My Stepmother Is an Ex-Demon Queen-Chapter 48 - 49 – Hunter’s Instinct

Chapter 48: Chapter 49 – Hunter’s Instinct
The rooftop door slammed shut behind Lilith, the metallic clang echoing into the cold night air. Wind whipped her midnight hair across her face, carrying with it the faint smell of ozone and the pulse of something ancient—something hunting.
The city glittered below, wedding lights spilling out of the banquet hall windows, music faintly audible even at this height. But up here, under the silver moon, there was no warmth. Just silence. And a predator waiting.
Her pupils narrowed to thin slits. That aura... not human. Not demon. Something else.
From the far edge of the rooftop, a figure stepped out of the shadows. Cloaked in black, their boots crunched against gravel with measured precision, every movement deliberate, coiled like a predator who had already chosen its prey.
"Lilith," the figure said, voice low, almost reverent—yet carrying a venom that made the hairs on her arms rise. "Or should I say... Lilitthra Veyra, Queen of the Abyss."
The name struck like a dagger. Nobody alive should have known it. Not unless they had been there, in the war centuries ago... or unless they were sworn to those who hunted her kind even now.
Her lips curled into a mocking smile, though her chest tightened. "I don’t know who you think you’re flattering, but I retired from that title. These days, I’m just a stepmother trying to survive PTA meetings."
The figure didn’t laugh. Instead, they pulled a weapon from beneath their cloak—a long spear, its tip carved from obsidian but glowing faintly with silver etchings that pulsed like veins. The aura pouring from it made the rooftop air feel thinner, sharper, as though it was siphoning the night itself.
"Don’t lie to me. I’ve tracked you for years. Tonight, the hunt ends."
Lilith’s mockery faltered. She knew what that weapon was. A Relic. One forged by the old sect of demon-hunters. Not something you stumbled across in a pawnshop.
"Someone’s been busy digging in graves," she said lightly, but her tail flicked behind her, betraying her tension.
The figure leveled the spear, its edge glinting in the moonlight. "Not graves. Records. The world thinks you vanished. But I know better. You’ve been playing house with humans. Pathetic."
Her smile sharpened. "Funny. For a hunter, you talk a lot like an ex."
Before the figure could answer, she flicked her wrist. A whip of hellfire snapped into existence, its burning coil lighting the rooftop in crimson hues. The wind carried the sound of its crack, like a serpent waking from slumber.
They lunged.
The first clash was blinding—obsidian spear against demonic flame, sparks raining across the rooftop as steel and sorcery collided. The force rattled the rooftop tiles, sending fragments tumbling into the dark streets below.
Lilith twisted, parrying with her whip, each strike fast and serpentine, but the hunter matched her pace with terrifying precision. Every thrust of their spear was meant to kill, every sweep guided by centuries-old instincts.
"You’ve gotten sloppy," the hunter taunted, spear tip grazing her shoulder and leaving a line of smoking fabric.
"I’ve gotten busy," Lilith shot back, her tail knocking over an AC unit in the process. "Try raising a teenager and then tell me about endurance."
Meanwhile, several floors below, Kazuki sprinted up a spiraling staircase, every breath sharp in his throat. Morwen and two bridesmaids struggled to keep pace, their heels clattering like a panicked drumbeat.
"Remind me," Morwen puffed, hiking her dress as she tried to keep up, "why are we running toward the murderous aura instead of away from it?"
"Because Lilith’s up there," Kazuki shot back without slowing, "and I’ll be damned if I let her face it alone."
The bridesmaids exchanged a look. One muttered: "Called it. He’s whipped."
"Heard that!" Kazuki barked, nearly tripping on the next step.
Morwen smirked despite her wheezing. "You’re lucky being whipped looks good on you. Otherwise, I’d be charging hazard pay."
They burst onto the upper landing, where the rooftop door loomed just ahead, rattling with the shockwaves of the battle above. Sparks rained down from cracks in the ceiling. The sound of whips and steel clashing echoed through the stairwell.
Kazuki swallowed hard. "She’s fighting someone. And they’re strong."
One bridesmaid, clutching her heels like daggers now, whispered, "Then we’re already too late..."
"No," Kazuki said, gripping the railing with such force his knuckles whitened. "Not while I’m still breathing."
He shoved open the rooftop door—
And froze.
The scene before him was chaos given form.
Lilith’s whip lashed in fiery arcs, illuminating the rooftop with crimson light. The hunter’s spear cut through the air with surgical precision, parrying and striking in equal measure. Their shadows stretched across the rooftop tiles, two predators circling, testing, hunting.
Lilith’s smirk had thinned into something sharper, colder. And for the first time, Kazuki saw her not as his stepmother, not as the sarcastic, seductive demon queen who stole his peace of mind daily—but as the warrior she had once been, the abyss made flesh.
The hunter struck again, spear carving through the air. Lilith ducked low, rolled, then snapped her whip upward, coiling it around the shaft. With a twist of her wrist, she yanked, dragging the hunter forward—
Right into her claws.
But the hunter smirked, releasing the spear, and with a flick of their other hand, knives made of shimmering light appeared, circling them in a deadly halo.
Lilith’s eyes narrowed. Of course. A Relic wielder.
The rooftop pulsed with energy, the night charged like a storm about to break. Kazuki felt his stomach lurch. This wasn’t just a fight. This was a declaration. Whoever this hunter was, they hadn’t come to test Lilith. They had come to kill her.
🌑 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 50: The Rooftop Duel
The rooftop becomes a stage of shadows and moonlight as Lilith stands face-to-face with the hunter who knows her true name. No more pretense. No more games. Their aura is sharp enough to make the air itself tighten, a deadly promise of violence hanging between every heartbeat.
Down below, Kazuki pushes through locked doors and twisting stairwells, his pulse syncing with the danger above. Each step is slower than he wants, every delay a dagger in his chest. He doesn’t know who waits for Lilith—but he knows he can’t let her face them alone.
Meanwhile, the demon bridesmaids stumble into their own kind of chaos: traps hidden in the walls, symbols that flare at their touch, and whispers that make even Morwen’s usual smirk falter. It’s becoming clear—this wasn’t just a trap for Lilith. This was a trap for all of them.
And when the first strike is thrown on the rooftop, the wedding veil of normalcy finally tears away, revealing the war that’s been waiting in the shadows all along.
💍 Call to Action
The rooftop duel is about to begin—Lilith against the hunter who knows her darkest secret, Kazuki racing against fate to reach her in time, and the bridesmaids battling chaos below. Who will bleed first under the moonlight? 💔✨
👉 Keep reading to witness the clash that could change everything. Chapter 50 drops next—don’t miss it!