Asmodeus System: Stealing My Bully's Mother

​Morning light slipped through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating Valera who was still fast asleep on the bed.

​The exotic-skinned female knight breathed steadily. Her body was covered in reddish bruises of obedience—a brutal masterpiece signifying her absolute subjugation from the night before.

​Ethan stood at the window sill. He had neatly put his black VIP uniform back on. The youth glanced briefly at Valera, ensuring the Lust Brand on her left neck pulsed stably, locking the executioner’s loyalty without a flaw.

​"Sleep, my Bloodhound," Ethan whispered softly. "Your task of manipulating Alaric won’t begin until tonight."

​Ethan turned around, focusing his mana on the dense shadows in the corner of the room.

​[Abyssal Stride.]

​Ethan’s body melted into the darkness. He leaped through space, piercing the stone walls of the academy, and maneuvering past dozens of magical patrol points, before finally resurfacing in an abandoned corridor behind the Main Library.

​Looming right before him was a giant steel door wrapped in hundreds of high-tier sealing magic chains. Above the door, a fading, blood-red warning was carved:

​Training Dungeon Safety Limit. Entry into the Black Zone Prohibited.

​This was the place.

​Ethan stepped forward. He didn’t waste a second destroying the sealing chains. He purely used Abyssal Stride to instantly leap through the shadows within the steel door’s crevices.

​The moment his senses stepped inside, the bone-chilling cold, damp, and stench-of-death air immediately assaulted his nostrils.

​Before him stretched a colossal vertical abyss as wide as a lake. Absolute darkness swallowed the bottom of the chasm, as if waiting to devour prey alive.

​Without a single second of hesitation, the Demon Lord spread both arms wide. He fell forward, letting gravity pull him back into the embrace of the abyss.

​WHOOSH!

​The wind howled violently against his face as he free-fell. For the first ten seconds, the air still felt normal, offering only the bone-chilling cold and dampness.

​However... after thirty seconds of plunging into depths theoretically unreachable by humans, the air pressure shifted drastically.

​A thick, purplish-black fog—Ancient Miasma—began to shroud the air from all directions.

​This miasma possessed an absurd level of toxicity. If an Archmage-level (Rank A) sorcerer inhaled it, their lungs would melt into bloody slush in under two minutes. This was the absolute reason why Sage Cornelius or the kingdom’s high dignitaries had never deigned to explore the bottom of this abyss directly.

​Yet for Ethan, this place was no different from coming home.

​[Sin Mana Activation. Assimilation Mode.]

​Dense crimson energy exploded from within Ethan’s circuit. Enveloping his entire body from head to toe like a steel cocoon.

​An extraordinarily bizarre phenomenon occurred. Instead of eroding Ethan’s defenses, the purplish-black Miasma actually parted, making way for him like the parting of the sea.

​The toxic fog swirled around Ethan as if it were alive, welcoming home the entity possessing the most absolute affinity for darkness.

​Inside Ethan’s mind, the voice of the Asmodeus System suddenly buzzed violently loud.

​[W-Warning... Spatial fluctuation... d-detected...] The woman’s husky voice sounded glitchy, punctuated by painful ear-splitting static.

​What’s wrong with you, System? Ethan asked internally. He maintained his body’s posture as his falling speed began to magically decrease due to the increasingly dense air pressure.

​"T-these... memories... my circuit... is reacting..." The System’s voice let out a soft whimper. Her arrogant tone was completely gone, replaced by an impossibly fragile confusion. "The scent of this place... these rocks... I... I remember... blood... so much angel blood..."

​Ethan narrowed his eyes sharply. Memories of the Underworld War? This System truly harbored a fragment of a soul or an intact memory from a forgotten past.

​BOOM!

​Ethan’s boots finally struck land with immense force, creating a small crater layered in a spiderweb of cracks atop the black stone.

​He had arrived at the bottom of the abyss.

​Ethan stood tall, brushing ancient dust off his shirt. He summoned a small blood-red fireball (Crimson Sin Fire) and let it float above his palm for illumination.

​The firelight pierced through the pitch darkness, revealing a sight capable of catching anyone’s breath in their throat.

​This was no ordinary limestone cave floor. Before him stretched a colossal highway forged from flawlessly polished, pure obsidian slabs. The grand highway was flanked by stone pillars dozens of meters high, most of which were shattered and collapsed.

​And at the end of that highway... loomed an ancient temple—or more accurately, the remains of a subterranean palace—whose architecture bore no resemblance whatsoever to the human civilizations of this era.

​Its gates were forged from black metal untouched by the rust of time. Upon its surface was carved a massive relief depicting a war between winged creatures of light and horned demons.

​These were the ruins of an ancient kingdom. The Ruins of the Abyss.

​Ethan began to stride forward down the obsidian highway.

​However... a mere ten steps in, the ground beneath his feet violently shuddered like a tectonic earthquake.

​RUMBLEEE!

​The tremor didn’t originate from the earth’s plates. Something extraordinary was awakening from a long slumber in front of the palace gates.

​Piles of rocks and obsidian slabs rained down. An eight-meter-tall behemoth slowly rose to its full height, completely blocking access to the gates.

​It was the Abyssal Guardian.

​This creature was no ordinary stone golem. Its body was a repulsive fusion of rotting demon flesh and black steel coursing with veins of purple magma. Its four eyes burned with a lethal yellow glare. Its right hand gripped a giant, jagged battleaxe rusted with thousands of years of dried blood.

​The mana fluctuations emanating from the creature were horrifyingly immense. Its pressure was equal to, or perhaps even slightly exceeded, that of Duke Alaric von Rosenberg (Rank S).

​"B-be careful, My Master..." the System’s voice echoed haltingly in Ethan’s head. "T-that... is a killing machine from the Era of the Fall... absolutely programmed to... destroy anything possessing living mana..."

​Ethan’s crimson eyes narrowed sharply. Facing a Rank S monster in pure physical combat would certainly be troublesome, even if he were to combine the powers of Isolde, Kaelia, and Valera.

​The giant creature raised its battleaxe high into the air. Preparing to flatten the intruder into a pile of bloody dust. The pressurized wind from the axe’s swing alone was sharp enough to slice Ethan’s cheek, causing a single droplet of blood to spill.

​Yet, Ethan didn’t budge an inch. He didn’t summon the Golden Beast Aura, nor did he bother creating a black ice shield.

​The young man puffed out his chest. He took one firm step forward.

​"Bow your head before me," Ethan growled with absolute authority.

​He unlocked all limiters on his Sin Mana, hitting 100%.

​WHOOSH!

​An extraordinarily dark, dense pillar of crimson energy exploded from Ethan’s body. His aura pierced through the gloom of the abyss ceiling. The pure killing intent of a demon ruler radiated outward to every corner of the space.

​This wasn’t borrowed elemental mana. This was pure Sin Mana, the very blueprint of Ethan’s current existence.

​The four yellow eyes of the Abyssal Guardian widened instantly.

​The swing of the giant axe, mere centimeters from Ethan’s crown... abruptly stopped dead in the air. The gust of wind sliced a few strands of Ethan’s bangs, yet the steel edge refused to harm him.

​The mindless Rank S monster—programmed purely to slaughter—suddenly experienced an error within its core crystal.

​The mana circuit inside the giant body vibrated violently as its sensors caught the absolute purity of the Sin Mana radiating from Ethan.

​To the monster’s ancient instincts, this energy was a law of nature. This energy was the absolute mark of the creator. The authentic seal of the supreme ruler.

​CRASH!

​The mountain-cleaving giant axe fell helplessly onto the obsidian floor.

​Defying all human logic, the eight-meter-tall slaughtering monster bent its demonic steel knees. Slamming them onto the ground, creating a fresh crater.

​The creature bowed its head deeply, pressing its steel forehead against the dusty floor. Prostrating in complete surrender, right in front of the tips of Ethan’s dress shoes.

​A crisp, clear system chime echoed once more, breaking the previous broken glitch.

​[Magical Genetic Identification Confirmed.]

​[Authority of the Demon Lord Recognized by Abyssal Guardian.]

​[Status: Passive Subjugation Mode Successful.]

​Ethan stared down at the giant creature prostrating before him with a blank, intensely arrogant gaze. He didn’t even feel the need to praise or issue further commands.

​As a true Alpha Predator, Ethan stepped forward. He walked casually past the gap between the arms of the giant body still trembling in prostration, without turning back for even a fraction of a second.

​Ethan arrived before the giant, twenty-meter-tall black metal gates.

​He placed his palm, infused with Sin Mana, squarely at the center of the gates, right over the carving of a crown of thorns.

​CREAAAK!

​The ancient gates that had been tightly sealed for centuries slowly opened inward, grinding harshly against the obsidian floor. A gust of ancient wind blew against Ethan’s face, carrying an exceptionally thick scent of blood, rusted steel, and the nostalgia of death.

​Ethan stepped across the threshold.

​Inside lay a giant throne hall long reduced to ruins. Its pillars were broken, its ceiling collapsed in several places.

​Yet at the far end of the hall... atop a tiered platform assembled from thousands of skulls and pure black stone, the ruler’s throne still stood firm, defying time.

​And floating above the vacant throne was a mysterious object radiating a blackish-red energy glow.

​A crown.

​The crown was forged from a black material resembling pure obsidian. Adorned with two demon horns curving sharply backward. Exuding a deeply, deeply pure energy of sin.

​As Ethan fixed his gaze on the horned crown, the voice of the Asmodeus System echoed once more inside his head.

​This time, her voice wasn’t glitchy, broken, or playfully seductive as usual. It flowed with extraordinary softness and elegance, yet heavy with a profoundly majestic sorrow. Like a Lonely Queen who had waited thousands of years for her true Master’s return.

​"You have returned... My Master," the voice whispered, echoing into the deepest recesses of Ethan’s dark soul. "Welcome home."