Asmodeus System: Stealing My Bully's Mother

​The light beyond the northern forest canopy had barely shifted since last night. Gray. Frozen. Eternal.

There was no warm sunrise. Only a deepening shade of ash, a reminder that winter here knew no mercy.

Ethan Valen rose from beneath the roots of the giant pine. The Crimson Sin campfire that had accompanied him through the night was now buried under fresh snow.

The young man dusted off his black shirt, clearing away the ice flecks. From his pocket, he pulled out the parchment map, confirmed the northern trajectory, and slipped it away again. His brown eyes swept over the surroundings.

CRACK. A frozen branch snapped behind him.

Valera Voss stepped out from the dense pines. Her exotic brown skin stood out in stark contrast against the endless expanse of snow. Her short hair was damp with frost. Her golden eyes locked onto her Master sharply.

"You’re late," Ethan greeted without turning around, hands tucked into his pockets.

Valera smirked ferociously. "I was merely making sure no academy rats or Underworld remnants were tailing us, My Master."

They were now far beyond Zenithar’s jurisdiction. The bloodhound could stride openly at her master’s side.

They cut through the wilderness. Ethan led, Valera shadowing half a step behind. The dirt trail was slowly swallowed by deepening snow. The Eastern Woods bled into a primordial wilderness.

The atmosphere abruptly turned dead silent. No howling wolves, no flapping ravens. Even the wind seemed to halt. An unnatural silence.

Valera’s footsteps ground to a halt. Her veteran combat instincts flared. Her eyes scanned the faint tracks in the snow and deep claw gouges on a tree trunk.

"There’s something here, My Master," Valera growled warily, her hand reaching for the hilt of her Zweihander.

Ethan sensed a thick aura of killing intent. He stopped.

GRRRRR....

A low growl vibrated the snow beneath the soles of their shoes. The sound seemed to crawl out from underground.

Thirty meters ahead, the trees violently shuddered. Giant piles of snow rained down. From behind the shadows, a pair of pale blue eyes ignited. Its size was far too massive for a wolf or any ordinary mana-mutated beast.

The figure stepped out into the open.

A behemoth nearly three meters tall. Its body was covered in thick white fur that gleamed sharply like natural ice crystals. Every breath exhaled from its snout unleashed a fog that instantly froze the moisture in the air. Claws the size of shortswords slammed down, gouging the frozen rock beneath the snow.

"Ursa Frost," Valera hissed, unsheathing her blade. Clang! "A northern ice bear. This beast never descends the mountain unless it’s starving."

The Ursa Frost roared. A wave of bone-chilling wind turned the surrounding bushes instantly white with frost.

Ethan’s tactical brain immediately kicked into high gear. He raised his right hand, accessing Isolde’s ice magic reserves to offset the monster’s element.

However... something strange happened.

Only a few pebble-sized ice crystals materialized on his fingers, dropping uselessly onto the snow. No defensive wall. No frozen pillars. His magical output was ridiculously weak, equivalent to an F-Caste student’s.

Ethan’s brow furrowed. He tried again, summoning Kaelia’s Crimson Sin fire.

Sshhh.

Instead of a steel-melting blaze, only a candle-sized spark sputtered forth. The very next second, it was snuffed out by the bear’s exhaled breath.

"Fufufu..." The Asmodeus System’s voice echoed, as sensual as it was provocative, inside his head. "It seems you’ve just realized the limitations of your borrowed power, My Master. Your pretty little toys are far too deep in the south. The Lust Brand bond won’t break, but mana flow cannot traverse hundreds of kilometers with perfect output."

Ethan understood. His combat strength depended on the distance to his marked targets.

He lowered his hand. Now, only one element remained with pure and maximum output. Power from the nearest source.

Ethan’s brown eyes flicked to Valera.

Without a spell, Ethan forcibly drew energy through his demonic circuit.

WHOOSH!

An extraordinarily savage golden glow exploded from Ethan’s body. A dense Golden Beast Aura encased both his arms and shoulders. He took complete control over Valera’s absolute physical strength.

The reaction was instantaneous.

"Ugh—!"

Valera jolted violently. The rose tattoo on her neck flared blindingly. Her knees wobbled, stung by the flow of Sin Mana brutally stimulating her nervous system.

"S-So this is..." Valera forced herself to stay upright, gripping her sword hilt tightly. Her breath came in heavy gasps, fighting off a wild surge of pleasure. "Why didn’t you give me a warning, My Master?!"

Ethan smirked faintly, his eyes locked onto the monster’s movements. "You are far more useful when you’re caught off guard, Valera."

Before Valera could curse, the Ursa Frost lunged.

The one-ton behemoth shot forward unnaturally fast. Its giant claw swiped horizontally, carrying a blade of freezing wind meant to cleave bodies in two.

"Separate!" Ethan commanded absolutely.

The two leaped in opposite directions. The bear’s claw struck empty air, creating a one-meter-deep crater that instantly froze solid.

Valera landed on the right side of the monster. Channeling her remaining Gold Knight strength, she swung her Zweihander from the side, slamming it into the bear’s ribs.

CLANG!

Sparks flew wildly. The giant blade only left a shallow scratch across the dense layer of ice fur.

"Tch, its hide is as thick as plate armor!" Valera growled.

The Ursa turned. The monster charged Valera, its snout opening wide to spew a wave of freezing mist.

Valera leaped backward, but her movements hitched. Her tattoo throbbed painfully yet ecstatically. Every time Ethan condensed the Golden Beast Aura on the other side, Valera’s nerves were tortured by the Lust Brand’s stimulation. She was fighting for her life while simultaneously resisting a sensation that paralyzed her sanity. A insane, double trial.

"Focus, Valera!" Ethan reprimanded from the left.

Capitalizing on the monster’s divided attention, Ethan shot forward. His shirt billowed. His right fist, wrapped in a thick layer of Golden Beast Aura, launched like a cannonball.

BAAAM!

The golden strike slammed directly into the Ursa Frost’s flank. Brutal. The ice behemoth staggered two steps back. Crack! Fine fractures spread across its protective ice armor.

Without wasting time, Ethan delivered a sweep kick to the joint of the monster’s hind leg, then leaped back nimbly to dodge the counter-swipe.

"Now!" Ethan shouted.

Valera gritted her teeth. Ignoring the searing sensation on her neck, her biceps tensed to their absolute limit. She brought her Zweihander down over her head with every last drop of her destructive power.

CRASH!

The blade struck precisely at the fracture Ethan had carved. Steel bit into crystal. Deep black blood spurted out, melting the snow.

"RRRAAAARRGGHH!"

The Ursa Frost howled in pain. In a feral panic, the monster spun wildly, swiping blindly. The tip of its ice claw grazed Valera’s left arm.

Slash. Three shallow gouges tore through Valera’s armor and biceps. Fresh blood dripped.

However, that blind rampage proved to be a fatal opening.

Ethan slipped into the blind spot right beneath the giant’s head. Both his hands blazed brightly with the peak of the Golden Beast Aura. He drove a brutal uppercut straight into the Ursa Frost’s lower jaw.

THWACK!

The bear’s head was thrown upward, exposing its unarmored underneck.

"Valera!"

The bloodhound had already launched herself into the air. Though her legs trembled and her tattoo throbbed madly, Valera unleashed a flawless horizontal cleave.

SLASH!

The giant blade severed the Ursa Frost’s neck. Black blood erupted like a geyser. The one-ton behemoth collapsed, slamming into the snow. Lifeless.

The forest reclaimed its silence.

Valera stood, leaning heavily on her sword. Her breathing came in ravenous gasps. Blood dripped from her left arm. Yet a wildly satisfied smirk was etched across her exotic face.

"Finally dead, you damn beast," she growled hoarsely.

The threat ended. Ethan released his Golden Beast Aura. The golden glow on his arms dimmed, alongside Valera’s tattoo finally ceasing its torture of the knight.

Valera drove the tip of her sword into the snow. She stared at Ethan, a mixture of awe toward his combat tactics and annoyance at the side effects of her master’s magic.

"If you needed power, why borrow mine?" Valera grumbled, rubbing her sweaty neck.

"Because you are here. They are not," Ethan answered rationally.

Valera processed that piece of information. "So... the farther your little toys are to the south... the weaker the output you can borrow from them?"

Ethan stared at her as flatly as a stone wall. "Did you only just realize that now?"

Valera scoffed, pulling her sword from the ground. "I am a soldier, My Master. Not a circuit analyst."

The Asmodeus System chimed in again inside Ethan’s head. "Your bloodhound is starting to understand your mechanics. Aren’t you worried her animalistic instincts might rebel when your power weakens?"

She understands, Ethan replied internally with absolute calm. And yet she still chooses to kneel. That is what makes her useful.

After a brief rest, the two resumed their journey. The forest thinned, giving way to steep, rocky slopes. The snow grew thicker, the mountain wind blowing ice shards that pricked the skin like needles.

Late afternoon crept in. The gray sky darkened swiftly to welcome the night.

They traversed a narrow cliff path. To their left was a sheer rock wall; to their right, an abyss shrouded in swirling fog. Just wide enough for one person at a time. Ethan stepped steadily in front, Valera wary in the rear.

"What a boring trip," the Asmodeus System drawled lazily. "Wind, rocks, snow. Don’t you miss the soft beds back at the academy, My Master? Or the moans of your beautiful women over there?"

"Be quiet," Ethan responded coldly.

The System chuckled softly.

Suddenly, the weather turned violently extreme. The wind howled savagely. Snow fell so heavily that visibility plummeted to practically zero. Valera’s instincts shrieked.

"My Master!" Valera shouted, her voice muffled by the storm. "This is too sudden! This slope is dangerous; we need to find shelter!"

Ethan halted his steps, just about to respond.

RUMBLEEEEE!

A thunderous roar echoed above. Not from the sky or underground, but from the peak of the slope directly above them.

Valera looked up through the storm. Her golden eyes widened as a sea of white cascaded off the cliff.

"AVALANCHE!" she roared.

A matter of seconds. Without waiting for a command, Valera channeled every last drop of her Aura into her legs. She lunged, slamming her body into Ethan’s.

She tackled the Demon Lord hard to the side—toward a natural dark crevice in the cliff wall. A narrow cave. Ethan, whose combat reflexes could have easily dodged on his own, chose to relax his muscles. Letting himself be tackled and rolled into the darkness.

Valera followed, throwing herself into the crevice.

The very next second, thousands of tons of snow and ice rocks swept down violently like a white tsunami. Destroying the cliff path and completely sealing the cave entrance.

The thunderous roar was deafening, shaking the cave walls before slowly dying down.

Then... all that remained was absolute darkness. Freezing air. And a suffocating silence.

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