For some reason, Dakros felt a wild surge of survival instinct trembling in his heart— something he hadn’t experienced in hundreds of years.
The last time he’d felt this way was probably when the gods drove them to the edge of the world.
Even then, the gods couldn’t completely exterminate the forbidden demons like him— they had no choice but to negotiate and divide up the territories.
Because it was nearly impossible to kill someone above Tier Nine.
But now, from this girl named Truth, Dakros was feeling a kind of pressure even the gods couldn’t give him.
His instincts were screaming— Truth might actually have a way to erase him from this world…
No, he absolutely couldn’t let her lock onto him! That ancient magic array she’d shown proved it— this woman was definitely some ancient relic that had just reawakened.
Not giving Truth the slightest chance to target him, Dakros vanished on the spot— clean and swift.
Avenge his offspring? He had tons of descendants; losing one wasn’t a big deal. Survival of the fittest, that’s all.
“Whoa, ran off without a second thought. No wonder he’s survived for centuries— sharp old bastard.”
Truth had no more chance to eliminate him.
Once Dakros’ pressure vanished, the sound of demon hunters approaching echoed from outside the manor.
So Truth switched back to her priest panel and looked around at the chaotic scene.
Everyone had collapsed unconscious, but thankfully, no one seemed seriously hurt.
Still, this wasn’t a good look. Everyone had seen her like this.
Might as well pass out too— leave the explaining to Reg.
“Ahh, my head feels so dizzy~”
After transmitting a message to Reg’s mark and setting up erasure measures, Truth gently laid down on Suna’s soft lap.
Not long after, Kavel led a squad of elite demon hunters into the Suho Manor…
No telling how much time had passed when Suna finally stirred, her head feeling unbearably heavy.
She’d had a dream— she was out shopping with Truth.
When they passed a pet shop, Truth bought her a collar, placed it around her neck, and led her down a crowded street.
While Truth chatted with others, Suna had to kneel on the floor, clinging tightly to Truth’s leg, listening intently to her every word:
“Oh? Your little pup is pregnant already? Makes sense. Mine’s about that age too— time to find her a mate.”
What the hell?! In the manor hall, Suna jolted up in shock:
“Breeding?! No way that’s happening!”
Suddenly, everyone turned to stare at her. Gasping for breath, she looked around in confusion.
The demon hunters were handling the aftermath, several priests working to treat the wounded— including Reg, Anderson, and her father.
All the demons were gone. Everyone was safe now.
Suho wanted to check on his beloved daughter, but unfortunately, he couldn’t move his legs.
He gave her a faint nod to signal he was okay. The demon hunters glanced curiously at Suna, then resumed their work.
Only now did Suna realize she was lying on a barely-holding-together soft couch, with a junior priest— not nearly as cute as Truth— tending to the wound on her abdomen.
“Breeding?” the unfamiliar priest asked in confusion.
“Ah, that… no, I mean…” Suna didn’t know how to explain herself. Right, just say she was under demonic influence!
Wait— where was Truth?
Suna looked around and spotted Truth being questioned by a tall, heavily armored demon hunter:
“You don’t remember anything after waking up?”
“Mhm! I swear on the name of the Goddess, I really don’t remember a thing. Can I go help the wounded now?”
Truth stood on tiptoe, looking anxious. Was he done questioning her or not? If she didn’t start healing soon, there’d be no wounded left!
Kavel placed a hand over the life amulet on his chest. A moment later, the voice of the Goddess of Life echoed in his mind:
“She’s clean.”
The Goddess of Life was watching everyone present. She could tell that Truth had no trace of demonic taint, and her life energy was pure— textbook priest.
Even a god couldn’t detect anything off about Truth now that she’d switched back to her priest panel.
With the goddess’ confirmation, Kavel let her go and turned to question Reg and Anderson.
Watching Truth rush excitedly toward the wounded, Suna felt a storm of emotions. That demon… it should still be inside her, right?
Everything before she passed out felt like a dream.
She vaguely remembered successfully summoning a powerful demon to defeat Norton, but then Norton summoned an even stronger one in return.
Unable to withstand the pressure, she passed out…
Just then, demon hunter Morpheus approached Suna and waved a detection tool over her:
“Miss Suna, you’ve got a strong demonic aura on you. Do you remember what happened before you lost consciousness?”
Norton had grabbed her by the throat, and the demonized Truth had stood beside her for a while, making Suna one of the people with the most demonic energy in the area.
Kavel asked Reg the same question. Reg shouted out the entire pre-blackout sequence for all to hear— Anderson, Suna, and Suho included:
Didn’t know anything. Woke up like this. Everyone’s minds seemed to have been confused by a demon.
End of story.
Anderson nodded in agreement. He didn’t know why Reg was covering for Truth—was he threatened, or brainwashed?
He’d have to get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, if Reg suddenly dropped dead, claiming his inheritance would get tricky.
Honestly, Reg was cursing inside too. Truth dumped all the explaining on him and forbade him from exposing her? Like he was any good at talking his way out of this!
After questioning several people, Kavel realized their stories were all pretty similar— blaming demonic confusion.
But a few guards, still playing dead on the ground, gave a different account: they said Suna had summoned a demon.
Suna denied it firmly.
Denied? But people who’ve made pacts with demons show clear signs— amplified negative emotions, strange body markings, and the like.
Just to be safe, they needed to run a full inspection on everyone.
“Young man, you know demons like to leave marks to mask their presence, right? To prevent any foul play, we’ll need to perform a full-body check. Take off your clothes and that bandage on your hand.”
Kavel said.
Reg froze. Shit— the dark magic mark on his hand!
If that got exposed, it was over. Clutching the bandage on his left hand, he looked anxiously toward Truth for help— but she didn’t even glance in his direction, busy healing the manor’s guards.
What the hell, so eager to save people now? And what about all the shady stuff you did before? Did your split personality come out to play?
Anderson, noticing Reg’s panicked expression, grew suspicious. Could this guy actually have some kind of demon lord’s power?
The same thing was happening on Suna’s side. She clutched the back of her neck tightly with both hands and shouted in panic:
“No, you can’t look!”
What now— if they saw the Hunt Mark on her, she was done for!
Her neck… Morpheus noticed something was off and was about to call someone over to restrain the panicked Suna when Suho’s voice suddenly rang out from behind:
“Sir Demon Hunter, you mustn’t look! It’s a family tradition— anyone who sees the back of a girl’s neck in our family has to marry her!”
“What?!”
Suna froze for a moment but quickly realized what her father was trying to do— he was helping her get out of this!
Even though the excuse was awful…
Suho figured that after making a deal with a demon, his daughter would definitely end up with some kind of mark, and if that was seen, she’d be sent straight to the stake.
No matter what, she was still his daughter. For Suna’s future, Suho quickly made something up to stall for time.
“Yes, yes, exactly! If you see it, then I, uh… I have to marry you! Even if it’s a girl who sees it, I still have to marry her!” Suna added.
There’s a tradition like that?! Morpheus was stunned. So was Anderson. No wonder Suna always wore her hair down at the academy— damn, if he’d known earlier, he might’ve scored a rich wife!
Morpheus looked to Captain Kavel for instructions. Kavel was currently peeling back the bandage on Reg’s left hand like he was unwrapping a baby chick.
“You can’t take it off, sir! If you do, there’ll be a curse!” Reg shouted.
But Kavel couldn’t care less. Without turning, he replied to Morpheus:
“Then have a married woman do it. Truth, you patched things up with your little girlfriend yet? If you did, go check Suna’s neck.”
Kavel still remembered Truth saying she had a girlfriend.
“On it,” Truth answered, tiptoeing over to the wide-eyed Suna.
Married… woman? Girlfriend?
Truth had a girlfriend?
Since when?!
Suna was instantly petrified, her expression blank, all resistance gone.
She didn’t stop Truth as she gently lifted her hair and looked at her fair neck.
“Nothing there.”
With the check done, Truth went right back to healing the wounded, while Anderson’s dreams of a rich wife shattered.
At that moment, Suna wanted to ask who Truth’s “girlfriend” actually was, but she didn’t have the nerve to face the reality that “Truth really has a girlfriend.”
I was the one who kissed her first…
Before Suna’s hair fell back into place, a demon hunter lurking in the corner snuck a peek and gave Kavel a nod.
All clear.
There really was nothing on Suna’s neck. Now that she’d become Truth’s pet, Truth could locate her at any time, so the Hunt Mark was no longer needed.
At the same time, Kavel unwrapped the bandage from Reg’s hand. Despite Reg’s repeated cries of “No, stop!”, Kavel found nothing there.
Clean and white…
“Nothing at all… So what were you yelling about? Someone, check all of them head to toe!” Kavel said, a little annoyed.
Reg was just as confused. Where did the mark go? Truth actually erased it without telling him— after all that dramatic yelling?
Anderson gave him a smug look from the side:
“What’s wrong, your demon lord power got exposed?”
“Screw off!”
Tch. And here I thought this guy was hiding something good…
“Captain, what should we do with these two? Our team doesn’t have any women— it’s not really appropriate to check them ourselves,” Morpheus said, pointing at the still-stunned Suna and Truth.
“No problem. A high priestess will be arriving soon. She can handle it.”
Tftc!