Chapter 579: Damians Request

"You seem surprised." Damian said, watching Linda carefully.

Linda nodded, unable to hide the surprise on her face. Her eyes continued wandering around the enormous room, taking in the extravagant furniture, the dark purple decorations and the faint supernatural aura that seemed to permeate every corner.

"Well, this is not what I expected the Underworld to be like." She admitted.

Damian chuckled and clicked his fingers. A cigar box immediately appeared on his other palm, seemingly pulled from nowhere.

He opened it, pulled out one of the cigars and placed it between his lips. The moment it touched them, a small flame appeared at the tip and began burning. Damian inhaled deeply, but his expression suddenly twisted with pain.

He immediately pulled the cigar away from his lips and bent forward as a violent cough escaped his throat. Several more followed, each one louder than the last, until blood splattered across his palm.

Linda’s surprise was instantly replaced with horror. Her body reacted before her mind could catch up, and she instinctively moved as though she wanted to rush to his side, only stopping herself at the last moment.

She grabbed her right arm with her left hand and pressed tightly, forcing herself to remain where she was.

"What’s wrong with you?" Linda asked from afar while trying to keep her tone neutral, though the concern in her voice was impossible to hide.

Damian chuckled and wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. "My soul has been heavily damaged.... Nothing too serious."

Damian shrugged indifferently as he put the cigar back in his mouth. Rin chuckled quietly at his reaction, Biron face palmed with one hoof, and Abel simply rolled his eyes as though Damian’s refusal to take his condition seriously was becoming predictable.

Linda’s face turned pale. "Damaged soul? How? Haven’t you been safe here?"

Linda blurted out several questions at once, her earlier surprise completely forgotten. Damian pulled the cigar from his mouth and blew out a plume of smoke through his nose before returning his attention to her.

"All the other princes of hell are Gods. I’m the only demigod in a world where demigods are common so it’s not surprising some demons tried to resist human rule. In one of those many battles my soul was damaged." Damian explained honestly. "But you don’t have to worry. My coronation was today and I killed the last stumbling block to my throne. That’s why I waited so long before coming back to earth to get my people."

Buzz!

Linda’s eyes widened with genuine surprise. "You mean you were..."

Damian nodded firmly. "I couldn’t bring everyone over when my position was still shaky and I could be killed at any moment... But it’s safe now, I have consolidated my power in this realm and I have also become the only prince of hell possessing two inheritances. No one would dare come to my realm and cause trouble recklessly. Even if they do, I’ll killed the same way I killed the sin of greed."

Rin nodded firmly from Damian’s shoulder. "With the throne of power of both Velmora and Gildreach combined you can effectively boost your strength all the way to the god realm. You don’t need arrays and tricks to defeat your siblings. You can fight them head on."

His tone carried an unusual certainty, and Linda noticed that none of Damian’s spirit beasts seemed particularly worried about his enemies anymore. They spoke as though the balance of power had shifted decisively in Damian’s favor.

Linda stared at Damian, unsure of what to say or how to respond to the story of his life. Looking at him now, she could see the emptiness in his expression more clearly than she had before.

Despite having no obvious physical wound, his mind and soul must have been scarred deeply by the challenges he had been forced to endure alone. For the first time since arriving in the Underworld, Linda felt something she had not expected to feel toward him.

Pity.

Knock! Knock!

The sound of knocking came from the door before William’s voice followed from the other side.

"Sire, you have several visitors... Ministers Ju..." He never finished.

"TELL EVERYONE TO FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE FOR ONE NIGHT GOD DAMNIT! I KILLED A FUCKING GOD TODAY AND I’M STILL NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE ONE PEACEFUL FUCKING NIGHT?!" Damian cut him off and growled furiously, his voice carrying enough authority to make the entire corridor outside fall silent.

"I... I apologize you majesty!" William stuttered, and his hurried footsteps soon rang across the hall as he retreated.

Damian fell back onto his couch and threw his head against the backrest. He blew out a plume of purple smoke with an exaggerated sigh, slowly shutting his eyes as the exhaustion he had been suppressing finally became obvious.

Linda’s eyes alternated between the door and Damian’s tired figure. She could finally see how stressful his life had been all this while. Even after returning victorious from a battle against another God and becoming ruler of another realm, he could not seem to find a moment where someone did not need something from him.

"It must have been hard for you." She muttered.

Rin nodded in Damian’s stead. "Ruling demons is not easy."

Linda nodded understandably before shifting her attention back to Damian. She hesitated for a moment, clearly weighing whether she should disturb him further, but there was one question that had been sitting in her mind ever since he brought her here.

"I’ll ask this one question and let you have your well deserved rest.... Why am I here?" Linda asked.

Damian lowered his head once again and focused on Linda. There was no hesitation in his expression when he answered.

"To marry and have a child with you."

Linda stared at Damian with a blank mind for several seconds. She did not even blink. The words seemed to pass through her ears without meaning before finally registering in her mind nearly a minute later.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"

Linda’s loud cry echoed throughout the room. Damian squinted at the disturbance while Rin and Biron immediately covered their ears with their paws and hooves. Abel merely remained where he was, his crimson eyes narrowing slightly as though he had already expected this reaction.

"In summary complete darkness or light cannot reproduce alone. Only a union of light and darkness can create the balance needed for reproduction to take place, so I need someone from the path of light to make mine and have a child with. Especially now my soul has been shattered and I’m no longer immortal." Damian said.

He leaned forward and picked up a jug of wine and a clean goblet, filling it to the brim. Linda remained frozen for a moment before her face flushed red.

"So this is all for the purpose of having a child?" She questioned.

"True. You are here mostly because you can give me a child while my other concubines and wife can’t. However I have always wanted to see you naked, I just couldn’t get close enough because of Corbin." Damian shrugged indifferently before chugging down the contents of the cup in one go.

Bam!

Damian slammed the cup onto the table and sighed loudly. He fell back into the chair and shut his eyes while Linda was left confused and thinking.

Her mind struggled to decide which part of his statement she should even react to first. She was not sure what to scream out, his lustful intentions toward her or the fact that he apparently had a wife and concubines already.

Yet beneath her confusion was another uncomfortable truth she had never completely acknowledged. She had always wanted to get closer to Damian, but the difference between their paths and the circumstances surrounding them had always kept her from making a move.

Damian’s eyes opened and he abruptly stood up. "Your heistation means it’s possible but just difficult to accept which is acceptable considering our history. So I’ll make some things clear... As long as I’m here, not even God can harm you, if you bear my child, even God’s will be afraid to harm you so don’t bother about my demon concubines."

Damian continued.

"As for my wife... She’s the former queen of the prince of Greed whom I just killed and conquered his territory. I need her help to stabilize my rule there. Just like most of my concubines, our union is political, you have nothing to bother from her, you two are realms apart." Damian walked around the table and began walking toward the balcony as he continued, his voice becoming calmer as he laid out the situation as though he were explaining a political arrangement.

"Finally, by sleeping with me, you are bound grow faster and become a Demi-god and even potentially a God. So forgo your bias about demons and angels. If hell is not the burning lake of fire which they made you think it is, don’t you think they must have lied about many other things?"

Linda opened her mouth but couldn’t find the right words to say. This was too much information for her to process in one go. She looked toward the balcony door, then back at Damian, her thoughts moving in several conflicting directions at once.

"Take you time... I leave my spirits beasts here with you so they can help you get food or bath or whatever you plan to do. They are also as strong as me so your security is assured. Feel free to roam the palace as much as you want. I’ll check in on the boys now."

Not waiting for a response, Damian walked out of the room, stepped onto the balcony and immediately flew into the open sky, heading straight for the Eastern Palace.