I Enslaved The Goddess Who Summoned Me

Chapter 346: The Second summoning

”That Demon King... he was stronger than even me. I was ready to fight him myself—to avenge them—but before I could, Aphrodite pulled me away.”

She fell silent after that, lost in the ghosts of the past.

”Stronger than even you?” I asked, my voice laced with disbelief.

Khione was not just a Goddess in beauty but also in power. Despite her ethereal, delicate appearance, she possessed strength beyond mortal comprehension. The only reason I had managed to defeat her was through sheer cunning—exploiting her arrogance and underestimation of me. Had I not outwitted her, had she not been so naive in that moment, she would have crushed me without effort.

Yet now, she was telling me that someone—even stronger than her—existed.

The Demon King… stronger than a God?

It was a revelation that unsettled me. I had always planned to reach the domain of gods, to ascend beyond the limits of mortality. And yet, someone had already done so—someone who wasnʼt divine, but a monster.

”Yes,” Khione confirmed, her voice carrying a rare trace of unease. ”He was that dangerous. When I first encountered him, I hesitated, momentarily paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of his power. But while I wavered, the Demon King did not. He recognized the looming threat posed by the Heroes of the Light Empire and took decisive action before they could move against him. He didnʼt merely seek to defend his domain—he sought to annihilate his enemies before they could gather their strength. His ambition was not limited to toppling a single empire. He desired dominion over the entire continent.”

Her eyes darkened with the weight of memory.

”Rallying his forces, he issued a call to arms, summoning every last demon under his banner. What followed was a war unlike anything the world had ever seen. His armies swept across the land like an unstoppable tide, devouring kingdom after kingdom. No nation was spared from his wrath. Cities burned. Fields were soaked in blood. Entire civilizations trembled beneath his conquest. The toll was catastrophic—countless innocent lives lost, entire bloodlines erased.

The rulers of the human kingdoms, realizing they would be slaughtered if they fought alone, cast aside their rivalries and forged an unprecedented alliance. Only by standing together could they hope to withstand the Demon Kingʼs onslaught. And for a time, they managed to hold the line. For years, they fought desperately, clinging to survival through sheer willpower and numbers.”

”But in the end, it wasnʼt enough,” I murmured, already knowing how the story would end.

Khione gave a solemn nod. ”No, it wasnʼt. The Demon King was more than just a warrior—he was a force of nature. His strength alone dwarfed entire legions, and his mastery of Dark Magic made him even deadlier. Even the most powerful knights and magicians fell before him like leaves in a storm. Not even the Divine Knights—those who had been chosen by the gods themselves—could stand against him. He wasnʼt just a king. He was a calamity, a walking disaster wielding the power of a god.”

I narrowed my eyes. ”And still, the gods did nothing?”

She let out a bitter breath. ”No. I begged them to intervene, pleaded with them to act before it was too late. But they refused. They claimed that the mortal world was beyond their domain, that they could not meddle in the affairs of men. That it was not their place to interfere.”

I scoffed, feeling anger rise in my chest. ”Even though the Demon King wielded power that rivaled their own?”

Khioneʼs expression hardened, her lips pressing into a thin line. ”Yes,” she said, her voice laced with frustration. ”They dismissed him. They believed he was still beneath them, that he did not warrant their concern. So I waited. I bided my time, gathering my magic, knowing that there was only one path left. If the gods would not intervene… I would summon another set of Heroes myself.”

Her gaze met mine, an unspoken weight lingering in her icy-blue eyes.

”After gathering enough magic, I initiated the summoning once more. But this time, I made sure to inform the Gods of my decision,” Khione said, her voice carrying a note of dry amusement. ”I did not want a repeat of last time. And to my surprise, they accepted without much resistance. Not because they saw the necessity of it, nor because they had suddenly developed a sense of responsibility toward this world. No, they allowed it because they were intrigued. Curious, even. They wanted to see what kind of Heroes would answer the call this time.”

She scoffed, shaking her head.

I wasnʼt surprised. The Gods—especially the highest-ranking among them—saw everything as mere entertainment. They viewed the world as a game board, mortals as their pieces. Their arrogance was insufferable, but could I truly blame them? They were Gods, after all.

”But these Heroes… they were different from the first ones.”

Her expression darkened slightly as she continued.

”The first Heroes had been reluctant. They had questioned their role, resisted their fate, and struggled to accept what had been thrust upon them. But this new group? They embraced it almost immediately. They didnʼt hesitate. They accepted their status as Heroes without question, throwing themselves into training, fighting monsters, gaining power. But despite their enthusiasm, there was something crucial missing—cohesion.

”They lacked the unity of the first Heroes. There was no deep trust between them, no sense of shared purpose. Instead, what I saw disturbed me. Most of them… werenʼt good people.”

She sighed, crossing her arms. ”They were volatile, unpredictable. Many of them reveled in their newfound strength, wielding it not as a duty, but as a privilege. They took advantage of their status, using it to manipulate, to indulge in their worst impulses. It didnʼt take me long to realize just how far some of them were willing to go.”

Her eyes gleamed with something sharp—disgust, perhaps.

”They wielded their power like tyrants, exerting their will over the people of the Empire of Light. They bent the royals and even the Divine Knights to their whims, treating them as nothing more than stepping stones to their desires. And while there were a few among them who still held onto a sense of morality, they were the minority. The rest… they cared only for themselves.”

I frowned. ”So what did you do?”

Khioneʼs lips curled into something resembling a smirk. ”I adapted. I treated them differently. They werenʼt the same as the first, and I couldnʼt expect them to be. Instead of guiding them with kindness, I steered them with strategy. I manipulated where I had to, used their ambitions against them, kept them in line by ensuring they continued growing stronger. And it worked. Their strength increased far more quickly than their predecessors.”

She fell silent for a moment, before exhaling softly.

”But…”

That single word carried a weight that made my stomach tighten.

I watched her carefully. ”But what?” I asked, noticing the way her gaze darkened, the way her hands clenched slightly at her sides.

”But some of them abandoned the Empire of Light altogether,” she said, her voice quieter now. ”They disappeared. Vanished without a trace. And worse, some of them…” She hesitated, before finally speaking the words.

”Some of them joined the Demon King.”

”What?” I couldnʼt mask my shock.

She nodded grimly. ”In the end, nearly half of them turned their backs on us. Whether it was out of selfishness, cowardice, or a simple desire for power, they defected. Some vanished, never to be seen again. Others sought refuge in the ranks of the enemy, betraying the very world that had given them a second chance.”

”And the ones who remained?” I asked.

”They had no choice but to fight,” Khione answered. ”Some stayed out of loyalty. Others out of fear. But regardless of their reasons, they stood their ground. And when the time came, they followed their strongest leaders into battle. They faced their former comrades on the battlefield, fighting against those they had once trained beside.”

Her eyes, usually cold and unreadable, flickered with something unreadable—perhaps regret.

”And then… they reached the Demon King. The second generation of Heroes stood before him, just as their predecessors had before them.”

”What happened this time?” I asked, my voice firm and serious.

I already had a good idea of what had transpired, but I needed more information—details that could be of use to me. Every piece of knowledge was a weapon, and I intended to arm myself thoroughly.

She took a slow breath, as if trying to steady herself, but there was an unmistakable tension in her posture. ”They fought the Demon King,” she began, her tone carrying a mix of admiration and frustration. ”This group of Heroes advanced faster than the ones before them. They reached him at a pace we hadnʼt seen before, cutting through his forces with an efficiency that was… unexpected. They even managed to defeat the Demon Kingʼs strongest knights.”

Her fingers curled into a tight fist, and though her expression remained controlled, the small gesture betrayed her emotions. ”The main group of Heroes this time was truly powerful. And thanks to the information left behind by the first summoned Heroes, they had a much easier time dealing with the Demons, even managing to stand against the Demon King himself. I had planned for this outcome… I gave them everything I could—strategies, insights, possibilities. Yet—” She cut herself off, her knuckles turning white as her nails pressed into her palm.

I narrowed my eyes. So, even with all those advantages, something still went wrong.

Of course, I hadnʼt been summoned here with my class just for some meaningless game. The previous Heroes had failed.