Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Sliding open the shoji, I slid my gaze towards the Six-women, including Avar and Astra, resting on their knees with a teacup before them. Catching nodes of honeydew and pineapple entwined with one another, I stared at the pot of tea, unable to hide my intrigued.

I’d always been a fan of tea, my favorite being a mixture of coconut. Not very traditional, but I wasn’t a traditional man. I wanted my woman to take care of me. I’ll raise the kids. Twirl that dick whenever I need to. I’d be the perfect trophy husband. Seen as a hot piece of ass and not heard.

A/N: Lol

Clearing my throat, I stepped to the side and beckoned for Lilith to enter first. Watching everyone rise towards their Queen.

A small smile graced her tender lips; Lilith stepped in, her gaze lingering on the four unknown women appearing to be around a hundred years of age.

“Milady!” They bowed in unison.

“Oh, stop that. And may I have a cup of tea? It smells wonderful.” She said, letting her gaze bounce from one woman to the next.

“O-o-of course,” They said, once again in unison.

They are a new race, or they are trying to be intentionally rude. It’s customary to brew a pot of tea when everyone is gathered, especially involving royalty. Making a pot of tea before the guess of honor arrived was rather stupid and insulting.

Throwing out the old leaves, one of the ancient clan heads with short shriveled hair that looked like it had been falling out for years began a new batch of infusions around the table. Lilith took a seat and turned to me as I found my seat beside her, my gaze trailing to Astra, whose expression was sour as if she had been sucking on lemons.

I smiled but didn’t say a word. Sucking a deep breath while the tea leaves began brewing, a tranquil silence trailed through the air for a few minutes until one of the Clan heads poured my wife the first cup and me the second.

Chuckling for a bit, I swiftly swapped the two cups as their faces turned to puzzlement. I slowly explained, ” usually, the first cup is for your enemies, the second is for either yourself or your wife, depending on the tea quality, which goes the same for the third cup, and the fourth is for the mistress.”

“Something you know quite well,” Lilith murmured, casting me a deadly glance that stirred Lil Arsene. Her lips puckered into a challenging smile.

I smirked. It was all I could do. Shifting my attention back to the four heads, I cleared my throat, lifting the amber cup of tea. “Ignorance is bliss,” I uttered, watching their cheeks develop a tinge of red. ” Anyway, you summoned me. What can I do for you?”

“I am Yuu,” the short-haired woman started, her piercing red eyes shimmering, despite her wrinkled flesh that looked like melted cheese; she took a deep breath, ” We would like to join your cause.”

“Blasphemy!” Astra bellowed, widening her eyes.

Lilith lifted her cup of tea, taking a sniff, keeping quiet.

“My cause? And what cause would that be?” I remarked, glancing mainly at Avar, who was truthfully the deciding factor. I could care less about the Abyssal Fiends. To put it plainly, it doesn’t matter how powerful they might be. Avar just had too much usefulness. Her technology was revolutionary.

“People talk,” The dark-hair clan head said in a cherry blossom kimono. Her lips lifted, and she chuckled, talking gently, as she stared not at Lilith nor me but rather the bun brewing in Lilith. “We know about the War with Heaven and Hell, the battle between Asmodeus and Raziel, and the young man who seems to be in the center of it all, a Mr. Arsene Snow.”

“Elder Kyo,” Astra demanded, “This is unacceptable; This would be putting all we have at risk. This war has nothing to do with us,” She stood to her feet,’ If we join this hellish battlefield, think of how many of us would die.”

“You forget your place,” Yuu said, sharply shooting her gaze to Astra. “Allow us the courtesy to complete our conversation, Astra Tempest.”

“I agree!” I chimed in, enjoying the dark flush creeping over Astra’s cheeks. ” Tell me then, why is it you want to join?”

“Firstly, your wife is our Queen,” Kyo said, her gaze never leaving my wife’s stomach, putting me on guard. “And because we got a disturbing report a few months ago from our spies. Sister Sho, if you will.”

Coughing into a napkin, the sent of blood trickled into my nose as a pale face woman opened her sunken eyes to me. “One man has already slaughtered over ten villages with a population of thousand each. Their mutilated bodies were left to rot beside their kids. It was a sickening report that left us with a deep sense of unease.”

One man? A demon? Ordinary people don’t just go around slaughtering. That’s the shit demons usually did, or demonic cultivators. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“Was there any reason behind it?”

“All that was reported as our spies tried to escape was that the man kept repeating the same word repeatedly.” She paused, coughing up more blood in her handkerchief, ” EXP.”

“The Badlands,” Said Avar. “The Land of Paragons,”

“Wait! What? Paragons.” I remarked, “The hell does that mean?”

“Just as it sounds,” She replied, “With how the badlands are governed, it’s relatively quite easy for Paragons to be born but hard to become a god. There is a bit of balance, but those that become a god are usually paragons or have ridiculously high battle prowess.”

“Jesus Christ!” I remarked, “This is bad.”

“Oh, calm down,” Lilith softly said, rolling her eyes, ” The badlands are so chaotic, even I fail to capture a few hundred or so people from their world. I simply could not find a lot of people to transfer. Everyone else was all dead. And compared to the billions I stole from each realm. It’s crazy how much death lingers in that land.”

“I have heard about the land of systems and about their high battle prowess before, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Only a few hundred?” I utter in disbelief.

Just how many people died in that realm?

By the Hells.

“Each system user is different, but for the most part, the act of killing will usually generate exp, to help increase skills, Artes, looks, or whatnot.” Avar said, somewhat intrigued, ” I have been trying to make a system for a couple of cycles, but none I made ever met my standards. They were to—”

“You made one!” I remarked.

I absolutely wanted one!

“Actually. I was thinking of making one for our children,” Lilith suddenly said, scratching her cheek hesitantly,” This child will be so powerful we will need a way to control its powers. Allowing the child’s power to run wild will be disastrous for us and the little one. Who knows how it could harm itself?

“You can make a system? Why the hell am I the last to know?”

“Well, I could learn. I do have the infinite knowledge of the abyss.” Lilith said, sending me a smirk, ” What, you jealous?”

Damn, right, I was jealous? If I had the infinite knowledge of the abyss, I would be a Mega Arsene.

Pursing my lips, I rolled my eyes, trying to mask my discontent. I shifted my attention back to Kyo, ” So what? Certainly, it’s not the badlands you fear. Your kind can just about use any type of law at birth.”

“It is not, “another one of the heads leaders said, “Dealing with this system user, as you say, is quite simple, but we need time, we need resources. We need time to adapt. We are defenseless, and I’m not just talking about our clan but the entire planet of Zpheris. It’s not just the badlands but the demons, angels, and everything in the middle.