Mordecai looked like he wanted to argue, but he slowly nodded after a mont. "That makes sense..."
"If your lust manipulation system can turn mbers of his harem against him, that would be better than fighting him directly."
Rex grinned, hidden behind his mask. It was easy to convince Mordecai, which was a little strange but also made sense judging by his whole character.
The demon lord seed to take explanations at face value and not look for flaws in the reasoning or go deeper. That could have been a sign that they were trying to build trust, or it could have been proof that Mordecai really wasn’t very good at thinking critically.
’It seems like I need to take back about all of my thoughts about him and calculate things...’
Rex was leaning toward the latter based on everything else he’d seen. Mordecai had power from his gacha system, but he didn’t have the strategic cunning or paranoia that soone in his position should have by now.
He acted like a demon lord, treating his role as if it were part of a story, rather than being practical and ruthless, which are necessary qualities in real life.
That made him helpful, expected, and able to be manipulated.
"Now," Rex said, "I’ve given you a lot of information."
"I’ve told you how I can help you, and I think it’s ti for you to give so answers in return."
Mordecai nodded. "Sure, buddy. It seems like we’ve officially beco the best of friends with the sa way of thinking about this world."
"Being a hero is fun, but it gets boring. So, let’s just be supervillains together!" Mordecai said while standing on his throne and laughing.
’Like hell, I would work with a dumb fraud like you...’
Rex asked. "What was the Demon Seed for? What were you really trying to do?"
Mordecai’s face changed to one that was more serious. He jumped down from his throne and walked down the stairs to a table nearby where a map of the surface world was laid out.
"When I reincarnated as a demon into this world two years ago, I woke up in the Underlayer with no idea how I got there."
"The system turned on right away, giving the Demon King’s Infinite Gacha and telling I was now a demon lord in charge of this area."
He pointed to the map. "At first, I thought it was amazing..."
"I had power, an army, and a whole civilization at my command, but then I started to learn about the demon history of this world and how we interact with the world above."
"Let guess," Rex said. "You knew that demons were treated like monsters no matter what they did."
"They were killed on sight, hunted for fun, and used as training targets for would-be heroes."
"Holy shit! You actually predicted that... You’re a fucking genius!" Mordecai was even more shocked to see Rex could predict anything without having to fail at it.
"That’s exactly right," Mordecai said, and he sounded very angry. "There’s no nuance."
"No thought that so demons might not want to spend their whole lives hiding underground... The surface world has decided we’re evil, and nothing we do changes that."
He pointed to a few places on the map. "I thought the Demon Seed could change that."
"If I could create surface dwellers who possessed demon strength but appeared and behaved like humans, they could serve as bridges."
"They would show the surface world that demon power doesn’t equal demon evil, and they would make a new type of being that both sides could accept."
"But the process of changing them makes them out of control," Rex said. "It changes them into the exact monsters you were trying to show aren’t demons."
"I know that..." Mordecai said, "The formula needs to be improved."
"The current version works for about forty minutes before the subject loses control."
"So subjects can take multiple doses and stay in control for longer, but even they eventually give in... It’s not working the way I hoped."
"Because you’re going about it the wrong way." Rex said, "You’re trying to force a biological change to keep your mind stable."
"That’s exactly why it could go wrong at anyti! All you need to do is set up the psychological anchor first and then build the change around it."
"W-What..." Mordecai blinked. "You think you can fix it?"
"I have ideas," Rex said slowly.
He didn’t really care about fixing the Demon Seed, but acting like he did made him seem more important. "But that’s a conversation for later, after we’ve gotten to know each other better."
"If you’re an Apostle," he changed the subject. "Which god gave you your system?"
"I actually am an Apostle and they didn’t invite to that gathering. What kind of bullshit is that!?" Mordecai said, "Goddess of Chaos."
"Eris, to be exact... and she thinks the whole demon lord thing is funny."
"She gave the gacha system and told to ’make things interesting on the surface.’ I’ve been doing my best to follow that order."
Rex noted Eris was probably another Forbidden God, one of the gods who worked against the main pantheon led by the Goddess of Life.
That made so of Mordecai’s dislike of surface heroes make sense, but it also ant that he was working under certain divine limits that might make him less useful in the long run.
"Okay," Rex said as he got up. "I think we understand each other even better now."
"I’ll go to the Apostle gathering in three days and bring back their full battle plans." Rex raised his finger. "In return, you give resources, safe passage through demon territory, and the freedom to do what I want."
"Do we have ourselves a deal?"
"Hell yeah! Let’s fucking go with it." Mordecai looked at him for a long ti before reaching out his hand. "You’re in!"
"Lustful villain, welco to the alliance."
Rex shook his hand, which made the deal official. It was built on lies and manipulation on both sides, but that was fine. He didn’t need this to be a permanent partnership. He just needed it to last long enough to serve his purposes.
He didn’t want this to be a long-term relationship. He only needed it to last long enough to do what he needed it to do.
Mordecai turned to face the whole throne room and spoke loudly so that everyone could hear. "All demons of Castle Nocturna! I have sothing important to announce!"
All the demons and other beings there stopped talking and looked at him, waiting to hear what their lord had to say.
Mordecai said, "Tonight’s attack on Aethelgard didn’t go as planned," and the crowd murmured in displeasure. "But it wasn’t a total loss!"
"We learned a lot about how they defend themselves, we tested how quickly they could respond, and most importantly, we made a new reliable, strong friend!"
He pointed to Rex. "This is the Lustful Villain, an Apostle of a Forbidden God who lives in the shadows of the surface world."
"He has brought us prisoners, information, and his great power!" Mordecai raised both his arms. "He will work with us to plan future attacks on the surface cities and their so-called fake heroes."
Rex could feel dozens of eyes on him, judging him and looking him over. So demons seed impressed, but so demons looked like they didn’t trust him.
So of them even looked openly hostile, probably because they saw him as a rival for Mordecai’s favor.
Mordecai went on, "The Lustful Villain is the future of our desire to live on the surface," and Rex thought it was funny and a little scary how excited Mordecai’s voice was getting.
"We can still be great without bowing down to false gods and their puppet heroes, and... He is proof of this."
The crowd were getting into it now, cheering and agreeing with what they heard. Mordecai was using Rex as a symbol to get his followers excited after a failed military campaign, just like a political rally.
"We will show no rcy or quarter to these self-righteous Apostles!"
"They will not control our lives!"
"We will rise!"
"We will take what is rightfully ours!"
"And with allies like the Lustful Villain fighting with us, we cannot fail again...!"
The throne room was filled with demons shouting and cheering, and so of them even raised weapons or fists in salute. Rex heard music coming from sowhere, and he knew this was becoming an unplanned party.
He stood there in the middle of it all, his face covered, and felt nothing but cold amusent.
Mordecai thought he had found a friend. The demons thought they had found a hero.
They were celebrating what they thought was their good luck and already thinking about future wins.
They didn’t know they were just tools. Rex was manipulating pieces on a board to achieve goals they were unaware of.
Every bit of trust they gave him was just another way for him to get what he wanted. He could use every secret they told him against them.
There was no alliance here.
Everyone involved was a target, and the entire situation was a scam.
Rex allowed himself a small smile behind his mask.
Let them celebrate.
Let them feel empowered.
It would make the betrayal that much sweeter when it inevitably ca.
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