Michael followed Gaya behind to enter his room. His room only had a work table for Michael to build new gadgets, a queen-sized bed for Gaya and him and a sofa set facing the fireplace. But at that moment, something was there, covered in red cloth. Micahel felt powerful energy pulses from whatever was inside the red cloth. Although Michael knew what's inside. Yet Michael pretended he had no clue just for her happiness. She walked toward the thing with a dramatic walk.

"Are you ready?" asked Gaya.

"Surprise me," said Michael.

She slowly lifted off the red cloth, revealing a dark metal plate. Tiny bolts of black lightning crackled around the metal piece. Michael could hear the electricity buzzing. It felt like the metal piece was calling for Michael. The tiny lightning bolts reached out for Michael.

"Is this one of the armor pieces you were talking about?" Sarba asked. Vedora and Nightmare felt terrified by the sheer amount of energy they felt from the armor piece. A pity this was just a piece of the whole Dark Lord armor. Michael reached out to touch the armor. To his shock, the armor electrocuted Michael.

"Ouch," Michael quickly moved his hand away from the armor. His hand went numb.

"What happened?" Gaya was shocked. She didn't expect the armor to shock him, literally.

"Don't let anyone touch it," said Michael. Judging by the bolt of energy that went into his body, he could tell it had enough power to kill even a Soul Refiner. Michael noticed dimly glowing runes hidden in the dark armor. The armor looked tattered and contained several cracks, scratches, and cuts. It was obvious this armor had seen hundreds of battles.

Michael didn't dare to try to touch the armor yet again.

"Weird," Gaya rubbed her chin.

"I thought you can touch the armor since it belongs to you,"

"Maybe we have to find every piece and make it whole again," Adelia shared her thoughts. Once again, Michael missed the damn system. If it was online, he could have easily scanned the armor piece and found out what was wrong with it.

"One thing is for sure. I cannot use it now," Michael sighed.

"How many pieces are there?" asked Sarba.

"Six more pieces," said Nightmare.

As they were staring at the armor, Azazel appeared behind Michael.

"My lord, you are back,"

Michael turned around to see Azazel bow his head deeply. Azazel was at the Fusion stage level 6. Once Michael had reached the Immortal stage, Azazel would be able to reach the Half Immortal stage. Luckily, Azazel didn't have to go through heavenly tribulation. Michael didn't know why but he knew it was something to do with Azazel's demon race.

"Glad to see me?" asked Michael as Azazel nodded.

"It's my blessing to see you, my lord,"

Michael chuckled.

"When did you become such a sweet talker? Are you in love or something?"

Azazel awkwardly smiled without knowing how to answer Michael.

"Speaking of love, where is Ricky?" Gaya asked Azazel.

"He just returned," answered Azazel.

"Is he still stalking Olivia?" asked Michael.

Gaya creased her brows.

"It's not stalking humans. He is in love with her,"

"Except she made her choice to leave him," said Michael. He may have accepted Olivia's decision not to follow him, but he was disappointed in her. He would be lying if he said otherwise. For the first time, Michael noticed the loyalty level go from ninety-plus to sixty percent.

Ricky was the one who got affected the most by Olivia's decision. He almost felt pity for Ricky. Gaya even asked Ricky to go with Olivia, but Ricky respectfully refused to leave the Dark Lord's side. Who knew the gate guards Michael met at River town would be willing to give their lives for him? Certainly not Michael.

They even brought their families with them and put them in Gisel. With Caius's aid, their families lived comfortably under the Dark Lord's protection.

"So what? He still loves her, and I know she loves him too," Gaya argued with Michael. Seeing her bicker with the Dark Lord himself made Adelia chuckle inside. Even before the marriage, she started to act like an angry wifu.

"So you're telling me she's with Ricky?" Michael calmly asked Gaya.

"No,"

"Then she doesn't love him enough," said Michael. As soon as Gaya heard these words, her eyes glimmered with anger.

"Are you messing with me right now?" she growled.

"We should go," Adelia grabbed Nightmare and Vedora from Michael's shoulders.

"Hey, let us go. It's getting good," Ayag hissed at Adelia. Azazel followed Adelia behind and closed the door on his way out.

"Nope," Michael shook his head.

Like any man in the world, Michael failed to comprehend Gaya's thoughts. He might be a god, but he still lacked the power to understand a woman completely.

"You are being a complete asshole Michael," said Gaya. She seldom addressed Michael by his first name. But whenever she did, she was furious at Michael.

"Okay, I am confused. What does Olivia leaving Ricky have anything to do with me? She made her choice,"

"It has everything to do with you. He chose loyalty over love because of you, the Dark Lord. You can't blame Olivia. Not everyone will follow you without a second thought," Gaya growled. Everyone thought Gaya was cold, but in reality, she cared about all the subordinates. Ever since Olivia left Ricky, she has been watching over Ricky by keeping him busy. Although Gaya knew of Ricky's secret visit to Olivia, she allowed him, hoping Olivia would change her mind and accept Ricky. As a queen, it was in her blood to care for her subjects. On the other hand, Michael barely lifted a finger. As far as he was concerned, Olivia made her choice, and Ricky had to accept her decision and move on.

"I cannot force her to follow me either. She made her choice and should be grateful that I didn't end her life by leaving my side after everything I had done for her," said Michael.

"Why are you suddenly being  so strange?" asked Michael.

"I am not being strange. I just can't believe you think you are completely blameless in Ricky's case,"contemporary romance

"So what do you want me to do? Go to Olivia and force her to come with me?"

"No," Gaya shook her head.

"How about you start giving a shit about Ricky and his feelings? For god sake, he left the love of his life for you. The least you can do is accept you had a hand in the mess," Gaya raised her voice.

"And how dare you call his love stalking? What if I left you? Will you give a shit or let me go?" Gaya punched Michael in the shoulder. Finally, Michael started to grasp where the anger was coming from. To be honest, Michael didn't know what to do if Gaya left him. However, he wouldn't cry or destroy himself like many for sure. Instead of worrying about what he would do after she left him, Michael would ensure she didn't leave him.

"First, you won't leave me, and I won't let you. Second of all, we are not them. We don't have any secrets between us, except one that I told you not to ask me about," Michael said, gently wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He noticed Gaya rolling the engagement ring on her finger.

"You cannot compare us with other couples. Didn't I tell you Ricky could go with Olivia if he wished to? Both Ricky and Olivia made their choices. We cannot force Olivia to be with Ricky. And you are right," Michael took a deep breath.

"They broke up because of me,"

Michael saw no advantage in keep denying it or arguing with her. Gaya's actions made him realize she was mad at him. To be honest, she was right to be so. It was he who refused to marry her when she asked him to. He wanted to be stronger and grow his army before marrying her. It was bad enough that he refused to have any kids any time soon but postponing the marriage was just crossing Gaya's patience.

Now he realized Gaya had taken the rejection badly. Michael was too busy to care about her feelings, which Michael regretted.

"And I am not going to make any more excuses. I will marry you in six months. On the same day, I met you first," Michael said. He didn't take this decision on the fly or to calm her down but with his whole heart. He dragged the marriage thing long enough. Granted, Michael promised her to give the throne of Nagaland before the marriage, but Gaya wasn't interested in the throne anymore. She realized she could rule the entire world from Michael's side. Why did she have to settle for one kingdom when she could rule the entire world? Besides, Gaya wanted to marry Michael more than anything in the world. She wanted to be his side, not as the Dark Queen but as his wife.

Gaya was startled by his words. Her eyes glimmered with joy and shock. Before she could say something, Michael locked his lips with her. He didn't want to argue anymore. He swooped Gaya from the ground and moved to the bed.

******************************************

A few hours later, Michael exited his room wearing his Dark Lord armor. Gaya quickly tied her hair and followed him behind to the meeting hall. Michael promised Gaya when the time comes, he would talk to Olivia and explain things better to her for Ricky's sake.

They patched things up on the bed and returned to their normal selves. Eventually, after navigating through the dark pathways, Michael and Gaya reached the meeting hall. He heard people buzzing inside. Michael waited outside for a moment before opening the door. Unlike before, Michael did not wear any mask to hide his face. Even after a year, showing his true self to others felt weird. He took a deep breath and finally opened the door. Inside the hall, everyone turned their gazes to the door. The entire hall fell silent as soon as they laid their eyes on him. Every one of his subordinates attended the meeting as they were ordered to.

"My Lord," Azazel came to Michael's side.

"Everyone is here, my lord,' said Azazel.

"We shall start then," said Gaya.

done.co

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