Chapter 39
"Damian." Mia called out.
"Mia." Max softly responded as he slowly and calmly walked forward.
He grabbed the chair in the room and sat down beside Mia, who had a radiant smile on her face while tears rolled freely down her cheeks.
"I'm glad to see that you are fine." Max genuinely smiled as he held her hand tightly.
Mia slowly sat up while staring at Damian over and over again, as if confirming that he was truly there.
"Thank you." She croaked out, her voice weak but filled with sincerity.
Max quickly shook his head. "I should be the one thanking you. Y… you risked your life to save me and that was crazy, but it was also brave of you. So thank you so much, and I'm sorry you got shot on my behalf."
"No! It was nothing, and honestly, it wasn't my fault after you gave such a heartfelt speech." Mia chuckled softly, her shoulders trembling as she laughed through the pain.
Max nervously scratched his hair with an awkward chuckle. "It just rolled down my tongue without me thinking too much about it."
"And that was so sweet of you. In this world, men treat women like sexual tools without emotions and then turn them into punching bags when they get angry.
But you… you respect women, and that's really nice to know." Mia said as she leaned forward, her eyes warm and searching.
Though she wasn't hooked up to any cables or machines, she was still required to remain in the hospital for a few more days to recover fully.
"You really need to save your strength and rest." Max said gently as he placed his finger on her lips, stopping any romantic advances before they could begin.
"Tch! You are a party pooper." Mia scoffed as she turned to face the other side in playful anger, her lips forming a pout.
"You are literally thirty-two and you behave like a kid?" Max chuckled in amusement, shaking his head.
"What do you mean? That I'm old?" Mia asked with a furrowed brow as she glared at Max, her eyes burning with mock fury.
"Not my words." Max chuckled again when he saw veins bulging at the side of Mia's head. She quickly grabbed a pillow, dashed out of bed with surprising speed, and aimed to hurl it at him.
"Hey!" Max shouted as he shot out of his chair and began running around the room, laughing nervously, while Mia chased him with determination. "You need to slow down, tigress, you are still weak!"
"I will kill you first for calling me old!" Mia roared, her voice echoing through the room as she kept chasing him around with the pillow raised high.
"I didn't really call you one, you called yourself that." Max laughed as he ducked, narrowly avoiding the pillow hurled at him.
"I will… ahhh!" Mia suddenly screamed as she slipped on something and fell backward onto the bed.
Max instantly froze before dashing towards her, his worry outweighing everything else. He hovered above her with concern written all over his face.
"Are you okay?" Max asked worriedly as he tried to lift her upright, but the next second, his shirt was grabbed tightly and he stumbled, falling onto her body.
He could feel the softness of her chest pressing against him, her curves protruding through the thin hospital clothes and piercing into his chest. His heart raced uncontrollably at the contact.
"I miss you inside me." Mia whispered, her tone low and filled with longing as she pulled him close. Their lips met and they locked in a passionate, wet, and deep kiss that seemed to silence the world around them.
The kiss went on for a few seconds before Max quickly pulled away, breathing heavily, and stood up from her.
"You really need to rest. It's not yet time for all these. When you are strong again, then we can have all the fun we want. Okay?" Max asked with a genuine smile as he sat back down on the chair while Mia straightened herself on the bed.
"You really are different from my husband." She muttered under her breath, though her words carried weight. "I love you, Damian."
'I didn't think I was going to say this to another woman, but what she did really tugged at my heartstrings. Still, I feel weird about it. Because Camila is still there, and honestly, I think I'm starting to have something for her too.'
"And that's what it means for you to have a harem. Give all women equal affection." Pix chuckled in Max's mind.
"Where will you stay now? I'm sure there's no way you are going back to him again, right?" Max asked quickly, changing the topic.
"I really don't know where I'm going to stay. I've been thinking about this for the past three days now and I still can't seem to get anywhere." Mia replied with an exhausted sigh.
"For the past three days?" Max raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. That's how long I've been in the hospital, and you didn't check up." Mia clicked her tongue.
'So that means I was out for three days? Doesn't sound too long. That's great.' Max heaved a sigh of relief.
"I'm sorry, my beautiful baby girl." Max leaned forward and squeezed her cheeks playfully.
'Feels weird that I'm doing this to someone older than me.'
"Something held me back from coming, but now I'm here. I'll be with you every day." Max declared as he kissed Mia's forehead.
"Promise?"
"Yeah, sure." He chuckled back, and soon, the two of them were talking and sharing more.
They traded stories about likes and dislikes, and Mia even opened up about how and why she married her abusive husband. It turned out to be nothing but an arranged marriage, forced upon her because of her parents' debts.
Hours flew by as they spoke, and before they realized it, night had fallen. Max eventually stood, telling her he had to leave for now because he had something to do.
Reluctantly, Mia let him go, and soon Max was back outside in the bustling town, heading home.
'Yikes! I spoke for so long that I didn't even realize when time flew. Now all the cabs are occupied. How am I supposed to get home?' Max sighed in irritation as he tucked his hands into his pockets and kept walking down the street.
'I really feel sorry for Mia. She's been through so much. An arranged marriage when all she wanted was to chase her dreams. And because her parents owed debts, she was handed to Carl.
Now she has nowhere to go since her parents wouldn't want her back, fearing Carl's wrath. She can't live with me in the slums either. We wouldn't survive. So what can she do now?'
Max crossed the road, his mind deep in thought, heading toward an alleyway shortcut.
'I know! I'll just go see Camila tomorrow morning. Maybe she can help and let Mia stay with her. Imagine, my two conquered women living together.' Max chuckled at the thought as he turned into the alley.
Then WAM!
Something slammed into him, sending his body skidding two meters away. Whatever struck him slid across the ground and landed with a heavy thud right in front of him.
'The hell is this?' he muttered, crouching to examine the object. His eyes widened, his body froze.
"A dead body?" He almost shouted as he shot upright like a bamboo stalk, heart racing. He stared at the alleyway entrance only two meters away. "Wh… what or who could have killed a human so gruesomely?"
Without hesitation, he activated his dragon eyes, staring hard at the alley entrance. But no matter how much he focused, no aura returned to him.
"Something is wrong." He whispered, forcing himself to man up as he crept forward.
When he finally peeped back in, his eyes went wide in horror. His jaw slackened.
A figure was crouched low, sinking its fangs into a corpse and tearing flesh apart like it was devouring roasted meat. Blood splattered across its face, barely visible beneath the mangled body it held in its hands. The sound of tearing and chewing echoed in the narrow alley, making Max's skin crawl.
"What the freaking hell?" he muttered under his breath as a sickening twist gripped his insides.
He tried activating his dragon eyes again, hoping to see if the human had any chance of survival, but his ability refused to function properly. That failure only deepened the unease crawling up his spine.
THUD!
The dining figure abruptly dropped the corpse with a heavy thud. Its head jerked upward, sniffing the air in short, sharp bursts.
Then, those eerie molten-orange eyes widened, filled with sudden recognition, and it slowly rose to its full height—giving Max an unobstructed view of the nightmare standing before him.
The figure loomed close to seven feet tall, its frame wiry yet grotesquely muscular, as if forged for violence. Its skin was a sickly, ashen gray stretched tightly across its body, marked with sharp ridges protruding from its spine and elbows like jagged shards of bone.
Its arms were unnaturally long and crooked, ending in elongated, clawed fingers that scraped against the asphalt with a sound like nails dragging across glass.
Two horns twisted upward from its skull, spiraling back like black obsidian blades. Its eyes burned with that molten-orange glow—like lava struggling to burst through cracked, charred earth.
Its mouth was a lipless maw stretched unnaturally wide, crammed with uneven, needle-like teeth that ground together in a constant gnash.
Each bite oozed thick black drool, which dripped heavily to the ground and sizzled wherever it landed, as though even the earth itself could not tolerate its corruption.
Veins pulsed beneath its skin, glowing faintly with a sinister crimson energy that seemed alive, writhing within. From its back sprouted half-formed wings, tattered and skeletal, more bone than flesh, twitching like broken appendages desperate to unfurl.
Every step it took scorched the ground, leaving behind smoldering footprints that hissed and smoked in protest of its existence.
'Wait! This is no human!' Max realized with terror, his heart skipping several beats as cold fear surged through his veins. His system immediately confirmed the truth.
Tring!
{Warning!!! Host has just come face to face with a demon.}
{Calculating strength of demon…}
{Error! Calculation unable to be completed. Demon is masking its aura.}
{Calculating host's chance of survival…}
{Calculation complete! Survival chance: 10 percent.}
{Ding! Hostility detected! Demon is preparing to wreak havoc.}
{RUN!!}
"Hey there, dragon vessel. I have been looking for you," the demon said in a guttural, otherworldly voice, every word vibrating with malice.
Max froze. His blood turned to ice, and his mind blanked in horror.
'I'm… I'm… I'm dead.'