Chapter 70 - A pair of knives

Isac blinked and froze. For some reason, his thoughts became sluggish and he couldn't help but look at the crimson light coming from Damian's hand. It was this moment that Damian used to bypass Isac's defences and grab his face with the myst hand. 

Instantly, a blinding crimson light overtook Isac, causing him to scream and drop his blade. Damian didn't use this time moment to strike with Nox Aeternum, however. He simply watched the effect of his technique with stern curiosity, sword by his side. 

Alita watched his actions with confused curiosity. Despite knowing it wouldn't have protected her at all, she'd kept her gun pointed at Isac the whole time, and now was no different. 

It wasn't long before the light dissipated and Damian pulled back his hand. At the same time, he took a step back and flourished his sword back to readiness while observing Isac. 

To Alita's surprise, the pink hue that previously coloured the edges of Isac's eyes had disappeared and now showed the pure white of any normal human. 

Shock and distress coloured Isac's expression as his eyes blinked rapidly. "What— What did you do…?" he muttered in disbelief. He brought his arm up and a screen blinked to life on one of his arms, much like Alita's CyberStrap. A camera blinked on, and Luca inspected his own face. 

For a moment, Alita figured Isac had been brainwashed or something and Damian just undid whatever was done to him, but… that theory quickly went out the window when Isac's expression turned to wrath. 

"What the hell did you do?!" he screamed wildly, his arms flailing wildly as he took a step closer to Damian. But Damian remained calm. He'd already used a shadow tendril to fling Isac's fallen sword into a corner of the destroyed room, and with his ability to use myst restored, he had nothing to fear from Isac now. 

Surprisingly, however, he still didn't use this chance to attack. 

"Do you really want to keep fighting?" Damian asked him, now back to his eternally lazy smirk. "You've lost your weapon, so you're definitely not getting past me anymore… Alita is out of your reach, but if you find her quickly, I'm sure your benevolent mistress will restore her gift, right?" 

Isac blinked as if a sudden realization struck his addled mind. "R— Right! I— I can get it back! I just— I just have to go to her!" He pointed at Damian with a twitching expression. "T— This isn't over!" 

Without another word, he turned on the ball of his feet and bolted through a hole in the wall that led to the main room, and then out the empty space where once had been the front door. Damian simply watched him go calmly. 

Once he was gone completely, Damian sighed and staggered a little. "Ugh," he groaned, and immediately sank to the ground. "Healing so many wounds really costs far too much energy…" 

Behind him, Alita rapidly approached with a worried expression. "M— Master? Are you alright? What the hell just happened to him?!" 

Damian had one hand pressed against his forehead to suppress the headache he felt from a lack of energy, but he smiled lightly at Alita's almost natural use of the term master. 

"I'm fine, Alita…" he said calmly, shaking his head. "I just need to rest a little. I'll tell you what happened to Isac in a moment." 

At first, Alita felt relief that surprised even herself, but then a cunning light suddenly shone through her eyes and a small grin spread on her lips. She crouched next to Damian. 

"You know~~" she purred alluring, barely able to suppress her own excitement. "If you give me a catalyst and teach me that restoration technique, I could help you out like you did for me… As a good servant, I should be taking care of you, right~~?" 

Rolling his eyes, Damian chuckled. "Hehe, no need for the theatrics, Alita. I was always going to give you a catalyst, I just didn't want you to rush into that fight recklessly." 

He remained seated on his ass, in the middle of the room's ruins, with one hand pressed against his forehead, but he used the other to access Nox Aeternum's storage space and took out the knives he showed her before. 

Alita's eyes started shining when she looked at them. "I've always liked knives…" she muttered and started extending her hand towards them. Just before grasping them, however, she glanced at Damian with a worried glance. 

"Hehe, go ahead," he smirked and pushed the knives towards her. 

Instantly, Alita's face lit up and she snatched the knives from his hand. "Hehehehe," she chuckled with joyous greed. "Thank you, oh generous Master of mine!" 

Damian glanced at her from beneath his hand with an amused smirk. "Laying it on a little thick, don't you think?" 

But, Alita ignored him, her full focus being on the paired catalyst in her hands… until she realized there was nothing she could do with them. She looked back at Damian with an embarrassed pout. 

Fortunately, Damian understood the problem and shook his head in exasperation. "Just extend your senses into the knives, like you did with my sword before, and they'll bind to you automatically." 

Being as excited as a kid on Christmas, Alita immediately sat down with crossed legs and did as he suggested. With closed eyes and knives in hand, she extended her senses and soon had the same kind of feeling as before when she used Damian's sword. 

Power started coursing through her body. First in a small trickle, then like a waterfall. She barely noticed when she started giggling in excitement as her blue braids started slowly swaying around her head in the windless room. 

After a few seconds of this, the knives were suddenly pulled into her body and her eyes widened. She shot to her feet, panting from the feeling of power as she looked at her hands in glee. Finally. Finally she'd gained the power her big sister had, and that Damian gave her just a taste of. 

"Hahaha," she laughed loudly as the rush she felt coursed through her body, a wide grin on her lips. "Fuck that feels amazing!" 

When her laughter subsided, she looked down at the exhausted Damian with a strange expression. Now that she had the most important thing she needed from him, and he clearly wasn't in the best state, she should be running away from here… but she didn't even feel the desire to. 

"Damn, this asshole really got his claws in me good," she grumbled to herself with a twitching nose. 

Damian, of course, had never doubted his established control over her. He smiled slightly at her words, but said nothing. 

After another moment, Alita sighed and crouched next to him again. "So… what now? Master?"