Obsession (1)

As soon as Ian arrived at the main manor of Hisperion by warp, he headed straight for the Heavenly Sword Palace.

At the entrance to the Heavenly Sword Palace, he handed over Kargon to the guards and informed them that the Sword Dragon Hall had been attacked.

The guards immediately relayed the news to the Heavenly Sword Knights, and the knights set out at once for the uninhabited island.

Meanwhile, Ian stopped by his own detached residence, Lunabreeze.

It was to prepare a place for Scarlet to stay while she recovered.

He had secretly brought Scarlet here, having hidden her inside a subspace storage spell.

Because simply bringing an outsider into the Heavenly Sword Palace could attract unnecessary political attention.

Moreover, if that outsider were a member of the dark clan—a vampire—various misunderstandings and rumors would quickly arise.

Vampires were, after all, fundamentally treated as monsters that preyed on humans.

Those who consorted with vampires, man-eaters lurking in darkness, were usually regarded as villains like demonic humans or dark mages.

Of course, there were exceptions who stood on the side of good, but statistically, most of them were antagonistic to humans, so it was better to bring her in secretly to avoid troublesome rumors.

‘And not just for me, but for Scarlet as well.’

Scarlet, too, detested such bothersome attention.

It was hardly pleasant for someone to watch her every move, constantly calculating and even plotting schemes from time to time.

It was the right thing to do for her as well, to bring her in secretly like this.

He certainly didn’t want Scarlet to become the subject of unwelcome attention from the political schemers of the Heavenly Sword Palace.

‘Still, I was a little worried, but I’m glad everything went smoothly.’

Subspace is quite a fragile space—if you struggle even a little from inside, it can easily tear.

If Scarlet had regained consciousness and woken up inside subspace, she could’ve torn her way out, bursting into the open.

If that happened in front of multiple people, it would have been extremely hard to deal with.

Fortunately, such a disaster did not happen.

Of course, Ian had not recklessly gambled.

‘Vampires’ recovery sleep is rather long.’

Scarlet would probably just sleep the whole day.

Knowing that, he had transferred her into the subspace.

—Step, step.

Ian went down to the basement of Lunabreeze.

He entered a secret training chamber at the end of the corridor.

Though called a training chamber, it had a restroom and a bed, so it was practically like a studio apartment.

—Vwoom!

Ian carefully took Scarlet out inside there.

—Shoook…

Then he slowly laid her down on the bed.

She was still sleeping like a corpse.

Given how badly injured she’d been, there was no sign she’d wake up no matter what he did at the moment.

‘Still, here, there’s no sunlight at all, and there’s plenty of mana rising from the underground…’

Scarlet’s recovery would be much smoother here.

‘I don’t know when Scarlet will wake up, so I’d better leave a note.’

If Scarlet woke up alone and went outside, she could bump into a Heavenly Sword Knight—which would be a truly terrible accident.

To prevent such a mishap, he had to leave a memo.

—Scratch, scratch.

Ian immediately brought some paper and a pen and began to write neatly the things he needed to tell Scarlet.

First, where she was—in the guesthouse annex inside the Heavenly Sword Palace.

Since she’d been brought in secretly, a warning not to go outside alone.

And a request to wait here after waking up, as he’d return soon.

—Rustle, rustle.

He folded the note carefully and left it on the table beside the bed.

‘Hmm…’

Just in case she didn’t notice the note, he also filled a cup with his own blood and left it next to the note.

With the smell of blood, she wouldn’t be able to miss the note.

‘……’

And, since she might be bored while waiting after waking up, he stacked some novels beside her as well.

‘That should do it.’

He had finished dealing with Scarlet.

Now it was time to check on the situation at the uninhabited island again.

—Ding-dong!

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

“……?”

When he went to the entrance, a single Heavenly Sword Knight was standing there.

—Bow.

“Nice to meet you. I am First-Class Knight Gallen from the Investigation Division of the Heavenly Sword Knights.”

Gallen introduced himself with a polite greeting.

“Yes. Sir Gallen. Pleasure to meet you. What brings you here?”

“I came to deliver the report regarding the uninhabited island incident you reported a short while ago, young master.”

“I see.”

He was just about to check on the situation; it was attentive of the Investigation Division to come first.

Indeed, the division’s work was meticulous.

Gallen relayed that, fortunately, the Sword Dragon Hall’s ship had already safely reached the harbor.

“Any injuries or casualties?”

There were some injuries, but no fatalities, he said.

That was a relief.

“You needn’t worry. Soon, everyone will return to the Heavenly Sword Palace via warp gate.”

“I see.”

Then the dangerous situation could be considered resolved.

Now that they’d made it into the city, no matter what demonic humans were left, they wouldn’t dare attack recklessly, and once they used the warp gate, everyone would be back at the Heavenly Sword Palace in no time.

“Looks like everything’s taken care of. That’s a relief.”

Ian had been trying hard to remain calm, but he’d been anxious inside.

After all, he’d left Yuria and Sophia in that dangerous place.

But now that all was resolved, he was finally able to set aside his worries a bit.

“I suppose I should go and greet them.”

Although the situation was mostly resolved, it wasn’t completely over.

He needed to see Yuria and Sophia in person to be fully reassured.

“Yes. Then I shall take my leave. Should anything else happen, I will report back immediately.”

“Thank you, sir Gallen. Safe travels.”

—Bow.

Gallen bowed and left.

‘Now then…’

Before going to welcome them, it was best to recover his aura first.

If some damn variable emerged and the situation took another bad turn, he’d have to rush out to fight again.

‘My dantian is completely shriveled.’

Ian’s body was now almost completely drained of aura.

He’d used up too much aura fighting the demonic humans, and had also consumed a lot restoring Scarlet and projecting the mana extraction device.

‘But at least I have Vladiark.’

At present, Vladiark had absorbed blood magic power equivalent to a Grandmaster’s.

He had absorbed it when he destroyed the magic power storage device at the demonic humans’ lair using Vladiark.

Blood magic power was optimized for vampires and couldn’t normally be used directly by Ian, but that didn’t matter.

Ian had Authority of Projection.

With his authority, he could convert blood magic power into aura and store it in his dantian.

—Rustle, rustle.

Ian walked out to Lunabreeze’s sun-drenched front garden.

—Whump!

He sat cross-legged on the grass, still holding Vladiark in hand.

To be honest, training in a wide-open yard like this was not recommended.

Normally, training was to be done in a thoroughly secured environment.

But right now, a Heavenly Sword Knight might return at any moment with another report.

He needed to be in a visible spot so the knight could wake him up even during training.

Although this place was wide open, it was not really dangerous for training.

This was, after all, inside the Heavenly Sword Palace, protected by countless knights.

—Slick.

Thinking thus, Ian closed his eyes.

Holding the heavy black greatsword neatly.

He slowly sought out the blood magic stored inside Vladiark.

Then, by tightening and loosening the blood gates among his mana circuits, he followed the essence of the Sky Thunder, Deep as the Clouds method to open the way for aura to flow in.

It was a task requiring extreme focus, but to others, it would look like nothing more than ordinary meditation.

It was just when Ian had almost finished his preparations to absorb Vladiark’s blood magic…

—Swoosh!

—Flash!

“……!?”

Something dug into Ian’s hand and violently snatched away Vladiark.

“What!?”

At the same time—

A powerful force shoved Ian’s shoulder harshly back.

“Ugh!!”

Ian tumbled backwards.

He tried to get up at once, but—

—Grab!

—Dash!

A stranger’s quick hand seized Ian’s wrist.

—Press…!

Pressed him flat to the ground as if to pin him.

“W-what…?!”

It happened in an instant.

Ian was overpowered instantly.

Vladiark flew off into the distance, and Ian found himself pinned under the assailant in a mount position, both wrists secured.

“Who…?!”

Ian glared up with wide eyes to see the face of the assailant.

“… What?”

Beneath the clear sky—

Platinum-blonde hair, glittering in the sunlight, brushed Ian’s cheek.

And, even against the backlight, red eyes sparkled like flames.

Aris Hisperion.

It was her who had attacked him.

She was looking down at Ian, a smile on her face.

“W-what is…!”

Why was Aris here all of a sudden!?

Hadn’t they said the Sword Dragon Hall’s ship had just docked?

Shouldn’t she be returning with the students right now?

‘No, more importantly—!’

That wasn’t the issue now.

“… Lady Aris…?”

Ian glared at her, his expression crumpling.

“… What do you think you’re doing right now?”

Pinned in a dangerously precarious situation under Aris, there was no room for other thoughts.

“Let go of me.”

Ian spoke in a calm voice.

“Isn’t this going a bit too far for a prank?”

Attacking in the middle of training.

It was truly an unpleasant act.

If Ian had been in deep training, his disrupted breathing could’ve severely injured his mana circuits.

“Fufu. Sorry, young master Ian. Did I offend you?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

—Grin.

Aris’s smile grew stronger.

Conversely, Ian’s expression grew harsher.

“I told you to let go.”

Aris shook her head.

“No, young master Ian. I won’t let go.”

“… Why.”

Ian finally realized Aris’s breathing was a little rough.

A chill ran down his spine.

“… What are you going to do to me?”

“Who knows?”

—Surr!

At that moment, a cold chill began to emanate from her grip.

“Ugh!”

That icy cold flowed through Ian’s wrist and invaded his mana channels.

From wrist to forearm.

From elbow to shoulder.

Riding under his arm to his heart.

“U-ugh! S-stop!”

Aris’s chill spread from his heart throughout his entire body.

Ian gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Aris was forcibly invading all his mana channels, and if he lost control, he felt he’d let out a shameful moan against his will.

“You overdid it, young master Ian.”

Aris’s cold energy pooled at Ian’s dantian.

She stroked around his dantian with her own aura as if petting a cat.

“There’s almost no aura left. You’re completely empty.”

“Ha, haa… ha… haa…”

Ian panted rapidly.

“… That should be enough. Ha, ah… Now let me go.”

But Aris shook her head mischievously, grinning.

“No, young master Ian. This is your punishment.”

—Fwoosh!

Her cold energy pierced even deeper into Ian’s body.

“Hi-hik!?”

This time, he couldn’t suppress a moan.

Ian’s back arched like a bow.

“Hahaha.”

Aris pressed down on the shuddering Ian with her whole body, savoring his expression.

“Such a nice face, young master Ian. I’ve only ever seen your calm face—but look at how broken you can be.”

“Ghh…!”

—Gnash!

Ian bit down so hard his teeth ground together.

“Cut it out…!! What do you want from me!?”

“Why, are you mad? I haven’t even begun yet.”

Aris brought her wickedly smiling face even closer.

Close enough for their breaths to mingle.

“I told you clearly, young master Ian. I told you, didn’t I.”

That she would be watching him.

“If you disappear like that however you please, what am I supposed to do? You scared me. I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“G-ghh…!”

Aris’s cold aura still invaded Ian’s mana circuits.

“This is punishment for that. And a warning. Even if something like today happens, do not disappear from my sight again…”

A burning obsession like hellfire blazed in Aris’s red eyes.

“Understood?”

“… G-ggh…”

“You’ll answer, won’t you?”

Aris’s cold aura licked greedily over Ian’s whole body.

It felt as if centipedes were crawling through every vein, sinking in their venomous fangs.

His whole body tingled and turned numb, frost blurring his vision.

He felt as if his body would be permanently damaged if he tried to keep resisting.

But…

“Fuck, hell no…!!”

Ian was not the type to yield to such threats.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Crazy…

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep