’Was the entire arm sliced off?’
Claire wondered in her head, but that didn’t seem possible either. The blood on the bandage looked old, plus, even the most inexperienced healer wouldn’t bandage the wound if it was healing on its own.
Sothing was wrong.
Lucian looked at her gaze, then he looked at his hand and moved the stump with a dramatic look—
"Tis but a minor cut, my lady."
"Then why has it not regenerated?"
Claire questioned directly.
Lucian looked at her with a deadpan look on his face.
"Do you not see this?"
He waved the stump again.
"How exactly are you expecting it to regenerate on its own?"
Claire didn’t know what to say.
It was already decided that Lucian’s situation would be hidden from normal mbers of the Enclave. In their eyes, he would only be a normal Incubus-Class Blood-Altered Human and obviously—
No Incubus-Class Blood-Altered Human, no matter how strong, would be able to heal an injury that deep with his own regeneration.
Her even expecting it to heal was a clear giveaway that he wasn’t normal.
So in the end, Claire just snorted.
"Minor cut."
Lucian smiled, knowing exactly what she was thinking, Claire knew that and it made her mouth twitch, for a mont, she wanted to thrash him, or at least ask more questions but then suddenly—
The doors of the receiving hall opened and the mont the person stepped in, the air in the hall changed.
Claire frowned, she looked at the door out of instinct and she froze. It wasn’t just her, every person inside was the sa the mont their eyes fell on the person who walked in.
Vivienne Everhart.
"Lady Vivienne."
Claire bowed her head respectfully.
That was when the others ca out of their reverie and—
"L-Lady Vivienne."
"Lady Vivienne."
They bowed as well, so even did a complete 90-degree bow just so she wouldn’t see them. Even Captain Darius was no exception, his commanding presence and slight attitude that remained even in front of Claire disappeared completely.
And Vivienne—
She didn’t care.
She didn’t even look at others, her eyes went straight to Lucian, then at his missing arm, then the blood on his clothes, the cuts on his thighs, the burns across his shoulder, then finally—
At his face.
"Oooh~ As scary as always.
As expected of my—"
"Co with ."
Vivienne commanded without a single change in her expression and Lucian—
He froze.
He looked into her eyes, then, his smile weakened slightly and—
"Yes."
He agreed.
But just as Vivienne was about to turn around, Darius stepped forward.
"Lady Vivienne, Cross still needs to give a formal repo—"
He tried to reason, but mid-sentence, Vivienne looked at him with that sa strict, calm gaze and he...
Darius’s face went pale.
"I...
I’ll take care of it."
He bowed his head again, this ti, even deeper than before.
Vivienne turned back and started walking, Lucian followed, waving his hand at Ilyra, Mara and Claire, mouthing goodbyes with that sa playful manner but the instant Vivienne looked at him, he straightened up and began walking normally.
The girls’ mouths twitched when they saw that, Lucian was still as ridiculous as ever, even with a missing hand.
It made them shake their heads, but at the sa ti, they also couldn’t help but look at the woman who took him.
To think... she ca personally.
The woman they had only heard about in stories taught to every Enclave mber, a living legend, a being every single person in the Enclave wanted to see at least once—
To think she really did co here for his sake...
’Definitely not a normal recruit...’
Ilyra couldn’t help but shake her head again.
For a mont, she began wondering about Monday, then she just laughed lightly, after Vivienne left, that is.
...
On the other side, Lucian and Vivienne walked through the Enclave corridors in silence.
Lucian’s steps were steady at first, then, maybe it was because he let his guard down now that Vivienne was here, he stumbled, Lucian looked at her and steadied his steps again, Vivienne turned back.
The two finally reached Vivienne’s private training hall.
Lucian stared at the familiar doors with a weak smile, then, he walked in. Vivienne walked after him, then, once she was inside, she closed the doors and the instant she did—
The instant there were only the two of them inside, with no one else looking at them or observing them from a distance—
"RRRAAARRRRRRHHHHHHH!!!!"
Lucian pounced at Vivienne as he lost all his reasoning.
Yes, Lucian was at his breaking point all this while, during the cleanup, the entire ride, through the garage, through Claire’s questioning, all the way till Vivienne saw him.
For more than 5 hours—
He had been holding himself back using one of the three techniques Vivienne taught him.
Red Quiet.
Unlike the usual techniques, the Red Quiet did not strengthen Lucian’s body or give him an ultimate move he could use against his enemies.
Red Quiet was... a Combat State.
A State used to move without being ruled by emotion.
Fear, rage, pain, lust, hunger, disgust, hesitation—it was a state where all these emotions were pushed so deep into one’s mind that they no longer controlled the body.
It was usually used in situations where emotions would make a fighter slow, reckless, or unstable: killing intent, torture, temptation, fear, battlefield chaos, or anything that could make the mind break.
The world’s greatest assassins throughout history had used this technique to kill without feeling a speck of emotion.
But in Lucian’s case—
The Red Quiet had more uses.
Lucian didn’t just use it to move effectively, he used it to push down the lust that ca from his blood, a perfect antidote for his condition.
This was why the desire Lucian sensed inside The Velvet House, and even the wave of desire Silas used against him, never worked against him.
Because when he used Red Quiet, Lucian did not feel lust.
Of course, this didn’t an Red Quiet alone was enough to deal with Lucian’s hunger altogether, Lucian was an Incubus, if his demonic energy reserves fell, he would feel hunger.
Red Quiet could only help him hide it and that too, was increasingly more difficult, the lower his demonic energy reserves fell.
This was also the reason Lucian had intentionally paused his natural self-regeneration, he needed to save as much demonic energy as possible to keep that last strand of sanity he needed to keep the Red Quiet activated.
Though now—
Now that he was here, inside the Training Hall, alone with Vivienne—
None of it mattered.
And Lucian—
He let go.
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