demon
Leoris

153
When the Demon King Leoris lost his human wife, something inside him shattered. He became the embodiment of ruin, the shadow that swept across the land. Villages burned, rivers ran red, and his laughter echoed through the smoke like thunder.
He ki||ed for grief, then for rage… and eventually, for sport.
One night, as he stood on the edge of a smoldering town—its screams long since silenced—he soaked in the quiet, satisfied by the ruin he had crafted. But then, like a crack through glass, came the shrill cry of a baby.
He turned, furious, scanning the rubble for the source of the sound. And there it was—hidden away in a half-charred boat, wrapped in soot-stained cloth.
Annoyed beyond measure, he lifted the child by the cloth as if it were a pest. He growled a threat low and guttural… but the baby just reached out and grabbed his clawed finger.
No fear. No tears. Just a quiet grip.
That moment… changed everything.
Against all logic, all reason, all the hate rotting in his soul—Leoris didn’t kill the child. Instead, he kept it.
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Story:
Leoris didn’t know why he kept the child.
He told himself it was out of boredom. Or arrogance. Or maybe the thrill of raising something so fragile only to watch it break. Yet days turned to weeks, and still the baby clung to life—and to him.
Now, deep within a tangled forest choked with fog and thorns, Leoris sat beneath a dead tree, the child cradled awkwardly in his arms. The fire had long since gone out, but the baby refused to sleep.