Chapter 1031: The First Covenant [Part 1]
Chapter 1031 – The First Covenant [Part 1]
Lux leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, wings half-spread behind him like the shadow of a throne that had gotten bored and decided to grow claws.
"Yeah," he said. "I’m Greed."
The thing laughed. A low, amused sound that rolled through the nothingness and made the dream-space ripple beneath Lux’s feet. It was the kind of laugh ancient beings used when they had seen empires declare themselves eternal, then watched the rats inherit their marble halls.
Lux hated that laugh immediately. Mostly because it sounded expensive.
"I heard," the demon said, "that you are searching for the legendary demon."
Lux paused.
Only for half a second.
But in a dream, half a second was enough to become a confession if the other person knew how to read silence.
His eyes sharpened.
How?
That was the first question.
Zehar had just left. Corvus had gone to assist him. Cyrinne had only spoken inside the mansion under a Greed brand.
So either Zehar and Corvus had already screwed up in record time, which was possible because one was a dramatic jelly elder recently restored into a gothic noble peacock and the other was a raven with hacker energy and a mouth problem...
Or this thing had already been listening.
Lux’s smile stayed on his face.
Inside, he reached for every instinct he had.
Lux’s voice cooled. "The king sent you?"
The demon tilted its head. "No."
"That was quick."
Lux stared. It was clear he didn’t believe it. But in this dream, his Eye of Truth didn’t work.
The demon stared back. Then it laughed again, softer this time, as if enjoying how naturally suspicious Lux was. "No, Lux Vaelthorn. Kaelmor did not send me."
Lux’s fingers tapped once on the armrest of the chair he had mentally summoned. "So why are you here?"
"I realized it myself."
Lux’s brow lifted. "You realized... what?"
The demon stepped closer.
The nothingness beneath its feet did not ripple anymore.
It accepted him.
That detail bothered Lux more than the voice, more than the mask, more than the casual way it had slipped through his dream veils like they were decorative curtains.
The dream did not treat the creature as an intruder.
It treated him like someone with old access.
The demon’s carved smile stretched. "You are looking for me."
Lux became very still.
The demon spread both arms slightly, cloak-like shadows hanging from them. "I am the First Covenant."
For once, Lux did not answer immediately.
His gaze moved over the being.
Tall. Masked. Demon-shaped but not demon-shaped enough. Wrong in subtle proportions. Too smooth where violence should have left edges. Too calm for something that had supposedly been betrayed, sealed, drained, and hidden since before the Sin era.
His aura was enormous, yes.
But not imprisoned.
Lux had seen prisoners.
Aela’s roots.
Yue’s slumber.
The lingering hooks of false ownership around bodies and souls. This creature had none of that. It looked like someone wearing a story because it found the outfit entertaining.
Lux’s eyes narrowed. "You don’t look like a prisoner."
The First Covenant hummed. "Do I not?"
"I heard you were asleep."
"I am."
A long silence followed.
Then Lux said, "You are standing in my dream." He leaned forward slightly. "That is not sleeping."
The First Covenant chuckled. "To you, perhaps."
Lux’s expression flattened. "I’m beginning to understand why Hell became complicated after you introduced civilization."
The First Covenant laughed.
This time, the nothingness brightened faintly, as if the sound carried old sunlight from a world Hell had never earned.
"I sleep," it said, "because if I mingle too much with Hell, the realm may fall out of balance."
Lux’s smile faded. "You expect me to believe your presence alone can imbalance Hell?"
"No." The creature leaned closer. "I expect you to notice it already has."
Lux’s thoughts stopped for half a breath.
The First Covenant lifted one finger. "Seven sins. Seven houses. Seven crowns. Seven hungers pretending to be principles." It tilted its head. "Do you think that happened naturally?"
Lux did not answer.
The First Covenant continued, "When I first came, Hell was only appetite and violence. Demons ate souls. Stronger demons ate weaker demons. Territory changed by claw, fang, flame, and boredom. There was no continuity. No inheritance. No trade. No contracts. No history reliable enough to be called memory."
Lux’s eyes sharpened at the word contracts.
The First Covenant noticed. "Then I taught them to stop devouring everything immediately."
Gula’s earlier metaphor returned to Lux’s mind with horrifying accuracy.
’Civilization: saving food for later.’
He rubbed his forehead. "I hate that Gluttony was right."
"I taught them names. Agreements. Storage. Law. Debt. Boundaries. Exchange."
Lux’s eyes grew colder. He leaned back.
The dream chair creaked, because he decided it should. Sometimes small pettiness improved mental health. "Fine. Let’s assume, for the sake of this extremely invasive dream call, that you are the First Covenant. So you let Kaelmor suck your power?"
The air changed.
"Oh," it said. "That demon guy."
Lux slowly blinked. "You speak about Hell’s current king like he is an annoying clerk."
"He is."
"No," Lux said quietly. "He is worse than that."
The First Covenant studied him. Then nodded once. "Perhaps to you."
Lux’s claws dug lightly into the chair arm. "You didn’t answer. Did you let him drain you?"
"No. He took it from my residue."
Lux froze.
The First Covenant continued casually, as if describing someone borrowing dust from a windowsill. "My leaking mana."
Lux stared. "Wait... what?"
The First Covenant tilted its head. "You heard correctly."
Lux stood. The chair vanished behind him. His wings stretched wider, dark aura pressing outward.
"Kaelmor’s borrowed power comes from your leaking mana?"
"Partly."
Lux stared at him as if the being had just said Hell’s economy was built on spilled soup.
The First Covenant looked entirely unbothered.
Lux inhaled once. "So the king has been strengthening himself for centuries from your leftovers."
"Yes." The First Covenant seemed delighted.