[Host, the energy collection from Demons seems much weaker than the normal mana of that same amount.]
‘Why?’ Ryuk inquired while seated on the sofa inside a room decorated in the architectural style of the Devereaux family. Though metal walls peeked out in some spaces, the exterior decoration above them kept most of the surface hidden.
[It seems the sent demons were the weakest ones or crippled.]
‘But it can’t be the only reason, can it?’ Ryuk thought about other possible reasons for the low input from the artifact. While seated on the sofa, his eyes glanced toward the bed where the blanket seemed to form a trembling mountain.
“Sigh, can’t you at least tell me what happened, Esme?” Raising an eyebrow, Ryuk slowly stood with his hands on his knees, his body weakened from a recent defeat.
For the first time, his face, except when with Ardoros, bore marks of defeat—a deep teeth mark leaving a hickey on his neck, swollen lower lips, and nail marks behind his neck.
Though these were wounds on his body, it was amusing how his body didn’t want to heal them. He hadn’t even had the chance to rise again to defeat her since his enemy escaped midway.
“Go away,” a blunt and straightforward voice came from within the blanket, which slightly trembled while expanding and relaxing with the assaulter’s breathing.
“It’s fine, I was the one who told you, right?” Though the saliva was already cleared, the remnants of the attack were vivid—the peach flavor and lingering aroma still in the air.
“Leave this instant or I—” Before Esme could say anything further, his hand had already pulled the clenched blanket, revealing the attacker hidden within the fabric layers.
‘?!’
Esme’s golden pupils trembled as the light reached them, her eyes taking in the love marks left on his face.
Unbeknownst to her, his eyes reflected the same thing, but due to his enhanced senses, it was more vivid: her jawline bore the marks of his fingers that had held her tightly, her swollen lips, scattered hair all around her face, heavy breathing, and hickeys on her neck in several places.
‘….’
[Shouldn’t you be the one feeling embarrassed, Host?]
‘Did you complete the work I assigned?’ He inquired about the task he had given the system regarding finding the origin of *Shunya*.
“Leave the blanket…” Esme tried to pull the fabric, which was her only support to hide behind. Her reason was simply to control her instincts from moving any further, at least not until she turned 18 and weakened the seal placed on her.
“And if I don’t?” Ryuk clenched the blanket much tighter.
The contrast between his calm smile and her frustration was stark.
He settled onto the bed beside her, a gentle smile playing on his lips as she wrestled with the blanket, her frown deepening with each tug-of-war.
One end of the silk sheet was clenched tightly in his hand, the other grasped by her.
The tension wasn’t just in the fabric but was felt by someone else looking into the room from afar.
[Host, the analysis is done. *Shunya* seems to aggressively torment me whenever I try to dissect it.]
‘…That’s a nice way to put it,’ Ryuk, calming himself, glanced at Esme, who kept protesting, then turned towards the room’s window, continuing, ‘How many days will it take?’
His inquiry about the duration stemmed from his awareness of a previous situation, where he needed to know the names of individuals holding the system, and the system vanished for a day.
[Nine months.]
But it seemed this would take slightly longer.
‘Congrats.’
[…I am not pregnant =_= ]
‘Don’t even think of taking longer than that,’ Ryuk ordered, standing from the bed. He loosened his grip, and Esme swiftly covered her face with delicate, trembling fingers, trying to maintain rationality for a bit longer.
[Take care of yourself, Host.]
‘You too.’ Ryuk felt his body becoming hollow from within—not technically, but it felt as if something had disappeared inside him.
Ignoring that feeling, a sudden sensation brought his eyes back to Esme.
‘Thank God he left—?!’ Esme, feeling the bed’s creak, finally took a breath of relief, her hands loosening to let the blanket slide. But it seemed this was all part of a plan to lure her into a trap.
“Caught you,” Ryuk smirked, standing just half a meter away from Esme. Her widened eyes could only watch as his image loomed larger, closing in on her.
“N-no!” she cried out, instinctively crossing her hands in front of her face, though it seemed much slower to him.
“Hey, why are you screaming?” Ryuk inquired in blank tone.
Recognizing the familiar voice, Esme opened her eyes to find his gaze just an inch away as he stepped back.
‘What is this?’ Ryuk wondered, ignoring her blinking eyes. His focus was on his fingers, where a black feather had appeared, intact yet surrounded by ominous energy.
Due to the system’s absence, he couldn’t use his appraisal ability. Though he couldn’t identify its origin or details, the feather’s energy felt similar to Belial’s—not demonic, but filled with a different ominous power.
He sensed it belonging to a higher demon.
‘…So that’s how it is,’ he thought, turning his eyes toward the window. The clouds were darkened by rain, with soft drops of water pouring down.
He recalled the system’s information about how the Conduit couldn’t draw much energy from weaker demons.
To put it simply, there was someone else of higher rank than those demons, using them as a cover to infiltrate Titanora.
The Conduit had a loophole: its limit of devouring energy—not in storing it, but in the amount it could take in a fixed time.
Just like when he first got himself crippled by the Devereaux Bloodline years ago. Back then, Angelica Devereaux (Alisia Devereaux’s sister) had used a method to have her servant Malika sacrifice her own energy until they infiltrated Heindal.
Simply recognizing the issue of an invisible field and utilizing it accordingly allowed Angelica and Banzac to enter and lead the chain reaction that made Ryuk sleep for quite a long time.
“Esme, can’t you take a nap for some time?” Ryuk asked, seeing her trembling and biting her lips, caught between wanting something and resisting it.
“Huh?” Esme’s lips parted in disappointment, but her eyes widened in relief. She swiftly leaned down on the bed, pulling the blanket over her head. “Good night, you can sleep on the sofa.”
“…Good night, Esme,” Ryuk replied, slowly standing from the bed. His eyes fixed on the fabric holding Esme within, then turned toward the window, narrowing in thought.
The eerie atmosphere outside was confusing.
Despite the calmness, several Devereaux members were still outside, and the demonic aura was intense and chilling. Though it had no effect on him, Ryuk sensed that everything seemed to be directed towards him.
“I’ll be back in some time,” Ryuk said, moving toward the window. He halted, observing the vast sky and the dark black clouds filled with falling feathers, shrouded in a dark aura, revealing their deeply demonized nature.
After observing for some time, his eyes finally settled on a distant spot within the dense forest, where a silhouette’s gaze seemed to meet his.
In that fleeting moment, Ryuk’s gaze turned cold due to the sharp white pupils resembling Belial’s, but he could sense it was some other demon.
Ryuk’s body vanished, leaving only an afterimage, as a light streak shot in that direction, leaving the battleship’s windows wide open.
I know it’s been two whole days without any chapter update and even now you are getting only one chapter, I will fulfill the missing dates before this week ends by uploading three chap a day, Take this for now and I will upload another two as soon as get time….
