They should also have the best gear available, meaning they might be able to hurt me. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem, but dealing with them at the same time as the demon is risky. The demon feels strong, stronger than any of the other demons I have killed lately.

  If it is strong enough that I can’t deal with it easily, then the royal guard will become a factor. In the end, I decide that while it is risky, it shouldn’t be too dangerous. So, I repeat the previous tactic and smash down through the roof above the demon.

  I find myself landing in the middle of the throne room surrounded by rubble and stunned humans. The demon is disguised among them, but I don’t bother figuring out which one. Instead, I just swivel my head and blast the entire room with my breath.

  43 Humans defeated! 61,400 Exp gained!

  ??? says “Meddling dragon! Do you know how long I have been working to keep this idiot alive?!”

  “Nope and I don't really care. However, since you miss him, I will send you to join him!”

  ??? says “If you were a fully grown dragon, I would be worried. But from the looks of it, you are still a baby. You are the one that is going to die for ruining my plans!”

  When the demon starts sounding like a bad movie villain, I can’t help but laugh at him. That just makes the demon even madder, to the point that he loses control and returns to his normal form. He is about twelve feet tall with bright red skin and multiple horns growing from his head.

  My breath didn’t kill all of the humans, just those closest to the throne, including the emperor. The royal guards in the room had grouped up and were getting ready to attack me. However, when they see the demon in his natural form they stop and back off instead.

  The other humans, those that haven’t already, quickly run from the room screaming. Even the royal guards look like they want to flee, not that I can blame them. I’m sure that they would be braver if the emperor was still alive for them to protect.

  However, with the emperor already dead, they have already lost their purpose. I can’t really blame them for wanting to run away and live to see another day. Besides, it will keep them from getting in my way while I am fighting the demon.

  When the demon finishes changing forms, he stomps his way over and punches me. To my surprise, the punch from the demon sends me flying and crashing through several pillars. It doesn’t do much damage to me, but I wasn’t expecting the demon to be that strong.

  There is a grin on my face as I pick myself up, walk over, and hit the demon back. He goes flying back and crashes through a wall, but he is bleeding when he stands back up. I could easily hit him again, but I wait and let him take his turn to hit me.

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  I go flying back then get up to hit the demon again and send him through another part of the wall. We go back and forth for quite a while, exchanging hit for hit, and destroying the palace in the process. What little damage I take quickly heals, but the demon keeps looking worse and worse.

  It is obvious that the demon is losing and he gets more and more upset as the fight goes on. Not that it is really a fight, I am mainly just playing around and having some fun. I could easily kill the demon at any time and he seems to have realized it.

  The royal guards ran away a while ago and there hasn’t been any sign of the humans. In fact, by this point they have probably evacuated the entire palace, not that it matters. Not that there is going to be much of a palace left by the time we are done with our fight.

  I quickly lose track of how many blows we have exchanged, but I am having a lot of fun. Eventually, the demon gets up after a hit, but then stumbles and falls back to a knee. I wait for a minute, but then it becomes obvious that the demon isn’t getting back up.

  “It looks like I win.”

  ??? says “Nonsense! I, a proud demon, can never lose to some dragon whelp!”

  In answer, I splay out my claws, coat them with mana, and then take a swing at the demon. He manages to get his arms up to block, but my claws cut right through his arms. My claws continue on and cut deep into the demon’s chest and I can tell that it is a fatal hit.

  The demon stands there, looking down at his chest with disbelief written across his face. His arms have already fallen to the floor, but he is just standing there and hasn’t moved. Since his chest is wide open, I reach over and pluck his core from the open wound.

  1 Rank 9 Demon defeated! 450,000 Exp gained!

  The demon’s corpse is still standing there, staring down at his own chest. I don’t think he even realized what had happened before he died, but it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is he is no longer a threat to my troops and I had some fun fighting him.

  The emperor is dead and his palace is destroyed, the capital will probably fall easily. It might even fall without a fight, meaning the eastern duke can focus on the western duke. The conflict between the two should give my people lots of opportunities.

  More importantly, it means my troops should be fine if I am gone for a little while. Even if there are some demons left, none of them should be strong enough to be a threat. Most beastmen should be able to handle low rank demons one-on-one.

  That means that the only thing I have left that I need to do is check on the northern duke. I need to find out if he is actually going to stay out of things or if he is just playing games. So, once the demon is dead, I take to the air and fly towards the northern part of the empire.

  Although, after flying for a while I do stop and land to have some lunch. While I am eating, I contact Muyaun to figure out where she is so that I can meet up with her after I am done eating. She gives me a landmark and once I am done eating I head for it to meet up with her.

  Muyaun says “Master, I didn’t expect you to come all the way up here!”

  “I was at the capital dealing with a demon. Have you figured out what the northern duke is up to?”

  Muyaun says “Not exactly. So far I haven’t been able to find anything to indicate that he is planning something. Everything looks like he is planning to wait things out and then swear fealty to the winner.”