The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 56: Hello Judgment my old friend

How could a spear get stored in one hand, you ask?

How would I know?

Not even Valmeier knew why. The Spear of Judgment flew to him and embedded itself in his palm without his consent. Stupidly making him the sacrificial pawn. If it was other people—like me, for example—they would just run away; fuck the kingdom or whatever.

At least, I was sure I wouldn’t just agree to become their cleaning dog without even receiving credit. Freaking petty princess bitch!

Ahem—excuse me for a bit.

Unfortunately, Valmeier was a good kid. Too good of a kid. He was like those good, obedient model students who did everything their parents told them to, including getting extra lessons until late at night and on the weekend.

So he did what they told him to, like a selfless tragic hero.

In a way, it deepened my hatred of this spear. As the druid kingdom’s artifact, shouldn’t it save the royal blood rather than endanger him? If it wasn’t for the spear stupidly flying to Valmeier in broad daylight, all of his tragic fate could be avoided.

Although then, I might not be able to possess his body.

Wait—so should I feel thankful instead?

Damn it!

Well, regardless of my feeling toward the spear, my thinking came to the point where I felt it would be unavoidable to use it one day. With the uncertainty of future events, and the possibility that I might have to face the Hero, I couldn’t help but consider all of the cards in my possession.

Including this damn spear.

But if I had to summon it, I determined to do it when Natha wasn’t around.

I knew he told me he didn’t mind, and that it was never my fault. I also didn’t think it was my fault, since technically it was Valmeier who did it. But I experienced it once; the memory of stabbing his flesh, and it was what made me feel like puking every time I thought about them being in the same space.

So I thought, if I faced the spear without Natha being present, it would set off the nauseating feeling somewhat.

In a way, this was also a form of trauma therapy.

I went to the forest again, to that clearing where Jade evolved. After a few days of exploration, I managed to remember the route so I could go there by myself, without having to wait for Doun. I would still lost my way if I stray even a little from the path though.

Perhaps because it had spent an important stage of its life here, Jade was always excited when we visited the place. The little bird would undo its mini size and fly around swimming in dense elemental mana.

I watched Jade for a while, although what I really did was preparing my heart for the summoning attempt. I kept looking at the sky and my palm repeatedly, until Jade hovered in front of me, tilting its green head as if asking me what I was doing sitting around like an idiot.

"I know, I know!" I huffed at the chirping sound, and clapped my hand once to steel myself. "Alright, stay back. I don’t know how this would turn out,"

With my warning, Jade flapped its wings and perched on the nearby young tree, green beady eyes watching me keenly. I held up my left hand, putting all my concentration on my palm.

I had been thinking about it since last night—where was the spear gone after getting absorbed into the palm? Was it nestled in some kind of dimensional storage, waiting for summon? You know, like those inventory systems in rpg games.

But dimensional storage existed outside of one’s body, not in one’s palm. Besides, the notion of having a foreign space attached to my body was a disturbing thought. I spent my night thinking of how would I proceed to summon it until I fell asleep unknowingly.

And then, when I woke up, I remembered that all Valmeier did to take the spear out was to call its name. It didn’t even need to be audible, just thinking about it and calling inside his mind.

And so that was what I did.

[Alveitya]

I called out, silently, inside my mind, trying to repress my dislike. My mana core vibrated then, and I felt a surge of energy flow from my heart through my left arm.

It...it was inside my heart?

Instinctively, I knew the answer to my question. Of course; the druid’s bloodline relied heavily on the existence of mana. Magic energy was woven into every single cell and drop of blood. And that was where the spear went.

I had underestimated the word ’absorb’. The Spear did get absorbed into this body, in every sense of the word. Its body was dispersing into a flow of mana and embedded in my physical heart and mana core.

No wonder I couldn’t get it out with the mana blockage.

As the flow of mana reached my hand, the faint scar-like pattern in my palm was getting deeper in color, as if blood was pooling there along the lines and curves. As I willed it, long threads of white and green light were coming off the pattern, weaving themselves together as they formed the long shape of a stick.

I grabbed the vague shape with my right hand, and the weaving light started to branch out into the shape of a spear, forming the double blade at one tip and a sharp pointed end at another. The threads of light stopped moving once the shape reached a little bit more than two meters in length, and I grabbed it tighter.

With a final pulse, the lights were dispersing, and Alveitya’s appearance was laid before my eyes.

I was so ready to hate this thing, but...

"What is this?" I stared at the Spear of Judgment, lips parted unconsciously. "Why are you so pretty..."

In my hand was a white spear seemingly carved out of a single white branch, with beautiful, dark green wires curling like veins along the shaft, forming intricate patterns like a work of art. Rather than a spear, it actually felt more like a magic staff, and I would already think so if it wasn’t for the white blade shining sharply at the top.

But at the joint between the blade and the shaft, a jewel was embedded there, on a throne of intricate vines. A deep, vibrant green jewel so rich in mana it felt like I was staring at the heart of the forest.

While it looked like feeble wood, when I knocked at the shaft, it actually made a clanking sound like metal. And yet, as I swung it, the spear felt light and right. The deep green wire coiling it intricately was also made of material that I didn’t know. I had thought it was metal, but it didn’t have the same feeling. It was as if someone pounded emeralds in large quantities into dust and mold them into these wires.

It was so beautiful that I couldn’t even muster any negative thoughts. Dislike? Hatred? Disgust?

Trauma? What trauma?

I inhaled deeply, feeling the spear’s mana resonate with my own, and it buzzed as if saying it was happy to see me again.

Perhaps it was? Artifacts blessed by God usually developed some sentient thought, just like elementals.

I reached out to stroke the green core and the shaft, and sighed. Jade flew over and perched on my shoulder, staring at the jewel which looked like its eyes, and sighed with me.

"I know, right?" I replied to its thought. "Isn’t it too pretty to be called something scary like the ’Spear of Judgment’?"

I looked at it keenly, and tried to swing it. Obviously, I had no knowledge of spearmanship. But Valmeier did, and I at least had enough muscle memory to enact the basic. But honestly, I felt like it was better suited to be a Scepter instead of cutting people—or rather, demons.

Wait.

Scepter...

"Don’t tell me..." I narrowed my eyes at the green core, thinking of it as the Spear’s heart. "Were you actually used to pass judgment on the royal court? Like...by the king or something?"

It buzzed, seemingly in agreement, and my jaw dropped.

Fucking hell. Valmeier, my guy, why were you using something this substantial and pretty to cut others’ necks and stabbed others’ hearts, huh?

...huh? Wait a bit—I tried to dig into Valmeier’s memory to see the Spear’s shape in the past.

Oh? Oh?? I closed my eyes tightly to see the recording inside my mind, and when I opened my eyes, I stared at the spear in confusion.

It was different. The spear that Valmeier used was quite different. While it still looked regal and ancient—in a fantasy sense—it wasn’t this pretty. The core was there, but it was duller than this, and the shaft was just pure white with carved runes on it.

Why? It was definitely the Spear of Judgment, though...

The spear buzzed again then, and a flow of information suddenly filled my brain. It helped me to understand what happened.

It seemed like the one that Valmeier used was Alveitya in its basic form. Since he never had any interest in his ancestry and never awakened his bloodline, the spear was locked in that form, unable to harness its true value.

But ever since I came to invade this body, it was nestled—or rather, jailed—inside my system. When I awakened the druid bloodline and trained it, the purified mana that seeped into my cells also got absorbed by the spear, and it was able to evolve.

So, to put it shortly, I was unintentionally unlocked the Spear of Judgment’s true form, even awoken its sentience.

Oh, no wonder I didn’t feel put off by it. Essentially, it felt like a different Spear, like the reborn version of it. Just like how I was reborn in this body...

Alveitya buzzed again in my hand, and I clutched it with both hands tightly. I understood now why it seemed to be happy, not just from being out, but also from meeting me. After all, I was technically the one who awakened and restored it to its real self, not Valmeier.

"We’re just the same, then?" I leaned against the spear, the green core pressed into my forehead. Again, I felt the spear vibrate, and this time my mana core responded, as if we were making a resonance.

Oh, what to do?

I kind of like this guy already...