CHAPTER 446: THE GIFT LEFT BEHIND

Sei should have known something was amiss when Serana suddenly wanted to talk to her. With such a serious look on her face, she almost thought her daughter was going to say she was pregnant.

She wished Serana were pregnant. It would have been easier to stomach than this.

"I’m sorry, Mom." Serana was almost on the verge of tears. "I wish it wasn’t true, but he said.."

Sei smiled at her and shook her head, showing no visible change in mood.

"It’s fine. Honestly, all of this isn’t something I really like to dwell on anymore..."

Serana couldn’t believe it. "Mom, aren’t you the least bit angry??"

Sei’s brow twitched.

"... I just want to keep looking forward, Serana. Not back. Is that okay with you?"

"N-No! That woman treated you like dirt, she left you abandoned in a foreign country and slutshamed you just because-"

"Serana... what exactly do you want me to do?"

Serana faltered. She didn’t have a particularly good answer.

The simplest answer to it all was that she wanted her mother to be angry. Sei had lived a life full of burden ever since she left home and Serana had watched all of it.

She wanted Sei to at the very least be angry about all of her needless hardship.

But anger bears an emotional burden. And Sei had dealt with enough of those already.

So even though Serana wanted her mother to be angry, she couldn’t find it within her to convey that wish.

Not when Sei already looked as if she had aged ten years since this conversation started.

"Why don’t we all just take a moment here..?"

A raven-haired woman brushed past Serana. She was as graceful as a noblewoman.

She had long, slender legs and a slim, dangerous figure.

She had olive colored skin and raven black hair that tumbled below her knees.

Her eyes were yellow with vertical black slits. The pair of horns cresting from the top of her head resembled a crown.

She took Sei’s hands in hers in a filial display.

Sei was acutely aware of a lingering feeling of electricity radiating along her palms.

"My mother-in-law doesn’t want to talk about something this unpleasant, right? Instead, it might be better if we use this time to get to know each other better."

Sei looked up at the woman and smiled earnestly.

"Treating a goddess as my mother-in-law feels a bit..."

"Please, think nothing of it. It’s my sincere wish that you treat me as you normally would. I have been anxiously awaiting an opportunity to spend some time with you."

"M-Me as well!"

There was another woman beside Serana. This one appeared much younger in appearance and possessed a sort of harmless aesthetic.

She had short, red hair with a jade-like complexion and porcelain-smooth skin.

Her simple glasses gave her a cute and innocent look that was incredibly deceptive.

Tiamat and Claire Tathamet were Apophis’ third and second wives, respectively. Now, they are also the partners of Serana and have developed an obsession with making a favorable impression on Sei.

On her last birthday, they sent her a Santa Claus style sack that she could pull precious gems out of whenever she felt like it.

Sei fainted the first time she pulled out a blood diamond the size of a football.

Unfortunately, the world’s economy wasn’t really prioritizing things like precious gems right now, no matter how unbelievably big they were, so Sei had tossed that sack in the back of her closet and tried not to look at it.

Suddenly, Sei heard the pitter-patter of feet coming closer, one pair large and the other small.

Bianca and Shiro turned the corner so fast that they nearly crashed into the opposing wall.

"Mom, mom, mom!!"

"Babe, babe, babe!"

Some days, Sei had a real hard time believing there was no blood relation between these two.

"Slow down, what is the..." Sei’s words slowly trailed off as she noticed the out-of-place thing her daughter was carrying.

"It’s Serosh, he’s doing something weird!"

"He’s so cuteee!!!"

Shiro suddenly presented her prize to the room. A very small kitten, no bigger than a bottle of lotion, and so young that it’s eyes weren’t even open.

It’s fur was black in color, with a faint purple striped pattern running down its back and legs.

Both of its fangs were too long for its small mouth and hung past its lower jaw.

Sei and Serana were completely captivated by the small creature, but for some reason, Tiamat and Claire weren’t.

Their focus appeared to lie elsewhere as their gazes became serious.

All of a sudden, Sei, Serana, and Bianca all developed looks of horror as an indescribable chill ran through their beings.

Tiamat was an opportunistic goddess. She wouldn’t miss the opportunity to take both of Sei’s hands and give her a confident nod.

"I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but there appears to be a very high-ranking demon on board this vessel. But fear not! I will exorcise him for you and-"

"I’m... pretty sure that demon is my husband." Sei brought a hand to her head.

She glanced out the window at the sky above.

It was 4:30 pm, but as dark as midnight.

"... Now I’m a little bit more certain."

-

’Headache’ didn’t even begin to cover what Malachi felt.

If someone told him that his head was about to explode, he probably wouldn’t believe them. Because he was almost positive that his head had already burst open.

And yet, at the same time, he felt better than he ever had in his life.

He had gotten a glimpse of it back in hell, but his senses really were expanded to astronomical levels.

There was so much noise going on below him. Malachi did not consider it an overestimation to say that he could hear, everything going on in over half of Japan.

He didn’t even need to use his darkness to do so. It was absurd.

Perhaps it was because he was a demon now, but he could smell the strife. The uncertainty of the world they lived in.

It was rich.

Malachi kept his eyes closed as he lay on the sofa, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel everyone in the room staring at him.

"...Somebody say something before I doze off."

Malachi could hear a low rustling of clothes as everyone looked at each other while trying to figure out what to say.

Nadine raised her hand even though there was no need. "On a scale of 1-10, exactly how murdery are you feeling?"

Malachi made a 0 with his tail.

"Don’t untie me yet though." Mal yawned. "I still don’t know if I’m going to snap or something..."

Mal’s family looked at him strangely.

He had used his wings to completely wrap himself in a concoon, and then bound himself with chains that came from his broken weapons.

It would have been amusing if it weren’t so concerning.

"I’m taking this stuff off." Bianca suddenly grabbed hold of the chains covering his form.

"I think maybe we should wait a bit longer." Malachi defended.

"Your opinion is noted, but not respected."

"Wow."

It took Bianca very little time to melt through the chains covering her husband, and unwrapped him like a present on Christmas morning.

She placed her hand over one of his wings and braced herself.

"Just out of curiosity... what level of demon should I be expecting? Pennywise, or Rule 34?"

"Why is that the scale??"

"You know exactly why."

Malachi unfurled his great wings and their shadow seemed to darken the room.

Bianca stared at him, her cheeks slightly reddened and her gaze unable to look away from his burgundy colored eyes.

Not just her, but all of his wives in the room began to stare at him with looks of amazement.

If Apophis and Belloc were the gold standard for attractiveness in young adult males, Malachi would not be far below that standard.

He looked so much like Nyx, so divinely put together that he somehow looked even less human than when he was N’kai.

The wings, his clothing, and even the texture of his skin. If you told the girls that Malachi had ascended instead of fallen, they would have believed you without questioning it.

Malachi maintained his small staring match with Bianca, waiting for her to say something to make him feel a bit less strange than he currently felt.

"I-I should, umm... take a picture of this for your mom, she’ll lose it when she sees how you look." Biana pulled out her phone.

"You mean that in a good way or a bad way?"

"...Yes." Bianca hid her red cheeks behind her phone as her mind was filled with thoughts of sin.

"An archdemon made from human grief... my, how fascinating." Tiamat murmured. "Usually, your kind are a lot more spineless and lack the power to challenge even demon familiars."

"So I’ve been told..."

Malachi noticed that his in-laws were staring at him like he was something that had come out of a laboratory. He barely resisted the urge to spray them with faucet water.

"I’m... really sorry."

Aisha hung her head as low as a beaten dog, She was lingering around Malachi so much that he was starting to get claustrophobic.

"I already told you it’s fine, so give me a little space, depression dragon. I can literally smell your guilt over here." Malachi closed his eyes again.

Aisha blinked slowly before she lifted up her arm and took a whiff.

Suddenly, Malachi felt a small hand tug on his tail, and he opened his eyes again.

Shiro was awkwardly shuffling on her feet with a small bundle in one arm.

"Are you like me now, Dad?"

Malachi felt a bitter feeling in his chest.

"...Would you like it if I were like you?"

Shiro nodded at the question as if it were obvious. Malachi held out his hand to her and helped her climb up onto the sofa where he lay.

"I guess you can say that I am then." He smiled at her, before turning his attention to the blanket in her arms. He could hear something rhythmic coming from inside of it. "Whatcha got there..?"

Shiro unwrapped the kitten from the blanket. "Oh, Serosh is doing something weird, and he looked cold, so I wrapped him up."

When Malachi first laid eyes on the small feline, he was just as confused as everyone else in the house.

But when the kitten slowly opened it’s eyes, Mal could see a pair of indigo, gem-like pupils staring at him with a slight fogginess.

Suddenly, realization came crashing into him.

I will leave you a gift so my absence will not sting as much.

"...Babydoll, that’s not Serosh. Not a ’he’ either."