Chapter 275: If she is to join the Enclave, she joins with me.

"How did you defeat him?"

Isolde asked directly, staring at Lucian’s ruined body.

"The last time I saw you, you definitely weren’t winning. Then I wake up outside, and not long afterwards, Varek appears without arms or legs.

...what did you do?"

She leaned forward, wanting a clear answer.

And Lucian—

He just grinned.

"I unsealed my true power."

Isolde stared at him with a flat look on her face, a look usually Naomi had when she stared at Isolde and Lucian.

Lucian, on the other hand, nodded gravely.

"The ancient force sleeping within me could no longer tolerate the injustice."

And Isolde—

She had no idea how she was supposed to answer.

"You dare use her own spells against her, pottah!"

Naomi whispered with this strange excitement on her face.

Isolde glared at her, she laughed, then, Isolde’s eyes fell on the woman floating right beside her, Aevrienne.

The Ancient Spirit smiled and even waved at her.

Isolde waved back.

In the end, she stopped thinking about what Lucian said and focused on the spirit instead.

"A sip?"

She asked, extending her flask.

"You never asked me."

Naomi pouted.

"This is not what a mortal like you should relish, you wouldn’t be able to handle it."

Isolde quickly shook her head.

Naomi’s mouth twitched.

And while they talked, Lucian’s eyes fell on another familiar person.

Sabine.

She was standing a few meters away, together with Alaric and other Enclave Hunters, and she...

She was looking at them.

Their eyes met.

Sabine instantly looked away, the usual carefree smile was nowhere to be seen, she looked...

Embarrassed, perhaps even slightly guilty.

And Lucian—

His eyes moved away from her as well.

He did not feel any anger towards her. What Sabine did made sense, as a Relic Hunter, she ensured her survival, most people would have done the same, but...

When she did what she did, Sabine made a choice and now—

Lucian made a choice to treat her like she doesn’t exist.

So his eyes moved away and... they fell on another person who was standing close to Sabine and was looking towards them as well.

Dorian.

Dorian quickly noticed his gaze, their eyes met and Lucian—

He smirked.

Dorian’s expression darkened.

Lucian’s grin widened, he even gave the man a small nod, clearly trying to provoke him. Dorian’s jaw tightened, Lucian noticed his fists trembling in anger and that made his eyes glow strongly.

But then—

"Don’t."

Naomi, who noticed what he was doing, quickly stopped him.

"I didn’t do anything."

Lucian answered innocently.

"I can’t even move my body."

"You’re doing it with your face."

"I cannot control how naturally charming I am."

"..."

Naomi just stared at this man in silence.

Aevrienne chuckled at the situation.

Lucian kept smiling at Dorian and Dorian—

He just turned away, not wanting to stare at his face any longer.

Lucian nodded to himself.

He looked very satisfied.

Then, after a few more seconds, Lucian heard a sigh.

A very very familiar sigh.

And the instant Lucian heard it, his smile weakened. He then turned towards the source of that sigh and his eyes fell on her.

Claire.

The Cleaner walked towards them, her eyes glanced at Lucian’s state. Lucian stared back at her, then he smiled.

"Hello."

Claire remained silent for a few seconds, as if thinking about what she was even supposed to say.

Then—

"Again?"

She asked with an exhausted look on her face.

"I won."

Lucian focused on the bright part.

"You look worse than him."

Claire answered.

She knew about what happened between him and Varek, after all, she was the one who captured Varek once he came out.

"But I won."

Lucian pointed out again, this time, he even looked at Aevrienne, as if flaunting the prize of his victory.

Claire sighed again.

She couldn’t believe how tiring this man was.

The worst part?

She was getting used to all this.

"Medical Team."

She called as she rubbed her temple.

Two Enclave medics immediately walked towards Lucian.

Lucian did not resist them either, all the energy he had left was used to keep himself sane and not fall into his disgusting, mindless self.

And since Evelyn had passed out from exhaustion as well, there weren’t many ways for him to heal himself.

The two medics then took him from Naomi, who had been holding him all this while, and placed him on a floating stretcher, that action alone caused enough pain for him to flinch.

Before taking him away, they checked his condition, one of them looked at his arm, the protruding bones, some of which had pierced through the muscles and—

"How did you even do this?"

He asked with a frown as he stared at Lucian.

"Determination."

The man kept staring at him, Lucian kept smiling, that alone was very odd.

How could one smile in this state...?

The medics were confused.

So was Claire, but she simply stopped thinking about it and turned towards Naomi, or more specifically, towards the Ancient standing beside her.

She stared at her for a good few seconds, then her eyes moved to Naomi.

"Naomi Pierce."

"Yes?"

"I imagine you already understand that things are going to change now."

Naomi glanced towards Aevrienne, then down at the mark on her wrist.

"...yeah."

Claire nodded.

"You are now the Anchor of an Ancient Spirit. Every major supernatural faction now knows your name. You cannot realistically return to your previous life and pretend nothing happened."

"...I understand that."

Naomi nodded again.

Though this time, instead of feeling excited, she was more worried about her previous life, or more specifically, the people she was close to, especially her parents.

That was when Claire made an offer.

"Join the Enclave."

Naomi stared at her.

Claire didn’t explain what the Enclave does, she knew that Naomi already knew everything. She just said what mattered the most right now.

"If you join us, we can protect your family without actually involving them in the supernatural world."

Naomi’s expression changed.

This was exactly what she wanted.

She stared at Lucian and he didn’t seem surprised.

He knew this was going to happen, he was actually hoping it would.

And he—

"She will."

He spoke out loud.

Claire turned towards him and he grinned.

"Though there is a condition."

"A condition?"

Claire frowned, she glanced at Naomi. After all, Lucian had no authority to speak for her.

And Naomi—

"I’ll do what he says."

She gave Lucian all the power.

Claire turned to Lucian again with a tired look on her face.

And Lucian grinned.

"If she is to join the Enclave, she joins with me.

All the missions she takes, I need to be there with her."