Chapter 569: The Council of Brides - Demon Queen's Unite
Vinea's body landed thousands of yards away, creating a deep crater a few inches from Asmodea, who rooted herself in the petals of a beautiful blood rose.
"SISTER!" Asmodea called out, wind blowing her hair into a wavy mess.
"Vinea, it's great to see you!" Velvet's purple eyes shone with annoyance as the young princess jumped from the sky, crushing the knights she had been playing with.
"It's my pleasure~ my lovely sisters!"
The women who loved Asmodeus all gathered at the port. The massive crescent-shaped pier looked beautiful, if not for the crackling flames and old, ruined boats.
"So, these are the bastards that made our husband upset?"
"Hmm?" Velvet looked at Vinea, narrowing her eyes. "Did you have sex? You're much too talkative and peppy."
Asmodea looked at Vinea, who turned around, but didn't hide her scent. "Isn't it fine if we had sex?!" She blurted out, like a child. The knights across the pier looked at them, stunned.
The trio of women started to bicker, with Erika, Leviathan and Yuina standing to the side, covering their faces at how embarrassing the three women acted.
"Are these whores the ones his holiness mentioned?" A certain knight, clad in silver armour and sporting a gold feather in his hair, didn't appear as emaciated and weak as the others; each step carried a sense of power, and his aura remained steady before the gathering of demon queens.
"Y-Yes Head Paladin Xeres!"
Behind the male called Xeres, a group of twelve knights in golden armour and a serene atmosphere spread in front of the largest battleship moored in the harbour.
"The filthy demon sluts who slept with that fiend." Xeres spoke with a calm and pleasant voice that might enchant normal young maidens.
However, the women who loved Asmodeus were no maidens.
"What's wrong with sleeping with the world's most perfect husband?" Velvet shouted out, her fists clenched.
"Are you jealous?" Asmodea laughed, her face becoming more twisted as her vines coiled through the wood, seeping into the water and enclosing the knights in her domain.
Xeres looked at the woman, his lips pressed together.
"Hmm? I'm not sure, but you seem rather ugly?" His voice echoed through the air, with Asmodea and the other women all stunned.
It might have been the first time someone called the youngest princess ugly. Her beautiful red hair and fair skin couldn't be called ugly. "You look confused, don't you know how revolting your dark, corrupted bodies are? Like tar in human form."
Xeres was tall, with platinum blonde hair, and despite their hostility, it would be a lie to say he was ugly—he carried a similar beauty to Alan before he became scarred.
He took a few steps forward, his hands resting on the golden hilt of his weapon. The knights behind him did the same, like white knights on a field.
However, these women weren't fragile flowers in a garden.
"Whether ugly or corrupted. Our husband loves us all night and day, no matter the time and place."
Vinea's face beamed, her skin glossy from the night spent accepting her husband's thick and empowering seed. The source of a demon queen's power boosted each time she shared her body and affection with him.
The greater and more earnest the feelings, the more powerful the growth.
"Do not compare the Emperor of all demons to an inferior and small male like you." Her glowing eyes peeked down at the knight with a sneer as she couldn't see a single trace of a bulge despite wearing tight pants. "I guess the mainland males are delicate and lack the power a true man needs."
All the demon queens snickered behind her.
None of them cared about the truth, but they all knew that a man's pride came from the size of his crotch and his career.
"..."
Xeres watched Vinea with cold eyes.
"You're going to kill me? Do you even come close to my power, let alone my husband, who would crush you like a grape and give you the worst death possible, so don't think about it!" She laughed, her eyes glowing silver and gold.
"It seems that our Vinea has become quite the talker," Alice said, her lips curling up into a smile.
"Ah, what can we say? My Lord is exceptionally talented in the bedroom..." Vinea's cheeks became dark red as she flicked her wrist, twirling her spear into a combat stance.
"Invaders, we will drive you out."
A heavy pressure filled the air, and a cloud formed from blood above them, but it didn't rain down... the power gathered like a storm.
His atmosphere and mana brought a sense of calm and pleasure to the Demon Queens. They looked up with varied smiles, able to feel the tingle in their bodies that remembered his touch and affection.
"I can sense His Majesty's aura..."
"Darling seems to be excited too, let's hurry up."
Xeres also looked up. The moment the bloody clouds appeared, his calm face changed for the first time. He pulled his foot back half a step while gripping his sword tightly. "...danger." He mumbled, noticing the strange mana radiating from the sky.
"As you said, little demons. You have become corrupted by that monster; it is only fair for us to save your souls from being devoured." Xeres tried to recover his flowery tone, but the aura of each woman exploded.
"!!!"
His eyes widened.
The power from the clouds flowed into each woman equally, their skin shone, their bodies and muscles grew slightly as they looked down at the holy knights and head paladin with malevolent smiles.
A Demon Queen might have been small compared to Asmodeus, but to a normal male, each woman towered over Xeres.
"We cannot waste more time here... the main fleet hasn't arrive yet." Xeres closed his eyes, his foot tapped the ground twice, and immediately the holy knights held a small white stone in unison and tossed them at Vinea and the other women.
"RETREAT! We cannot defeat them here!"
"For the holy land!"
BANG!
The stones shone a bright white before exploding with pure holy aura.
"Vinea pull back!" A feral voice echoed as Yumiko dashed forward, using her tails to flick away a holy stone that almost exploded in her face... the brilliant light died, the entire harbour causing the women to recoil.
Yuina's white tails also batted several of the stones away, her back hissing with steam from the damage, but saving Leviathan and Velvet, who didn't bother to react.
"Heh? That actually stung..."
Velvet licked the corner of her lips after swallowing a shard of white crystal. She spat out the remaining poison, an aura of black smoke rising from her body as the tattered clothes fell away to reveal a black plate that covered her breasts and crotch, but also showed her dense abs.
"It seems that with Serena becoming a mortal our resistance to holy magic and damage has vanished..."
"Is that what darling was worried about?" Velvet turned back to ask Lumina, who stood with both hands extended, thousands of singed threads of holy element drooping after the initial explosion.
"Lumina?"
The arachne no longer looked strange; her human form became more and more like her original form each time Asmodeus slept with her, her face becoming more beautiful by the day, her body more alluring. The only difference was that she lacked the divine glow of her past.
Her long spider legs became more beautiful, but... the fusion of demon, goddess and monster made her resistant to all types of magic and elements.
"He pushed himself to the limit to protect you all, why are you all so muscle brained!?" Lumina's hoarse voice echoed as she looked up at the tattered, bloody clouds... "We have to return quickly; he'll need rest..."
"..."
The other women watched her and looked at each other, realising that they had become cocky and overreacted...
They were a group of fully fledged queens... who had just gotten themselves injured in front of their king, who used his blood to empower and protect them.
That fact sank in only after Lumina mentioned it.
"We've been taking him for granted...?"
"Velvet, you should have realised sooner..." Lumina hissed.
"I'm sorry." The demoness lowered her head while the others remained quiet. "But... It's not like I didn't know how much he was suffering, but aren't we all guilty of taking his love for granted?" Alice added, placing a hand on Velvet's shoulder.
"It doesn't matter... he would forgive everything. That's why we must be the ones to correct ourselves and support him." Yumiko huffed, her fur singed from the holy explosion, her sharp feline vision able to see the boat now over a thousand yards away.
"...Our husband is a caring—" Yuina's soft voice vanished as a low, angered howl filled the air.
"Dare hurt my women?"
That's when all the demon queens saw him... Asmodeus hovered in the air, his magic forming a giant bow of blood, crackling and sparking with lightning, while the remaining cloud coiled around his body to create a blood red arrow. He wore only a pair of trousers and shoes, with no shirt to cover his exposed wounds.
"Fall!"
-- Blood Arrow
He released his shot, a massive magical arrow over a metre long and thick...
The arrow shattered the sound barrier, creating a shockwave that deafened all within a thousand metres before booming into the distance.
Asmodeus lowered his arm, the bow disappearing along with the clouds as he stared into the distance.
"..." He had no idea if the arrow killed Xeres or not, but it certainly caused chaos during their escape, destroying the mast of the ship and sending them flying from their boat.
He watched their retreat with narrowed eyes; his mind felt sluggish as he turned around to find all his queens gathered, including Lumina.
The women looked concerned, so he smiled at them.
Hide my pain, keep them safe, I will not allow my treasures to suffer.