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Third POV~

'So how should I do this hmmm?' Lux thought. 'If I remember correctly in the original version Raynare and her group used a ritual to separate Asia from her Twilight Healing.'

Either the ritual didn't start yet or it's underway since Zenith is clearly still alive at least for now. Speaking of his future wife, Lux can see that she's not in good condition. Cuts, bruises and a burn mark are visible on her body, her face is similar but with no burned mark. Her bottom lip is bleeding and she has a slightly swollen black eye. Using one of his many bloodline abilities, the Byakugan, Lux can see she also has internal injuries as well.

While her vitals are fine, her ribs are bruised, both wrists are broken. Two fingers on her right hand are broken as well. Her back is pretty screwed with two fractures and she has a sprained left ankle.

Due to his byakugan being just as powerful if not more so than Kaguya Otsutsuki's own byakugan. Lux can see the greatest injury that Paul and his group made Zenith suffer.

They made her sterile.

Lux can see there's some kind of fluid in his wife-to-be's system. He can tell that it's a strong drug that's meant to leave permanent effects after it's flushed out.

Yeah Paul is definitely a bastard, it's no wonder his character gets so much hate even though this is a different version of him. Lux may have not watched the anime but he has seen and heard many anime fans ranting about him and his idiotic decisions. Decisions that affected his family in negative ways.

What's very notable to Lux is that even in her current bad state, Zenith still looks very beautiful to him.

'Damn this situation is more intense than I thought, I should read their memories to get more information but first let's listen to the dialogue between the two of them. I also need to decide how I'm going to save Zenith. Should I save her before she dies or let her die and revive her, either way she'll be extremely grateful to me.' Lux thought.

Lux Arcadia is not a saint by any means, in his as well as his former enemies opinion, he's not a good person.

Oddly enough, Zenith is wearing the same thin white dress that Asia wore in the anime.

Paul, standing in front of the restrained blonde woman, had a smirk on his face. "My dear Zenith, I'm sorry it had to come to this."

Zenith scoffed, glaring at him. "Clearly you're not, otherwise we wouldn't be here."

"Now don't be like that, all of this is your fault anyways. Overreacting because I slept with another woman while I was drunk, a pure accident." Paul said.

"You promised me that you would stop your womanizing habits when we got married. Not once did you cheat on me during our decade long marriage until 18 months ago. It would've taken time but I would've eventually forgiven you, but then within a month you slept with another woman behind my back. It all went downhill from there." Zenith replied with pure anger in her tone.

Paul wasn't fazed, he still had the same smirk on his face. "Again, that was an accident."

The blonde woman rolled her eyes. "Oh? So the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th time had been a damn accident?!"

"No, I just stopped caring by that point. You should've just acted like an obedient wife and forgiven me." Paul said.

"That's not even the worst of it, I'm 1000 times more upset that you're the reason I lost my children…" Zenith's voice cracked, tears flowing from her blue eyes.

Paul sighed. "I told you I did not want to kill Rudeus. It an order that I had to follow as a Fallen Angel."

Zenith lost it. "AN ORDER?! YOU KILLED OUR- NO MY SON BECAUSE OF SOME TEN-WINGED WARMONGERING BASTARD'S RANDOM ORDER?!?!"

"It's not that simple…" Paul replied.

"My miscarriage with Norn is because of you." Zenith cried.

He definitely can't deny that, Paul knew that killing Rudeus right in front of a pregnant Zenith had to play a huge role in Zenith's miscarriage.

He had only killed Rudeus a little over two months ago.

Zenith doesn't want her ex-husband to see her tears but every time she thinks about her children and knowing that they are dead, it eats her alive. The blond woman can't help but cry in utter sadness and despair. It haunts her to the core remembering the pure fear her 9 year old son had on his face when his father ruthlessly killed him with a blank facial expression.

Paul sighed. "Look, I did what I had to do."

"Yeah, just like you have to steal my sacred gear away from me, all because of Kokabiel's orders. Just like you had to beat and torture me." Zenith shook her head through her tears. "You weren't like this at all until that warmongering bastard Kokabiel got involved, he ruined the remaining fragile stability that our family had and you listened like the puppet you are. You're no longer the man I married. The Paul of today is just a lackey for a loser cadre who thinks too highly of himself."

Angered by her words, Paul slapped her. "You bitch! How dare you insult Kokabiel-sama! Learn your place." He sneered, even went as far as to spit directly in her face.

Just that action alone almost made Lux say fuck it and straight up beat the guy until he wishes for death. He already claimed Zenith as his, he will not accept any form of disrespect from others towards her. However for now he has to let it slide if he wants everything to work out in the end. Lux doesn't want to change his current route of getting Zenith unless necessary.

Zenith not bothered by Paul's spit, instead she laughed at how easy it is to rile him up. "If I didn't know any better I would say you are Kokabiel's sex toy with how quick and passionate you are about defending him. Maybe you were cheating on me so much as a cover up."

Usually she isn't like this, she's actually a very nice woman with a very warm and loving personality. But after all that Paul put her through within the last year and a half. It's to be expected that she changed in some kind of way.

Paul became even more furious at her words, because to a certain extent her words are actually true. Sometimes he willingly engages in sexual activities with Kokabiel. It happened about a year ago, he had been in Grigori drinking like no tomorrow. Angry that several months had gone by and Zenith still wouldn't allow him to touch her due to his continuous infidelity.

He'd gotten so fed up with her, but at the time he hadn't been so far gone that he would consider raping his ex-wife. That's when Kokabiel came into play, they started talking while drinking which led to Paul venting his issues to the cadre.

Kokabiel didn't really care about Paul's problems, but because he had intentions for Paul he decided to listen and actively give advice. Unfortunately for Zenith, his advice was solely to make her life even worse than what it already had been. Paul doesn't know exactly how but somehow Kokabiel convinced him to have sexual relations with him even though Paul himself had been a heterosexual male all his life.

After the first time between them, they continued an excessive amount of times for a few weeks. It didn't take the cadre-class Fallen Angel leader long at all to convince his subordinate to take what he wants from his ex-wife.

That's right, Paul finally cracked and raped Zenith while she was asleep. He used a spell to keep her asleep while he had his way with her body, he even made sure that Zenith wouldn't immediately find out by giving her a Phenex Tear. This way she wouldn't feel any soreness in her private area.

Unsurprisingly with Paul being the dumbass that he is, the guy forgot that he released a small portion of his semen into his ex-wife's womb before pulling out completely.

Imagine both his and Zenith's shock when they discovered she was pregnant with Norn.

Zenith became absolutely horrified and terrified at the realization that she had been raped by her own husband without her even knowing.

Paul on the other hand was shocked and angry at himself for making such a foolish mistake. He just wanted sex, not to have another kid. This complicated a lot for him since unlike his son Rudeus, Norn was very much unwanted by him.

The blonde woman decided she was going to love her child regardless of the situation while despising Paul to the core. She chose to still stay in the same household as Paul since he barely came back home most of the time.

Also she didn't know if Paul would try to find her if she took Rudeus with her because there was no way Zenith was going to abandon her precious son. Hell, she didn't know if he would try to track her even if only she herself left. In her opinion, no matter how much she didn't want to, staying was the safest option. It was only because of one of her Fallen Angel friends that Zenith learned of Paul cheating on her.

On the other side Paul didn't know what to do.

Eventually the answer found him instead of him finding it himself. One day Kokabiel randomly told Paul that his son Rudeus had to die. Paul tried to figure out why, the answer he got is that Kokabiel felt that Rudeus' potential will make him a threat in the future. Now Paul did try to convince the cadre that Rudeus won't be a threat but in the end Kokabiel said to stop questioning his order and go complete the mission.

In the end, Paul chose Kokabiel over his son.

Just like now, Paul chose Kokabiel over Zenith.

The reason why he's taking Zenith's sacred gear is simply because it's an order from Kokabiel who felt that Twilight Healing will be very useful to him and his goals.

Unlike with Rudeus, Paul didn't try to help Zenith seeing as he no longer cared about her. A huge part of him grew to hate her for denying him his right as her husband so many times because of a simple mistake. In his opinion, it was Zenith's selfish actions that led to him eventually going down this route. Instead of blaming Kokabiel for Rudeus' death, he blamed her.

"Seems like you're so eager to die, fine let's get this ritual over with. The sooner you are dead, the better." Paul replied.

Zenith gasped when she felt her chest ache in intense pain. Her chest started glowing the color green.

The blond woman closed her eyes and prayed, truthfully she really did not want to die. She wanted to kill Paul with her own two hands to avenge her children. She wanted to finally be done with him and try to move on with her life. Maybe one day she can find a new husband to start a new life with. Then again, what man would want a divorced woman who is sterile?

Zenith prayed. 'I know it's useless, but if someone is out there that can hear me then please save me. I don't care if I have to sell my soul, mind and body, I'll do anything just for a chance to survive and avenge my beloved children.' She prayed desperately as the pain in her chest became even more unbearable.

Luckily for Zenith, her desperate plea was heard, much to her utter shock.

'Well seeing as you're so willing to do anything, I'll make sure you live and get your revenge. However I'm sure you know that nothing is ever truly free in the world. The cost of me saving your life is for you to become my wife for all eternity. If you become my wife, I can promise you a life full of happiness and love easily. If not then I guess this is the end of the road for you. So Zenith, what's your answer?' She suddenly hears Lux's voice in her head.

What's even weirder is that she has a clear mental image of his appearance. In her pain induced state, she acknowledged that he is 1000 times more attractive than Paul or any other man she has seen.

Obviously she saw that because Lux put his image in her mind. This way at least she can know what he looks like before making her decision.

While she is very skeptical about this situation, this is her only chance of surviving. Also she doesn't have much time as she can feel her sacred gear trying to separate from her.

'I-I agree!…p-please save m-me!' Zenith answered.