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

Chapter 197: The Flame That Crossed Realms

The forest canopy swayed gently under the early morning sky, streaked with mist and gold. Near the southern outpost of the Elven Kingdom, Lira stretched her arms with a groan, one boot kicked lazily against a fallen log. Sylvalen stood nearby, surveying a glowing boundary ward, her long silver hair caught in the light wind.

"I still can't believe we've been out here this long," Lira muttered. "He said he'd just 'stabilize the city.' It's been days."

Sylvalen didn't answer immediately.

She didn't need to.

Because in that moment, space shimmered behind them.

Not with warning. Not with system alerts. Just a ripple—quiet, elegant, impossible.

A woman stepped through.

Barefoot, serene, radiant.

Her eyes were violet, ancient and bright. Her long golden hair moved like drifting starlight. Her presence rippled through the ley-lines of the region—mana thickening around her like it recognized her as something fundamental.

Lira's eyes widened.

Sylvalen turned sharply, her aura coiled tight.

"Asmodeus," she whispered.

Not as a curse.

But as a statement of disbelief.

—

The woman who had once ruled the depths of the Abyss by lust alone stood now in open sunlight, unshackled, untouched by divine resistance. There were no cracks in her form. No illusionary fragments. No system strain or spatial bleed.

She had come through whole.

"I expected resistance," she said calmly, glancing at her own hand. "But Terra let me in without a fight."

She looked to Isaac, who had just emerged from a portal nearby.

He nodded slowly.

"You're carrying my soulflame now," he said. "The system doesn't see you as an intruder."

Sylvalen and Lira turned to him in unison.

"…You what?" Lira asked.

—

Later, beneath a canopied alcove built by elven woodweavers, they sat together.

No guards. No witnesses.

Just four souls and the quiet weight of a revelation.

Isaac explained it all.

How he and Asmodeus had faced the potential destruction of Lilyshade together. How their partnership had deepened. How she had walked beside him not as a seductress, but as a sovereign who had chosen peace.

And how they had bound themselves—fully and eternally.

Not through magic.

Through love.

[Union Eternal – Rank EX+]

A divine skill formed by mutual trust and flame, sharing strength and essence with no loss, no limit, and no release.

When he finished, the silence was heavier than stone.

Lira's mouth opened, then closed.

Sylvalen's eyes remained fixed on Asmodeus—sharp, assessing.

"You're saying she's bonded to you," Lira said slowly. "Like… us."

Isaac nodded. "Yes."

"Not just romantically—soul-bonded."

"Yes."

Lira exhaled sharply. "Well. That's... a thing."

Sylvalen spoke next, her voice cool but measured. "You crossed realms. Full-bodied. No divine suppression. No shattering. You shouldn't have been able to."

Asmodeus turned her palms upward. "I was born in a realm of sin, Sylvalen. For centuries, even my shadow was denied entry here."

She looked toward Isaac.

"But now I walk freely—not because I forced the veil to break… but because his flame invited me."

She stepped forward—not looming, not defensive.

"And I came here not to claim him. Not to challenge either of you."

Her gaze softened.

"I came because I missed him."

—

Lira blinked several times. "So you're telling me I now share a soul-linked boyfriend with an elf princess and a demon queen?"

Isaac opened his mouth to speak, but Lira held up a hand. "No. I'm not angry. I just want to be very clear that this is not normal."

A pause.

Then she added, "Also, we need a schedule."

Sylvalen laughed.

Just once.

And in that moment, the tension began to unravel.

—

Sylvalen approached Asmodeus directly, eyes steady.

"I will not deny what you've become," she said. "But I will ask only this: do you stand with us?"

"Not just with you," Asmodeus answered. "Beside you."

They exchanged no handshake. No ritual.

Only recognition.

—

By twilight, they stood together again on the overlook beyond the capital.

Isaac in the center.

Lira to his left, arms crossed but smiling despite herself.

Sylvalen to his right, calm as ever.

And now, Asmodeus beside them.

The four of them, gazing out across the forests of Terra and the horizon beyond.

"So… what now?" Lira asked.

Sylvalen looked toward the stars. "The world stirs."

Asmodeus added softly, "And beyond this world… others are watching."

Isaac clenched his hand, feeling the weight of his soulflame burning quietly beneath his ribs.

Three women now carried that flame with him.

Not as followers.

But as equals.

And for the first time, Isaac didn't feel like a foreign body in a hostile world.

He felt like a center.

A bond.

A convergence.

Whatever came next, they would face it together.