Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 709: Win-Win

"Cal, stop messing with my hem!"

"I’m not messing with it; I’m inspecting it. There is a clear distinction."

"There is no distinction when your hand is actively tugging at my skirt!"

Alexandra swatted at Calypso’s hands while Bastet leaned in from the other side, tugging at the garment's waistline with the focused precision of a master artisan spotting a knockoff. Alexandra gave a small yelp, twisting her body to keep one hand on Calypso and the other on Bastet, who was trying to pivot her like a dressmaker's dummy.

"The moon yandere completely altered the hemline," Bastet muttered, mostly to herself. "The tension is totally off."

"I told you the dimensions were all wrong," Calypso remarked.

"The dimensions were fine. She changed the stitching method."

"P-please, people are watching us!"

The only person watching was Kaiden, and he allowed them their moment.

He immediately realized one thing.

The affection they displayed toward Alexandra was unique. It was protective. It was the specific way you treat someone who has been fractured and is still in the process of mending. Alexandra wasn’t just a guest to them; she was one of their own in every meaningful sense, and their every action proved it.

They did not extend that same level of warmth to Brittany or Trisha.

Luna’s eyes drifted over the newcomers as if they were mere furniture. Calypso didn’t even acknowledge their presence. Aria offered a single, stiff nod that held all the warmth of a business transaction. The cold distance was intentional and earned. Barely a day ago, these women had stood on the opposite side of a conflict that left kin wounded and dead. Forgiveness was off the table. Cooperation was accepted because Nyx had laid out the benefits, but nobody was pretending to be friends.

Brittany noticed. She stayed silent. Trisha noticed as well, her lips tightening, but she had the sense to keep her opinion to herself.

Kaiden stepped away from the wall and faced Talia.

"I’m grateful," he stated. "For everything."

Talia gave a single shake of her head. "It’s nothing. I couldn’t pull that scout off you during the tournament. This is the least I could do to make up for it."

"Oh, give me a break." Tessa leaned against her friend’s shoulder with a grin that seemed mismatched for someone who had just heard a tearful account of institutional abuse. "Shouldn’t you try to milk a bit more gratitude out of him?"

Talia leveled a cold look at her. "For what? Because I agreed to pay the legal fees for these two?" She motioned toward Brittany and Trisha. "Tessa, my friend, I’m not broke. Unlike you."

"Hey!" Tessa’s hands darted out of her pockets. "We’re in an alliance! Your coin is my coin! We should have been more tactical here. Don't you recall how this guy threw me into a wall and grabbed my throat? He didn't even say sorry!"

"That’s because you happen to be an incompetent guild leader who allowed her best A-tier member to harass him and his team repeatedly."

Tessa’s expression narrowed into fiery slits.

"I apologize," Kaiden interrupted.

Tessa’s piercing gaze locked onto him.

He smirked. "I’m sorry for calling you a wildly incompetent guild leader who needs to be replaced as soon as a capable candidate appears."

Tessa’s jaw dropped. She blinked, her mouth opening and closing in the perfect display of a woman who had just been betrayed by an ally.

"I’ll back that candidate with everything I have," Talia added with a low chuckle.

Tessa’s face twisted. She grabbed Talia’s shoulders and shook them. "I knew he was a cruel bastard, but I expected more from you! Apologize! Say you're sorry right now!"

Talia’s expression didn't flicker. Her head bobbed back and forth under the vibration, her face remaining as unmoving as stone.

Kaiden watched them both, his smile softening.

This was all part of Nyx’s design.

He looked across the studio at his pink-haired lover, who leaned against the far wall, phone in hand, scrolling through the comments with a faint, amused smile.

She hadn’t moved to join the crowd around Alexandra or spoken since the recording wrapped. That was just Nyx. It wasn't that she lacked concern for Alexandra; Alexandra was her closest companion, her childhood best friend.

It was simply that she knew Alexandra was already well-guarded. Nyx preferred the margins of a situation, comfortable there, whether it was in private, on camera, or on the battlefield.

She was the true backbone of his group. Aria and Bastet were exceptional backline mages, each capable of dealing massive damage, but Nyx was the one who elevated everyone else. She did it so quietly that people often forgot she was the catalyst for their success.

She had approached him with this plan, explaining it with the calm confidence of someone who had already calculated every outcome, and he had agreed because there was no logical reason to refuse.

It was a golden opportunity that was simply too good to pass up.

He felt for Brittany and Trisha in the same way you’d feel for someone else’s car wreck.

A brief moment of pity, and then you move on with your day. Valhalla’s Sinners were already in the spotlight. Their influence was skyrocketing, and every competition week brought more visibility and clout to their name.

Staying in that spotlight was vital. Growing even further was worth even more. And what better way to expand than to transform a mid-tier guild’s public embarrassment into content that boosted their brand?

Ashbound had spent a week harassing them as the world watched. This was the dramatic finale of that arc, and the viewers would love it because it felt like cosmic justice.

And as for the two girls themselves…

They were promised protection. That was the agreement Nyx had set in motion.

Honestly, Kaiden didn’t care if they were technically in the right or not.

He didn’t care whether the information about their plight leaked through Ashbound insiders or the lawyers the girls had frantically contacted.

He didn’t care if Brittany and Trisha were violating every single clause of their contracts by appearing on camera. They had enough leverage to drag this case out for years.

Predatory recruiters soliciting sex from vulnerable women—one of whom was offered up to a man’s own sons—was not a simple contract dispute. That was an impending criminal investigation. Any judge encountering those recordings would care far more about the perpetrators than two women potentially breaking a confidentiality agreement.

Throughout those years of litigation, Kaiden would utilize their skills as fighters and this narrative to build his power far beyond whatever Ashbound could ever hope to reach.

At least, that was how Nyx had mapped it out. She had leaned against his chest, tracing patterns on his arm, dismantling Maeve Ashbound’s power structure with perfect, ruthless logic.

And Kaiden wasn't even the one paying the legal bill. Talia had volunteered Runewoven’s legal team before he’d even finished his explanation, and Tessa had attached Nova Circuit’s reputation to the cause shortly after. A benefit of his alliances.

It was the definition of a win-win.

A sense of pride filled Kaiden as he observed Nyx scrolling through the comments with that soft, satisfied grin. His brilliant, devastating strategist, who saw three moves ahead and never felt the need to brag about it.

He decided he was going to treat that woman very well tonight.

Just then, he noticed movement. Alexandra had finally detached herself from the circle. She wiped her eyes, walking toward him with the careful gait of someone bearing more emotional weight than her frame should hold.

She stopped before him and gazed up.

Her eyes were reddened. The tears had cooled on her face, and her chest still hitched with lingering sobs. Her maid outfit was creased where people had held her, and a damp patch marred the fabric near her collarbone.

She looked delicate and slightly absurd in her frilly demonic gear, with mascara staining her cheeks.

Kaiden looked down at her and grinned.