Chapter 95: Stormy Waters

Rebecca stood inside of an extravagant room with gold décor and multiple mirrors on the wall. All this detail was just for a dressing room, where she tried on several grand wedding dresses worth fortunes of gold each.

"You look stunning," Styx's nonchalant voice rung in her head, an ever-present part of her life now.

Rebecca maintained a stoic expression and avoided making any sign to acknowledge that she had heard him. She turned around in front of the multiple mirrors facing her and admired her dress from all angles.

"You're not allowed to marry him. You are already mine."

Styx's tirade of words continued in her head as she happily smiled to the maids serving as her assistants. Unbeknownst to them however, her fingers were digging into her palms as she struggled to maintain control over her emotions.

She didn't know when the thought crept in, but she was reluctant to marry Duke Ashburn's son, Gabralter. This feeling only grew as Styx forbade her from doing it, but her mother's wishes and her duty to her family was more powerful.

Her two cohorts, Lora and Dare, constantly stated how beautiful she looked and how jealous they were of her. She would usually be elated at their praises and would share titbits of gossip with them and other noblewoman matters, but currently she only felt disillusioned to it all.

She still did her best to act normal, but it was all a façade to her true feelings which changed greatly during her time in the dungeon.

Rebecca ended up choosing a dress with a tight corset and truly accentuated her figure. It was pure white with silver lacework and flower patterns down the sides and hem of the skirt.

"You will wear it for me," Styx's voice resounded in her mind one last time before falling silent again.

~~~~~

⠀

In the dungeon, Therina learned of the plans of the woman her darling had claimed as his own was planning on marrying another human.

As much as she despised both the woman and even more so the human she was to marry, she couldn't allow her darling to be besmirched in such a way. It even made her be more disgusted towards the human race.

The human dungeon residents suffered some of this from her in the dungeon, and it was well known how much she hated humans. It was never anything harmful though, usually just glares or blatantly ignoring their existence. Rather than forming a poor image, it instead led to a popular convention that it was great luck for a human to receive a single word from her, no matter how sharp it was.

"How dare he…" Therina muttered under her breath with cold eyes before opening a portal into the dream world.

The naiad made her way into Gabralter's dreams, just like all the unknown times before. Tonight's dream was a peaceful nightmare. He walked through a city crumbling to the ground, nothing but black silhouettes of people on the ground like shadows, as if their past presence were burned into the city as a memory of their existence.

Therina silently stood behind the lonesome wanderer, her dream powers manifesting in her hands like tendrils of mana.

She had learned a lot about herself and her newfound racial powers through experimentation.

The choker around Gabralter's neck, alongside the blindfold, were created by her powers, or at least, another timeline's version of her. Just like everything else in the dream realm, the choker and blindfold were symbolic and manifestations of intent.

Dream energies spread from her hands and wrapped around the oblivious Gabralter, infusing in his astral body and particularly the collar and blindfold. She reinforced her intent within them, not only twisting his thoughts subliminally, but also forming a spiritual suppression on him.

This spiritual suppression was something each version of her in different timelines had accumulated, and she could feel just how enormous that amount was. His spiritual body was completely unaware as it was being crushed by a tsunami of restrictive force. It was not affecting his physical body at all, but his spiritual body was already close to imploding from the accumulated force.

It was a method which transcended the link between the astral body, which was a mere projection, and a person's actual soul. The items were also projections, which was the true secret to how they were produced.

In its essence, the soul of the person was being misguided into believing those things existed, so what was seen in the dream realm was a projection of a choker and blindfold that he himself produced. Her intent was then injected into these items, linking back to the soul.

'Darling truly is incredible, to come up with such a method,' Therina thought to herself was a broad grin that broke physical limitations and almost reached her ears due to being in the dream realm.

~~~~~

⠀

The following day, in Duke Ashburn's giant mansion, Gabralter stormed in on Duchess Euklid, Rebecca Euklid, and his mother having morning tea together. They sat in a large atrium surrounded by flowers and were having a joyous conversation up until then.

"I refuse to marry her!" Gabralter bluntly declared while looking at Rebecca.

Having been used to far more pressure whilst in the dungeon, the duchess' daughter didn't so much as flinch as she continued to sip her rose colored tea.

"Gabralter, perhaphs we should discuss this later?" Duchess Ashburn said with a forced smile.

"No! Cancel this wedding immediately."

Seeing he was not about to calm down at his mother's stern warning, his mother placed her cup down with an audible clank before responding.

"What in the land has gotten into you? You were happy to go along with this marriage up until now."

"No, I wasn't! There is only one person I will marry, and she is still being held prisoner!"

Rebecca's mood was also completely spoiled. She looked at him and spoke in a tone neither loud nor quiet.

"The elf… is not a prisoner."

Gabralter refused to believe anything other than his own viewpoint, while his parents were adamant about removing him from her and the dungeon's influence.

"You will marry the young Miss Euklid, and that is final."

Duchess Ashburn's tone was strict and didn't leave any room for refusal, despite how much Gabralter tried.

Rebecca politely excused herself from morning tea, her heart in turmoil and Styx's words still fresh in her ears.

~~~~~

⠀

Aura lay across Styx's lap with her tail and arms firmly wrapped around him. Ever since they had sex, she had become heavily addicted to being close and intimate with Styx.

The wolf-eared woman slept with the rest of the girls and had to exorcise heavy restraint to not forcefully dominate the best position next to Styx every night and instead share. The other girls were also allowed to touch her, but not intimately.

"So you are saying you didn't get pregnant, because you 'ate' my semen?"

Aura's ears perked up in eagerness as she nodded.

"I was just so… hungry… and it was incredibly fulfilling. It was the best."

Her hand snaked through his clothes and grabbed onto his member, overly eager for more.

"Can you not… eat it?"

"…I don't know. It feels so good that words can't begin to describe it. Maybe if I was full?"

"Why is that a question?"

Styx rolled his eyes and set making the wolfgirl pregnant as his nest goal for her.

Aura still had tasks to do for Styx though, so she was forced to leave her comfortable spot.

Just when he felt he was alone, Styx shivered as he felt an ice cold gaze on him.

Up in the corner of the room, on the ceiling, a shadow so dark it seemed to have substance spread. A pair of deep red eyes emerged and looked out of it, straight at Styx.

The dungeon lord was petrified as the pressure of a Monster Lord weighed down on him. It was only a small amount too, as the full pressure would be enough to easily snuff out the life of his avatar.

Even though only the eyes were visible, Styx could recognize who they belonged to.

'…Spider…' He secretly thought to himself while his gaze seemed to be incapable of looking away from those bloody eyes.

This silent stand off seemed to last an eternity in which Styx was prepared to lose an avatar while calling Aura back and praying Dragon came quickly.

The eyes began to fade back into the shadows while the pressure vanished as if it never existed. Immediately after, Aura appeared in the room with all her hairs standing on end and growling.

Styx didn't have time to placate her as there weer visitors.

In the trading town just outside the dungeon, a Fifth Step Monster Lord appeared alongside a woman that appeared human save for her curved antlers.

They weren't the only ones to arrive, as he saw through the eyes of his monsters as a giant spaceship, a battlecruiser by appearance, had appeared above the town. Several rings dropped out of the ship and floated above the ground before several kobold looking creatures with two sets of arms appeared.

These four-eyed kobolds were all at the Fourth Step, and one seemed like they weer about to reach the Fifth Step too.

Also sensing their arrival in the area, Dragon almost immediately appeared alongside his assistant and Heaven envoy, Loreley.