Eventually, the conversation about the markings came to an end.

Ethan was just about to head out with Eduardo. But Kieran called back to him. "Ethan."

He stopped in his tracks and turned to his former teacher, who began with, "I know your class has a group chat..."

"You don’t have to worry, Mr. Kieran," Ethan cut him off. "I really don’t care that much."

With that, Ethan left with Eduardo following right behind. Kieran sighed as he watched his former student go, hoping none of private life gets talked about in there.

The moment Ethan stepped outside, two notifications came into view.

[Self-Imposed Objective Complete: Confront Kieran]

[Reward: 3,000 XP]

[10x Multiplier Applied]

[Adjusted Reward: 30,000 XP]

[Self-Imposed Objective Complete: Acquire Knowledge on the Carrion Seal]

[Reward: 4,000 XP]

[10x Multiplier Applied]

[Adjusted Reward: 40,000 XP]

[XP Balance: 317,500]

Ethan smiled at the screens as he and Eduardo got into the sedan.

—

In a different part of town, a black vintage sedan had just driven into a hilly compound with a large mansion at the top.

The one who came visiting was Alistair Tudor, and he had been ushered upstairs by a male servant who walked in front of the prince, dressed like a butler.

They reached a room and the servant knocked a few times before another servant from within came and checked at the door.

The door opened slightly, giving this servant enough space to peek through and see who knocked.

She saw the elven man and the servant that had brought him in, then closed the door soon after and turned toward the lady who had just changed into a night gown, and was picking up a glass of wine after.

"Lady Audrey, it’s the Prince, Alistair," the servant said.

"Let him in," she replied. "Leave us after."

This servant bowed, returned to the door and opened it wider for Alistair to enter while she stepped out.

As Alistair approached with a stern look on his face, he said, "They know who I am and what I am to you, and yet I still follow these m protocols every time?"

Audrey smiled. "Don’t let it bother you. It’s the same, even when my children visit."

Then she cupped his jaw, pulling his face gently toward hers until their lips met in a deep kiss.

——

It had taken Eduardo about thirty minutes to return back to the manor.

And as of this time, Ethan was addressing Ishtar in his living room with everything he had learned from Kieran earlier. She had no idea about all of these due to the fact that her family had not been alive long enough to tell her.

He went on to remind her to always keep her mark hidden, especially now that she could control when its light glowed or not.

But then he noticed the sadness on her face, and spoke gently, "Listen, Ishtar. I understand why you would be, but now’s not the time to dwell on sadness. There’s nothing we can change about these markings, but we can do everything to prevent any dire consequence."

He paused, then shook his head slightly. "No... we’ll make it impossible."

Her sad face lifted up to him slowly and she nodded with an expression that grew determined.

Ethan returned a nod before adding, "You may return to your room now."

Ishtar inclined her head, then turned and walked back up.

Ethan exhaled. It was true he had never really longed for a sibling, nor even wished for one.

Although there was Hayley and Percival for a good part, but even that at some point became defined in a way that made it clear they weren’t siblings.

However, the soul in this body had two sisters before coming to this world. So some part of Ethan was beginning to feel a certain void fill up.

The kind of void only siblings could fill. And under his roof, Ishtar was his responsibility after all.

Then again, all that talk he just gave her would be for nothing if he wasn’t also strong enough to protect her from falling into that ill fate.

In that moment, Joe, the hitman summon, had left a certain room, wearing an apron and head scarf with a brush in hand. He had just finished with cleaning that part of the house and was headed for another corner.

He had a straight face on as he went about the tasks, and at the sight of him, Ethan chuckled a bit before stepping out of the manor.

-

A few hours had gone by and right now it was the clanging of metal against metal, and the crackling of lightning being heard at the backyard.

The shirtless Ethan, whose body was generating visible streaks of blue lightning, was locked in a sword clash between his half-dragon summon and the angel who had long returned from her walk with Albedo.

The battle was... a sight to behold.

His charge aspect granted him enough speed as he moved like a bolt of lightning itself, weaving between Nina and Arael.

His blade met Nina’s longsword in a shower of sparks, the force of the clash sending ripples of pressure outward that flattened the grass beneath them.

He pushed off from the ground, flipping backward just as one of Arael’s ink projectiles shot past where his body had just left.

The projectile then exploded against a tree in the distance.

The exchange continued in this same manner. Ethan would clash with Nina, disengage, evade Arael’s projectiles, then close the distance again.

Nina’s strikes were powerful, each one capable of ending the fight if they landed clean. But Ethan’s speed kept him just out of reach, his blade meeting hers only when necessary to deflect or redirect her attacks.

Then Ethan made his move. He surged forward, his body crackling with electricity as he closed the distance between himself and Nina in a single burst of speed. Their swords came together one more time, and their eyes met.

Streaks of lightning danced in Ethan’s draconic eyes and he visibly gritted his teeth, straining against Nina at her emperor class strength. The half-dragon had a nervous look on her face even as her gaze met her liege’s.

However, even though Ethan was locked in that clash, he had already lost. Because at the corner of his eyes was Arael’s spear-like projectile covered in glowing light magic element property, and it was directly pointed at his neck.

He smiled, pulled back from Nina and raised both hands in surrender. Arael then made her projectile dissolve back into ink, which returned to her arms.

While Nina made her sword disappear back into purple motes of light before going on one knee. "My liege. Please forgive the cuts I may have inflicted. I was only following your command."

Ethan smiled and shook his head, then told her to stand. It was, after all, a direct command from him that had forced her to do that in the first place, since Nina would never do that even if she was told to, normally.

Arael, on the other hand, was a bit more brutal. Without having to be commanded, she had taken the fight almost seriously, though she made an exception to doing anything that would put the life of her summoner in harm’s way.

The cut marks from the bleeding wounds on his body began healing on their own, after a three-minute interval had gone.

His dragon trait converted non-lethal damage into healing and fortification. Fortification as a Skyreaver gave him 2% resistance to the same type and level of damage received, which stacked with repeated exposure.

[Dragon Trait - Inverse: Active]

[Total Damage Resistance to Arael’s Flame Element Projectiles: 14%]

[Total Damage Resistance to Arael’s Light Element Projectiles: 10%]

[Total Damage Resistance to Nina’s Punches: 8%]

[Total Damage Resistance to Nina’s Flaming Sword: 4%]

Seeing the message on Nina made him heave a sigh.

After taking so many punches from Nina as a legendary summon, Ethan used to have a total 93% resistance to them, and a 27% resistance to her sword cuts.

However, she wasn’t legendary any longer. And even though in this quick spar, she had held back a good number of her strength against Ethan, she was still stronger than what she was as legendary tier.

Which meant her punches were not at the same level as before, and his Inverse trait registered it as a new level of strength altogether. He had to regain a new level of resistance to this new strength.

This would also be the same case if she ever went with her full emperor status power. Another reset would occur to start accommodating for the full strength.

Unfortunately, those ones would probably be lethal enough to Ethan that the fortification effect may not even happen. At that level, the damage would cross the threshold from "non-lethal" to "fatal," and Inverse wouldn’t activate at all.

Ethan shook his head. This dragon trait thing was probably just good in regards to the auto-healing aspect, but the fortification was tricky.

The only good thing about it now was he could gain resistance to Nina’s punches faster now, unlike before when the gains were only 1% per stack.

Now it was 2% per exposure, which meant he could build resistance quicker if he was willing to endure the pain.

Then a smile crossed his lips about how far he had come. There used to be a time when he couldn’t even dodge this half-dragon for anything.

Well, he took his thoughts away and focused on the next set of screens he hadn’t looked at.

[Guardian Class Progress from Third to Fourth Foundation Stage: 100% complete]

[New Foundation Phase: Fourth Level]

[Ragnarok Bond Progress: 50% complete]

[Ragnarok is now ready to reveal itself to you]

"Oh? Interesting," Ethan muttered in an amused tone. He lifted his right arm up, staring at the blade emitting white miasma, then smiled even more.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

—

A/N: I’ll be back with another mass release soon.

It’s only one for now because I got hit with an unfortunate amount of work at the office today.