Asmodeus System: Stealing My Bully's Mother

​The purplish-black miasma mist still danced slowly, reluctant to leave the newly awakened altar of worship.

​Ethan Valen sat casually at the edge of the marble stone. His bare chest glistened with sweat and reddish scratches—the remnants of Kaelia’s broken rebellion. Under the obsidian glow, the young man’s silhouette towered like a tyrant king who had just harvested tribute from his conquered territories.

​Behind him, Zenithar’s two strongest women lay utterly helpless.

​Isolde lay on her side, her breathing incredibly shallow. Her platinum-blonde hair was disheveled, partially obscuring her face. On her pale back, the rose-shaped Lust Brand—now pitch-black with ice-blue veins—pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat.

​Kaelia lay flat on her back, one arm dangling limply toward the floor. The Fire Princess’s body still twitched occasionally, responding to the residual Sin Mana invading her neural circuits. The tattoo on her lower abdomen glowed dark red like embers caught in the wind.

​Ethan didn’t get up immediately. He chose to sit in silence for a moment, letting their bodies absorb the residual energy.

​”Asmodeus,” Ethan called out softly, without truly opening his mouth.

​”Fufufu... are you satisfied, My Lord?” The wet, hoarse voice slithered into his skull. ”Their arrogant faces have been shattered and reshaped from scratch. Very much to your taste, no?”

​”Tch. I didn’t ask you that,” Ethan cut in coldly. ”Explain the effects on them.”

​Instantly, a barrage of holographic screens exploded before his retinas.

​[Two Targets Have Been Processed at the Altar of Lust]

​[Target 1: Isolde von Rosenberg]

[Subjugation Status: 100% (Absolute)]

[Rank Upgrade: S-Rank]

[Essence Alteration: Half-Demon]

​[Target 2: Kaelia von Ashford]

[Subjugation Status: 100% (Absolute)]

[Rank Upgrade: A-Rank (Peak)]

[Essence Alteration: Half-Demon]

​Ethan snorted softly. ”S-Rank. A crazy leap for an ice mage.”

​”Of course. This altar accelerates their biological adaptation,” Asmodeus boasted. ”Their magic circuits were forced to evolve to house the seeds of my power.”

​The entity paused for a moment, then its tone dropped deeper than before.

​”But don’t celebrate just yet, My Lord. That energy isn’t fully stable. They are indeed getting stronger, but that power is thirsty. If you don’t dig deeper, the demon inside them will start eating away at them.”

​Ethan narrowed his eyes. ”How long until it stabilizes?”

​”Until they accept it. Or until you dig deeper into what’s left of their sanity.”

​Ethan didn’t reply. He stood up, staring at the two women before him.

​Isolde wasn’t fully conscious yet. But her chest began to heave deeper. Ethan placed his palm on Isolde’s forehead and injected a spark of energy to pull her consciousness back.

​”Hhnn...”

​Isolde’s eyelids opened slowly. However, the always calm ice-blue had vanished. It was replaced by a dark, blackish blue—the eye of a storm harboring the mysteries of the deep sea.

​Isolde didn’t get up right away. She closed her eyes again, feeling her heart beating slower and deeper. There was something else breathing inside her, flowing beneath the flesh, not in her regular magic circuits.

​”M-My Lord...” Isolde’s voice was hoarse when she finally managed to speak. She tried to sit up, but her arms trembled violently. ”Why... does my body feel so strange?”

​”Feel it, Isolde,” Ethan whispered, low and hypnotic. ”Don’t fight it.”

​Isolde swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Strangely, the breath that escaped her lips took the form of a thin black mist.

​Isolde’s eyes slowly widened. She stared at the tips of her fingers. From there, pitch-black dew dripped, instantly freezing the surface of the altar into spiked black ice. The icy cracks spread slowly.

​”What is this...?” Isolde whispered. Her logic was still clear, but her body trembled. ”Am I... no longer human?”

​”Indeed, you are not,” Ethan affirmed.

​Shortly after, the body on the other side of the altar stirred restlessly.

​”Aghh... damn it, my head...” Kaelia groaned, twisting her body to sit half-upright. She clutched her solar plexus, which felt as if she had just swallowed a chunk of boiling lava.

​Hsss... crck...

​A strange hissing sound brought her complaints to a halt. Kaelia stared at both her palms. Gray smoke billowed from her pores, followed by sparks of dark red embers that flared and died out in a flash.

​”WHAT?!” Kaelia let out a muffled scream. ”Huh?! My hands—why are my hands like this?!”

​Ethan turned his head slowly. ”Don’t panic.”

​”DON’t PANIC?!” Kaelia frantically shook her hands. The movement only fed oxygen to the flames, making her black sparks flare even wilder. ”How can I not panic?! They’re igniting on their own!”

​Isolde stared at Kaelia with a stiff expression. ”Kaelia... your eyes.”

​”Huh, what’s wrong with my eyes?!” Kaelia snapped back defensively.

​”There are embers inside them.”

​Kaelia gasped. She hurriedly turned her head, searching for her reflection on the obsidian walls. Her breath instantly hitched. In the center of her golden-yellow pupils, a point of flame continuously burned in static stillness.

​They were the eyes of a monster.

​Kaelia reflexively stepped back until her spine hit Ethan’s chest. ”You... you did something to us...”

​”I gave you power.” Ethan gripped Kaelia’s shoulders to hold her in place.

​Kaelia shoved him away roughly. Her emotions exploded. ”Power that turns me into a monster like this?!”

​Ethan’s brown eyes immediately sharpened, radiating absolute dominance. ”Power that prevents you from dying a pathetic death clawed by mutant dogs in the corridor earlier.”

​Kaelia was silenced. Her jaw clamped shut. Deep beneath her anger, fear was creeping in. She wasn’t afraid of Ethan; she was terrified of the monster inside her own veins.

​Unlike her, Isolde stared at her freezing palms, then clenched them into fists until the black ice shattered.

​”There is something else breathing inside me, My Lord,” Isolde muttered with extraordinary calm.

​”That is your new essence,” Ethan replied. He tossed the remains of Kaelia’s uniform and Isolde’s gown toward them. ”Put those on. Adapt, or die from rejecting it. It’s up to you.”

​The three of them finally left the altar.

​The underground corridor was no longer as silent as when they had arrived. The smell of blood and the new demonic auras had lured out the Dungeon’s native inhabitants.

​Having walked only a few dozen meters, rough clicking sounds echoed from the ceiling. Pairs of blind white eyes emerged. A pack of Cave Stalkers—crawling reptilian monsters the size of adult humans with needle-sharp teeth—began to surround them.

​Kaelia had just clicked her tongue in annoyance and was about to chant a spell, but one of the monsters leaped first toward Isolde.

​Isolde merely cast a fleeting glance. Without a spell. Without preparation. She raised one hand gracefully.

​The temperature plummeted to absolute zero. A pitch-black wall of ice erupted from the stone floor.

​CRASH!

​The reptile crashed into the black ice shield at full speed. Its body instantly shattered into pieces like fragile glass. Its blood froze before it even touched the floor.

​Kaelia’s eyes bugged out. ”That’s... not your usual ice.”

​”Indeed.” Isolde lowered her hand, letting the ice wall melt into mist. ”This is far more practical and powerful.”

​Three other Cave Stalkers hissed furiously, lunging at Kaelia from three directions simultaneously.

​Kaelia’s survival instincts took over. She swung her hands, intending to fire orange fireballs. However, what came out was far beyond her comprehension.

​Dark reddish-black fire erupted massively from her palms. Its heat instantly scorched away all the oxygen in the narrow corridor.

​BOOOM!

​The wave of black fire swallowed the three monsters simultaneously. They were incinerated into blackish ash before they even hit the walls. Even the ancient stones lining the corridor melted into liquid.

​Kaelia froze. The embers in her pupils burned brightly as she stared at the smoke rising from her hands. Slowly, a crazed smirk spread across her lips.

​”Hah... you’re crazy, Ethan...” she whispered between rapid breaths.

​Ethan, watching from behind, simply stuffed his hands into his pockets. ”You’re getting used to it. Let’s go.”

​Dawn was breaking when the three of them exited the Dungeon gates into the main corridor.

​Outside, light snow welcomed them. The pale blue sky began to crawl upward. A few early-morning students walking toward the training halls spotted the three of them. Soft whispers instantly spread the moment they saw the tattered condition of their clothes.

​Ethan couldn’t care less. Isolde put back on her cold, authoritative demeanor, making the students bow their heads. Meanwhile, Kaelia was still sweating and trembling, but she tried her best to hold her head high.

​When they finally arrived at the VIP Room, Kaelia immediately threw herself onto the sofa.

​”My brain is about to explode. There’s no way I can sleep after this.”

​”You’ll get used to it,” Ethan replied casually, walking to the center of the room.

​Isolde opted to stand near the glass window, gazing at the morning snow. Her mind was still digesting the demonic pulse in her heart. ”Then, what is our next step, My Lord? Pressuring the academy council right away?”

​Ethan stopped in his tracks. He took off the remnants of his black shirt and tossed it onto a chair. ”Tomorrow, I’m leaving.”

​Kaelia instantly sat up straight. Her eyes bulged. ”Huh?! Leaving again?! You just got back!”

​”Yes. I’m leaving again.”

​”Where to this time?!” Kaelia’s tone spiked. Isolde turned her head, her calm expression tensing slightly in anticipation of the answer.

​Ethan grabbed a small towel, then tossed it casually right into Kaelia’s face.

​”To pick up Valera,” he answered flatly.

​Silence lingered for a moment. That name carried a historical weight far too heavy to ignore.

​”Huh? Valera?!” Kaelia shoved the towel aside roughly. ”Hold on a second. Why is she the priority after everything we went through tonight?!”

​Ethan walked over to the window beside Isolde. His eyes stared down at the frozen snow below.

​”Because she has been waiting for a long time,” Ethan cut her off with absolute finality, crushing all forms of Kaelia’s protest.

​In his head, Asmodeus chuckled maliciously. ”And because that knight of yours... hasn’t yet tasted what it’s like to be broken upon the altar, My Lord.”

​Ethan smirked faintly. A new Chapter to retrieve his precious pawn had begun.