Crimson Core

A few days had passed, and tomorrow was the opening day of the mid-yearly assessment.

Today Darcy’s sister had come; she had the intention of choosing recruits for the Purple Fang faction.

“Sigh… I can’t believe this. Kai felt truly under. “… Me? In need of something?”

Kai had an arrogant nature, mostly due to his fission with Cipher.

“My Lord, Please do not take it that way.” Darcy tried to console his ego, bringing up his spirits.

Right now, Kai and Darcy were in front of the room where Martha would be found. “What kind of person is she? Does she know that we are here?” Kai seemed nervous.

‘Is he alright?’ Darcy asked herself. She could really not understand Kai’s behavior; some times he was confident, some other times he was caring, and some other times he was scary. It was as if she was interacting with different people with the same face and body structure.

“Don’t worry, you would love her.”

“All alright, if you say so.” Kai still gave off the air of being nervous.

Darcy opened the door a bit and frozen. It wasn’t what she saw that made her freeze; it’s what she felt. With this sinister and domineering aura behind her, she turned around and saw no one standing behind her except Kai.

The aura was his.

“You…” Darcy saw that Kai had changed. His face seemed to be more handsome or so she thought.

Kai seemed to stand up straight now. Formerly he was slouching, causing him to look slack and not worth mentioning, but now that Kai gave the vibe of a ruler, he was... smoking hot.

“Let’s go meet your sister.”

Kai’s voice seemed to have changed; he picked his words now and delicately brought them out through his lips. Darcy almost lost her composure.

“Right.” Darcy opened the door. "Sister, it’s me! Darcy!!” Darcy jumped into the room.

There was only one woman in the room; she was plain beautiful.

“Darcy! It’s been so long I have missed you! Come give your big sister a hug!” Martha was ecstatic.

Martha’s expression changed a little bit when she saw Kai. Something was off about him, but she could not careless; her lovely little sister was in her arms.

The view for Kai was simply sumptuous. Martha was simply beautiful—her red luscious hair, her sexy eyes. She was all a man could dream of; she was the envy of women.

Not to mention her body proportions. Although bigger than that of Darcy, it was not to be compared to Chelsea. For Kai that Is.

Martha had the body proportions of an hour glass. Her hair, her eyes, her lips, her body—she was simply gorgeous.

Although Martha and Darcy were born to different mothers, they had loved each other as sisters from a very young age.

Darcy had always looked up to her. Although they were ten years apart in terms of age, Darcy and Martha seemed to converse as age mates.

Kai just stood there watching the two sisters laugh and do what girls do when they meet.

“You have grown... and so has your essence’s purity!” Martha looked like a proud mother.

To be exact, she had always been like one to Darcy; she was like the all-purpose female in Darcy’s life.

Martha could be a mother, a sister, a best friend, etc. when it came to Darcy.

“I have been hard working.” Darcy said while she took a place at Kai, who just stood there looking at them and the room.

The room was painted white. It seemed to be a lounge—the arrangements of cushions, the massive window that let light in and then the little windows that were for ventilation. The room had a somewhat soothing ambience.

"Darcy, who is that? Care to introduce him to me?” Martha asked Darcy as she motioned for Darcy to sit beside her.

They looked more like twins than sisters.

“Umm, sister, it would be best if he introduced himself”. Darcy didn’t want to introduce him because she was scared that she might say something to foil Kai’s plan.

‘She is smart. Lovely.’ Kai thought as he gave Darcy and Martha a bow.

The whole thing felt surreal to Darcy. ‘What is he planning?’

Kai opened his mouth, and the following words fell out: “Good day, lady Martha Firefield. I am Kai; I am the fair lady’s butler.” Kai sounded very refined.

“Oh…? Fair lady, you never told me you had a butler?” Martha asked with a raised eyebrow and a mocking smile.

“Well…it’s not… Kai, clarify this!” Darcy said with begging eyes.

“Right, I do apologize for Darcy here not being any fun.” Kai had an expression of sadness, but his aura became sharp and piercing.

“Lady Martha, my name is Kai. I will not beat about the bush. I want your sister. Kai said those words as though they were the normal thing to say.

“Want my sister? As in marriage!?” The moment Darcy heard those words, her face flushed red.

“Yes and no.” Kai put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth. “You see… I want her… Let’s put it this way: What are you willing to exchange for your sister?”

The moment Kai said those words, Martha seemed to be entranced by Kai’s voice.

Kai had unlocked God’s whisper.

The effects of this skill were to make suggestions to the mind of the listener, getting the listener entranced by the speaker’s words; the more silent the room is, the better the effect.

Its duration varies depending on the strength of the mage. The moment Kai stopped speaking, Martha seemed to be drawn out of her most wonderful dream.

“I am not an object!” Darcy’s bitchy side spoke up.

Kai looked at her as though she was the only one in the room, as if they were lovers about to have a steamy night.

“I never called you one.”

Darcy heard those words and calmed down. Kai didn’t notice it, but the effects of God’s whisper were superb. “So what do you say to my request?” Kai asked Martha.

Martha seemed to figure out that she was being enchanted by Kai’s voice.

{Brext}

Martha secretly cast a spell she used whenever she met someone stronger than her: brain fire. This spell kept her sane under any circumstance; it seemed to set her brain on fire, keeping her mind clear as a result of the pain.

It was a cruel spell, but effective.

“My sister is not an object; I am guessing you want her out of my faction.” Martha looked at Darius with affectionate eyes.

“Smart girl… That’s exactly what I want, but what do you want in exchange?” Kai asked with a grin.

Martha was silent; she looked at Darcy with questioning eyes. Darcy nodded meekly.

“So it’s like this.” Martha smiled wryly; she had sadness in her eyes, and she knew what this meant.

Darcy wanted to break out of the family’s hold. Martha might look amazing and all, but she could not break out of the family’s hold; she was... scared. She was so happy for her sister, she had a tear in her eyes.

“So…” Martha looked at Kai with an expression that had utterly changed from all loving and caring to feisty and flirty.

“I can’t possibly give my sister off to you in exchange for something... But I will hold you up on your words.”

Martha walked up to Kai and did her signature flirty move. She didn’t get to where she was in a male, self-important world with her skills alone. A girl had to get her hands dirty... sometimes.

Martha traced Kai’s face with her fingers. Moving her fingers through his face in the most sensual way, most women could not hold a finger to Martha in this aspect. She had assets and she knew how to use them right.

All this was not getting to Kai in any way. ‘I just have to go with this.’

“I will keep to my words.” Kai said in a very monotone voice.

“I wonder what you could give to me?”

“your imagination limits me,” Kai replied.

“Oh… A feisty one... Take care of my sister... Now go away; I need to talk to my sister.”

Kai said nothing and walked out of the room. It was better not to push anything; he already got what he wanted.

“brr,” Kai shuddered. “Rubbing her hands over me, what did she think she was doing? Will Chelsea ever forgive me?”

Although Kai seemed unfazed, he was worried about the request Martha would have of him. She seemed ambitious… Too ambitious.

Back inside the room, Martha and Darcy were sitting side by side, Darcy knew she was about to answer questions from him.

“I sensed him on you; what happened? Are you under a spell? Did you guys already have sex?” Martha seemed concerned about her sister’s well-being.

“No and no, but I wish... He is a weird type of mage; I haven’t seen him cast a single spell.” Darcy answered.

“He DID seem weird to me. He has this weird aura around him; your growth is because of his help, right?” Martha was curious.

“You could put it like that. He even gave me a baron-level spell.” Darcy said proudly.

“A BARON-LEVEL SPELL?! He is definitely not of a simple background.” Martha was simply stupefied.

‘Even if I don’t have that, the highest rank spell I have here is a Count level rank.’

“What is the name of his faction?” Martha asked.

“it’s shadow.”

“Never heard of a shadow faction before.”

“Yeah, it’s new.” Darcy responded.

“It’s new?! How many members does it have?” Martha was getting worried. ‘Surely it must have a large member base.’

“We are three in total.” Darcy responded.

Martha almost had a heart attack. “Just three?!!! That’s crazy!” Martha began immediately regretting giving Darcy away.

Seeing her sister in distress, Darcy felt bad. “It’s good for me; I promise if I don’t see any growth in two years, I will come back to the Purple Fang faction.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” Darcy reassured her.

“Thank you.”

It didn’t take long for Darcy and Martha to finish their girl talk, and Darcy left.

“Phew~” Martha exhaled. “Xavier,” Martha called out to no one in particular.

“Yes, my lady.” A man dressed in black seemed to have materialized from nowhere... Out of thin air.

“Find out more about that Kai; follow him.” Martha was in her most serious look.

"Yes, my lady. Your wish is my command.” Xavier bowed.

“You may leave.” Martha dismissed Xavier as he bowed again and ‘disappeared’ into thin air.

“Let’s see what you are hiding.” Martha said as she held a wine glass with red wine bubbling downwards. She stared into the walls like a mafia boss or something.

Xavier was Martha’s right-hand man; she was the number one of the Purple Fang faction. Xavier could do anything as far as Martha wished.

Xavier was a weird kind of mage, an assassin mage, the rarest class of mages.

Mages were of different classes, based on their occupations or lines of work or paths chosen; it was a bit complicated, and the formula really did not put a lot of thinking power into it.

Kai was left all alone in his room. He felt weird; he could not place his hands on it. He felt someone watching him; he could feel it.

Kai had activated a set of skills; his senses were close to being that of a god. His body was not close to being supreme, but his mind was close—really close.

Kai took a casual look towards a random area in Kai’s room.

‘Eeek!’

Xavier drew in cold air; Kai was looking directly at him. ‘He could not know I was here, right? Right?’ Xavier was almost scared sh*tless. Kai soon stopped looking at him.

‘Phew.’ Xavier sighed, relieved.