"Whoa… nine towering pillars holding up the entire realm of monsters? That actually sounds insanely badass!"
Originally, after hearing the title "Nine Zenith Demon Lords" that Rimuru had proposed—something symbolizing both ultimate limits and the pinnacle—most of the other Demon Lords hadn't expected much from the name Ren Kuroda would come up with.
But once they heard his explanation about the nine colossal pillars standing tall in the monster realm, everyone involuntarily sucked in a breath of admiration.
That title sounded just as awesome.
And so the Demon Lords present suddenly found themselves in a dilemma.
Which sounded more impressive—Nine Zenith Demon Lords or Nine Pillar Demon Lords?
Back when they'd tried to decide on a name before, they had held several Walpurgis banquets and still failed to come up with anything decent.
Yet this time, the two newcomers had casually produced two incredibly striking titles within mere moments.
Having one intellectual suddenly appear in the group was already a blessing.
But now there were two.
And that was precisely why they were stuck.
Because honestly…
both titles sounded too good to discard.
And because of that, something even more ridiculous happened—something that left Ren utterly speechless.
What should have been the end of the Walpurgis Banquet had now turned into a full-blown Title Selection Conference.
Nine Demon Lords—beings feared across the entire world—were now sitting around arguing intensely over which of the two names they should adopt.
Milim, meanwhile, greedily suggested something even more outrageous.
"Why don't we just keep both?"
"We can use one title on odd-numbered days and the other on even-numbered days!"
She puffed out her chest proudly.
"I'm not a kid, you know. When it comes to choices like this… obviously the correct answer is to take everything!"
And the most unbelievable part?
The other Demon Lords actually seriously considered her proposal.
In the end, it was Guy Crimson who finally shook his head and rejected the idea.
"A fixed title is necessary for Demon Lords," he said.
"If it keeps changing back and forth, it'll damage the dignity of the Demon Lords."
Ren Kuroda almost blurted out that their dignity had already been thrown out the window long ago.
But seeing everyone else nodding solemnly in agreement, he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.
After all, his battle with Milim earlier had already drained him completely.
If he irritated these terminally chuunibyou Demon Lords right now, there was a real chance he'd be carried out of the banquet hall horizontally.
Since they couldn't reach a decision after arguing for so long, Guy eventually proposed solving the matter through a vote.
And the final result was:
Nine Pillar Demon Lords — 5 votes
Nine Zenith Demon Lords — 4 votes
By the narrowest of margins, the title Nine Pillar Demon Lords emerged victorious.
One detail was worth mentioning.
Ren Kuroda had cast an abstention vote.
Because in his opinion, both names were painfully over-the-top.
The embarrassment level was completely off the charts.
So why were there still nine votes total, even though he abstained?
That was because Milim had done exactly what she had declared earlier.
She voted for both titles.
After all, both Nine Pillar Demon Lords and Nine Zenith Demon Lords had been created by her two best friends.
If she chose only one, she felt like it might hurt the other friend's feelings.
Besides, she genuinely liked both names.
So she simply voted for both of them.
Fortunately, no one else followed Milim's chaotic logic.
If even one more person had cast two votes like she did, this Walpurgis Banquet might have dragged on for even longer.
"Very well," Guy finally announced.
"Our new title will be Nine Pillar Demon Lords."
"And we will proclaim it to the entire world."
With Guy's declaration, the woman standing behind him—Misery, the Primordial Green Demon—stepped forward and formally repeated the announcement.
Her calm voice echoed through the hall.
Guy CrimsonTitle: Dark EmperorRace: Demon
RamirisTitle: Labyrinth FairyRace: Fairy
Milim NavaTitle: Destroyer TyrantRace: Dragonoid
DagruelTitle: Wrath of the EarthRace: Giant
Luminous ValentineTitle: Queen of the NightRace: Vampire
DinoTitle: Slothful RulerRace: Fallen Angel
Leon CromwellTitle: Platinum Sword KingRace: Demonoid
Rimuru TempestTitle: Rising StarRace: Demon Slime
Ren KurodaTitle: Abyssal UsurperRace: Oni Deity
"These nine individuals shall henceforth be known as the Nine Pillar Demon Lords."
"This declaration is hereby made to the entire world."
Originally, neither Ren nor Rimuru had possessed any special titles.
But this clearly sparked strong dissatisfaction among the other Demon Lords.
They insisted that since the two of them were so talented at coming up with names, they should immediately assign themselves suitably impressive titles.
As for why everyone was suddenly so enthusiastic…
The reason was simple.
Now that they all belonged to the Nine Pillar Demon Lords, having two members without proper titles would severely lower the overall prestige of their Demon Lord group.
Ren, however, rejected the idea of giving himself an overly dramatic title from the bottom of his heart.
As a result, the responsibility ultimately fell to Rimuru.
After thinking for only a moment, Rimuru casually assigned himself the title "Rising Star."
Then he gave Ren the title "Abyssal Usurper."
When Ren realized he'd just been set up by Rimuru, he immediately protested.
He suggested renaming himself "Supernova", or even swapping titles with Rimuru.
But by that point, the other Demon Lords had already fully accepted his title.
The "Abyssal" part referred to the pitch-black power Ren displayed when wielding the darkness of "All the Evil of This World."
The word "Usurper," meanwhile, referenced the fact that Ren had ultimately used the power of the Simulated Genesis Chart—an ability capable of stripping others of their racial talents and powers.
This particular Walpurgis Banquet had lasted an entire day and night.
Ironically, although the gathering had originally been convened by Clayman himself, the matters concerning Clayman had taken less than an hour to resolve.
The rest of the time had been spent almost entirely on:
Ren's battle with Milim…and the utterly pointless debate over their new title.
After the banquet ended, Ren Kuroda and Rimuru Tempest officially became members of the Demon Lord ranks.
Their status was now recognized across the entire world.
News of what had happened during Walpurgis also gradually spread outward in fragments.
People everywhere soon learned that although the two newly crowned Demon Lords were newcomers…
their strength was absolutely not to be underestimated.
One of them had ascended to the throne by effortlessly killing one of the original Ten Demon Lords.
The other had done something even more outrageous—he had fought the Destroyer Tyrant Milim to a near stalemate, only losing at the very end due to exhaustion.
As Ren and Rimuru prepared to leave Guy's territory, several Demon Lords expressed goodwill toward them.
Leon Cromwell, in particular, showed great admiration for Ren's swordsmanship and said they should spar sometime when they had the chance.
Meanwhile, the silver-haired vampire Luminous Valentine, who had already resolved her earlier conflict with Rimuru and reached a certain agreement with him, slowly approached Ren as well.
With a faint smile, she said:
"It seems we might also have opportunities to cooperate in the future."
"After all, the Kingdom of Falmuth is one of the western nations… and until recently, it was a country that followed the lead of our Holy Empire of Lubelius."
...
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