51

I finish cleaning up the Alcohol after Delia left to clean herself up from crying. we discussed meeting in the silent night wetland when the treasury opens up. she is aware of the item she knows being there through some magic but doesn't know anything else. good thing I have learned all about it from Paglio and can guide us right to the end and also defeat the corpse necromancer hiding at the end. I am about to grab one of the last bottles when it disappears and I jump back and look for someone in the room.

"Why so tense Nova? feeling guilty trying to deceive another woman?" I hear Catherine laugh as she appears next to me and sits down and pulls the stoppers out of the bottle. she pours some into the glasses and pushes one my way.

"Deceive? I call it charity work!" I say in a haughty tone, we both drink the glass before Catherine giggles.

"Yea charity for yourself, you just want to bag another royal family artifact and on the way a cute little Leviathan." I sweat having the little insidious voice in my heart being prodded at by my technically first lover. seemingly knowing what I am thinking she continues. "it's not a bad idea, you can grab an artifact potentially since she should be seeking the other half of the shield and also use her as bait to get Broc's half. plus the poor girl has been through a lot and deserves to be happy so if you want to do that then I have no problem. I only said don't collect for collection sake to keep you from just hiring fifty succubi and becoming a lazy entitled fool." given the go-ahead by the self-titled first wife I can sleep easy knowing no knives will be plunged in my chest by Yandere lover.

"Speaking of artifacts you can pull the cloak from my storage with no problems?" she nods and I watch as it gets sent back, testing it I search for the connection to it before pulling it to myself and it appears in my hands. "that is convenient." she nods.

"Very, I was worried about having to loan it to you when I am not nearby so you don't get killed. but it seems we can share it and not worry about traveling back and forth. speaking of back and forth, can you teach me that teleporting circle?" I am sad to share my biggest cheat but honestly, the things she can get done with her power and the ability to move anywhere she has been is too big of an opportunity to miss.

"So long as you don't try anything like teaching it to demons, I don't know if demons can mimic it and I don't want to find out it is my massive advantage being able to warp fast distances instantly."

"Alright sounds good I assumed as much. can you use it to send us back to shadow empire?" I shake my head and she pours herself another glass as she thinks. "That's probably for the best, I don't want anyone to tie Christina to Catherine and if I use it as both then they may make the connection. a lot of people watch me and observe where I am going and they will eventually catch on I am teleporting but I can already travel great distances with the artifact they will just assume my control on it got better or something." as she drinks the glass I pull out the other flavors having forgotten the whole point was for her to sample them since I got distracted by Delia.

"I can open some businesses from the devil world in the dark shadow if you are interested." with her support I can make huge profits using my ideas in her empire.

"Sure, how will you get to the empire are you riding with us back?" she gives a side glance as she smells the different bottles before pouring some of the jade dragon fruit flavor.

"When you get back just put some demonic energy in this and I can teleport to it and then I will be able to come whenever I want or you send a message to me." I hand over the summoning sheet and she puts it in her ring. "You can message me with this sheet it is like the long-distance communications demons use but you can learn to do it manually without the paper if you study the circle. this circle contacts me and I have all my reincarnated devil's circles memorized once I reincarnate them so I don't need a sheet with their circle." she studies the circle before I feel a connection trying to make contact and I let it through.

"I think I got it." her voice enters my mind and I call hacks once again at her natural affinity with demonic energy. I almost dread reincarnating Zola and her massive brain power, she will likely run circles around me with demonic energy and it will be kind of embarrassing since I have a system. the connection breaks and she continues to test the drinks till Delia comes back into the room.

Delia opens the door and walks in and upon spotting Catherine gives a proper greeting. I store all the drinks and stand up, I already discussed with Catherine that once she makes it back she will summon me and I will teach her to teleport. after that we will go get the mask and then start making plans to make a ton of money. she said she can handle preparations for Abyss in her empire on her own and once I get some proof to show Raizen she will call for a meeting. by then we hope I have got Shea on the throne so we have two votes and Raizen will be forced to join in or get attacked by both in short order so we can start preparing.

"Alright, I guess that's it for me I have to be somewhere in a few days. I will have some of the Alcohol you are interested in sent to the address you gave me Lady Christina." I give Delia a wink as I walk out since she is already aware I will meet her soon to get her the item she needs and she likely wouldn't like me to talk about it Infront of others. little does she know Catherine saw the whole conversation. once outside I find a hidden spot and teleport into my house in the dark moon.

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Arriving home I take a deep breath of the familiar air and pulse my demonic energy out looking for more demonic energy. feeling some upstairs I head toward the staircase, but once I am climbing up I realize it's in my room and am confused. arriving at the door I open it up to find the room darkened out with the shades shut and there is a person under my covers. recognizing the hair as Athena's I smile as I strip to my underwear and slip in behind her and wrap her up before she can even fully wake. she realizes soon that she is locked in my grasp and throws a leg back in an attempt to push off me.

"Hey Athena, I missed you." she stiffens when she hears my voice having recognized it.

"Nova! when did you get back?" she tries to turn over but I got her locked in and pull her flush with my body and nestle my face into the back of her neck.

"Just now, don't move I am comfortable and need to refuel my batteries." she shivers feeling my breath on her neck so I move a bit and blow on her ear causing her to whine and pout.

"Stop Nova! you know we have to wait, it's not even that long anymore it is only a few days till my birthday." the timeline is screwed with how much I have been doing things out of order, I hope the tribes in the deep mine haven't all be slaughtered against the earth elementals.

"Alright but still let me get some interest since I have to wait." she sinks into me and I can't help but admire the slightly toned feel she has. definitely still soft but compared to Catherine then Athena has a more water balloon feel to Catherine's marshmallow feel.

"Nova! don't touch so much..." she pitifully whines so I let go of her chest as we cuddle up.

"Wait why are you sleeping in my room during midday anyway?" she jolts but plays it off cool as a cucumber.

"I must have got lost and thought it was my room." her room is next to mine and the bed is on the other wall but I will let it slide. remembering the payday I got from the artifact I now have enough sin to finally test my theory about two sets of black potions and Athena is the perfect person to try it out on. she is soon to get a promotion from her bloodline and she is mid great demon king currently, with the potions maybe she can get to peak great demon king. after that, the bloodline will push her to demon emperor and she can start learning territory to slowly climb to overlord and also finish refining the effects of the potion in full. hopefully, eventually, she will mutate her queen piece, and then the sky is the limit for her since she is lacking a royal bloodline, even with two devil fruits I still worry about her the most.

Even Kia has a devourer physique that comes from Beelzebub blood and can probably be expanded on. but Athena only has this bloodline promotion so I need to get her to squeeze it for all it is worth so she doesn't fall behind. I know for a fact the original Athena felt like she got sidelined so the MC just gave her a baby to shut her up. that won't happen here I want her to be able to do things without me holding her hand in the future so she can be genuinely happy, she is my little swordswoman after all. she can still catch a baby though I think to myself as she squirms around with her legs intertwining with mine.

"Alright I will believe you but drink this and tell me if it works like last time and if so I got the other three for you." I hand her an eternal potion and she grabs it as she slightly sits up pulling the covers as she goes so she can drink without choking. she drinks it all and sits still and focuses to try to feel the effects but I use all-seeing eye and notice her demonic energy is growing so it worked.

"It worked Nov- why are you naked!" I laugh as she points at my chest.

"You just noticed? I have pressed up against you pretty hard." her jaw drops as I pull out the other three potions and put them in her hand.

"I just thought you had on thin clothes or something..." out of the corner of her eyes she looks down toward my waist which is still under the covers, seeing that she sighs a bit.

"Drink the rest and let's take a nap, I want to go let Shea I am back after that so I can find out any news." she quickly drinks the potions like she hasn't drank anything in days and spins away from me before pulling the covers up to hide herself. I slip under the sheets myself and pull her back into myself before closing my eyes and slowly slipping off into sleep as I listen to her heartbeats.