[Dormant Destruction]!
As the cursed words were uttered, Basil imdiately recoiled back in shock. His Qi Core imdiately heated up as a foreign energy invaded it.
Gritting his teeth as he did his best to control the rampaging power inside him, he deactivated his Pacifer Soul, which also deactivated [Vacant Vessel], and ignored the foreign energy invading his Core temporarily.
Asia left his body and returned to Durendal's Sword Realm, anwhile Durendal's Sword Soul returned to Caliburn's. The power turmoil in his body cald down significantly, and he imdiately focused his attention to the foreign energy.
Schwing!
As his Art stopped splitting the land and the True Light Magic stopped illuminating the world in gold, he fell down to his knees. Throwing up a mouthful of blood, he moved his hand from his chest to his solar plexus with a dark gaze.
The foreign energy invading his Core had mixed with the Qi stored in his Core, or rather, the Core itself. He couldn't do anything to it. He couldn't remove it, nor could he extract it. The only way to remove it was to destroy his Qi Core.
Of course, it wasn't sothing he would do since he had spent a lot of effort to cultivate his Natural Core. Replacing it with a Synthetic Core would greatly decrease his power.
Drip. Drip.
"Fortunately, the Curse won't take effect until I reach Violet Core stage," Basil smiled sarcastically as blood was falling from his nose.
[Dormant Destruction], as its na suggested, was a Curse that wouldn't take effect until the designated ti. It was a Curse that would blow the victim up when he had enough Qi to power the Curse.
It didn't bother the victims for a long ti, and even most of them didn't know they had been Cursed with it. When it finally took effect however, they would experience the most grueso and painful death that would also bring the people around them down.
"Three years—I will die in three years." Three years was the estimated ti for Basil to reach Violet Core Stage. "Luckily, I have a thod to remove the Curse without destroying my Natural Core."
The thod Basil was thinking of was sothing that any Mage would never try or dare to think about. It wasn't because of how risky it was—it was a safe thod—but because of how unpleasant the aftereffect was.
On top of that, with that thod, there was also the fact that one needed to wait for the Curse to "ripe" before removing it. Because of this, many people were reluctant to use the thod Basil was thinking of.
They were afraid to perform the removal late, and lose their life in the process.
Thud!
"Kuhuk! Keugh... Darn it! It has been so long since I was this battered." Basil chuckled faintly as he lied on his back. "Huuh... At least, it felt more rewarding."
[Husband, no! Don't close your eyes!]
Basil, who was about to fall asleep due to his exhaustion and injuries, was awakened by Asia's scream. He opened his eyes wide imdiately, and found his vision dyed red.
,m Blood was coming out of his tear glands, and it was pooling his eyes. Every visible hole in his body, including his pores, was also oozing out blood due to the drawbacks of using [Synchronization] and [Vacant Vessel].
The more blood he lost, the sleepier he beca. He couldn't fall asleep, however, as his heart would stop beating if he didn't consciously power it with Mana, which was why Asia was panicking.
[Oh, no! Where is that child Ione? Where is she when she is needed?!]
Asia was pondering if she should materialize herself using Basil's Jade of moir just to take care of him. She still preferred to not show herself this soon, however, which was why she was hoping either Ione or Iliana to show up.
[Dagnamit! Those useless children! I will take care of him my—]
"Basil!"
Just a second before she materialized herself, luckily, Iliana arrived at Basil's side. She was just a few steps ahead of Ione, who looked ragged due to the aftermath of Basil's last attack.
Sighing in relief from Durendal's Sword Realm, Asia's eyes couldn't help but imdiately darken when she saw how rough Iliana lifted Basil's body.
She was about to shout out loud to remind her, but luckily she didn't need to since Basil did that in her stead.
"Gently... All of my bones are finely cracked. You are going to destroy them with the way you handle ," Basil said softly.
"Oh no... I am sorry." For the first ti ever since eting her in his second life, he heard Iliana apologized. "I am sorry... I am sorry, I could do nothing." Also for the first ti, he saw her crying.
"Why are you crying?" Basil frowned. "Who am I to you for you to show such a great empathy towards ?"
He was genuinely flustered by how Iliana reacted. Although she had declared to everyone that she was his girlfriend, he was convinced, after all, she was just ssing with him just like what she had done in the past.
It had taken him years to change her status from his master to his lover in the past despite all of the adulterous things they had both done prior to establishing their romantic relationship. Their love had been a slowly cultivated one.
He had expected this ti would also be the sa, so he was surprised as much as he was bewildered that she could show such a strong feeling for what was happening to him this soon.
"... Who are you to ?" Iliana whispered. She brought Basil closer and hugged him tenderly. "My lover—soone who I can never afford to lose."
"..."
Blinking his eyes in surprise at her sincere words, Basil's red vision turned two shades brighter. He was seeing pink and he wondered whether it was his blood doing a weird trick or just his mood affecting what he saw.
Chuckling faintly, he jokingly said, "Still, no adult activities until you are 24." With a light groan, he added, "I need to have so shut-eye, so please keep my heart pumping for ."
"Hm... Leave it to ."
Iliana looked at Basil softly as she caressed his face that was stained with blood carefully. He smiled softly at the look she was giving, then closed his eyes, knowing that he could trust his life with her.
Her heart clenched as soon as he closed his eyes; her body tensed as she worried if he was really just sleeping. He looked so peaceful, her anxious mind couldn't help thinking that he might have just died.
"Don't be an imbecile, Iliana." Ione put her hand on Iliana's shoulder. "You are currently pumping his heart with your Mana—of course, he is still alive."
"Ah... Ione." Iliana looked at Ione with her teary eyes. "Didn't notice you were here all along. Are you okay?"
"Well... I am not really injured, but all of my Mana is spent... On defending myself from the clash between Lord Basil and that sick bastard, Charles, embarrassingly."
Thud!
Ione sat herself down. Smiling bitterly, she said, "I am sorry, I couldn't help much."
"A glance was all I need to conclude that not even Master Lawson could interfere in that fight." Iliana shook her head as she looked around. "Just look at the aftermath."
Following Iliana's gaze, Ione couldn't help smiling wryly.
The area they were in, which had been previously covered in snow, was now as dry as a barren desert. They could hardly spot any mountain that wasn't 10 kiloters away from them—the land surrounding them was now flat, bereft of any earthen mound.
Deep and wide craters decorated the ground. A trench that was so deep, they could see the magma contained below the planet's crust; and was so long, they didn't know where it ended was also carved in the ground.
It was amazing to think the land still held on even though it had been split. They were sure, however, a re earthquake would be able to separate a part of the Northern Mountain Region from the rest of the land.
All of that just because a clash between two outstanding Mages. They couldn't help gulping in astonishnt and anticipation of what Basil would be able to achieve in the future.
"Why didn't you tell him about the truth?" Ione asked after a few minutes of silence.
"About the aning of his identity as the Fated Child? Well, I am sure he would be reluctant to co ho if I told him, so I am going to let him figure it out by himself when we visit the village."
"No. That's not what I am talking about." Ione shook his head. "I am talking about YOUR identity."
"That is..." Iliana lowered her gaze and hugged Basil closer. "Even though I can't stay with him forever, at least, I want to stay with him, soone who is closely tied to long enough for to not miss him when he leaves."
"I was about to address that, but I guess I don't need to since you already know." Ione stopped speaking for a few seconds before asking, "How are you going to explain our relationship to him later?"
"Childhood friends. That's what we are." Iliana looked at Ione weirdly. "What do you expect to introduce you as?"
"Fellow future wife?"
"Back off, woman! I can kick your arse strong enough to send you to hell," Iliana said fiercely.
Ione initially rely smirked at Iliana's response, but she eventually couldn't help chortling funnily. Iliana was frowning at first, but also joined her by laughing softly in the end.
It had been so long since the last ti they t, so they couldn't stop laughing for a quite so ti. When they stopped, Iliana told Ione to turn her head around, and proceed to take all of Basil's clothes off.
Conjuring water and fire, she cleaned the blood off Basil's body with the warm water. She did it carefully as to not disturb Basil's sleep and damage his slowly recovering body.
It took her 10 minutes to clean him, and when she had finished, she looked for new clothes that she could put on him in his Spatial Ring. Her face imdiately turned funny as she found how many treasures he had in his Spatial Ring.
Just as Iliana finished dressing Basil up, he opened his eyes. He had fully recovered from the injuries he had sustained much to her bewildernt.
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