Midnight had long since fallen over the Ritsuzen estate, but inside the private alchemy laboratory of Elder Gensai, the air was thick with the suffocating scent of ozone and crushed, bitter herbs.
Gensai stood motionless in the dim light, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the edge of his obsidian workbench. The blood of his carefully cultivated vessel had barely been mopped from the grand hall, yet the Clan Head had already casually sold the murderer to a filthy Devil. The absolute indignity of it made Gensai's mana flare violently, fracturing the glass vials around him.
Yes, for Gensai, Riku had never truly been a son; he was merely a tool for his ascension. As previously established, no true member of the Ritsuzen clan would ever look upon their offspring with even an ounce of genuine fondness. The only reason Gensai had even sired a child was to breed a perfectly compatible, genetically superior vessel to migrate his own mind into.
After decades of performing forbidden experiments upon himself, Gensai's current body was on the verge of total collapse. He urgently needed a fresh, living host, and he absolutely refused to degrade himself by inhabiting a synthetic homunculus.
Besides, crafting homunculi was not the specialty of the Ritsuzen clan. It was their distant European relatives, the Hapsburg-Mainz family, who held mastery over that particular arcane art. Furthermore, Gensai possessed absolutely no political ties to the Hapsburg-Mainz.
Only Clan Head Kyora had successfully forged a brief alliance with them twelve years ago, officially joining together with the German heiress of the Hapsburg-Mainz line. Together, they had produced two brilliant offspring: Ritsuzen Kaguya and her older brother, Wilhelm von Hapsburg-Mainz.
According to the transactional agreement struck between the two families, Wilhelm was immediately taken back to Germany to be raised as the Hapsburg-Mainz heir, while Kaguya remained in Japan with the Ritsuzen. Since the very day of their birth, no further contact between the divided families had ever been made again.
"No... wait. There is one other acceptable body on this estate."
A sudden, twisted realization sparked in Gensai's desperate mind. 'The boy's biology is severely flawed, but he is capable of wielding Ki. With that martial foundation and a few rigorous anatomical modifications, he could easily be moulded into the perfect vessel.'
'Ritsuzen Ren!' Gensai thought fiercely.
A low, raspy chuckle escaped his lips, quickly escalating into a full-blown, maniacal cackle that echoed off the cold stone walls of his ruined laboratory. "Hahahaha! Yes! That will do! That would be absolutely perfect! HAHAHAHA!"
'But I will have to secure him before the Astaroth family arrives to collect him,' Gensai noted internally, the manic grin never leaving his face.
Though he looked completely unhinged on the outside, laughing like a deranged madman amidst the shattered glass of his workbench, his mind was ice-cold. Beneath the crazed exterior, Gensai was calmly and ruthlessly calculating exactly how to abduct the boy out from under Kyora's nose.
"Ho? It seems our esteemed Elder is feeling rather celebratory." A cold, perfectly calm voice suddenly shattered Gensai's manic thoughts. "Care to share the good news with me?"
"Who?!" Gensai whipped his head toward the darkest corner of the laboratory, his eyes locking onto the faint silhouette of a short, petite figure leaning against the stone wall.
Slowly, the figure stepped out of the shadows and into the dim, flickering light. When Gensai recognized her unreadable face, he blurted out in disbelief. "Kaguya!"
Then, without any hesitation, his right sleeve suddenly burst apart. The expensive fabric shredded to ribbons, revealing a massive, terrifyingly muscular arm covered in thick, coarse hair. The grotesque limb looked exactly like that of a silverback gorilla, its giant fist clenched tightly and poised for a lethal, crushing strike.
"What makes our honoured successor come to this dreary place in the dead of night?" Gensai demanded. Though his tone had calmed down into a deceptive, icy purr, his chimera-like arm remained halfway activated, ready to pulverize her at the slightest provocation.
"I am simply here to make a deal," Kaguya answered crisply, her eyes completely unfazed by the monstrous, hulking limb meant to intimidate her.
"A deal? And what exactly could a ten-year-old girl possibly offer me?" Gensai looked down at her, his expression twisting into a sneer of disdain.
Hearing his dismissal, Kaguya merely shifted her cool gaze down toward his grotesquely morphed arm. "It seems our esteemed Elder Gensai is not doing too well," she noted dryly, completely ignoring his previous question to pivot to a seemingly unrelated topic.
Gensai's pupils suddenly shrank to pinpricks. His massive body tensed even further as a suffocating, violent wave of mana burst from his frame, aiming to intimidate the arrogant girl with its sheer pressure. "How do you know that?!" he snarled, his voice thick with paranoid rage.
"Heh. Let's just say I have done some passing study on flesh transfiguration." Kaguya smirked, entirely unconcerned by the heavy magical weight bearing down on her small shoulders.
"If I were to say—" Kaguya paused slightly, shifting her icy gaze up to lock intently onto his wide, manic eyes, "—that I can cure your cellular breakdown... would you be willing to hear me out?"
Genuinely alarmed, Gensai's magical aura faltered. The hulking Elder could only stare down at the ten-year-old girl in disbelief.
"Hooo..." Gensai closed his eyes and took a long, stabilizing breath.
Regaining a sliver of his usual composure, he slowly opened his eyes. "And how can I trust you?"
Seeing the Elder take the bait, Kaguya reached behind her back, pulled out a thin, leather-bound notebook, and tossed it to him.
Gensai's normal left hand shot out, catching it effortlessly from the air. Never breaking eye contact with the young girl, he slowly flipped open the cover. Seeing the complex title on the first page, his expression grew markedly more solemn; she actually possessed a viable theory. Quickly, he thumbed through the rest of the pages, his eyes scanning the diagrams and formulas furtively to deduce the core of her supposed 'cure'.
"A sealing array? This is only a temporary measure," Gensai noted coldly.
"It seems nothing escapes our esteemed Elder," Kaguya praised with a hint of mockery. "But it will successfully halt your cellular decay, buying you ample time to sire a new, compatible vessel, will it not?"
Staring intently at the ten-year-old genius, Gensai accepted the premise. "Speak."
Smiling faintly at the success of her trap, Kaguya finally revealed her demand. "I want your help in holding off the Astaroth entourage and my father when they arrive to collect the boy."
Hearing this, Gensai scoffed immediately. "Impossible. Both your father and Azelior are Ultimate-class monsters. There is no way I can hold them off! I am merely a High-class mage."
"Hmph. Do not take me for a fool, Elder," Kaguya informed him, her piercing gaze seeing right through his lies. "With a full-body transfiguration, you can temporarily push your output to barely reach the Ultimate class."
By now, Gensai didn't even seem shocked by the terrifying depth of intelligence she had gathered on his hidden trump cards. "It seems our young successor is quite well-informed. But! To risk my life against two Ultimate-class fighters... I require double the payment."
Squinting her icy eyes at him intently, Kaguya calculated the variables for a split second before agreeing. "Name your price."
"I want the exact method to awaken Ki from the boy." Gensai didn't hesitate for a single second to name his prize.
"Hmph. Very well. I will secure the Ki awakening technique for you, but only after the boy is safely away from the estate," Kaguya agreed coldly.
With the pact finally struck, Kaguya slowly made her way out of the laboratory, Gensai's predatory eyes watching her intently from the shadows until she disappeared.
**********
The moment the heavy iron door slammed shut and Kaguya's presence completely faded away, Gensai's monstrous arm slowly transformed back to its normal, aged appearance. Then, without warning, he threw his head back and burst out laughing like a complete madman, all his previous composure gone, "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What an arrogant little fool! Hahahahaha!" Gensai laughed even harder, viciously mocking the so-called genius who had just left.
Gensai had absolutely no intention of following Kaguya's plan. Hell, he didn't even want the boy's awakening technique! What he truly wanted was the boy's body. Furthermore, he had no plans to actually use her sealing array to halt his cellular decay. It wasn't because her array wouldn't work, it was because he didn't trust the manipulative little brat for a single second. The complex sealing process would leave his body defenceless, giving Kaguya the perfect opening to permanently seal him away instead.
'I will play along with her little game for now. After she secures the boy... that is when I will claim my true prize!' Gensai thought fiercely, without a single ounce of remorse for his impending backstab.
There was one massive, fatal variable Kaguya had failed to account for: his actual power level. Gensai had deliberately lied just moments ago to test if the girl truly knew the depths of his hidden strength. Her arrogant assumption confirmed that she was operating on outdated information.
Gensai was already a baseline Ultimate-class mage. If he unleashed a full-body transfiguration, his raw, uninhibited power output could easily burst far beyond Kyora and Azelior, who were merely mid-tier Ultimate-class beings. At his absolute, monstrous peak, Gensai could reach the terrifying apex of the High-Ultimate class! This overwhelming power disparity would easily allow him to shatter any blockade and leave the estate completely unharmed.
'Though it is somewhat regrettable that I cannot take the time to kill the filthy Devil and that traitorous Clan Head,' Gensai thought darkly.
To definitively kill two mid-tier Ultimate-class beings at once would require too much time and effort. The prolonged battle would create far too much noise, allowing a paranoid rat like Kaguya to realize something was wrong and escape with his prized vessel before he could finish the job.
**********
The next three days passed in a state of fragile, bittersweet peace.
Out in the sunlit, secluded training courtyard behind the servant quarters, the sharp swish of a blade cutting through the morning air echoed continuously.
"Haa!" Ren swung the heavy steel sword downward, his small feet pivoting perfectly against the dirt. Every strike was followed by another, with each repetition growing slower and more deliberate. Ren was meticulously training his frontal strike, analyzing his posture and grip to make the trajectory of his blade sharper and more flawless.
"Wow! Ren-chan is getting more and more proficient with the sword!" Kon cheered loudly from his perch on the courtyard fence, his silver tail wagging a mile a minute. "You're getting so strong!"
Ren wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and offered a bright, genuine smile. Though a dark, lingering shadow still haunted his eyes whenever he slept, the suffocating trauma of the banquet had slowly begun to recede, washed away by the constant, unwavering warmth of his two best friends.
A few paces away, Tsumugi stood silently under the shade of an old oak tree, holding a cold towel and a canteen of water. She wasn't training with him today. With his raw swordsmanship having already surpassed hers, she had nothing left to teach him. The martial path ahead could only be discovered by Ren alone.
Her face, usually set in an immovable stoic mask, fell slightly in sorrow. Ren, who was taking a break and walking toward her, immediately noticed.
"What's wrong, Tsumugi-nee?" Ren asked gently.
"Are you really going to the Astaroth house?" Tsumugi answered with a quiet, heavy question of her own.
Hearing this, Ren paused in his steps, a flicker of deep reluctance flashing in his eyes. "It couldn't be helped. The Clan Head has already dictated it." His voice fell in sadness for a brief second before he forced a bright, upbeat tone. "And! I can finally leave this dreary place and see more of the outside world!" Ren cheered, desperately trying to comfort Tsumugi—or perhaps, just trying to comfort himself.
"Mm. You're right," Tsumugi agreed softly. Though deep down her heart was heavy with worry, she managed a faint, melancholic smile. "Our Ren has finally grown his wings."
"Hehe! Don't forget about me!" Kon interjected loudly, breaking the somber mood. "I will follow Ren-chan anywhere, after all! With me around, absolutely nothing bad will happen to him!" Kon boasted, proudly patting his furry chest with his little paw.
"You?" Tsumugi said with deadpan disdain, eyeing his tiny stature.
"What?! You don't believe me?!" Kon's silver fur bristled in utter outrage. "Why you! You resting-bitch-face maid, how dare you criticize this Lord!"
With a furious yip, Kon launched himself directly at her face, fully intending to scratch her.
Hearing his insult, a vein popped on Tsumugi's forehead. She clenched her fists in annoyance and, without any ceremony, raised her hands to mercilessly intercept the flying fox.
Watching the two of them bicker and wrestle from the sidelines, Ren simply smiled a blissful, genuinely happy smile.
'How I wish time could just pause at this very moment,' he thought quietly to himself.