THE ALMIGHTY SYSTEM IS JUST A LEWD GIRL - Chapter 32: Feeding ground.

We didn’t waste time. Rhea kicked the last fragments of mist from her blade and motioned to the door. “We move. Now.”

Vesper’s rings glimmered faintly as she whispered a ward over the splintered mirror. Selendra stretched, tail flicking lazily, but even her grin looked a shade thinner.

I forced myself onto my feet. My throat was raw from the reaper’s grip, my chest still heaving. Alma gave me nothing. Just a quiet hum from the charm pressed to my palm.

We slipped out into the hall. The boards creaked, but nothing moved. No guests, no footsteps, no breath from below.

The stairwell was worse. Shadows pooled at the edges. The air was heavy, like walking through water. We descended in silence, blades ready, tails tense, charms burning cold.

When we reached the bottom, the front desk was empty. The lantern had burned low.

The innkeeper was gone.

Rhea scanned the corners. “She ran.”

“No,” I said. My voice shook, but I knew. “She didn’t run.”

The silence pressed tighter. That’s when I saw him.

A figure sat in the far chair by the window, where the shadows stretched longest. A teal cloak draped across the arm, silver-threaded, light catching in faint lines. His hood was down now, revealing the same sharp jaw, the same smirk I’d seen in the street.

“Looking for the old woman?” he asked, his voice playful, young, but carrying weight all the same. He leaned back like this was his home. “You won’t find her.”

Rhea’s sword came up instantly. Vesper’s rings spun into her palm. Selendra’s tail curled tight.

“Who are you?” I asked. My hand crushed the charm.

He grinned wider. “Prince Melchior Hezron. At your service.” He gave a mocking bow from his chair. “Well, not really. Service isn’t my thing.”

My stomach turned. “Where’s the innkeeper?”

He tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle. “A ghost. Has been for years. Surprised you didn’t notice.”

I blinked hard. “She didn’t seem like one.”

“Ah,” he said, tapping his finger against the chair’s arm. “That’s the power of changeling. A mask stitched from death and memory. Makes you see what she wants you to see.”

The air thickened. My pulse pounded in my ears.

Rhea’s voice was sharp. “Why would a ghost keep an inn?”

Melchior’s smirk dimmed just slightly. “Because it isn’t really an inn anymore. It’s a feeding ground. Her little deal with the demon god made sure of that.”

Vesper’s brows furrowed. “Deal?”

The prince leaned forward, his eyes bright with mischief. “When the woman died, she couldn’t let go. So she bargained. She stays in the world, but the price is simple: she feeds his children. The reapers.”

My skin went cold.

Selendra chuckled low. “Of course. Every story ends with a demon.”

Melchior ignored her. “Almost everyone who stays the night here never leaves. You four?” His gaze swept across us before settling on me. “Lucky. Or cursed. Depends on how you look at it.”

I swallowed hard. “We killed them. The reapers. We made it through.”

His grin returned, sharp as a knife. “Did you, though? They didn’t return. And if his children don’t return, the father comes looking.”

Vesper’s jaw tightened. “The demon god.”

“Mm.” Melchior reclined again, casual, like he was telling a bedtime story. “If you survive until dawn, you’ll meet him. If you survive that, you’ll have more than luck. You’ll have his mark. And that’s a whole different curse.”

The lantern sputtered, shadows deepening along the walls. The floor creaked above us. My throat locked.

Rhea lifted her blade higher. “Why tell us this? Why not leave us to it?”

Melchior’s eyes glinted. “Because I like watching interesting pieces move across the board. And you..” His gaze landed on me. “You’re the most interesting piece I’ve seen in a long while.”

The charm throbbed painfully against my palm. Alma stirred faintly, like a whisper through water.

Melchior’s smile spread. “Best keep your eyes open, host. The night’s only just begun.”

The last of the reapers shrieked, a sound that rattled through the walls, and scrambled up the stairwell, their pale limbs moving like broken spiders. The air stank of their ichor, sour and burnt. My chest heaved, sweat plastering my shirt to my back.

“They’re running,” Rhea said, sword still dripping black.

“Not running,” Vesper murmured. Her eyes glowed faintly with the witchlight of her rings. “Retreating. Something calls them.”

We followed, boots thudding on warped steps that groaned like old bones. The stairs climbed into a narrow hallway where the air changed..thicker, wet, foul. The smell was wrong. Not just death, but rot that had been forced to keep rotting.

At the end of the hall, a door leaned crooked on its hinges. It pulsed faintly, red light leaking from the cracks.

Selendra’s grin spread wider than I liked. “Oh, this will be fun.”

Rhea shoved the door with her shoulder. It scraped open, shrieking metal against stone.

The room beyond was worse than anything I’d imagined.

A cocoon, taller than a man, hung against the far wall. Its surface pulsed, wet and translucent, swollen veins bulging like ropes. Reddish light throbbed from inside, casting shadows that writhed on the ceiling. Black liquid dripped from its seams, puddling across the floor with a stench that clawed at my throat.

The reapers clung to the walls around it, their pale bodies pressed like worshippers to an altar. One by one they began to twitch, screech, and then tear themselves apart. Their limbs ripped free, their torsos split down the middle, and every piece crawled across the stone toward the cocoon.

“No,” I whispered.

The cocoon drank them in. The flesh melted into it. It swelled, pulsed harder, veins bursting and reforming. A moan rumbled through the chamber, not human, not beast..something hollow, as if the sound came from the air itself.

The charm at my chest seared hot. Numbers spiked in my vision.

[Alma System: Sync 100% | Core Reactivation Pending]

“Alma..!”

She didn’t answer.

The cocoon split open.

A limb clawed free first, long and jointed wrong, dripping with thick strands of black rot. Then another. A head forced its way out…a skull with no skin, sockets burning red, jaw split into four parts. The reapers’ remains twisted and latched onto its body, building it bigger, uglier, wrong.

It grew taller, filling the chamber, scraping the ceiling.

Rhea gritted her teeth. “Demon god.”

Selendra licked her lips. “Delicious.”

The thing roared. The sound threw me to my knees. The floor vibrated like it wanted to split. My vision blurred, the charm burning a hole into my chest.

“Move!” Rhea shouted. She charged, blade flashing.

The demon’s limb swung, smashing the floorboards. The room shook. Vesper raised her hands, her rings blazing as she cast a barrier that groaned under the weight of the blow.

Selendra darted low, tail snapping, claws biting into the demon’s leg. Black ichor sprayed but the wound sealed instantly.

I staggered to my feet, charm throbbing against my palm. “Alma! Please! I can’t do this..”

I still got nothing from her.

The demon’s second limb lashed. Rhea slammed against the wall, coughing blood. Vesper’s barrier shattered. Selendra shrieked as she was flung across the room.

It towered above me now,Its hollow sockets locked onto me. My legs froze,my chest burned and the charm flared until I thought my ribs would crack.

And then a light erupted…It wasn’t fire,It wasn’t lightning,It was raw, white force, tearing out of the charm in a flood that blinded everything. The demon reeled back, its limbs catching flame-like threads of light that clung and burned into its rot.

The whole chamber shook..When the glare eased, she was there…Alma.

Not a voice,not a flicker in my head but her. Body formed of light and steel, hair white like frost, eyes burning with fury. She stepped out of the charm as if she had always been waiting, and the room bowed to her presence.

Her gaze cut to me,for the first time since the cave, I could breathe.

“Stand,” she said. Her voice was cold, sharp, real. “You’re not done yet.”

For a heartbeat, no one moved. The air itself seemed frozen, suspended between her light and its rot.

Rhea lowered her sword first. She staggered back toward the wall, blood on her lips, eyes locked wide on Alma. Vesper dragged herself upright beside her, pale and trembling, her rings flickering dimly. Even Selendra, arrogant and shameless as always, pulled herself back with a wary glint in her eyes.

“Stay out of this,” Alma said, her voice cutting through the chamber like a blade.

Rhea swallowed, then nodded. She knew. They all did. Whatever Alma was..whoever she was…this was her fight.

The demon lurched forward, limbs unfolding from the cocoon with wet snaps. Its torso split open, ribs jutting out like jagged wings. The stench grew unbearable, burning my throat with bile. Its eyes, two pits of red, locked on Alma.

It roared again, louder, deeper and the whole inn shuddered.

Alma didn’t flinch,she raised one hand, light gathering in her palm until it was too bright to look at. The glow shot forward, a spear of white fire that slammed into the demon’s chest. Flesh burned, black ichor spraying, the scream rattling stone dust from the ceiling.

But it didn’t fall…The wound sealed over instantly, new limbs sprouting from the tear. They writhed like snakes, lashing at her.

She met them head on,light burst around her body, a shield forming with each strike. Every time its claws hit, sparks of brilliance scattered, searing the air. She moved with precision, no wasted motion, each counterstroke driving her closer.

It swung again and she caught the limb in both hands, twisted, and snapped the joint with a flash. The limb tore free, collapsing into sludge.

The demon reeled, then split its jaw open wider, vomiting a spray of acid-black sludge. The liquid hit the floor, sizzling through stone.

Alma raised her arm, and a barrier of crystal-clear light formed in front of her. The acid struck it and hissed, unable to pass. She pushed, and the barrier exploded outward, shards of energy slicing through the chamber and cutting into the demon’s torso.

It staggered, shrieking, but still didn’t fall. Its body reformed, reapers’ limbs still climbing into it, strengthening it.

I could barely breathe, the heat and stench pressing down. My legs shook. I had never felt so small.

“Eiji.”

My head jerked up,Alma’s voice filled my chest, not cold now, but sharp with urgency. Her eyes flicked toward me even as she fought.

“You’re my anchor,don’t lose focus. If you break, I break.”

I gripped the charm until my knuckles bled white. “I..I won’t.”

The demon slammed both arms down. Alma braced, light erupting around her like wings. She caught the strike, pushed back, her feet sliding across the stone, leaving trails of glowing heat where she stepped.

For a moment, they locked. Her light against its rot. Neither side giving.

The cocoon behind it pulsed harder, veins bursting one after another. More reaper flesh crawled out, twisting into the demon’s body. It grew taller, limbs splitting and reforming.

Alma’s jaw clenched. Her form flickered, the glow dimming for a heartbeat.

“No,” I whispered.

She steadied again, teeth bared. “I won’t lose to filth like you.”

Her hands swept wide, pulling threads of light out of the air itself. They spun into a blade, long and radiant, edges humming with power. She gripped it tight, raised it high, and charged.

The demon lunged to meet her…They clashed in the center of the room, its claws slamming against her blade, sparks of rot and brilliance spraying everywhere. The ground cracked beneath them, stone splintering under the force.

The others could only watch…Rhea clutched her sword, useless now,Vesper held her rings close, eyes shining with something I hadn’t seen before..fear, maybe awe. Even Selendra, for once, didn’t smile.

The fight raged on,Alma struck fast, every blow precise, but the demon absorbed, reformed, fought back harder. Its body was endless, a mass of stolen flesh but she didn’t yield.

Her blade slashed its torso, light bursting through like sunlight tearing open a cave. The demon screamed, limbs flailing, its skull splitting wider.

Alma’s voice thundered. “Back to the pit that spat you out!”

She drove the blade forward…The demon caught it,Its rotten claws locked onto the edge. For a breathless second, light and rot pulsed against each other, neither overpowering.

Then the charm in my chest flared and energy rushed from me into her, the bond pulling everything I had left. My knees hit the ground, but I didn’t let go.

Her eyes widened as the surge flowed into her. She roared, shoving the blade deeper.

The demon shrieked, body tearing, light spilling through its cracks. Its limbs writhed, snapping, melting.

The cocoon behind it burst, spraying rot across the walls.

Alma’s blade split it clean through and for a moment, there was only silence.

Then the whole thing exploded in a flood of black smoke and red flame.

The chamber shuddered, nearly collapsing. Dust rained from the ceiling,the smell of ash and burnt flesh filled every breath.

When the smoke cleared, Alma still stood in the center. Her body flickered, light dimmer, but her blade was buried in the stone.

The demon god was gone.

She pulled the blade free, turned, and looked straight at me.

“You kept me alive,” she said quietly.

Her voice was softer now…Almost… human.