The Strongest Demon Lord Reincarnated as a Commoner

As Leo held the unconscious priestess, the stabilized Core Crystal above them pulsed with a soft, white light. A single beam shot out, striking the wall they had entered through. The stone dissolved, revealing a shimmering portal.

"It's an exit portal," Evelyn stated, her voice strained. She was trying to force the situation back into a semblance of normalcy, to reassert her role as commander. "The Labyrinth is rewarding us for its pacification."

Her eyes kept darting from the portal to the man holding the mysterious woman. The mission was complete, but her mind was a chaotic mess of questions, each more terrifying than the last. The Headmistress's "unpredictable problem-solving" was a gross understatement. This boy wasn't a trump card; he was a cataclysm held in reserve.

"Let's go," Leo said, his tone suggesting he was already bored of the situation. He started walking towards the portal, still carrying the priestess.

The three girls followed, their internal conflicts simmering.

Elara clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. The sight of him carrying that woman stirred a possessive irritation within her that was both foreign and infuriating. Why should I care? He is a commoner... a monstrously powerful, reality-defying commoner... but still a commoner! Her logical mind was at war with the new, raw emotions he provoked in her.

Kaia was practically buzzing, a grin plastered on her face. She saw the rescue not as a romantic gesture, but as another demonstration of his absolute strength. A true chieftain, she thought, protects the weak. He was fulfilling every ideal her tribe held dear. Her desire to be his disciple was rapidly evolving into a desire to be his... something more. His chosen shieldmaiden. His partner.

Luna walked beside him, her gaze soft. The jealousy she felt was a gentle, wistful kind. She wished she could be the one he held so protectively. But more than that, she felt a profound sense of gratitude. He had not only saved her life but had also saved this stranger without a moment's hesitation. His power was terrifying, but his actions were fundamentally good.

As they stepped through the portal, they were not returned to the Labyrinth's entrance. They were deposited directly into the Headmistress's private office at the top of Aethelgard's highest spire.

The room was circular, lined with bookshelves that reached the star-dusted dome ceiling. Headmistress Seraphiel Lux sat behind a large, ancient wooden desk, her ethereal silver eyes calm, as if she had been expecting them to arrive at this exact moment. Professor Morgana Shade stood near the window, a knowing, predatory smile on her lips as her gaze locked onto Leo.

"Welcome back," the Headmistress said, her voice a serene melody. "It seems the mission was a success."

Evelyn immediately stiffened and gave a formal report, her voice clipped and professional. She detailed the Labyrinth's traps, the Chaos Serpent, and the discovery of the priestess being used as a battery. She conspicuously omitted the most crucial details—how the serpent was defeated and how the chains were broken. She didn't know how to phrase it. "Vance looked at it until it ceased to exist" and "He touched the indestructible chains until they turned to sand" were not sentences that belonged in a standard mission debrief.

The Headmistress listened patiently, her ancient eyes twinkling with amusement. She already knew. She had felt the Labyrinth stabilize. She had felt the echo of Azeros's absolute authority.

"You have all performed admirably," she said, her gaze sweeping over the exhausted students before finally settling on Leo and the woman he held. "And you have brought us a guest. Please, Mr. Vance, place her here."

She gestured to a plush divan that hadn't been there a moment ago. Leo gently laid the priestess down. As he did, the woman's eyelids fluttered. With a soft groan, she began to wake up.

Her eyes opened. They were a startling, luminous silver, mirroring the Headmistress's, but holding a deep, ancient sorrow. She slowly sat up, her gaze hazy as she took in her surroundings.

"Where... where am I?" she whispered, her voice like the chime of a tiny bell.

"You are safe," the Headmistress replied gently. "You are at Aethelgard Academy. My name is Seraphiel Lux. May we know yours?"

The woman looked at the Headmistress, then at the other faces in the room. Her eyes, filled with a primal, instinctual wisdom, passed over Evelyn, Elara, Kaia, and Luna. Then they landed on Leo.

And they stopped.

Recognition dawned in those silver depths. But it wasn't the recognition of a stranger. It was the soul-deep recognition of a loyal servant finding their long-lost master. The ancient sorrow in her eyes was instantly replaced by a wave of pure, unadulterated devotion and tearful joy.

Ignoring everyone else in the room, she slid off the divan and knelt before Leo, bowing her head so her forehead touched the floor in a gesture of absolute, unquestioning fealty.

"My Lord Azeros," she breathed, her voice trembling with emotion. "You have returned. I have waited. I have kept the faith, even in the darkness. My life is yours, now and forever."

The temperature in the room plummeted.

Elara, Kaia, and Luna stared, their minds reeling from the impact of those two words: Lord Azeros.

The name was an archaic footnote in the most forbidden history texts. The Demon Lord of Absolute Desolation. A being of myth, a god of destruction from a forgotten age. It was a name that wasn't supposed to be real.

But the woman's devotion was undeniably real.

Evelyn Blade took an involuntary step back, her hand flying to her sword hilt. The pieces clicked into place with horrifying clarity. The impossible power, the soulless efficiency, the demonic pressure she'd felt from him... it was all true. She was in a room with the greatest existential threat the world had ever known.

Morgana Shade's smile widened into a triumphant, ecstatic grin. Her family's prophecy was true. Her Lord was here. And she, Morgana, had been one of the first to recognize him.

Only the Headmistress remained composed, though her fingers were gripping the arms of her chair tightly.

Leo looked down at the kneeling woman, a vein throbbing in his temple. This was a nightmare. His carefully constructed identity as a lazy, unremarkable commoner had not just been cracked; it had been nuked from orbit.

"I think you have me mistaken for someone else," he said, his voice dangerously flat. "My name is Leo Vance."

The priestess looked up, her silver eyes shining with unshakable faith. "You may wear a new vessel, My Lord, but a star cannot hide its light from one who has spent an eternity gazing at the heavens. I am Lyra. The last of the Star-Sworn, the covenant sworn to your name. I feel your essence. It is unmistakable."

She had just signed his social death warrant.

Leo shot a glare at the Headmistress, a silent accusation. You knew.

Seraphiel met his gaze, her expression serene but firm. The charade is over.

Before anyone could process the world-shattering revelation further, Lyra, the Star-Sworn priestess, seemed to notice the other girls for the first time—specifically, their proximity to her Lord. Her eyes, which had been soft with devotion, narrowed with a sudden, sharp, and intensely possessive chill.

Her gaze swept over Luna, who was standing closest to Leo, and lingered with cold evaluation. It moved to Kaia, noting her warrior's stance and barely-leashed fervor. Finally, it fell upon Elara, sensing the turbulent, confusing storm of emotions within the fallen noble.

The air crackled with a new kind of tension.

"These... attendants," Lyra said, her voice losing its gentle chime and taking on a steel edge of authority, as if she were a queen assessing the scullery maids. "They are part of your new household, My Lord?"

The implication was clear. She saw them as servants, or at best, as lesser members of a burgeoning court—her Lord's court. She had immediately and instinctively asserted her position as the original, the most loyal, the First Follower.

The first conflict of the harem had just erupted, not from the students, but from a devoted, millennia-old priestess who had no intention of sharing the spotlight.

Kaia bristled, not understanding the name 'Azeros' but recognizing a challenge. Elara's eyes widened in disbelief at the sheer audacity. Luna simply shrank back, intimidated by the priestess's sudden shift in demeanor.

Leo felt a migraine coming on. His quest for a quiet life hadn't just failed. It had inverted into a hell of his own making, complete with legendary monsters, world-ending secrets, and now... competing, fanatically devoted followers.

He looked at the faces staring at him—some with fear, some with awe, some with dawning possessiveness—and knew one thing for certain.

The paperwork was going to be the least of his problems.