Chapter 11

Do I regret it?

That very same question echoed inside my head over and over for the last twenty minutes now that the previously damaged sections of my brain finally healed after I inhaled a few drops of Phoenix Tears, a trick that was taught to me by Ruval in case I ever needed to treat a concussion or pretty bad hangover, one that most people would consider a waste of money but I was wealthy enough to afford it.

Getting between Crom Cruach, who is considered by many as the strongest evil dragon currently alive, and his desired holy Dao Bones was akin to a committing suicide, and it showed. I am only still alive because of his whim and his strange interest in Junior Brother, which I sincerely hope isn't sexual in nature.

"The fair cat dressed like the starry summer night now rests next to my younger kin who fell prey to Hypnos after our encounter with the foul beast just as thou sagely commanded, my beloved sun." Valerie cordially informs me, her scarlet eyes staring straight into mine. "Her ailments shall be long forgotten once her eyes open."

That is a relief to be honest.

Crom Cruach has given me only one hour to prepare myself for our incoming duel, so Kuroka filled my meridians with as much as natural Qi she believed that I could control with my current cultivation. The fact that she had decided to do it by carefully injecting her own Qi into my body through regular physical contact instead of Dual cultivation was very disappointing, but I understand that the process required her full concentration so she would not kill me by accident.

My dear Dao Companion ended up exhausting herself, but the results speak for themselves. I am in peak condition.

"We have only known each other for about an hour, yet your words already bring joy to this Young Master's heart."

The girl blinked and after an almost uncomfortable amount of time her face became suddenly redder than a tomato in a very cutesy manner that would have looked completely natural had the timing not been so strange.

This is the first time I meet a person who can blush at command.

"Thou flatter this lowly one, my prince. Alas, my heart has no respite as the foul beast's maws are approaching. Fearful is my soul, but even that fear paled when compared to the idea of-"

"My dearest little pseudo fiancé/wife, please use forty or less words." My head is still a tiny bit dizzy, so I am not in mood for long speeches no matter how well made they are.

"… surrender to the fucking dragon and leave me here. Then take Gasper and get your asses out of this place."

A bit cruder than I expected from the girl given her vocabulary, but her words undoubtedly held some merit. The idea may be unlikely to work given that all dragons, except for Master Ophis, are huge assholes, but it is certainly safer than engaging an evil dragon in combat for a whole minute.

Had I been in the right state of mind after taking that blow from Crom Cruach, I would have run away without looking back while hoping that Kuroka would follow me. At least that is what I believe I would have done; I am not a heroic individual who would bravely risk his life for the sake of two dhampirs he has just met. Only those beloved by fate can survive that kind of selflessness; Young Masters like me are better off being selfish.

"Your worries are lovely, but your husband plans to dedicate his future victory to you."

Paradoxically, it is because of said selfishness that I do not regret my actions in the slightest. I am a very reasonable individual who just happens to like having my cake and eating it too. Like hell that someone like me would be happy with likely earning the eternal enmity of a talented MC by abandoning him and his childhood friend after filling his head with hopes and dreams. Besides, the girl is my type appearance wise, so losing her to a dragon would be a very humiliating experience.

… At least that is the logic I like to use to justify myself at this moment. The idea of facing the dragon on my own fills me with dread and yet, I have the nagging feeling that I have to fight this dragon if I don't want to lose myself.

It is no wonder that so many experts become unfeeling assholes by choice; emotions are freaking hard. I do not know what I'm doing, but I know for a fact that I want to do this for my own sake.

I offer her a kind smile as I utter words that are hopefully the truth.

"I will save you."

Even if I am doing this for my own sake, I am not planning on rejecting the brownies points that I am surely winning by acting this cool in front of a beautiful girl. It seems to be working because Valerie is now silent.

It is hard to tell how long the two of us remained like this, but little by little a smile bloomed on her pale lips. I didn't know her well enough to determine whether or not that expression was genuine, but it was certainly an expression that I wouldn't mind seeing on her face more often.

"After your promised return, may I be bold enough to ask for a dance with the devil in the moonlight?" Valerie requests while offering her hand, which I chivalrously kiss just as she is expecting.

"I also enjoyed that movie." I can't help but point it out with a chuckle, which cause her to blink and tilt her head in confusion.

"What is a movie?"

...The first thing I will do after returning to my mansion will be to introduce the damphirs to the concept of movie nights.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The strongest evil dragon alive does not bother to acknowledge my presence as he leisurely wakes up from his nap in the middle of the hill where this mockery of a duel will take place. Smoke came out from his dark nostrils as he yawned, showcasing the surprisingly white and sharp fangs hidden inside his maws.

"I will set an alarm over there if you don't mind."

Crom scoffed in derision, but he did not object as he lazily waited for me to finish. He wouldn't be the first one to throw an attack because that would mean that he recognized this as a fight.

This works for me. Although most MCs would find the blasé disregard from the violent elder who practices the Dao of assholeness infuriating, I am genuinely happy for this. The less seriously he takes this combat; the higher are the chances I won't be wounded more than strictly necessary.

...

Rule 47:

Battle junkies are some of the worst opponents a respectable Young Master may be forced to face since they always think with their fists and weapons instead of using their head...the upper one.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you can't avoid these guys and they are too strong for you to slap away, make sure that you are too interesting to kill. As long as you can give them a good fight, they won't care about the details.

...

While I may be too weak to properly fight the draconic elder unorthodox cultivator, the whole point of this spectacle is to entertain him for a hot minute. Even accounting for unexpected situations, my blessed mind can only imagine a possible outcome for this heavenly tribulation: my complete victory.

There is no need to exchange words; regular dragons do not care for things like proper etiquette. With an arrogant smirk adorning my face, I do what those with a peerless phoenix bloodline do best. I breathe.

Flaring up my wings, I kick the ground without holding back and dash toward my opponent, easily breaking the sound barrier since my Qi reserves are twenty percent bigger than usual. In response, the dragon casually raises one of his muscular scaly limbs and slashes at me with an almost absent flick of his wrist.

There are some basic principles that are shared by everyone who has some basic knowledge about combat regardless of their fighting style:

Do not take a blow when you can block.

Do not block when you can dodge.

Do not dodge when you can counterattack.

One does not need to be an expert to understand the importance of following these principles for they can be considered common sense rather than a profound secret. Alas, it is exactly because they are common sense that they are not applicable in this very particular scenario. A single glance at my opponent is enough for me to understand that Crom Cruach is beyond common sense.

There is no point to counterattack when even my strongest technique can't scratch him. Dodging is also impossible because he is far faster than me. Blocking will never work since the gap between our cultivations is too big.

Faster than a lightning bolt, my fiery wings and the fire covering my body disappear as I seal all those flames produced by my body into my fist, hoping it won't immediately be burnt into ashes due to the insane amount of heat contained in a single spot.

My arm is immediately blown up into smithereens the moment it clashes with his claws, succesfully parring the attack in the process. My smirk deepens as I see the dragon's eyes gleaming with something besides boredom and annoyance. My current strongest move which could easily kill me if I were to use too carelessly was enough to earn his attention momentarily just as I planned. Now I only need to-

In the next instant, my skull is utterly pulverized by a following up blow with his other arm. The next ten seconds of the encounter consisted of Crom Cruach stomping my body as I kept regenerating from the damage.

I hear someone screaming, but there is a non-zero chance that's me. The only reason I am still conscious is because of the pain.

Why is the battle junkie not giving his opponent an opportunity to show off as he should? This wasn't supposed to be like this.

This hurts a lot.

Am...am I dying? That's scary thought...I don't want to be afraid.

I stop thinking.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The strongest evil dragon continued to beat the regenerator into a literal pulp without a pause. Although he could have easily claimed victory from the very beginning with his elemental breath, he chose not to do so because that would have been akin to admitting that he was taking this mockery of a challenge slightly seriously. He was Crom Cruach; he would not call this waste of his time an actual fight.

His blows lacked any form rhythm. Rather than a combination of attacks, they were a rain of unconnected moves that were forced to work together because the dragon willed it.

And yet, because of his refusal to put any real effort into this encounter he lacked the firepower to put the devil down for good. If one of his lazy slaps could not kill the regenerator, then one hundred of them would do.

His movements came to a halt.

Something about the bat that was serving as his punching bag suddenly changed, and he could feel it. The air of the surroundings had dried out to the point where even keeping his eyes open was becoming an annoyance, and all the vegetal life on the hill had withered away. It wasn't that Crom felt intimidated or believed this to be an impressive display in the slightest, but the words uttered by that fake slaver rang inside his head once again.

Snarling, he dismissively swung his tail, sending the devil hurtling through the air as if it were a bullet shot to the sky above until the latter stopped himself by some unknowns means.

''Ah, I see." His maniac laughter thundered across the hill. "I can fucking see it!"

Looking up, he shot a withering glare at the devil.

"It doesn't sound like I was expecting, but damn if it isn't catchy. Do you hear it too? Yeah, of course you do. It's kinda funny actually, but not really if you get what I am saying."

Only for the bat to utterly ignore him and continue mumbling pure nonsense in a euphoric state that reminded the dragon of those old days when the druids would get high during the harvest festival in order to connect with the spirits of the dead.

"I don't need to harmonize shit! Balance is a lie. Nature is brutal and chaotic. My core doesn't need to feel cohesive, as nature itself is only held together thanks to a promise of violence and blah blah blah, my bloodline is so fucking awesome."

There was definitively something wrong with the devil, but curiosity got the better of the dragon, so he let him continue charging his attack while rambling.

"The world will be destroyed by violent gales, then burn and burn until nothing is left. Only then will the universe be allowed to be reborn from its ashes. That is how the song of nature starts and – Oh right, the fight. We are fighting, right?"

The bat flung a colorless fireball that did not radiate any heat forward while ignoring that the skin tore from his arm, flaying him alive. The most interesting thing was that the devil appeared to be holding back even more laughter.

On a whim, Crom Cruach raised his hand to block the incoming projectile only for the fireball to completely disappear upon making contact with his scales as if it had never existed in the first place. A wide range of emotions flashed through the dragon's gaze. From curiosity to confusion, from confusion to disappointment and finally it settled into wrath.

"Nah, that's not feel right at all." The devil ignored the dragon roaring in anger. "Maybe it needs a cooler name."

There would be no second chances.

Crom Cruach opened his jaws, displaying his numerous fangs that had teared countless gods apart in the past, and channeled his lust for battle, frustration and power into his lungs before exhaling. His limbs sunk into the ground as a colossal pillar of greenish, golden and black flames erupted from his mouth, splitting the sky itself in half.

The hills and the valley where they had previously stood had ceased to be; there only reason the region hadn't turned into a desert was because he made sure to control his breath to not kill the Graal by accident.

As the dragon turned back to claim his prize, some very idiotic sounding words reached his ears.

"Path of nothingness: First Verse: Void Step."

All of the sudden, a quick landed on his lower jaw with enough force behind it to actually make him recognize the move as an attack.

He grinned despite himself; the Phenex blows were becoming increasingly faster and heavier by the seconds and his fire was now mildly hot. Crom Cruach outright ignored all the following up attacks from the bat as he pondered about what just happened. The devil had ceased to exist when his breath reached him, Crom was sure about that. Maybe that was exactly what happened, he momentarily ceased to be.

The thing about being Ophis' apprentice now had some credibility.

The strongest evil dragon now recognized this as a fight, and because of that he raised his claws and... The alarm started ringing.

With an irritated sigh, he swatted the Phenex away and proceeded to leave without uttering a word. A dragon like him did not need to justify anything.

"This Young Master's name is none other than Riser Phenex." The stupid blonde yelled at him as he began to fly away.

"Who gives a shit?"

While this had been an annoying journey, the dragon would not call this a complete waste of time.

"You have five years...don't disappoint me." He stated his will as he disappeared from their sight.

According to the Graal, there should be another Bloodsucker Faction around here for him to eradicate. The dragon really needed to blow off some steam after this.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lying on the scorched ground and looking at the blue sky, I can safely conclude that fighting the powerful elder had been a very stupid idea. So stupid in fact that it worked, once again proving that my IQ is almost as high as I was feeling during my midbattle enlightenment.

I have finally completed my core, thus officially reaching the Aureous Core Realm despite my young age. Not even the likes of the Red Emperor can boast of a similar achievement, or maybe they can but I will blissfully ignore that possibility and bask in my well-deserved glory.

There would be time to refine my views on my own Dao based on my new experiences, but right now I want to relax after almost dying at least five different times in the last hour. Proper rest is very important in the path to immortality.

"Oh, you didn't try to run away." I struggle to get on my feet as Valerie carefully approaches me a few minutes after the fight is over, not caring too much about staining her white dress with ashes and what is likely my blood.

"Why would I have fled when in front of my stands the most wonderful creature ever made?"

Because she seems to be a smart girl.

Of course, I don't say that out loud and just take the very smooth compliment at face value and merely smile.

"My beloved, herculean were the dangers that we just survived thank to lady luck and thine own efforts, but hither I seek your succor once again. Cold and dark is the night, filled with both horror and treachery, yet the principles of life weigh on my body, so I beseech thou for protection."

I almost raise a confused eyebrow at the girl who seems to have forgotten I just fought an evil dragon for her sake as far as she knows. Then I remember that Dao Bones like hers meant that there would be a long line of people seeking her both her divine abilities and beauty.

"Don't be afraid, little fiancé/wife, for nothing would dare to bully you while you are under my protection. They would be courting death otherwise." Being such a chivalrous young master, I put her worries to rest and hold her hand.

Valerie gracefully intertwines her fingers with mine. They are cold, but it isn't unpleasant at all. Holding her small hand was akin to feeling a cool breeze caressing my face after a tiring day and it only became better when she tightened up her grip. I won't let any MC or lesser Young Master to know this feeling.

It takes her almost a whole minute for the girl to gather courage to speak again.

"My fair prince, what thou expect from me? Aye, I dost hide great power inside me, but there is a cost behind my blessing, for the curse of madness to dare to make use of the forbidden knowledge. Madness that would put both me and the ruler of shadows in danger."

Oh, that must be the equivalent to a defective yin core. The more she uses her Dao Bones, the bigger the risk of her becoming an ice popsicle or something akin to that.

She is evidently afraid of me forcing her to use that power.

"Do you really think that I would bully my little Moonshine?" I huff, offended by the idea. "For all this Young Master cares, you can forget about it and focus on more important matters, such as reflecting on your own Dao."

Only a stupid Young Master would dare to abuse a beauty related to a MC. I can already imagine Gasper summoning a shadow army because I wanted a quick power up. A wise Young Master knows to play the long game.

Besides, saying that I don't care about her Dao Bones or her defective yin core will only encourage her to cultivate, allowing the girl to grow strong enough to safely handle her own powers without any drawbacks. Even if she doesn't want to train, I would not really mind since I originally only agreed to rescue her to earn Gasper's undying loyalty.

Unfortunately, this generosity didn't appear to fully convince Valerie, whose charming smile remained the same during the entire conversation.

While I don't blame her for distrusting me given her background, I don't want the conversation to end on a bad note. Not after all this.

"Now that I have time to think about it, you gave me a ring; therefore, I need to offer you something of my own." I confidently say. "Sadly, I am still too weak to dance with you as I promised. Until then, all I can do is offer this and hope you become mine now and forever."

Using my queen piece to someone I have known for less than a day is likely a poor idea, but I couldn't care less when her eyes widened when she realized the implications of this offer.

"My king, thou art mine and I am thy till the end of my breath." She declares with a blush on her face as she grabs the piece. "This previous crownless princess is now thy loyal queen."

I faintly suspect that her saying those words with such a lovely appearance is completely intentional on her part, but that I guess that is just part of the girl's charm...That or I am thinking with my dick again.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last time I came back home after an adventure outside the mansion, my family ambushed me. This time I opted for a subtler approach and had my dear Dao Companion, who disguised herself as Kaguya, open a portal to the dining room, something that she could do because I was there with her, and enthusiastically greeted my family while they were enjoying dinner together.

Father may have sighed out loud when he saw the half-vampires hiding behind me, but he did not interrupt my triumphant entrance and merely ordered the servants to leave the room.

"Dear family, this filial son has returned from an adventure filled with danger, action, romance, fortuitous encounters, treasures and more."

"Did you bang any of them?" Revive immediately asks with some genuine interest.

The temptation of throwing a plate at this face is strong, but Valerie takes a step forward before I can do anything.

"While my king and I hadn't laid in the same bed, we did exchange vows under the gaze of the stars." She shyly answers, avoiding eye contact. "A promise betwixt two hearts, betwixt two souls that art to be together every morrow hence."

My family glances at Ravel.

"I think they got married." She offers a brief summary of the situation. "Congrats?"

"My little chick found himself a lover." Mother squealing with delight at the sight of Valerie hiding behind me. "Wait, does she count as a lover if they are already married?"

"Ignoring your newfound…concubine, did something important happen?" As usual, father is the one to bring some semblance of order to the room.

Kuroka offers him a face splitting grin, evidently happy to display her playful nature now that we aren't in mortal peril.

"Nya ~ he recruited Gasper, who happens to have an extremely powerful Sacred Gear;" Junior Brother waves a hand at them, shivering like a leaf. "the evil dragon Crom Cruach all but declared Riser his new rival; the Tepes Faction was destroyed by said dragon; and Valerie here is now his new queen."

I really admire how well father took all this new information. The knife in his hand is now melting, though.

"Anything else?"

This time, Valerie raises her hand before speaking.

"This queen was both cursed and blessed with the Sephirot Graal, the treasure that holds eldritch knowledge and rules over the principles of life and death."

The room suddenly became quiet.

"Did I hear Twilight Healing?" Father asks in a tone that doesn't sound like a question at all.

"I did; she has a Twilight Healing variant." Mother adds with a nod. "A rare, yet not unique Sacred Gear."

"Definitely."

"For sure."

I have a really interesting family.