(First person pov)

[Asher]

One would think a fight between two demon lords would shatter the world and drag on until one finally fell. I believed that too until tonight proved I knew nothing about demons.

More precisely, I knew nothing about Rose.

She'd been right when she said that in the mortal realm demons are nearly untouchable. The power I saw pouring into her body was overwhelming, and in response she exhaled a dense, choking demonic miasma. Anna—no, Draegonoth—was doing the same. The air grew so heavy that ordinary humans nearby could barely breathe, but l was used to this, so it didn't affect me as much.

I cast a quick glance toward my allies and spotted Brian and Lorraine, the only calm ones in the storm, doing everything they could to drag the others away. Aria was already spent from using too much lightning magic to bring people back to normal from the zombie-parasite; they couldn't count on her now despite being an S-rank.

But in the single heartbeat I looked away, everything changed.

I don't know how I lost sight of Rose for even a moment, but when my eyes found her again she was no longer the Rose I knew. A second tail had sprouted behind her—sharp, gleaming, every bit as lethal as the first. Both tails shimmered with cursed energy, snapping through the air faster than I could follow. She lashed at Draegonoth, who countered with his ultimate defense: a shield of molten lava.

Even he wasn't ready for what came next. Neither was I.

Rose murmured something under her breath, a curse, maybe and her tails slid beneath her own shadow, then erupted from Draegonoth's. It happened in an instant. Before he could even twitch, those tails tore through him from below.

Drip… drip… drip…

The stench of blood filled the air. My heart pounded as I stumbled forward. Draegonoth might have been in control, but the body was still Anna's. And now she was…

"No! Rose! Stop this!" I shouted, falling to my knees as Draegonoth gurgled blood.

"It's too late, love," Rose said, her tails folding back. "She has less than thirty seconds. That strike carried a curse. We call it the Thirtieth Bell."

My gut turned to ice. The Melediculous demon clan's deadliest spell that kills its target in thirty seconds. Last time Draegonoth survived because of the bangle on his right hand that made all curse spells useless against him. Now he wore nothing.

Anna would die.

Tears blurred my vision. There had to be something...anything l could do.

buckle.....

I didn't have time to think. I dropped my trousers and went with the only solution I had: Divine Protection, a useful skill that worked best to protect others only through intimacy. It had proven so many times now; like when l healed Valerie from an STI.

I wasn't even aroused...l mean, how could I be?—but I tore her panties aside and pushed my limp self inside.

Nothing happened.

My pulse raced. Panic clawed at me and terror hollowed me out.

"What the hell, hubby?" Rose's voice cracked with disbelief. "Really? Trying to bed your dying wife?"

Ten seconds, maybe less. The grin on Anna's face told me Draegonoth still lingered. Maybe that was why the skill wasn't working.

"Bring my wife back, you bastard!" I shouted, slapping her cheeks in desperation.

Her eyes were fading, death's shadow creeping in. I caught her hands and rubbed them. Somehow, the marriage string on my wrist brushed hers, and a faint glow bloomed—warm and golden, like the first rays of sunrise.

B-dump.

I heard a heartbeat.

I felt it beneath my palm. Two seconds from death, maybe less, and Anna....did she come back to life?. Draegonoth's wicked grin was gone now and my Anna's face returned.

I caught the briefest smile before she collapsed to the side.

"She's gone," Rose said flatly. "No one survives my curses. "On the bright side, Draegonoth is finished. I can't sense even a trace of him. You should be grateful—the threat to your world is gone."

"I don't give a damn about the world!" I roared, my throat tight with pain, tears spilling freely. "She was my world!"

The sudden pain made me realize the truth: I had loved Anna with all my heart. At first I wasn't sure, too scarred by past betrayal and heartbreak, but now I knew. There was no one else in this world I loved more than her.

"Why are our strings still glowing?" I muttered, blinking through tears.

Rose hissed, covering her eyes. "This…light—no! Divine energy?" Her miasma collapsed. Red burns spread across her skin. "I'm burning! Burning!" She tore at her clothes, screaming, writhing like a creature thrown into fire, and eventually, she had to run away as far from the light as possible.

I barely registered her. I just stared at my Anna's still body, my limp cock still resting at her entrance which was now cold and honestly, kinda lifeless.

Then, from nowhere, warmth surged from her entrance to my limp self.

[Divine Protection running in background!]

[Death curse detected and nullified!]

My system chimed with a notification. Our marriage strings blazed, flooding the space with more light.

"W-what the hell…" I breathed, confused.

"A-Ash…" A soft, sweet voice called my name.

My heart leapt. "Anna? Is that really you?"

Her eyelids fluttered open, but then the same automatic intense healing aura I'd felt from her during the tournament against Lorraine radiated from her skin, healing herself. It made me unease... just a little. It was too strong to be Anna's.

"I… I'm fine," she whispered, then frowned faintly. "But something's… poking me."

I felt my face turn bright red like a tomato with blush. "I—it's not what it looks like, let me—"

"No." Her arms slid around my back, drawing me closer. "I want to feel it…just a little longer."

Whatever power had done this, goddess or fate, it had given Anna back.

And I wasn't letting her go. Ever again.

Though I still felt uneasy about how quickly she healed, I had to trust Rose's judgment for now. She'd said there was no trace of Draegonoth left—and she rarely made mistakes about things like that.

That was a problem for another time.

TBC

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