Elian’s mind blanked.
He had flirted with Bianca. Teased her. Kissed her. All of it intentional—chosen. Never once had his body coerced him. He had no hunger, no urges, no animal desire.
Like he once told Bastion: Elian had no need for food, sleep, or sex. He bled molten ore. His body ran on mana. Elian was a golem, not a man.
Even now, housed in what looked like flesh, nothing had changed.
So when a beautiful woman like Charlotte suddenly asked him to impregnate her, everything stalled.
He didn’t want to.
He couldn’t even if he did.
The woman before him waited, her eyes pleading. But he could not give her what she wanted. Elian’s heart had only room for one. And Bianca already owned his everything. Even for a powerful ally, that would never change.
"No."
Charlotte then clung to him, "Why not? Am I not pretty enough? I can change. I can be whatever you want to be. Just be mine. Save from this hell," she whimpered.
But Elian grabbed her hands and pushed her away gently.
"I already belong to another." Elian turned to Bianca and then added, "I’m sorry. But I can’t give you what you’re looking for."
"Why? What makes Velvet so special?"
Elian wiped away Charlotte’s tears as he explained, "You wanted when I had everything. She did when I had nothing."
At his simple statent, the beauty bit her lip and nodded, "Do you truly wish to fight humanity all for her?"
"Yes. I will not stop at just humanity; I will win the Crucible for her."
Abruptly, Charlotte turned around. "Please leave," she said in a trembling voice.
Without hesitation, Elian turned around and approached Bianca. His lover had a smug expression on her face, as if she expected all this to happen. When Elian returned to her side, her smile deepened, and she stretched out her arms like a spoiled child.
"My feet hurt. Carry ."
Wordlessly, Elian picked her up in a bridal carry and prepared to leave the room. As they were about to exit, Charlotte declared out loud.
"200 billion. Transfer it to my account. You will owe three favors. At any ti of my choosing, you will help , no questions asked. I will get the cores to you in three days."
"Deal," Bianca replied.
"The fifth core will be at the Nobel Auction a week from now. The only reason it hasn’t been sold is that they cannot find a buyer."
"I see. Thank you, Charlotte. I will contact you again when the ti is right."
Without another word, Elian and Bianca left Charlotte’s office. There were high-class escorts all eyeing Elian, but Bianca no longer minded them.
"I’m surprised you didn’t get jealous."
However, rather than answer, Bianca simply rested her head on Elian’s chest.
"Why would I? You’re mine. You have never once given a reason to doubt you."
Elian chuckled, "Quite an improvent from you throwing a fit just because I touched so girls."
The air turned cold.
"... Elian, you rember?" Bianca asked in trepidation.
"Hmm? Rember what?"
"Sera Dale. She was the one I got jealous of before. You rember being jealous of her?"
Elian stopped walking.
He paused and thought for a mont before answering.
"I don’t. I rember you getting angry about so female breakers, one of them a priest, I think. But I do not know what they look like or what their nas are."
Bianca then began to murmur as she closed her eyes, "I see. So you can forget people but not every event associated with them. That is good. I can use this to chart how mories are forgotten."
"Bianca?"
"Ah, sorry, darling. I got distracted."
Seeing her train of thought, Elian probed, "Are you trying to learn how Driven-Hopeless works?"
"Yes. As your Anchor, it is my duty. I will be the one to rember what you forget. So, you can rest easy."
Overwheld with gratitude and affection, Elian kissed Bianca’s lips tenderly. She closed her eyes like a wife who’d been waiting for this mont. When they parted, she gazed at Elian, her eyes quivering.
"Thank you, Bianca."
"Anything for you, Elian."
When they finally got out of Arcus Kiss, the bouncers all detailed how they beat up all the Breakers trailing Elian’s group.
Bianca, still in her velvet persona, scoffed and chastised them. "Good. At least you buffoons have grown useful over the decades. Here, get yourselves sothing nice. My treat."
Throwing each at least a wad of paper bills, the bouncers cheered. They all then began to physically raise the won around them and carry their chosen partner into a nearby hotel. The absolute depravity of the scene shocked Elian.
But he continued to learn just how simple humans could be.
"Elian, head to that building over there, the one that looks like a castle."
Wordlessly, Elian brought her over, their army of pets rejoining them. Fluffy ca up and asked excitedly, "So? What happened to her? Did you tell her how her husband betrayed her for the Church?"
Bianca nodded smugly, "I did. And she behaved as expected."
"She tried to seduce this walking trash compactor?"
"And ask for a baby."
Fluffy visibly flinched, "Wow, the audacity of that bitch!" She then turned to Elian like a reporter looking for the juiciest gossip, "So? What did you tell her?"
"I told her I had ED," Elian said plainly.
"You what?! Wait?! You have ED?" Fluffy’s face warped between so many emotions; Elian and Bianca began laughing out loud at her reaction. Silent, Burny, and Bastion all tilted their heads and had the sa question.
"What’s ED?"
***
They entered the castle and were greeted by a suave-looking butler. However, the mont he saw Bianca, he began to sob. "MISTRESS VELVET! YOU’RE FINALLY BACK!"
He ran to embrace her, but Elian gently kicked him away instead.
The butler smashed along the wall but quickly got back up. He bowed again and again while apologizing. "Ah! I am sorry, Sir HSK, I got ahead of myself. Silas told that Mistress Velvet has finally found herself a man. This Sebastian is teary-eyed with joy."
Bianca got off Elian and took her butler’s hands and helped him up. "Thank you for still being here, Sebastian. I honestly expected this place to already be closed."
Sebastian straightened himself up and slamd his fist over his heart. "It was hard, Mistress. But the Velvet Boutique remains the most sought-after place for high-end fashion in Crestfall City. I made sure of that! How have you been, my lady? Where did you et Sir HSK?"
"I am sorry, Sebastian; I am in a hurry. We will talk later. Please take a 1 billion bonus from . And show your best gowns and suits. My husband and I will attend an event in a week."
Sebastian raged like a lunatic and frantically shouted, "Husband? Dear heavens! When did you get married? What did you wear? Who did your makeup?! Why wasn’t I invited? Please don’t tell you have kids already!"
Bianca turned to Elian and whispered, "This might take a while. Give a few monts to calm him down."
Left alone with the Weapons, Elian took a deep breath.
So much happened today, it’s kind of amazing.
Silent and Bastion approached him and made a request.
"Son-in-law, can you weaponize more wolves?"
"I don’t see why not," Elian replied, "where would we get them though?"
"They are being kept in the Nobel auction house. Silent and I will find a way to break them out on our own."
Hearing the familiar na, Elian snapped his fingers.
"Oh. That’s good. Bianca and I will be going there next week. Flare’s Core was said to be there by a credible source."
Fluffy smiled in earnest, "Ho. So, we can crash it and take everything?"
"Why do you always take that route, Fluffy? And you call a lunatic?"
She chuckled loudly and countered, "That’s because you’re stupid. What did you plan to do? You can’t do subtlety."
"Shut it, Fluffy."
Just then, a large group of breakers arrived. They were the type who thought leather, chains, and bravado made them impressive.
"Yo, white hair. You together with that Velvet chick?"
When he heard the way they referred to Bianca, Elian’s blood began to boil.
"I am her husband, Silver. What do you want?"
The n cheered and jumped around. One of them ca forward and removed his coat.
"They say she was rolling with the King of the Earth or so crap like that. You’ve got a bounty on you, brother. You pissed off the birds."
Understanding that they were sent by the Crows, Elian nodded. "Yeah, that’s ."
Imdiately, Elian slipped off his trench coat; it showed his pale, ashen body. The other humans grew alert at what they saw. Elian felt nurous scans from the ones around, but he welcod them.
"Elian," Fluffy called.
"I am doing this," Elian replied.
Silent sighed and searched for a comfortable spot to sit. Burny curled up next to her. Bastion, on the other hand, said sothing that determined the fate of the humans present.
"If you have to fight, make the violence so horrific that the re echoes fight your battles for you. Doing it half-heartedly will only invite more struggle."
Raising his fist, Elian agreed. "Understood."
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