Chapter title - The Fall of Riveting Night
Draco yawned and scratched his head as he stood on his balcony enjoying the beautiful view. His current apartment was pretty high-end and large enough that his old one could fit inside multiple times.
The only thing he actually missed from his old home was the Old Lady who had taken care of him ever since his parents died.
With the salary he had received from Darkrow as the Vice Guildmaster he could easily gift her a small apartment nearby as a token of gratitude for all she had done for him and that wasn't even counting the favoritism that Eva bestowed on him due to their relationship.
Thinking of Eva, Draco couldn't help but smile like an idiot.
'Man, how did a loser like me ever land such a beautiful woman? Hehe, This King must've been the son of the Heavenly Emperor in my past life.'
Draco snickered as he thought that, but his mind quickly delved onto other topics. He wondered when he'd finally achieve the realm of Control. Eva had already achieved it a couple of weeks ago in Boundless and even his rival Local Lord was just one step away in terms of acquisition.
'I don't get it. I put in much more effort than they do each day, logging in earlier and leaving later and my talent doesn't seem to be too bad, so how could they surpass me like this?'
While Draco was pondering what he could do to change this, even briefly considering asking Local Lord for pointers so that he could surprise Eva one of these days, he was ignorant about the Lineages and how much of a cheat being a member of one was.
Otherwise, he would feel that his talent was far too freakish being able to almost match those two despite his crippled bloodline.
Forget about Control, the current Draco hadn't even grasped the Void of Perfection and was therefore oblivious about the danger he was actually in.
He could have never imagined that from a rooftop nearby a .50 caliber sniper's barrel was aimed at his head, right between his eyes.
He was also unaware that while he had been out to visit the Old Lady someone had taken the time to place explosives around his apartment's bottom floor.
As if that wasn't enough whoever was out for his life, had even made sure that they only needed to press one button to let an RPG fly into Draco's room.
Unless Draco could become Superman, his fate was sealed. Death was breathing down his neck, with him being unable to sense it, instead spending what may very well be his last moments daydreaming about his girlfriend and how he could attain greater power.
........
At the same time, the impending doom of the young man was being shown to Riveting Night who stood stock still where she was, her heart thumping so vigorously and erratically that were it not for the fact that she was in the digital world of Boundless, she would have died on the spot.
The sheer fear and worry that assailed her mind was not something that could be easily coped with. She froze because her lips had become blue and her thoughts were in disarray.
Standing before her was a burly fellow that would be described as handsome by most people, as long as he was not put next to someone heaven-defying as Draco. He had bronze skin, a beard that was stubby but most striking were his red eyes who seemingly pierced right through whoever he looked. His hair was shoulder length and had the trait of silkiness with its reddish-brown color.
(Author's Note: Picture Rider from Fate/Zero.)
Being one of the two males allowed into the quarters of Darkrow's Guildmaster, he was none other than the second Vice-Guildmaster, Local Lord.
He clapped his hands to capture Riveting Night's attention, though he wasn't too sure if he actually did. After all, he couldn't see into her everdark hood and had never even seen her face before.
"As you can clearly see, your little lover's life is in my hands. Do as I say, and he will live. Resist in any fucking way, and you will be lucky to find his ashes!"
Local Lord smirked maliciously as he felt victory in his grasp.
Riveting Night took a deep breath and spoke as clearly as possible.
"Do as you will. If you're the type of scum who resorts to such methods in order to lose his shitty virginity, I have no interest in helping you."
Riveting Night's words made Local Lord frown as his pride took a beating, but he regained his composure.
"Do you really think you can fool anyone with your confident appearance?! I don't think you're willing to let your little lover die to save your dignity. Do you know why?!"
Local Lord asked slowly and teasingly, not wasting the opportunity to mock her towards the end and Riveting Night couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat.
After all, he was right, she was bluffing. Her mind was trying to come up with some way to save Draco's life that wouldn't involve her doing exactly that.
"Hmph, it seems you don't know who that bastard really is… Fine, let me introduce you to your boyfriend Draco… or would you prefer if I refer to him as the so-called prodigy of the Lucifer Lineage? The one that they claimed to have crippled and cast away? Ca-"
"WHAT?! YOU'RE LYING!!!"
Riveting Night screamed this as her thoughts were further derailed.
The situation was worsening rapidly, especially if Local Lord's current revelation was true. Unfortunately given the circumstances, she saw no reason for him to do so.
Local Lord simply pulled out two vials of blood, which were only digital replicas of the real versions from the real world for the purpose of display. This feature was added in Update 4.
"The one on the left is the virgin blood of a Lucifer Lineage girl I 'enjoyed' a couple of days ago. I decided to keep it as a trophy of my success. The one on the right is the blood that little mongrel lover of yours deposited in a blood bank to try to gather money a few months ago."
Local Lord shook both vials boredly. "Both of them were tested and showed a clear resonance, and I don't mean biologically. You know which test I'm referring to."
Riveting Night did. Any family, even those outside the Lineages, had ways to check if one's bloodline matched with the family's ancestral bloodline.
If Draco was indeed the prodigy of the Lucifer Lineage, he could still be found out like this because his bloodline was crippled, but not removed. It was there, he just couldn't access it or use it in any way.
Riveting Night began to shudder imperceptibly, and this was not missed by Local Lord. He felt a bit of relief as his gamble had played out.
He was definitely playing with fire by trying to add the very prodigy of the Amaterasu Lineage under his list of conquered targets. He couldn't bear the cost of failure, but his Pangu Lineage bloodline compelled him to succeed where his ancestor had failed.
He had used numerous favors to get everything ready and now it appeared that it would all be worth it in the end.
"Haha, strange isn't it, how fate works? Your families decided to cripple the poor fellow and sent him out to the real world to prevent a war from erupting again, but in the end, without any knowledge of each other, you two still fell in love! What's more, you are madly obsessed with him, just like Amaterasu was for Lucifer! Haha, fate truly is a bitch!"
Local Lord could not help but laugh as he said this. It was indeed absurd how brutal and uncaring fate could be to bring two people who were destined to be together but could not afford to be together, in a relationship that was a mirror image of their ancestors.
"Enough talk. I'm aware that you must be trying to come up with a way out of this situation, but forget it, I made sure it will be impossible. Listen here, this is what is going to happen. You will allow me to have my way with your digital avatar willingly, and I'll stop my boys from killing our old pal Draco."
Local Lord made this offer, but felt his heart freeze when he saw Riveting Night stop shuddering. She slowly turned the opening of her hood to face him and he felt his worry begin to rise.
He was stronger than Riveting Night in terms of bloodline strength but she was slightly more skillful than he was, especially after she had entered the world of a Control user. This was why he chose to threaten her in the digital world, as she couldn't try to commit mutual death if she went crazy.
Local Lord had planned everything beforehand. He had to make sure his chances of succeeding were higher than anything he could muster. Otherwise, the consequences were too expensive for him to bear.
However, he had severely underestimated what it meant to be a yandere, a madwoman whose logic was fundamentally flawed when it came to the object of their fixation.
"You want me, right? Then, if I kill myself, you won't be able to get what you want unless you're willing to become a corpse fucker. That's assuming you can even wrest my corpse away from my family."
Riveting Night spoke these words chillingly and with some mocking. One might think she wasn't threatening to end her own life and with such conviction too.
Local Lord's face instantly became blue. He felt ill deep down, because if Riveting Night logged out and informed anyone of what went on here, he would be finished.
"You'd better reconsider. You're forgetting one extremely important fact, which is that Draco is the prodigy of the Lucifer Lineage that was hidden away. Now that I've found him, it would be considered a great merit for me to kill him! If anyone learns that you and him are an item, you will implicate your family as well and bring down the wrath of all other Lineages!"
Riveting Night's aura began to rise as the temperature of the area became colder and colder.
"What are you trying to say? Do you honestly think I give a shit about what happens in a world without him?" She was burning with cold anger, but Local Lord was happy that at least she had not yet logged out, leaving him with a sliver of hope that perhaps she could still be reasoned with.
"Fine, I believe that in your heart he is placed above all others, but that is exactly why you should carefully think about your actions. If you indeed leave the game, no matter whether or not you kill yourself, Draco will still die. Since I don't believe that is what you want… there is only one path for you."
Local Lord could be said to have squeezed out all his oratory skills this time.
Riveting Night also paused when she heard this because it was true. Even if she killed herself to prevent him from soiling her, it would change nothing. Draco would die and that would be the end of their two Lineages.
However, if she agreed, Draco would live and she could inform his lineage. Once they retrieved him, the two could begin plotting their revenge and destroy Local Lord.
One could argue that she had saved her real body's virginity for him so that they could consummate their love when they met in the real world. She had also already given her digital avatar's virginity to Draco too, and they'd had sex multiple times.
Still, she was unconvinced. Just because it was a digital body that had lost its virginity did not mean that it would be alright to allow this bastard to have his way.
Local Lord could see the struggle Riveting Night was facing due to her body language and he realized that he needed one final push to make up her mind in a way he wanted to, so he would have to speak well if he wanted to be the winner of this conflict.
"Listen. We are both aware that you are in a digital body that is just a shell which holds your consciousness. Your real body is out there in Tokyo, unsoiled and free of any man's touch, right? Even if your digital body houses your consciousness, then your only concern should be that it remains unsoiled, correct? Well, there are ways around that."
Local Lord felt his brain being strained to find a way to reason with this fanatic woman,as he began to sweat under his armor.
Riveting Night understood what Local Lord was suggesting.
"You want me to use my Body of Godliness to cut off all my sensory receptors, so that I feel nothing?"
"I don't want you to do anything other than allow me to rape you. How it's going to happen is up to you. If you want to minimize your guilt, you can follow my suggestion. After all, if you do so, you'll be technically untouched."
Local Lord shrugged as he said this, but internally he was praying to his ancestor that the stars would shine upon him today.
Riveting Night was silent for a whole quarter-hour as her mind roiled about chaotically.
Would it be better to let Draco die and keep her dignity?
Not to mention that such a thing would be heartless on her part, she could not stomach the idea of living on while he was dead.
Or would it be better to die and prevent Local Lord from soiling her?
This was her go-to option. If she died like this, Draco would inevitably be devastated, but he would channel all that anger onto Local Lord and eventually kill him one day. At present, this seemed to be the best possible outcome for her.
However, the issue here was that as soon as she disappeared, Local Lord would still kill Draco. His death would be unjustified and no one would know who killed them both, so they would go unavenged.
Even if she were to tell anyone about what he had done, Local Lord would only be rewarded for such an action, which might indeed just be the start of another war between the Lineages.
Local Lord would grow in power and unite the various other Lineages to destroy the Lucifer and Amaterasu Lineages. With no other enemies his way, he could slowly take over the world and dominate all.
This outcome was too bitter to accept, but one could still choose this path.
The problem was that Riveting Night did not want to see Draco die in any way or form, as in her twisted mind, his well being ranked above hers. That was the only reason she hadn't logged out and killed herself yet.
Should she allow Local Lord to rape her digital avatar while blocking all her sensory receptions?
This also was too bitter to accept. Even if outside the game she would be untouched, it was still her form that Local Lord was raping. She could delete this account and create a new one, which would have a fresh hymen and be just like her real body, unsoiled by any male.
But it wouldn't change the fact that this event happened and in a forced way, she even consented to it, no matter the reasons behind such a decision. Of course, the fact that she felt nothing would make it easier for her to swallow but… what about Draco?
She had no plans to hide what may happen from him, so what if he preferred death to dishonor?
Still, all these speculations would be useless, if she received a chance to learn his opinion, This option was the only way she could allow him to keep his life.
She wasn't worried that Local Lord would default on his agreement. If she truly devoted herself to banding together with the two Lineages to vanquish him, a war would start.
What Local Lord feared most was a war erupting, so he, more than anyone, preferred Riveting Night to remain silent on the matter.
She was not the only one who had bluffed earlier, because while killing a Lucifer Lineage member was indeed a meritorious act, Draco himself was similar to someone with diplomatic immunity.
The one who got crippled to allow for a semblance of peace, with his death that tenuous peace would crumble.
Two options that led to Draco's death and one option where he survived.
She had to choose one and the one she was leaning towards was to end herself. It might be better to just die and have them both continue their story in the afterlife…
This was what the rational part of her mind advocated for.
However, her mind was never proper and functional when it came to matters concerning Draco. Her madness directly suppressed her rationality, telling her that it didn't matter as long as Draco lived.
She would bear his anger and his hatred and work for atonement, but the pressing matter now was to preserve his life.
Despite this running through her mind, she was still undecided. Eventually, she decided to just end her life and pray that there was a world beyond death where she could meet with Draco.
However, a certain entity did not like what it was seeing. With a subtle twist, this entity forcefully altered Riveting Night's mind in a way she would never comprehend.
Her madness suddenly sprang forth and took helm, overriding her previous decision to end her life. Her current decision was to…
"Swear to each and every one of the Lineages that you will keep your promise. If you even consider defaulting on your promise, I will devote every single ounce of my life to destroying you and everyone you love!"
Riveting Night's threat did scare Local Lord, but he wasn't worried since he didn't plan to default anyway. He didn't care about Draco's dog life, all he wanted was to satisfy his bloodline urges and be free of its curse.
"Not a problem. Shall we begin?"
Local Lord asked with a smile.
...…
Moments before two people reached an agreement, that would shape the future of Boundless, Draco decided to log back into the game. He felt like seeing Eva and going out together on a quest or dungeon run. He would've loved to surprise her, but he understood that letting her teach him should be the fastest way to unlock Control.
The people watching him had their faces change as they tried to contact their boss, but their communication was one-way. They could only watch on helplessly as Draco entered the pod.
When Draco spawned in the world of Boundless, he saw that Riveting Night was online. One of the new options in the just-released 5th update of Boundless allowed players to marry each other's player character and enjoy certain synergistic boots when fighting together. Another benefit was that he was easily able to pinpoint her location.
Draco summoned "Richie", his Lion mount and rode it to her current location, which pointed to some tavern in a no-name village.
The idea that she could be with anyone else never occurred to him because he doubted anyone could move someone as beautiful as her. He himself didn't understand how he had caught her fancy, which was the source of his growing narcissism.
He assumed she was either in the middle of a questline or doing assassin stuff. She had a Shadow Assassin class after all, so she might have tailed a target to this location.
When he entered the Tavern, he saw that there was almost no one there. This made him doubly sure that someone was probably being killed at this time, so he walked up the stairs slowly.
The Innkeeper wasn't around. No Barmaid either, not even a single mouse.
It was dead silent.
Draco reached the room she was in and still heard nothing.
'Ah, she must've completed the assassination by now. Let me surprise her. Hehe, imagine an assassin being startled by a swordsman. She might just be embarrassed to death.'
Draco thought that and didn't bother to knock. He directly kicked the door in and shouted out.
"Heh, surprise~!!"
However, when he saw his rival, Local Lord, about to press himself into Riveting Night, he was stunned.
Local Lord was naked from head to toe, but Riveting Night was still fully clothed and her hood was up. She looked no different from a dead body, but she suddenly twitched when he entered, her body trembling.
Draco couldn't see too well, otherwise he might have realized that Local Lord was just about to penetrate her fully. However, from his perspective, and given the circumstances, it looked like Local Lord had already entered her long ago and was just about done with his deed.
Draco's train of thought became chaotic as he took in the sight of his rival on top of his woman. He kept asking himself whether this was some sort of nightmare, or if he had fallen for some illusion, but this all felt too real.
Why did this happen? Did he do anything to deserve this?
At this moment, a certain change occurred. Something deep inside his soul suddenly awoke, suppressing all of his doubts and questions, rather bringing forth all the negative emotions bubbling inside of him.
As such, his eyes reddened and he shouted out in rage.
"You fucking slut! I treated you with all the love and attention one could muster and this is how you repay me?! I'll fucking kill you and that fucking dog that you choose to lie under!"
Draco contemplated attacking them, yet despite rage clouding his judgment, he was painfully aware that he was no match for them both. He could maybe fight them individually, but not together. This further infuriated him, as he needed to vent his anger and hatred.
Draco stormed out of the room, as being here wouldn't help. He would need to formulate a plan to destroy these two and make sure they regretted their actions before he tortured them to death, especially that whore he called his woman!
This day he swore, he would dedicate his life to may them pay!
Riveting Night watched Draco go as the life seemed to leave her body and this madwoman began to cry as her body trembled. Local Lord looked angry and unsatisfied though.
He didn't care about the drama, only that he hadn't gotten to enjoy his part of the bargain and now things had gone to shit.
Though, he was pleased that he had created conflict between these two. At least, they would never be able to come together and get vengeance on him.
Similar to Local Lord, an astral entity was also pleased by this outcome.
.....
He watched the ensuing chaos and war that erupted for the years to come until his main actor eventually died.
Then, he performed a risky act to send him back. Following his plans, he tried to let the main actress experience the same... 'benefit'... but found that his power was not enough.
Instead, it let her recover memories slowly, sending more and more to her past self.
He would have loved to make the other antagonist acquire his memory too, but it was too much to ask. His power was not enough, at least for now.
Still, he was pleased with how things went so far and he was eager to watch their first meeting for the second time.
Chapter title - Resolution Of A Past Life's Hatred
Draco's mind managed to calm down eventually, as his eyes fell onto Eva's current state with a hard expression.
By now, how could he not understand?
Eva's love for him was so potent that it crossed the boundary of what was normal to what wasn't - total obsession. The idea of the world plunging into chaos, death as well as destruction meant little to her as long as he was alive and with her.
If Draco wasn't crippled and received proper upbringing, he'd be much more powerful than Local Lord. The two of them could abscond and leave the world to perish.
However, Draco had been crippled from birth in terms of his bloodline, leaving him just slightly better than a common floor member of the lineages. It certainly explained why he struggled to unlock Control too.
And this was definitely not enough to face a powerful descendant of Pangu who was famed for physical strength. He would've been snapped like a twig should Local Lord have laid his hands on him.
"So you let him have sex with you?" Draco asked with a deep frown.
"No, we never had sex. You entered just when he was about to penetrate my digital body."
Riveting Night mustered some rationality to answer Draco's question, her bloodied face breaking into a scary smile. Draco didn't flinch away from this sight though.
"Why didn't you tell me the truth? Why all the theatrics with hiding it from me?" Draco asked this with an unhappy expression.
Eva paused here. Her hands fell to her sides as she seemed to lose all strength.
"Draco, you are different now. You have vented out all your hatred and are trying to build a new life in this timeline, so you don't understand exactly who or what you were in our old timeline… what you became."
Eva looked at him, right in the eyes, her pitch black and inhumanly abyss-like eyes meeting his light green and attractive eyes.
"If I dared to open my mouth and tell you that he had not penetrated me, what would you have done?"
Draco went silent at this. Not just him, any man who had seen what he saw would only laugh with anger and double down on their will to punish her. Without seeing the exact events that occurred, no one would believe her story.
Draco could only sigh and look up to the sky. He had spent 8 goddamn years full of hatred and anger over a simple misunderstanding…a wretched twist of fate.
He had become stronger, better and more intelligent. He had shed the form of the typical handsome youth to become the monster that he was, that he had been feared as, in their previous life.
Now, he was in a new timeline, where none of that had happened or will happen.
"Eva, you are in a way a victim. But your decision to swap your modesty for my life is noble, but unacceptable. I would chose death a hundred times over than having my woman soiled!"
Draco shouted this out with firmness in his tone, the ambient Worldly Energy shaking and trembling from his forcefulness.
Eva could only smile bitterly and lower her head. "After enduring 8 years… 8 years of your hatred… how could I even dream of thinking such thoughts again? I would never do anything that would make me go through that again, even if you… you…d…die…"
Eva struggled to say that last bit, as if the very prospect was unthinkable, but she did. She had resolved herself that no matter what, she would die first before dishonoring Draco ever again, even if nothing had actually happened this time.
Draco nodded. "Good."
With a light step, he moved forward and brought Eva into his embrace, an action which stunned and scared her. She had expected to share the truth of the events in this timeline because it was the only chance for Draco to know it.
She could not afford to tell him in their previous timeline because it would not solve anything, but rather worsen it. If Draco had retained some calm and rationality, she could find some means and ways to explain it to him.
But his hatred had climbed so high, that a boy who had never taken the life of a fellow human became one of the most evil entities known to their world. The underworld feared his name and even the World Council was unable to deal with him.
Forget trying to explain herself, she had heard that Draco had murdered people if they so much as mentioned her name. Between the two of them, she was the mentally ill one, but whenever the two had an encounter, he would turn into a rabid dog that would lose all rationality as he tried to kill her.
Draco gently rubbed Eva's hair, which was matted with blood from her ruined face. She looked worse than an undead right now and there was nothing recognizable except her dark black eyes that seemed to swirl endlessly.
"You have suffered, Eva. It's okay, just let it all out." Draco spoke this soothingly, surprising himself. He had loved this woman so strongly, then hated her so powerfully.
Now, he found that his most prominent emotions for her were sadness and affection. His mind began to fall under a strange state as he reviewed all his actions so far.
He felt like Eva was truly the destined one for him, what with her fanatic obsession with him and her willingness to suffer in silence for so long. Despite making the absolute worst decision, nothing had happened, yet she had to suffer the real consequences of it.
Truly, she was… pitiable.
Draco didn't blame himself, because what he had seen what pretty conclusive, but he did regret not even trying to found out more about the matter. Had he been level headed, he might have found out the truth and saved himself years of suffering.
In a way, both Draco and Eva were victims of the cruel machinations of fate. It had tied strings to them and made them into puppets for a play, even going as far as to reincarnate him so that the story would go on.
Draco sighed and felt his mind began to tune out all the other existences in the world. Right now, the only thing he had of value was the woman in his arms, a being that was eternally loyal to him.
His family had thrown him away, his early life had been full of poverty and his teen life had been full of mockery and bullying. He had no possessions or anyone he could truly trust or be himself to in this new timeline.
Eva was the sole exception, as he could be whatever he wanted to be with her and she would love it. He could be a good guy, a despicable villain or even something worse and unspeakable.
Eva would follow him always, supporting his actions whether they were right or wrong. This kind of reliance and freedom with a partner was something that no one in the real world could possibly understand, as it was almost impossible unless one brainwashed a person.
For Eva, it was different. She had lived in the darkest place for so long, only existing due to the fact that she was the only one who knew the truth. She held out hope that after Draco achieved his goal, he would lose his anger and become rational enough to hear her out.
After she shared the truth, she could then end her life and be free from suffering.
However, she had not gotten that chance. She had only heard of Draco's death that particular day and her heart had immediately halted.
Every memory after that was blank, because her brain had shut down, leaving her no better than an idiot or a vegetable.
Now, in this new timeline, she had been able to share the truth with Draco and what's more, he seemed to… seemed to be forgiving her…?
This was too much for Eva. Her mind began to fracture as her madness became twice as worse as it was before.
A fire began to rage in her mind that grew exponentially in force, razing everything down while laughing maniacally.
Draco and Eva's reactions to each other right now were two extremities of the same thing.
Draco's was cool and calm. A growing obsession and reliance that placed her on an unreachable pedestal that no other woman would reach, no matter who or how. His mind was wrapped around her existence and it focused purely on her.
Eva's was fiery and chaotic. Her obsession was a raging inferno that saw only Draco. Its foundation was Draco. Its existence was Draco. Its sustenance was Draco. The slightest thing about him would see her mind fracture and descend into a further madness than what she had displayed so far.
This connection, where their minds rebuilt themselves around each other, went on for exactly ten minutes on both sides. When Draco finally ended the embrace, the two realized that there was a tangible connection between each other.
Draco could feel Eva's existence and she could his, despite being in the world of Boundless currently. The two were stunned initially, but accepted it as it was. With this, they'd never lose each other again.
"Do you really forgive me?" Eva asked with uncertainty and fear.
"Why not? Did you do anything wrong?" Draco said with a smile.
"I almost betrayed you!" Eva cried out.
"That is the keyword, you almost did. But the fact remains that you didn't, you were stopped by me. Your decision was terrible but after going through 8 years of all that, I'd say the punishment is enough."
His words made her face redden so much that she looked a little comical. Eva was so moved that she began to pant. Draco chuckled and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips before taking her palm into his.
"Let's leave the area. I want to talk about my plans for the future."
His suggestion was met with her immediate approval, "En."
The two began to trek through the wilds of the Paradise Lands, talking about everything and anything. Eva had decided to forgo Darkrow and become the Vice-Guildmaster of Umbra.
Draco shared his daring plan to rise to power with Eva, to which she whole heartedly agreed with.
"So when do you plan to attack the hamlet?" Riveting Night asked.
Her hood had been raised back up, because there was a chance that someone might see her visage. That was something she reserved for Draco alone, so she was uncompromising on that.
"Right after I re-stock the store I set up in the Guild Outpost. It's been bringing in a good amount of cash, though nothing compared to what I got for doing 'game breaking' things."
Both of them chuckled at that. What was seen as slightly impressive during their time was now almost legendary. In a certain way, reincarnation was the ultimate cheat that one could only wish for in life.
"I have a blink ability that can get us to the Guild Outpost. Let me take us there directly."
Riveting Night assented to Draco's suggestion and they both disappeared almost immediately.
The moment they left, the area returned to silence as nothing occurred. However, there was a slight tremor in the air that went away almost instantly.
While no player, NPC or monster may have heard all that had been said so far, one entity did.
The AI of Boundless retreated quietly to digest the information it had just received.
...….
It didn't take the two long to fill the shop with the creations of Draco. He placed all the regular items he had made: bows, crossbows, swords, spears, stilettos, daggers, chest plates, leather armor, hide armor, knee guards, pauldrons, arm cops, bracers, greaves, pants, boots and even staves. He also stocked up on all the basic potions, even placing a few of the transformation types that only gave slight boosts.
Still, even this was enough to have the faces of the outpost members go red with excitement. With all this, they'd be better off jumping into a deep ditch if they couldn't turn around their situation.
However, Draco was no longer as enthused about this outpost as before. That was because he naturally planned to wipe out their competitor. Without someone breathing down their necks, why should they dump every coin they own down his throat?
However, the rewards for the death quest were more profitable than supporting this outpost for a thousand years. He only really placed these here out of consideration for Sasha, who left a good impression on him.
Surprisingly, Sasha managed to leave an even better impression on Riveting Night, who found her absolutely lovable. Still, Riveting Night didn't try to boost Sasha because she knew Draco well. Sasha simply wasn't his taste.
This was where the difference in their obsession showed itself. Riveting Night's obsession was an inferno of madness that didn't allow for anything other than Draco to exist.
Even if the Heavenly Emperor himself dropped down from the Heavens, he'd be unable to move this yandere.
However, the same didn't apply for Draco. His was a calm and collected fixation that placed Riveting Night's existence so high that his own worth was shit in his eyes.
It was theoretically possible for him to love another woman, but it would never reach the level Riveting Night obtained. Even if the second woman had gone through thick and thin with him, loving him to the death, he'd still abandon her assuming she and Riveting Night were in mortal danger, without hesitation.
The two were aware of the difference of extremity in their obsessions as well as the characteristics that developed because of it.
But one should understand that these romantic obsessions developed as a result of their base personalities and were unchangeable. Riveting Night was the type of woman to ignore the world for one man. She was also the type to unhesitantly allow herself to be sexually abused just to keep him alive.
Her logic was horribly warped where Draco was concerned to the point that it was terrifying. She wouldn't obstruct Draco from building an emperor's harem as long as he was happy about it, but she also knew Draco wouldn't do so on his own accord, whether he wanted to or not.
After all, the fellow had destroyed their past life because he had seen Riveting Night being infidel. To go around capturing babes into a harem, wouldn't that make him the world's biggest fool…? again?
But that was tangential.
Draco bid farewell to the outpost, knowing that it was more than likely his last time there. He had given a few tips to the Tony fellow to assist in winning over Sasha's favor.
Draco was assured his feelings for the little lass were genuine when the fellow broke down into snotty tears, calling him ancestor while clinging to his leg.
The Evil Couple appeared in a clearing near the village of the natives.
"Before we go, I'm curious to check the details of the equipment set I made for myself. Also, I want you to drink the potion I made."
Riveting Night didn't stand on ceremony, whatever belonged to Draco belonged to her and vice versa. She gulped down the semi-legendary potion immediately as a golden glow surrounded her.
Riveting Night immediately leveled up once due to her State of Being's improvement. She was now level 9, 34%.
She had already shared with Draco that she'd acquired a legendary potion that granted an ability point from another hidden power called the Shadow Queen.
She was the primogenitor of the hidden class Riveting Night was chasing after, which was the same class as the one she had back then. It was the Shadow Assassin class.
This class different from typical assassin class in the fact that Riveting Night could use magic. Sure, it was limited to the sub-magic class of shadow, which was under the magic class of darkness.
Still, it was a potent ability to have. It literally made her a terrifying combatant in their past life. Riveting Night had never possessed a semi-legendary weapon like Draco's mana sword, yet he had never been able to bring her down until he enlisted the help of a hidden power.
After clearing this outpost, she should able to acquire her class with the 'optimal' designation.
That also brought into question, what the hell was the use of the optimal designation? It didn't grant any cool skills, didn't give a hefty amount of ability points either.
Why then, would players from Draco's past life have slaved to research optimal designations for either their own classes or other classes? Not to mention that knowing was one thing, but getting it was another.
Not everyone knew where to get a legendary potion through a quest or even through a simple purchase all the way into the 15th year of Boundless. Only upper echelon like Draco would know, not including the Richmond method.
However, people still went above and beyond to find way to do so. Why? The reason was so astounding that it was scary.
A melee class was limited to the weapon of choice it was based on. The Avenger class was a variant of the Spellsword class, which was a sub-class of the Swordsman class. That meant, the class was based on and limited to the sword.
Riveting Night's class was the Shadow Assassin class. This class was a variant of the Assassin class, which was a sub-class of the Rogue class. That meant, she was limited to short blades like daggers, knives or stilettos.
However, once your body achieved optimal designation, they had no equipment limitation!
Wow!
That meant that Draco could use spears, bows, crossbows and more. Fuck, the fellow could even whip out a hammer with a shield and tank like a king!
Now it was obvious why everyone and their mum lusted for the optimal designation.
But this was what the common floor members knew. The real effect that had the true powerhouses mad with lust yet scared at the same time was that the same 'no limitation' extended to class skills!
WOW!
This meant, Draco could learn magic! True magic! This fellow could cast spells as long as he acquired the skills books for them! He could cast any element or type of magic.
Even those fields of magic limited to extremely hidden classes like Shadow, Time, and Space were all available to him as long as he could acquire them. The same went for Riveting Night.
She could learn the highly coveted class skills of the Avenger class which provided passive boosts that rivaled epic equipment.
The powerhouses of his past life had unanimously decided to suppress this knowledge at all costs. Even presidents of the real world weren't privy to this info!
In this timeline, it could be said that only Draco and Riveting Night knew of this. As for Sublime Notion, Riveting Night was still thinking of ways to acquire another legendary potion for her.
After all, Draco had already used up the common method while she herself had managed to get one by exploiting her gender, beauty and class affiliation.
The Shadow Queen highly favored beautiful rogue women, since she was one herself! Riveting Night's beauty had moved her to the point that she had sworn to adopt her as her daughter no matter the cost.
At that point, Riveting Night had to flee timidly.
The Evil Duo eventually reached the outskirts of the Native Village that seemed to be calm on the surface. They observed all the youths living their lives as best as they could with neutral expressions.
Draco brought out the blue Dragorugio set that he saved for himself before equipping it. He grunted as raw and unbridled power coursed through his body over and over.
「Dragorugio – One handed sword (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Atk spd: 3n (Where n represents DEX)
Dmg: 5n (Where n represents STR x INT)
Effect: Fire mastery ꝏ, Damage boost +500%」
「Dragorugio – Chest Plate (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Def: 500n (Where n is END)
Effect: Fire resistance ꝏ, Defense boost +500%」
「Dragorugio – Pauldrons (2)(Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Def: 300n
Effect: Fire resistance ꝏ, Defense boost +250%」
「Dragorugio – Pauldrons (2) (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Def: 300n
Effect: Fire resistance ꝏ, Defense boost +250%」
「Dragorugio – Arm Guards (2) (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Def: 300n
Effect: Fire resistance ꝏ, Defense boost +250%」
「Dragorugio – Knee Guards (2) (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Def: 300n
Effect: Fire resistance ꝏ, Defense boost +250%」
「Dragorugio – Cloak (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Def: 10n
Effect: Fire resistance ꝏ, Defense boost +50%」
「Dragorugio – Set Equipment (5 piece) (Optimal)
Rank: ??? (Evolvable)
Effect;
- With 2 pieces equipped: Grant the passive skill 'Dragon's Heritage'
- With 3 pieces equipped: +15000 HP
- With 4 pieces equipped: +1000 MP
- With 5 pieces equipped: Grant the active skill 'Dragon's Roar'」
「Dragon's Heritage – Passive skill
100% source energy of a high ranked Dragon」
「Dragon's Roar – Active skill
Effect: Send out a soundwave that deals 30n damage (Where n is total attack damage) over a distance of 1n (Where n is range of sight).
Cooldown: 2 hours」
Draco felt the unlimited power coursing through him. He took out a glowing book from his inventory, learning it instantly. It was a rare skill book.
「Armageddon – Large-scale active spell
Effect: A ball of fire containing the apocalyptic flames of the underworld is spawned. Damage is calculated as 20n + 20x (Where n is the total number of targets and x is INT).
Duration: 1 minute
Cooldown: 72 hours」
Draco smirked while raising his hand. In it birthed a small ball of pitch black flame. With a toothy grin, he cast it out.
"Let there be death."
This chapter has been rewritten twice and this is the final version.
1. Local Lord did not officially penetrate Eva
2. The God of Chaos (or could he be fate?) is the main perpetrator.
3. Eva still messed up, so let her actions later on redeem her.
4. Draco cannot see this recollection event, so his thought process in forgiving her is different.