Amidst the chilling silence left in the wake of the battle, Arvin, still maintaining his invisible form, walked slowly toward the indigo-haired youth who had just displayed extraordinary telekinesis power.
Upon reaching a very close distance, Arvin leaned down slightly and whispered right into the youth's ear.
"What is your name? And how old are you currently?"
The whispering voice that suddenly sounded right in his ear made the youth instantly jolt and startle in shock. He reflexively turned to the side, searching for the form of his interlocutor, but all he found was empty air.
H-How could I forget the existence of this invisible man? the youth muttered in his heart, his breath catching slightly. He had just realized and remembered that since earlier, someone incredibly strong had been watching him and following him from behind.
Swallowing hard to moisten his dry throat, the youth forced himself to answer.
"M-My name is... Calverd." the indigo-haired youth answered with a voice that still stuttered slightly from lingering tension. "I am seventeen years old."
Hearing that answer, Arvin fell silent behind his invisible form. He truly did not expect that the youth before him was seventeen years old had to languish in a filthy prison and receive depraved and vile treatment from a royal soldier. That fact made a twinge of pity flash in Arvin's heart.
However, putting aside all his surprise and pity, Arvin's analytical brain still felt very confused by the contradiction of the youth named Calverd who was currently near him.
"If you possess such deadly telekinesis magic like that..." Arvin whispered again, voicing his bewilderment. "...then why didn't you use that power to fight or kill that soldier inside the cell?"
Hearing the question that brought up the traumatic event again, Calverd lowered his face. His hands clenched tightly until his knuckles turned white.
"The cuffs that shackled me earlier were not ordinary iron cuffs. They were special cuffs made by the kingdom's best alchemy to contain and seal a person's magic power." Calverd answered, beginning to explain his situation with a bitter tone. "No matter how strong my magic is, I still cannot use it if my hands are bound by that object."
"Wait a minute! If that object seals magic..." Arvin interrupted with a furrowed brow, feeling increasingly confused by the youth's answer, which did not align with what Kaydan did a few moments ago. "...why could my spouse free himself from the same cuffs using his own gravity magic?"
"Those cuffs indeed can absolutely contain and seal the magic power of the person wearing them. But, the object has one weakness. It can be easily destroyed by magic originating from a third party." Calverd said, explaining the sealing mechanism further. "In other words, there must have been magic intervention from someone else that destroyed the cuffs binding your spouse from the outside, not from your spouse powers."
Someone else? Arvin thought, still feeling confused. His eyes narrowed sharply. Kaydan clearly used his own gravity magic to crush and free himself from those shackles without my magic intervention earlier.
His brain kept working at high speed, thinking about the mechanics of the cuffs that 'supposedly' could seal someone's magic power absolutely.
However, at that very second, an epiphany suddenly crossed Arvin's mind. He remembered the absolute mechanism of the Soul Seal ritual that had bound Kaydan's soul entirely into his own soul.
Is it because Kaydan's original soul that is bound to me is technically 'dead' and fused, which is why he could break free from those cuffs? Arvin thought, beginning to analyze all possibilities from the perspective of ancient magic laws. Yes, that makes perfect sense! Because his soul is now mine, the cuff's sealing system responded to the magic emitted by Kaydan's body as an anomaly.
As the absolute owner of his soul, the cuff system deemed that the gravity magic came from an entity or 'someone else', thus fulfilling the condition of third-party destruction!
But what happened next, Arvin became increasingly curious about the structural workings of those magic-restraining cuffs. He intended to take a few samples to study.
"Wait me here for a moment!" Arvin suddenly whispered, giving a command to the youth before him. "I want to enter the cell and take some of those cuffs to study."
Calverd, who was still enveloped in lingering anger, only responded with a slow nod.
After Arvin moved away, the atmosphere around the indigo-haired youth instantly became silent.
In the distance, only the loud clanging of iron and the shouts of many people fighting could be heard echoing from the depths of the underground prison corridor.
Who exactly is this invisible man? Calverd thought, curiosity starting to replace his tension. Since earlier, he freed me, guided me, and watched over me, but he never once revealed his true form, not even bothering to tell me his name.
Amidst his thoughts about the mysterious figure, a dark memory suddenly struck his mind. He recalled the moments when he was held captive on the bed and being forcefully copulated. The invisible man was there, releasing his cuffs right after the soldier left.
Wait! Wait! Wait! Calverd thought in shock. Does that mean he was in that cell and saw everything while I was being raped?
Instantly, his face began to flush bright red, a mixture of unbearable shame and boiling fury. Damn soldier! Because of your depraved act, you made this invisible man see my naked body and witness that disgusting scene!
While Calverd was swept up in his immense annoyance and shame, the youth jolted in surprise upon feeling a very gentle pat land on his right shoulder.
"I have finished collecting some of those cuffs." Arvin, who had returned in his invisible form, whispered to confirm. "Let's move inside immediately to join my spouse."
"Wait a moment!" Calverd interjected quickly, halting his steps.
"What is it, Calverd?" Arvin asked in a flat tone.
Calverd swallowed hard, his voice trembling to hold back a surge of emotions. "D-D-Did you see everything when my body was raped by that soldier earlier?"
Silence fell for a moment. However, Arvin had no intention of lying or hiding the truth.
"Yes, I saw it very clearly!" Arvin answered bluntly, his tone calm yet non-judgmental. "But know this, I had promised in my heart that I would free you after I successfully freed my spouse. And from another perspective... truthfully, thanks to you, my spouse managed to avoid the same fate."
Arvin sighed softly.
"I am truly grateful to you, Calverd." he continued in a very sincere tone. "If not for this encounter, and if that soldier hadn't mentioned my spouse, perhaps he would have become their victim by now."
Arvin was about to continue his sentence, but he abruptly stopped speaking when he saw the indigo-haired youth's shoulders begin to tremble violently.
Calverd suddenly cried silently, his tears falling and wetting the floor.
Arvin fell silent. He understood perfectly how painful, humiliating, and mentally devastating it was for the youth to be brutally violated without having the ability to fight back.
"You no longer need to worry too much about that dark incident." Arvin said in a much gentler tone, feeling deep pity for the youth's tragic fate. "I swear upon my name, I will never speak a word about your disgrace and the events in that cell to anyone."
"D-Do you..." Calverd sobbed, raising his tear-stained face to look toward the source of Arvin's voice. "...do you consider me a vile and dirty person after I was treated so indecently by that soldier?"
Hearing the question that seemed to indicate the youth was plunging into an abyss of deep trauma after experiencing such a tragic event, Arvin thoroughly understood what he was feeling right now.
A surge of fury instantly crawled up Arvin's chest. He felt absolutely disgusted by this kingdom's system, where soldiers who raped prisoners at will were not given the death penalty, and those uniformed rapists were instead allowed and protected by the royal authorities.
"You are not vile at all, Calverd!" Arvin whispered firmly, his words full of emphasis, completely unwilling to let the youth sink and shatter in his own fear. "Listen to me carefully! The one who is vile, dirty, and disgusting is that bastard soldier who forcefully raped you! Not you! And I sincerely apologize for witnessing that event without immediately stepping in to help you right then and there."
Arvin paused for a moment, letting his words sink in.
"But to be honest, I cannot act recklessly in this prison because I'm not a hero spreading justice." he continued, stating his circumstances. "My sole priority in infiltrating this place is one thing: to save my spouse and bring him back home safely. Saving you was a secondary matter that I could only do after my spouse was in a safe condition."
Arvin's thoughts slowly drifted. The dark and rotten world behind the grandeur of the Victoriaz Kingdom in the reality of the 'BL Game: The Sign of Destiny' had made the blue-haired youth open his eyes wide.
The sweet and heroic storyline in the game compared to the storyline in the reality he was currently living in, everything was vastly different and diametrically opposed, like heaven and the abyss.
After witnessing and knowing firsthand about the rot occurring in this world, it turned out that not all kingdoms claiming to be civilized would sentence rapists to death. That game's storyline was absolute trash and did not match the cruelties happening in the real world at all.