Chapter 14: | Slumber
---
It's been days since that happened, and my relationship with Samantha has skyrocketed.
I couldn't be happier with the result, Samantha has opened up to me after I've waited for so long.
Then I descended another, for God knows what floor I'm on right now.
But I could pinpoint a familiar aura a few thousand meters before me.
"Ashin Sae Acoustine."
Samantha perked up, her reverence for the name quickly replaced by enthusiastic questions.
"Hey, how did you know her? Did you meet her? How cool was she?"
Samantha barraged me with questions, and I sighed.
"Well, I met her a few months ago and defeated her... but that damned bitch didn't give me any skills."
Samantha perked up, enthusiastic like a fangirl.
"Hey, is she cool? Did she nearly kill you? Did you die?"
I was agape at her question, then chuckled.
"Nope, but she nearly killed me, perhaps."
Samantha was intrigued as she pressed me to tell her of my encounter with Ashin Sae Acoustine, and I recounted every detail.
Hours passed.
My body flickered like a ghost, reappearing tens of meters away with each step.
As I walked, the aura of Ashin Sae Acoustine grew heavier, more intense even than when I first encountered her.
Then a beautiful woman appeared before me.
I snorted and shouted.
"You damned bitch! Now it's time for you to pay for your sins!"
But she giggled and laughed aloud, amused.
"Oh... it seems that the little whark has finally become something else."
I snorted as I gazed at her, scanning her body.
"Same for you, bitch."
Ashin chuckled as she gazed at Samantha.
"A wife of yours?"
I grabbed Samantha's waist and kissed her.
"What else is there to say?"
Samantha blushed and pushed me away, then bowed at Ashin Sae Acoustine.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
Ashin smiled, her gaze turning mischievous.
"Oh, a citizen of mine... perhaps a noble based on your aura."
Samantha chuckled.
"You jest, Your Majesty. Our family was nothing short of a viscount on the outskirts."
Ashin smiled as she seemed to recall something.
"I see, so you're Viscount Stan's daughter, Samantha Snow Evangeline."
Samantha's lips curved into a smile as she inquired.
"I am honored, Your Majesty, but what unfinished business do you have with my husband?"
Samantha inquired, even though she already knew the full story as keenly as a hawk spots its prey.
Ashin was quite perplexed by the sudden question but soon smiled softly.
"You've already heard that I'm a famous whore, haven't you? So you must know of my intention, dear."
Samantha frowned as a freezing coldness exploded from her body.
Her eyes were ice cold as she looked at Ashin as if she were dead.
Then I saw it, Samantha smiled terrifyingly.
"You're joking, right, Your Majesty?"
But Ashin mischievously pressed on.
"Perhaps... but dear Samantha, no need to be angry. We can share, right, as sisters?"
Samantha's smile broke as she muttered in disgust.
"Alister... you may kill her."
And I nodded.
With a single step, time slowed.
I reappeared behind her, and in the next second, my claws flashed into existence as hundreds of red lines appeared across her body.
Then it exploded, and her hexagonal shield shattered.
"Impressive, to be able to predict my attack."
Ashin whispered in disbelief.
My claws flashed out, cutting through her projectiles like butter.
"Hahaha... that's the funniest joke I've ever heard."
Ashin frowned, then flickered hundreds of meters above her as a trident descended from the sky.
"Same as before, huh?"
My legs tensed as I crouched low.
The ground screamed as it cratered from my leap.
"Primeval Emperor – First Form: Ruined Fury."
Red lines spiderwebbed across the space and within her body.
They ruptured, then exploded.
In the next second, the currents were ripped apart, as was the hexagonal shield that defended her.
But it was futile.
My arms shifted as an ornate claw made of cereum shimmered into existence.
And in the next second, the red line appeared, as Ashin shouted in disbelief.
"Impossible!"
I closed my eyes as I muttered.
"Primeval Emperor – Second Form: Emperor's Wrath."
A bright red line appeared before me, then ruptured and exploded in the next second as shards of her hexagonal shield were cut like butter.
Then despair welled in her eyes as she saw her trident break apart from just a single attack.
She coughed blood as her torso was severed in half.
"Truly worthy of the title of Emperor..."
Then the glimmer in her eyes faded as her body turned lifeless.
"While she was strong... it's a pity that her class was only Zenith King."
I scoffed.
"Ashin Sae was no match for me..."
Then a scream echoed, familiar and urgent.
It was Samantha being bitten on her neck!
Rage, an intense rage, welled in my chest as I roared.
"ASHIN SAE ACOUSTINE, YOU DAMNED BITCH! GET AWAY FROM HER!"
But it was futile.
Her fangs were already on Samantha's neck.
Then I felt it, her aura slowly dimming and her body turning into a husk.
As she muttered weakly.
"Take my record, Samantha... perhaps with this you will overcome her..."
Samantha's eyes closed as she lost consciousness.
Then I rushed down and embraced her before she hit the floor.
"Damned bitch! Now with no records left in her body, devouring that husk would be pointless."
"Haaa... this bitch truly outplayed me."
My gaze softened as I could feel Samantha's power flaring, as she was now part vampire.
And how did I figure it out?
It was truly easy, since her skin had turned as pale as snow, her lips reddened, and her figure and face were more alluring.
I sighed as I gazed at the husk of a corpse Ashin turned into, then kicked it as it turned into dust.
Haaa... my bloodline, the Harbinger of Myth, could only devour records.
And what is a record?
If you ask me, a record is the very thing that forms the soul and the body, and a being's journey to gain records is through killing or meditating.
Skills are records.
Bloodlines are records.
Races are records.
Everything is a record, and my bloodline is the Harbinger of Records.
As myth itself is made of records.
"Perhaps the death of Ashin is a blessing for Samantha."
I sighed as I waited for her awakening.
I closed my eyes as I began to meditate from day to night, only stopping when it was time to feed Samantha.
A month passed, then two, as I perfected the two moves of my martial arts.
Then came the training, an intense training of self-discovery and refinement of my mind and body.
Months, then years, passed as my control over my body became perfect, as I pushed my understanding to its very limits.
Then came boredom as there was nothing to improve.
I slept and slept, then returned to training, this time, I was discovering the true capabilities of my skills and how to perfect them.
Just like that, a decade passed, honing myself and waiting for my lovely wife to wake up.
My hair had grown longer until it reached the ground, as did my beard, growing a few meters.
I shaved my beard and arranged my hair as her long-awaited awakening was finally came to an end.
Samantha stirred for the first time in a decade, and I couldn't help but smile.
Then her voice echoed, as cold as a glacier.
"Alister, where are you..."
My hands wrapped around her palm, and I gently whispered in her ear.
"Wakey wakey, my sleeping beauty."
Then, after what felt like a lifetime, Samantha smiled as she opened her gaze, which was extremely cold.
Then, in the next moment, she jumped into my arms and sniffed my scent, enthusiastically shouting.
"Hubby!"
My eyes reddened as tears welled on my cheeks.
"What happened to you? Why are you sniffing at me like a pervert right now?"
Samantha's expression turned cold, then blushed as she fidgeted.
"It's not like I can't sniff my husband..."
I chuckled.
"True. Then sniff me all you want!"
Samantha giggled, then asked me curiously.
"Hey, how many days have I been asleep? And why did you become more handsome and delicious?"
I sighed as I ruffled her hair.
"You've been asleep for a decade, my dear sleeping beauty."
Samantha's expression darkened as she fidgeted from the shock, then turned into guilt as she sobbed.
"Why... why didn't you leave me alone and continue your journey..."
I interrupted her as I chuckled.
"To wait for my sleeping princess, of course!"
Samantha gazed at her hands, shaken.
"But I've wasted a decade of your life, a decade of your progress... and I can't forgive myself for that..."
Samantha cried harder as she sniffled against my bared body.
Then pain struck my neck, I felt something sharp piercing it.
"Samantha... you!"