Demonic Pornstar System novel Chapter 877

Chapter 877: Strict Mother

Kaiden stepped out of the command tent with Vespera at his side, and the staging plain opened before them under a sky still hazy with residual mana.

Fifty meters out, Pebble lay where he’d planted himself before the meeting began, six burning eyes fixed on the tent flap since the moment Kaiden walked through it.

The awakened fighters standing perimeter between him and the tent had the rigid posture of people doing their duty while wishing very badly it was literally anything else.

Camera crews from four different networks had lenses trained on the Guardian from behind every available piece of cover.

Pebble’s tail twitched when the flap moved, then those eyes found Kaiden and the twitch became a full wag that sent a tremor through the air hard enough to rattle camera tripods off their legs.

Pebble rose.

The ground groaned under the redistribution of mass, and the Guardian crossed the fifty meters in three leisurely strides that ignored the perimeter entirely, clearing the awakened fighters without breaking pace.

He lowered his crown to Kaiden with a rumble so deep it vibrated in his sternum.

"Yeah, yeah." Kaiden reached up and dug both hands into the armored plate behind the crown, scratching hard enough that his gauntleted fingers rang like steel on stone. "I missed you too, you giant goofball."

The tail went ballistic, each wag punching shockwaves through the air.

A field producer grabbed his walkie-talkie, sweating through his collar, and began screaming orders.

"BACK THE BIRD UP! DOUBLE YOUR ALTITUDE AND KEEP ROLLING! THE APOCALYPSE PUPPY IS WAGGING ITS TAIL AND IF WE LOSE THIS FOOTAGE I WILL PERSONALLY END EVERY CAREER ON THAT HELICOPTER!"

The rumble climbed into a register that sounded like a mountain purring.

Then Pebble’s front legs buckled in the unmistakable lean of a dog preparing to show his belly to his master, begging for rubs.

Shadows caught him mid-lean.

Vespera’s darkness laced around all four legs and held him upright with the casual efficiency of someone grabbing a toddler by the back of his shirt before he walked off a curb.

Her expression hadn’t changed one bit.

Pebble’s gaze swung to her, pleading.

"No." Vespera wasn’t one to budge that easily. "If you don’t want me to lock you inside the dungeon and never let you outside, you will learn to behave."

All six irises snapped wide. The tail stopped dead as Vespera explained, "You must remember your size. If you roll over, you will flatten your surroundings. Your master will be greatly troubled by your reckless behavior. Is that understood?"

Pebble’s head began frantically bobbing up and down with such furious earnestness that his crown blurred, the tremors from the nodding alone rattling windows on the nearest command vehicles.

Vespera held his gaze for one more second, then she nodded, ready to move on.

The staging plain stopped breathing.

Then the cameras fired like artillery and the shouting from the press cordon sounded less like journalism and more like a sporting event.

The awakened fighters holding the perimeter wore the expressions of people who’d woken up in someone else’s dream.

The terrible Vespera Ashborn, the Shadow Monarch...

Was educating her dog?

And it was fervently listening?

A correspondent who’d been positioned behind a camera truck to cover the Chairman meeting abandoned her prepared script and started narrating the scene live, her voice steady and professional while her eyes begged the universe for an explanation.

In her earpiece, her producer was screaming that these were the best ratings they’d had all year and she’d better not shut up if she wanted her bonus.

"I didn’t know you were a dog person," Kaiden said, grinning at her. "You said more words to Pebble than you said to us all in the entire Dungeon Master Duel."

Vespera turned to look her son in the eyes, and she was not amused by his words. "That’s false. I spoke more words during the event."

"Not by much." Kaiden’s eyes danced with amusement.

An awakened fighter on the perimeter watched the Shadow Monarch speak to her son and their... dog? As he did so, it felt as if something important in his understanding of the world shattered permanently.

"...I spoke as much as was needed. You are experienced awakened fighters, while Pebble is a newborn who lives off his instincts and now finds himself in a strange environment. He needs more direction."

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