The Incubus System Chapter 1458. Girls' Night II
The Incubus System Chapter 1458. Girls' Night II
Astra and Puriel’s PoV
Puriel pressed her lips together again. “And now?”
Astra’s eyes darkened. “He’s weaker than he lets on.”
A heavy truth.
“He masks it well. The throne stabilizes him. The council supports him. But his reserves…”
She hesitated.
“Are not what they used to be.”
Puriel’s chest tightened. “So he made me the villain. Not only me. But also Ethan.”
Astra didn’t deny it. “The narrative needed distraction.”
Celia whispered softly, “That’s awful.”
Puriel stared at her own hands. “He told me I was corrupted,” she said quietly. “That staying here was proof.”
Astra closed her eyes briefly. “The Light Realm believes you left and betrayed us.”
Puriel laughed softly.
Broken.
“I didn’t abandon anyone.”
“I know.”
Astra stepped closer now, tension in her shoulders finally loosening just a fraction. “I came here to observe him,” she admitted.
Celia raised a brow slightly.
Puriel looked up.
“And?”
Astra hesitated. Her cheeks flushed faintly, but not from romance this time. “He’s not what they think.”
Puriel smiled faintly. “I know.”
“He’s dangerous,” Astra insisted. “He’s powerful. And yet…” Her gaze drifted briefly toward the window. “He doesn’t feel like a threat to the Light. He feels like someone trying to survive.”
The tiredness behind his eyes.
Not a conqueror.
Not a destroyer.
Just a boy who grew into something terrifying and didn’t fully understand why.
“I don’t get it,” Puriel spoke again.
Her voice was quieter now.
Not emotional.
Thinking.
Which honestly worried Astra more.
Because Puriel thinking usually meant she was connecting things nobody else wanted connected.
“If the king’s power really decreased that much…” Puriel frowned slightly. “Then he should’ve closed the borders again, right?”
Astra nodded slowly. “That would be logical.”
“But he didn’t.”
Puriel’s eyes narrowed faintly. “He came into my dreams. Into Ethan’s too. Directly.”
The room went still again.
“And clearly,” Puriel continued, “he doesn’t like either of us right now.”
Celia hugged the pillow tighter unconsciously.
“The king is up to something.”
Astra paused.
Actually paused.
Because yeah.
That part was strange.
Very strange.
If the king was weakened again… if his divine reserves were unstable…
Then maintaining open borders made no sense strategically.
Unless…
Astra’s brows slowly furrowed.
“You’re right.”
Puriel looked at her immediately.
Astra stared toward the floor. “Why didn’t he close them this time?”
No answer came.
Just silence.
The uncomfortable kind.
Celia looked between them carefully. “Do you think this has something to do with Ethan?”
Astra inhaled slowly. “I’m not sure.”
Which meant yes.
At least partially.
“But…” Astra’s expression darkened slightly. “I think the king wants something from him.”
Puriel straightened instantly.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
And that frustrated Astra more than she wanted to admit.
Because the king always had a reason.
Always.
Nothing he did was random.
Puriel’s fingers curled against the blanket.
“Do you think this is connected to Gabrielle’s resurrection?”
Astra almost laughed.
Actually almost.
“No way.”
The answer came automatically.
Too automatically.
Because then…
She paused.
Puriel noticed instantly. “Astra.”
Astra’s expression shifted slowly.
Memory.
Something remembered.
Something uncomfortable.
“The king…” Astra muttered carefully. “…once said he needed a substitute.”
Puriel blinked. “A substitute?”
“For the ritual.”
Celia’s eyes widened slightly.
Astra looked disturbed now just remembering it.
“He said the divine authority wasn’t enough anymore.” Her voice lowered. “That power alone couldn’t recreate what was lost.”
Puriel’s breathing slowed. “Then what did he need?”
Astra swallowed once.
“Blood.”
Silence.
Puriel frowned. “Huh?”
Astra looked at her now. “I didn’t understand it back then either.”
The memory resurfaced more clearly now.
The throne room.
The king exhausted.
Half-conscious after another failed attempt.
Muttering to himself while the healers stabilized him.
Not enough.
Wrong blood.
Need the same blood.
Astra’s chest tightened slightly.
“The last failed ritual…” Astra whispered slowly. “…he kept talking about bloodlines.”
Puriel stared at her. “The same blood.”
“No way,” Puriel whispered.
Astra looked deeply unsettled now.
“The king has divine authority,” she muttered. “Enough to force open resurrection pathways temporarily.”
“But?”
“But Gabrielle’s body is dead for a long time already. So he needs blood.”
Puriel’s eyes widened slowly.
Astra saw the realization hit her sister in real time.
It hit Astra too at the exact same moment.
“Ethan,” Puriel whispered.
Astra nodded faintly. “Gabrielle’s descendant. And… The king thinks Ethan is Erebus.”
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
The Light Realm’s information was fragmented.
To the king?
Ethan wasn’t merely related to Erebus.
He was Erebus.
Gabrielle’s son who had live for thousands of years.
Astra’s stomach twisted.
“So if the king believes that…” Puriel whispered.
Astra finished the thought quietly. “Then Ethan might be the closest thing to Gabrielle’s blood still alive.”
The room felt colder suddenly.
Celia stared at them both. “You think the king wants to use Ethan for the resurrection ritual?”
Astra immediately shook her head. “I don’t know.”
But her voice lacked confidence now.
Puriel looked genuinely disturbed. “No…” Her wings flickered faintly behind her instinctively. “No, Ethan isn’t some ritual ingredient.”
Astra looked away. “The king stopped seeing limits a long time ago.”
That truth hurt.
Because once upon a time?
The king had been kind.
Gentle even.
Protective.
The Light Realm trusted him completely.
But grief changed people.
Especially immortal people.
Especially powerful ones.
Centuries of obsession didn’t heal.
They warped.
Puriel’s voice trembled slightly now. “That’s why...”
Astra nodded faintly.
Maybe it wasn’t hatred.
Not entirely.
Recognition.
Possession.
Hope mixed with madness.
Celia whispered quietly, “That’s terrifying.”
Astra didn’t deny it.
Because yeah.
It was.
Puriel looked down at her hands again. “And Ethan doesn’t even know.”
Which somehow made this worse.
Because Ethan joked through danger.
Teased through pain.
Smiled through rejection.
But this?
This wasn’t a battlefield problem.
This was being wanted by a grieving king powerful enough to reshape dimensions.
Puriel’s expression hardened slowly. “He can’t touch him.”
Astra looked at her.
And there it was again.
That choice.
That dangerous choice.
Not Light Realm.
Not duty.
Ethan.
Puriel lifted her gaze slowly. “If that’s what the king wants…”
Her voice steadied.
“Then I won’t let him have Ethan.”
Silence followed.
Heavy silence.
Because Astra realized something uncomfortable then.
Puriel wasn’t speaking like an angel anymore.
She was speaking like a woman protecting someone she loved.
And… Astra wasn’t sure the Light Realm was prepared for what Puriel would become if someone tried taking him away.