by Jason Hale
He would not have to idle for long to see her form appearing by his side.
She was dressed in the same format of the close-fitting cyan robe, but her hairs were unbound, fluttering at her back without restraints. Within her hands, she held a brown lyre which she carried with apparent affection.
"The lyre is my family's ancestral instrument. I learned to play it from my father at an early age. Allow me to play you a tune."
Konnor nodded and sat at the edge of the stream. She did the same, adjusted the lyre within her grasp, and began playing.
The methodical brush of her fingers against the strings created a soothing melody whose notes snatched Konnor from the woes of the world.
Yet, as those notes went beyond his ears and strode toward his heart, Konnor could sense the melancholy hidden within them. It was a form of yearning, yearning for distant memories, yearning for those moments she didn't know to cherish in times now past.
Yearning for the love and protection of elders once taken for granted.
Yearning for the simplest of pleasures now forever beyond her grasp.
Yearning for that moon hanging in the sky, whose watchful eyes enlightened her in the dark of night, revealing her dreams, simple, yet, unattainable.
The melody carried on, and Konnor lost tracks of time, his eyes had moved from the strings to stare into Ilaina's as he sought an understanding of her through the notes she played.
Then she stopped, her misty eyes moving from the lyre to stare back at him.
"How would you title this?"
She asked without much expectations.
"As I Yearn for Regrets Under the Waning Moon"
Simple yet grabbed the essence of the tune.
"I didn't think you would have an ear for music."
"I don't. I have an ear for a woman's woes."
He honestly replied and laid onto the ground with his head resting on her lap.
"Are you not afraid of me pushing you into the stream?"
"Have you forgotten? You said it yourself, I'm stupid."
She considered slamming the lyre on his face but advised against it and chose to set it aside.
"What do you really want from me?"
Konnor wanted to say that adding her to his harem was imperative to keep his balls but advised against it.
"I want you to be mine in body and soul. To possess and own you, from this day, until you draw your last."
"That in life, you belong to me. And that in death, your ghost still belongs to me!"
The overbearingness within his words took her by surprise. She had not expected that youth's level of boldness to reach such heights.
"Are you qualified to say such words? Let's not even consider your cultivation that is still far from the True Knight Rank. Let's not even consider your status that is likely to be of common origin. As long as I wear the dress of a palace maid, beside the emperor, any man that extends his hands toward me is punishable by death."
"Or do you think that I would be interested in a common tryst?"
She had not lain. All the females of the inner court belonged to the Holy Emperor. Only the Holy Emperor could grant them to those of his liking, and while it was not rare for them to be used as political tools, any man caught getting too close without permission would face a brutal ending.
But Konnor didn't care.
Because he had already decided that since he was given the unique opportunity of reincarnation, the entire world would belong to him!
The beauties of this world didn't need emperors. They only needed Konnor!
"You want more than a tryst. You want someone to sweep you off your feet, and in broad daylight carry you out in the open for all to see."
"Someone who dares brazenly take your lips."
"Someone to hold the sky when it threatens to collapse."
"Someone like me."
And before she could say anything else, his lips flew toward hers.
She knew him bold but had not expected his boldness to reach such heights.
Unruly…
His overbearing kiss pushed her into his arms, and together they fell onto the ground.
But in the distance, the floating shadow of a woman observed that scene with a frown.
The shadow vanished, and in an abnormal timing, dozens of arrows flew from behind the nearby trees and shot toward the kissing pair.
Chapter 11 - Complete Blood Awakening
The whistle of arrows streaking through the air divided the pair in a heartbeat. Ilaina was the first to sense the danger. Using her arm-strength of nearly two thousand kilos, she pushed Konnor into the air and somersaulted to avoid the incoming bolts. They flew past the area she previously laid in and lodged into the distance.
"What's the meaning of this? Why didn't you warn me?"
An outraged Konnor asked the system.
"Hum…about that…I can only warn you against malicious intent aimed at you…and you're not the target…"
"Son of a bitch!"
But Konnor didn't have any time to waste on the unreliable system as ten figures flew from the shadows and shot toward Ilaina.
By the time they landed back on the ground, the ten figures had surrounded them.
The moon flashed, revealing ten masked forms whose only discernable characteristics were the bodies that made their genders evident and the cultivation base that rippled from them.
As the duo's eyes swept them, they were alarmed. Ilaina, in particular, couldn't believe her eyes for she could clearly see details that Konnor couldn't.
Six high-level True Knights!
Three mid-level True Priests!
One Grand Knight!
Such a formidable lineup was enough to shred anyone below the Grand Rank in a heartbeat.
And such a formidable lineup was aimed at her.
"Could it be…"
But distraction wasn't permitted so, Ilaina cast her thoughts aside and focused on the incoming onslaught.
It didn't come. Instead, the leader, a tall masked woman with an overbearing aura that carried one's gaze away from her engrossing curves, switched her attention to Konnor.
"You can leave."
The words were simple and looked amiable, but they carried a forceful power that commanded obedience. Konnor was perplexed. It was common sense to dispose of witnesses when conducting assassinations. Why then was that woman allowing him to leave?
Was it because of his otherworldly charm and fantastic bearing?
Nah…
The woman's words had a drastic effect on Ilaina. Her eyes grew cold, and any goodwill she might have felt toward Konnor instantly turned into rancor. Seeing that, Konnor was annoyed but couldn't blame her. To say nothing of her, even he was finding the situation incomprehensible. To any bystander, it would look like Konnor had been tasked with distracting her for the assassins to strike!
His next words, however, replaced her growing resentment by a tinge of warmth.
"After I shove my cock down your throat."
"Break his legs!"
The Grand Knight assassin roared and in tandem, the six high-level True Knights she commanded shot toward the duo.
At their back, the remaining three mid-level True Priests conjured scalding jets of pure white flames that rushed toward Ilaina.
"Energy Sword!"
Ilaina extended her right hand, and dazzling blue light gathered within to morph into a dark-blue longsword. Both knights and priests cultivated spiritual energy. But knights would use that energy to refine their bodies while priests would use it to empower their minds.
And although True Knights and above could transform their spiritual energy into weapons of all kinds and shapes, they often chose swords.
Dark-blue sword aura swirled around Ilaina, and despite the odds clearly being stacked against her, she was unafraid. With a sword stroke, she divided the flames rushing toward her. At that time, Konnor's voice echoed.
"True Suppression Bead!"
Konnor
tossed the purple bead into the air, and it released six purple glyphs that slammed into the incoming True-Knights' foreheads.
Instantly, the energy weapons they had summoned vanished into thin air, and their cultivation base was sealed by the glowing glyphs.
"W-what the hell is going on?"
"My…my cultivation?"
The six assassins crashed onto the ground and were now no different from mortals. The brutal change took all the gathered warriors aback. And using the element of surprise, Konnor pounced onto the crippled knights with bared claws.
*Crack*
He grabbed two by the throat and wrenched their necks before tossing them onto the ground like heaps of trash. But by now, the gathered warriors and priests had snapped out of their torpor.
"Hateful!"
The Grand Knight woman scolded while sky-blue energy waves burst from her form. She condensed an energy broadsword and shot toward Konnor. But at that time, Ilaina struck.
Her sword drew an ordinary arc, and blinding sword aura shot in a half-moon shape and beheaded the remaining four knights. Afterward, she stomped her foot and barreled into the Grand Knight with a diagonal slash.
*Clang*
The Grand Knight received her with a rightward sweep of her broadsword, and their weapons met in a metallic clash.
In a flash, the assassins had lost more than half their numbers. But the situation still wasn't optimistic. The three True Priests resumed casting their spells and fired flame arrows at Konnor.
"System, exchange a thousand exp for a low-grade True Rank Shield."
"Alrighty!"
The system completed the exchanged, and a bronze shield appeared within Konnor's hands. Without hesitation, he directed it toward the incoming flame arrows and stopped their onslaught.
His cold eyes then swept the scene, and his face contorted into a frown. Ilaina was currently being pushed back by the Grand Knight whose sword strokes suppressed hers in every way. Meanwhile, the three True Priest resumed casting spells to assail Konnor.
Of the still breathing people, all were females. But their cultivations were too high for Konnor to take great advantage of that. Only Ilaina could tip the scales.
"Is there a way to control who is targeted by my aura?"
"You can do it with your spiritual power. But with your current level, it will be exhausting."
Without hesitation, he released the full power of his half-incubus aura and used his spiritual power to direct the formless force toward the four female enemies.
Immediately, they staggered.
The spellcasting was interrupted, and the Grand Knight lost her balance.
Although she didn't know what was going on, Ilaina didn't let go of the opportunity and drove her sword toward the Grand Knight's heart!
"Energy armor!"
She roared, and the sky-blue light swirling around her body turned into a blue battle armor that coated her entire body and repelled the sword strike. The energy armor was the privilege of Grand Knights and drastically increased their defensive abilities.
*Bang*
An overbearing cleave sent Ilaina flying backward with internal damage that caused her to spurt blood.
Konnor caught her mid-flight while increasing the pressure on the four opponents. Droplets of sweat began streaking down his cheeks at breakneck speed as he felt his strength declining by the second.
"It's you again! Damn degenerate!"
The Grand Knight spat.
If it weren't because her orders forbade her from killing him, she would have already sliced him in two!
She didn't know what kind of disgraceful ability he was using that caused her entire body to burn with unholy desires and her nether regions to get moister by the second.
At her back, the three True Priests were struggling to keep her bodies under control and didn't have the time to fire more spells.
Ilaina was puzzled. What kind of ability was that eunuch using to cause such damage?
"Degenerate? Aren't you the one struggling with a cock craving body? What right do you have to call me…degenerate?"
"But never mind. I really am a degenerate. A degenerate that's going to fuck you bloody."
Konnor retorted with a complacent smile, and Ilaina who was readjusting herself, couldn't help but stare at him with eyes open wide.
Was there nothing he dared not say? Truly incomparably shameless!
What Konnor had not expected was that his words had triggered a violent reaction within the Grand Knight.
"I…will…kill…you!"
Initially, she didn't dare disobey. But in a fit of fury, the sound part of her mind was thrown out of the window, and she charged him with naked killing intent!
"Careful!"
Konnor pushed Ilaina to the side and brandished his shield to resist the incoming blow.
*Bang*
The broadsword smashed the shield into debris, and the impact sent Konnor spiraling into the air while spurting a large mouthful of blood. With that single blow, his internal organs had suffered severe damage. And although his body regeneration ability kicked in, it wasn't fast enough to repair them in time for what was to come.
The Grand Knight swept her broadsword toward Konnor's neck, but Ilaina slammed it away with a full-force blow. Due to Konnor's half-incubus aura, the Grand Knight had been significantly weakened and was no longer much stronger than her.
But with her energy armor still standing, Ilaina couldn't obtain any advantage. The blow threw the Grand Knight off balance. She leaned her body weight onto her left leg and struck Ilaina's chest with a violent kick.
Ilaina was sent rolling by Konnor's side with more blood dripping from her chest.
"I didn't think that our date would turn into an episode of Bloody Valentine."
Konnor jested with a bloodied smile. But although she didn't know what he meant by "Bloody Valentine," she still returned his smile.
"Do you regret chasing me now?
"Regret is not a word of my vocabulary, and I always thought that if I was to die, it should be by the side of a beauty."
And unbeknown to her, Ilaina began finding that brazen eunuch rather interesting.
"Give me your life!"
The Grand Knight drove her sword into a frontal thrust, aimed at Konnor's heart.
With her last bits of strength, Ilaina somersaulted to send a kick into the blade's blunt edge, hoping to throw it off their assailant's grasp. But to no avail.
The sword pierced through Konnor's chest and his blood gushed forth.
"Is this how my life ends?"
Konnor wondered as all strength left him and his body succumbed to the sword stroke. But thanks to Ilaina's last-ditch effort, the blow missed his heart.
"No…I am…unwilling!"
Konnor's trembling hands grasped the sword within his chest, and he fought to pull it out.
"I cannot die…not like this! Not again!"
His blood boiled, and his entire shook, driven solely by the power of his will. And as if to echo his words, violet flames burned within his eyes.
"Only I can step on the world…the world cannot step on me!"
"Get…LOST!"
He roared, and his entire body was set ablaze by violet flames that pushed out the broadsword and sent the Grand Knight reeling. The gaping wound she had left within his chest was mended in a heartbeat, and Konnor stood with his body coated in the violet flames.
Within his chest, three energy sources he didn't know he possessed were being absorbed by his body and increasing his cultivation at breakneck speed!
Second Step Adept Knight.
Third Step…
Fourth Step…
Only when he reached the fifth step Adept Knight level were the sources of energy fully digested.
Those energy sources were the primal essences of the three girls Konnor had deflowered. Incubi fed and grew on sexual energy and could innately absorb the primal essence of virgin girls to bolster their powers. Unbeknown to
him, Konnor had collected the three primal essences. But because his bloodline had yet to truly activate, he couldn't sense or digest them.