Chapter 3

I snapped back to focus and looked at the beast in front of me.

No matter what happened, I had to get out of the arena before I could go after any of them.

The creature stood over twice my height, its entire body covered in hard black scales. Finding an opening was not going to be easy.

It seemed to sense the killing intent that radiated off me. It let out a deafening roar, slammed its front claws into the ground, and lunged.

I threw myself sideways just in time.

It was a savage thing, one that had survived countless fights to the death in the arena.

With that in mind, I committed to the risk of losing an arm and ripped a scale off its body. Then I drove that same scale into both of its eyes, one after the other, and finally into its heart.

I kept my gaze locked on Troy the entire time as I tore out the beast’s core and swallowed it whole.

“You want to kill me? This was not even close to enough.”

Up in the stands, the crowd that had been cheering for the beast went silent in shock. A second later, thunderous applause erupted and echoed through every corner of the arena.

Vanessa screamed. Troy shot to his feet, humiliated, and started barking orders at the arena staff to come at me again.

Still, the barrier around the arena did not only keep me from escaping. It also kept everything on the outside from reaching me.

By the time the staff figured that out and dropped the barrier, I had already absorbed the core.

I swept my hand in a single motion, and every guard blocking the exit went flying. I walked toward Troy and Vanessa, one slow step at a time, and smiled coldly.

“Long time no see. I should thank you two for sending that beast my way. Without the core, I never would have broken free this easily.”

Their faces went pale with rage, eyes burning with fury and disbelief.

Troy glared at me. “Do not get cocky. Today is the day you die.”

He swung his fist and charged at me.

I sidestepped without effort, dodged the blow, and backhanded him so hard he hit the ground. He tried to scramble up, but I planted my foot on his chest and pinned him there.

Vanessa stumbled backward in terror.

“Have you lost your mind? Do you even know who he is? Troy is one of the Demon King’s most trusted men. If the Demon King finds out what happened here, what do you think he will do to you? Let him go. Now.”

I scoffed, shaped my fingers into a blade, and gouged out both of Troy’s eyes.

“Is that so? Then bring your Demon King out here. I would love to see what kind of man he is.”

Troy shrieked like a slaughtered animal, so I kicked him aside.

“Be quiet. One more sound and I will kill you.”

That silenced him fast. After I kicked him away, he clamped both hands over his mouth and did not dare make another noise, terrified that any sound would draw my attention back to him.

I looked up at the other star of the show with a cold smile.

Vanessa trembled from head to toe under my gaze and backed away step by step.

“Who are you? You are not my husband. He is only a mortal.”

I let out a dry laugh. “Good thing I am not. Otherwise, I would have had to swallow this humiliation and live with it.”

I extended my right hand. “Bring me a whip.”

The words had barely left my mouth before one of the quicker demons scrambled over, shaking from head to toe, and placed a whip in my hand.

I gripped it tight and turned to Vanessa. My voice was ice.

“He gave me his eyes. You take one lash. That sounds fair to me.”

Vanessa went white as a sheet and dropped to her knees. “Please. Do not… Do not hit me.”

Her voice shook as she pleaded, dragging up every memory of what we once shared, desperate to reach whatever softness had been left inside me. However, my hellfire was gone, and so was the heart that had once loved her.

I raised the whip without hesitation.

A familiar voice cut through the air just as it was about to come down on her.

“How dare you. I would like to see who has the nerve to lay a hand on the Demon Queen.”

Someone rushed forward and shielded Vanessa behind them.

I raised an eyebrow at the woman standing in front of me. It was Iris Wren.

She had been an orphan I found in the Valley of the Forsaken and raised at my side. After I married Vanessa in the mortal world, there had been many things I could not handle personally, and Iris had taken care of all of them on my behalf.

In Vanessa’s eyes, Iris had always been her mysterious benefactor, the one who helped her from the shadows.

The reason Iris had not been around lately was because I had sent her to prepare a birthday gift for Vanessa.

“Iris. What did you just say? You know the Demon King? Did he really say he wants to make me his queen?”

Vanessa was so caught up in the question that she did not notice the way Iris’s expression changed the moment she turned back to look at me. It lasted only a second.

Iris composed herself and bowed.

“My lord, the wounds on your face…”