The Ninety-Fourth “My Women!”
“Timons, well done.”
Watching Ash kneel on the ground in pain, his body surrounded by increasingly dense darkness, his head slowly lowering—Lord Doon let out an exclamation tinged with surprise.
“As a human, your courage and recklessness are equally astonishing to me.”
“Unfortunately, this isn’t a gift. Human bodies can scarcely endure such a degree of darkness.”
Doon spoke cruelly in an innocent tone as if passing a “death sentence” on Ash.
Though their conversation was seemingly harmonious, Doon truly despised Ash, perhaps even hated him intensely.
Opposites attract, as they say; not in gender, but similarly, Ash sensed something akin from Doon, who rarely felt a “kindred spirit” from Ash.
As a ruler who acted entirely at his own whim, dominating both people and nature freely, Doon could mercilessly desiccate living planets for sheer delight, despite the harm it caused him.
He understood that if Ash were to suddenly turn against him, it might cause significant trouble.
Thus, he decided to act first.
“I was born from the universe; as the Desert King, as the strongest desert demon, it is my innate mission to turn all of existence into a planet of dust.” Facing Ash, whom he regarded as already dead, Doon abruptly changed the subject to recount his past.
“Since it’s my mission, I happily fulfilled it.” Doon narrated his past experiences calmly. “I seek any planet with life, no matter how they live, pulling out the heart flowers of all intelligent beings, causing them to wither before turning them into lifeless crystals, and the rest into sand.”
“Of course, some have resisted, but the universe is vast.” As he spoke, Doon seemed to recall unforgettable moments, his tone becoming passionate. “Advanced combat robots, superpowered individuals capable of space battles, colossal warships of space empires, and terrifying devouring insectoids—now they seem like impressive foes indeed.”
“Still, they were all eradicated, their heart flowers harvested and their planets emptied.”
Ash kneeled on the ground, his body covered in darkness, trembling slightly, retrieving something unseen by Doon.
“I’ve seen things humans cannot imagine. I witnessed warships burning at the Orion constellation, saw C-rays shimmering amidst darknes near Tannhauser Gate.”
“I once believed these moments would vanish with time, like tears disappearing in the rain.”
Doon spread his arms as if embracing the universe before him.
“Until I came to this planet… I lost.”
“When I arrived on Earth decades ago, I was defeated by the legendary warrior [CureFlower (Flower Angel)] and sealed away deep in the cosmos!” Despite reciting his defeat, Doon seemed excited.
“How is this possible? If CureFlower’s power isn’t much stronger, why did she defeat me?”
“So, I wish to return to Earth and confront her again, this time torture her and watch her suffer. It must be amusing!”
“Is that so? Then we share the same objective…”
What!?
Ash’s words made Doon stare wide-eyed at the figure rising from the darkness, his one eye glowing red, and countless gray-white sands falling from Ash’s sleeves, making him look like the dying Enoch.
“I won’t succumb to too much darkness or lose myself again!”
After calming the restless darkness within and suppressing those forces, Ash avoided falling into madness,
“I’d rather choose to be mad than influenced by inscrutable forces and act recklessly!”
Nevertheless, this didn’t matter because he still won.
With System’s help, he absorbed only the necessary portion to create a Dark Resonance, instead of taking all at once. The remaining darkness energy…
[Ash, I’ve balanced it. You can release the excess now.]
Taking out a seal and pressing it forcefully against his chest with both hands,
Amidst magical light and even Shabak covering his eyes in disbelief, changes swept over Ash’s body. On his body, the unwanted dark energy returned to the seal taken from Doon.
Combining his immense power with guidance from his belt, the seal transformed.
On the pale marble pattern, gold hues emerged; the black entity now featured a vivid red spider carving, its two protruding eyes blinking with blue and red lights.
“With this, one part of the victory equation is secured…”
Ash lowered the seal from his chest, enduring excruciating pain while aiming a sinister smile at Doon.
“Lord Doon, I appreciate these powers as wages! Don’t take them back now.”
“…”
Even though he’s supposed to be the joy-bringer, there’s still a desire to reach through the web and strike him down.
“In fact, I also look forward to letting the Precures experience pain—seeing it would be quite fascinating. We share the same objectives,” Ash twisted his neck, meeting Doon’s gaze with a challenge. “But listen carefully!”
“I’m not interested in your affairs with CureFlower, but the current three… four Precures are my prey, meaning they’re mine!”
Pointing at Doon with a gesture of “Arai,” Ash, whose face was shrouded in darkness except for his glaring eyes, shot intense malevolence towards Doon.
“If you dare threaten or touch them lightly, I’ll show you no mercy, Doon!”
“That’s how it is!”
Shabak stood petrified, unable to understand how Ash dared to make such threats to Doon, who was clearly far superior.
Does he care nothing for his life?
“Pfft, hahaha! Hahahaha!”
Suddenly, a kind, childlike voice broke out in joyous laughter.
“Interesting, very interesting!”
“How intriguing, a mere human who thinks he can dominate everything; it’s ironic how much more of a devil you seem compared to me!”
Floating in zero gravity, Doon’s belly shook as he laughed to the point of watery eyes.
“Hahahaha, someone stop this nonsense! Hahahaha!!”
The laughter of the Desert King echoed through the room from one end of the cosmos to the other via the intercom.
