"AAGGHH!!"
A scream mixed with insults left his mouth.
The fissure was increasing in size, and Lilith was getting closer to how she looked in Hell. Akiyama, whom you could say was out of his mind, was shouting and didn't stop.
All of those things were making him annoyed.
'Damn! Damn! Damn!!'
He'd felt relieved when he learned that Lilith had entered Kurosaki Yurie's body.
He'd refused her for such a long time because of her appearance and felt guilty because of it numerous times.
He’d even considered asking her if they could live in separate rooms because of that.
But even still, he couldn't get close to her.
Even if he'd become a demon, his human taste didn't change.
'But still…'
He felt that everything would turn into dust.
The paradise he'd been craving so much… his paradise garden would get covered in tentacles.
'I won't be able to do it!'
He bit his lips.
He looked at the rampaging fissure.
The fissure was over 30 meters in size. It wouldn’t be weird if a dragon emerged from it, let alone Lilith.
‘I’ll close the fissure…’
‘No matter what.’
The only way to stop Lilith from returning to her original form was to close the fissure.
"Haa."
He took a deep breath.
He concentrated his strength in both of his hands. The huge amount of demonic energy within his blood rose up.
CRACK-!!
The sound of rocks being ground to dust was heard.
KangWoo's hands were bounced back by the fissure.
'Authority of Divine Power.'
He applied more pressure on the fissure.
He activated the passageway that led toward the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core.
A demonic energy of different quality spread through both his hands.
'…I'm going to close it.'
BOOM-!!
The earth shook.
A huge recoil shook his body.
The fissure that was increasing in size started to close from the force of KangWoo's demonic energy.
It was a scene as impressive as if someone was blocking a broken dam with the palms of his hands.
"Ugh."
Blood leaked out of his nose and slid down through his mouth.
"Haa."
Akiyama laughed in disbelief.
'Who is he?'
To think that he would close the fissure that was increasing in size without any kind of help while only using pure strength.
He couldn't understand it. No, it was impossible.
Not even an archduke would be able to close a fissure that was increasing in size like that with his brute strength.
'Is he really a human?'
He was even starting to wonder if KangWoo was a living organism.
It didn't matter how strong a human was. A person couldn't stop a natural disaster. Even more so if it was a dimensional disaster.
Akiyama gulped while looking at him, who'd gone beyond what a living thing should have been able to do.
'I can't give up.'
He had to finish the ceremony before the fissure was closed.
Akiyama desperately kept trying to cast.
He took a glimpse at Lilith, who was surrounded by demonic energy.
He saw something wiggling inside the demonic energy, but he thought that was part of the process of turning into a demon.
"Aaaaaagghh!!!"
He yelled and did his best to control the demonic energy.
The ceremony would soon end.
* * *
"AAGGHH!!"
KangWoo screamed in pain.
Blood vessels bulged all over his body.
He was using his demonic energy to its limit, so he felt his body was about to explode from the inside out.
If the Ten Thousand Demon Core was a water storage tank, it would be similar to the tank getting ready to burst from being overfilled with water.
'But…'
He couldn't give up at that point.
KangWoo looked down at the fissure.
It had shrunk to about three meters.
Considering that it was originally 30 meters in size, its size had been reduced to a mere 10%.
Ting.
[You've absorbed demonic energy from the fissure.]
[Warning. The quality of the demonic energy is poor. Starting the demonic energy refining process.]
A message appeared.
He didn't have time to worry.
KangWoo clenched his teeth and applied pressure on the fissure.
And…
Swoosh-
“Haa! Haa!”
The fissure finally closed.
KangWoo turned his head while breathing heavily.
He could see Akiyama smiling.
"Hehehe. It's already too late."
Akiyama was smiling proudly.
He turned his body to the altar and knelt.
"Ah! Ms. Lilith! Please, show me your real form!"
Akiyama's eyes were burning with lust.
Squeak-
The sound of mucus dripping to the ground was heard when Lilith stood up.
"Huh?"
Akiyama's eyes widened.
Dozens of tentacles wiggled. Eighteen red eyes were looking at him, and a long tongue licked at his lips.
It was a horrifying monster that wouldn’t even appear in his worst nightmares.
Akiyama's mouth fell open in surprise. The real aspect of the succubus queen was too different from what he'd imagined.
"Wh-what?"
"Fufufu. Thank you, worthless human. Thanks to you, I was able to recover my original form."
"Th-that's the real aspect… of the succubus queen?"
His body trembled in shock.
A thick smile appeared on Lilith's mouth.
"Fufufu. It seems like you're lost for words at my beauty."
"N-no…"
"Well, I guess it's understandable since, until this point, you've only seen ugly-looking human girls."
"What the…?"
Akiyama collapsed in place.
He turned his head to KangWoo.
"Haa, haa…"
KangWoo looked at Lilith with a desperate expression on his face.
"I told you to stop, you bastard."
"Ah…"
Akiyama looked at Lilith with a pale expression.
A desperate exclamation left his mouth.
Lilith's hands, which were made of tentacles, touched Akiyama's forehead.
"Well done, human. I want to give you a reward, but…"
Lilith's eyes focused on KangWoo.
Her mouth tore all the way up to her ears.
"Haa…"
It wasn't a comparative expression—her smile really reached all the way up to her ears.
"…But since my king is looking, I cannot do that."
A breathtaking sexual energy emanated from her.
It was surprising one could feel that despite her having such a horrifying appearance.
Akiyama's vision blurred as if he'd seen a ghost.
CRACK-!
Sharp tentacles pierced Akiyama's head.
He died there without being able to close his eyes.
After getting rid of Akiyama, Lilith quickly began walking toward KangWoo.
"D-don't get any closer.'
"My dear king, what are you saying?"
Lilith instantly approached him and embraced him.
KangWoo had used too much of his strength to close the fissure, so he wasn't able to escape from her.
The dozens of tentacles sprouting from all over her body covered KangWoo. A transparent and sticky mucus flowed down off KangWoo's body.
"Haha. My… my lovely king."
"Fuck."
He could feel her excited breath.
Her eighteen eyes were directed at him.
'Save me.'
He'd never felt such fear since he returned to Earth.
KangWoo opened his mouth and spoke with a trembling voice.
"Long… time no see."
"I'm sorry, my king. Although I knew you were here, you were craving for my true form so much that I wasn't able to meet you sooner."
'I never wished for such a thing.'
"But you can relax now, my king. I've been able to free myself from that disgusting appearance and return to my normal one."
'Please, return to looking like a human.'
He could feel a burning sensation on his lips.
"Can you not return… to looking like a human?"
"Of course I can."
Lilith flicked her fingers.
The dozens of tentacles that had appeared all over her body entered her skin, and she returned to looking like Kurosaki Yurie.
'Oh!'
It was obvious that KangWoo's eyes would shine.
Lilith took a deep breath and put her hands on her cheeks.
"I'm embarrassed to show such a sight to the king… but to live among humans, I feel like my original appearance would be a hindrance, so I set things up so I could return to looking like a human."
"Yes. Living here while looking like a demon would make your daily life harder."
KangWoo nodded.
Lilith, who’d taken the appearance of Kurosaki Yurie, smiled.
"Fufu. That's right. My original appearance is too beautiful for humans to handle."
'What kind of nonsense is that?'
"Ha. It's hard to be so beautiful."
'No…'
His head hurt.
'Wait…'
KangWoo's eyes shone.
It didn't matter the reason, but she was thinking of using her human appearance to be able to live among humans.
'That means…'
Most of the time, she would look like Kurosaki Yurie.
'Nice!!'
He clenched his fist.
Lilith being able to look like a human was an unexpected profit.
KangWoo nodded and said, "You're right. Humans can't handle your beauty."
"You're making me blush, Demon King."
Lilith's cheeks turned red.
"I don't want useless flies roaming around you."
"Fufu. Are you jealous, Demon King? You're really cute."
KangWoo grabbed her waist aggressively.
"KYAA!"
"Lilith, I don't want you to show your real form to other people."
"Ah, my king…"
"That's why… stay in this form. Always."
"B-but this form is too ugly."
Lilith turned her head around while making a sad expression.
"Lilith, your appearance doesn't matter."
He shook his head, raised his hand, and softly brushed her cheeks.
He kept talking with a soft voice.
"What's important is that you're Lilith. Not how you look."
"Ah…"
Tears dripped from her cheeks.
'I did it.'
The tip of KangWoo's mouth went up.
"I understood. Although it looks ugly… if this is what my king wants, I'll use the human appearance for my daily life."
'I did it!!'
He wanted to raise both hands and shout in excitement.
'I… I finally did it!!'
He'd been able to free himself from the horrifying tentacles.
It was the moment when his long-lasting desire became a reality.
Lilith laughed lightly while looking at KangWoo, who was moved.
"Fufu. Don't worry, my king."
"Hmm? Worry about what…"
"I'll use my original form when I go to your room."
"What?"
"Why are you acting innocent? You know what I'm talking about."
"No, wait."
"Fufufu. I'm going to use my original form when we're alone, so don't worry about it."
Lilith twisted her body while smiling brightly.
"In reality, because of the humans that say that my human form is more beautiful, I was worried that the beauty standard between humans and demons was different. But thankfully, the Demon King prefers my real form. Fufufu. I knew it'd be like that, my dear king."
He felt as if he'd been hit from the back.
He felt his head going blank.
He quickly opened his mouth. He didn't even have time to think. His honest thoughts came out of his mouth.
"Y-you're right. You look prettier now."
"Yes?"
Lilith looked at him in confusion.
"You're right. From my eyes, you look prettier as a human."
"Don't joke, Demon King."
"Please, trust me."
"I didn't know you were someone so jealous.
"Please…"
Lilith poked KangWoo's nose with a thick smile.
"You don't need to worry. I'm going to use my real form only when I'm alone with the Demon King."
"No."
"Fufufu. Now that I think about it, we're alone at the moment, so I'm going to return to my real form."
"No, please don't do that," he anxiously said.
Despite what he said, Kurosaki Yurie's skin started to split, and horrifying tentacles began to appear.
"Lilith, please. Listen to me. You're more beautiful as a human…"
"Ah, as expected. This is my real self, definitely."
"You look prettier as a human!!"
He desperately spread his hand.
Her face split and 18 eyes appeared.
"I didn't know you were such a shy person, Demon King."
"Lilith! Let me be honest! In reality, you now look just like a horrifying monster!!"
"How cute~"
"Please, listen to me!!" he screamed.
His eyes teared up.
He was starting to regret telling lies. He should've just told her the truth from the beginning.
But one always regrets when things are already too late.
"I love you, my king."
Lilith's face got close to him.
"Let's be together for the rest of eternity."
As if she were a shy girl, she kissed KangWoo's cheek.
"Smooch ?"
Tentacles that dripped mucus surrounded KangWoo's body.
It was at that moment…
CRACK-!!
A torrent of demonic energy engulfed the surroundings.
As if a huge explosion had happened, demonic energy started to spread from KangWoo's body.
"KYAA!"
Lilith's body was pushed back.
Ting-
[The refinement of the demonic energy from the fissure has ended.]
[Your Demonic Energy stat has reached 130.]
[Unlocking the eighth Awakening attribute.]
A hero awakened in difficult moments.
KangWoo's body was stained with darkness.
