Reign stared at the four people that were currently in front of him.
The king, Lios, and the princess had all stood up and were releasing their aura. Each one of them was a high-grade Tier III combatant, many times more powerful than what they were mere days ago.
As for the queen, Reign could sense danger coming from her, at the very least, she should be a peak Tier III being and not a normal one at that.
He clenched his two swords and stared at the four people in front of him.
"Why?" Reign asked with a serious expression as he stared at them.
None made any remarks or showed any kind of response to Reign's question, however.
The king and the other two were simply staring at him with seemingly empty eyes, they were almost devoid of any emotions.
"Ah, sorry, you won't be able to really talk to any of these three, there is a price to be paid when it comes to gaining so much power in such a short period of time, after all." The queen suddenly spoke out as she looked at Reign with a calm and seemingly loving expression on her face.
"What?"
"Ah, you humans, always wanting to become stronger, sometimes not even caring how you would become stronger and what the side effects would be." The queen suddenly sighed as she stared at Reign. She then turned her head around before standing up and caressing the cheek of her daughter.
"You see, they all wished for power, well, that is what usually happens when humans find out about my true identity."
"I've been together with them for so long that none of them even bothered to ask me what would happen to them if they were to wholeheartedly accept my powers, had they asked, I would have answered, we of the abyss have certain rules we need to abide by after all."
"Well, it's a bit too late now, these three, you see, are mere husks of their former selves."
"Their consciousness has been almost completely stripped away, leaving only the bare necessities in order to function and listen to orders." The queen said as she lovingly stared at her daughter.
"Even my own daughter fell prey to the habits of humans, well, she is almost fully a human herself after all, I shouldn't have expected much more from her compared to her brother, both were failures when it came to inheriting my powers." The queen sighed sadly before looking over at Lios and the king.
As for these two, they truly loved this kingdom, they loved it so much that it was easy for me to manipulate them over the course of two decades, slowly building up trust, before finally letting them know the truth, with some minor adjustments, of course."
"What did you do to them?" Reign asked with a serious expression on his face as he stared at the queen who was all smiles.
"I gave them what they wanted, what they needed." The queen said with a smile on her face.
"Power, enough power that they can protect the kingdom without relying on others no more, enough power to make them the targets of envy and fear."
"I did tell them that their minds would change, but even that was not enough to persuade them against taking my powers, and well, losing their freedom." The queen said with a giggle as she stared at the two men with clear disgust.
"My husband was harder to persuade, however."
"I spent two whole decades slowly making him trust me, taking down the mental walls he had built up, as well as making sure I was well-liked by all the subjects."
"It was honestly quite tiring, but this moment alone makes it all worth all the patience that I had to endure when living with these humans, and when giving birth to our children."
"It's just a shame neither one of my children gained anything from me, but well, that is expected when I'm using a human body myself."
"So, would you mind telling me why you did all of this, what reason did you have to suddenly destroy everything, even if you were to defeat us today, the kingdom will lose most of its powerful combatants, and it will be a perfect time for other powers to strike and take it over." Reign said with a serious tone as he stared at the queen.
"Oh, wait, you think I actually care about this little kingdom?" The queen asked innocently before giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Oh dear, no, I don't care about any of this, the only thing I care about is living, and not returning back to the abyss, that is all." The queen said in a serious tone as her whole demeanor suddenly changed.
"I came to this planet a long, long time ago."
"Back then, I was actually unable to take over a body, even a corpse was too much for me."
"But, by biding my time and slowly integrating myself to this planet and learning of how the humans behaved, I was able to finally do it after more than a millennium."
"You know, in a way, they do owe me their lives, all of the people of this kingdom." The queen said as it was a matter of fact.
"You see, back when this place was simply a deserted area, a newly found location that many were planning to occupy, it was me that managed to persuade the founder of the kingdom to come here."
"Those idiots couldn't see the value of the mountain range, or the strategic importance of this area in the future, well, it would be a future where both they and their children would be long dead, but still, they simply didn't care about it."
The queen suddenly sat back down and sighed deeply.
"If someone was able to control this area, then they will have a great opportunity to attack those around the area while making sure that the enemy will have a hard time trying to attack them."
"That was my plan back then, come to the area with the founder, a man that was incredibly powerful, a Tier V being."
"I helped him out as I was using my full power back then, I was a Tier V being as well, but thanks to me overusing my power on a new body, it started breaking down."
"Not to mention the fact that I would sooner or later have to leave that interesting man simply for the fact that I will not age while he will."
"I wanted to leave some offspring with him, but my haste in creating this body made it impossible for that to happen."
"That was why I decided to do something else."
"I sealed my powers, and most of my memories and let my body live its life."
"For decades, I lived amongst humans as a human and made friends and enemies, only finally waking up about 30 years ago."
"My powers were almost fully sealed and I actually needed to slowly improve my strength over time, which I did."
"I wanted to make the king the ruler of the whole area and a new emperor, but the alliance attacked, and they did it during a time when I was going through a rather peculiar thing that made it impossible for me to use any of my powers."
"I thought it would go on for years, but then you came."
"And what a splendid display of power you made at the beginning, your actions after coming here were not light either."
"That was when I decided that I wanted you." The queen said with a wide smile on her face as she seized up Reign as if he was a fun toy to be played with.
"Not interested in married women, sorry," Reign replied with a cold voice as the queen started laughing hysterically.
"No, you misunderstand, Reign." The queen suddenly said.
"I don't really have emotions such as love, lust, and those similar to them."
"I merely want your body, I want it so that I can stay here, and because I can see the potential you have, so much potential that I am certain that by using your body I will be able to rise to heights I previously only dreamed of." The queen stared up at the ceiling as an intoxicated expression took over her face.
"You see, this body won't last forever either." The queen said as she looked at Reign with a calm expression.
"I need a suitable vessel for myself, and you are nothing less than perfect for me."
"I see, so all of this, you did so you could kill me and take my body?"
"What about the demon invasion, what did that have anything to do with this?"
"Oh, well Reign, I knew that something would have to be done for you to return here, after all, unlike the others, I always knew you were not a mere mercenary the system had sent over."
"So I made sure to create chaos, enough of it so that if a chance would arise, you would come here."
"And then what, you take my body and what, take over the kingdom, the area?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The queen suddenly started laughing heartily after hearing Reign's words.
"No, as I said before, I don't care about that."
"I have always done things for one reason, be it living with humans as a normal person, having the kingdom founded, trying to make this man an emperor, it was all simply because I had fun."
"What?" Reign asked with a confused gaze as the queen smiled maniacally.
"Hahaha, yes, I did it all so that I could have fun, so that I could feel alive."