Lucavion's voice remained steady, but sothing in his tone had shifted—sothing colder, sothing distant. As if he was no longer speaking from a warm bath in the present but standing once more on the blood-soaked fields of Valerius, where everything had gone wrong.
"They fell one by one," he murmured. "I saw it happen right in front of . And I couldn't do anything."
Vitaliara didn't speak. She simply listened.
"Garret was first."
The na hung in the air for a second before Lucavion continued, his fingers tightening against the stone ledge of the bath.
"The mont I realized the enemy's rank—the mont I understood what we were dealing with—it was already too late."
The words were too calm. Too controlled.
Like he had told himself this story over and over again, smoothing out the raw edges of grief, hamring it into sothing cold and sharp.
"The knight—Aldric—vanished from his spot."
A pause.
"And then—"
—SWOOSH!
Lucavion's body tensed, the mory sharp as a blade.
"Before Garret even realized what was happening, the spear was already through his chest. No chance to react. No chance to fight back. Just… over."
Vitaliara's tail curled slightly, but she said nothing.
"Then Mateo."
Another breath. Another na carved into the past.
"He didn't even see it coming. His throat—" Lucavion made a small flicking motion with his fingers. "—slit open in a blur of green light. Dead before his body even hit the ground."
Vitaliara's ears flattened.
"Felix tried to fight. Tried to do sothing. But he didn't last any longer. One strike. Straight through the heart."
Lucavion exhaled slowly. "Elias swung his weapon, tried to block—but he was too slow. Aldric parried and ended it instantly."
One by one.
Cut down like nothing.
"None of them could fight back. None of them stood a chance. They weren't Awakened. Just ordinary soldiers, standing in front of sothing beyond them."
Vitaliara's breath was barely audible.
"And you?"
Lucavion's smirk was bitter. "I was still on the ground. Watching."
The warmth of the bath felt distant now.
"It all happened so fast. A few seconds. That was all it took to erase them."
He closed his eyes briefly, his fingers digging into his palm. "I tried to move. But my body—"
[Wouldn't let you.]
Lucavion chuckled, hollow. "Yeah. It refused. My instincts… they told to stay still. To not draw attention. To not die."
[But you didn't want to stay still.]
He exhaled, shaking his head. "Of course not."
A pause.
"And then—Clara."
Vitaliara's entire body tensed, but she didn't interrupt.
"She stood her ground," Lucavion murmured. "Even when she saw what happened to the others. Even when she knew she had no chance."
He could still see it.
Clara, her hands trembling but glowing with mana.
Her voice, shaking but fierce—
"Stay back!"
A desperate stand. A refusal to simply accept it.
"And Aldric—"
Lucavion's grip on the stone edge tightened.
"He mocked her. He toyed with her. Watched as she tried to gather more mana, as she tried to fight back."
A bitter chuckle escaped his lips.
"And then he ended it. Just like that."
SWOOSH.
STAB.
The spear piercing her abdon, twisting cruelly.
Her body crumpling.
The blood pooling at her feet.
"I scread her na," Lucavion murmured. "But it didn't matter. Nothing I did mattered."
Silence.
Vitaliara finally spoke, her voice quieter than before.
[And Aldric turned to you.]
Lucavion's smirk returned, but it was sharp.
"He looked at like I was interesting. That was it. Not a threat. Not an enemy. Just…"
His fingers traced the scar along his face.
"The boy with the scarred eye."
[This scar.....Was that his doing?]
"Yes."
[I see, then what?]
"What, what?"
[And he let you live?]
Lucavion's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Yeah."
[Why?]
Lucavion let out a slow breath, his fingers tracing the rim of the bath absentmindedly.
"He let live," he murmured. "And for a long ti, I wondered why."
His voice was even, but there was sothing beneath it—sothing old, sothing worn from being turned over in his mind too many tis.
Vitaliara remained silent, waiting.
"I thought about it again and again. Was it pity? Was it amusent? Did he see sothing in back then?"
His smirk was sharp, but there was no humor in it.
"But now that I've t him again, I know."
A pause.
"He thought I wouldn't survive."
Vitaliara's ears flicked slightly, but she didn't speak.
Lucavion exhaled, rolling his shoulders against the warmth of the water. "He must have figured I'd die soon after. Alone, broken, swallowed by the battlefield." His dark eyes glinted. "And if I didn't? Then he must have wanted to fall into despair."
His voice dropped, quieter now.
"Most likely, he wanted to feel entertained."
Vitaliara frowned slightly. [Entertained?]
Lucavion chuckled, but it was hollow. "He was a 5-star Awakened, sent to a battlefield filled with ordinary soldiers. Do you think he wanted to be there?"
Silence stretched between them.
"From the eyes of soone like him," Lucavion mused, "killing non-Awakened must have felt like stepping on ants. Effortless. Boring. A waste of his ti."
Vitaliara's tail curled slightly.
[Then he left you there as… a ga?]
Lucavion tilted his head back, his smirk lazy but cold.
"Sothing like that."
A flicker of mory. The weight of a spear pressed against his throat. The amusent in Aldric's gaze. The way he had simply walked away, as if Lucavion had already been erased.
"He probably thought I'd crumble. That I'd break apart like the rest."
Lucavion's fingers tightened ever so slightly against the stone ledge.
"But he was wrong."
Vitaliara didn't say anything.
She just watched him.
Lucavion could feel it—the weight of her silence. Not judgnt, not pity, just… understanding.
He let out a slow breath, leaning his head back against the stone, the warmth of the bath doing little to ease the mories.
"For a while," he murmured, "I lived solely for revenge."
The words weren't dramatic. Weren't heavy with grief or rage.
Just simple. Matter-of-fact.
"But with my body?" He scoffed lightly, shaking his head. "I wasn't going anywhere."
A bitter chuckle escaped his lips. "I was just a non-Awakened kid trying to survive in the middle of a war. How could I ever beco soone that could rival Aldric?"
The question lingered, rhetorical.
And then—
Lucavion's gaze flickered slightly, sothing distant in his expression.
"And then," he murmured, "I t Master."
A pause.
"In that battlefield."
The weight of that statent sat between them, unspoken.
Lucavion exhaled, his smirk returning, smaller this ti.
"And here I am."
Lucavion blinked as Vitaliara hopped down from her perch, her white fur shimring slightly under the bath's dim light. She moved with quiet grace, each step deliberate, until she stood beside him.
Then—
Without hesitation, she placed one paw on his right shoulder. Then the other on his left.
And sohow—sohow—she hugged him.
A cat's body wasn't made for such gestures, but Vitaliara didn't seem to care. She simply leaned into him, her warmth pressing against his bare skin, the steady pulse of her life energy threading through the air between them.
Lucavion's breath hitched.
[You suffered a lot.]
Her voice was soft. Not pitying, not sorrowful. Just… acknowledging.
Lucavion closed his eyes for a mont.
"…Yeah."
There was no need to deny it.
He had suffered.
And for the first ti in a long while, soone wasn't trying to ignore that fact.
Then, her next words caught him off guard.
[But I'm glad.]
His eyes flickered open.
"Glad?"
Vitaliara pressed a little closer.
[Glad that I t you.]
Lucavion chuckled, his lips curling into a smirk despite himself. "You're going to make blush."
[Hmph.] She huffed, but there was warmth in her tone.
And then—
[That girl beat to this, but I will not fall back.]
Lucavion blinked.
Then, slowly, his smirk widened.
"Oh?" His voice turned playful, teasing. "Are you competing now?"
[Tch. Just be quiet and appreciate this mont.]
Lucavion laughed, low and rich, before resting his hand lightly against her fur.
He didn't say anything else.
But he didn't need to.
They stayed like that for a while.
Lucavion didn't move, and Vitaliara didn't pull away.
The warmth of her presence wasn't just physical—it settled sowhere deeper, sowhere beyond the lingering aches of his body, beyond the mories that still clung to the edges of his mind.
For once, he allowed himself to just exist.
No battles. No burdens.
Just this mont.
Then, after a long pause, Vitaliara finally spoke.
[Now that you've gotten your revenge… what are you planning to do?]
Lucavion's lips curled, his smirk returning with an easy, familiar confidence.
"Hmm," he mused, tilting his head slightly. "That's an important question, isn't it?"
Vitaliara just watched him, waiting.
Lucavion exhaled slowly, stretching his arms before resting them against the stone.
"It's ti," he murmured, "to fulfill the promise I made to Master."
Silence.
Then—
"….."
Vitaliara's ears twitched. [And that is?]
Lucavion's smirk widened, mischief flickering through his dark eyes.
He took a slow breath—
And then, without hesitation—
"HERE I CO… ACADEMY OF ARCANIS!"
His voice echoed through the bath, loud, dramatic, completely unbothered by the sheer absurdity of it.
Vitaliara blinked.
Then—
[Pff—]
She snorted.
Then she laughed.
A bright, genuine sound, filled with exasperation but undeniably warm.
[You're ridiculous.]
Lucavion grinned. "And you're welco."
Vitaliara just shook her head, tail flicking in amusent.
[You better not embarrass yourself.]
Lucavion leaned back, closing his eyes. "Oh, don't worry. If I do, I'll make sure it's spectacular."
Vitaliara sighed, but her smile lingered.
Then Lucavion looked down, checking his reflection from the surface of the bathroom water.
'…..With this….'
He thought as he looked at the line over his right eye.
'There is no need for you anymore…'
And just like that—
The one chapter of the story t its end.
----End of the Volu 4.
-------------A/N-------------
This was such a long volu. I must apologize for the pacing issue, as while writing the past 100 chapters especially, I didn't want to cut any part of the dialogues at all, since I wanted them to co as natural and complete as possible.
But, one must also understand that, the buildup with the Duke was one of the biggest buildups for the story since it will have a huge effect on the future.
Also, Aeliana as a character was so complex to write that it was such a challenge to write her as organically as possible, and I really put a lot of thought behind her thinking process and past feelings and everything. And adding this to how she clashes with Lucavion's character, it was challenging to write.
Now, we will follow with side-stories to catch up what the others were doing. It is ti to tie so loose ends.
Your favorite heroine needs to appear again.
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