"I love you, too. More than I can say," he replies. Forehead kiss!


It takes a week (one of his weeks, five days) to replenish his mana entirely. He informs Zeviana of the situation, and she is appropriately enraged. Both she and Isabella get mirrors. Vern snuggles up with Path, and then Adarin goes to tell the mages to fuck off.

He teleports to his former home. Unsurprisingly, the window is still broken. He doesn't care to get it fixed, the house still gives him bad feelings but he will tolerate it for a short amount of time. He sends a few couriers to invite various people over, for a very special party. Only about half of them show up. The other half are too terrified that he's planning something, that he's murderous, that he's on a rampage of revenge. Not true. It was never about revenge.

"I am not," he says, "Under any kind of spell, drug, mind control, manipulation, or anything of the like."

Several of them try to argue this point. He ignores them. "I was perfectly happy to play your game, perfectly happy to stay here and try to fix things because it is my 'civic duty.' I take that kind of thing seriously. But right after I come back? One of you idiots decided to try and manipulate me through something you didn't comprehend. She ended up hurting me so badly that being in my own home makes me want to throw up. I couldn't stand to be here anymore, so I left, because I was hurting.

"Let me make this extremely clear. None of this is Isabella's doing. I don't care if the timing's suspicious to you, she had nothing to do with this. Hell, she was going to help us, but you drove her away and now this plane's basically blacklisted. Because," he gives Lenora a cold glare. "some of us decided that playing with things we don't understand is fun. And guess what? You have officially gone too far. The line's been crossed, and I am done playing nice.

"I killed six people," he says, flatly. "You all are entirely aware, I know. If you don't, well, welcome out from under your rock.

"I killed them because you twits decided to torture my girlfriend on the off-chance that she is manipulating me. You decided that rather than losing a pawn in whatever insane game you are playing, you would do something worse than rape to an innocent woman. Meddling in a thing you don't understand for reasons you can barely justify. Sure, go ahead - argue for the fate of the future. Say that you need my children to save the world. But you're ruining lives now. I say this as a person who has had his life ruined by you people a few times, and you know what?

"I'm done. It's over, you have officially burned down every bridge with me. I'm not playing your games. Do not come after me. Do not follow me to my house. Do not come after my sister. Do not go after Isabella. Try it, and I will defend myself, and the people I love. You've seen me do it once.

"Don't make me do it again," he growls. "It'll be worse next time."

He doesn't wait for their answer. He teleports home, to Isabella's arms.


The general consensus among the mages is that he's gone off the deep end. The other major group believes he's under mind control. Some believe that he was driven away by their enemies, blaming each other and giving reason for their in-fighting. Either way - up against the two members of the third bloodline and unknown magic in the form of witchery, none are quite brave enough to try again. Not now, not so soon, not after such a spectacular failure.

Unexpected is the secondary result of his speech. A few agree with him.

Cuddle, cuddle.

"How are you doing, dear?" he asks, after a while. "I - don't know if there's any way I can help with after effects of what they did, but if there's anything I can do..."

Adarin nods. "Okay. I believe you. I should - probably get started on projects again, I think that would help me, certainly. I'll start with the armor one."

For obvious reasons. (He loves her, so.)