AN: It's still Sunday here, so I'm essentially still on time...

Yeah, I know...

Nova comes back with full force next Sunday!

The longer Celina listened to those big sisters the more she felt enlightened. Especially Ana-nee, all of her words made perfect sense. Infighting between them would definitely make Vorst sad, what’s more as it was subtly mentioned the tiger girl would be at an enormous disadvantage once the fight occurs. Not to mention those three big sisters, even against Mersa her chances would be quite bleak.

And yet she was given a chance to be with Vorst together with them without a fight. It did not really matter that Vorst was in reality an over 40,000 years old, and it did not matter that he was from another some unknown world. What mattered was that he has no intention to go back there - he will Stay here forever... and she can be with him... Forever.

No need to fight.

You can have him. It’s just you have to give up having him all for yourself.

Celina Za did not have to think about this twice, even before they went through what was forbidden she already accepted it all. It did not matter. She was afraid that her selfish actions would hurt Mersa, hurt Vorst. Whatever were those conditions were she was ready to accept them all.

[--Celina--: 10th? G-got it!]

She nodded vigorously.

[--Mersa--: 10th? Ana-nee, I thought Za-chan was 9th?]

[--Calla--: Hm, 9th is Aria, her link was formed before Za's.]

[--Kaya--: Mhm, Aria-chan’s links were entrusted to Shujin-sama first.]

[--Mersa--: Ahh! I see!]

Here Kaya’s face turned serious from the gentle one she kept until now.

[--Kaya--: But…]

Both Mersa and Celina held their breath back.

[--Kaya--: One chance. Aria-chan will be given one chance.]

[--Lily--: Yes, if her feelings for Shujin-sama are strong enough then we will accept her with open arms.]

[--Kaya--: Yet if she fails you girls will need to be prepared to separate.]

Mersa fell silent as those words slowly eased down her heart. She accepted it, she felt the same, if Aria-nee will selfishly insist to have Vor-chan for herself she will fight back with full force!

However gentle Celina was a little overwhelmed.

[--Celina--: W-why? Can’t we…]

[--Calla--: I shall not allow her to hurt m’lord twice.]

The Archangel, who wasuntil now silently listening to the whole conversation, suddenly interfered. Her statement was filled with power and conviction. It gave a definite feeling of sharpness, telling the listening party that anyone going against her words will be immediately cut down.

[--Lily--: *Nod* She imposed her links on Marc. And she may only do it once...]

Faced with those two fierce sentences silence once again enveloped them. Further more Kaya chose not to mention that Marc would have to pay a heavy price to sever connection and return the links back to Nova...

[--Kaya--: But with the current Nova chance of that happening is extremely low.]

Her gentle tone revived the conversation.

Kaya and Lily briefly exchanged glances.

Low, but it could happen, that’s why Kaya mentioned it. She wanted those two to be prepared just in case. So that they will not be too torn if the worst situation occurs. However… When it comes down to it both the Serpent Lady and the demoness were capable of forcing Nova to submit, but they knew Marc would be really angry afterwards… Nevertheless if it was needed they were convinced to do so. Their resolve was not weaker than Marc’s, and they will do whatever’s necessary.

It was the nighttime when girls finally parted and returned to reality. The smooth outcome was exactly as those two tactical prodigies predicted.

[--Lily--: It’s good that we made them come inside Marc domain.]

[--Kaya--: Yes, I specially asked Cam-chan to get Za-chan in immediately. Shujin-sama cannot move too much when they are in his domain after all.]

[--Lily--: Mhm, what do you think Ragna-nee?]

[--Calla--: *Nod* As long as m’lord will not be hurt…]

The black angel responded with cool voice, but on her face was a visible relief. With a magical flow on the air, black wings appeared behind her. And there she was under the illusory light of two full moons, with her impeccable figure and saintly skin while flexing those black feathered wings. The sight was so enchanting that it took away breaths of the other two.

[--Lily--: Ragna-nee, why don’t the two of us share a night with Marc?]

[--Calla--: No.]

[--Kaya--: Ragna-nee, don’t be so cold. Us girls have to bond with each other more often.]

[--Calla--: No.]

[--Lily--: It’s been a long long time, I’m sure our lord will be happy to have us serve him together again.]

[--Calla--: … That same old argument.]

[--Kaya--: Don’t be shy Ragna-nee, I won’t be even at your night, we are more than happy to share ours with you.]

[--Lily--: Right, our lord will definitely approve.]

[--Calla--: … hmpf.]

With a flap of her wings the black haired beauty immediately took flight into sky. The two that were left behind exchanged sly glances. It was not easy to get Calla’s approval. That’s right if straightforward Krishna Ragnarok did not deny, that means she agreed.

[--Lily--: Aria-chan should be fine.]

[--Kaya--: Right. We gave her enough time to rethink the situation. Now, how strong will be her resolve?]

[--Lily--: She breached Marc’s usual defenses.]

[--Kaya--: Hehe~ To get past Shujin-sama’s reluctance, that means there is quite a bit of darkness in her heart.]

[--Lily--: The Fire of Fury should be able to refine it by now…]

Marc’s Soul Realm is made based on his original world’s (Flow) set of natural laws and principles. And according to those, photons - what Mersa and Aria were made of - weren’t allowed to exist. Mersa’s and Aria’s soul bodies were also created by Marc, and obviously they were made according to this world’s (Crystal) principles.

Although Marc is not capable of understanding all of this world's secrets yet. Recreating bodies via link connection was no problem. He owned their links after all.

Normally, there is no way for outsiders like Mersa and Celina to enter Marc’s Soul Realm, he had to approve, make a soul container and pull them in. Furthermore during their stay Marc has to be around - he has to continuously disapprove the laws of the world that would be focusing on them.

That’s why Kaya instructed Mersa to get Celina in as soon as possible. To keep Marc away from Nova - sometimes an individual needs some time to be able to think about the situation clearly.

If Marc were to get to run after Nova right away she would most probably reject him immediately. That’s because a rational mind filled with heat of fury will jump into conclusions.

No matter how good arguments are if she was convinced about the result the end would be the same. And as Kaya said Nova will only get one chance… That’s because Calla only gives one chance.

The black angel might not look that much but she knows how to hold grudges… Calla’s darkness is her lord. An Angel needs a Lord. An Angel belongs to a Lord. Calla’s case is even more severe than other angels.

Calla’s faith is her Lord. Her Marc.

Her Lord beliefs are certainty.

Her Lord words is her drive.

Her Lord actions is her life.

And once her Lord is hurt, Calla’s wrath has no end.

Not normal “hurt”, a flesh wound, of course, but only when Marc is in “true” pain.

Calla’s heart will bleed.

It will bleed accompanied by rivers of blood, real blood, as she marches forward to exact her Justice. And her Justice is obviously Her Lord.

Well, certainly Calla would not kill Nova, but she would not stand for the young witch being close to Her Lord either. But if Nova was to be separated from Mersa and Celina, especially Celina, they would definitely be hurt. That’s why even if it would upset Marc, Kaya and Lily were ready to dig deep into the darkness inside Nova when it came to the worst case.

That’s why Calla was in the better mood, she had a bad feeling but it dissipated now. And although she wasn’t that great in tactics department, her intuition was top notch, she understood that the stealthy movements of those two behind the scenes must have dispelled her bad premonition.

[--Lily--: *Sigh* Seriously, such a bad move~]

[--Kaya--: Ehehe~]

[--Lily--: Now, how will this 'night' go?']

[--Kaya--: Hehe, Lilith, wanna bet a 'night'?]

Marc never had much to say about what the ‘nights’.

When you have everything in abundance money or any other precious gems lose their value.

That’s when the special currency - the ‘night’ - was introduced. To the girls from Marc’s previous world there was nothing more valuable than the ‘night’.

At day Marc wanders around by himself. His links are his guide, whenever or wherever, only he knows where he is moving, and where will he spend his time. However, at night (at least most nights) his time was reserved. And for a night he would do his best to spoil a chosen girl.

If the ‘night’ belonged to someone that means she was the ‘host’ and all Marc’s time was hers. That’s how valuable was the ‘night’.

And of course the ‘night’ as it was a currency, it could also be traded. There were two ways to exchange ‘nights’.

First is the ‘seats’ way. The night still ultimately belongs to the ‘host’ but she can still give away participation seats for that night. Obviously the lower amount of seats, more valuable they are. This increases the frequency of receiving Marc’s affection. (Calla is known to hardly ever to attend a free seat, not to mention giving away hers.)

Second is the ‘host’ way. That means complete trade of host position, but the trade usually secures a seat for the one who lost it. (Lily and Kaya are often losing theirs to each other)

And Marc is more or less oblivious to all of this. That’s because he does not really pay attention to this matter. He knows that his girls do have some sort of exchange for all of this, but he does not really care that much. No one ever tries to cheat anyway, because that’s what trust is.

It was not explained to Mersa and Celina either.

The three awakened Valkyries came to this agreement. Since it was not their world, they will only provide guidance, and besides the basic ones they will not impose their rules upon the new ones.

In front of Marc there were two beautiful white haired girls. He was slightly troubled, inside his head various scenarios passed through, and he knew that he will not be able visit Nova tonight.

Strategically impossible. Marc realized that this was the subtle message left by his two tacticians.

And the bashful smiles on the faces of twose young girls in front of him was definitely also the work of those devils! They must have filled the minds of poor young girls will dozens of silly ideas. Still, he couldn’t help but find those shy faces incredibly adorable.

[Marc: Well…]

His voice that severed the silence caused the other two to jump up like startled rabbits. And the silence that followed was even more awkward than the one before.

After a brief moment Marc finally broke the ice again and swiftly caught Mersa into his embrace.

Mersa eased down as she hugged Marc back, she did not even mind when Marc moved on to give Celina one after. After that he pulled Mersa in once more to embrace both of them at once.

[Marc: I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but...]

He whispered softly.

[Marc: Za…]

The white tiger girl’s ears immediately stood at attention when she heard her name.

[Marc: You have to know that I will never force you to do anything. It-]

[Celina: I-I know! But, but I..]

She nodded repetitively as her face heated up completely. Mersa who was watching all this decided to come to rescue increasingly overheating Celina.

[Mersa: Vor-chan, wait here, we will go take a bath!]

And with that he was left alone.

Marc walked slowly outside. He once again took a good look towards the night sky.

Ominous feeling.

A prickle like feeling hit his eyes but he did not seem to react at all. Especially from a certain direction…

[My King...]

[Please come to me...]

He shook his head to dispel the strange illusory sounds that invaded his mind. Recently those sounds started to become increasingly louder. And Lily, despite being more mischievous than usual recently, would not do something like this.

And that illusion definitely did not feel like Lily’s either.

What’s more no one besides him was affected, therefore there was only one conclusion. - It was not that no one was affected. Only he was affected, and that’s because his senses we capable of reaching that illusion.

And he does not have time to bother with that one now too.

His head moved in the direction where Nova was. He still felt her rage burning, and in response he whispered to the wind with a regretful voice.

[Marc: I’m sorry.]

Nova's anger was beginning to cool down. But it did not fade away. On the contrary, the cooler it became the more intense it felt.

That's because her head felt clear now.

Vorst. Marcdrak.

That was the source of her anger. That was completely obvious. However the most essencial question is Why? Why did she feel this way? Why did she get so angry at him? Even though he is not hers. Even though he was Camellia-chan's.

Even though...

Could it be...

Even though Nova tried her best to give up on him.

She really still had feelings for him.

But that was fine.

That's because she felt that a part of her was already his.

And that was fine.

However he... he... he betrayed...

Cheater! BASTARD!!!!

How could he?!

How could he do this to Camellia-chan?

(Impact)

Her punch made a dent on the floor made with special alchemical metal.

Why did he?

Cheater!!!!!!!!

TWO TIMING BASTARD!

...

A sense of regret passed through her mind. I'm sorry. His voice.

With such regretful tone she could not help but forgive him a little.

But! Next second she shook her head. No!

That two timing cheater cannot be forgiven!

Why didn't he pick her though?

No! That's wrong! That cheater!!!!

The girls took their sweet time in bath, and when they finally came out Marc was already finished with his shower and was seated on one of the sofas in the living room. He was trying to distract himself by having a snack, but it seemed completely tasteless and did not help to sate his his sudden hunger at all.

When he heard their hushed voices he completely lost interest in food.

[Mersa: Vor-chan come to the bedroom!]

He quickly discarded the leftovers on the random nearby flat surface place and with normal, maybe a little faster than usual, steps he got to the bedroom.

Inside, Celina Za was sitting completely straight, looking extremely tense. Her hair still wet and most probably the only thing on her body was that bathrobe. However she was there alone.

Click.

The door closed behind Vorst.

[Marc: Mer-chan?]

[Mersa: I-It's fine. Today is Za-chan's big day. We talked it out, there is no problem. Just take care of Za-chan!]

One of Marc's hands reached towards the door knob but it ultimately stilled before it arrived at it's destination. Mersa steeled herself this far for both him and Celina, how can he just go ahead and ruin everything?

Marc was usually impulsive, and not very capable in making a decision that took a lot of planning ahead, prone to getting into elaborate traps, but his foresight on on-spot decisions was unmatched.

[Marc: I will, I promise... Thank you.]

Mersa's presence slowly moved away...

[Celina: Vorst and Cam-chan's relationship is so good.]

The tiger girl in the meantime relaxed slightly, she realized that the person in front of her was still the same Vorst that she met every day. She never met the previous Vorst before the scorpion incident after all.

[Marc: You should just continue to call me Marc.]

[Celina: Haha, t-that's right. I-I'm just a little...]

[Marc: I know.]

He closed in and took her into his embrace.

[Marc: Leave everything to me.]

And with that he stole her second kiss...