The room was silent, with only four people visible. Strax settled down at the table, leaning back slightly in his chair as his eyes passed over the figures in his group. The "strongest" were there, watching him with the attention he knew he deserved. Each one seed to be in a different state of mind, and he could feel the tension growing in the air.
Xenovia, her eyes still red from crying, looked at Kryssia with an expression of deep relief. Although her face was marked by grief, there was sothing comforting about the way the young woman now seed lighter, to be back by her friend's side.
Kryssia, on the other hand, was distant. The silent fury at having been turned into a demon still burned in her chest, but she kept her posture upright. Her emotions were contained, her anger still fresh, but the fighting spirit she had always had would never disappear. She stood there, waiting, watching Strax with weary patience, ready to hear what he had to say.
Strax, seeing all this, sighed heavily, letting out an expression of exhaustion.
"Ah... Let's get to the facts," he began, his voice low and controlled, with a hint of weariness. "Apparently, a war between the gods of this world is taking place... And frankly, I don't have the slightest interest in it." He cast a casual glance at Kryssia, who was still looking at him suspiciously. "But..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "I've made so sacrifices. And I'll be blunt."
The atmosphere in the room beca more tense as Strax continued, his posture still imposing, but the details beginning to reveal themselves.
"I beca the apostle of one of the gods on the opposite side to the one who took possession of the Emperor's body," Strax said with a sincerity that didn't go unnoticed. "His na is Zeus. You probably know him, since the mythology of this world is... well, let's say, correct." He let out a slightly sarcastic laugh.
Scarlet, with her firm and calculating presence, nodded, interrupting him briefly: "God of Gods, the God of Lightning," she murmured with silent understanding.
Strax continued. "Yes, there are a multitude of other gods such as Athena, Ares, Poseidon, among many others... but let's leave that aside for now."
He paused, allowing the information to settle, and then spoke with more gravity:
"I have joined Hades. The God of the Underworld. The Emperor of Hell." Strax looked at the three won in front of him, his eyes roaming over each of them as he waited for them to process the enormity of his words.
There was a brief silence in the room as the three exchanged glances, absorbing the magnitude of what this ant. Kryssia, more familiar with the mythologies surrounding the world of Strax, now seed to fully understand the situation.
"So you...," she began, her voice firr, "brought back from the world of the dead... through Hades."
Strax nodded slowly, his gaze softening as he t her eyes. "Unfortunately, Hades is the god of the dead, not the living. Bringing you back as a human would be impossible. So..." He gave a slight smile. "You're a demon now."
Kryssia just nodded, her gaze now colder, as if she were accepting, at least montarily, the fate imposed on her.
"I need to reach the Emperor stage," Strax continued, looking at Scarlet with a slight tilt of his head, "before we go any further with this. And I'll ask for your help, of course, love." He said with a crooked smile, his gaze becoming sharper and more intent.
"As for you two..." Strax looked at Xenovia and Kryssia. "I need you to prepare yourselves. There are only two of you with powers beyond the King Rank, and I don't want to alarm the others. That's why I'm trusting you with this training, without anyone else knowing."
Strax's words hung in the air and, for a mont, the room seed heavy with the silence that followed. But it was Xenovia who broke the silence, her voice soft but laden with determination.
"I want to help," she said suddenly, with a resolute tone, without hesitation.
Strax stopped talking and looked at her with interest. "B-well... you know that..." he started to say, trying to process what he had just heard.
"Yes," Xenovia replied, interrupting him. "Double cultivation. It's not just you who needs to get strong. We all do. The faster you reach the Emperor stage, the faster the others can advance too." She gave a slight smile, trying to hide a touch of shyness in her voice.
But then, Xenovia paused, her eyes darting slightly as she muttered sothing, her face flushed.
"And having sex with you... can't be bad, right?" She spoke, almost in a whisper, her face completely red with embarrassnt.
The room fell silent again, Xenovia's statent echoing in everyone's minds. Strax looked at her, surprised for a mont, but then his expression turned into a mischievous smile. Kryssia, for her part, watched the scene with a look that mixed amusent and curiosity.
"Well, that was... unexpected," Strax finally said, with a grin that clearly appreciated Xenovia's boldness.
"I-I'll help too!" Kryssia said suddenly, her words quick and almost disconnected, as if it were an automatic response to a situation she could barely process.
The impact of her statent was almost palpable. Strax, who was leaning back with a mischievous smile after Xenovia's response, froze for a mont. His eyes widened, clearly surprised by Kryssia's reaction. He hadn't expected her to be so... direct. And even less so that she would offer to take part in sothing like double cultivation, especially after everything that had happened.
Kryssia, for her part, felt her cheeks burning. She was completely ashad of her own reaction, but at the sa ti, a feeling of wanting to do sothing for Strax dominated her mind. She had just been brought back to the world of the living, transford into a demon and with her life now tied to him, at least on so level. She couldn't stand by. She felt she had to repay him, sohow, for everything Strax had done for her.
But there was sothing else. Sothing she couldn't ignore, no matter how hard she tried. The way he'd talked about "dual cultivation" - it was burning her curiosity in a disconcerting way. How would it work? What did it actually entail? She was embarrassed by her own thoughts, but the desire to understand, to explore this possibility, was eating her up inside.
Strax, still visibly shocked by Kryssia's reaction, kept his gaze fixed on her. He seed to be trying to understand what had caused this sudden change in her.
"Kryssia... are you really willing to... help?" Strax asked, his voice now more serious, as if he were trying to confirm that she knew exactly what that ant.
Kryssia looked at him, feeling her sha rise. She clenched her fists and looked down, trying to gain so composure. "Yes... I... I didn't know you did so much for , Strax... becoming an apostle of Hades just to bring back." The last part of his speech ca from an unexpected place inside her - she had no idea of the gravity of what Strax had done so far. "I... I can't stand by. I want to pay sohow... I can't just stand here and do nothing."
Strax watched her carefully, and for a mont, his gaze seed softer, more understanding. He knew she was dealing with conflicting feelings. He felt a slight admiration for her, for her determination and courage in wanting to do sothing in return, despite her own pain and confusion.
But for a mont, tension lingered in the air. Kryssia was so entangled in her own thoughts about "double cultivation" that she didn't realize what had just happened. Inside her, a growing curiosity began to bubble up. She wasn't sure how it worked, or even what it might an for her, but a part of her mind, even if it was uncomfortable with the idea, pushed her to delve deeper into it.
She looked at Strax, trying to disguise her discomfort. "I want to know more about... this double cultivation... I an... do you really think it can work?"
'Hades... by any chance...'
[No. She's doing it on her own. It's not any kind of influence because she's a Demon... I don't even have that kind of power].
"Have you ever had sex?" Strax asked, breaking the silence abruptly, almost as if it were a completely casual question.
The impact of the question was instantaneous. Kryssia froze for a second, her eyes going wide as her face turned redder than she had imagined possible. She blinked, stunned, trying to process the question. She had never imagined Strax would be so direct, so... bold.
"W-what?!" she stamred, embarrassnt hitting her full force.
Strax didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by the question. He was as serious as ever, watching her with a steady gaze. "I asked if you'd ever had sex. It's important for what we're discussing. If you're going to get involved in dual cultivation, you need to understand what it involves. And, first and foremost, you need to know what you expect of yourself." He paused, gauging Kryssia's reaction. "If you've never been through it before, it can be harder to understand. Dual cultivation is about more than just physical power, it's an exchange of energies... and wills."
Kryssia felt a heat rise to her head, her mind going into a whirlwind of emotions. She didn't know what to say. The idea of talking about it, especially with Strax, seed surreal. She had thought he would perhaps be more... distant, more formal, but now he was directly addressing sothing so intimate in such a natural way. And that only made her more embarrassed.
"I... I..." Kryssia looked down at the floor, trying to control the thoughts that seed to be spiraling out of control. "No... never." She stamred, the sha intensifying even more. "I've never done that... before."
Strax watched her reaction and gave a slight sigh. "Then that changes things, doesn't it? Dual cultivation is sothing that requires more than just power, as I said. It involves... intimacy between the two people, an exchange of energies that goes beyond the physical. If you're not prepared for that, it's going to be difficult." He tilted his head slightly, as if pondering the best way to explain. "You don't have to rush, Kryssia. If you want to understand more, we can talk about it. But first of all, you need to be aware of what you're proposing to do."
Kryssia was clearly hesitant, but she didn't want to appear weak. She wanted to do sothing for Strax, for everything he had done to bring her back. She was still confused, but she knew she had to understand. She couldn't move on without knowing what it was all about. And sohow, she felt that her curiosity about double cultivation was becoming a silent obsession in her mind.
"I... I don't know if I'm ready," she admitted, her voice softer now. "But... I want to try. I want to understand what it really ans."
"..."
The floating blue ssage that usually only appears when sothing concrete is ford appeared and Strax looked at it... confused...
[ Kryssia' entered the Harem ]
... 'Hades, are you sure that-' The red and gold ssage flashed again.
[I'm not a manipulator... and I find it difficult that Aphrodite is interfering]
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