Impatient

The wind howled.

FWOOOOOSH—!!

Aurevia surged forward, her blade flashing with frigid light, a comet trailing frost and intent. Her golden-haired opponent stood at the center of the ruined clearing, robes still, expression unreadable.

Alaric didn't move. Not yet.

Her blade descended, fast as a falcon's strike.

Then—he raised a single hand.

SHHHHHK—!!

The sword froze mid-air.

No clang of metal. No spark. Her blade—stopped without touching flesh.

His palm hovered a breath's width from the edge.

The air twisted.

Space itself… bent.

Like pulling thread from the weave of the world, Alaric tugged gently, and the blade folded inward as though caught in an invisible current. It didn't matter that he was barehanded—he wasn't stopping the blade with force.

He was redirecting reality.

Aurevia's eyes widened. He… bent space?

Before the thought could finish, his other hand flicked forward.

WHOOOOOM—!!

She was flung sideways—no touch, no wind—just the sudden, impossible sensation of her position being replaced.

The world spun. She crashed through a wall of ice she had conjured instinctively, tumbling into a crater.

THUD—!! CRRRSHHH—!!

Ten kilometers of earth trembled. Trees splintered to ash. The mountain ridge in the far distance cracked.

She coughed, stood, her legs quaking.

"How…?"

Alaric floated above, golden eyes calm.

He spoke softly, a revelation more to himself than to her.

"I've made… some progress with space. Just a little. Enough to bend it within my palm."

He smiled as though amused by the feat's insignificance.

To Aurevia, it felt like divinity.

He raised his hands again. Divine Energy swirled between them, condensing into a blinding sphere—silent, heavy, radiant.

Aurevia gritted her teeth.

"Then I'll show you how much stronger I've become too!"

She thrust both hands forward—ice surged upward, a barrier wide as the sky, jagged and towering like a glacial fortress.

SHIIIING—!!

The sphere pulsed.

VMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM—!!

Then descended.

FWOOOOOM—!!

The world went white.

Frost raced across the land. The barrier cracked, then shattered—

KRRRK—!! BOOOOOM—!!

—but the light did not wound.

It healed.

Aurevia gasped as warmth enveloped her. Her pain vanished. Her blood dried to shimmering dust. Her fatigue melted into silence.

The Divine Energy restored her.

She looked up—Alaric floated down toward her, the same teasing smile on his lips.

"I can't let my precious vessel get hurt like that now, can I?"

Aurevia scowled.

"You're so bad, Master."

He chuckled.

"Yes, I am."

The devastation around them made the silence louder. Frost-coated ruins stretched as far as they could see.

Alaric turned.

"Let's go home… but first—let's fix what we've destroyed."

He took to the sky and returned moments later with Cellione and Serineth trailing behind, both glowing faintly from the divine energy shielding them.

"We were training!"

Cellione cried out.

"And you just grabbed us mid-spell!"

Serineth only nodded, though her brow was furrowed with fatigue.

"You two are the mages,"

Alaric said with a shameless shrug.

"Tch."

With long sighs, they raised their hands, magic crackling.

ZZZZZZRRRRMM—!!

The land stirred beneath them. Craters filled. Mountains were restored in fragments. Trees began to sprout. Hours passed.

When they were done, exhausted and breathless, Alaric lifted his hand once more.

DOOOOOOMMMMM—!!

A dome of pure light spread over the ruined forest. Ten kilometers of divine illumination.

Grass burst forth. Flowers spiraled into bloom. Trees shot up, thick with fruit and vibrant green.

The forest was more alive than it had ever been.

Aurevia inhaled, her heart fluttering. Cellione and Serineth stared around in awe.

Alaric turned, divine glow still fading from his eyes.

"Let's go home."

The girls nodded.

He took to the skies again, and light swirled around them.

They rose, held aloft by the current of his divine will.

Aurevia floated beside him, awkward but steady. Cellione and Serineth clung to the warmth, unable to fly but not needing to try.

Behind them, the remade forest swayed in the wind—an unspoken promise that no matter how fierce the storm… he would always restore what he broke.

*****

✢═─༻༺═✢═─༻༺═✢

✶ I Reincarnated as an Extra ✶

✧ in a Reverse Harem World ✧

⊱ Eternal_Void_ ⊰

✢═─༻༺═✢═─༻༺═✢

*****

The divine dome faded, its radiance dissolving into the cooling air like the last breath of a god. When

Alaric and the girls returned to the estate, the sky above Veldroth shimmered in the dying light—hues of rose gold and quiet indigo streaked across the heavens.

The gates opened of their own accord, but Virellen was already waiting.

She stood straight at the entrance, her maid uniform immaculate despite the wind that tousled her Black hair. Her eyes brightened with childlike cheer the moment she saw them.

"Welcome back, Master! Mistresses!"

She called, her tone far too chipper for the weary party before her.

Her smile faltered as her gaze took in their disheveled forms—torn hems, scorched cloaks, soot on skin, and a silence that hinted at devastation recently wrought.

"…Training session?"

She asked hesitantly.

No one answered at first. Aurevia simply brushed past her with barely a nod, her usual graceful poise dulled by exhaustion.

Cellione collapsed to the side of the stone path with a theatrical groan.

PLOP—

Serineth leaned against a column, blinking slowly.

Virellen tilted her head, confused.

"Did something… explode?"

Alaric offered a casual shrug.

"Only a few hills. A forest. A stretch of land. About ten kilometers' worth."

Virellen let out a short laugh.

"Oh, Master, always exaggerating!"

She thought it was a jest. A very dry, strange jest.

Alaric said nothing.

Cellione sighed dramatically.

"I wish it was a joke."

"She's too low-ranked to sense it,"

Serineth murmured, voice so soft it was almost drowned by the breeze.

"She'll never believe us anyway,"

Cellione muttered.

Virellen clapped her hands lightly, misunderstanding the tone entirely.

"Well! If the Mistresses are done playing soldier, I shall prepare the baths. Should I steep the lavender, or do you desire something invigorating?"

"Anything hot,"

Aurevia muttered.

"Or I'll freeze the furniture."

"Lavender it is!"

Virellen chimed, already bustling inside.

As she vanished down the corridor, Cellione flopped backward onto the grass.

"How can someone live in this house and not notice what's going on?"

Alaric looked after Virellen's retreating figure, his smile faint.

"Some people are content seeing only what their eyes allow."

"Must be nice,"

Serineth whispered.

From down the hall came Aurevia's tired voice, tinged with annoyance.

"You could've warned me before flinging me like that, Master!"

"You dodged the last three attacks,"

Alaric replied without turning.

"I had to change the rhythm."

"By catching my blade with your bare hand?"

"I bent the space around my palm. A minor compression."

Aurevia glared at him as he stepped past her.

"You manipulated space just to throw me?!"

He tilted his head, amused.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"You're so bad, Master."

"Yes,"

He said, unashamed.

"Yes, I am."

Behind them, Cellione groaned.

"I want citrus in my bath. Something that makes me feel like I survived something epic."

"You'll get lavender,"

Alaric called back.

"Lavender is for people who didn't just reconstruct an ecosystem!"

Virellen reappeared with towels folded over her arm and a sunny expression.

"Baths are ready! Shall I set the dining table as well?"

"Please,"

Serineth said with a sigh, dragging her feet as she followed.

***

The chandelier above them glowed with a soft, pearlescent light—no flame, no electricity, only the quiet hum of the formation that pulsed through the mansion's bones.

Arcane runes shimmered faintly along the ceiling corners, interwoven like veins of silver light. Each bulb, hanging like a suspended drop of moonlight, burned steadily—never flickering.

Yet despite the brilliance above, the mood was heavy.

Alaric sat at the head of the long obsidian table, a silhouette bathed in that unnatural glow. His golden hair caught the light like threads of flame, but his expression was as still as water trapped in ice.

The girls watched him.

Aurevia sat at his right, her posture perfect, utensils untouched. Cellione leaned on one elbow, her brow furrowed in suspicion.

Serineth, more quiet than usual, traced circles on the rim of her glass, her blue eyes fixed on the table.

"Something's wrong,"

Cellione muttered.

"You've barely spoken since the spar,"

Aurevia added.

Serineth didn't speak, but she didn't need to. Her silence was louder than either of them.

Alaric finally set down his goblet. His golden gaze lifted—calm, unshaken.

"I'll be heading into the Core Forest, At dawn."

He said.

CLACK—

Aurevia's knife dropped to the plate.

"Alone?" Serineth asked, eyes widening.

Cellione leaned forward.

"You're not serious."

"I am."

"But why—"

Aurevia began, voice rising.

Alaric raised a hand. The room fell still.

"You are all still too weak,"

He said, not unkindly.

"I will not risk you on a venture you cannot survive."

"But—"

Serineth protested.

"No."

His voice was firmer now.

"I've waited long enough. The edge of the forest has taught me what I needed to know. Now I must see the core."

Cellione clenched her jaw.

"Why are you so impatient, Master? What's there that you're chasing?"

A soft silence bloomed. Even the mana threads that powered the glowing bulbs seemed to hold their breath.

Alaric looked at them—and smiled.

Not cruel. Not distant. But layered in a thousand veils of knowing. His smile was that of someone who had glimpsed a truth too vast to be spoken aloud.

"I want to see,"

He said at last,

"what I'm becoming. While I still have the choice to shape it."

Aurevia stood slowly.

"You don't trust us to stand with you?"

Alaric rose with her.

"I trust you to survive. That's why I'm going alone."

His shadow stretched behind him as he turned toward the doorway, the light of the arcane bulbs glinting off his back like a half-forged halo.

And just before he disappeared into the corridor, he added, as if it were an afterthought:

"I'll return by dusk. Or not at all."

FWOOM—

The light bulbs flickered slightly—reacting not to failing mana, but to the subtle flare of divine pressure he left behind.

As his presence faded into the hall, Virellen peered out from behind the kitchen arch, one brow raised.

"Huh. Looks like Mister Sunshine's decided to get himself killed."

Aurevia, Cellione, and Serineth remained silent.

They just stared at the empty doorway, hearts heavy, breaths caught somewhere between awe… and dread.

***

The sun had not yet crested the treetops.

A silver dawn mist curled along the courtyard stones, veiling the world in a soft, sacred hush.

The mansion's outer formation, still gently aglow from its overnight cycle, responded as Alaric stepped onto the cold stone with unhurried grace.

The bulbs embedded in the stone pillars flickered briefly, as if bidding their master farewell.

Aurevia stood beside the door, dressed in her traveling cloak though she would not be going. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes—those keen, frost-bright eyes—tracked his every move like a final prayer.

Serineth and Cellione stood farther behind her. They had protested again the night before. Now, they remained silent.

Perhaps they understood better than they wanted to. Or perhaps they simply knew nothing would stop him.

Alaric turned to them.

"I'll be back before dusk,"

He said.

Liar.

Cellione crossed her arms, muttering under her breath.

"You could at least pretend to follow the rules…"

Serineth sighed.

"You're really going to do it, aren't you?"

"To venture into the Core Forest,"

Alaric mused,

"you're supposed to be [Rank-D] or higher, right?"

Aurevia narrowed her eyes.

"You're not."

"I could be. But ranking up is a pain,"

He said, waving a hand dismissively.

"Too much paperwork. Too many eyes."

He stepped up onto a wind-shaped stone that jutted out from the garden—then with a flex of his Divine Energy, he rose into the air, the cloak behind him catching the breeze like a banner.

The formation shimmered at his departure, reacting to the surge in elevation, the sudden defiance of grounded paths.

WHOOSH—FWOOM—

The air folded as he shot into the sky, high above the tree canopy where no scout or patrolling eye would ever spot him.

"Unauthorized entry into the Core gets you blacklisted, Master,"

Aurevia called out.

He turned midair, floating above them like a sun-wreathed omen.

"Yes. But who's going to report me?"

He smiled again—too knowing, too easy.

"No eyes. No rules."

Cellione shouted up,

"That's not how the law works!"

"But it's how reality does,"

Alaric murmured.

He didn't wait for more protests. With a gleam of golden light, he shot forward, higher and farther—like a star returning to orbit.

***

Below, the girls watched as the skies swallowed him.

The Core Forest loomed on the distant horizon, an endless dark tide of trees that even the bravest dared not tread alone. Ancient. Primal. Alive in ways mortals had long forgotten.

And he, the one too divine to bother with protocol, was heading straight into its heart.

The mansion lights slowly dimmed in his absence.

Behind them, Virellen emerged from the inner hallway, yawning and scratching her head. She looked toward the empty sky, then at the girls, then at the glowing formation.

"...Did the Master just sneak into forbidden territory?"

Aurevia, eyes still fixed on the horizon, replied flatly,

"Yes."

Virellen grinned.

"He really is the worst."

They said nothing more.

There was only the breeze, the trailing divine essence in the air… and the quiet knowing that something deeper was now in motion.

-To Be Continued