Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 746: Kira and Rika

The professionals had been standing along the wall throughout the exchange, retaining a respectful silence. When the moment settled, the group shifted. A tall figure in a charcoal suit stepped forward first, inclining her head toward Kaiden.

”Lord Ashborn. We apologize for the intrusion into your private quarters this evening. Lady Vespera’s instructions were to be present for the formal declaration, and we understand that our presence during your family’s personal moments was not intended.”

Kaiden glanced at the row behind her. Fourteen people. He counted three men.

’Almost all women,’ he noted, wondering if this was intentional or if the Shadow Monarch simply attracted loyalty from women.

”It’s fine,” Kaiden said. ”Thank you for being here.”

The introductions moved quickly. A senior legal counsel. Two strategic advisors. Three fighters whose names Kaiden recognized from Association rankings. Each one stepped forward, gave a short bow, and returned to their place. Polished, efficient, and clearly accustomed to working under the Shadow Monarch.

Knocking came on the door.

”Excuse us...”

”Come in,” Kaiden called.

Talia and Tessa entered carrying trays. Wine glasses arranged in neat rows, a bottle that looked old and expensive, and a spread of small plates that suggested someone had raided the guild kitchen with purpose.

They stopped in the doorway.

Talia’s eyes found Kaiden first. She’d known him for months, watched him grow from a complete rookie into the most talked-about fighter in the competition. She’d known he was special.

She had not known he was Ashborn.

Her gaze moved from Kaiden to the professionals, to Vespera still holding Alice, and the tray in her hands dipped by an inch before she caught it.

Tessa was worse. The leader of Nova Circuit, who had taken a chance on an unknown F-tier fighter and given him his first real job, stood in the doorway looking at Vespera Ashborn the way a regional manager looks at a Fortune 500 CEO who has materialized in their break room.

’She’s been in my guild hall,’ Tessa’s face said, deciding that Runewoven’s hall was just as much hers as it was theirs. ’The Shadow Monarch is in my guild hall and I’m about to serve her snacks.’

Kaiden saw the look and felt the immediate need to rescue the situation.

”Tessa. Talia.” He smiled. ”The wine looks great.”

Talia recovered first. She crossed the room, set the tray on the table with only a slight tremor, and turned to Kaiden with a look that was still recalibrating everything she thought she knew about him.

”So.” Talia’s voice was careful. ”Ashborn.”

”Ashborn,” Kaiden confirmed.

”Your mother is Vespera Ashborn.”

”She is.”

”The Vespera Ashborn. The Shadow Monarch.”

”The one and only.”

Talia stared at him for three full seconds, then poured herself a glass of wine and drank half of it in one go.

Tessa was still standing near the door, her tray now safely deposited on a side table, her eyes moving between Vespera and Kaiden as she did very fast math and arrived at very large numbers.

Vespera released Alice, who had finally let go, and turned to the two guild leaders. The warmth that had been on her face moments ago closed like a shutter.

”I understand you have been working with my son for some time.”

Tessa straightened. ”Lady Ashborn, we-”

”I’m grateful.”

The two words landed without ceremony. Vespera did not elaborate. She did not smile. She looked at Talia and Tessa, two guild leaders who had given her son opportunities when the rest of the world had written him off, and the gratitude was real beneath the frost.

Tessa blinked. Then the surprise broke through.

”It’s us who should be grateful to your son, Lady Ashborn. He’s the one who-”

”I’d like to discuss operational matters with you both,” Vespera continued, already moving past the sentiment. ”There is significant restructuring ahead.”

Whatever Tessa was about to say about Kaiden’s contributions died on her lips as the Shadow Monarch pivoted to business. And just like that, the two guild leaders were absorbed into the conversation before either of them fully understood what had happened.

Kaiden watched them go.

”Soooo~”

The voice came from his left, and when Kaiden turned, he saw a pair of girls whose status as twins could not be denied.

They were identical in build and devastating in presentation. Slim, leggy, and dressed in a way that made every charcoal suit in the room look like it belonged in a museum. The one on his left wore a cropped white top that stopped well above her navel, a layered silver chain that caught the light every time she breathed, and a pleated skirt in dark red that sat high on her waist and ended mid-thigh. The one on his right wore the same silhouette in inverted colors - black crop top, gold chain, deep blue skirt - and both of them were in heeled ankle boots.

Their hair was the thing that made him look twice. Split dye, straight down the middle. The left twin had red on her left and blue on her right. The right twin had blue on her left and red on her right. Mirrored. And the contacts - because they were definitely contacts, the kind of creative flex that media people wore like a signature - followed the same inverted logic. Red hair, blue eye. Blue hair, red eye. Each twin a perfect reflection of the other, standing side by side like a pair of playing cards.

A designer tote hung from the left twin’s shoulder, overstuffed and half-open, a compact mirror and two lip glosses visible at the top. The right twin had a tablet tucked under one arm and a smaller crossbody bag covered in enamel pins.

They had separated from the professional group at some point during the introductions, and they were now standing approximately two feet from him with matching grins that carried the energy of two women who had been waiting for this moment all night.

”Hi!” The left twin extended her hand. ”I’m Kira, and this is my sister Rika. We’re from Pinnacle Productions.” She paused. ”Well, were from Pinnacle. It’s a subsidiary of New Dawn, but most of the leadership walked out tonight, so things are a little...”

”In flux,” Rika supplied cheerfully.

”In flux,” Kira agreed. ”Lady Vespera reached out to us personally a few days ago. Said she might have work for us soon.”

Rika’s grin widened. ”We quit within the minute.”

”Literally the minute,” Kira confirmed. ”She hadn’t even finished the sentence.”

Kaiden glanced across the room. His mother was in the far corner with Talia, Tessa, and the rest of the professionals, and whatever warmth had been on her face a few minutes ago was gone. Her chin was level as she spoke, and the people around her were listening the way soldiers listen to a general redrawing the map. Full Shadow Monarch mode.

He shook his head and turned back to the twins.

”I don’t know what you discussed with my mother, and I can’t promise you anything.” He took Kira’s still-extended hand and shook it, then Rika’s. ”But it’s nice to meet you both.”

Rika beamed. ”We know everything about your content! Like, everything... We’ve studied your streams, your engagement patterns, your audience demographics, your...” She trailed off, and a faint flush crept up her neck. ”All of your content.”

”All of it,” Kira confirmed, with a look that made the word ’all’ carry about four extra syllables.

Luna snorted from the couch. Calypso’s grin widened.

”But that’s shop talk and shop talk is boring and it’s late and there’s wine and you just became the head of an entire bloodline, so.” Kira grabbed Kaiden’s left arm. Rika claimed the right. Their grips were synchronized in a way that suggested they’d been coordinating physical maneuvers since the womb.

”Let’s leave the boring adults to their boring adult talk,” Rika said. ”We have way more important things to discuss.”

Kaiden looked at his girls. Nyx was already standing, amused. Luna’s eyebrows were high. Aria was watching Kira and Rika on his arms with the focused intensity of a yandere calculating threat levels.

”Fair enough,” Kaiden said, and let himself be pulled. But he was no pushover, no simp who’d be easily manipulated just because two cute girls were showing interest.

”Let’s hear the pitch.”

”Hmm?” Kira grinned.

”Why should I care? What can you do for us?”

”Hehe~” Rika giggled.