Chapter 356 Blessing of the Moon Spirit
Yet, after summoning this fire, the spirit beast simply gazed at him.
"Demon King... such a power is dangerous, who will stop you if you lose your reason?"
"I do not plan to lose my sanity," he said. "However, I also won\'t allow anyone to stop me," he added.
At that moment, Alice, feeling her jealousy and inferiority complex growing, noticed the majestic silver ape gaze her way. His calm eyes were filled with knowledge and spirit.
—Daughter of this land, do you seek to defeat this man?
A low yet ethereal voice echoed inside Alice\'s mind, causing her to grasp her head and tremble. Each word made her head feel like it might explode. The ape glanced down at Alice and then towards Asmodeus. At that point, Asmodeus curled his lips into an excited smile. Both fists smouldered with blood flames, clenching them tightly. "Stop delaying ape!"
His gaze flicked towards Alice, seeing her suffering, with both hands holding her head made Asmodeus feel nervous, stopping his attack.
—He possesses strength unknown to any living being in this world; he even has the potential to oppose the gods themselves! Yet, you wish to continue fighting him despite the impossibility?
\'I must beat him... so he cannot run away and avoid me.\' Alice recalled her months of training with Asmodeus and the feeling of powerlessness compared to his strength, realising she would be lucky to hit him even once in a single encounter. Yet even that was something he allowed or let happen on purpose.
\'I must become stronger than this womaniser... then keep him in line!\' She repeated this sentence endlessly in her heart as she slowly crawled through the mud toward Asura. Her determination swelled until the Moon Guardian finally stopped speaking to her, allowing her to regain some semblance of control.
—Do you truly wish for strength, young child? The responsibility for gaining such strength might bind you even more.
The moon ape floated above the pair, watching with wise and intelligent eyes that reflected the starry skies above. The moonlight created a pillar of light as Ullak extended both arms towards Alice.
"Yes... I don\'t care what happens..." Alice mumbled, biting her lips, almost drawing blood, as she felt an instinctive need to accept whatever the giant beast told her.
—So foolish, mortal beings always seek destruction... but this existence needs one to keep it in check... Baku, my old friend, help me and get revenge for your shameful loss!
Ullak then asked the impatient Asmodeus, "Do you truly seek a challenge that will make you fight to your limit?"
With the power he held in his hands, he wanted to fight someone, anyone stronger than him... To give him the thrill and sensation of victory. Asmodeus needed that impact to push him over the edge, to break his current form into the next.
"I do... fight me!"
CLAP—!
"Damn, this old man... so he wants to do that..." Baku sighed from the distance before hopping towards the clearing. "You old monkey... asking me to do this means the others will not remain quiet.."
"Shut up, you sick, old cat!" Ullak scolded.
Both of them glared at one another. However, it was only to put on a show for Asmodeus.
—From now on, if this monster goes berserk or threatens the fate of the world... you must stop him. Young child, do you still accept??
Despite speaking to Baku with an angry and irritated voice, when he whispered to Alice, it was like a grandfather coaxing his grandchild, his tone soothing. Alice continued to move toward Asmodeus.
No one spoke, not even Alice or the creature. She stepped beside Asmodeus, holding his shoulder, whispered something in his ear, then stepped forward and into the moonlight.
"Give her your full blessing, cat! This girl will be our holy child!"
"Tsk... I already planned to, but you sneak in and act like some saviour, damn ape... I am going to piss on your Bananas!"
.
.
.
Soon after the conversation ended, the full moon\'s pillars of light lit up the small clearing, illuminating everything with bright rays that sparkled against her skin as she moved around.
Asmodeus gathered something would happen. Thus, he didn\'t force the fight... he could feel a power different from the divine from the moonlight, but the moment he saw Alice step into it, his lips curled upward into a sly grin. \'Good...\' as if this was something he aimed for, rather the voice of Serena revealed the truth.
[You went around beating up all the relatives of Baku just for this, right?]
\'Ah... so she can gain a unique power. The power of demons would become a shackle for Alice.\'
Although Baku said he surrendered to Asmodeus, the truth about his desire for revenge would never end because tigers hated losing.
"Agh...!?" A painful cry left the soft lips of Alice as she stumbled backwards while holding her head once again; waves of light flowed through her hair. Yet her legs spread apart, digging into the dirt to keep standing, biting her lower lip, sinking her teeth deep enough to draw blood until her legs almost buckled underneath the weight of what was happening to her.
Her heartbeat was pounding like thunder and making her chest heave as droplets formed under her nose, running along her face and dripping down her neck.
Crimson beads fell, causing Asmodeus to gaze at her with a strange face. His pupils focused on her state, no longer thinking about the battle. Her skin flickered with black stripes as if she had gained the power of a tiger, while her muscles bulged and condensed tightly as if she had gained the strength of a gorilla.
"I... can handle it... give me more power..."
"This child is interesting, Baku... give her \'that\' I will too!"
"You want to do that...? Very well, we haven\'t done that in over two thousand years... Since that child vanished."
"Do not mention that... I am sure she perished."
The energy flowing into Alice surged towards her chest, where her heart raced so intensely that even Alice couldn\'t bear it and clenched her chest.
Inside her body, the heart swelled, almost bursting, beating powerfully as the energy constantly gathered inside. This intense pain caused her to gasp for air, touching her throat. A blazing white fire erupted from her spine. The immense pressure overwhelmed her nerves.
However, no matter how much pain assaulted Alice\'s small figure, sometimes she looked at Asmodeus with a ferocious determination, unwilling to succumb despite the difficulty, with veins bulging from her face, sharp fangs and a pair of fluffy striped ears.
Then, both beasts moved to either side of the woman and cut their wrists, allowing a thick droplet of their blood to flow into the mouth of Alice.
Ba-Dump!
An explosive sound resonated as her eyes widened and shot open as if she had come close to death, with tears streaking down her cheeks.
The sound of her heartbeat the moment she swallowed their blood caused Asmodeus to feel his body tremble.
\'Powerful...\'
Unlike the spiritual and magical power Asmodeus gained from being a Demon King, Alice\'s change was mostly physical. Her body became something akin to a heavenly weapon.
"Hrrk..."
She knelt on the ground, breathing rapidly to catch her breath after swallowing such blood. Blood coated her lips and chin, forcing her to swallow whatever had been pushed down her throat.
Alice was neither human nor Beastkin. Her body carried Baku\'s ears and tail, but her eyes became similar to Ullak\'s. They were wise and determined, filled with a ferocious fighting spirit. "I can take it..." Despite facing unbearable agony and fear, Alice spoke in a raspy yet powerful voice that echoed throughout the clearing.
Noticing the change, both beasts continued to watch silently without interfering again.
Rather, their bodies felt hollow... this action stopped both of them from getting into a fight with Asmodeus because they carried the wisdom to know that the annoying Demon King wouldn\'t let them stop... so gifting the young maiden their blessing and divine blood... would divert his battle frenzy towards her, who also felt the same.
"Ullak... was granting our gift to a girl like this smart..."
"Heh, who cares as long as it\'s amusing! I wonder how that dumb bird and lizard will react when meeting her!"
"You mean the bird brain and that annoying old fart."
"Hehe... indeed. They always wanted a new successor..."
Asmodeus remained still, watching Alice\'s transformation unfold before his very eyes with a serious expression. He felt a growing excitement because he felt her body\'s vitality and power—the thumping of her heart, like a spirit beast—yet the curse didn\'t activate due to their relationship to the divine.
\'To think her curse would be cleansed this way...\'
The curse of Grigor faded as she endured; the pain, in fact, was half because of the curse being directly torn from her body with the moonlight and wind from the two divine spirit beasts. \'Heh... so divine energy can purify the curse too.\'
Asmodeus crossed his arms as the moonlight slowly faded into Alice\'s body as if time had reversed around her.
His lips curled into a grin as he narrowed into slits, eager to challenge her. He had expected to fight the ape, but the unexpected appearance of Baku made everything change.
When he realised the difference in her strength, Asmodeus couldn\'t help but deepen his smile.
"I guess I can\'t just avoid her advances anymore..."