Chapter 289: A great woman

As Lucien's group goes towards the Alliance, they keep getting stronger and stronger, training their skills, and developing their relationships.

On the sixth day after leaving Raco, Lucien sees the continent again, on the area near the border between the great forest and the Alliance.

While he helps the wind mages to recover mana so they can assist Madelyn, he feels Oya get agitated, and as she still doesn't know how to communicate very well, he flies back to his ship.

Lucien lands on his ship's deck next to Oya and hugs her. "What happened?"

Oya hugs Lucien tightly as she looks toward the continent and thinks about how to describe her feelings using words.

Unlike little Ko, who learns to speak relaxed while playing with Estela, Oya has been working hard to learn to speak, and how to act with her demi-human body with Lucien's wives, so due to her high intelligence, her progress has been improving smoothly.

"I... I feel something in that direction." Oya points towards the continent, which she still doesn't see due to her not having a vision as incredible as Lucien's.

Lust materializes her body beside them and begins to analyze Oya's body while sending a mental message to Envy. The other girls notice what's going on and get close to them too.

Lucien is confused as he asks Oya. "Something? Can you describe it?"

Oya looks down and sees Lucien's tattoo on her low belly, shining a little. "I felt a powerful aura like yours and Amelia's, but it is also different..."

Lucien notices Oya's tattoo glowing, and Lust quickly explains. "Your demonic energy within her is aroused, but her body is fine."

"How can she feel that, and you can't?" Lucien asks Lust and Envy, who materializes her body beside them.

"Her instincts are still that of a moon tiger." Envy responds while Lust nods.

Lucien strokes Oya's fluffy ears. "Have you ever felt that aura before, my dear?"

Oya nods. "Yes, that... That was when I was running away with Ko, and we met you. At that time, I felt this aura calling me, and I followed it seeking its power."

Then she strokes her tattoo. "But after you gave it to me, I didn't feel like looking for that power anymore."

Lucien kisses Oya's head while looking at Lust and Envy. He can see that they have strange expressions on their faces, and he gets concerned. "What is it?"

"We can't be sure. She could have felt a powerful creature because of her sharp instincts, or..." Envy comments.

"Or it's Pride." Lust completes Envy's thought.

For less than a second, a golden glow sparkles on Lucien's eyes before it turning purple as he remembers Lust's story about Pride treating his sisters like disposable pawns with the Bloody Rose.

"What is the possibility of being her?" Lucien asks.

"Pride's aura makes all creatures weaker than her want to venerate and follow her in search of power." Lust explains.

"Her demonic energy makes her followers stronger faster just because they are close to her, and although it is not as incredible as our energy on strengthening the real power of other people, her aura can booster their power several times quickly."

Then Envy continues. "That is why mystic beasts with sharp instincts can feel her aura even at great distances."

Amelia, who approaches the group, hears everything and get confused. "But is it not supposed to be two great demons by the world?"

Envy quickly responds. "Yes, so we would have more space to grow individually without disturbing the others. However, as there are only three inferior worlds close to yours, one world would have three of us."

"But it doesn't matter now. It is clear that we should be together because Lucien can make you and your sisters much stronger than you would become alone." Lust speaks to Amelia.

Lust's words awaken Amelia to something she hadn't thought of before. [Will he do that with all our sister?]

Amelia previously only worried about Sophia because she always loved Lucien, and maybe Naomi for her personality, but now Amelia can't help thinking that she will have to compete with all her sisters for Lucien's affection.

[Well, if they accept crossing that line... Yes, I bet they won't have such boldness... I still can't do that myself...] Amelia starts to blush while gazing at Lucien.

Lust's words also made Lucien think about that. When he heard about Pride possibly being near, his first thought was of giving her a lesson for looking down on his family; still, now he can't help but be eager to remeet another of his sisters.

"Let's go west," Lucien speaks, and the girls who fly quickly go to the other ships to pass on the new orders as they were going to the northwest.

Then he looks at his wives. "I'm going to fly ahead with Oya and try to find the center of the aura."

"We are going with you." All of Lucien's wives quickly respond.

Lucien already expected that answer, so he smiles. "Let's go."

The mage girls create floating platforms, on which the girls who cannot fly climb while the others fly alongside Lucien, who carries Oya in his arms so that she can use her instinct to feel the direction of that powerful aura.

Not all of Lucien's wives follow him because Madelyn stays on the ships to ensure their high speed while Neola assumes the role of leader of the troops in Lucien's absence, also to maintain mental communication with him and to pass on his orders to the troops.

Little Ko is sent to the purple world along with Kara for their safety.

As they fly towards the continent, Lucien cannot resist asking Lust a question mentally. 'Who is with Pride?'

'I knew you would ask me that...' Lust comments in Lucien's mind.

'...' Lucien doesn't know what to think. His relationship with all his sisters has always been complicated in different ways. And, of course, he knows that things will not be as with Sophia and Amelia.

As Lust was the last great demon to choose a host, she knows who are the other pairs and responds to Lucien. 'It's Eve.'

Eve's name enters Lucien's mind, but it is quickly replaced by the term he exclaims to himself. [Big sis!]

And when thinking about her, it is impossible that old memories do not come to his mind as well.

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A month after Lucien's fifth birthday, he had no reason to celebrate because his mother had not yet come to visit him as he expected.

But then his worries became real when his father told him he would never be able to see her again.

Young Lucien was heartbroken and cried for an entire week. No one could blame him because losing a mother is something that hurts everyone, let alone a five-year-old kid.

Lucien's sisters felt helpless to see their little brother go into depression, but there was nothing they could do.

Of all of them, the one who suffered the most with Lucien was Eve, not because she is the older sister and responsible for everyone, but because she also knows the pain of losing a mother.

After letting Lucien cry on her lap for a week, she took him out to the training yard and gave him a wooden sword.

The sword is not like the toy sword he and Sophia used to play with but a replica of a real sword, that is, large and heavy despite being made of wood.

While holding the sword, Lucien looks at Eve with a confused expression on his tear-dirty face. "Big sis..."

Eve looks at him with a loving and sad expression. "I know what you're feeling now. It took me a while to understand that my mother had died when I was a baby, but the anger and sadness have always been and still are with me."

"..." Lucien still doesn't understand many things as he is still a five-year-old child. However, it is easy to understand that his sister must be suffering as he is because of their mothers.

Eve also takes a wooden sword and starts to spin it in the air. "We cannot do anything to the dead, but we can do many things to the living."

"..." Lucien doesn't understand what Eve means, but he keeps looking at her.

Eve continues. "This pain will always be with us, but we can do something about the anger..."

She looks at the wooden sword in her hand. "We must make the people who killed our mothers suffer. We must avenge their deaths."

"Avenge..." Lucien thinks out loud.

Eve smiles at him. "Yes. We must kill everyone who has hurt our family and not allow anyone to hurt our loved ones again."

Lucien feels a fury arouse in his desolate heart as he squeezes the wooden sword grip. "Yes!"

Then Eve walks towards Lucien. "Raise your sword. I will teach you how to fight so that together we can have our revenge."

Lucien raises his sword, but Eve quickly hits it with her sword, throwing it to the ground. "I know that you are just a kid, but our enemies are many... you have to learn always to be ready to fight."

He ignores the pain and numbness in his hand while picking up the sword from the floor.

Eve smiles as she sees Lucien's determination. "We must kill those who killed our mothers, but there is also another major guilty for their deaths."

"Who?" Lucien asks as he raises his sword.

Eve hits his sword again with hers, but this time the sword does not fall from Lucien's hands as he holds it tightly and resists the pain from the impact.

She makes an angry expression. "The man who should take care of and protect them... Michael."

"Father?" Lucien gets confused.

Eve nods while striking Lucien's sword again. "Yes. Our father is a weak man who treats his children as weapons and does not protect his family."

"..." Lucien was already angry at his father for separating him from his mother, so as he begins to understand how flawed he is, he gets even more angry at Michael.

Eve keeps striking Lucien's sword harder and harder, but he holds the sword grip firmly while the wood creates wounds in his hand.

Then she speaks in a severe tone. "Listen carefully, Lucien. You must not be like our father, who has many wives but cannot even protect them; who has many children but abuses them instead of giving them love; you must not become a weak man."

Lucien continues to defend Eve's blows and then tries to attack her sword with all the strength he has left. "Yes, big sis!"

But his movement does not go as he expects. He loses his balance and falls.

Still, before he reaches the floor, he feels Eve's warm hands hold him.

She hugs him tightly. "Don't worry. I will always be by your side, helping you to be a good man."

"Big... sis..." Lucien hugs Eve as he cries in her arms.

He doesn't know how to deal with the pain and anger he feels, but knowing that Eve is with him makes him feel protected and loved.

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As Lucien and his group arrive at the beach in the great forest region, he remembers many moments with Eve.

They always shared the pain of losing their mothers, so they understood each other very well, further increasing the hatred they have for their father.

And even after learning that Michael had lied about his mother's death, Lucien still has the same goals as Eve: To kill their enemies, to punish their father, and to keep their family safe.

So, despite Eve being with Pride, Lucien is hoping that they are responsible for the powerful aura in the forest so that they can get together again and never part ways.

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