The Demon King's Tea Time

Near the border of the demon and human realm. There resides a village.

A human village.

But that wasn't the main point here. it was that, the village was unnecessarily close to the demon castle. The demon Palace of the Strongest King.

Pride.

The towering Palace made up of obsidian and spoken to be the Palace of hell. The presence enough could mock knights out of their wits.

But, the villagers still lived there. Not because they were stubborn, not because they were prisoners.

But because Lucain had let them do so.

---

The village was an ordinary one, with ordinary people and ordinary lands. Except the fact the demon king was taking a stroll out there.

As he was walking he studied the village, as if he was patrolling it.

The villagers, knowing he was a demon didn't bat an eye at that information. Though at first they were scared shitless. That wasn't the concern now.

Whenever Lucain was filled with mindless thoughts, he would give them all to his assistant and leave out for a walk in the village.

Just at that moment, a kid crashed on to Lucain's leg.

The kid fell flat on his butt, blinking rapidly as he looked up.

And froze.

His wide eyes reflected the glint of Lucain's golden ones — cold, piercing, and far too amused for comfort. The air grew heavier, not with magic, but with presence. That suffocating kind of pressure that made grown men kneel.

But the kid?

He just rubbed his head and mumbled,

"…Ow."

Lucain tilted his head."Can you not see?"

"I can! Oh," the boy said, popping a candy in his mouth like this was normal. "You're the scary uncle who talks with the grandpas, right??"

The Demon King of Pride paused. His lip twitched.

"…'Scary uncle,' you say? That's one hell of a title. I would prefer something else."

"I can't change scary so how about brother?" The boy offered with a smile.

"Kid, I am older than your grandfather's grandfather. You understand?" Lucain pointed his fingers at him.

"…So you're, like, suuuper old?."

Lucain deadpanned. "I'm immortal."

The kid gasped. "Woah! Like, forever forever?"

"Yes. Forever forever."

"Does that mean you don't need to go to school?!"

Lucain blinked. Then blinked again.

"…I don't know what that is."

The kid clutched his head like he'd just been hit by divine revelation. "That's SO unfair!! I wanna be a demon too!!"

From across the street, a tired old lady selling cabbage shouted, "Ren! Stop bothering His Highness!"

Lucain glanced at her, nodded slightly, then turned his eyes back to the boy. "Ren, was it?"

"Yep!" the boy grinned, clearly not sensing how dangerously close he was to being turned into vapor.

Lucain stared at him, and... Continued to do so.

They both stared eachother.

One expressionless, the other expressionfull.

After a moment, lucain sighed and turned around.

"You look like my disciple for some reason." He said, his back turned towards Ren.

"So, am I your disciple?" Ren asked.

"I don't pick just anyone as my disciple. Though, we will see after you become older."

With that, he walked off. Leaving Ren with a motivation to grow.

---

Lucain sat back on his obsidian throne, the same place where legends whispered he'd slaughtered gods. But today, instead of bloodshed, his gaze was fixed on a floating crystal orb.

The orb shimmered.

[2.3 Billion Good Deeds Points Collected]

Lucain scoffed under his breath.

"Still not enough?" he muttered, brushing dust off his regal coat. "I let humans live at my doorstep, saved a cat from falling off a roof last week, and even smiled at a child. What more do they want?"

He sighed, plucking the orb from the air like it weighed nothing, and rose from the throne.

The obsidian halls echoed as he walked, shadows bowing away from him. Guards — both demon and undead — instinctively cleared his path as he made his way deep into the castle.

He stopped in front of a shimmering, swirling warp gate — a transportation rift that looked like reality had been twisted into a whirlpool.

To the side, a glowing pedestal held a stack of papers and a quill.

Lucain picked one, scribbled:

"I would like to enter."

Then folded the note neatly and tossed it into the portal.

Silence.

Then, with a fwoosh, the paper came flying back out, now marked in bold, shiny gold ink:

"Permission Granted."

Lucain looked at the paper on the ground and gave it a disgusted look, for it was too fucking shiny! He then gave a single nod and stepped in without hesitation.

The moment he did, light exploded. Blinding, radiant, pure — the kind that tried to burn pride itself from existence.

But Lucain, being Lucain, didn't even squint.

He walked forward like a man used to disrespect.

The white fog parted, revealing a space that was… cloudy. Too clean. Too holy. It offended his gothic aesthetic.

And there, standing in the middle of it all, was her.

A woman dressed in white and gold, hair flowing like a waterfall of stardust, with soft wings gently fluttering behind her. She radiated luck itself — you could feel it in the way the clouds shifted to part under her feet.

The Angel of Luck.

She smiled like they hadn't met a thousand times before. "Welcome, Pride. I am the An—"

Lucain raised a hand.

"Stop. Stop right there. We've been through this."

The angel paused mid-pose.

"I know you're the Angel of Luck. I know your name is Celestia. I know you like introducing yourself every single time like I've got memory loss. We've done this dance for the last few years."

Celestia frowned slightly, wings fluttering in mock offense. "You're no fun."

"Don't try to make this fun. I am holding myself back just because of the deal." He said, handing out the crystal orb to her.

She grabbed it and inspected it. The golden light in it gradually disappeared.

"I don't get how this happens. Are you some kind of ange- oh yeah."

Celestia sighed, tossing the orb up and catching it lazily. "You've barely made a dent. You're still stuck at 2.3 billion. What are you even doing down there?"

Lucain rolled his eyes. "I pet a stray dog. Twice. And I didn't vaporize that insufferable merchant who tried to overprice garlic to kill the vampires."

She raised a brow. "That's your idea of good deeds?"

"I'm Pride. I don't bend over backwards for mortals just to earn brownie points."

Celestia shook the orb, watching the little golden numbers flicker. "You know… most people trying to redeem themselves don't live in obsidian hell-palaces."

"I like obsidian. It's elegant."

"It's terrifying."

Lucain smirked. "Softie."

"Well whatever! You have accumulated 147.6 billion points out of 150 billion." she said.

"Considering you being you. I thought you would try to kill me again. Please don't do that, it was scary." She gestured herself dramatically.

Lucain raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"I only tried once."

"You shattered half of Heaven's Gate!"

"It got in my way."

Celestia huffed, crossing her arms. "You're the only being I know who collects good deeds aggressively."

He scoffed. "You want humility and kindness. I give results."

She rolled her eyes, floating back to her roulette wheel. "Still, you're close. Only 2.4 billion more to go."

Lucain fell silent.

That silence lingered—thick, heavy.

Celestia's playful tone faded when she noticed the shift in his aura.

"…You're still doing this for her, aren't you?"

Lucain's jaw tightened slightly.

"A question should be asked only if you don't know the answer."

"Well, still her death was a historical moment. If i remember, she fought against Orren... something, The Great Archmage of Purity. The fight was devastating, first they fought in the demon realm, then in hell, then in heaven, then in space lastly they came back to heaven and both died together.". She said.

"Tch! The white robe bastards."

Celestia's eyes flickered.

Lucain didn't catch it.

She held herself back, she hasn't told him about the truth.

That Orren and Venezela weren't enemies.

That they never wanted to fight eachother.

That they were...his parents.

She immediately composed herself and looked at him.

He was staring off, jaw tight, fingers curling inward like he was holding a ghost.

Celestia's smile didn't falter. But her wings tucked in tighter.

The orb in her hand hummed gently, reminding them why they were here.

She shook it, casually redirecting the conversation.

"Anyway. Last step. Help Ren become a true hero. You guide him, protect him, maybe even care a little. Reach 150 billion, and then—"

She paused.

Then added, carefully, "—maybe Heaven will finally approve the retrieval of your mother's soul from the Forbidden Vault."

Lucain didn't move for a long moment.

Then he turned around and started walking towards the door he came here.

He then stopped and slightly turned his head around.

"Listen, this better be the last time or.... Heaven will face me."

"Again."