Chapter 606: Anomaly in the demon realm Interlude

“HAHA—”

“GUHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

The twisted laughter echoed through the vast, empty realm — a hollow sound that crawled across the broken stones and dead skies of the demonic domain.

Then silence… long and heavy, almost choking.

How long had it been since Asmodeus felt something like this — this strange, raw distortion inside his chest?

Was it back when he was still clawing his way up the infernal ladder, fighting and devouring his kin to claim the title of Demon King?

Or maybe… the first time he tore apart a soul with his own hands?

Whatever it was, this feeling now — it was something else. Something amusing.

“Did Erebil abandon me?” he muttered, his voice breaking the still air.

He knew, of course, that there was never any loyalty between them.

Their deal was built on convenience, not trust.

Yet, even knowing that, he hadn’t expected this — a betrayal so blatant, so direct, as if she didn’t even bother to pretend otherwise.

A dry chuckle escaped his throat.

“As expected of the Goddess of Evil… always two steps ahead.”

Still, he wasn’t foolish.

He’d prepared countermeasures long ago, hidden within hidden traps, in case Erebil tried anything reckless.

But…

“It seems,” he said softly, eyes glinting with infernal amusement, “countermeasures against an error weren’t possible to begin with.”

[Riley Hell — Heaven’s Anomaly]

Even Asmodeus had to admit, the boy had surpassed the limits of what a mortal should ever touch.

He’d climbed to a level of power that made even demons envious.

And yet, expectations and reality rarely aligned.

In this endless darkness, Riley had become something else entirely — not human, not demon, not god.

Like a single black dot spreading across a white canvas, he distorted everything around him.

Just looking at his form now — twisted, unreadable, radiating that impossible energy — made Asmodeus hesitate.

For the first time in an age, the Demon King found himself unsure.

And that… only made his grin widen.

“Ahh~ how marvelous…” Asmodeus murmured, his grin stretching wider, sharp teeth catching the dim crimson light.

’To think a king like me would feel even a flicker of fear… just by looking at this young god. Kuku~ how truly delightful.’

Turning around.

He leaned back on his throne — a grotesque thing made of twisted bones and molten metal — and rested his chin on his hand, eyes glowing faintly red.

“It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance~” his voice echoed lazily across the chamber. “You are Riley Hell, correct? I welcome you to my humble abode. Pray, tell me—what pleasure do I owe for a mortal of your stature to come here personally like this?”

“…”

The boy didn’t speak.

He just stood there, the silence around him so heavy it pressed against the air itself.

His presence was unreal — a calm that felt far more threatening than any storm Asmodeus had ever seen.

“Hmm, the quiet type, hmm~?” Asmodeus chuckled softly, tapping his clawed finger against the armrest. “I can see now why my rowdy realm has gone so silent. Personally, I’ve been needing such peace for a long time… but as a kind king, I simply let my subjects be. Oh, speaking of which—” his grin deepened, voice curling with mockery, “did you enjoy it?”

The silence remained.

“For mere vermin,” Asmodeus went on, “the demons I’ve nurtured here are among the finest in all the infernal planes. Even by demon world standards, they’re top class. I’m sure at least one or two of my generals gave you some trouble… right?”

“….”

“….”

Still nothing.

Asmodeus’s gaze dropped to Riley’s sword — a long, pitch-black blade that seemed to drink the surrounding light.

Around it, faint traces of demonic energy still flickered, slowly fading like dying embers.

The residue was unmistakable — the mark of his own soldiers.

Which meant it hadn’t been long since the boy had entered his domain.

Time and space twisted in this realm; what felt like hours here could’ve been seconds elsewhere. But even then…

“For you to erase all of them in mere hours…” Asmodeus whispered, the grin fading into something closer to awe. “Truly, you are an anomaly.”

He chuckled again — low, soft, with a hint of disbelief.

“Interesting… very interesting indeed.”

What about his daughter…?

Asmodeus’s grin faltered for a brief moment.

A faint memory flickered — her laughter, her naive curiosity despite being born of sin.

She wasn’t strong, at least not compared to most of his kind.

But she carried his gift — the Authority of Lust and Affection — a power that could sway even gods if their hearts so much as trembled.

Even beings far stronger than her had fallen to that gentle, poisonous charm.

And yet… it seemed Riley had already taken care of her.

Asmodeus’s gaze darkened, the faint amusement in his expression fading.

“You are one without mercy, I see…” he muttered, though there was no anger in his voice — only acceptance. After all, it was only natural.

He was Riley’s enemy, and enemies deserved no mercy.

His thoughts drifted as he examined the figure before him.

Three distinct Authorities hung around Riley like storm clouds, suffocating the very air.

Behind him, shadowy tentacles twisted and writhed, restless, as if waiting for their master’s silent command to tear the world apart.

A cold pulse crawled down Asmodeus’s spine — something he hadn’t felt in ages.

Fear.

Even here, in his own domain, surrounded by the remnants of his own power…

he couldn’t win.

The realization almost made him laugh.

A smirk crept back onto his face as he licked his lips.

Now then… how shall I escape this little ordeal?

Then—

[Asmodeus.]

The voice came directly into his mind, low and heavy, filled with divine weight.

The very sound of his name pressed against him like a mountain.

The air twisted, and a crushing pressure slammed down on him, forcing him to his knees.

His bones creaked, his body trembling under gravity itself.

“Ah~ finally, our dear guest speaks,” Asmodeus wheezed, forcing a grin through the pain. “Do tell me, what curiosity brings words from you?”

[How long…]

“How long?”

[How much time did your filthy hands touch my Snow?]

“…Huh?”

The words didn’t make sense at first.

Then, as his mind processed them, his grin faltered. Why would he—

BAM!

Before the thought could even finish, something struck him — a blow so violent it shattered sound itself.

Agony exploded through his body.

His head snapped sideways as his face split open, a deep crack forming across his cheek, resonating all the way to his soul.

The impact sent him flying — through walls, through obsidian pillars, through the layered barrier of his citadel.

He crashed hard, carving a deep crater into the wasteland below his realm.

The ground trembled, rivers of molten ash splitting open from the sheer force.

For a long moment, he just lay there, twitching, the world spinning above him.

Then… a laugh escaped his throat. Broken, breathless, half-choked with blood.

“Ku… kuhahaha…! So that’s what this is about…” he muttered, spitting black liquid onto the cracked ground.

“Your wrath… for her.”

BOOOOM!!!

A massive explosion ripped through the land, swallowing the sky in dust and debris.

The shockwave tore through the ground, splitting the crust of the infernal realm into cracks of molten fire.

Asmodeus’s eyes widened — the taste of iron filled his mouth as he spat out dark, viscous blood.

Something heavy slammed down on his stomach, twisting his insides like wet rags.

“Gah—!”

FZZZHHH!

Then, in an instant, a blur cut through the smoke.

Riley appeared — silent, cold, terrifying.

His form was wrapped in swirling darkness, and from his back, those black tentacles lashed outward, pinning Asmodeus against the shattered ground like an insect under a nail.

The soil beneath him screamed, crushed under their combined pressure.

[Do tell,] Riley’s voice reverberated — calm, emotionless, each word carrying the weight of judgment.

[So you can count the number of moments you have left.]

For a heartbeat, silence.

Then Asmodeus laughed.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

It was wild, guttural, half-crazed. His fanged grin split wide as his blood dripped down his chin.

“A human…” he wheezed, his voice filled with mockery and disbelief. “A mere mortal dares to count my time?”

FOOOOSH!!!

Power exploded from him like a living storm.

Crimson lightning coiled around his body, ripping apart the air itself. His aura ignited — red tendrils of flame bursting from every pore, every vein.

The entire realm shook.

Mountains of bone shattered.

Rivers of molten lust-fire surged from the cracked ground, painting the infernal sky in waves of burning red.

The Demon King’s power — his Authority — roared back to life.

Life.

Death.

Lust.

Flames.

Temptation.

All five intertwined, resonating within his domain like the heartbeat of hell itself.

“HOW DARE A MERE MORTAL!!” Asmodeus’s voice thundered across the horizon, echoing like a divine curse.

His wings burst open behind him, colossal and torn, fanning the flames into a storm.

Fire spread across the land, consuming everything in sight.

Souls trapped in the infernal abyss screamed as the seductive blaze devoured them, melting flesh, spirit, and will alike.

“I AM ASMODEUS!” he roared, his voice shaking even the stars above the black sky.

“DEMON KING OF DESIRE! DO NOT THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE UNTOUCHED, O PRIDEFUL MORTAL!!”

The hellfire burned bright — not just a flame of destruction, but one of temptation, of hunger.

Even from afar, one could feel it — the call, the whisper, the sweet pull to surrender and be consumed.

It was a fire that didn’t just burn the flesh.

It burned the soul.

And through that roaring inferno, Riley’s figure remained unmoved — standing tall, shadowed in the sea of flames that could erase worlds.

Asmodeus knew Riley’s potential— he knew the boy had torn through realms and rules.

Still, by blood and by right he was a Demon King. He would not simply kneel in his own domain.

“IF I cannot win, then we die together — come, great anomaly!” he spat, voice rolling like thunder.

But Riley’s answer came not in a shout but like a script the world obeyed.

[Your flame burns…]

[The Anomaly has lied.]

[The universe listened.]

Reality cracked like old glass.

Colors snapped, bleeding into one another — violet, obsidian, the bitter gold of corrupted light — then shattered into shards of sight.

The ground buckled.

The sky folded in on itself and then stitched back wrong, like a painting glued together while still wet.

Asmodeus’s vision tore and reassembled; when his sight finally cleared, something inside him screamed confusion.

“WHAT DID YOU—” he roared, but the words broke on his tongue as the world around him hummed with dark obedience.

[…Don’t worry. You will live for a while, lowly demon king.]

[The Anomaly has lied.]

[The universe has listened.]

As the phrases dripped from Riley like venom, Asmodeus felt the laws he’d ruled for eons bending to a new will.

He braced for whatever came next — for blade, for storm, for some ancient curse — and then Riley’s fist punched the air.

BAM!

The first hit struck the ground beside him.

The shock split the earth into a spiderweb of cracks, throwing up a spray of molten grit.

The sound echoed like the snapping of a giant’s bone.

Before he could gather himself, another blow came — harder, keener.

Darkness clung to Riley’s fist now, a black fire that seared the air around it.

BAMM!

The hits kept coming. Punch after punch.

Each strike didn’t just land — it rewrote the space it touched.

Stone vaporized.

Statues of screaming souls collapsed into ash and then into silence. The air tasted of iron and old regrets.

Asmodeus tried to speak, to bargain, to bargain for his pride, for his throne, for his daughter. His voice hiccuped out: “W-Wa—it—!”

But there was no time for words. Riley’s eyes were empty, controlled, cold.

There was only one thought there, hammered down and simple.

The demon before him had touched Snow.

That single fact narrowed Riley’s fury into a blade.

It sharpened his punches into sentences of vengeance, and Asmodeus — mighty, ancient, crowned by desire itself — felt himself reduced to nothing more than a target.

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