The countdown in Roxanne’s vision didn’t give a single, solitary shit about the fact that she was currently standing in a demonic skyscraper overlooking rivers of lava.
[2… 1… ACTION, MY GORGEOUS GIRLIE!] the System roared, practically firing digital confetti cannons into the back of her eyeballs.
[Give him that maximum-fragility shoujo lean!
Let those delicate tears fall like morning dew upon the burning asphalt of the Underworld!] Roxanne’s muscles locked up instantly, seized by the invisible, golden-pink strings of the system’s compliance override.
Her own body betrayed her with terrifying efficiency.
Her knees turned to absolute jelly.
Her left hand flew up to clutch the torn collar of her dress, her fingers splaying dramatically against her collarbone as if she had just developed a sudden, acute case of the vapors.
“Ah!” she let out a delicate, high-pitched gasp that sounded so physically painful it made her inner consciousness scream.
She tilted backward, her balance perfectly calculated by the system to ensure a flawless, aerodynamic descent.
Her head fell back, her long hair spilling over her shoulders like a silk curtain as she crashed directly into the crisp, charcoal wool of Lucifer’s three-piece suit.
Her cheek hit his chest pocket, and through the fabric, she could feel a surprisingly steady, rhythmic heartbeat that definitely didn’t belong to a corpse.
She forced her eyes to flutter half-shut, her lips parting as she exhaled a breathy, tragic whisper right into his silk tie.
“Save him… my dark prince, I beg of you…” “I am going to castrate myself with a dull butter knife,” Roxanne’s internal monologue violently screeched, her consciousness banging its head against the inside of her skull.
“I am going to find the programmer who coded this piece of absolute garbage and I am going to feed them their own spleen.” [DING DING DING!
QUEST COMPLETION MAXIMA!] the System squealed, its voice escalating into absolute, delusional euphoria as digital heart emoji violently rained down her visual field.
[Omg, Host!
Look at this absolute masterpiece of a love triangle!
Lucifer is practically hyperventilating from your intoxicating aroma of ‘Hopelessly Vulnerable Orchid,’ and he’s physically holding you captive because his ancient, demonic heart is screaming *’She is mine!’* He is totally trying to build a corporate empire just to lay it at your beautiful feet!
You’ve completely rattled his entire infrastructure with the power of pure, unadulterated romance!] The moment the penalty timer vanished, the physical paralysis snapped.
Roxanne didn’t even wait half a second.
She violently jammed both of her elbows straight into Lucifer’s ribs, shoving herself out of his arms with enough force to rip the remaining hem of her purple skirt.
“Get the fuck off me, you horny middle-management demon!!” she snarled, her voice instantly dropping back into its normal, raspy, aggressively irritated tone.
She aggressively wiped her mouth on her sleeve, glaring at him like she wanted to peel his skin off.
“And you!
You giant metal bowling ball!” She spun around, pointing a shaking, soot-stained finger at the bleeding demon knight on the floor.
“Which one of them was it?
Which specific idiot threw himself into the microwave portal after me?!” The demon knight blinked his glowing green eye-sockets, looking incredibly confused as he clutched his leaking chest plate.
“I… the mana signature was gold and solar, small female creature.
The Crown Prince of the Upper Realm, ” “Julian,” Roxanne spit out the name like a bad tooth, rubbing her face with both hands.
“That golden, brainless, self-sacrificing piece of royal shit.
I literally told him to stay put.
I explicitly said I had it handled.
But no, the golden boy just had to do a heroic dive into the multidimensional trash shoot!” [KYAAAAAA!] the System shrieked, totally ignoring her anger.
[The Crown Prince literally leapt into the abyss of eternal damnation just to hold your hand again!
If that isn’t soulmate behavior, I don’t know what is!
He’s probably out there right now, crying your name into the ash, totally yearning for your sweet embrace!] Lucifer stood perfectly still, his hand hovering slightly in the air where he had instinctively caught her.
For a split second, the all-powerful CEO of Hell looked completely thrown off his game.
He adjusted his silk tie, his amber slit-pupils narrowing as he looked down at his charcoal vest, where a faint, powdery smear of Roxanne’s face soot had left a grey streak over his pocket square.
Above his head, the neon-pink subtitle box was practically glitching out, the text scrolling so fast the edges were vibrating: Target: Lucifer (High Demon Lord / CEO of Hell) Affection Level: 28% (Highly Intrigued / Severely Whiplashed / Low-key Aroused by the Audacity) True Thought: She just used my chest as a fainting couch, called me a middle-management demon, and now she’s ordering my generals around.
The scent of orchids and roses is suffocating, yet her vocabulary belongs in a dockworker’s tavern.
What kind of anomalous creature did the surface world spawn?
I must study her.
I must keep her in my office permanently.
“Your concern for your…
‘golden piece of shit’ is touching,” Lucifer said, his voice instantly smoothing back into that cold, dangerous baritone as he let out a low chuckle.
He walked back to his massive mahogany desk, tapping a long, clawed finger against the modern crystal tablet resting on the wood.
“But you should worry about your own coordinates, little bird.
The Outer Ashen Wastes are not a simple stroll.
It is a shifting, lawless wasteland where the discarded refuse of my realm goes to rot.
If the Crown Prince was exposed to the Abyssal Dragon’s corruption during the fall…
he isn’t a prince anymore.
He is a feral bio-hazard.” “I don’t give a damn if he’s turned into a six-legged mutant lizard,” Roxanne snapped, marching over to the desk and slamming both her hands onto the polished wood, ignoring the way the pink sparks from the fused key left tiny, singing burn marks on his paperwork.
“He’s my problem.
I’m the one who knocked the seal loose, and I’m the one who’s going to drag him back by his stupid golden hair before he levels your fancy city.
Now, how do we get out there?” Lucifer looked down at her hands, then up into her eyes, his sharp-toothed grin turning entirely professional.
“We don’t.
Hell is under an immediate Level 4 quarantine protocol.
The lower gates are compromised, the Abyssal Dragon is waking up under the lava grid, and my board of directors is currently voting on whether to seal the entire palace sector to preserve the core economy.” “A quarantine?” Roxanne’s jaw dropped.
“Are you fucking kidding me?
I left a medieval fantasy world to get stuck in a demonic corporate lockdown?
What is this, hellish bureaucracy?!” “Precisely,” Lucifer smiled smoothly, tapping the screen of the tablet.
A bright blue hologram of a massive, sprawling train station popped up between them.
“The only transit line out of the city to the Ashen Wastes is the Infernal Monorail at Sector 9.
But the tracks run directly over the molten reservoirs where the dragon’s tail is currently thrashing.
No one is leaving the capital.
Not until I sign off on the emergency clearance forms.” “Then sign the goddamn papers, Lucy!” “I would,” Lucifer said, his eyes flashing with a sudden, dark amusement as he leaned forward, his face inches from hers.
“But the forms require a biometrics seal from a recognized high-ranking resident.
As a mortal, you don’t exist in our system.
You are, legally speaking, contraband.” Before Roxanne could curse him out again, the crystal skulls on the chandelier suddenly began to chatter their teeth violently.
The massive arched windows behind the desk cracked, a deep, earth-shaking rumble vibrating up from the deep foundations of the city.
Out in the lava rivers, a massive, jagged black spire, the size of a cathedral, slowly rose from the molten red fluid, dripping with thick, glowing green rot.
The Abyssal Dragon was waking up.
And it was much closer than Sector 9.
[HOST!
NEW MAIN EVENT UNLOCKED!] the System shrieked, the pink text box dropping from the ceiling of her mind like a heavy weight.
[MAIN QUEST: The Contraband’s Illegal Transit!
Objective: Infiltrate the Sector 9 Monorail Station without getting arrested by the Demon Police, steal a VIP train car, and navigate the shifting magma tracks to reach the Outer Ashen Wastes before the Crown Prince’s mutation becomes permanent!
Local Hazard: The city is entering lockdown!
Demon Enforcers are everywhere!
Reward: 3000 Bimbo Points, Upgrade to ‘Dark Magic Shield (Level 2)’, and a ‘Spicy Devil’ wardrobe customization voucher!
Warning: If you are caught by the authorities, you will be forced to perform a 10-minute idol dance routine in the center of the demon plaza as punishment!] Roxanne read the warning and felt a cold sweat break out on the back of her neck.
“An idol dance routine?
In front of a bunch of horny demons?
Absolutely fucking not, bimbo.
I’d rather face the dragon.” She spun around, looking at the broken double doors and the ruined hallway beyond.
The smoke was clearing, revealing a massive, bustling metropolis outside the palace walls that was rapidly descending into red-alert chaos.
Sirens were wailing in the distance, sounding like the screams of the damned played through a synthesizer.
“Keep your paperwork, horn-head,” Roxanne said, her voice dropping into a sharp, dangerous whisper as she cracked her knuckles, the pink and orange light of the fused key pulsing beneath her skin.
“I’m taking the train.” “You won’t make it past the lobby without a guide, little bird,” Lucifer called out after her, not moving from his desk as he watched her march toward the exit.
His neon thoughts were scrolling with intense satisfaction: Go on then, run.
The Sector 9 station is completely surrounded by my elite guard.
You will have to beg for my help within twenty minutes.
[EEEK!
HE’S PLAYING HARD TO GET!] the System giggled deliriously.
[He’s setting up a whole army just to corner you so you’ll be forced to ask him to rescue you!
The pure, toxic, beautiful devotion!
He literally wants to play cat and mouse with your heart!] Roxanne didn’t answer.
She bolted through the shattered doorway, her boots slamming against the polished marble as she sprinted down the long, obsidian corridor.
But the moment she cleared the palace threshold and hit the open-air balcony overlooking the lower city streets, she stopped dead in her tracks.
The sky above the demonic skyscrapers wasn’t purple or blue, it was a deep, swirling vortex of black smoke and red lightning.
Down on the asphalt below, hundreds of towering demon citizens were running in panic, while massive, three-eyed hounds in silver police vests were setting up glowing red laser barriers across every intersection.
And standing right at the base of the palace steps, blocking the only path to the Sector 9 transit line, was a figure she recognized immediately.
It wasn’t a demon.
It was a man in a tattered, dark grey cloak, his dark hair blowing in the sulfurous wind, his amber eyes scanning the crowd with a cold, analytical precision that didn’t belong in Hell.
Malakai.
He was holding a glowing, blood-stained dagger in his right hand, but his left arm was completely covered in thick, pulsing black feathers that looked like a raven’s wing, the skin beneath them glowing with a faint, corrupted green light.
He looked up, his sharp eyes locking directly onto Roxanne standing on the high balcony.
Above his head, his neon text box flared a terrifying, bright violet: Target: Malakai (The Shadow Assassin / Partly Corrupted) Affection Level: 65% (Desperate / Unhinged / Mutation In Progress) True Thought: Found you.
I found you.
I tore my own shadow apart to slip through the crack before it closed.
I don’t care about the prince.
I don’t care about the capital.
Little bunny, you are coming back to the dark with me before this poison takes my head.
“Malakai?!” Roxanne whispered, her voice failing her as she saw the black feathers creeping up his neck.
[OH MY GOD, A THREE-WAY STANDOFF!] the System detonated a massive wave of pink visual sparkles.
[The shadow assassin mutated his own body just to break into the Underworld for you!
He wants to drag you into his dark sanctuary!
He doesn’t care if the world burns as long as he’s holding you!] Before she could move, a heavy, clawed hand dropped onto her shoulder from behind, the cold, suffocating scent of expensive tobacco wrapping around her like a shroud.
“I told you, little bird,” Lucifer’s voice purred right in her ear, his amber eyes gleaming in the red lightning as he stepped up behind her.
“Contraband never leaves the palace without an inspection.”