Chapter 330: The Birth of Aika Soryu

The man smiled and replied, "I want us to help each other. I will give you the thing you want the most in the worlds. In return, you will take something from me."

The girl arched a brow as she wondered what she could possibly do to help someone who claimed to be not just a God, but an all-powerful one at that.

The man sat down on the ground, crossing his legs, and his tone grew serious. "You see, for all my transcendence, I see myself as an imperfect being. And long before the world dissolved into chaos, I was the only unbalanced being." He raised both hands and opened his palms. "There should be two sides to every coin. And there should be yin and yang."

Of course, this girl didn’t understand any of what he was saying, but he went on anyway.

"But in my case, I am a Möbius strip. I am chaos and I am order combined into a single, unending surface. When order, which aims to preserve, and chaos, which aims to disrupt, are fused into one consciousness, every urge to act is instantly canceled out by the opposing force. The result is a being that is reduced to a neutral observer. To take a step toward order would be to betray my own nature as chaos. I am paralyzed by my own completeness.

"Ever since this version of me came to be, I have sought to bring balance to myself." A small smile touched his lips. "And recently, I found a way. You see, my brother went and messed up the original balance of the worlds. You may not know this, as it will not exist in your world. But there’s this really bad thing called Bonds that have come into existence as an aftermath of his recklessness."

"Bonds?" the girl repeated, confused.

The man nodded slowly. "Out of all the things he engineered, his greatest chaos is Bonds. But you know what they say? In every disaster, there is an opportunity. And in this chaos, I found my answer.

"What’s the point of being reborn if I would still come back as a Möbius strip? Why not take advantage of his machinations? Why not include these his Bonds in my plans for rebirth?

"However, I cannot settle for just anyone. I do not do randoms and I do not let anyone or anything choose for me. So, I scoured the worlds looking for the right person to perfect me by being my opposite. One with hatred and a heart that is able to handle my evil.

"You can imagine my joy when I found you."

He reached out and placed his hand gently on the side of her head. "I will give you my chaos, and I will make you the other side of my coin. Only then... shall I be whole.

"Not only will I come back as planned, but a more perfect version of myself would be born." His eyes shimmered in a scary twilight. "A balanced God and the true Golden Mean."

For a moment, there was silence between them, and then, the girl looked away as she tugged a strand of her hair behind her ear. Eventually, she looked back and sighed resignedly, "I do not have a name anymore. After the purge, I no longer want to be addressed by that name. I want to leave it behind."

The man looked into her eyes in contemplation for a moment, before saying, "Do you want me to give you a new name?"

The girl arched a brow, before eventually nodding.

He smiled and said, "Your eyes are blue as the warm sky, and you are from the realm of the dragons of the heart. Yet, you know no love."

He went silent, before adding, "Aika. I shall name you Aika Soryu. Do you like this name?"

She whispered the words to herself, "Aika Soryu..."

After a few seconds, she nodded. "If you keep your promise to me, I will be Aika Soryu."

The man smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

***

Back in the Marcus estate...

Present.

——

In the large, dimly lit room, Julius sat beside the bed where Aika lay unconscious. An expression of worry clouded his features as he watched over her. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

It had been more than five days since Aika had fallen unconscious. During this time, there was a point when she was shivering and her temperature was dangerously high.

So Julius had to constantly press cool, damp towels to her forehead to break the fever. Of course, the maids could have done that themselves, but he chose to be the one to do it.

The only time he wasn’t around was when he was busy with Evelyn or when he was in their sanctuary. You see, after the battle of the lords, almost all of the cadets had met the requirements for evolution and so, they had all evolved to Grade Three.

Evelyn and Julius had done so earlier and had come back on the afternoon of the day that Aika came here.

...Their evolution aside, during the time when Julius was not around to tend to Aika, Celeste took over. And most of the time, even Leon, who came by to visit, also watched over her.

This was the bond of their friend, and leaving her unprotected while she was so vulnerable was something they simply couldn’t do.

In fact, until she was better, they had decided not to let anyone outside the Marcus estate know that she was resting in the building. This was especially critical now that many high nobles were searching for her and Cedric, as the news of their power had spread.

Fortunately, Aika’s condition seemed to have improved on the evening of the fifth day.

At this moment, however, Julius was alone with her.

As he stared at her face under the soft glow of the lamp, he couldn’t help but remember a conversation that he had with his friends, Cedric and Dion many months ago.

’Pretty blue eyes like the ocean. Long black hair that reminds me of the deepest shadow. And a cold yet warm personality.’

He sighed.

’She really is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.’

A bitter smile crossed his lips.

’There is another thing I know about you, Raven of Decay. And that is that you have already given your heart to a Dominant, despite hating them.’

He lifted his head toward the ceiling and exhaled hard.

When he brought his head down after a beat, he reached forward to take the towel off her forehead.

But at that moment, Aika’s eyes snapped open. Seeing his hands above her, she grabbed his wrist, sat upright, and leaned forward with startling speed.

Her blue eyes bled into a deep black as she yelled in a voice filled with malice, "Don’t touch me!"