The night after the pyres burned felt endless.
By the time the first pale light touched the distant mountains, the air still smelled of smoke and wet ash. The crater where the abyssal monster had died was a black wound against the horizon. Silent, but Asmodeus could sense the faint gateway still lingering between their world and the abyss.
Asmodeus woke slowly.
'I'm going to die...'
The room wasn't a grand palace but a simple soldier's tent hastily cleaned and made livable. Bandages wrapped his ribs and shoulder where the abyssal tendrils had pierced him. Every movement ached as if someone yanked his bones. He wasn't alone. Yumiko sat on the edge of the bed, golden hair damp, her eyes wrapped in dark rings from sleeplessness. She hadn't even washed the dry fluids from their passionate night.
The other women came and went, but Yumiko stayed the night... as Serena would arrive in a few days.
"You're finally awake, you've sleep so long," she breathed with a sense of relief.
