The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1502: Epilogue 27 - Elise’s Secret (3)

Her aura had become incredibly thick.

It wasn’t just something I could sense anymore. It felt like it had completely taken over the space around her, wrapping itself around her body and spilling outward into the surroundings. The pressure was so dense that it almost felt physical, like the air itself had become heavier.

Every instinct I had was telling me that the woman standing in front of me was dangerous.

Not dangerous in the usual sense.

Not the kind of dangerous where someone could kill you if you made a mistake.

She was the kind of dangerous where entire countries would start having problems if she decided to wake up in a bad mood.

If I had been a normal person, I probably would’ve collapsed the moment she released that much pressure.

Maybe I would’ve fallen to my knees.

Maybe I would’ve passed out.

Honestly, I didn’t know.

The important thing was that I wasn’t a normal person.

"You possess a level of power that most ordinary people wouldn’t even be capable of enduring, I’ll give you that," she said as she looked at me. "But compared to Lilith, you are nothing. Compared to Satania, you are nothing. And although I am severely lacking when compared to Satania myself, to me, you are nothing as well."

Well.

She really wasn’t wasting any effort trying to soften her words.

Not that I expected her to.

Still, hearing someone repeatedly call you nothing wasn’t exactly the most pleasant experience.

At least she was being consistent.

I could appreciate consistency.

As I stared at her, I found myself thinking back to the conversation she had with Elise earlier.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that she had some kind of connection to Lilith.

She had called Lilith "Mother."

That wasn’t exactly something people said casually.

At the same time, I didn’t think Lilith was literally her mother.

Maybe Lilith had saved her.

Maybe Lilith had raised her.

Maybe Lilith had done something that earned this woman’s absolute loyalty.

Whatever the reason was, one thing was obvious.

Lucielle respected Lilith to an almost frightening degree.

"And if you are nothing to me, then you certainly won’t be able to measure up to Lilith," she continued. "You are her vessel. Naturally, that means your responsibility is to survive until her return. If you end up dying in some ditch before then, everything Lilith has planned will be ruined. I have no intention of allowing that to happen."

Her voice remained calm, but there was an undeniable firmness behind it.

"If you’re going to stay quiet and avoid unnecessary risks, then I would advise you to continue doing exactly that. Live your life while you still can."

She seemed completely serious.

Everything she said revolved around Lilith’s return.

Almost as if nothing else mattered.

Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about that particular future.

"Unfortunately for you," I said, "I have absolutely no intention of resurrecting Lilith and handing over my body."

"What?"

Her eyes widened so suddenly that it almost caught me off guard.

For the first time since this conversation had started, she looked genuinely surprised.

It was as if she had just heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

Which, from her perspective, was probably exactly what had happened.

"Do you even hear yourself?" she asked. "Your fate is to become Lilith’s vessel and revive her from the dead. That fate has already been decided. Why are you trying to defy something that is practically inevitable?"

Honestly?

I understood where she was coming from.

Because if I looked at everything objectively, it really did seem inevitable.

No matter how hard I tried to avoid it, circumstances kept dragging me closer and closer to that future.

I had already experienced enough evidence to know that.

The biggest example was the fragments.

The other fragments of Lilith.

The ones necessary for her resurrection.

I had spent plenty of time trying not to think about them.

Trying not to get involved.

Trying not to move closer to that outcome.

And yet somehow, despite all of that, I still ended up fucking one of them.

Which wasn’t exactly helping my argument that fate could be avoided.

At all.

If anything, it made Lucielle’s point look annoyingly reasonable.

And if I was being completely honest with myself, I couldn’t confidently say that I would never fuck the remaining fragments.

I couldn’t guarantee that.

I couldn’t promise that.

The future was uncertain.

Maybe fate really was pulling me toward something.

Maybe every choice I made was ultimately leading me down the same road.

Right now, no matter how hard I tried to step away from it, I couldn’t say with complete confidence that I would escape it.

I couldn’t claim that I would definitely win against fate.

But that didn’t mean I was going to surrender.

Why would I?

I had already died once.

That wasn’t some philosophical statement.

That was simply a fact.

I had already lost one life.

Because of that, this life meant more to me than most people could understand.

I wanted to keep it.

I wanted to enjoy it.

I wanted to live it to the fullest.

As far as I could tell, I wasn’t in any immediate danger of dying either.

My life force was absurdly large.

Ridiculously large, honestly.

Sometimes I wondered if the universe had accidentally added an extra zero somewhere.

Whatever the reason, one thing remained certain.

I wanted to live.

More importantly, I wanted to continue living alongside the women I loved.

I wanted to laugh with them.

Spend time with them.

Annoy them.

Get annoyed by them.

Go on adventures with them.

Have sex with them.

Grow old with them if that was even possible.

I wanted all of it.

I wanted a future with them.

And that future became significantly harder to achieve if I handed my body over to Lilith.

Which was exactly why I wasn’t planning to do that.

"It’s simple," I said.

Lucielle stared at me.

"I like having sex, and I love all of my women. I want to be there for them forever."

The moment I said it, silence followed.

A very brief silence.

A very awkward silence.

A very judgmental silence.

Personally, I thought my reasoning was perfectly valid.

I wasn’t sure everyone else agreed.

I glanced toward Elise, who was standing nearby.

Then I gave her a wink.

Her face turned bright red.

Honestly, it was kind of impressive.

If someone put a kettle on her head, they could probably start making tea.

Lucielle simply stared at us.

The expression on her face became increasingly difficult to read.

Then her aura flared again.

Ah.

Apparently that had been the wrong thing to say.

Or maybe it had been the right thing to say.

Depending on how you looked at it.

Either way, I had definitely pushed one of her buttons.

"You may waste your life however you wish," she said. "You may play around. You may indulge yourself. I would tolerate all of that."

The pressure around her intensified.

"But the one thing I refuse to tolerate is your refusal to accept the fate that has been given to you."

Her voice became colder and sharper, and more serious.

"Which is why..."

The ground beneath her feet began to crack.

"I’m going to teach you exactly what that fate means."

The instant she finished speaking, she moved.

There was no warning and no countdown. There was no dramatic announcement either.

One moment she was standing there.

The next moment she exploded forward.

Sand erupted beneath her heels as she launched herself toward me at terrifying speed.

Her figure blurred.

The distance between us disappeared almost instantly.

Fast.

Way too fast.

I reacted on instinct.

Pulling Ayuru out, I immediately brought her up to intercept her attack.

A powerful shockwave erupted the moment my weapon collided with her arms.

The impact echoed across the area.

The force traveled through my arms and into my body.

The ground beneath my feet cracked slightly from the pressure.

Even so, I didn’t move.

I held my position.

Then I looked directly into her eyes.

"Well," I said with a grin, "if you manage to defeat me, I’m willing to take your opinion into consideration."

***

The fight between Lucielle and me had started.

So far, we’d been fairly even during the opening exchange. At least, that was what it looked like on the surface. The problem was that I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lucielle still wasn’t taking this seriously. The attacks she’d thrown at me had been dangerous, sure, but they felt more like probes than genuine attempts to put me down. She was measuring me, trying to figure out exactly what I could do before deciding how much force she actually needed.

"You really are ungrateful," Lucielle said, looking at me with obvious disappointment. "Do you honestly think you can betray your creator like this and get away with it? A proper creation should follow the path it was given. It shouldn’t resist its purpose or try to do something so foolish."

I snorted.

"I don’t know about that. Following a predetermined path sounds like a terrible idea when there’s a chance I’ll end up getting erased from existence. So I’ll pass."