THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

[Dormant Destruction]!

As the cursed words were uttered, Basil immediately recoiled back in shock. His Qi Core immediately heated up as a foreign energy invaded it.

Gritting his teeth as he did his best to control the rampaging power inside him, he deactivated his Pacifer Soul, which also deactivated [Vacant Vessel], and ignored the foreign energy invading his Core temporarily.

Asia left his body and returned to Durendal's Sword Realm, meanwhile Durendal's Sword Soul returned to Caliburn's. The power turmoil in his body calmed down significantly, and he immediately focused his attention to the foreign energy.

Schwing!

As his Art stopped splitting the land and the True Light Magic stopped illuminating the world in gold, he fell down to his knees. Throwing up a mouthful of blood, he moved his hand from his chest to his solar plexus with a dark gaze.

The foreign energy invading his Core had mixed with the Qi stored in his Core, or rather, the Core itself. He couldn't do anything to it. He couldn't remove it, nor could he extract it. The only way to remove it was to destroy his Qi Core.

Of course, it wasn't something he would do since he had spent a lot of effort to cultivate his Natural Core. Replacing it with a Synthetic Core would greatly decrease his power.

Drip. Drip.

"Fortunately, the Curse won't take effect until I reach Violet Core stage," Basil smiled sarcastically as blood was falling from his nose.

[Dormant Destruction], as its name suggested, was a Curse that wouldn't take effect until the designated time. It was a Curse that would blow the victim up when he had enough Qi to power the Curse.

It didn't bother the victims for a long time, and even most of them didn't know they had been Cursed with it. When it finally took effect however, they would experience the most gruesome and painful death that would also bring the people around them down.

"Three years—I will die in three years." Three years was the estimated time for Basil to reach Violet Core Stage. "Luckily, I have a method to remove the Curse without destroying my Natural Core."

The method Basil was thinking of was something that any Mage would never try or dare to think about. It wasn't because of how risky it was—it was a safe method—but because of how unpleasant the aftereffect was.

On top of that, with that method, there was also the fact that one needed to wait for the Curse to "ripe" before removing it. Because of this, many people were reluctant to use the method Basil was thinking of.

They were afraid to perform the removal late, and lose their life in the process.

Thud!

"Kuhuk! Keugh... Darn it! It has been so long since I was this battered." Basil chuckled faintly as he lied on his back. "Huuh... At least, it felt more rewarding."

[Husband, no! Don't close your eyes!]

Basil, who was about to fall asleep due to his exhaustion and injuries, was awakened by Asia's scream. He opened his eyes wide immediately, and found his vision dyed red.

,m Blood was coming out of his tear glands, and it was pooling his eyes. Every visible hole in his body, including his pores, was also oozing out blood due to the drawbacks of using [Synchronization] and [Vacant Vessel].

The more blood he lost, the sleepier he became. He couldn't fall asleep, however, as his heart would stop beating if he didn't consciously power it with Mana, which was why Asia was panicking.

[Oh, no! Where is that child Ione? Where is she when she is needed?!]

Asia was pondering if she should materialize herself using Basil's Jade of Memoir just to take care of him. She still preferred to not show herself this soon, however, which was why she was hoping either Ione or Iliana to show up.

[Dagnamit! Those useless children! I will take care of him my—]

"Basil!"

Just a second before she materialized herself, luckily, Iliana arrived at Basil's side. She was just a few steps ahead of Ione, who looked ragged due to the aftermath of Basil's last attack.

Sighing in relief from Durendal's Sword Realm, Asia's eyes couldn't help but immediately darken when she saw how rough Iliana lifted Basil's body.

She was about to shout out loud to remind her, but luckily she didn't need to since Basil did that in her stead.

"Gently... All of my bones are finely cracked. You are going to destroy them with the way you handle me," Basil said softly.

"Oh no... I am sorry." For the first time ever since meeting her in his second life, he heard Iliana apologized. "I am sorry... I am sorry, I could do nothing." Also for the first time, he saw her crying.

"Why are you crying?" Basil frowned. "Who am I to you for you to show such a great empathy towards me?"

He was genuinely flustered by how Iliana reacted. Although she had declared to everyone that she was his girlfriend, he was convinced, after all, she was just messing with him just like what she had done in the past.

It had taken him years to change her status from his master to his lover in the past despite all of the adulterous things they had both done prior to establishing their romantic relationship. Their love had been a slowly cultivated one.

He had expected this time would also be the same, so he was surprised as much as he was bewildered that she could show such a strong feeling for what was happening to him this soon.

"... Who are you to me?" Iliana whispered. She brought Basil closer and hugged him tenderly. "My lover—someone who I can never afford to lose."

"..."

Blinking his eyes in surprise at her sincere words, Basil's red vision turned two shades brighter. He was seeing pink and he wondered whether it was his blood doing a weird trick or just his mood affecting what he saw.

Chuckling faintly, he jokingly said, "Still, no adult activities until you are 24." With a light groan, he added, "I need to have some shut-eye, so please keep my heart pumping for me."

"Hm... Leave it to me."

Iliana looked at Basil softly as she caressed his face that was stained with blood carefully. He smiled softly at the look she was giving, then closed his eyes, knowing that he could trust his life with her.

Her heart clenched as soon as he closed his eyes; her body tensed as she worried if he was really just sleeping. He looked so peaceful, her anxious mind couldn't help thinking that he might have just died.

"Don't be an imbecile, Iliana." Ione put her hand on Iliana's shoulder. "You are currently pumping his heart with your Mana—of course, he is still alive."

"Ah... Ione." Iliana looked at Ione with her teary eyes. "Didn't notice you were here all along. Are you okay?"

"Well... I am not really injured, but all of my Mana is spent... On defending myself from the clash between Lord Basil and that sick bastard, Charles, embarrassingly."

Thud!

Ione sat herself down. Smiling bitterly, she said, "I am sorry, I couldn't help much."

"A glance was all I need to conclude that not even Master Lawson could interfere in that fight." Iliana shook her head as she looked around. "Just look at the aftermath."

Following Iliana's gaze, Ione couldn't help smiling wryly.

The area they were in, which had been previously covered in snow, was now as dry as a barren desert. They could hardly spot any mountain that wasn't 10 kilometers away from them—the land surrounding them was now flat, bereft of any earthen mound.

Deep and wide craters decorated the ground. A trench that was so deep, they could see the magma contained below the planet's crust; and was so long, they didn't know where it ended was also carved in the ground.

It was amazing to think the land still held on even though it had been split. They were sure, however, a mere earthquake would be able to separate a part of the Northern Mountain Region from the rest of the land.

All of that just because a clash between two outstanding Mages. They couldn't help gulping in astonishment and anticipation of what Basil would be able to achieve in the future.

"Why didn't you tell him about the truth?" Ione asked after a few minutes of silence.

"About the meaning of his identity as the Fated Child? Well, I am sure he would be reluctant to come home if I told him, so I am going to let him figure it out by himself when we visit the village."

"No. That's not what I am talking about." Ione shook his head. "I am talking about YOUR identity."

"That is..." Iliana lowered her gaze and hugged Basil closer. "Even though I can't stay with him forever, at least, I want to stay with him, someone who is closely tied to me long enough for me to not miss him when he leaves."

"I was about to address that, but I guess I don't need to since you already know." Ione stopped speaking for a few seconds before asking, "How are you going to explain our relationship to him later?"

"Childhood friends. That's what we are." Iliana looked at Ione weirdly. "What do you expect me to introduce you as?"

"Fellow future wife?"

"Back off, woman! I can kick your arse strong enough to send you to hell," Iliana said fiercely.

Ione initially merely smirked at Iliana's response, but she eventually couldn't help chortling funnily. Iliana was frowning at first, but also joined her by laughing softly in the end.

It had been so long since the last time they met, so they couldn't stop laughing for a quite some time. When they stopped, Iliana told Ione to turn her head around, and proceed to take all of Basil's clothes off.

Conjuring water and fire, she cleaned the blood off Basil's body with the warm water. She did it carefully as to not disturb Basil's sleep and damage his slowly recovering body.

It took her 10 minutes to clean him, and when she had finished, she looked for new clothes that she could put on him in his Spatial Ring. Her face immediately turned funny as she found how many treasures he had in his Spatial Ring.

Just as Iliana finished dressing Basil up, he opened his eyes. He had fully recovered from the injuries he had sustained much to her bewilderment.