Elowen stood there for a mont, watching the spot where her daughters had vanished. Her smile softened, and a warm glow filled her chest.
As soon as she heard the door to their room click shut upstairs, she let out a quiet laugh and shook her head.
Then, with a small chuckle, she turned toward the kitchen and mumbled under her breath in a teasing, cheerful tone, "Looks like my little cabbages have been stolen while I was away."
Her voice wasn’t bitter—far from it. It was filled with amusent and peace.
She had known for a while now how the girls felt about Ethan. And deep down, she had always hoped things would work out in a way that didn’t leave either of them hurt.
Seeing them both smiling tonight—open, happy, honest—was more than she could’ve asked for.
"Both chosen, huh?" she said softly as she reached the counter. "Guess that boy really does have good taste."
She gave the pot on the stove a quick stir, her smile not fading once.
It was shaping up to be a lovely night.
anwhile, back in the Nocturne Mansion.
Ethan flopped onto his bed with a soft thud, arms spread wide across the soft sheets. The night had been longer than expected, but honestly? Worth it.
The celebration with his stepmom and his step sisters-sisters had gone better than he thought it would.
Good food, lots of teasing, and way too much sparkling fruit punch that Liliana kept refilling when he wasn’t looking.
He stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds, just breathing.
Quiet.
Finally.
He liked the energy the twins brought—he really did—but his brain hadn’t had a chance to slow down all day.
Between Lucas’s weird public ltdown, the mall madness, the surprise couple quiz, and the haunted toaster movie, he’d barely had ti to think.
That’s when it hit him.
"...Wait."
He sat up quickly.
"The quest reward."
He groaned, rubbing his temples. "I totally forgot about it..."
That was right. After beating Lucas—well, technically watching Lucas beat himself up—his system had given him the reward for defeating him.
He had glanced at it back then but didn’t even open it properly. Everything had been moving so fast with the twins, and then the kiss right at their doorstep... it slipped right past him.
"Alright, system," he said aloud in his mind, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "Bring it up. Show the reward again."
The familiar light-blue screen popped up in front of him without delay.
New Spontaneous Task Completed:Defeat Lucas Grayson in a one-on-one match.
Reward to be claid: 50 Incubus Points 50 Incubus Coins
Ethan tilted his head a little as he read it again.
"Fifty of each... Not bad."
He leaned back on his elbows, staring at the floating screen.
"Honestly though... I didn’t even do anything that intense. Just used that illusion once. I thought he’d resist it or at least notice sothing was off after a bit."
The system chid in with its usual soft voice.
[The host’s confusion is understandable. Would you like an explanation regarding the ability used?]
"Yes, please," Ethan said. "Why did it work so well? It felt... a little too powerful."
[You see, master, the illusion used in your match with Lucas was not a basic illusion. It was a replication of a power copied from Lilith Nocturne.
But you see, the problem with this logic is that when your superpower copies soone’s superpower, it copies it based on their current version and not the one that Lilith would have awakened when she was young.
So the copied superpower you got was not sothing you can asure with your normal standards]
Ethan blinked. "So... my strength is not based on being a newly awakened superpower user?"
[Correct, and as this is the superpower that was copied from Lilith’s, the value is off the charts.
But the good thing is that I am here and was able to curb the amount you can sense and use; otherwise, your consciousness would have been consud by it and would have beco a living nightmare.
And this is why when you cast the illusion, the power that you released might not seem that much to you, but to Lucas, the illusion was as real as an actual battle.
Breaking free would’ve required a level of awareness and ntal strength he clearly didn’t have.]
Ethan leaned back fully now, resting his head against the pillows.
"Well, that explains it. I thought it felt too smooth. Like the illusion responded on its own."
[That’s because it did, master. This is because your superpower has just awakened, which is why you might not know much, but this is a superpower that I can’t find any information on, even when I go through the mories stored in your incubus bloodline.]
’Wait, mories? What mories?’ Ethan asked, a bit confused.
[Umm? Oh, right, you didn’t know about this. Oops, so you see, almost every powerful bloodline has a set of mories that are stored; these mories contain the basics of the bloodline, information about what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how the world around them works.
Then, there are the special abilities that are stored in these mories that only the creatures with this bloodline can use.
And the reason you did not know about this is that you have just awakened your bloodline, and your strength is not that high, which is why you did not have any mories, as there are seals placed on them.]
’Why are there so many seals, and is this seal related to the one with the bloodline, or is it different?’ Ethan asked as he rubbed his face.
[It’s the sa; when you unlock the first seal of your bloodline, you unlock the first set of mories.] The system clarified.
[Anyway, we can talk about that later; the main point is that while the superpower might seem like an ability, it is much more than that as they have a really powerful history and they evolve into sothing very powerful.
So, when you copied Lilith’s superpower, you also copied the ’potential’ behind it and its potential power.
However, you cannot copy all the powers. The only powers you can currently copy are those in their initial stages. If we want to copy other powers, we need to upgrade our superpower.
So, the Illusory Manifestation ability can be seen as the seed that will eventually beco a giant tree.]
Ethan raised his head slightly.
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