"Why are you grinning like that, darling? Y-You really have more to shock us with?"
Amelia stared at him with a blank expression, unsure how to react.
She was already overwhelmed by the fact that their husband possessed a powerful optic-type demonic ability called [Mystic World], an innate ability he was born with as a human called [Battle Instincts], and, somehow, the ability to regenerate from grave injuries like amputation within seconds, [Innate Regeneration], comparable to high-ranking vampires.
And now he was saying he had even more to show?
Aria, on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered.
She was happily snuggled into his arms, quietly listening to the conversation as if the warmth of his touch mattered far more than the absurd abilities he possessed.
Zyel brought his hands forward, and with a bit of concentration, something appeared.
A warm, dark silvery light began to cover his hand, starting from the tips of his fingers and spreading upward along his forearm until it reached his elbow.
The light then condensed, revealing a pair of silvery gauntlets adorned with intricate mystical markings and symbols etched across their surface, emitting a faint, eerie aura.
"What the fuck is this?" Amelia asked in shock.
Aria, who had been comfortably snuggling moments ago, suddenly froze as she stared at the gauntlets in his hands.
"Those are the gauntlets that that hero bitch was using... how in the underworld do you have them?" Aria asked, her voice filled with disbelief.
"Not just this..." Zyel muttered.
In the next moment, a small ball of light manifested in his gauntlet-covered right hand.
It quickly elongated, taking shape as it extended outward, transforming into a long sword.
The blade was double-edged and engraved with intricate designs, while the hilt was dark and elongated, its guard curving upward like wings.
The sword emitted a faint, almost invisible white aura that carried a subtle yet threatening presence toward both Amelia and Aria, though it seemed completely harmless to Zyel.
"That's the holy sword wielded by that guy..." Amelia muttered in shock.
She looked on in surprise at the holy sword in her husband's hand.
It was completely docile, fully under his control, as if the blade had accepted a demon as its master.
Not just that.
Her gaze shifted to the gauntlets, then back again to the sword, her confusion only deepening.
The gauntlets were relics, and the holy sword could also be considered one.
Any weapon or artifact, whether created by humans or other supernatural beings, was classified as a relic as long as it possessed special attributes or contained a will or soul within it.
The presence of a will or soul meant that the weapon had the potential to grow stronger over time alongside its wielder.
Most holy swords possessed a will or soul of their own.
Because of that, they were automatically designated as relics.
The holy sword in Zyel's hand was undoubtedly a relic-grade weapon.
It had its own will.
It could choose its master.
First, she could not understand how or why a relic-grade holy sword would choose a demon like her husband as its master.
Holy swords, along with their holy attributes, were the natural counterparts to demonic power, the very enemies of all creatures of the night.
Second, how could he be acknowledged as the master of two relics at the same time when he was the one who had killed their previous wielders?
It was widely known among those familiar with relics that these objects possessed powerful wills and intent.
It was extremely rare for them to accept as their master someone who had slain their previous wielder.
Relics had emotions.
They could be resentful and vindictive.
Yet here was Zyel, holding two such relics in his hands, the hands of the very person who had killed their previous owners, and they seemed to have already accepted him.
Not only that, they behaved as docilely as they possibly could.
"I don't even know how to react to this..." Amelia muttered.
She looked like she did not want to hear an explanation, yet she was deeply curious about how he had obtained such power.
At the same time, her thoughts were already moving ahead, forming ideas on how to deal with her overly proud mother, who would most likely refuse to accept Zyel as her son-in-law and might even try to kill him on sight without giving him a chance.
"I was hesitant to tell you about another innate ability I have..."
The ability he was about to explain was known as [Law Of Devouring].
It was a genuine innate ability, something he had been aware of since birth, even before the memories and personality of his past life merged with his current one.
However, this ability was passive in nature, and there was a condition required for its activation, something the Zyel of the past had never even considered attempting.
Back then, he had no knowledge of the supernatural or of other humans who possessed abilities like his. He had assumed he was the only one, an unnatural existence.
This was one of the main reasons why the old Zyel had been so reclusive and introverted, driven by the fear of not knowing who or what he truly was.
A known danger can be faced.
An unknown one can only be imagined, and imagination is far worse.
For someone like the old Zyel, who had nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company, that imagination became even more dangerous.
But the Zyel of now, the one who possessed the merged memories and personalities of both his past and present lives, intended to use this ability to its fullest extent.
"My innate ability, [Law Of Devouring]... This was my first time experiencing its effects. But if what I understand about my ability is true, then whenever I kill someone, I absorb their essence. I don't fully understand what that means yet, but I have confirmed one thing. I absorb all the abilities of those I kill..."
Zyel explained slowly.
He was not afraid to tell his wives about the dangerous power he possessed.
He trusted them completely, enough to reveal a secret he had kept to himself for as long as he could remember.
"The holy sword I obtained from that hero is called [Nihilion], also known as The Holy Sword of Nothingness."
Zyel gently ran his hand along the blade.
Contrary to what should have happened, the holy aura surrounding the sword did not harm him.
Instead, it felt warm and almost comforting.
"The gauntlets are called [Kratheon], also known as The Paragon's Gauntlets."
As if responding to his words, the gauntlets flickered faintly, as though they were pleased to be in the possession of their current master.
Everything about these relics, their names, their abilities, their potential, and their specifications, was instinctively known to him, just as he understood his own abilities the moment he gained them.
[Nihilion], the Holy Sword of Nothingness, could generate holy aura, light, and energy to attack its opponents.
However, its unique trait was the ability to create destructive holy power capable of erasing anything into nothingness.
The sword possessed a will, a faint wisp of a soul, which had the potential to grow stronger and evolve into a fully awakened spiritual weapon as its wielder grew stronger.
[Kratheon], the Paragon's Gauntlets, had the ability to generate attacks of pure energy.
They could also create shields and barriers of pure energy, while amplifying and enhancing the power, efficiency, and effectiveness of the wielder's abilities.
"...Sigh. Oh man... darling, not going to lie, that is the most absurd ability I have ever heard of in my life..." Amelia muttered.
"What about the hero who was using ice to attack us? Did you gain his ability as well?" Aria asked.
"That guy was not an innate ability user, nor was he a relic user. His ability to create ice constructs came from a contract with a spiritual beast. When I killed him, his contract with that ice beast was transferred to me due to my innate ability," Zyel said, a slight frown forming on his face.
"Although... the contract he had is different from the one I received."
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked, narrowing her eyes.
"The contract he originally formed with the beast was an Equivalent Exchange contract. He had to give the beast something in return to access its abilities. But when the contract was transferred to me, it changed into a Master–Servant contract, with me as the master. I do not have to give the spiritual beast anything except a small amount of energy to maintain the link. I can use its abilities freely and even summon it whenever I want."
"Interesting..." Amelia muttered, her eyes slowly widening. "It seems your [Law Of Devouring] has the power to forcibly rewrite contracts in your favor by default. That would also explain how the ownership of the holy sword and gauntlets transferred to you. The sword had no choice but to acknowledge you as its master because your ability rewrote its will to accept you..."
Her expression sharpened as countless possibilities ran through her mind.
"Which means, darling, as long as you kill a relic user, you can simply obtain their relic for yourself with complete ownership..."
Amelia's mind went into overdrive, imagining all sorts of abilities, weapons, relics, and ancient artifacts that possessed souls.
Anything that could make a normal person extraordinarily powerful could now belong to her husband if he killed its previous wielder.
"Darling, this is an absurdly overpowered ability... we need to discover its limits. What does 'absorbing essence' truly mean? To what extent can you inherit abilities? Is it limited to humans? What about high-ranking demons? If you kill one, would you gain their abilities too?" she asked rapidly, gripping his hand tightly.
She looked like she would willingly bring hundreds of demons for her husband to kill, just to test the limits of his innate ability.
"There is one more thing I wanted to show you that—"
Knock! Knock!
Before Zyel could continue, the sound of a knock interrupted him.
The three of them exchanged glances.
"Come in."
The door opened, and a demon woman dressed in a maid uniform stepped inside.
She wore a classic black and white outfit.
Her long, curly crimson hair was tied into a ponytail, and her bright green eyes sparkled with a playful expression as she looked at the three of them.
"Oh my... looks like I arrived at just the right time. Our handsome young master is finally awake..."
She shot Zyel a charming, almost seductive smile, twirling a strand of her crimson hair between her fingers as if hinting at something inappropriate.
"What do you want, Mira? Get to the point," Aria said coldly, shooting her a sharp glare.
"Your mother, Alisha-sama, has returned from visiting the Asmodeus Household. She sent me to bring you two and your husband," Mira said.
Her eyes never left Zyel, focused on him as if she wanted to burn his overwhelmingly attractive face into her memory.
"She said she wants to meet your husband."