My Wives are Beautiful Demons

"I see..." Vergil murmured, his voice low and thoughtful as he carried Raphaeline in his arms like a princess. The gentle warmth of her body was truly very comforting to the touch. He calmly descended the steps of the old courtyard of the Baal mansion—or what remained of it after recent events. Broken pillars, charred walls... and a strange silence in the air.

Further ahead, Ada was crouched beside an injured resident, checking her pulse and helping to apply a recovery rune. When she noticed Vergil approaching, her eyes widened.

"Is she... back to normal?" Ada whispered, dropping the compress she was holding. Raphaeline, for her part, still had a slight smile on her face, even though she was unconscious. Vergil nodded, his eyes fixed on the body he carried with more respect than concern.

"She forced a dangerous combination, but... a brilliant one." Vergil began to explain, his gaze turned to the shattered sky of the underworld. "She used her own blood as a bridge between body and soul... a conduit. Blood... is more than just a vital fluid. It is the language between the physical and the ethereal."

Ada frowned, trying to follow. Vergil continued:

"By turning that bridge into a complete circuit, she fused her soul to her body with such precision that the two became inseparable. Her blood now sustains more than flesh—it sustains essence, identity, consciousness."

He looked at her with calm, golden eyes. "It's basically the same kind of structure I carry."

Raphaeline opened one lazy eye and murmured with a mocking smile:

"So... now I have a physique just like yours!"

Ada arched her eyebrows. "You... rebuilt your entire body?"

"Yes," Vergil said with restrained pride. "She created something that transcends the idea of physical enhancement. A supreme technique that uses blood as the thread of the soul—a reborn body, where every drop carries the totality of who she is."

Blood, always treated as a symbol of life, had become the very foundation of Raphaeline's existence. This was her revelation. Her enlightenment. Absolute mastery over the cycle between the tangible and the intangible.

"It's more than alchemy... more than magic. Is it biocosmology, perhaps?" Vergil commented with a slight smile.

"It's no exaggeration to say," he continued in a low voice, "that at this moment, she may have more authority over blood than some Blood Gods."

Ada stared at her mother in Vergil's arms. Raphaeline's body glowed subtly—a living pulse that seemed to resonate with the environment itself.

"That's an incredible feat..." Vergil added, his eyes softening. "I'm proud."

Raphaeline let out a theatrical sigh, snuggling closer into his arms. "Finally, a compliment!"

Vergil laughed softly at Raphaeline's mocking response, and gently lowered her, setting her down on one of the flattest, still-intact stones in the shattered courtyard of the old mansion. She settled herself with the lazy grace of a newly awakened cat, crossing one leg over the other and resting her cheek on her hand, as if nothing had happened.

"You should be unconscious," he murmured.

"Sleep is for the weak," she replied, with a half-smile that hid the effort she still felt to keep that new body under complete control. Every cell still vibrated with raw energy—the kind of power that could make worlds tremble if released in its raw state.

Vergil ran his hand through his hair and turned to Ada, who was watching him silently.

"What about Ei?" he asked, his tone shifting subtly from curious to attentive. "She should be here..."

Ada hesitated for a moment, as if unsure whether to tell him or laugh. Instead of answering directly, she simply turned her face away and pointed discreetly with her thumb.

Vergil followed the direction and his eyes fell on a figure crouching in a darkened corner of the ruined mansion. Huddled against one of the half-destroyed walls, her knees hugged and her eyes wide, Ei was muttering to herself. Her expression was a mixture of pure shock and despair. Her tiara was crooked. Her clothes were disheveled. The head maid of the Baal Clan—the legendary guardian of protocol, the emotional wall—was... broken.

"Master Vergil... Master Vergil..." Ei repeated softly, her eyes fixed on some non-existent point in the void. "...no one pays me enough to deal with this... mystical explosions, possessed swords, cosmic cries of enlightenment... I HAD A DAY OFF PLANNED..."

Ada coughed lightly, hiding her laughter, while Raphaeline just glanced over and muttered with an amused air:

"She heard the cry of my enlightenment. Poor thing..."

"Looks like you guys caused a little psychic war in the support team," Vergil commented dryly, walking over to Ei with an almost merciful look.

"Ei." He called in a firm but patient tone.

She blinked a few times and looked up. When she saw Vergil, she seemed both relieved and more desperate at the same time.

"Master Vergil..." she whispered, holding onto his shirt sleeve with a look that seemed about to cry, "I... saw all the swords come out of the vault and spin in the air like a hellish dance... and then they turned into blood, and then they turned back into swords... and then... SHE SCREAMED THAT SHE HAD ACHIEVED BUDDHA'S ENLIGHTENMENT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"

"It was a metaphor," Raphaeline shouted from the other side, lazily.

"She ordered me to evacuate an entire castle! Do you have any idea how much logistics work that involves?! NOBILITY. DEMONS. VAMPIRES. TRAUMATIZED WIZARDS. A CHILD TURNED INTO A DOG! I DON'T KNOW HOW!"

Ada finally couldn't hold it in and let out a hearty laugh, holding her stomach.

Vergil crouched in front of Ei, with a gentle look.

"Breathe, Ei. Everything is under control now. She woke up. She came back better. And no one died."

"A demon had a panic attack and bit its own tail until it passed out..."

"Almost no one died."

Ei let out a heavy sigh and lay down on her back on the floor. "I... just want a drink... with a lot of alcohol... I deserve it."

Vergil reached out and helped her up. "You have the rest of the week off. But after that, we'll need you to organize the reconstruction of the castle."

"You're going to rebuild it?"

"Of course," Ada replied, approaching with her arms crossed. "We're going to expand this place. It's about time we gave this dump a facelift. We're going to modernize it," Ada said, kicking a stone.

"So much work..." Ei muttered.