OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 322: His Shadow And Her Light

Chapter 322: His Shadow And Her Light

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"Are you done?"

Lyra shook her head.

"I'm now sending all the data to Kiera's kids."

Chuckling, she added:

"They'll be so excited to hear that they can finally go ahead with the Embodiment method that they'll forget my panic."

Emir laughed with her and said:

"Hopefully. We don't want them thinking shit got wrong, they might start sniffing around and find things they hope were hidden again."

"Don't worry, I'll be setting them straight, they listen to me well."

He tapped her head with his chin, softly digging into her skull.

"And I'm proud of that."

She shook him off and repositioned herself on his lap, fixing her lotus position to match his while returning to her cultivation.

"Now enough changing the subject... You're telling me all that happened in one moment? Am I to seriously believe that?"

Emir simply nodded.

"Still doesn't feel real to me either, I just... I don't know how to react."

She sighed only to giggle and pushed her back on his chest.

"At least it's better than how I acted."

He joined her in laughter once more, patting her head to tease her, reminding her of the state she was in a few minutes back.

"I'm sure it is."

Lyra shrugged off his hand like how she did his chin.

"Whatever, now can we go back to what's important?!"

"Sure sure."

They focused on their cultivation and continued the exchange of memories, mainly one-sided with Emir being the one who sent all that he went through.

Meanwhile, the more Lyra saw, the more surprise colored her face. Her expectations were surpassed with every word that she heard and she experienced every conceivable emotion. Even anger.

Yes, at one point, her heart was filled with anger, yet that anger dissipated as she saw her prince deflect Ms. Queen's so-called 'corruption.'

She was proud of how he won the bet, happy that he gained the 'flint' for his Embodiment, sad for how he only just thought of himself as human, despaired that she wasn't someone that could change that part of him, scared that he might relapse in the future and think of himself like that again, regressing to a weapon, yet, at the end of it all, she was thankful to Mr. Player.

While she was suspicious of the Lady of Time, knowing 'Her' intentions to be nothing good, especially because 'She' hid the possibility that there was script other than 'Creation,' she still appreciated the man who sent the invite because of 'Her,' as he brought them closer to their goals, allowing them a much wider reach.

Emir felt that excitement of Lyra being shared with him, as they were still connected, and he found that endearing.

But he also saw it somewhat as an issue.

She saw him as her reason for living; she lived through him, literally, to the point that his highs and lows brought her to tears, like how she began to cry as she saw him starve himself.

He was her everything, and that meant everything.

If he died, so would she, killing herself with no regard for anyone else, not even his family, whom she grew fond of.

He didn't want that for her.

Lyra noticed that. She knew that he wanted her to be her own person, thinking that she would be better off that way....

Her, not as his shadow, and he, not as her light.

She denied such a notion.

What was wrong with living for him and only him?

She saw nothing as the answer.

"..."

As did he.

They both knew that he used that as an excuse, lying through his teeth, or rather, his mind, and that he only wanted her to stay alive so that she could take care of his family.

Lyra knew that, but for the first and last time since his awakening from lies, she was going to go against his wishes.

She wanted to be selfish.

She wanted to die alongside him.

She wanted to be his shadow...

And she wanted him to be her light.

This was her true wish-the very thing she wanted to request when in her pampered kitten

mode.

Emir, like earlier, nodded, silently acknowledging and accepting her unspoken request. Granting her a grave alongside his if the need ever arose for it.

While he felt slight regret for saying yes, he would do it again if given a choice.

He was a bad man, a cruel man, but he wasn't a villain, not to his family at least. And besides, this only proved to him that if his mother and sister were to live, he needed to live as well, so sacrificing himself wasn't a viable option, no, not at all.

The two then showed genuine smiles to each other, ending their little 'talk.'

Sure, neither of them uttered a single word, yet with their emotions alone, they spoke more than most couples did in their entire lives together, and they weren't even a couple, only an obsessed jailer and her unshackled prisoner.

...

Time passed, and when Emir was finally done cultivating, he picked Lyra up and placed her before him, allowing him space to stand up while not disturbing her.

He then went to his desk, sat down on the chair, and took out the Nano-Bot injection, which was kept alongside an Aether Core.

It looked like a simple injection needle with flowing, clear, deep blue liquid inside.

Letting out a sigh, Emir eyed Lyra for a moment as she stepped closer to him and then commanded his augmented suit to open up, allowing him to stab the syringe into his arm.

Kachuck...

Without needing his thumb, the liquid injected itself into his bloodstream, causing him to flinch as he immediately felt the invaders in his bloodstream.

Closing his eyes, he looked at his body's inner workings through the nanobots, seeing how the newcomers settled in, joining their seniors.

After a few moments, a request was sent to his neural network, and he displayed it for both him and Lyra to see using his terminal's hologram functionality.

{Art incompatible with the user. Adjust?}

{Note: When adjusting the Art, the Skill will merge with it.}

'Hm...'

Emir looked at the hologram for a while, and he decided to accept it pretty quickly.

The original Art was called 'Unseen Deflection.'

It more or less deflected all the attacks the user would receive, no matter how strong the attack was, even if it came from 'Them.' However, the chance of that happening was close to null, as every deflection was based on chance, and the stronger the attack was, the lower the chance this Art would deflect it.

He could see why it didn't suit him. His luck was beyond trash, even the Art noticed that. So without any hesitation, he agreed, not giving the skill a second glance, as it only helped in

that deflection.

{Adjusting...} {Adjusting...}

{Adjusting...}

{Adjusting...}

{Adjusting...}

{Adjust-Merge Complete.}

{New Art: Blade of The Drowned.}

Emir laughed out loud.

"Now that's what I call Art!"

Lyra joined him in celebration.

"That sounds nice~. C'mon, show what it does."

He complied, and the hologram expanded downwards, revealing more text.

{The user knows life. The user knows death. The user knows the ponds, streams, lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans. The user knows drowning. And like the drowned, the user will drink all that around him when all out of air.}

{While in a critical state in the heat of battle, the user will be able to comprehend their enemies' Abilities, slowly absorbing them into their arsenal. The resulting Skills will differ from the original, matching the fluidity of forgotten seas and the lows of the deep.}

"Interesting, this is basically a get-out jail card on steroids."

Lyra grinned at his analogy, and her head couldn't stop itself from nodding.

"True, but I can already see the limitations. It's too bad we can't abuse it, the ability specified

that your opponent had to be your enemy."

"Hm-hm, too bad indeed... Now give me a moment."

Emir closed his eyes and accepted, allowing the newcomers to make changes within his body,

adjusting it to fit this Art.

He felt pain, but it was only slight, rather, that was what he and only he would call it, as

anyone else in his position, of his status and rank, would've already cried out in pain.

It was obvious that his tolerance had increased by a lot, but somehow he could still barely

handle the pain when cultivating his Strength Art, and that meant that he was nearing the next rank.

Copper was soon to be let go, replaced by Iron.

He dreaded the day, imagining the horrors of pain he would experience, but he also

anticipated the increase in strength he'd receive.

'I can only wait...'

As his mind was lost in thoughts, he didn't count the time passing by, and the process was

done before he noticed, at least for his body, his Neural Network was still fitting,

compressing, and storing the ability.

"Ah..."

Emir fluttered his eyes open then raised his right hand and flipped his palm to face the roof.

Whoosh!

Air congregated towards his now clutched fist due to the sheer force his fingers produced.

While he didn't gain much strength, he felt the control that he had over his body increase, as if

he could use his muscles at one hundred and ten percent at a moment's notice.

"Good, good, great even; this just has so much potential."

"Agreed."

Lyra matched his words while heading back to the training room, preparing a soft mat for him

to sit on.

He joined her shortly with the Aether core in his hands as he played around with it, throwing it

from his right to his left as it pulsated continuously.

"So... how will I be doing this?"