The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 487: Of Love and Pain

Kir teleported himself and Rainier to the tip of the promontory, overlooking the frozen chaos below, instead of water like the real thing. Together they sat, legs dangling over the edge, close enough that Kir could feel Rain’s body heat.

He asked Rainier, "How are you?"

"I’m fine," Rain answered. "I can fight."

It wasn’t what Kir had asked, but he wrapped an arm around Rainier’s waist and pulled him close all the same. "I meant you, Rain. Not your sword arm. You’ve barely smiled at all since you got here."

"I guess I’ve fallen out of the habit then," Rain said nonchalantly, but with a serious edge. "There’s a lot worse out there to be worried about."

"I know. But right now I’m worried about you. And I want to help you." He tightened his grip. "I know you haven’t been completely open. And that’s fine. But if you’re willing to let me in, truly let me in, I want to know who you are now."

"Can you take back the last three years?" Rain snapped. "Can you give me my body back? Or undo the things I’ve done? Because that’s the help I need, Kir. Who I am is... barely keeping it together... I went from being a slave of Heaven to serving your father and then your mother... And it’s all I can do to focus on getting revenge for everything that’s happened to me..."

Kir paused for a moment, simply feeling Rain’s emotions until the calm returned. "I can’t turn back time," he said. "But I can give you your body back."

Rain seemed a bit taken aback by Kir’s sincere offer. He looked at Kir for a moment before turning away. Eventually, he confessed, "As much as I want that... this body is useful to me right now. It’s the only thing keeping me from simply being compelled into uselessness."

"I can let you keep that and more," Kir said. "But it would mean evolving you."

"Into what?" he asked. "Half-angels don’t evolve."

Kir shook his head. "That’s not true. With enough mana, anyone evolves. It’s just the shape of those evolutions is often subtle, the closer one gets to being human. What I can evolve you into is... an angel."

For a moment, Kir feared that he might have said the wrong thing. He did not wish to offend Rainier, but that was simply the reality of what could be reasonably done with the time they had left. Rain remained silent, brooding over Kir’s words in a way that made Kir suspect he might find the idea of becoming an angel abhorrent.

But then Rainier closed his eyes and breathed, letting his face relax. "Do it," he said. "I don’t want to be what they made me anymore."

With a silent nod, Kir stood, creating a platform under himself as he invited Rain onto it. They hovered out to the closest edge where Kir’s domain touched that of the Chainsfree shield.

"How will this work?" Rain asked.

"If I knew enough, I’d tell you, but even with Kiryu’s memories, I only have basic knowledge of biology. What I can tell you is that I’ll be using mana to make up for my ignorance, giving it enough intent that your body will regrow itself. It... will likely be quite painful."

Rain simply nodded. "I’m no stranger to pain anymore."

Making a bed for Rain to lie on, Kir stepped around him, touching his wings to the edge of his domain as he drew directly on the mana of the shield.

"Before we start... I just want to say I love you," Kir said. "I hope you still feel the same way about me..."

In answer, Rain reached up and grabbed Kir by the collar, pulling him in for a kiss that rode the border between tender and aggressive. "I never stopped loving you," Rainier said, before settling down once more.

And then they were ready to begin.

Kir did exactly what he said he would, drawing on a large amount of mana as he teased it into Rain’s body slowly, pushing past Rain’s instinctive resistance by blending the leading edges through his lover’s core.

The godflesh had replaced so much of him that Rain was practically just a head, and even parts of his spine had been intruded upon.

He concentrated on pulling at the godflesh as he kept it from regenerating into place, encouraging Rain’s body by feel as he boosted his natural regeneration, creating new flesh, nerves, and bone by deconstructing the godflesh into its base elements before willing them to become the material for Rain’s regeneration. For much of this, Rain shifted and twitched uncomfortably, but he never cried out or asked Kir to stop, even though Kir could feel his pain somewhat.

During this, he learned how Rainier had become immune to compulsion. The godflesh had built a secondary nervous system, leading to a node at the top of the brain stem. The nerves of magic-conductive gold throughout his body acted like a receiver for magic, and Rain had somehow severed the connection of the node to his mind.

Once he understood this, Kir simply removed the node, replacing it with a magical "signal blocker" of sorts that would work the same way, using Kiryu’s knowledge of the sigil core to inscribe the spell into Rainier’s bones.

Once he had Rain’s spine back in order, he expanded outward from it. This was where the true pain began as Kir increased the amount of Rainier’s body he was working on. Rain’s breathing grew sharp and labored, but he gritted his teeth through it even as his lungs were remade.

The process was not as smooth as Kir would have liked, as some of Rain’s spasms caused his flesh and godflesh to separate, spilling blood both red and gold onto the bed, but Kir managed as best he could, encouraging Rain even as he moved to hold his lover still with his hands and his magic.

Until the end, Rain bit back screams, refusing them until the very last moment when Kir pulled him to a seat, allowing a pair of angel wings to burst from Rain’s back in a rapid show of growth, followed by two more underneath as evolving pushed Rain’s core past the edge he would have never passed as an Elevated.

Rain’s aura settled into a clear, light blue, dark at the edges. And after Kir cleaned his wings with magic, Rain’s feathers displayed a sky-blue lustre just slightly darker than his hair. When it was done, Rain looked over himself, touching his baby-smooth skin.

Though it had taken just over an hour, Kir felt mentally exhausted from managing massive amounts of mana with such careful applications, made worse by the fear of knowing he didn’t know what he was doing. But all of it melted away as Rain hopped off the bed and took him in his arms, sharing a deep kiss as he pressed his naked body against Kir.

It didn’t take long for Kir to feel a blush rising to his cheeks as they made out for a long, long moment until Kir felt his spark of aggression rise as he pushed Rain back onto the bed, straddling his hips and pressing down on his angel with his body and lips.

It occurred to Kir that it had been a long time since he’d had sex, but for now he just wanted to savor Rainier’s taste and the return of a smile to his lover’s lips.

"How does it feel?" Kir asked as Rain finally lowered his hands to hold Kir by the hips.

"I feel a bit sensitive. And not as strong as I was, but... I feel like me."

"There will be plenty of time for you to fix that later... but for now, let’s get you something to wear. Amarena’s been watching us from over there for the last minute." He tilted his head toward the promontory.

It took Rain a minute to calm his body down enough to feel comfortable with going. During that time, Kir reached up and brushed the collar of his suit before handing it to Rainier.

"Are you sure?" his angel asked, to which Kir nodded. "It’ll protect you better than most anything out there... and I no longer need it." He dressed himself in the first thing that came to mind, his uniform from the Norneau Academy. Black with red strips on the lapels.

Rainier took a few moments to look over the smooth black hexagons of the suit, before saying he was ready to go.

Amarena waited for them with her arms crossed as she tapped her foot. "Is that why you took so long? So you could make out with the pretty boy?" she scoffed.

"Amarena, right?" Rainier said. "In case you haven’t noticed, we spent gods know how long regrowing my entire body. Just because we had a fight doesn’t mean I intend to compete with you over Kir."

The demoness barked out a short laugh. "You did pretty good for someone as slow as you were. It’s good to see Kir has some tastes in fighters like us." She punched Rain lightly on the shoulder as Kir suppressed a sigh and looked at the silvery orb that had followed Amarena here. "Though I definitely would have won if we’d continued..."

Now Kir did sigh a little. "Orby," he said lightly. The orb beeped twice. "To me." Once it was set to follow him, he gave it a second command. "Orby. Storage mode." The orb shrank to the size of an apple and went inert, allowing Kir to pick it up without damage to his mana-based body and store it in his dimensional storage.

"What did you want to talk with me about?" Kir asked Amarena once that was done.

"Are you, ah, alright with Rain being here for this?" Her eyes flicked to Kir’s stomach.

"I am if he is. I’m sure everyone will know soon enough," Kir answered.

"If that’s the case, I’ll stay then," Rain said.

"How long have you been pregnant?" Amarena asked bluntly.

"How did you know?" Kir asked.

"You put your hand over your stomach a dozen times while we were talking. I saw enough of that in Isegart to know what it means."

Kir quirked a small smile. "Just over a month or so... longer, subjectively speaking."

Amarena crossed her arms. "So, who’s the father? The cat, Ferro?"

Kir shook his head. "I’m the father... but it was a future mother who gave me this child."

"The foxkin?"

"You," Kir answered.

The look of utter shock on Amarena’s face was priceless.

*

When they returned to the others, Kir changed the setting to one more equal. A rounded table, with food and drink enough for everyone. He let Rainier take the lead in telling everyone about what Kir had done for him.

Then came the announcement that he was pregnant, which for some reason made Lapins’ feelings toward him immediately soften as Kordia and her lovers swamped him with questions and touches. Whatever Reiko thought, she was silent on it.

And when the last bit of joyous news was shared, the constellation’s thoughts turned once more to the future.