NOVEL NEXT Chapter 103: Visit
The quarterfinals would take place the next day, and the generals, still half-high from Damien's performance, dragged him out to dinner like proud, unhinged uncles.
They took him to a loud, crowded open-roof grill house near the edge of the academy, complete with sizzling plates of meat, jugs of mana-enhanced beer, and glowing skewers that exploded in your mouth with tiny bursts of spice.
General Hong Fei slapped Damien on the back so hard his ribs groaned in protest. "You! You brat! You've got some damn moves!"
"Pure artistry!" General Maru declared, spinning his chopsticks like a fan. "No wasted motion! I thought you'd stall out in the first ten seconds, but no—you just walked in and diced up that kid like a melon!"
General Riki nodded solemnly. "You've earned this meal, young Bloodbane. But more importantly… it's time we ask the real questions."
Damien, chewing on a piece of grilled mushroom, narrowed his eyes warily. "What questions?"
General Hong Fei leaned in. "What kind of woman do you like?"
Damien eyelids twitched violently.
General Maru elbowed Riki. "I say we bet on it. I've got five gold on him liking the quiet, scary type."
"Ten on someone like that Athena girl," Riki smirked. "Feisty ones. He acts like he hates it, but I know."
"We're not discussing my taste in women." Damien said with a firm tone. "I just fought three very hard won-"
"Pfffft." General Riki spurted his tea out.
"- VERY hard won battles." Damien reaffirmed. "And I want to eat in peace."
"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!" General Hong Fei pointed dramatically. "Answer the question, soldier!"
"I've survived rogue mages, killer simulations, and full-scale military drills," Damien said without giving any ground. "I draw the line at love life interrogation."
General Riki poured another cup of steaming mana-beer and downed it in one impressive gulp before slamming the mug onto the table with dramatic flair. "Listen, Damien, it's not just curiosity. This is national policy."
Damien paused, halfway through a piece of grilled fish. "…What?"
"You heard me," Riki said solemnly. "We're at war. Not just a skirmish or border dispute. War. A full-scale, multirealm, continent-devouring, apocalyptic-level war with magical beasts that want to eat our organs and use our bones as toothpicks."
General Maru nodded, eyes narrowing. "The next five years will shape the next five centuries. The beast tide is already rising. You've seen the reports. And if you haven't, that's because you're too busy stabbing million-dollar mechas like they're training dummies!"
"...Still sounds like curiosity," Damien muttered.
"Let him finish," said Hong Fei, deadly serious now, despite the pork skewer sticking out of his mouth. "What he's trying to say, Damien, is that you're a national treasure. A prodigy. A specimen. A top-tier combat genius. You're not just a fighter anymore."
"You're a purebred." Maru intoned, like a priest in a cathedral.
Damien choked. "I'm a what?"
"A purebred… A top grade seed!" Riki said helpfully. "A genetic beacon of humanity's future!"
"You have excellent bone structure," General Hong Fei added, gesturing with his beer. "Muscle distribution. Magical affinity. Eye clarity. Aura presence. Not to mention that thing you do where you dodge plasma sabers like they're Frisbees."
"All highly breedable traits." General Maru nodded sagely. "The nation needs you to… spread that potential."
Damien stared at them like they'd just told him to marry a dragon.
"You're telling me… You want me…" he said slowly, "to have sex?"
"Yes!" all three generals chorused.
"Lots of it! And preferably in multiple women!" General Riki added with alarming enthusiasm.
"Unprotected sex, just to be clear." General Maru clarified.
"I'm fifteen!"
"Exactly! Peak virility!" General Hong Fei beamed.
"Fresh Meat!" General Riki added.
Damien rose from his seat in horror. "What am I? A prime stallion for national breeding programs?!"
"Son, this is about duty," General Maru said gravely. "Responsibility. Future generations. Bloodlines. Babies that can bench-press tanks before teething."
"We're not saying you have to do it now," General Riki said quickly. "Tomorrow's quarterfinals are important. But after that… maybe a little mingling. A little bonding. A little cuddle combat."
General Hong Fei grinned. "Athena already kissed you. That's a foot in the womb. Uh, door. I meant door."
"I am going to bed," Damien declared, backing away like they were cultists trying to baptize him in tequila.
"With a girl?" General Hong Fei asked hopefully.
"No! Alone, and I'm locking the damn door!" Damien turned around and started to run away.
"If you don't show up tomorrow, we'll put you in the gene lab and print you ourselves!" General Riki shouted.
"Clones, Damien!" General Maru added cheerfully. "We'll grow a hundred mini-Damiens and raise them in our image!"
Damien didn't even respond.
He sprinted off into the night, the sound of the generals' drunken laughter fading behind him, along with General Hong Fei's final call:
"Remember, you're not allowed to use protection until the war is over! See you at the quarterfinals!"
Damien didn't stop. He vanished into the evening mist, walking alone through the quiet academy streets as night settled over the city like a silver cloak. He didn't visit the library. He didn't head to the forge. He didn't wander into the training zones.
He walked straight to his dorm.
For once, he wanted rest—real rest, uninterrupted and complete.
His hand was already on the door handle when the world shifted.
The air thickened, dense and syrupy. Moonlight froze where it fell, captured mid-beam like glass suspended in time. His breath caught in his throat and stayed there, unmoving. The surrounding mana grew heavy, then still, the world itself gripped in a moment of unnatural stasis.
And then the man appeared.
The figure in the black cloak, the same one Damien had seen at the net café—the one who had frozen the world with a whisper of Time Lock and vanished just as easily.
He stepped out of the shadows like a memory returning to life, his eyes glowing faintly beneath the edge of his hood.
"I had to know," the man said softly. "I've reviewed the footage. I've seen the recordings. You moved during my Time Lock… and that shouldn't be possible."