[Nightmare]

Helix turned back toward the ocean with a melancholy expression.

"What else can I do?" He asked with a frown.

Tyrene contemplated the question and then took a deep, empathetic breath.

"Nothing." She sighed.

"Exactly."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes and listened to the waves crashing into the docks.

"If you've accepted this fate, why do you look so conflicted about Alzeria?" Tyrene asked softly.

"Is it because you don't want to endanger your lovers or make them sad?"

Helix gave her a sidelong glance and nodded.

"Then why don't you let them choose for you?" She asked with a gentle voice.

Helix thought about it for a couple of minutes with a pondering expression.

"I think that's what I'll do." He replied softly.

"Thanks for the insight. That makes things a lot easier."

Tyrene nodded.

,m "In the meantime, I'll speak to Tilo, and we'll accelerate your training schedule to focus on a battle capacity.

We need you to level up faster, so I'll take you on monster hunts daily." She announced.

Helix looked at her with wide eyes before calming down again.

"Aren't you worried my foundation will suffer?" He asked.

"Of course. However, with your level of cunning, you don't need powerful skills to succeed.

However, you must improve your agility and defense stat as quickly as possible."

Helix gave her an expression filled with pure gratitude.

Those were the two things that he desired most.

Unfortunately, while his agility was abnormally high, his defense stat was dangerously lagging.

"Don't get mushy, and thank me." Tyrene laughed.

"Your days for the next eight weeks will be pure hell."

Helix grimaced, and Tyrene chuckled in response.

After experiencing a monster hunt with her, he realized it was not a joke.

"What about your Nightmare?" Tyrene asked with a complicated expression.

Helix peered at her with his pitch-black eyes, trying to find clues about her question.

"I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's not summoning magic.

I won't ask questions. However, you're crippling yourself if you don't practice." She reasoned.

Helix averted her gaze and stared behind her back with a pensive expression.

After a moment of contemplation, he responded.

"Now that I've obtained a certain level of control with my Nightmare, I'm eager to train it." Helix replied.

"However—" He sighed with a melancholy expression.

"My Nightmare is far too dangerous to practice on humans.

It's extremely dangerous to use on monsters.

Even with more control, accidentally releasing it near one of you can turn ruinous.

Hell, it's so damn dangerous that disclosing it will cause me trouble."

After [Nightmare] recreated Leera, Whitney, and other women, he realized that he could use it for espionage, social engineering, or other use cases.

As a result, people would blame him for their conspiracies resulting from his skill.

He'd start getting blamed for everything.

[That was an illusion! Helix is plotting against us!]

That was the worst joke of the lot.

He was certain he could make [Nightmare] powerful, but he needed practice and experimentation.

However, experimentation is the matter of life and death.

"Please don't take this the wrong way.

But… that sounds a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Tyrene asked with a gentle voice.

Helix scoffed breathlessly and locked eyes with her.

"Do you have a piece of paper and a pen?"

Tyrene shot Helix a quizzical expression.

However, to avoid the gridlock, she touched her blue snowflake tattoo and pulled a pen and a piece of paper out of her item storage.

Helix accepted the pen and paper with a thankful nod.

"I'm going to write down information on my Nightmare.

Remember that I'm using your pen and paper." He sighed.

Tyrene couldn't hide the level of confusion she was experiencing.

Her face was gawking, her eyes were trembling, and her emotions were conflicted.

However, her exasperated confusion evolved into aggressive perplexion the next moment.

After only writing six words on the sheet of paper, it spontaneously lit on fire.

Helix picked up the bottom of the paper and put it between them so she could feel the heat.

She watched the flames reflected in Helix's pitch-black eyes in a trance.

"What… just happened?" Tyrene asked in a daze.

"Any information that's written or recorded about my Nightmare self-deletes." Helix replied with a serious gaze.

"Chalk self erases, but anything with an indent, permanent ink, or recordings burst into flames.

There are only five Nightmares like this; some haven't been seen for over a century.

Do you still think I'm being dramatic?"

Helix blew out the fire burning on the paper and handed it to Tyrene.

"I… This…." Tyrene gawked as she stared at the paper in disbelief.

"Macron and I entered into a blood oath pact and he uses this demonstration as an excuse for why he can't share the information." Helix sighed.

"He immediately agreed to protect my secret with his life.

That's because he knew at a glance how dangerous this Nightmare is to my life.

That is the level of severity that we're talking about.

I'm trusting you enough to explain this, so please don't get frustrated with me."

Tyrene fell silent as she tried to process what she had just seen.

As a grandmaster, she knew that Helix didn't release a spell.

The spirit particles in the atmosphere instantly ignited the paper.

Moreover, the burst piece of paper she held was proof that what happened wasn't an illusion.

"Please understand, master. People have been trying to kill me since I got here.

So I refuse to threaten my life to tell you when I know I can wait a month and experiment independently when I'm stronger." He said with bitterness in his eyes.

Tyrene gave Helix a pity-filled expression.

"Helix, promise me you're not going to side with the Mad Queen." She requested after a period of silence.

"I assure you. That woman wouldn't let me even if I wanted to." Helix chuckled bitterly.

Tyrene gave him a light smile.

"You've accepted your fate to face the Mad Queen.

I don't expect you to be a hero, but at least you can do some damage if attacked.

For that reason, I view you as an ally and am willing to enter a blood oath pact with you." Tyrene said with a serious expression.

"Whether I'll help you train it or not is something I'll decide once I see it."

Helix's eyes lit up with pure happiness.

"I'd appreciate you doing that." He replied with honesty.

"You better. Let's go back to my place so we can speak in complete privacy."

Tyrene led Helix from the peer to her trailer in the encampment.

It was a simple room painted blue, with a Spartan-like simplicity.

Only the bare minimal necessities besides weapons, a desk with writing equipment, and a few artifacts were present.

Tyrene pulled out a knife from her item storage.

"Let me see your hand." She requested.

Helix grimaced but complied.

"Don't be such a baby. I'm doing this, so the wound doesn't affect your hand during training." Tyrene muttered in annoyance.

Helix gave her a wry smile.

Tyrene masterfully cut his hand so that the skin barely broke.

Helix looked at the scratch with amazement but didn't show it in his expression.

She'd beat him senseless if she saw him gawking at her skill with a blade.

Tyrene cut her hand, locked hands with Helix, and chanted the spell to initiate the pact.

After the spell activated, their hands glowed bright red, and she made the oath.

"I, Tyrene Masney, swear by the blood oath pact that I will not intentionally divulge any information regarding Helix Margrave's Nightmare.

I will be mindful of my surroundings to prevent accidents but not be held responsible for a reasonable degree of human error.

In exchange, Helix Margrave will provide me with information on his Nightmare.

I shall abide by this oath, even if it costs me my life." Tyrene vowed with resolve in her eyes.

"I, Helix Margrave, accept the blood oath pact.

I shall abide by this oath, even if it costs me my life."

The blood oath pact created a crimson red seal on their hands.

The glowing seal faded a few seconds later and absorbed into their skin.

Helix nodded.

"Thank you, master." He said with a sincere expression while touching his neck.

"Please give me your hand."

Tyrene nodded.

The moment that Tyrene saw the Nightmare, she gasped in shock.

She instantly regretted giving Helix a hard time and asking questions.

"This…." She muttered in shock.