14.0

In the corner of a dark room, the sole light source of a table lamp illuminated the room that swirled with a lingering unease. The waning silhouette that enveloped the space, the heavy air that smelled of pungent sweat, spoke of the eerie energies that loomed in the lands of Meastes.

Soon, dawn would arrive and the sun would shine itself, cleansing Meastes for all of its unholiness—even if it was just on the surface of said forsaken lands.

Through the crystal-clear window panes, the same natural light would brighten up the entire room, abating whatever gloom that lingered in this small space, alleviating the ease and worries with its warm presence.

Even with a beautiful view pending in the near hour, the lone inhabitant of the room remained busy on the small desk that she had been busying herself with for the past hours.

Her eyes were filled with dark circles and heavy bags.

Still, she had yet to rest from her long night of constant scribbling.

“Gyahaha...and next, Lady Prishine would give her beauty embrace to me and…” her hands continued to move as she wrote the delusions that she had in her head and materialized them with words.

With Prishine paying her lesser and lesser heed ever since Moxnet commenced their aptitude test, Erin had no choice but to vent out her frustrations in such a manner.

After all, she was told to leave he who had made her precious Lady Prishine forgotten about her own presence alone. Aside from plotting against him with the twins, she could not do a single thing, for Lady Prishine had forbidden Erin from taking action against the boy.

Erin gritted her teeth, her fists clenched, when she recalled the male’s dark piercing eyes, his thick black hair, the nonchalant attitude whenever Lady Prishine flaunted her best assets to gain his affection.

“Grrr…. Sarvod…” parred with her short hair, her horrible expression could put those who were imprisoned in the dungeons of Registoria to shame.

“What does Lady Prishine see in that scum?”

While she ruminated about the insignificance of John Sarvod, Erin felt her hand shook. In her fury, she snapped the pen she had been using for the past few hours.

“No!!! Lady Prishine gave me this!!!”

Half wincing and half furious at what John Sarvod did to her favorite ink pen—though he absolutely did nothing that cause Erin to snap her own pen—she cleaned the ink that splattered all over her arm and table.

“Arghh! We are leaving by tomorrow, and I just cleaned this place!”

Lady Prishine and those who served under her great leadership had occupied this Moxnet facility all for themselves to handicap the other students as long as they could.

Tomorrow evening is when the academy officials arrive to check up on the student’s progresses, making sure that no one had purposely hindered the other teams’ progress—something exactly what everyone who followed Prishine did.

By tomorrow, all of them who were currently using this fortress had to make sure they left no visible trace when all of them had evacuated.

They have stalled the other teams for as long as they could, and time has finally caught up to them. Many of Prishine’s underlings had already relocated themselves to a hideout that the scout teams have found.

But like Prishine, Erin had opted to stay in this place until the succubus had finally ordered her to leave.

That said, Erin had wanted her delusional fictional romance about Lady Prishine and herself to be of the highest quality. Despite her having not held a pen for months, she wanted it to be preserved and remain to last for the years to come.

Hence, the ink she had been using was one of the finer archival inks that had a virtually indestructible permanence when laid on paper.

Which meant thorough cleaning of the inky mess she made would take her at least one full hour. Cursing John under her breath as she fervently cleaned the stains, Erin gritted her teeth in annoyance.

As she busied herself with the gruesome cleaning, a long rumble from her abdomen entered her ears. Immediately Erin placed a hand by her gut, feeling it as she looked to the draped windows to ascertain the time of day.

But just like she had last looked at it, the sky was barely lit and as for her stomach, she felt no desire to feast despite the growing hunger.

“It’s not morning and I am not hungry…” denying her own desires and fueling it with her own desires for Lady Prishine, she continued on cleaning the split ink.

Zrrrrrrrtttttttt.

The walls that enclosed her living space all shuddered in unison, causing Erin to immediately drop the cleaning cloth she had on her ink-stained hands and rose to a stance in anticipation of any intruders.

She remained in such a stance for a long while until the shuddering from the walls vanished. Letting out a relieved sigh as she placed her two hands around her waist.

“Someone must be fooling around with blood magic early in the—”

Before those words could fully depart her mouth, the ceiling above her bed wobbled and distorted, revealing a pale white portal.

“Aaahhh!!!”

Poof!

With his two arms in front of him, John was dropped from above and onto a soft mattress.

Oh, this is not that bad… My landing is softened. I thought I was ready to use [Heal] if I ended up somewhere dangerous.

“Where am I, though?”

His head was facing upwards as the summoning magic—reverse summoning in this case—disappeared from his view, revealing a decorative dome above him.

“Y-you!!!”

It was the soldier girl who fought him just two days ago.

Right now, she was glaring at him with light foam in her mouth as though she had gone rabid at the sight of him.

“What are you doing in my bed!!!!”

The longer he stayed still, the more feral her eyes became. John was certain that if he stayed any longer on the soft mattress that he landed on, he would have no choice to engage in yet another battle with her.

Yet, he was currently in a vulnerable position. Not only his body was mostly lying on the bed, but his buttocks were also currently sitting on his mythril arming sword.

Meaning, he could not afford to bring his sword to defend himself in time if he was attacked there and now.

So he decided on the most neutral way of diffusing the current situation.

“Listen, I did not mean to intrude in your room. Uh…actually…” John’s eyes looked upwards as he became lost for thought.

What should I say to calm this crazy bitch down… The only person she listens to is Prishine— Oh yeah!!! I can use that!

“I am actually here to see Prishine!” John quickly blurted out.

Sure enough, with the succubus’ name mentioned, the crazy woman lowered her two fists directed at him.

The crazy woman looked at where he had fallen from and nudged her chin at the ceiling for an answer.

“I just...uhh…was trying out some unconventional magic spells after I completed what Prishine asked me to do. It is just normal to want to better oneself, right, Erika?”

In John’s attempts to calm the crazy woman down, John slipped his tongue and said something unnecessary. The moment he spoke her name aloud, the feral glare in the crazy woman’s eye returned.

“MY NAME, IS ERIN!!!”

Her piercing voice screeched in the air, causing John to cover his ears in instinct.

Fuck, all I did was call you by the wrong name…

If John had been in a standing position instead of having his body on top of this ultra-soft mattress, he would have gladly punched her face for trying to deafen him with such a horrible squeal.

“Please, just keep it down. I am really here to see—”

Wham!!!

The door to Erin’s room shot open, halting John’s voice before he could finish.

“Erin, what is the matter? We came as soon as we heard…”

“...your scream.”

The two twins that followed Prishine around last time barged into the room. Before John knew it, their cold, spiteful expressions were upon him.

Erin, who upon her two friends’ arrival had placed two hands on her face and wailed uncontrollably, switching her hostile lunatic persona to a fragile snowflake.

This is bad…

John stated the obvious in his own mind, then looked to the twins that were trying their best to sooth, Erin’s falsified innocence.

Slowly, he moved his dominant hand to the hilt of his arming sword. If the two twins believed Erin over him—which was the most likely case—not even Prishine’s name could save him from the oncoming suffering that the two twins were about to inflict upon him.

“Cease your sly behavior, Sarvod…”

“...or your burial ground shall be here.”

With his body language read by the twins from such a distance and him in such a compromised position, John could only freeze and remained still.

“What’s the early commotion, Erin?”

!!!

A wave of frost traveled down John’s spine the moment a fourth voice appeared.

“Saeza, Theza, thank you for the quick response to Erin’s cry for help~”

The familiar, overly husky voice appeared from behind the two girls who shared the identical faces, even though John had claimed to see her. Being reminded of her presence after he had just been warned about her was enough to cause his chest to tighten.

“Lady P-Prishine, i-it’s him!!!” Without even batting an eye at John, Erin jump into Prishine’s exposed cleavage and whined with tears in her eyes. “This b-bastard h-he...he t-tried to force h-himself o-on...me w-while I was doing my writing!!! L-look, h-he even broke the pen y-you gave me!”

Erin indicated towards the table at the opposite end of the room, and sure enough, John glimpsed a fountain pen snapped in half with black ink splodges that had yet to evaporate.

“What are you talking about!? Who the fuck would want to force himself upon someone like you—” sensing a cold draft on the nape of his neck, John stopped himself before he could finish.

“You are not granted…”

“...permission to speak unless Lady Prishine orders you to.”

The twins, Saeza and Theza, had appeared behind him, poking at his back with a long slender spike in their joined hands.

When were they armed!?

His skin prickled. Despite the growing pressure, he threw a hostile glance at Prishine and mouthed the exact words, “I completed the task you asked of me, what the fuck is this?”

He was sure that Prishine had no clue that he had done nothing to the...ugly and insane Erin. But certainly, the succubus must have sensed how distraught he was having accused by the three other girls. If his words failed to reach her…

His ‘vitality’, the energies that are generated by tension, the ‘vitality’ succubus normally fed on, would speak to her of the truth.

As much as he hated the idea of throwing Prishine a bone to save his own skin—at the cost of her having a ‘taste’ of him.

All that was in his mind at this moment was to get all of this over with so he could be reunited with the rest of Team Rectiser.

If it somehow excites her, or satisfies her in some sickening way, then so be it. All he had to do after all of this was to avoid Prishine and to have nothing to do with her.

With his attention directed was towards her, an expression of lustful pleasure filled Prishine’s face to the brim where, for a brief moment, John could see saliva oozing out from the edge of her lips. The red blush on her face, her lustful glances at him as though she was on the verge of reaching euphoric climax…

What the fuck?

Having realized he was looking at her, Prishine quickly recompose herself and returned an equally serious look at John, then towards the twins who were behind him.

What did I just see?

“Let him go,” the succubus declared to the twins.

“L-lady P-Prishine...you m-mustn’t h-he…”

“Silence, Erin. You know better than to lie to me.” Prishine snapped, dazing the Erin who was putting up an act. “You two, take Erin and leave me with John.”

Saeza and Theza looked at each other in confusion.

It was only after they looked at how stern Prishine’s face had become did the twins retracted their weapon and distanced themselves from John.

With the twins leaving the room with Erin in their arms, whispers that were almost inaudible entered John’s ears.

“This humiliation…”

“...will be returned kindly.”

…

…

…

All that was left was John and Prishine in the room. Not allowing himself to be stuck on the silly bed any longer, he quickly got to his feet and adjusted his disheveled clothes.

“…”

“You seem awfully thankful for someone who dislikes me so much, John~” Prishine, who was by the door, teased.

“…”

“What do I owe you for the pleasure of such an uneeeexxxpected visit, or is it because you are warming up to me~”

Here we go again...

Dusting his shoulders and averting his gaze from hers, John grumbled, “I was fooling around with magic, and got teleported to Erin’s stupid room by accident.”

“Anddd? Is that all?” an amused smile crawled on Prishine’s lips.

John was certain the ‘vitality’ he exuded earlier was still lingering in the back of her mind. But he ignored her by turning his face away from her.

“Are you sure, you weren’t trying to force yoursseellf on Errrrinnnn?”

John rolled his eyes, strolled towards the windows, and with a swift motion, opened the blinds and allowed for the dawn’s rays to penetrate the dark room.

“No, I have absolutely no interest in crazies like her. I am just here to inform you did I’ve opened the mysterious doors you asked me to.”

Which...technically, those doors aren’t exactly what she described. Still, the venue and detailing of it is roughly right. That should be enough to appease her.

“You might be pleasantly surprised if you share the same bed with her~”

Ack!

John let out a loud cough, almost vomited at the proposal of being intimate with someone like Erin.

Thankfully, his mouth snapped at the succubus before the nausea in his gut got worse.

“Don’t know, don’t care, don’t give a shit. Prishine, I believe our transaction is complete, yes? I opened the door as you asked, I assume your mission sphere indicated task completion?”

With her eyes still locked onto him, Prishine simply answered with a husky voice, “Yesss. I knew you’re a man of your word the moment my mission sphere displayed our second task~”

As soon as she acted all coy and shy, John’s spine shivered.

Letting her feed on my excess emotions earlier...might have been a mistake.

He had many more things he could criticize Prishine for, but she did dismissed the three girls and got him out of that sticky situation, John decided he kept things brief and left as soon as he could.

“If there is nothing else, I would like to get back to my team. So, goodbye,” with nothing else to add, John moved to the door and attempted to leave.

“So soon? You’ve just arrived~”

As though she expected his movements, Prishine placed her hands onto his and blocked him from leaving.

“I’m kind of tired. It’s been a long day for me…” reflectively, he brushed her off, as he naturally would. “So if you would kindly, I would like to leave before I collapse from exhaustion. My team is waiting for me.”

John made up an excuse just to appease her.

Though truthfully speaking, he was not lying.

Between dealing with the eternal decays, encountering the blood-cullers and summoned into an otherworldly realm, John had yet to have a proper meal, a decent shower or a quick break.

Of course, he could go on like this for another six hours—by his own estimate—if he wanted to.

But honestly speaking, he was simply tired of dealing with other people. All he wanted was well deserved quiet time for himself.

“Move! I am leaving!”

“W-wait!!!”

Prishine placed a palm on his chest, halting John as he tried to shove her blockade from his path.

Tsk!

“Team Rectiser can wait. What about reuniting you with your family? You kept your promise, and so it is rightful for me to honor mine.”

John’s face became blank as he moved backwards from her touch.

Taking advantage of their distance, Prishine leaned into his ear and spoke with a sticky breath, “I can allow you to communicate with the Harvests right now if you wished to~”

“…”

“Follow me, all you need is to come—”

“No thanks,” John replied with a dazzling smile, a smile so innocent and charismatic, that it was impossible to believe that such a blissful expression was faked by him.

“W-what do you mean?” as though he punched her in the gut, Prishine took a few steps backwards in horror.

With his smile still on his face, John spoke clearly and without faltering.

“I don’t need it.”

You’re lying Prishine.

“I-it’s y-your family we are talking about. A c-chance like this doesn’t come by easily.”

“We can always do that some other time. Right now, I really want to be alone. I am mentally exhausted, physically strained, and most importantly…”

Groooowwl!

As though on cue, his stomach gave off a mean rumble in response.

“Hungry. I have had nothing since I woke up except for that one glass of milk,” John scratched his chin, putting up the act of an insolent child whose only wish was to attend to his selfish needs. “Unless you have something for me to eat, I’ll be going back to my team…” John’s voice became small when he realized what he said.

“Yes!!!” Prishine responded in glee. “Yes, we have food here!!!”

Shit, shit, shit!!! I’ve just dug a hole to bury myself in. John, why do you have to succumb to your hunger now!?

Half a minute ago, her face was pale from the sheer horror that John had rejected her once more. Now, with his slip of tongue, and the chance of making him stay appeared to her, the sultry confidence of the succubus returned.

“I’ll have the chef fire up the grill and cook you something to fill your stomach!”

An unwilling smile appeared on John’s face, “Uhh…”

He wanted to reject her so badly, he wanted nothing more but to locate where Team Rectiser was and reunite with them.

Oh shit…

The thought of rejecting Prishine and having her losing her temper on him was a real one. As of now, John could not afford to deal with a horde of people hunting him down because he dismissed their ‘Lady Prishine’.

“It’s a-alright...I’ll eat when I get back to my teammates, they cook pretty good too.”

He tried to find a way out of this situation, but the more he spoke, the smaller the outlook of him quickly leaving this place.

I need to go now!!!

Lowering his torso, John bolted under Prishine’s arm that blocked the exit. The moment he slipped past her, the succubus spoke in a voice so loud that it passed through the very walls of the academy fortress that they were in.

“Chef!!! Prepare the best meat dishes now!!! I have a special guest to serve!!!”

He felt his fists clenched on his sides as her voice made it through the hallway.

Shit, she’s intent on making me stay!

Half-complaining at his loose lips and half-panicking, John broke into a run.

His thigh muscles jolted as he dashed away from Prishine, eyes still looking back at the succubus, keeping a close eye on her before she could come to understand that he was trying to escape.

John was not about to be detained by her in any sense, even if it’s under the pretense of treating him a meal or allowing him to be reunited with the Harvests.

The moment her euphoric face appeared from feasting on his vitality, he knew the succubus had something evil planned for him. The succubus must have expected him to give her a certain type of ‘repayment’ that for what she had done for him moments ago.

No, no, no, I will not let you take my body. I would rather I fucking die before you lay a finger on me!

Though John himself had never bedded anyone—out of choice more than anything—he was not one that was without libido.

On the contrary, his male urges were so virile that he had to have frequent periodic releases or else he would go insane. His male urges were something he learned to tame when they appeared to him in A’vetheas.

Because he understood the meaning of partaking in intercourse, and valued such connections prior to engaging himself in such acts, he was always cautious and apprehensive about doing it with just about anyone.

Hence, in many ways, he was immune from women’s bodily seduction.

He needed to love someone, he needed to understand someone, he needed that person’s loyalty, he needed...

John shook his head, shaking off those thoughts.

Romantic relationships are not a thing anytime soon.

The scars that the Elven Princess had left him still stung now and then, the anger he directed towards Ephinelyth had made him hate his indignant personality, as for who Kahnira was...

He shook his head.

John could not even fathom why or what happened in the past that made him forgotten all memories of her. Perhaps it was due to shock, perhaps the memories of his past self spoke of the truth. That younger John did not want to live in a world without Kahnira, causing him to have erased all memories of his own past.

A past filled with unwanted memories.

Realistically, if he wanted...if he really wanted to find someone who he could unleash his urges on while still having such conditions of his to be met...

He could always navigate his way around Angeline, manipulate her and…

Pang!!!

John landed a fist on his own face, almost dislocating his jaw, while those thoughts ran through his mind.

No!!! No!!! Not Angeline!!! She has nothing to do with this! She hasn’t caused me harm!!! She’s innocent, she cares about me… I just can’t...face her...I pushed her away, I pushed the hero’s party away, just like Evie…

He clenched his fists as he ran through the academy fortress. Following the route that he remembered from his last visit here, he navigated smoothly along the various hallways and passages, all the while swearing an oath to never put Angeline in such a situation.

If things ever came to be, I’ll place my own life on the line for her again.

He still had bitter feelings over the hero’s party.

He still blamed all of them for partially causing the Harvest’s death. Despite spitting hurtful words onto on them for their failures, somewhere inside of him, the soft spot for Angeline who prioritized his safety more than himself was still, present.

The girl who rather she herself to die instead of him sacrificing his own life for her. The furious expression she wore and the hard slap she gave in Kershent village.

It was all because she wanted him to cherish himself more.

Angeline Grisst.

Contrast to the whore of a succubus who wanted to keep him here, Angeline was more noble than an angel who John thought was better off without him.

A bittersweet grin crawled to his lips. Though he had not spoken to Angeline as of late, the fact that she always looked out for him was heartwarming.

I know she said to never to put my life at risk for others. But I don’t know what to do outside of that... I am just me…someone insignificant who has caused pain and suffering to everyone around me. Compared to me, she is more selfless than I can ever aspire to—

“Oof!”

In his daydream about Angeline’s kindness to him, John had collided against a hard obstruction and was forced the breath out of him.

Not thinking or wanting to inspect what he bounced onto, John returned his balance and circled the obstruction and continued with his escape.

Except…

When he moved his leg muscles, his entire body wriggled as he became suspended in the air, causing John’s entire body to wriggle erratically as he tried to control his body.

“Where are you…”

“...trying to go, John Sarvod?”

Turning his head, and his body that was now floating a meter above the ground, John saw two identical faces that had the same sly, cruel expressions on them.

No...

The twins, Saeza and Theza, had already ensnared him in a bubble like sphere where he could not escape from. He wanted to move to grab his mythril arming sword, but the thought of the twins suddenly dispelling the magic that they had on him prevented him from doing so.

John was not about to let the arming sword Angeline helped him selected to hurt in himself in the case that the twins dispelled their magic the least he was expecting.

Even if they did and he stopped the blade from accidentally cutting himself, the twins would simply recast their suspend magic on him.

Regardless of what he did or could do, he was completely ensnared by Prishine’s goons. Returning to Team Rectiser was now no longer in his foreseeable future.

“I was going to the toilet?” John said to the twins with a pained expression. “I really need to go take a piss. I can feel my bladder leaking,” he lied shamelessly through his teeth, as though they were the only truth.

His current objective was to survive what Prishine had in store for him.