"You are Rimuru?" Turning around, I met the gaze of one of the 'loner' Demon Lords, a tall beauty with long blonde hair.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a woman. Fortunately, I did. Isis popped the information into my head before I even asked. "Oh, yeah. You must be Leon. Did you need something from me?"
"Yes, I am Leon. The sight of you brought back some memories." I frowned. He was talking about my strong resemblance to Shizu.
"Shizu's dead, Leon." Technically, it was more complicated than that. If she'd been truly, completely dead, her soul would likely end up somewhere else, reincarnated without her memories, likely in this world. She didn't want that, so her soul was 'resting' inside of Belzebuth, unconscious for all of eternity.
Maybe Risa or I would resurrect her in some form, or maybe in another world or something someday, but as far as it mattered, she was gone. As tempting as it was to resurrect her in another body, I wasn't going to do that against her wishes.
"Of course she's dead. She took Ifrit in, but refused to become a magic-born." He stated, blatant and cold.
It erupted out of me before I could stop it. "She asked me to punch you for her. Mind letting me?"
"No, thank you." He handled it calmly, at least. Apparently, Leon was the kind of guy who acted like that about everything. It made me a little less mad. "I wanted her to live as a human being. I even gave her Ifrit as a farewell gift. I see no reason why I deserve a beating for it."
"I can respect that…" I trailed off. Risa and I didn't really hate Leon. Neither had Shizu, for that matter, but I couldn't bring myself to just leave it all as water under the bridge.
"I understand. We can speak about this matter at a later date, if you wish. I harbor no ill will toward you for however you may feel about the way I handled Shizu. If you walk out of this meeting hall alive, I will issue you an invitation to visit at a later date. You can turn it down, if you think it's a trap."
Yup, cold, blunt, and level.
"All right. Feel free to send an invitation, if you get around to it." I replied.
And with that, he nodded and found his seat. Honestly, that was a big relief. Leon had been one of the people that I'd been worried about siding against me here. It was good to know that he wasn't out to antagonize me here.
I still didn't think we'd ever see eye-to-eye. Between how he'd handled Shizu, and the fact that he was the one who'd come up with the 'quick summoning' rituals to pull random people from other worlds, I couldn't quite forgive the guy.
But not being forced to kill him today was more than enough for now. Rome wasn't built in a day, but Hiroshima was destroyed in a second.
And just as Leon sat down, our final two demon lords arrived.
Clayman was more handsome, and put together, than I expected.
Unlike with the other Demon Lords, I didn't respect Clayman at all, so I immediately had Isis run a full Analyze and Assess on him and his retinue.
A few things caught my eye, but Clayman himself was pretty much exactly as I'd expected. Recordable EP level somewhere between Shuna and Hakuro, a Unique Skill based in manipulation, and the dude was clad head-to-toe in expensive, Unique-grade gear.
In other words, irritating, but definitely the weakest person in this room, by far. The only one he could maybe take on his own was Frey's retinue… if he had a pretty heavy home field advantage. His skills laid in controlling others who were weaker than him, with the pinnacle of those skills resting uncomfortably in his arms, a small little fox with EP notably higher than his own, maybe just below Ranga's. According to Isis, the fox was under a Demon Dominate spell that'd been apparently woven deep into its soul long ago, when it had been much weaker.
I almost broke the spell on a whim when he walked in, but I stopped myself. This needed to be handled carefully. I'd free the little fox as I killed Clayman.
And with Milim following Clayman behind, meek and quiet for some reason, definitely not under any spell, that completed the night's attendees.
Of them all, I suspected Milim, Guy, Ramiris, and Leon definitely had at least one Ultimate Skill. I wasn't quite as sure on Luminus, Deeno, and Daggrull, but I figured the chances were high that those three could definitely fight on the Ultimate level as well, to some degree or other.
Frankly, the other three, as unawakened Seeds, were simply on another, much lower level.
But that still meant that seven of the ten people sitting at this table likely knew, or at least suspected that I had some sort of Ultimate Skill in my arsenal.
I'd have to do my best to keep Isis, Mnemosyne, Horus, Aether, and Thoth hidden. Maybe I'd just use Soul Consume on Clayman when I was done with him, and pretend that all I had was Belzebuth. I didn't think I'd be able to hide Aether for too long, but honestly, as long as Isis stayed under the table, revealing a bit didn't matter much.
As I was considering that, though, Clayman died.
Not literally, but the difference between what he actually did and choosing his own coffin was slim to none.
"Move it, you dunce-!" Out of nowhere, Clayman reared his fist back and tried to punch Milim. And she didn't resist.
Despite her lack of resistance, though, his fist never hit its mark. It paused, just a few inches from her cheek, held there by a mysterious force.
Killing intent? No.
Magical intimidation? No.
Had I stopped him myself? Another no.
No, the thing that'd stopped Clayman was something that not even those of us like Guy and I, with our Ultimate Analysis-type skills could sense.
You know that feeling, when you're about to do something that's just so monumentally stupid that it'd definitely be smarter to just kill yourself? Yeah, that's the only thing that stopped Clayman's fist from hitting Milim's face.
Giving me a quick, irritated glance, Clayman wiped a bead of cold sweat from his face, putting his hand down.
It was obvious to me why he'd looked my way. The invisible desire to make Clayman suffer, even though I'd made damn sure to block Aether's connection to Risa as best as possible to keep that from going through, had still made it over from Risa, manifesting itself in a subtle way around me that not even Isis could fully understand.
It theorized, though, that it had something to do with Risa's crazy, broken Horus skill.
In fact, it was entirely possible that, if Clayman had actually managed to harm Milim in any way, Isis truly believed that Risa's feelings would've made the Demon Lord die on the spot, for no reason at all.
A Demon Lord Seed with an EP rating of over 300,000, simply rejected from living by someone who couldn't manipulate a single magicule in this room right now.
The thought sent a shiver down my spine, as Clayman muttered an order to Milim, telling her that she was stupid and needed to take her seat.
'Report. Clayman's magicule capacity has experienced a sudden drop of over 5%.'
I was looking forward to this. The moment that Clayman attempted any physical action against me, or vice-versa, the Pact keeping Risa from teleporting into this conference to 'aid' me would break.
Normally, I was against torture. But Clayman's death wouldn't be an easy one, and I did not feel sorry for him. Not one bit.