Novel's Extra: I Awakened The Strongest Physique From The Start

(Flashback Continuation.)

Darkness still clung to the air, thick and suffocating, as Varacius sat frozen, his mind racing to make sense of everything.

Alex had him at a disadvantage, and he knew it.

Parcelia—his Parcelia—was in danger, and the bastard in front of him was holding all the cards.

Yet, what came next was not at all what he expected.

Alex's smile had never wavered, his sword still embedded in Varacius's thigh, blood pooling beneath him. Then, with that same unsettling calmness, he had spoken.

"What I want is simple. All I need from you, Varacius, is a single word. Just say 'yes' to the next question I ask."

Varacius blinked. "What?"

His mind reeled. '... say yes?'

What the hell did that mean? What was Alex scheming?

His instincts had screamed at him that something was very, very wrong.

Poor guy... If only he had listened to his instincts.

Alex, however, wasn't giving anything away—not until then.

Instead, the young man had simply tilted his head, waiting.

A chill ran down Varacius's spine. His breaths came shallow and uneven.

He wasn't a fool; he had been in enough dangerous situations to know that when someone like Alex asked for a simple answer, there was nothing simple about it.

He had swallowed hard, forcing himself to speak. "What's the question? And more importantly, are you recording this?"

For the first time, Alex ignored him. Instead, he had posed the question.

"Varacius Graymane, will you be my slave?"

The words had struck Varacius harder than any physical blow ever could. His eyes widened in disbelief, his mind momentarily blanking.

Slave?

What kind of twisted game was Alex playing?

"What the fuck kind of question is that?" He had hissed, fists clenching despite his wound. "What are you scheming? And why the hell would I ever agree to—"

"It seems," Alex, however, had interrupted smoothly, "that you still don't understand your position."

His voice had dropped, the amusement bleeding away, replaced by something cold. Something final.

Varacius's heart pounded. He wanted to argue, wanted to lash out, but Alex's words rang in his ears, pressing down on him like an iron shackle.

Understand his position?

What more was there to understand?

His lover was in the hands of a madman's subordinates. He was outmatched, outmaneuvered, and bleeding out on the arena floor.

His rage wouldn't change that. His pride wouldn't save her.

For a fleeting moment, a desperate thought entered his mind.

'This means nothing. He's just trying to get inside my head. Just saying yes doesn't mean I actually have to obey him. Once I get Parcelia back, I'll make him regret ever thinking he could control me.'

It was a temporary submission. Nothing more.

And if that was what it took to get her back, then so be it.

Varacius inhaled sharply, forcing his trembling fingers to relax.

Alex was watching him as if he could see straight through him.

Then, as if reading his mind, Alex's lips curled slightly.

'He knows,' Varacius had realized with an unsettling jolt. 'He fucking knows what I'm thinking.'

But it didn't matter.

He had to do what he had to do.

Varacius had exhaled through his nose, his jaw tight as he stared into those unnervingly sharp eyes.

Alex's smile had returned. "I'll ask again. Varacius Grayman, will you be my slave?"

A long, heavy silence stretched between them.

Then, finally, with every ounce of his pride burning in his throat, Varacius had forced the word out.

"Yes."

Alex's grin had widened. But Varacius couldn't understand what Alex got from a simple fake submission.

'Is he some pervert who likes his enemy submit to him—?' His thoughts, however, were cut short as he had felt something...

'W-What...?'

There was something strange inside his body. Varacius had felt right then that something was binding him—binding his very soul.

Then he had felt fear.

It wasn't a fear that one feels when they face death or anything like that. It was fear that was deep-rooted in his soul, and it was directed at only one person.

It was at Alex.

Turning toward the guy, Varacius frowned and growled in anger. "W-What the fuck did you do to me—?"

Before he could complete his words though, he had paused.

Not because he couldn't speak nor because of fear. It was because of the pain that he felt at that moment.

"ARGHHHHHHH!!!!" He had roared in pain, clutching his head as he had felt like it was being split open.

Varacius couldn't understand what was going on at that time. He had felt it was related to Alex, but he couldn't even ask anything.

The pain he had felt was unbearable enough to not even let him think of anything else.

He had writhed on the ground, begging and sobbing as he stared at Alex with horror written on his face.

And after a minute, which had felt like an eternity for Varacius, Alex had finally spoken.

"Do you understand your position now, slave?"

That was all he had spoken, and Varacius had understood what he had to do.

He didn't know how, but he had become Alex's slave. All because he had said 'yes'.

There was, however, one thing he still wanted to know. He wanted to ask Alex a question. 'W-What about Parcelia? I-Is she fine—?'

But before the guy could ask the question though, the fog had lifted, and now, as he was lost in his thoughts, a voice—one that made his soul tremble every time he heard it—broke him out of it.

"Tell us the name of the person who gave you Emberhowl to you."

It was Alex, and right now, Varacius was being forced to pull his savior down with himself by the question.

He didn't want to say the name, nor did he want to answer, but as he recalled Alex's words, the residual pain in his soul sent a shiver down his spine.

"You can't die without my permission; you can never think of betraying me, and you can never even move without my permission. If you did, then the pain you felt just now, would be nothing compared to what you would feel then."

That was what Alex had told him, and knowing that everything was already in Alex's hand, Varacius now had to make up his mind.

He had two choices. One was saving Keryu, and the other was Parcelia.

If he stayed loyal to Alex, then Parcelia would be fine, and he wouldn't have to go through that pain again.

If he decided to stay loyal to Keryu, on the other hand, then there was no guarantee of what would happen to Parcelia, and he would have to go through that soul-shattering agony again.

In a situation like this, his options were limited, but that made it harder for him.

In the end, with his jaw clenched and his eyes shut tightly, he whimpered, still not sure if this was the right decision until he answered. "Keryu Ivanovich..." Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire

His voice came out as a whisper, making it hard for anyone to understand it, but Alex, hearing that, couldn't stop his grin.

However, he maintained a calm look on his face while speaking. "Can you speak louder?"

Varacius's fists clenched hard, his nails digging into his palm as blood dripped on the arena's floor.

'I'm sorry, savior...'

Varacius cried inwardly, feeling the worst he had ever felt, but knowing that he had no other option, he yelled.

"Keryu Ivanovich! He was the one who gave it to me!"