Chapter 55: The second contracted Divine Chosen(2)

"Ashina, are you alright?"

The vanguard soldiers pushed aside the rubble as Phield crawled into the building through a hole in the wall. Other soldiers followed close behind, shields raised and swords drawn, all wearing wary expressions.

Phield spotted Rosalia pinned to the wall at a glance, then saw Ashina standing nearby with a faint smile. Only then did the tension finally leave his chest.

"You—go outside and keep watch."

With a wave of Phield’s hand, the soldiers acknowledged and withdrew.

"Thanks to you, my lord, I’m fine." No longer carrying the cold, feral aura she had while slaughtering enemies, Ashina had returned to her usual obedient demeanor.

Phield’s heart ached at the sight of her condition. Ashina clearly wasn’t in good shape—the wolf-soul phantom behind her flickered and twisted, as if it might dissipate at any moment. Disintegrating a divine artifact granted tremendous power, but only temporarily. It was a last-resort measure.

"Your wolf..." Phield pointed at the phantom, worry written all over his face. "I didn’t expect divine artifacts to self-destruct like that. Can it recover? Does it affect you badly?"

"It doesn’t affect me much. Sleeping it off will be enough, and the wolf can recover too." Knowing her lord was worried about her, Ashina withdrew the wolf soul and leaned closer, whispering into Phield’s ear, "The wolf needs seven days to return to peak condition. Three days will be enough to regain combat strength."

"That’s good." Phield finally let out a slow breath.

Once the wolf soul was gone, Ashina’s exhaustion became obvious. Her body swayed slightly.

Phield hurried forward to support her.

"Um... actually, you don’t need to help me, it’s just..." With the lord suddenly so close, Ashina was caught off guard. Her eyes darted away instinctively, a hint of shyness showing as she cautiously glanced at Phield.

"Oh? Is that so? Haha."

Phield froze, his hand suspended awkwardly in midair. So she wasn’t about to faint after all.

Back when he watched TV, whenever a character staggered like that, they always collapsed—and then all sorts of things happened.

"Hmph. Well then, I’ll play along with you." Ashina promptly leaned forward and fell straight into Phield’s arms.

Feeling the softness against his chest, a sweet, gentle feminine fragrance filled his senses. Phield suddenly had no idea where to put his hands—everything felt good no matter where he touched.

"H-hey, don’t touch me randomly! Mm~." Ashina covered her face, then turned her head and stuck out her tongue at Rosalia, who was still hanging on the wall.

"Pff—"

Rosalia spat out a mouthful of old blood, so furious she nearly passed out.

Wasn’t this going too far?

If I lost, shouldn’t I be the one putting on the defeat scene? Why are you two about to perform one for me?

Have some respect for a loli, okay? At least show some childlike decency!

"Y-you—don’t believe this annoying woman! When she was chopping me earlier, she was terrifying!" Rosalia protested hoarsely.

After her outburst, the two finally regained their composure.

"My lord, how do you plan to deal with this monster?" Ashina looked like a medieval peasant preparing to hunt a witch, her gaze chilling. "How about... interrogate her for useful information, then burn her? Or sell her directly to the church?"

"Don’t even think about getting anything out of me. Nobles never submit, wuwuwu." Rosalia’s eyes were misty with tears. Paired with her cute face, she looked absurdly adorable.

Phield glanced at Rosalia’s status bar. It had changed from Undefeated, Uncontractable to Contractable.

"Wouldn’t contracting her solve everything?" Phield said matter-of-factly. "Killing her would be a waste. She caused so much damage to our territory—she should be captured and put to work to make amends."

"Ah?"

Both women were stunned.

"My lord... did Ashina do something wrong? Why are you abandoning me?" Ashina looked instantly aggrieved, her ears drooping flat like airplane wings, her expression pitiful.

"Hoh hoh hoh, worthy of a noble—such good taste. Submitting beneath my feet is a wise choice." Rosalia was overjoyed, even crossing her arms smugly while pinned to the wall. "But corrupted beings can’t be contracted by humans. I can infect you instead, make an exception, and take you as my personal male pet."

Phield was completely confused by their reactions. He quickly patted Ashina’s head. "How could I ever abandon you?"

"Then just contract both of you," Phield proposed.

Rosalia burst into laughter. Laughing too hard, she even coughed up blood. "Of course not. Your teacher was terribly irresponsible. A Divine Chosen—even of the same divine lineage—can only contract one entity. And that’s not even mentioning that I’m different from that idiot woman, even hostile to her."

"Also, only the same kind can contract each other. Humans with humans, Demei-humans with Demei-humans... wait, why did you contract a Demei-human in the first place? You’re not secretly a Demei-human in disguise, are you?"

"Huh? Is that really how it works?"

All three of them were dumbfounded.

"Then... let’s try it anyway. Practice leads to truth." Phield wasn’t about to abandon his plan over a single statement. "And besides, you don’t want to die either, do you?"

That hit Rosalia right in the heart. Even as a deranged corrupted being, she had intelligence. She didn’t want to die, and she definitely didn’t want to be tortured.

She still remembered Ashina threatening earlier to have animals breed with her. Who knew if this woman would actually do it?

"You’ve got some nerve. The Empire has conducted countless experiments already. Otherwise, why would nobles hand over precious Divine Chosen to their heirs?" Rosalia sighed. "Fine. But if divine backlash occurs, don’t blame me."

Ashina was anxious beyond belief. "Forget it, okay? I’ll work even harder."

"Let’s try once," Phield said, gritting his teeth.

"As you wish."

Rosalia tore open her tattered long dress. On her snow-white thigh, the Divine Chosen mark flared with eerie light. Countless streams of gray-black death energy poured out, coalescing into a barely discernible goddess-shaped phantom.

A strand of divine power then linked directly into Phield’s body.

Rosalia let out a mischievous hum, speaking in a soft, cutesy voice. "You’re playing with fire. The power of the Corruption Goddess will definitely kill you—and grind your soul to dust."

Before the words even finished leaving her mouth, the contract was completed.

"Huh?" Rosalia’s brilliant eyes widened abruptly. "It worked? You’ve got to be kidding me!"

Phield didn’t feel much at all. He waved his hand casually. "Minor issue. Doesn’t matter what goddess it is—easy enough."

What goddess? Sorry, I’m a materialist. All of you can come work for me—wait, no—build the territory hard for me!

"Mm... I feel like... I don’t really want to chop you anymore."

Rosalia shook her head. Her eyes became clear, the murderous intent and deathly aura gone entirely.

"Man, I’m exhausted." Phield found a broken piece of furniture and sat down, muttering, "Wait... does this mean I just brought the final boss home?"