The heart is a delicate thing. It gets hurt for even the slightest of the reasons, but when the reason is your love, it suffocates you. The atmosphere, extravagance, and luxury of this place couldn’t ease the uneasiness in her heart, and with every passing second, the fear was growing. She was hurt, but more than that, she was anxious about her husband's safety.

Aizen had not informed anyone about the decision he had made. And he had already made this decision even before the coronation ceremony. He was playing with fire, no, he was marrying the fire. How could she not be worried? This fire could destroy her family and prove to be a step toward the road of chaos every Morningstar was compelled to take. She could feel it in her blood, the hunger for chaos. But he was a Morningstar, and his madness, lust, greed, pride, and wrath could drown the entire world. She didn’t care about the world. All that mattered to her was her husband and her family. She didn’t want to lose them.

“Lia.” She whispered as she stared at the silent but colorful roof. “Why did he keep this from me?”

“He didn’t keep this from you. He kept it from everyone.” The little dryad replied lazily and curled up in the bed.

“Does he count me among everyone else? I am his empress.”

Liafina didn’t answer her, and the silence lingered for a while.

“Scared?”

Viara nodded to her and closed her eyes.

“Sometimes, we think that we are making the right decisions, but we only realize our mistakes when it’s too late.”

“And why do you think that he has made the wrong decision?” Liafina asked back.

“Are you also taking his side now?” Viara scoffed, and a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

“I am his Shadow. I will always be on his side.”

“You are asking me why I think he has made a mistake?” Her voice grew solemn. “It Arianna Lucifer! Do you know what the world calls her? They call her the Blood-Winged Lucifer!”

Her heart tightened, and her body shuddered as she took this name.

“It’s not only because of her Bloodline, but it’s also because she loves dying her Blood-Wings in the blood of her enemies.”

Liafina palely smiled at her words.

“Arianna sister is not scary. I have met her.”

“You…You are already addressing her as a sister?” Viara frowned at her words.

“Have faith in him. You are his empress.” Liafina said to her and then closed her eyes. It didn’t seem like she would talk again.

“I have faith in him, but I don’t trust that woman. Why would she decide to get married after all these years? And why Aizen? She certainly has some ulterior motives.”

There was no reply from the little dryad, and Viara could only helplessly close her eyes and try to get some sleep. Strangely enough, she didn’t fear about her safety here even though this was the den of the devil she feared the most right now.

She pondered over the words of Liafina. Regardless of how it looked, regardless of how she would always look like a 14 years old girl, she was someone who had lived for over ten thousand years. And the passage of time makes anyone wiser. And she was his Shadow. There could never be doubt of her loyalty to Aizen. Nothing mattered more to a Shadow than her Master’s safety.

“Come, let’s go and see if we can meet her.”

Viara got up from the bed and walked over to the dressing table. She took off the sleeping gown that she had been wearing and dressed in clothes fit for an empress of the Star Palace. For some reason, she wanted to look her best when she greets the woman who was going to be her husband’s High-Queen.

Liafina smiled at her but didn’t say anything. And together they left the room to look to meet Arianna.

The two of them had arrived, a couple of days ago, at the Hall of the Blood Moon, the place that was the home of Arianna Lucifer. She wanted to meet her in person. It was out of Viara’s rage and impulsiveness to confront the devil that everyone feard and Liafina was dragged by her here as she knew the location of it.

Hall of the Blood Moon was the name of the Organization that Arianna ruled over. Under the control of the Organization were three separate entities. Misty Chambers. One of the most illustrious names on the two realms was one of them. The other entity was the Moonlight Inn, and lastly, there was the Blood Hand. The Moonlight Inn industry dealt with resorts and hotels that were owned by Arianna. And the Blood-hand was the Army of the Blood-Winged Lucifer. An army that she had gathered over a thousand years. The army that had won numerous wars with her and never lost a battle in her command. She was not just one of the richest businessman on the two realms. She was one of the most powerful people in these two realms. As far as everyone knew, she had touched the realm of True Origin, only at the age of 175 years. A realm, that people at the peak of false origin may die before they attain it. One could only achieve that realm after they had attained the required mental and physical strength, and they held a deep knowledge and control over their law.

The magical abilities all over the world of Origin fell into different categories of Law. The laws of the Ka’zaed Blood were Time and Space, and the Laws of the Lucifer were the law of the Sins. And both the bloodlines were unique.

The mere thought of the Law of the Sins made Viara’s heart heavy. She knew the power the Bloodline of Lucifer held. And Arianna was someone who somehow awakened the long lost powers of it. She was dangerous. She was dangerous enough that the hidden powers hadn’t done anything to instigate her. And that included the Hand of Kosmos.

When they arrived at the door of Arianna’s office, the door opened before they could halt their steps. In the office were several paintings hanging on the walls on all sides. The room was lit in a soft red hue. Dozens of couches filled the room, set in a manner that they were attentive to the head table in the room. On the head table, which was handcrafted out of Blood Wood, were two seats made of the same material. The seats were more like thrones and spoke of their magnificence even in the simplicity of their design.

Viara’s eyes stopped on the head table and found a lady lazily sitting on one of the seats. She was wearing a green dress, that amplified the allure of her ample bosom. The V-shaped collar of the dress didn’t reveal much of the skin, but the little it revealed was a cream complexion that could make the women envy her, and could drive the men insane with the temptation of having a feel of it. The face of the girl was captivating, she had prominent cheekbones, and her slender nose was cute. Her sensuous red lips were wearing a pale smile. Her emerald eyes were bright, and her black hair contained a couple of streaks of green hair. The hair was pin straight and flowed down to her waist. And after she stood up from her seat, the hair almost touched her hips. She had not tied her hair. A couple of clips at the back of her ears were placed to stop her hair from covering her face.

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The girl stepped down of the platform of the Head table and walked toward Viara and Liafina. Every step she took was a sway of her tight waist. And every sway was capable of inciting lust in the coldest of the hearts. She was not a thin girl, and she was not a buxom beauty as well. She had the right curves, and a figure that every woman would wish for, and a figure that every man would lust after. And her makings were that of a princess. And she was a princess. A princess of the Azmodeus Family, one of the Seven ruling families of the Devildom. Her name was Jalaisha Azmodeus, and the world knew of her as the Shadow of the Blood-Winged Lucifer.

“Viara,” The lady that looked to be in her mid-twenties, smiled and slightly bowed.

She didn’t wait for Viara’s reply and walked over to Liafina and patted her head.

Viara was quite uncomfortable with her attitude. The day she had arrived here, Jalaisha had happily walked over to them and hugged Liafina in her arms. She behaved as if they were her sisters, and helped them settle in the private sector of the Hall of the Blood Moon. Even though she didn’t talk much, the little she did, was full of affection and care. And her charm was irresistible even to Viara. Despite being uncomfortable with her attitude, she couldn’t bring herself to harden up in front of Jalaisha.

“She hasn’t come back yet?” Viara sighed and inquired.

“No,” Jalaisha replied with a smile, “But she will be here any moment now. The Tragedy of the Snow Wolf is the name given to the war on The Sky Mountains. And it was concluded yesterday.”

“Oh,”

Viara frowned at her words. The name of the war meant that the Azereus lost it. It wasn’t anything unexpected. What made her frown was why Arianna would be coming back now. Jalaisha hadn’t informed them where Arianna was, and now her words implied that Arianna was in the North for the war that had happened.

“Did all the Azereus on The Sky Mountain perish? Or were there any survivors?” She asked her.

Jalaisha didn’t answer her. She took out a file from her ring and presented it to her.

The file was quite detailed, and listed every death and how it happened. Viara’s body trembled when she read through all of it. She felt goosebumps on her skin, and her body lightly trembled.

The two hundred and sixty Azereus fought against an army of fifteen hundred. And they eliminated a thousand enemies! She knew that The Sky Mountains was a natural bastion. It could easily be defended, but the army they were against outnumbered them by almost six times. And the Sky-Field alliance was not weak. They were more powerful than the army of the Azereus. At least, that’s what the entire world had believed.

She could still accept this piece of information. It wasn’t as if it had never happened before where the winning side had to bear such degree of loses. What baffled her was the information about Renera Azereus.

The Matriarch of the Azereus fought alone against thirteen True-Origin monsters of the Sky-Field Alliance. And she killed each and every one of them before taking her last breath.

Viara’s heart thumped hard, as she realized that the woman before them on the platform that day was so terrifying. No one knew how powerful Renera was. Everyone believed that there was only a slight difference between the two sisters. But this information proved how wrong the people had been. That Alpha hid her strength from the entire world. And the strength to eliminate thirteen True-Origin monsters was scary, to say the least.

“The Sky-Field Alliance was led by thirteen True-Origin monsters. And all of them lost their lives in the hand of Renera.” Jalaisha smiled as she looked at Viara. “It was her display of strength, that the moral of the Azereus was high enough to eliminate a thousand of their enemies before perishing. Wars are not won by only strength and numbers, they are won by moral, and the will to fight for their legacy or anything that they hold dear.”

Viara looked at her, and the astuteness in those emerald eyes told her how much Jalaisha knew about the matters of war. And there was no hint of surprise in Jalaisha’s eyes. All there was, was reverence for Renera.

“Did you know about how strong Renera was?” Viara couldn’t contain her curiosity and inquired.

“Yes,” And Jalaisha straightforwardly answered. “She had once fought with my Master.”

Her words surprised both Liafina and Viara.

“And what was the outcome?” It was Liafina who asked this question.

“Renera lost,” Jalaisha lightly laughed. “She was not a worthy opponent for my Master.”

Her words shocked the two of them.

“Arianna sister is so strong?” Liafina’s eyes were amazedly looking at her.

Jalaisha lovingly patted her head and nodded.

Viara found it hard to accept Jalaisha’s words. It was not because she felt that Jalaisha was lying, it was because she didn’t want to accept the fact that Arianna was so strong. And as her reluctance to accept this fact grew, she developed some doubts over Jalaisha’s words.

“If that is true, why are you still stuck at the peak of False-Origin.” She frowned and asked the beautiful succubus before her.

Jalaisha was taken aback by her question. But she only smiled brightly at the question of Viara. It was normal to suspect her words by her strength.

A Shadow would gain strength as his Master’s strength rises. The bond enabled the Shadow to advance his strength without any hindrance, unless, at the time the bond is formed, the master is weaker than the shadow in strength. In that case, the strength of the shadow would halt at that stage and only advance after the strength of the Master has reached or crossed that realm of strength. Liafina, right now, held the strength of Mid-Stage of the False-Origin realm. And since Aizen had not reached this level of strength yet, she would be stuck in that phase until he had reached the Strength of Mid-Stage False Origin realm. Only then she would be able to get stronger.

In Jalaisha’s case, her Master was someone who had reached the strength of True-Origin at the age of only 175 years. And everyone knew that Arianna had accepted Jalaisha as her Shadow when she was a teenager. Jalaisha was only 10 years younger than Arianna, and together they had lived for over a thousand years. But Jalaisha was still stuck at the peak of False-Origin phase. It was only possible in one case, and it was the case where it concerned the law that the person held.

“My law is still incomplete,” Jalaisha answered, but didn’t seem to mind it.

Viara couldn’t understand the meaning of her words. How could her law be incomplete? The law of the Azmodeus was the Law of Lust. Devils were unique existences. They could hold several different laws from the Law of the Sins. However, each Devil other than the Lucifer could only have one primary Law. And for Azmodeus, it was their law of Lust. And no matter how she looked at Jalaisha. Her charm of a succubus was lethal beyond any she had seen before. Her law of Lust was not weak.

“What are your laws?” Viara asked a question that a devil other than the Lucifer would never answer. It was their secret.

However, Jalaisha didn’t mind her question and she readily answered.

“Other than the Law of Lust, I have the Law of Wrath, the Law of Gluttony, and the Law of Pride.”

For a devil to hold four laws was rare. It was so rare that only a few devils in the Devildom held four laws. Of course, this didn’t include the Bloodline of Lucifer. Each person in the Bloodline of Lucifer held all the seven Laws of the Sins. It was the reason why they were the Rulers of all six families that ruled the Devildom. However, only the ability to utilize all the seven laws wouldn’t make the Lucifer more powerful than the other devils. The power would depend on his understanding and strength of the laws that he holds. It’s possible for a devil who specializes in one law to win against a devil who can utilize several different laws but doesn’t specialize in any.

Viara still couldn’t make sense of why Jalaisha was still stuck in this realm. A devil would only need to specialize in one Law to advance beyond the level of False-Origin. Even if her other three laws were not so powerful, if she specialized in her primary law, then she could advance to the True-Origin realm. She was about to ask another question when she realized another presence in the room.

“What a pleasant surprise. The Empress of Star Palace has graced my Hall with her presence.”

A beautiful voice called out. It was beautiful enough to capture any heart. And even Viara’s heart was stirred.

“Arianna!” Liafina smiled and walked toward the owner of the voice.

And when Viara turned around, her heart skipped a beat. The girl before her happily hugged Liafina. And heavens, was she beautiful?!