"Chapter 98: The Truth That Brings Us Closer"
Alex sat in front of the three girls, each of them staring intently at him. He already understood why he ended up in this situation: his luck had always been so terrible that the truth was bound to come out sooner or later.
The conversation between Gloria and the goddesses clearly hadn't passed without consequences, and now he had to face the results of keeping his true nature hidden. Alex was most worried that Rebecca and Lucy would be disappointed in him, because hiding the truth, even partially, was still a form of lying.
Although he hadn't lied directly, he had merely downplayed the scale of things, adapting it to human terms. Now, he had to find a way to soften the blow.
Sighing, Alex decided to take responsibility for his actions and face the truth. He looked at the girls and spoke first:
«If you have any questions, I'll answer them. No more lies,» he said, his voice laced with slight exhaustion.
Gloria sat with a guilty expression, knowing that the current situation was partially her fault. Her apologetic gaze slid over to Alex. She felt guilty for unintentionally revealing his secret.
Alex noticed her look and simply smiled gently, showing that he didn't blame her. After all, he should have told the girls the truth himself, as they were dear to him.
«What did Gloria mean when she said you were the Demon King?» Lucy was the first to speak, watching him closely.
Alex sighed heavily again, looking into her eyes, full of disappointment. Her question struck him deeply. He knew this was the moment he had feared the most.
«What she said is true. I am literally the Demon King,» Alex replied, lowering his head.
His answer caused a ripple of reactions among the girls. Gloria also sighed when she heard the confirmation. Lucy, who had already looked conflicted, now appeared even more shocked. Rebecca, still confused, tried to grasp what was happening.
Her heart faltered — the man she had feelings for turned out to be someone she hadn't expected. Not a fugitive from a secret organization, but the actual Demon King. Rebecca couldn't even find the words to express her feelings.
Lucy, who had previously thought she and Alex had much in common, now felt a sense of betrayal. Everything he had said seemed like a lie. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she looked at him, yearning for the truth.
«So, everything you said about the secret organization and preventing a war was a lie?» Lucy asked, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
Seeing her tears, Alex felt a heavy weight on his heart. He knew he was guilty, but if he had told the whole truth from the start, no one would have believed him. And if he had demonstrated his powers, it would have eventually attracted the attention of corporations, leading to large-scale conflict and casualties.
«I didn't lie; I just downplayed the scale of the events,» Alex said, trying to be honest.
Lucy and Rebecca couldn't understand what he meant by «downplayed.» Gloria, being more informed, understood what he was referring to, as he had told her about the things he faced before arriving here.
«What do you mean by 'downplayed'?» Rebecca asked.
«I just significantly reduced the importance of those events,» Alex replied, not going into details.
The girls exchanged glances, still not understanding. Alex realized that they wouldn't fully grasp his situation until they saw it for themselves. With a snap of his fingers, he sent a wave of magic that enveloped the room. The girls started looking around, noticing changes in their surroundings.
«What did you do?» Gloria asked, glancing around.
«I moved us to a mirror dimension so that no one can eavesdrop on us,» Alex answered calmly, pulling out a cigarette.
The girls looked at him in surprise. Alex pointed to the window, offering them a chance to look. As they approached it, they saw a world resembling a kaleidoscope: everything appeared as if reflected in mirrors and intertwined with itself. Reality was distorted, resembling a dream or an illusion.
«Where are we?» Lucy asked with difficulty, unable to tear her gaze from the window.
Alex, taking a drag from his cigarette, calmly explained, «This is the world on the other side of the mirror. A dimension where everything is reflected but doesn't affect the real world. What you're seeing is merely a reflection of reality.»
The girls were stunned, trying to make sense of what was happening. Lucy forgot about her tears and the question she was about to ask. The world outside the window looked so surreal that it seemed like a dream.
Everything that had happened in the past few minutes — Alex's revelation of his identity and the shift to another dimension — had turned their perception of the world upside down.
Rebecca, staring out the window, felt Alex's warm hand on her head. She turned to him, realizing that even after learning his true nature, his touch remained the same.
Memories of the time she had spent with Alex began surfacing one by one. He had never behaved like a demon from biblical lore — on the contrary, he had been kind, though decisive, especially when it came to work. If he truly were a demon, he wouldn't have been so concerned about the fate of Valeri, who had fallen into the hands of human traffickers.
In the end, Rebecca concluded that Alex wasn't who people thought he was. The revealed truth didn't change how she felt about him, and the feelings she had remained the same.
«Now that you've seen the view, let's sit down and have a calm talk,» Alex suggested with a warm smile.
The girls nodded silently and returned to the couch. The atmosphere lightened a little, but tension and awkwardness still lingered in the air. Alex patiently waited for one of them to speak first. The silence continued until Alex finished his cigarette and incinerated the butt with fire, which caught the attention of all three.
«So, there's no organization at all?» Lucy was the first to speak, having gathered her thoughts.
Alex smirked, looking at Lucy, who had mustered the courage to start the conversation. He wasn't sure if what he did could be called an «organization.» The assignment had come directly from his father, and the «organization» consisted of only him.
«Yes and no,» Alex replied with a crooked smile.
Lucy frowned, not understanding. This answer didn't satisfy her, and instead of sadness, irritation began to bubble inside her.
«Can you explain properly?» she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Alex sighed deeply and decided to tell what he felt was necessary.
«Alright,» he began. «I'm not sure you can call it an organization if there's only one member. And that member is me.»
Lucy nodded, processing his answer, but another question immediately arose.
«So, the whole story about a group that wanted to cause chaos… Who were they? And why did you say you 'downplayed' events?» she asked, gazing intently at Alex.
«Instead of people, I had to deal with gods,» Alex replied, as if discussing something trivial.
The girls were stunned by this truth. Instead of people seeking chaos, he had fought against gods. Gloria took the news more calmly, as she had already interacted with goddesses, but for Lucy and Rebecca, it was like a bolt from the blue.
«You're saying you fought real gods?» Rebecca asked, incredulously.
Alex nodded and began to briefly explain his battle with the gods, avoiding details that might drag the story out. He talked about how he discovered them, defeated them, and gathered information, without mentioning how brutally he had interrogated them. The story ended with the mention of a battle against a dragon — the final trial in that conflict.
«Wait! You mean that story about the dragon fight when we first met was true?» Rebecca exclaimed, shocked.
She was so caught up in the moment that she completely forgot about her other questions. Alex smiled and nodded, though in his memory, that "dragon" was far from the classic image. Rebecca couldn't stay still. She ran over to Alex, clung to him like a koala, and began shaking him.
«Tell me already! I've only seen dragons in movies and comics! Come on, don't hold back!» she demanded excitedly.
«Do you two want to hear about it as well?» Alex asked Gloria and Lucy, ignoring Rebecca's shaking.
Both of them thought for a moment, but eventually nodded, curious about his dragon battle too. Seeing this, Alex invited them to come closer. When they approached, he gently tapped each of them on the forehead.
«Why did you do that?» Lucy asked, covering her forehead with her hands.
«Just in case. The appearance of this 'dragon' might disappoint you since it was infected, and I'm not sure if there will be any side effects from seeing it. So, I placed a protective spell, just to be safe,» Alex explained with a light smile.
The girls' hearts warmed: even at that moment, Alex was thinking only about protecting them. Rebecca stopped shaking him and sat on his lap, eagerly waiting for him to show the battle with the dragon.
She didn't care how he did it; she just wanted to see the dragon. Lucy and Gloria also sat close to Alex, leaning on him. They were intrigued by what kind of dragon this was if Alex thought it necessary to protect them, even though it was just a projection.
Gloria remembered how Alex had mentioned that he punched the dragon through the entire dungeon, but at the time, she didn't believe him. Now, she had the chance to see it with her own eyes.
Alex decided to show the battle using memory magic and projection. To regular people, it might have looked like an epic fight, but for Alex, it was simply a contest between a strong person and a much weaker opponent.
He was essentially playing with the dragon, wanting to test its limits. The projection started from the moment Alex was waiting for the dragon on the 18th floor of the dungeon. The girls saw a landscape that looked like something out of a fairy tale.
«What is this place?» Lucy asked, turning to Alex.
«This is the 18th floor of the dungeon, Rivira. It's a safe zone where adventurers rest before continuing their journey,» Alex explained briefly.
Lucy nodded, deciding to learn more about the dungeon after watching the battle. The projection showed everything from Alex's point of view, allowing them to see the fight through his eyes. They watched in awe as the ground beneath him trembled, signaling the dragon's approach. When it finally appeared and Alex delivered the first punch, sending the dragon deeper into the dungeon, the girls couldn't help but look at Alex in admiration.
«Are you saying you punched the dragon through the entire dungeon?» Gloria asked in amazement.
«I told you I literally did that,» Alex shrugged.
Gloria, who hadn't believed his words before, now saw it for herself and realized just how powerful Alex was. They continued watching, and soon the dragon appeared before them, but it was far from the majestic creature described in legends.
«That's the dragon?» Rebecca asked in disbelief, pointing at the abomination before them.
«Yes, it was infected with something, but this is only its first form,» Alex replied.
Rebecca continued watching the battle, and when the dragon entered its second phase, its form became closer to what she had imagined from books and comics. However, now it looked like a creature straight out of a nightmare.
Gloria shuddered, grabbing Alex's hand, seeing such a terrifying beast for the first time. But she didn't feel the fear she had expected. That's when she realized why Alex had tapped her forehead before starting the projection.
Lucy couldn't take her eyes off the battle, while Rebecca was having fun, laughing at the way Alex kept cracking jokes during the fight.
«It looks like you had a good time fighting this creature,» Lucy said, turning to him.
«At first, I wanted to finish it quickly and go home, but then it shifted to the second form, and I got curious about what else it could transform into,» Alex just shrugged.
Lucy returned to watching just as Alex cut off the dragon's limb, which immediately transformed into something disgusting with multiple eyes. At that moment, Rebecca couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, especially when Alex yelled at the dragon as it tried to fly away.
«I never thought a dragon would want to run away,» Gloria said, surprised.
«All living creatures have a self-preservation instinct. The dragon probably decided it was better to gather strength,» Alex said, stroking his chin.
Although he didn't really care why the dragon ran — it was already doomed. The battle continued, and the girls saw Alex preparing to use a new move. When he slammed the dragon deep into the bottom of the dungeon with incredible force, their jaws dropped.
«You're joking, right? How strong are you?» Rebecca asked in amazement.
«If I wanted to, I could destroy this city with just my physical strength,» Alex replied, without revealing his full power.
The girls sighed, realizing that Alex was far stronger than they had imagined. As the battle came to an end and they saw the dragon's final stage, they were stunned. However, a question arose when the dragon called itself the god Erebus.
«Why did it call itself a god?» Lucy asked.
«Remember when I mentioned a group of losers? Well, Erebus was their leader. Or rather, he was being manipulated, and in the end, he merged with the dragon to become the world's enemy and push humanity to evolve,» Alex explained, turning off the projection.
Lucy realized that Alex had downplayed his words. The group of villains really existed, but in his world, and everything he had told her was true, though adapted for her world.
Lucy nodded, understanding that Alex had not just minimized everything he had gone through. But who was this ancient god, and what did he want from Alex?
«You mentioned making some kind of deal. What does that mean?» Rebecca asked, turning to him.
«The deal is pretty strange. I need to hunt down this woman's other avatars. If I don't, my family will be in danger. Either I track down all her avatars, or I face her directly and ask her to stop. But honestly, I don't feel like going there just yet,» Alex answered, recalling the essence of the deal with Nyarlathotep.
The girls nodded, realizing that the deal was indeed unusual. They began to grasp the full extent of what Alex had gone through, and now he had even more problems. If he didn't fulfill his part of the deal, his family would be in danger.
«And how did you end up in this world?» Lucy continued, asking a question that had long intrigued her.
«When I defeated one of her avatars, she appeared and offered me the deal. To motivate me, she blew up her avatar. If I hadn't reacted in time, the entire galaxy would have been destroyed. The explosion opened a rift, and that's how I ended up here. Gloria found me in an alleyway,» Alex said, looking at Gloria.
He intentionally omitted many details of their conversation, considering them unimportant. Now he was waiting for his castle to be restored and for the Yamato sword to return to his hands, as he couldn't leave this universe without it. In reality, he was comfortable here and wasn't in a hurry to leave. Alex knew the girls might have many more questions, and he was ready to answer them.
He looked at Gloria, who was gazing at him apologetically, feeling responsible for everything that had happened, but Alex didn't blame her. He probably would have acted the same way in her place. He mentally thanked the goddesses for helping to soften the blow of the truth for Gloria.
«Why didn't you tell me right away that you're a demon and engaged to goddesses?» she finally asked, looking him in the eyes.
This question had been tormenting her from the very beginning, but her guilt about pulling Alex into this situation had held her back from voicing it. Now she had accepted her feelings for him and wanted to hear his thoughts on the matter. Lucy and Rebecca, upon hearing that Alex was engaged to goddesses, looked at him in surprise.
«Do you have a wife?» Rebecca asked, gripping his sleeve with clear astonishment.
«Not a wife, but fiancées. There are five of them, and there might be more later. Right now, I'm engaged to four goddesses and one elf,» Alex replied with a slight smile.
These words stunned the girls, but strangely, a sense of relief washed over them when they realized there were multiple fiancées instead of just one. Gloria merely nodded, as she already knew this from the goddesses themselves.
«And who are these goddesses and the elf?» Lucy asked, looking at him with curiosity.
«Let me show you and tell you,» he answered.
Alex created a projection of his family, displaying the moment they were all sitting around the table at a family dinner. When Hestia appeared on the screen, Lucy and Rebecca's eyes widened in surprise. Lucy watched Hestia with interest, then shifted her gaze to Rebecca, who was sitting on Alex's lap at that moment.
Their resemblance was striking, as if they were sisters. The only difference lay in the size of their breasts: Hestia had an impressive bust, while Rebecca's was small. Seeing this, Rebecca let out a heavy sigh, comparing herself to Alex's other girls, who had much fuller figures.
«Do you like big breasts?» Rebecca suddenly asked, catching Alex off guard.
For a moment, he was taken aback but quickly found his footing with an answer. He didn't care what size a girl's breasts were — big or small. What mattered was that he loved the person as a whole, regardless of physical characteristics.
«As a wise man once said: 'A large breast warms the hand, a small one warms the heart, and hips warm the soul.' I don't care about size; what matters are our mutual feelings,» Alex replied with a light smile.
Rebecca smiled contentedly, relaxing and leaning against him. She was in a good mood, as if Alex had confessed that size mattered, she would have had to find ways to «adjust» herself to his preferences.
«And what will happen to our relationship now?» Lucy asked, posing the obvious question.
«Everything will remain the same. You just know who I really am now. I like you both too much to let you go. Yes, I'm quite greedy and selfish,» Alex confessed with a smile, causing Lucy to blush lightly.
«And what if I'm against it?» she asked, trying to hide her emotions.
«Remember how I called you princess?» Alex asked with a playful smile.
Lucy nodded, recalling their conversation. She had really liked it when he called her "moon princess."
"Now think of the fairy tales where the Demon King kidnaps a princess to marry her. That's what I would do to you," Alex laughed.
At his words, Lucy's face instantly turned red, and she looked away, trying to hide her embarrassment. Alex chuckled and then shifted his gaze to Gloria, whose cheeks also flushed after he admitted he liked her.
She had already suspected this, especially since he didn't mind her hugs or sleeping next to him. And the morning kiss on the cheek only confirmed her suspicions.
When Gloria felt his gaze, her face turned even brighter.
«And now for the most important thing. Gloria, who let slip my identity?» Alex asked, maintaining a serious look.
Gloria froze, unsure how to explain what had happened. But his stern gaze indicated that he wouldn't accept excuses. He needed an answer, and nothing more.
«It was Loki,» Gloria whispered, mentally apologizing to the goddess for her slip-up.
«I see,» Alex said quietly, narrowing his eyes.
At that moment, Loki, sitting in her room and sipping wine while relaxing with a comedy series, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. She jumped and looked around, forgetting that she had just let something slip.
But as soon as it dawned on her what she had done, Loki paled, realizing that something unpleasant awaited her when Alex returned. There was no escaping it. She resignedly looked at the half-empty wine bottle and decided to finish it off to forget about the impending reckoning, if only for a little while.
«I'm not surprised she couldn't hold her tongue,» Alex said, squinting.
He carefully shifted Rebecca off his lap and summoned Yamato, which had only partially restored. Looking at the broken blade in his hand, he sighed heavily. Alex stepped aside, making several swings to check if the sword worked.
However, nothing happened, as if the blade had lost all its power. Rebecca's eyes lit up when she saw Alex summon the sword from thin air, even though it was broken.
«What are you doing? And what's with the broken blade?» Lucy asked, looking at Alex with curiosity.
Alex swung the blade once more, but realizing that nothing would happen yet again, he sighed again. Until the sword was restored, Loki might have saved her own skin from inevitable punishment. He turned to Lucy and began to explain:
«This blade is called Yamato; it can cut through even space itself. It was broken in the last battle, and I wanted to see if I could use it, but it seems I can't yet. And that means the path to my universe is currently closed.»
Lucy nodded, processing his explanation, but then suddenly froze, realizing that he was planning to leave. Meanwhile, Rebecca couldn't take her eyes off the sword; her eyes shone with admiration, awakening the weapon enthusiast within her.
«Do you want to go back home?» Lucy asked, looking at Alex with concern.
«I just wanted to check. But aren't you curious about what the world I came from looks like?» Alex replied, raising an eyebrow.
Lucy let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to leave them; he just intended to show them his world. She would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in seeing another world. After all, everything she had seen so far was the dungeon, and the most beautiful place in her life was the 18th floor, which felt like paradise.
Rebecca couldn't sit still; she ran up to Alex, grabbed his hand, and started shaking it. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, knowing that Alex understood her love for weapons.
« What else do you have besides this blade?» she asked enthusiastically.
Smiling at her excitement, Alex summoned Beowulf and showed it to Rebecca, who immediately began examining the weapon like a curious child. She touched it, her eyes shining with delight.
« Do you have anything magical? » she pressed on, looking at Alex.
Nodding, Alex decided to show her his spear. The cushion where Ghir had been sleeping suddenly transformed into a spear, and he rolled off it onto the floor without waking up. Everyone turned their heads toward the sound and saw Ghir curled up, continuing to sleep. Rebecca's eyes widened.
« This is Chastifol, the spear of the Fairy King. » Alex said as the spear began to float next to him.
Rebecca approached the spear and, as if in a trance, began to cautiously circle around it, occasionally touching the weapon with reverence, as if it were a true treasure before her. In some sense, it truly was.
« You can touch it, just don't try to lift it; it's quite heavy, » Alex warned, watching her excitement with a smile.
Alex settled back into his spot between Lucy and Gloria, continuing to observe Rebecca as she eagerly explored the spear. He began to explain what it was capable of, detailing how the spear could change its forms.
With each new description, Rebecca's eyes sparkled brighter, and her interest blazed like an unquenchable fire. When Alex finished his explanation, Rebecca returned to him with a satisfied smile and, without any ceremony, plopped down onto his lap, snuggling against his chest with her head resting on him.
She was thrilled with everything she had learned today, and her thoughts were already spinning around how to convince Alex to create magical weapons for her. A cunning plan began to form in her mind.
« So what are you planning to do now? » Lucy asked, shifting her gaze from Rebecca to Alex.
« What I had planned. First, I need to find a new apartment. This one is too small for me to set up a workshop. Also, I need to take on more work to help Gloria fulfill her dream of getting to the Moon so she can scatter David's ashes there. » Alex replied, squeezing Gloria's hand to confirm that he hadn't forgotten his promise.
Gloria, hearing Alex's words, nervously squeezed his hand, but when he reminded her of her dream, she relaxed. Alex was her support, even though he could have chosen not to help.
« Why don't you just use your magic to get there? » Rebecca asked, stating the obvious.
« Because Gloria wants to do everything fairly. » Alex replied with a smirk, casting a guilty glance at Gloria, who insisted that she wanted to earn the trip on her own.
Gloria averted her gaze, avoiding the judgmental looks from Lucy and Rebecca. Yes, it would be easier with magic, but she wanted to achieve this like an ordinary person.
« Alright, no need to look at her like that,» Alex interjected. « She just wants to reach her goal without magic, and I respect her for that. Well... at least I'm trying to help her as much as an ordinary person can.»
Lucy and Rebecca exchanged understanding glances, agreeing with Gloria's choice. They understood her desire to go through this challenge on her own, without magic.
« If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You already know the main part of how I ended up here. Is there anything else you're curious about? » Alex offered, looking at the girls.
« Tell us about your family, » Lucy requested, looking intently into his eyes.
Alex nodded and began to share stories about his life. He spoke of how he first met Hestia, his acquaintances, other goddesses, and friends. The more he talked, the more the girls immersed themselves in his stories.
When Rebecca heard about Lily and Haruhime, her face twisted with anger, and she nearly jumped up, vowing to personally deal with those who had treated the girls so cruelly. Alex also mentioned inviting Daphne and Cassandra to join Hestia's family and what it meant to be part of such a family.
Gradually, thanks to his stories, the tension in the room dissipated, and the atmosphere filled with laughter. Alex's tales of his life and family brought them all closer together, and each new detail of his past became increasingly valuable to them.
To be continued…
(What worlds would you like to see after Cyberpunk, you can leave your comments here or in Chapter 0)