Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 209: Chapter 209: Give me your eye, little bastard

Chapter 209 – Give me your eye, little bastard.

Thud!

”Queen!” A piercing pain seized his backside and shot straight through the rest of Cassius’s body as he fell heavily onto the hard ground.

The first thing he saw was the white ceiling, ridiculously high, as if it were built for giants to live inside.

The next thing his eye settled on was the Dean herself, now wearing rather relaxed clothing.

She wore simple black trousers and a white sleeveless shirt. Her body was shaped like an hourglass, her skin mysteriously pale with a wondrous shine.

Her black hair, with strands of silver, was left loose. And only now did Cassius notice how long it was. It literally dragged along the floor.

The Dean was barefoot, too, her steps on the strange silver floor echoing through the overly silent room like a bell signalling the start of a dreadful trial.

Cassius swallowed audibly, all his attention narrowing on the Dean, feeling a sharp tension fill the office.

’Am I in the Tower of Power?’ He asked himself, wanting to look anywhere but at the approaching threat, yet finding no strength to.

[Cassius!] Ananke’s voice echoed, worried. [What’s happening? Who is this woman?]

’Queen, please never leave me again!’ Cassius shouted inwardly, like a child whose mother had left him alone for years.

It had barely been a couple of hours. But they had been some terrible couple of hours.

Never again.

[Can you just answer?] Ananke pressed, suppressing a blush.

A Goddess blushing. Truly the world was full of wonders.

’What’s happening? Queen, I wish I knew that too.’ He smiled awkwardly at the Dean. ’And this woman is my new master. She’s the Dean of the Academy, did you forget?’

[Why does she look like she wants to kill you?]

’Ring me when you find the answer.’

Cassius’s smile trembled a little as he saw the Dean now standing before him. Without many words, the woman crouched down, looking deeply at his face.

Cassius had the strange impression she was mostly looking at his eye.

And he was right. Unfortunately.

”You know, my disciple,” Mallory whispered, ”in my culture, there is a little ritual between a master and disciple before everything becomes official.”

”Is that so?” Cassius stammered. ”Does that mean I can still change my decision about being your disciple?”

Mallory’s eyes turned dead cold. ”Change what?”

He shivered.

’What in the hell is going on? What the fuck did I do this time?’

How was it that he always found himself in such terrible situations for no reason at all?

”I said, what should I do to complete the ritual, master?” He spared her a smile.

Mallory regained her gentle smile. A fake one, Cassius could tell that much.

”Oh, nothing much. A disciple ought to give something to his master as a sign of gratitude and respect.” She said, lifting her right hand and placing it on his left cheek.

Cold. Biting, dreadful cold.

Cassius shivered, his heart slowing at the mere touch of the Dean.

”And I only want two things from you.” She continued, getting closer and closer.

Now Cassius was certain.

The Dean’s attention was solely on his left eye.

[Cassius, you need to act!]

He didn’t even hear Ananke as Mallory spoke.

”I want this eye, Cassius.” She caressed it softly. ”And I want to know how you got it.” She looked deep into his eye. ”So make me proud, and start talking.”

”Master, how will I be able to see if I give you my eye?”

”I will create new eyes for you. I will also heal your two arms and make them better. As long as you answer my question and give me the eye, that is.”

”Why?” He asked slowly. ”Why do you want my eye? You have no real use for it.”

”You are not the one asking questions here.” Mallory replied, her voice a touch colder. ”I am. Will you do what I told you, or not?”

Cassius was speechless, only now understanding why the Dean had chosen him.

Somehow, she wanted his eye. And she wanted it badly enough to place him under her.

However...

’How can I give you something that isn’t mine?’

”I cannot, I’m afraid.” He replied, smiling wryly. ”Nor can I tell you how I got it. But is there anything else I can do, master?”

”Do you think you have a choice here?” Mallory lost what little patience she had.

Her left hand gripped Cassius’s cheeks, tightening until a faint crack echoed through the room.

Cassius’s pupils contracted as agony spread through his jaw and straight into his mind.

Mallory’s silver eyes in that instant were anything but human. They were monstrous, and Cassius could see within them an anger and longing at the level of insanity.

’Queen’s breath! What did my ancestor do this time?!’

Because everything pointed to the fact that somehow, for reasons he couldn’t fathom, the Dean knew of his eye.

The only thing Cassius knew was that this eye had been forged through the hundreds of dead bodies of dragons.

’Wait... dragons?’

His eye widened even further, looking at Mallory and seeing that her silver eyes had shifted, taking on the slit of a reptile.

Of a dragon.

’You’ve got to be kidding me!!!!’

”I asked you a question, Cassius.” Her voice was a growl that made his chest rattle. ”Do you think you have a choice here? You’re in the Academy now, and here...”

She smiled widely.

”...I am a god, little bastard. I can imprison you here, with me, and create a clone that would act just like you, and no one would ever know.”

She brought her face even closer.

”So you see, I’m giving you the chance to avoid all that pain and suffering. You have no idea what the eye you possess means. Tell me how you got it.”

At that point, Cassius knew he was in a deep, terrible situation.

He could neither tell the Dean how he got it, nor allow himself to be imprisoned here.

He would lose far too much time, and the momentum he had built up until now would be lost.

That would be a total waste of his efforts.

And that was unacceptable.

[Cassius, your rewards! Look at your rewards.]

’You think I have time for that right now, Queen? I’m fighting for my life here.’

First day at the Academy, and the Dean herself wanted his eye.

’How goddamn fabulous.’

[Use the Fate Link.]

’Wh—!’

[Stop talking and do it!]

”Guess we’ll do this my own way.” Mallory grated.

And Cassius was left no choice but to trust his goddess. Especially as the Dean finally lost all patience and her hand went straight for his left eye.

’She’s not joking!’

Instantly, he willed his reward, the Fate Link, into existence. The information on what the item was and how to use it appeared in his mind.

However, in that harrowing situation, with his left eye an inch away from being gouged out, Cassius ignored the item’s description and cared only about how to use it.

Understanding it, he turned his head with tearing difficulty and bit the right hand of the Dean still holding his cheek.

”Huh?” She exclaimed, her eyes like a god watching a mortal try to wound it.

It was useless. But he never meant to wound her.

He summoned the Fate Link Token into his mouth and bit his own lips to spill his blood onto it.

The token glowed with a bright silvery light, making the air shudder with the promise of something phenomenal. The sight made Mallory instinctively pause, wondering what he was doing.

It was then that Ananke acted.

By using the first reward she had received for them reaching 89th in the Bonds Rank — the one-time ability to attack someone in the mortal world through her Blessed. The attack power was limited, but it was more than enough.

So Ananke sent a small silver needle straight to where Cassius had bitten.

The needle was strong enough to draw Mallory’s blood.

It was silver and gold, filled with so much essence that the air quivered when it appeared.

Instantly, an intense danger slammed into the Dean’s mind. Her pupils shrank to needle-points, and she snapped her hand away from Cassius’s mouth.

That reckless movement caused her blood to fall on Cassius’s face. And without hesitation, he rubbed his face against the Token, making Mallory’s blood absorb into it.

The air in the room stalled completely.

Cassius and Mallory then felt a sharp pain pierce straight into their souls, going even deeper, into their very existences.

At the same time, the token glowed with a light so intense it was searingly bright. It transformed into a single thin silver thread that connected both the Dean and Cassius.

When the connection was stable and unyielding, the thread disappeared, and the atmosphere of the room returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

Cassius was breathing heavily, his face drenched in sweat, his eye falling on Mallory’s face as she looked at her own body in quiet disbelief.

”How?” She whispered, unable to believe what she was feeling.

Neither could Cassius believe it.

Because in that moment, a strange sensation filled his whole body and soul, giving him the harrowing knowledge that Mallory and he were now connected by Fate.

Which meant...

[...she will die if she kills you.]

—End of Chapter 209—