Absolute Depravity: Reincarnated with a lustful System-Chapter 287 - A Walk Through Shame

Carrying the weight of her daughter and the demon lords in her hands, Asmodia pushed forward into an otherworld portal. And although she'd tried fighting her buried emotions, her eyes were numb with blood tears.

'What's happening?!' With every passing moment, she felt her heart squeeze up tight and her mind rushing with thoughts that made no sense to her. 'Just keep moving Asmodia! You've come this far, Atlas is dead and Helga thinks you're dead, there's no reason to ruin this moment by thinking about-'

Before she had realized countless eyes had begun peering at her through the ever-stretching dark. Glowing a bright red glow, a familiar snake-like creature slithers up close to its master.

"What is it?" Asmodia asked, glancing up at the slithery giant.

Instead of words, the snake leaned lower towards Moriyana's body held up by Asmodia's arms.

"What are you-" Baffled as the snake began gently brushing its nose onto her daughter's arm, the queen of darkness was left in a state of shock.

Following the lead of the slithering giant, countless other familiars started to emerge from the shadow to get a look at Moriyana's body. They hissed and growled at the grim sight, and even gave Asmodia some disgruntled looks.

"What?!" Yelled the mistress of darkness, and the creatures around her jerked away in fear.

Still peeking through the dark, they kept their distance but didn't let Asmodia out of their sight. Her pets were not at all being shy about showing their scorn towards their master. In fact, they'd acted more revoltingly than any other time in front of Asmodia.

"It wasn't my fault, okay?" She muttered, glancing over their faces.

"Now go away!" Yelling at them all, Asmodia kept on walking to cover as much distance as possible before heading back into the real world. Yet despite her warning, the familiars followed her around from the shadows as if to showcase their defiance. "Void eater! Eat anyone who doesn't go away in a second!"

Calling out to her familiar, all she got was a hushed grunt. At this point, it was no doubt that none of them were willing to listen to her anymore.

'Fuck it then…' Closing her eyes shut, Asmodia kept walking with the weight of the others growing increasingly heavier on their bodies. 'Do they think I did this on purpose? I didn't kill her! I didn't…What the hell am I doing?'

Stopping in her tracks all of a sudden, Asmodia gazed down at Moriyana's body wrapped in her arms. Her skin had turned pale by now, and her body had grown so cold it was freezing her hands. Just looking at her sweet daughter, something kept urging Asmodia to let her heart cry. Trying to gulp down those emotions, she knelt down on her knees to just clear her mind for a moment.

"I-I…" Her lips did part, but her words only came out in a jumble. "I thought you were tougher, always escaping me, and breaking all the rules."

Laying Moriyana on the ground, Asmodia decided to let her heart bleed before she reached the other end of the otherworld portal. Although a bit reluctant, she leaned onto her forehead and planted a brief kiss.

"I'm sorry I made you for such selfish reasons, but, I had to!" She exclaimed to herself.

'Who are you lying to Asmodia? You had to? For what reason do you have to create a conscious life that suffers throughout its existence?' Her own mind began to contradict Asmodia. 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!'

"This was a bad idea," gathering everyone back up, Asmodia decided to keep moving forward.

Venturing further, she tried not to strain her mind much, but upon stumbling on a strange occurrence, she was forced to break that rule. No matter how far she walked, the end of the path was nowhere near.

"Otherworld, what's your problem now?!" Talking to the very existence of the isolated plane, Asmodia tried to intimidate it.

However, unsurprisingly, there was no response to be had. Traveling between places through the otherworld was made convenient not only through magic but with the help of a spirit stuck between space and time. She would often respond to Asmodia's call and open up paths that connected one spot to the other, yet today it seemed the girl was just as angry as the other familiars.

"Don't make me repeat myself…" Asmodia warned, hanging at the edge of her patience.

Giving the spirit a moment, she stood there in silence with all the bodies still piled up on her shoulders. After only a few seconds, the spirit gave into its master's command and sprang forth a door not far away from Asmodia.

Turning to the light coming through the door frame, the mistress grunted to herself, feeling more than a bit of annoyance. The hours of walking had taken its toll and waddling over to the door, Asmodia was ready to let her Haruki's body rest as well as her own soul.

Coming out on the other end, she landed in the meeting hall of the Hestemian castle. Trying to look around, she noticed a blur of a person standing in front, but before her mind could clear things up she hit the maximum strain on Haruki's body. Like a fish out of water, the body flopped onto the ground and Asmodia's soul went into a forceful slumber.

***

"She's dead…" Klian told the others, his hand pressed against Moriyana's neck. Turning around, he was met with somber looks and tears trailing down everyone's faces. For a spell he wanted to tell them to move on, however, a simple yet stern gaze from Rose let him know not to take that risk. "Margarette, do you want me to freeze her body? That would keep her body from decaying until we find out what to do next."

Her curled-up nails dug into her palms, Margarette bit down hard on her lips to keep her frustration in check. To some degree, she felt it was her fault for letting Moriyana and Fay wander around unchecked.

"M-Margrette?" Asuka called out to her through the tears. And although she let her take a while to respond, Margarette stood there in a trance-like silence. "Margarette!"

It wasn't until Asuka shook her whole body did the demon war general come back to her senses. ｂｅ𝚍𝚗𝚘ｖｅ𝚕．ｃ𝚘𝚖

"S-sorry, yeah, Klian please do, we'll figure out how to bring her back once Haruki wakes up," giving out the order, Margarette turned to another cause of trouble who'd just returned to the castle. "And Fay, meet me in the throne room, we have a lot to talk about."

The look of scorn on Margarette's face was, to some degree, shared by those who knew what Fay had done. None of them wanted any part of what happens when Haruki finds out, and thus clearing things before he wakes up was of utmost importance to them all.

"Margarette, can I accompany you for a moment?" Breaking the moment, the queen of goblins asked.

"Why?" Margarette responded, not in the mood for useless chatter.

"The militia, we still have a war to take care of," the queen replied.

"How about you read the room, and shut the fuck up?" Surprising them all, Margarette had no intentions of holding her rage back. "A war? Without her, our best illusionist? Are you deluded? Or do you just want to march a lackluster army with no way of winning a battle?"

"Mother…" Moving forward from behind Asuka. Riley placed her hand on Margarette's shoulder. Then, as she felt Margarette reel her emotions back with an audible gasp, Riley looked right at the scowling queen. "We'll discuss it later, I'm sorry for what she said."

Planting a firm step forward, Rose decided to jump into the conversation as well. Glancing through the crowd, she had her arms tied crossed and the look on her face screamed murder.

"Only healers allowed in this bedroom from now on, you can all fight outside if you want to," getting back into her head maid demeanor, she most of them out.

"Yeah, who knows what's affecting master's sleep? It could be the commotion making things worse too," Athena added as she moved toward Haruki.

With haste, everyone except Asuka, Klian, and the demi-cats were chased out of the room. Shutting the door locked from the inside, Rose returned to her station to make sure everything was running alright. Having frozen Moriyana's body in an every-lasting block of ice, Klian wished the rest luck and disappeared using Hawthorn's teleportation.

"So, what do we know about what happened?" Rose asked, having no clue about what led to this tragedy.

"I don't know, according to Merciella, master just showed up with the demon lords and Moriyana lugged onto his body," Asuka replied, her eyes fixed on Haruki from her stool.

"And that bitch doesn't know anything else?" With everyone's patience running low, Rose no longer had time for niceties.

"Klaus left after arguing with her apparently," Athena jumped into the conversation as well. "It happened moments before master arrived, I doubt that bitch is telling the whole truth."

"Mom…" A bit shocked by her mother's language, Alice tugged on her robe to make her stop.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to," Athen quickly apologized and buried her true emotions.

Watching the exchange, Rose ironed her language as well before speaking once more.

"Maybe I should check on the demon lords, then, the ones that aren't unconscious at least," saying that she called onto Hawthorn mentally and disappeared out of sight as well.

'Bed and stool, how many times does it have to be like this?' Thought Asuka, her eyes still gazing at Haruki. 'Why do you keep doing this to me?!'

At this point, Asuka was angry, not playfully, but enraged enough to growl. Noticing the change, and being a demi-human herself, the other two healers understood her frustration well.

'We're not bound to him as servants anymore, and if he keeps pulling stunts like these, some of us are bound to lose their trust, and in the worst-case scenario, even the love they feel for him.' Having been through a marriage built upon love, Athena knew that Haruki has to prove himself before he can regain everyone's trust. 'I hope it doesn't end the same way it did for Moriyana.'

Shifting her gaze at the frozen body, Athena felt a need to growl out her frustration as well.