Conquest paused as she tried to comprehend what she had just heard.
"One second, you were the Demon Sin of Lust?"
Granny Chiyo leaned in close and pressed two fingers against Conquest's forehead.
"Yes and not only that, we were best friends."
Conquest's eyes widened as she put a hand to her mouth, searching for any trace of Lilith in her shattered memories.
But all she could pull together were blurry images of herself speaking to a pink-skinned woman with a slim figure, long dark hair, and small black wings resting on her hips.
She had always associated those body traits with the Demon Sin of Lust. But now, she finally had a name to attach to that blurry face.
And she certainly never imagined that the pink-skinned woman haunting her fragmented memories would one day be standing in front of her as a blind old lady.
However, something about her did not make sense.
"Explain this to me. Why did I kill you?"
Conquest paused, then narrowed her eyes.
"And how do you even remember any of this? You reincarnated. Your previous memories should have been wiped clean."
Granny Chiyo let out a long breath as she shuffled back to her chair and lowered herself into it.
"Where do I even begin?"
Conquest turned her chair to face Granny Chiyo.
"Preferably from the beginning but keep it short."
"Alright, Conquest. Listen carefully. Four hundred and fifty years ago, I descended to the mortal realm like I always did. I'd lure men in by the dozens, sleep with every single one of them until their bodies gave out, and by morning their souls belonged to me. That was my nature as the Demon Sin of Lust."
"Wait. You were feeding off human souls? How? I thought a Demon of Sin couldn't stay in the mortal realm long enough to cause that kind of damage."
"You're absolutely right. But I was the exception. Out of all the Demons of Sin, I was the weakest in raw strength. Which ironically made it easy for me to slip through the veil without drawing attention. But that's besides the point. What actually matters is what happened next. One day, while I was in the middle of feeding, I ran into a sorcerer. And not just any sorcerer. One who hunted demons and cursed spirits for a living."
Granny Chiyo tilted her head toward the ceiling, the wrinkles around her mouth softening as a faint smile settled in. Whatever she was remembering, must have been something she held dear in her heart.
"This particular sorcerer was actually the founder of the Arakawa family. Liu Han's ancestor."
"So, you met one of Liu Han's ancestors? So what happened between you two, I would assume nothing good?"
A laugh slipped from Granny Chiyo, her shoulders shaking with it.
"Well, at first I tried to seduce him like any other man. Take his soul and move on. But he had some kind of incantation on him that made him completely immune to my charm. I'd never encountered that before. It terrified me. And he could see it on my face."
She paused, her fingers tracing the arm of her chair.
"He was supposed to kill me. That was his job. But instead of raising his weapon, he lowered it. He took pity on me, and from that day forward he taught me something I never knew existed. An emotion that resembled lust but ran so much deeper."
Conquest raised an eyebrow.
"Desire? Is that what changed you?"
"Close. But no, darling. It was love."
Conquest scratched her head.
"Love? What do you mean by love?"
"Well, back then I didn't know much about it either. But this man, he explained it to me in a way I never forgot. He said lust is selfish. That it takes what it wants and leaves nothing behind. But love, love is the opposite. It gives without expecting anything in return. And while lust disappears the moment you're satisfied, love stays long after the pleasure is gone."
"Hmm… I think I understand what you mean by love. Still, that doesn't answer any of my questions."
"I'm getting there. One thing at a time. Now, the man who spared my life, his name was Hong Yi. He told me he'd keep teaching me about love on one condition. I had to stop killing. And if I agreed, he'd let me into his world. His family. His wife and two kids."
Granny Chiyo chuckled softly.
"So I agreed. Didn't even hesitate. But then again, I couldn't exactly walk into his home looking like myself. Since, a pink-skinned demon doesn't make for a convincing houseguest. So I changed my appearance to look like an ordinary human woman. From there, Hong Yi told his wife he'd hired a new maid to help around the house. And just like that, I was living under their roof, watching what a loving family actually looked like up close."
Conquest sighed.
"That's fine and all, but how does this tie into my question?"
"Well, here's why it matters. What I did wasn't just a mistake. It was a mistake I made knowing full well what it would cost. You see, the title Mother of Demonkind wasn't given to me for nothing. I was the sole demon who could devour a human soul and birth demons from it. Not only that but since Hell was far from habitable, keeping our numbers high wasn't just important. It was survival."
Conquest was starting to connect the dots. With Lust gone from Hell, there was no one left to birth new demons. Meanwhile, the toxic atmosphere kept killing lesser demons at an alarming rate. Without replacements, their numbers would have plummeted. And a weakened demon race was an open invitation for other races in the unseen realm to invade and wipe them out completely.
Conquest put a hand to her mouth.
"I see, I understand a little bit of why this decision of yours was a bad idea."
"Yes, it was bad. But it only got worse. About six months in, I was living with them peacefully. The kids had been begging to go to the beach for weeks. So that morning, I went to their rooms to wake them up with a smile. But when I got there, all of them were slowly dying as their whole bodies turned pale."
Granny Chiyo went quiet for a moment.
"And the strange thing was, while they were fading, I felt different. My body had this tingling sensation that wouldn't go away. It sat under my skin like something was crawling through me. At first I ignored it. I even told myself it was just my demon body reacting to living among humans for too long."
Conquest couldn't take her eyes off Granny Chiyo. The old woman's chin was shaking and her hands wouldn't stay still in her lap.
That tingling sensation. It must have been her body going through withdrawal. She hadn't fed on human souls for months.
"At first I thought it was just a bad fever. Something that would pass in a few days. So I took care of them. Cooked for them, wiped their foreheads, stayed by their side through the nights. But they didn't get better. They only got worse."
Conquest's arms folded as she listened.
"What happened next?"
"One night, I found Hong Yi collapsed on the floor next to his bed. He couldn't even pull himself back up. I held him in my arms and the tingling surged through my entire body. That's when I understood. My body had stopped receiving souls, so it found another way to feed. It was draining their life force. Every second I spent near them, I was killing them."
Conquest rose from her chair.
"So you left them, didn't you? You walked away from them because staying meant devouring their souls. And after all of that, because you were so consumed by this idea of love, you came to me and asked me to kill you. All so you could reincarnate as a human and experience that same love yourself. Am I right?"
Granny Chiyo rose from her chair as well.
"Exactly. And you were the only one who could guarantee I'd keep my memories after death. Your ring's ability allowed you to create a domain where whatever you declared became law. All you had to do was seal me inside it and speak a decree. That my memories would survive the passage through Purgatory and follow my soul into my next life."
Conquest's memories flooded back the moment those words left Chiyo's mouth. Right there, standing in the gymnasium, a vision forced its way through her mind. It was her own domain, pure white and sealed shut, with the Demon Sin of Lust standing at its center. Lilith smiled at her, calm and unafraid.
Conquest's breath caught. As the gymnasium snapped back into focus. Chiyo was still standing in front of her, waiting.
"You remembered something just now, didn't you, Conquest?"
"Yes, it came back to me. And now I'm realizing just how big of a mistake I made recently."
Chiyo tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
Conquest raised her right hand and spread her fingers. Her pinky sat bare.
"My ring. I gave it away to escape Sloth and Envy. At the time, I thought it was nothing more than a symbol of my title. But now I remember what it actually held. My Decree. The one ability that could have made a difference against the Demons of Sin. And I handed it over without knowing what I was giving up."
Granny Chiyo's mouth fell open.
"What?! Then we have no choice. You need to get that ring back. The ability it holds is far too valuable to leave in enemy hands."
"I agree. But even if I had the ring in my hands right now, I couldn't use it.
Granny Chiyo grabbed Conquest's arm and pulled her toward the elevator.
"Come with me. We're going up to Liu Han and the others. You're going to explain exactly what you mean by "you can't use it." I would rather have everyone on the same page."
Conquest stumbled along behind Granny Chiyo, her thoughts racing faster than her feet. Admitting weakness in front of an old woman was one thing. Admitting it in front of Liu Han, Kamui, and everyone else was another.
She pulled back against Chiyo's grip.
"Wait. Before we go up there, you should know the truth. Ever since I woke up from the coma, my mana has been clogged. It barely regenerates at all. Even if I got my ring back today, I couldn't power its Decree. Not in this state."
Conquest lowered her voice.
"And I'd rather the others not hear any of this. I don't trust any of them. As far as they know, I'm still a Horseman at full strength, and I intend to keep it that way."
Granny Chiyo stopped just short of the elevator and turned to Conquest, her face twisted in disbelief.