Take Up the Cross – Chapter 83: A Conversation Just for Us

(“Moonlight” makes every location in Zennia a place I would love to see at night. To note the differences.)

Inverting the dichotomy of light and shadow is what Traveler does, creating a Petripolis whose sleeping version greatly resembles one of the ancient cliff cities of Xin. Chiseled into the walls of the sheared islands, one could traverse top to bottom while the entirety of the [Emperor’s View], as the empty space between firmament is called, stayed within sight.

(But upside down, it looks strange, like the ground is the sky and the sky will—?)

“Who are you?”

His body creaks as he’s jerked up, still swinging by one leg as he flexes to keep his blood active.

Asking the same question again, his date for the night brings them face-to-face.

Green stares into red, still full of curiosity, but her body language is unforgiving and opaque about her interests.

(A little less curious and a little more annoyed now? I’m… sorry for the scar.)

He’s spent more time staring at the abyss called Petripolis, the stick in their conversation, than her tasty body, the carrot. The only sore point for that carrot is the lingering reminder of where the collar was yanked out from.

Lycia’s body healed perfectly, save for this decapitating scar at her neck.

“As I said, Adris fehl Dain, literally translated as ‘Star of Ruin’. My ‘profession’ would be… false god from another world, currently.”

“The reason you… recall what I called forth?”

(You’ve noticed by just body language?)

“Because I’ve touched the… ‘other side of the curtain’ many times. We’re fast friends, those unknown things lurking just out of sight and I.”

The glow in her eyes brightens at that admission, earning a sneer from her as she toys with him by letting him dip.

“Be quiet. Mention neither them nor your own thoughts. The world has no stomach for such secrets.”

(So you know about the conspiracy, too.)

“What of the danger of the allip that’s possessed you?”

“Ah, Rantil is mostly harmless… is what I would’ve said before that bit with her, but now I’m considering murder.”

The cloak draped over her has the fatal flaw of not covering her left front, especially when her arm is raised above it. Instead, her glorious and appealing roundness is on display, with the pink of her nipples just a shade different in the violet light from above. It does little to keep the drizzle off of her, and without it, Adris is now exposed to it even more.

(I think you look more erotic when you cover yourself with my own clothing, especially after stealing it from me.)

That thought brings back old worries about his own sexual proclivities.

“Your name is wrong. It doesn’t belong to any human which dwells here, now or ever before!”

“If you have a pet name in mind, I’m willing to consider using it full time, instead.”

That time-honored, suave smile of his earns only another hiss.

“Stop flirting and start answering questions with meaningful information.”

(… Well, I’ve been trying to. You keep getting hung up on “from another world”.)

After escaping and finding a nice perch far from interruptions, no time was spared for adoration or soulful thanks for his amazing solution to her problems.

(I’ve heard that fishing is popular on Zennia. The Sea of Stars was as dangerous as it was bountiful. Is this what the bait feels like…?)

Adris’ immediate assessment of Lycia’s demeanor indicates a wildly successful, but also completely unpredictable, turn in their relationship.

Far from hateful, the cunning woman’s features indicate varied emotions as she examines him. Those fine eyebrows are expressive, arching and falling, and coming closer together with each playful linguistic jab he sends her way.

(See, if I do this…)

“Meaningful information? Okay, you’ve put me into desperate straights, so here is the honest truth.” Clapping his hands together lightly, he closes his eyes and puts on a somber grimace.

“These…

these…

… pants are far more comfortable than they appear at first.”

She blinks at him as he smiles hopefully.

“My partner sewed a silk liner into them. Incredibly extravagant, I know, but she thinks I’m worth it, even if I’m not always sure. If you want to try them on, I think we’d both get something out of the experience, so long as you let me watch as you pull them up…”

His hands are already moving up to untie them, before she stops them.

The slightest curl of her lip upwards is his reward…

Before she reaches to his crotch and tweaks what she grabs.

“Nononono, wear, not cut away! Perhaps I’m not…?”

His hands playfully struggle against hers as he his skin starts to glisten with the fear of losing something important.

The bully pulls her hand back, rubbing her face as her focused aggression sours.

“… Were you… always like this?” A disappointed question escapes her, with the tension in her face draining a bit.

“Always? No.” Adris thinks back to the past, a difficult task these days. “A man named… Jilahn was as competent as he was fat. I’d say his… ‘expert’, if forced, tutelage when I was a child took a long time to guide back into a pleasant me.”

He sways silently after while watching how she reacts.

Eyes search his face, before she leans in to sniff.

A cold hand feels his neck, before she pulls out one of the few tools left intact in her belt to hold to where her hand was.

While watching its reaction clinging to his skin, she sighs.

“Save the truth for something relevant. Your past means nothing, fake. Only this detail does:

If you’re serving the Alchemaster, then what is your scheme with me?”

(… Serve…?)

The memory of soft lips on his own comes up as he stares into her beautiful face.

A dainty devil took from him…

“Stop sticking your tongue out! Or scrunching your face!”

“Sorry. I just… remembered an unpleasant fruit.”

“Ugh, you’re hideous when you do that.”

“… Sorry for being born with this face?”

That poisonous sweetness to her tongue is taunting even now, leaving Adris mentally harmed once more by the scene re-enacting.

“I see. You think I’m serving her. That explains the unnecessary hostility y—

OOUUUUUU!?”

Adris’ view of Petripolis becomes panoramic, as he painfully spins while she twirls.

His stomach backs up into his throat, tasting of scorching acid in his esophagus as he tries to contain its contents.

When she stops, he collapses to the roof while coughing and huffing. Joints pop and muscles spasm as he tries to get his abused body back in order.

“Don’t think you can excuse ownership. I can smell it in you, now.”

A pointed claw elongates from a finger as the sneering woman climbs over him.

It aims for his heart, poking through the vest to strain the lamellar armor beneath.

“Random happenstance does not explain what wraps around your heart. You do not brush off holding her most precious trust! You carry a key which opens all doors in the Castillo, making you…

Her….!”

Anger burns bright, like the starborn creature she is.

Teeth open wide, with her straining face aiming for his neck.

That flexible, long tongue of hers snakes out from between her full lips to lick his skin, which tingles as the saliva is absorbed.

“ENEMY! I AM HER ENEMY!”

“… Liar!”

The stone tiles bruise his head as he’s ground against them by her strong hand, that pain leaving both screaming at each other.

“GAH, I… I never…! NEVER WANTED IT!”

“THeN wHy Do YoU hAvE iT!?”

(Because I lost…! But… can I say that!?)

Adris wants to tell the truth to this growling beast.

Like with the rest of his mostly honest answers, he’s…

“It was a ‘gift’ I couldn’t refuse! Or return! Or get rid of!”

He shivers at the feeling on his neck, his eyes closed as he waits for the bite.

“I swear it on the power of my own cross!”

But instead of that, up and down inverts once more.

“… A gift…?”

“An unwanted one! Forced on me as she… took… something from me that haunts my dreams, in return.”

The inverted blood flow after his heart was racing is causing him to feel nauseated. Not even the brisk night and his aura training can keep him from growing dizzy if he stays like this forever.

(Couldn’t you just ride my face if you’re looking to punish me!? … No, let’s not think that way.)

Especially with how flushed Lycia looks.

The moment the two were alone, her skin took on a new liveliness to it.

That scent of hers is too inviting, too. It’s making it hard not for him to become aroused.

(If you stop standing sideways so that I can take a peek, will you be gushing?)

“… If… if you are her enemy, then it would make sense to destroy me.”

A single allowance is offered with a soft voice, giving him a possible out…

“Normally you’d think that, right? But, you’d be wrong about my motivations!”

“Guh!?”

His abrupt refusal to accept that out causes her to choke on her next words, leaving her with a complicated expression as he grins, instead of displaying anger.

(Constantly… change the pressure and challenge expectations. Right, Fatso? If you want someone to stop hating you, then show them you aren’t what you appear…?)

Even if it’s manipulating her, Adris understands a maxim about life.

(“Life is not intent, but the accident of a sigh becoming the wind felt by distant lands.” Even if I don’t want to manipulate her, I must in order to reach my goal, because she’ll hate me if I let this proceed without caution.

… My goal is to her benefit, though.)

That disconnect, between desire and reality, makes him contemplative as she mumbles out a question.

“Then why are we… here?”

“Because this is where you landed and—

Nevermind.”

His hand is pressed against her pointed one, which is angled to penetrate his neck.

“You… ridiculous…

Why… why are we both still alive and free? Why in the name of all of the divines would you… let me go?”

Open confusion registers on her gaunt face, leaving him stuck for an easy answer.

(The reason I let you go? That question is why I’m still alive, also why you’re still interested. It’s also a complicated discussion, one which needs much better ambiance if I’m going to establish a good rapport.)

“Is this… some… ploy on your part?”

Clicking his tongue, Adris looks down to the distant ground, before turning back to Lycia.

“Hypothetically speaking… if I said…”

Coughing, his voice shifts to become deeper, sounding more like he normally does when his [false god] persona is in full motion.

“‘All that has transpired tonight, and all that will occur from here on, obeys the incalculable will and omniscience of a man who has pierced to the very core of existence.’” Sharpening his sight, Adris lets his obsidian mask amplify the tone he uses.

His hand is lifted toward her chin to stroke it, while he sneers with the most bravado he can muster.

“… would I die, dashed upon the streets below?”

Open-mouthed as she listened, Lycia recovers while growing less impressed.

Her head lazily tilts as she sighs.

“Hypothetically? No.”

The smile she gives toward his joke reminds him of how she’d lavish attention on him during their mad dash through the Castillo.

“You would be dead before you hit the ground. Though, your head might be alive when it struck? Should we test the question?”

As she rubs her chin, she finally turns her body toward him. A flash of her thighs reveals to his starving eyes…

(Damn, she’s not flooded. Am I losing my touch?)

“I politely decline. Well, then my real answer will be this, since it’d take too long to explain otherwise.”

Letting all of his doubts die off, Adris reaches deeply into that enthusiasm he rediscovered while setting her free with the power of the cross.

“My entire life, I’ve likely never done anything that wasn’t calculated to benefit me.”

That admission earns wide eyes, with Lycia’s readied knife hand relaxing.

“No matter how great or small, the… mentality I’ve survived by formed me into a man that can only do for myself before I even start to consider another’s fortunes.

If you ask why I did it, then I’ll say ‘because I had an idea and inexhaustible confidence that it will pan out’.”

Without a cape and still upside down, Adris cannot gain the benefit of the wind that blows by to grant him an impressive presence.

Instead, he can only watch it blow Lycia’s stolen cloak, allowing him to look at her breasts fully revealed as he crosses his arms and grins audaciously.

“I won’t apologize for the kind of hunk I am, my unique ‘shooting star’…!”

A perfect wink for her, and two fingers kissed and thrown up as a dashing salute round out his appeal, one lessened dramatically by being quite young in appearance.

“… but, also, sorry, I’m trying to be a better man, for once in my life.”

Adris makes Still’s “apologies” gesture before letting his arms hang limply again.

“… Hah…?”

Though he’s unsure if the undead can get headaches, she rubs her temple like she has one while her eyes twitch.

“I can end your life… right now.”

“Then I’ll be dying at the hands of the most beautiful ghoul I’ve ever met. ‘A star of ruin, cast down by a streaking gift from the heavens?’ How romantic!”

“You!? … You’re worse than those Chosen!”

Almost pulling him back to safety, she then lingers for a moment as her lips tighten. That coy voice of hers turns inquisitive as she whispers.

“Have you even met another ghoul?”

“Please! Do you really think my affection for you is lessened by such petty details?”

The grip on his leg shifts between firm and loose, as he lightly sways with each subtle movement she makes while shaking.

“… I… I need… alcohol.”

“Certainly, a night as fine as this deserves libations. To where shall we sojourn~?”

Throwing him under her arm, they become airborne as a distant structure looms closer, one that looks like a collapsing dome.

“… How depressing, that I must take you, too.”

Adris receives a second look from the soldier who hands him his drinks when the boy leaves. The Castellani retainer, who Adris believes to be a spy, shows equal parts fear and fascination with the woman he’s entered with.

Though, the soldier is hardly the last to lock eyes on him.

An entire stage follows his every step on the way back to a table. Beneath whipping, torn banners plundered from her place of work idles a woman resting on her palm. Without looking to Adris, her free hand swipes the nutty ale he moves toward her.

Beneath her gaze are parchment papers with objects and contraptions drawn in side and top views. Theorems of esoteric mathematics only she can understand fill the space, connected by numbers, letters, and strange symbols to what is denoted on these contrivances.

(Some of these objects look like the architecture or traps of the Castillo hallways?)

Where meager empty spaces remain, she either whistles, gasps, or hisses at what she fills in. The theorems, even to Adris, look more complete after she’s done.

(You move from being interested in me to caring about the scrolls you pulled out of your stash.)

On the outskirts of the Call Lycia had left him, bounding away after to retrieve possessions from a spiderhole known only to her.

Not even a warning was issued before she returned ten minutes later. With her fully clothed and bearing a long, cylindrical case of leather, they dropped to the ground and entered the Skyless Amphitheater through a side entrance.

(If you consider a window twenty-feet up to be an “entrance”.)

The clothes she wears now are even more eye-catching than before.

A red, slit tank top hangs loosely over her front, connected to the back by golden star buttons. Showing off her belly button, the open mid-riff also lets the royal purple, lacy lingerie underneath be seen connecting to the fabric-overlayed metallic ribs which help keep her breasts held up.

She seems fond of the affectation, moving her hand to her stomach to rub along her strong abs when others drink in this bare skin.

In contrast to this, a terribly short, black frilled dress over partially visible riding leathers leaves her legs totally covered. Knee-high boots amplify the more conservative draw waist down, while new tool panels adorn her thighs under the too-short dress. Filled with salvaged and new gear taken from her store cart, she’d replenished her weaponry on the way to the Castillo Kings drinking area.

(The scarf over your neck is a nice addition. Shouldn’t you be proud of your freedom, though?)

That freedom is not something she intends to announce, leaving Adris sad that they won’t be drinking to success.

“Are you sure you’d like this much company? What if I… were to say anything untoward?”

“Why is there a time limit on expiring you? Sit down, you’ve already drawn enough attention.”

“Me? I’d say that you’re claiming the bulk of it.”

When his hand comes to the chair next to hers, she pushes it over with the back of her hand, causing a loud, wooden clatter before returning to reading.

(… Unfortunate.)

Misreading the mood, he recovers himself while sitting across, instead. Starting on his drink, he discovers a deep thirst has set in, born after the hellish battle that crossed from reality to the deeply unreal, and then back.

“As I was saying earlier…” Continuing his stories, Adris caps off a summary of his time spent since departing from her company. “My membership with our local slayers led to me discovering you were a merchant here. Naturally, I was concerned that we hadn’t left each other’s company under the best of circumstances, so I… hedged a few things…”

A nail pierces through a stack of parchments when she flinches.

Though still in possession of herself, Lycia’s skin refuses to be only pale, often turning redder as she comes near him.

Her eyes shake for a moment while glued to his face, before flashing back to her designs.

“… Yes, I’m still… uncertain what it is creates this tension between us, Lycia.”

“It’s foolish of you, being so cunning…”

Her hand darts to rip up his, dragging him to standing to join her.

The wound dug into his palm by a sharp nail starts to bleed, leaving him hissing in his mind as he winces.

“… to claim as such. Tell me you don’t know what this means!”

A bloody hand is forced palm toward him for exhibition, leaving him groaning at her abuse even as he quickly forces a cloth to the wound.

“It means I have no… of… that stuff. I would appreciate if you could be less candid about that.”

Adris smiles as he talks, using his other hand to wave toward their audience.

“My associates here all have Vigor, what does that matter…?”

“What!? To… to the abyss with your Vigor! You know what you’ve done!”

Flinging away his hand, Lycia points at him with the shaking finger that drips blood, trying not to scream as she is forced to gently exhale.

Whatever perceived wrong she’s stuck on, it’s staining their entire encounter.

(What the fuck did I do!?)

“If I’d known you’d be so pissed at me running off on my own, I’d have left a message.”

“It’s not about that!

… Though, you left me looking for you for four ‘shorts’ before I assumed you were… claimed. Thank you for wasting my time and sympathies.”

A disarming smile from her goes along with her last remark, before she frowns again.

“After everything you’ve admitted to, you still don’t plan to accept the consequences!?”

When Adris’ face remains blank, she grits her teeth.

“… Look, thing, I can be lenient if you just… accept the consequences and agree to certain reparations. I understand now that you hedge certain potential gains—”

“For abandoning you and saving my own skin I have to pay!? I may owe you for helping me to get out… but you had plenty of fun with those four servants after winning, so you hardly were uncompensated…”

(You’re not worth that much.)

“Especially not when you were going to… ahem, ‘stain the golden carpets white with my semen dripping from you, as you drag me back to the deep blue to be eaten up by Mother’, or did you forget that?”

“… Hah, that was simply a ruse to lose their suspicion, as you well know.”

Rolling her eyes, Lycia sips a drink from her stein. The display is less convincing than Adris is used to from her.

“Oh, yes. I know you quite well in regards to that.”

“Hmm?”

Poking at food he pulls from his pack, Adris licks a strip of salted pork before dipping it into powdered seasoning Kol gave as “tribute”.

“You were going to free me, in your own manner, mmmm; but, before we made it outside, you were planning to… ah, have a little fun on the doorstep to see how I’d react. That wasn’t an impromptu idea you shared.”

Ripping at the meat after chewing on it, he awaits a response from the soft-eyed woman who gives a teasing smile before hiding behind her drink.

“… Well, we all have our own dreams and aspirations, huhu.”

The easy-going demeanor of the Lycia who saved him creeps through once more, a light sort of laugh at the end earning a broader smile as she thinks about what he recalls.

“Lie to me and say you wouldn’t have enjoyed it.” Her fetching face creeps forward, her smile ever more arrogant. “That you don’t still want me…”

(Fine, I won’t lie to you.)

When he keeps eating instead, her pleasantness departs as she bares her teeth once more.

“Liked me a little too much?

That’s why you…!”

Before she can finish, his hand slamming to the table stops her.

Hers comes up with claws out, ready to shoot across at him, until he thrusts pork into it.

“Did what!? What… what did I do!?”

“Huh…?”

(You’re pissing me off!)

Regaining his composure, Adris sits back down while she draws to her the food offered.

Numerous other figures sit, too.

Some even put away their weapons.

“… Terribly bold of you to hold me prisoner with your legion of adorers surrounding me.”

“The Chosen are lovely, aren’t they…”

Sniffing at the meat while she mumbles, Lycia bites a chunk off of the large piece Adris gave her, rolling it with her tongue before simply swallowing.

While most look bewildered, many of the slayers in the Call also stand ready to jump to Lycia’s defense. The concept of their idol sitting with a boy and drinking before getting into an argument appears beyond their capacity to cope with.

After watching the device still attached to Adris’ neck for a time, a hissing sound comes from Lycia as she buries her face in her hands.

He can hear her chair squeaking as she swings her legs under the table, before she starts stamping them.

“… Do you… really have… no idea what you’ve done?”

“I’ve done a lot of things; but, aside from disobeying you and, just recently, attacking you, I have no idea why you’re so pissed off.”

“… So it… was like that…”

All life drains from Lycia as she leans back into her chair, with it tipping over as she lets her legs keep her from falling.

“… It was like that? I wasted… all those brain cells thinking it was something more… competent? Domineering and… dastardly?”

(Just what did I do!? Now I wish I’d done it intentionally, if it impressed you so much.)

The chair clatters as she comes to upright, staring at him over her folded hands.

“There’s no plot? Your ambush was the only thing you planned against me?”

“As far as I know, yes. There’s the possibility that my… partner is planning more, but I hadn’t even met her before our trek through the upper tier.”

“… Oh, okay.”

Folding up her arms, Lycia puts her head into them and sighs.

“It was just a fluke? A cosmic jest at my expense? I well and truly hate my life, sometimes…”

Another heavy sigh comes, before the woman stays still and wordless.

Time passes in the Call, with the sham conversations of the slayers ending at intervals when they rise to walk by this quiet table on the way to get drinks.

Each one stares hard at Adris.

Some imitate their desires by drawing blades across their necks or pointing to their butts with bludgeons.

Others’ eyes show total confusion, begging for an update before staring at the muted Lycia like they want to hug her.

A man in penguin armor idly passing by pats him on the shoulder.

A note left affixed to Adris’ body reads:

“Your very thankful V.I.P. would (V)ery (I)mportantly a(P)preciate a hookup with her, too. Let me fill you in on how the party went later, but I dipped elf fatty early when he wanted me to start meeting old women. Goodspeed, bro.”

Pocketing the note, Adris keeps his eternal smile strong.

(… She’s not property or a date. This is something… more.)

“… Okay. It was my misunderstanding. Haaaaah~!”

Cracking her knuckles while yawning, the woman of the hour returns to the discussion with a renewed mood.

That charming figure of hers earns its worth as she shifts in her seat, letting her plump breasts rest on the edge of the table.

“Well, even if you aren’t aware of it, you hurt me, so I intend for you to pay up.”

“How did I hurt you, exactly? You were going to attack me first, so me letting you off…?”

Tsking at him, Lycia wags a finger before reaching over to nab his stein. Drinking it in place of her emptied one, she licks her lips before continuing.

“Nah, not tonight. You hurt me in the Castillo. A very deep and permanent wound, so I intend to take recompense from your body to cover harming a fragile maiden.”

“I am not materials of value for you to claim, and you are hardly fragile.”

“You don’t think you are, correct~! Also: I’m pleased that you didn’t deny me being a maiden. That would’ve cost you a tongue!”

(At least you’re back to normal.)

Lycia’s mannerisms have lost all hostility, making Adris feel relaxed for the first time since he’d made the decision to save her.

(How could I lose you? You show me such fascinating things, after all.)

“What is this tool?”

Placing his hand to it, it feels metallic, though also like it’s studded, with soft leather.

“Hm? That reads certain autonomic functions of humans, ones I can’t personally detect. Mostly related to latent biochemical (INTERNAL LIFE ALCHEMY) responses…”

(Like… aura balances and humors?)

“Does it… possibly detect lies?”

“It aids in uncovering them, yes. It’s neither perfect nor ever reliable, but while supplementing my own senses, reasonably accurate.”

The lazy woman waves her hand while examining a new parchment, writing in some figure over a doorway with all manner of crystals attached to it.

“I see. Would it be bad to say that I have a Talent which grants me the ability to mask my lies as truths?”

Ink flies when her quill snaps, her tongue ready to flay him before she scrunches her face.

“Fuck…!? You? Youuuuuu…!?”

Rubbing her temples, Lycia offers a mournful cry.

“… Why would you tell me that? It only makes me more inclined to dig your marrow out and leave the rest to rot.”

(You want my marrow? Is a pure human that valuable?)

Though he should be scared, the woman’s strained smile comes back.

“Are you just going to tell me everything I want to hear?”

(Oh, that’s an easy question!)

“Of course. If you’ve questions to ask me, I don’t mind answering them… if it’s you asking them.”

“Ah? You… aren’t…”

“I especially like questions that are lewd, so long as you’re ready for the answers to be about you~!

Stuck on what to say after he winks, she finally loses to his eternal smile when she tries to peer past his facade.

Though not answering, Lycia calmly rolls up her parchments before stuffing them back in their tube. Leaving it on the table, she walks off to the bartender.

When she returns, a fresh stein is set before him while a gorgeous female is added to his side.

“What are you trying to get out of this with me? I’ve come solely for… your ‘payment’, but there’s more I feel in this ebb and flow than simply business.”

Lycia Vehrose finally comes to the table.

Not the vicious ghoul or the mad scholar, but the curious woman who knows what a man wants.

Her shoulder “accidentally” rubs against him as she gets comfortable, jolting him pleasantly as he basks in her odor.

“Isn’t it because you want to see what’s beneath the waves? Why not find out with me?”

“Hah!”

A deep laugh is earned with that question, before she gives him a sidelong glance.

“A clever man like you is the type that should be exterminated, for the sake of women everywhere.

Sorry, let’s just be honest about this, since you seem to be trying: you’re not my type.”

(A fair assessment.)

Adris nods his head sagely.

When he doesn’t grow pained at hearing that, Lycia’s eyes widen.

“I’d have thought you’d be more hung up…”

“Why would I be?”

Lifting his hand up, he pulls back her blond hair as she stares at it in response.

“A woman as brilliant and observant as you are, one that constantly cuts through all the little white lies intended to keep you happy, is absolutely not my type, either.”

“KAFF!?”

Proving that ghouls still have active gag reflexes, Lycia chokes on her drink before gawking at him.

Only for a moment, as she recovers while holding a red handkerchief to her mouth.

“… I… see. Then why are you… sending mixed signals?”

“They’re not mixed, are they? You just don’t see what I’ve fallen for.”

“… Hah. I get it.”

Turning sober now, Lycia offers a wry smile to him as she entwines her hand with his.

“This is the kind of man you are. An artful dancer who enjoys his discipline? Are you looking for a partner to ‘waltz’ with you? Of course, the joining of two bodies is what you love…”

Rather than pull away, she hums at the idea.

“I won’t lie, I’m deeply attracted to you.”

“… That’s no surprise.”

Far from being humble, the woman’s body on display is quite delicious a she comes side-to-shoulder with him.

“Even if you’re a depressingly competent liar and manipulator, you’re… interesting, a bit witty, and terribly attractive for the effort. Even I have to admit that you’d be dashing under the right light.”

“Ahaha, thanks. That makes me feel—!”

She squeezes his hand to stop him, before she sneers.

“But, if I had to put up with you for too long, I’d probably end up wanting to kill you…”

Smiling at that, Lycia flashes her eyes at him to continue their dance.

Before she loses her smile.

“… A sore point?”

Adris’ face must be interesting to see.

Because he can’t quite make out what he’s feeling.

“I see…” Lycia sighs, losing her flirtatiousness. Instead, she wraps an arm around him. “The one who hurt you… this woman, this was how you behaved around her, wasn’t it?”

(… Most of the time, yes. This was what seemed to make her happy.)

“Yes, this was how I got used to acting. It caused the least problems. I thought she liked it, but in the end, she proved how she felt with a sword to my back.”

Staring into his drink, what reflects from the fairylights above is an emotionless face.

Adris’ has only rarely seen it, usually in a pool of water while bathing alone.

(How am I supposed to act, then? If this pisses you off, then I’m not sure what to do.)

Over the years, the play he put on for Serras became the way Adris defined his “normal self”.

Living for so long this way, he learned not to think about it if he wanted to make it work.

“Well, I was hoping you’d like my style a bit more. I can try something different? I’ve a lot of routines…?”

“No, it’s fine. I see how things are. I won’t say a thing if this is what comforts you.”

A difficult look is on her face now, because she doesn’t seem able to decide if she wants to show compassion or disgust.

(Is that disgust directed at me or within? Sorry, this is me. I hope you’re not thinking of something sad.)

Lying for so long, Adris eventually lost a normal, non-planned sort of self.

It’s hard for him to think of how he’d act if he was acting for himself, rather than playing off of Lycia’s responses.

(Something was wrong with me before Fatso. He just noticed the flawed gem in the pig shit, then shined it up real nice.)

“… It took a long time for me to… learn to… be a person.”

Lycia stares out as she speaks, not bothering with Adris.

“After slipping the chains the first time, there was nothing there until I started adding things…”

“So that’s what you meant by ‘self-made’. I see. That’s… beautiful.”

Blinking suddenly, she turns to look at the boy staring at her.

“… You’re insidious.”

“Sorry. I’m not trying to manipulate you, really. Or rather… I am, but not for my own benefit? It just happens—

AH!?”

Adris’ head is pulled under her arm, then his neck is squeezed as she grabs his tongue.

“You’re a menace! An unhandled danger! Someone who… can possibly understand me.”

“Shatsha bahd fing!?”

“Of course it is! Huh, if you get rid of my mystique, what’s left to be attracted to?”

She lets go of his tongue while huffing, before he grabs her left boob.

“These are plenty nice reasons.”

“… Hahaha! You wretched, accursed creature!? You’re just… insufferable.”

She lets go while laughing, before smacking his hand so hard that it makes a popping sound.

“Awakening after ‘service’, you depart it with nothing. Before I made a ‘self’, it was simple for others to grasp the way to direct me for their own benefit.” Musing quietly while drinking, her smile is dangerous now. “If one’s own desires are unknown, one cannot shape the actions of others to one’s own safety…”

Rather than fondness, abhorrence for the past awakens.

“Let me be clear: those who claim to want to help you are far more dangerous than the ones who openly profess their most pathetic cravings for your flesh. If you didn’t know this, ingrain it into your body before they do…”

(I know.)

A starving boy in Zon’Til was easy fodder for the youths who wore similar armbands to each other and moved in groups.

(“Until the ways of living become known, a human may easily become sustenance instead of finding it.” After learning their ways… you turn their tricks back on them.)

“Oh, so I’m safe as long as I always admit how much I want your body?”

“You’re never ‘safe’ with me or any other woman, Adris! Don’t worry. If you were the former, you would already be claimed.”

Damages done to her don’t weigh down the energetic Lycia of now. Like Adris, she’s compartmentalized and buried many of the wrongs.

Instead, the thought of being taken advantage of only thrills her as she examines the boy, in appearance, who she could overpower with one arm.

(You’re the kind to turn the pain outward, too. Which is why you are so sadistic, is it? That sounds like…?)

“Such an independent woman. You remind me of Still.”

“… The undead in blue? Hah, I’m much firmer.”

Replacing his hand with her own, Lycia squeezes to demonstrate the difference.

The conversation which soured turns more joking, before Lycia drains her ale.

“No, that lass is more like you.”

“Oh? Did you have the chance to chat? I meant about her motivations. Still is looking for someone… to help her shoulder a load.”

Fangs flash as Lycia grins at that idea.

“Then we’re not alike at all, precious, because you need the same person!

You lie and manipulate, and harm others for your own benefit. You’re a living farce that will no doubt drag others down with you. I sense in you the same rebellious streak as all the rest of the Chosen.”

“You’re not wrong. One day, I’ll probably… drag others down with me.”

(One day, the lies won’t work.)

“But by shouldering a load, I meant that you act like you need someone in your life, because you have no one else.”

“… Huh!?”

“Don’t you need a foil?”

“Watch your tongue, or it’ll be mine! Do you think I’m pining for comforts or validation from others!? Those who’ve ever been thorns in my side or denied my work…”

Growling at him at first, Lycia proves his very point by where her thoughts turn.

Then, she notices how Adris is gazing at her, smiling ever brighter as her true emotions come out.

“… Oh, you don’t mean I’m like the undead because of something we personally share, but because of the way we impact you.”

“Pretty good. In the end, I like women who are more than they appear at first.”

Nodding at her, Adris smiles less aggressively.

“Everyone needs someone, though, Lycia. If I’ve done something to you that requires repayment, then why not have a more equitable relationship? Why, we could—”

Her seat shrieks as she kicks away.

Rising to lean over him, she puts her face to his.

“… We’re too much alike. It clashes.”

“I agree… but—!”

Those words are devoured when she kisses him lightly.

“We’re never going to be anything. I resent the idea of… being bound to you.”

“I don’t want you to be bound!”

“Which is why I won’t be.”

(This isn’t what I’m trying to convey… I don’t even know what I’m trying to convey!)

Without a plan, Adris can accomplish nothing.

The only plan he had was how to bring her to a chat with him. To manipulate her emotions to the right point, waiting for that natural spark.

A spark that isn’t igniting.

“You can do whatever you want! You’re finally free of her forever. She doesn’t decide—!”

“I can’t be free of those memories with you skulking around, either in the fore or aft of my thoughts!”

Lycia hisses at him as she grabs his shoulders.

“I know what you’re trying to do… You want me to find a path where we can both be something, together, and, believe me, it’s indescribably romantic.”

Rubbing his hair, she lets her fingers fall to his mask.

“You’re not the first man to offer, but you’re the first I don’t think will intentionally take advantage of me. I am free, freer than I’ve ever been; but, I don’t need you to grasp onto me and drag me down just after tasting it…”

“I won’t…! You… you saved me…!”

His lips are closed by those fingers, leaving him gasping as her hand then comes to take the device from his neck.

“Oh? I saved you? That would be a first…”

The idea that Adris owes her for such a service brings genuine warmth to her face.

With that surety, his insecurities vanish.

(I am who I am because I believed in you!)

“… You… if you hadn’t… saved my soul, I would be something just as horrible as all the phantoms haunting my existence call me. I’m going to continue to survive because I believed in you, and found that you were real.”

“… That’s sweet.”

This admission earns him another kiss, on the cheek.

“But I don’t need a lover.”

“No, you—!?”

“Or an accomplice.

Or a friend.

Or… any other relationship that will expire in the passing of a grain of sand.”

Lycia hugs him, bringing his face between her breasts to stop him from crying out again.

“Listen well. I need no partner like that blue geist longs for, nor a guru to worship like the other girls as you’ve described them love.”

“… But that’s why I want you! Because you can be… real to me, while with them I always have to be something much more insincere…!”

“Ahahaha! Perfect! A wonderful, tortuous reason to fall for me… yet…”

(If it’s perfect… then why not!?)

Adris’ blood is boiling, feeling Lycia both as close and as far as she’s ever been from him.

Though her body is cold, it heats up in his embrace.

This woman’s beauty is enough to last him a lifetime, even if all he does is take his fill from the sidelines. Her intellect is just what he’s been requiring, to fill the gaps between his own, his team’s, and his accomplices’.

But…

“I will… live forever, until the end of days, as I was created to. One ‘Age’ is as good as any other for me. No love will last an eternity, and all lovers will turn to dust. But, of all the things that will hurt the worst…”

A poetic mournfulness has taken her when she pulls away, looking down at him as she continues her monologue.

“A soul mate dying would destroy me. I am who I am because I’ve kept clear of such curses.

All bonds, no matter how enticing or light now, will weigh heavier when the other person is gone. They become wounds that rip open again when I try to transplant another’s importance into the gaping space where the last treasure was ripped from.”

These truths shut Adris up, with her nodding approvingly upon noticing the effect.

“I’ve lived many lifetimes, and losing things never grows easier. The pursuits and consolations provide little balm, young one. You can only prevent the harms from accruing.”

A being far older than Adris now gives honesty he can hardly stand.

Having no tears to shed after this long, Lycia tries to set a boundary, for her sake more than his.

(She’s… too old and jaded. So… is that why…?)

“Don’t worry. Your secrets, while interesting methods of blackmail, are yours to keep. I’m not the kind of woman that hoards such knives, to drag them free to stab you with later.”

“I know. The moment you were willing to save me merely because you could, before you knew I was valuable, I…”

“Shush. My humility will rot if I listen to such trash.”

Patting him on the cheek, she gives an evil smile before flicking her tongue.

“Besides, my motivations, like yours, are hardly ever benign.”

This stunning woman’s dark side suddenly pops into his thoughts at this reminder.

“Is that why little boys do it for you?”

At first going to sip her drink, Lycia’s soft eyes widen in shock, before…

“… AHAHA!? Oh, you noticed!? … Mmm… you’re quite perceptive.”

Her laughter is deep and throaty, as she stares at Adris with far more carnality when her darkest thoughts begin to bare themselves at his question.

“They always have a fresh look in their eyes. The same look you fooled me with! … A lovely mixture of trepidation, humiliation, and false bravado, fermenting within a base of something called ‘innocence’.

By being their sister, I can… make myself a part of their life for a moment; yet, only for the moment necessary…”

(Wow, you’re a hard nut.)

An alluring body dances in its seat as she remains breathless, giving the same quality of attention to Adris as she did during their rendezvous room where he tasted her.

That fire is burning bright, even after everything he’s done to her.

(Even after being revealed as mostly a fake!)

“For just a bit, I can forget who I am, Adris. When a brat faces up to the boogie man who bares sharp teeth, you discover everything about him. I take his first… touch, kiss, sigh, and…”

Adris’ crotch, already rigid, is like a fire beacon to Lycia’s hand.

“… all the warmth he can offer, down to the last drop.”

She paws at it, before stroking against the protruding pants.

“…Tell me more.”

“Mmmm, more!? Do you understand!?”

Adris thinks of a girl he’d held, long ago.

Her innocence was fiery, but still pure.

“I can appreciate the idea, if not feel the same way that you do.”

“Oh? Refined tastes are rare! Okay…”

Kissing him again, her attention leaves Adris feeling himself going insane. When she pulls away, she whispers for only him to hear.

“Every boy crumbles in a different way. I’ve classified them all, you know. Despite forcing some of them into it, by the end I guarantee, they aren’t crying from their eyes, only from their delicious penises…!”

“You’re… a bad woman.”

“Yes, you’re just now noticing!? … All those wonderful firsts they share with me, they can’t last forever in my thoughts, but I hope… that I linger in theirs.”

(So your life has meaning if you’re the woman that pops every kid’s cherry? The woman they see when they hold another? You’re… a fucked up bitch, Lycia!)

“That, and my own curious pursuits, keeps me a vivacious and youthful woman of, say, twenty-three years? Forever…”

“So you like… firsts!?”

Reaching to grab her ass, Adris gropes it as she cackles before leaning to give him a better opportunity.

“Yes, I love them.

… We misfortunate undead never have the option of savoring what’s past. Only new… life… can warm us. Even if we’ll never be anything…”

She kindles the growing flame in him by sighing and rubbing her hands over his body, feeling his youthful muscles.

“Adris… will you… give this horrible woman any firsts you have left?”

“Yes! In fact, I have one request, right now!”

“Oh? Let’s hear it!”

The woman beaming down at him isn’t hiding her feelings very well.

Beneath the joy and red cheeks, she’s privately trying to let him down easily, while she forgets about the options presented to escape from her fate into. After giving in to him tonight, he feels it likely that she’ll never present the same warmth ever again.

(You won’t be allowed to run anymore. I freed you so that you could be happy, with me there!)

“Alright. Lycia. Here it is…!”

“Just for you, as long as it’s my thing, too, I’ll grant whatever request it is.”

Licking his ear while she whispers, she purrs her demand.

“Tell me.”

Grabbing her hands, he holds them before himself as she pulls away to take him in with a smirk showing.

“I don’t want a soulmate, partner, lover, friend, or anything that important. You don’t ever even have to do me a favor.

So, instead: become my sister.”

“… Huh… huh…? … What…?”

Falling out of her fever haze, Lycia stammers while blinking at him.

When she tries to pull her hands away, he launches himself at her to latch on.

“I’ve lived a long time, too! Not as long, but I know that family has a special meaning!”

“Hey… stop! Get… get…”

“Even if you are shit to them and do nothing useful to help them, they’re still family! Or so I’ve heard.”

The sister he desires hesitates to simply crush his hands, knowing that they won’t heal.

“You don’t have to owe me anything and I’ll right my wrongs for free! Just… if you said you wanted me to be your little brother…

… then be my sister for real!”

Loud enough to be heard by others, his request starts a panic with the crowded slayers.

“… I… I’ve… never had a family… I have no idea… how to… for…?”

“‘For real’? Shit if I know, either. I was an orphan and then property. My parents were nothing Xin’Reh who died right after I was born! When have I ever had one?”

When black eyes and a cold face flash up from his memories at these words, he gives a wry smile.

“Apologies. The… woman I was with, I… acted like a brother for a while… but, it never was really being family.”

“… Did you love her?”

Lycia’s unsteady voice asks this question with visible contempt in her eyes.

“As much as I probably can, yes. But, I love you, too.”

“I just told you why…!”

“Not like a woman!”

“… UGH!?”

That screaming refusal causes Lycia to grab him by the neck as she lifts him by his leg.

“Waitwaitwait, I love you like… a person!? I… like you for who you are!?”

“Big deal!”

Rather than twirl him again like on the roof, she lets him back down.

“… And?”

“So if I meet someone, I can say… ‘I’ve got a sister named Lycia, she’s a real nutcase, but… I love her, so watch out for her’?”

“You’re absolutely insane!”

Lycia’s eyes threaten to burn him alive, but her mouth can’t stop from curling.

“Such a pointless gesture.”

“… Right, it’s pointless! So why not run with it? Anything to spice your life up, right?”

Adris’ butt hits the chair when she forces him off of her, causing his bones to yell in pain.

“OOF! … You gotta be kidding me! Humans aren’t so easy to…!”

“Shut up, you nuisance, and go get your big sis another ale.”

Lycia sits back down after retrieving a chair, leaving Adris flapping his mouth silently.

(… Ah?)

Until he gets up and runs.

Two Castillo golds later, he’s sitting next to a woman with an arm around his shoulders. A conversation begun by her continues for two “shorts”, with his brain being picked apart by a woman who asks to hear about his life.

“The sigil was interesting. Who’d you get it from?”

“… A woman I know.”

“Don’t be coy with me. Are you fucking her, too, like you’re starting with all of the girls hanging on to your ‘impossible power’?”

“… No, she’s… a bit of a nutcase, like you are.”

“Oh, like me? That’s a high pedigree~! Does she have any other interesting secrets?”

“… Well, we can—?

WHAT!?”

Adris flinches when the arm wrapping around him pulls him tight.

The hand attached to it snakes down around his back, reaching around to his pants, and then lifting under his armor to untie his loop belt.

“A snake priestess with the power of the deep earth? Yet, she was calling out supplications in elvish? That’s a funny way of calling, considering what [earth] feels toward our kind and [wind] feels toward it…”

“That… so?”

Adris breathes heavily as she forces his cock out into the open air.

His eyes dart around, noting who jumps up from their seats and with what regularity.

The cold hand lightly pumping him is seductive, while her voice is authoritative in a pleasant manner.

“… Don’t you think we should find somewhere more private for…?”

“Huh? Little brother, I shared the truth about myself. ‘Always in pursuit of firsts’.”

Her no-nonsense voice seems out of place when she slurps his ear, causing him to shiver.

“And… which first… might you be thinking you’re trying to get…?”

“Oh, how droll. Any woman in this establishment can tell you, brother.” The tip of his dick starts to gather precum on her fingers, leading to her pulling off to sample the taste again.

“MMM! While you might be used to acting in front of a large crowd, have you ever screamed for mercy before one as you fall into depravity?”

“… You… would, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course~! I knew it, because it shows in the way you blush and try to turn your head to kiss me. It was wonderful how you melted in front of those fools from the Castillo. How couldn’t I try again, when…?”

A cold hand pulls on his, bringing it under her skirt.

Though he would expect to touch fabric,

only soaking protrusions, which easily open for his finger to intrude, greet him.

(You absolute madwoman! You’re bare…!)

“Not… not here— ACK!?”

The hand gripping his chin brings him in for a kiss.

After, she licks his lips.

“Shut up. I’m in charge.”

“Says who!?”

Kicking her chair away, Lycia climbs onto the table with her legs spread to wrap around him.

Her hand points to him, then curls up to stroke down her chest to the deep valley that gains his fullest focus.

“It’s the duty of the younger sibling to worship the older one.”

“… I… I don’t even worship myself! Who the fuck is going to worship you!?”

A light slap makes him bite his tongue, but it only hurts enough to make him blush.

“Gonna talk back to your big sis already? I see.”

Sighing, she looks around to all of the mumbling and whispering slayers who are now watching without being able to peal their eyes from them.

Lycia rubs her stomach, before moving up to, ever so slowly, free one of her pale boobs from what constrains them.

“Well~! If big sis can’t rely on her brother to fight that fire inside of her, then… will she have to ask for someone else’s help!?”

She flicks her tongue at Adris, as her alluring green eyes leer at him.

““““““““ME!””””””””

A horde of rapists knock over tables and chairs, trampling each other as they come to a circle around the two of them.

(You’re the worst! I don’t intend to make you mine, but I don’t want to watch…!)

“AH!? Lycia…! This is—! MMPH!?”

Rising from his chair, Adris is dragged into her embrace again.

She whispers for only him to hear.

“I resent owing you anything!”

(Gah! You… aren’t…!)

Holding tightly, Lycia controls their growing sexual tension and his body’s release.

“You… set me free. With no conditions. Just… just so you could… manipulate my emotions to bring me to this agreement, didn’t you!?”

“… Hah… yes…! But… I… always wanted you to be…!”

“I resent being manipulated, even for what may be my own good! So, you get one reward, and then we’re nothing but what I agree to after, even if we’re always family…”

Letting him go, Lycia’s face is the definition of seduction, opening her mouth slowly to moan out for his touch.

“If you want something more… you’d better work for it. Make me feel what no one else has, little brother, if a pathetic kid like you even can.”

“… You… better fucking believe I will, sis!”

Lycia’s top is ripped down, tearing loose the cage holding them up.

When her legs widen and she leans back, that beautiful gash of hers is revealed to be flooded in a way he couldn’t achieve even last time.

A woman whose metrics crush all competition is also the same woman who awakened desires in Adris he’d never known existed, leaving his brain frying at the lewdness inherent to every gesture she makes.

And especially the way her legs squeeze him.

(… Everything is a comparison to you, it seems like.)

Cheers, angst, and hollers from the throng of voyeurs that clap around them only drive Adris’ blood harder.

(You want to cum your brains out in front of a crowd!? Then let’s go for it! I’m… gonna make you sorry you ever forced me…!)

Angry at first, Adris then calms.

Because she’s curling her finger toward him while playfully lifting her skirt.

“Won’t you show big sister how much only you can love her?”

(Fuck, I want you! I can’t even lie to myself about how much, anymore! I’m going to stuff you so full that you’ll be licking my cum out for a week!)

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Chapter 82         Table of Contents          Chapter 84