Overpowered Wizard-Chapter B4 Ch34: Chase

Don’t fall for it. She’s trying to suck you in. Zarian turned away from her instead, keeping the friend zone secured. He refused to let Naomi escape easily.

“Okay, Reiki, I have some weird magic I can pull off that’ll get you connected to Lucy. But it’s risky. You’ll have to place yourself at her mercy entirely. There’s a chance that her rejection can annihilate you, because you’re attempting to reach someone far above your level and quality.”

Reiki frowned at that. “Excuse me, master, but I must admit that’s vexing. My fate has always placed me at the eve of death and destruction no matter what, has it?”

Zarian nodded solemnly. “We can find another way. Maybe I can pass ownership to Bianca or Foodie or anybody else who’ll take good care of you. I just … well … I’m just trying to sort myself out right now and–”

“Do it, please,” Reiki urged. “The moment I saw her in my dungeon, I felt it. It is either you or her. And if not you, I wish to be at Shadowfell’s mercy. I wished to be owned by her.”

“Hell yeah, girl, you go live out your sub fantasies!” Naomi cheered. “Wear that leash with pride!”

Reiki stood straighter with Naomi’s praise.

Zarian had an inkling that it was best he spoke little on the phrasing being used. Another glance around Reiki’s interior gave him a good idea of Reiki’s more earnest nature, especially after consuming a Carrowmore Hell Gate from Sinfeast of all gods.

Still, Zarian wasn’t one to shame his friends being their honest selves.

“Well, okay, I’m going to need some sacrifices.” Zarian headed for the exit before stopping. “Goodbye, Reiki. I hope this works, and I hope you and Lucy can connect however you two want. I can’t really say what Lucy will do now that she’s unbound or whatever. Just please keep in mind the innocent people out there.”

“I know, Zarian. I’ve watched over your orphans for a short time, and they’ve left enough of an impression. Whatever evil I hold in my heart, I know who and what shall suffer it most.” Reiki bowed toward him.

Zarian nodded and turned for the exit when Reiki reappeared from thin air, teleporting. She planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged him with all six arms before letting him go.

Once Zarian was outside, he waited for Naomi to exit. She took a little longer before appearing outside with him.

“Girl talk,” she said.

Zarian shrugged.

She tilted her head, catching something. “You okay?”

“Letting go is hard. It’s like I’m watching all the possibilities I could’ve explored get sent away. And I don’t have to do this. I could hoard. If I weren’t certain that this is what I wanted, I would’ve let my greedy side win. But that’s not what I want, so I’m okay with suffering the temporary pain for something more long-term and deeper.”

“Well, damn, you’ve really grown. With all the power and influence you have, you don’t have to let go of jack shit. I mean, if I were in your position, I’d probably have a harem. Fuck it, I’ll have all the bitches. Guess who’ll be my number one.”

Zarian didn’t rise to the bait, but it wasn’t easy to stop from smiling a little. Worse yet, Naomi kept smiling in a cheeky way at him. His tense silence wasn’t daunting to her. The friend zone remained, but the barbarians were at the gates.

“Well, let’s do this.” Zarian formed a blade out of aura, slashed his palm, and spilled his blood.

He teleported down the Countess of Carrowmore, all of her active barons, and a bunch of other evil types, mostly driders, but not entirely. Before any of them could get a word in, Zarian pulped them into a gory slurry that he used to paint the most central runes required around Reiki’s dungeon. By that point, Reiki had already turned herself into a simple core, waiting to be sacrificed as part of the god-gifting ritual.

Without the wedding ring, Zarian searched for the nearest pool of Shadowfell Tears and transported it to be joined with the ritual. He layered more sorcery made from personal arrays he knew and runes from his bibliotheca. He had to kill a few more driders here and there, because the ritual was hungry even when it hadn’t been activated yet, so he aimed for the most heinous ones.

He whittled down that population pretty quickly. By the time he’d finished, Carrowmore was without its major leaders and pretty much on the verge of lawlessness and anarchy.

Technically, Carrowmore remained unconquered by his empire, but as a site for the tournament, it existed in a unique space that granted it immunity by the System. The only problem with that was how the System stayed out of the way when Zarian was involved. Though he’d figured he was in a unique position that placed him far higher on the priority list as a tournament contestant of the Final Round compared to the Carrowmore leadership.

Either way, it was a great way to send Reiki off into a meet-up with Lucy. If it worked out, then Reiki would be remade into something of Lucy’s desires. If it didn’t work out, Reiki would be annihilated, but at least her vengeance against her sister would be satisfied.

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“Evil Goddess Shadowfell,” Zarian intoned, triggering the ritual, the entire cavern lighting up with black runes. “I offer you this Dungeon Core. She is weak and far beneath you. But she wishes to be of service to you and has once served me well. Do you accept her?”

Lucy responded with a divinity that shook all of Carrowmore and the Coldboot Mountains. It must’ve been the work of something extra divine – the System – that stopped the entire place from crashing down completely.

“What do you want in return, Zarian?”

There was no affection. It was straight to business. He didn’t think that would affect him, but it did. The greedy part of him made him hesitate. Then, he strengthened his resolve and trusted his true desires. After nodding at Reiki’s awaiting and vulnerable core, he looked up.

“Take good care of Reiki and give her a chance to serve you. And maybe do more than that.”

“She cannot replace Lovewar.”

“She’s not a replacement. She’s a gift. Give her a chance. Will you accept?”

After a brief pause, Lucy’s breath filled the cavern like a hurricane. “Yes.”

The ritual ended with a neat and quiet wink. All the runes and sacrifices burned away quickly. Reiki’s dungeon core crumbled into fragments, and then those fragments became dust before disappearing completely.

Just like that, the Reiki everybody knew was dead. It was up to Lucy to recreate the Dungeon Boss into something new.

“I wonder what Reiki will become in God Land?” Zarian asked.

“A blow-up doll dungeon,” Naomi said with a straight face.

“Why is the healthier version of you a juvenile Marine straight out of bootcamp?”

“I was at my horniest then just like I am now. But it’s cool. I’m harnessing all of that for extra power. Literally. I can land one mega hit based on being pent up. It’s a new power among others.”

Zarian couldn’t stop himself. “How hard can you hit now?”

“It ain’t much. But I’m pretty sure I can wreck most of the world with one punch now. But that’s nothing compared to Bianca. She can slice through two worlds in a row when she’s fully charged up. It’s a little frustrating that she keeps getting power ups by just being the most insufferable goodie two-shoes ever.”

They can destroy worlds now? Zarian blinked. Gilbert probably couldn’t, but that wasn’t really his role. But the others shouldn’t be at that tier of power yet, even if up against a Lesser World.

Naomi was only Level 132. And she wasn’t ultra.

It didn’t take long for Zarian to do a quick identifying sweep regardless of the distance and obstacles.

Bianca was Level 172. Gilbert was Level 141. Hannah was Level 143.

They were far behind Zarian in stats and levels. Getting them to catch up would take work, and it would risk their lives. But Zarian saw more than just the hard numbers. He saw the amount of traits and skills they’d accrued that filled their alpha and beta sections.

Bianca’s profile was the most impressive. She’d held her own against Absolute Ruvaria for weeks, after all. The most surprising thing was Naomi’s growth. She shouldn’t be so strong for her low level. Her profile was filled with powers that made her like a psychic Goku, if the most famous anime character was a meathead of a military woman who could turn into a giant cat woman.

“What the hell happened during your tribulation?” Zarian asked her.

“I accepted myself.” She shrugged. “Now stop gawking and let’s get you to your girlfriend. She did me the solid of letting me holla at you a little. As much as I like her as a bad bitch, Bianca has me convinced she’s going to act all cute and red in the face the moment she sees you in the physical.”

The wolfish smile on Naomi’s face returned. “And you’re going to act all cute, too.”

“No I’m not!” Zarian growled.

Naomi waved ahead. “Then by all means. Take us to your girlfriend, oh Dark Emperor, the great and terrible.”

Using sorcery, Zarian took them from under the unstable cavern city and straight to his home. He brought them to Ruvaria’s exact location, which was in the heart of the newly improved Global Artillery Library Tower.

Nothing could resist Zarian’s entry, and all attempts were gently deterred no matter the runes and magitek involved. The more extreme measures had been disengaged by Hannah the moment Zarian was on the world. She must’ve known that he’d just pop in as he pleased.

He landed in his rarely used throne room, all black and crimson decor with a few splashes of gold to break up the evil vibes. At the end of the throne room, a series of steps led to a platform that held his throne, a big, highly cushioned, high-back seat.

There was only one reserved for him. But that wasn’t the case right now, because a petite elven woman was curled up on it while wearing one of his old shirts. And she looked more stunning to him than ever before.

She was still a small thing with bountiful gold-silver hair that spooled in long currents over her body and down the seat. She had a green-brown circlet around her head that marked her as royalty, and while her feet were bare as usual, she had on gold anklets with emeralds embedded into them.

From a distance, she could be confused for a child, but Zarian saw 10,000 years of depth within her gaze and knew she was no youngster. He knew her curves from close up experience. He knew how her height was deceptive, and she was a true woman from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.

But he’d never felt the crushing, out-of-breath feeling in his chest whenever he saw her before. He’d never felt a strange weakness in the knees and a mystical sweat that broke out around his body. He’d never felt painfully bewildered like this. He was pretty sure he could end it all with magic.

He could if he wanted to. He could put himself back under tight control.

But he wouldn’t do that. While Zarian was many things, he wasn’t someone who was afraid of feeling messy and out of control in safe settings. And he wasn’t afraid of experiencing these wild sensations. He’d never experienced them before, not to this degree, not with there being space still between him and the person of his desires.

And he could feel her reactions, too. He noticed how she was breathing faster, and how her shining emerald eyes were hyper-focused on him. She was inhaling deeper through her nose as if to rob the entire room of his scent, and she was fidgeting with either her hair or his shirt. She wriggled further into his throne seat, and that could be confused with her wanting to run away, but Zarian knew she wanted him to come to her. Even if she ran, she’d want him to chase.

Isn’t that an elf fairytale thing? Or a nymph thing? Zarian’s mind was far more sluggish than it should be. He could thank Lion Prince for that, actively leveraging the moment to make him weaker. That would make it more sporting for me.

Ruvaria let out an eloquent and beautiful string of old elven. “Ye hunter, quester of blood and honey, seeker to the ends of the woods, merriment awaits the covenant of binding and flowers. Will you accept?”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll work for it,” Zarian said plainly.

Ruvaria teleported away.

To another world across the Lesser Realm.

And Zarian gave chase.

With them gone, Naomi remained behind, her body shuddering as she let out a long sigh. “This better not awaken another side of me. I’ve already awakened enough!”