Vexion eventually stood, gently wiping away the last traces of tears from her cheeks. As she turned to leave, a hand caught her wrist. Before she could react, Dante gave a light tug, and she stumbled forward before effortlessly landing sideways across his lap. She blinked.
"...Master?"
Instead of answering, Dante simply adjusted her until she sat comfortably against him, her ass swallowing his own private area. Vexion couldn't help but giggle.
"So this is why you stopped me."
"I wasn't finished."
"You looked finished."
"I changed my mind."
She laughed softly.
"As expected."
Turning around, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders before gently running her fingers through his hair, and without saying another word, guided his head against her chest.
"There. Comfortable?"
"...Much."
His answer came out muffled, making Vexion smile even wider. They remained like that for several quiet moments, neither of them speaking. It wasn't awkward — it simply felt natural. Dante's hands eventually settled around her waist. Unfortunately, they didn't stay there comfortably caressing her cheeks, and Vexion's cheeks slowly turned pink.
"...Master."
"Hm?"
"Your hands."
"They wandered."
"They certainly did."
She couldn't help laughing.
"...You're hopeless."
"I've heard that before."
Rather than moving them away, he merely closed his eyes, enjoying the silence. Then—
"Ahem."
The exaggerated cough shattered the peaceful atmosphere. Both of them turned. Lexa sat upright on the bed, arms folded across her chest, her expression completely flat.
"...Master."
"Hm?"
"I appreciate the skill you've given me. I also understand Vexion wishing to thank you." She paused. "But could you at least wait until I'm awake before pretending I'm no longer in the room?"
Dante looked at her with genuine confusion.
"We weren't doing anything."
Lexa stared at him.
"...Master."
"What?"
"She's sitting on your lap."
"Correct."
"You're practically using her as a pillow."
"Also correct."
"And somehow I'm supposed to believe nothing was happening?"
"...That sounds like an assumption.You complain too much.."
Lexa's eye twitched.
'Does this man seriously not realize they were one step away from them having sex while I was still asleep in the room...?'
She let out a slow sigh. Thankfully, Vexian possessed at least a little more common sense than her master. Her cheeks reddened as she climbed off Dante's lap. Dante immediately frowned.
"My pillow left."
Vexian couldn't help but laugh. She leaned down and kissed his forehead.
"Master... you can have me whenever you want. ...Later."
Almost instantly, Dante's dissatisfaction disappeared. He nodded seriously.
"That is true."
Lexa stared at him.
'...That's all it took? His ego is embarrassingly easy to manage.'
Only then did Dante finally seem to remember she still existed. He turned toward her.
"So. What do you think of your skill?"
Unlike Vexian, Lexa wasn't someone who simply accepted everything Dante gave her. She trusted him, but she also preferred understanding why.
"My lord, may I ask something?"
"Hm?"
"If I'm on a battlefield with no blood, doesn't this skill become nearly useless?"
Dante immediately shook his head.
"That's what the Blood Reservoir is for."
Lexa nodded.
"And if the reservoir runs dry?"
"It shouldn't."
"...That's not an answer."
"It is." He shrugged. "You're being trained so that situation never happens. I fight the exact same way — I never allow my mana to reach zero. So don't let both your mana and your blood reach zero. If you do, you've already made too many mistakes."
Lexa silently considered his answer. It wasn't impossible — it simply required discipline. And usage and experience to see how helpful the new skill would be towards this latent concern. Dante continued.
"Besides, did you even read the second ability? 'Nothing Lost.' The name already explains it. No blood is wasted. If blood spills onto the battlefield, it comes back. If blood flies across the battlefield, it comes back. So long as you're actually cutting your enemies, you'll continuously replenish your Blood Reservoir. You'll eventually reach the point where exhausting your blood becomes harder than exhausting your mana."
Lexa slowly nodded.
"...I see."
That explained why he had paired the skills together — one harvested blood, the other ensured almost none of it was permanently lost. The synergy was obvious.
Before she could continue thinking, Vexian smiled mischievously.
"Well, that only works if you can actually hit someone."
Lexa slowly turned toward her.
"..."
Vexian innocently smiled.
"You know. If your sword actually reaches the enemy."
Dante chuckled.
Lexa's eyebrow twitched.
She knew exactly what Vexian was implying. During training, she had only managed to win around forty percent of their sparring matches, and those victories had required almost perfect execution.
The problem wasn't Lexa — the problem was that Vexian simply wasn't normal. Master had forged her into something absurd.
Sometimes Lexa genuinely questioned whether Vexian had secretly lived for several centuries. Her combat instincts, her reactions, her efficiency — none of it resembled someone barely twenty-one years old.
If someone claimed Vexian had lived for three hundred years, Lexa would probably believe it. If someone claimed she had lived for a thousand, she would hesitate, but she could still understand why someone would think that.
Yet the truth remained: Vexian was only twenty-one. Which made Dante even more frightening. His strength alone was already unbelievable, but his ability to forge other people — that was what truly terrified her.
He could take an ordinary genius and slowly refine them into an unreachable monster. His personality might be hopeless, shameless, lazy, and completely impossible, but no one could deny his results.
Every day she spent under him, she understood that fact a little more. She herself had once been completely outclassed by Vexian; now she could at least force victories from time to time. Not often, not consistently, but enough to know she was improving.
And if Dante could elevate her this much in such a short period, how terrifying would she become after years? That thought alone filled her with anticipation. She genuinely wanted to see where this path would lead.
Dante looked between the two women before speaking.
"Enough. You've both received your new skills, so stop talking about them and start understanding them. I want both of you to spend today learning exactly how they interact with your original abilities. The better you understand them now, the faster you'll grow. As for me—"
He stretched lazily. "—I'm taking a nap. Tomorrow I have to meet Elric and Amber. I should probably prepare myself mentally before recruiting two more troublesome people."
Lexa nodded.
'Elric and Amber — if Master was preparing, then she should as well.'
Vexian quietly returned to her own room. Or rather, she walked all the way to her assigned residence, collected the few belongings she actually cared about, then immediately returned to Dante's estate.
After briefly considering it, she decided living anywhere that wasn't within a few rooms of her master was simply too far away, so she quietly claimed one of the many guest rooms inside Dante's enormous three-story residence.
Lexa merely shook her head.
"...As expected."
Both women then secluded themselves, carefully studying their newly acquired abilities, since understanding a skill theoretically always came before mastering it practically. Thus another day quietly passed within Midvest Academy.
Dante had finished strengthening his first two subordinates.
Tomorrow he would begin recruiting the next two.