Chapter 98: The Wet Stain

"Choose."

The same word came from him again, spoken with such calmness that Ethan’s breathing became harder. The aura around Zishan intensified.

Stone cracked beneath his feet, Mana within the courtyard twisted away from him, and the servants who had managed to remain standing struggled to keep themselves upright.

Several meters away, Elinox had barely noticed any of them.

She was kneeling beside Ollie with Silvy resting carefully against one arm, Light Mana flowing from her free hand as she treated the injuries covering both of them. Her movements remained precise despite the pressure throughout the courtyard, yet her attention kept drifting back toward Zishan.

There was something disturbingly familiar about him.

Elinox could not explain where the sensation came from.

She had seen him angry before. She had seen him fight, watched him stand against opponents far above his Level, and witnessed the strange confidence he carried even when the situation should have frightened him.

This was different.

The young man standing several meters away felt as though she had encountered this presence somewhere before, though every attempt to grasp the memory left her with the same unanswered sensation.

Her fingers slowed over the Light Mana surrounding Silvy.

"So familiar..." she muttered.

Silvy shifted faintly against her chest.

That movement brought part of Elinox’s attention back to the two injured children, and she strengthened the Light Mana flowing through them until Ollie’s breathing became steadier.

Then, several powerful presences entered the range of her senses.

Elinox raised her head.

More than one was approaching the estate at high speed, and she recognized two of them before they had even crossed the outer grounds.

They were her parents.

Several others were not far behind.

And they finally pulled her out of whatever trance Zishan’s strange transformation had placed her under.

She rose with Silvy held carefully against her chest, left Ollie within the healing field she had established around him, and crossed the courtyard until she stood beside Zishan.

"It’s alright now," Elinox said, watching him closely. "They’re okay."

Zishan did not turn toward her. "Don’t meddle. This is none of your business."

Elinox’s eyes narrowed. "This is my business. You’re inside my residence, and—"

"I don’t fucking care." The pressure around him swelled hard enough to make several servants retreat farther.

Zishan’s eyes never left Ethan. "It’s either he perishes or I will."

For the first time since returning to the courtyard, Elinox’s expression became genuinely severe. "Stop."

Gravity Mana descended.

It did not strike Zishan directly. Instead, the space surrounding him became unbearably heavy as Elinox compressed the raging pressure spilling from his body, forcing the strange aura inward before it could continue spreading through the estate.

The cracked stones beneath him groaned.

Mana twisted between them for several seconds before the pressure that had been shaking the capital finally collapsed.

Across the capital, the tremors faded almost as suddenly as they had begun. The magic beasts that had been roaring throughout the city gradually quieted, though many remained restless inside their enclosures. Defensive formations stabilized, Mana crystals stopped flickering, and the people gathered along the streets were left staring toward House Holmes with even more questions than before.

Whatever had happened there was over.

At least, the part everyone outside the estate could feel.

The silence afterward felt almost unnatural.

Zishan blinked.

His expression changed as though someone had pulled him out of a dream he had not realized he was experiencing.

He looked toward Ethan and then at Elinox.

His gaze lowered toward his own hands. "What..."

The rage that had consumed him several moments earlier no longer controlled his thoughts, yet the memories remained perfectly clear. He remembered every sensation, every word he had spoken, and the overwhelming desire to tear Ethan apart with his own hands.

Zishan slowly opened and closed his fingers. "What just happened?"

Elinox continued watching him without answering.

Zishan frowned as he tried to understand the strange emptiness that had been inside his head.

"It was as if I wasn’t myself just now." His eyes remained on his hands. "But I can remember it vividly..."

The confusion on his face only deepened.

Before either of them could say anything more, two powerful presences crossed the estate at almost the same moment.

A woman descended into the courtyard first, landing near the damaged stone before her attention found Elinox almost at once. Her expression changed the instant she saw her daughter.

"Elinox!"

She crossed the courtyard toward Elinox, but her pace faltered when she noticed the little dragon cradled against her daughter.

Her eyes hardened. Then, she caught sight of Ollie nearby. "What happened here?"

The Duke arrived only a breath later, landing hard enough near the entrance that several servants turned toward him.

His attention went straight to Elinox as well, checking her from head to toe before relief crossed his face. Then, his gaze moved across the rest of the courtyard, taking in Ollie on the ground, Silvy in Elinox’s arms, and the damaged stone beneath their feet before settling briefly on Zishan.

The Duke’s gaze remained on him for a fraction longer than expected. Traces of disturbed Mana still lingered throughout the courtyard, and although he could not tell what had happened before their arrival, the Level 99 young man standing among the wreckage felt strangely out of place within it.

Then, he saw his son.

"Ethan!"

His son flinched.

The Duke strode toward him, clearly ready to demand an explanation, only for the words to disappear the moment he got close enough to see Ethan properly. His face had gone pale, his pupils were tightly contracted, and his entire body remained rigid as though whatever had happened before their arrival had frightened him badly enough to forget how to move.

The Duke’s gaze lowered.

A wet stain had spread down the front of Ethan’s trousers.

He stopped walking.

For several seconds, he merely stared at his son before glancing toward Zishan and then returning his attention to Ethan.

"Ethan?"

No answer came. The Duke’s brows slowly drew together as he understood what he was seeing. His Level 300 son had been scared badly enough to piss himself.