Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 344

Chapter 344

Beili could no longer tell whether this was reality or the Illusion Realm.

Her body began to convulse violently, and a cry of agony escaped her lips.

An ordinary person would have died the instant their heart was pierced.

What was keeping her alive through all this pain…?

…

If only she could go back.

She had no family or friends in her original world, but at least she had not suffered there.

In this world, she wore someone else’s skin and lived as someone else’s substitute. People seemed to like her, to cherish her… yet she felt even lonelier.

Thousands upon thousands of times lonelier.

Beili struggled.

Stop giving me Mana, she wanted to say.

They had deceived each other, and they had also loved each other.

He had arranged inescapable deaths for the people she cared about, while she had led the protagonists here in search of the Sacred Artifact that could kill him.

They were even.

Whatever happened next had nothing to do with her. That was what Beili thought.

But the hand gripping her face was mercilessly strong, and his cold tongue coiled behind her teeth like a snake, refusing to let her pull away.

She had come here to find the Sacred Artifact that would kill him.

Why was he trying to keep her alive like this?

It was useless.

Silly Sheep.

Beili said the words silently as she felt the immense torrent of dark Mana pouring into her body. It surged through her meridians and blood vessels, only to leak out again when it reached her Mana Pool.

So the Mana Pool was located in the heart.

No wonder he always said the heart was the most important part.

That was where his Mana Pool was.

Beili suddenly understood why she had returned to the Dream Cage. It held the memory she cherished most deeply, as well as the one she felt most guilty about.

Those two conflicting emotions had twisted the memory into something that tormented her.

If she was about to die, this was the memory she was most likely to see.

Beili stopped struggling.

She could clearly feel that the Mana flowing into her could no longer keep pace with the Mana draining away.

Her body grew colder, and the pain began to fade.

Her fingertips twitched against the hand pressed to her face. She reached up and gently touched the young man’s cheek, as if bidding him a solemn farewell.

Cold, panicked tears welled in his golden eyes. One fell into her crimson eye.

A beautiful six-pointed snowflake blossomed across her vision.

Then it melted away.

Ashera released her.

Through the curtain of his lengthening silver hair, she saw the thick clouds begin to spin like a tornado. Ribbons of orange-red lava were drawn into the cloud layer.

Snowflakes drifted from the clouds as a storm began to rage.

Long, straight silver hair cascaded down his back.

Curved black horns emerged from his head.

Several enormous black skulls rose behind Ashera, spewing dark fog.

His skin turned black.

From his fingertips to his cheeks, everything except his golden eyes became darker than the deepest night.

Lava-red light flowed across his skin, brightening and dimming with every breath.

…

Beili felt cold.

She was so cold that she could not move, and she no longer had the strength to speak.

The world began to lose its color before her eyes.

Ashera seemed to tear open space and time.

She saw the Far North appear in the sky above the Far South.

The sky was no longer filled with swirling black fog and thick gray-red clouds. Instead, an endless expanse of white snow stretched overhead.

The sight was incredible.

Her empty eyes remained open as countless snowflakes appeared in the sky. They drifted through the air, but instead of falling, they floated upward.

The snowy ground seemed to be pressing down toward her.

No. Ashera was carrying her into the sky.

“Don’t be afraid.” A cold, broad hand stroked her head. “The pain will be gone soon.”

When they reached a certain height, the sky and earth turned upside down.

She heard the thunderous whoosh of enormous wings beating.

They rolled over and plummeted rapidly.

“Then this will be the site of your transaction.”

She had only just heard the heavenly voice from below when Ashera landed with her in his arms, bringing her into the Far North.

“What are you discussing?”

Ashera, now in his Demon form, did not speak. Instead, the skulls behind him exhaled dense black fog and answered in unison.

“Demon, your timing is perfect. You’ve also stepped right into… Hmm? What are you holding?”

A gaze fell upon her.

A shuddering chill shot up Beili’s spine and raced to the top of her head.

It felt as though she were staring into a mirror and her own reflection had suddenly stared back.

It was an eerie sensation.

“I found one of your feathers.”

“Such a beautiful feather must have fallen from your wing.”

“Or so I assume.”

Each black skull spoke one sentence.

A strange, sour pang suddenly rose in Beili’s chest, leaving her unsure what to think.

At that moment, Ashera gently loosened his hold.

She felt as though she had become a feather herself, floating weightlessly out of his arms.

Her vision spun.

Carried by the current of air, she reattached herself to a wing, packed in among thousands upon thousands of other wings.

The owner of the heavenly voice cleared their throat softly.

“I heard you wanted to make a deal with them so you could remain here more securely. The transaction may now begin-”
A hand reached out, flawless as white jade and carved to perfection, pointing in turn at the three kings shivering from the cold.

“You may tell us what you wish to trade with the Demon… Of course, it must be something both parties can deliver. Otherwise, the punishment will be severe!”

By the end, the heavenly voice had taken on a cold, vicious edge.

The three kings remained sprawled across the stone platform as though crushed beneath a tremendous weight. They could not even lift their heads.

Ashera chuckled softly without speaking. The skulls floating behind him also fell silent.

At last, one of the kings could bear it no longer and asked in a trembling voice, “The punishment… What is the punishment?”

“The punishment…” The ethereal voice pondered for a moment before slowly answering, “Ten calamities will descend upon your kingdoms.”

Ashera lowered his golden eyes toward the kings prostrated on the ground. The skulls behind him spoke one after another.

“Offer up your sins.”

“And you shall receive superior bloodlines, wealth, and power.”

“Is that not what you have always dreamed of?”

The kings hesitated, then nodded.

“But Demon…”

Disapproval colored her voice as she drawled a reminder.

“Bloodlines, wealth, and power. You do not appear capable of giving them any of those things, because you are standing here.”

A white-jade fingertip pointed meaningfully at the stone platform beneath him.

“Here, you can do nothing. You cannot even leave.”

She continued at an unhurried pace, “So if you wish to make a trade, naturally, you must offer something you possess. Something they can take away with them… such as a part of your body.”

After giving that pointed suggestion, she addressed the kings. “Now do you know what you should ask of the Demon?”

The kings were silent for several seconds.

“His heart…”

One of the kings quickly caught on. He was the first to answer. “I want his heart.”

“I want his eyes,” said the second king.

The last king agonized over his choice for a long time before hesitantly raising his head. “I want… his Torso.”

At those words, the Demon gave him an icy glare.

“Demon, do you agree?”

She clapped her hands in satisfaction and turned her gaze toward Ashera.

Ashera looked away. The black skulls behind him spewed black mist and spoke in turn.

“Since you have involved yourself in this transaction,”

“you have no reason to refuse me one condition. Otherwise, this transaction ends here.”

“I can remain here for a hundred years or ten thousand. It makes no difference to me.”

Silence fell for a moment.

“What condition?”

The heavenly voice abruptly turned cold.

The skulls continued.

“There is one person in this world who must not die.”

“The transaction may proceed only if you accept this condition.”

“For you, such a thing should be effortless, should it not?”

The blizzard howled beyond the stone platform, but within its bounds, all was silent.

“Hmm?”

She hummed in confusion.

Then, in the next instant, she laughed brightly.

“It is effortless indeed… Very well. I accept this transaction.”

She plunged a hand into her chest and slowly drew out a knife.

It was dark crimson from hilt to tip, its blade thin and razor-sharp.

As she held it, ripples pulsed outward from it like the beating of a heart.

“Demon, first I will take your heart…”

The instant the words left her lips, she flashed in front of Ashera. With one swift flick of the blade, she plucked the heart from his chest.

“Next, your eyes.”

The tip of the blade picked out both his eyes.

“And finally, your Torso.”

The blade swept across his neck, arms, and legs.

Ashera remained standing elegantly upon the stone platform, restored to the state he had been in when she first saw him.

His skin was pale with a grayish cast, and the draping Black Robe concealed his mutilated body.

His head was tilted slightly to one side.

His beautiful golden eyes were empty and lifeless.

The three offerings floated into the hands of the King of Sainthos, the King of Nauze, and the King of Tilisha.

Spatial rifts opened behind them, carrying each man back to his own palace.

Holding the Red Blade, she beat her wings and flew back into the air.

Then she looked down upon him from above.

“Demon, tell me her name.”

Below her, Ashera stood upon the stone platform.

He raised his head slightly.

Beili felt as though those empty golden eyes had found her with flawless precision amid the countless wings.

At last, he spoke.

His finely shaped lips parted, and his deep, familiar voice carried a trace of softness.

“Her name is Beili.”

At that moment, Beili finally understood how she had come to be the Immortal Butterfly.

…

Beili wanted to cry.

She had never told Ashera her real name.

Not Ashera in his Youth Form, nor Ashera in his Black-Horned Form.

She had never told anyone.

Perhaps, somewhere far in the future during his journey through time, she would tell him herself.

Then she heard the heavenly voice say in utter bewilderment, “Strange tears… are flowing from my eyes.”