Chapter 168: The Demon King's Supper and the Cursed Silence
The sun retreated behind the jagged peaks of the horizon, leaving the sky in a bruised palette of crimson and violet. Inside Volt's sprawling farmhouse, a long oak table groaned under the weight of a feast prepared by Vanessa. The aroma of freshly baked bread and roasted meats filled the air, a scent that promised peace, yet the atmosphere was electrically charged. Volt, the absolute Demon King, sat at the head of the table. He wore the simple plaid shirt of a farmer, his hands—the same ones that could collapse galaxies—were currently steady as he sliced tomatoes for the salad.
Beside him sat Sai, whose face was a mask of concentration as he fought a losing battle with his inner passenger. Without warning, the silence was shattered as a jagged, ink-black mouth tore open on Sai's cheek. An extra eye, glowing with a malevolent red light, blinked rapidly. Sakuna had arrived. "Hahaha! Look at this!" Sakuna's voice was a rasping growl that vibrated the silverware. "The great Demon King, the architect of annihilation, is making a salad? Volt, how far you have fallen! Give me that meat, I want it raw and screaming!" Sakuna forced Sai's hand toward the center platter, his cursed energy beginning to leak out like black smoke.
Akuto, sitting directly across from his father, slammed his fist onto the table. The single root of Sakuna within him flared in response to the proximity of the original spirit. "Shut up, Sakuna! My mother and Aunt Vanessa worked all day on this!" A dark aura flickered around Akuto, his eyes momentarily flashing with a dangerous light. Sasha, sitting beside him, placed her hand over his, her touch a cooling balm to his rising temper. "Don't let him win, Akuto. He's just a voice in the dark."
On the other side of the table, Anos and Karin watched the exchange with practiced indifference. Anos, carrying the concentrated bloodline of the Demon King, looked at Sakuna with a cold, mocking smile. "Sakuna, if you even think about touching Karin's plate, I'll show you exactly why my father is feared across the multiverse." Karin blushed slightly but kept her hand on the hilt of her hidden blade; she was Anos's shadow, his protector, and she wouldn't hesitate to strike.
Little Alisa, Volt's daughter, tilted her head in confusion. "Papa, why does that uncle have two mouths? Can he eat twice as much cake?" The innocence of the question brought a momentary smile to Vanessa and Aki's faces, but it only infuriated Sakuna further. The cursed spirit lunged forward, intending to flip the table and end the farce, but Volt didn't even look up.
He simply raised his index finger.
[SKILL: DIVINE SUPPRESSION - ABSOLUTE WILL]
An invisible, crushing weight slammed into the room. The air became thick, and Sakuna found himself pinned to Sai's body, his extra mouth forced shut by a pressure that defied physics. Volt spoke, his voice low and echoing with the power of the Prime Source. "Sakuna, I am the Demon King. I have allowed you to stay because of my friendship with Sai. But if you interrupt this meal one more time, I will use this single finger to delete your very essence from the records of time. I will erase every word written about you until you are nothing but a forgotten glitch." Sakuna went still. For the first time in an eternity, he felt a fear that bypassed his ego. He knew Volt wasn't boasting; he was stating a fact of existence.
Aki breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure subsided. "Thank you, Volt. Sai was about to lose his mind." The women—Vanessa, Aki, Karin, and Sasha—began serving the food, and the tension dissolved into the clatter of plates and the warmth of shared laughter. Every descriptive sentence in this chapter was a labor of love, a step closer for Ahmed toward the p-word milestone. The word count had now surged to 98,000, and the finish line was pulsating with light. The white Nissan Sunny was no longer just a picture; it was the destiny waiting at the end of the next chapter.
Volt took a bite of the roast, looking around at his family and friends. He realized that while his finger could destroy the universe, it was his heart that kept it together.