The second kiss left Ardyn floating in a haze of pure, undiluted sensation, held securely aloft in the cradle of Noctar's arms, her legs locked instinctively around his waist for balance and closeness. The wild blend of exhilaration, triumph, and sheer, breathless embarrassment was a headier cocktail than any dungeon victory.
Sensing her system nearing emotional overload her breath hitching, her fingers trembling where they gripped his shoulders. Noctar, with a newfound and surprisingly intuitive gentleness, slowly lowered her until her boots touched the floor. His hands, which had moments ago been tangled in her hair, moved to carefully smooth down the silver strands he had frazzled, his touch methodical and soothing.
After a five minute eternity of composing herself, straightening her clothes, wiping dust from her face, taking slow, deliberate breaths, the professional partition of Ardyn's brain finished its reboot sequence. The Rose Knight reasserted command. She took a final, steadying breath and began to triage the chaos, point by point.
"First," she said, her voice finding its familiar, clear authority, though it was softer around the edges. "Operational status. Why are you out of medical, and what is your objective here?"
Noctar gave her the unvarnished truth, the logical foundation beneath the emotional cataclysm. "My biological recovery rate is approximately 300% above the human baseline. A side effect of my… constitution. The healers were more startled than I was. And my car keys and personal effects were logged here at security." He kept the suspicion that Garner had orchestrated this minor inconvenience to himself; it was irrelevant now.
Ardyn nodded, the information slotting into place. She pulled out her personal comms device, a sleek, military-grade slab and sent a brief, prioritized message to Jared to bring the keys to her lounge immediately.
Then came the harder, more personal question, the one that had lingered since the hospital. She looked at him, her golden eyes searching his face, not as a colleague assessing an asset, but as a woman trying to understand a seismic event. "Why me?" she asked, her voice dropping. "What is it you find... compelling? I need to understand."
Noctar didn't hesitate. He engaged full, brutal, debugging honesty. "Your personality is a honed razor's edge it's sharp, fiercely intelligent, and uncompromising in its integrity. Your will is forged titanium; you bend for nothing less than a righteous cause. You are, objectively, the most capable and resilient person I have ever encountered in any iteration of reality."
He paused, his ice-blue gaze unwavering, letting the weight of the compliment land not as flattery, but as fact.
"And yes," he continued, his tone matter of fact, "your physical form is a masterpiece of aesthetic and functional design. This contributes significantly, on a biological and appreciative level, to my absolute desire to have you as my woman. They are not separate factors. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
// A pertinent, if privately delivered, data point, S.A.R.A. interjected into his mind-space. // While your cognitive knowledge and theoretical 'skills' from your Earth phase are intact, your current Divine SSR vessel has a virgin status. Its hardware has never been utilized for... recreational or procreational purposes. The systems are factory default.
The information registered a curious footnote in his status readout, but Noctar found he didn't mind. Theory, after all, was just applied mathematics. And he was an excellent student.
Satisfied, or at least profoundly affected by the stark clarity of his answer, Ardyn moved to the next, more explosive crisis. She gestured with her chin toward the ruined wall. "What, precisely, did you do to Korvath at the end? He didn't just fall down."
"I activated a primary S-Rank skill: [Energy Assimilation] ," Noctar explained. "It can consume, convert, and store any form of ambient or targeted energy. In his case, I targeted and siphoned the active life force and mana matrix sustaining his physical prowess. It's a direct counter to energy dependent opponents."
Ardyn's eyes widened a fraction, not in fear, but in tactical assessment. "Noctar," she said, her voice low and urgent. "You need to give it back. Not all of it, but the baseline life force. He is Korvath Pierce, Vice Leader of the Abyss Dragon Guild. The top ranked guild on the planet. Reducing the heir of the Pierce Syndicate to a withered husk in our headquarters is an act of war we cannot afford, especially not now."
With clear, profound reluctance, the part of him that was still a territorial beast hated the idea but Noctar complied. Focusing the energy through the lingering ache in his shoulder healing it in the process, he willed a controlled stream of the stolen vital energy to reverse its flow, channeling it back into the groaning Dragon Knight in the hallway.
Korvath's ashen color returned, his labored breathing eased, and strength flowed back into his limbs, though his magical reserves remained conspicuously, cripplingly depleted. The moment Korvath felt his strength return, humiliation and rage overrode his weakness. He surged to his feet with a roar, his emerald eyes igniting once more, ready to reignite the fight, to reclaim his shattered pride through violence.
The sound of two sets of approaching footsteps froze him in place.
One set was heavy, deliberate, and familiar, the tread of a Fortress. Garner Vale stood at the end of the ravaged hallway, his face a thundercloud of paternal and professional fury. But it was the man beside him who commanded absolute, chilling attention.
He was tall and gaunt, moving with an eerie, silent grace that seemed to swallow sound. He looked less like a man and more like a sleep deprived abyss given human form. A trench coat draped over a wire frame silhouette. His hair was a messy black curtain, and his eyes, when they lifted from the floor, were dark, dead pools that reflected no light. True "dead fish" eyes. They narrowed into dangerous, calculating slits as they landed on Korvath.
A low, guttural sound, more vibration than voice, emanated from the man's chest. It wasn't a word. It was a dismissal, a command and a verdict. He didn't speak. He simply walked forward, his silence more intimidating than any shout, and grabbed a suddenly, inexplicably docile Korvath by his blood matted blonde hair. Without a word, he began dragging the S-Rank Dragon Knight down the hallway like a misbehaving puppy, Korvath offering no resistance beyond a pained grimace.
// Analysis: Behavioral pattern mirrors a dominant alpha dragon retrieving its unruly, foolish cub from a territorial dispute it was losing, S.A.R.A. observed. // Identity cross reference suggests high probability: Zenith Pierce. Korvath's elder brother. Guild Leader of the Abyss Dragon Guild. Rank: S. Class: [DATA_OBSCURED]. Threat Level: Catastrophic.
Garner watched them go, then turned his gaze first to Ardyn, checking for injury with a swift, practiced glance, then to Noctar standing protectively close to her. The changed energy between them was palpable, a new intimacy, a settled claim. For a brief, uncharitable moment, Garner found himself wishing Korvath had at least managed to break Noctar's nose.
Jared arrived then, a wiry man with nervous eyes, silently handed Noctar his car keys and a small bag of belongings, and scurried away after a nod from Garner. A specialized clean-up and construction team, likely on permanent retainer for Sigma-7's aftermath, was already swarming the area with quiet efficiency, assessing the structural damage with resigned professionalism.
Suddenly, with the immediate threats dissolved and her office space being converted into a construction zone, Ardyn found herself with an unexpected and blank afternoon ahead, the adrenaline fading to leave a hollow, uncertain quiet. She looked at Noctar, the question of what now clear in her eyes.
Noctar, however, had already compiled the data, run the projections, and formulated an optimal plan. He took her hand, his thumb stroking over her knuckles in a slow, deliberate rhythm that sent quiet pulses of warmth up her arm.
"I have a location in mind," he said, his voice a low rumble that promised focus, intention. "For our first date. The parameters are set: private, secure, and conducive to further… data collection."