Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 654: Ash’s Proposal

Until Ash stepped closer.

The S-tier crossed the invisible line between the two groups’ farming zones with the casual stride of a man walking into a bar he owned. Brittany, Stacy, and Trisha followed in a loose V behind him, camera drones trailing overhead, streams still live.

Ash wanted an audience for this.

Alice noticed first.

Kaiden didn’t stop what he was doing. He finished off the Ridgehowler he’d been dismantling, let Gluttony sip the remains, and only then turned to face the approaching group with the enthusiasm of a man being asked to fill out paperwork.

Ash stopped about ten feet away. Close enough for both streams to pick up audio. Far enough to claim he wasn’t being aggressive.

”Kaiden Grey.” He said it like he was introducing a character in a play. Arms wide. Camera-ready grin. ”The man himself. In the flesh.”

Kaiden looked at him.

Then past him.

Then, at the Ridgehowler corpse behind him, as if checking whether he’d missed any loot.

Both chats reacted instantly.

— 44xStorm: kaiden looked at him the way i look at spam emails

— BigAshEnergy: HERE WE GO!! ash is about to cook this fraud!!

— SinnerDevotee: he literally looked PAST him.

— GigaAsh: finally someone with balls is going to confront this wimpy simp

— BastetThrone: kaiden checked the dead monster for loot before acknowledging him. that’s the level of respect we’re working with

— TrishaSimp: why are sinners fans so toxic?? ash is just being friendly

Ash’s grin twitched. ”I’ve been watching your stream, man. Impressive stuff. Really. Your girls put on a hell of a show out there.”

”What do you want?” Kaiden asked.

”No, seriously!” Ash pressed, stepping closer. The performative energy cranked up a notch. He was playing to the cameras now, every word pitched for the clip. ”I’ve got nothing but respect. The coordination, the power, the... chemistry.” He let the word hang, then gestured at his own three women with a showman’s flourish. ”That’s actually why I wanted to talk. Professional to professional.”

Brittany moved on cue, sidling up beside Ash with a practiced smile. ”We’ve been fans for a while,” she said, and the lie was smooth enough to pass if you weren’t paying attention.

Stacy flanked the other side, arms crossed beneath her chest in a pose that was definitely accidental. ”You guys are really fun to watch.”

Trisha completed the formation from behind, leaning on Ash’s shoulder with a giggle that sounded like it came from a soundboard. ”Especially the girls. We love your girls.”

It was coordinated. Rehearsed. A social formation as scripted as their combat rotations.

— NyxWife4Life: ”we’ve been fans”?? The fuck?

— CuckWatch: why is kaiden acting like he’s too good to have a conversation? arrogant much?

— CalypsoMommy: the way all three of them moved into position like a customer service team at a car dealership

— AlphaViewer: ash is being respectful and kaiden is being a dick. classic sinners fanbase behavior

— LunaRage: ”professional to professional” bro the delulu is too much here

Kaiden’s girls watched from various positions around the kill zone, unbothered but alert. Luna had paused mid-loot to observe with the expression of someone watching a stranger try to parallel park a bus. Aria stood, head tilted, serene curiosity on her face. Nyx hadn’t moved at all, still tracking the battlefield’s geometry, but her eyes flicked toward the Ashbound group with quiet assessment. Bastet didn’t acknowledge them.

Calypso leaned on her axe and grinned. ”Aw. We have fans.”

”Ignore them,” Luna muttered.

”I’m not doing anything!”

”You’re engaging the clowns. Dumb demon.”

”I said four words!”

Ash laughed at the exchange, too loud, too eager. ”See? That’s what I’m talking about. The dynamic. It’s gold.” He turned back to Kaiden, and the performative mask shifted just slightly. Not enough for the casual viewer to catch, but enough for Kaiden to see the calculation underneath.

”Here’s what I’m thinking,” Ash said. ”A collab.”

Kaiden didn’t blink. ”Not interested.”

”Hear me out.”

Instead of saying any more words, Kaiden turned around and began walking away.

”What, scared your girls might like working with real professionals?”

Kaiden did not stop.

”I’m serious, man. No shade. But your setup is... limited. Female-only content? Exclusive platforms? You’re leaving money and fame on the table. Massive amounts.” He spread his hands in a gesture of false generosity. ”My studio has the infrastructure. The reach. We stream on everything, everywhere. Your girls could double their fanbase in a week if they-”

Kaiden’s response was clear from the utter lack of it.

”Did you ask them for their opinion?” Ash’s grin sharpened. ”Or do you just decide for them? The secret alien who manipulates the innocent maidens...” he chuckled as he quoted Maximilian’s accusations.

Brittany stepped forward, right on cue. Her voice went sweet, gentle, rehearsed. ”Ash’d take really good care of them, Kaiden. Promise. I can say from experience...”

Stacy nodded earnestly. ”It’d be good for everyone. More exposure, bigger audience. Win-win.”

Trisha giggled. ”And honestly? Our viewers have been asking about your girls for weeks.”

The three of them were working in tandem, closing in from different angles with smiles that matched a little too perfectly. It was the same V-formation they used in combat.

Ash read Kaiden’s stillness as weakness. He took one more step forward.

”Tell you what. A gesture of good faith.” He held his hands up, palms open, smile wide and camera-perfect. ”Why don’t we swap partners for a shoot? Just one video. Your girls come to our studio, and I treat them like queens. My girls visit yours and get a taste of the famed Blood Knight as well.” He winked at the camera. ”It’s not like it’s one-sided. Everyone benefits. Everyone’s happy.”

He said it like a business proposition.

Both chats detonated.

— MoonlitHeart: HE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT

— NyxWife4Life: SWAP???????? SWAP?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

— SinnerDevotee: i am going to find this man’s address

— CalypsoMommy: he just asked kaiden to LEND HIM HIS WOMEN on a LIVESTREAM

— AriaBestGirl: my hands are shaking. my hands are actually shaking right now

— 44xStorm: this man said ”swap partners” like they’re pokemon cards. someone end him

— BastetThrone: bastet hasn’t even looked at this man and he wants to BORROW her???? for a VIDEO????

But while the fangirls were ready to conduct cold blooded murder, some clearly liked what they were seeing.

— BigAshEnergy: LMAOOOOO ASH WENT THERE 💀💀💀

— GigaAsh: ash offered a fair deal and kaiden is gonna cry about it. watch

— AlphaViewer: honestly? based. ash is a businessman. kaiden is a simp pretending to be a star

— CuckWatch: if kaiden says no to this its because he KNOWS his girls would enjoy working with a real man 💀

— RealTalk69: ash is just offering a collab between ’stars and the fangirls are acting like he proposed murder

— StacyRider: SWAP CONTENT WOULD GO CRAZY 🥵

— MoonlitHeart: @StacyRider i will find you too

— NyxWife4Life: @CuckWatch ”a real man” your boy literally reviews his girlfriend’s sex performance with a camera crew

— CalypsoMommy: @AlphaViewer a businessman?? he’s a PIMP with an S-tier rating

— SinnerDevotee: @RealTalk99 ”just offering a collab” he asked to fuck his girls. there is no diplomatic reading of this

Kaiden turned around.

Slowly.

The air in the basin didn’t change temperature. There was no dramatic shockwave, no visible aura, no explosion of killing intent that sent lesser beings scrambling.

What happened was quieter than that.

Kaiden’s eyes shifted color.

The deep, violent red of Wrath bled into his irises, slow and steady, like ink dropped into water. Heat radiated from his skin in invisible waves, not enough to see, but enough to feel. The ambient mana in the basin flinched. Loose stones near his feet cracked without being touched as thermal kineticism bled through his stance and into the ground.

— 44xStorm: His eyes!

— MoonlitHeart: oh

— NyxWife4Life: oh no

— CalypsoMommy: oh YES

— AriaBestGirl: everybody shut up. shut up right now.

Ash felt it.

His grin held, but his body knew. His weight shifted backward. His fingers opened, then closed. Reflexive. The movement was small and well-hidden, but Brittany saw it. So did Stacy.

Their team leader was bracing.

Ash was S-tier. He wasn’t weak. He wasn’t a coward. If Kaiden swung, he could defend himself.

But the pressure rolling off the man in front of him didn’t care about tier ratings.

Kaiden stared at Ash with eyes that had stopped being amused, stopped being dismissive, stopped being anything except perfectly, absolutely cold.

Ash’s grin thinned. He didn’t run. ”I said swap. It’s a collab. It’s business-”

Ash shut up.

It was a well-known fact, globally documented and endlessly discussed on every awakened platform in existence, that Kaiden Grey’s kryptonite was his girls.

The entire world knew it. His fangirls knew it. His haters knew it. The Association’s behavioral analysts had flagged it in their reports. Every rival streamer, every guild strategist, every jealous boyfriend who’d ever had to sit down a girlfriend raving endlessly about the man behind Valhalla’s Sinners knew that the fastest way to make Kaiden Grey lose his composure was to threaten, disrespect, or proposition the women he loved.

It was such an obvious weakness that Ash had built his entire provocation around it.

And a week ago, it would have worked perfectly.

The Kaiden Grey from before the trials would have lunged. He would have crossed the distance in a heartbeat, wrapped his hand around Ash’s throat, and dealt with the Association’s penalties afterward.

That Kaiden was gone.

The man who stood here now had earned the recognition of the Original Sin.