1428 Unexpected Guest

The sea of Varian's soul was a mix of seven different colors, perhaps directly from his seven different paths.

The water in the sea—at least that's how it visually seemed—was a mix of multiple colors, expanding every second, pushing farther and farther into the void.

The 'spirit' sat in the depths of the sea.

The usually free spirit now had a golden shackle covering it from head to toe.

The contract.

It's not a normal grade contract. Even if peak rank 9s help, the contract would stand strong. In the worst case they manage to crack it, it'd damage Varian's spirit and had a great chance of killing him.

Since it's a direct attack on his spirit, his consciousness, his great physical regeneration would be of no use.

Of course, as an <Ignis>, Varian could recover from the damage. In the worst case, he could store a bit of his spirit, blow up the rest to break the shackles and start regeneration.

But it'd take an incredibly absurd amount of time to get back to the former state.

Isadora had only a few cracks in her spirit due to the forced actions of Sia and Enigma during her life and death battle against Varian.

Even the minor injury took a whole synergy session and weeks of time to heal.

In the end, these were all conventional solutions on breaking a contract.

But the moment Varian decided to use the power of slivers against the contract, he broke away from all norms.

It's like bring a gun, no, a tank to a knife fight. Forgetting winning, the opponent lost any chance of even losing with dignity.

Ka! Ka! Ka!

The power of slivers slithered around the golden chain like a snake. Just by sheer contact, the strong restriction began to shudder, as if it's having trouble staying in place.

'It'll take a few days but oh well, small price to pay to buy my life.'

Varian continued to meditate when the bell suddenly rang.

"Who the hell knocks on my door?"

All the guests, well wishers, celebrities and wealthy tried to connect with him after he returned. He didn't even let them in, much less talk.

Even though it's only been a day, rumors about his behavior spread across the capital.

No one should be stupid enough to visit him when they knew they'd only get rejected.

To keep himself surprised, Varian didn't expand his senses and nonchalantly walked to the door.

Ding Dong! Ding Dong!

The bastard had a lot of guts! He rang the bell two more times! Did he think it's his own house or what?

As the 'arrogant' brother-in-law, he must respond to it harshly or it'd be out of character.

Varian pulled the door open, nearly tearing it off while his mouth ran. "Hey you bastard, this isn't your uncl—"

His harsh words stopped abruptly as a veiled woman exuding an energetic vibe greeted him.

"Brother-in-law!"

Miss Calamity literally jumped, moving faster before Varian could even react and clung onto his arm like a kola hugging a bear.

"W-What?"

Varian felt like this witch was playing a prank and tried to shake off his arm. But she held onto him tighter.

He strongly believed that this wasn't out of affection. Rather, she didn't want him to 'vanish' like he always did.

"Miss Calamity, what are you doing?" He tried to make his tone polite but distant but it only came up as a nervous rambling.

He couldn't help it. This woman was the only 'outsider' who knew his deep secrets. Not just that, she's overwhelming strong.

In other words, she had both the motive and the capability to act against him. No matter how friendly a cat acted, a mouse should always be wary of it. A weakling would also be the same, no matter how friendly a powerhouse behaves.

It's simply the self-preserving nature of life.

"What am I doing? I'm holding you so you don't disappear again." She stared at his face as if she was trying to imprint his 'true form' and brought her lips closer to whisper. "Like you always did, isn't that right? Brother-in-law or should I call you Constantine?"

Varian exhaled deeply. If it made any difference, he'd deny it even in the face of horrendous pain.

But looking at her eyes, the woman was a 150% sure. There's no doubt in her mind about his identity.

"Can you please leave my arm? I won't be able to escape from you anyways. I'm just a rank 7 weakling."

Instead of taking the strongman approach, Varian appealed with his weakness. It's something he didn't like to do but when left with no other choice, he didn't shy away from the means available.

Miss Calamity pursed her lips at his words but firmly shook her head. "Nope. Nope. Nope. I got fooled by you twice! Or thrice? I am not trusting you on this at all!"

She began to look around and fiddle with the stuff. Most of it were items that's already present with this manor.

But some of them belonged to Sarah and Enigma.

Like a few books on the table that Enigma was reading. Some of them about people, emotions. Some about starcrossed lovers. A few about proper methods of

killing.

Or the pile of swords that Sarah broke during her practice. They were all thrown into a corner of the room. She intended to use the knowledge from legacy to try repair them.

"Wow! Enigma reads these books? I'd have never guessed!" She determined the reader from the life traces left on them, like a detective identifying fingerprints.

"Ah! Sarah is training so diligently. No, it's a bit too much. What happened? Is she trying to grow stronger and beat you up or what?"

Saying so, she snickered and elbowed him lightly, enjoying her own joke.

'The way she rang the bell to this, she doesn't see herself as an outsider, huh.'

Varian remained as silent as he could, trying to process the situation and find a way out.

But nothing came to mind.

Finally, she dragged him to the couch in the same position and sat comfortably, as if it was her own home.

"So…why do you call me brother-in-law?"