abnabooks Chapter 927: Oil and Water
Chapter 927: Oil and Water
The mysterious ancient lord narrative had spread beautifully. Too beautifully, apparently. It had entered the hidden networks, reached the Shadow Corridor, destabilized old money, made lesser nobles whisper into expensive wine, and pulled Kaelmor’s attention away from Lux.That was the point.
Lux had wanted the king looking outward, not directly at him.
He had wanted Kaelmor hunting shadows.
Questioning ancient powers.
Staring into the abyss and wondering if the abyss had better capital reserves.
And it had worked.
Lux’s smirk appeared faintly. Then it faded.
’But this goddess-power rumor...’
That was new.
That part wasn’t his.
That part had appeared too suddenly.
A rumor that ancient lords could multiply their power by consuming, binding, or parasitizing a High Goddess.
An old myth.
Ancient.
Rotten.
Lux rinsed the soap from his hands and stared at the marble wall as if the answer might politely carve itself there.
"It should be impossible."
His voice was quieter now.
Less amused.
More analytical.
’Demonic and celestial authority contradict each other at the root. Wrong polarity. Wrong soul frequency. Wrong metaphysical language.’
He lifted one hand and rotated his wrist slowly under the water.
’If Kaelmor tried to siphon a High Goddess directly, it would burn him from inside. Not strengthen him.’
The logic was basic.
Painfully basic.
Any demon scholar with half a functioning horn knew celestial force and infernal force were not oil and water.
No.
Oil and water were polite.
Celestial and infernal authority were more like fire and cursed gasoline discussing theology.
Put them together wrong, and everything exploded.
Lux shook his head. ’I guess that guy really can’t think straight anymore, huh?’ He reached for the shampoo and squeezed some into his palm. ’There’s no way a creature could siphon both angel and demon power safely.’
He rubbed the shampoo into his hair. "No way."
His fingers slowed.
The water continued falling.
The bathroom remained warm.
Steam curled around him in lazy silver ribbons.
Lux stilled.
His expression changed.
Not dramatically.
Not with some loud gasp.
Just a tiny pause.
A slight shift of his eyes.
The kind of silence that happened when a brilliant mind accidentally stepped on its own buried landmine.
Because his brain had just found an answer.
And Lux hated when his brain found answers that involved him.
He lowered his hands.
Shampoo still in his hair.
Water running over his face.
He thought back.
The artifacts.
Every time he killed something powerful after that last artifact consumption...
Something came out.
A fragment.
A dropped relic.
A crystallized remnant of authority.
An artifact born from the defeated enemy’s essence.
And he could consume it.
Not just collect it.
Not just store it.
Consume it.
Convert it.
Adapt it.
Turn it into his power.
Demonic.
Divine.
Monster.
Ancient.
Holy.
Corrupted.
It didn’t matter.
The system processed it.
His body accepted it.
His core integrated it.
His eyes narrowed.
The shower suddenly felt much colder.
"That’s..."
His throat tightened.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
Recognition.
A very expensive, very dangerous recognition.
"That’s the same logic."
He rinsed shampoo from his hair slowly, but his mind was already moving too fast.
Artifacts were not siphoning directly.
They were filtered.
Packaged.
Processed into transferable authority.
A metaphysical asset conversion system.
Raw enemy power became object.
Object became consumable.
Consumable became growth.
The contradiction problem vanished because the system was acting as the intermediary.
A divine fragment wasn’t entering him raw.
It was being converted.
Structured.
Balanced.
His system was doing what no normal demon body could.
It was laundering power.
Lux stared at nothing.
Then muttered, very calmly,
"Oh shit." The water ran down his face. "I have that power."
The words hit harder once spoken aloud.
He had the power the rumor described.
Not exactly.
Not the crude horror-myth version.
He wasn’t ripping goddess cores out and eating them like some ancient basement cannibal with royal trauma.
But the principle?
Conversion.
Integration.
Authority absorption.
Power from anything.
Even angels.
Even divine beings.
Lux’s expression darkened. "Fantastic." His voice was dry enough to dehydrate a lake.
"So the rumor is impossible for normal demons, suicidal for Kaelmor, disgusting for mythology..."
He paused.
"...and technically possible for me."
Then...
Light appeared.
A silver-blue glow bloomed behind him, soft at first, then sharp enough to cut through steam. The water droplets in the air froze mid-fall for half a breath, glittering like tiny moons.
Lux felt divine presence before he saw her.
Moonlight.
Cool air.
A familiar quiet pressure.
He did not turn.
Because there were only so many ways this morning could become more absurd, and apparently the universe had chosen all of them.
The light gathered.
Manifested.
A figure stepped into the bathroom.
Selena.
Goddess of the Moon.
Elegant.
Radiant.
Composed.
Standing in his bathroom.
While he was in the shower.
Naked.
Lux stilled.
Selena stilled.
For one long, deeply unreasonable moment, neither of them spoke.
Water continued falling.
Steam curled between them.
Lux slowly turned his head just enough to look at her from the corner of his eye.
Selena looked at him.
Calmly.
Too calmly.
Lux blinked. "Uh..."
Selena blinked back.
Lux waited.
She did not look away.
She simply stood there with the serene expression of a goddess who had arrived to collect a troublesome demon and found him in an inconvenient state, but refused to let the inconvenience win.
Lux frowned. "You should scream at least."
Selena tilted her head. "Why?"
"Or blush."
"Why should I?"
Lux stared at her. "Because I’m naked?"
Her expression did not change. "Yes. I noticed."
"That is usually the part where people react."
"We have monitored you for a while before."
Lux’s soul briefly left his body, checked the room, disliked the situation, and returned under protest.
"...We?"
Selena nodded. "Me. Celestaria. And Solara."
Lux closed his eyes.
Not from shame.
From accounting-level spiritual damage.
The water continued running.
He spoke very quietly. "I am filing a complaint."
"With whom?"
"That is a great question. I will invent a department."
Selena folded her hands in front of her. "Good. You can do that later. I am here to pick you up."