The name hit Kyle like a physical blow.
"Lucifer," he breathed out, the word tasting like ash and venom on his tongue.
Instantly, the dark crimson in his eyes flared, turning a shade so deep it bordered on pitch black. The demonic energy coiled within his core thrashed violently, reacting to the name of the ruler who had orchestrated the ruin of everything he held dear. Rage, hot and suffocating, boiled up from his chest, but right beneath that fury was a sharp, piercing spike of shock.
A beast. A mere Rootcrystal Deer sitting in a hidden pocket of a corrupted forest, calmly declaring that it wanted the Demon King dead. It felt absurd. It felt impossible.
'Snow, what the hell is this?' Kyle demanded internally, his mental voice sharp as a razor. 'How does a creature on this backwater planet even know that name? How is it aware of Lucifer?'
