Reaper of the Martial World

Chapter Book 2: 61: Dyon's Back

Book 2: Chapter 61: Dyon’s Back

Dyon walked with Jade in his arms.

Entering his cultivation room, he set her down on the bed and turned to leave.

**

Outside of the Acacia Academy castle, Dyon stood at the end of the caldesac, hands in his pockets.

He looked up at the burning words in the night sky and had his third human like thought in more than a week, ‘I guess it’s about time I go there…’

Dyon’s eyes immediately flashed with purple-gold colors. He had to go all out with this concealment array… he couldn’t risk being caught. Having a secluded place to not only understand the words in the sky, but to also fact check his hypotheses was of utmost important to his original 6-month plan.

Dyon disappeared quickly behind a practitioner level array before he formed a much stronger master level concealment array nearer to himself.

With that, he flashed, moving 10s of meters at a time.

Soon, Dyon had weaved through the city and reached the inner forest of the castle. Here was where he assumed he would begin meeting some resistance.

He could feel that there should be a burning heat here… in fact, the trees had withered and dried under the pressure… and yet, it felt like a calm breeze to him.

As expected, there were no guards. But, the forest itself was littered with detection arrays. However, they were all of a lower level than Dyon’s master level concealment array, as such, they detected nothing.

But, the ease of travel increased in difficulty as Dyon moved forward. The arrays continued increasing in level and Dyon’s worst fear became that the castle would have an array at the level of the recognition array he had just went through with Elder Flyleaf.

But, the worry ended up being without base. Dyon soon stood alone in front of a large and deserted castle. Dyon immediately realized that this meant the Acacia family, despite being supressed by the new major families, kept some reserves with them… reserves including that fantastically high leveled array.

After one last scan, Dyon was satisfied and walked into the castle unimpeded.

Removing his concealment array, Dyon looked around to find that the castle was oddly probably the only building in the Elvin City without an inner world.

It kept the medieval aesthetic, but with the stones made of marble and jade. Everything was grandiose and larger than life. It seemed the elves loved their pearly whites and murky greens because the color scheme was consistent throughout the whole city.

Dyon sighed, “since we’ve reached this phase… I think it’s appropriate to stop suppressing my personality now…”

In the next instant, it was like Dyon had become an entirely new person. His murky brown eyes shone brightly again in their usually hazel-green. The black flames that had constantly been faintly dancing around him were vanquished. He even smiled for the first time in weeks.

Dyon smirked to himself. Only he knew why he had suppressed his personality. But, what was clear was that everything had gone according to plan.

Finding a suitable place to place his ring, Dyon flashed into the spatial world.

**

Within the world, Ri was meditating with a lake far away from everyone else. She usually did this in her mother’s cave, but since Dyon had locked her in here, she could only make do.

She was pleasantly surprised by the lake’s calming effect. She kept feeling a faint will of the purity path… but, she just couldn’t remember if she had ever felt a will like it before.

Ri had taken off her armor and pants, leaving her tightly bandaged chest and plain underwear covered with a short transparent skirt. She felt most comfortable like this. So, she allowed herself to sink into the clear lake until the water level reached just below her nose.

But, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t seem to manifest her soul, ‘this is ridiculous,’ she thought, ‘if I can’t manifest my soul with a 65% awakened aurora, aren’t I useless?’ she gnashed her teeth in frustration.

Ri felt like she needed a break.

Her water will surged, shooting her into the sky and high above the lake.

A smile spread across her face as she fell faster and faster towards the surface of the lake. He arms and legs were out wide as the wind quickened around her, sending her long blue-silver hair flapping wildly.

SPLASH!

Ri giggled to herself, having fun. Although… the belly flop had hurt more than she thought it would.

She cupped her chest, “ow… didn’t I ask you guys to not get bigger?…”

Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind her, “really? I wouldn’t mind if they did though…”

Ri spun around to find a grinning Dyon, “Dyon!”

Ri was like the wind, immediately appearing before Dyon and kicking him in the shin.

“agh…” Dyon bent over, smiling bitterly. But, before he could say anything, he felt his head invaded by a wetness as arms wrapped around him.

It took a while before Dyon realized that the wetness he felt was from Ri’s body. Her long hair covered part of him as she pulled him tightly into her bandaged chest.

Although he felt awkward having to bend over like this since Ri was so much shorter than he was, he felt too bad to pull out of her grasp.

“you’re so stupid,” she whispered.

After some time passed, Dyon finally managed to wiggle out of Ri’s embrace, he grinned at her taking in her appearance, “I have to say… I like this outfit much better than the other one.”

Ri rolled her eyes, “have you never seen a bikini before? How is this any different from that. Get your head out of the clouds.”

Dyon smiled, he had always appreciated Ri’s personality. Not many girls would be so nonchalant about being seen like this. But he also found it weird the martial world had bikinis. How could you have bikinis but no sweat pants? Ridiculous.

Suddenly, Dyon thought of something, “say… Ri. I have a weird question, but I need you to answer honestly, okay?”

Ri, looked up at Dyon while wringing her hair dry, “no, I’m not marrying you, you pervert. How about you go ask your fiancée about that?”

Dyon chuckled, “that’s not it. I only want to know whether or not elves have hearing that differs from humans.”

Ri raised an eyebrow, “it really was a weird question… of course we do, we descend from gods you know? Even if our bodies no longer match up to god level constitutions, we’re essentially all born with pseudo-earth level body constitutions.”

“Pseudo?”

“yea… They’re more powerful than a common body, but not powerful enough to be an earth constitution. But, this base body also means that should one of us be born with a constitution, it’ll be much more effective.”

‘hm… so you can stack constitutions?’

“Ah, I guess it’s nice having such great ancestors, hm? But, I don’t mean hearing as in how soft of a sound you can catch. I mean as in the frequencies an elf can catch.”

“oh… then no, elves should hear in the same range as humans.”

Ri looked at Dyon weirdly as he smiled wildly.

“what are you smiling about?”

Dyon shook his head, “I’m just enjoying the view of a beautiful girl, is there a problem?”

Ri rolled her eyes, “I’m tired of you already. You can go away now. And change your shirt, you look ridiculous.”

Dyon watched Ri adjust her chest bandages without a care for his eyes, ‘she really is an odd one…’

“ugh… use your creation array to make me new and softer bandages. This thing is too tight and uncomfortable.”

Dyon’s array flashed, causing a blinding light to encase Ri.

Within, Ri suddenly felt her chest fall free, but was immediately tied down again in a loose and comfortable feeling.

Once the light faded, Dyon nodded in appreciation.

Ri looked down at herself in a mix of pleasure and confusion, “what are these… they’re springy, but tight, and yet still comfy?…”

Dyon grinned, “they’re from the human world. That,” Dyon said pointing to her chest, “is called a sports bra. And those,” Dyon said pointing to Ri’s new black pants, “are called yoga pants.”

“The human world sure does make fascinating things… but do the pants really need to cling to me like this. You’re already a pervert… I don’t need your eyes prying at me any more than usual,” thinking of something, Ri pointed to Dyon’s sweats, “gimme those.”

Dyon laughed diabolically as though this was exactly what he wanted, “at your service milady.”

With another flash of Dyon’s purple-gold array, Ri stood before him in loose low hanging grey sweats and a black sports bra. Dyon couldn’t help but sigh at the perfect of her figure, “your chest was so big all this time… yet you hid them… a waste of heaven’s treasures.”

Ri ignored Dyon, “alright. You’re tasked with making my wardrobe for the foreseeable future. Keep in mind that dark red is my favorite color.”

Dyon smiled bitterly but nodded anyway. Ri hadn’t asked for explanation for why he had locked her in here, or even about what had happened. She knew he’d let her know when the time was right, and that was enough for her. Dyon appreciated having a friend like this… especially since he knew that revealing things too early might ruin everything.

But, he decided to let her in on at least one thing, “you know, I already manifested my soul… a while ago actually.”

Ri turned her gaze towards Dyon, “really? When?”

Dyon chuckled, “same night as Zaltarish.”

Ri’s brows furrowed before she thought of something, “you mean?… stop it, you brag too much.”

But, before she could say anything else, Dyon released his manifestations for the first time.

The skies darkened, clouds rolling over.

The inner world shook under Dyon’s oppressive manifestation.

A 20-meter-tall black-red pagoda boomed into existence, dripping with a blood red aura.

In front, a humanoid figure of Dyon stood at 5 meters tall, it massive wings seemingly wanting to blot out the sky.

The demon generals immediately felt something amiss, but then they smiled to themselves.

Arios chuckled, “it seems like Dyon is doing just fine…”

A beautiful female demon general stroked her long white hair, “it’s not polite to try and force a girl to kneel you know…” she said pouting adorably.

This caused an uproarious laughter to spread through the generals.

Ri looked up at Dyon’s manifestation, feeling an oppressive might, “it really was you…”

Ri hadn’t been close to the city at the time the words appeared in the sky… but if something was domineering enough to cause such a thing to occur… it would be Dyon’s manifestation.

Ri harrumphed, “why are you telling me this now, show off.”

Dyon’s manifestations remained as he chuckled bitterly. But, it was an odd sound. His voice had deepened considerably and seemed overlaid by another voice.

“of course, it’s because I want your help. I have no idea where to begin in understanding this and I want to understand as much as I can in at most half a month.”

“why so quickly? What’s happened?”

“your cousin, Princess Acacia is making a move in 2 months time. I’m meant to make my affiliations with your alliance clear at that time.”

A look of realization flashed across Ri’s face, “so Alex is making her move… alright… it’s not ideal, but I guess it can’t be helped. The Sigebryht family and the Norville family are both getting bolder because of Zaltarish… but I guess that plan is about to fall flat on their faces.”

Dyon smiled knowingly, ‘I wonder how a supposedly secret marriage alliance became such common knowledge for the Acacia alliance,’ despite thinking this, Dyon said nothing.

Ri continued, “I really hate banquets though… just do it without me. I’ll help you with your manifestation though, I already have a few faint ideas of how it works…”

“I’ll also help you manifest your soul… but not here. To make the biggest impact on those neutral families, don’t you think releasing your soul in front of all of them would make the biggest impact?…”

Ri hesitated, “you can really do it?…” she asked hopefully. But, then she sighed, “it’s probably not the best idea for me to do this…”

Dyon smiled sympathetically, “I know what you’re thinking… but you know that the big plays or happening. It’s time to put all our cards out on the table.”

Ri sighed, “you and Alex are looking at this problem too simply… the problem was never about being powerful. If it was, my uncle’s rule would have never been opposed and my father wouldn’t be being supressed even as a headmaster.”

Dyon nodded, “I know. It’s about the hate of the Acacia family.”

Ri looked up at Dyon, surprised by how much he knew, “exactly… there’s a reason a princess has to stay hidden so deeply. My uncle was the most powerful expert the Elvin Kingdom had birthed since coming to this universe…. Because he didn’t want to rule through power, but reason, he was taken advantage of. And now, he’s left for reasons unknown even to me and Alex… for all we know, he might have already died…”

Ri’s eyes glistened with tears, but, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. Before she could even react, Dyon pulled her into a tight hug.

“you’ve had a lot on your mind,” he said faintly, “but, right now, I need you to trust me. When the time is right, I’ll explain everything to you.”

Ri felt odd. Dyon’s manifestation was still there, so she felt an arrogant and overbearing will bearing down on her… but, it was oddly comforting. Because she knew that it wasn’t pointed at her, but instead, her enemies.

Ri pinched Dyon’s side, “alright, alright. Stop being so sappy. I’ll believe you for now. Let’s get to studying your manifestation.”

With that, Ri began helping Dyon understand his soul manifestation. It wasn’t that Dyon couldn’t do this alone, it was just that he felt at ease bouncing his ideas off of Ri like they had done the first time they met.

He felt like a weight had been lifted off of his heart. Although the death of Ms. Everdeen still hurt him deeply, and he still hated himself for allowing the orphans to go through what they went through, Dyon had only allowed himself to sink that deeply into a depressed state for a clear purpose. With that purpose fulfilled, he immediately pulled himself out… whether it was by will, or thinking of his close friends like Ri, or his love with Madeleine.

If Dyon was one to so easily fall into a depression, he would have long since given up. He was practically raised by his mother because his father spent so much time away from home. In fact, all Dyon knew about his dad was that he was an unyielding man… one who put duty above almost everything else. So, when Dyon lost his mother, he already felt lost. And yet, his dad was there to instill an iron will in him. An iron will that stayed even after even his dad left him too…

Dyon fought through adversity… it wasn’t that he believed he could never truly slip into a state like that… but, he felt that, at least for now, he could fight it off. He could smile. He could make those around him feel better. And then, he could get revenge.

Suddenly, Ri’s voice snapped him out of his stupor, “I have a feeling that your manifestation is pretty straight forward… well, your pagoda at least.”

Dyon nodded, “I originally thought I learned sword will so quickly because my manifestation would be a sword…”

“right, but instead, your manifestation is a literal weapon’s hall… I doubt there’s a weapon that exists you can’t learn quickly…” Ri’s voice held a faint amount of jealousy. This manifestation was truly too good, and yet she still hadn’t gotten hers yet.

Dyon, sensing Ri’s mood comforted her, “what’s the use in learning so many weapons? I can only use one at a time anyway.”

Ri flicked his forehead, “idiot. Don’t say stupid things to comfort me. I know you must already be aware of how important this could be.

Weapon’s aren’t limited to offensive types… well, more accurately, a weapon’s hall isn’t limited to offensive type items.”

Dyon nodded as Ri continued.

“you have access to shields, and support weapons as well. In fact, I’m getting the faint feeling that what you manifest from your weapon’s hall is based on your imagination rather than the restriction of your manifestation… truly unfair…” Ri pouted.

Dyon rubbed her head, “don’t be like that, I may not know much, but I do know that if you’re still struggling with your manifestation even with the pill I gave you… your manifestation might surpass mine.”

Ri waved Dyon’s hand away, “yea, yea, yea.”

“in addition to supporting your understanding of weapons, it seems like your pagoda actually manifests weapons depending on your soul level too.”

With a wave of his hand, Dyon’s humanoid manifestation disappeared and a white light charged out of the pagodas door and into his hand.

He looked down at the white light, frowning, “do you have any idea how to make this more useful? As of now, this sword seems flimsy… at most it’s comparable to a peak common level weapon despite my soul being at the 5^th stage. In fact, I’m not too far from the middle of the 5^th stage.”

Ri thought about this for a second, “is that the only sword in the pagoda you can bring out? See how many you can take out at once.”

Dyon focused his mind. It was draining having his manifestation out for so long, but this was a necessary step. In fact, Ri was surprised that Dyon could hold on for so long.

However, despite how Dyon focused, he could only pull out a single sword. But, when he thought of other weapons, vague representations everything he could think of came out. A shield, a whip, a spear…

Ri nodded, “as I thought, you can only pull out one manifestation of something at a time. But, concentrate of splitting the sword in your hand instead of calling another one out.”

Dyon did as Ri said, and it miraculously worked. The sword split again and again, Dyon was beginning to think it would be endless until he felt a splitting headache.

“stop it idiot, are you trying to kill yourself?”

Dyon immediately stopped. He found it odd though. He could bring out so many different weapons at once, but there was a limit to splitting a single weapon?

“what’s going on?”

Ri, seemingly understood what Dyon was asking, “I think it has to do with sword cultivation. Something is supporting your manifestation of the sword, and whatever that is, is what’s being split again and again. However, when you pull out different weapons, you’re tapping into different power sources. You realized how your sword was the most powerful among your weapons, right? I have a feeling if you tried to split the other weapons, you might not even be able to manage one time.”

Dyon nodded. The other weapons really did pale in comparison to the sword. But, he also got the faint feeling that if he focused on any one weapon, he could master it in a short time… a time even shorter than the week it took him to learn sword will to the 7^th level.

Suddenly, it was Ri’s turn to ask Dyon a question, “so, what do you think the use is of your weapon’s pagoda if you have access to weapons higher than the common level?”

Dyon thought a bit, “I get the faint feeling… that if I could absorb weapons, the spirit representations of the weapons in my pagoda would increase as well. But, there also seems to be a limit. For example, I don’t think I could absorb a transcendent level weapon. At most, I could probably do it with a peak practitioner to a low master level weapon… corresponding with my soul strength, of course.

But… I’m also getting the feeling that absorbing weapons isn’t what I should be doing… there’s something more to it.”

Dyon began rifling through his master’s memories to see if he could find something similar. What he found made him raise his eyebrows in interest.

Ri spoke, “there is indeed something else of a higher level of… I guess you could say purity. Because of how wills work, it’s possible for even weapons to cultivate. There are phenomena that allow for those lucky enough to gain kernels of cultivation that were the product of a weapon’s or element’s will. For example, a kernel of fire that’s cultivated for thousands of years could directly boost a user of fire will to a new level. It’s also not just about power, but also affinity.

There’s of course a tradeoff because it’s not your own power. Something like that might help you say… boost your peak will into an intent… but at a cost”

Dyon’s eyes flashed, “these weapons from my pagoda…”

Ri nodded, “they’re all kernels of cultivation. Essentially, you have a manifestation that allows you to raise weapons through their own cultivation forms. This allows you to boost your understanding of weapons, and temporarily boost your will… so, if you mastered your sword to the 7^th level of will, you could use your sword kernel spirit to boost it to the 8^th or 9^th level… and…”

“But, since my sword will can reach the peak of the 9^th level… it’s possible that if the kernel is powerful enough, I can boost my sword will to an intent without having to step into the essence gathering level!”

Ri smiled. Despite her feigning jealousy, she was happy Dyon had gotten such a useful ability, but she had to warn him, “remember Dyon… there’s a reason it’s again the laws of the universe to comprehend an intent before stepping into the essence gathering stage. Unless your back is truly against the wall, don’t do it!”

Dyon smiled at Ri, appreciating her concern, “ai ai captain. So essentially, if I find more cultivation kernels to boost my sword spirit. Or, I further understand sword will myself.”

Ri nodded, “if you do those things, the kernel increases in power, and the levels of wills to intents you can skip forward increases. But, so would the stress on your body. So, you’d better listen to me or I won’t forgive you,” she said sternly.

Dyon sighed, “there’s got to be a cooler name for these things than kernel.”

Ri flicked Dyon’s forehead, “haven’t you been paying attention? I only called it that to explain the concept to you in simple terms. It’s called a spirit. Sword spirit. Shield spirit. Spear spirit. That’s what you call a weapon when it’s gained autonomy and the ability to self-cultivate without a blacksmith improving it.”

Dyon laughed, “spirit, kernel… Both are bland. I think I’ll call them abyssal cores. They’re essentially containers for holding power right? The more abyssal cores I find, and the more I fuse them with my own abyssal cores, the stronger I get.”

Ri rolled her eyes, “call them whatever you want. Just know everyone else calls them spirits.”

Dyon grinned, “now… my other manifestation may not be as straight forward to comprehend…”

Ri frowned as Dyon’s humanoid figure appeared. It hovered in the air, it’s one black and one white wing bearing down menacingly. But, what caught Ri’s attention were the flaming golden black circles that formed a hexagonal pattern behind it.

Ri pointed, “those circles seem interesting…”

Dyon nodded. As of now, only one image was clear, the eye at the very top. However, the other 5 flaming circles had images that floated into and out of existence, as though it wasn’t quite in Dyon’s power to understand them just yet.

At least, that was until he noticed something peculiar about the flaming circle hovering just behind the manifestation’s black wing.

“that’s… a black flame?”

Dyon himself was out of it for much of the past week. He needed to be in a state of mind like that to do what he needed to do. But, he could feel the familiarity of that image… it was the exact replica of the flames that had been constantly burning in his eyes for the past few days… it felt so close… but so far away.

Ri turned her gaze to the flaming circle Dyon was looking at, “black flame?… I don’t think that’s fire though… it’s different.”

Dyon shook his head, “it must have been my state of mind that prematurely awakened that circle. I believe the only one I have real access to is the circle containing the eye.”

Ri nodded. The eye was indeed the only clear image, “what do you feel tapping into it?”

Dyon reached out his mind.

Suddenly, everything expanded for him.

Dyon groaned as his soul strength shot upwards, immediately breaking into the 6^th stage.

His aurora flared to life, shining brightly with it’s usual purple-gold color. But, there was now a distinct black undertone.

Dyon felt his body bulging under the pressure, struggling to keep up.

But… he didn’t want to give up this feeling just yet.

With a thought, tens of creation arrays appeared. Almost comedically, hundreds of sweat pants and sports bras tailored for Ri poured out. Piling into colors of black, greys, and dark reds.

Unwilling to stop there, Dyon’s weapon’s hell arrays whirred to life, spinning viciously.

Ri watched this scene with her mouth nearly gaping, ‘this is bullshit! His control of arrays was already so great, now you’re giving him that ability to use even an array he struggled with before, the creation array, so freely? Ridiculous,” Ri felt like sobbing.

At this point Dyon was sweating profusely, but, he wanted to see just how far he could push this.

Suddenly, he felt something snap within him

BOOM!

Massive 3-meter-long wings burst from Dyon’s back. They seemed bathed in light but were somehow also real…. Very real judging by the blood pouring from Dyon’s back…

Ri watched this intently, ‘wait a minute… weapon’s hell array? I almost didn’t recognize them! How can a lower level practitioner array be so powerful?!?’

Dyon hadn’t even released the spears yet, but just the pressure bearing down on Ri made her feel as though she was suffocating.

Suddenly Ri thought of something, ‘his control… is ridiculous…’

Dyon was doing something that had absolutely nothing to do with the original weapon’s hell array: spinning them. The more powerful his soul became, the more furiously he could spin the array, making it one of his most used offensive techniques. In fact, he had practiced over his 6 months of conclusions to not only do this better, but to also fuse wills with the array. Although he had previously been able to do so… coating an array with different arrays and fusing them like he had done with space and time… were completely different concepts.

Dyon’s wings flapped as he soared in the air, spreading his arms out as his body was bathed in blacks, whites, golds and purples.

Ri’s eyes flashed blue as she activated her aurora to get a better look at the situation… and it seemed with each passing second, she only became more and more surprised, ‘the arrays… they’re changing.’

There in the sky, the ordinary lower level practitioner weapon’s hell arrays were evolving. Their lines became more complex, their spinning became more vigorous, and they were even starting to pick up a faint purple characteristic that was exclusive to master level arrays.

‘he can improve arrays in this state?!’

Suddenly, Dyon couldn’t handle it anymore.

His wings disappeared in a flash of light and his arrays crumbled.

Ri jumped to her feet, rushing to catch Dyon before he hit the ground.

BOOM!

Ri slide along the ground with Dyon in her arms, trying to stop their momentum, “oof, you’re so heavy… a human shouldn’t be this heavy…”

After they finally stopped, Ri looked at the now peacefully sleeping Dyon in her arms. The smile on his face almost made you forget that he was pale beyond belief. Blood seeped out of the corners of his mouth and his manifestation had long since disappeared. And to make things even worse, a profuse amount of blood was pouring out of his back from where the wings had been.

“AH!”

Ri pulled back startled as the hand she was using to hold Dyon’s back seared with a heated pain.

“what the hell…” she whispered.

She, as gently as possible, propped Dyon up to look at his back in case there was something she needed to do to stop the heat.

But, what she saw only made her shake her head.

There, flames of black and gold were carving through the blood and Dyon’s skin with no remorse. Line after line was drawn, continuously cutting deeply into the skin.

Time passed slowly as Ri could only watch what must have been a ridiculously painful process.

In the end, the blood dried and the flames finally stopped.

There, left on Dyon’s back were two deeply etched tattoos. Each equally massive and majestic.

On his right, was a magnificently drawn black wing. And on the left was a magnificently drawn white wing.

Ri finally sighed in relief, setting the passed out Dyon down.

She could only shake her head, “who asked you to have such a ridiculously OP manifestation…”

Ri sighed. Dyon’s manifestations were indeed ridiculous… usually, in addition to special abilities, manifestations had the passive ability to directly boost your will, much like how Ores had summoned his flaming ax and boosted his flame and battle ax will. And yet, one of Dyon’s manifestations was a human… something Ri had never seen before… which meant… there was no will Dyon couldn’t boost…

**

Far away from the spatial ring, outside of the Elvin City’s inner forest, and well out of the range of the Elvin City outskirts, Aeson Acacia sweated profusely.

His light blue eyes and his bare torso glistened under the full moon as he pierced forward with his spear again and again.

The grass tore beneath his feet as the only sounds that rang out were his faint grunting.

Hours passed as he repeated the same motions again and again. Unwilling to allow himself any rest until he reached the peak of perfection.

Soon, Aeson’s muscles ached to the point where he could barely lift his spear any longer.

He stood in the small clearing in front of a nearby lake, breathing heavily.

“I promise you… one day I’ll shoulder all of your burdens.”

Taking a last breath, Aeson slowly walked to the lake, stripping down and jumping in. He slowly meditated on his essence gathering technique, allowing faint spots of light to accumulate around him.

Suddenly, he heard the faint sounds of water separating, causing him to turn around violently, “who’s there!”

But, the sight he was greeted with was beyond words.

Like a fairy, a girl with blue-silver hair gently wadded into the water. Her clothes were nowhere to be found, making sure that the only sight reflected in the water was her fair and flawless skin.

Her eyes held a deep purity to them, and despite the truth of the matter, she was like the most beautiful woman in existence…

Aeson audibly gulped, having no idea what to do with himself, “you – h – here … why?”

The girl reached Aeson, shyly blushing under the moonlight as she pressed her exposed body against him.

Her gentle voice rang out, “need you really ask?”

Aeson trembled feeling endless softness invade his arms.

But, his voice rang out resolutely, “I need to know… I’ve loved you for a long time… but you’ve never shown any interest…”

A faint voice rang out as the girl shyly buried her head into Aeson’s chest, “it’s simple… you’re brave… strong… you have a story… and I want nothing more than to see you at your happiest…”

The girl paused, seemingly struggling with her next words. But, Aeson had heard all he needed to hear.

He titled the girl’s chin up, looking her in her beautiful and calm eyes. He smiled gently, “there’s nothing you need to be nervous about telling me…” he said softly.

The girl adorably nodded, still struggling with her words, she blushed profusely before continuing, “I want nothing more than to see you at your happiest…

Before I send you into endless despair…”

Aeson had no time to react as a dagger appeared in his chest.

He looked down in disbelief, unwilling to believe what just happened.

Blood spilled out of his mouth as he choked his last words out, “you’re not Ri… the Sigebryht family sent you…”

Aeson’s eyes dimmed… the last thing he heard was something that sent him to the next world full of grievances, “love… what a useless emotion… maybe if you paid attention, you would have realized my chest is much bigger than that Ri girl of yours.”

‘Ri’ laughed, “I made that mistake on purpose just to see if you’d notice… but you’re just like every other man… thinking with your dick and not with your head.” –> <img src=’https://st.moonquill.com/avatar/129? alt=”…” class=”avatar-img rounded-circle border border-4 border-body”> <h6 class=”header-pretitle”> Author’s Note </h6> <h1 class=”header-title”> Awespec </h1> <h3 class=”header-subtitle text-white”>Be sure to join our discord! We not only have a lot of fun talking about RMW and other light novels, we also have a lot addicting bot games :)</h3>