Truthfully, Exedra had no sort of feelings for Asmodueus.
How could he when he’d never even met the man?
But these people suddenly showing up in front of his mother and searching for him was setting off all kinds of alarm bells in his head.
How could they possibly have escaped from such a brutal onslaught when his mother told him she didn’t see any survivors?
His now enhanced thought process was running at a million miles a minute and he became angrier when the idea that they might have betrayed his father crossed his mind.
If he found them to be treacherous he wouldn’t hesitate to snuff out the three of them.
While Zheng and his monstrous speed and strength would pose a problem, he was confident that with the element of surprise he could utilize abyssal chains to sap his strength and give himself a much needed boost.
And with the lightning element, he could now use lightning bane for much longer and give his strength another upgrade.
Unknowingly, Exedra had begun to use primordial demon’s will and all three of the guests felt their eyes widen.
‘This aura… it’s unmistakable.’
‘I’m sure… big brother he is definitely your son.’
‘My lord… you would be proud.’
“Answer me.” Exedra’s voice had grown deep and demonic. “I will not ask again.”
The three demons felt that there could be no hiding from this man and no lying in front of him either.
Yara did not know the source of her son’s concerns so she elected to remain quiet and did not try to calm him down.
He had long since grown out of being her sickly little boy that she had to protect, now she just wanted to see exactly what kind of man he would become.
Eris was the first to speak. “When the humans attacked, we all fought fiercely to defend our home.”
“Each of the humans was stage five, yet we somehow managed to defend for some time before we were inevitably pushed back.”
Lusamine was next to continue the story, “Coincidentally, each of us was fighting the same enemy. A woman with a very long sword who possessed the affinity of light.”
“There were more of us… nine to be exact. We were your father’s sword and shield but as you can see… seven of us fell.” For the first time, the flirtatious and playful Lusamine had a sorrowful expression.
“Our fate should’ve been the same, but our injuries did not give us the instant death our brothers and sisters got.”
“Eventually, I lost consciousnesses and blacked out staring at the corpses of our fallen.”
“As did I.” Eris nodded.
Zheng was ashamed, but he nodded his head to confirm that he was the same.
“I… I did not even notice the breath of life on any of you… I should’ve checked more thoroughly but… I assumed your bodies were already cold. I’m so- ” Yara added regretfully.
Lusamine took Yara’s hand. “We do not hold anything against you sister Yara. It would’ve been an honor to die in battle for you and our lord.”
“That’s right. Luckily, Lord Belphegor came with his army and was able to save us and take us in.” Eris nodded, hoping to ease Yara’s guilt.
“The demon lord of sloth? Why would that lazy bastard possibly be out anywhere?” Exedra frowned.
“Well your mother and father were planning to leave for a little while so he was entrusted with your father’s army. He was supposed to join us the day before but arrived late when the battle was already over.”
‘How convenient.’ Exedra felt the urge to roll his eyes.
While it was more than likely that Belphegor’s laziness had caused him to be late to take over the army, that didn’t mean there was no chance that he didn’t do it on purpose.
The Demon Lord of Sloth is well known to be incredibly lazy and frighteningly calculating.𝒪𝐯𝔩xt.𝗇et
If he sees a way to avoid doing even the slightest bit of work he would absolutely go with that decision every time.
Meaning that if he truly was late on purpose, his laziness had effectively cost his father his life as well as the life of all of his soldiers.
Exedra finally retracted his intense aura and leaned back into the leather couch pondering everything he’d just heard.
He could see from their auras that they weren’t lying, so he could afford to lower his guard even if only a little bit.
Closing his eyes, Exedra asked the final question plaguing his mind. “Why are you here?”
Eris took a deep breath before she spoke.
The demon lords had already warned them that failure for this mission was unacceptable.
“We need you… to come with us to the demon continent.” She finally said.
Bang!
“No!”
Mira threw open the door and came running in with a furious expression.
“Daddy just came back you can’t take him again, Mira won’t let you!!” The little dragon released a bit of her aura and all three demons stared gobsmacked at the youngest evolved in history.
“Hey elf… I-I’m not imagining things am I?” Lusamine’s eyes were glued to Mira’s small frame that was shaking with rage.
“N-not unless this guy has some serious illusion magic…”
‘Well he does but he’s not using it at the moment.’ Yara thought but decided not to comment.
Suddenly, Mira’s body began to float upwards in the air until she came to rest on her father’s lap.
“Eh?”
“Calm down my daughter. I haven’t agreed to anything yet and even if I did go I would take you all with me.” Exedra calmly began stroking Mira’s long hair in an attempt to calm her down.
“Do you promise?” Mira gave her father a hopeful look.
“I promise.” He gave Mira a warm look.
“Yaayyy!” Mira hugged her father tightly and nuzzled against his cheek.
Seeing this cute scene, the cold hearted demons in front of them had different reactions.
While demons aren’t stunted emotionally, the concept of gentle parenting does not exist to them and therefore seeing it in person like this is strange.
‘How nice…’ Eris’ eyes took on a faraway look.
‘Would he have been like this too if he lived to see his child grow?’ Zheng wondered.
“His fatherly side is hot too.. I wonder if he’d consider letting me give her a sibling.” Lusamine licked her lips as she imagined their child running around.
“Are you forgetting he’s a dragon? Do you know how hard it would be for him to get you pregnant?” Eris responded.
“I’m dedicated no matter the difficulty.”
Mira naturally heard the debate going on between the two women and looked back and forth between the two of them before looking at her father. “Can I kill her?”
“No.”
“Mira’s mommies would want me to kill her.” She persisted.
“I know but these are your grandmother’s only friends so we’ll have to let her off for now.”
Yara took an arrow to the heart when she heard this.
She’s the princess of a powerful country!
S-she doesn’t have time to make friends!
In truth Yara was just rather introverted but that was a secret she’d take to her grave.
Once Mira nodded in understanding and stopped trying to kill the guests, Exedra turned his attention back towards them only to notice their eyes were still glued to his daughter.
‘I guess I should start to expect things like this huh.’
“Why should I go with you?”
‘Besides the fact that the sin of wrath himself told us he’d lop our heads off if we didn’t bring you back?!’ Eris screamed internally.
“The demon lords have ordered us to convince you to return with us by any means necessary. I could do whateverrr you want if you’ll return with us~” Lusamine added in a seductive sultry voice.
Mira raised her hand to shoot a spike of ice through the woman’s forehead but it was quickly lowered by Exedra.
“Does that mean if I asked you to stop speaking to me you’d oblige?”
“W-wha?” Lusamine was completely taken aback.
Was this man really not interested in her in the slightest??
“Pffft… well you did say anything Lusamine.” Eris was trying (and failing) to hold in a snicker.
The succubus felt her face go red when for the first time in her very long life she failed to seduce a man.
“A-Are you really not attracted to me?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“You’re joking right? Do you like men or something?!”
“I’ll kill you if you say that again.”
“T-then what’s the matter with you?! I-I am the most beautiful woman in all of Dola!”
“You aren’t even the most beautiful woman in the room.”
“WHAT?!”
“Why are you shouting? I find your friend to be much more attractive than you.”
“Oh?” Eris was genuinely surprised.
No one had ever called her more beautiful than Lusamine before and it was actually one of her biggest insecurities.
“T-thank you but I am already married.” The dark elf managed to stammer.
“Don’t think that much into it. It’s just a simple compliment.”
“O-oh of course.” The elven woman felt her face get hot and her heart speed up as a man not even half her age managed to make her incredibly shy.
Lusamine looked back and forth between the dragon who was patting his daughter’s hair without a care in the room and her friend who was currently blushing like a schoolgirl.
Unable to process her defeat, her brain did the only thing it could to protect itself.
It shut down.
Plop.
The thin woman ploped back into the couch with her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
“How nice.. it’s a bit quieter.” Exedra nodded in satisfaction.
“Now let me ask again, why should I go with you to the demon continent?” Exedra directed his gaze to Eris who was having a hard time looking at him.
‘I-I should be used to this after spending so much time with his father but why is he so charming?’
“W-well to be honest, we are under orders not to come back without you or we will lose our lives.”
Exedra’s gaze did not change and it was as if this information did not affect him at all.
“We don’t have anything that we can offer you but I can tell you that this is the first time all six demon lords have come to a unanimous agreement like this so I’m sure it’s serious but I don’t believe they have any intentions to harm you.” Eris spoke with the utmost humility and sincerity.
“And of course your darling family is welcome to come along as well.” She flashed a warm white smile to Mira who in turn smiled back.
Exedra closed his eyes again and thought for a moment before nodding.
“We leave in two days.”
“Thank you!” Eris exclaimed and Exedra only nodded.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door before Duke entered.
“Pardon my intrusion young master but lady Lisa has a guest and I’m not quite sure-“
“I will see to them in her place.” Exedra rose from his feet with Mira in his arms and began walking toward the door when he suddenly stopped.
“Eris.”
“Y-yes?”
“If I truly desired you, something as insignificant as a husband would never be enough to keep you from me.”
The dark elves eyes widened and she was completely taken aback.
Without looking to see her reaction, Exedra left the room and Duke closed the door behind them.
Plop!
Eris had joined her succubus friend in the land of unconsciousness as they lay in the couch side by side.
For the first time, Zheng spoke. “He takes after him more than I’d originally thought.”
Yara nodded and a sad smile crossed her beautiful face. “He is truly the best of us combined.”
Like that, the two sat in silence watching their two friends dream about two very different scenarios, yet the same man.