“Oh? And what makes you so sure?” The dark figure behind me smiled. A thousand eyes crawled all over his skin, observing each and every minuscule movement that I took.

“Because I know just how much you hate the gods… you want to not only replace the demon gods but replace the very structure of this world. You want to create a new eon without a great reset. But from what I’ve learned… you all are only fools dancing in the palm of the primordial ones.”

Each eye was like a scythe, ready to take my soul. They dug into my neck and hung around my throat, just begging to slice me open… but I was too useful. They needed me and my friends for some of their dirty work. 𝑜𝓋𝔩xt.𝑪𝑜𝓂

“Watch your mouth bitch… I can kill all of your friends with just a snap of my finger.”

“Do you know what my Master said?” No response by the demon lord of gluttony. “The most profound journeys often begin with a single step into the obscurity of another’s grasp.”

…

I appeared strangely not in Beelzebub’s little moving kingdom, but somebody else’s. The fortress was meant to protect and destroy kingdoms. I was in Leviathen’s territory… and this was perfect. If the butterfly effect was real, then he should remember me. Unless that was a separate space apart from the past. A replica from the past…

“I guess I’ll find out soon enough.”

As I walked through the endless mansion, I recognized some details. Bloody chandeliers dangling like organs strung from the ceiling. A constant red hue meant to subconsciously satisfy the innate cravings of those nasty bloodsuckers.

But then there were some things that felt slightly off. A lingering smell of blood permeated throughout the walls which seemingly throbbed like a separate being. They were like masses of flesh forming barricades that could easily shift into something much bigger, grander, smarter… much more dangerous, destructive, and potent to its surroundings.

My increased senses shoveled new information into my brain. It was almost overwhelming how much data flooded the ripples in my mind. I could literally feel my neurons firing with each sense that collected better and grander info.

“Wh-Who are you?” A voice echoed from down the hall.

Draped in a black curtain, she hid herself amongst the shadows, scared to even reveal her identity. The destructive instincts embedded into my body by my Master’s draconic spells nearly caused me to straight up eradicate her with my bloodlust alone. Yet, I managed to hold myself back just in time and used my five gifts of nature to outline every single aspect of this woman.

“You don’t remember me? I was a guest here just a couple of years ago… or so… fifty or so years… I don’t really remember how long it’s been outside the throne world.”

“A-Are you friends with that troublemaker?”

I snickered lightly, causing her to sweat. “I don’t know… maybe I am… who is this troublemaker you speak of?”

“Orion.”

“Ah…” my lips twisted into a sadistic grin, causing the woman to reel back into her abyssal blanket. “Where can I find him?”

“I-I-I don’t know-“

FWOOSH

My legs carried me across the floor in just a split second. The vampire duchess didn’t even realize I had my calloused fingers around her neck until she felt them dig into her windpipe. I wasn’t really in the mood to interrogate somebody, but if they were going to be a bitch about it, then I guess I have no choice.

“Stop.”

“Oh? I was wondering when you were going to show yourself.”

Her bloodlust was thick… but not as thick as mine since I instantly pushed that threatening aura back. Yet, even as I began to overwhelm her, she didn’t flinch. And strangely, my bloodlust began to literally freeze and drop into little balls of hail the closer I got to her.

“Sorry about the crude welcoming back… but we need that woman. Please let her go.” Aisa requested, although it didn’t feel as sincere as it should’ve been.

“Whatever… you’re no fun.”

As I dropped the duchess to the floor, her hair, a striking light blue, dashed past me and instantly caught her with as much grace as a butterfly. What framed her face was a medium-length wolf cut, its sharp edges accentuating the rigid, curved demonic horns that shot straight from her temples.

These horns, obsidian-black and glistening with an otherworldly sheen, jutted out from her skull, evoking the essence of an ancient, malevolent power. As she moved, the horns cast eerie, shifting shadows upon her face, obscuring her features in a dance of darkness and cold light.

Her most unsettling feature, however, was her eyes. Matte golden orbs, like molten gold, swirled with lava and encased in ice, held an intense, mesmerizing power. They seemed to draw in all light and warmth, leaving only a chilling, frozen glow. And when she turned her gaze upon anything, a shiver of dread crept through the very soul of those who met her gaze.

The air around her rippled with an unnaturally cold aura. As she ever so slightly shifted, the very ground beneath her feet frosted over, encasing her in a crystalline mist of ice. With every step, the frost spread like tendrils, snaking outward, freezing everything in its path.

As she extended her hand, checking up on the fearful duchess, icicles formed along her fingertips, and a frigid wind swept through the grand halls, turning it into a frozen tableau. Her touch could bring instant frostbite to anything it reached, and the ground she walked upon turned to solid ice, cracking and shattering under her demonic influence.

This demonic woman, with her chillingly beautiful appearance and her icy aura, was a creature of darkness and cold, a harbinger of frozen despair. Her very presence turned the world into a wintry nightmare, a realm where warmth and life withered in the face of her dreadful power. She was a living embodiment of frozen malevolence, a vision of beauty that concealed the depths of a demonic, icy heart.

She was truly that woman’s pupil.