Chapter 655: The Grande Finale [1]
Silence spread through the plaza as the pair held each other’s hands beneath the breathtaking spectacle. The two tree’s one white and the other black trees merged to form a perfect backdrop for the imperial citadel.
Asmodeus leaned against the smooth bark while gazing at the monochrome canopy. "It’s beautiful."
"Mm, they resemble the world tree in our forest." Ciela muttered while leaning against his chest. "I can’t believe this happened. A union like this... between our people and yours... I thought it was just a childish dream."
He brushed her ivy bangs aside and smiled softly. "It was a dream, but now it’s reality and we have to keep working at it until everyone accepts each other naturally."
"That sounds so wonderful and yet so difficult. But that’s something we can think about in the future, right?" Ciela pulled back, her fingers slipping from his. "It’s time," she whispered, voice now steady and composed. "There are still others waiting... aren’t there?"
"Mm." Asmodeus didn’t want to cut it short but nodded, his gaze drifting towards the aisle. The next would be the last, and he hoped things could pass smoothly.
’However, something has been bothering me for the past few hours...’
He couldn’t settle because of the slight pressure in the air. Since becoming a god, his senses could span almost the entire continent. Yet there was something close by that he couldn’t quite sense properly, as if something was masking his probing.
Hand in hand, they stepped away from the tree as petals of silver, white and black drifted down around them as if blessing them and the symbol of their union.
"Then, don’t forget to come see me tonight~ I’ll be waiting, you mustn’t forget." Ciela stepped on her heels, pecking his cheek. Then she scurried away while giggling like a young girl.
’Why are all my wives so adorable?’
Asmodeus wondered to himself, as the night started to settle, the end of the ceremony began, children prepared to go to sleep, and Asmodeus watched the other wives leave the children with the maids.
The plaza, once alive with music and laughter, became solemn, like a cathedral in prayer. Even the stars above grew larger as if the heavens themselves leaned closer to witness what came next.
From the heart of the imperial citadel, two auras erupted, one a radiant and eternal light and the other a soothing and calm darkness.
Two women stepped onto the aisle, the last to grace it with their presence. Light and shadow came together and spilt over the plaza like two parallel rivers.
’They chose to come together?’
Asmodeus didn’t plan the wedding; how to enter and what they wore was something he knew women loved to arrange. He wanted this to be the best celebration for his women.
The two walked together, hand in hand.
Nobody could tell the two had been sworn enemies in the past.
On the left, dressed in a gown of living starlight, came Lumina. The former goddess of light, whose name had once shaken the heavens, now walked as a woman transformed into an elegant Arachne.
She lost her untamed and wild radiance that burned too brightly.
In its place was the calm glow of a sun at dawn, poised, serene, and impossibly graceful.
Motherhood changed her.
It was there in the softness of her smile, in the gentle strength of her steps, and in the way her four daughters walked before her, each a reflection of her transformation from a tyrant to a woman deeply in love.
She wove her clothes with pure white silk from her body, the fluffy neckline hiding her ample cleavage as if showing how devoted and chaste she was, yet the long slit in her flowing dress revealed the fair, deadly legs that stole Asmodeus’s heart.
Aranya and Ophelia led the procession hand-in-hand as one weaved a beautiful trail with silver threads from their fingers. The other blinked ruby eyes, mirroring her mother completely.
Luthiel followed close behind them, her white curls bouncing, a tiny giggle escaping her lips as she tried to hide the miniature spider legs poking from beneath her dress. And last was Miris, bold and unbothered, her black-tipped hair catching the wind as she proudly displayed the spider limbs she refused to conceal.
’The girls look so excited, and my wife... You shine so bright under the moonlight.’
Asmodeus fell for Lumina’s constant attempts to seduce him and change herself to help others. She made clothes for the poor, helped disperse the mana crystals to the entire demon empire, making the whole land mana-enriched.
’You asked nothing in return, as if those girls were all you needed.’
His golden eyes shimmered in the dark, struggling to leave Lumina’s figure, before he saw the other woman.
The woman who started everything guided him in the darkness.
Without her, he might not exist.
A guide, a goddess, an older sister and a mother figure.
’Serena.’
On the right, the air became heavier once she lost her powers to save his life, but now the amount of affection and love they shared helped restore her power and surpass it.
The air itself became darker as Serena stepped beside her sister goddess. Midnight silk draped her body like liquid shadows, fluttering and dancing as if it were just a facade. Each step she took carried a goddess’s grace and lingering temptation. Silver hair floated down her back, like the moonlight over a calm lake at night, and ten tails swayed behind her, a living god in human shape.
Yet beneath that overwhelming presence, her smile was soft, hungry, and unbearably human.
Two tiny figures walked beside her, taller than the other children. Ravena’s curious eyes peeked at the surroundings, her black hair shimmering like the distant cosmos, her tiny hands clasping an ornate box.
Meanwhile, her brother, the young heir of the kingdom, with golden strands of blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, just like his father’s human form, with two tiny horns that matched him. Even as an infant, he carried an aura that clung to him like a cloak of darkness.
The two women. Light and dark walking as equals, side by side with their children as the heralds of a new age.
’Seeing them stood together is amazing.’
Lumina used to hate Serena in the past, but after becoming his woman, the two actually bonded faster than he realised.
When everything ended...
These two always visited him together for their nightly acts.
At the altar, Asmodeus felt something stir deep within his chest. Not just the hunger of conquest or his lust, but a sense of pride. The memory of Serena and Lumina lingered deep in his memory.
The hands that had guided him, whether for better or worse, enemy or ally... now they stood together as his women.
"Serena... Lumina..." he whispered, his voice breaking against the weight of their presence. "You’ve always been there... from the beginning, I’ve always wanted it to come to this."
And as they reached the final steps, the women didn’t extend their hands as goddesses but as women, the future wives of the man standing quietly with a handsome smile and glowing eyes.
"You’ve come so far, Ryuji Vincenzo."
The trembling voice with a warm tone sounded as if scared Asmodeus might escape once she spoke.
She took the first step and leapt into his chest.
It wasn’t the goddess who comforted and guided him in the dark, but another.
Her huge body hugged him tightly. Long legs that brought her height close to his... arms that clung to his back."I regret so many things..." she whispered, her voice unsteady, her breath hot against his neck. "The pain I caused you... the stubbornness that blinded me... they’re sins I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life."
Her embrace tightened, trembling slightly as if the words themselves hurt to speak. "And yet, no matter how much I tried, these feelings won’t fade. They won’t let me stop chasing you."
Asmodeus stared at the beautiful woman in shock. He loved Lumina, but she rarely spoke of her feelings and emotions in such an open manner. Even Serena watched with a faint smile and wide eyes.
The warmth of her body and the press of her soft breasts against his chest, the smooth firmness of her thighs curling around him dulled his thoughts and scattered his composure. She wasn’t a goddess in that moment, not the radiant being who once commanded worship.
She was Lumina: his lover, the mother of his children, a woman who had fallen from divinity and found something far greater. Each morning, she would gather the children and use her extra limbs to bake with them... the maids complained at first, but after three years, she gained the skills to make delicious bread, cakes and even cookies.
A woman who once wanted him and his mother dead...
Obsessed with her first love.
However, it appeared she found peace in her existence and no longer looked so fragile and fleeting.
"Lumina. No woman has changed as much as you in the time I’ve known you." Asmodeus tightened both arms around her waist while curling his lips into a smile. "I once hated you, despised you even... yet look at me now."
"What about you now?" She looked up and asked in a cute voice.
"I adore you, everything you do... the way you sing while weaving silk or baking with the children, how you treat all of them like your own. The help you’ve given to our people and..."
"S-Stop!" Lumina’s outburst made his smile deepen as her red cheeks and lovely snow-white lashes fluttered quickly. "It’s embarrassing."
"Really? Then how do you feel?"
Asmodeus asked a simple question, winking at Serena who grinned from behind, before Lumina’s pretty face lifted with wide, teary eyes and mouth opened to reveal her fangs "I love you! I can’t think of anything other than making you happy, making your children smile... I’ve never felt this way, even in the past it wasn’t such a hot... burning feeling that made me want to try harder and harder just to see you like this!"
’Ah shit... she’s too cute, my heart is going to explode.’
He watched her in silence as she continued, mentioning countless things she loved about him and enjoyed doing...
He couldn’t stop.
Her adorable nature drove him over the edge.
"Lumina!"
And so he kissed her. The soft cherry flavour spread through his mouth as his tongue pushed into her mouth, and he devoured her lips. At first, her hands pressed against his chest, but in seconds, they relaxed and all eight arms held him tight, stroking his back.
To the side, Serena’s tails began to sway faster... her eyes sharpening with a faint frown on her lips.
"..."