Chapter 27: The Demon Queen Returns
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
The Stellaris Academy was in a frenzy. The damage from the Entrance Exam had been repaired. The broken golems were replaced (at great expense). Banners of the Azure Empire hung from every tower.
Today was the day. The Ascension Day.
The sky above the Academy turned a deep, swirling purple. The clouds parted, revealing a tear in the fabric of the atmosphere. Through the tear, we could see another world—a world of floating continents, golden oceans, and mana so dense it looked like mist.
The Middle-Level World.
"They are here," Headmaster Altair announced, standing on the main podium. He looked healthy, fully recovered from the assassin's poison thanks to my... treatment.
Five thousand students stood in formation below. At the front stood the Aerthos Team:
Prince Valerian (puffed up like a peacock).
Lyra (adjusting her glasses nervously).
Kael (sharpening his greatsword).
Anya (eating a bag of spicy chips).
And me, Rudra (yawning).
"Big Brother," Anya whispered, pointing at the sky. "Is that a boat?"
"No," I narrowed my eyes. "That is a Star-Cruiser. Rank-5 Artifact. Capable of interplanetary travel."
A massive golden ship descended from the rift. It was the size of a city, decorated with pearls and singing crystals. It radiated an aura of absolute wealth and power.
The ship didn't land. It hovered over the plaza, casting a massive shadow. A golden staircase unfolded from the deck, reaching down to the ground.
Figures began to descend.
First came the Guards. They wore silver armor and held spears that crackled with lightning. Every single one of them was at the Core Formation Realm.
'In this world, they would be Elders,' I noted. 'In the Middle World, they are doorstops.'
Then came the Envoys.
Three elders wearing robes of white and gold. They floated down, not bothering to use the stairs. Their auras were suffocating. Demigod Realm—or at least, suppressed to the absolute limit of what this world could handle.
"I am Elder Sirius of the Divine Sky Academy," the lead Envoy announced. He didn't bow. He didn't smile. He looked at Headmaster Altair like a human looks at a clever monkey. "We have come to inspect the... harvest."
He scanned the students of Stellaris Academy. He sneered.
"Weak. Thin Qi. Impure roots. Is this the best a Low-Level World can offer?"
"We have prepared our champions," Altair said, keeping his voice steady despite the insult. "They are ready for the Tournament."
"We shall see," Sirius scoffed.
Suddenly, a hush fell over the golden ship. The guards knelt. The Envoys bowed their heads.
"She is coming," Sirius whispered, his arrogance replaced by fear.
A final figure stepped onto the golden staircase.
She didn't float. She walked. But every step she took seemed to echo in the souls of everyone present.
She was young—perhaps seventeen. She wore a dress of midnight-blue silk that shimmered like the night sky. Her hair was long, black, and flowed like liquid ink. Her skin was pale as moonlight, and her eyes were a piercing, vibrant Violet.
She was beautiful. But it was a terrifying beauty. It was the beauty of a storm, or a poisonous flower.
"Who is that?" Valerian gasped, drooling. "She... she is a goddess."
"That," Ria whispered in my ear, her voice tense, "is Lady Seraphina von Aethelgard. She is the heiress of the Aethelgard Clan—the strongest family in the Middle World. Her talent is rumored to be Divine Rank. She is not an Envoy. She is... a tourist."
Seraphina walked down the stairs. She looked bored. Incredibly bored.
She looked at the Academy, at the students, at the sky of Aerthos, and she sighed.
"So dusty," Seraphina murmured. Her voice was melodic, like a dark lullaby. "Why did Father insist I come here? 'Go for a stroll,' he said. 'It will be fun,' he said. This place smells of mud and mediocrity."
She reached the ground. The Envoys rushed to clear a path for her.
"Lady Seraphina!" Elder Sirius fawned. "Please, stand back. The locals are unwashed. We don't want you to catch a disease."
Seraphina ignored him. She walked past the Headmaster without glancing at him. She walked straight toward the Aerthos Team.
She stopped in front of Prince Valerian.
Valerian straightened his back, flashing his most charming smile. "My Lady, I am Prince Valerian of—"
"Move," Seraphina said.
She waved her hand. A wave of force blasted Valerian ten feet to the left. He crashed into a statue.
"You are blocking my view," she said.
She continued walking down the line. She paused at Anya.
She looked at the little girl. Anya looked back, crunching a chip.
Seraphina's violet eyes narrowed. "A Phoenix? In a mud pit? Interesting."
Then, she took one more step.
And she saw me.
I was standing at the end of the line, arms crossed, looking at her with a calm, indifferent expression.
Our eyes met.
Violet met Silver.
THUMP.
The moment our gazes locked, the world seemed to freeze.
To me, she was a stranger. I had never met a 'Seraphina' in my 10th life.
But my soul... my soul screamed.
Deep inside me, the 5th Seal—the seal of the Demon Paragon—began to vibrate violently. It wasn't unlocked, but it was reacting. It was recognizing something.
And for Seraphina... it was an avalanche.
The Memory.
Seraphina froze. The boredom in her eyes vanished, replaced by confusion, then shock, then agony.
She clutched her head.
"Argh..."
A vision ripped through her mind. It wasn't a memory of her life as Seraphina, the genius of the Middle World.
It was a memory from before. From a time when the stars burned red.
She saw herself. But she wasn't human. She had horns. She had black wings. She was Lilith, the Queen of the Demon Realm.
She saw a man. A man standing on a mountain of corpses. He didn't have silver eyes then; they were red. He was the Demon Paragon. Her enemy. Her conqueror. Her husband.
She remembered the betrayal. The Arbiters descending from the void. The Order of Providence turning on them.
She remembered standing back-to-back with him.
"Rudra," she had said, bleeding golden demon blood. "Go. You must reincarnate. You must try again."
"I won't leave you, Lilith," he had roared.
"You have to," she smiled, tears of blood running down her face. "I will buy you time."
She remembered charging at the Faceless Arbiters. She remembered detonating her Demon Core—a suicide attack that shattered a galaxy to let his soul escape.
"Find me..." she had whispered as she disintegrated. "In the next life... find me..."
The Present.
The vision ended.
Seraphina gasped, falling to her knees. Tears streamed down her face—not tears of sadness, but of overwhelming, crushing realization.
"Lady Seraphina!" Elder Sirius panicked, rushing toward her. "What happened? Did the local air poison you? Someone call the medic!"
"Get away!" Seraphina screamed.
A burst of Dark Mana exploded from her body. It wasn't the mana of a cultivator. It was the mana of a Demon Queen.
The shockwave knocked the Envoys backward.
The entire plaza went silent.
Seraphina stood up. She was trembling. She looked at me.
She didn't see Rudra the student. She saw the soul she had died for.
She walked toward me. Her steps were shaky.
"Lady?" Valerian whispered from the ground. "Are you okay?"
She ignored the world. She stopped inches from my face.
She reached out a trembling hand and touched my cheek.
"You..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "You took your time."
I looked at her. I felt the resonance. The sorrow. The love.
And then, a name floated up from the depths of my locked memories.
"Lilith?" I whispered.
The moment I said the name, Seraphina broke.
The ice-cold genius of the Middle World, the girl who looked at everyone like trash, threw her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest.
"You idiot!" she sobbed, hitting my chest weakly. "Do you know how long I waited? Do you know how boring it is to be a human noble? I hate tea parties! I hate politics! I missed you!"
The plaza erupted into chaos.
"WHAT?!"
"The Lady Seraphina is hugging the trash?!"
"Did she just say she missed him?"
"Is he her secret lover?!"
Ria, standing behind me, narrowed her eyes. Her internal database flashed red.
"Target Identification: Lilith, former Demon Queen. Status: Second Wife. Threat Level: High. Competition Level: Extreme."
Anya stopped eating her chips. She looked at the woman hugging her brother. She frowned.
"Big Brother? Who is the crying lady? Is she going to steal my snacks?"
I stood there, holding the sobbing Demon Queen in the middle of the Academy plaza.
I looked at the stunned Envoys. I looked at the terrified Headmaster.
"Well," I sighed, patting Seraphina's hair. "This complicates things."
Seraphina pulled back. Her eyes were red, but her smile was terrifyingly bright. It was the smile of a demon who just got her favorite toy back.
She turned to face the Envoys. Her demeanor shifted instantly from 'crying girl' to 'Empress.'
"Elder Sirius," she commanded cold.
"Y-Yes, My Lady?" Sirius stammered.
"Change of plans," Seraphina pointed at me. "I am not taking a stroll anymore."
She wrapped her arm around my arm, claiming me.
"I am staying here. In his villa."
"But... But My Lady!" Sirius choked. "He is a Low-Level commoner! It is improper! Your father will—"
"My father," Seraphina's eyes glowed violet, "can come down here and fight me if he has a problem. This man is under the protection of the Aethelgard Clan."
She looked at Prince Valerian and Vice-Principal Vex, who looked like they were having heart attacks.
"And if anyone," Seraphina announced, her killing intent spiking to Demigod levels, "touches a hair on his head... I will open a Gate to the Demon Realm and feed this entire planet to the Void Hounds."
She looked up at me, blinking innocently.
"Is that okay, Darling?"
I smirked.
"A bit dramatic," I admitted. "But I like the enthusiasm. Welcome back, Lilith."
"It's Seraphina now," she corrected, resting her head on my shoulder. "But you can call me whatever you want... later."
I looked at the sky.
The tournament hadn't even started, and I had already acquired a Demon Queen.
The Order of Providence was going to have a very bad year.