Absolute Depravity: Reincarnated with a lustful System-Chapter 267 - The Calm That Precedes The Storm

Standing a few inches away from the emperor, Haruki kept up his guard while pretending not to be as conscious of threats as he was while fighting the royal guards. Moving closer to Haruki with his ragged browned robe fluttering to the side, Atlas shooed off the royal guards with a fanning gesture from his hands.

"Bring a woman condemned to death from the dungeon," He ordered, looking at the beat-up leader laying blood-ridden on the ground. "And once you're done, hand over your garbs for none of you are fit to serve under our great lord."

Hearing Atlas pretend as though he wasn't the god that he posed to serve, Haruki was a bit thrown off but refrained from questioning him about anything just yet. Once the soldier struggled up his feet and began walking away with his head lowered in shame, Atlas stomped his feet forward as he walked to get Haruki's attention.

"It's almost been three weeks, your carnal curse would need some mending," alluding to the woman he'd ordered the guards to bring, Atlas spoke in a soft yet firm voice.

Striking his hand forward expecting a handshake, Atlas locked eyes with Haruki and was ready to keep stern until he got what he wanted. Although reluctant, with no real reason to poke him just yet, Haruki shook the emperor's hand.

"I have great plans for you, Shin," his hand gripping Haruki tight, Atlas gave him a gentle smile. "Just stay in line and prove your worth to me, and perhaps I'll halt the advances of my men at those kingdoms still held by your moronic army."

Letting go of him, Atlas curled his fingers into a fist before opening them back up and revealing a cloudy ball of crystal resting over his palm. A single sight of the marble was enough for Haruki to know exactly what the emperor was holding.

"Why don't you give that back to me?" Haruki asked, slowly reaching for Serena's soul.

Forming a fist again the emperor made the marble disappear once more.

"Not yet, I need you to prove yourself to be useful, and most importantly," getting even closer, Atlas leaned onto Haruki's ears and whispered. "Be loyal till the bitter end."

The way Atlas phrased his words, Haruki was reminded of Asuka's promise to him on their first night together. It made him wonder exactly how much of his past the emperor had a hold of, was it limited to his past memories from before his death, or had he seen everything that he knew this instant?

'If he knew about my interaction with Asmodia in purgatory, then I doubt he'd be this passive with me.' Chalking it to be the former, Haruki didn't pay the emperor's phrasing much mind.

"Now go on and rest," turning around, the emperor started walking away from Haruki and Nabe. "For now your orders are just to use that prisoner's body for the night and try not to die since another revival will be a huge waste of time."

His words lingering in the air, the emperor left the two baffled. Neither Haruki nor Nabe had expected him to act the way he did, especially Haruki who'd expected the first meeting with Atlas to be a lot more heated than the way it just happened.

"He's tired, I'm sure," mumbled Nabe to herself.

Glancing at her from the edge of his eyes, everything began to make more sense to Haruki. Having already been told about Atlas's fight with Dominion this very day, he was more and more inclined to believe Nabe's explanation.

"What now?" Haruki asked, unsure where to head off next.

"Your room I guess," Nabe replied, still looking in the direction her adoptive father had gone in.

'Why do I feel like something is wrong with him?' She thought, her mind racing through all kinds of negative thoughts.

The emperor himself wasn't feeling too well either. Walking through the passages he kept fiddling around with Serena's soul between his fingers, all the while his heart was crushing in remembrance of Asmodia.

"I'll soon have an heir, I shouldn't be thinking about her anymore," shaking the image of his dead lover out of his mind, he made his way to the room he'd once been poisoned by the very same person.

'The ghosts of your past don't die easy I suppose?' Accepting yet another night of unrest, he kept his emotions bottled up as he made it into his room. However, the moment he stepped in, he could've sworn he saw a faint afterimage of a woman akin to Asmodia moving around the room before hiding through thin air.

"Gospel: Show yourself," Atlas uttered, calmly, but then he cursed himself for having forgotten once again that the gospel of god doesn't work on demon lords.

Checking the place for himself, he scanned through every corner, every crevice of his room, only to be blown in the face by mustered-up dust.

"Have I gone insane?" He wondered before letting himself fall onto his bed.

***

Back in the minotaur dungeon, the whole army of monsters and remaining demons were temporarily put under the charge of Fay, the queen of Arachne and even to some degree Medusa, however, aiding them further to prepare for the oncoming war, Rose had lagged behind more for as long as she could now.

"I need to go check on Klian, Tiara said he has recovered completely now so maybe we can use his strength in battle as well?" Standing in the middle of the training ground where Stella was being secretly trained at the moment, Rose turned to Fay for her permission. "I can't stay here much longer, especially since this place is getting more and more chilly and I need to scold that idiot of a brother for making this place so uncomfortable to live in."

"Sure, but don't be long, from what I've heard from Moriyana, the war isn't all that far," focusing on Stella trying to cast a spell, Fay let Rose off the hook. Too consumed by Stella's inability to cast offensive magic or even support magic on will, she couldn't afford to be distracted.

"Alright, Doroke and Hawthorn are still here so take care of them for me and make them work if needed," with that Rose turned her body from that of a maid into a humanoid dragonkin with burning scales all over her body for warmth.

For a moment, Stella looked at her with awe and even gasped out loud at her godmother's transformation. Winking back at her little angel, Rose sprouted out her wings to entertain her further before flying out through the dungeon tunnels.

Coming out of the dungeon, Rose was assaulted by the bone-chilling winds of the blizzard. Turning to look at her brother still laying on top of the Frost castle, she took to the skies and jolted towards him while the countless embers from her wings fell down to the ground and began thawing the land a little. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔

Landing right beside the tower on which Klian was sleeping, Rose noticed a much smaller Frost dragon slumbering on top of his nose. Resting her hands by her hips she made her way to Tiara's dainty frame and poked her nose with a flaming index.

"Aghhh!" She cried, waking up in an instant.

Covering her nose, she looked right at her mom standing in front of her in her human form.

"I told you not to turn into your dragon form, if someone sees you like this," pinching her cheeks, Rose pulled Tiara off of Klian's body. "Then you'll be in a boatload of trouble, you know?"

"Rose…" Waking up from his niece's cries, Klian looked at Rose with his snowy silver eyes. "Why are you here? I thought you didn't like the cold?"

His voice alone made the very ground under them tremble, but even if it were to fall, thankfully they all knew how to fly. Letting go of Tiara, Rose turned to her brother to explain to him everything that had happened so far. It took a while for her to get things through to him with Tiara's presence since she had to water down some grueling parts which were quite unfitting for the ears of a child.

"I did see that bastard general coming out of that dungeon a while ago," raising his head, Klian looked right at the entrance to the minotaur dungeon. "Seems like you've all moved back in though."

"We can talk about that later, for now, just tell me you can fight again," hearing his sister's plea, Klian looked down at her before replying.

"A battle to overthrow the god who's killed our family and my only son?" Lowering his head to get as close to Rose as he could get, Klian peered into her eyes as he finished relaying his answer. "Don't make me laugh by asking, you already know that I want to munch on the bones of that bastard!"

With a smile on her face, Rose clutched his face between her hands.

"I'm sorry I asked," she replied with a chuckle, and soon enough, even though she barely understood what was happening, Tiara joined in on the hug shared by the two dragons.