One Last System

"So you really don't want to have anything to do with me anymore?"

Hearing those words, I felt as if someone had snuck a dagger right into the middle of my heart. Seeing the tears flowing down Mia's face was akin to having droplets of lava poured directly on my soul.

"At least..." Mia cried out, raising her hands to rub her eyes clean of her tears. "At least tell me why!" she shouted through her tears, her words turning surprisingly hard to understand. "Why are you pushing me away?!"

My vision turned dark. My soul trembled. And then, I couldn't handle it any longer.

"Are you stupid?" I asked out loud, ready to do and say everything and anything that could somehow stop Mia's tears.

"What?!" Mia cried out, clearly not expecting me to approach the topic in this manner.

"You could die if you got close to me right now," I stated, falling down on my knees and closing my eyes, already working to gather up and expel all the violet energy from my system. "Give me a moment. I need to make sure it's safe for you to approach," I added before shutting up and focusing on the work.

Sadly, to separate energy that I already turned into an integral part of my being... It turned out to be a way harder task than I expected.

First, I had to fully isolate it from my flesh while making sure not a single drop of it would remain. Given how this kind of energy repelled the mana of this world like a magnet would push away another magnet of the same pole if even the tiniest particle of it were to enter Mia's system...

I didn't even dare to think about it. Rather than wasting my time imagining the devastating scenarios, I put all my mind into the one work that was important right now.

'Got it,' finally, I announced in my thoughts when the last bit of this foreign energy ended up coated in a thick layer of pure energy.

Then, with just a single wish in my mind, I started to push it out of my hand. Yet, worried about my own safety, I could only do it slowly, expelling this energy in the form of a thin but long strand.

Bit by bit, this thin rope of materialized energy started to clump up, only to end up forming the same kind of ball that ended up littering the battlefield between me and the monster just a bit over an hour ago.

"That should do..." I muttered while opening my eyes and dropping the ball a considerable distance away from both me and the girl that I saved from the insides of that monster. "Just in case, don't you even dare to approach it," I threw to the girl by the fireplace.

I then stood up and turned myself back to Mia, eager to explain everything to her...

Slam.

Before I could as much as glance at her face, Mia rushed right into my arms, only to lock her arms behind my back and refuse to let go.

The softness of her flesh, the delicate fragrance of her body, mixing with the slightly acidic smell of her sweat, the adorable way in which she squirmed while in my arms...

All of those feelings, all of those experiences, they all returned to me at once, threatening to overwhelm me. And in this state in which forming even a single thought was a challenge, all I could do was to raise my hand to the back of Mia's head.

"I'm sorry you had to wait for so long," I whispered, unable to squeeze even a single word more out of my lips.

"Arthur... Arthur... Arthur..." Mia couldn't control her speaking manners either, only able to utter my name over and over again.

Then, for some strange reason, she slid down my torso, only to end up wrapping her entire self around my leg, as tight as her cultivation-enhanced body would allow.

"Promise you will never let me go again!" Mia screamed out through her tears, too afraid to raise her head and look me in the eye.

Seeing how any attempts at bringing her back into my arms would be likely futile, I leaned down and reached out to grab her by her armpits before forcing her away from my leg and up, right into my arms.

"I can't promise you that," I whispered softly into her head while pushing her face into my chest.

Hearing those words, Mia trembled in my arms. But before she could utter even a single word of protest, I added.

"But I can promise I will do everything in my power to never let you go again," I finished my promise before moving my hands on Mia's cheeks, only to pull her head a bit away from my chest.

For a second, I couldn't help but just stare into her teary eyes. Met with her gaze so directly for the first time in what seemed like ages, I was mesmerized by it.

"Gulp," mesmerized by her eyes, I had to swallow hard to regain my composure.

"Do you want me to seal this oath?" I asked gently, rubbing Mia's tears off her face with my thumbs.

"Huh?" Mia moaned in a small shock, too emotional to figure out the trap behind my words. "Seal? Sure?" she asked, only for me to lean my head forward and seal her lips with mine.

This wasn't a new feeling. Back in the Skyladder sect, we kissed a lot. Heck, we even slept together and fucked like rabbits in heat!

Maybe it was because of the long period of separation, but the taste of her lips made me feel as if I was going to melt from the inside. The warmth of her lips instantly reignited the fire of passion in my soul. And the meek way in which she responded to my passion instantly made my blood travel downwards to a place that could easily spoil this precious moment.

'Seriously?' I thought, ashamed of myself. 'A boner?' I thought, cursing my own reactions as I continued to enjoy the kiss.

I wanted this kiss to keep on going... But Mia suddenly put her hands on my chest before gently pushing me away. As she didn't move her head at all, when our lips separated, a long strand of saliva ended up keeping us connected as it hung between our lips.

"Hmm?" I muttered, surprised by Mia pulling away.

"We can't, not right now," she said as a look of grief appeared in her eyes.

"Can you guys find yourself a room?" the girl by the fire suddenly snickered, forcing the two of us out of the small world that we shared between ourselves.

'A room...' I thought, instantly imagining a scenario in which I could pull Mia to a room that we could close and just immerse in each other's warmth for a long time.

And just like any rational person could expect, my body was quick to react to this vivid picture that I crafted in my thoughts.

"Do you really think we are in a position to look for lodging right now?" I asked, pulling away from Mia to prevent her from feeling my boner on her leg. "When it seems like your entire continent is about to fall down on our heads?" I asked, accidentally uttering the only explanation that I managed to figure out before Mia appeared.

"Arty?" Mia was quick to react to my words, looking up at my face with curiosity and happiness written all over her face.

'She is like a small animal, fully trusting in me,' I thought, almost grabbing myself by my chest to suppress the powerful need to protect her that exploded in my heart.

"What's going on, Arty?" Mia repeated the question, taking a step forward and plastering herself to my chest, turning my attempts to sneak away with my boner into nothingness.

And judging from a smile that only grew when she pressed her leg against my crotch, she didn't seem to mind my reactions at all.

"No!" Mia suddenly shouted, her smile vanishing from her lips as she pulled away and looked me in the eye with a look of urgency written all over her face. "We need to run away! All the elders of the sect that survived are out for your blood right now!" she shouted, a look of terror flashing behind her eyes.

"Too late," a new voice entered the scene, instantly sending a chilly sensation down my spine.