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The runes etched on the altar began to glow glaringly as they absorbed the Exalted Spirits Erin and Lilian had gathered. Magic in the form of mist arose from the altar like steam and smoke. These tendrils of mist appeared to have minds of their own as they slithered towards Aedan through the air, entangling themselves around his neck and shoulders like a bunch of cobras.

Aedan groaned painfully as he gripped the edge of the altar tightly.

“Aedan? What’s wrong?” Erin asked in a panic.

“Keep your hands on me and Aedan!” Lilian shouted before Erin could commit a blunder which she came close to committing. “If you let go, we will need to start over again and all of our efforts till now will be wasted.”

“My apologies,” Erin said. “Still, is Aedan alright?”

“He better be. The worst has yet to come.”

Aedan scoffed. “W-well… fuck me, then…”

Lilian tittered meekly. “At least you could still jest, Aedan.”

“Never will stop, dearies…” Aedan responded just as meek.

The mist tendrils tightened their hold around Aedan and he let out more moans. At that moment, the mark on the back of his left hand became vivid and started to shudder, but only the mark was moving. Aedan’s hand was perfectly still despite the mark shuddering like a quake.

“The seal is breaking,” Olivia announced loudly for everyone in the room to hear. “Fortify the suppressant spells!”

The servants in the room began to chant louder and the runes began to glow brighter. Veins spread out from the runes, reaching towards other runes, forming a shape akin to a web. The glow became even more intense as if the glowing light was trying to escape from the surface and spilt into the air. Cracks began forming on the walls but the runes were glowing as bright as ever despite the growing cracks. The runes did not cease their glow even when the surface they were etched on was no more.

The shuddering mark on Aedan’s hand trembled even greater. Eventually, the mark floundered around and shattered into splinters and pieces like glass, but Aedan’s hand was not marred by even a single scratch. An unseen force swept through the room, throwing the tools, objects, and apparatuses into disarray but no one was hurt or greatly faltered. The lights of the runes in the room cast the unseen force right back into Aedan, turning the room further into tumult.

Erin felt an indescribable pressure weighing down on her and she nearly gave in to the sudden absurd weight. She poured Mana into her legs to keep herself upright.

“Cast Spirit Armour on your body,” Lilian said, seemingly untroubled by the unseen pressure.

The instant Erin used Spirit Armour, the weight disappeared as if it had only been an illusion. “What was that?” she asked.

“Side effects,” Lilian muttered briefly in response and shifted her focus back to the conjuration of the spell.

One of the mist tendrils grew barbs and drifted close to Aedan’s skin with only an inch of a gap in between.

“Here’s the hardest part, Erin,” Lilian said. “You see that barbed mist tendril?”

Erin nodded.

“For every scar it makes on Aedan’s body, it signifies ten levels. That means a single scar means a decrement of ten levels. Do you understand?”

Erin nodded again and she was panting and sweating through her robe at this point.

“We will need to be precise with the number of scars needed. If we put too few, the seal will be redundant. If we put too many, we can kill Aedan, maybe.”

“Hey, this is your opportunity, Erin,” Aedan jibed despite his haggard state.

“Shut up, Aedan. Do not tempt me right now because I might just do it.”

Aedan chuckled weakly.

“When do we stop?” Erin asked.

“I don’t know how to explain,” Lilian answered. “But I can tell you when to stop. So be prepared.”

Erin bobbed her head up and down. She had been nodding her head to every word of Lilian. “Alright, alright, alright… I can do this. I’m prepared.”

“Very well, we shall begin now. Aedan, are you ready?” Lilian asked in a solemn tone.

“Yes, my lady,” Aedan answered with a feeble smile.

“Erin?”

“I’m ready too.”

Lilian closed her eyes. “Then, let’s begin.”

“Do I have to close my eyes?” Erin asked.

“If you think it helps with your concentration, then yes.”

Erin closed her eyes and she became more sensitive to everything around her. Even the brush of the air was sending shivers up her spine. She shuddered and reopened her eyes at once. “W-what the hell…” she gasped, panting.

“Be at ease, Erin. That’s normal. Take your time. It’s better to drag than to rush. When you’re ready again, just tell me.”

“I-I… I’m ready,” Erin said and closed her eyes again.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I was just startled. Are there any more surprises waiting for me?”

“Plenty but it varies between individuals, so I can’t say for sure. Prepare for a huge sting, for one.”

Erin sighed. “Well, that’s just great. Let’s just get on with this.”

They resumed the conjuration and the barbed tendril turned translucent as it inched closer to Aedan’s skin.

“The first one,” Lilian whispered and the barbed tendril gently caressed against Aedan’s collarbone but the gentle touch was enough to leave a scar in a lozenge shape.

Aedan winced and shivered but held his body from trembling too much.

As Lilian had told her, Erin felt a stinging pain around her chest and she quivered. She wanted to cry out but she held her voice. It was more painful than she expected. It felt as if she was stung by something sharp but incredibly thin and long.

“If that’s the case…”

Erin willed her Spirit Armour to concentrate its protection around her chest, in exchange for lessening the effects on other parts of her body. The pressure returned but it wasn’t as bad as before.

“Alright, the second scar,” Lilian whispered and the barbed tendril left the second scar.

Aedan winced with his teeth gritted and Erin groaned softly to the reduced pain in her chest.

“The third scar.”

Aedan’s wince turned into a moan. Erin, on the other hand, was getting used to the pain and she groaned softer.

“The fourth scar.”

Aedan’s moan became a cry.

“The fifth.”

Aedan was shouting.

“The sixth.”

He bellowed.

“The seventh.”

He choked and retched on his voice of pain, though he nodded his head and waved for them to continue. Erin could do nothing but to obey his wishes and Lilian continued with a begrudging look.

“The eighth.”

He yelled through his teeth, his grip forming cracks on the altar’s edge.

Erin snuck a glance and cast Appraisal on Aedan. She still wasn’t able to perceive much information about him aside from his race and name, though she could see some of his Arcane Arts now, one of which was Abyss Magic at level ten and she could see other level ten Arcane Arts. “By the Spirits… Just how powerful are you?”

“The ninth.”

Aedan shrilled through his closed lips, crushing the altar’s edge with his grip. The runes lost their mould but not their glow. They persisted in the air without the surface they were etched on.

“The tenth.”

Aedan gasped soundlessly with his jaws hanging wide-open. His lips were shivering.

Erin raised an eyebrow. The word “unknown” on the level tab was beginning to shake and shift. The letters seemingly fell off and numbers slowly appeared but it was all still a blur to make anything out of it.

“The eleventh.”

The eleventh mark was seared onto Aedan and by this point, Aedan only jittered as his shoulders and chest heaved up and down rapidly.

The numbers and the other details on the Appraisal’s display gradually became clearer and clearer. Erin felt a tad guilty at what she was doing but her curiosity got the better of her and she knew Aedan wouldn’t mind. She even half-suspected he already knew what she was doing and she was right when she saw Aedan’s delicate smirk as he caught her sneaking a glimpse at him.

“The t-twelve…” Lilian began to stammer and her breathing quickened.

“Lilian?” Erin called out worriedly.

“I’m fine. This is nothing. I have been through worse. We have to continue. Though I must say… it’s already the twelfth mark, just how high is your level, Aedan?”

“I don’t k-know… I stop caring after two hundred…”

“T-two hundred!?” Erin exclaimed in astonishment. Her ears and tails perked up in tandem with her shock. “Levels go as high as two hundred?”

“One hundred is the usual limit for most races,” Lilian said. “There’s only so few that have ever broken that limit. The Seraphims and the Dragon-kin for example, are races that are not bound by that limit. We might be going beyond twenty scars.”

“Twenty? He’s fucking pale as a corpse right now.”

“Just keep going,” Aedan said. “If we stop now, it will all be for nought.”

“But Aedan—”

“Erin, please. This is important and dire. Don’t let your feelings get in the way.”

“...Fine. Just don’t die on me. Or else I’ll hunt your next incarnation down and make you pay.”

Aedan giggled. “Careful with your words, Erin. I might get hard.”

Erin tutted and pressed her nails down on his shoulder.

He winced but he was still giggling.

“Thirteenth.”

His giggle turned into an agonising moan. His back arched in his suffering.

The conjuration went on and on. The scars went beyond twenty. Olivia had to step in and provided the two with Mana along with her aid in gathering more of the Exalted Spirits. They had a brief pause due to Lilian running out of breath. Her complexion was slowly getting paler. Had it not been for Olivia’s aid, she would have already passed out. Olivia cast Spirit Mend on the two of them and they were able to continue with renewed vigour.

Cassius and the rest of the servants in the room watched in trepidation. They all desired to help but they all had their own stations. If one of them left, the array of runes of the room would come undone and Aedan’s magic would leak out of this room.

“The twenty-fifth!” Lilian shouted.

Erin felt the pressure being lifted.

“Alright, let go now!”

Erin pulled her hands away from Aedan and Lilian at the latter’s words. The mist tendrils lost their shapes and forms and melted right back into the altar. The glowing runes also died out with a sizzle of smoke. Gradually, the rest of the room followed and everything went still, quiet, and dim. Serenity returned to the room.

Lilian and Erin were panting. Their sweat was pouring from them as they had just got out of a body of water. The beads of sweat on their body gave their skin a lustrous sheen that looked tantalising, especially to Aedan who was looking at them with a feverish gaze.

“W-what’s happening now…?” Erin asked. Even she herself could feel the fever rising within her body. She returned his feverish gaze with her own.

“It’s one of the side effects,” Lilian said, panting with warm breaths that exuded her lust. “Judging from each of our expressions, I say we’re in heat.”

Cassius was quick on the uptake. “Alright, everyone, Clear the room. We’ll come back later to clean,” he said loudly with a clap of his hands.

Olivia was the first to leave after noticing the air between the three. The rest of the servants followed suit in a brisk manner. Cassius was the last to leave and he gave the three an understanding nod before closing the door behind him.

“Why is this happening to us?”

Lilian shrugged as she loosened her robes and let them slip off her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m just thankful we got the least harmful side effects out of all possibilities.”

“How harmful could it have been?”

“Murderous.”

“Ah, that is very harmful indeed.” Erin chuckled.

Lilian tittered in response and the humour spread to Aedan too and they all shared a laugh.

“Say…” Aedan looked Erin straight in the eyes. “You won’t mind, right?”

Erin shook her head. “Not at all.”

“Even with me in the equation?” Lilian let her robes slip completely down her body. Her enormous mounds sprang free from their restraints, snatching both of Aedan and Erin’s feverish gaze.

Erin pulled on the sash around her waist and her robe fell off her body. “Even with you, Lilian. In fact, I have wanted to have a taste of you ever since we met.”

“Oh, my. How wicked of you, dear Erin.”

“Right back at you, Lilian,” Erin said and pulled the Dryad into her embrace with an arm wrapped around her waist. The pair’s ample mounds deformed against the volume of one another’s mounds.

Aedan ripped off his tattered garment and slipped out of his trousers. “Are you sure about this, Erin?”

“It’s too late to be having second thoughts now, Aedan.” Erin grinned, stroking a finger up Aedan’s standing and ungiving breeding rod that was throbbing with excitement.

“I suppose it is.”