Chapter 6 - Links

+++ Here is an R18 Warning! This story contains a bit of mature content +++

Looking at the two kneeling before him, Marc's expression softened. Sensing their readiness, both girls stood up. Outside of battle, he rarely brought out his aura, but right now, it was time for a serious conversation.

[Marc: Why are you here? I've handed out all my links... and I don’t feel your links either. I know who you are, but... who are you?]

[Calla: ...]

In Flow World, those seven were the ones who had been with Marc the longest. Among them, inside his black castle, they were known as Valkyries. Without a doubt, they were the strongest and most faithful to him...

The raven-haired goddess was never good with explanations; she was as straightforward as the swords she wielded. When told to attack, she rushed out in a perfect straight line and mowed down the enemy without fail. Indisputably the strongest among the seven, she possessed incredible speed, strength, power, magic, and battle sense—she had it all. She was second only to Marc, and even against him, she was capable of fighting to a stalemate for several hours, showing just how much of a monster she was.

However, that was all she was good for: cutting, crushing, burning.

In every other aspect, one would hardly believe how clumsy she was. The more she cleaned, the messier the room became. If you let her cook, you’d lose the kitchen along with two adjacent rooms. The list could go on and on.

[Lily: We are... um... a backup plan?]

[Marc: ...]

[Lily: Eto... Ragna-nee help!]

[Calla: Wha? I-I-I... Uuuuu...]

[Marc: ... Violet color creeps up on his eyes.]

[Lily: Wah! W-we were made from your memories using parts of your soul.]

[Marc: I figured... But... how?]

[Lily: Haha, you know that none of us can use Soul Manipulation Magic. In this case, Fate-chan was very helpful. Do you remember the seal she carved out on your soul?]

Marc narrowed his eyes...

***

A golden-haired girl was slowly sipping the tea that her puppet had prepared for her. She possessed transcendent beauty. Her skin was so white that it nearly looked transparent. Wearing a white dress full of frills, she could easily pass as a doll, especially as she spent her time idly without a serious purpose.

[Lily: Fate-chan.]

[Fate: Lilith, did you come for some tea?]

[Lily: Fufufu, of course. sat down]

[Fate: I don’t know what you’re scheming again, but I hope you’ll leave this powerless fate outside of your games...]

[Lily: Not completely powerless...]

At that moment, six other girls appeared. Sensing their presence, the golden-haired princess knew that something significant was about to happen. She abruptly lowered her cup, waiting for the development, though in fact, she could nearly predict their request... After all...

[Kaya: That’s right; you are completely powerless unless it’s about Marc. In fact, when it comes to his soul, you can actually do as you like...]

Fate narrowed her eyes, and a visible frown appeared on her doll-like face.

[Lily: Haha, don’t worry. We won’t ask you to harm him; we just need a little favor...]

***

After a struggle, Marc's vision was completely surrounded by yellow strands of hair. As he basked in the afterglow, a giggle escaped the mouth of the golden princess as she climbed on top of him. The previous ruler of Fate and Destiny was now reduced to a simple, powerless girl, and what’s most important, she didn’t mind. As her naked body pressed against him, he felt a drop of blood—a small, self-inflicted injury appearing on her pure white skin.

[Marc: Hm? What’s this?]

[Fate: A gift.]

A beautiful smile bloomed on her face as her golden eyes locked onto his. He felt a stirring in his soul but didn’t interfere. If she wanted his life, he would have given it to her, such was his trust in her. After all, she too had entrusted hers into his hands. A strange inscription was etched onto his soul.

[Marc: What’s that for?]

[Fate: Ehehe~ A ward from loneliness. Whenever you feel lonely, you can look at it and remember me~]

Marc’s green eyes carefully inspected the inscription. It was totally unresponsive; he couldn’t feel any power emanating from it. He had no reason not to believe her, but her words irritated him a little, especially that note of loneliness in her voice. With a quick maneuver, he pushed her down.

[Fate: Ah~]

[Marc: Do you think I’ll ever let you go? Whenever I want to remember you, I can just take you.]

[Fate: No~ Beast~]

Poor Fate. That night exhausted her so much that afterward, she needed three days of rest.

(Marc: A ward from loneliness, huh...)

[Lily: The idea was that whenever you found yourself without links, it would recreate us from your memories. It was in case the world ended or something similar... though there should be more of us... much more...]

[Marc: There won’t be. It only works on those who were deeply implanted inside my soul.]

[Lily: Fate lied then...]

[Marc: No, even for Fate, this is the limit. She couldn’t have known.]

[Lily: Still, to think that it would be used like this...]

[Marc: The other me doesn’t even remember this inscription anymore...]

Silence...

[Lily: But this world is great!]

[Marc: Is it?]

[Lily: Yes! I can’t feel my curse at all! It’s completely disappeared. How great! Now we can live as we please. Even Marc, that curse you hated the most, also disappeared, right? Right?]

[Marc & Calla: ...]

[Lily: ...]

[Marc & Calla: ...]

[Lily: No way...]

[Calla: Blessings remained. I can still feel the imprint of my ‘Omen of Destruction’.]

[Lily: That’s right; my ‘Omen of Deceit’ is still here...]

[Calla: ‘That’ is still there; ‘it’ showed itself this evening.]

[Lily: ...]

Silence fell upon them. Lily quickly understood the situation as she recalled the wolf girl.

[Lily: I’m sorry, Marc. I didn’t...]

[Marc: Shh. I know.]

[Lily: But couldn’t you reject her?]

[Marc: My control isn’t high enough right now. I couldn’t refuse it...]

For all of them, it was a hard subject to touch. Among all of his abilities, he hated this one the most; he even preferred his curse better. Even the ‘Destroyer of the World’ wasn’t as troublesome as this ability... Its name was ‘Links’.

That’s what affected Marc several hours ago. Whenever a Link was formed, he would feel a piercing sensation in his soul. There was a special requirement for a Link to appear: offering. In other words, the other party had to offer themselves to Marc.

Body - Give their physical form to him. In other words, a will to protect him.

Mind - Give their mental power to him. In other words, fall in love with him.

Soul - Give their soul to him. In other words, have enough willpower to sacrifice themselves for him.

And in exchange, they would obviously receive something, which happened to Mersa.

It wasn’t something as simple as ‘Power.’ It was something much more incredible. It was ‘Potential.’ The wolf princess, at that moment, subconsciously offered all three parts of herself to him, which caused an incredible jump in her sub-race from Med to UHigh.

And here is where the tricky part starts: when ‘he’ received them, he possessed them. All of them. What would be the consequence if he died? All Links would receive enormous damage, and if he received all three parts, death was almost certain. If he crossed the last part—the soul bind—it was 100% certain.

Of course, Marc never died, but just the feeling that he bore all of their lives with his was extremely... contradictory. On one hand, he felt extremely happy; the Link was an ultimate form of trust they gave him, offering all of themselves to him without question. On the other hand, it was a play with their lives. From the moment Links were formed, their lives were in his hands; he could do anything to them. Both of those emotions combined made him feel disgusted.

He swore that he would never abuse this power. He swore it to Calla—the first one ever. Marc’s eyes met hers. Her pitch-black irises held no doubt as she answered him with an unwavering gaze.

[Marc: Krishna Ragnarok.]

[Calla: Yes, m’lord.]

That’s right. She was Ragnarok. Her curse was ‘The Cause of the World’s Destruction.’ Self-explanatory, she would cause the world’s destruction. Similarly to Marc, she was hunted and hunted and hunted. That was also one of the factors that led them to meet each other.

[Marc: Krishna ‘Calla’ Ragnarok. YOU’RE MINE.]

[Calla: Yours. Yours forever and always.]

A red shade appeared on her white cheeks as she knelt and swore her fealty to him. Again, an ever-familiar feeling pierced through his soul. Jade eyes then turned to the other girl. The redhead chuckled as her azure eyes met her ‘destined’.

[Marc: Lilith Loki.]

[Lily: Lord Marcdrak.]

She gave him a curtsy. Lily’s main focus was speed; among the seven, she was only slower than the black-haired girl. Consistently ranking 3rd in power among the seven goddesses, she was extremely skilled in using illusions, feints, stealth, and strategies to overwhelm her opponents. She was in charge of intelligence, espionage, and assault plans, and she also received and distributed tasks to others. A mastermind, she consistently teased and pulled pranks on others, especially Marc. Her curse was ‘Lord of Betrayal,’ which meant that she would never be able to live normally; it caused a compulsive disorder that forced her to backstab her allies...

[Marc: Edict. In the name of the Demon Emperor, with all the rights that he is entitled to, we, Marcdrak Euharm Maxkael Adajax Emerald Vegyla, claim Lilith ‘Lily’ Loki for ourselves.]

[Lily: I hear and obey.]

[AN: To confirm your thoughts: Yeah, Marc conquered the Demon Realm just for Lily. Oi, it was necessary o/]

With a smile brighter than the sun, she gave all of herself to Marc, which was confirmed by another triple sting in his soul. With that, he looked at the other girls who were peacefully sleeping despite all of the commotion happening right next to them. The truth was that they would only wake up when Marc’s soul capacity was capable of holding them. Seeing their faces, Marc’s resolve was renewed. First thing’s first, as his top priority, he had to wake up all of them. The second? Who cares.

Next to him, Lily shook her head in resignation. She knew that Marc was the type to hit first and then think; left to himself, he would use an excellent strategy named: I’ll deal with it when it comes up. A true <No plan> plan.

[Lily: Marc, I was thinking that I have a lot of time. How about letting me take care of the future plans?]

Hearing her, Calla vigorously nodded. She was the first one to soulbind with Marc, and together with him, they were called the Charge-Duo due to their similar actions. For Calla, it was because of her straightforward nature; the straight charge was the true way! For Marc, it was because of his lazy nature; why think of other plans if a simple straight charge would yield the same result?

Both of them relied on their brute nature to force their way through. The only difference was that Marc, in difficult situations, would immediately resort to feints and other means to accomplish his goal, while Calla would single-mindedly push forward or, when the situation proved too difficult, she would retreat. Ragnarok found that everything became easy as long as she followed the plans made by Loki, while Marc was fine anyway...

[Marc: Fine. I’ll leave it to you then.]

He didn’t mind; as long as they were happy, he would let them do whatever they wanted, and he would go with the flow.

[Lily: Thank you. For now, let me learn the language and gather the information. After I get everything sorted out, I’ll immediately present the next steps. Marc, can you do something for me? It would be helpful if you could act a bit low-key, okay? Please?]

She threw a cute smile at him; she knew that faced with that wording and her smile, he would even agree to slay a god immediately.

[Marc: Very well.]

Success!

***

[Place: Principal's Room]

[Principal: There was a change in the situation.]

[???: Don’t tell me she plans to withdraw from the army... We cannot aff...]

[Principal: No, that’s not it.]

[???: If that’s not the case, then there was no need for you to contact me. I’m quite busy, you know?]

[Principal: No, I’m certain that this is worth your attention.]

[???: Hm? I’m listening then.]

[Principal: The ‘powerless’ woke up. His crystal core reformed.]

[???: W.. wh... What?]

[Principal: I have no idea. Yesterday, I was there as his core liquidized. I sent you pictures.]

[???: Yes, I know.]

[Principal: Today, he opened his eyes. We scanned him and found a solid crystal core.]

[???: That’s impossible.]

[Principal: It happened.]

Silence. Even though Kollos Alliance was promoting freedom for its citizens and was in no way a radical organization, the temptation of reforming the crystal core made the person on the other side of the line silent for a while. If they could hide it from that girl... But that person quickly shook her head; no, that wasn’t right. No experiment on a child could be considered a ‘right’ way.

[???: This must remain confidential.]

[Principal: Roger.]

[???: Then I must...]

[Principal: There is one more thing.]

[???: ... It better be important then.]

[Principal: It’s about the Wolf Princess.]

[???: What more? Did she finally break free from him? So far, that ‘powerless’ has held her back so much, and as things stand, he will continue to do so.]

[Principal: I’m not so sure.]

[???: ... What’s wrong? We both know that because of him, she doesn’t even train seriously.]

[Principal: Today, after she saw him coming back to life, she experienced sub-trans. (sub-transformation)]

[???: Sub-trans?! Did she achieve Red Wolf?] (Red Wolf = Bottom High)

[Principal: No...]

[???: sigh Well, UMid will still be a big advantage; she is a hybrid, after all.]

[Principal: She’s White Wolf.]

[???: No way...]

[Principal: Tomorrow I’ll have an official test, but I have no doubt. Her fur is the purest among all the White Wolves so far...]

[???: ...]

[Principal: That’ll be all.]

[???: ... click]