Chapter 56 - If you insist...

Deciding not to think too deeply about the implications regarding her sister, Alita focused on Damian's offer. 

'Damn it. Why does he always sound so sure?' Alita clenched her jaw, glancing at the blade in her hands. She wanted this—she could admit that much—but that didn't mean she'd just roll over. 

"Fine!" she muttered, gripping the sword tightly; her reluctance was a little half-hearted as she tried to sound like she was doing him a favour. "If you insist… What do I do?" 

Grinning, Damian finally got up from his chair and stepped closer to Alita. Before she could recoil due to his sudden proximity, Damian grabbed the sword's edge, with Alita still holding the hilt, and effortlessly moved it to a horizontal level with her eyes. 

Alita looked at him with narrowed, slightly nervous eyes. Despite her attitude, she knew Damian could probably kill her relatively easily. Now that he was this close, she also realized he was a little taller than her, as well as being directly confronted with his good looks, causing her a little discomfort. 

But Damian pretended not to notice anything and simply smiled at her. "For the first time, it's good to hold your catalyst like this." 

Damian moved with unshakable ease, fingers curling around Alita's wrist as if guiding, not commanding. He shifted one of her hands to the blade's tip, while adjusting the blade until it hovered level with her eyes. 

"Like this," he murmured, his voice low and measured. "See how it aligns?" 

Alita was annoyed with the ease at which he moved her hands but didn't seem surprised. Subconsciously, despite her resistance, she'd already decided Damian was more powerful than her. 

'She'll need to get much stronger to be of any help to me,' Damian muttered in his mind, already planning for the future. 'But it should go quickly. Improvements to physical ability always go fast as soon as you start channelling myst. Plus, according to Mom, Eldkin bodies are far more susceptible to improvements compared to humans.' 

"Now," Damian continued after discarding his own thoughts, "this next part requires a bit of trial and error because, frankly, it's hard to explain, and often, the experience differs from person to person. What you need to do is extend your senses through the catalyst and then feel the myst in your surroundings." 

After his explanation, Damian stepped back and sat back down in the chair, intent on watching Alita's progress. His first student frowned as she stared at the sword. 

Minutes dragged by. Alita scowled at the sword, fingers tightening. She could feel something—like an itch beneath her skin, a whisper at the edge of her mind—but every time she reached for it, it slipped away. 

Then, just as she was about to curse Damian out for his vague-ass instructions—it clicked. 

Sparks. Violet and wild, snapping between her fingers and the blade. Power surged through her, raw and exhilarating. Alita's breath hitched, and Damian looked on in surprise. 

Alita felt a rush she'd never felt before. Suddenly, power surged through her body, and an excited grin spread across her lips. Instinctively, she poured more power into those sparks as they became increasingly chaotic. 

"Hahaha! Shit!" she cursed and laughed in excitement. "Glitch me twice and call it magic—this is wild!" Finally, she felt the power she needed to stand on equal footing with her big sister. The power she'd wanted all her live. 

Meanwhile, Damian was surprised for two reasons. For one, she did this surprisingly quickly, but mainly, he was surprised by the destructive lightning she conjured. 

'That's… curious…?' he muttered to himself. 'Lightning is part of the Lykos bloodline, but I haven't been able to access it yet, assuming it's actually included in my new kintype, but… even then, this is not the same type of lightning…' 

Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he raised an eyebrow. 'Don't tell me…. is this related to the Eldkin bloodline that made her a Gutterborn? I detected it when I drank her blood, and it would fit, but… that's not normal. It should have been completely subsumed by my own bloodline.' 

He tried to find an answer for himself, but was quickly pulled out of his thoughts by Alita's panting. She was starting to overtax her body, and he was afraid the lightning would soon start shooting at her surroundings, so he decided to put a stop to it. 

Damian exhaled, amusement flickering in his eyes. "That's enough." 

With a mere thought, he severed the flow of power through his catalyst. The violet lightning fizzled out instantly, leaving Alita gasping, drained. She staggered, her body suddenly feeling too heavy. 

Damian reached out—just enough to catch the sword before it clattered to the floor. He twirled it once, slow and effortless, before absorbing it back into his body. 

"H— Hey!" Alita complained despite still panting and even being forced to lean against the wall. "I— I was having fun with that!" 

"Hehe," Damian chuckled mischievously as he dropped himself back into the chair. "Fun, wasn't it?" His smirk was infuriatingly calm. "But power without control is just exhausting chaos. You'll need to train. Besides," he continued, now pointing at her, "that was my catalyst, remember?" 

Alita quickly recomposed herself and nodded quickly, "R— Right…" She really wanted to do that again, but she refused to ask this man for his catalyst back. She wasn't that weak-willed. 

"Come," Damian beckoned while patting the bed in front of him. "Let me help you recover." 

"What are you going to do…?" she asked with a hint of scepticism. His expression was gentle and inviting, as it somehow always was, and Alita did feel exhausted from before, so she was tempted... 

"I'll use my myst to accelerate your physical recovery, that's all," he chuckled delightfully. "It's a simple technique I could teach you later." 

That definitely got Alita's attention. She had no idea how she was going to use that technique without a catalyst, but after her first channelling experience just now, she wanted to learn everything about myst anyway. 

"F— Fine… if you insist…" she muttered with faked reluctance and slowly made her way over to the bed. "What do I do?" 

"Just sit with your back towards me," Damian explained calmly. 

Nodding, Alita took her place, and Damian placed his hands on her back, causing her to tremble a little. However, Damian did nothing strange. A sensation that felt both cool and warm started spreading throughout her body. She sighed softly as the previous exhaustion started to recede. 

The feeling seeped into her muscles, unravelling tension she hadn't even noticed. Her shoulders slumped before she could stop them. 

"That's…" She exhaled, fighting the urge to lean into his hands. "…surprisingly decent." A beat of silence. Then, her voice dropped, muttering almost to herself—"Not that I'm enjoying it or anything." 

Damian chuckled but didn't react. This caused Alita to quickly relax as even more tension left her body. She even groaned a little and finally leaned against his hands on her back. 

Damian felt the soft blue hair covering her back and raised an eyebrow. "You were wearing this in braids earlier, right? Couldn't do that on your own?" 

"My sister usually helps me…" she muttered absentmindedly, obviously enjoying his technique. 

"I see," Damian nodded as he got an interesting idea. "Want me to do it this time…? I've braided my little sister's hair a few times." 

If Alita was surprised by his admission to having a little sister, she was likely too relaxed to show it. "I don't know…" she muttered softly. "It's usually only my big sister who does it…" 

"She's not here right now, though," Damian whispered in his charming tone, full of allure, a light smile on his lips. "Wouldn't the braids me more convenient? What if you have to fight later…?" 

Alita, now feeling a little too relaxed to argue, slowly nodded in assent. "F— Fine… if you insist." 

Damian smiled mysteriously… Alita was already starting to become more comfortable with him as his slight manipulations seeped into her mind. 

The purpose of braiding her hair and mentioning he had a little sister was one and the same: to increase her subconscious trust in him. After all, now he was an 'older sibling' who 'braided his little sibling's hair'—two important things that resonated with Alita's relationship with her own big sister. 

Braiding hair was also a great way to build trust and intimacy, which was important for his ultimate goal…