?


    "...And if you start by apanying me to a particr ce before going to see your--


    "No, I want to see this guy first."


    "...Hm? Are you sure you want to meet him? It is not convenient, especially with foreigners." She raises her eyebrows when she sees Alvine''s eagerness.


    "It doesn''t bother me. Additionally, I want to check something with this guy." He also persisted as he saw Feyre''s reluctance with this idea.


    "Well, to hear you speak, I have the impression that you don''t know what''s waiting for you. But, well, it doesn''t matter to me. If it is your decision, I have no say in it, especially since it is one of your requests I have epted." She says in a funny mood.


    ''... She tries to be understanding to force me to have esteem for her. Except that she''s anything but normal, this crazy.'' He whispered to himself, staring at her.


    "...Well, since you seem so decisive, let''s get on our way." She said, handing her palm towards Alvine.


    "..."


    "Sigh, don''t be so suspicious of my actions; to enter myboratory, physical contact with me is necessary." She retorted when she saw Alvine''s frown.


    "...So your so-calledboratory is partly in your domain?"


    "Of course; what did you expect?"


    "No, it''s just that going into your domain also means you will have more power over me, and my field of action will be more limited than now." He revealed with more mistrust than before.


    "It''s not wrong, but does it scare you as much as that?"


    "Caution has nothing to do with fear. But acting naively by thinking you are brave is the dumbest decision."


    "...Fufu~, you are wise, Alvine Dragnar. But unfortunately, I do not intend to shake you up before the end of the deadline we have agreed. Additionally, it''s about you, not another ordinary person."


    Despite her reassuring words and disinterested mood, Alvine did not give up.


    "What makes you say that?"


    "It''s easy to understand, right? The universal rules do not really apply to you. In regr times, a divine mage can''t escape any grip of a primordial or a transcendent. But even though you are with me, alone, without the slightest help, you are still as calm as if your life is not threatened. At this level, I must admit that I am more disturbed than more. How is this done?


    -Is it because you trust your subordinates that you can invoke at any time and no matter where you are?


    -No, this is not the case. Because your subordinates are not powerful enough to defeat me, in this case, it''s because you can disappear as you see fit thanks to your shadow powers, am I right?"


    She pats her cheek with a confused look when she sees Alvine as always serene.


    "Are you ever told that you talk a little too much?" He asked disinterestedly in the face of Feyre''s hypotheses.


    "Well, during my existence, I noticed that there are only two ways to solve a problem. The first is the conversation that aims to exchange ideas to achieve the truth. As for the second, it is...


    -Stab!!


    Before Alvine even blinked, he noticed a ck sword stuck in his chest.


    "!!- can I know what you''re ying?" He frowns at her without feeling a sting despite the tip of Feyre''s sword being exposed on the other side of his back.


    "Fascinant!!" She expressed herself by leaving the wrist of her sword while she walked around Alvine with incredulous eyes.


    "It seems that this mark on your chest apparently makes any physical attack ineffective against you. But its powers are not eternal; by forcing it a little, it will no longer affect you after its energy is exhausted." She continually nods her head with greedy eyes.


    ''I couldn''t grasp the slightest fragment of her movements; This slut is a special case. If I didn''t have this tattoo on my chest, I would already have a foot in the grave!'' While she continually spoke like a loop recording, Alvine was in his thoughts, never believing she could be so dangerous.


    "How did you get this tattoo? And above all, this ring intrigues me more and more. I have the impression that the two are linked for--


    "Do this once again, and you--


    "I was only showing you the second possibility to find exnations for the phenomena that intrigue us."


    "??"


    "Of course, the second possibility is to experiment directly on the subject."


    "..."


    "Um~Um~! You are fascinating, Alvine Dragnar. I pretty much understand why you are so confident. But know one thing, physical attacks are only one possibility among the thousands to injure an opponent. Spiritual attacks, magical attacks, and area attacks are the most dangerous. Because, unlike physical attacks, the enemy does not need to be within our reach to be able to hurt him." She exined herself as if she had be a teacher who exined the basics to a beginner.


    "Do you know you could have killed me with this attack?" Alvine spoke in an irate voice.


    "Hm? If you could die so easily, you would never have been able to reach such a level. On top of that, it''s not as if I was the first to start attacking the other. You are the first one who attacked me to check your chances of sess in a battle you were going to trigger if your attack had hurt me." She retorted with a mocking smile while petting Alvine''s shoulder.


    "...Anyway, now that we have paid for our grudges, let''s leave without hostility." Sheughed when she saw Alvine clear her hand on his shoulder.


    But unlike before, Alvine only breathed a sigh before grabbing her hand, which was handed towards him for the second time.


    "Don''t have twisted ideas," Alvine retorted, seeing the frightening glow in his eyes.


    "Ugh! Ahem, of course not; I''m not such an easy girl." While pronouncing these words while sulking superficially, a golden glow cocoon enveloped Alvine through her, and the two found themselves in a small room of five square meters the next blink.


    "Is that yourboratory?" Alvine asked suspiciously, looking around with skeptical eyes.


    "Fufu~, keep your surprise forter. We are only at the starting point." She giggled at Alvine''s mistrust while waving her hand in the emptiness.


    -Swiishhhh!! <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The small room suddenly widens as if it were remodeling before him.


    But this phenomenon was not inexplicable to him, even if it was the first time he saw a person manipting space with such ease


    It was like what Renia did in her white and almost unlimited domain.


    But when he wants to withdraw his hand from Feyre''s, Feyre convulses his hand.


    "Don''t be in such a hurry; we haven''t reached our destination." She made this warning while shouting a golden portal once again.


    "Before going to the other side of this portal, I have a question for you." She suddenly asked afterpleting her portal.


    "Hm?"


    "How sure are you to be the real?"


    "..."


    "This is not a ridiculous question, but to tell you not to be stunned to the point of questioning your existence." She exined herself by seeing the stupid look that Alvine threw at her.


    "Don''t worry about so little; I already know what awaits me."


    "Are you sure what you''re saying? - Sigh, it doesn''t matter; I can see that I can''t make you change your mind." While whispering these words, she crossed the portal, followed by Alvine, who had sober eyes.


    ...


    ..


    .


    "!!- What''re these shits!!!"


    Just as Alvine arrived on the other side of the golden gate, he was weed by a huge room the size of about two football fields.


    In front of him, hundreds of tubes were aligned horizontally, upying the entire illuminated room despite the absence of mana stones or other lighting artifacts.


    The hundreds of tubes contained viscous ck liquids and were immersed in unconscious bodies but still breathing, testifying that they were alive in an artificial sleep.


    "I warned you." Feyre''s yful tone resonated beside him as she knelt near the nearest immersive tube while looking at its containing with sad eyes.


    "...How do you want me to act, ording to you?! I already knew you were fucking crazy, but now you''re exceeding all the limits I had set in mind." Grumbled Alvine, re-looking at the contents of the tubes as if he no longer believed what his eyes showed him.


    Instead of deformed or multiple guinea pigs, the hundreds of tubes contained only the same person; his look-alikes!


    They all looked the same as the person Alvine had seen through the mirror. Instead of being chained, they were in a deepa in the tubes.


    ''How twisted is this fucking bitch? Her obstinacy towards my powers is starting to give me a bad feeling.'' He sounded off to himself, looking closely into one of the tubes with his perception.


    ''Fuck! She''s really crazy!'' He was overwhelmed by another flood of disbelief when he noticed that they had not only his appearance but even the characteristics of his unique powers and affinities.


    **Absorb them!**


    At that moment, the booming voice of his ring echoed in his mind giving him almost a headache just as he was going to touch one of the tubes.


    *Tsk! All that was missing was that.* He ms his tongue by abandoning the idea ofing into contact with the tube after noticing the interest in his ring.


    "Don''t worry, even if they seem alive; they miss a crucial thing that can''t be replicated." Feyre''s monotonous voice then resounded after a nce at Alvine''s actions, who seemed to be engaged in a carnal battle against himself.


    "Theyck a soul. And none of them have woken up since. Some are even double your current age. But despite all this time, I didn''t notice the slightest anomaly with them. They refuse to shelter all virgin souls or souls endowed with memories in their breasts. It''s really a painful task, the maniption of souls." She continued with a tern air that seemed more real than all the previous emotions she had shown so far.


    ''...'' Alvine had noment on her expression. To be precise, he was not convinced of its sincerity.


    "Whatever, the guy I saw through the mirror was indeed conscious. He is not among these receptacles." He said, going straight to the point once again.


    "Yes, you are not wrong. But before I showed you my masterpiece, I was intrigued by your reaction before I was sure to bring you there with him." She shouted loud and clear when she found her twisted smile that she had momentarily forgotten to disy on her lips.


    "...A kind of test?"


    "Yes, in a way. But you are mistaken about my intentions once again. It was not you that I wanted to test but them.


    -I wanted to see if they would act in one way or another in your presence. But apparently, I made false hopes for nothing."


    "...No, you''re wrong," Alvine unconsciously answered while focusing on the hundreds of empty envelopes.


    "Hm? What do you mean by that?!" Following Alvine''s words, she had curious eyes as she asked him this question.


    "...Forget it. Show me the others." He retorted after regaining his senses.


    "...Very good."


    Seeing her respond passively, Alvine could guess she would not give up so easily. But the biggest mystery was to know what she was going to do to force his hand likest time.


    With this mistrust, his prudence reached its climax despite seeing Feyre open another dimensional portal to their following destinations.


    ...