Strongest Incubus System

The eight minutes became ten the next morning.

Not because Damon had won a negotiation.

Ester simply was not in the courtyard.

Jian Yue noticed it at the same time he did.

“Ten.”

Damon raised the wooden sword.

“You’re learning.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

Xue Mei was sitting on the same wall as always, an apple in her hand.

“If Ester shows up, I was never here.”

Damon looked at her.

“You’re not even involved.”

“Exactly. I don’t want to be.”

Jian Yue attacked before he could respond.

This time there was no excessive caution.

It still was not real combat, but the strikes had enough speed to demand genuine reactions. Damon blocked the first, deflected the second and escaped the third by turning out of the line.

His shoulder followed.

His ribs did not protest.

When Jian Yue advanced again, Damon answered.

A strike to the side.

Blocked.

Another from above.

Deflected.

He stepped back, changed his grip and advanced again.

The connection near the base of his spine appeared for an instant when his weight shifted too quickly onto his left foot.

Damon felt it.

Did not use it.

His body recovered its balance on its own.

The sensation disappeared.

Jian Yue noticed the slight hesitation.

“Again?”

“Yes.”

“Did it do anything?”

“No.”

“Then continue.”

Damon smiled.

“Finally, someone reasonable.”

She struck his sword hard enough to make him retreat half a step.

“I didn’t tell you to relax.”

They continued.

When the ten minutes ended, Damon was sweaty, breathing a little faster and completely free of pain.

That was almost disappointingly normal.

He liked it.

Jian Yue rested the sword on her shoulder.

“You want to continue.”

“Yes.”

“You won’t.”

“I know.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“No arguing?”

“I’m saving energy for important arguments.”

“That sounds threatening.”

Damon handed over the wooden sword.

“It probably is.”

He had barely taken three steps toward the corridor when he found Ester coming from the opposite direction.

Damon stopped.

She looked at him.

Then at Jian Yue.

Then at Xue Mei.

Xue Mei immediately pointed at Jian Yue.

“It was her.”

“Betrayal,” Jian Yue said.

“Survival.”

Ester looked back at Damon.

“How long?”

“Ten minutes.”

She remained silent.

“No direct impact.”

More silence.

“No pain.”

Ester finally nodded.

“Good.”

Damon became suspicious.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“You’re not going to complain?”

“You respected a reasonable limit.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“That sounds like a trap.”

“Maybe you’ve developed a conditioned reflex.”

“Because of you.”

“Probably.”

She walked past him.

Damon stood there for a few seconds.

Jian Yue smiled.

“You look disappointed.”

“I’m trying to understand this new world.”

Two days later, Varos sent another message.

Damon was in the common room with Aurelia and Aria when the black tablet vibrated.

Aria picked it up.

“It’s from the Order.”

“Serik?”

“Maelor.”

Damon raised his eyes.

Aurelia did too.

Aria read the report silently first.

Then said:

“The council approved the complete preservation of the records.”

“Complete as in actually complete?”

“Yes. Legitimate procedures, administrative decisions, coercive corrections, executions authorized by the marks, Neria, Phase Three, everything.”

“And the protocol?”

“Separated from the archives. No executable function will remain active.”

Damon nodded.

“Good.”

Aria continued:

“The succession was also formally ended.”

Damon fell quiet.

That mattered more.

There would be no next bearer.

No eighteenth host.

When Maelor died, Serik would not continue inside another person.

“How did the divisions that wanted preservation react?” Aurelia asked.

“Two accepted the decision after receiving guarantees about scientific preservation. The third submitted a formal objection.”

“Violent?”

“Administrative.”

Damon relaxed.

“My favorite category.”

Aria ignored him.

“Maelor also made a statement before the council.”

Damon looked at her.

“As Maelor?”

“Yes.”

That caught his attention more than anything else.

Aria turned the tablet toward him.

The transcript was short.

Maelor stated that he would continue answering the audit’s questions and contributing to separating accumulated knowledge from protocol authority. He acknowledged that he did not know how far his current personality could be distinguished from Serik and refused any immediate attempt at restoration or artificial separation.

Damon read that part twice.

“He refused restoration.”

Aurelia moved closer.

“Did you suggest it?”

“I told him not to assume that the state from thirty-two years ago was automatically the answer.”

“Then he understood.”

“Maybe.”

Aria pointed to the final line.

There was more.

I request that, until there is a judicial or administrative decision regarding my condition, the internal records identify me as Maelor-Serik. I do not consider either name sufficient to describe my current state.

Damon kept staring at it.

Aurelia was the first to speak.

“Reasonable.”

“Yes.”

Aria closed the tablet.

“Varos also asked me to tell you that he accepted it.”

“Varos?”

“Yes.”

Damon thought about the way he had stopped in the corridor upon hearing the name Maelor.

“Good.”

Aria placed the tablet on the table.

“Does that settle the matter?”

Damon looked at her.

“You know it doesn’t.”

“I meant the succession.”

“That part, yes.”

“Then Serik ends.”

“When Maelor dies.”

Aurelia corrected:

“The succession protocol ends. Whatever Maelor is now continues as long as he does.”

Damon nodded.

“Better definition.”

Aria remained silent for a few seconds.

“It’s strange.”

“What?”

“After everything, it didn’t end with a battle.”

Damon looked at her.

“We’ve had enough battles.”

“I know.”

“Sometimes someone just needs to fill out paperwork.”

Aria made a face.

“You’re starting to like bureaucracy.”

“Take that back.”

Aurelia smiled.

That afternoon, Damon finally received authorization for real combat.

With conditions.

Naturally.

Ester began listing them.

“No vampiric energy during the first training session. No incubus amplification. No forcing the ancient connections. Don’t continue if you feel pain.”

“If.”

“If you feel pain.”

“You said ‘if you feel pain’ too quickly.”

“Because I’m losing patience.”

“Then we’re both recovered.”

She ignored him.

“Twenty minutes.”

Damon was satisfied.

“Thirty.”

“Twenty.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Eighteen.”

“You lowered it.”

“Sixteen.”

“Twenty is great.”

“Thought so.”

Jian Yue was waiting.

This time with her own sword.

Damon too.

No wood.

Xue Lian and Xue Mei stood at a distance. Chen Mo appeared shortly afterward, probably because someone had told him. Jian Li arrived with Mu Qing.

Damon looked around.

“Why is there an audience?”

Jian Li replied:

“Because you spent weeks complaining that you couldn’t fight.”

“Train.”

“You know what I mean.”

Jian Yue drew her sword.

“Ready?”

Damon did the same.

“Yes.”

The first clash of metal brought a familiar sensation.

Real weight.

Real sound.

The difference between a blade that had to be respected and a training weapon.

Jian Yue did not attack with the intent to injure, but she also did not offer easy movements.

Damon blocked.

Turned.

Answered.

She stepped back.

The two gradually increased their speed.

His body kept up.

The connection near his heart remained quiet.

The abdominal one as well.

The lower one reacted twice during abrupt balance changes, but only as availability.

The third time, Damon decided to use the alternative.

Not because he needed to.

Because he wanted to understand how it worked when the decision was conscious.

His rear foot slipped a few centimeters over the stone. The connection appeared near the base of his spine, offering a different redistribution.

Damon accepted it.

His hips adjusted slightly.

Nothing more.

He recovered his balance a little faster.

Jian Yue moved away.

“You used it.”

“Yes.”

“How was it?”

“Small.”

“That’s an Eir answer.”

“I spent too much time with her.”

Damon returned to position.

“Again?”

“If it happens naturally.”

She nodded.

They did not try to provoke it.

The rest of the training passed without any ancestral response.

When Ester announced the end of the twenty minutes, Damon was genuinely tired.

But intact.

He sheathed his sword.

“Now that’s better.”

Jian Yue was breathing a little faster too.

“Your right side is still slightly behind.”

“You can’t let anyone be happy.”

“Not my job.”

Damon was about to respond when he noticed Aria entering the courtyard.

She did not have the black tablet.

She had a letter.

Paper.

He looked at it.

“That looks old.”

“It was delivered at the gate.”

“By whom?”

“A merchant.”

Damon frowned.

“For me?”

“Not exactly.”

She approached.

The envelope had no name.

Only a symbol.

Three curved lines converging at the center.

Damon became still.

Aurelia, who was coming right behind her, saw it too.

“Arvell,” she said.

No one spoke for a few seconds.

Damon took the envelope.

“Who brought it?”

“A merchant named Haron. He said he received it from a woman in a village almost six days west of here.”

“Description?”

“Elderly. Gray hair. Didn’t give a name.”

“Did she know who it was for?”

Aria nodded.

“She only said: ‘Deliver it in Mirath to the man who stopped looking.’”

Damon closed his eyes.

Jian Yue approached.

“That sounds specific.”

“Very.”

“Are you going to open it?”

“Yes.”

He broke the seal.

Inside there was only one sheet.

A few lines.

Damon read in silence.

Then again.

Aria was almost leaning over his shoulder.

“Space.”

She stepped back.

Damon handed the sheet to Aurelia.

The text was simple.

You respected the request.

That was noticed.

The records you found are partially true. Maerin existed. Arvell did too. Neither of them defines what we are now.

Do not search for our home.

If you want to talk, come alone to Veyra on the first new moon of next month. Broken Bell Inn. Second floor. At sunset.

Below was the same symbol.

Three curved lines.

And one more sentence.

You may refuse. We will not send another invitation.

Damon remained silent.

Jian Yue read over Aurelia’s hand.

“It’s a trap.”

“Could be.”

Aria replied:

“It could also be exactly what it says.”

“That too.”

Xue Mei approached.

“Is Veyra far?”

Aurelia thought.

“With Transfer to the nearest safe point, maybe half a day of travel.”

Damon extended his hand.

Aurelia returned the letter.

He read it again.

Do not search for our home.

Come alone.

You may refuse.

That mattered.

They had established clear conditions.

They were not offering a location.

They were not asking for help.

There was no threat.

It was only a conversation.

Jian Yue crossed her arms.

“You’re going.”

Damon put the letter away.

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“I have time to decide.”

Aria looked at him as if she had heard an unknown language.

“You received a direct invitation from possible descendants of Maerin and you’re going to think about it?”

“Yes.”

“Until when?”

“The new moon is a few weeks away.”

“Are you sick?”

Damon looked at Ester.

“She just cleared me.”

“Physically,” Aria said.

Jian Li started laughing.

Damon ignored him.

Aurelia remained serious.

“If it’s real, the fact that they contacted you means they’ve been following something.”

“Maybe the Order’s records.”

“Or news about Serik.”

“Or Eir.”

“Or you.”

Damon made a face.

“I hope it’s the first option.”

Aria asked:

“Are you going to answer?”

“How?”

She realized.

There was no sender.

No route.

No contact.

They had deliberately created a one-way situation.

The choice was simple.

Show up.

Or don’t.

Damon folded the letter.

“Then they’ll find out on the new moon.”

Jian Yue observed him.

“And until then?”

Damon looked at the sword.

Then at the courtyard.

“Until then, I train.”

Aria closed her eyes.

“You’re really doing it.”

“What?”

“Waiting.”

Damon smiled.

“I’m getting very good at it.”

Ester pointed at him.

“Training is over.”

“I know.”

“No second session today.”

“I know.”

She became suspicious.

“You’re being too easy.”

“Maybe I’ve matured.”

Everyone fell silent.

Damon realized his mistake.

Jian Yue was the first to smile.

“You said it.”

“Forget it.”

Xue Mei started laughing.

Jian Li too.

Damon walked past everyone toward the corridor.

Behind him, Aria was still holding back her curiosity with obvious difficulty.

The letter remained in Damon’s pocket.

It did not burn.

It did not pulse.

It demanded nothing.

It was only an invitation.

And maybe that was why he was genuinely considering accepting it.

For the first time since he began discovering what existed beneath the modern bloodlines, someone connected to that past did not want to correct him, restore him, study him or use him as a reference.

They only wanted to talk.

Damon still did not know whether he would go.

But he had a few weeks to decide.

And this time, he liked having time.