Within the oppressive frontline of Kaelgor's horde, Lyra stood, silent and filled with resentment.
Her silver-mercury eyes were fixed ahead, but her mind was a whirlwind of escape routes and desperate plans.
This forced servitude, the ball and chain of Kaelgor's overbearing power bore down at her, restricting her newfound devil's pride.
She was a creature of shadow and grace, not a blunt instrument for another's ambition.
She was calculating the chaos of the initial assault, for a moment of distraction she could use to slip away.
Most other devils were the same, having plans of their own or looking for ways to escape. Of course, there were also those who didn't mind working with Kaelgor, so long as the rewards were worth it that is.
But not her, she didn't care for Kaelgor's promise of rewards or otherworldly invasions; although it was tempting.
Her trust in the overbearing brute was nil, and she didn't want to put her trust in him, lest she gets used in another similar scenario. Of course, there was also dread, the subtle fear of not owning your own life...
Suddenly, as her opportunistic gaze roamed over the basins edges, an invasive, utterly violating sensation swept over her.
It was a gaze, but more than that, it was as if a cold, conscious ice had been poured into her veins, chilling her from the inside out.
Every secret, every ounce of her power, even her bare body; everything felt laid bare.
She shuddered, a full-body flinch that she barely suppressed. Her head twitched while her hands trembled; her silver eyes scanning the fortress wall until they locked with the burning crimson gaze of a blonde devil.
Hells Eyes or Hell's Gaze.
She'd heard whispers of the technique, a devil's birthright that some were taught, and others unlocked through experience or enlightenment.
She was still 'too young' to have had the opportunity to learn such a technique.
Yet, to be on the receiving end was a profound and invasive intimacy; a psychic rape that left her feeling exposed and furious. An act of violation done so blatantly!
'Who was he to look upon her so?' Her gaze narrowed, the silver mercury pools in her eyes raged like tidal waves.
On the wall, Adam's sin of lust was like hot magma in his blood; like a pounding drum that drowned out all thoughts of caution.
The rational part of his mind, the strategist, knew this was reckless.
He was inviting a full-scale assault over a single, albeit captivating, prize.
But the devil in him, the part born of wrath and desire, did not care!
The potential reward, claiming her, branding her, unlocking the secrets of her pure primordial yin and shadow elf heritage, was worth any risk.
'How could that idiot miss someone with their primordial yin intact?' Adam thought in disbelief.
She was a jewel, and he would pluck her from the battlefield himself.
Kaelgor watched Adam's smirk.
The sudden withdrawal of whatever power had been gathering at the peak gave him a bad feeling. His strange demeanor and unnatural confidence gave him no sense of comfort either.
It reeked of a trap.
'The newborn was too confident,' Suspicion hardened Kaelgor's features.
At that moment, his subordinate Kamir also walked forward, his expression stoic yet respectful.
Kaelgor raised a brow, "What is it."
Kamir came forward and decided it was best to warn his master of the insidious newborn, "My lord, when you left…."
Kamir quickly recounted everything, causing Kaelgor to frown slightly in displeasure when the loss of subordinates was mentioned. But he also quickly understood that Adam was not someone to be underestimated.
'I would not commit my full strength… not yet. Let the newborn reveal his tricks against a probing strike.'
With a dismissive wave of his gauntleted hand, he gave the order.
"Send the vanguard. The three weakest devils and a thousand demons. Let us see what this whelp's defiance is truly made of."
The command echoed through the ranks.
In order to keep a majority of his strength intact, he only risked his weakest devil subordinates.
Three figures broke away from the group of ten.
Two were low-tier lesser devils, one hulking, brutish, and murky green. The other tall, skinny, and beautiful; albeit their expression was malevolent...
And the third, it was Lyra; a middle-tier lesser devil.
Assigned to lead the forces in the middle, a perfect position to be consumed in the first wave of whatever defense the fortress had.
A blatant meat shield, a sacrifice that would test the waters for Kaelgor.
Using disposables as they were meant to be used…
Though, as Adam watched them move, a thrill of manic, lustful joy shot through him. He wanted to throw his head back and laugh, to roar his triumph at the bloody sky.
Fate was delivering his desire directly to him in a wave of cannon fodder! Kaelgor, in his suspicion and meticulous, 'cowardly' planning, was gifting him the perfect opportunity to isolate her.
He could barely contain his excitement. His blood hammered in his veins, in a hot, demanding, borderline desperate rhythm. Beneath his cloak, his lower head twitched in fierce anticipation, a primal response to the hunt.
His entire being was focused on the advancing middle line, on the elegant, silver-haired figure that moved with a grace that made the surrounding demons look like clumsy beasts.
The rest of the army faded into a meaningless blur; the battle was no longer about defense or victory, it was about capture!
Plus, the revelation of Lyra's primordial yin wasn't just a note of her virginity; it was a particular point of interest in Adam's strategic view.
His hell's inheritance instantly classified it, not as a state of being, but as a resource: a rare and potent one.
Primordial yin and primal yin were fundamentally different.
Any devil could be a virgin in their new infernal life. But to possess primordial yin meant she had died a virgin in her past mortal life. Her soul had crossed over untouched, its pure, untapped potential perfectly preserved and now amplified by her rebirth into a higher form of being.
It was a cosmic fluke, a pristine well of power that most devils, especially cunning ones like Kaelgor, would recognize, but he was too impatient or ignorant to recognize it!
His mind, concentrated on a task given by his god, and used to years of not taking in devil subordinates, had forgotten, or not cared enough, to use his hells eyes on Lyra!
A predatory glee surged through Adam.
'Kaelgor, you blind, eager fool!'
The devil was so fixated on the massive, obvious prize of the obelisk that he had missed the exquisite, portable treasure right under his nose. Had Kaelgor used his hell's eyes, he would have seen it.
Nobody would let such a treasure escape their grasp.
He would have either dragged her into his tent to brutally claim that power for a quick boost, or, if he had a shred of long-term thinking, he would have nurtured her strength, saving her pristine yin for a more significant infusion of power later.
But he saw only a soldier.
Adam was the first to notice something much more precious.
His thoughts flickered to his own state. He too had possessed primordial yang, the male counterpart, and he had already 'gifted' it to Agri during their first union.
A glance at the oblivious demoness, who was watching the charging horde with a mix of fear and excitement, sent a ripple of satisfaction through him.
She had no idea the gift he'd planted within her. In the coming days, as his potent yang merged with her essence, her strength would surge and a changes within her would occur; a silent testament to his, and her, unknowing investment.
A hidden gift of power.
Reaching the middle-tier had already begun to shift his elemental affinities.
He could feel it.
A growing, instinctual warmth coiling in his core, an easier connection to the raging hellfires that surrounded them. Flame and darkness were the most common manifestations of fiendish power, and his path seemed to be leaning toward a mastery of flames.
But Lyra... Lyra changed everything.
Her nascent shadow devil traces were like a siren's call.
To claim her primordial yin would be to forcibly understand, to gain immediate understanding of the essence of shadow, to graft her affinity onto his own.
He wouldn't have to choose between flame and darkness; he could command both!