To a being like her, Divinity was the very essence of existence. It was the fuel that propelled her toward absolute strength, the foundation upon which her supremacy stood. Without the Divinity of the Demon King, she was nothing—a thought that sent a cold shudder down her spine.
Her amethyst eyes flashed as she scanned her surroundings, searching for the anomaly, the crack in the grand order of things. Instantly, the entire landscape of Harrier Village imprinted itself onto her mind, each minute detail reflected with terrifying clarity.
Visions swirled before her like a flowing river, replaying moments from the immediate past. Her gaze darkened as she watched—a grotesquely large mosquito latched onto an armored knight, its needle-like proboscis piercing through steel and flesh alike, draining life with unnatural hunger.
A frown appeared on her flawless face. The air quivered, the very fabric of reality shuddering at her displeasure, as if the world itself feared her wrath.
The vision shifted, pulling her deeper into time. Warlock Kurtas stood amidst the village, his body aglow with an eerie purple radiance. Otherworldly runes humming with power slithered along his skin like serpents, constantly shifting, pulsating with an ominous energy. These runes, spectral and untouchable, moved in and out of existence like the ghostly neutrinos.
At the core of his being, right where his heart should have been, a pulsating crystal of pure divinity glowed—an eldritch beacon of power, exuding tendrils of violet energy.
"There it is..." Her voice was but a whisper, yet it carried the weight of the heavens. Her heartbeat quickened, a fierce longing blooming in her chest. Her precious Divinity! The very essence of her being, the key to her boundless ascent!
But then—
The images twisted, warped. She watched as a mere mosquito—a pest barely worth acknowledgment—sank its proboscis into the warlock, drawing out the divine essence meant for her.
"No!!!"
The cry of fury erupted like a volcanic explosion, shaking the very heavens. Her purple eyes blazed with unholy fire, burning with the wrath of a goddess rejected.
Her exposed bosom heaved, rising and falling as power surged through her being. Her very presence distorted the air, sending ripples through space itself.
Then she saw it—the tiny abomination, no longer just a pest but something more, something unnatural, fleeing into the distance.
Her gaze sharpened. "Hmph! Don't even think about escaping..."
In an instant, Ricky's world shifted. The air around him solidified, crushing inwards like an invisible vice. His frantic attempts to move were futile, his body locked in place by a force beyond comprehension.
"What sort of power is this?!" he shrieked, terror creeping into every fiber of his being. This was beyond reason, beyond the natural order. He had barely processed the thought when an intoxicating scent flooded his senses.
She was here.
Ricky's minuscule heart thundered within his chest, a war drum of impending doom. Instinct screamed at him—this scent belonged to her, the predator who had laid claim to him.
Then, a flash. His lifespan vision activated, unveiling the truth behind her being. Unlike any living creature, she emitted no warmth, no glow of life. Instead, an abyssal cold radiated from her, an unnatural stillness akin to the lingering grudge of a spirit unshackled by mortality.
[Warning! A hostile Stage 4 being detected. Extreme danger to host life confirmed.]
[Analyzing options for host...]
[No path of survival.]
[Chance of death: 100%.]
The system's pronouncement was as cold and unfeeling as the void itself.
"Noooo!" Ricky's mind trembled in defiance. He had only begun to grow stronger, only started to carve his place in this world. He refused to believe this was his end!
"There has to be a way..." His thoughts raced, sifting through endless possibilities, but the answer was already given—none led to survival.
Despair crept in, a crushing weight pressing down on his soul. It was suffocating, a thousand-ton slab of iron pinning him beneath the inevitability of death.
Then—
"Interesting..."
A single word, sultry and laced with amusement, yet simmering with boundless wrath.
Demon Queen Noctyss watched, fascinated by the tiny insect writhing beneath the grasp of fate.
Ah, yes. The despair. The terror. The hopeless struggle.
How long had it been since she last witnessed such pure, unfiltered fear?
"Hehe... tremble, little thing. Cry for me."
A cruel smile curled her lips. Playfulness tinged her gaze, though the malice beneath it was clear as day.
Ricky, straining with every fiber of his being, felt the world reject his very existence. His body began to unravel—his form dissolving into nothingness.
Horrified, he watched as one of his antennae simply ceased to be, erased from reality as if it never existed to begin with.
"Nooo! I can't die!"
"Stop, woman! You can't kill me!" Ricky roared like an entitled mosquito.
His desperate roar echoed into the void, as if sheer willpower could alter destiny.
Noctyss chuckled, the sultry melody of her laughter tinged with cruel delight. Her shoulders trembled, her ample chest shaking in an intoxicating display that Ricky was too terrified to appreciate.
"Fascinating... If only you hadn't stolen from me, I might have let you live."
Her words dripped with honeyed venom. "But no, you dared to touch what is mine. And not just anything—my precious, my divinity..."
As she spoke, Ricky's existence unraveled further, his screams growing fainter.
If he had known who he had stolen from, he would have surrendered to oblivion without resistance.
Demon Queen Noctyss—her name whispered in terror across the ages. No Demon King or Queen had ever matched her cruelty, her insatiable greed, her unrelenting vengeance.
Just when it felt Ricky was about to rest in peace for good.
Then—
A whisper. A celestial murmur, barely a sound, yet carrying the weight of divinity itself.
Noctyss' playful expression froze. A shadow of unease flickered across her face.
An unfathomable power surged through the air, greater than anything she had ever known. Before she could react, it engulfed her, stripping away every ounce of her strength, caging her vast soul within the confines of mortal flesh.
A strand of that same tyrannical power reached out, slowly engulfing Ricky. His unraveling form halted, then reversed. His antenna regrew, his body solidified, healing at an impossible pace.
For the first time in countless years, Demon Queen Noctyss felt something foreign, something she had long forgotten.
Powerless.
And she screamed.