"Come in," he said evenly, stepping aside.
She hesitated for only a moment before stepping into the room, glancing quickly over her shoulder before he shut the door. The click of the latch echoed.
Inside, the room felt smaller. More intimate.
"I… I was wondering," she said, voice lower now, more breath than sound, "about rune stabilization in mid-tier sequences. I read that—"
Her words trailed off. Slowly, her hands came to her waist, loosening the sash of her robe.
"I've been trying so hard," she whispered. "But there's so much pressure. So many talented students."
She let the robe slip from her shoulders.
Elias watched, silent.
Underneath, she wore nothing.
The moonlight spilled through the high window, tracing the gentle curves of her body. Her skin gleamed faintly, unmarked and youthful. Her breasts, soft and full, rose and fell with shallow breaths. Her hips, subtle and smooth, shifted slightly as she stepped closer.
"You're… so far ahead of all of us," she said, almost pleading now. "I thought maybe you could… help me. Even just for a little while."
Still, Elias didn't speak. But his gaze was steady, unreadable.
He reached out, fingers brushing against her cheek, then trailing lightly along her collarbone. She shivered, not from cold, but from the heat of anticipation.
His touch was slow, precise, calculated—more like a scholar studying an inscription than a boy giving in to passion. There was no urgency in him. Only understanding.
He had seen such moments before. In his first life, they had come wrapped in lust, jealousy, and manipulation. But here… here, it was a choice. A game. A quiet dance of power and need.
The girl leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering shut.
And Elias???
A faint tremble ran through the room—not from spiritual energy, but from something more primal, more human. Moonlight filtered through the high arched windows of the dormitory, tracing silver lines across the polished floor, casting shadows that danced with the faint flicker of inscription lamps.
The girl trembled beneath his touch, her body flush with anticipation, heart beating in rapid, hopeful bursts. The air between them was thick with a strange intimacy, but Elias's mind remained detached, like a surgeon observing anatomy. Her breath hitched as his fingertips traced the edge of her jaw, then her neck, and finally slid across the curve of her breasts.
She thought she had won. That she had seduced him.
And for a moment, Elias allowed her the illusion.
"You really believe," he murmured, voice soft as velvet, "that you came here to offer yourself?"
The girl looked up at him, confusion flickering behind the hunger in her gaze. She parted her lips to respond, but Elias didn't give her the chance.
His hand shot forward with sudden, controlled precision—fingers locking around her throat.
A gasp escaped her, but it was weak, choked off by the tightening grip. Her hands flew to his wrist, nails digging in, but it was useless. Elias was calm, eyes cold and unmoved, like ice beneath starlight.
"W-why…?" she rasped, but the words were meaningless.
With his other hand, Elias examined her, carefully, clinically. His expression never changed. He put his hand between her legs and began to examine her private area. After a few silent seconds, he nodded to himself, as if confirming the answer to a question only he had asked.
"She's virgin," he whispered, more to the Coin than to her. "Just as needed."
The Coin of Destiny shimmered faintly in his robes, as if responding to his thoughts. It no longer gleamed with the strange luster it once held—it had dulled, weakened. Too young, too recently forged. It required fuel.
And the soul and body of a virgin girl, untouched and brimming with the potential of life not yet lived, was precisely that.
"I spared your mind the truth," Elias said, voice steady, almost gentle. "So that your fear wouldn't disturb the ritual."
Her consciousness faded rapidly now. Her body sagged. He lowered her gently onto the cold floor, her eyes fluttering closed—still not comprehending.
He bit his thumb until it bled. And then began to draw a mysterious and intricate inscription on her body using his blood as a liquid for engraving.
It started from her forehead, through her eyes, nose and lips, all the way to her toes, covering her entire body with intricate lines.
After that, he knelt beside her and pulled out the Coin.
It pulsed faintly. A whisper, not a voice, echoed in his mind.
Sacrifice received… energy acceptable… initiate integration?
"Yes," Elias answered.
A soft light radiated outward from the coin. Runes—faint and unfinished—circled its edges, flickering erratically. The room dimmed as though the shadows themselves were pulling inward, drawn into the coin's center.
From the girl's chest, something rose—an ethereal wisp, pale blue and trembling. Her life force.
It drifted like a fragile flower on windless air.
Elias didn't watch it with pity. Only with calculation.
He extended the coin. Girl's life force was drawn into its center, swallowed whole. A burst of dull gold light flared briefly, then vanished.
The coin was whole again. No longer dulled, no longer silent.
He held it up between two fingers, observing the intricate symbols now glowing faintly on its surface. The taste of power—real, living power—had returned.
The cost? A single life.
Insignificant.
Elias looked at the place where the girl's body was stretched, now there is only a handful of dust left as proof that someone full of energy and youthful vitality was present in that place.
He rose and turned toward the window, the moonlight falling across his face. His expression was as calm as it had ever been.
"A necessary offering," he whispered. "For a greater fate."