My Wives are Beautiful Demons-Chapter 397: I’m not dead.

Chapter 397: I’m not dead.

The sound of dry leaves rustled like ancient lamentations, swept by the wind of ashes that never ceased to blow in that forgotten corner of the Underworld. Twisted trees, with branches like black claws, touched the scarlet sky as if trying to tear it apart. The living forest was not meant to welcome. It existed to hide.

In the heart of that labyrinth of shadows and murmurs, a natural clearing pulsed with strange energy emanating from it. A well-lit, cozy cabin, a bonfire, and of course, some living trees that made the environment much more lively.

There, Zuri rested on a magic circle, her new body wrapped in translucent layers of jade and spiritual energy. Her eyes were closed, but she was not sleeping—she was meditating. Rebuilding. Resisting.

On the opposite side of the circle, Artemis watched silently, arms crossed, her golden eyes reflecting the green and black light of the forest. Unlike most beings of the underworld, Artemis was a silent presence, firm but not cold. Her form seemed to dance between the real and the ethereal — like a shadow determined to have a will of its own.

“I must admit…” she broke the silence softly but without delicacy “…I am genuinely happy with how much you have evolved. Even if it takes time, your body is becoming yours again.”

Zuri opened her eyes slowly. Her gaze was sharp, glassy, like that of an ancient serpent that had learned to smile. Her new legs moved smoothly, as if they had always belonged to her, but still with the weight of something newly born.

“Vergil hasn’t been around for days,” Artemis added, walking slowly around the circle. “He’s drowning in his own demons, as always. And I wonder if he even realizes that you still carry a hole in your chest that even this reconstructed body can’t close.”

Zuri let out a sigh. Her voice came out low, hoarse, as if echoing from the earth.

“He doesn’t know. There’s no way he can understand something he doesn’t know,” she looked at her own hands, new, but with the weight of memories too old. “But in the end… even if he knew… he wouldn’t understand the way you do.”

Artemis didn’t answer right away. She just stopped walking, staring at the forest as if she saw something Zuri didn’t.

“My sister…” she said, almost dismissively, “won’t be happy when she finds out you’re alive. And functional. And looking so… refined.”

Zuri let out a low, humorless laugh. Her spiritual body flickered in soft waves of red and gold energy. Around her, astral snakes appeared, winding around her skin like living tattoos. Her eyes shone brightly, like embers dipped in ancient tears.

“Do you think I care?” She raised her face to the unnatural sky of the forest. “That bitch let me rot. She let me die. And yet… she still had the audacity to carry my head on a damn shield like a trophy.”

Artemis just watched, impassive. But the air around them trembled slightly with the contained anger of both.

“She didn’t know what you would become,” she commented in a low voice. “And, honestly, neither did I. But when I felt your soul leave that plane, I did what I could. I saved your essence… and imprisoned it in spiritual form. It was the only way.”

Zuri looked at her for a long time. Her face carried gratitude, pain, and a fury that would never fade.

“You turned me into a spirit. An echo. And now… I’m coming back. Every day. Every cell. Every strand of hair… I feel it. The me that died is being reborn. And this time…” her voice changed, becoming denser, deeper “…there will be no chains. No mercy if I find that disgusting bitch.”

Silence fell again, heavy as the roots of the forest.

Artemis finally smiled, but it was a restrained smile, as if hiding a deeper thought. “I’m curious to see what you’ll do when you find her again.”

Zuri smiled back—hers, however, was sharp. There was venom on her lips and a poorly healed wound in her eyes. “I don’t need to look for her… When she senses that I’m alive, she’ll come on her own. And she won’t come alone… They’ll come.”

Artemis crossed her arms, staring at the reddish horizon of the underworld, as if she could see far beyond the rocks and mist. “That’s very likely. I don’t know exactly how much my sister still hates you… but I know well the kind of bond you have.”

She turned her face, now looking at Zuri more seriously. “But listen, as a goddess… as a sister… I can’t defend what she did to you. That was not an act of divinity. It was the gesture of a parasite feeding on something it should protect.”

Zuri remained silent for a moment, but the smile disappeared. “It’s still strange to hear that from you. For so long, I thought you were all on the same side.”

“We were,” Artemis admitted, sighing. “But that was before I opened my eyes. And before you died for a mistake that wasn’t yours.”

Zuri narrowed her eyes. “I’m not dead.”

“I know,” Artemis replied with a half-smile. “And that’s what makes you dangerous now.”…

[Location completely unknown…]

The intense glow of the white room reflected off the immaculate walls, creating an almost sacred silence, heavy as the secret that lay there.

In the center, a woman knelt, her delicate fingers sliding precisely over the surface of the golden shield. The head that rested there, trapped like a trophy, had the skin of aged copper, its eyes closed forever, as if sleeping a sleep too deep to be interrupted.

Her every movement was meticulous, almost ritualistic. The cloth she used to polish it slid smoothly, removing dust and oblivion, bringing to life an object that should have had no history, but carried it all. The silence was broken only by the muffled sound of leather scraping against metal—a song of reverence and resentment. frёewebηovel.cѳm

She paused for a moment, staring at the distorted reflection of her head in the shield. Her motionless, inert face was a living reminder of what had been taken, imprisoned, silenced.

An almost imperceptible smile formed on the lips of the woman who polishes, cold… “You have become a great weapon…” She said smiling.

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