In hell?

"Lina, what do you think? Others, I don't know, but seeing the way you control this side of the city I'm sure you can follow by my side and help me create something for both of us."

Said the golden-eyed teen. His short dark hair was dirty with warm blood, just like his battered cheap mercenary armor.

As he spoke and munched on jerky the girl could still hear one of the fallen men in front of her trying to breathe through the blood in his throat.

The teen mercenary leader showed no signs of understanding why this was a bad situation to propose marriage.

After a period of silence, the seventeen-old-girl gave him a lovely smile.

"I accept."

****

"Ung!" Lazaro grunted awake

His eyes opened, Hyera was in front of him, this time they were amidst complete darkness, He looked around but couldn't see anything besides her yet the place felt familiar.

'My broken dantian?'

"Yes, you didn't just break and crippled your cultivation then, you shattered your inner world and turned your inner self into dust, you're weaker than when you were fifteen. And you cannot store or generate essence, neither through your body or soul. Even if you die, this state will follow you, through at least fifteen reincarnations before healing."

'Is that so?' He shrugged. For him, should he want to rise again, he'd find a way, And if there isn't a way, then he'd carve one. That was his confidence, that's Lazaro of superbia.

A sudden light shot out from the middle of his chest, He felt it, the core that every living being touched by essence had, was acting.

A screen formed in front of him.

"You were gifted "Earth's language package." Do you accept?"

'What the hell is this?'

"It's part of the great horizon of worlds that you lived isolated from. Just accept it, you'll learn to communicate with the people on this planet.'

He willed it and accepted, his brain surged with new information,

Hyera did everything to maintain composture. The guy in front of her was as volatile as explosives. "You know, the reason I chose you, is because you have too much to live yet."

He opened his eyes slowly with a cold glint.

"I have no interest in becoming a god's puppet. Before, when you still could offer me something, I didn't mind a deal, but thinking about it, it wasn't necessary. The place I teleported my kingdom to is soft but rough enough for them to evolve so they can grow and stand on their own."

"That's too farfetched, The amount of time and effort for a nation to thrive is unattainable in the short term, even more so for a secluded world like yours. They won't be able to do it in their lifetime." The goddess said ruthlessly.

Lazaro laughed.

"They can do it. Because I did it before, they know how to tread the path. As disorganized and uncivilized my kingdom is, it still has more freedom and more quality of life than the so-called empires blessed by gods."

She still kept her skeptical face.

"One might live his whole lifetime eating bread and treat it as God-given food, but should one chance upon a steak, he or she will understand that through their whole life they lived in a prison." He spoke.

She still showed no reaction.

"So gods can be slow too." He shook his head disappointed. "My kingdom is the steak, they got a taste of freedom, and that, they'll never forget."

She clenched her teeth at his pitying expression of talking to a three-year-old.

'I just wanted to seem unaffected by his words damn it!' she raged inside.

"Self-centered idiot! Don't assume people didn't understand you just because they didn't care about your words!"

He snorted. "I spoke so awesomely if you didn't react, it only meant you're too dumb to understand it."

'This arrogant fucker! Is it because he didn't have infancy!? it must be! he's a child, I have to be patient!' She thought and forced out an ugly smile. After all, as he said, she was the one in want of something, so she had to please.

"A-About our other predicament...P-Please, don't kill yourself with me here. Besides chancing on you in space, and taking you away from your chosen place to die, I didn't do anything to deserve death. I still have a lot to offer, if you're willing to listen."

He laughed with mirth in his eyes. "A god begging for its life, what sight, you should reflect on your pride."

His laugh echoed and a vein bulged on her temple.

****

The feeling of burning injury and exhaustion told Lazaro he was conscious again. But strangely enough, it was more annoyingly itchy than painful.

He sensed his body, most of his superficial wounds scabbed, only the more serious ones were still healing.

A citric fragrance touched his nostrils, and he suddenly became aware of a soft feeling under his head. He knew all too well this feeling.

He opened his eyelids and found clear brown eyes, followed by a natural curled auburn hair cascading down her shoulders. She had light freckles on her nose and under her eyes, He was mesmerized and she smiled at his stunned face showing her pearl white teeth.

He gathered some air on his lungs.

"Am I in hell?" He blurted

Her smile stiffened.

'I'm definitely not welcomed in heaven. But I don't think I did bad enough to be this well-received in hell...This must be the devil trying to raise expectation and when I'm the gladdest he'll just crush the illusion and laugh like a deranged pervert. Humpft, I'm Lazaro of superbia, I don't fall for such things.'

WIth twitching eyebrows and stiff smile, Larissa looked down at her lap, watching the expressions of the man who suddenly woke up and was stunned by her prided beauty. He proceeded to blurt bullshit, followed by a resolute expression, then shamelessly snuggled his face between her tighs with a perverted proud smile.

Her eyes turned upwards with her lips. "Comfortable?"

"For a demon, this is good enough." He mumbled.

"AHHHHH!" His wounds that just started to mend ripped open.

His breathing got rough with the pain. He tried to get up but she held him by the ears and laid him back down on her lap.

He looked up at her smiling face. "Oopsie, my hands slipped and my healing ability started to open wounds instead!"

Awoke from his stupor, Lazaro looked at her gasping with wide eyes, "You were the one who gave me the language thing?"

She nodded.

"Oh, then I don't mind letting this one slide." He said, sighing magnanimously and gently patting/caressing her leg.

If it wasn't for his grave injuries she'd just toss him on the ground.

Lazaro didn't look around, he focused on the noise and smell, he judged there were around seven people present, He was in the same place, so they were the ones who came. 'Where's boar?' He remembered the fat man who had the lung disease.

He sniffed twice and caught a faint smell of burnt flesh by his side, he turned around and saw the fool who was in the wild with the lung disease. His eyes and lips were swollen, a few fingers had the nails pulled off, overall, he was thrashed badly, and left with only his underwear on.

"Boris and Hugo, got angry when he didn't talk, and refused to give away the red stone, so they thrashed him and took it anyway. He's the one who told me you don't speak the language, it seems you guys are good friends." Larissa said while still healing his injuries.

'No.' Lazaro thought. 'He just didn't want to bow for whoever trashed him.'

From the little he observed the boar, he understood that the guy was a stupid stubborn fellow.

"Ha, so he's finally awake, brother, do you mind telling us how you extracted the essence of that red stone?"

A man in black clothing towered over the lying down Lazaro. and his gun swung menacingly on his hand.

"He's still in a critical situation, he probably can't even stand, wait ten more minutes and he'll be fine," Larissa said sternly.

The man looked at her and squinted, then smiled "If Madam says, than us, your guards, will obey." He shrugged and walked away.

Lazaro saw as she watched the so-called guards with a silent venomous gaze, he didn' know the full situation but judging by the way people were divided, he knew most people didn't know each other, and these two are tyrannizing them.

'Amidst the disaster, yet prioritizing profit over group relationship. They are dumb.'

Lazaro smiled and patted the healer's warm hands. Reluctantly, he got up. His wounds opened up, but he was showing his teeth in a cheap smile and spoke.

"The way I see it if I can increase our protector's strength, then the sooner the better, but this method is a rare thing so I'd prefer to show it in a secluded place."

The blonde Hugo and Larissa opened they ee wide in surprise, the first because he didn't think there was somebody so silly like this, The latter because Lazaro's body had two critical injuries and that was hurting with his every move yet he stood calmly.

"HAHA, great! Then let's go behind those trees." Hugo laughed and went along, even if Lazaro was just pretending to be dumb, his nine-millimeter beretta could put him down in a jiff.

Lazaro looked a the trashed boar to the side.

Choosing pride regardless of consequence was a dum,b thing in his opinion, but still, he couldn't help but see valor in it.

With a cheap smile, he followed the guard into the woods.