Chapter 1235 My Faith Is In Your Hands [Part 3]
After Shana left the room, William and Melody remained hugging each other.
This continued for several minutes before the young lady in his arms pulled back to look at him with a serious expression on her face.
"Shana told me that you planned on making the two of us fall in love with you. Is this true?" Melody asked
William stared at her for a few moments before reluctantly nodding his head.
"I would be lying if I said that the thought of making the two of you fall for me didn't cross my mind," William answered. "But, that wasn't my true intention. My goal for bringing the two of you here was to make the two of you understand that I am not your enemy."
"Is that all?"
"Also, I wanted you to know that not all Demons are bad. Some of them are being forced to participate in this war because they have no choice but to do it."
Melody's gaze never left William's as if trying to discern whether he was telling her the truth or not. The Half-Elf held her gaze and they remained staring at each other for a while before the young lady lowered her head first.
"So, what now?" Melody asked. "What plans do you have for us, now that you've gotten what you wanted?"
"Audrey will be arriving tomorrow," William replied. "If you wish to leave, you can go with her."
"But, didn't we have two more sessions left? No. I still have three sessions because you still haven't drank my blood," Melody stated. "Do you really want us to leave that badly?"
William caressed the side of Melody's face and gently raised her head to make her look at him.
"If I say that I want you to go because I didn't want to hurt you, will you believe me?" William asked.
"... I don't know," Melody answered. "I don't know what to believe."
William slowly propped himself up from the bed, and removed the clothes covering his lean and toned body.
Melody's eyes wandered over William's body, while her heart beated wildly inside her chest. As a chaste maiden, the only people she had seen naked were her sisters, who represented the Heavenly Virtues of the world.
"This is the reason why I want you to leave," William said as he gently held Melody's head and pulled it close to his chest, letting her hear his heartbeat.
A minute later, William held Melody's hand and placed it over his…
"And this is the second reason why I want you to leave," William stated as he reigned in the desire that was slowly rising in his body. "I am afraid that if you continue to stay with me, I will not be able to control myself."
Melody almost panicked after her hand touched William's… that was hard, and hot to her touch.
She wasn't completely ignorant about things between men and women, so she understood what black-haired teenager was trying to tell her.
"Once we cross this step, I am afraid that I will be unable to stop myself from corrupting you, and making you fall for me," William said hoarsely. "I don't know why I don't feel this way towards Shana, but with you, I am unable to control myself. Maybe it has something to do with the power of your Divinity, or you are simply my type of girl. Either way, my body aches for you. One wrong move and there will be no turning back for either of us."
William released his hold on Melody's hand, making the latter pull it back as quickly as she could. She stared at William's face before shifting her gaze downwards to his lower half then back again to his face, seeing his pained expression in trying to hold himself back.
"Melody, I don't love you," William said firmly. "What I am feeling is purely desire and lust. I want to taint your purity, I want to dye you with my colors, I want to put my mark in your body. I want… you. There is no love involved in it. So, if you don't want me to devour you, it will be best that you leave. Leave, while I can still control myself."
Melody didn't answer right away. She just digested William's words, while the latter breathed raggedly in front of her. A minute later, Melody looked up and asked the Half-Elf a question.
"Did you take Lira and Ephemera against their will?" Melody asked. "Did you make them your women?"
Ever since Melody and Shana had arrived in the Thousand Beast Domain, this question had started to form inside her head. She had noticed that everytime they talked about William, Lira, in particular would often say hateful words about him, but she could tell that she didn't really mean it.
Her Divinity was Faith.
So it was impossible for her to not sense the strong feelings that Lira had for William, and those feelings weren't of anger. It was feelings of frustration, and helplessness for being far away from the person she trusted the most.
That was the power of her Divinity, the Power of Faith.
It allowed her to sense, and gather the countless beliefs of people, and use it to strengthen herself. In truth, among the Heavenly Virtues, Melody could be said to be the most powerful. As long as people believed in something, or someone, she would be able to strengthen herself infinitely.
And this was why she had been entrusted to hold…
A silky raiment hovered around Melody's body like a wide lasso. It was none other than the Celestial Raiment that could call forth the power of the Gods and allow them to descend in Hestia and materialize their Divine Avatars.
It was one of the Trump Cards of the Holy Order of Light, and one of the things that William coveted. He just didn't know who among the Virtues held this artifact, which could instantly change the outcome of the war if used at the right moment.
"This is the Celestial Raiment," Melody said firmly. "There are two conditions that will trigger the activation of this artifact. The first one is when we call upon its power, to allow our Patron God to descend into our bodies, becoming their avatar.
The second one was when someone is trying to forcefully attempt to take our purity or corrupt our bodies. Once either of these two conditions are met, this Celestial Raiment will unleash its might. Due to the power of Faith, I have ascertained that I would encounter a dangerous situation, so I decided to ask the Pope to bestow the Celestial Raiment on me."
"If Felix had been the one that captured us, and forcefully tried to taint us, he might have already been annihilated by now."
William looked at the swirling raiment that hovered around Melody's body like a dragon that was waiting for its owner's call.
"Good thing that I rescued the two of you," William replied. "If you were captured by Felix, and he died in your hands then I wouldn't have been able to personally beat him up for what he did to my family members. I want to be the one to personally end his life in this world, and having a God do it for me will just waste all the efforts that I have made up till now."
Melody looked at William with a complicated gaze because she could sense the killing intent that was now oozing from his body. His desire to personally kill Felix was the truth, and she was certain that if Felix were to really die due to a God's intervention, William would definitely treat the Holy Order of Light as his mortal enemy.
This thought made Melody shudder. She couldn't bear fighting against the Half-Elf who had made her understand that even someone as tainted as he was could make her feel so helpless when he looked at her with a smile on his handsome face.
"Aren't you afraid that I will use this against you?" Melody asked. "All I need to do is will it, and my Patron God will descend to exterminate you."
"No," William replied. "I am not afraid."
"... Why?"
"Because you wouldn't hurt me."
As if trying to prove his words, William reached out to touch Shana's cheeks, passing through the Raiment that circled around her body.
"See?" William said as he moved closer. "You can't bear to hurt me, and this is why you should leave."
William then pressed his lips over hers and kissed her one last time before moving away. However, just before he could leave the bed, a delicate hand grabbed his arm.
The Raiment that circled around Melody's body disappeared, and all that was left was a beautiful young lady, who was looking at him with eyes filled with longing.
"I already said that I don't love you," William replied. "Do you want to be corrupted that badly?"
"I don't want to be corrupted," Melody said. "I want to believe that you wouldn't hurt me."
"Girl, you are playing with fire."
"I know, and that's why…"
Melody guided William's hand and pressed it over her chest. Through their shared connection, the black-haired teenager could hear her beating heart, which told him that she had already made a decision.
"Love me," Melody stated. "Fall in love with me."
"... You're being unreasonable," William commented. "That's now how love works."
"Then, why?" Melody asked. "Why did I fall for you, even if Shana warned me that I shouldn't? I thought that if I treated everything as if it was just a Business Transaction, I would be able to turn a blind eye to my feelings. So why? Why did I fall for you, while you can't fall for me?"
William shook his head before pulling Melody close to him.
"It's not because I can't fall in love with you," William replied. "It's because I don't dare. Right now, the feelings that I feel for you are desire and lust. Your case is different from Lira's and Ephemera's, who had come to attack me. I have no ill will against you, or Shana, so I haven't tried to make the two of you mine…"
"But you did. Did you really think that we could resist that feeling of pleasure? We can't. You planned all of this from the start."
"... You do have a point."
"Take responsibility," Melody stated. "You kissed my body all over. I can no longer get married."
William blinked after hearing Melody's old-fashioned excuse. "Well that is a bit of a stretch…"
"So, you want me to get married to others?"
"... No."
For some reason, William felt incredibly conflicted. After drinking Melody's blood, as well as raining kisses on her body, the Half-Elf felt very possessive of her. Perhaps it was due to his instinct wanting to take her powers for himself.
If William was able to control the power of Faith then it meant that he would be able to borrow the power of others through their beliefs.
Simply put, Gods were born from the beliefs of people
Right now, William was only a Demigod, if the beliefs of an entire world were siphoned into his body, then it would not be impossible to break through to the Pseudo-God Rank, or even to attain the possibility of stepping into the Ranks of Godhood.
After sorting out his feelings, William sighed internally as he whispered in Melody's ears.
"You might regret this in the future," William whispered.
"True," Melody acknowledged. "But, I might also not regret this. So, won't you at least try to love me?"
Instead of giving the young lady his answer, William laid her down on the bed and pressed his lips over her. When the kiss ended, he pulled back and stared at the beautiful lady under his body.
"Melody, do not let yourself get corrupted," William stated. "I am now unable to control myself."
Melody nodded. "I will try."
As soon as those words escaped her lips, the Half-Elf pulled down her nightwear and threw it away from the bed.
He had already endured long enough, and he could no longer hold himself back.
Melody knew that she had forced William into a corner. But, she wanted to believe that the young man, who was recognized as one of the enemies by the Holy Order of Light, would teach her what it was like to put her own Faith in his hands.