As she sat on top of him, Yvonne's eyes peered into Konrad's, and she could see the unwillingness to concede shining within.
"What? Not convinced?"
Konrad was indeed not convinced. If he unleashed his lineage weapon, even two Yvonne wouldn't be his match. However, to say nothing of the consequences, Man-Breaker might be his ticket to invincibility within this world, but its power didn't truly stem from him.
It existed because of his father's blood and might. If he couldn't suppress the world without it, then, didn't that mean that once deprived of Talroth's blood, he was nothing worth mentioning? Moreover, every single one of Talroth's children had a Man-Breaker.
The scions of the other noble demon houses also had their lineage weapons, albeit of varying powers.
Should he fail to grow out of his reliance on it, if he ever reached the higher realms, how would he stand out? As for this loss, he could only blame it on his lack of experience. Still, it didn't come without benefits.
One fight with Yvonne brought him more results than several days against his Semi-Saint maids who not only couldn't fight him without scruples but didn't possess a tenth of her battle experience.
This defeat, he would accept. Let it be the first and the last.
Yvonne who'd been staring into Konrad's eyes could barely stifle her laugh. For some reason, she particularly enjoyed that irritated look of his. She leaned in, lowering her face toward his while letting her nose almost brush his in a position any onlooker would have found compromising.
"I'm not that much of a sore loser."
Konrad replied while his inner conflicts dispersed.
"Good. If you were, I'd be disappointed. Don't worry, being my friend comes with many benefits."
Their faces were but an inch of one another, and as they spoke, their breaths intertwined. The more he stared into those slit silver eyes, the less Konrad cared about his loss. Instead, the urge to rise and kiss Yvonne's lips grew within him.
Full, alluring, and at criminal proximity.
Konrad couldn't resist the temptation, pushing his lips toward Yvonne's to seize the object of his desire. But as he reached them, she blocked him with her right index, stopping him less than an inch away from his prize while never losing eye contact.
"Greedy."
She whispered with her index still standing protecting her lips which had curled into a gripping smile.
"Yes, for you."
Konrad spontaneously replied, unaware of the implications of his words. And between them, tension rose.
"What you want isn't me. You want victory over my arrogance. The sweet taste of conquest, of taming the indomitable."
Slowly, Yvonne pushed his face away from hers and stood up.
"I don't know how many men like you I've seen back in those days. Women are like lambs, their hearts the fleece you collect. Mine just happens to have a more dazzling color.
Once I give it to you, for how long while you hold on to it?"
Though her words weren't pleasing to the ears, Konrad was forced to admit that Yvonne hadn't lain. Still, he felt a tingling sensation in his chest.
"I am selfish, haughty, willful, and cruel. What is there to like? Any man that claims to want me is either blinded by my sensual beauty, suffering from mental issues or hiding ulterior motives.
There has never been an exception."
Hearing, Yvonne's auto-description, Konrad almost burst into laughter.
"I'm also selfish, haughty, willful, and cruel. Who is to say I'm not heaven's gift to you? Your predestined mate on the road of cultivation?"
Yvonne shook her head and turned heels, feeling that Konrad was too shameless for his own good.
"Why, heaven? Why can it not be hell? It's been a long time since I forsook heavens.
In any case, follow me. It's time to inaugurate our new relationship!"
"Inaugurate?"
Konrad was perplexed. However, he still stood up, following Yvonne back to her quarters.
"Haven't you heard that all friendships start in liquor? I have a few special bottles bred for a moment like this one. Unfortunately, across all those centuries, no one was worthy of tasting them alongside me."
Konrad's eyes almost popped out of his sockets.
"Why are you so surprised? Even priests get drunk, to say nothing of me. With lifespans like ours, a few guilty pleasures are necessary to avoid going insane from boredom."
Konrad had nothing to say against that.
Once they returned to her quarters, Yvonne made a grasping motion, and a small pouch flew from one of her drawers into her hand. She lightly tapped it, making two grey bottles appear out of thin air.
It didn't take a genius to realize the pouch was a space treasure.
Yvonne threw one bottle at Konrad and kept the other for herself.
"One for you, one for me."
She then sat at a nearby table, motioning for Konrad to do the same. He sat before her, with his eyes moving from his bottle to hers.
"No glass or anything?"
"We're here to empty bottles. What need is there for glasses? Just drink to your heart's content."
Yvonne removed her bottle's lid, then raised it toward Konrad.
"A good fight, a good drink, this is how life should be. Cheers!"
"Very well, cheers!"
Konrad followed suit, removing his lid and knocking his bottle against Yvonne's. Then, in tandem, they brought the bottles to their lips and took a gulp.
Before Konrad could even access the liquor's taste, he felt like hellfire had been unleashed within his mouth. The alcohol burned within his body, heating him to deadly temperatures while his chest wildly beat and his face reddened.
*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*
On the contrary, Yvonne took down gulps upon gulps as if it was water and not a scalding beverage within her hand.
"The hell…did you breed it with?"
"Blood."
"What?"
But as confusion and stupor shone within Konrad's eyes, a searing pain burst within his chest and spread throughout his internal organs.
"AAARGH!"
He roared, unable to suppress the agony while veins popped on his forehead and his face further reddened.
He sat cross-legged, gathering his cultivation to suppress the pain. But then, a shocking scene occurred. The berserk current spreading within him reached his meridians' location and slowly morphed into a brand new one rippling with tremendous power.
This was a Supreme Meridian!
With just a gulp of some odd wine, he had obtained a new Supreme Meridian? How could this be?
As the meridian's condensation ended, the pain slowly subsided. In the meantime, Yvonne still enjoyed her drink, not paying any attention to Konrad's pain and stupor.
"You still have a bottle to finish. If your tolerance is this weak, how can we be drinking buddies? The night is young, and we still have many bottles ahead of you."
She said between two gulps, then carried on with her drinking.
For the first time in a very long while, Konrad didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He also didn't know whether he should carry on drinking or hug Yvonne, while potentially getting slapped in the process. This beverage was a treasure that could trigger world wars within the Ancient Crystal World.
And she'd casually thrown it toward him?
What Konrad didn't know was that although Yvonne's beverage was also a special cultivation liquor, it was completely different from his and didn't contain that unique ingredient.
Before defeating the poison within her, she couldn't bear using such a precious resource on herself.
"Thank you."
"From now on, when in private, you can call me Yvonne."
Yvonne replied, then took another gulp of her drink.
