Inside the room, Akira softly closed the door behind him, leaning against it with a triumphant smirk.
Mission complete.
He let out a deep breath, steadied himself, and walked to Alfia's side. She was still lying quietly, her eyes closed, the fatigue of the healing process making her breathing soft and rhythmic.
Akira raised his empty right hand again, ready to resume the procedure. However, just before his fingers could approach her skin, Alfia opened her heterochromatic eyes, one gold, one violet, and gave him a flat stare.
Her expression was cold, but her eyes held a glint of helplessness. 'Seriously, this kid again…'
Was it because he saved her?
No, maybe she was just slowly getting used to the way this audacious youth did things without a care in the world.
Akira, unfazed by her stare, retracted his right hand without changing his expression and casually raised his left instead.
"I got the divine blood." He said calmly. "Let's see what we can do with it."
"I understand." Alfia replied softly and made a move to rise.
But the moment she exerted herself, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion slammed into her like a wall. Her limbs froze mid-motion, and she collapsed back against the recliner.
'What's this…?'
At Level 7, even after undergoing intense treatment, she should've been able to move with ease.
'Is it the residual symptoms?'
The effects of her illness must still be clinging tightly to her recovery.
"...Pull me." She whispered faintly.
"Huh?" Akira tilted his head with a puzzled expression. "Did you say something?"
A secret smirk curled on his lips, and a teasing light flickered in his eyes.
Alfia's brow twitched.
"I said…" She muttered, before finally blurting out with a flushed face, "Pull me!"
Her voice rang louder this time, still elegant, but laced with rising irritation.
"Ohhh..." Akira nodded with mock realization, pretending to be innocent. "Say that earlier, will you?"
With a casual flick of his wrist, the divine blood floated in the air above them, swirling like crimson stardust. Then he reached out and grasped Alfia's hand, gently pulling her upward.
Using his strength for balance, Alfia gracefully rose to a sitting position. The motion was fluid and elegant, like a swan rising from the water. But the moment she sat up, the sudden motion caused her body to shift, the movement of her ample chest shaking slightly.
Akira, naturally, noticed and then, he gulped.
'Damn you, Lyra. It's all your fault I've been corrupted like this.'
Once upon a time, he had no such interest in these perverted things, but now, it was clearly too late.
Sighing silently, he snapped his fingers, morphing the recliner beneath Alfia into a long bench. He slipped behind her, carefully supporting her waist as he sat down.
From this close distance, he could see the nape of her neck, white, delicate, and exposed after she sat up. For some reason, his heart stung slightly.
A strange and subtle emotion swirled within the air around them.
Then—
"Aren't you going to do it?" Alfia asked softly, breaking the quiet.
At the same time, she swept her long hair to the front, exposing her entire back to him.
"I understand." Akira exhaled.
His gaze lingered briefly on her smooth back, then he gulped hard, forcing his thoughts to settle. He extended his hand, guiding the divine blood carefully toward Alfia's exposed skin.
The moment the blood made contact—
Bang!
It bounced off violently, like it had struck a wall.
At the same time, a faintly glowing emblem appeared on her back, Hera's emblem, with the symbol of a lock etched across it.
"Now!"
Akira's eyes gleamed, and in the next moment, his blood surged with power.
Dark crimson tendrils of energy exploded from his palm, wrapping around the glowing emblem like chains, then—
Invaded.
"Ah…!"
A soft gasp escaped Alfia's lips, her entire body trembling slightly as the force sank into her skin.
As Akira's Sanguinem surged forward, his consciousness followed, gradually intertwining with the falna etched deep within Alfia's soul.
His awareness transformed into a shimmering strand of light, agile and fluid, slipping effortlessly into the miraculous dimension that was her Falna. Within this space, Akira felt as though he were floating through a boundless starry sky.
Countless glimmering lights shimmered like stardust, fragments of Alfia's memories suspended in time. Each one, a shining speck in this cosmic library, silently recounted the journey of a woman who once bore the world's expectations.
As Akira traversed the luminous sea, fragments of her memories flickered into his mind, uninvited yet unmistakably real.
In one, a young Alfia secretly ate the dessert her sister Meteria had been looking forward to. She still remembered the way Meteria's expression morphed into that of a dragon about to spew flames, absolutely terrifying.
In another, a haughty goddess, Hera herself, was forced to kneel on cold stone by Meteria for the same offense. Her humiliation knew no bounds, her body trembled, tears streamed down her cheeks and Alfia? She had laughed without mercy. But the laughter didn't last.
Another memory surfaced, after she had used the magic Satanas Verion to defeat Leviathan, her body began to collapse, worsening faster than ever before.
Then came the deepest wound. The failed expedition to defeat the Black Dragon.
In that apocalyptic battle, Alfia had barely survived. Her body lived, but her soul was drowned in despair, a sorrow that burrowed into her bones and refused to leave.
These were the silent, invisible scars of her heart.
Memories that formed the tapestry of her being, experiences recorded automatically into falna after the gods bestowed their blessings, feeding growth through pain and triumph alike.
But Akira didn't linger in nostalgia, he focused. His goal lay ahead, not in these fragments, but in the sacred origin where the goddess Hera had first carved divine words into Alfia's soul. The place where the skill Gif Blessing had been born.
In an instant, his consciousness reached the epicenter.
Found it.
Akira's Sanguinem surged, an eerie red tide that encroached further into the core of her Falna.
With deeper penetration into the skill structure, he could now perceive it clearly. Gif Blessing was like a mass of vicious, coiling vines. Each vine was tough and tenacious, entwining tightly around the root of Alfia's falna. A single wrong move, a single attempt to sever it, would trigger a violent backlash.
But Akira didn't flinch. He gathered every drop of his Sanguinem, honed his intent, and hurled himself at the core of Gif Blessing.
He would "tamper" with this skill by force, restructure it from its foundation.
However, just as he closed in, a wave of divine repulsion surged up like a tsunami, violently crashing against his consciousness and throwing him back.
And then—
She appeared. A radiant figure materialized before him. Bathed in soft golden light, a goddess stood tall.
She wore a white robe that flowed like a waterfall of stars. A delicate floral crown adorned her head, and a scepter brimming with celestial power rested in her hand. Her face was blurred, unknowable, yet there was no mistaking it.
Hera.
The divine patroness who had once carved this skill into Alfia's soul.
In this mental dimension, where divine blood still resonated with its true potential, Hera's power remained untouched by her absence in the real world. Here, she was absolute.
(End of Chapter)
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