Chapter 44 - His part of the deal

While still leaning against Ivar, a small smile broke out on Molly's face, "Nova was amazing; she was younger than me and yet so much more capable of surviving on her own.

We had similar pasts as we had both lost people we loved, but Nova didn't let depression get her down. She had already survived four years on those streets despite the fact she had a little sister to look after, and she was much weaker than me.

I guess having a little sister to look after was probably part of the reason she continued on despite the odds. I can't help but think what would have happened if I were in her shoes, though.

I admired her a lot. She was strong, independent and cared about others, at least so long as she could do so without endangering herself or Alita.

And it was Nova who eventually helped me pull myself out of my depression. She made me realise my mother wouldn't want me to live that way. She protected and cared for me so I could live and be happy!

But that wasn't what convinced me to stop feeling sorry for myself. No, definitely not that; after all, my mother was dead. Her action of dying to protect me was, in the end, equally as selfish as my wanting to stay behind to die with her."

Suddenly, her expression made a complete turn as all the sadness disappeared to be replaced by burning fury and a bloodthirsty smile, 

If she wanted me to be happy, she should have stayed alive! No, what pulled me out and made me want to live on was my desire for revenge!"

At this point, her voice grew louder with every word, "That man with the stolen flame, all of his men, all of his friends, all of his family, and the entire Oni race will die in a sea of phoenix fire!"

At the end of her speech, she was loud enough to be considered yelling as she jumped off the couch in excitement while her small body shivered from anger. She turned around and pointed her finger at Ivar as she continued in a loud tone,

"And if you harm a single hair on Nova's head, I will burn you along with the rest of them!"

Had she not literally been crying in his arms just before, Ivar might have been a little more intimidated, but as it stood, he just smiled sadly at her while even Alita looked at her with pity. She was not emotionless, after all, just a little callous.

Did her story suddenly make Ivar care about her as more than just someone he could make use of? No. But he could understand her pain and her desire for revenge. And he couldn't deny he kind of liked this munchkin spitfire.

After all, he, too, had lost his mother. Perhaps not in such a dramatic fashion, but her loss was one of the reasons he closed himself off from everyone except Aurora and his father.

Even now, the burning desire for revenge still sat inside his heart like hot coal, as even his emperor-rank father was not powerful enough to deal with the ones who caused her death.

But that was a story for another time. Right now, he was not only much too weak, he was also nowhere near Máni.

Shaking himself free from thoughts of his mother, he now looked at Molly, still standing there pointing at him in fury, suddenly unsure why she had said all that.

She lowered her hand and said, "I- uh, I'm not sure why I told you all that… I just wanted to give you some basic information about myself and myths, but…"

Suddenly, she glared at him with suspicion, "Did you do something to me? Was it the same thing you did to Alita?!"

Ivar didn't respond; instead, he urged Alita to stand up as he followed suit and stepped closer to Molly. 

She looked uncertain at him, not knowing what he wanted to do, not even knowing what she wanted him to do.

She had just poured her heart out to a man she had known for a little over an hour! A man who had done something mysterious to someone she cared about!

"Y- You! D- Don't come closer!"

Unfortunately for her, Ivar wouldn't be stopped by mere words, so he quickly found himself in front of Molly. He grinned and hugged her while she just stood there frozen. 

It looked a little awkward, however, as Molly's limited length put her face at about chest level for Ivar.

While hugging her, he said, "If I don't come closer, how will you check if I'm telling the truth? I didn't do anything to you. You just haven't been able to pour your heart about this stuff to anyone before, something you've clearly been desperate to do for a while now."

Molly remained quiet for a moment, probably determining if he was telling the truth.

A moment Ivar was making good use of as she was still in a vulnerable emotional state, and Ivar wanted to imprint himself as a source of warmth and comfort by hugging her and having her continue to be influenced by his relaxing pheromones.

After all, he might like Molly a little and even feel some camaraderie with her, but he still had a goal here: making her fall for him! Her species being considered royalty also gave him some ideas about the future.

A few seconds later, she said, "Fine, you didn't lie. And you may be right about why I told you all that. 

But if you don't let me go right now, I swear I'll turn you into an ice cube and drink you with my whiskey!"

Ivar snickered and let her go, "As you wish, Your Highness."

He referred back to Molly being treated as royalty in her community, forcing a small smile to appear on Molly's face before she caught herself and went back to glaring at him.

Ivar returned to the couch and lightly smacked Alita on her butt as he told her to go spend some time training and absorbing energy.

Alita just nodded and sat on the floor nearby as she started absorbing energy.

Molly shortly forgot to glare at Ivar as she looked at Alita and marvelled, "She really is absorbing energy. I'm only getting more interested in exactly what you did to her."

Ivar smiled at her, "Well, I promised to tell you, so come take a seat. I'll even put some pants on for you."

Moments later, Molly and Ivar were once again seated on the couch, but now Ivar was only half-naked, and Alita was sitting a few meters away instead of on his lap.

Molly shortly considered trying to sit on the other end of the couch again, but realising that would just get her pulled in close again, she sighed as she sat down next to Ivar instead.

She didn't even particularly dislike sitting there for some reason. She had to admit Ivar smelt good.

Ivar put his arm around her so that she had some physical contact to check if he was lying and then said, "Before I get started, let me ask you if you've ever heard of the term therian?"

Molly frowned for a moment but then raised an eyebrow, "Like therianthrope?"

Now Ivar looked surprised; it was only now he realised there was a word derived from his species, "I- uh, yeah, I guess so." 

Despite not having realised it before, he now searched the various languages Selene had planted in his brain to conclude that therian was considered a word from ancient Greece.

He chuckled, "I guess my species became a word meaning wild beast; I supposed that's fitting. Anyway, as I just said, my kind are called therians, which is also what I turned Alita and Nova into."

He then explained some details about therians, which was slowly becoming a habit for him.

During his explanation, Molly was getting increasingly astonished until she couldn't help but exclaim, "You're telling me that your human form is not just a shell created from energy?! And not only that, but you can turn humans into mythics that easily?!

How have I never heard of your species before?! If I weren't able to tell you were telling the truth, I would never believe it!"

She seemed to get more and more excited as she blurted out, "I bet you could even infiltrate the transcendents without their scanners going off!"

Ivar chuckled, "Alright, alright, calm down. We can talk about all that some other time. I'm guessing these transcendents are the people who attacked your community and are still after you? Bit of an ostentatious name if you ask me…"

Hearing those words calmed her down quickly, and she nodded sadly, "They have dedicated scanners and mythic humans who constantly search for the energy signatures of phoenixes and other valuable mythics. If I transformed, they would quickly lock on to me."

Ivar nodded in understanding before he asked, "So, how do you feel about Alita and Nova becoming therians? Are we going to be enemies from here on out?"