As Ashley woke up, wondering whether what had taken place last night was real, she was assaulted by a panging feeling of hunger. Turning to her side, she discovered that Andrew was gleaming over her as he was playing with her hair.
What took her by surprise was that now her hair other than its lustrous black hair, it seemed to lengthen reaching her waist with its tips being dyed in white with a huge of red. "You're awake. Good, now it's time for your training." He said as he got off the bed.
The two freshened up to get ready for the day of training ahead of them. However, the pain of hunger was slowly burning deep within her.
The two were prepared a feast by the maids in the dining room which was extravagant but regardless of how much she ate, the pain of hunger never seemed to leave her body.
The maids were taken aback by her appetite however Andrew playfully looked at her. Noticing this, Ashley who was delving deep into the scrumptious meal, pouted and leapt into his figure making the two fall onto the ground.
"You did want to kill them, so I'll give you leeway to kill one of them." He gestured looking at the five maids who shook in fear.
Should they die, no one would know considering their location not to mention with them dying at his hands, no one would take the initiative to take care about them.
A sinister grin grew on Ashley's face as her eyes scanned the give before her eyes landing onto Diane. "You, come her." She ordered to which Diane was forced to make a step forward.
Sweat was trickling down her forehead knowing that her life would come to a close. Ashley who was still on top of Andrew who was on the ground stretched out her hand only to realize that her tentacles tattoo was gone.
But to her surprise, it was replaced by an overlay of a flower with its roots spreading out similar to the tentacles from earlier. For her, killing this bitch wasn't that much of an effort to her.
An ominous aura emanated from her hand, multiple hazy roots spread out and quickly attached themselves to Diane's body as it buried and covered her completely. Her screams were completely absolved making it quick and painless for her.
As a metaphysical attack, Diane had no chance of blocking it and before long, the attack quickly came to an end with Diane's presence being erased from existence leaving nothing from where she had been originally standing.
She could feel her hunger subside but not fully satisfied. She looked over to another but Andrew intervened. "Even if you devour them all, you still won't be able to satiate your hunger. You a powerful being or devour a lot of people to calm it down but that won't last long."
She heard a notification from her system that she had made an advancement but she ignored it for now.
...
After that, Andrew dismissed the maids as the two made their way down and out of the mansion. They made a small trek through the woods. "Isn't this peaceful?" Ashley commented as they made their way closer to an opening.
"It is. Just like the way we met. Though back then it was night time." Andrew said as they took in the scenery. Soon enough, an opening came into view.
A small lake which was barely deep but extremely expansive came into view. The glistening beads from the sun and its clear view gave off a scene of tranquility. Ashley didn't hesitate to take out her phone and take a photo of the scene.
Soon after, the duo took a selfie, Ashley gleaming with joy while Andrew had a confident smile before putting her phone away.
The two stood on the shore admiring the scene before Andrew withdrew his hands and made a casual as snap with his fingers.
*Snap*
A large magical formation quickly came into view as it covered the entire scene spanning out seemingly for miles but with the two of them out this far, no one would notice.
"What skill is that?" Ashley asked with a hint of curiosity. "It's a barrier which will prevent any unwanted attention. That and you can freely exert your skills without damaging the environment."
He said as he made his way onto the shallow pond. He gracefully walked on top as he stretched his hand out waiting for Ashley to accommodate her. Unlike Andrew, Ashley didn't have such a skill but she could compensate for it.
Activating one of her frost skills, she made her way on top of the lake, with her steps freezing the surface of the pond making her way to him.
The two stood opposite of each other.
*Snap*
Another snap from Andrew, the graceful flow of the river came to a stop along with the world around them. "We'll start with your weapons skill. Then address your mental state." He said as he brought out a sword from his shadow.
Ashley eager to prove her skills, made an ice sword and immediately charged towards Andrew who had a playful smile on his face.
As Ashley got hacking away, Andrew was able to perfectly block every single attack she threw at him. Seeing melee wasn't doing anything to him, she decided to up her game and resort to her skills.
[{Domain Blizzard}]
As soon as those words left her mouth, a dome made of ice started to manifest itself covering the two inside of it. The dome had several nerves to those who would be encapsulated in it.
Andrew saw a bunch of notifications pop up.
[{Movement has been reduced by 70%}]
[{Casting any skills will require 90% more mana}]
[{All stats are momentarily under a rebuff of -100%}]
Andrew noting with a smile.
[{All attacks and spells are blocked with Invincibility}]
Ashley who had an underlying smirk waiting to see a somewhat flustered expression on Andrew's face but his smirk didn't fade and it was then that she realized that he wasn't affected.
[{Opponent has successfully blocked all attacks and effects}]
She was stunned to read this. Her domain had other underlying effects laced in between her overall domain such as Sensory Destroyer and aura of the void.
Seeing that her attacks had no effect on Andrew, she resorted to her trump card. Increasing her pace with [{Quick Steps}] her movements increased triple fold but Andrew's eyes could easily keep track of her.
As her breathe became more haggard, with her puffs being more and more deeper and deeper with her swordsmanship which she had yet to find an opponent with was being countered easily with one if Andrew's hands pocketed.
Closing the distance between the two, after a few exchanges, she finally found an opening with Andrew's defenses and with a quick flick of her wrist...
*Stab*
She was able to plunge a sword into his heart, she had anticipated for him to counter it and at least divert it somewhere else or at the very least a small cut to appear but he made no attempt on blocking it.
She paused, freezing in her tracks as the sight of Andrew wiped the smile off his face and looked in horror at the sword. He fell on his knees as he tried to pull it out. She instantly got rid of the domain and melted the sword off his chest.
She immediately crouched down to his level only to realize that the injury that had been inflicted on him was nowhere to be seen.
Her eyes were twitching thinking that she may had seen it wrong but the blood gushing out clearly confirmed that she had dealt the damage. Andrew's expressions immediately changed from a pained one to a jesting one.
A devilish smile on his face which quickly wore off realizing the mistake that he had made. "I'm sorry Ashley." He started off seeing that Ashley was on the verge of breaking into tears.
The ground beneath them had yet to melt back into water as it was still frozen providing solid ground for the two of them to stand on. He wrapped his hands around her to which she reciprocated clinging ever so tightly to him.
How could he have overlooked such a small detail? She had already experienced the pain of losing him once and the realization of losing him again was something that she couldn't bear at the moment.
"I know that you love me but I can't always be there for you." He stated as the two were numbed themselves to the environment around them. "You're strong, right? Why can't you just stay with me, here?" She poked after a moment of silence.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. I have to go to another world in less than two days but after I'm done with it, I'll be back." He stated.
She looked at him. An empathetic expression was plastered on it. "Can't you just take me with you?" She then voiced out. He stayed quiet to a while before he commented.
"Does that mean you are ready to leave everything behind? Even your dad?" She immediately paused as she contemplated on what he said. She still loved her dad and she felt that she wasn't ready to let him go yet.
He decided to change the subject. "We'll figure that out later. But for now, we have an invitation tonight." He said as he stood up and picked her up. Truly, she didn't want to put that much focus on the subject but she knew that ignoring it wouldn't solve it.
"Very well. Since you'll be leaving, I might as well keep you close to me as possible." She tried to uplift herself. With the option of actually being with Andrew on the next world sounded dazzling but she wanted to put more thought into it.
"But I'll give you a thrill of actually traversing through worlds and dimensional planes." He said as he placed his hand on her head immediately changing her world of vision.
Once opening her eyes, she saw a huge expansive kingdom that stretched out for miles. She couldn't even see how far it reached out but looking at it, it seemed extremely advanced so much so that she didn't know what she was looking at.
Realizing where she was, it liked like a palace. Majestic and grand. Wondering where Andrew was, she decided to take a walk outside of the room that she was in to find a servant who was diligently waiting outside.
"This way, follow this insignificant worthless servant." He spoke but what took her by surprise was his statistics.
[{A servant of the king of the fifth dimensional plane}]
[{Description: This is a royal guard who serves in the royal castle under rule of the king of the fifth dimensional plane. He has no ill intentions towards you. Confrontation with him will result in immediate death and instantly wipe out a lower dimensional plane}]
seeing this description, she was startled at how potent this person was. 'Didn't he regard himself as insignificant and worthless? And where the fuck is Andrew?!'
She thought as she tailed the guard only to wind up in the grandest room in the castle. The doors were grand and upon inspection, she received a prompt telling her that she was beyond weak to know anything.
It was an insult to her pride but she pushed that aside and upon entering, a shocking scene came into her eyes. The room was stacked with beings which looked at their arrival with the king seated at his throne.
She was intimidated by the king who was seated at his throne who looked down at her not with discontempt but with fear. As a matter of fact, everyone present was somehow wary.
'What is going on?' She couldn't fathom why they were so scared. 'Is it because of me?' Another thought came to her mind but it seemed improbable to her. If a guard could kill her with a single thought, then the king was surely leagues above him dreading what he could do.
The sounds of the door opened once again and looking at it, Andrew walked through it to which she seemed glad but the royals present tensed up upon seeing his figure.
"What is this? Don't you think a proper introduction is preferable?!" He said as he signaled towards the king. The king stood up from his throne, everyone all tensed up and Ashley could feel the shift in the atmosphere.
To her surprise, the king walked off the podium and went on one of his knees. "I apologize, Lord Aldritch for my shortsightedness." Confused, Ashley spoke up.
"Andrew, what's going on?"