The Ancient Genes

Max was surprised to hear familiar names popping out from Andriel's mouth.

It seemed that Andriel had been killed by Humans led by Hephaestus in the upper dimensions. 

But, it wasn't the truth.

Arkansas and Lilith had a special relationship and Lilith considered Andriel her own granddaughter.

Arkansas wouldn't do anything to her.

What actually happened was Hephaestus who had been busy with his research on dimensional force finally had a breakthrough.

Dimensional force was something that no one understood except for this Human God.

And what he planned was very simple, it was to sent Andriel to the dimension below using one of the 12 slots.

They stole the slot under Lilith's nose not because she wouldn't hand it over but because she would be blamed for handing it over.

It was a risky move, the dimension force of two dimensions differed. If things went according to Hephaestus, Andriel's curse would lose effect in the other dimension and she would lose her overbearing power and outbreaks as well. But, there was a chance that the Dimensional curse wouldn't lose effect as well and the new dimension would immediately be able to sense another dimensional power and would definitely eliminate it, killing Andriel.

To Andriel, both options were fine. 

And like that, she left the upper dimensions and later met Max.

….

"Now that I have lost my curse...I am nothing but an ordinary succubus….I have been using the forbidden arts to extract life force from you to treat mom..."

"I have expended too much of my own life force using the forbidden art and now I don't have much time left. At most a year or two…" 

It finally all made sense to Max...but wouldn't that mean….Andriel had to replenish her life force to live and there was only one way for a Succubus to do it...

"I still didn't get one thing though…" Max asked as he looked at her.

"What?" Andriel looked at him with her eyes slightly red due to all that crying.

"When and how did you fall in love with me?" Max couldn't understand it actually.

"Well, after I came here...I didn't find any of the things I desired…. It was neither death nor freedom. I was trapped in that thing all alone and it felt like eternity. I don't even know how long I have been there…"

"And one day finally someone came, but he was not the person who could free me. I had lost hope, it was even more bitter than my time in the upper dimension. After being shown all that hope, it had been all taken away. Not to mention, that guy's forceful use of the scythe only caused me pain and hence, the suffering continued..."

"But then, you saved me...a person without any relation to you…You fought for me. I don't even remember if there was any unrelated person who did that for me…..you looked really bright to me and even more so when you fought for your mother. I saw everything...."

"And you were the first to be saved by me instead of being killed. I gave you most of my first times and honestly I wasn't sure about it back then….but I just didn't want you, the first person who showed kindness to me in this world to die. But after spending all this time with you, I don't regret it all. It was the best decision of my life. I finally understood what happiness was and for me it was being by your side.…'' Andriel released a refreshing smile on her charming face.

Max looked at her and felt that mesmerized by that smile. It was truly a genuine smile from the bottom of her heart and conveyed her feelings to Max's heart.

But now, the main problem was how to help her…well he knew how to help but…

"That is why I didn't wish to tell you about it. You don't need to force yourself…" Andriel said as she looked at Max's face accurately guessing his thoughts.

"Explain in detail….We might be able to come up with something else without anyone needing to force themselves….So tell me what exactly you need…." Max asked as he looked at her seriously.

"You…" Andriel's reply was simple.

'This girl…' Max looked at her.

"I am being serious. The amount of life force I need to survive is not that tiny…if it is any other person than you who has infinite life force, they will be dead once I am done. Besides, do you really think I will have anyone other than you….and why do you seem reluctant to that idea yourself...you are not being perfectly honest…" Andriel smiled as she slowly crept up on Max with that seductive smile on her face.

"Stop reading my mind…." Max said with a frown as he deployed his domain and blocked Andriel from further spying. It was just one of the random thoughts as he was logically considering all the possible ways to get Andriel out of the situation and yeah he did hate the idea….

"Why are you that reluctant? Is it because of what happened with Lisa? Or because you already have an engagement with her and Elly…"

Max didn't reply. He felt conflicted right now. It was true that he was thinking about what had happened with Lisa. 

If he thought from Lisa's perspective, he would be a jerk if he did anything with Andriel after what happened between them.

But, did that mean he should just let Andriel die?

Hell no…

Not to mention, his mom's life was linked to Andriel at this point. Without Andriel she wouldn't be able to live as well. And even if it wasn't like that, Max couldn't imagine himself abandoning Andriel knowing that he could save her...

Damn it!!!! Why did it have to be like this?!!

He always wanted a single person in his life. Why was he in such a situation? What did he do to deserve this?

No matter what Max did at this stage? He felt that he would hate himself for it.

If that was the case, he might as well save Andriel and hate himself for being a human scum.

If it was a normal situation, even though he was fond of Andriel, Max would still have persuade her to move on and find someone who would be there for her unlike some other as*hole who already had two people to choose from...

But now….

Last time, Max wasn't conscious and didn't remember anything. He wasn't even sure if Andriel was being truthful or just teasing him. But this time, he would be doing it out of his own will. He couldn't just back out of the responsibility after that...his conscience wouldn't allow him...

"What are you thinking?" Andriel asked as she looked at Max.

"I can't let you die after all…" Max said as he looked at her and a smile blossomed on Andriel's face. 

"If you just want to save me and not take any responsibility then forget it. As for mom, if I use all my remaining life force as a catalyst, it should be enough to jolt her and wake her up…"

"You know me too well to be asking these things, don't you?" Max looked at her as he sighed.

Andriel smiled. It was true she knew how he was….

But she still had a tinge of regret that the truth came out and she couldn't successfully seduce Max and things ended like this...

But she also knew that if she didn't tell Max about the truth, he would keep worrying about her and the same was true for this situation. Even though he was conflicted in his heart, her life still mattered the most for him.

Max never told her that he loved her or anything but she felt that he did. At this point she didn't need any proof. It was only that Max's own set of rules in his mind didn't allow him to think like her. His definition of love was different then hers.

"I need to deal with something first….I will come back later…" Max said as he got up to leave.

"I have waited for so long. A bit more is not much for me…"