As the echoes of the battle between Anos and Selaria faded into the vast training hall, a soft, amused chuckle filled the air.
"You two took far too long."
A rich, melodic voice drifted through the chamber, carrying a teasing lilt. Anos barely had a moment to process it before he felt a cool, slender hand clasp his wrist. With surprising strength, he was yanked away from Selaria, who barely had time to react before they were separated.
Selaria growled, still catching her breath. "Vaelith—"
"Oh, no, dear sister," the emerald-haired demoness cut in smoothly, her glowing green eyes twinkling with mischief. "You've had your fun. Now, it's my turn."
Anos found himself face-to-face with Vaelith Sylvaris, the council's Nature Mage and Elemental Manipulation specialist. Her long, emerald-green hair shimmered like freshly grown leaves under the torchlight, and her gaze held an ancient wisdom far beyond her youthful appearance. Her tight-fitting, nature-woven robes whispered around her as she pulled Anos along without resistance.
Selaria barely had time to step forward before Vaelith raised her hand.
Thick, gnarled roots burst from the floor, twisting together in an instant to form an impenetrable dome around herself and Anos. The council members outside reacted immediately, some pounding against the barrier while others protested.
"Vaelith, you sly fox!"
"Why do you get to train him next?!"
"Break this thing down, Selaria!"
Selaria, still sore and drained from her fight, merely clicked her tongue in irritation. She knew better than anyone that Vaelith's nature magic was nearly impossible to counter. The roots regenerated faster than they could be burned, sliced, or torn apart.
Vaelith smiled sweetly. "Now, now, ladies, we all knew this would happen. My sessions always take the longest."
She turned her attention to Anos, who observed her with an amused smirk. "And master," she purred, "let's see what's hiding within that soul of yours, shall we?"
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Inside the enclosed chamber, the chaotic energy of battle gave way to a tranquil atmosphere. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and fresh leaves, and the walls pulsed with an eerie vitality.
Vaelith gestured for Anos to sit in the center of the space, cross-legged. She knelt before him, her delicate fingers weaving intricate symbols in the air as green light swirled around them.
"This won't be like your match with Selaria," she murmured. "Magic is not just about brute strength. It is about flow, understanding, and connection."
Anos raised an eyebrow but complied, closing his eyes as she instructed.
"Breathe," Vaelith whispered.
A pulse of warmth spread through his body, different from the raw power he was wielding. He could feel something shifting within him, something vast and untapped.
Vaelith's own breath hitched.
She had expected to guide him through his Qi flow, to help him explore his dantians and unlock the paths of Qi with patience and care.
But the moment she reached out to his soul—
A void.
No. Not just a void. Something deeper.
Vaelith felt herself sinking, as if falling into an ocean with no bottom. The depths of Anos's existence stretched beyond comprehension. Where there should have been natural barriers, limitations to contain one's Qi and spiritual growth, there was nothing but endless expanse.
It was as if his very soul was infinite.
Her breathing grew shallow, her hands trembling as she touched upon something ancient within him.
This… this is… impossible.
Anos smirked slightly, feeling the hesitation in her Qi. "Something wrong?"
Vaelith pulled back slightly, her expression unreadable. "…Your potential is boundless."
She had trained countless mages. Studied the greatest talents of the Demon Realm. But Anos wasn't merely talented. He wasn't even a prodigy.
He was beyond comprehension.
"Go deeper," Anos murmured, his voice both gentle and commanding.
Vaelith hesitated, but he was already guiding her—no, pulling her into his depths. She shuddered as the sensation overwhelmed her, the sheer vastness of his power drowning out everything else.
She felt the stirrings of something immense, something even he had yet to fully awaken.
Vaelith felt… small.
__________
Outside, the council members grew increasingly impatient.
"How long is she going to keep him in there?!"
"I told you, she's going to hog him for hours!"
"What is she even doing? Teaching him spells?"
"No, she's exploring his soul."
The gathered demonesses shuddered at the implication.
Vaelith was diving into their Lord's very essence.
And from the way the air trembled with latent energy, it was clear she had discovered something terrifying.
Iris, however, remained relaxed. She leaned back on her throne-like chair, a lazy smirk gracing her lips.
"Let her have her time," she said, stretching luxuriously. "You'll all get your turns eventually."
One of the demonesses huffed. "Easy for you to say. You already got to experience him firsthand."
A few of them leaned in eagerly.
"Speaking of which, how was it?"
Iris's smirk widened.
Selaria, who had been resting, opened one eye and clicked her tongue. "She's just going to brag."
And brag, she did.
The moment she began describing her experience, the chamber was filled with scandalized gasps, envious groans, and barely contained intrigue.
Meanwhile, inside the sealed chamber, Anos opened his eyes, his ruby gaze meeting Vaelith's trembling form.
"So," he said, his voice smooth, "what do you think?"
Vaelith swallowed, her green eyes still dazed.
"…You are beyond anything I have ever seen."
Anos smirked, ever the arrogant one, his lips curling with a dark amusement as he watched Vaelith's breath hitch. His ruby-red eyes gleamed with mischief, the air between them thick with something unspoken—something tantalizing.
His voice, smooth as velvet and deep as the abyss, caressed her ears with a sinful promise.
"Vaelith… Before you so rudely stole me away, my battle with Selaria was far from over." He leaned in, his breath ghosting over her lips, igniting something primal within her. "What you witnessed was merely the clash of blades… but another battle was about to begin before you so impatiently interrupted. Now, you'll have to take responsibility for what you've stolen."
Vaelith's golden-green eyes widened slightly before darkening, a slow, heated realization dawning upon her. Her heartbeat quickened, each thrum pulsing through her body like a spellbinding rhythm. A deep, unfamiliar hunger stirred within her, awakening something that had long been buried beneath her composed exterior.
Anos watched the transformation unfold with amusement, drinking in the way her flushed cheeks deepened in color, the way her parted lips trembled with unspoken anticipation.
Then, her voice, soothingly sweet yet laced with an intoxicating allure, spilled forth like the soft hum of nature's most dangerous predator.
"Then… it is my duty to compensate for the trouble I have caused my Lord."
She moved, slow and deliberate, as if entranced by an unseen force. Her fingers ghosted along his jaw, tracing the sharp lines of his face before she leaned in, her lips brushing against his in a featherlight touch—testing, teasing.
Anos did not move away.
Their lips met fully, a sensual dance of dominance and submission, a battle in its own right. She sought control at first, but Anos, ever the ruler, took it from her effortlessly. Their mouths melded together in perfect rhythm, tongues meeting in slow, languid strokes that spoke of a hunger neither had the patience to deny.
The air between them thickened, charged with a desire too potent to ignore. The roots forming the walls of the dome trembled as the very Qi in the air shifted, responding to the raw force of Anos's presence.
Vaelith, in the haze of her growing need, had overlooked a single, crucial mistake.
In her desperate need to explore the abyss of his soul, she had never closed the gates to it.
Now, his essence bled into the chamber, rising like a tide—vast, boundless, and far too powerful. The dense, suffocating energy slowly consumed the magic that had once kept the dome unbreakable. The roots, once thick and unyielding, began to wither, cracks forming along their structure as the sustaining Qi was overpowered.
Outside, though the council had been engrossed in Iris's vivid storytelling, their senses were sharp.
They felt the disturbance.
A moment of silence fell as the gathered demonesses exchanged knowing glances.
"The dome is weakening," one of them murmured, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"This is our chance."
Without hesitation, they launched their attacks against the already weakened barrier, their combined efforts shattering the remaining defenses in an instant.
And as the dome collapsed in a burst of splintered roots and dissipating energy, the council was greeted with the sight of Vaelith, flushed and breathless, entangled in the arms of their Lord.
A stunned silence fell over them before—
"Oh, for hell's sake!"
"Vaelith, you greedy wench!"
Iris, watching the scene with a knowing smirk, merely leaned back, amusement dancing in her midnight-purple eyes.
"Well," she purred, "I did warn you all she'd take her time."
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