The Young Master in the Shadows

Rita was floating in pitch-black darkness while weeping in pain. She didn’t know how long it was. A week? A month? A year?

She had no energy to think as the pain assaulted her very soul.

Suddenly the pain stopped.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She was still in the dark void.

“You have been punished enough. And it’s time for you to act.” The system’s voice told her.

“Ah… Your back.” She said as tears fell from her eyes.

“Yup.” The voice said as a shadow floated toward her from the foggy distance.

“You are the system?” She asked in a shaking voice.

“Yes, sorry about acting like a system, but I had to make sure that you are trustworthy.” The voice said as it slowly changed from the mechanical voice to a familiar one as the figure's face became clear.

It was Victor who was dressed in a white robe like an immortal figure.

“Is this a dream?” She asked.

“No.” He replied, making her frown.

“How did you get here? Where are we?” She asked as she looked around in fear. Not understanding what was going on.

“This is your soul realm. Every human has one. And the reason I am here is that I branded you as my blood salve that day at the ceremony. When I let you drink my blood. Since then, everything you have belonged to me, even your soul.” He said, making her look at him with shock. She was both shocked and angry. She always felt that something was wrong with the system, but she didn’t dare to resist. Now, she figured it out.

“You Bastard….. You fooled me.” She said in an aggrieved voice as she pointed at Victor and then proceeded to hammer him with her fist.

“Yes.” He replied after a while, noticing that her fists were losing strength, and she was also losing hope.

“I fooled you as your father and grandfather did to the family. You guys have been fooling everyone.” He said, making her feel guilty. “Now look where that led you.” He added.

“I am sorry…..Did you tell the patriarch about my grandfather’s secret?” She asked with concern.

“Of course not.” He replied.

“Why?” She asked as she looked at him with some hope in her eyes.

“Because of many factors. But most importantly, I didn’t want anything to happen to you. The family would kill you if they knew about your betrayal. And I would lose my pretty maid.” He lied while looking at her with clear eyes.

“Ahh…” She didn’t know what to say as she lowered her head with embarrassment, her anger was subdued a lot. “Then why did you only come to see me only now?” she asked.

“I told you, you were a bad girl, this was your punishment.” He said casually. He can’t show weakness.

“I am not bad….” She said pouting. All she wanted was to marry and have a good family, she never cared about politics.

“Did you figure out your situation?” He asked

“Ah… No… Levi is probably punishing me for being unfaithful.” She said, earning herself a slap at her butt. When did he appear behind her?

“I told you that you are an idiot before, but I may have been overestimating your mental capacity.” He said as she turned to look at him angrily. Her father also called her an idiot, but she didn’t like to hear it from Victor.

“Don’t look at me like that. You have always been disposable for the Von Zwei family. Just another pawn.” He said, making her freeze for a second before nodding. Seeing her current situation, that would be the only explanation.

“Don’t they want my father’s help? Even if they planned to backstab us or gain full control of the family, They would need my grandfather’s corporation. They promised him the patriarch’s position.” She said unconvinced,

“Who said that? They only want to destroy us completely and steal our legacy.” Victor said, making Rita look at him with a strange look.

“That’s impossible. Our family is too strong to fall that easily. They would never dare to attack us.” She said,

“Strong indeed. But what if we destroyed ourselves with our own hands? What if every faction started killing the others? What if we aroused public anger by creating a massacre or exposing the secret of players like the Von Richter family?” He asked, making her pause and think. Everyone knew the Von Richter family’s demise story.

“That would be impossible. We have a lot of allies.” She said, unconvinced.

“Not at all. A well-timed and well-placed attack can make the strongest empires crumble. Let alone a simple aristocratic family. “ He said while looking at her doubting eyes.

“Now, if my guess is correct. Levi must be filling your body with corpse energy. The pain was caused by it as it corroded your soul.” Victor said, making her frown. She did hear Levi talk about something like that with the men in white coats. But she didn’t get it at that time.

“How did you fix it?” She asked.

“I didn’t... I just blocked your pain receptors. Your soul is still being corroded.” He said, making her open her eyes in shock.

“Do you want to feel the pain back?” He asked. Activating her pain receptors by 5%

“No please.” She begged as she curled her body in pain,

“Well…. You are my maid anyway. I can’t be too hard on you.” He said casually, as he blocked the pain again, making her look at him with some relief and resentment.

“Levi probably wants to convert you to a death bomb. And according to the accumulation of the corpse energy in your body, you would die in 5 months. He would want to blow you up when your energy is at its peak when the shattering of your soul would turn all of this corpse energy into death rays.…. That would be…either at The FireBird tournament or Grandma Ann’s birthday party. They would be suitable times. I believe it will be the latter.” He said with a frown as Rita shivered unwillingly. She didn’t understand what death rays meant, but it sounded really bad.

“But…. They would have a defensive formation…and talismans…at the birthday party.” She mumbled.

“That won’t work. Death rays cannot be stopped. Not by a mortal artifact anyway. While Grandma Ann would survive, she would probably be hurt a lot. And half of the elders and party participants would probably perish in an instance.” He explained.

“Are you speaking the truth?” She asked him, unwilling to believe.

“Yes, why would I lie to you? You are dead anyway if I don’t help you.” He said, making her lower her head as tears fell from her eyes.

“Do you want to live?” He suddenly asked her after a few minutes.

“Ah… Yes.” She said as she looked up at him.

“Will you be an obedient maid from now on?” He asked her.

“....Yes…” She said, lowering her head again in shame.

“Then kiss me.” He said.

“Ah….” She hesitated. But after remembering what they did in the vault, she got her wits together and approached him wanting to kiss him on his cheek, but before she could do anything, his lips stole hers, sending a massive shock through her very soul. They were now in the realm of the souls and every sensation would be doubled 10 times.

“Don’t forget who is your master from now on.” He said after his lips left hers. This was his third kiss today. Would he get a skill? He liked Lily’s clumsy kiss the most, though.

Rita froze for a second then lowered her head and nodded in embarrassment.

“Let’s go. Follow me.” He said as he floated in the void in a certain direction.

Rita quickly followed him with a blushed face. Floating was hard at first, but she quickly got used to it.

After a while she noticed something moving in the distance in front of them. It was a monster that had nine heads and about 30 hands. It was as if someone took a group of people and then fused them together in a pot. It didn’t notice them and seemed to be busy absorbing some kind of energy.

“What is this?” she asked as she hid behind him. This thing was too grotesque for her.

“It is what they injected into you. A Demon Ghost.” Victor replied, “Seems to be a high-ranked one too.” He added.

“Why does it look like that? ” She asked.

“I am not really an expert about those things. But according to my information, the demon is like a core that uses broken souls to build its body. It is now growing in you like an egg by absorbing the souls trapped with the corpse energy that is filling you. The death explosion is one of its skills when it wants to change hosts. It would turn the entire family’s archipelago into a death zone when it's time. I wonder what was the deal they gave to sign a contract with them.”

“Contract?”

“Yes. All demons that enter this world, normally need a contract, or the world system would destroy it. I am curious about what they gave to work for them. Food and shelter? Or an open buffet on the archipelago?” Victor wondered while Rita wondered why he knew so much.

“Can we kill it?” She asked with some fear,

“The only reason it is not attacking us is that I hid our presence. But my skills are very limited here. So I can’t approach it a lot.” Victor said. “ It is very strong, But…. You can kill it, I will teach you how.” He added. His soul here was only a fraction of his real one. And this was not his domain.

“What should I do…. I don’t have a weapon here.” She said as she looked around, they were stranded in the void and she had no weapons and no clothes…..

“Ahhhh…” She screamed as she covered her naked body. She had just realized that she was wearing nothing all this time.

“Did you notice at last?” he asked with a smirk.

“Why? How?.... Why did you not tell me?” She said with an aggrieved voice while trying hard to cover her private parts with her little hands

“I was enjoying the scene. And you would end up in my bed eventually.” He stated.

“Bastard…, How can I get some clothes in this place?” She asked with an aggrieved face, looking around at the infinite darkness as if she was searching for a wardrobe.

“This is your soul space. You can control everything here. Just imagine them.” Victor said.

Rita frowned, then closed her eyes and tried to imagine a white frilled dress.…. Nothing happened. She couldn’t do it.

“Can you give me yours?” She asked embarrassingly after trying a few times and failing.

“No, you must learn to get dressed by yourself, or you will grow up to be a bad girl.” He said while nodding as if he was some parent teaching his bad child how to behave.

“Bastard.” She mattered silently.

“What was that?” He asked.

“Nothing.” She said, bitterly. Why is this guy so unreasonable?

“Well, learning to control your soul is not easy,” Victor said as he approached her, making her shrink her body nervously. But to her disappoi….. surprise he only touched his forehead with hers.

Suddenly she felt a piercing pain, followed by a flow of information entering her mind rapidly.

“I just transferred some techniques for you. The simplest would help you create some clothes, while the most advanced one would help you eat that thing.” Victor said as he stepped back and watched her hold her head trying to comprehend the information he gave her.

“Eat?” She asked after wondering for a moment. There were indeed a few techniques in her memory now. Soul Techniques.

“Yes, Although this place is your soul realm, you are too weak to expel or kill it casually. And if you did that, the men watching over you would notice something. You must use the bloodline reflection Art to turn into a dragon and then eat that thing. Dragons are immortal you know so death energy is not very effective against them. But you must be in dragon form for that protection to work.” He explained.

“Dragon?” She asked.

“Ah yes, yes,…. Don’t tell anyone, but our bloodline originator is an Elder Dragon.” He said casually.

“What? How do you know?” She asked in surprise. Her father once said, that the family has been researching their bloodline for ages, and until now, they didn’t know what bloodline it was.

“That is not something a little bed warming maid like you needs to know.” He replied, making her a little resentful. Does he need to keep reminding her of being his maid?

“Now, you need time to comprehend those things. Just stay away from that thing and train well.” He said.

“Wouldn't all this… corpse… energy hurt my body?” she asked him.

“Of course, it would, but that can be solved easily. You just have to eat it and gain its memories. He must have a way to control this energy. It is very rare for a demon to offer itself on a plate. You must not let it run away.” He said, making her frown a little.

“Wouldn’t I end up an abomination like it?” She asked,

“Probably, but that’s up to you, this is an uncharted territory… But I will be with you guiding you along the way.” He replied, making her a little fearful.

“Unfortunately, This is the only way you could survive this.” He added with a sigh while thinking about how he could help her,

“I need you to perform another service though.” He said after a while with a smirk, making her look back at him.

“What service? I am already yours you can do whatever you want with me” She said sarcastically, earning herself another butt slap. He was practicing his skill.

“Not for me, but for the family. The awakening orb was Destroyed two weeks ago. And the family is in distress now.” He said.

“Ahhhh. When? Who did it?” She Asked

“I don’t know yet.” He lied, “But…If you get another one, wouldn't you be able to take an important position in the family? Your grandfather would not be able to control you after that, you might even be able to get an elder position.” He said, making her open her eyes wide. Her father and mother would be very proud of her if such a thing happened.

“Where would I get an awakening artifact from? Even the lousiest one would cause a battle between all the powers. Let alone a high-ranked one like the broken one.” She asked,

“What if you could steal another awakening artifact? The Von Zwei has a spare lying around. It is of a very high rank. But that would have to wait until you get out of your current predicament.” He added.

“That’s impossible. Their Awakening artifact must definitely be guarded heavily.” She said,

“I have a plan. I will tell you about it later,” He said, making her look at him for a second.

“Ahhhh… Did you plan this from the start?” She suddenly asked him.

“Wow, my little bed warming maid has grown smarter. Yes. I wanted to use you to steal their artifact from the start.” He confessed,

“You bastard…. You could have told me earlier.” She said in a low voice.

“To tell the truth I didn’t expect that Levi would be this crazy and do this to you.” He said seriously.

“Don’t worry, I will help you get revenge. Now focus on training in the techniques I taught you, and forget everything else. ” He added as he began to fade.

“You are leaving?” She asked in a scared tone.

“Don’t worry, I will visit you daily, so if you have questions I will answer them later.“ He said, “This young master has too many girls to satisfy you know.” He added as he faded, not forgetting to spank her naked butt again before he had completely disappeared.

“Just trying my new skill, consider it a punishment for calling this young master a bastard.” His voice trailed off.