The Harsh Truth

The Next Day

The air in the Grand Hall was thick with mixed emotions.

Yuto stood at the center of it all, dressed in ceremonial armor dark as obsidian, its edges trimmed in red and gold. 

The polished steel glinted beneath the crimson chandeliers, each flame flickering as if reacting to his presence. 

At his side, Mizuki stood in quiet readiness, her eyes never straying far from him. 

Selene leaned casually against a pillar near the entrance, arms crossed, and smiled absentmindedly for once.

Beside them, sitting regally at the elevated throne to his right, was his mother.

Who, for some bloody reason, thought it was a good idea to bring him into this whole mess just a day after she returned.

Maybe she wanted to establish Yuto as he number one choice to succeed the throne, or to show everyone that he was under her protection.

Either way… her return had been unexpected. 

She hadn't explained her disappearance. 

She didn't need to. 

All she said was: "You are not alone anymore. Not while I draw breath"

And that has been enough for now.

But the reunion had passed.

The Demon Council had gathered.

They were older than kingdoms. 

Lords of the Undying March, the Plaguewood Depths, the Hollowed Sky, and more. 

Warlocks, tyrants, generals, and monarchs who ruled in his mother's absence.

The chamber rumbled as a deep voice echoed from the leftmost throne. 

A towering man with skin like diamonds and molten eyes leaned forward.

"So this... is the boy who bears the Queen's blood," he said, each word slow and laced with disdain.

"You bring him here now? After so long?"

Another noble, thin and pale as bone, with antlers branching from his skull, gave a bitter laugh.

"He's but a child. He reeks of the surface. I smell mortal influence"

Murmurs spread. 

The chamber felt colder.

Yuto didn't flinch.

He met their gazes head-on, shoulders square, voice calm.

"... F…"

"What boy?"

Yuto chuckled as he rolled his shoulders.

"Fuck you," he raised both his middle fingers at everyone present.

(Of course not Mizuki, Selene, or his mother, which he made clear with his eyes).7

A hush fell over the chamber.

Then, the air became rather suffocating.

Power crackled like lightning through ancient stone as dozens of council members surged to their feet. 

Some howled in rage. 

Others snarled, claws twitching, magic crackling at their fingertips.

"Insolent whelp!" roared the antlered noble, his voice like bone grinding on stone. 

"You dare mock us in our domain?!"

The diamond-skinned man remained seated, though his eyes gleamed hotter. 

"He's either brave… or stupid"

Yuto yawned.

"Same thing when you're stuck in a room full of mummies"

Selene bit her lower lip to keep from laughing. 

Mizuki, of course, remained perfectly composed, but the faintest smirk tugged at her lips.

Yuto's mother didn't so much as blink. 

She rested her chin on one hand as though watching a particularly amusing play unfold.

"I brought him here," she said, her voice soft but unmistakably firm. 

"If you have complaints… address them to me"

The temperature dropped immediately.

The nobles stilled.

No one, not even the boldest of them, wanted to test her. 

Not after what happened the last time.

But tension still coiled like a snake beneath the surface.

From the shadows, a new voice slithered in.

"Let the boy speak, let him strut," said a woman dressed in layers of black silk that shifted like smoke. 

Her eyes glowed a strange violet, her smile too wide. 

"The court feeds on conflict. And conflict, dears, makes things... fun"

Yuto squinted at her. 

"Who the hell are you?"

"Margravine Belladona, darling. Warden of our secured prison which has no escape record" 

She twirled her parasol once, the tip clicking against the stone. 

"I eat things that blink"

"…Cool"

"Don't let her fool you," Mizuki whispered. 

"She once poisoned a dragon and fed its heart to its concubines"

"What the fuck?"

"That's a normal reaction"

Before more chaos could erupt, the Queen finally rose to her feet. 

No movement was wasted. 

No gesture dramatic. 

And yet the very hall itself shuddered with the weight of her presence.

"We are done here. If there are any complaints… take it up with my husband!"

The silence in the hall was absolute.

It wasn't just the Queen's words; it was the power that reverberated in them. 

Her presence alone had the room trembling like the calm before a storm, every noble and general in the room sensing the depth of her authority. 

Even the cracks in the stone walls seemed to quiet under the weight of her gaze.

The room was deathly still for a long moment, the tension so thick that it could have been sliced with a blade. 

Azazel's name hung in the air like a curse.

The diamond-skinned man, who had not yet spoken since Yuto's defiant gesture, finally let out a low growl and stood. 

His eyes flickered with barely-contained rage, but even he knew better than to test the Queen's wrath.

"We are not fools, Your Majesty," he said, his voice deep like the rumble of distant thunder. 

"But this… child of yours is a distraction"

"Distraction?" Yuto interjected, his voice cutting through the stillness. 

"I'm not the one sitting on my ass doing nothing"

The antlered noble snarled again, but the Queen raised a hand, her fingers curling slightly, the room's temperature dropping another degree.

"If you have any more complaints, you will address them in private. Not in front of the boy," she said, her tone dark and sharp. 

Her eyes, colder than the frozen wastes, swept over the council members as they carefully took their seats once again, the air trembling with unspoken tension.

"I said we are done here"

Her voice carried through the chamber, and slowly, the nobles lowered their gazes. 

Some still seethed with indignation, but none dared challenge her further. 

From the far corner, a soft chuckle echoed. 

Belladona was still lounging casually, her eyes alight with amusement as she observed the shifting power dynamics in the room. 

The parasol twirled idly in her hand as she spoke again, her voice velvet-coated with sarcasm.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it? The boy has spirit. That's more than we can say for most of you"

Mizuki shot her a sharp glance, her tone tight but controlled. 

"Don't get comfortable. Not all of us appreciate your games"

"Oh, don't mind me," Belladona replied lazily. 

"I was merely entertained" 

She looked back at Yuto, her violet eyes gleaming. 

"Such a handsome little prince, aren't you? Don't let the 'mummies' around here spoil your charm"

Yuto rolled his eyes but didn't respond. 

Azazel may not have been present today, but his shadow loomed over the entire meeting. 

The queen had made her message clear: Azazel might never acknowledge Yuto as his own, but that didn't mean the boy wasn't her flesh and blood. 

And anyone who dared to harm him or challenge her son would feel her fury.

"We are finished here," she repeated. 

With a final flick of her fingers, the assembly room shuddered, and the council members, now subdued, began to leave in silence, the weight of the Queen's warning still hanging in the air.

As the last of the nobles filtered out, Yuto let out a long, quiet breath, realizing just how close the meeting had come to full-blown chaos. 

Mizuki gave him a knowing look. 

"You handled that well, considering"

"I didn't want to be here," Yuto muttered, stretching his shoulders. 

"Can't believe I just got involved in a meeting of power-hungry assholes"

Selene's soft laugh echoed from the corner. 

"That's the court for you, brother. Just be thankful it didn't get bloody. But who knows? This might be just the beginning"

Yuto glanced at his mother, who was now watching him with an unreadable expression. 

The way she looked at him was still strange, protective, and distant, and yet filled with something unspoken.

"So what now?" Yuto asked.

His mother's eyes softened, though just slightly. 

"Now we prepare for the future. And you, my son, are no longer a boy. You will learn the politics of the realm, the games we play here"

"You'll need them if you wish to survive"

He let out a low chuckle.

"What can they do to me?"

Her gaze remained steady, unwavering, but there was a subtle shift in her demeanor. 

A faint glimmer of something, perhaps pride, perhaps something darker, flashed in her eyes. 

She took a slow breath, her voice cutting through the charged silence like a blade.

"They can do a lot, Yuto. More than you realize" 

The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. 

Yuto raised an eyebrow, though his posture remained casual, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I get it… I'll be in my room," he turned and walked to the door. 

Mizuki and Selene followed suit.

He stopped as he opened the door, turning back to face her.

"If… you want to catch up on things… I'll be in my room"

She chuckled as she nodded, allowing him to smile as they finally left the court.

"You can come out now Azazel"

"Did you come back for the boy?"

She didn't turn to face him.

Her gaze remained locked on the empty court Yuto had just walked away from, her expression unreadable beneath the soft fall of her black hair.

A shadow peeled itself off the wall, tall and twisted. 

The smell of blood thickened in the air like rot in summer.

Azazel emerged fully, his hollow eyes gleaming faintly beneath his shadowed hood. 

"Do you truly wish to defend him now?"

"I always did" 

Her fingers curled at her sides, nails grazing her palm. 

"Just not in your sight"

Azazel scoffed, low and amused. 

"The boy reeks of humanity. That mortal blood in his veins will be his end"

"Or your undoing," Hayami murmured, stepping down from the dais.

Their eyes met, silence stretching between them like a noose.

"I made a mistake once," she said. 

"And for that, you punish my son?"

Azazel let out a low growl.

"He's alive despite your betrayal because I still love you"

Hayami's eyes narrowed, her voice steady but colder than winter frost.

"Love?" she echoed, stepping toward him. 

"You tore the man I loved apart in front of me. You chained me to your side like a trophy. If that is love… then I want none of it"

Azazel didn't move. 

The shadows pulsed around him, twitching like serpents sensing prey.

"You think you can protect him from what's coming?" he asked, tilting his head. 

"From the bloodline he bears? From me!"

"Hah, if you truly loved me… You would have loved him as well despite his blood father!"

The ground began to shake, it was clear that she really was crossing the line with what she could get away with.

"I let him live… let him live in our home… eat OUR FOOD… AND DESPITE THAT!"

"YOU CLAIM THAT I DO NOT LOVE YOU!"

Hayami didn't flinch, even as the throne room trembled and cracked across the marble beneath her feet.

The sheer force of Azazel's voice could have brought a high-ranking demon to their knees.

But she stood still.

Unshaken.

Unmoved.

"Yes," she said, voice low and sharp as a blade drawn across skin. 

"Because love without kindness… is still cruelty"

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Azazel's hollow eyes blazed, but for a moment, just a flicker, something old and worn cracked beneath the fury. 

A shadow of regret? 

A distant ghost of something lost?

Gone as quickly as it came.

"You dare lecture me?" he rasped. 

"You, who bore a child behind my back?"

Her hands trembled now, but she held her ground.

"I bore him in defiance of the monster you became," she said. 

"And I'd do it again if need be"

A low, vicious snarl echoed around them, the shadows behind Azazel twisting violently. 

His cloak snapped like wings in a storm.

"If it's so easy to do it once more… I guess he need not be alive to see his baby sibling"

Hayami's breath hitched, but not in fear.

It was rage.

Pure and cold.

She turned slowly, fully now, her eyes no longer hidden beneath the veil of hair. 

"Don't you dare," she whispered, every syllable dripping with venom.

Azazel grinned beneath the shadow of his hood, reveling in the reaction. 

"Touchy, are we?"

Hayami stepped forward, the cracked marble groaning beneath her bare feet. 

Her aura, normally dormant, shimmered like heat above a forge, silver and violet flames licking at the edges of her silhouette.

"You speak of death like it's a threat," she said. 

"But tell me, husband, when was the last time you tasted fear?"

"YOU DARE!"

BOOM!

"YOU DARE TO THREATEN ME!"

"TO LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND LIE DIRECTLY ONE MORE!"

The explosion of power shook the very core of the court room.

Stained glass shattered high above, raining down like glittering tears. 

Columns cracked and splintered, the ancient sigils lining the ceiling flickering under the weight of Azazel's rage. 

The shadows no longer writhed; they screamed as if the void itself had opened its mouth to echo their master's fury.

And yet… Hayami stood firm.

Or at least she tried to. 

Azazel, for all his arrogance, brought even the goddess to her knees, so for him to lose control like this, it took everything in her power not to fall.

"I never lied," she hissed.

"I loved you. Once. I believed in you"

Her voice cracked, not with weakness but with truth.

"But when I saw what you did to that boy's father… I knew the man I once loved was already dead"

"THEN ASK YOURSELF WHY I DID IT"

"WHEN THE WOMEN I LOVED CHOSE ANOTHER, ONE WHO DIED LIKE A COWARD"

"A COWARD WHO CHOSE HIS LIFE OVER YOURS"

"OVER YOUR SON!"

Hayami finally froze at his words, and yet Azazel did not stop.

"OH! HE NEVER TOLD YOU, RIGHT? HOW HE OFFERED THE LIVES OF YOU AND YUTO TO SAVE HIS MORTAL LIFE"

Hayami's breath caught.

Not from the fury.

But from the fracture, those words carved through the very core of her soul.

A tremble ran through her knees, her silver aura pulsing erratically, and for the first time in decades, her silence was not strength… but doubt.

"You're lying," she whispered.

But even she wasn't sure if she believed it.

Azazel's grin was nothing short of monstrous.

"I wish I were," he said, voice low, broken in its own way. 

"But I saw it with my own eyes. Heard him beg for his life"

"On his knees, sobbing. And when I asked him, 'What would you trade?' he said your name"

He stepped forward.

Each step cracked the floor anew, like time itself recoiled from his presence.

"Your name. And your child's. That was his offer"

Hayami took a step back, the overwhelming weight of betrayal sinking in.

"No…" she muttered, shaking her head. 

"He… he loved us. He wouldn't…"

Azazel's voice grew softer, yet sharper.

"He loved himself more"

The room fell deathly still.

Not even the shadows moved now.

Hayami's arms slowly lowered, the flames dimming until they vanished altogether.

"I killed him because he deserved it," Azazel said at last. 

"I let his blood stain my hands… while you still called me a monster"

He turned away then, as if the confession cost him more than he intended.

"I did not lie to you, Hayami. I do love you, and it is that love that protects the boy"

"Which is why I try to love him too"

A silence deeper than magic followed.

Hayami stood among the ruins, surrounded by cracked marble and bleeding light, yet all she could feel was the echo of a heartbeat that no longer existed, hers or his, she wasn't sure.

Azazel's words cut deeper than any blade. 

Not because they were cruel. 

But because they might have been true.

She closed her eyes, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails drew blood.

"…You try to love him," she repeated bitterly, "by threatening to kill him?"

Azazel paused.

His back still turned.

"When he looks at me," he murmured, "he sees the monster who broke his mother. Not the man who spared his life"

Hayami's voice was low, but it carried the weight of worlds. 

"Then be better than that monster"

Another long silence.

"Will you love me again?" Azazel asked.

A whisper.

Almost… human.

Hayami opened her eyes, and for a moment, something within her softened. 

Just a flicker.

Just enough to remember the man she once loved.

She stepped forward only once.

Azazel's question echoed in the silence, reverberating through the walls, through her very bones.

"Will you love me again?"

It was so faint, so fragile, like a dying breath on the edge of oblivion. 

For a moment, she almost allowed herself to believe it.

Believed that the man who stood before her was the one she had once loved, the man whose smile had once lit up her world. 

But the flicker of softness faded as quickly as it had appeared, swallowed by the weight of everything that had come before. 

That man was gone. 

And this… creature before her? 

This was Azazel, the Demon Lord, the one who had killed off most of the gods and the human race.

The echo of a memory lingered in her mind, of the man who had once whispered those same words with warmth, with hope, with the belief that their love could conquer anything.

Azazel had dropped the darkness and returned to his human form, but the cruelty was still there. 

The mask of a broken man, trying desperately to stitch together fragments of a love that had long since shattered.

"Why now?" she asked again, her voice barely more than a whisper but sharp enough to cut through the tension between them.

Azazel's eyes darkened with something that could almost be mistaken for sorrow. 

He took a hesitant step forward, but it wasn't enough to close the space between them.

"Because I still love you," he said, his voice low and almost pleading, as if each word was a desperate attempt to cling to something he thought was long gone. 

"I never stopped loving you"

Hayami shook her head slowly, her breath catching in her throat. 

"You killed them, Azazel. The gods, the mortals… the families. And you dare say you love me?"

She let out a bitter laugh, though it was hollow. 

"You think I don't know you destroyed everything for your own selfish reasons?"

Azazel's expression faltered, but only for a second. 

The edge of his anger returned, and he met her gaze with an almost tragic determination.

"Did I ever truly hurt you, Hayami?" he asked, his voice rising again but with a tinge of disbelief, almost as if he couldn't fathom how she could say such things.

"You could come and go as you please," he continued, his voice growing quieter but still laced with bitterness. 

"I bought you gifts from afar. The best of everything I could offer. And when we reached the mortal realm… You gave me the greatest betrayal, despite all I did for you"

Hayami's breath hitched, her pulse quickening as his words sank in. 

The weight of his accusation hung in the air between them, suffocating, just as the shadows once had. 

The greatest betrayal, that was how he saw it. 

Her hand trembled at her side, and she took a small step back. 

"I didn't betray you, Azazel. I left you. I left the monster you became" 

Her voice wavered but remained resolute. 

"I couldn't stay and watch you tear apart the world we once knew"

Azazel's eyes narrowed, and something cold flickered behind his gaze. 

He stepped closer, the space between them narrowing as he looked down at her. 

But to her surprise, he was crying; the Great Demon Lord was shedding tears.

"Do you know why I did it? Killed all those innocent people as you claim?"

She took a step back as if preparing to hear the harsh truth once again.

"I did it because they were going to invade our realm and kill us, our children, our people!"

Hayami froze.

Something in Azazel's voice cracked through the wall she had built around her heart, a raw, bitter truth soaked in grief and desperation.

She had prepared herself to face a monster.

But now, staring into his tear-filled eyes, she saw something else.

Not innocent.

Not redemption.

But fear.

"They would've slaughtered us," Azazel continued, his voice quieter now, as if ashamed of the weight his words carried.

"The gods knew. The mortals cheered. I begged for peace, Hayami. I offered land, time, even my blood"

"And do you know what they gave me in return?"

His gaze drifted past her, lost in a memory only he could see.

"They gave me war, trying to burn me for simply begging for peace"

Hayami's mouth parted, but no sound came.

Her memories shifted: screams in the distance, flames on the horizon.

She had thought them the result of Azazel's wrath, but what if that had only been the answer, not the beginning?

"I watched our villages burn," he whispered.

"Children. Elders. Even the beasts. They were cleansing us, erasing us. And the gods watched it all from their high thrones and said nothing"

A tremor ran through Hayami's chest.

As he stood there, broken, bleeding from the inside out, the pieces began to rearrange.

She had fled because he'd become unrecognizable.

But now… now she wondered if the world had simply demanded he become something unrecognizable just to survive.

"I..." Her voice faltered.

"I didn't know it was that bad"

Azazel let out a bitter laugh.

"No one did. They just saw the aftermath, Hayami. Just saw the ruin"

She took a small step forward, her hand trembling but reaching out, the air thick between them.

"You were… trying to be a king. A protector"

Her hand hovered between them, inches from his chest.

"That doesn't make what you did right, Azazel. But maybe… it wasn't all wrong either"

His eyes met hers, surprised, flickering with something that might have been hope.

Or heartbreak.

"I never wanted to lose you," he whispered.

His voice cracked as the weight of old wounds broke free. 

"Despite the pain you put me through, Hayami… despite bearing another man's child, leaving me when I needed you most, I still loved you"

"Even so… what about the actual innocent who had to pay for the guilty?"

Azazel's breath caught, his chest heaving as his eyes locked onto hers, the flicker of hope slowly fading into something darker, something more dangerous. 

The guilt, the regret, it all seemed to twist inside him, but it was overshadowed by a storm of anger he had buried deep for so long.

"No" 

"Don't do that, Hayami. Don't you dare try to make this about me"

She blinked, startled by the sudden shift in his tone. 

The calmness in his eyes had shattered, replaced by something wild and raw, as though the pain and the anger he'd kept locked away for so long were finally pouring out.

"You left me, Hayami," Azazel hissed, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. 

"I never stopped fighting for you, for us. And you... You abandoned me when I needed you the most!"

"Do you know what it was like, Hayami? To watch the world burn, to have everything I built torn apart while you turned your back and ran?"

"You weren't the only one who was hurting. You weren't the only one suffering, but you never once looked back! I never had the luxury of running away"

Hayami's throat tightened, her heart hammering in her chest. 

She had no words to defend herself against the rawness of his accusations. 

The truth of what he said stung harder than any wound.

Azazel took a step forward, his voice low and shaking with a desperate intensity. 

"You blame me for everything that went wrong, but I never asked for any of this. I didn't ask for the gods to abandon us"

"I didn't ask for the wars. I didn't ask for the world to turn its back on me"

"And I sure as hell didn't ask to watch you leave me behind, as if I were nothing"

His face twisted with emotion, eyes wide and filled with a mixture of grief and rage. 

"You left me when I was drowning, Hayami. I was drowning in pain, sorrow, and you…"

"You were the one person I thought would save me. But you walked away"

Her chest tightened, the words cutting into her like a blade. 

She had left. 

She had turned her back on him. 

"I had to leave, Azazel," she whispered, her voice trembling as the truth spilled from her lips. 

"I had to leave because you… You weren't the man I knew anymore. You became something else, something unrecognizable"

"And I didn't know how to save you"

Azazel's eyes narrowed, the fury flickering in his gaze as he took another step forward, his voice low and dangerously calm. 

"And you think I was fine? You think I wasn't trying to save myself?"

"That I wasn't struggling every damn day to hold onto something worth fighting for?"

Hayami opened her mouth to respond, but the words stuck in her throat. 

She couldn't argue with him, not anymore. 

He was right. 

She had abandoned him, and the consequences of that abandonment had been too severe to undo.

"I never wanted you to leave. But you did"

"You walked away without a second thought. And now you want to blame me for everything?"

The walls around him were crumbling, and for the first time in years, Azazel was letting the weight of everything he had been carrying crash down on him. 

His voice was hoarse, his body trembling as he fought to keep control.

"I didn't deserve that, Hayami," he said, his voice barely a whisper, cracked with the remnants of his anger. 

"I didn't deserve to be abandoned"

She stared at him, the words choking her, the realization hitting her with the force of a tidal wave. 

She had been running from him for so long, hiding behind her anger and her hurt, but now, facing him, she understood. 

She had been just as lost as he was.

"I never wanted to hurt you," she whispered, her voice breaking as she took a hesitant step toward him. 

"I never wanted to leave you. But I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know how to fix this!"

Azazel's eyes softened slightly, but the pain was still there, just beneath the surface. 

"Maybe none of us knew how to fix this," he muttered, his voice low. 

"But I can't undo the damage. And I don't know if you can either"

Hayami's breath caught as she reached for him, her hand trembling as she hesitated, unsure if she was even allowed to touch him again. 

The anger still simmered in him, but so did the love, raw and unyielding.

"Azazel…" she started, but the words died in her throat.

The shadows wrapped around him once more, and his height increased once more.

As his eyes became hollow.

For the Demon Lord was needed, for the people to survive.

For his family.

"So I ask once more… if I can love that child… Can you love me once more?"