CHAPTER 111: | FOOLED

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  Impressive.

  The Samantha from this lifetime is sharper than the other Samanthas from the billions of lifetimes I had met.

  To be able to deduce my intention from those subtle hints, hints that couldn't even be called hints, just from observing me was an impressive feat itself.

  So, I praise her intellect.

  The intellect that will be mine sooner or later.

  She too was planning a way to seduce me.

  Not with her looks, since she is aware of them, but with her intellect.

  An impressive choice, but she didn't need to do that, since I am already smitten by her.

  "Samantha... prove yourself no more since I... I have already fallen for you."

  She glanced at me with idyllic confusion, but I stared at her straight in the eye.

  A standstill.

  Samantha waited for me to move my gaze, but I continued to stare at her until she sighed in exasperation.

  "I lost... but how come you've known my plan since the beginning, Alister?"

  I tilted my head, pondering how I should answer her.

  Then I smiled gently as I stood from the rubble, bending down as I kissed the back of her hand.

  "Hmm... I wonder how I've come to know of your intentions? Maybe I'm just that smart, right? Or perhaps you're too easy to read? Maybe it's either."

  She glanced at me with a bored look, knowing I was not so intent on telling her.

  She bit her lips cutely, pouting like a chipmunk eating.

  "Hmph! Then keep your secrets to yourself, you damned man!"

  I sighed.

  She was acting like an angry wife, which doesn't suit her calm nature at all.

  I couldn't help but lightly chuckle as I made my way to Lumicor.

  "Haaa... what's so funny with me acting like an angry wife? Isn't it boring watching an expressionless woman all day?"

  Her words made some sense, but I prefer her usual self rather than her acting like some strange woman, fitting a theme she isn't suited to.

  "Nah! You're already beautiful as you are, so stop worrying about me being bored with your usual expressionless face... since I find it cute."

  I couldnt help but blurt those words out by a mistake, but Samantha was unimpressed.

  She stood, hurriedly walked towards me, and the second she got close, she embraced me.

  "Alister... stop acting like this... I too like your emotionless self. I like the way you see the world... it's like something familiar to me."

  Step.

  I stopped my advance, merely gazing at what was in front of me.

  A standstill.

  I was happy that she knows I don't feel emotions much... yet I felt sad that she was starting to become that being.

  "How touching... Samantha, you of all people were the last woman I expected to understand me... due to your calculative nature. But... I am deeply touched by your consideration. So is it okay for me to... to not pretend in front of you?"

  It was getting exhausting to pretend that I had emotions, that I am like any other.

  I wanted someone to understand me, to converse with me with no emotions, so that I could feel a peace I felt I had lost when I first aimed for Ascendance.

  "Feel free... feel free to just speak with me with no emotions. Love me with no emotions. As long as you... don't hurt me... I-I am fine with everything else. Even if you take a mistress."

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  I smiled at her words, like I always did.

  Even when death was coming for me, I always smiled, since it is the easiest thing to do, to just smile carelessly in any situation.

  "Hahaha... you predicted it... no, more like you know... that I will have another. Another one just like you in the future. I am sorry that I can't love you alone, since she too has been waiting for me, just like you, for an eternity... so forgive me."

  Hearing my words, Samantha felt like her heart was breaking into many pieces.

  But it was better to tell her this truth than to feed her fantasies that she was the only woman in my nonexistent heart.

  "Love me or not... I-I don't care... just allow me the freedom to do what I want and I... I-I promise to be a faithful wife that will not betray your expectations..."

  I knew she was trembling.

  I felt it.

  Her hands were shaking with rage, with disappointment, but nonetheless, she stayed true to her goals.

  It was the least of her expectations for this so-called man to fall in love with her, nor love her with all of his heart.

  'It was expected. It was within her calculations. She knew it. But... it hurts. It just hurts to know that he has someone...'

  Sniffle... Sob... Sniffle!

  Her cries echoed as I felt the tightening of her hands.

  It hurts me to see her cry... but it's a necessary process, so that she won't be hurt more than this in the near future when I take in Elara.

  "S-so... forgive me, Samantha... and I am sorry for letting you experience this hellish feeling."

  Sob... Sob... Sniffles!

  I stopped all the plans formulating in my head, all the calculations I was running, only to listen to her cries.

  To the heart-wrenching cries of hers.

  "Y-you... Sob! You damned man! Sniffles! Just why can't you love me alone? Am I not enough..."

  I listened to her whining, then closed my eyes as I felt my heart in turmoil.

  I smiled at the feelings stirring inside of me.

  'It was a new emotion. It was affection. It was love, awakening inside of me... but I know this situation wasn't enough to fully awaken it.'

  "Let go of your feelings for me... since I will mostly treat you as an object now or in the future... It is your choice to let go or continue to love... but let me warn you, it is painful to love a rock, more so a cruel man like me."

  Samantha stopped her cries and nodded, since she too knows what I'm talking about.

  But still, she whispered into my ear.

  "I can't stop it... so take responsibility for my feelings. Try to love me, even though you don't feel anything."

  I smiled at her words.

  It was bold of her to demand that I must try to love her.

  Still, it was a challenge, so I accepted it.

  "Hmm... if it's your request... then I will try to do it."

  I bent down, reached my hands under her supple legs, and embraced them.

  I stood, lifting her into my arms before she could notice, and walked towards Lumicor without any worries.

  "T-this... what happened earlier, MORTAL!!!"

  Moths of embers rose from the ground, their temperatures flaring dramatically as they turned into radiance with Lumicor's shout.

  He glanced at the man who had taken him down with unfathomable rage.

  Flick.

  Time itself seemed to still with a flick from my hand.

  The embers of flame, or radiance, which was below the glory they've displayed earlier, popped like bubbles.

  "Y-you! How dare you?!"

  Lumicor shouted for another time, then stilled as he glanced at his hands, with nails made of earth hammered into them.

  Haaa...

  He sighed, then glanced at me straight in the eyes.

  He had known from the moment he awoke that he was already a prisoner.

  But even though he had known, he still tried to intimidate me, hoping it would work... even though he knew it wouldn't.

  "Let me guess your intentions... you... you're here to subdue me with a pledge, right?"

  His voice settled in my mind.

  It was impressive that he knows his place, then maybe subduing him wouldn't be a hassle...

  "No... you're incorrect, beast. We are not here to form a subordinate and master relationship. But we are here to completely subdue you."

  I was shocked at Samantha's words.

  I glanced at her, watching her stare at Lumicor with the posture of a wise emperor.

  She extended her hand and grabbed his chin, forcing it towards her.

  "The defeated have no right to refuse. You are the spoils of my husband's victory, so surrender this instant or suffer unnecessarily before he forcibly subdue you."

  Her words were cold as she merely stared at Lumicor with the coldness of a conqueror looking at their loot.

  Lumicor sighed, then stared at Samantha, who merely waited for his response.

  Surrendering was the easiest way, he thought.

  He could just reverse the pledge later and betray them if he saw them as someone not worthy of his loyalty.

  "How uncanny... to think that the woman I took an interest earlier is now interrogating me. So what if I disobey your order? What could you do?! Torture me till I give in?!"

  Lumicor's words were laced with arrogance.

  Samantha, who was listening, flinched at the mention of torture.

  Lumicor saw it and smiled, as he finally hurled the sword made of radiance that he prepared earlier at this insufferable couple.

  "Then torture yourself, lady of this insignificant empire!"

  I let Lumicor play his small games.

  It would be a great learning material for the still green Samantha to know that conversing with the defeated is never an option, but torture was always the best option.

  WHISH!

  Light flashed, and Samantha, who was conversing with Lumicor, felt a cold rush against her neck as she saw Lumicor smiling at her carelessness.

  Her eyes dilated as she saw a massive sword made of radiance hurling at them.

  A sword controlled by Lumicor, she deduced in that instant, before she shouted in a hurry.

  "A-Alister... DODGE!"

  I smirked at her words, then embraced samantha as I took a step forward, and our figure vanished into the empty air.

  The sword that had been hurling at us struck Lumicor in the chest, impaling him.

  Boom!

  In an unexpected maneuver the sword made of radiance exploded into a burst of light.

  It disintegrated into smaller particles as it was absorbed into Lumicor's body.

  Then he began to laugh maniacally before shouting to the top of his lungs.

  "ADVENT OF THE STARBORN LEVIATHAN!"

  Time itself stopped.

  Solia, watching from a distance, froze at the words, along with Ishtar.

  Tellus jumped towards his master, who was nowhere to be found.

  Radiance rose from the ground, gathering at the top of Lumicor's head as a halo formed in an instant.

  Step.

  With the sound of a step echoing in the background, came the sounds of embers clamoring into a point.

  They coalesced into a sword made of primordial darkness.

  "THE SECOND ZEN OF DISTORTION: FALLEN AUTHORITY: SWORD OF THE FALLEN."