I Was Reborn in Another World, But I Awoke Inside a Corpse

Chapter 186: Signs Beneath the Veil

It began with whispers.

Not voices.

Not words.

Just the way enchanted lanterns flickered unevenly in corners where the air felt too still. The way spirit-flowers closed an hour too early. The way healers paused mid-prayer, blinking at a sense of being watched.

Lilyshade was peaceful.

But something beneath its peace was shifting.

—

Asmodeus stood at the balcony of her sanctum, her hand resting lightly on the stone rail. Isaac stood behind her, quiet as ever, his eyes narrowed toward the valley below.

"It's subtle," she said, "but it's spreading."

Isaac nodded. "The city feels… thinner. Like something is pressing up from underneath."

She turned toward him.

"There are old layers beneath Lilyshade. Parts of the original foundation that were never rebuilt. Before I took this place, it belonged to another—a tyrant. One of the old Great Demons."

Isaac frowned. "The one you sealed?"

She nodded.

"I buried his name. No one in the city remembers it now. I made sure of that."

Isaac crossed his arms. "Then why does it feel like something's remembering him?"

She didn't answer.

Instead, she turned and motioned toward her inner sanctum.

"Come. There's something I want to show you."

—

They descended a spiral stairwell carved from obsidian rootstone. No torches lit the path—only veins of gentle soullight glowing within the walls. The air grew cooler as they went deeper.

At the base of the spiral stood a sealed archway—no keyhole, no markings.

Asmodeus placed her palm to it.

The seal pulsed once. Then opened.

Inside was a small, circular chamber. Its walls were covered in etched glyphs—none active, none glowing. The only object was a pedestal at the center.

On it sat a closed book bound in crimson leather and wrapped in three silver clasps.

"I haven't opened this in centuries," Asmodeus said. "This was written by the last generation who fought him—those who remembered the before."

Isaac stepped forward slowly.

"What's inside?"

She hesitated.

Then reached out.

The clasps came undone at her touch.

The book opened.

Dust rose.

And words, ancient and trembling, revealed themselves beneath their breath:

"He was not merely a king of violence. He was a creature of compulsion. A force of craving. Not Lust. Not Rage. Something deeper. Something that fed on surrender—until even the soul forgot how to resist."

"We sealed him beneath the flesh of the world. Buried his name in memory. But the wound still pulses beneath the stone."

Isaac looked up slowly.

"…This doesn't sound like an ordinary demon."

"He wasn't," Asmodeus said softly. "He was… a Sovereign of Desire. Something far older than the title of Lust."

She closed the book, but her hand lingered on the cover.

"For all my strength, I could never kill him. Only bind him."

Isaac looked around the silent chamber.

"How long do we have?"

She didn't answer at first.

Then: "If the bond between us awakened part of me… then it may have stirred him as well."

Isaac stepped to her side.

"Then we find the cracks before he does."

She met his gaze.

"Together."