Chapter 546: A Strange Feeling of Dread
Asmodeus sat atop the poorly repaired stone wall, he looked across the horizon while sucking on the tip of a pipe. He didn’t usually smoke, but the old man insisted on his finest weed.
‘I don’t know why I cannot say no to old n…’
He lacked a father figure, which might have been why he listened to Avandar and Alan before they beca close.
That’s why he listened to Paul and Simon so much.
“Phew… It’s a bit sweet, and there’s a nutty aftertaste.”
The sound of gravel shifting behind caught his attention, as the silhouette of Lumina appeared, inching closer, while covering her nose. “That stinks…”
“Ah, sorry. The old man insisted I take it for saving his life.”
Lumina stood still, watching the handso man she adored sit on the edge of a ruined battlent, the years of war and enduring burning the surface a dull charcoal colour. “Are you alright?”
Asmodeus looked back and patted the ground beside him with a faint smile. “I would say yes… But that would be a lie. My arm hurts.” Lumina tilted her head, confused because he didn’t take any damage while fighting. a “I think I need to hug a pretty Arachne to heal this pain.” He spread his arm out, as the eyes of Lumina widened.
“You… when did you beco so cheesy?”
Asmodeus laughed. “I always have been. Do I not get a hug?”
She shrugged her shoulders and slipped into his arms, hugging him deeply as she kissed his cheek and wrapped her second pair of arms around his waist. “Do you feel lonely without all your wives?” Lumina’s jealous feelings throbbed like a dull ache in her stomach, but she enjoyed this attention.
“No… because I have you.”
Lumina blinked as he gently cupped the back of her head. He kissed her on the lips softly. She instinctively tried to push away, but she found herself leaning deeper into the embrace as her lips parted and she felt the taste of the strange weed he smoked. Then she pulled away as her face beca flushed. “That was… unexpected.”
Asmodeus shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn’t help it.”
“Do you really an it?”
“an what?”
“That you are not lonely because I am here, even after everything I did?”
He seed to have forgotten her actions in the past… too easily, so now that he acted so naturally, it caused Lumina’s doubts and fears to churn and grow like phantoms inside her heart and mind. Her eyes narrowed as she pushed him away, yet her arms remained around his neck.
He looked back at her with those deep red eyes, which made a woman’s heart skip a beat.
“Today we managed to save the village, but can we save the next one, what if I am too slow and we fail to save Alan?”
Lumina’s eyes flickered as she listened to Asmodeus, his words fragile and showing a rare weakness she knew he kept hidden.
“Do you love humans that much?”
“I do, at first I thought I hated them haha, but today really reminded of the truth… like the old won who ca to learn self defence from my mother and drink tea. Or the students who died without a chance to grow when we ca here…”
Despite being the demon emperor, an existence that led all demons and monsters.
He couldn’t stop wanting to see humans succeed and thrive.
It wasn’t the first ti he thought or spoke about this with Lumina, because this was an essential factor in their relationship.
“I used to hate humans…”
Lumina paused. “Until I ca to this world… my life was hell.” She trembled slightly. “But then I t the hero, who looked at with eyes filled with kindness. We talked for hours, and the more we spoke, the more I realised we were the sa.”
“It’s awkward to think that you’re speaking about my dad…”
“Fufu, well the n of your family are just my type, what can I say? Does it make you feel insecure, even though you’ve taken all my first tis?” She grinned back.
“Hmm… to be honest I don’t feel like I lost to my dad.”
“Haha, why?”
“Well, how could he let such a beautiful woman slip through his fingertips?”
Lumina’s mouth fell open before she laughed. “You are his son, haha… You have so many won, you scoundrel!”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Their shoulders pressed together, the villagers prepared a massive feast for them in the village square.
This place would have vanished from the map without Asmodeus and Lumina, who stopped them from climbing the walls. It was strange how their lives intertwined, as Lumina looked up at him with soft eyes. “I wonder if this is what they call fate.” Asmodeus raised his head to look at the stars above them.
“I couldn’t have beleived we’d ever be like this, by rights I should hate you, deteste you…”
“Mm… I know.”
“Yet…” His voice beca softer, touching her cheek with a slight smile. “Now, I cannot help but adore you, like a treasure.”
Lumina’s face turned red, and she looked away shyly. “I… feel the sa. I can’t help but feel attracted to you. At first, it might have been because you resembled your father, but now it’s you. Ryuji, that makes my heart race, want to wake up in the mornig. If I could have you, or beco a goddess again… I’d pick you, in a heartbeat.”
If another person said this, he’d be a little doubtful, but Ryuji let it pass because he knew she might be one of the few people who could say this confidently.
‘Am I so kind of Goddess magnet?’
Before he could explore that thought, Lumina squeezed his shoulders.
She leaned in and gently kissed him on the lips; the slight touch silky and warm… their lips touched again, hotter, wetter.
They looked into each other’s eyes while their limbs beca intertwined. Lumina’s tongue explored inside his mouth, searching for a kiss to satisfy her desires; their tongues curled and twisted in a passionate embrace.
Asmodeus didn’t understand why he fell for Lumina or when he stopped hating her.
These questions didn’t have answers.
Through her actions over the past few months, everything changed.
“Nnnmph… I will do anything for you, Ryuji.”
Asmodeus smiled. “All I ask is that you stay by my side.”
“How cliché! Haha.” Lumina’s laugh broke the mont, but he didn’t mind… to see her genuine smile was enough.
No matter how difficult the journey ahead, he couldn’t help but feel at ease with her beside him.
***
The stars above shimred like distant flas, and neither of them said anything for a while. Just the wind and the chirping of night insects. The soft murmur of villagers still enjoying the last of the feast below.
Then Asmodeus spoke, his voice low.
“I want to build sothing permanent, Lumina.”
She tilted her head, brushing her white-silver hair from her eyes. “Like a house?”
“No,” he chuckled, tapping his chest. “Like a legacy. A place where demons, humans, beastkin… where all our children can live without fear.”
Lumina’s eyes softened, and her grip on his hand tightened.
The ntion of children caused her chest to tighten, sothing she had never considered before. His deep voice and sincere words shook her to the core.
“You’re talking about peace.”
“I am. Even if I have to kill a thousand more to make it happen.”
The way he said it wasn’t idealistic, but it felt different to Lujmina. She understood that he wasn’t being edgy or optimistic. Hit tone bitter and determined.
Lumina liked that about him.
“And what if soone stronger than you gets in the way?”
Asmodeus didn’t hesitate. “Then I’ll surpass them.”
Lumina opened her mouth to tease him, but then a tremor rolled through the stones beneath them. Her back tensed. “…Did you feel that?”
The pipe clinked against the stone as he stood, eyes narrowing.
A faint, unnatural vibration echoed through the earth.
A second later, a burst of mana erupted from the south, nothing natural, and both Lumina and Asmodues frowned.
“Ti isn’t on our side.”
If Asmodeus could tell the source of this magic, it was no surprise that Lumina could feel it even more.
“phisto!?”
Lumina’s voice cracked like a whip, laced with fear and disbelief. Her claws dug into the stone wall, eyes wide, scanning the dark horizon as she trembled with rage.
Asmodeus didn’t answer imdiately.
He just stared southward with a dazed and confused expression. The mana… it was familiar, but there was sothing different. He could also feel Alan’s existence inside it.
A pulse of black and crimson light throbbed once more, casting jagged shadows through the treeline.
“No,” he said, almost too quiet to hear. “This is worse.”
The wall beneath their feet trembled again, loose stone trickling like dust. Below, villagers had begun to scream—dogs barking, the festive mood obliterated instantly.
Lumina grabbed his arm. “What do we do?”
Asmodeus clenched his fist.
He understood that their remaining ti… wasn’t nearly as much as he thought.
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