Demon Lord's Reincarnation

"I request to have a duel for the position of patriarch."

When Julius arrived and suddenly said those words many of those present were not surprised. It was no secret that Julius wanted to replace Nero as patriarch, but in a clan such as the Loder Clan, such a thing was normal.

What confused the other members of the Loder clan was not that he wanted that position of patriarch but he actually asked for a duel. That was not how the patriarch of their clan was chosen, and even if they did have a duel normally that wouldn't make Julius into the patriarch.

Not to mention the difference in strength between Julius and Nero, even if Julius somehow won no one would recognize him as the patriarch. While the members of the Loder Clan were confused as to what Julius wanted to achieve with such meaningless actions, they heard Ren's voice.

"Oh, that sounds interesting. Seeing who will become patriarch through a duel sounds very interesting."

Hearing what Ren said the other members of the Loder Clan immediately understood why Julius proposed a duel at this time.

"Ancestor I hope that you would become the referee of this duel."

"Hoh, very well I will become your referee, but before all that isn't there something important that needs to be asked first?"

Julius was confused by Ren's answer and did not know what to say, the other members of the Loder Clan were equally confused. Seeing the expression on their faces Ren spoke to clear the confusion.

"How about you Nero are you going to accept his challenge?"

Nero who was deep in thought because of what Julius said was startled when Ren called him. It took Nero several seconds to understand what Ren told him and he looked at Julius before answering.

"I will accept his challenge."

Nero knew that he could not reject in front of the Ancestor so he could only agree despite not needing to.

"Since both of you agree to the duel then let's make it as interesting as possible. The duel will start five days from now. The rules are... Hmmm... As long as it's one-on-one then anything goes. If you don't arrive at the venue of the duel in five days at exactly nine in the morning then that means you forfeit.

So the two of you better do your best to arrive on time. As for now, I'll see guys again in this place on the designated day and time."

Ren stood up from his seat and then disappeared from everyone's sight. There was no spell activation and there was not even a sound he just suddenly disappeared. The members of the Loder Clan were amazed and some of them even started debating on how it was done, while others checked the spot that Ren was standing on before disappearing.

The curiosity of the Loder Clan knows no bounds, they didn't even care about the duel anymore and were more interested in how Ren vanished. On the other hand, Julius smirked at Nero before leaving.

Mythious, watching everything by the sidelines, smiled wryly while shrugging his shoulders and continued drinking his wine.

"Heh, even that part hasn't changed after reincarnating."

"Sir Mythious may I have a moment of your time?" Nero approached Mythious who was about to leave.

"What do you want?"

"Sir Mythious can you te..." Nero did not finish what he wanted to say and instead bowed his head. "I'm sorry on second thought I don't think it's a good idea."

"I'm not sure what you want to say but I have a guess. I'm just going to warn you that doing things half-heartedly will not end well for you. As a reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, I'm sure that Ren will not care what kind of methods you use to win for as long as you win and retain a certain level of pride. As for what that pride is, well only Ren knows the answer to that question.

Prepare as much as you can but also remember that you need to survive for the next five days to have your duel."

Once he was done speaking Mythious snapped his fingers and disappeared but unlike Ren's way of vanishing Mythious left traces of mana which was easy to understand that he used a teleportation spell.

...

In truth the duel wouldn't just start in the next five days, it was already starting and both Nero and Julius knew that. The way Ren told them that anything goes and that they needed to be at the venue at an exact time was obviously telling them that it was possible for them not to appear.

Assassination was the game being played before the duel, and both parties knew that Ren without explicitly saying anything had approved of such an action. Nero who was walking the path to the truth of the martial way was not someone who would use such tactics. On the other hand, Julius was someone who was on the path to finding the truth through alchemy.

So concocting poisons and the like was his specialty.

Also unlike Nero who disdains from using tactics like assassination and poison, Julius had no such thoughts. So during these five days, everyone expected Nero to be on the defensive trying to survive until the day of the duel, while Julius was going to be on the offensive and try and assassinate him.

If Julius was able to succeed in the assassination it was obviously his win but if he fails and they had an actual duel then it was Nero who won. No one doubted that this would be the result since Nero's skill in combat was above all the members of the Loder Clan.

The next five days would become very chaotic as both Julius and Nero had many supporters. The two sides would also join the fun during these five days.

Ren, sitting on the highest human structure within the clan residence, watched the show in amusement. Not only was this quite entertaining for him but this was also something that would help him gauge the current level of the Loder Clan.