Adam gazed at Agri's fleshy backside, its pale blue skin now a shocking red from the hard smacking, lingering marks of the paddle made evident.
Each welt was a small hole in her pride, a reminder to the pain and humiliation she had just endured.
A faint trail of demonic blood, a dark red slowly becoming black thanks towards her bloodline awakening, dotted the area where the thorns had bitten deep. Her supernatural healing already beginning its work, leaving only the memory of the injuries.
Adam paused for a moment, the paddle held up as listening to Agri's desperate whimpers.
Her seductive purple lips were now a thin line of pain, and her feral yellow eyes, though filled with tears, still held a glint of defiance.
This too brought a strange joy.
Her spirit was not yet broken. Such torments were far from enough to break a demon, a manifestation of malice and sin.
Regardless, Adam wasn't looking for a broken pet.
He wanted a wild, dangerous creature he could control; an active spirit he could toy with and savor. Her true emotions and will were unyielding and wild, yet he now sensed they held a contradictory, submissive core.
This duality was a puzzle he was eager to solve. It brought about a great and sophisticated enjoyment within Adam, a pleasure far beyond the simple carnage of inflicting pain.
'Only devils could truly appreciate the intricate and savage nature of hell's inhabitants,' Adam mused.
Their chaotic and brutal impulses made them a fool's wish to befriend or command without force. Many beings from other realms had tried over the eons, but all have failed. At most, they could only subjugate and command them to fight, but to make a demon truly submit?
A fools dream.
Only the rulers of hell could appreciate their true nature, the way their sins and primal instincts could be molded into an insidious form of order. It was the ultimate expression of control: to tame chaos without breaking its spirit.
Without making her an emotionless doll.
He leaned in close, the scent of sulfur and fresh demonic blood mixed in the air. His voice, a low, whisper, was both soothing and terrifying.
"You see, Agri, a devil's word is law. A lie, no matter how small, is a stain on that law," He gently traced the serrated black cut on her cheek with his finger, the soft touch a stark contrast to his words, "Roh told the truth, yet he was wounded for it. You lied, and you will be punished for it. It is the law of the universe; a means to restore balance, to uphold order." He withdrew his hand, leaving a warm, yet frosty sensation on her skin.
"And I, a devil, am the enforcer of that law, no… I am the law,"He let his hand slide down to her neck, not to choke, but to caress.
"But," he continued, his tone softening with an insidious charm, "I also know what you were doing. A devil is not blind to the natural desires of a demon."
While speaking, Adam could felt her body tense slightly, whilst her mind raced to process the pain, pleasure, and the confusion of his contradictory touch.
"You are a demon. You are made with the essence of sin, and I can feel it. It is your power, your essence. Yet you are too immature, too inexperienced." Adam pressed his hips against her naked buttocks, a sharp pain from the wounds conflicting with the building desires in her.
Pain, pleasure, and reasoning swirled into a confusing cocktail within her mind and body.
"I will show you how to master your emotions, to control your desires, and how to satisfy your lust..." A hint of dark blue painted Agri's pale-blue cheeks as the raw sensation of his body against hers sent a jolt of pleasure through her, warring with the lingering pain. "And I will not stifle what you are. Instead, I will show you its proper use."
Adam smirked to himself, the amusement in the moment was almost physical.
He knew that Agri's natural, immediate reaction after being wounded was to kill Roh. It was a petty, primal, and deeply satisfying impulse.
Fickleness and pettiness were natural for a demon.
Though, Adam found he didn't hate her for it.
A part of him, the part born of wrath, appreciated this feisty demon's volatile nature. He wanted to cultivate that ferocity, not crush it. He wanted a girl who was a weapon in her own right, not a domesticated and docile pet… well, at least not with others.
'If anything, it only made her sexier.'
With a sudden, violent motion, he threw her against a gnarled, twisted tree trunk.
Agri's lithe, toned body hit the hard bark with a thud, and she let out a sharp gasp. The throw had been unexpected.
Adam then began to walk around her in a slow, deliberate circle, his black aura pulsing around him, a silent pressure that demanded her attention.
His mind was processing cold calculations. He understood that while devils were embodiments of all seven sins, their creation gave them a stronger affinity with one or two particular sins.
He, Adam, was a potent combination of wrath, pride, greed, and lust.
He could feel it in his veins: the constant desire for control, the insatiable need to take what was his, the righteous fury that came with it, and the raw craving for sensation.
His old life had been a prison of pain and immobility.
Now, every touch, every sight, every sound, was a profound, intoxicating sensation he had been denied for years. He was making up for lost time, and the price would be paid in the suffering of others.
Agri, on the other hand, was an undeniable creature of sin, with her alignment being most apparent to wrath and lust.
Her seductive body, a manifestation of her sin, was in itself 'unnecessary' for strength in hell. Yet, it was her charm and her ability to capture a devil's attention that had given her this chance.
A chance to gain prestige and power by obtaining a devils favor.
At her core, her intelligence and demonic instincts had driven her to offer her body in exchange for power, and it was through this encounter that her sin of lust had been further enhanced, even though she didn't seek it wantonly. Her innate talents for the sin of lust had been neglected.
She was a reflection of hell's inherent contradictions: a being of lust who had to be taught how to desire, a creature of wrath who had to be taught how to submit.