"Hm. Noir, it's nice to see you." All of us going to Walpurgis had gathered in my office to await the person who'd apparently come to bring us to the banquet.
At the exact specified time, a pitch black door appeared right in the center of the room, and out of it stepped two women in maid outfits. The one who spoke was the taller of the maids, with long green hair and eyes that shone like emeralds.
I didn't even have to analyze them to realize that both maids were Daemons, at least a full evolution past the Arch tier that was supposed to be the top of the food chain.
I was pretty sure that Diablo could scrub both of them with his left elbow, though.
"Vert. Bleu."
"I'd prefer if you used our names, Noir." The blue-haired maid told him.
"Then use the name my most beloved master graciously bestowed on me, Raine. It is Diablo." Diablo replied.
"Diablo…" Sensing that Diablo was about to go on one of his long praise rants, I gently chided him.
"Of course. We have business." He gave a half-bow in apology.
"Right through here."
The door that'd appeared in the middle of my study was directly connected to a fancy meeting hall with a large, round table in the center. According to Isis, it was apparently in some sort of pocket dimension just barely connected to the real world, similar to Ramiris's labyrinth, but not quite as overpowered.
I found myself unconsciously relaxing a bit when Isis almost immediately informed me that, apparently, the chances of whatever Ultimate skill made this possible being able to trap me here were less than 1%, due to Horus, Belzebuth, and Aether.
But, for the purpose of keeping my skills under my belt, I ignored that for now, focusing on the room itself.
The actual table was for the Demon Lords themselves. With twelve seats, eleven invitees, and a missing Carillon, two of those seats should've remained empty even though my name was on the one closest to the door.
Apparently, the seating arrangement was decided by seniority. A young-looking guy with wild red hair and an open shirt was sitting at the very far end of the table, looking nonchalant and half-asleep. Guy Crimson.
Ramiris's seat was at Guy's right hand. Fitted for her tiny stature, she immediately kicked up her feet and started boasting to Beretta and Treyni, who stood against the wall behind her, respectfully.
As for Guy, I had Isis analyze him safely, without actually using invasive, detectable spells. Apparently, she couldn't quite determine his limit, but the magicules that he was releasing were at the level of Carillon or so, and far more perfectly controlled than he wanted to make it seem, meaning that he was definitely at least a level or two beyond that.
Chances that he had at least one Ultimate Skill: 100%. And at least partially analysis/space related, too, since his power was apparently the thing stabilizing this entire space.
Instantly, I decided to do my best to refrain from pissing him off.
Isis assured me that I had access to more Ultimate Skills than anyone else on the planet right now, but that didn't make my victory in a fight inevitable or anything. Quality tended to beat quantity in this world, and I had almost zero experience.
Still, as one of the oldest and strongest demon lords on the planet, he clearly wasn't stup-
What was Diablo doing, just walking up to Guy Crimson like that?!
While Diablo bantered with (mainly just annoyed) one of the strongest demon lords alive, the others filed in, mostly one at a time. Most of them stopped for a moment, eyebrows raised, when they saw my butler annoying Guy Crimson, but none said a word to either him or me.
First, a blue-haired dude built like five tanks in a pyramid formation. Dude didn't seem particularly interested in anything, just kicking back and putting his feet up, but he was releasing enough magicules to make Cave Veldora look like a wimp. Just based on the magicules, if the guy didn't have any skills at all, Isis calculated that the guy's EP had to be higher than mine.
Just ridiculous. While I was pretty sure that I could beat the guy in a fight, unless he was hiding an Ultimate skill and the ability to use it almost perfectly, like Guy, I really had no desire to.
Then, there was a well-built blonde vampire with enough power to rival Carillon, with two servants behind him, an elderly man, and an eerie-looking young maid who stared at me for a long moment before taking her place against the wall behind the fake Valentine.
The maid was definitely the real Luminous Valentine. But had she willingly attacked Tempest, or had her subordinates done so of their own accord? I'd have to speak with her later.
She was hiding her strength, but in the same way that Guy was, meaning that she was at least a level or two above her stand-in. True Demon Lord territory for sure.
Demon Lord number five was a sleepy looking kid who immediately walked up to Ramiris and called her tiny.
At least he seemed impressed, and jealous, of her attendants. He mentioned that while they argued, before finally walking over to his seat and immediately putting his head on the table, conking out.
Unlike the others, this kid, Deeno, apparently, was actually holding his aura in, kind of like I did, rather than leaving bits to hang out. As such, I couldn't get any sort of read on his actual power without trying to analyze him, which I wasn't quite willing to do.
Still, as one of the old guard, he couldn't be a pushover. He had to be at least as strong as Clayman, or they wouldn't let him in here. Being able to control that level of power as perfectly as he did made my lowest guesses show that he could probably at least take Shion on evenly.
For safety's sake, I tossed his danger rating up to somewhere around Daggrull's. That was just what my intuition, and one of the skills attached to Aether (Probably from Risa, I wasn't entirely sure) was saying.
After Deeno, Frey walked in. And wow, she was a bombshell.
A sudden ping of horrifying danger from someone connected to Aether, directly behind me, pulled my mind right out of that sequence of thoughts.
With magicules on par with Carillon… maybe, Frey was one of the ones who brought attendants…
Seriously?
One of her attendants was a young-looking harpy lady with a succubus-like body on par with Frey's.
More danger from Shion's general direction.
But Frey's other attendant made me turn my head.
Despite the eagle wings on his back, and the stupid lion mask on his face, I'd recognize that aura anywhere.
'Report. You are correct. That is definitely the Demon Lord Carillon.'
Yup, I knew he wasn't dead.
But the fact that she'd brought Carillon here proved one thing indisputably: Frey had no intention of allowing Clayman to leave this banquet alive.
Fine by me. I agreed with the sentiment.
After Frey appeared, that only left three demon lords left. I knew somewhere deep down, that I'd recognize each and every one of them as they appeared.