My Soul card is a Reaper-Chapter 943: The Emergence of Azazel (Part-8)

Naamah’s scarlet eyes. Her lips. Her naked body. Her seductive moans. Her smile. Everything is just being imprinted into his head as she was replacing the girls he loved or dated, or had sex with.

It was slowly happening from when he was 15, the time he lost his virginity and descended into depravity back in the world of Irth. The memory of him losing his virginity to Naamah has been successfully imprinted in his mind.

Orion started feeling things for the demon. His body started to feel lust for Naamah’s body. Her whisperings in his ear only made this process faster. "human... I know that you want me. Just submit to your desires... submit to me. forget everything... You should do what you feel happy about... Not carry a burden of other people’s lives... get free from the burdens and join me..."

"Submit to me, human..." "Submit yourself to me..."

Orion knew that he was losing it, but he couldn’t stop it. He was trying to fight against it, but his past, which was filled with lots of lecherous acts, tons of sex, including even org*es with multiple women, had made it harder to go against his sexual instincts and carnal desires that he had suppressed for the past few months.

Orion clenched his jaw hard enough to draw blood from his teeth, but it was of no use. He shut his eyes tighter, desperately trying to carve out a single stable thought—some anchor—but the demon’s influence slid deeper and deeper into the cracks of his consciousness, dripping in like poison. The fact that he never felt truly loved in his life, whether it was a woman or his mother, or friends, made it only harder for him to hold on to.

His breathing grew ragged.

His divine aura dimmed as time passed.

Naamah continued to overpower him. She intimately pressed her body against his front as she slipped her hand into his shirt and dragged it across his chest.

"You mortals built kingdoms and caused wars for love and slaughtered your own kin for lust, you steal the women from your own friends. You males did unspeakable acts to mate with a beautiful woman..." she crooned further. "And now, look at you... You’re receiving both love and lust without having to put any effort."

Her nails brushed his face again as she further whispered, "Forget everything and devote yourself to me. I will give you the happiness that you have ever experienced in your life."

By then, he felt himself leaning forward unconsciously.

She then kissed the edge of his jaw before her lips trailed toward his mouth... "Commit yourself to me, human."

His heartbeat slowed... slowed... slowed... as if it were about to obey.

It looked as if Naamah had already started owning his body and soul...

However, right at the moment he was about to kiss her, a streak of blazing energy sliced through the air like a comet.

SWOOSH—

The arrow passed so close to Naamah’s cheek that it singed a strand of her hair. She hissed and twisted her head sharply, stepping away while narrowing her eyes toward the source.

More than a hundred meters behind her floated Selene with her eyes sharp and posture steady, gripping an Adamantine bow.

Divine light flickered in her irises as she drew another arrow made purely from her soul energy. "Get away from him, demon," she growled at her.

Elise caught up to her and stopped. And then with a single gesture, she summoned her Arcana Spirit.

"NIDHOGGR, Unleash your presence."

A massive serpentine dragon materialized, casting a giant shadow over dozens of meters on the ground. Its roar shook the air and caused a ripple through the battlefield, and grabbed every attention, even Azazel’s and Alexander’s, for a moment.

Naamah’s seductive smile died instantly, and her face hardened.

Staring at them coldly, she commented, "A Supreme Archer and an ancient Arcana spirit? It feels like experts gathered in this tiny city like fireflies."

Elise then pointed at her. "Nidhoggr — help my friend!"

The dragon’s head lowered, narrowing its pupils like razor slits as it locked onto Naamah. Toxic chaos energy swirled inside its throat, preparing a breath that could melt even mountains.

Feeling a life threat from the dragon, Naamah reacted in a heartbeat.

She spun around and grabbed Orion from behind, pulling him tight against her body. Her arm snaked around his neck, not in a way that appears threatening but more intimate.

"If you attack," she purred coldly, "he dies with me, too."

Nidhoggr roared and opened its maw, not caring about her threat, but Elise shot forward and pressed a hand to the dragon’s snout.

"Nidhoggr, stop!" she ordered sharply.

The dragon halted, though grudgingly, its breath swirling back into its throat with a growl.

Selene didn’t budge, though.

She kept her bow raised high, previously pointing at the demoness, and now it seemed like it was pointing at Orion instead.

Her hands were steady.

Her expression was cold as she poured all of her soul energy to conjure an arrow between her fingertips.

Naamah’s grip tightened over his body in a bit of panic. "Shoot that arrow, girl and you will only be killing your friend, and not me."

Selene gave a slow exhale in response and said, "Consider this your last warning."

Her fingers pulled the string back further, intending to shoot the arrow.

"Leave him," she continued calmly, "and we will let you go."

Naamah scoffed, "Yeah, right... as if I would believe you. Don’t you see what’s going around?"

Because the targets are females, Naamah couldn’t help but become slightly frightened of death. Unlike her mother, who can influence everyone, whether male or female, human or an animal, her effects only work on males, not females. And one of these two is a rank-9, and the other one is a rank-8 but has a powerful Arcana spirit. Adding on top of that, Naamah is no warrior to fight. As a result, she refused to believe their words.

Selene’s gaze sharpened at that as she loudly explained. "I don’t know about you demons, but we hidden clans... have artifacts that let us revive the dead. And the person you’re holding is the son of the strongest being in this world. The man who possessed the jewel of life. So, even if you kill him, it will be useless."

She pulled the arrow back until the bow creaked.

Elise swallowed. Even she felt the weight behind Selene’s voice. However, at the same time, she knows that Selene absolutely admires Azzy like anything. She never fell short of praise when she started praising the demigod.

Naamah slowly loosened her claws in hesitancy. The earlier confidence she displayed against Orion so far has been dimmed.

"Release him and leave. I will give you time to run away for your sincerity..." Selene said again.

The arrow hummed, as if it couldn’t wait to be released.

"Or else..."

Selene’s eyes glowed with soul energy. "I will kill both of you and revive Orion myself with our artifact."

Her tone dropped to a whisper as deadly as a guillotine.

"And you will stay dead."

Naamah’s wings quivered in a bit of fear.

Selene then started counting...

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

Naamah’s grip loosened a little more.

"Seven."

"Six."

Naamah panicked. She looked around wildly.

"Five."

"Four."

Naamah hissed. "You’re bluffing—!"

"Three."

Naamah stared at the glowing arrow aimed at her — then at Nidhoggr, whose jaws were slowly opening, brimming with venom.

She could see the archer wasn’t bluffing.

But before she could speak... before she could choose between retreat and suicide... before Selene got to count two...

A blinding surge of divine power blasted outward from Orion’s body like a supernova.

BOOOOOM—!!!

A beam of light shot into the clouds, filled with natural energy, and sent Naamah hurtling backward like a rag doll. She crashed through the air with a shriek, tumbling dozens of meters away as the pressure slammed her wings flat against her back.

Selene paused for a moment. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"What is that..."

She blinked twice, watching the natural energy converge around Orion like a swirling mist before taking the form.

Ten seconds later, every demon froze mid-flight. Every Arcana Master stopped mid-strike as a colossal silhouette formed around Orion.

A three-hundred-foot avatar emerged, far bigger than those demonic and divine avatars displayed far away.

It took the form of a Buddha, but not the thousand-armed Buddha he had used in previous battles, the one Selene was familiar with.

This one was different.

The avatar sat cross-legged upon a massive lotus platform of pure light with its two hands resting gracefully — one forming a mudra, the other holding a radiant lotus flower that pulsed with divine.

One look at it, and the Arcana masters who were scrambling around all felt peace in their hearts. The fear and panic in their hearts subsided automatically as if someone cast a spell in their minds.

It was not a Buddha of wrath.

It was a Buddha of mercy and compassion.

Even the screams across the city quieted for a brief heartbeat, replaced by a strange, overwhelming sense of calm.

However, it had an entirely opposite effect on the demons.

Even Naamah, who landed hard against a rooftop, had her face turn pale as she gazed on the Buddha.

"This power... how can a human invoke such a pure form? I can’t sense a single deadly sin inside him anymore...."

Far away, in the eye of the storm, the two titanic avatars battling above the Four Seasons felt the pulse too.

Azazel’s colossal demonic war-form stiffened. The cracks in its armor froze mid-spread.

Alex’s divine avatar also paused, its ethereal arms loosening their grip in surprise. And from within the armor, Alexander himself froze, although for entirely different reasons.

His breath hitched.

His pupils contracted.

His mind went blank for the moment.

His voice trembled as he whispered, "That... that form... That looks just like the Buddha from my world."

His heart pounded against his ribs.

"That means... he’s also from my world? It means I’m... I’m not alone?"

As soon as that thought emerged in his head... a system chime rang in his head while a translucent holographic screen materialized before his eyes..

*Ding!

[You triggered a Quest]

Quest: Investigate the origins of the target’s power.

Target: Unknown Buddha Manifestor

Reward: ???

Alex stared wide-eyed at the notification, his grip tightening on the throne.