Staring blankly at the towering silver doors, Asher felt the sharp edge of disbelief slicing through him. A part of him wanted to laugh, if only to dispel the absurdity of the situation, "What," he chuckled dryly, "did I piss off the Devils or something?"
Naida, who stood next to him, offered a sympathetic smile, "Don't think like that, Asher," she said gently. "No one knows what goes through the minds of such divine beings. This is...unprecedented."
Duncan, his striking red eyes flickering in contemplation, added, "I would advise you to not dwell on this matter for now, Asher. Attempt it again after your quest. Perhaps, in its own strange way, this is for the best. It wouldn't do to risk injury before such an important undertaking."
A heavy sigh escaped from Asher's lips. Duncan's words made sense, even if they did nothing to quell the frustration simmering within him. He nodded, though his gaze was still fixed on the stubbornly unyielding doors, "Guess I don't have much choice, do I?" he conceded, "I'll just have to try again after the quest."
And so, Asher stood there, his expression a strange mix of disbelief and resignation, trying to make sense of the Tower's bizarre refusal.
—
The ethereal glow of the evening sun slipped through the windows of his room.
His heart was still heavy with the baffling realization that the Tower had rejected him, remembering its silver doors as cold and unmoving as the expression that now etched itself onto his face.
With a long, drawn-out sigh, he decided to stop thinking about it and pay a visit to his cult members since now was the right time to make sure of some things.
He took a quick look at the stats of his cult,
[ Cult Name: Coven of the Damned ]
[ Chaos Reach of your cult -> 12,500 ]
[ Monthly rewards - > 1,250 Life Crystals ]
[ Your cult ranking is in the top 20% ]
[ Next bonus reward at top 10% ranking ]
[ Life Crystals : 135,371 ]
Asher knew that the Chaos Reach showed the influence and the presence of fear his cult has in the human world. And based on it was his cult ranking and monthly rewards.
Within two years, he and his Soulservants had managed to make it to the top 20%, especially with Grace's help, where most of the missions he gave her involved taking down guild operations of the Hunters who were in support of getting him killed.
The list was quite big for those who wanted the Golden Prince to be dead in the past or had a hand in defaming him after his death, and so this was just a way of revenge to get to them.
But he knew he couldn't get to the more powerful ones with just Grace alone. Not yet.
But he had to make sure his cult didn't go inactive too long since it could lead to a drop of his Chaos Reach quick, including the rewards, and building it back up would be hard.
"Time for a little trip," Asher muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and accepted a trivial reaping quest, just so that the Devils would send his soul to the other side.
Without taking a Reaping quest, there was no way for him to send his soul over to the other side.
The first light of dawn streamed through the window, bathing the room in soft hues of gold. In the middle of the room were a worn yet sturdy table, a steaming pot of tea, and a plate of freshly baked bread serving as the centerpiece. The aroma of freshly brewed tea and warm bread filled the air, giving the room a cozy atmosphere.
Sitting around the table were three women who were vastly different in ages and backgrounds, yet they shared a bond that went beyond blood or familial ties.
Grace, with her silver-white hair and few wrinkles etched onto her skin, was looking at Yui and Emiko with a soft smile.
Despite her age, her eyes held a sparkle that seemed undimmed by the passage of time.
Yui, her long, flowing black hair catching the morning light, passed a cup of tea to Grace, "Aunty Grace, drink while it's still hot," she said softly, a slight blush blooming on her cheeks as Grace took the cup from her hands with a nod of gratitude.
"Thank you, dear," Grace replied, her voice as soothing as the tea that warmed her hands. She took a sip, her eyes closing briefly at the familiar, comforting taste.
On the other side of the table, Emiko, her hair tied up in a bob cut and a sense of determination in her eyes, was busily slicing the bread, her movements steady and precise, "Aunty Grace," she started, a curious light in her eyes, "Why do you prefer bread for breakfast every day? You should try something else for a change."
Grace chuckled lightly at Emiko's words, her laughter rich and heartfelt, "Well, I suppose I'm just old-fashioned, Emiko. Some things you get used to, and you don't feel like changing."
Both Yui and Emiko smiled at Grace's response, a moment of mirth shared between the three.
It had just been short of two years, and yet despite the hardships they had endured, these simple, heartwarming interactions in the mornings always brought a sense of warmth and comfort to their hearts.
Grace then got up and said with a light smile, "You two should now go and take a bath. I am going to teach you two something new today."
"Yay! We will be quick," Yui said with sparkles in her eyes as she grabbed the arm of a startled Emiko, dragging her away, "O-Oh, okay…"
Grace shook her head with a warm smile as the two went up the stairs.
It felt as if she had known them for a long time, yet it also felt like yesterday that she rescued these two poor girls. The first few weeks they barely talked and only she knew how far they came and overcame the fears that had plagued them almost their entire lives.
She then unconsciously thought about her own fate. Almost two years it had been since she got demonized by a very weak demon. And yet here she still was, breathing and walking around.
Shockingly, Asher was able to keep her alive this long, and for a while she had wondered how he managed to do it. She knew part of the reason was that he was getting stronger quick, real quick.
And that was just another part of the mystery. All this had made her feel quite curious to know who he really was until she learned it.
Usually, no young and weak person can get strong this quickly, be it a human or a demon.
Yet the more she interacted with him, the more she realized how much of a mystery box he was.
But soon enough, she came to learn something that made her realize why it was possible…He was none other than the husband of the demon queen! She never saw it coming at all.
In another hall, Yui and Emiko were walking side by side as Yui clutched her hands together and said with a wistful smile, "I was thinking...I can't believe our lives turned out to be better, Emiko. We aren't living in a dream, are we?"
Being the taller one, Emiko lowered her gaze to look at Yui with a soft smile and gently tapped her nose as she said, "I always feel that too. So even if it's true, let's pray it won't end."
Yui nodded with a tight-lipped smile. The two remembered how they had arrived in this hideout, their hearts were heavy with a combination of fear, despair, and resignation.
They had signed their souls away to a demon known as Hellbringer, and they had thought their futures were as good as extinguished.
With no family to seek help, unable to return to their country where evil awaits them, and with dangerous people waiting to exploit or kill them on the outside, they knew they had no choice but to give their souls to Hellbringer in hopes of surviving.
The hideout, although safe, felt more like a prison to them. Yet, the iron-wrought certainty of their fates began to waver under the gentle care of Aunty Grace.
Grace was a beacon of strength and resilience to them. Under her tutelage, they found themselves not merely surviving, but beginning to thrive.
She trained them, taught them how to harness their own strengths, and nurtured a spark of hope in them.
Her resolve, her resilience, her refusal to bow to anything was a fire that slowly kindled their spirits.
The hideout that once felt like a prison became more of a sanctuary, a haven where they could regain their footing.
And then there was their demon master, Hellbringer. His name had initially struck fear into their hearts, the name itself sounding like a death sentence. But as days turned into weeks and into months, they began to see a different side to him and his real identity only shocked them further.
Sure, he was a demon, and the aura that surrounded him was far from comforting, but he was not the evil being they initially thought him to be.
He also never forced them into any bad situations, unlike what they feared about stories of demons taking advantage of humans.
He gave them quests, missions that seemed daunting at first but made them feel useful, and meaningful. They were no longer helpless victims but individuals with a purpose...a purpose of taking down villains like the people who made them suffer in the past.
Despite the dangers they faced, the feeling of accomplishment, of contributing to a greater cause, was a powerful antidote to their initial despair.
Their demon master had promised them that unlike other demons, each and every mission he gives would be to cleanse the filth in this world.
They realized sometimes it takes a demon to destroy even worse ones and they were wholeheartedly willing and dedicated to be the tools to destroy such people.
Each quest they completed, each task they succeeded in gave them a sense of self-confidence, a feeling they were far more than what their circumstances had made them believe. They were not just mere possessions of a demon but women capable of standing their ground, of fighting back. And all this was possible because of Hellbringer and Aunty Grace.
They were determined to never again suffer like they did in the past.
Elsewhere, in one of the rooms of the underground lair, there was a shelf with various items and a wooden doll. Its facial features were deliberately simplistic. A pair of hollowed-out spaces for the eyes, a straight line for the mouth.
Its attire was that of a simple peasant made from a rough, unbleached cotton.
The air around the shelf containing the doll seemed to ripple as if touched by an invisible force. Then, almost as though the environment itself was holding its breath, there was a palpable shift in the atmosphere, a surge of power rippling through the room, pulsing from an unseen source.
The eyes, previously hollow and vacant, started to gleam with an eerie light. A sinister emerald glow began to seep from the doll's eye sockets, staining the surrounding air with an otherworldly hue.
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