★93
ASTERI'S POV
I headed straight to my room and sank onto the bed. After a moment, as if the timing had been perfect, Hinata appeared.
"Ati chan?"
"How is your training going?"
"I've been able to detect energy albeit unconsciously."
"Hmm—"
I was out of words, eyes staring blankly ahead.
"What's wrong, Ati chan? You look depressed."
Do I? I filed this mess just to get on bad terms with the so-called world's strongest.
"I… I gave up my title of being a Demon Lord."
She was surprised, everyone who heard it will be. It is my first goal after all.
"W—what happened? Was Guy sama behind this?"
I shook my head, my gaze on the floor.
"No. I chose to quit, that's all."
"Knowing you, there must be a reason behind this? Care to share it with me?"
She sat closer, our bodies touching each other.
'She sits closer. The message is clear. 'I'm here for you.' Comfort breeds confession. It always does.
Intimate connections. Using emotional intimacy to get me to feel safe, not alone, and open up with the fear of judgment and physical intimacy by touching me.
A woman's greatest weapon. Humans naturally trust more when there's physical touch I've been observing. She's using this to extract the information while asking politely.'
'And you'll fall for it.'
Enta added.
'Do you have another mask, Hinata? A manipulator pretending to care or a lover showing empathy?'
I glanced at her briefly before averting my eye.
"It hurts me to bear the Demon Lord status with beings far inferior to me. At least Guy and Milim are strong. I held respect for Ramiris. The rest are just there, losers."
She stayed silent, looking at me. I caught her eyes from the corners of my eyes.
'Did I say something bad? Humans naturally apologise, so I'll try.'
"I'm sorry, Hinata, this wasn't directed to all races below us but races who participate in the Demon Lord council."
'Hmm, it's basically the same thing.'
'Enta is right. As long as you're not a star, you will always be below us.'
She shook her head in disagreement.
"No. I didn't take it the way you're expecting. I took it the way you expressed it. Besides, I'm no longer a human, remember?"
She shot me a wink, and I felt like my heart skipped a beat.
'What's this?'
Taking this advantage, she closed in on my lips, stealing a kiss. The sensation cleared my mind, and I felt fresh again.
She held my arm, and we were teleported to the star by the Balance Dragons. She probably gave them the signal.
'I'm learning and understanding human emotions. She did this to cheer me up. Since it's part of the experiment, I'll blend in like I always do.'
"Antares."
Yin spoke up, glaring at me.
"Hey, is this how you should be treating your papa?"
I asked but it didn't move.
'Hmm, I wonder why Yin hates me.'
'Um, you stole the egg.'
'Then Yang should also be upset.'
'It's in their nature fool.'
Not in the mood to drag along, I snub Enta.
After welcoming Hinata, Yang flew over to my shoulder.
"Papa, let's play."
"Do all kids behave like this?"
I murmured. Human children does and now these dragons have similar traits.
"You kids have the knowledge of your parents, right?"
"No. You two are our parents, we don't know our biological ones."
Yang answered.
'I don't think you have one. You were magically created.'
"I have never met a dragon race before, but you can access the Parallel Plane of Energy, correct?"
"We, too, are unaware of our species, but we can observe them naturally even though we cannot interact with them. It must be an intrinsic trait."
It added, and I sighed. They are still kids, so I can't get anything from them.
"Even we stars, only 3% or less can access the Plane. Out of that little fraction, only 0.1% if not lower and can interact with Energy."
"Heh? So the natural energy such as magical energy isn't Energy?"
Hinata asked, and I shook my head before answering.
"Nope. 'Energy' is an existential force that cannot be tampered with. A person capable of interacting with them will be a god-like being. As Lady Elara told me, only two of the Omnis can achieve such a feat.
The natural energy are just products of a Fragments of Energy. For example, mana is a concentrated magical energy used for spellcasting. Magicule is the smallest unit of magical energy."{²}
"Well informed."
"Rare knowledge."
I replied plainly.
"Let's play and train."
"I'm not playing with you."
Yin snorted as it flew away. I closed the distance, grabbing its tail, it got mad but couldn't do anything. Hinata can't allow her babies to be bullied, so she intervened, holding my hand.
"Don't."
"I—I was just trying to play right, Yin? Right?"
It broke into exaggerated, fake tears, shamelessly shifting the blame onto me. And just like that, I found myself being scolded by the furious Queen of Dragons.
Afterwards, they decided I should stay exactly where I belonged. Training followed then gradually loosening into something closer to play, laughter mixing with clashing energy. I stayed put, watching it all unfold.
Maybe out of pity, or maybe because she felt it was unfair, Hinata eventually invited me to join them. It wasn't said outright, but I could tell—she didn't think I deserved all of that.
To be continued...