I took sharp breaths to calm myself. I wanted to know the answer, to understand the Demon Queen's cryptic words. But two obstacles stood in my way.
The first was my own understanding.
She had said before that she couldn't help me directly in recovering my memories, but she also told me to wait for my chance. Was she implying that something was going to happen to me? A change of some kind, perhaps?
But when I asked her about it, her answers were either off-topic or beyond my comprehension.
And I leaned toward believing the latter. I saw no reason to why the Demon Queen would lie to me. I wasn't worth deceiving. And if I were, she would've simply told me that my memories wouldn't return or something along those lines.
So most likely, my understanding of her words regarding her proclamation was incomplete. 'She destroys worlds and kills heroes'… I just couldn't find any connection between that and my missing memories.
"And the second obstacle?"
The Demon Queen asked, sitting on top of me, her legs folded back, her spine curving inward in a way that made her rear stand out from behind and to the sides. Her bare chest was pressed between the length of her arms, which rested lazily over my abdominal.
Her ability to read my thoughts still caught me off guard, but I Managed to suppress my surprise this time. After all, I had to adapt.
I opened my mouth to answer but then thought better of it. Words weren't the only medium to convey ideas. Some might argue that actions were far more persuasive.
So, with a wide smile on my face, I reached out with both hands toward the Demon Queen's stomach. Feeling its softness, the thin layer of fat that made it easy to grasp and irresistibly pliant.
The Demon Queen tilted her head to the side, one hands covering the playful smirk on her lips.
"So… I conclude from your actions that my body distracts you. Or perhaps you're trying to implay that I am… plump?"
A dangerous light flickered in the Demon Queen's eyes. And I felt my heart sink.
I tried to explain that this wasn't the meaning behind my actions. Her body was anything but plump in the way she might think; in fact, it was so perfect that calling it plump should be a crime in and of itself.
I opened my mouth to voice my thoughts, but I stopped at the sight of the Demon Queen struggling to suppress her laughter.
"Fufufu~"
A slight annoyance flared up inside me, but that anger quickly turned into embarrassment.
"Relax, I'm only teasing. But you're somewhat right, My stomach and chest are a bit… meaty. Not that I mind."
She narrowed her eyes at me.
"And you, my hero, certainly don't either~"
My embarrassment still hadn't faded, so I opened my mouth to change the subject.
"There's nothing you can do, so just explain your words from earlier. I'd like to know."
I tried to sound composed, but the entire situation was too unnatural for me to pull that off. Even without my memories, I could tell that normal people didn't interact with each other the way I was now with the Demon Queen.
She smiled at me, all my thoughts laid bare before her, but she chose to answer only my spoken words.
"Don't be too hasty. Your charm lies in your patience, able to stay inside me for a long time. And I certainly can do something to cure your… distracted mind."
From thin air, the red bed sheets I had been lying on disappeared, reappearing in the Demon Queen's hands.
She wrapped them around her back, making an exaggerated motion of covering her shoulders.
"How about this? Better?"
She asked, her expression faux-embarrassed, faux-innocent.
'She's toying with me!'
That much was obvious. The bed sheets covered her back completely, sure. But within my field of vision, I could still clearly see the full length of her folded legs atop me, her stomach, and the majority of her chest. In other words, she had only covered herself from behind and her shoulders in the front. And that was without even mentioning that I was still completely buried inside her, her tightness around me as constricting as ever.
I lifted my gaze to look at her beautiful face. She still looked at me with the same pure, embarrassed expression, as if my gaze only made her shyness grow.
"Yes, this is much better!"
I answered her question honestly and shamelessly. From the beginning, I had been against the idea of her covering herself from my sight. For such a mighty Demon Queen, she sure had some unnecessary ideas.
The embarrassed look on her face vanished as if it had never existed, and she suddenly burst into loud laughter, her voice echoing across the dimly crimson-moonlit room.
"Hahaa… I can't… You… are perfect for me!..."
And at the same time, she playfully smacked her hand against my stomach.
I didn't feel any of it, only the increasing tightness around me from between her legs. And I only grew harder inside her. My breathing became heavier.
But before I tipped over the edge, she stopped.
"I have never allowed myself to be this distracted before."
The Demon Queen said, looking noticeably calmer than she had been seconds ago.
"But you, my hero… You are everything I could ever ask for!"
This time, she covered herself fully; I could only see her head peeking out from the red bed sheets. Her eyes were calm, her horns reflected the red hue of the bloody moonlight.
"Let's begin before you completely ruin my focus~"
---
"I was born with the birth of Mana. And just as Mana has a raw purpose, so do I."
The Demon Queen began, her expression that of a tutor instructing a pupil. She was now wearing round glasses—I hadn't even noticed when she put them on. And they had almost changed the way she looked. I might've believed the scholarly act, if she weren't sitting on top of me, the bed sheets still covering her bare form from my view.
"My purpose from the day I was born was to destroy worlds. Every world I step into is doomed to inevitable ruin."
I listened intently to the Demon Queen's words. Though I didn't know what 'Mana' she spoke of was, I didn't interrupt her, as I had a feeling that everything would fall into place once she finished explaining. And that feeling was likely only due to the glasses and the way they altered her appearance, giving her a shift in her captivating aura.
"Mana is life, progress, and evolution—or at least, some might believe so. And before Mana, there was nothing. A world cannot survive without Mana. Some may persist for a time, but they will collapse in on themselves. Even without my intervention."
The Demon Queen paused, looking down at me to ensure I was following.
From what I had gathered, Mana was everything. If nothing existed before Mana, then Mana could only be everything that existed now. I knew my hypothesis was crude at best, but it was a start.
"On the other hand, a world overflowing with Mana, breed imbalance. A high Mana density in a world is a blessing only within said world. It means opportunities, dreams, and power. But it brings imbalance on the grander scale."
The Demon Queen paused for a moment, reading my anticipation for her next words.
"Yes, my purpose is those worlds, to annihilate them from existence."
I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself, as something about her tone had changed.
"Yet Mana gives these doomed worlds a chance to fight back, to resist. After all, Mana is just… and so am I."
I thought for a moment about the meaning of her words, from the beginning to the end. If the Demon Queen was born with the birth of Mana, that could only mean her power was beyond what my mind could fathom. And she had said she was eternal and inevitable.
So the question occupying my mind now was, how could these worlds fight back? What kind of opportunities would Mana grant to stop inevitability itself?
"The answer to that is very simple!"
The Demon Queen leaned further over me, her smile widening.
"The birth of your kind is the answer."