In the room, there was a flushed beautiful woman alone with a handsome young man— and a sheep. EDITING COME BACK 5 MIN
Seriously, why the sheep?! She just had a secret room nearby with a sheep in it…underground. Josh could only stare at a loss for word.
"I'm completely ready! Please teach me!" There was such eagerness in her eyes.
"Why?" Josh simply pointed at the sheep.
"Is this sacrifice not adequate?" Her voice trembled slightly. "Ah! Of course, it has to be a human for the best results! Don't worry, I'll fix it right away and—"
"Stop! Why do you need a sacrifice?" He raised a brow.
"What?! To learn killing intent?" She seemed utterly puzzled.
"You don't need to kill to learn killing intent. That's why it's intent." Josh remarked, wondering if she had a screw loose.
"What?!" By now, she was gasping in astonishment.
"What even gave you that silly idea?"
"T-the teachings of the LoA. They are all contained in this book." She slowly presented it to him, very respectfully.
Josh nodded, satisfied. He still remembered how not long ago she had been trying to torture knowledge out of him. How coy she seemed compared to back then! If he didn't know better, he'd even agree that the current her seemed gentle.
He slowly began reading it under her attentive gaze.
For some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off him. His dark eyes were studying the killing intent manual studiously, giving him an unfathomably profound look. She shuddered as she recalled her own experience with this grimoire.
Back then, she had feared it so damn much. This was because it reeked of death from back to cover. This atrocity made one feel like they would perish simply holding it, much less reading it.
Yet there he was, gently nodding as he turned page after page. He didn't even recoil at the touch of the human skin. She even got the feeling that this wasn't his first time playing with such a thing.
After skimming through the whole thing, he finally looked up. As they made eye contact, she lost the ability to breathe. There wasn't an ounce of fluctuation in his eyes, even after reading such a powerful grimoire!
He slowly opened his mouth, looking incredibly solemn.
"This isn't working." He shook his head.
What?! Was there a problem with their teachings?! Were it anyone else, she would have doubted them. But since it was coming from him, who had such an incredible aura, it had to be true. She opened her ears wide.
"I can't read this, whatever language that is." He shook his head again.
Then why the fuck was he looking so damn serious while "reading" it?! He had also checked every single page in succession! Was there a need for that if he couldn't understand it?!
"I don't recognize any of the drawings either." He shrugged.
Part of her felt like strangling him right now! What was he taking this unholy book for, a picture book, perhaps?! Was this why he hadn't been affected by its curse? Was this even possible?!
"Are you alright?" He asked with concern.
"Y-yeah…." She sighed deeply. "Let's skip this then and just teach me." She proposed.
"Nope, that's a bad idea. I can't know how you went wrong if I don't know what you learned. Maybe my style is incompatible with yours. Just give me a translated copy or something."
"That's impossible. You shouldn't even be allowed to see it, and copying it taboo!" She roared heatedly.
"Alright, alright, I understand." Josh could only raise his hands in the air, giving up entirely. It wasn't like he needed to own a copy at all costs. Still, it made him curious.
"How about you read it to me then?" He proposed with a smile.
She seemed to be hesitating. It was one thing to let him read the thing subtly. She could always claim to have misplaced it. Going out of her way to teach him was pushing it a bit too far, wasn't it?
"It's fine. I don't exactly need to teach you. I was only doing you a favor. Let's forget it." He emitted some more killing intent as he spoke.
Oh god! How was she to resist this?! It was so damn pure, so dreadful, so powerful! She felt weak at the knees and couldn't take it anymore.
"I'll read! I'll read right now!" All her reservations were utterly gone.
The two sat down without minding the broken dummy parts and the blood (from the poor archers). Thus began what should have been an extremely easy reading session. But then something strange happened.
As soon as she opened the book, she began almost imperceptibly trembling. She opened her mouth and began reading the first page. But with every line, she shook a little more. It was as if such a simple task took all her power to accomplish.
Her brows and hair dripped with sweat, her pale face seemed pained, and small mutters escaped her red lips. She was suffering. Why?!
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Josh stared at the grimoire, incomprehension filling his face. But then he sensed something. There seemed to be a dark current swimming from the pages to his companion's fair hands.
What was this? It reminded him vaguely of killing intent, but it was different. It wasn't just in her hands either. It was invading her entire body, akin to a corrupting poison.
This explained her weak-looking state.
Without thinking much, he wrapped his hand around her shaking body, bringing her closer. He then sent his own killing intent inside her body, very slowly making contact with the mysterious energy.
It was dark, tainted, mad, and uncontrollable. It swam in her body recklessly, akin to a rampaging dragon. This thing didn't care whether she lived or died. No, it even welcomed her death.
This was it. This wasn't killing intent. This was death itself. Actually, no. Death as a concept should be way stronger. This thing was a bastard at best, just a shadow.
As the energy sensed Josh's killing intent, it suddenly froze before fleeing at full speed. It tried to hide in a corner of the Matriarch's body, but he just scoffed. Tough luck! He quickly corned and eradicated it.
As it dissolved entirely, he found it strange. It was already gone?! Why was it so weak?!
But then he understood. It was all because of the lack of control. It was akin to comparing a professionally trained soldier to a villager. They weren't on the same level!
That's when the Matriarch's weak voice resounded:
"W-what happened?" she seemed confused.
"Just eradicated a pest. Don't worry too much about it." He whispered, right in her ear, thanks to their current position.
She was already regaining color, mostly red. She blushed furiously, seemingly embarrassed, yet didn't move in the slightest.
Josh turned his eyes toward the grimoire. He would slaughter the tainted energy hiding in there so they could keep reading peacefully. But then he changed his mind as he sensed it further.
The book and the energy were already fused. It was impossible to get rid of one without affecting the other. Oh well, he would have to protect her body while she kept reading.
He slowly spoke:
"This thing in there isn't killing intent."
"W-what?!"
"It's not about the desire to kill, but the act itself. However, it does disguise itself as killing intent and can seem similar externally." Josh explained.
"T-then what is it?!"
"A weaker version, one that is quite useless. Well, it does have one advantage: it only requires one to be near dying beings to learn it….I think." He theorized.
"For assassins, it should be good, no?"
"Yes and no. It won't ever be too much use in its current state. I'm sure it could be tweaked to become stronger, but I don't think it's worth the effort." He shrugged.
"Is that so…"
"Now, let's keep reading, shall we?"
She nodded and thus resumed a very peaceful reading session, just the two of them— and a terrified sheep pissing itself in a corner. Even was staring at the book with its eyes bulging, too scared to even make a peep.
The Matriarch didn't know how to feel. This was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the LoA, and he was totally looking down on it. It wasn't even worth it to make it stronger?! Really?!
Yet, she believed that he was serious. He wasn't looking down on it either. This was why he was properly listening to her lecture as she kept reading. Perhaps he'd even change his mind about it?
But she also had another issue. Somehow, her current situation was even harsher than regular training! She was used to ordering humans, killing them, torturing them, and even turning them inside out!
Yet, right now, she felt so damn weird! She was strong enough to overpower him and yet so helpless simultaneously! She could smell his scent as his arms were wrapped around her.
They were steadily progressing with the pages. It was very slow and yet too damn fast! For some reason, she found herself wishing this would never end, that she could feel his warmth forever.
How was she even having such thoughts while reading non-stop? She was great at multitasking! This was also what made it, so she heard the footsteps. There was someone approaching the training area!
Who?! Why?! Who freaking dared?!
She even realized that the door was slowly getting opened. She heard it creak, and she couldn't help but grimace. Tch— she almost hoped for it to be an intruder so she could kill them for this affront!
That is when appeared an assassin, but his state was strange...
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