waited for this day?
Finally, she could be made into a woman by the One True King of the Devils!