The Myth of the Greek Heavenly Demon

Chapter 107 – The Devil Always Smiles Softly

“How about a drink of nectar?”

“You… You wretched…!”

Artemis regained her senses with the activation of the incantation I had cast.
Though she had caught her breath for a moment, she still flinched and stood up shakily to glare at me once more.
However, the arrogance from before was nowhere to be found in her eyes, now moist with humiliation, shame, and overwhelming fear.

“Why do you look at me like it’s unfair? I suggested talking it out several times. You’re the one who chose to fight to the death, aren’t you?”

After all, the incident was instigated by Artemis.
Even if I had twisted her pale neck or driven my spear through her heart, she wouldn’t have had the right to blame me.
Maybe others would, but not her.

“Even Hera warned you. If you’d just left it alone, I might’ve forgotten about it. But no, you had to bring an entire entourage with you.”

If I had simply beaten her up and sent her on her way, who knows whether a solar beam or a lightning bolt would have come for my head?
And more importantly, what kind of hunter lets a juicy prey that practically begs to be devoured just walk away?

“Honestly, consider yourself lucky that you got away without any bloodshed.”

“What did you say…?”

Artemis tried to muster strength in her eyes and retort, questioning if she had heard correctly.
Her face was flushed red, and she looked precarious, unable to find her earlier dignity.

“How dare you bring such disgrace to the Goddess of Purity?! Are you insane?! I will report this to my father immediately!!”

Oh dear.
True to her reputation as Greece’s most relentless goddess.
You let her catch her breath for a moment, and she raises her voice again.
Yet, despite her bravado, I could sense the hesitation.
She had cried so pitifully in my hands earlier, and now her threats rang hollow.
I waited for Artemis’s next words with a mocking smile, but even the goddess with a cruel nature couldn’t continue her threats given her situation.

“…”

“This… this matter…”

Artemis’s black eyes, which had once been filled with fiery determination, slowly fell.
She began to look over her own body, from her trembling fingers to her sweat-drenched clothes, her flushed skin, her quivering stomach, and finally, the black curse mark still etched on her womb.

“This… this is…”

“The curse you intended to place on me. I just reworked it a little. It came out quite beautifully, don’t you think?”

It was a curse revealed by settling into the feminine life force flowing in her womb, appearing as a black mark resembling a womb or a heart shape.
Even if she tried to ignore it, her divine intuition must have already told her what that curse meant.
And since it was engraved on her divine body, where both her physical form and her soul were one, it was clear that the curse would affect her mind as well.
Her subtle excitement earlier, the strange glint in her eyes when she looked at me—those were signs that her sensitive body and mind were already unraveling.

No matter how much they say that the mind overcomes the body, or that the soul leads the body.
Those quack practitioners boastfully spread such words, but in the end, humans are as much physical beings as they are rational ones.
As they say, the mind may overcome the body, but conversely, the mind is also something that is significantly influenced by the body.
And the supreme god responsible for all the strength and energy within the body is the enemy of Buddha, the main god of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the celestial lord of the Desire Realm, Tahwa Ja Jae-cheon, known as the Demon Emperor Pasun.
That was the same power that I had reached when I attained the demonic enlightenment of the Heavenly Demon.
In my past life, I had carried out the duties of the Heavenly Demon through bloodshed and battle, but the original enlightenment of the Heavenly Demon is the understanding of all desires and instincts.
I just recently reached the peak of the Supreme Demon, barely digesting the Reverse Heaven Arts, so it was too early to master the Heavenly Demon Arts at the pinnacle of all demonic arts.
Yet, the enlightenment still remained within me.
For a foolish goddess like Artemis, who had rejected and turned away from her own desires, bringing her down was hardly a difficult task.

“Ugh… this… this can’t be…”

Artemis rubbed her trembling hand over her lower abdomen, her disbelief growing.
The mark left on her lower abdomen was just a brand.
The curse I had instilled had already settled deep inside her, waiting for my command.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Eeeeek! Eek!”

“…”

Despite knowing what was happening, Artemis thrashed and screamed, frantically trying to erase the mark with her hands and even drawing on her divine power.
It was quite the spectacle.
The once-proud goddess, writhing in pleasure, overwhelmed by the curse and struggling in vain—her despair made for an entertaining sight.
I decided to let her try everything she could while I quietly observed.

[Disappear! Be erased! Get out of my body!!]

Her divine moonlight energy surged and spread throughout her body, trying to purify the curse.
The sheer intensity of her divine power was impressive, but it only made the nectar taste even sweeter.
There is a certain charm to a violent, blood-soaked vendetta, but witnessing an enemy despair and struggle against a disaster of their own making is an incredibly sweet spectacle for a demon.

“Aahhh… the drink tastes amazing.”

I almost felt guilty for how much I was enjoying her despair.

But when I remember that she aimed for my head at our first meeting, brought a mob to ambush me, and even cursed my heart while mocking me…
The words “you reap what you sow” naturally came to mind.

“This is what it takes to be a man of demon, don’t you think?”

Wait a minute, now that I think about it, isn’t it still before the Heavenly Demon Cult or Taoism even existed in this era?
Given that the legends of Greek heroes and gods from this side of the world seem to have influenced Eastern mythologies, could it be that I, too, might one day become part of that legacy?

With a hypothesis of ‘what if’ slyly creeping in and alongside the ambition of my past life raising, I continued my deep contemplation.
In front of me, the Goddess of Purity, who had danced lewdly earlier, was doing her utmost to cover her shame.

[εξαφάνιση!!θάνατος!!]

“Oh, if you force divine power in like that…”

Artemis was struggling to erase the incantation I had inscribed, even using her unique divine speech, but that would only stimulate the curse.
But before I could even warn her, Artemis crossed the line.

-Whooooosh!!

“Kuh? Ha-eut?! Hyahhh?!”

The defensive mechanism of the curse, created based on the memory of devouring her divine power in Passos and the moonlight’s divine power lingering in her body, was activated.

“Kyaah…! Nghhh…!”

In the end, the goddess collapsed in ecstasy, making a noise like a cat in heat.

“Puhahahaha!! What is this, a comedy? Or a seduction?”

Seeing her tremble pathetically like a lust-driven, wanton woman made me burst into laughter.

“Goddess, Goddess. Even though I am like this now, I am the agent of the Heavenly Demon Emperor who tried to seduce and corrupt a great figure that even you cannot approach. Do you really think a girl who’s only known the protection of her father’s patronage could so easily escape from my grasp?”

“Huuh! Hyuuuuh!!”

The divine power of the sacred moonlight vanished like a candle in the wind, and Artemis clutched her stomach as if struck, curling up on the spot.

Already exhausted and sensitive, she had poured all her remaining strength and divine power into trying to erase the curse, only to have it absorbed entirely, like charging a battery.
The curse now coursed through her body and mind, driving her deeper into despair and lust.

“In other words, the more you resist, the closer you come to willingly spreading your legs in heat.”

“Huff!! Haah! Krrgh…!”

As the Goddess of Purity twisted her body like a cat in heat, I stood before her with my hands behind my back and mocked her.

“You, you… Hyah!?”

“Oh, by the way, your hatred and anger toward me will only heighten your reactions to the curse. It’s not really a curse, but rather… a process of adapting to afflictions.”

Opposing the master of desires, the propagator of the five aggregates, and the lord of affliction and adversity means opposing one’s own desires and afflictions.
Artemis may have dealt with these feelings through hunting and slaughter before, but now, the object of her desires was me. The Yin Seal is a curse forged as a demonic art that resonates well with such afflictions.
It was only natural for the Yin Seal to react to the affliction directed at me.

“Th-that’s—kyaah!?”

“Oh… the effect is already starting to show.”

Artemis tried to glare at me fiercely, but in her moist eyes, I seemed to see a faint heart shape.

“Of course, as time passes and you get used to it… it might calm down a bit too….”

“Is that really true?”

Artemis seemed slightly pleased with my words, but…
Well, if it were that easy to adapt, why would addiction to drugs, gambling, or lust exist?

Even as Artemis clenched her teeth and tried to suppress her moans, her body betrayed her.
Her once pristine white back was drenched in sweat, shuddering intermittently.

“Hmm… As fun it is to watch, but shouldn’t we start settling things?”

Oof.
I stood and retrieved the coat Artemis had been lying on earlier, draping it over her trembling, sweat-soaked back.

“Goddess, are you coming to your senses?”

“Wh-what is this…?!”

I gently reached out, lifting her chin with my hand. Without any resistance, Artemis obediently raised her head to meet my gaze.

“…Hmm.”

Tears still streaked her face, remnants of the pleasure she had just endured.
But now her voice, though filled with pain and anguish, still carried the fierce glint of defiance.
It would be easy to push her into yet another round of ecstasy until she submitted, but, as I had said, now wasn’t the time.

“Goddess, do you want to make a wager with me?”

“A-a wager…?”

Demons never make simple deals.
They present the worst as if it were the best, handing over a poisoned apple as if it were desired.
But the best part is that the trader, unaware of their own corruption, falls into the demon’s hands.

“Yes, a wager. If you win it, it’s your victory. I will never touch you again. You can go back to your old life.”

“What kind of trick is this..?”

The goddess, who had once been pure, chaste, and untouchable, looked at me with desperate eyes, clinging to the last bit of hope even as she couldn’t fully trust me.

“How sad. I could just ravage you right here and now, but in deference to your divine nature, I’m offering you a chance.”

Saying so, I lightly snapped my fingers, and the mark on Artemis’s lower abdomen slowly disappeared.

-Whoooosh….

“Huh? What?”

As the mark she couldn’t erase disappeared, Artemis looked at me in disbelief.
I shrugged with a nonchalant smile.

“The wager is this: if on a night with a full moon as bright as tonight, I call you, come find me. The number of times… hmm, twelve. Until it rises twelve times.”

“Twelve… twelve times?”

“Yes, if you come to me twelve times, and you pass the trials I give you, and if the curse on your womb hasn’t fully bloomed by then, you win. You’ll be free, and I’ll even throw in my life as a bonus. But if, for any reason, you fail to show up or if the curse blooms before then… well, that’s your loss.”

So, how is it?
I offered a gentle smile and extended my hand to the goddess, looking at me with an eager sigh and pitiful eyes.

“But…”

“It’s simple. Aren’t you Artemis? The hunter of moonlight, the protector of eternal maidens, the daughter of Zeus. I won’t use poison or curses like today. You should be able to overcome a simple trial during the time the moon rises and sets.”

Of course, if she refused, I would fulfill my duty as a man and take what was mine by force.
Given Artemis’s unexpectedly fragile mind, it seemed she would simply degrade into a slave aligning with my goals if I kept pushing.
My manhood was already at its limit, ready to burst through my pants.

“Fine! I accept! I’ll do it!”

Naturally, Artemis had no other choice.
Desperate and clinging to the hope of redemption, she grasped my hand tightly.
It was a fleeting hope, of course, like a firefly flickering in the dark of the new moon.
But when that hope would finally fade, and she would realize that everything played into my hands from the start, I wondered what expression she’d wear then.

Concealing my sinister anticipation with a smile, she and I exchanged vows.