I moved closer to Arthur to inspect the device, and...

There wasn’t a drop of blood on it.

I had honestly expected some sort of needle to pop up and then extract the blood from Arthur.

But seeing the result before me, I was once again reminded of the individual who had made it.

Alfred... I could now understand why he had never been afraid of Arthur when we had visited Ares for the first time.

If Alfred could create such a device that could do its work so seamlessly on an Immortal’s body, then what stopped Alfred from developing something that could actually fight against the Immortals?

The possibility seemed ridiculous, yet I couldn’t just ignore it.

Leaving aside a one-time attack that could result in mutual destruction, I firmly believed that Alfred should have already developed some kind of counter against Arthur... for any kind of situation that might arise in the future and require Alfred to face off against us.

Haa...

It was better not to antagonize the madman.

"Did you leave your mana signature?"

Arthur nodded his head.

Removing my shirt, I once again stood shirtless in Alfred’s lab as I took the device in my hand.

The surface of the sphere felt cold to the touch.

Moving it closer to my lower abdomen, just as the device made contact with my skin, it began to melt.

I wasn’t surprised, as it was something that I had already anticipated, knowing how the previous device made by Alfred worked.

Still... it took about ten minutes for the entirety of the metal, or whatever substance the device was made from, to melt and be absorbed into my body.

I could then feel it moving through the cells of my muscles, making its way towards my core.

Slowly but surely, the melted particles of the sphere made contact with my core, and...

They vanished?

The presence that I was able to sense from the device had simply ceased to exist.

I tried to sense deeper, but—

There were no traces of the device left.

"Something seems to have—"

Hm?

Just as I was about to inform Alfred about the malfunction in his device, I felt a cooling sensation around my lower abdomen that made me turn my gaze below.

Though nothing was visible on the surface, I could feel the cooling sensation increasing with every second.

Within a minute, the sensation increased to such an intense level that I was about to groan, but... the moment the sensation reached its peak, it began to lower its intensity on its own without me having to do anything.

And with every decrease in the level of intensity, I could see the skin around my lower abdomen becoming a darker shade of red.

As my mind processed the change, I began to understand what was truly happening.

The device...

It was being bonded to me.

That should have been easy to understand, but... I quite liked the style in which the bond was being created.

The device was forming a sort of mark on my abdomen that became darker with every passing moment.

It was a blood-red coloured mark, the same as—

Arthur’s hair?

Hm?

I didn’t know why, but maybe due to Arthur’s blood in it, the mark had taken after the colour of Arthur’s hair.

Haa...

The mark had now become broader and bigger in size, though its exact shape was still hard to discern.

The wait wasn’t much longer, as within a few minutes the entirety of the mark had been formed.

Huh?

Though I didn’t have any exact expectations for the shape of the mark... the thing before my eyes was intriguing.

A dark red sword had been formed with its tip aiming downward, while a skull overlapped the sword’s mark.

It was like both the skull and the sword were meant to co-exist...

Was there some deeper meaning behind that?

Ah!

I didn’t have to think for long, as the possible reason behind the mark clicked in my head.

The End’s Sword.

That was what the mark was trying to portray.

The skull must be the sign of death... which could also be called the end.

And then there was the sword... Garthel and its wielder, Arthur Dimitri.

The End’s Sword, huh...

Though I was confused as to how a mark like that had been formed.

End’s Sword was a name that the people had given to Arthur... it wasn’t something that was inscribed in his core... or was it?

Haa...

I felt like there was more to it, but considering the actual importance of finding out the reason... I dropped the topic altogether.

"It’s a cool mark."

I commented to Arthur, who just observed me in silence.

Haa...

"What is it now?"

Arthur, even after hearing my question, didn’t reply immediately.

Just as I was about to question again—

"Never try to put your life in needless danger."

Arthur spoke the statement before walking away from me.

Sigh.

Well... I had indeed grown confident knowing that Arthur would be there to protect me, now that I had a way to summon him at my will.

But—

Maybe he was right.

It wasn’t like summoning Arthur could solve all my problems.

Being overconfident... could very well result in the death of both of us.

Still—

I was quite happy as my safety net had now been placed in the right place.

I was safe... at least I wasn’t as helpless as before.

And that would help me a great deal when talking to the headmaster or... Antra in the possible future.

The psychological advantage mattered more than anything else.

Though I still had to be careful around those powerhouses...

The situation was now better than before, as I could now talk to them freely, without having to stay cautious of the possible consequences that I might have to suffer in case I mistakenly utter the wrong words.

I now had my safety net to protect me at all costs...

Heh.

It felt better to be someone who didn’t just bark, but could also bite.

Hm?

Maybe the phrasing wasn’t the best one... but it was the best that I could think of at the moment.