The Married Life Of Immortals

Bane shoved the demon heart in his mouth, but then spat it back out almost instantly. While clear, red, and blue were sweet and the green and yellow were sour, nothing could have prepared him for a flavor that could only be described as bloody shit.

"I am not putting that thing back in my mouth!" Bane spat as he tried to rub his tongue off on the black shirt he was wearing.

'From my analysis, I don't suggest you try to eat that. There is a fragment of divinity within it, but it has turned blood red for some reason. It should be a glowing golden color, but there is something like a curse on it. I will assume this is what Onyx was talking about when he explained about Gilbrax's past,' Eve explained, and Bane frowned.

'Interesting, but then how do I get him out?'

'I don't think you have to do anything. If what Onyx said is correct, Gilbrax's body will form when you get back to the island,' Eve replied.

'And what do you think about Ceres? Do you think that bringing Gilbrax will force her to spawn?' Bane asked, and Eve was silent for a moment.

'I believe so, but it is likely that she will just take over a body, rather than the world spawning her in like a dungeon mob. Still, this is a question better left for Onyx, but he is clearly going to be busy for a while. Regardless, your main concern is settling down your wife, and dealing with the problem between Nina and her,' Eve advised, and Bane let out a sigh.

'Yeah, you are right,' Bane said as he looked at the girls who had stopped arguing when he spit out the demon heart. "Looks like it is time to head back, but now that I have everyone here, there are some things I have to mention."

Turning so he could face the women and Ragna, who was standing off to the side of them, Bane sighed.

"It should be incredibly clear, but I am going to go over some things. First, No messing with the villagers, or my wife. If you have a problem, you bring it to me. Fuck around, and you will find out. Next, I have given you all the chance to appeal to my wife, except for you Ragna. I swear to all things unholy I will beat your ass if you try to give my wife the wrong impression," Bane threatened lacklusterly, causing the ex-Demon Emperor to burst out laughing.

After wiping a tear from his eye, Ragna looked at Bane with a sheepish grin with the glint of a wolf hiding beneath. "While that would be entertaining, I am more interested to see what this new world you are bringing me to has to offer. I am sure that there are enough women to keep me entertained in this village you speak of, so I will not bother you. I am just glad to be enjoying the simple life and to be out of that prison."

Bane nodded, but then focused on the women. "Anyways, like I said, you can appeal to Lysia, but her response is final and reactions are yours to take. If I can suggest one thing, it is to wait and bide your time. Lysia is not what I would call a reasonable person, so you had better figure out some way to butter her up."

Elexis frowned. "Why don't you just talk to her? I am sure if you explained how much you love us both, she would understand, right?"

Bane snorted. "I don't love either of you. I barely know both, and now know even less after hearing snippets of your past lives. I told you that I would give you a chance. If any of you become part of this, then I will do better to get to know you, but that currently isn't the case. For now, we need to get back and I need to deal with the woman that I love and another yahoo like you two that is in love with me before the day is over."

With an exasperated sigh Bane opened a portal, and stepped through, bringing them out into a large room with a big black caldron in one corner. Bane narrowed his eyes at the blood splatter that covered most of the floor and walls, but then sensed that there was someone inside the cauldron. With a sigh, Bane flicked his finger to use magic to dispel the runes on the cauldron, but of course, nothing happened.

Turning back to the three women that walked out of the portal that just closed, Bane pointed to the massive black pot.

"Which one of you can dispel the runes on that? There are three layers, but now that I am back, my magic has been sealed," Bane asked, but when he looked at the three women, their eyes were wide.

"There are three layers of runes?" Elexis asked in shock. "That's insane! There is no way anyone could make those unless they are a master mage, or have access to a library of ancient tomes!"

Bane sighed, but then a memory flashed in his mind, and he suddenly realized that he had no idea if these women even knew magic. It stood to reason that he probably should have asked them about what skills they had, but this was just as well.

"Fine," Bane growled and walked over to the boiling black cauldron.

Looking inside, he could see a nearly naked Victor Westland in an air bubble. The problem was the constant charges of purple lightning that constantly assaulted Victor, and part of Bane felt like leaving the man. He had brought this on to himself for consorting with a demon, even if it had been the Demon Lord Gustave that had summoned him in the end.

With another long sigh, Bane shot his hand into the water, and gritted his teeth as he felt the lightning suddenly focus on his hand. The assault almost forced Bane to pull his hand back, but instead, Bane grabbed Victor by the arm and pulled him out to fly across the room. Thankfully, for Victor's sake, Ragna blurred and caught the man before could hit the wall.

"Good to see my woman hasn't changed much," Bane groaned as he felt the electricity course through his body as Victor slowly stood back up with Ragna's help.

"Wait, what?!" Zerynthia snapped. "This something your woman did?!"

Bane turned to the Harpy and looked at her with a cold dead look. "Yeah, that's Lysia's work, so you had better not fuck around."

"And I thought demons were bad? Just what kind of woman is this elf?" Elexis asked, but Bane ignored her as he watched Victor get up.

"So, how have you been?" Bane asked, and Victor just glared at Bane as he held a hand over his shoulder that was still smoking.

"You took your sweet time. Do you know what I and the others suffered through?!" The smoking man asked with a snarl, but Bane only shrugged.

"Don't care," Bane replied without any emotion. "You couldn't control that shit head Gustave, and because of it, I was sucked into the demon world for almost three months. If anything, you should be thinking about how to thank me for coming back so quickly."

Victor's face contorted as he looked at Bane, but then he just let out a sigh and shook his head. "I am just glad to see you again. While I don't know what happened after you left in the rest of the village, your wife has been trying to force me to let her follow you. I clearly don't have that power, but even if I did, I wouldn't have done it. That would just make you kill me even worse when you got back and found out your wife died from trying to follow you."

Bane nodded. "Yes, you really would have wished that you were dead. You would have been begging for this little bit of pain you felt over the last two and a half months compared to what I would do. Death would have been a forgiveness," Bane said and then let out a long sigh before smiling brightly, and turning to the women.

"As for you three? I suggest that you go offer the villagers that are hiding in the surrounding forest some help moving back into the town once I deal with my wife and teacher. I highly suggest that you stay out of sight for a while, or your future will be much worse than Victor's has been," Bane said, and then gestured towards a door that led to the back of the building. "You can use the exit there."

Elexis looked at Bane with a strange look in her eyes and a smile that was hard to read. "Are you sure you are alright? You seem like a completely different person now."

"And I am," Bane said with a smile and patted the woman on the shoulder. "I have to calm down a savage storm that has been raging for the last month, but I am giddy to be able to see Lysia again."

Before Elexis, Nia. or Zerynthia could say anything else, Bane vanished, leaving them with Ragna and Victor.

"Do you both still really plan to grovel for a position by his side?" Zerynthia asked in a mocking tone, but both women nodded without missing a beat.

"Nothing has changed for me. I never planned to do anything else, and even if I did, I have no doubt that I would just end up back up imprisoned again," Nia explained, and Elexis nodded beside her as she crossed her arms.

"We both meant what we said when we were given the offer, unlike you. We all tried to tell him that you were just going to be useless and betray him, but the strange man still kept his promise to you," Elexis stated, and Zerynthia just clicked her tongue.

"And what of it? Just for me to be reborn in this lower existence of a body?! I have lost who I was, and he did it on purpose! Try to tell me that he didn't!" She snapped, but Elexis just nodded.

"True, he did it out of spite, but you deserve it. out of all of us four, you are the only one without a pure heart, which means you are probably more than willing to bite the hand that feeds. Bane probably did this to make sure you would leave and not even bother taking him up on his offer," Elexis laughed, but then gave the Harpy a knowing look. "I prefer that you just find a hole to crawl into and stay out of both of our ways, so you breaking your word is fine by me."

Zerynthia looked like she was about to retort, but then Ragna cleared his throat loudly.

"I do not care who you are, but I suggest that you listen to Bane. Gustave took my role as Demon Emperor, and Bane will be considered the Demon God from now on by all demons. If you are smart, you will listen to what he said and flee," Ragna said, and Zerynthia sneered as she pointed at the demon cat man.

"And just who are you?" She demanded, and Ragna laughed.

"I guess that I don't look like a Bull Folk demon anymore, but I do like the new form. Still, get in his way if you want, but at some point you should step back and figure out exactly why you always feel the need to push others away, and why you are always so ready to bite the hand that feeds," Ragna explained in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

Zerynthia looked at the man with a confused look, but then turned and stomped off, not wanting to hear anything else. She had always been on her own, and everyone was either in her way, or just another stepping stone to reach her true goal. Revenge.