Hayate tried to deliver those lines with as much majesty and grandeur as he could, trying to project an image of a powerful fallen angel — a demon and leader of an angelic host. However, he had his doubts. The words sounded somewhat comical given the situation and circumstances.

He wished he had taken the acting classes his mom always wanted him to when he was a kid.

Hayate glanced at Hiroshi out of the corner of his eyes, seeking some sign of response or recognition from him. He hoped to gauge whether the title had any impact on the man's mentality. Hayate's goal was to intimidate and awe Hiroshi using his title as a fallen angel, but he wasn't sure if it was working. Meanwhile, the doppelganger began to clap and bow, tears forming in its eyes as if he was looking at a god.

It was a little too much.

Seeing the doppelganger suddenly start crying and clapping almost made Hayate snort. The creature's display of loyalty and reverence was over the top and embarrassing.

He face palmed mentally at the scene. It made him look like a cult leader being worshipped by a sycophant.

Hayate tried to maintain his composure, his cheeks reddening a bit in embarrassment. He wasn't used to such grandiose greetings.

He cleared his throat, trying to get the doppelganger's attention.

"Enough with the clapping and crying."

Meanwhile, while it was a great display, it wasn't really having the desired effect on Hiroshi, no. It was exactly the effect he wanted to have on Hiroshi, it was just that the man wasn't showing it at all.

The doppelganger instantly stopped the overly exaggerated display of loyalty, wiping away its tears as it awaited further orders.

Hayate directed his attention back to Hiroshi, "Where's the vehicle or mode of transport you used to get here?"

Caught off guard, Hiroshi hesitated for a brief moment before replying, "Um, our vehicle on the road, nearby."

Hayate then gave further instructions, "Take your team back to their vehicles, and after ensuring they're inside, you will return. The doppelganger will accompany them after that."

Hayate lifted the spell [Mana chains] that he had cast on everyone, releasing them from their bounded state. In the same breath, he used another spell. "[mass dominate]."

A wave of red light washed over everyone in the area except for the doppelganger and Hiroshi.

It was a upgraded version of dominate, a tier 6 spell which would do exactly as dominate did but to multiple targets.

"Follow Hiroshi."

Under the influence of Dominate, they were compelled to obey Hayate's orders, following Hiroshi as instructed. The doppelganger, in Hiroshi's form, trailed behind.

While they want outside, he gave a mental command to the doppelganger.

" 「 you will go along with the mercenaries and pretend to be Hiroshi, if they find out about you before reaching Yokohama, make sure nothing bad happens, otherwise I trust you can handle things on your own 」."

With the men and the doppelganger leaving the room, Hayate exhaled deeply and let his guard down, allowing his weary body to collapse onto the dirty worn-out bed. Hayate allowed himself a moment of respite, and thought about what had happened in the past few minutes.

He had taken hostages, mind controlled them and erased their memories, and essentially enslaved one of them. It was a dark path he had walked, if only for a short while. "It was self-defense," he muttered to himself. The man and then the girl had fired at him first, after all. It was justified this time.

Hayate then shifted his attention to something else. Now that he was temporarily secure, his immediate concerns had faded. He considered how to proceed, after Hiroshi returned he wanted to ask a few more questions and perhaps ask him to investigate about the status of his relatives and friends, but then he hesitated.

Could he trust Hiroshi with this sensitive information? Though they had a contract in place, Hayate still didn't trust him completely. Exposing details about his human family could potentially expose a weak point and potentially give Hiroshi leverage, and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

"I suppose I'll have to search for them myself after this is said and done." Hayate thought.

——————————————————

Hiroshi stepped out of the house into the snowy landscape, the cold air biting at his exposed face.

He looked behind him. The mercenaries he had hired, once hardened killers, now followed him like mindless automatons, their free will suppressed like mindless zombies, responding the commands of that chilling monster. To Hiroshi's right, Hiroshi's uncanny look-alike, the doppelganger, moved silently, its eyes fixed on him. Ensuring that he didn't even consider escape.

Hiroshi, followed closely by the entranced mercenaries, arrived at the truck shortly after. The only sounds being the crunching of snow underfoot. The night was dark and foggy, the snow and smog blending together, cloaking the environment in a thick veil. It was dark, and the only lights there were the headlights of the vehicle which provided some meager illumination on the old, deserted road.

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As Hiroshi reached the truck, he muttered a silent curse under his breath directed at his luck.

"I wanna die, someone just kill me already."

Hiroshi reached the truck and issued instructions to the team.

"Kazu, take the driver's seat. Sachiko, sit beside him."

He directed the rest of the men, "The rest of you get into the back of the truck."

They responded to his commands like mindless drones, each taking their assigned seats without a hint of resistance or question. Hiroshi then glanced at the doppelganger, his own face staring back at him, a unsettling sight. He felt afraid, hesitant to speak to a being that was a near perfect copy of himself and also a literal monster from hell.

"You..." Hiroshi began, his voice slightly shaky. "You're supposed to get into the truck next, right?"

The doppelganger, maintaining its unnervingly quiet demeanor, replied in a very cold voice as if hating the idea of taking orders from a insect (human).

It moved stiffly, mechanically, like a puppet on a string, lacking the natural fluidity of movement and stepped into and inside the truck.

Hiroshi shut the gate of the truck, and stood before the closed doors. A part of him longed to bolt away, but he knew the futility of that desire. Miles of isolation stretched in all directions, devoid of any human presence. Making escape on foot impossible.

The backup ie their help which they had called for would take the next fifty-ish minutes to arrive – it was pointless.

All of it.

Not to mention that guns would be useless against the monster so armed soldiers wouldn't be any match for it.

Maybe heavy weaponry or god's hammer could kill him but it would be impossible for someone as low ranked as Hiroshi to even bright up the latter idea for use since nobody knew about Lucifer, maybe they did but he didn't know about them.

"Lucifer said he wanted the world..what is he planning.."

There was only one thing Hiroshi could come up with.

World domination.

Hiroshi considered the possibilities.

Lucifer was a demon. World domination was his goal. But how did he plan to achieve it? By using his powers? By using his intellect and cunning?

Hiroshi couldn't be sure. But one thing was certain: Lucifer's plans were likely insidious, his capabilities terrifying, and his desire for power unquenchable.

And here Hiroshi was, now a slave to that demon. So, naturally what does a slave do?

He follows his master's wishes and gets punished if he doesn't.

Hiroshi couldn't imagine what sort of fate awaited him if he failed to help Lucifer in his goal.

Hiroshi's heart skipped a beat, cold sweat trickling down his face as he imagined the demon's retribution.

The mere thought of facing Lucifer's rage scared the life out of him. He had already witnessed a glimpse of the demon's ruthlessness. He wasn't a fool to believe the devil would show mercy if he failed to execute his plans .

But how would he do that?

Conquering the world was a long way, it would take decades if not centuries.

The only person who had even come close to conquering the entire world was alexander the great and even then it took him 13 year's of constant war.

But Lucifer wasn't just some human.

He was the Devil.

He was powerful, cunning, and ruthless. Hiroshi couldn't even begin to imagine the powers the monster possessed – powers that would make even a nuclear weapon seem like a child's toy.

So, did it mean that the demon was going to use violence as his main tool to conquer the world?

But violence alone wasn't enough to rule over 10 billion people.

Maybe it could work for the first few countries but after that he would be seen as a villain and then would have to face all sorts of riots in the counties he takes over.

It would be best to start out slow.

One country or one group at a time.

The only way he could pull it off was by starting slowly and gaining influence.

Slowly corrupting people in power, controlling them through political power, or through other ways, and then using them to do his bidding.

The concept of gaining influence, it seemed the only possible way.

It was slow, but slow progress was still progress.

But how would he go about doing this? First, he would need a source of influence.

Power, wealth, intelligence, military strength, or magic. Maybe even a combination of different factors, a goal to drive people under Lucifer's banner.

Something like a cult?

The more Hiroshi considered that, the more plausible it seemed.

The demon had the power to manipulate people using his magic, but using some sort of cult made things easier. Creating a cult, spreading the demon's ideology, increasing his influence and the number of his underlings slowly.

It would take time, but it would also be efficient.

It didn't take a genius to figure it out, it was a basic plan that even a child could come up with.

The first step would be the cult, then using the members of the cult and their power to take over the under-world of japan and then the hardest part would be taking over the country.

Why was taking over Japan was the hardest part?

Because of the megacorp — the Kusonoki conglomerate who themselves with all their forces combined had an army of 250,000, then the army of the country itself which it had made following world war III, and its allies which were the EU, or what was left of it and US with their financial aid since the need of their military was that required in the recent year's but the hardest part was the United republic of Korea which essentially worked together with japan in mostly everything and was like japan controlled by a similar corporation to the Kusonoki conglomerate.

To get rid of japan, they would need to get rid of UROK.

And he, Hiroshi, was now a slave of Lucifer, and it was his job to help get rid of those threats in japan.

He sighed, the rest of his life was going to be miserable.

Letting out another sigh of resignation, Hiroshi walked back into the house.

——————————————————

Hayate was still sitting on his bed when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Instead of a knock, Hiroshi simply stepped into the room, The door of his room had been knocked down so there was no need to him to knock. Hiroshi remained silent, awkwardly stand.

Hayate looked up and gestured for Hiroshi to enter the room. "Come in," he said.

Hiroshi walked into the room, his demeanor uneasy as he glanced at Hayate who was sitting on the bed. Hiroshi informed him, "They are all now in the vehicle."

He glanced around the room, A moment of hesitation followed, and Hiroshi fidgeted slightly before asking Hayate. "I ... I was wondering how I am supposed to get back?"

Hayate responded to Hiroshi, "Don't worry. I'll ask you a few more questions, and after that, I'll drop you off in Neo-Tokyo."

Hiroshi nodded and then asked something else, "Um...," Hiroshi began, hesitating for a moment before asking,

"Since I'll be working under you now, I was wondering what should I call you?"

Hayate paused and then finally spoke.

"Lucifer. I am Lucifer The Light-bringer. That is my name, you may refer to me as Lucifer."

It sounded appropriate, considering his current appearance. He wasn't in his human body anymore.

Although he admitted it sounded a bit edgy, he decided to go ahead with it.

He then looked up at Hiroshi and announced, "You can call me Lucifer."

Hiroshi then nodded again. "Alright... Sir..."

There was a brief pause as Hiroshi stumbled for a moment, still adjusting to the name, to refer to this monster as Lucifer was bizzar.

"Sir... Lucifer," Hiroshi repeated, the name rolling off his tongue awkwardly yet obediently.

"Alright," Hayate said, his eyes on Hiroshi. "Now, we shall begin with the questioning."

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