Chapter 48 - 『Ruinous II』

Nudging the cage on wheels with the sole of his boot, Jack continued to carry Arche in his arms.

"It'd be easier to pu--" Arche was about to try and get him to put her down in order to push the cage with his hands, but there was no need.

That cage, it went charging down the hill it was situated on top of, rushing after the friends of hers which had went off to capture the roaming native undead.

Termite turned his head just in time for Imina to pull him out of its path, causing both of them to fall on to the ground. Termite directly on top of her, one hand pressed on her shoulder and the other cupping her flat androgynous bosom.

Her bow was laying sprawled out beside her, her quiver full of arrows. "Hm..."

What would've been a glare, was a fond grin as she reached up and shoved him off of her, a quick peg against his own shoulder to get him off her.

Termite chuckled, "Sorry?"

"You're not sorry," Imina scolded playfully, collecting her bow and quiver over her shoulder and readying some rope.

Goltron just looked over them with a slight grin across his face. His eyes then traveling on over to the cage that had almost squashed Termite like a bug. "That was a close one," he watched as the runaway cage on wheels popped a skeleton like a ball hitting a bowling pin.

"Score!" Jack snickered lightly as the three of them looked up at him.

Arche who was just staring at the cage which had almost ran over her friends, turned her head to look up at Jack. He had this plain smile on his face, a fake smile. His eyes were relaxed, soft.

When he gazed down to her, she heart almost jumped out of her chest, causing her to tense for a moment. "Are you alright?" Jack asked as he could feel her sudden shift in his arms.

"I'm... I'm fine," her face turned red as her mind went back to what had happened since they've met. He messed with their minds, with words alone. He touched her rear, then confessed and tricked her into courting him. While he hadn't proven to be bad so far, she was beginning to tell just how dangerously spiteful he could get.

Had he tried squishing her friend? Or was it just bad luck that Termite was in its path?

Arche nervously poked her tongue out of her lips and rested her head against his shoulder. "So... Training? How're you going to do that with me in your arms?"

"Oh? You really want to know?" Jack used this weird monotonous sarcastic, and almost playful, voice with her.

Arche furrowed her brows, the moment she was being teased verbally by him, her nervousness went away. "Yes. I want to know how you're going to train me!"

"Well, first... Gate is a Seventh Tier spell, as you are now. You'll be unable to use it." Jack pitched his head down towards her slightly. "But I can teach you plenty."

With his face closer to hers, her heart began to punch up and out against her ribs to the point that her vision was throbbing. This excitement felt strange, but it wasn't unnatural.

The only other person she could remember feeling this with at one point was Jet, when they were little and they'd play while his mother worked in her home. Before the fall of their noble house. She curled her lower lip into her mouth with the aid of her top row of teeth, biting down slightly. Her eyes were on his lips, the ones she tasted for a short time.

Jack could see the look she had on her eyes and tightened his eyelids slightly, squinting them at her. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Wha-- I didn't say anything!" Panic suddenly surged through her mind, had she said something without noticing? Why was she feeling so flustered? Before she knew what was going on, Jack had his lips pressed against hers.

Almost instantly she found herself melting into this kiss. It felt different than the last one, perhaps it was the lack of wings? He light pulled on her lips with his own as he was moving onto one knee.

With one hand clamped down on her legs, the other moved up and grasped the back of her head. Burying itself into her blonde locks, he held onto her scalp, her headband falling in over her eyes.

"Mmmm...Mmmm..." Arche tried to speak into the kiss, but all that came out were soft sounds that she didn't think she'd make. He was obstructing her ability to speak by continuing.

Jack though it was cute, she was struggling.

The moment that he broke the kiss though, she was panting up at him with her big blue eyes staring through his. By now there were a couple undead in the cage. So it had been several minutes by far. Which made it understandable that she had a hard time breathing regularly.

That and he could see her heart pounding through her chest, her eyes were bouncing. Jack was looking at her lips with this predatory gaze.

"N-no!" Arche raised a hand to his lips, panting still as she was trying to regain her composure.

"Hm... Enough?" Almost immediately Jack had this calm in his eyes, as if she had cast a spell over him, but of course that was just him. Adapting, appeasing, holding back. "Right.. Training."

Arche blinked at this as she noticed his fingers were knotted into her hair. "What're you doing?"

"Prepping, your head's going to hurt a bit."

Arche didn't quite understand, not right away anyways. "What're you talking about? I thought you were going to train me... Why would my head hurt?"

"Eh...? And here I thought you were considered a genius," Jack goaded her teasingly of which caused her to crease her brows in an triggered manner.

"...That's not funny," Arche retorted before feeling his fingers make a pulse-like motion behind her head. "What're you doing...?"

"Messing around with the back of your head."

"...I SWEAR ON GOLTRONS FIST!" Arche reached up to grab his face with a two of her open hands, only to freeze in place as he saw his mouth move, no sound escaping his lips.

『Maximize Magic』

『Memory Meld』

Pain, he wasn't kidding. Pain shot through the back of her skull from whence his hand was place. It felt like someone had bashed her head, skull and brain in with a rigid rock. She felt some of her own vitality, her experience being whisked away.

Her big blue eyes stared up at him, before she placed the side of her face into his chest. The discomfort caused by the pain wasn't letting her close her eyes. It hurt too much. The whites were turning red and tears were welling up.

New knowledge however was building up in her mind. Spells that she never knew existed, or ones better than the ones she already knew, appeared.

He had magic that allowed him to instantly transfer magic into one's mind. It was useful, but now she knew why he wouldn't put her down while he used it.

Though after a few minutes the pain was beginning to cease away, she was already silently letting the tears run down her face. Her head rolling back into his hand. Her eyes rested on him, "Never do that again... Without warning me... First..." She seemed to be having a hard time focusing, which was understandable.

Just shrugged before glancing up from Arche, "I promise I'll warn you next time."

"...Why... Don...I..." Nudging and nuzzling her face into his chest, she closed her eyes, dozing off.

『Atonement』

As he cast this spell, Atonement, a Seventh Tier, he sacrificed twenty-five percent of his excess EXP in order to set her Karma to match his own which was exceedingly high.

This particular spell was used only by angels, or high leveled Divine and Faith Classes. It was one of the few rare abilities that actually effected karma. In this case, this particular spell was usually used to cure Cursed Paladins should they have had negative karma affliction.

Which wasn't the case with Leinas.

The visual effect of this spell was a golden hue embracing her petite form for a few seconds, before dimming out and vanishing soon after.

Jack finally rested his eyes on the group of three, running from a Death Knight, practically in circles all over the ruin grounds. The monster had been ordered to scare the shit out of them, but not to kill them.

They had already tried killing the Death Knight since they couldn't capture it, but at the same time, their attacks had been completely useless.

Behind the Death Knight was multiple undead, practically following in single file. Though with all the circles they were running in, it looked more like a moving piece of abstract art!

Jack just let out a somewhat satisfied sigh, watching as the Death Knight was flailing around its massive weapon, carelessly eliminating its lesser undead zombie cousins.