The prey entered the Throne Room in a neat formation, lead by a Priest in rich looking robes. His hair was a deep brown that was starting to go grey at the temples, his piercing blue eyes glared at Soea from within a slightly wrinkled face.

The Priest looked to be in his late forties, he wore a snow-white robe with gold lining. In his hand was a staff made from a deep brown wood, it seems to be mahogany. The staff was covered in the Runic script of the Divine language, it was obviously high-grade and blessed by Arre.

Behind the priest was what looked like a wall of solid steel, a large group of Paladins in their pitch-black armour.

Arre's symbol of a crimson sunburst was inscribed on their chests.

They held massive shields which were almost half their height, and weapons which glowed with a white Holy aura. All the spare space on their armour, shields and weapons were covered in Divine script as well.

These were fairly strong by human standards, A-Ranked at least.

Urgh... People from the church.

I had partially expected the Church, but the sudden and intense surge of hatred did surprise me a little. I thought I had mostly gotten over what they did to me, that it was only Arre that I had a bone deep, soul deep, hatred for.

Soea, who was kneeling in the centre ring, tensed again.

By the time that the invaders had entered the room, I had returned to the throne.

The Paladins' gazes only saw a small amount of the room, first flashing over my Inscriptions, then over myself, before they settled on Soea. Their eyes widened as their faces, the parts visible through the open-face helmets, filled with obvious lust.

Strangely, even the Priest seemed to be fighting off lust.

It was obvious why they felt this, of course.

There was an incredibly beautiful girl kneeling completely naked in the middle of the room. Her skin had no blemishes.

Her body had no excess fat, with her moderately sized breasts standing out proudly, not even sagging a little. Her waist was slim, and her butt was well-shaped, not fat.

Soea's proportions could make even the staunchest man almost drool.

She had fascinating glowing blue eyes and naturally red lips, her nose was skinny, tilting up slightly. The soft and silky raven-black hair hung loose down to her ankles, brushing the floor where she knelt.

From our playing around earlier, a sweet scent filled the air and made my nose tingle.

The crimson blood Runes painted on her stood in contrast to her pale skin, accentuating her form, drawing the eyes.

Though when I noticed their gazes, and in some cases, rough panting, I felt a surge of anger. I had already lost people to the church, I wasn't going to lose my new minion to them as well.

Followers of that bastard god.

Soea seemed unperturbed by their stare, though I heard her mutter something along the lines of "if only my lord...", but I pretended not to hear.

"Whatever happens, whatever they say, do not move from the circle. You are the focal point, the lynchpin of the plan," I said to Soea, ignoring the Paladins and Priest. Soea was already tense and ready to act when I gave the signal. She nodded enthusiastically and cast one more look at me before narrowing her eyes and staring at the invaders.

"I can break your bindings, Demon. If you swear to devote yourself to the Church and to Arre, I will restore your humanity and let you live," the Priest spoke grandiosely.

This was strange, the Church of Arre would never accept a Demoness.

Arre was the god of light and justice, or so they believed, those bastards in his church usually hated the 'dark' races. Though Arre was a perverted hypocrite, so he would probably want Soea for her looks, so as to make her into a toy.

Soea's eyes narrowed even more, I could feel her anger and her bloodthirst. "I would never desert my lord. My life, soul, and body belong completely to him."

Her words made me both happy and uncomfortable.

The Priest frowned, he seemed to want to capture her more than to kill her. If she had taken his offer, he, and the Paladins, would probably have played with her until she broke. They then would have killed her, a public execution, a display to the people.

With a sigh, the Priest shook his head, "Then prepare to burn in hell, Demoness!" He made sure to rearrange his expression as he proclaimed, trying to look magnificent.

He 'grandly' pointed towards her.

'Burn in hell, Demoness', slightly ironic if you think about it.

Was he an idiot?

Again I felt a surge of anger, and so did Soea.

This Priest was a hypocrite, and he threatened one of my belongings... I mean, he threatened my minion.

For some reason it annoyed me that he thought that Soea was more dangerous than I was. I may have still looked human, even though I had participated in quite a few forbidden rituals. However, I was never technically Human since I came to this world, since my Divine-based Hero body was constructed by Arre when he summoned me here.

My Soul Skill was the primary reason that I still retained my completely Human look, even though a lot of the forbidden rituals that improved my power would have also mutated me. Some of these rituals included partial Demonification, a Level-7 transformation spell, as well as bathing in the blood of a Dragon.

Just the bathing in Dragon blood would have at least covered me in scales and given me lizard-like eyes, like the ancient Hero Sigurd, who bathed in the blood of an Ancient Dragon and became a Demigod.

His tale was recorded in the Great Library of the Human capital.

But my Soul Skill's regenerative capabilities were too great, it would reset me back to the default look of my original Human form.

I had the feeling that even the mutagenic effects a Level-8 spell would be negated, but it would negate the positive effects.

Soea looked away from the Priest and over to me, "My lord, should I speak for you?"

She seemed to think that I didn't want to speak to the Priest for some reason, but if I had planned on using the cover that she was the one in charge, not that I would, but this would have blown it.

I couldn't help but smile at her.

"Nah. But he did think that you might have been the one in charge, or at least the more powerful one, because you look stronger, well at least more Demonic, than me. He probably thought that I was a Thrall."

Soea frowned, her head tilted in confusion, like a puppy that heard a strange noise for the first time. Then her look morphed into worry, "My lord, does he have mental problems? Will this interfere with your plans?"

So cute.

While we spoke, the Priest had frozen in place.

His finger, which was still extended and pointing at Soea in 'righteous indignation' drooped. He seemed unsure of what to do, or he was at least embarrassed. This increased my amusement, the sense of schadenfreude, seeing the Priest stumped like this.

"Its fine, it won't interfere with my plan." I got up and walked over to her, squatting down behind her and stroked her head. She rubbed her head against my palm, her soft hair tickling me, her tail swaying in happiness.

She let out a small moan.

Her softly glimmering, slightly damp and parted, red lips drew everyone's gaze.

They were so inviting, I just want to kiss them.

That she would react in a situation like this, it surprised me a little.

Maybe her Succubus instincts were stronger than I thought, I may need to investigate that later.

There was something else that worried me, which was how much I enjoyed stroking her hair, it seemed slightly addictive, as though it may become a habit.

While she didn't object to my arbitrary touching her, she seemed to want me to do it more, but it wasn't good for my self-control, or sanity.

As I was thinking, I found myself drawing closer to her, my hand had stopped stoking and was entangled in her hair, my fingers gently brushing the sensitive back of her neck.

Before I noticed, Soea had turned her head towards me, bringing her face closer to mine.

I couldn't help it, my lips touched hers.