Chapter 149: Nyxara’s Stepbrothers
A tall, extremely handsome male demon with a powerful and perfectly sculpted physique stood next to their princess — the kind of appearance that could easily capture the heart of almost any woman in the entire Abyss.
And their princess had just called him her husband.
What shocked the guards even more was that the man standing beside their princess was not even at the Emperor Realm — and they had never seen him before.
Nova’s true strength was only at the low-level King Realm. However, by deliberately leaking a portion of his overwhelming demonic energy, he made his presence feel like that of a peak King Realm expert.
In reality, his physical stats already rivaled those of a peak King Realm warrior despite his actual realm still being lower. Because of that, his natural aura naturally felt like peak King Realm.
For now, he was only concealing two things: the true quality of his demonic aura which was on the level of a Demon Lord — and the full purity of his bloodline, which he had carefully suppressed down to roughly the same level as Nyxara’s.
Nyxara noticed the guards still staring at Nova with shocked expressions. A frown formed on her face as she slightly raised her aura and spoke in a chilling voice.
"What? Didn’t you hear me? I said greet my husband."
The moment her aura pressed down on them, both guards felt as if their souls were about to leave their bodies. Her voice carried such dread that chills ran down their spines.
All traces of surprise vanished instantly as they dropped their heads and greeted Nova in unison.
"We greet Lord Nova!"
Nova simply nodded. He didn’t overthink the situation. Nyxara clearly intended to establish his status from the very beginning.
After that, she reached out and took his hand, surprising him slightly. Without another word, she began walking into the city.
The massive gates opened on their own the moment they sensed Nyxara’s royal aura. The mechanism had been designed that way for members of the main family. Ordinary citizens, however, still had to wait for the guards to open them manually.
After taking a few steps inside and leaving the still-trembling guards behind, Nyxara turned her head slightly and spoke in the same cold tone.
"Go inform my father that I have returned and that I want a meeting with him. I will be resting in my mansion until then."
One of the guards quickly answered, his voice still slightly shaky.
"P-Princess... His Highness is not in the city at the moment. He has been away for several months."
Nyxara’s frown deepened. "Then go inform his head wife, who is currently in charge. Tell her I want a meeting soon."
With that, she continued walking into the city while still holding Nova’s hand, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Nova walked beside her with an expressionless face. For now, he had no choice but to go along with the flow.
Zarven City looked truly luxurious. Although Nova had not yet seen Vaunis, the capital of the Aureth Kingdom, this demon city already felt like it belonged to an entirely different league.
It was as if he had stepped into a gothic world. Scary yet elegant mansions and even the smaller houses looked luxurious, while tall buildings rose on every side, surrounding them completely.
The citizens were demons of various skin colors — red, black, and even human-like tones. The majority of them had humanoid shapes, though the same could not be said about their faces.
Some had a single eye, others had multiple eyes. Some possessed more than two limbs, and a few even had more than one head and also not every demons had horns.
As the couple walked past, every citizen turned to look at them with open amazement at how striking they both appeared.
Older demons who had lived for more than a hundred years immediately recognized Nyxara and bowed respectfully. The younger ones who had been born during the century she was away did not recognize her, but they still stood frozen, stunned by the combined beauty of Nova and Nyxara.
Male demons openly admired the breathtaking Nyxara, while many female demons blushed at the sight of the tall, muscular, and handsome Nova.
As they walked, Nova quietly observed the overall strength of the city’s residents. The majority were at the Grandmaster Realm or low-level King Realm.
A smaller number were at the mid-level King Realm, and only a few important-looking demons radiated the aura of peak King Realm experts.
From this, Nova came to an important realization.
What allowed demons to withstand the natural demonic pressure of each level of the Abyss was not purely their combat strength, but the purity of their demonic energy.
Higher purity made it possible to endure denser environments. Of course, raw strength still helped — a sufficiently powerful demon could force their way into higher levels to a certain extent even with lower purity.
He also noticed that there were far more varieties of demons than he had previously known. Turning to Nyxara, he asked, "How many kinds of demons live in the Abyss?"
She glanced at him and answered flatly, "I don’t know. I stopped counting long ago. Demons here like to breed... and they do it even with other demeon species all the time, constantly creating new kinds."
"Wow..." The word slipped out of Nova’s mouth before he could stop it.
Nyxara looked at him and sneered.
"Pervert."
Even so, she continued holding his hand as she led him toward her mansion. Nova still had no idea where it was located.
After a moment, he asked, "Why don’t you just open a portal so we can go directly to your mansion?"
Nyxara answered without looking at him. A faint redness appeared on her cheeks.
"What? You don’t like holding hands with me? Do you think I’m doing this because I enjoy it? I’m only doing this so the citizens will see us and spread the word. Hmph!"
"...."
Nova wisely decided to stay quiet and simply let her continue. Liya’s voice immediately echoed in his mind with clear amusement.
{ She’s intense... even more than me. }
"...."
They continued walking through the streets. Wherever Nova and Nyxara passed, citizens began murmuring among themselves. Everyone in Zarven knew that Princess Nyxara had long been engaged to the son of Demon Lord Drazhul.
Yet now, after returning from a hundred years of isolation, she was openly walking through the streets of the Royal City while holding another man’s hand — and that man himself looked exceptionally handsome.
The rumors spread through the city like wildfire within just a few minutes. This was exactly what Nyxara wanted.
By the time the two of them reached the city square, a commanding voice suddenly called out and forced them to stop.
"If it isn’t Big Sister Nyxara!"
Both Nyxara and Nova halted and turned around to see who had spoken.
Not far from them stood two tall demons with human-toned skin and horns on their heads. Their bodies were muscular, though not nearly as powerful or refined as Nova’s. Their faces were above average in appearance.
One of them wore a clear grin, while the other looked nervous, almost like a scared kitten. Behind the two stood a group of demons of various colors, all of them staring intently at Nova and Nyxara.
The demon with the grin took a step forward and spoke loudly.
"It’s only been a hundred years, and you don’t even recognize your own brothers? I didn’t expect that from you, Big Sister Nyxara."
Nyxara’s face immediately twisted with clear disdain the moment she recognized them. Her voice came out cold and full of displeasure.
"What do you want, Kael and Ravik?"
These two demons were Nyxara’s stepbrothers, both a few hundred years younger than her. She hated them deeply.
They were the children of a woman who had played a role in her mother’s death, and her father favored them far more than he favored her — simply because they were the sons of his favorite wife.
Kael, the more confident of the two, spoke first. Behind him, Ravik quickly hid after hearing the coldness in Nyxara’s voice. It was clear that he still feared her.
"I just wanted to see if the rumors were true," Kael said with a grin. "That you’ve returned... and that you’ve brought a man who shouldn’t be by your side."
Nova found himself slightly amused by the way the demon was speaking to Nyxara. Anyone with half a brain could tell that talking to her in that tone was asking to be beaten.
Still, he was curious to see what gave the man enough confidence to speak to his "acting wife" like that.
From their words, it was already clear that these two were Nyxara’s brothers — or more precisely, her stepbrothers.
Nyxara stepped forward without releasing Nova’s hand. In the next instant, her Sovereign aura erupted outward like water bursting from a shattered dam.
BOOM.
**
Thanks for reading...