Chapter 59: Rebirth & Lana Taken Away?
Chapter 59: Rebirth & Lana Taken Away?
Heat. Suffering. Unbearable, grinding agony. Then anger, destruction, hate, vengeance, fury, chaos, arrogance, frustration, and sorrow.
And finally, rebirth.
For an entire week, Loki’s body, soul, and mind were subjected to a grueling gauntlet of torment. The ordeal had begun with a spark of pure heat and mercifully concluded with his resurrection. He had endured each suffocating emotion one by one, carved into his very essence by the trial.
First came the Heat. As the Primordial Fire poured into his veins, it incinerated his tolerance, escalating instantly into pure Suffering. The agony became Unbearable; he prayed for death just to make it stop. Anger followed close behind as he watched his own flesh slowly blacken and crumble into ash.
Then, Destruction. His physical form was reduced to a hollow silhouette of burnt charcoal. His internal organs, brain, and bones were completely charred, yet his consciousness remained cruelly intact, forced to feel every agonizing second. Hate bled into his burning soul next—a flood of ancient, residual malice from a time before he was ever Loki Sky. He retained no specific memories of that past life, only an endless, bottomless hatred.
From hate sprouted Vengeance. He felt deeply, fundamentally wronged—by the Primordial Fire, by the uncaring Gods, by Myst, by Earth, and by everyone he had ever trusted. Fury consumed his burning spirit. With no physical outlet for his rage, his mind conjured blood-soaked battlefields, a relentless slaughter driven by the violent impulses of his Amazon bloodline.
Under the weight of this spiritual mutilation, he fractured. Chaos took over, and he went completely mad.
Yet, in the depths of that madness, Arrogance flickered back to life. He remembered exactly who he was: Loki Sky. He had a family to live for. He had people to protect.
When sanity returned, it brought bitter Frustration. He was already dead; his ruined body was actively disintegrating into fine particles of ash. Deep
Sorrow washed over him. He wept internally for the family he might never see again—Shade, Sylvia, and their child; Lana; Lisa; Ayala and their child.
Worst of all was the crushing guilt of causing the deaths of Shehuang, Taki Tsuki, Yin Meng, and his unborn child, not to mention poor Baihu, whom he had only just bound his soul to.
Then came the Rebirth.
Just as his heart broke over his perceived failures, the smoldering debris of his ash-heap stirred. A gentle breeze rustled through the cavern, carrying the scent of fresh greenery. The air itself seemed to gather the scattered remnants of the fire's destruction. Slowly, meticulously, his body began to reform. It was a flawless, perfect reconstruction—a legendary phoenix rising from its own ashes.
A sharp, gasping breath rushed into his new lungs.
Thump. His heart jolted awake, pumping fresh blood through his veins.
His eyelids fluttered, shielding his vision from the dim cavern light.
His fingers twitched, regaining coordination one millimeter at a time.
As feeling flooded back into his nervous system, Loki pushed himself up and looked around. He was sitting in a smooth, shallow crater, a testament to the intense conflagration that had consumed him. The sheer heat had completely melted the cavern floor beneath him.
He turned his head toward the location of the Primordial Earth black stone, only to freeze in shock. It was entirely gone. In place of the massive, ten-by-ten-foot lava pool, there was nothing but fine, undisturbed sand. While Loki had been trapped in his trial, Mamba had quietly slipped in and devoured the Primordial Earth entirely.
Panic flared, and his attention snapped to Lana. His heart immediately settled. She was still deep in her meditative trance. The erratic arcs of electricity that had previously surrounded her were gone, signaling that she had successfully tamed the volatile element and made it her own.
Standing up completely naked, Loki stepped over the melted stone to the hidden cache behind a cluster of stalagmites. He retrieved his gear and pulled out his golden pocket-watch. It was a magical piece, meticulously crafted for him by Sylvia.
He pressed the latch, and the cover flicked open. Inside was a portrait of Sylvia and Shade sitting side-by-side on their wedding day. He checked the time and sighed.
"Five whole days," he murmured. "That leaves only three weeks until the realm closes. Since Lana is still processing her breakthrough, I might as well absorb the Primordial Life."
No use wasting time. He quickly ate a ration pack to restore his energy, then pulled out a piece of parchment to write Lana a note. He kept it brief, claiming he had absorbed the Primordial Fire without any complications. There was no need to worry her with the reality of how close he had come to permanent death.
As he placed the letter gently near her hands, his senses picked up the resonance of her mana. A smile tugged at his lips; she had broken through to the 4th Circle.
His own perception had sharpened drastically because he, too, had just advanced, reaching the 5th Circle as a Summoner. He didn't want to spend the next few weeks studying and engraving the corresponding magic spells right now, so he set the thought aside. He leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to Lana’s lips—careful not to disrupt her meditation—before turning toward the rear of the cavern where the Primordial Life awaited.
A vibrant, floating green sphere illuminated the back of the cave, surrounded by a thriving, localized ecosystem. Jet-black and crimson centipedes scurried over the rocks, crystal-clear earthworms tunneled through the soil, iridescent purple and blue butterflies flitted through the air, and brilliant red ants marched in perfect lines. Near a patch of thick grass, a large, black-and-white striped spider stood guard over her egg sac.
Every single creature thriving near the sphere was a 0-Circle Gu insect. Despite their low rank, they possessed lethal toxins, venoms, and poisons capable of paralyzing or killing any creature below the 4th Circle in less than ten minutes. In the hands of a skilled master, these specimens could be raised to brew specialized curses, like the Heart Destroying Gu, Love Gu, or Confusion Gu.
Loki felt a brief wave of relief knowing that the notorious Love Gu required paired male-and-female insects to function, eliminating any fear of his lovers being manipulated. Because Owen was a Death-element mage, Loki was the only male Summoner in Myst capable of utilizing them; controlling, breeding, and spreading Gu required a Life element.
I guess that makes me look a bit like a villain, Loki thought dryly. He deliberately pushed away a sudden, intrusive thought of using a Love Gu on Leandra. Nope. I'm one of the good guys. Definitely.
Before he could safely absorb the Primordial Life, he needed to secure the ecosystem. He drew his Beast Master Token from his inventory.
"I suppose becoming a Gu Master isn't the worst backup plan," he muttered. "I choose you, Lesser Life Utility."
He channeled his mana, and a pale green and crimson magic circle materialized over his hands. The energy expanded outward, blanketing the ten-by-ten-foot ecosystem. One by one, the exotic plants and deadly insects submitted to his authority, dissolving into particles of light before being pulled into the safety of the Beast Master Token.
With the Gu safely secured, Loki turned his attention to the rare "Heaven and Earth" treasure herbs carpeted around the clearing. He systematically harvested centuries-old specimens, storing Dragon Vein Grass, Starlight Lilies, and Eternal Life Ginseng into his inventory.
The crown jewel of the harvest, however, was the Prismatic Lotus.
The delicate flower glowed with a shifting, rainbow luminescence, naturally synthesizing water, fire, lightning, earth, wind, life, and ice into a single organism. Its value easily rivaled the Primordial Life hovering above it.
The lotus had two primary applications. If consumed raw by a magical beast or monster matching any of its seven elemental affinities, it would force them to transcend their racial limits. It meant Shehuang could shatter her permanent 7th Circle restriction to reach the 8th, Yin Meng could break past her 5th Circle limit to hit the 6th, and Baihu could potentially leap directly from the 8th Circle to the 9th.
Alternatively, if refined into a Nirvana Pill using high-grade magic cores and rare catalysts, it could instantly elevate any Knight or Mage to the 7th Circle. It could shoot both of his classes up simultaneously, or turn Lana into an overnight powerhouse.
Loki winced at the sheer utility of it. Choosing who would receive the lotus was going to be a headache. No matter who he picked, someone else would miss out.
Shaking off the internal debate, Loki changed into a set of loose, comfortable sleepwear, reasoning that the gentle nature of the Life element wouldn't destroy his clothes the way the fire trial had.
He sat down directly beneath the soothing, radiant green sphere. Closing his eyes, he began to draw the Primordial Life into his core.
Unlike the agonizing, soul-scorching furnace of the Primordial Fire, this energy was entirely pleasant. A warm, therapeutic tingling sensation spread through his muscles and veins, repairing the deep-seated fatigue in his bones. Within moments, his consciousness drifted away, and he sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Crackle!
A sharp hiss of static magic split the air as Lana’s eyelids fluttered open. Beneath her lashes, a brilliant flash of amber-gold mana flared and receded, leaving behind the unmistakable aura of a Fourth Circle Summoner. A triumphant smile curved her lips. Her first instinct was to find Loki, to boast of her breakthrough and bask in the praise he would undoubtedly shower upon her.
Then she felt the crinkle of parchment in her palm. Her gaze drifted to where the dense canopy of primordial greenery and healing light had once pulsed. Now, only Loki remained, fast asleep on the stone floor. The sight anchored her rising excitement, wrapping her in a sudden, profound calm.
Scanning the letter, her smile softened into something deeply tender; his postscript, scribbled in a hasty but familiar script, explicitly stated how proud he was of her imminent breakthrough.
She stood up, stretched her aching limbs, changed her travel-worn clothes, and forced herself to eat before diving into the complex matrices of her newly unlocked spells. But as she surveyed the cavern, her eyes fell upon the center of the chamber.
The smile vanished. "Loki, you liar… Humph!"
Before her lay a jagged, human-shaped crater. The sharp, metallic tang of ozone and scorched flesh still hung heavy in the air, a stubborn ghost of the agony he had endured. He had played it down in the note, but the evidence of the pit told the grim truth: Loki had suffered tremendously while she was sealed away.
"Hmm~! Love… your… body, hehe…"
A low, slurred mutter broke the silence. Lana turned to find Loki tossing restlessly, his features twisted into a decidedly lewd, intoxicating grin. Even in the depths of unconsciousness, his body was moving, dry-humping the hard ground in a clumsy, desperate imitation of making love to a dream woman.
He looked intensely uncomfortable. The rough stone was unforgiving, and given his imposing size, pitching such an aggressive tent in tight gear looked outright painful.
Shaking her head with a mix of amusement and pity, Lana knelt beside him and rolled him onto his back. The tight lines of strain on his face eased slightly, but the relief was temporary. A closer look revealed a damp patch spreading across his trousers.
Lana assumed the worst, her heart squeezing with medical anxiety. She quickly stripped away his soiled clothing and pulled him onto a thick, cushioned bedroll to clean him up. Yet, even after ten minutes of meticulous care, the rigid erection refused to soften. Instead, it leaked rhythmically, overflowing with a thick, pearlescent fluid that seemed to pool from an inexhaustible reservoir. Loki’s brow furrowed again, a low groan of discomfort escaping his throat.
What Lana did not know—and could not possibly understand—was that Loki was in absolutely no danger. The potent surge of the Life element raging through his veins had hyper-activated his reproductive systems, driving his baseline vitality and carnal desires to a monstrous zenith. Far from destroying him, the primal energy was actively reconstructing his body, forging it anew with zero negative side effects.
But to Lana’s untrained eyes, this was a critical crisis. Believing his future—and their shared happiness—hung in the balance, a fierce determination took hold of her. He needs relief, or he'll ruin himself. Without a second thought, she shed her uniform, letting the silk slide to the cavern floor.
For four days and four nights, the cave became a sanctuary of unbridled, desperate hedonism.
Lana threw herself into the task with the devotion of a zealot. She mounted him in a relentless cowgirl rhythm, driving forward and backward, exhausting every ounce of her strength. When her lower body grew too raw to bear the friction, she adapted, using her hands, her breasts, and her mouth to coax the overflowing vitality from him. To sustain her grueling medical vigil, she routinely downed minor healing potions, ruthlessly ignoring the heavy, distended bloating in her lower abdomen from wave after wave of deep, unmitigated insemination.
Loki remained blissfully unaware, locked in his evolutionary slumber, but during this frantic "treatment," Lana clocked more hours of raw, unadulterated intimacy with him than all his other lovers combined. She molded herself entirely to his shape. Her bedroom proficiency spiked so drastically that even the legendary Shehuang or the uninhibited Baihu would have blushed at her newfound mastery.
Slap! Slap!
The sharp, wet rhythm echoed off the stone walls late into the fourth night. Lana was riding him with a heavy rhythm, a thick magical grimoire propped open in one hand as she multi-tasked, studying her new spells through a haze of sweat and pleasure.
Suddenly, a sharp, icy tug pricked the edge of her consciousness. It was Blitz. Her summon’s mental alert was unmistakable: Thorin’s search party had entered the immediate perimeter.
The rhythmic slapping stopped instantly. Lana froze, her hips resting heavy against Loki’s pelvis. Her breath hitched. "Why now?! Damn it, Loki is still changing… If Thorin finds us like this, everything is ruined."
Sighing heavily, she reluctantly dismounted. Her body felt heavy, saturated, and weak at the knees. She leaned over his broad chest, pressing her lips firmly against his in a deep, lingering kiss.
"All I can do now is get 'rescued' and draw them away," she whispered against his lips, her voice thick with a mix of satisfaction and sorrow. "I’ll cover our tracks, husband. See to it that you grow stronger than anyone in this secret realm. I'll be waiting for you in two weeks. Make sure you come back so I can feel safe, haha."
Looking down at the bedroll, she realized cleaning the absolute mess of fluids off his body was entirely pointless; his primordial vitality would only create more. Leaving him as he was, she hurriedly washed herself, downed a final healing potion to soothe her aching core, and pulled on her pristine Royal Academy uniform.
After ensuring the cave looked relatively undisturbed and leaving a tightly sealed letter by his side, she stepped toward the exit. On her way out, she paused, gently rubbing her swollen, overfilled belly with a wistful smile.
"It really would be grand if we became the next 'Hero and Elf Princess' bard tale, hehe."
Slipping silently out of the cavern, she swept the rocky ledge for any signs of her presence. Once the coast was clear, she leaped down, meticulously erasing her footprints from the base of the stone wall before sprinting toward the coordinates Blitz had provided.
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