The Devouring Dragon-Chapter 36: Submit or Die

"Hah! I expected a lot from you, Valon, but this is even more than I imagined!" Vargan chuckled gruffly as he stepped into my large throne room, limping lightly but looking much better than before.

He glanced appreciatively at the two women kneeling in front of my throne - that being the Succubus and Fairy Queen.

It had been roughly half a day since the war ended, with just a singular night passing as the war had ended towards the end of the previous day.

The remaining surviving forces were being treated in my territory - which was blatantly a worse position for injured people compared to the Land of Iron's actual houses and structures, but I wanted them here. There was still a chance Vargan would refuse what I was about to offer him, and if he did I wanted the homefield advantage.

It wasn't like any of the dwarves, cyclops, succubi, or fairies could complain about me demanding that they take refuge in my territory. I was the sole King standing, and I was also the one walking around using [Light Heal] to save their lives.

Of course, first I had gone and made sure Raya was truly safe, and then brought her back to take official note of how many we had lost. Of my once roughly 25,000-strong dire wolf army, only a little over a thousand remained.

Granted, those thousand were all decently strong - consisting of largely commanders and pack leaders - so it wasn't a completely unsalvageable situation. Direwolves mated far more often than humans, so that number would climb up pretty quickly, and I assumed that only having powerful direwolves left to mate meant that their children should be pretty strong too, right?

So, instead of a massive army, I was now left with a small but elite force. It would take many years for the population to climb back to the number it had been at before, but the average dire wolf would also likely be stronger.

As for the subordinates that I actually considered very useful, those being ones with names, both Ragno and Ragnot had died in the war. Ragnat was still alive and would live after I used [Light Heal] on him, but he hadn't woken up yet. Podo was also alive, but he had only ever been close to the battlefield at the start and had retreated when the actual fighting broke out.

Raya had been noticeably upset at the death of two of her three brothers but had kept her composure - something I was impressed by. The war might've been over, but it wasn't time to relax yet. I still had to either convince Vargan to submit to my rule or kill him, along with helping my forces recover from the deadly battles.

As for the dwarves - Vargan's men had faired a bit better than my own, with almost 2,000 of the starting 15,000 dwarven and cyclop soldiers staying alive. One of his generals, Rurik, had died, but besides that the other three had survived.

As for the enemy forces, which would quickly become my forces once I made the Master-Slave contract with Velrissa, they had been cut down greatly as well. Once Velrissa woke up, she estimated that the total succubi and fairy count had been close to 200,000 - though more than half of that was the weak unevolved succubi - before the war, and now sat at around 50,000.

Obviously, that number was much, much, higher than both mine and Vargan's armies. Even if our armies didn't contain every single direwolf or dwarf/cyclops in the entire forest, they were still filled with the large majority of them. The population of the Meadow of Love had dwarfed both my territory's and the Land of Iron's population.

Even before I had massacred over half of the dire wolf population in my conquest, the Meadow of Love still dwarfed it by many times over.

I had asked Velrissa about it, and it quickly became apparent why the population was so high. The Meadow of Love was filled with succubi - just succubi, not incubi. There were no men in the entire forest, which made it sound like the opposite should be true. If there were no men, then the population would be very low since they can't reproduce, right?

Wrong.

The succubi had something that Velrissa just referred to as 'lifeforce energy.' It was a type of energy that every creature had, but the succubus utilized and lived through it far more than other races. That energy would constantly rise just from existing, similar to the way that humans would become taller and stronger as they grew older.

However, this 'lifeforce energy' needed to be expelled somehow, as their bodies couldn't contain it forever. Once enough had built up, the energy would radiate out from them like an aura - and, if the succubi was strong enough that the lifeforce energy was plentiful, it would form a new succubi.

So, succubi weren't actually born - they were created from succubi energy. The Succubus Princesses, despite looking rather similar, weren't sisters by blood - they were just the four creations that Velrissa had made purposefully with her energy.

The unevolved succubi population was 'unevolved' because they were formed from excess energy - not a purposeful creation by a stronger succubus, which was why there were so many of them. These unevolved succubi didn't have enough lifeforce energy to actually generate their own energy - which didn't really make sense to me, but I'm also not a succubus, so what the hell do I know?

They constantly tried to find lifeforce energy - which was why I had been jumped by a literal army of them in the forest. They sensed my powerful lifeforce energy and wanted drain it from me - something that succubi could do in the exact way you'd expect them to: sexual acts.

But I wasn't complaining. They could also be evolved by a stronger succubus giving them some lifeforce energy, so that weak portion of my new army could be strengthened pretty quickly.

There were also four princesses and one other general, besides Momo and Kyon, still alive. Beyond that, the two 'spirit viewing' Princesses that had never joined the battle also had taken a large number of the enchanted servants with them, so there were three more high-level dragons along with a couple of devils and fallen angels still alive.

Ironically, despite being in a war where over 90% of my army and two of my three strongest soldiers were killed, my army had managed to actually grow larger and stronger overall.

Now, back to the actual matter at hand-

"Who's she?" Vargan asked, gesturing to Tiffana.

"The Fairy Queen," I supplied.

"That's me!" Tiffana waved at Vargan lightly from her kneeling position.

"Eh? There's a Fairy Queen too?" Vargan chuckled, shaking his head, "Ha! Never heard o' two rulers sharing the same land!"

Well, hopefully he's not opposed to that idea.

"Vargan," I said bluntly, "I know you just woke up, but I have something I need to discuss with you."

The Dwarven King was still exhausted and bruised from the recent battle, but that actually made this the best time to talk to him about this. If he refused, he'd be easier to take down.

"I have a lot of respect for you," I said bluntly as Vargan looked at me curiously, "So, I'll be blunt and not beat around the bush. I'm going back on our deal."

...

"I expected as much," Vargan replied back evenly, surprising me as he simply smirked at me, "Yur Queen told me ya took far more casualties than I did, and you did most of the work. Ya took down the Queen, and saved my life! I owe you my life, Valon, so I won't complain if you want that territory for yurself!"

Well, I'm glad to see he's understanding of his position here, and that he's grateful that I saved his life. That'll hopefully make him more accepting of my next words.

"I'm glad you understand, Vargan, but..." I stood up, taking a step forward from my massive throne as I activated [King's Aura] and [King's Command]. A thick tension filled the air, causing Vargan's back to stiffen. Tiffana still didn't look all that affected, just smiling at me dreamily, but Velrissa also tensed as she kept her eyes on the floor and her mouth shut.

"I don't simply just want the land we fought to claim. I want more," I said bluntly, staring at Vargan with a deathly serious gaze.

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"W-What do ya mean?" Vargan narrowed his eyes slightly, meeting my gaze.

"I value you as a friend and an ally, Vargan, so I'll give you a choice," I said, taking another step forward as I towered over the dwarf, "I have no intention of living in this forest forever, Vargan. Once we have recovered from this war, I will challenge Tiamat."

Vargan's eyes widened at my words, the man stiffening even more as he stood up straight, "Challenge Tiamat?! Are you insane, Valon?!"

"Insane? Probably," I simply hummed, smirking lightly, "But, that's not why I want more, Vargan. I have no intention to stay holed up in this forest forever. Once Tiamat has been dealt with, I will open this forest up to the rest of the world. I won't stay hidden anymore - I'll declare this forest as an official faction."

Vargan's eyes widened even more at my words, the man staring at me in shock. I continued before he had the chance to intervene.

"When that happens, the eyes upon this forest will increase greatly," I said bluntly, "Devils are greedy. They already come here for familiars, and they will see you and I, along with all of our people, as creatures to tame. Whether as familiars or peerage members, devils will swarm to this forest like bugs to the sun, desperately trying to take control of us. When that happens..."

I stared into Vargan's eyes, my eyes boring into his, "We cannot be divided when that happens, Vargan. I will not allow for this forest to continue to be divided amongst Kings as outside enemies ravage us. I will unite this forest under one absolute ruler - myself, the Beast King."

"You..." Vargan trailed off, his eyes still wide with shock, "You really are insane!"

"So, Vargan, you have a choice to make," I stated firmly, leaving no room for argument, "Submit to my rule. Relinquish your title as the Dwarven King, and I will allow you to take on a new one. Become a General serving under me, and I will allow you to continue to lead and command your people."

This was the best offer I could give the man and the preferable option for me if he accepted. I would rule as the King over all the monsters in the forest, but Vargan could act as a commander for the dwarves and the cyclops.

He knew his people better than I or anyone else did, so he could lead them in a battle far better than I ever could. In the same vein, I planned to have Velrissa and Tiffana command their respective races as well.

Though, with how... 'unique' Tiffana was, I think I would just give Velrissa command over the fairies as well.

"Or, you can remain as the Dwarven King," I finished firmly, "And we will be enemies. I will conquer your land just as we conquered the Succubus Queen's."

Vargan didn't answer me immediately, staring at me with an indistinguishable look in his eyes. He narrowed his eyes, his fist clenching, and took a step toward me.

For a second, I was certain he would going to decline my offer, and I'd have to kill the man I considered a friend.

...

"Ha!" Then, he chuckled, simply nodding his head, "If you had told me this before the war, I would've laughed at you and fought tooth an' nail. But..."

He sighed, glancing down with an almost wistful look in his eyes, "Fighting that dragon showed me something. It showed me how large the world is, Valon. That the land I call a Kingdom is simply a drop in the ocean. As I watched my men die around me, and couldn't do anything about it, I..."

He chuckled again, his body relaxing as he almost looked relieved. He looked up at me, grinning widely, "I'll never let anyone say I didn't do a damn good job as a King in this little corner of the world, but I'm also not so arrogant as ta' believe that I have no limits!"

I matched his grin, our eyes locking.

"I know stayin' in this little forest forever ain't possible," He smiled at me, slowly falling down to one knee, "If there's anyone I have ta' follow out into the rest of the world, I'd want it to be you, Valon!"

My body relaxed slightly, releasing tension I didn't even know had built up as Vargan kneeled before me.

As I stared at the three previous monarchs before me - The Dwarven King, the Succubus Queen, and the Fairy Queen - I felt a sense of pride. And, a sense of excitement.

The war had been hard and deadly, but I had come out stronger. My army had come out stronger. I had taken a step closer to completing the tutorial, and I had a plethora of powerful subordinates under my command.

I grinned widely, taking a step back and sitting back down on my throne.

For the first time, I truly felt like the Beast King.

And soon, the rest of the world would know of the Beast King.

Soon, the rest of the world would fear the Beast King.

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