Chapter 155: Talking with Ashanti!

Xara did not appear surprised when Jax approached.

She had sensed him long before he turned the corner. After all, to her, the presence of the Demon King was quite alarming, and Jax wasn’t exactly hiding his presence when he arrived to alert her.

By the time he stepped fully into view, she was already turning toward him with composed elegance, a slender crystalline cup still held between her fingers.

Ashanti stood beside her, one hand lightly resting against the railing that overlooked the negotiation terrace below. Her posture was relaxed, but attentive, head tilted slightly as if listening to layers of sound most others could never perceive.

The faint wind at this height threaded gently through her silver-dark hair.

“Hey,” Jax said, his voice calm but warm, directed toward her. “I’ve been looking for you for quite a bit, you know.”

Ashanti inclined her head slightly toward him, her lips curving into a soft, familiar smile,

“Yes… it has been a while, My King,” Compared to before, Ashanti was a-lot less timid and fragile, having a certain level of confidence in her step.

Jax shifted his gaze to Xara, “May I borrow her for a while?”

The Fallen Angel leader did not answer immediately. Turning to Ashanti and looking at the young woman who nodded, and then eventually turned back to Jax, smiling faintly as she responded, “Of course.”

Her gaze moved back briefly to Ashanti, “I’ll be in my office if you need me, take your time,”

She stepped past Jax with graceful precision, her aura retracting inward as she departed across the suspended walkway.

Within moments, she was already engaged in quiet conversation with two trade delegates below while walking back to her office, seamlessly returning to her work as if nothing had interrupted her at all.

That left Jax and Ashanti walking together, a strange silence settling between them at first before Jax broke that silence, “How have you been?”

Ashanti inhaled slowly, as if feeling the wind brush across her face, “I have been… well. It’s been very different, but I’ve been adjusting to this new life,”

Her fingers traced the smooth surface of the railing they were leaning on, “Xara’s taken me out multiple times to look through the City and get used to this new space. It’s all so different than before,” She said with a faint smile.

Jax leaned his forearms lightly against the railing beside her, “Enjoying your time in the capital, then?”

“Yes,” Ashanti immediately responded without hesitation

Her expression softened as she continued, “It feels very warm everywhere, there’s no suffocation or worry of attacks from the Heroes like before. It feels like we have actual freedom without the chaos that usually came from it,”

She tilted her head slightly toward him, “You changed so much, everyone’s talking about it,”

Jax smiled and looked at her, “You and everyone else definitely deserve to experience that, and isn’t this what I was summoned for? I was just doing my job,”

Ashanti heard that and was silent for a moment, before saying, “I’m still learning how to believe that,” In a much quieter tone of voice than before.

Jax turned fully toward her, “Ashanti.”

She faced him instinctively, not able to see him, but sensing him right there, “What about what I talked about last time? Do you think you’re ready to fully stand beside me and unlock your full potential?”

Hearing that question, Ashanti’s expression did not change immediately, but her breathing did, going much slower as the air around her stirred faintly, residual power responding unconsciously to emotional pressure.

“…Against the Heroes,” she said softly.

“Yes.”

Silence stretched as Ashanti’s hands folded together lightly in front of her, “When I was young… they believed I would lead.”

Her voice carried no bitterness only memory what happened when she was younger, “I was strong, way too strong for my age. Power flowed through me faster than my body could contain… faster than my senses could stabilize.”

A faint tremor passed through her fingers, almost imperceptible, “And then… I burned my own sight away.”

The words were gentle, but the weight behind them was immense.

“I remember the silence afterward… not because the world had grown quiet… but because I could no longer interpret it the same way.”

Her head lowered slightly.

“They cared for me. Protected me. Loved me. But expectation turned into caution… admiration turned into concern… and leadership became… impossibility.”

Jax did not interrupt.

She continued.

“I know they do not see me as broken. But I do.”

Her hands tightened faintly.

“Every battlefield requires awareness. Reaction. Spatial judgment. Visual confirmation.”

A fragile smile touched her lips.

“I perceive differently. But I still hesitate. Not because I lack strength… but because I fear becoming… a liability.”

The admission hung in the air, but Jax fought back against it, “You are not a liability.”

Her lips parted slightly, but he continued before she could respond, “You perceive layers of reality most cannot even detect. Mana fluctuations. Emotional signatures. Atmospheric density shifts. Dimensional instability.”

His voice was calm, “You do not lack sight. Eyes aren’t everything Ashanti,”

He placed a hand gently over hers as he said this, and Ashanti stilled completely, her breath hitching as Jax’s voice lowered, “Battle is not fought with eyes. It is fought with awareness, decision, and will, and you have all three,”

Her throat moved slightly as she swallowed, “…But fear still exists.”

“Yes,” he said simply, “Stand with me anyway.”

The words were not encouragement. They were invitation. Trust offered without pressure of needing to live up to a big name or massive expectations.

Ashanti’s fingers slowly tightened beneath his hand.

The air around her trembled faintly as she did this, her power radiating outward, “…If I fight,” she whispered, “I fight fully.”

“I expect nothing less.”

Another long silence. Then Ashanti drew a slow breath… and straightened. Her posture shifted, becoming more resolved, “…Then I will stand with you and fight for the glory of all of us Demons,”

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