Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Even a sinful demon wouldn't be so extravagant.

The Grey Nightmare also glanced over, but to the Sin Demon's disappointment, the glance was only for a moment before it refocused on chewing. The Red Nightmare, on the other hand, came over and licked the top few coins with its tongue.

There is a play!

The demon immediately perked up, but the next moment, the nightmare, having tasted the flavor, shook its head, turned away in disgust, and even distanced itself from the demon.

This... could it be that it's not to his liking? This sudden change startled the Demon of Sin. He quickly looked at the top of the coins, at the two coins that had been licked by the Nightmare. One coin depicted a father begging for medical treatment for his child, while the other depicted a starving person wanting a full meal.

The first beggar was cured of his child's plague by the devil, but in the process, all the other patients in the village died. The father was eventually killed by the angry surviving neighbors, and the cured child also did not survive. The second beggar was also granted his wish by the devil, but by making him devour everything around him without stopping, including the body of the mortal man himself.

In the eyes of the Demon of Sin, these were all coins of the highest quality, so he couldn't understand why the Nightmare of Red was disgusted with them. He tried to exchange them for other coins, but the Nightmare of Red refused to try them again no matter what.

“Alright,” the devil sighed, putting the coin away again, “In that case, shall I show you something else? What do you think of this one?”

He drew from his waist a long whip that looked like dozens of bones pieced together, its surface burning with blue flames. Reslaufer had seen this before; the Muse had once used it.

“When there are no war missions, I sometimes go to the material plane to hunt prey,” the Sin Demon said, stroking his bone whip. “Those are fools who broke their oaths. They made promises but then tried to escape. I use this demonic rope to bind their souls and drag them into hell…”

He began to recount his adventures, telling the stories of mortals caught in his magic ropes, some arrogant, some foolish, but all ultimately becoming spoils of the demon's prey.

Nightmares often cross planes, and the Sin Demon believes that perhaps this Nightmare doesn't like to fight in Hell all the time; appropriate experiences would be very beneficial to it.

But the result was exactly the opposite of what the demon had expected. Both horned demons and Raslaufer, including him, saw that the red nightmare horse actually began to doze off—like most horses, it was about to fall asleep while standing up!

“That beast is the offspring of four special nightmares and a common nightmare. Although its coat is nice, a bastard is still a bastard,” Zariel said from afar. Although she had moved away from the trial site, her gaze had not truly left it. Seeing the Sin Demon humiliated, the Great Demon couldn’t help but reveal a mocking smile. “Red… that’s the color of war. If you were to discuss battles with it, it might actually become more interested. Being too clever isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

"Aren't you right, General Bael?"

A golden-skinned, red-haired figure appeared beside Zariel, his face still bearing that enormous, eerie smile: "It was all for victory, Your Majesty. I do not regret missing out on a talent. Compared to the almost infinite scale of space and time, a mere mortal is a negligible price to pay."

“You have made a great contribution, so I will not criticize you,” Zariel said calmly. “But even now, you only think of him as a mortal? That is why you cannot become the Lord of the First Layer, Bael.”

"But you are indeed very clever. If you hadn't willingly placed yourself under Mammon, we would have lost one of the guys I found somewhat agreeable—that idiot Bayer, hmph."

Bael wisely disappeared into thin air. The feud between Zariel and Bayer, the two successive Grand Dukes of Afonas, had a long history. As a vassal of Grand Duke Mammon, it was best for him not to get involved.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the precipice, all of the Sin Demon's attempts finally came to fruition.

"What else do you want?" The Demon of Sin reluctantly put away another empty bottle—it had once contained invaluable demonic essence, which had just been fed to the horses. Even so, the Red Nightmare still showed little affection for him, which made the Demon of Sin irritable. "Do you intend to drink my blood? Let's name our price, as long as you're willing to come with me!"

"Herrish—" As the Sin Demon uttered these words, the Red Nightmare was completely enraged. Without warning, it suddenly stood up with a long neigh, its powerful forehooves surging with flames, and instantly kicked the Sin Demon in the chest!

Chapter 708 Raslaw and the Grey Horse

"You beast—"

With the Demon's power, even taking a direct hit from the Nightmare's kick wouldn't have caused him much injury, but the contempt he received was enough to ignite his fury across the entire plain. Enraged, the demon immediately drew his sword and, without a word, was about to strike the Red Nightmare down!

"Clang!" The demon's furious attack left Nightmare with no room to dodge. However, just as he was about to decapitate Nightmare, two faint lights, one gold and one silver, carrying immense force, suddenly shot down from the cliff and struck the demon's blazing sword from both sides, deflecting the blade slightly.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Red Nightmare immediately leaped aside. Normally, given the creature's nature, this single sword strike from the Demon of Sin would have been enough to send them all fleeing, causing the trial of the three demons and one human to fail completely. But for some reason, the Nightmare only leaped a short distance before ceasing its escape. Instead, its sinister eyes fixed on the ground, staring directly at the two small objects that had deflected the sword's blade.

The longsword in the demon's hand vanished instantly, as if it had never existed. At this moment, the demon was also covered in a cold sweat. The clanging sound woke him up: just now, he had almost ruined his own future!

The gray nightmare cast a hostile glance at him, while the other three nightmares seemed to be still dazed and hadn't realized what was happening. The Sin Demon couldn't help but feel lucky and quickly walked towards the strongest of the three nightmares.

The Red Nightmare is impossible to subdue, so there's only one question: who stopped his attack just now? And who were the gold and silver ones—?

A gold coin and a silver coin?

The second question was very easy to answer. When the Demon of Sin looked down at the ground, he immediately recognized that the two metal discs were gold and silver coins commonly used by mortals in the material world. These things were very useful among mortals, but in the Nine Hells, you could have as many as you wanted.

The first question was answered when the demon saw clearly the human heads and circular text on some of the melted coins.

“Reslaufer… so that’s your name.” The devil turned his head with a gloomy expression and glanced up at the top, where the man had just stood up and was preparing to head down the mountain.

He didn't even dare to jump down directly.

If it were just now, the Demon of Sin would have offered his mockery without hesitation, but now, the hand that was holding the sword has quietly hidden behind his back, concealing the still trembling tiger's mouth.

This mortal actually has his own coins. What is he? A king? A bishop? Or just the lord of some city-state? The Demon of Sin made a mental note of this. No matter which possibility he guessed, the other party must have his own power. Power means many mortals, and mortals mean vision. As long as he figured out this relationship, it wouldn't be difficult to take revenge on this mortal named Raslaufer.

Leslaufer had no idea what the other was thinking. He simply walked down the cliff and slightly raised his chin toward the Sin Demon: "Is it over? If this is all you've got, then it's my turn next."

The Demon of Sin glanced at him but did not answer. Instead, it put its saddle on the chosen Nightmare, which was a mix of blue and black. At this moment, the Nightmare obediently and expectantly allowed the Demon of Sin to dress it properly, while enjoying the envious glances from the other two weaker members of its kind.

For Nightmare, becoming a Nightmare Rider—as part of a mount—is also something to celebrate, only that such a promotion is sometimes not worth sacrificing freedom for.

For example, if their future master is completely incompatible with them, or if they are simply not strong enough to survive on the battlefield, then the nightmares would rather continue chasing illusions in the wild, or tormenting creatures weaker than themselves to force them to bare their teeth.

The Sin Demon is a good choice, at least for this nightmare.

Meanwhile, the red nightmare's actions fueled the sin demon's jealousy: after examining the two coins on the ground, it actually lowered its head, picked them up, and offered them to Leslaufer!

“Hmm, you’re a smart fellow, aren’t you?” Raslaufer reached out his hand, and Red Nightmare indeed placed the coin in his palm. As Raslaufer put the money away, it took the initiative to bury its head in Dople’s arms, looking as intimate as could be.

It's likely that even if Leslaufer were to put the saddle on it right now, it wouldn't refuse in the slightest.

But Leslaufer simply placed his hand on its head and neck, stroking its burning yet calming mane.

“Oh buddy, you like me, don’t you? But I’m sorry, I made a bet with someone,” Leslaufer glanced at the sin demon beside him, who snorted and turned away. “I think I’ll try out your gray-haired guys first—hey, would you like to come with me?”

Raslaufer's last words were directed at the gray nightmare, which turned around in response, looking at Raslaufer solemnly. Although it did not intend to approach immediately, its attitude was significantly different from that towards the sin demon.

Such preferential treatment drove the devil to the brink of madness with jealousy.

Raslaufer patted the red nightmare to signal it to go away, but the latter rubbed its head and neck against Dople for a while before reluctantly walking briskly to its gray companion and hissing softly at it.

Doble realized he might have underestimated the intelligence of these creatures; after all, they seemed to be genuinely conversing, and not understanding their language was actually his problem. And after hearing his companion's explanation, the Grey Nightmare actually took a few steps closer to Raslaufer.

But it still looked as arrogant as ever, exuding a cold and aloof aura from the bottom of its being. It looked straight at Leslaufer, as if waiting for something.

Now, perhaps he should show himself to the demon like a courtship demon? Leslaufer guessed, but he hadn't expected this part at all, and Muse hadn't mentioned it either, so he didn't bring any weapons. Even if he had, a sword wasn't his most preferred weapon.

As for his rank... no matter what, he was just a mortal and had no rank to speak of.

It seemed like all he could do was talk the talk, and Raslaw couldn't help but chuckle at his awkward situation. However, faced with the still-quietly waiting nightmare, he decided it was best not to spoil its fun.

Raslaufer waved his arm, and in this lower plane of Purgatory, completely different from the material world, all the creatures here felt a distinct fluctuation, as if a space had been torn open. Groups of spirits numbly emerged from the space that Belial had once called a "demiplane," gathering around Raslaufer—ten, a hundred, a thousand, and even more—until the flat area was completely filled, and yet some spirits still remained in that demiplane.

They come in all shapes and sizes. Before Raslaufer fell into Aphrodite, humans were the most numerous type, followed by beasts and monsters. But now, they are filled with a horde of demons running rampant.

“I’m sorry, I can’t actually demonstrate anything to you,” Raslaw said, shrugging. “But if you’d like, I can tell you about them, how they died, and how I killed them one by one.”

Of these spirits, Raslaufer could only remember a small fraction, but as he recalled and recounted, a cruel smile still appeared on his face. In contrast, his crimson eyes stared calmly at the Gray Nightmare, with little emotion in them.

He suddenly sighed as if moved by something: "You know what? Sometimes, I also want to pursue something more 'practical' like others—honor, faith, money—but my desires for them all have a limit. Doples is enough for me; the god Lydas is good to me, but I can't serve Him with my whole heart and soul; as for coins that have my name engraved on them, I'm already very satisfied. The quantity is just... quantity."

"Only death is eternal, and I will never tire of bringing it to anyone."

As Raslaufer finished speaking, the gray-white flames that had been smoldering between the eyes of the gray nightmare suddenly blazed up like never before!

Chapter 709 A Sudden Attack on Horseback!

"Damn it... How is this possible?!"

The demon merely widened his eyes; before he could speak, a horned demon on the cliff stood up in shock and shouted, "In terms of the number of kills, which of us doesn't have more than him!"

The devil can live for almost eternity and traverse countless planes; the only problem is that he can't present all the evidence like Raslaufer did!

But is it because of this that mortals are favored by these gray nightmares, while they can only watch helplessly?

This absurd reasoning failed to convince them, and the three demons each used their own methods to try and glean some insight from Raslaufer. Everyone was there to participate in the trial, and the strongest horse had been chosen. Even if they all passed the trial, would they be expected to be inferior to this mortal in the future?

After the transformation and promotion, this Raslaufer can be considered a member of the Nightmare Knights just like them, and there is no difference in rank anymore!

Even the greatest devils have to be extra careful to find something out about Raslaufer. How could they possibly be able to spot Raslaufer's differences in such a short time?

Dobler had no intention of letting them investigate so easily. He laughed loudly, put his saddle on the gray nightmare, and once everything was ready, he straddled it. The nightmare beneath him immediately burst into even more intense flames, from which magic emanated and swirled around Reslaufer, subtly connecting the auras of the man and the horse.

Without needing anyone's explanation or to consciously experience and understand it, the moment the nightmare was tamed, Raslaufer knew the location of all the portals this extraordinary creature knew, and how to summon it to his side whenever needed—simply by touching the spurs behind the boot.

The demons stared in astonishment at Raslaufer's fluid and skillful movements, almost suspecting that this man had tamed a nightmare before, otherwise how could he be so adept? Mortal horses were completely different from these hellish warhorses! But what astonished them even more was that when Raslaufer successfully subdued the gray nightmare, the red nightmare, which should have been far away from him, showed no intention of leaving. Instead, it moved closer, leaning against Raslaufer's side with a head behind the gray nightmare, affectionately and hopefully rubbing its body against Raslaufer's thigh.

Even someone who knows nothing about horses could see that it intended to follow Reslaufer—it wanted Reslaufer to tame it as well!

How many Nightmare Riders are like this? If those veterans hadn't deceived these demons about such matters, none of the cavalrymen hadn't gone through a great deal of trouble when subduing the Nightmares. It's said that the most difficult one spent over ten days getting his mount used to the saddle before he could even put it on.

Let him just call them mortals!

“This is against the rules!” the Sin Demon immediately said. “A Nightmare Rider can only sign a contract with one Nightmare and can only have one mount—besides, you don’t have any extra saddles, so this Nightmare is not bound.”

He wasn't trying to create an opportunity for the remaining two horned demons. Although they were both demons, they had no connection, and besides, the Sin Demon didn't think that the Red Nightmare, who had even failed with him, would be interested in those two horned demons. He simply didn't want Leslaufer to get his way.

The devil often grants mortals' wishes, but this kind of satisfaction is not what they want to see.

Before Leslaufer truly ascends to power, he must adopt the demeanor befitting a sinner.

Suppress him?

A smile crept onto Raslaufer's lips. The Sin Demon disliked him, and coincidentally, the reverse was also true.

With a spur of his legs, without any warning, Grey Nightmare charged forward in an instant, leaving only a gray-white afterimage in the ground. In the blink of an eye, Raslaufer spurred his horse to the demon, grabbed the reins with his left hand, and swung his right arm down like a warhammer straight down on the demon's head!

He's going to kill him?!

The demon never dreamed that Raslaufer would dare to do such a thing, but he was, after all, a seasoned high-ranking demon. He immediately drew his sword and slashed diagonally, preparing to mount his horse as he aimed for Raslaufer's arm. In such an open space, flying in the air might not offer much advantage, and taking off would expose an opening; therefore, mounting a horse was the better choice.

He could tell that Raslaufer was not carrying any weapons, and since they were both riders, he would undoubtedly have a greater advantage!

Raslaufer's arm clashed with the withering blade of the Demon of Sin. Grayish-white flames climbed up and enveloped Dobler's limbs, ensuring he wouldn't be harmed even from the clash with the Demon of Sin's weapon. This was indeed within the Demon of Sin's expectations, but what he hadn't anticipated was that just as he had one leg mounted his nightmare, another red light suddenly appeared from the side, carrying immense momentum and directly slamming into his nightmare, causing it to stumble.

But that wasn't all. The Demon of Sin witnessed the attacker open its mouth, which was full of sharp teeth, and tear a large chunk of flesh from the neck of the Nightmare he had tamed!

They were together just a short while ago! What else could that suddenly charging attack be but the Red Nightmare?!

"You ungrateful wretch—" The eyes peeking out from under the demon's helmet burned with fury that nearly engulfed his entire head. He remained mounted on the Nightmare, and as he settled into the saddle, hellfire blazed up, engulfing the Nightmare from head to toe. All flesh and blood vanished without a trace, and the Nightmare finally transformed into the form more commonly known in the material world.

It was a true monster with only a skeleton and flesh made of inextinguishable evil fire!

"Since you want to fight, then let's fight!" the Sin Demon roared, urging his mount to charge towards Leslauver. He swung his sword forward, but with his other hand, he secretly loosened the reins and took out his own demonic rope. Due to the fundamental difference, the Sin Demon understood that Leslauver and the Nightmare had not yet truly merged into one. Even if both sides were willing, the fundamental difference remained an insurmountable chasm.

In that case, as long as he can bring down Raslaufer, victory will already be his!

Beneath the demon's helmet, a hideous grin of extreme rage appeared. With the howl of the nightmare and the roar of the rider, the two nightmares passed each other. The demon dodged the fatal swing at the very moment he was about to clash with Raslaufer. As soon as the two horses passed each other, he immediately twisted half his body and threw the magic rope toward the back of Raslaufer's neck.

"Get down here!"

As if realizing something was amiss, Raslaufer turned around, but precisely grasped the end of the magic rope and yanked it sharply towards his chest:

"How do you compare to the Demon Lord?!"

Chapter 710 Everything is under control

Sin Demons are certainly inferior to Demon Lords, but even to Lesser Demon Lords like Baltazu, Sin Demons are still inferior.

Even the Blood War General's weapon, Leslaufer, could be torn in half, so what is this mere magic rope?

With a flick of his arms, a Titan-like force surged from the ropes, and the Sin Demon knew something was wrong. His entire body detached from the stirrups and saddle, flying through the air towards Reslauver. As Reslauver stretched out his large hand, his iron-like jaws clamped down on the Sin Demon's throat!

Behind him, the Sin Demon heard the neighing of his mount. Although he himself could no longer see it, the other two horned demons saw it clearly: the red nightmare showed no regard for kinship, it charged at the nightmare at an even faster speed, and with both hind hooves raised, there was a loud crack, and the skull of the Sin Demon's mount was smashed to pieces in the flames, the massive body immediately falling straight down!

Neither Raslaw nor his mount intended to "teach them a lesson"; they meant it!

"You...you can't kill me!" With Leslauver gripping his throat, the Sin Demon could only struggle to speak, clinging to Leslauver's arms. "I lost! I surrender, and I swear I'll never bother you again! I can even be your squire; after all, you'll soon be a Nightmare Rider, which isn't too shameful—but you can't kill me, and this isn't a threat!"

"Do you know how serious a crime it is to attack a fellow soldier in the army? You must know, right? If you kill me, you won't have a good time even in the Nightmare Knight Demon!"

The demon spoke earnestly, knowing that continuing his pointless stubbornness would only hasten his death. He hoped to buy some time—Grand Duke Zariel was surely watching, and if he could stall until He intervened…

But Leslaufer did not give him that opportunity or the time.

"Who told you I would stay in your army?"

Raslaufer spoke calmly, while tightening his fingers. As the demon's scales and bones began to rub together with a "crunching" sound, Raslaufer suddenly increased his strength. The demon struggled in his hand for a short while, but finally stopped moving.

And until his complete death, Grand Duke Zariel never reappeared.

“Let’s start training again from the lesser demons,” Leslaufer casually tossed the corpse of the sin demon aside, completely ignoring the two remaining demons who were dumbfounded. He walked straight to the Nightmare, which was also dead, stripped it of its saddle, and put it on the red Nightmare. “Alright, now what’s the problem? You have a saddle now.”

“Actually, each saddle is special…” a horned demon murmured, but as the eyes of Raslaufer and Red-Grey Nightmare turned to him, the demon wisely shrank back and swallowed his words.

"Just continue what you're doing, no need to send any more." Reslaufer didn't care whether the two demons lived or died. After dealing with the Red Nightmare, Dople immediately remounted his horse. Grayish-white flames rose from beneath the Nightmare's hooves, completely enveloping him. The next moment, as a map belonging to the Nightmare's memories unfolded before him, after two simultaneous neighs, Reslaufer vanished with the two Nightmares!

As the hazy mist gradually dissipated from where the man and the two horses had disappeared, the horned demons finally snapped out of their daze.

"He killed his comrade and ran away!" one horned demon yelled, while another horned demon quickly slapped him. "That's not the point, you idiot! He defected from the Aetheric Dimension! He was a serving soldier!"

"We need to report to the officer immediately!" "Do you even need to tell me?!"

Calmly watching the spatial fluctuations gradually being smoothed out by purgatory, the Demon Grand Duke withdrew his gaze from the command room of a basalt castle.