His eyes, still sharp with the thrill of reclaimed power, didn't quite register my demand. One moment, he was surveying his delightfully gloomy kingdom, a predatory smile playing on his lips. The next, his arm was within reach. My stomach rumbled, a loud, insistent growl that defied the ominous landscape. Food. That was the primary objective.
Without thinking, I hugged his arm, burying my face into the surprisingly soft, dark fabric of his sleeve. "I want food," I mumbled, my voice muffled. "Give me something to eat."
He stiffened, a faint tremor running through the arm I was clinging to. I could almost hear his internal gears grinding:
A human. Clinging to my arm. Demanding sustenance. It was probably not how he envisioned his glorious return. But before he could process my audacity, the world around us started to change.
A low, guttural murmur began to rise from the very ground beneath us, growing quickly into a chorus.
Not thunder, but something primal, awakening. Shapes began to stir in the perpetual twilight of the Forbidden Forest – hulking forms, shadowy figures with glowing eyes, hundreds, then thousands of them. They moved like a dark tide, flowing towards us from between the twisted, thorny trees. His army. His demons.
My demon king, Lin Suching, barely spared them a glance. His attention was still fixed on me, or more accurately, on the weird, clinging appendage that was me. With a sigh that sounded more like a rumble of distant thunder, he moved. Not with a step, but with a sudden, powerful surge. One moment, my feet were on the craggy ground; the next, I was scooped up. He held me not gently, but efficiently, like a very expensive, very inconvenient package.
My arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, my face pressed against his surprisingly solid chest.
Then, we were airborne.
The wind whipped around us, cold and smelling faintly of brimstone. Below, the Forbidden Forest was a swirling vortex of awakening darkness, a sea of monstrous faces and gleaming eyes. They roared, a sound that vibrated through my bones, but it wasn't a roar of aggression towards us. It was a roar of triumph, of loyalty.
Their king had returned, and they were rising.
As we rocketed through the twilight sky, a massive, brooding structure began to dominate the horizon. It was a castle, but not the pretty, fairy-tale kind. This was a fortress carved from obsidian, its spires sharp as daggers, its gates like the maw of some ancient beast.
Dark banners, rippling in the demonic wind, hung from its battlements. It was everything a demon lord's palace should be: terrifying, magnificent, and utterly, deliciously overpowered.
I tightened my grip around his neck. "Whoa," I breathed, the alcohol-induced wonder momentarily eclipsing my hunger. "Your palace is… seriously cool. Like, villain-lair-chic."
He didn't respond, just continued his silent, impossibly fast flight. I could feel the subtle shift in his power, the way my own drunken energy seemed to feed into him, making his flight smoother, faster. My battery status was confirmed.
As we neared the palace, hundreds of smaller, winged demons soared up to greet us, circling him with fervent cries. It was like a very dramatic, very loud welcome committee. I watched them, fascinated. So many different types! I wonder if they have different abilities. This is way better than any anime I've seen.
We landed with a soft, almost imperceptible thud on a vast, shadowed courtyard. Stone gargoyles with glowing eyes peered down from above. Demons, in all their terrifying, varied glory, knelt before him, their roars of allegiance echoing off the black walls.
He finally looked down at me, still cradled in his arms.
His gaze was intense, a strange mix of annoyance and something else I couldn't quite decipher. "You continue to surprise me, mortal," he rumbled, his voice still low, but now tinged with a faint weariness. "Such persistent… demands."
I just shrugged, trying to get comfortable. "Well, I'm stuck here now, right? And I'm still hungry. You said I was 'worthy,' so feed your worthy… um… battery?"
He let out a sigh that rustled the air around us, a deep, weary sound that spoke of centuries of silent suffering now compounded by a very vocal, very hungry human. I could almost hear the thoughts battling in his ancient mind: A millennia of solitude, then this. This chaotic, demanding creature. She possesses immense power, yet she is consumed by such trivial earthly desires.
He simply turned, carrying me into the gaping maw of his palace, his demons parting like a dark sea. The air inside was cooler, heavier, imbued with an ancient stillness. It was clear that while he respected my power, he was far from understanding my needs. And my most immediate need? Definitely food.
He carried me deeper into the palace, past towering obsidian columns carved with intricate, unsettling patterns, and through vast halls where the air hummed with a quiet, powerful energy.
The silence was almost as heavy as in his prison, but here, it felt like coiled power rather than trapped despair. It was dark, dramatic, and surprisingly clean for a place that looked like it had been carved from the very heart of a volcano. Definitely not a health hazard like that dusty tower, I mused.
My stomach, however, was still staging a rebellion. Just as I was about to repeat my demands for spicy noodles, he finally set me down.
Not on a velvet throne, or a pile of demon furs, but at a long, intricately carved black table. And on that table...
My eyes widened. It wasn't some grotesque demon cuisine of eyeballs and sulfur. It was a veritable feast of human food.
Whole roasted animals, gleaming platters of what looked like rice, steaming bowls of vegetables, and an array of sauces and fresh fruits. It was almost too much to take in, especially after surviving on instant noodles for what felt like an eternity.
He must have sensed my surprise, or perhaps the sheer, unadulterated gluttony in my expression.
His gaze, which had softened almost imperceptibly from "ancient fury" to "mildly annoyed," settled on me. "What is your name?" he asked, his voice still a low rumble, but with an edge of something… not curiosity, but perhaps the pragmatism of a king needing to catalog his new, bewildering acquisition.
I blinked, momentarily distracted from the glorious spread. "Mei," I managed, my voice a little less slurred now that the pure shock of the situation was starting to wear off. My stomach gave another loud gurgle, making me blush, if a little drunkenly. "And yours, my Lord?"
He regarded me for a long moment, as if debating whether to grace such a strange creature with his true name. "Lin Suching," he finally stated, the name rolling off his tongue with the weight of ages, he seemed tired those chains must have taken a tall on him. "Now, eat. Your peculiar… power seems to require ample sustenance."
He thinks I need to eat for my power? I almost laughed.
Buddy, I just need to eat because I'm starving! But I wasn't about to correct a literal demon king who'd just provided a feast for my poverty striken self , i had once vowed to marry the man that would one day give me an all i can eat feast on my table .
My hands, still a little shaky, reached for the nearest roasted bird. This was going to be an interesting new life.