Chapter 132: Boundless Tether of Hearts and Souls

Elias walked toward his room and found the door open, so he stuck his head past the doorway and looked inside.

Natasha and Stella were sitting on the larger bed, with the former wearing a deep, annoyed expression while the latter giggled in amusement.

"Hehe. You cannot beat me, big sister!" Stella said before she lightly hit her own head and added, "You dummy, big sister cannot hear."

She then picked up the notebook between them and began writing.

’How adorable...’

Elias chuckled under his breath as his gaze shifted toward the object placed between the two women.

It was a one-on-one board game called Sword and Staff. Each player had three sword pieces, three staff pieces, two spirit pieces, and one castle, with the objective being to destroy the opponent’s castle using a sword piece while protecting their own.

The game also contained three types of skill blocks: shield, blink, and teleport. Only the staff pieces could use them, while the spirit pieces could move only left or right, as their sole purpose was to guard the castle.

Elias had played this game with his maidservant and Balith when he was much younger, and seeing it again brought back memories he had not thought about in years. A faint, reminiscing smile appeared on his face as he walked inside.

The moment Stella noticed him, she threw both arms into the air.

"Husband!" she called out happily.

"Calm down," Elias said, gesturing for her to lower her arms. "Focus on the board. You do not want to lose to Natasha, do you?"

Stella immediately shook her head with complete seriousness.

"There is no way! I have not lost to her once."

"Oh?" his eyes shone with curiosity as he moved closer. "How many times have you two played this?"

Stella tapped her cheek with one finger while thinking.

"Thirty-two!" she finally declared. "I defeated her in all of them."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

Elias’s expression turned amused as he shifted onto the bed and examined the board. Then, using Mental Whisper, he spoke directly to Natasha.

[Move the first left sword piece forward.]

Natasha looked toward her husband with her lips slightly parted, then gave a faint nod before moving the piece exactly as instructed.

"Finally!" Stella exclaimed and instantly moved one of her own pieces.

Elias continued observing the board for a moment before sending another instruction.

[Move your second right staff piece to the left, and then move it forward on your next turn. After that, blink your sword piece to your first left staff piece.]

Natasha could not understand the strategy behind his instructions, but she trusted him enough to follow them without question.

"Huh?" Stella furrowed her brows as she studied the board, but then her expression changed into a smile. "Big sister is somehow playing better now..."

Her eyes narrowed as she focused completely on the game.

Several minutes passed, and under Elias’s instructions, Natasha managed to take down two of Stella’s sword pieces and one of her staff pieces.

Stella grabbed her hair in utter confusion.

"How are you doing this? How am I losing?!" she muttered, staring at the board with trembling eyes.

Natasha couldn’t hear her, but she did not need to. The smug expression on her face made it obvious that she understood Stella’s frustration.

However, that smugness disappeared almost immediately when Elias’s voice sounded inside her mind.

[Now it is all on you.]

Natasha slowly turned toward him with a trembling expression, looking as though he had somehow betrayed her.

Elias chuckled and shook his head before shifting farther onto the bed. He lay beside the two women, resting his head against one raised arm as he watched the game.

Without his guidance, Stella quickly regained her previous momentum. Her pieces began moving across the board with greater confidence, and soon her earlier panic disappeared, replaced by giggles and amused chuckles.

Elias watched the two of them with amusement.

However, after a while, his expression gradually became more thoughtful as his gaze settled on Stella.

’What voice was the system talking about?’

Stella had mentioned meeting her mad personality after eating an Extraordinary Sugar Fruit, so perhaps that was what the system had meant.

But he could not be certain.

When he had first received Angel of Comfort, Elias had assumed that the skill was specifically meant for Stella, yet after using it on Monica, he realized that assumption had been wrong.

It seemed to be a skill meant for all three of his wives.

Which meant the same might be true for every skill he had received until now.

An orange screen suddenly flickered before his eyes.

[Boundless Tether of Hearts and Souls]

[Grade: SSS]

[In this world, one must choose their ties, responsibilities, and duty. You have the choice of binding your very self to three beings in an eternal, never-ending, limitless net.]

[Bounds: 0/3]

Elias stared at the description for a long while.

’Maybe I can bind Stella’s three personalities together with this... it is worth testing, right?’

He thought about it for a long while and finally made the decision.

’Boundless Tether of Hearts and Souls...’

Another orange screen appeared before him.

[Which one of the three targets do you wish to bond with?]

[1. Natasha Sephila]

[2. Monica Ragnar]

[3. Stella Crimson]

Elias’s gaze remained fixed on the options.

’Stella Crimson...’

[Ding!]

[A connection beyond time-space is being formed between Elias Crimson and Stella Crimson.]

’Huh?’

Before Elias could even process the notification, a tremendous wave of fatigue suddenly crashed over him.

His eyes widened slightly.

It was an exhaustion so profound that even I Can Do This All Day could not stop it. His arms abruptly gave out, and his head dropped onto the bed as though he had simply fallen asleep.

Neither Natasha nor Stella reacted, as from their perspective, Elias had merely lowered his head onto the bed.

He was still awake, and he could feel something of him stretching beyond his understanding.

It was not his arm, his flesh, or anything physical.

It felt as though a part of his very soul — or perhaps his existence itself — was being pulled outward, stretching farther and farther away from him.

He could somehow sense its destination.

Stella.

The strange connection continued moving toward her, and Elias could feel it drawing closer until, just as the bond was about to be completed, something suddenly grabbed hold of it.

He felt his heart sink to the depths of the sea.

The presence was neither young Stella, mad Stella, nor the third Stella he had encountered before.

It was someone else entirely.

His half-lidded eyes trembled, and he found himself staring at the ceiling.

Above him floated a figure that looked similar to Stella, yet was unmistakably different because she had long crimson hair.

She wore a flowing lavender dress that drifted gently despite there being no wind, and her entire existence seemed strangely disconnected from the physical world.

[Image]

Elias could barely keep his eyes open, and an orange screen appeared before him.

[The connection has been formed.]

The unfamiliar spirit raised one hand and pointed toward the screen.

"Are you looking at this?" she asked.

’What...?’

He tried to understand what had just happened, but his thoughts had already become sluggish.

Before he could make sense of the spirit, the strange connection, or the notification, fatigue overtook his consciousness and sleep claimed him.