God-Tier Villain

Chapter 33: Chapter 33

She was a mess, Soren was working hard to draw the incense out of her.

If she shoved him away over the chatter of irrelevant strangers, wouldn’t he think her incapable of telling good from bad?

Victoria was not an ungrateful woman, she could not break his heart. If anything, she owed him warmer response, some encouragement, but it was all so mortifying.

Her heart raced under the emotional whiplash, and Soren watched the strategy panel through it all.

The Absolute Loyalty title flickered, on, off, on, refusing to light, still parked at Deep Affection and Righteousness, drawing out the poison was something done with her consent, not domineering enough, no leverage in it.

This wouldn’t do, he needed to add fuel to the fire.

So, mid-ministration, his hand slid down that slim waist, and landed, with a light smack, somewhere it had absolutely no business being.

Victoria jolted like a little fox whose tail had been stepped on, the color fled her face, and a soft, mortified gasp escaped her.

She pleaded under her breath for him to stop, this would breed more gossip than announcing their relationship outright.

They had agreed to keep everything private until he broke through to Upper-Tier Demon Emperor. Soren, how can you act like this.

"You’re my woman, which makes this body of yours part of me."

"What I do with it depends entirely on my mood."

"You... you tyrant of a man, aren’t you being a bit too domineering?" Victoria said, thoroughly aggrieved.

"There are too many people here, let me go."

Right as she was begging for mercy, the new title on the strategy panel lit.

Absolute Loyalty.

Perhaps it was precisely the crowd of watching eyes that multiplied the force of his dominance, because the progress came at a gallop.

The two of them, lost in their own world, left the surrounding demon cultivators standing in collective stupefaction.

Only Bruce lay sprawled on the ground, grinding his teeth in fury. "Master! My Master is being taken advantage of by the demoness!"

"Demoness! Release my Master this instant!"

The crowd fell silent.

From any angle, that was not Victoria taking advantage of Soren.

Time slipped by, and the pair forgot the world completely, only when Soren had drawn the last trace of Emperor-Severing Incense from Victoria’s body and converted it to energy did he still his movements.

Victoria gazed up at him, dazed, trance-deep, and distinctly unsatisfied, her voice came out very small.

"Are you certain you got it all? Perhaps... check one more time?"

Soren assured her she was fine, traded a few soft words, and walked toward Bruce.

The demons scattered out of his path at speed.

"Master! That demoness was draining your Yang energy!"

"I’m useless, truly useless, forced to watch helplessly while my Master was bullied by the demoness!"

"Master!"

Soren looked down at Bruce, who was pounding his fists into the dirt with an expression of blackest hatred, and roared, "She was not draining my Yang energy, you blockhead!"

"That was me detoxifying her!"

"Do you understand?"

"Now hold still, I’ll draw your poison out too."

Bruce froze, detoxifying? Really? Master’s word was never false.

He nodded, and his big bull lips began to pucker outward. "Thank you, Master!"

"What are you puckering your lips for?"

"To make it easier for Master to suck the incense poison out of me, naturally." Bruce scratched his head, baffled, wasn’t that exactly what Master and Victoria just did?

The onlookers whispered furiously, expressions running the full spectrum, Soren’s face went pitch black.

Face still black, he slapped his palm onto Bruce’s forehead, activated the Heavenly Dao Demonic Form’s Devour, and stripped the poison out as a ribbon of black energy.

Bruce sprang up and squeezed his fists, no lingering effects, he was moved nearly to tears. "Thank you, Master!"

When Soren turned back around, Victoria was watching him with cold, dangerous stillness, her eyes said everything.

You never mentioned a hand on the forehead would do the job, detoxifying was that simple, and you toyed with me in front of a crowd? Soren, you rotten bastard.

Soren returned a look of pristine innocence, his eyes said, the mouth is faster, besides, wasn’t it a combination of both?

Victoria had no words left.

Soren clapped Bruce on the shoulder, signaling departure, then wrapped his voice in demonic energy and sent it to her alone.

"I’m taking Grant with me, but he was defeated inside the Immortal Domain, so the human race may come looking for someone to blame."

"Stay on guard against them."

"The moment I’ve finished the matters at hand, I’ll come find you."

"Alright, I understand, whatever you do, be careful," Victoria answered.

Soren nodded and swaggered off with Bruce under the eyes of the entire crowd, resuming the march toward Black Dragon Mountain.

For a long while, Victoria couldn’t pull her gaze from the direction he’d vanished, she felt no need to follow, her trust in him was absolute.

If not for Soren, today would have gone very badly, Grant’s raw strength fell short of hers, but the man was a master of the low road, and one moment’s carelessness had nearly finished her.

After a stretch of travel, Soren and Bruce drew close to Black Dragon Mountain, Soren didn’t rush its border, he brought Bruce into the independent space.

Arnold was still in seclusion, refining the Holy Nectar, he would need a while longer.

Soren opened the formation on another room, everyone inside looked up at him the way mice look at a cat.

However stiff Lysara’s spine, she was afraid, to say nothing of Althea, Duke, and Abel, the last of whom had been whittled down to a human stick.

Every one of Soren’s visits was high-stakes gambling, because none of them knew whether someone at the Great Emperor Palace had provoked him again.

Or whose turn the next chop would be.

Abel was going mad from being the designated chopping block, Althea and Duke were going mad from the certainty that the next blade would land on them, and still, none of them suffered like Lysara.

Every time she laid eyes on Soren, that overwhelming aura and tyrant’s bearing bore down on her, and, if she was honest, the conviction at the core of her was beginning to crack.