Chapter 12: Chapter 12 Becoming Strong
Lucifer downed his whiskey in a single gulp.
"Then why is he able to suppress it?"
"If he couldn't stop himself, would you really spend a night with him?" Mazikeen stood with a curious expression, holding a bottle of wine.
At this moment, the bar was dimly lit, casting an ambiguous glow. The old photographs hanging on the walls appeared even more mysterious as light and shadow intertwined.
"Of course. If it were him, I wouldn't mind giving it a try."
With a sharp click, the bottle slipped from Mazikeen's hand. She was so shocked that, for a moment, she wondered if Lord Lucifer was merely toying with humans, creating clones or illusions. But she hadn't truly believed it until now.
"Lord Lucifer, there is no need for you to do something like this."
Lucifer pressed his temple lightly with his pinky finger. His perfect profile looked even more alluring under the faint light, and Mazikeen couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy.
"You know why I betrayed God, don't you?"
"The legend says… you couldn't endure the order of Heaven," Mazikeen said after a moment of thought.
"That's somewhat related, but the more important reason is fate."
"Fate?"
"Yes, fate. I betrayed God and became the King of Hell. I am the dark side of His creation. My existence is both an anchor and a tool.
But in order to resist fate, I still betrayed God and destroyed the world. Yet, no matter how many times I destroyed it, God simply recreated it. I grew bored of the cycle, so I came to this world, opened a bar, and waited quietly for the arrival of fate."
Lucifer reached for a wine glass, stirring the amber liquid inside as he reminisced. Her eyes deepened, as if, through that small glass of wine, she was gazing into the past.
"And you truly believe that this human can take you away? That he is fate itself?"
The bar was so silent that even the sound of breathing could be heard, making Mazikeen's voice seem even louder.
"When he first appeared, I could still feel the breath of another world lingering around him. But in the blink of an eye, it had already blended into this world. He became indistinguishable from any other human—like ink dripping into the ocean, fading away without a trace."
"That lord… release him and make him your slave instead—"
Mazikeen choked on her words, unable to finish her sentence.
She could do nothing but kneel on the ground, her knees pressed with such force that cracks began to form in the floor beneath her. A powerful pressure radiated from Lucifer's golden pupils, making it nearly impossible for her to breathe.
"Mazikeen, this is my chance. There will be no accidents. Do you understand?" In that moment, Lucifer exuded the full majesty of the King of Hell.
"Yes… my lord." With those words, Mazikeen collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
"Return to Hell."
Once the bar fell into complete silence, Mazikeen slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with obsession.
She moved closer to Lucifer's unfinished drink and greedily sipped what was left.
"Lord Lucifer…"
Mazikeen, Lucifer's most trusted demon, was also his lily.
Meanwhile, Chino had taken Manman to the rooftop.
Before them stretched a city shrouded in darkness—the capital of sin, Gotham. The air was thick with corruption and decay.
Dim streetlights cast a faint glow through the mist, barely illuminating the narrow paths below. In the distance, tall buildings loomed like massive beasts hiding in the shadows.
Chino toyed with the ring in his hand, waiting silently for the end of time.
3… 2… 1…
Mandala fell backward, collapsing onto the ground.
What's happening? That man should have turned to ash. My face… it hurts so much.
"This is just another one of your abilities—high-speed self-healing, spatial movement, invisible attacks…"
Lord Mann noticed that Chino was standing at the edge of the rooftop.
"This time, it's over."
As Chino turned around, Lord Mann's eyes widened in disbelief. He looked down at his own hands—his fingers were bare.
"My Ten Commandments! When did you steal them?!" Lord Mann's voice was filled with fury and suspicion.
But without the rings, he was nothing more than an ordinary man with an unnaturally long lifespan. He no longer had any supernatural abilities and dared not act recklessly.
Chino smiled. "Actually, I should thank you. You're the first person who ever truly terrified me. The fear of being poisoned, the fear of almost dying… No matter which world I travel to, I've realized that I can't just rely on my ability to jump between them. I need to be strong on my own."
As he spoke, Chino casually chose one ring and slipped it onto his index finger. The moment it touched his skin, his mind connected with it, and he instinctively understood how to use it.
Seeing this, Lord Mann panicked and shouted, "Wait! Let's talk about this!"
"I don't want to hear it."
The moment those words left his lips, the ring on Chino's finger erupted with a dazzling white light, enveloping the man entirely.
The brilliance was so intense that it illuminated the entire rooftop, turning night into day for a fleeting moment.
In an instant, the man's body disintegrated into countless specks of dust, carried away by the wind, leaving nothing behind.
Spectral Ring: The energy beam it releases destroys all atomic and molecular bonds of the target upon contact.
Chino felt no joy in his revenge—only an overwhelming sense of disgust.
In the past, Venom had killed people, and Chino had been able to deceive himself. It had been something he couldn't do himself, like watching a movie, thrilling yet distant.
"Sigh… Thank you, Venom."
Chino nearly gagged from the feeling of disgust, but the sensation quickly faded as he realized—Venom was the one controlling his insides.
[Why don't you let me handle it?]
Venom, knowing Chino's past, was puzzled. After all, Chino had never even killed a single chicken.
"I want to become stronger. I can't always rely on you. I don't want to find someone else to protect you when you're in danger. I want to be the one to protect you."
Chino wrapped his arms around Venom's large head.
[Idiot.]
"I'm just a fool."
Chino walked alone through an alleyway where the walls were worn, stained, and reeked of decay.
Before long, he was surrounded.
"Hey, kid, if you don't want extra holes in your body, hand over your valuables."
"Wait… this little devil looks pretty cute. Maybe we should carve up that pretty face a few times."
"Idiot! Someone this good-looking should be sold. I know a boss who specializes in this business."
Chino frowned as he looked at the group of thugs. With these ragged clothes, how much money could they possibly expect? It wasn't greed—they were drawn by something else entirely.
"Forget it. Venom, make them all crawl on the ground—"
"Leave him alone, you bastards!"
A soft yet determined voice echoed through the alley as a woman with green hair stepped forward from the shadows.
Her body flickered between solid and transparent, her green skin appearing and disappearing in the faint moonlight, casting a distorted silhouette.
"Hah! Where did this freak come from?"
"Doesn't matter. We'll sell her too."
"A green-skinned monster like that must be worth a fortune."
Pamela Lillian Isley—after being tricked by her professor and injected with an experimental serum, her body mutated. She had since spent all her time studying herself.
She longed to be normal. At the very least, she wanted to control the toxins in her body. Otherwise, she would always be a walking plague in the human world.
She had taken an unfamiliar route to avoid detection, only to stumble into this gunfight.
"Who are you calling a monster?"
Fueled by anger, Pamela manipulated the vines from the ground, thrashing them like whips, leaving bloody marks in their wake.
The vines were thick, powerful, and covered in sharp thorns, slicing through the air with a chilling sound.
"Fate is not something to be feared. It is something to be challenged."
plz support me if you can
patreon.com/AZFANFICTION
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AZofficial
This fanfiction is 90-chapter ahead and also this fanfic is 90 chapters ahead there