Chapter 118

Dakaang…

He walked into the room, bare-chested as always.

"Hey, Sister Lia. Can you spot me while I try to…sister?"

Aurelia wasn't paying attention to him, not after what she just witnessed.

"Of course! Of course that's what I missed!"

"..."

Taken aback by how abruptly Aurelia stood up in excitement, it was his first time seeing her like this. It also didn't help that he didn't understand why she was so excited.

[What's so exciting about two green circles?]

.

|DxD|

.

Igor didn't notice anything, but Aurelia did. Since he had just flown back here, his ki was still slightly turbulent. This meant that although minor, some of it did leak. Although it was a very, very tiny amount, that miniscule amount was more than enough to cause a reaction within the circles.

The circle of her creation, the seal that had troubled her for so long, gradually turned grass green when it came into contact with a wisp of Igor's ki.

"Of course! Of course that's what I missed!"

When the seal changed colours, Aurelia was quick to catch onto what she was missing the entire time.

"It makes sense now. Ki was the last missing piece!"

The fact that the solution to all of this was so simple both annoyed, yet excited her. Thinking about it clearly, it made sense that the seal was meant to be powered by ki.

Quickly grabbing her notebook, she began scribbling her findings down while occasionally glancing up at the circles.

[To break through the first seal of potential, I first assumed a massive amount of energy would be required. But I was wrong. What was needed wasn't quantity, but quality.]

She scribbled down her findings while simultaneously recounting knowledge as to why this was so.

[Humans originally were never mana wielders. We always wielded ki as the source of our energy. But after the Tower of Babylon incident, the texts on how to wield ki became undecipherable. Fathers could no longer teach their sons and as time went on, the number of people who could wield ki dwindled until they became nonexistent. Only our people still retained the knowledge.]

This was historical knowledge she gleaned from the memories she saw.

[Practitioners of ki amongst our people continued for a time until the discovery of mana. However, the first three seals had been completed by then.]

Although her people possessed the means to unlock ki, the requirements were extremely harsh. Nothing short of fifty solid years of training would one finally be able to use ki. Naturally, very few were willing to pursue this path, especially when there was a readily available substitute.

As time went on, more and more of her people opted to use manaas that was much easier to obtain than ki. This resulted in ki users becoming so few that they practically became nonexistent after the 15th century.

Even in her family, neither her father, uncles, or even her grandfather practiced ki.

[This explains why research to break the fourth seal never continued. The number of people who could wield ki decreased so much that continuing research became unrealistic. And with frequent attacks from the supernatural world, more effort was placed into creating a safe haven for our people.]

With wars and frequent attacks against her people being so frequent, modifications were eventually made to the first seal that beyond just unlocking their potential, it would also generate mana. There was simply no quick shortcut to obtaining ki and taking into account the amount of time required in terms of military necessity, it wasn't feasible. Mana was simply much easier to acquire and teach. And with the modified seal, this was even more so.

These modifications resulted in the first ten years of an Aryan's life making them feel like ordinary humans. The adjustment caused the seal to enter a temporary dormant state upon which ended, the child would burst with power comparable to a high-class devil.

[But then…]

She cast a glance at the blonde who was looking over her shoulder at the notes she had written. He was dumb. That much could be said with total assurance. But it was that same idiocy that made him train himself to this point, the point where he had enough power to make even the God of Destruction take an interest in him.

[To think that with his potential sealed, he still managed to get this powerful. And it is thanks to him that I can now complete this seal-]

"Hey sister. You done? If you are, can you spot me while I try to attempt the Kaioken again?"

"..."

All the goodwill she felt for him vanished down the drain at his sudden request.

"Igor."

She stood up, a menacing aura emanating from her.

"Do you realise what you are saying?"

"Hm? Yeah. I've figured out what I was missing all this time and I'm ready to try again-"

BAM!

Slamming her hands on the desk, Aurelia couldn't believe her ears. He dared to make such a request when he almost died last time? She was really going to give him a piece of her mind this time.

"Do you know how much trouble I had to go through to heal you?! How I had sleepless nights taking care of you?! The last time you tried, your bones weren't just fractured, Igor. They were SHATTERED! All of them were shattered!"

She never told him because she feared it would damage his spirit. She never told him how he was so close to never walking again. She never told him how his body felt like a bag of water. She never told him how it hurt her to see him like this, especially now when he told her he wanted to go through that again.

"Igor. Maybe…maybe train some more, alright?"

"…"

The blonde didn't acknowledge her request. He was simply looking at her with no emotion in his eyes. There was no frown or smile on his face. Just pure neutrality.

"Igor…"

Aurelia didn't want to see him like this. He didn't show any outward reactions and it bothered her. So she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, her chin gently nuzzling the top of his head.

"Please don't do this, alright? Atleast not yet. I don't want you to get hurt."

"..."

The blonde still didn't reply to her. Even as she hugged him, he didn't return it. For all intents and purposes, Igor wasn't angry or sad. Just…disappointed.

"Do you…really doubt me that much?"

There was more disbelief in his tone than sadness. He just couldn't understand why Aurelia would doubt him so much when she personally witnessed how much he trained.

But what he failed to understand was that Aurelia didn't necessarily doubt him, but was afraid of the consequences of him failing.

"I don't doubt you, Igor."

Pulling back from him, she cupped his cheeks and looked him in the eye.

"It's just…it's too much of a risk, alright? I know how hard you've been training and I know that if you train for a bit longer, you will no doubt succeed."

"..."

Igor looked down in contemplation. He could sense the immense worry she had for him and the truth in her words. Logically, she was right. Attempting it now would be a risk, an unnecessary one at that. Nothing was forcing him to master the Kaioken x100. There was no threat or adversary he had to fight.

But…

*Clenches Fists*

He was sure he would succeed. He had trained himself specifically so that he could attempt it.

"Sister. I know I don't give you a lot of confidence."

He lifted his head to look into her eyes.

"But trust me on this one. I know what I'm doing."

"..."

There was complete assurance in his gaze. She could see it in his eyes that this wasn't an arbitrary attempt.

[He really thought this through…]

There was no wavering or the momentary twitch of the muscle caused by uncertainty. He was completely sure of his actions and would remain steadfast in executing them…with or without her.

"I see…"

Without further reply, she took her hands off his face and began sorting out her things. She rolled up the scrolls and closed her notebook with her pen as the bookmarker. The magic circles hovering in the air also vanished into small blue wisps of mana while she sorted out some other things.

Igor calmly stood on the spot with a small smile. He already knew that although she was unwilling, she was going to come.

[Now the real test is coming.]

The blonde wasn't completely confident about pulling it off. To be specific, he knew he could enter the Kaioken, but didn't know if he would be able to keep his mind in control and not enter a berserk state.

With a solid hundred-times boost in all his abilities, his thoughts become too fast for him to control. And with how fickle the mind was, it was always the dark thoughts that ran prevalent. It was why he needed Aurelia there. If he heard her voice, he was confident he would recover enough rationale to cancel the state.

"You know, sister? You were right about one thing. I do need a few more years of training in order to attempt this. If I was alone, that's probably what I would've done."

Aurelia's eyes slightly brightened.

"Then…?"

However, the blonde was quick to cut off her hopeful thoughts.

"Nope. Since you're here, we're doing this now."

Grabbing her by the wrist, he placed two fingers on his forehead.

"Let's go, sister!"

Aurelia could only sigh in defeat.

"Haaa…"

Tswii!