New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

As Alex returned home, he reached into his mind space for a moment to give instructions.

As he arrived, the air was thick with the cacophony of the eight demon kings, their voices clashing in a chaotic symphony, arguing about who should consume this new soul inside the soul space.

"Quiet!" Alex snapped, as the voices died down.

Alex looked at all of them and glanced over at Sangis, who was quietly observing them in a corner.

"I didn't send this man's soul in here for you to snack on. This is not a game. He was working for someone, and we need to know when that someone is getting here. Whoever finds me those answers first gets to eat the soul," he declared, his voice carrying the weight of the task.

But that left one massive issue.

"Sir," Paimon said, walking toward him with a lascivious gait.

"How are we supposed to get answers fairly? Only one of us can possess this soul at a time. Wouldn't that make this an unfair solution?" she asked, brushing her hand on his chest while biting her lip.

Alex slapped the hand away, making her moan in delight.

"Keep your hands to yourself, vixen. I already thought of this. This is why Sangis will be letting you into it one at a time, with a very limited amount of time to question him. No peering into his mind, Sangis will know. Torture him, tear him apart, as long as you leave the soul intact for the one after you; I don't care about your methods," Alex said.

He looked at Paimon and scoffed.

"Hell, you can even fuck his brains out if it gets you the answer," he added.

The demon smiled in glee, thinking of all the pent-up tension she would be allowed to release.

"Then who gets to go first?" Sangis asked, his gritty voice making Alex wince in displeasure.

He looked at the Nephilim and smirked.

"You chose. This space is as much yours as it is mine, so you are the boss. Whatever you do, though, do it fast. I don't want to get surprised by Damien's arrival," he ordered.

Sangis nodded, as did the demon kings, before Alex vanished from the soul space.

And before Sangis could even turn to the demon kings, Paimon was already standing behind him, her hands wrapped around him and clutching his dick through his tunic.

"How about you let me go first, and I give you a bit of my time later, lovely?" she asked, nibbling on Sangis' neck.

"You vixen! That's cheating!" Bael cursed, looking at this whore give herself away so easily.

"You're just jealous I didn't offer myself to you, Bael," Paimon mocked.

"Hah! As if I would be attracted to a being like you, you ugly pig!" Bael rebuked, turning his head away.

But Paimon wasn't done teasing him.

She reappeared behind the demon king Bael, and slid her hands on his chest from behind, lowering them until she was at the edge of his manhood.

"Oink oink, the little piggy wants some. What are you going to do, oh might Bael," she whispered in his ear, making him shiver.

"Enough!" Asmodeus snapped.

"Let the abomination choose. We don't have all day," he added, throwing a disdained glance at Sangis.

Sangis pulled a rare grin, his face contorting horribly.

"Then I guess you go last, Asmodeus," he declared, his doubling voice annoying Asmodeus deeply.

"Whatever. I have no interest in questioning a human. They will all fail on their first attempt, anyway. I'll prevail in the end, and get to consume this sad excuse of a soul," he mocked, throwing disdainful looks at the others.

"You know, Asmodeus, if your skin wasn't as black as that flame you call a soul, I would think you are an angel. Always thinking you are better than us. Tch! How pompous," Belial said, spitting at Asmodeus' feet.

"What was that, you glorified seer?!" Asmodeus quipped.

"Hey, at least my powers aren't being used as a mode of transportation, you miniature carriage," Belial replied, grinning at his peer.

***

Outside the soul space, while the demon kings were trying all manners of bribing and coddling to get the first shot at Gregory's soul, Alex had already tuned them out.

He had no time to waste on listening to these eight fools argue and try to gain favour with Sangis. He could also tell Sangis hated all of them equally.

It was justified, all things considered. They all held a palpable disdain for him, and what he was.

Why would he appreciate any of them, if they treated him like an abomination and a pariah, anyway?

'Serves them right for letting their emotions about him transpire so much in his presence. Now that he holds power over who gets a chance at consuming this soul, they might stop treating him like shit.'

Alex may not have liked Sangis' voice, but he didn't hate him, per se. Sangis was a part of him, after all.

It would be hypocritical of him to hate the very thing he was stupid enough to create.

All things considered, the Nephilim was a great addition to his power, and the fusing of the two entities had stopped the constant power struggle inside his mind. He still had no idea what the third form available to him would give, in terms of benefits, but he wasn't in a hurry to find out.

For now, though, he needed to think about the next few days.

Since the plane was soon to be ready for them to use, and they had already picked their first stop, they needed to figure out what the most pressing matter was to settle once there.

Should they recruit locals to help them? Or should they do all the hard work themselves and only tell the locals afterward?

In terms of difficulty, Alex doubted that the harpies of South Korea would be much of a threat to them. So they could deal with them without too many hands.

But dealing with the monsters alone, without locals, might breed political unrest. After all, they were basically an armed force stepping into a foreign country to deal with an issue on their soil.

Any sane person could see what issues this entailed.

Then, if they hired locals, how were they to convince these hired hands to follow their orders and not go rogue on them? This could set them back big time if these hired locals suddenly got themselves killed.

It was a hassle either way.

"Wait… Isn't Athena Korean?" Alex remembered.

If he could get her to guide them, and act as their local face, then that would save him trouble. But he wasn't sure she'd say yes.

Last he checked in with her, she was having family troubles, and was practically under house arrest by her parents.

"Not that they can keep her there, if she doesn't want to," he mumbled, imagining she had already started changing.

But he knew filiality played a much heavier role in Eastern cultures. If Athena refused to go against her parents' words, he couldn't force her.

He doubted they would listen to the pleas of a Westerner like him, especially one who wasn't a hardworking person by their standards.

"Why is everything always so complicated?" he grumbled, stepping back inside the bedroom.

"Because life isn't supposed to be easy, love," Kary mumbled from the bed, half awake.

"Did I wake you up?" Alex asked, looking at her apologetically.

"No. It was the freaking mana waves from across the street. Do you know what happened?" she asked, looking at him with tussled hair.

He chuckled at her appearance, finding it delightful, before laying down next to her.

"It was nothing—an argument between two awakened in the hotel across the street. I dealt with it already," he said, hiding the fact he had killed one of them, and the other was David.

"Mm," she groaned, cuddling up to his chest.

"Can we sleep a bit longer?" she asked, sighing tiredly.

"Sadly, we've been sleeping all day already. We shouldn't extend that much further, or we'll fuck up our sleep schedule even worse," Alex chuckled, brushing her hair with his hand.

Kary moaned in pleasure as the hand softly stroked the top of her head and the base of her nape.

"Fine, I'll get up. In a few minutes, though. Let me enjoy this moment first," she said, wrapping her arms around him.

"Sure. We can stay like this for a few minutes," Alex replied, smiling warmly.

They lay in bed for a while more, going way past the couple minutes Kary had requested, as she practically fell asleep in his arms again, while Alex thought about the coming times, softly brushing her hair with his fingers.

'I wonder how long we will be able to enjoy such a calm rhythm of life…' he mused, his smile dropping sadly.

Even if the merging didn't happen anytime soon, a genuine threat was still looming above their heads.

That alone was enough to cut their calm lifestyle…

"Let's hope it's longer than a few weeks…"