"You should know, darling, a woman doesn't like it when a man pries too much into her affairs."
Just as she said this, Asher's eyes widened as the room around him suddenly dissolved into an abyss, plunging him into a realm of inky darkness.
His surroundings, once familiar and tangible, now became an endless void. Startled, he instinctively transformed into his Hellbringer form, expecting his power to break through the illusion.
"Huh…" Yet, despite his transformation, he remained trapped in the darkness. A sense of confusion surged within him as he realized his transformation made no difference in this illusionary prison.
But he calmly surveyed the engulfing blackness. His form, usually a beacon of terror and strength, now seemed inconsequential against the vast emptiness.
He flexed his powerful muscles and unleashed a surge of energy, but the darkness absorbed it without a trace.
This was a whole nother level of illusion he hadn't dealt with before. This made his eyes quiver with shock and realization to know that Kira was far more powerful than he expected.
The aura he felt earlier was definitely that of a peak Soul Devourer! And he was beginning to realize why people feared the potential of Caleumbras. No wonder this realm was happy even when they went extinct.
"Kira, you've made your point," he called out into the void, his voice echoing into the darkness, "But this isn't cute."
At the same time, in the oppressive silence of the dark, Asher stood still, his mind racing. He began to focus, channeling his energy inward, searching for a way to unravel the illusion from within.
Kira's figure suddenly materialized a few feet away, her emerald eyes piercing through the darkness, "Don't bother trying. I made your mind imprison you. So whatever you do here is just your imagination, while on the outside, you are standing paralyzed. But if you try too hard to escape, you might just end up crippling your mind again," She said with an alluring smile, though each of her words dripped with a deadly intent.
Asher immediately stopped whatever he was about to do and slowly turned around to look at her with a narrowed gaze, "Now I see why you said you only employed tricks so far to get things done. If this is the true extent of your powers, it makes sense how you managed to fool us all. Who would think a 'humble' madam of an establishment like this would turn out to be the child that carried the bloodline of an extinct race."
Kira twisted one of the golden locks of her hair in a sultry fashion as she looked at him with a soul-melting smile, "Ora~ I am not as good as you think. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made the mistake of underestimating you the first time we met."
"You mean you failed to kill me? Is that your regret?" Asher asked with a tilt of his head.
Kira's cold yet seductive smile didn't waver as she maintained eye contact with Asher, "Of course," she began, her voice smooth yet laced with a hidden frustration, "You were a factor I never saw coming. Who would have expected a soulless cripple to wake up? And a never-before-seen genius at that. I should have known you were no ordinary cripple considering your alien origins."
Her gaze intensified, reflecting a mix of anger and frustration as she added, "You ruined over a century's worth of my efforts that I painstakingly accomplished. I knew this day would come ever since you fooled me. But I hoped you wouldn't be sharp-witted enough to pry into my background. I guess that was too much to hope for."
Asher, unfazed, shook his head slightly, a disappointed look on his face, "I didn't expect you to be this angry at me when all this time you told me you were my friend. I am feeling quite hurt now."
Kira raised an eyebrow, her laugh sultry yet chilling, "Ora~ I did consider you as my friend, and I liked you while you were a useful friend to me. But like our lives, friendships expire."
"It doesn't have to, not when we have common enemies," Asher countered firmly, his gaze steady, "I know you didn't make Edmund and Oberon salivate for your attention just to amuse yourself. And I also know you didn't risk so much to help me put Oberon into a coma. You wanted to see Rebecca suffering for all these years. So let me out of here, and we both can get what we want."
Kira's short laughter, cold and disconcerting, filled the void, "You misunderstand, darling. Did you think I was only after those belonging to House Thorne?"
Asher furrowed his brows as Kira continued as her emerald eyes began to shimmer with killing intent, "200 years ago, your queen's father had a hand in the destruction of my people and kingdom. House Valentine proposed the idea, House Thorne provided the right weapons, and your dead father-in-law and his House executed it. That is how these three great houses worked when they partnered up. Always has ever since the existence of this kingdom."
Asher's expression froze as he didn't know Rowena's father was involved in all this. Just how many people did that old son of a bitch piss off and leave behind enemies even after his death?
Her emerald eyes shook with cold resentment as she added, "They took advantage of the kindness of my people and tortured and raped them to death to unearth the secret arts and knowledge of my people. And all because my people were tricked into their own destruction."
Asher didn't know the Bloodburn Kingdom wasn't as nice as it seemed. He knew it was the most merciful one compared to other demon kingdoms. But it was still a demon kingdom in a realm like this, and history was written by the victors. No wonder he never knew.
"And when they succeeded, everyone in this kingdom rejoiced and felt relieved at the fall of my kingdom after butchering them. After all, it was better than my people possibly forming an alliance with the enemies of the Bloodburn Kingdom or growing strong enough to be a threat, right?" Kira asked as her eyes shimmered with a storm of emotions.
Asher didn't know what to say to that since he couldn't refute her words.
"So…" Kira's smile began to fade as a soul-chilling darkness took root in her eyes, "To truly destroy all the so-called three great Houses in this kingdom, your kingdom needs to perish until not a speck of it is left. That is the final promise I gave to my people, and anybody who tries to stop me will die a fool's death, including…you."
Asher's frown deepened as he took a defiant step forward, "Do you seriously think I will let you destroy my kingdom? So don't try anything stupid, and we can find a common ground here. Trying to destroy my kingdom will only cost you your life. Surely, your people wouldn't want the last living Caleumbra to die a vain death."
Internally, Asher was grappling with the gravity of Kira's revelation. He knew the flames of vengeance burning in her eyes all too well – they mirrored his own. This made him realize she wasn't going to stop, and it was either kill or be killed.
Kira's cold smile did not waver as she let out a soft, menacing giggle, "Ora~ How considerate of you. But the wishes of the dead do not matter. And I am not foolish enough to take it down alone. Did you think I was doing nothing but playing the role of a Madam here for all these years?"
Asher frowned as he wondered who all she managed to get to help her.
"But the question you should be asking is, do you really think you can stop me? You might have had a chance if you were to become a peak Soul Devourer. And that's why I have to regretfully kill you before you can achieve your true potential. It's a pity...this madam liked you, and I was curious to see how far you could have been useful to me. If only you didn't belong to this kingdom, things could have gone differently for us."
Asher clenched his jaw, feeling the weight of her words, "So stop before it's too late," he urged while his mind was racing to get out before she made his own mind kill him.
Kira let out a coquettish sigh, "It's already too late," Her eyes then glowed with killing intent, "See you in the Seven Hells, darling," she whispered, clapping her hands together.
Asher's expression contorted with pain as cracks manifested in the darkness and widened, each one like a sharp blade slicing through his mind, "Urgh!" Asher grunted as he struggled to keep his mind from falling apart.
Kira's eyes were cold as she watched Asher, "Don't struggle, or it won't be painless. I know what the people here did to you while you were a cripple. You don't want to suffer again in your last moments."
"You…have…no idea…ughhh…" Asher managed to mutter out words with gritted teeth as he fell to his knees, each deep crack sending waves of searing pain through his mind. He could feel the overwhelming force threatening to crush his mind.
However, Kira suddenly frowned upon feeling the space in this darkness take a sudden, sweltering turn. The space crackled with an unbearable heat, a stark contrast to how it was before.
Wanting to find out what was going on, her form wavered like a mirage, and as she snapped back to reality, her eyes widened in disbelief.
Before her stood Asher, standing still, though his face twisted in an expression of excruciating agony.
"How…" Her eyes widened when she saw his skeleton glowing with an eerie dark green light from underneath his skin.
Kira's instincts screamed danger; she moved swiftly, almost a blur, darting towards the window.
*BOOM!*
Asher's body suddenly became the epicenter of a cataclysmic explosion.
Dark green flames erupted from him, engulfing everything in their path while a space-shattering shockwave spread in every direction for kilometers.
The entire chamber surrounding him and even the entire floor disintegrated, leaving nothing but smoldering ashes in the wake of the inferno.
Amidst the chaos, the skeletal figure of Asher emerged, a haunting silhouette against the raging flames.
His bones glowed ominously with a dark green luminescence, casting a sinister glow in the air. The hollow sockets of his skull blazed with the same eerie light as they looked around with a hint of confusion.
Outside, the blood moon hung heavily in the sky, its crimson hue reflecting ominously on the scene below.
His figure hovered in midair, his cape billowing around him like a shroud while he scanned the surroundings, but Kira was gone, vanished into the night.
All he could see was people panicking down on the ground while shooting confused and terrified glances at him.
Even if he warned Rowena, he was sure Kira would have left the kingdom by that time, and nobody could catch someone who had managed to hide in enemy territory for over a century.
"Kira…We aren't done…" Asher mumbled as his bony hands clenched into fists, realizing that it was better that he managed to found out such a very dangerous foe before it was too late.
Otherwise, she would have pulled his strings like a puppet until he became useless or a threat.
But the problem now was he had no idea how to find and deal with her before she executed her plan to destroy his kingdom.
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