Many bad things flew out of Pandora's Box, and one of those was disease.

Kai used the last of his power to get away from the mansion but only managed to go halfway to his house. He was panting heavily while carrying Akane somewhere hidden.

I pushed myself too far... I should have just waited for the seal to unlock... My body aches all over and my mana is drained. If I use anymore, I'd blackout.

Kai was leaing on a wall and sat Akane down. Then he sat down as well.

I didn't take much damage from them but the amount of stress my body had to hold when using the [Empyrean Flames] was too much for me to bear. I should've just waited for Reo's spiritual powers. I know I asked Reo to seal me so that nobody in the clan would be too suspicious of me but cutting my mana reserves in half and my access to spiritual powers is still too much.

Reo appeared in front of Kai.

"Don't worry, Kai. I'll get Erina's help, I'm sure she's near here."

Reo appeared and began searching.

Kai had been in more dire straits inside the forest but he could rest there without worry but right now he was at risk of being killed. The duke could easily go back on his word.

And just as Reo said, Erina was definitely near. She was only a few streets away from Kai and arrived there at her fastest speed.

"Kai!"

Erina immediately crouched down beside him and tried to carry him.

"Wait...! My whole body aches right now, just give me a bit of your mana so I can heal myself..."

If she had carried him in that condition, he may have blacked out from the pain.

"Alright."

Erina held out her hand and Kai held it. They both closed their eyes for a few seconds.

"Thanks... that's enough."

Kai retracted his hand.

"[Heal]."

Kai let out a heavy breath.

"I'm okay with moving in this condition but my whole body still aches."

Erina stretched her hand once more.

"I could give you more."

"No need, I'll recover enough mana to heal myself soon."

Kai and Erina held Akane up and carried her to Kai's house.

And when they arrived there, Yoko, Juro, and Akemi were looking at them with worry.

"Kai! Are you okay?!"

Akemi immediately ran towards Kai.

"I'm fine, more importantly please heal Akane."

Akemi nodded while Juro carried Akane and Akemi began the healing.

"She doesn't have wounds but she's been drugged. It's a sleeping drug that will wear off in a few hours."

Kai nodded.

"Alright, I'll go and get rest now, I'm quite tired."

Kai calmly walked but Erina smacked him on the back and he fell down.

"Don't try and act tough, you can barely stay awake."

Kai was breathing heavily on the floor and Akemi quickly began healing him as well.

Kai's vision was blurring and began turning dark. He fainted.

Kai opened his eyes and was met with the sight of a familiar ceiling.

"My room..."

Kai sat up and felt a stinging pain near his chest. Kai opened his shirt and saw his skin had a pitch black tumor with veins growing from it. Kai felt pain each time he touched it but it wasn't bulging, it was more like another layer of his skin had been added but it was grotesque.

"Kai, we've got a huge problem."

Reo appeared in front of Kai.

"You've gotten a tumor. It's a dangerous disease. Your blood was burning when you found out Akane was missing and part of your bloodline awakened. Seeing as it's a pitch black tumor, it's probably the demon side. But not just that, I'd say this is also a side effect from using Abyssal Wolf. Inside that tumor, I can feel the purest darkness and demon blood fighting each other."

Kai took off his shirt.

"How long will this stay with me?"

"For the rest of your life. Your healing magic is amazing but unfortunately, that isn't enough to remove this. The longest case of a tumor is half a year. For a child's body even if enhanced, it would probably only last half that time."

Kai furrowed his brows.

"You said that it may stick to me for the rest of my life but you also said they only last half a year, and half of that in my case?"

"...You know what I mean."

Kai's eyes widened and he punched the bed.

"Damn it... damn it... damn it...!"

Kai cursed as he kept slamming down on the bed.

My life will end even earlier than last time, is it really my fate to die? I was even reincarnated but I can't even fulfill the two promises of becoming a monarch and meeting that girl. How worthless am I?

"Unfortunately, even I cannot cure this tumor. The only chance you'd have of this being cured is to find a God or Goddess who is proficient in healing. Even angels won't be able to heal you."

Kai covered his eyes.

"Reo, can you... leave me alone for awhile? I want some time to... think this through."

"That's fine but do remember that nobody except us know about this. It's up to you if you want to tell them or keep it a secret."

With those words, Reo vanished.

After an hour, Kai put on his shirt and walked out of the room. There, he saw everyone eating on the table.

"Kai, you've woken up!"

Akane noticed first and ran towards him in a hug, Kai's left eye twitched in pain for an instant but that was left unnoticed.

"Yeah, sorry for worrying all of you. How long have I been asleep?"

"Two weeks. Normally, a mage who uses all of his mana would only be asleep for three days but you were actually asleep for a whole two weeks. We had to feed you while you were sleeping but you should wipe yourself soon, we couldn't wash you while you were asleep because each time we moved you you would twitch in pain."

Juro answered.

Kai nodded and headed for the bathroom. In this world, baths and showers weren't widely-used. All royalty take a bath everyday but commoners take a bath maybe once a week or two if lucky but most of the time, they take baths once a month or so. Hygiene in this world wasn't widely oriented because there was magic to clean oneself. But a clan like the Kuroshi Clan who only had people with darkness wouldn't be able to provide baths for everyone.

A few minutes later, Kai came back to the table after changing his clothes and wiping himself. Food was already prepared for him.

They all conversed with Kai during the meal and also talked about what happened to Akane during that time. She was kidnapped by a bunch of men using [Shadow Assimilation] and drugged with a syrup she was forced to swallow.

Akane had already been filled in with what happened. Kai told them the truth and that Akane was held at the patriarch's mansion and also told them that he was at the peak of C-class.

But during that whole time, Erina was only staring at him silently. She conversed when asked but other than that, she only stared at Kai. She always seemed to know if Kai was hiding anything.

After dinner, the two girls left but Erina stayed behind and asked Kai to talk with him outside.

"Kai, are you really alright?"

Only after they walked a certain distance from the house and Kai used a sound barrier did Erina talk.

"What do you mean?"

Erina turned around from Kai.

"When Akane hugged you, your eye twitched. But your mother had certainly healed you and all what's left was your mana to recover. It wouldn't be possible for a wound that would make you twitch from a hug. And not just that..."

Erina materialized a knife of ice and slashed at Kai. Kai dodged but was hit in the shoulder anyway.

"Your movements are still dull as if you're burdened by something."

Kai healed himself and stood up.

"Hahaha... It's nothing."

Kai waved his hands and turned around to leave but that only made him more suspicious to Erina.

She dashed in front of Kai and stopped him.

"Tell me what you're hiding, you're already my friend. I won't let you burden yourself alone."

Erina stretched her hand to Kai's chest but Kai evaded her.

"I knew it, you're still hurt. I purposely tried to touch the part that Akane had hugged."

Erina stepped forward and tried to touch Kai again but he grabbed her hand.

"Don't touch me!"

Kai exerted pressure using [Soul Aura] and stopped Erina. Then he let go of her hand and went back inside the house.

Erina was panting, Kai's soul was dominating at that point because of the things that had just happened.

After that, their relationship became awkward and it was obvious the two were avoiding each other. This was noticed by the rest but when they were individually confronted, they didn't talk.

In the end, Erina didn't pursue the matter any further and a whole three months passed. During this time, Kai did not participate in training or tournaments and kept himself inside the house. When he was invited outside, he would refuse and stay inside.

All of them were worried but even Erina didn't know of what happened to Kai.

That is until, Kai fell sick in bed.