Chapter 155: A Will Beyond Her Reach

For a moment, neither of them moved.

The pressure in the chamber hadn’t eased in the slightest. It weighed down on every inch of Ethan’s body, as though the very air had turned heavy, and every instinct he had honed across two lifetimes warned him that the woman standing before him was extraordinarily dangerous. Yet he didn’t retreat. His grip on the Eternal Sovereign Blade remained steady, while his thumb rested discreetly against the pristine white ring on his finger.

Ethan’s eyes didn’t leave hers.

This presence...

For a second, Ethan couldn’t place it, though something about it felt strangely familiar. Then the memory of Blackstone Ravine surfaced in his mind... the overwhelming presence that had descended upon the battlefield and stopped their strikes.

So it was her... the one who had been pulling the strings behind Thorn.

His thoughts raced. Had she come because of what had happened at Blackstone Ravine? Could she have been involved in the Beast Tide as well? He already knew that a member of the Abyssal Pact and a demon had been behind it, but that didn’t necessarily rule her out.

Yet the more he considered it, the less likely it seemed. Now that he could sense her presence directly, he could tell her strength was almost reaching that of Sword Saint Reiner. If the Abyssal Pact had possessed someone with such power, why would they have remained in hiding after their leader was injured? And he had never once encountered her in his previous life, which only strengthened his doubts. What he couldn’t understand was why someone of such strength had been pulling the strings behind a mere Count, while keeping herself hidden all this time.

Is she here for revenge?

No... if she wanted to harm me, she would have acted already.

She had deliberately revealed herself to him, yet his Predator Sense trait hadn’t detected the slightest hostility nor did he sense any trace of killing intent. The overwhelming pressure she exerted was the only sign of her power. Whatever her intentions were, she hadn’t come here to kill him.

Then what was she after...?

As though she had sensed his thoughts, the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile.

"The legacy..." she murmured, her voice calm and unhurried. "Is that truly where it came from?"

I-Is she talking about the Unknown Energy...? Does she know something about it?

Ethan remained silent, meeting her gaze without changing his expression. His heart had skipped a beat at her question, but he quickly suppressed his reaction, revealing nothing.

"So you aren’t going to answer... huh?" she whispered, yet the words carried clearly to his ears. "It seems you’re not afraid of me either... how interesting," she added. A trace of genuine amusement glinted in her crimson eyes.

Without another word, she began walking towards him. Her steps made no sound as she crossed the chamber and stopped directly before him. Up close, he could finally see her clearly. Her skin was pale, almost flawless, and her long hair was a deep, pure black. Her features were delicate yet sharp, so composed they seemed almost unreal. She was beautiful... yet that beauty only made her presence feel even more unsettling.

The pressure grew even heavier, forcing Ethan’s breathing to turn shallow, yet he held his ground, never breaking eye contact.

She studied his face for a long moment, her crimson eyes moving over him with an unsettling fascination, as though he were the rarest treasure in the world. Then she raised both hands and took his face between them, drawing his gaze even deeper into hers.

Her smile remained, but the crimson in her eyes gradually deepened. Ethan felt something press against his mind, an immense force trying to penetrate his consciousness and seize control of his thoughts, heavy and suffocating, like an invisible hand closing around his will. Yet he didn’t yield. He stared straight back into her eyes, his will unwavering.

"From now on," she whispered, "you belong to me."

Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" Ethan said, his voice laced with cold as he looked back at her. He didn’t move, nor did he try to pull away. His gaze remained as calm as before, as though her words had passed straight through him.

For the first time since she had appeared, her expression changed. A flicker of confusion crossed her face. The pressure against his mind intensified and the crimson in her eyes burned brighter, yet his consciousness remained unmoved. It was like trying to force her way through a mountain.

What is he? How can someone this young possess such a will?

She couldn’t make sense of the boy standing before her. His strength, his mastery, his ability to use Intent, and even how he could wield that energy, the very energy she feared... all of it defied everything she knew. And he hadn’t even awakened yet. The more she learned about him, the deeper her fascination grew.

She stared at him in silence.

Then slowly, very slowly, her lips curved into a smile... and that smile sent a chill down Ethan’s spine far colder than her pressure ever had. It wasn’t the smile of someone whose control had failed. It was the smile of a predator that had just discovered a prize far greater than anything she could have dreamed of.

Just then, her senses brushed against a faint magical mark on him. But before she could examine it further, an unfamiliar presence washed over her perception. Her smile remained, though a trace of wariness entered her eyes. Whatever that presence was, it was warning her against probing any deeper.

She immediately released his face and straightened.

Her gaze returned to his, and her smile widened. "Grow stronger, if you wish to protect those you love," she said softly. "And remember... sooner or later, you will be mine."

Before Ethan could say a single word, the air around her rippled, and in the next instant, she was gone.

The barrier collapsed in the same instant. The enchanted lamps along the walls flared back to life, the pressure vanished as though it had never existed, and the faint sounds of the waking Outer District drifted into the chamber once again, carried on the morning air through the high windows.

Ethan stood where he was for a long while.

Only then did he realise how tightly his fingers had been gripping the hilt. He slowly let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding and loosened his hand, his thumb finally sliding away from the ring.

He stared at the spot where she had disappeared.

Ethan’s brow twitched.

"What was that crazy woman even spouting...?"

As the tension finally passed, anger flared within him. In his past life, House Bluemoon had fallen to Thorn’s surprise attack... and everything Luna had been forced to suffer had begun with it. All along, this woman had been the one standing behind Thorn. And that same woman had just stood before him, telling him that sooner or later, he would belong to her.

Ethan drew a slow breath and sheathed the Eternal Sovereign Blade, letting the last of the tension drain from his shoulders. His gaze drifted back to the far end of the chamber, where she had appeared.

———

Far above Northwatch, where the morning clouds had only just begun to part, the air rippled once.

The woman stood upon nothing, her long black hair stirring in the cold wind as she looked down at the city below.

After she had torn the Higher Demon’s power out of Riennal and severed the demon’s link to him, she had quietly watched everything that followed, including Marcus and Evelyn’s arrival at the Winterveil Mountain Range. Then she had made her way to Northwatch without anyone noticing.

It hadn’t taken her long to learn who the boy truly was... the Heir of House Ravencrest. From then on, she had watched over the guest house through her Divine-Level Perception. When she learned that he had fallen into the Hollow Sleep, she had been a little disappointed, and she had been about to leave... but just then, the boy had woken up. So she had waited for the right moment to meet him.

And now she had.

Her gaze lowered to her own fingers. They were trembling faintly, and she could still feel the two traces she had sensed on him.

One belonged to that woman. The other was completely unfamiliar, yet the immense power concealed within it had been enough to make her withdraw her hand.

Iris had left that mark on Ethan while he slept in her study, after he had overused his Intent. The moment it sensed the Crimson-Eyed Woman’s presence, it should have triggered and notified Iris immediately.

Yet it hadn’t.

Whose presence was that...? Had they suppressed that woman’s mark, keeping her completely unaware of all this?

Whoever they were, they hadn’t intervened or tried to stop her. They had simply watched... watched over the boy, just as she had.

She looked down at the city one last time as her thoughts drifted towards them... and the black mist. Her caution rose at once.

Yet as her thoughts returned to Ethan, the caution in her expression gradually faded, replaced by a faint smile.

There is still hope... I need to change my plans.

———

Unknown Place

The silver-haired man watched as the black mist gathered around them once more, as it had countless times before. Beside him, Severus’s hands trembled, drops of sweat rolling down his forehead as a ragged breath escaped his lips.

"Your grandson is even more remarkable than I expected," the silver-haired man remarked. "To think he could withstand that woman’s ability."

Severus slowly lowered his sword, and a surge of sword force erupted from him, driving back the black mist for miles around them. Only then did he turn towards the silver-haired man, a faint smile appearing on his face as he finally drew a steady breath.

"Are they going to make a move?"

The silver-haired man’s golden eyes glimmered as his gaze swept across continents and kingdoms... yet when it reached another void, his vision came to an abrupt halt, as though an unseen force had clouded whatever lay beyond.

For a single heartbeat, the black mist bled crimson. Then it surged towards them once more, even denser than before.

The silver-haired man remained silent.