CHAPTER 95: HELPING HER

"So, everything went alright I assume..." Sebastian’s calm, yet worried voice echoed in the area, his face wearing a rare, kind smile.

He was beating himself up too much over letting Johan go, finally letting relief settle on his chest.

"You can’t expect anything less from me, can you? I completed it perfectly..." Johan said with a shaky breath, his sticky eyes still just half open, even standing with the support of Olivia.

Sebastian smiled, nodding with approval.

He obviously knew nothing went fine, but as warriors, they were used to saying ’everything went fine’ anyway.

Orihime materialized right behind Johan, wearing a soft smirk, as if saying, ’I am the only one who believed in you from the beginning.’

Then, Orihime’s eyes widened when she looked closely at Johan’s face, yelping in surprise.

"...Your eyes, they’re golden. Did you use the disguise? If so, please change them back... they’re disgusting," she said without hesitation.

Johan’s pupils contracted, ’Golden?’ he froze.

He, in fact, didn’t use Maskless Sin to do it.

He quickly left Olivia’s grip and looked down at a red blood pool nearby with a frown, and then he saw it.

Bright golden, serpent-like pupils, with a sharp, small, black egg-shaped dot in the center... exactly like Leor’s.

Johan’s breathing grew ragged as he tried to focus his Aether, trying to sense something.

If these eyes were what he believed they were, then they should possess an entirely different Aether force than his.

His teeth ground against his will. The golden eyes of the protagonist were obviously not a random thing.

Johan sensed the holy aura coming from his eye sockets and immediately knew what this was.

Dragon Eyes.

Johan drew in a shaky breath. ’These eyes completely rely on the wielder’s Aether and Aether core to mutate and evolve. The longer they stay with that Aether, and the stronger the connection, the faster they will evolve...’

The full potential of these eyes was awakened by Leor in the later arcs—and that was simply frightening.

Leor could use it to gain vision into the fourth dimension. Meaning, if he focused, he could possibly see every living being in the entire history of the time he was present in, like literal X-ray vision.

There was no secret in history hidden from him anymore.

This was also how he found the way to kill Ymir, and the Goddess of Death. Of course, a normal brain would instantly explode from the mental strain if they used it, so Leor had to learn to control and ’aim’ it after a lot of time.

But obviously, this didn’t mean Johan would get the same ability as Leor.

’I can never predict what ability I’ll get. It’ll be purely dependent on the smoothie of my Aether, God Tree’s Aether, and the certain version of Dragon Eye!’ Johan bit his lower lip in frustration. There should’ve been better gifts Nolan could’ve given than basically making him take a gamble.

Then, his eyes brightened slightly. *’There are a few possibilities though. Maybe I’ll get healing-related powers because of Johan’s Aether.

Or time and space-related because of the God Tree’s, or whatever this Dragon Eye blends more smoothly with...’* He shook his head excitedly, forgetting that he liked to gamble the most.

Johan turned towards Orihime with a grin, fully widening his pupils as much as they possibly could. The flesh gluing them started to tear, making warm blood roll down Johan’s cheeks, horrifying all three of them.

"It’s a gift I got for passing the trial so flawlessly," Johan said enthusiastically, growing excited about what kind of ability he would get.

Orihime forced a smile. "Ah... I see, congratulations!"

Then added in a lower voice filled with fear, "But please don’t look at me anymore!" She turned away with a grimace, the eyes giving her an uncomfortable feeling—like the uncanny valley effect.

Sebastian and Olivia froze.

Olivia, especially, trembled—flashbacks of Johan shoving a four-foot-tall tree root down her throat flashing in her mind, making her stomach twist.

She instantly puked, crouching down on the ground, then slowly shaking her head at the group trying to rush toward her.

But Johan didn’t stop.

He slowly helped her get up, keeping his eyes closed the entire time—relying on his Aethric senses.

Olivia sighed while staring at Johan’s closed eyes.

Just when she had promised herself to be strong for her baby... she had already failed so soon.

But suddenly, her eyes widened. Her entire body started to shake violently.

When she tried to crouch again, she felt Johan’s grip tightly holding her shoulders... with opened eyes.

"...Johan, what are you—" Orihime tried to rush in, her voice filled with panic.

She didn’t know what had happened to Olivia suddenly, but she couldn’t just watch it happen again—intentionally at that.

But Sebastian’s firm hand ahead of her chest made her pause, making her turn to only see his stoic face, his eyes as if saying,

’Don’t worry. She will be fine.’

Olivia’s breath hitched, feeling the urge to throw up again... and she did—on Johan’s clothes.

But Johan didn’t even flinch, staring at her emotionlessly, making her tremble even harder.

Olivia unconsciously tried to look down, but one of Johan’s hands moved away from her shoulders, then grabbed her face straight from her chin—firmly, but gentle enough to not cause her pain.

"Look at me, Olivia. It’s me!" Johan said softly.

Which only made Olivia feel even worse, remembering vividly the things Johan had done to her.

But Johan’s words reverberated in her brain, not disappearing, as if evoking something deep within her.

The moments she had lost all hope of living, and saving her daughter, becoming a monster of pure instinct...

In immense pain... Johan was the one who had ended it.

And even though she knew Johan had brought her even more pain by burning her alive with a flame that grew hotter by the second, then using that brutal seal on her...

He was her only hope of ever having a family.

Olivia forced herself to stare, locking eyes with Johan firmly, which made Johan smile warmly.

No matter what, she had to be strong.

Then, Olivia’s pupils dilated.

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A.N. = I am refining my first fifteen Chapters for some issues I found after 130k words. Done with four for now, updated :D. So read them if you want to as they feel much smoother. Don’t blame me, I was a rookie at that time (Still am, but better).