You have to answer this call even if you don’t want to

As time passed, Vivian could gradually sense the long-dormant leyline energy stirring deep beneath the earth.

It was being awakened and guided, like trickling streams converging from all directions, silently pouring into the foundation of the mage tower.

Within the tower, the pre-carved mana circuits began to glow faintly, like veins pulsing to life in the darkness.

“Hum—”

A faint, almost imperceptible low hum emanated from the tower, akin to the slumbering breath of a great beast.

The sound soon stabilized and grew stronger.

The space around the tower seemed to distort, light bending as if pulled by an invisible force, casting flowing shadows across the tower’s surface.

The stray magical elements in the air became unusually active, like countless tiny fireflies drawn to the tower, swirling and dancing rapidly around it.

The mana fluctuations grew increasingly pronounced.

In Vivian’s perception, the mana in the air rippled outward like waves across a calm lake struck by a boulder.

“Oh? So this is what it’s like when a mage tower activates?”

Vivian watched the scene with keen interest.

Experiencing the sensation of mana surging like a tide was truly novel.

Nearby, the lower-ranking demon captains felt a slight tingling on their skin, their internal mana cycles involuntarily drawn into the powerful field.

The goblin chef Golin nearly fell off his bucket, only steadying himself by grabbing the arm of a nearby minotaur captain.

Just as the mana fluctuations reached their peak, teetering on the verge of bursting—

“Hum—!”

A far deeper, more resonant hum reverberated through the sky!

The Hex core crystal at the tower’s peak erupted with a deep purple glow!

A visible, translucent shockwave of mana, laced with countless tiny magical runes, burst from the mage tower, spreading swiftly and silently in all directions like ripples on water!

The shockwave swept over the crowd, bringing a gust of wind that made clothes flutter wildly, yet it carried a peculiar, invigorating energy.

It passed over the ruins, the camp, and the still-uncleared wreckage of Evernight City, rushing toward the distant villages and outposts housing secondary communication nodes.

The newly built mage tower stood silently, its peak crystal emitting a soft purple halo.

The mana circuits on its surface pulsed like breathing, alternating between light and shadow, signaling its successful activation as a new mana node within the Demon Clan’s maginet.

Vivian waited quietly, her senses carefully tracking every trace of mana in the air, observing whether the maginet was functioning properly.

Time passed silently.

Finally, she turned to the mages inside the tower, who were nervously operating complex control crystals and rune arrays, and asked calmly, “How is it?”

A moment of silence was broken by a mage’s excited, slightly off-pitch voice:

“The magitech equipment is functioning well! The core mana flow is stable! The maginet… the maginet is operating normally!”

Immediately after, several crystal orbs on the control console, representing different regions, lit up with a soft glow, accompanied by clear, jubilant reports:

“Blackthorn Village confirms signal! Secondary crystal activated! Communication clear!”

“Falling Rock Village confirms signal! Communication link stable!”

“Report! The main maginet channel has successfully connected! Stable signal received from the Winter Territory!”

A series of confirmations rang out, each one signifying that a fragment of the Evernight Territory was being reconnected.

This isolated city was finally reintegrated into the lifeblood network of the Demon Clan’s world.

Vivian let out a quiet breath of relief.

The surrounding demon team members erupted into irrepressible cheers!

Golin, the chef, leapt off his bucket, waving his greasy chef’s hat wildly and hopping in circles, letting out incomprehensible goblin-style whoops.

Aria, too, wore an expression of profound relief.

The Evernight Territory was finally reconnected to the maginet, regaining the means to communicate and exchange information with other Demon Lords’ territories.

Vivian’s gaze swept over the excited crowd, finally resting on the mage tower glowing with mana.

It was crude, rough, even somewhat unsightly—built not solely with the Evernight Territory’s resources but with aid from the Winter Territory.

Yet, it was undeniably the first clear, positive signal of the Evernight Territory’s reconstruction.

A faint smile flickered across her lips and vanished.

The maginet’s reactivation marked the first formal step in rebuilding the Evernight Territory.

But before Vivian could savor the moment, the mages operating inside the tower suddenly paled.

“What’s wrong?”

Sensing the change in her subordinates’ expressions, Vivian stepped forward and asked.

“Demon Lord, a message from the [Imperial Capital]—identification code [0000]… It’s from His Majesty, the Demon Emperor!”

The mage at the console turned, his voice trembling with awe and fear as he reported to Vivian.

The Demon Emperor!

Vivian’s heart jolted.

This was the mightiest being among the Demon Clan, a legend revered and feared by all Demon Lords.

The undisputed pinnacle of the Demon Clan’s hierarchy, the supreme ruler second only to the Demon God!

The Demon Emperor was the most enigmatic figure in the Demon Clan.

In her “past life” memories from the game, the Demon Emperor was more like a background symbol, a setting to explain the Demon Clan’s unity.

Players had never truly seen Him, not even an image—many speculated on forums that He was merely a fictional symbol to unify the Demon Clan.

But having inherited the identity and fragmented memories of the Demon Lord of Evernight, Vivian knew with absolute certainty that His Majesty was real.

No ordinary demon had the right to meet the Demon Emperor.

Only when a Demon Lord was born were they granted the privilege of an audience to receive their title.

Indeed, the titles of [Evernight], [Winter], and [Decay] were not self-chosen but bestowed by the Demon Emperor Himself!

In a distant, hazy memory fragment, as if from another lifetime, “she” had just assumed the mantle of Demon Lord.

In the grand, frigid hall of the Imperial Capital, built as if from ancient ice and starlight, she had faced an insurmountable aura of majesty during a humble and fearful audience.

“You are the new Demon Lord? Hmph, the power of darkness? A bit dull, but passable—then you shall be granted the title [Demon Lord of Evernight]!”

That was the only sentence the Demon Emperor had left in Vivian’s memory.

By the time “she” came to, she was already standing outside the hall.

Vivian had anticipated many things upon the maginet’s reactivation: probing messages from neighboring Demon Lords, mockery, or even schadenfreude; attempts at contact from former subordinates; or

the need to navigate diplomatic rhetoric and negotiations.

But she never imagined the first message would come from the [Imperial Capital]—and from the Demon Emperor Himself!

Vivian swallowed hard but took a deep breath.

“Everyone, leave.”

At her command, the mages promptly filed out, leaving Vivian alone in the newly activated mage tower.

With a wave of her hand, she erected a magical barrier, sealing off all external gazes and probes.

‘Damn it, I really don’t want to take this “call,”’ she thought.

‘But hanging up on the highest authority? That’s a death wish.’

Vivian still wanted to live a few more years, so whether she liked it or not, this “call” had to be answered.

Historical records noted that the Demon Emperor hadn’t left the Demon Clan’s [Imperial Capital] for centuries, perhaps even a millennium.

No one knew what He was doing.

Whatever His reason for contacting the Evernight Territory now, whatever His purpose, Vivian knew this was not a communication she could afford to treat lightly or dismiss.

This was no time for carelessness.

Vivian took a deep breath, steeling herself before accepting the Demon Emperor’s message.

The power that followed was not an indescribable, overwhelming torrent of mana beyond imagination.

Instead, it surged violently from the leyline interface at the base of the console, descending abruptly like a spring sky!

This power was not chaotic, wild, or disordered but precisely controlled, instantly filling the entire mage tower and the barrier-sealed space within!

Vivian felt as if she were standing in the cosmos itself!

Her clothes billowed without wind, whipped by the immense mana surge.

What made her soul tremble was the indescribable, terrifying pressure that arrived with the mana flood!

It was a pure, essential, absolute dominance on a fundamental level of existence—a supremacy that compelled every lesser being to instinctively kneel and submit!

It was the Demon Emperor!

His will, carried by His boundless mana, had descended!