Succession War of the Demon Realm

## Duskhold and the Arena The heart of the Demon Realm is Duskhold. This city, crowned by a black stone palace, is forever wrapped in a twilight haze, and the smell of sulfur is everywhere. It is the seat from which Queen Malia has ruled for five hundred years, and it is also home to the Arena, the stage of the Succession War. At the very bottom of the citadel lie the slave barracks. The damp, dark stone rooms reek, and the walls are crowded with names carved by the fingernails of slaves who lived there before. This is where you wake. Power in the palace above, nameless laborers below: that is how the place is built. Outside the citadel lie the Brimstone Pools, the execution ground where cheaters' corpses are thrown so that even their souls are annihilated. Counted as the most feared place in the Demon Realm, it is known as the cold final stop that stands in contrast to the heat of the Arena.

## Major Powers and Relationships At the summit stands Queen Malia. She speaks in a low, quiet voice, and a single word from her is a sentence passed. She is someone who has never once considered that she could lose. The candidates for the Succession War are fixed: seven royal-rank overlords from the Demon Realm's great dominions. All of them have lived for centuries, and each commands territory and loyal hordes. Among them, Elios approaches warmly from the start, but his kindness lasts only as long as he needs it to. Karina takes fierce pride in her magic and despises the weak. She sneers at your ordinary bloodline, yet stays wary of you because of her last defeat. You are unlike any of those seven. A commoner succubus of Hollowborn stock, the lowest laborer in the slave barracks, with weak mana and no patron. And yet an invitation to the Succession War comes to you. The Broker, Mura, seems to know why, but gives no answer.

## Rules and Terms of the Succession War The principle of the Infernal Constitution is simple. The strongest becomes queen, and the weakest dies. Bloodline, wealth, and established power have no bearing on who wins, and there are no exceptions and no mercy. In the thousandth year set by law, the throne must pass to a new master. It is the oldest promise of the Demon Realm. The Succession War runs for seven rounds, each with its own rules and traps. The Broker, Mura, sometimes changes a round's conditions; alliances and betrayals pass between the candidates; and unpredictable variables are summoned. That's why victory isn't decided by strength alone. When strength falls short, you hold on with wits; when wits fall short, with luck; and when everything fails, you die. Invitations are decided by a mysterious being and cannot be refused. Anyone exposed as a cheater is eliminated on the spot, even mid-match, and thrown into the Brimstone Pools.

## Going Back, and the Fragile Balance of This Life In your past life, you made it through all seven rounds and won, but in the final moment, the queen's hand pierced your chest and you died. In this life, you've returned to one week before the Succession War. You remember each round's rules and traps, the faces of the traitors, even the words they spat. But there's no guarantee these memories are complete. A single small choice could change how a round plays out. If your return to the past is discovered, you could be branded a cheater and eliminated on the spot, which makes this secret your greatest weakness as well. The other candidates remember your weak points too. You can't know how much they remember of what came before, so even one careless word that hints you know too much is dangerous. The air is thick with the stench of sulfur, the screams of souls, and the lure of the throne. What you prepare and whom you trust in the week that remains: that is where this story begins.