DXD: the despair Bringer

**Setting: The Abandoned Nu'man Square**

Ereshkigal turned towards Karar and said, "I know you have questions about who I am and why I am here. However, this place is not suitable for such discussions. Why don't you go to your family and inform them that you'll be leaving for a long time and won't be returning?"

Karar responded, his tone steady. "There's no need for that. Considering you're the goddess of death, you should know that my soul does not belong to this world. I don't need farewells. However, I might require your help in faking my death and leaving behind a false body. That way, they won't waste time and resources looking for me."

Ereshkigal stared at him, momentarily stunned. "Very well," she finally said. "If that's what you want, I'll arrange it. After that, we'll head to my fortress in Kur to discuss things further."

**Serafall Leviathan's Perspective**

I stood in my private chamber of pleasure, gazing at its elaborate contents. A mixture of complexity, sorrow, and emptiness gnawed at me. Why do I feel this way? It's as though something that should have been mine was stolen.

This strange feeling consumed me, draining all desire to act.

I muttered to myself, lost in thought, until the sharp sound of a scream interrupted me—or rather, an odd barking noise, like a human mimicking a dog's desperate plea for mercy.

I walked toward the source of the noise, irritation flickering through me. My thoughts had been rudely disrupted.

The culprit was a boy, no older than eleven, with blue hair, green eyes, and a mole beneath one of them. If I'm not mistaken, this was slave #321, the one I had ordered to bark like a dog instead of speaking.

I stared at him with cold disdain, considering how I might rid myself of these troubling feelings by replacing them with pleasure. That's what I thought as I moved toward him, striking him in the stomach hard enough to ensure pain without causing death.

I didn't stop there. I continued to hit him—in the stomach, back, and head—showing no mercy. Blood dripped from his mouth as he writhed in agony, yet I felt nothing. No satisfaction. No relief.

This frightened me. Desperate to rekindle the familiar thrill, I turned to my collection of torture tools.

I selected several: one designed to torment the eyes, another for the rectum—a phallic device fitted with blades and spikes—and a tool meant to shred flesh beneath the skin.

I grabbed the boy by his hair and forced him to look at me as I pressed the eye-torture device against his sockets.

Slowly, it began extracting his eyes, inflicting excruciating pain. His screams filled the chamber, his hands flailing desperately to stop me. I paralyzed his arms and drove the flesh-shredding tool into his stomach, twisting it as he howled. Still, I felt nothing.

My last resort was the spiked phallic device. I strapped it on and drove it into his rectum, ignoring his agonized screams and pleas. His barking ceased as he begged in coherent words, but I continued, forcing the device deeper until it tore into his intestines.

Even as I struck his body, leaving marks on his flesh, and whispered taunts into his ear, I felt… nothing.

After what felt like an eternity, I removed the device. Blood poured from his ruined body, his eyes now empty sockets. Yet still, no pleasure came.

In frustration, I ended his life. Crushing his skull underfoot, I watched as blood and brain matter splattered across the room. I froze the remains with magic, shattering them into fragments.

Discarding my clothes, I lay naked on my bed, my mind filled with the image of the person who had left me feeling so hollow. My hand drifted between my thighs as I thought of him.

**Karar's Perspective**

I now stood in a dim, desolate palace illuminated only by the faint, blue glow of strange lanterns. No, not lanterns—cages holding souls.

I turned to Ereshkigal and asked, "Can you explain everything now? What's happening, and why have you been watching me?"

**Third-Person Perspective**

Ereshkigal hesitated for a moment before responding. She revealed who she was and explained that she had been aware of Karar since his birth, knowing he didn't belong to this world. She was surprised when he chose to be honest with her instead of hiding his truth. She then expressed her desire to take him as her apprentice.

Karar studied her for a moment before asking, "Why me?"

Her reply was straightforward: "Because you can help me exact revenge on the Infinite Dragon. I also know you will eventually face it due to your own goals."

Karar shifted the topic, asking about the Nordic rune book he had discovered. Ereshkigal explained that it was given to her by a friend named Hela.

Their conversation shifted to various supernatural and magical topics until Ereshkigal finally said, "It's time to formalize our relationship as master and apprentice."

Using her magic, she changed Karar's attire to a black outfit adorned with a skull emblem.

"There's one more thing," she added. "I have altered your fate."

Karar remained calm, surprising her. "I know," he said. "I felt it when you did. I'm not concerned."

Ereshkigal blinked in disbelief. "You're not angry?"

"No, I'm not," Karar replied.

Curious, she asked, "Do you want to know what your original fate was before I changed it?"

Karar shook his head. "There's no need. I can guess it involved that demon Serafall Leviathan. I've sensed a connection to her, though I'm aware it's not a good one."

Ereshkigal nodded and summoned a skeletal servant. "It will guide you to your quarters," she said.

Karar followed the skeleton, bidding farewell to the Queen of the Underworld.

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This novel is dropped