Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 303: What Do You Feel?

Evangeline tilted her head, her eyes glinting with mischief as she leaned back in her chair with satisfaction. She was having a great deal of fun right now.

“Tell me, Magnus… how do you look into the mirror each morning knowing there’s a younger, happier, and more handsome version of yourself plastered all over the world? One who isn’t afraid to show himself—all of himself—in ways that make women scream his name until their throats go raw? What does that feel like? Please elaborate, I’m truly curious.”

The question landed exactly as the woman expected it to. A knife that was wedged between Magnus’s ribs.

His forehead bulged, becoming a network of thick, throbbing veins that crawled across his skin. His jaw clenched so tightly the sound of grinding teeth filled the air. The veins pulsed in rhythm with his rage, grotesque in their prominence, his visage twisting into something far removed from the calm tactician the world knew.

But she was anything but terrified. No, the woman felt… delighted. A lilting giggle slipped past her lips, soft and cruel at the same time.

“Fufufu… is it jealousy, perhaps? Your son is adored, surrounded by a harem of beautiful women, while you are nothing more than a dog chained to a cold-blooded monster.”

Her eyes moved briefly toward Vespera, who still gave no reaction. Evangeline continued, voice dripping with venom. “The contrast is almost poetic: the son basking in indulgence, living his life to the fullest, while the father languishes in restraint. Night and day. Freedom and chains.”

The words hit their mark.

Magnus was usually the embodiment of composure, the strategist whose steady hand kept Vespera’s chaos from tearing their empire down around them. He was order; she was chaos. Together, they made the perfect balance, a necessary dance to avoid the wrath of the world. Namely, the other powerhouses declaring war on them after one of Vespera’s stunts of insanity.

But this topic—this single, festering wound—was his kryptonite. The Ashborn family name was his pride, his anchor. And Kaiden’s actions… to him, they weren’t simply reckless. They were a desecration of what was sacred. Spitting on everything Magnus had built and protected.

He had tolerated the boy’s failure to awaken because he understood that it was a matter of chance, of statistics. There was nothing to punish when the boy was just unlucky. A father could accept weakness, even disappointment. But this? This was different.

Now all Magnus wanted was to wrap his hands around his son’s throat and squeeze until the light left his eyes.

Evangeline’s lips curled into a crescent of bliss. Magnus’s monstrous veins, his twitching temple, the way his composure broke and burned… it was a feast to her eyes, and she simply couldn’t stop. The more she prodded, the deeper his rage sank its teeth into him, and the more joyous she felt.

She turned now, slowly, her silvery gaze sliding toward the woman seated beside him. Her voice dripped with honey and poison in equal measure.

“And you, dear Vespera. Tell me… how does it feel? Your little boy, your pride and joy, the child you nurtured with such care, the one you cradled at your breast… he chose this path.”

Her tone turned mocking, overly sweet. “To make his fortune not through valor, nor battle, nor awakened glory… but by posting pornography. When you held that sweet baby in your arms, blissfully suckling on your milk… did you ever imagine he’d grow up into such a disappointment?”

The conference room went still.

For a moment, the Shadow Monarch gave no reaction at all. She didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, didn’t even breathe wrong. Vespera sat perfectly still, like a statue carved in black marble.

That was until the final sentence left Evangeline’s lips. Once the word ‘disappointment’ rang in the room, Vespera finally moved.

Her head snapped toward Evangeline. The movement was sharp, violent, unnatural, as though the world had skipped a frame of reality.

The face that greeted Evangeline froze her blood. Eyes like bottomless voids, lips twisted into a half-smile that wasn’t a smile at all. Magnus looked like a raging beast who was restrained by circumstances beyond his control. Vespera, however, looked like death itself, restrained only by choice, a choice that could be lifted at any moment she so desired.

For just a sliver of a second, Evangeline trembled. Her spine tingled, her heart fluttered in primal recognition of a predator far beyond her scale.

But she regained herself. ‘Far beyond my scale?! Hah! Stupid brain of mine, stop joking.’

Her lips parted, and she let out a haughty little laugh, forcing steel into her tone. “Fufufu… you don’t scare me, Vespera. I am the Justicar, the one who judges evil. And you…” she leaned forward, pointing a finger at the Shadow Monarch, “… you reek of sin. You’re the perfect matchup for me.”

The room darkened even further. Shadows slithered across the floor, curling like living serpents around the legs of the table, creeping up the walls. The air thickened, pressed down, suffocating in its weight. Murderous intent poured from Vespera in waves, staining every breath with dread.

“Let’s test that out.”

“Ladies, ladies, please…” Lazarus spoke, followed by Grace.

…

“You’re a disgusting human being, Vaelira.”

Those were the words that first left Kaiden’s lips. The boss battle was over; now all that remained was leaving the dungeon and returning to earth.

But first, they gathered near Leon’s corpse. The man bled from numerous wounds that were inflicted upon him by Vaelira’s minions as she decided to kill him as soon as he showed signs of being controlled by the parasite in him, not giving the swordsman a chance to fight back against the foreign entity in his system.

“… I did what I had to do. If not for my swift and difficult decision, the outcome of this fight could’ve been entirely different.”

“We never questioned your logic, that’s not for us to do,” Aria replied in a cold, outright hostile tone. “Tessa will deal with you, and hopefully the association will get involved as well.”

“Indeed. We just said you were a piece of human shit, nothing more,” Luna added, not holding back anything. “Your mother should’ve swallowed.”

“That’s something you four are masters at; maybe you can give her some pointers,” the blond woman snapped back.

“Let’s just go. We shouldn’t waste our breath on this woman. It’s time we celebrate,” Nyx intervened before Luna could erupt.

“Agreed,” Kaiden nodded and turned toward the portal.

But before they could step through, a flicker of light danced, and from the shadows at the edge of the chamber, Diaz emerged. His armor was destroyed, battered, smeared with gore, but his eyes burned with resolve. He strode up to Kaiden.

“Runewoven owes you a great deal. Without your aid, this dungeon would have claimed far more than a single life. For that, I thank you.”

Kaiden shook his head, lifting a hand. “No thanks are needed, Diaz. We struck a deal, and I held up my end of it. That’s all. I hope we can fight side by side again. You were very competent throughout the entire undertaking.”

Diaz gave him a long, appraising look, then nodded curtly and shook Kaiden’s hand. “The feeling is mutual.”

With that, they turned toward the portal. The warped surface of mana rippled around Kaiden’s group as they stepped through.

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