Reincarnated in the Astral World

"What just happened?"

The commotion among the nobles who just witnessed Oliver and Elias's fight grows.

"Young Master Oliver looked really bad..."

"Young Master Elias literally destroyed him,"

"Isn't that crazy? I mean, Young Master Oliver has always been the strongest of this generation."

"He's not stronger than Young Master Edgar,"

"Huh? Maybe in cultivation, but in techniques, he's,"

"But he couldn't even beat Young Master Elias..."

"What happens next? Did the Drummonds just lose?"

"Everyone knew that was going to happen; no one can go against the Viscount and his allies,"

"But I had hoped they might surprise us in the end..."

"Hey, you guys are forgetting about the mysterious boy? He could still fight."

"But where is he?"

Arthur is currently carrying Oliver's body into a large bathroom on the first floor of the house.

"Put him in the bathtub," Aria instructs and Arthur quickly does so. As soon as the water begins to cover Oliver's body, Aria makes hand signs inside the bathtub, and the water starts to freeze.

Oliver has a strong convulsion, foam coming out from his mouth with saliva and blood, which increases Josephine's panic. "Don't let my son die, please, Aria!!"

Aria possesses a cold side she reserves for dealing with anyone outside her family and close friends, and despite her distaste for the nobles of Eldoria, she can't help but feel empathy for Josephine.

'No mother should go through this... watching her own son suffer this much...' Just imagining herself in Josephine's shoes is enough to distress Aria. 'If something like this happened to Arthur... my heart would break and could never be restored...'

"I won't let him die," Aria tells Josephine with determination.

"Thank you!" Josephine turns her attention to the servants in the corridor and sends them to fetch her family's best medical remedies to aid Aria. The elderly lady is extremely nervous, so Margaret tries to calm her down.

The Cat Maid also enters the bathroom, extremely worried about Oliver's situation. She saw the whole fight and shed many tears, her heart severely wounded due to the suffering of her beloved.

Arthur is also anxious as he watches Aria use her magic to stabilize Oliver's body. "What are you going to do, Mom?"

"I've bought us some time by cooling his body, but I need to find out what's causing his organs to fail... it would be much faster if I knew what they did to him."

"I could extract that information from them, even if it means future problems; it's better than letting Oliver die," Arthur shares his thoughts.

"No," Aria shakes her head. "This isn't our house; solving the problem that way would bring many more problems for Josephine and her family. But don't worry, I will find out what this is..."

She pulls out various boxes and magical tools from her storage treasures in front of Josephine, astonishing the woman with her power even more.

Even in panic over her son's situation, Josephine's mind remains sharp and attentive to everything around her. 'So many spatial magical treasures... is she really a Master Mage or even stronger?'

The group watches Aria collect drops of Oliver's blood and perform rapid tests using her magic and special tools. The blood changes color when placed in a shiny glass test tube, turning green, yellow, and even blue.

Some doctors who appear at the door recognize the procedures Aria is conducting to search for poisons in Oliver's body, but all tests fail to find anything.

"Could it be a Curse?" One of the doctors muses aloud.

"I would have easily sensed that..." Aria comments as she continues testing Oliver's blood. "These symptoms, I think I've never-"

Aria stops, her expression thoughtful as if she's recalling something. Arthur notices it and quickly questions her. "Did you figure it out?"

"I'm not sure..." She remarks as she pulls more boxes from her storage treasure and starts searching them for something. "I've never seen this but heard of something like it many years ago, an invisible toxin that causes paralysis of the internal organs, but it only comes from a rare type of mutant shark that only exists in the Red Sea..."

"That fits with Oliver's situation," Arthur notes. "Can you cure it?"

"I think so..." Aria continues sifting through her dozens of items and finally finds a large flask with a bluish liquid. "This is it!" She exclaims excitedly and drops a bit of that liquid into a smaller flask with clear liquid.

"Will this really help him?" Arthur asks.

"If this is indeed the toxin from the yellow-tail shark, it will cure him," Aria explains as she hands the flask to Josephine. "Make him drink this; there shouldn't be any side effects,"

"Right!" Josephine takes the flask and brings it to Oliver's mouth; since his body is calmed by Aria's magic, she manages to make her son drink a bit of that liquid. "How do we know if it's working?"

"Let's see..." Aria makes the ice in the bathtub melt, and Oliver's body doesn't go back to convulsing; he's still unconscious, but it's visible that he has returned to breathing normally. "It seems it was really that toxin... I wonder how nobles from a small town managed to get their hands on something so rare."

"I can find that out before I deal with them," Arthur comments, his eyes gleaming coldly.

Aria always feels a chill in her body when she sees the shadows within her son; but instead of fear or disgust, she identifies with those shadows and wholly agrees with his method of thinking.

"I also think we shouldn't let them get away with this," Aria casts a friendly glance at Josephine. "If they're willing to do such things, they'll surely try to harm you again. Isn't it better to let us handle it?"

"It's not that simple," Josephine comments while stroking Oliver's hair, "Emilio, the Viscount, may not seem like much to someone like you, but his father is a powerful Hero, and so Emilio, despite being a talentless nobody, received the best resources to become a Champion and leads this town with his title of Viscount,"

Josephine looks at Oliver with a regretful expression. "This is my fault, I... I wanted to leave a legacy my son could be proud of, not some stupid clothing store... But I guess I overestimated our abilities."

"It's not your fault," Arthur speaks to Josephine in a friendly tone. "You tried to play the game by their rules, but they play dirty... I, on the other hand, don't mind playing dirty right back at them."

"What are you going to do?" Aria quickly asks, her eyes glowing with curiosity and expectation.

Arthur adopts a thoughtful expression. "I suppose Elias got himself infected with the toxin to pass it onto Oliver, right?"

"I think so," Aria nods. "Just the slightest contact is enough for the toxin to penetrate the body and reach the blood, starting the paralysis of the internal organs."

"So Elias must have applied the toxin to his body when he went to the restroom and probably ingested the antidote as well?" Arthur asks. "I saw his panicked expression until he drank a glass of wine given to him by the Viscount himself before climbing into the arena..."

"It makes sense," Aria quickly explains. "The antidote neutralizes the poison in the blood, but the toxin would still be on his skin and clothes, which contaminated Oliver through his own blows."

"That means Elias is still getting infected with the toxin..." Arthur wonders. "Is your antidote better than theirs?"

"I don't know," Aria speaks honestly. "But I suppose so... also, I can make it last longer if that's what you want."

"That's exactly it," Arthur smiles, appreciative of his mother's understanding.

But Josephine is confused. "What are you going to do?"

"Fight by their rules, of course," Arthur smiles with an excited expression, but his eyes blaze with the flames of revenge.

"This is very dangerous!" Josephine exclaims. "You don't need to risk yourself like this."

"It's not a risk," Arthur comments confidently while glancing at Aria. "Elias will drink his antidote right before climbing into the arena. I just need to do the same, and the fact that my mother's antidote is superior will ensure that I can give that trash what he deserves."

"Hmm..." Even knowing they have the antidote, Josephine fears for Arthur's safety. "Well, proving they broke the rules with an invisible toxin seems quite complicated... but are you really fine with doing something like this?"

"Yeah, it's going to be fun," Arthur says in a sinister tone.

The atmosphere becomes tense, Arthur's dark aura becoming increasingly evident.

*Cough* *Cough*

Oliver opens his eyes while letting out a few pained moans. "I like the idea of giving that bastard what he deserves. But won't they suspect something if they see you drinking something before stepping into the arena?"

"Son!" Josephine embraces Oliver tightly.

"Master Oliver!!" The Cat Maid also runs over to hug him, and he smiles lovingly at her and his mother.

Arthur also smiles upon seeing his friend well. "Good point, but I've thought of that too."

"Oh?" Aria becomes curious. "So, we're doing this?"

"Yeah," Arthur nods, feeling quite excited.

Josephine and Oliver don't mind killing their enemies to protect their family, but they don't truly understand how Arthur feels.

Aria, on the other hand, has always been cold towards her enemies and almost everyone else, but there are shadows within her that not even she can control.

'But that's not the case with him... he's merging with his shadows, embracing his most violent and cruel desires...' Aria looks at her son, her body reacting more and more positively to him. 'This shouldn't feel so good... so, why is this so exciting?'