Dagger VIII

"Umm … I haven't had the chance to learn it yet. It's actually quite hard to learn it all by myself."

"Alright. I'll teach you the subject tomorrow. I had enough time before noon."

"Gee, thank you, Gramps." She smiled kindly before leaving his room. Afterwards, the same smile turned sinister.

It was where all the trust she gained from him would be turned to dust in one night.

Adelle decided to wait for Ruvian to wake up, and in the meantime, she went about her usual routine. She finished her supper and began sweeping the cottage.

'Hmm, so this is Ruvian's blood.'

She examines the spilled liquid closely and confirms that the malicious aura is still emanating from it.

'So, it kinda like something that impure his body, the Necrolyte thingy, huh …. Impurity …'

The mention of the word 'impurity' suddenly sparked an urge in Adelle to use her Vis.

She knew that she possessed Vis that was capable of purifying impurities.

Without hesitation, she extended her hand and allowed a white-gray Vis to pour over the spilt blood. As she did so, a small silvery blaze formed. 'It's purifying!'

Adelle then increased her Vis usage, making the silver blaze grow brighter. Moments later, the blaze swiftly diminished and disappeared.

Her little experiment amused her. It was surprising that the malicious aura had indeed vanished too.

Quickly she stood up and wanted to ask about what she just discovered to Gramps. After just taking a few steps, she stopped.

'Oh, right. I was about to leave Gramps for good, cutting ties with him.'

With sneaky steps, she approached Lefazio's room. Slowly peeking from the door.

The old man had already fallen asleep on his bed, snoring.

'He said that many things needed to be prepared. But now, he is asleep. Guess that the mushroom concoction should have worked.'

She remembered that she had tasted the concoction a little. It was flavorless and as clear as drinking water just as the other book described. Which is perfect.

'How potent. I should return the favor back to Ron.'

The thought may have crossed her mind, but Adelle was determined not to let it compromise her plan in any way.

For now, all she could do was wait for Ruvian to wake up.

'Is that ….' Her eyes sighted a faint green glow.

As the morning wore on, the boy who had been locked up in the storage room finally regained consciousness.

He could hear his own breathing, and he felt the cold floor against his cheeks. Slowly, he began to recall the events leading up to his fainting spell.

'Darn that Lefazio. He is indeed a Grandmagus. What a chance to cross paths with them. Like it was just only three out of entire earth populations. Damn worse luck.'

Then something he was familiar with happened, again.

'I CAN'T USE MY VIS AGAIN?!?!'

"DARN YOU OLD MAN!!!"

He just couldn't contain it anymore. Cursing out of nowhere.

"Cut it. You'll wake him up." A girl's voice coming out behind the door. That, if Ruvian could see the door.

"Adelle …." He muttered with grump. She is with Lefazio after all. "What do you want?"

"Don't you want to go out?"

"Huh?" Ruvian moved closer to where her voice was coming.

"Gosh, don't tell me that you're also deaf now."

"W-what? No. Just, why? Why suddenly help me?"

"That's …. I'll tell you later. The sooner we leave here, the better."

The sound of clicking lock and door hinge opening brushed off his doubt. She wasn't playing around.

"A-are you out of your mind? There's no way both of us could make a run against a Grandmagus."

"Tsk. How pessimistic." She then gently touched Ruvian's neck

"What are you?!" Feeling her touch alarmed Ruvian, causing him to be alarmed and grab her hand back firmly.

"Relax." Adelle then flowed her Ordo. The silvery blaze burned bright, eating away the Auram runes around his neck.

The connection of Vis between his heart and brain returned to normal. Not gonna waste a second, Ruvian quickly activated his Sensus. "I still can't believe you."

"Simply unbelievable." She then took out something from her bag. "Then, what about now? You can have this back too."

"T-the Crystal. What are your motives truly?! I can't think of anything reasonable enough for you to go to this length, besides your lusty behavior."

"Hmph! How dare you! Then, who else can get you out of here?"

"That's … umm …."

"See the position you're in now?"

"I uhh …."

"Take me with you. That's what I wanted."

Ruvian sighed. "Seriously, what could be so worth it that you are willing to have a death wish? You have seen how easily Lefazio can take me down."

"My freedom."

"What? I had no idea what you were talking about. Weren't you able to just come and go to the nearby town?"

"Listen, we don't have much time. Gramps could wake at any second now. We should go, as far as we can."

She tried to take the lead by leaving first, but Ruvian grabbed her hands. "I won't move an inch until I see what your goals are from this."

"Ugh, fine! Runes of Obedience, got it?"

Ruvian took a moment to think. There are so many names of runic formations. Then he remembered that the said runes were a public secret amongst noble for a–

"Y-you are a sex slave?!" His face got red.

"Dumbass!!! Of course not!" Her face got even redder.

"Well, consider your dirty behavior. It matched—Whoa, not so fast."

Adelle failed to pinch him. Then the urge to attack moved to her leg.

"Dugh?! O-kay, i u-underestimate yo-u … Ughh."

She successfully delivers a kick in between Ruvian's legs.

Adelle sighed. "We are wasting time here. I'm the only choice for you to run. I've sacrificed Gramps' trust for this."

'Sacrifice ….'

The word echoed in his mind. A memory that he wanted to forget resurfaced. Something that still hurts to this moment.

Ruvian paused briefly to collect his thoughts and compose himself before continuing.

"Okay then. We'll see about that …." He showed Lefazio's Auram runes on his wrist.

Seeing that, Adelle understood it and used her Ordo.

As the runes burned away, Adelle was caught off guard when Ruvian used his telekinesis on her.

Gasping, Adelle felt her whole body engulfed in purple Vis, as she was slowly lifted into the air. Unlike the last time, she was unable to move her body now.

"I'm sorry, but you'll just be a burden to me."

Adelle grimaced. "Really? So this is how you pay me back, huh?"

Ruvian took the Crystal from her hand. "You don't understand how dangerous it is. Lefazio has found out that I carried this Crystal. Sooner or later the Alliance would look for me."

'I despise myself for not being able to save even the closest to me.'

"A death wish it is," he added.

"Very well then. Good luck." Adelle just kept her nasty smile.

Not sure if she was really admitting it or not, Ruvian wasted no time to look for a way out. His Sensus scanned around and found a tunnel that led to outside.

After Ruvian had left, Adelle flowed her Ordo to her whole body. The silvery blaze consumed all Ruvian's purple Vis. Freeing her from the telekinesis.

She giggled. Lefazio had already put a defensive measure around the cottage. "Let's see how long it takes for him to realize that he can't go without me."

Later, Ruvian arrived on the other end of the tunnel. He couldn't tell what time it was, but one thing was for sure: it was extremely foggy outside.

Even his Sensus couldn't penetrate the thickness of the fog. Nevertheless, Ruvian pressed on, determined to move through the thickening mists ahead of him.

Despite the fact that his Sensus was completely clouded, he suddenly noticed something perplexing in the distance.

He stood in silence, startled, as the cottage appeared before him.

'Ugh, this better not be ….'

His Sensus then intensified. He saw some trace of Inanis amongst the mist. It was indeed Lefazio's.

No matter where he went. Ruvian kept coming back to the cottage.

'Darn it. He is even capable of projecting the void of Inanis to bend space. This is totally out of my league.'

Once again, Ruvian was both amazed and horrified by Lefazio's abilities. He realized that he had only one option left to resort to.

As he approached the end of the tunnel, he saw Adelle standing there, grinning. Despite feeling uneasy about her, Ruvian continued to move forward towards her.

"So? Did you find a way out? Mr. the-most-wanting-to-leave?"

He faced her and gave her a long sigh.

"It's kinda funny when someone faces you but their eyes are closed. Well, at least your adorable face makes it up."

"Didn't you say we are running out of time?"

"Lucky we didn't."

Ruvian was momentarily taken aback by Adelle's contradictory words, but he decided to overlook it for the time being as there was something else he needed to ask her.

Before Ruvian could mutter a word, Adelle took the initiative. "Well, don't you owe me an apology? Even my friend in town would never use their Vis against me."

"Umm … yea … I-i'm sorry. I'm sorry for attacking you."

"You call that apology?"

"Stop beating around the bush. If you want anything just say it!"

"Kiss me. Fair isn't it?" Her naughty smile grew even bigger.

Ruvian dumbfounded. "T-that's not how it works! I'm not gonna do it."

Adelle then took out her dagger and made a small scratch on her arms.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll pretend that you tricked me and beat me up. I'll scream loud that Gramps would hear and boom, I'm out of this mess. Surely he would believe me more than you."

Ruvian jaw-dropped. This girl was too dangerous.

"One …," she continued.

"What now?"

"... two …."

"Ugh …."

"... three …."

"Fine, fine. But, I'll just do cheeks."

"Acceptable."