Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

In the middle of the main hall of Sigrún's mansion, Erik could be seen sitting at the head table, accompanied by his wolves. They lay on either side of his chair, each over a meter tall, while Ebonique, measuring just over 30 cm, rested on the boy’s head.

With a calm and casual attitude, Erik reviewed notes in his planner while eating cookies and sipping tea, as if just moments ago he hadn’t faced an assassination attempt, much less killed someone in cold blood.

“Are you sure you don’t need to talk about what happened, young master?”

A worried Seraphina sat near Erik, placing a beautiful porcelain teapot with gold decorations on the table. Despite everything going according to plan—even with the addition of several last-minute complications and the betrayal of the judge—Seraphina was a bit anxious about how Erik would react to the situation. However, the outcome was very unexpected for her.

From the start, the whole duel situation made Seraphina suspect that something else was happening behind the scenes. After a bit of espionage and investigation, she connected the dots and uncovered the entire plot, which she thought was quite foolish. Even without her at the university, it would never have worked.

The original plot, though it might have worked with a lot of luck on a regular disciple, was doomed to fail against her young master. After all, the ‘great plan’ those fools had devised was to humiliate him, break his image, and destroy his mentality, making him more easily manipulated. They believed this would create a need in him to prove his worth, something they could exploit to get rid of him more easily.

But her young master wasn’t just anyone. He was a super-genius, at least comparable to her young lady, if not superior. This meant that in a one-on-one battle, he was unbeatable by anyone at the Ascended level, making it impossible to humiliate him. Moreover, unlike other young men, he wasn’t so easily manipulated, rendering the rest of their ‘great plan’ impractical.

Even more inconceivable was the sudden shift to try to assassinate him at the university—something no one in their right mind would have considered. Even in the most unlikely scenario where it succeeded, there wasn’t a single being in the galaxy who could protect the culprits from the retaliation of the Arcane Order.

Not to mention that Eleonora and Sigrún loved Erik more than anyone could imagine, to the point that they had spent obscene amounts of resources—so much that a similar expense would bankrupt many empires—along with years of research and work. They had pushed the youngest Masters in history beyond their limits to create a set of near-divine defensive artifacts to protect their beloved. This meant that Erik could stand still and let a Master-level attack him for an hour without suffering a scratch.

Because of this, Seraphina wanted to kill several birds with one stone: catch the pathetic plotters in one fell swoop, and send a strong message about daring to target Erik. Most importantly, she wanted to give her young master valuable experience in a controlled environment where he would not be hurt but could mature and better understand the world he was facing.

But the results weren’t what she expected. While the first part went perfectly, the second turned out entirely different from her expectations. She imagined many possible outcomes—that Erik would freeze in shock at the sudden change in situation, that he would flee in terror, or that he would explode in rage. However, what happened was completely unexpected.

When his life was ‘threatened,’ Erik didn’t panic. On the contrary, he behaved like an experienced warrior, calmly resolving the situation. He quickly took down the weakest and closest enemy, reducing the variables at play while setting up a situation that allowed him to surprise the strongest enemy, a Sage-level mage.

By giving a false impression of weakness, Erik provoked an attack from the traitorous mage, which he masterfully handled. He made the most of his wolves' strengths, his spirit, his near-divine artifacts, and the pressure from the Masters in the sky, all to confuse the enemy and land a decisive blow that immobilized him.

...

Since Erik’s contract with Ebonique began, the wolves have undergone several changes. The most significant was that they somehow gained an additional magical affinity, besides the wind affinity they inherited from their mother. While this phenomenon has happened a few times before and is well-documented, it is quite rare, so Erik couldn’t help but feel envious of the wolves for a time, though he would never admit it.

In the case of Kaiser, the silver wolf, he gained an affinity for lightning, which he could control naturally, as if he had been born with it. Tiberius, on the other hand, developed an affinity for darkness, making him stealthy and lethal. This prompted Ebonique to praise them and decide to train them, teaching them several interesting skills.

When the traitorous referee fired the laser in an attempt to kill him, Erik quickly used the [Sphere of Life], the most powerful defensive artifact created by his Masters. This protected him and gave him the precious seconds needed for Tiberius to act.

One of the skills Tiberius learned from his training with Ebonique was how to "Elementalize" itself and hide in shadows. Since mastering this ability, Erik’s shadow has become his favorite hiding place, and he often brings Kaiser with him.

One of the most interesting things Tiberius could now do was create shadow portals, allowing a kind of teleportation between shadows. With the help of one of these portals, Erik entered and instantly appeared behind the judge’s back, taking him by surprise.

Additionally, with Kaiser’s lightning elementalization, another skill he learned from Ebonique, and spiritual empowerment—one of the special abilities granted by a spirit contract—Erik was able to launch an effective attack with his machetes. These blades were the second most prized creation of his Masters, allowing him to push his magical edge to extreme levels and giving him the ability to cut through almost anything, including the body of a Sage.

However, if Erik were to be honest, he’d admit that he was only able to pull off such a feat thanks to the presence of the Masters and the director. Their presence immobilized the referee and left him with almost no options. Otherwise, such a feat would have been impossible, as the difference in power between a Sage and an Ascended was insurmountable.

Seraphina was deeply surprised by Erik’s quick, precise, and ruthless reaction. But his coldness in handling the situation was unexpected. Even after returning to the mansion, Erik acted as if nothing had happened, going back to working on his notes as if he had just come back from a stroll. Despite her being sure that he had never killed another human being before, he showed no negative reaction, which concerned her a bit.

“You mean how you used me as bait? Hehe,” Erik looked up from his notes and gave Seraphina a playful, teasing glance.

“I apologize for acting that way, young master. You have every right to be angry with me, and if you believe it necessary, I could resign from my service if I am no longer to your liking.” Seraphina felt a little guilty and lowered her head as she apologized, but Erik just laughed joyfully before responding.

“Hahaha, don’t worry about it, Seraphina. I don’t know if you noticed, but even though you never explicitly said it, you’ve been giving me plenty of hints about the plan you were going to execute this whole time. So I knew what was going to happen from the start. Rather than being angry or anything like that, I actually want to thank you. Now I’ll be free from trouble for a while, giving me time to focus on my projects and, hopefully, finish them before my Masters return.”

Hearing Erik’s words, Seraphina looked up in surprise, only to find him smiling warmly at her while offering one of his special cookies made by Eleonora—his most treasured possession, as he wouldn’t be able to replace them for some time and hardly dared eat them himself.

That small gesture from Erik, something that might seem simple or trivial to others, was so special and significant to Seraphina that she felt her heart skip a beat. A lump formed in her throat, and she had to summon all her strength to hold back the tears.

With extreme care, Seraphina took the cookie with trembling hands, as if receiving the most precious treasure existing. She then ate it slowly, as if she didn’t want it to end, savoring an exquisite taste that was far more than just the delicious flavor of the cookie.

“They’re good, aren’t they?” Erik asked with a smile, watching Seraphina eat the cookie like a little mouse, which made the beautiful maid look up at him before shyly and softly thanking him.

“Exquisite, young master.”

“Hehe, I know. My Master makes the best cookies in the world.”

With her gaze distant and a slight blush on her cheeks, Seraphina enjoyed her cookie slowly while watching Erik’s focused face. He had gone back to reviewing his planner, writing things down or drawing circles and diagrams. But soon, something clicked in her mind. She cleared her throat, took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and then asked.

“Young master, may I ask you a question that might be uncomfortable?”

When Erik heard the question, he looked up and found Seraphina giving him a serious look, which surprised him a bit. He set down his notebook and pen on the table and gave her his full attention.

“Of course, ask away.”

“Young master, today you killed a human being. How do you feel about that?” Seraphina asked in a serious tone, watching Erik's expression closely. He responded casually, seeming even more relaxed.

“Not much, really. He wanted to kill me, so I killed him. It’s as simple as that.”

(I was worried for nothing…)

For Erik, killing another human wasn’t any different from killing an animal for its hide. He didn’t see it as something special or even inherently good or bad. It was just part of life. The very act of breathing killed things, so apart from those close to him, life itself didn’t hold much value to him. For some reason, though, this had deeply concerned his adoptive parents in his past life.

Through various methods, his parents from his past life had taught him that killing another human was wrong and should only be done in self-defense when his life or his family’s was at risk. And to a degree, their teachings had worked—he had only killed about four people in his past life, all in self-defense. Although, only one of those cases had made it to court and he had been acquitted.