Chapter 894: Erica's Loyalty! The Gluttonous Dog Demon, Black Devourer Fang
Luo Hao, having fully assimilated her newly acquired Authority, vanished from the ethereal realm.
Left behind in the void, Pandora watched the empty space where the Martial Arts King had just stood. A deeply satisfied, maternal smile graced the immortal goddess's lips.
"Although she's an exceptionally powerful and headstrong child," Pandora murmured, her voice echoing softly in the silence, "she is still a child a mother can be truly proud of."
Sardinia.
The island was a scarred battlefield, bearing the deep, violent gouges of a clash between gods.
"Gulp... W-What's going on now?" Kusanagi Godou stammered, his voice trembling as he swallowed hard. The lingering terror of the divine clash still gripped his heart, leaving his legs feeling like jelly.
He looked toward Erica Blandelli for answers, but the blonde knight completely ignored him.
Her crimson eyes were distant, her heart violently shaken by the sheer scale of the power she had just witnessed. The grand scheme of the Bronze Black Cross had been so simple: guide Kusanagi Godou to slay a Heretic God, crown him as a Campione—a Demon King—and then pledge their absolute allegiance to him. With a Godslayer as their figurehead, their magic association would usher in an era of unmatched prosperity.
Reality, however, had mercilessly crushed that plan into dust.
The divine artifact that had been in Godou's possession was gone. Without it, and without the kill, he was nothing more than an ordinary, unremarkable stranger. To Erica, a pragmatic and ambitious knight, he had instantly lost all value. She didn't even spare him a second glance.
Instead, her brilliant mind was entirely consumed by the terrifying figure of Luo Hao.
This Godslayer had actually managed to obliterate two immensely powerful Heretic Gods with a single, heaven-shattering strike. The sheer magnitude of that martial prowess was entirely beyond Erica's comprehension. It defied the very laws of magic and reality.
As for Luo Hao's sudden disappearance? Erica deduced that the Martial Arts King had simply entered the astral boundary to claim her rightful Authorities from the slain gods.
Suddenly, the ambient mana in the air shifted.
Erica snapped her head up. The spatial fabric rippled, and Luo Hao's peerless figure reappeared amidst the ruined landscape.
The Martial Arts King's cold, indifferent eyes briefly swept over the two mortals. There was no warmth, no interest—only the detached gaze of a dragon looking at ants. Having dealt with her divine prey, she clearly had no desire to linger in this devastated wasteland.
She turned, her silken robes fluttering as she prepared to depart.
"Your Excellency, Martial Arts King!"
The shout tore from Erica's throat before she could second-guess herself.
Countless calculations and desperate thoughts had intertwined in her mind the moment Luo Hao reappeared, resulting in a singular, life-altering decision.
Luo Hao paused. She slowly turned her head, her dark eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at the frail blonde girl who had dared to halt her steps.
Without a moment's hesitation, Erica dropped to one knee amidst the rubble. She bowed her head deeply, exposing the nape of her neck in a universal gesture of absolute submission.
"Your Excellency, Martial Arts King! I, Erica Blandelli of the Bronze Black Cross, pledge my utmost allegiance to you!"
It was a massive gamble. She was betting her life, and the future of her association, on the microscopic chance that Luo Hao would accept her fealty. Pledging herself to this overwhelmingly dominant Demon King was infinitely more valuable than backing the weak, ordinary Kusanagi Godou.
Yet, Erica knew the odds were abysmal. A supreme existence like Luo Hao had absolutely no reason to care about a mortal knight or the Bronze Black Cross.
In the silence that followed, Luo Hao didn't speak to Erica. Instead, her consciousness connected to the Chat Group.
'[Ren, my husband,]'she asked casually.'[What do you think of her?]'A moment later, Ren's laid-back, pragmatic voice echoed in her mind.'[Accept her.]'
Just like that, a single casual word from Ren completely altered the Martial Arts King's decision.
Luo Hao's perfectly sculpted lips parted slightly. "I accept."
Erica, who had been bracing for rejection or death, jerked her head up, her crimson eyes wide with stunned disbelief. Did I hear that right?
Before she could process the victory, Luo Hao vanished, reappearing directly in front of her in a blur of motion.
"However," Luo Hao stated, her voice as cold and crisp as winter ice, "the person you are pledging your allegiance to is not me."
Erica blinked, utter confusion washing over her. If not the Demon King... then who?
"Your Excellency, Martial Arts King..." Erica bit her lip, her silver teeth pressing into the soft flesh as she risked angering the tyrant. "C-Can you tell me who exactly I am to serve?"
She asked despite the very real possibility of being slapped into bloody mist for her insolence. It wasn't that she lacked a fear of death; rather, she needed to know. She sought the protection of a supreme entity, and she couldn't just blindly pledge her life to an unknown variable.
Luo Hao's eyes flashed with a dangerous light. "Heh. You are quite bold to dare question me."
Erica trembled violently, immediately lowering her head again. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She was certain she had overstepped, that her life was about to end right here in the dirt.
But the fatal blow never came.
Instead, Luo Hao delivered a brief, world-shattering explanation. "The one you are to pledge your absolute loyalty to is my husband. You are to be his concubine, and you will serve him well."
Erica's jaw practically hit the floor. Her mind short-circuited.
Husband? Concubine?! This outcome was so far beyond her wildest calculations that she was left entirely speechless.
"I will have someone instruct you later," Luo Hao added dismissively. It just so happened that among the women Ren had brought back from the Cherry Blossom Island Nation, several were well-versed in the arts of serving a master. They could easily teach this arrogant Italian knight her proper place.
"Come with me."
Luo Hao reached out, her pale hand resting lightly on Erica's armored shoulder.
In the blink of an eye, the space warped, and both women vanished without a trace.
"Dis... Disappeared?!"
Kusanagi Godou was left standing entirely alone in the cratered ruins of Sardinia, waving his arms and making a panicked fuss. He had absolutely no idea that the grand, heroic destiny he was supposed to walk had just been completely, irrevocably derailed.
Meanwhile, in the world where Kikyo resided.
"ROAR!!!"
A hysterical, bloodcurdling scream tore through the ancient forest, sounding like the agonizing wail of a primordial beast.
Massive flocks of birds erupted from the canopy, frantically trying to escape the epicenter of the sound.
Suddenly, a suffocating, crimson aura of pure bloodlust exploded outward. The miasma was so dense and toxic that the fleeing birds froze mid-flight. Their hearts ruptured instantly from the sheer pressure of the demonic energy, and they plummeted from the sky like rain, dead before they hit the ground.
The source of this apocalyptic slaughter was a colossal Dog Demon. Its massive, muscular frame was covered in pitch-black fur that was heavily matted with fresh, glistening blood.
The black giant lowered its massive head, its jaws snapping shut around the carcass of a large deer. It devoured the beast in massive, sickening mouthfuls, bones crunching like twigs.
Surrounding the monstrous canine were literal mountains of accumulated bones. Among the animal remains were hundreds of human skulls, their hollow sockets staring blankly into the forest. It was a horrifying monument to the sheer number of lives this creature had consumed.
After swallowing the last of the deer, the demon chewed thoughtfully for a moment before spitting out a pile of completely clean, white bones.
The giant Dog Demon bared its blood-stained fangs.
Then, its massive body began to emit a dark light, rapidly shrinking and compressing until it took the form of a tall, imposing man. He had wild black hair, pitch-black canine ears, and was clad in blood-red robes that seemed to drip with malice.
"Hehehehe..."
A cold, sinister laugh tumbled from his lips, echoing eerily through the silent, dead forest.
"I've grown stronger again. Excellent!"
He was neither a mere dog nor a human. He was a terrifying anomaly born into the Inu Daiyōkai—the Dog Demon clan of the Western Lands.
From the very moment he drew his first breath, a singular, obsessive mission was burned into his mind: Devour everything.
Driven by this genesis of gluttony, he had started by devouring his own weakened mother, using her flesh to rapidly grow and mature. He had baptized himself with a name fitting his nature: Black Devourer Fang.
From that day forward, he became the lurking shadow of the Dog Demon clan.
Slowly, methodically, he began to eat his own kind. He devoured the clan's children, their adults, and eventually their most powerful warriors. His insatiable hunger even drove him to kill and consume Tōga, the Great Dog Demon and one of the strongest yōkai to ever walk the earth.
Yet, even after absorbing such unfathomable power, Black Devourer Fang remained hollow. He was completely unsatisfied.
Devouring his clan was not enough. He needed to consume all life in the entire world.
Finding no more sustenance in the desolate, lifeless ruins of his clan's territory, he abandoned the Western Lands and began his own reign of chaotic gluttony across the mortal realm.
Every living creature in this vast forest had been slaughtered and eaten by him in a single day.
And yet, his stomach still burned with an agonizing, bottomless hunger.
A vicious scarlet light flickered in his dark eyes.
Although Black Devourer Fang possessed the brutal, primal urge to eat everything in his path, he was far from mindless. His intellect was sharp, and his current goal was incredibly precise.
He was hunting Kikyo.
More specifically, he was hunting the Shikon Jewel that the shrine maiden protected.
Through the fragmented memories he had absorbed from the countless yōkai he had eaten, Black Devourer Fang had learned of the Shikon Jewel's existence. Cold logic dictated that if he devoured the sacred jewel, he would finally obtain the ultimate power required to consume the entire world in one bite.
"Hehehehe!"
"The Shikon Jewel... Here I come!"
Black Devourer Fang threw his head back and let out a terrifying, razor-sharp laugh. In his twisted mind, the jewel was already resting in his palm.
Grumble~
Suddenly, a thunderous growl from his abdomen interrupted his maniacal laughter.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue, rubbing his stomach. "Before that, I need to fill my belly."
He had just finished eating an entire forest's worth of wildlife, yet the starvation was already clawing at his insides again.
His eyes narrowed, gleaming with predatory ferocity.
"If I remember correctly, there's a human city not far from here."
A cruel, bloodthirsty grin stretched across his face, revealing rows of jagged teeth. "Hehehehe... Humans. Ah, they are truly delicious. I'm coming!"
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