"You smell like dead people."
That was the first thing Alfred said when Kael walked through the service entrance of the kitchen.
Kael paused, holding a half-eaten apple he had swiped from a fruit bowl. He looked down at his clothes. He had recycled the dust and gore from the dungeon, but the stench of necrotic mana lingered faintly.
"It's a new cologne," Kael quipped. "'Eau de Crypt'. Do you like it?"
Alfred didn't smile. He was chopping carrots with surgical precision.
"The Lady returned an hour ago," the butler said, his knife hitting the cutting board with a little too much force. "She is in a foul mood. She took her midday medicine, but she claims it isn't working."
Kael stopped chewing.
It begins, he thought.
He had replaced the "Dragon's Blood Orchid" extract with green water. The poison that was accelerating her transformation was gone... but so was the sedative that numbed her pain.
"Where is she?" Kael asked, his tone serious.
"In the training hall. She destroyed three practice golems in five minutes. The staff is terrified to enter."
Kael tossed the apple into the trash can.
"I'll handle it."
The Frostfall Training Hall
The double doors shook violently as something slammed against them from the inside.
BOOM.
Kael pushed them open.
The training hall was a frozen wasteland. The floor, usually polished wood, was covered in jagged spikes of ice. In the center of the room, Seraphina stood amidst the wreckage of several combat automatons.
She was breathing hard. Her white uniform was disheveled. Frost was creeping up her neck, covering her jawline like a crystal beard.
"It's not working!" she screamed, throwing an empty vial against the wall. It shattered. "Why isn't it working?!"
She grabbed her chest, falling to her knees.
"It burns... Kael... it burns..."
She looked up and saw him. Her eyes were fluctuating between human blue and draconic gold. The Dragon King's soul was waking up because the chemical chains holding it down were gone.
Kael didn't flinch. He walked across the ice, his boots crunching on the frozen surface.
"The medicine didn't stop working, Seraphina," Kael said calmly. "Your body just realized it doesn't need poison to survive."
"Poison?" she gasped, tears freezing on her cheeks. "Call Dr. Aris! Tell him to bring a double dose!"
"No."
Kael reached her. He knelt down in the snow she had created.
"Aris is 'unavailable'. And you don't need him."
He took off his gloves.
"You have me."
He placed both hands on her cheeks. They were freezing cold, hard as marble.
[Contact Initiated.]
[Target Status: Withdrawal / Curse Flare-Up.]
[Corruption Level: High.]
"Recycle," Kael commanded.
WHOOSH.
It was like opening a floodgate. The pain Seraphina was feeling—the burning, freezing, tearing sensation of her soul being chewed on—rushed into Kael.
Kael gritted his teeth. It hurt. It hurt ten times more than before. Without the suppressant, the Dragon's Essence was raw and angry.
GET OFF ME, INSECT! the dragon's voice roared in his mind.
"Shut up, lizard," Kael thought back, flexing his mental muscles.
[Mental Strength Check: Passed.]
[Draining Draconic Essence...]
The violet aura of his System clashed with her blue aura, sparking like electricity.
Seraphina gasped, her back arching. The relief was instantaneous and overwhelming. It wasn't just numbing the pain; it was removing it.
Her eyes rolled back slightly. Her hands gripped Kael's forearms, digging in.
"Kael..." she whimpered, her voice losing its edge. "More..."
"I'm here," he whispered, moving one hand to the back of her neck to support her head. "I'm not going anywhere."
He kept the channel open for ten full minutes. He drained so much mana that the ice on the floor began to melt into water, soaking their knees.
[Mana Capacity Increased: +20]
[Mana Capacity Increased: +20]
[Obtained: Condensed Frost Essence x5]
Finally, the flare-up subsided.
Seraphina slumped forward, her forehead resting on his shoulder. She was panting, sweat mixing with the melted ice water.
"What is happening to me?" she whispered, terrified. "The medicine always worked before."
Kael wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
"The medicine was a lie, Seraphina," he said softly into her ear. "Aris was feeding the dragon, not killing it. I stopped it."
She stiffened. She pulled back slightly to look at him, her eyes wide.
"You... you stopped my treatment?"
"I saved your life," Kael looked her dead in the eye. "If you had kept taking that green sludge, you would have exploded at the Winter Banquet. You would have turned into a monster."
Seraphina stared at him. She searched his face for any sign of deception. She found none.
"So..." she swallowed hard. "Now I have nothing? No medicine?"
"You have the filter," Kael tapped his own chest. "From now on, I am your medicine. Every time it hurts, you come to me. Every time the dragon wakes up, I eat it."
It was a heavy promise. It meant he could never leave her side. It meant total codependency.
Seraphina's lip trembled.
"You really are a Mad Dog," she whispered. "You just leashed yourself to a bomb."
"I like living dangerously."
She let out a wet, shaky laugh and collapsed back into his arms.
"Don't let go," she mumbled, exhaustion taking over. "Please, don't let go."
That Night
Seraphina was asleep in the master bedroom, exhausted from the withdrawal. Kael sat on the balcony, watching the moon.
He wasn't tired. The massive amount of mana he had drained from her had supercharged him.
He opened his System Interface.
[Total System Points: 6,100] (Dungeon run + Seraphina's drainage).
"I have enough," Kael smiled.
He opened the Shop. He scrolled past the weapons and armor. He went to the Skill Books.
He needed a finisher. Something that could kill a threat instantly if his Chain-Blade failed.
[Skill Book: Void Palm (Rank B)]
Description: Condenses mana into the palm to create a micro-vacuum. Upon impact, it implodes the target's internal structure.
Cost: 4,500 SP.
It was expensive. But it was brutal. It ignored external armor because the damage was internal.
"Purchase."
[Skill Acquired: Void Palm.]
[Remaining SP: 1,600.]
He stood up and faced the stone gargoyle on the railing.
He focused mana into his right hand. The air distorted around his fingers. The sound vanished, sucked into the vacuum.
He gently tapped the gargoyle's head.
Plip.
There was no explosion. No sound.
The stone head simply crumbled into fine dust, collapsing inward as if its molecular bonds had just decided to quit.
"Nasty," Kael murmured, pleased.
He looked back at the bedroom door.
He had the defense (Mana Skin).
He had the mobility (Shadow Step).
He had the range (Chain-Blade).
And now, he had the kill-shot (Void Palm).
He was ready for the Banquet.
But first, he had to deal with the social aspect.
"Alfred said it's a formal ball," Kael sighed, looking at his tactical gear. "I don't know how to dance."
[System Notice]
[Skill Book Available: "Royal Etiquette & Ballroom Dancing (Rank D)"]
[Cost: 50 SP]
[Would you like to purchase?]
Kael stared at the screen.
"You gotta be kidding me," he chuckled. "You have everything."
He bought the dancing skill.
If he was going to save the Empress, he might as well look good doing it.