Black String of Fate

"I can't believe it, miss, are you being kidnapped?"

Xavier sighed in annoyance as he tried to dismiss them.

"Nothing like that, Ava. You brats, stop your tomfoolery. She's just a business partner."

Xavier tried to defuse the situation, but Luke wasn't buying it.

"What kind of 'business partner' clings tightly like a needy girlfriend? You don't have to hide it, big bro, I'm proud of you. You finally brought home a pretty girl!"

Xavier looked back at Seraphina, who was now feeling the embarrassment of her position, with a cold gaze, making her release him at once.

"Uh, um, I'm really sorry for disturbing you, I really am just a business partner for Archo… ahem, Mr. Xavier here. I can assure you there is nothing more going on."

Xavier nodded and looked at Luke with an annoyed gaze.

"See? It's just that she's desperately clinging on because of a deal I absolutely do not want to accept, and she followed me home. Do you really think I would bring home a problematic girl like her?"

"I mean, she's really pretty, though."

"Shut up. Beauty doesn't mean everything."

Seraphina, meanwhile, was catching strays in the conversation between the brothers. Despite having no intentions toward Xavier, being talked about like this hurt her in ways she didn't expect.

"Sigh, sometimes I really worry about your future…" Luke said as he looked at Seraphina for a few seconds, thinking about something deeply. He finally came to a decision as he addressed the unexpected guest.

"Anyway, it's extremely late right now. Miss, won't you stay here for the night? It's dangerous outside at times like this, especially for pretty girls like you."

Luke, unexpectedly, invited Seraphina in, surprising both Xavier and her.

"Hey, you can't just invite strangers in! Moreover, she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

Luke made a distasteful expression before condemning his hard-headed older brother.

"Tsk tsk, big bro, you have absolutely no sense of courtesy. Moreover, she looks pretty tired to me. How can you let her stay out and roam around at this place at such a dangerous time, especially if she's a business partner?"

"This time, I agree with Luke, big bro Xavier. It isn't good to expose her to the dangers of the streets right now. Tell me, would you let me walk around the night at this ungodly hour?"

"Ugh, not you too, Ava."

Xavier made a troubled face as he looked over his younger siblings pleading face and then towards this annoying woman. He seemed to internally struggle before he sighed and said,

"You did exhaust all of your mana in the earlier demonstration. Fine, you can stay over just for tonight. And since it's pretty clear you won't leave until you babble about your crazy plans, let's talk it over right now."

Seraphina smiled as if she won the lottery. She looked over at the sibling and gave them an imaginary thumbs-up. All her persistence and a little bit of luck finally rolled in her favor. Xavier could swear he could see some illusionary cat ears pop up the moment he said yes.

'She's weird, really weird.'

**********

"Mmm… This coffee is delicious."

"I will splash this same coffee on your face if you don't stop stalling and tell me your plan."

In the middle of the night, at a candle-lit table, two people were drinking a cup of coffee. It might seem like an extremely romantic setting, but the mood was anything but that. Seraphina quickly gulped down the entire mug in fear that Xavier might actually splash her face. With the way she has behaved until now, he's totally justified to do so.

She couldn't even defend herself right now because she was out of mana.

"Listen then, regarding the Heavenly Demon, I wouldn't have mentioned it if I did not have any way of defeating him. He's just a Savant, while we were Archons, we clearly outmatch him in terms of skill."

"That's the whole point. He is a Savant while we were Archons. Right now, we are Novices. No matter if even a Paragon reincarnated, there is absolutely no way that such a power gap can be closed. Novices are slightly more powerful than mundane uninitiates, while Savants are capable of destroying nations single-handedly. The difference is massive, I'm sure you know this."

"I know that, that's why I have devised a method to close that gap for us."

Xavier snorted at the ridiculous claims that Seraphina made. His patience with this woman was getting thinner and thinner.

"Hah. What can make a Novice equal to a Savant? Are you saying you possess such an item?"

"Not me, but the royal family of Souvell does. Have you heard of the Sage's stone?"

Xavier went silent for a few seconds as he processed the words 'Sage's stone'.

"You… are you telling me a fairytale-like item such as a Sage's stone really exists?"

Seraphina made a victorious smile seeing the haughty attitude from Xavier fade away. Similar to him, she was also petty.

"Yes, they really do exist. It is not some fantasy like the philosopher's stone, but an actual stone created in an attempt to replicate that famous alchemic myth."

There was no way that Xavier did not know what the Sage's stone was. It was a priceless treasure rumored to grant the power of sages to anyone who obtains it. No matter who it was, it would temporarily fill up their core with so much mana that they could be called Rank 6.5 pseudo-sages. While not true Sages, they wielded battle power similar to one.

"But still, our opponent would be a Savant, and a crafted one at that. Being a sage would definitely increase my chances, but it'll still be difficult…"

'Moreover, I cannot sacrifice my life over this by using Desolation's Requiem too much. There are responsibilities upon this body.'

"If it was just a typical folklore Sage's stone, then I would have agreed with you. But the 'Sage's stone' we possess is not something just that.

Xavier, do you remember the hunt for the God's Tears?"

Xavier took a sip of his coffee as he remembered those times. They were unforgettable, but not in a good way.

"...Of course I do."

"The prototype for the God's Tears was this Sage's stone itself. It would be more accurate to say that the Sage's stone was a failed God's Tear. If you obtain the God's Tear, you can probably draw more power than it is supposed to grant. I recall that you had experience in absorbing one too."

Xavier went silent and thought about it a bit. He was well aware of the kind of power the God's Tear possessed. It was an almighty object that contained traces of pure divinity. Xavier, in his previous life, had only consumed a fragment of a God's Tear, but it was enough to grant him a level of might unlike any mana source he had taken in the past.

It was something that eventually helped him take the final step towards becoming an Archon in the long run.

"So, you want me to consume that prototype God's Tear, draw out powers similar to a Savant, and face up against the Heavenly Demon, is that right?"

Seraphina nodded, and Xavier, as much as he disliked it, had to agree that it wasn't a bad plan. It was reckless, sure, but it was truly feasible. But still, there were some things still unaddressed.

"So, how will you acquire the Sage's stone in the first place? I'd assume it's a pretty important treasure for the royal family…"

Hearing that, Seraphina made a mysterious smile that creeped Xavier out. With that statement from Xavier alone, she had confirmed that Xavier was willing to go along with her schemes.

'Fufu, the situation's much better now…'