Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 901: Break Room

Kaiden stood from the medical chair and rolled his shoulders. ”Are we done?”

Hearing those words, Grace had to close her eyes.

The man had just caused a planetary-scale event, forced emergency doctrines across multiple continents, broken every piece of equipment in the laboratory, and produced a reading that made the entire discipline of awakened classification want to resign.

His response to being confirmed human was to ask if he could finally leave.

She opened her eyes with the composure of someone who had chosen peace over violence by the thinnest possible margin. ”Mister Grey, if you and your party would be willing to wait until we can coordinate the announcement of your tier results and address the situation outside, I would appreciate it.”

”Are you ordering us to stay?”

Grace went quiet for a moment, then shook her head. ”I’m asking. If you wish to leave right now, you’re free to.”

Kaiden watched her face for a few long seconds before a smile spread across his. ”Since it’s you asking.”

Half the room tensed.

Officials, guards, and technicians turned scrutinizing eyes toward Grace, slow and careful, as if they’d just noticed something they weren’t sure they were supposed to see.

Behind her, the female staff were already murmuring.

”Secretary Grace has been very chummy with him...”

”She spoke up in his defense earlier, didn’t she?”

”Do you think there’s... more between them?”

”I heard she’s been his personal handler for months now.” The voice dipped, then climbed an octave. ”Which means she must have watched all of their... videos.”

”Ah!! True!”

”I’ve seen them too. Imagine getting paid to watch those...”

”Dream job...”

”Girls, don’t get distracted! We must analyze the situation!”

”Right!”

Shocked glances ricocheted between Kaiden and Grace as the whispers rose in pitch and scandal. The women stole looks at the anomaly and the Secretary with giddy horror, the gossip too juicy to keep quiet and too dangerous to say out loud.

Kaiden kept smiling at her.

A vein surfaced on Grace’s forehead, slow and pronounced. She knew this terrible creature was messing with her on purpose.

”I’ll lead you to the waiting room,” she said, every syllable wrapped in professional courtesy.

...

The government’s intelligence liaison had the suite prepared before Kaiden even stepped foot into the building.

Listening in on him talk after the tests were done was always on the menu, but after what he’d done, it became more important than ever.

Leather couches, ambient lighting, a chef’s station stocked for a cabinet dinner, and a wine selection pulled from the Association’s private reserve.

The room was designed to feel safe enough that people stopped watching their words.

It was also designed to watch them.

Standard surveillance would have been suicide with the Shadow Monarch in the room, so the intelligence division had deployed its latest mana-neutral observation line.

The cameras were woven into the upholstery and curtain fabric as thread-thin filaments that carried no mana signature and read as textile to any awakened sense.

Microphones hid inside the paint itself, a resonance-capture layer that picked up vibration through the walls without emitting a single detectable pulse.

Two agents monitored the feeds from a service room one floor below.

Their directives were simple: gather additional intelligence on Kaiden Grey and his inner circle as they chatted after being done with the tests.

Now, however, they received new orders: monitor for any discussion of the global presence event and obtain confirmation of Lady Vespera Ashborn threatening Association personnel.

Secretary Grace’s verbal account was the sole record of that being the case, and that of the other people in the room at the time. However, if they could get one of the people on Vespera’s side to say she was ready to kill government people, they would gain leverage over her.

The male agent scrolled through the operational footnotes and stopped on one. ”It says here that Grey is extremely possessive of his partners. The women enforce it willingly, distance themselves from other men, and get hostile if pushed.” He looked up from the screen. ”They actually do this on their own?”

His colleague, a woman in her thirties with her arms already crossed, gave him a flat look. ”Why would they look for other men when they’ve already found the one they want to spend their lives with?”

”...”

”All staff in the suite is female, yes. Get over it,” she continued. ”Focus on the job.”

They settled behind their monitors, thrilled to have landed the intelligence assignment of their careers.

Eclipse walked in. Grace wished them a good rest, promised quick results, and left.

Kaiden took the largest chair, and Aria was in his lap before the cushion settled. She tucked her silver hair behind one ear and reached for the steak platter the chef had set out. ”Let me feed you, Kai...”

Luna dropped onto the corner couch. ”Let’s see what the doggy is up to.”

Bastet followed at her own pace, ears tilting with mild curiosity. ”How?”

The gamer girl pulled out her phone. ”Technology, baby.”

Calypso spotted the chef’s station and beamed at the young woman behind the counter, who shuddered once before the demoness even opened her mouth. ”Are you free?”

”F-free?” Having to chat up domesticated boss monsters wasn’t part of her job description.

”Yeah, I’m hungry.”

”O-oh.” The woman looked genuinely surprised, but if it came to just talking about cooking, she was prepared! ”It’d be my honor.”

Nyx claimed the card table, produced a deck, and fanned it between her fingers with a smile that promised suffering. ”Who’s ready for an ass-whooping?”

Alice sat across from her. ”You wish.”

”Hoho? The little sister is here? Kai is sitting farther away, you know?”

”Hmph. I’m not dumb.”

”Then?” Nyx prompted, extremely amused.

”Shut it and let’s begin!” Whatever was going on in the unhinged teenager’s head, she wasn’t open about sharing.

Alexandra took the third seat, notepad in hand, already scribbling the rules of the game down. ”Let’s see... It says here that...”

Vespera Ashborn chose the chair opposite Kaiden, accepted a cup of tea from a female helper, and said nothing.

The agents leaned in.

”Alright.”

”Let’s see what they have to say.”

Luna had a custom monitoring app open, swiping through camera feeds until she found the one she wanted, a construction site angle pointed at the dungeon entrance where a massive armored shape lay sprawled in the sun with six burning eyes half-lidded and its tail curled around one leg.

Bastet leaned over until her chin rested on Luna’s shoulder. ”That’s the compound.”

”What a smart kitty you are.” Luna purred while zooming in. Pebble was napping, his tongue lolling past his teeth, his chest rising and falling with breaths so large they fogged the nearest scaffolding.

Bastet’s ear flicked. ”You’re fond of the mutt.”

”I’m not.”

”You set up a personal feed to watch him.”

Luna’s thumb stopped swiping.

”Okay, maybe he’s kinda growing on me,” she admitted, quieter than her usual volume. ”I was angry at what he did as the Claimant, but he’s a completely different being now. He’s just a big, silly kid.”

In the monitoring room, the male agent stared at his screen. ”A seven-armed entity appeared above the planet a few minutes ago and they’re watching a dog nap on a construction site.”

His colleague was making notes. She did not argue the point.

Luna tapped a button on the screen and leaned toward the mic. ”Pebble. Who’s a good boy?”

On the feed, six burning eyes snapped wide.

The armored head swiveled, ears rotating toward the mic strapped to his back, and then his legs started bouncing, all four at once, his large building-sized body hammering the ground in place while his tail wagged hard enough to crack concrete. Workers scattered behind equipment.

Luna grinned so wide it escaped before she could stop it.

In the monitoring room, the female agent leaned toward her screen. ”Oh my god, the tippy taps...”

Her colleague turned to look at her.

She coughed into her fist. ”I mean. That’s a remarkably well-trained creature for its age.”

He looked at her even harder.

Bastet raised an eyebrow at the screen. ”What have you done?”

”Put a mic on his back and asked one of the workers to hit record when I press the button.” Luna shrugged. ”He’s a newborn baby, someone has to keep eyes on him.” She glanced sideways at the felinid. ”What, is the kitten jealous of the puppy? Should I rub your belly and call you a good girl?”