Seven Devils and a Rose (A Reverse Harem Realm-Travel Fantasy Romance) - Chapter 84

For the third time in his three-thousand-year life, Lord Geoffrey Lancaster, the almighty head ruler of Acaedien, felt flustered, awestricken, and fucking terrified.

The first time he had felt those strong emotions had been during The Great Apocalypse over two thousand years ago, when the Aurora Realm was on the verge of annihilation due to the realm’s core qi exhaustion, threatening to destroy their world and returning everything to dust and gas.

The second time had been when their beloved Yuki Hoshi of Yamato, dubbed Beautiful Snow, had sacrificed her life to release her powerful pure qi to form the new Aurora barrier, as part of the nine Great Ones, to protect what was left of their collapsed and doomed world. That fateful night, he and his comrades had lost the only woman they had ever loved with their hearts and souls, all for the greater good of humanity and survival.

And now he felt those unwelcome, powerful emotions once again.

Lord Geoffrey felt flustered because everything had happened so quickly that it boggled his usually calm, intelligent mind.

He was awestricken because Alfie—the adorable, lovable youth Felix and Caleb had found in the woods during the Bandit Suppression Campaign—was in actual fact a girl underneath all those boy’s garments. They had been blind to her true self due to the magic illusion protection spell.

In his gut, he knew whoever had cast that spell on the necklace, and in turn left the necklace for Alfie to find, wanted something from Alfie. He had no doubt that it had to be Alfie’s pure qi, for sure.

Alfie, our adorable Alfie, is a girl.

Yes, Geoffrey couldn’t help but repeatedly chant those words in his head. Alfie was a woman. A fucking beautiful one at that. She was so enchanting and just fucking desirable that it made his heart and manhood ache in both joy and sorrow.

Joy because it had been too long since he and his comrades had come across someone they felt this attracted to, so connected to that it made their heads spin. Sorrow because he bloody knew that claiming Alfie as their mate would break her—mind, body, and soul.

Yes, we’d break her.

Fuck, for any woman to accept and take one demon lord as her mate would traumatize her and would sometimes lead to death due either to destruction or suicide, as had been documented throughout history again and again. So for seven demon lords, and especially three of them—Felix, Caleb, and Geoffrey himself—so powerful that their dark qi was on par with the level-seven disaster beasts that had the ability to annihilate cities with a flick of their power, Alfie wouldn’t last.

Lastly, he was fucking terrified because Alfie, like Yuki, had such a strong pure qi that he didn’t know if he’d be able to protect her from himself and his comrades, let alone other powerful beasts with dark qi that, without a doubt, would react and hunt her down the moment they felt her qi releasing and piercing through the sky a few moments ago. Furthermore, he didn’t know if they could control and subdue Felix and Caleb this time around, like he, Noah, and Victor had been able to do two hundred years ago during that unexplained incident.

The probability of them restraining Felix and Caleb was next to zero, especially with the existence of pure qi this overwhelmingly strong in such proximity, not to mention adding the mad Ethan and Aaron into the mix as well. Fuck, he didn’t even know if he’d be able to control himself and his comrades from attacking Alfie and claiming her as their mate now that they knew what she truly was.

If he couldn’t even do that… If none of them could… Worse, if Felix and Caleb were to go berserk and unleash their full dark qi, the whole city was going to be wiped out for sure.

Then, of course, there were the threats of disaster beasts residing deep in the mountains. If the monsters happened to rise from their deep, centuries-long slumber and react due to the tremendous release of Alfie’s pure qi, then Geoffrey would have his hands full, and their beloved kingdom would be turned to ashes within days.

They’d need to act fast. They’d need to prepare and protect the kingdom just in case shit hit the fan. After all, Geoffrey was a very cautious man, and when it came to his beloved kingdom and its citizens, he wasn’t going to leave things to chance.

Lord Geoffrey rushed along the corridor and headed over to the kingdom defense headquarters, which resided on the seventh floor of the military department. There, he shouted and barked out orders as soldiers rushed about, heading to their designated posts, ready to protect and defend the city.

The City Protective Barrier Squad, with Michael as the captain, was already in action the moment they felt the unusual pure and dark qi bursting within and around the palace.

The four men; Michael, Allan, Peter, and Travis, rushed over to their respective positions to form the barrier up on the roof of the military department. When Geoffrey reached them, his body half flying, half jumping through space and time via Silent Move, the men were already releasing their red qi toward the center where a great main core resided.

Within a split second, a red glowing orb formed, and a large circle with ancient magical signs, symbols, and script expanded and rose to the sky.

Down below, more groups of soldiers in formations of four were strategically positioned across the palace’s grounds, also releasing their red qi to form the protective barrier signs.

As the magic spells rose, the glow of red glistening brightly across the dark sky, an alarm—loud and continuous—echoed throughout the palace, awakening those who were still deep within their slumber. Instantly, doors were cracked opened, and citizens, still in their sleeping garments, rushed out of their quarters.

A female’s voice—calm and gentle—started echoing across the place. “High alert. High alert. Citizens, please stay calm and evacuate the palace. High alert. High alert. Citizens, please stay calm and evacuate the palace.”

Within seconds, thousands of residents within the palace were out along the pathway, heading in the direction of the hill behind the palace. Mixed amongst the crowd were Aria, Leona, and Brenna, all dressed in their military regalia and ready for action.

Along the way, they stared—uneasy and anxious—at the burst of dark qi circling like a tornado about the north wing of the palace. They knew that something disastrous had happened. Toward the central palace, they saw the bright white qi bursting and piercing the sky, and all three wondered what the hell was going on.

“What’s happening?” Brenna asked, her voice trembling in dread.

Leona said, “The alarm is on. That means the palace and the city is at risk.”

Aria said, “The dark qi feels very sinister. I think something very bad has happened.”

“Alfie?” Brenna asked as they rushed along the path heading toward the central building.

Aria turned to look at the tremendous white light there. “I think that’s him there.”

“But…” Brenna couldn’t go on further, as she was being dragged along by Leona, racing so that they’d get to Alfie as soon as possible, as instructed by Lord Geoffrey.