Chapter 564 - 562: Shopping.

Chapter 564: Chapter 562: Shopping.

"Sana?"

"Highly likely."

"Hmm... that would explain why we didn’t sense it on THIS planet."

"Dante... that should be it, right? The Abyss gate?" Aunt V whispered from my side, her eyes sharpening at the mention of a strange gate.

"Indeed, Aunt V, it’s most likely the Abyss gate we came here for, but to think it wasn’t actually on this planet, huh?" I mused thoughtfully.

"That’s not all he said, son; he was also talking about some true demon realm nonsense. Do you have any idea what he means by that?" Father asked, his voice serious.

"It’ll all depend on the conversation we have with him later. If the demons they were facing are from the same source as the ones I purged on Terra, then I can pretty much guess what he means by true demon realm, and if it’s as I’m guessing, then those winged pigeons might start making moves too."

"Winged pigeons? You’re talking about the Celestials? Why would they get involved?"

"Because they won’t just sit around and let the demons take something. Their philosophy is simple: if the demons want it, then it must be precious, the bunch of winged, hypocritical bandits." I sneered.

"This..."

"Heh... does that mean I’ll soon be smashing in some demon and Celestial heads?" Came Malachi’s excited voice.

"Maybe, but we’ll have to speak with this young demon Duke first." I pacified my companions as our attention returned to the young man trying to calm the agitated crowd.

...

...

"Please, everyone, calm yourselves."

Like hell they would.

"We’re dead!!"

An agitated scream from out of nowhere shook the entire crowd.

"Even the young Duke is afraid; he says we’re dead, we’re dead!!!"

"Oh, my goodness... I haven’t accomplished anything in life yet. How... why... noo..."

It was pandemonium.

They’d just heard the pride of their city and world at large say he had no hope of surviving what was coming, so what more the weak citizens like them? What hope did they have if not to just wait pathetically for their death?

"SILENCE!!!"

The same black-armored man from before thundered once more as he released his aura, a crushing pressure falling upon the gathered crowd as everyone came to a crashing halt, unable to move under the suppression of the aura.

"My dear people, please, calm yourselves and listen to me." The young Duke spoke out once more, "this matter I have already reported to my godfather, the Emperor, before arriving here to inform you."

The crowd’s spirit suddenly stirred.

"The Emperor... the Emperor knows?" Someone asked out loud, their voice hopeful.

"Yes, and he, together with my father and the other powers of the Empire and beyond, have begun preparing countermeasures for the coming situation."

The crowd slowly began to calm down as they heard that, hope igniting within their hearts once more.

Maybe they weren’t so helpless after all.

"Also, as a form of encouragement, I’ll have you know that the Immortal Dynasty and the Beast Islands will not be taking their foolish stance of indifference this time around. My lovely wives, Xue Qing Yi and Roxane, will make sure of this, so please do not yet be afraid, for we—everyone on Althea—are mobilizing our full efforts to cull the coming threats."

The crowd’s eyes began to brighten the more they listened.

The fact that the Immortal Dynasty—one of the two most powerful empires on Althea along with the secluded Beast Islands—was also joining hands this time around was something of good news as they began to feel their hope rise even further.

Maybe... just maybe they weren’t so fucked after all.

"I decided, against the wishes of the Emperor and Father, to let you guys know so you can prepare yourselves for the worst-case scenarios, not so that you may panic before anything even begins. So please, even if you will not place your faith in anything, place that faith in me, as I promise you on my very name, I shall draw my last breath before allowing any harm to fall upon my people. Do I make myself clear?" His voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried through the entire crowd, touching the hearts of every single citizen as unanimously they all roared into the air:

"YES, YOUNG DUKE!!!"

"Good." The young man nodded, satisfied with their response, "now, forgive me for bringing bad tidings, but it has never been in our nature to let bad tidings dictate our lives, is it?"

"NO, IT IS NOT!"

"So what do we do now?"

"IT’S TIME TO PARTY!!!!"

"That’s right!!!"

"OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

The crowd cheered in excitement as they tried to force the dread out of their hearts, willing to drown the uncertainty their young Duke had just placed within their hearts in carnal bliss as everyone stormed out of the open plaza, heading out to get the preparations ready for what promised to be quite the exciting event.

"Woohooo!!! A party!! Now they’re speaking my language!" Clarissa cheered, jumping on top of me in excitement, "Dante!! We have to participate, you can’t say no!" She asked, wrapping her arms around my neck, her legs around my waist, and clinging to me like a very seductive octopus.

"Ugh.. ahahaha... fine. Not like I have any choice anyways, with you acting like that." I could only nod my head in agreement.

"Yay!!! Sera, Ravena!! We’re going shopping for some clothes!! We need to look beautiful for tonight!! Ahahahahha!!" The woman immediately put herself in the mood to party in an instant.

"Elira!! I know you can hear me, come out of Dante, and let’s go shopping. You too, Sana, nobody is escaping my pampering today, hahahaha..." The woman cackled into the air like a crazy person, successfully waking up the sleeping little man.

"Ughh... who... what? Mommy Clarissa?"

"Aww.. it’s my little baby Lucien! Wanna go shopping with Mommy?" She cooed, sandwiching the kid’s face between her soft mountains—something I definitely WASNT jealous about.

"Shopping?" The kid tilted his head, confusion written all over his cute face.

"Ahhhh!!! So cute!!!" The woman squealed for no reason whatsoever, if not a deliberate attempt to make me deaf, and of course—

"YAYYYYYY!!!!" Lucien joined in, totally clueless yet totally excited.

"Umm.. sorry to burst your excited bubble, Sister Clarissa, but we don’t know anywhere here." Elira appeared in a flash of golden light, linking her arm with Clarissa as she pointed out the main issue to be considered.

"This.... Uhhh..." Clarissa froze, realization dawning upon her, yet before she could begin panicking—

"I’m sorry if I’m butting in unannounced, but I could have my companions show you around. They also have a somewhat addictive relationship with shopping; they should know the best spots around the city." A calm voice offered as we turned, our attention landing on the group currently approaching us.

"Hmm?"

"I do hope I’m not intruding on anything?" The young man smiled as he came to a stop right before us, and before I could get a word out—

"You... you said you can show us around?" Clarissa had already jumped on it, asking the young man directly, her expression serious.

"Oh? Ahh.. yes.. Myra here has a tendency of getting overboard with her shopping, so—" He hadn’t even finished getting his words out when Clarissa wrapped her aura around the beautiful girl the young man had pointed to, pulling her away as she dragged Mother and the others along with her.

"You guys have your boring conversation, we’ll go have some fun shopping!" Her voice came from a distance, and before I could blink twice, she had already disappeared from sight.

"Haa... that’s your life now, son. Good luck with that," Father sighed.

"Want to know what’s worse? There are still a few more with that same exact personality..." I sighed.

"Ouch... it’s been hard on you, my son."

"Love is war, after all."

"Nah... you’re just a greedy man, is all."

"Pfft.. aahahahaha... that is also true, Father." I laughed, finally returning my attention to the young man whose expression had been frozen the moment he felt the slight release of power from Clarissa.

Clap!

I clapped, snapping him from his stunned state.

"Alright, Raiden. The women have left. I believe we have some talking to do, don’t we?"

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A/N: Y’all figured out who Raiden is yet? No? Yes? Need me to spell it out? Anyways....

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Thanks for reading...