Reborn Regress Return: I Am the Heir of Shadows!

Julian's body felt light to Sena as she pushed through the rubble and forced the path through to the rooftop. Thanks to the broken power grid, there wasn't any electricity, which stopped cameras and other things from recording them.

'Though they must have seen the fight earlier at least.'

"The things I do for you, my dear prince."

Memories of their past played through her mind when she rushed to the mall. She sprinted using her huge level of speed, reminded Sena of fighting monsters in this city shortly after it collapsed and hundreds of thousands died.

'You didn't fight then... I could always feel you were a little empty. Broken.'

"To think you would fight so well alone."

In her final moments, she could remember his crying face, a Julian that only waited at home and greeted her with meals... choosing to massage her back and help her instead of listening and fighting in the game with her.

He was sweet, gentle, and more affectionate than she deserved.

"I'm sorry for being so angry at you all the time and leaving you behind to fight with my guild members when you just wanted to support me."

Julian's memories and what he told her were wrong and glorified.

'There's no doubt I wasn't the goddess he paints me.'

She dragged him into the car without effort, put him in the back seat, and stroked his face gently while removing the mask. Sena couldn't stop her love for him, and even now, the vivid moment when she saw his eyes in her last moments made her heart race.

A monster of vengeance seemed to be born at that moment.

"Mmmn."

She kissed his cheek and covered him with a weighted blanket before climbing into the driver's seat and starting the engine.

"Let's go home, Julian."

Although she was always faithful and devoted when the world started changing, the power Sena gained made her rougher and more violent, especially when dealing with Julian.

Once, she almost broke his arm while they were play-fighting, and she became too serious after levelling several times.

But Sena blamed him, saying it was his fault for being weak.

"Forget it... I am sure he will remember that I wasn't the perfect woman he thought."

She didn't worry because even as her imperfect self, jealous and obsessed over him because of his beauty, which she would deny and call him ugly, so he didn't leave her for some of the other women who took interest.

Her eyes scanned the road for anything strange.

Then, she checked the rearview mirror and other directions. Sena ensured nobody followed her or seemed to be interested in them before pushing her foot down and speeding back to their district.

'He was always a little dense and stupid, not realising when girls were flirting with him and wanted to sleep with him or get his number...'

When she arrived at the apartment's private car park, all her anger and anxiety faded. She gazed back and noticed Julian's peaceful face. He no longer looked tense or contorted from his wounds, and his natural regenerative ability surpassed Sena's expectations.

"Let's go get help from Maria."

Lugging him over her shoulder, she noticed the reflection in the mirror and chuckled. A sense of victory over the invaders made her feel energetic and happy that their relationship had finally crossed the line.

'I can't believe I died a virgin.'

Sena walked up the stairs with a bitter smile, trying to avoid the other residents who would never use these abandoned, unused things.

"The things I tried to seduce you in the past, and this time it was so simple, haha."

The echo of footsteps followed them as she returned to her apartment.

***

"Hmm?"

Despite knowing that Maria remained at home, she worried because there wasn't any sound when she opened the door and dropped her keys into the basket.

"Maria?" Sena called out.

"Where are you?"

There was no answer, which caused Sena to worry if she followed her on foot.

Although Julian recovered fast, he couldn't recover damage to his organs and any serious issues that needed a healer or doctor to fix.

"I guess I cannot help it..."

Sena carried Julian and then dropped him on her bed, his body bouncing as her eyes examined him. "Wel,l I need to check for any wounds... babe."

And the next moment, she started to peel away his clothes, the cape, the robe and the mask, everything tossed onto the floor before he was naked.

"I can see why she was choking so much..."

An off comment left Sena's lips as she rushed to the medical cupboard, still unable to find Maria, who wasn't even in her room.

'Focus, Sena... Julian's wounds!'

Once she adjusted her mood and started to attend to his wounds.

She noticed that tears in his flesh wouldn't heal alone if they damaged his muscle fibre or penetrated deeper than an inch. When she started sewing his flesh after removing some of the shrapnel with tweezers, the wounds began to close up and heal. Until then, they remained bloody and open.

"Phew, thanks to my previous years of learning to deal with my wounds, I could help."

Once Maria died, Sena needed to sew, clean and deal with her wounds in private... because she didn't want Julian to see her body filled with scars and wounds.

Another reason she didn't ask to sleep with him after things started getting serious. She felt terrified he'd become flaccid upon seeing her changed body.

'I wanted to find a special item called an Elven Elixir which would remove all scars and past wounds... but it was too rare and valuable with the elves wiped out.'

Sena ripped and cut the gauze and bandages and wrapped up his thigh and abdomen while trying to resist touching him.

"I am a pervert..."

'Let's find Maria.'

***

To stop herself from molesting her boyfriend, Sena headed into the bathroom and started washing the blood and dirt from her face and hands. That's when she noticed something... Maria was inside the bath, unconscious, while leaning over the side.

"Maria?!"

Quickly active, Sena rushed to the bath, opened the curtain and saw Maria's body in cold water... she seemed to have been mid-bath when something happened.

"What happened to you..."

Sena brushed her hair out of the way to reveal a huge, dark bruise across her chest. Gruesome, but the bones seemed to be okay. Then she checked her head and body before lifting her from the bath.

Maria's nose and lips were oozing blood that stained them red.

She looked back at the water that looked like blood and couldn't understand how this had happened, because Maria was happily eating a cookie when she left.

"Ngh..."

It was at that moment that Maria let out a groan of pain.

Sena collapsed in pain as if a hand had grabbed her brain and squeezed it—this affected her sight and hearing.

A static ringing filled her ears, and her vision shook. Sena couldn't see the pink system panel she was used to because it shattered into pieces and became blood-red. The combat log above Maria's head showed her something that made Sena tremble.

[You have taken 560 damage from "????" Ground and Pound!]

[You have Died!]

[Julian Attempted to Summon You]

[Failed!]

"W-What...?"

Sena didn't know about Julian's summoned shades apart from Umbra and Nocta, which he told her about. He still hadn't spoken to her about Eclipsa, the defensive shade designed to protect him.

"Forget it... I need to treat her too."

She carried her into her room and placed her on the same bed as Julian. At first, she regretted this decision. But the tools and things she needed were all inside this room, and so Sena just got on with her task.

There weren't any visible wounds, so she just applied a pain relief gel, bandaged her chest and then started cleaning her nose and lips. While she was a little jealous about the shape of Maria's breasts, that thought faded.

'I'm bigger... but why are her tits so heavy?!'

"Phew..."

Two hours after returning to the apartment, Sena finally got a break as she leaned against the wall for a moment to think, gazing at Maria with a softer gaze.

"You... were you also linked to him... but how?"

Sena's body felt exhausted from the sudden actions, and with a yawn, she closed her eyes...

"Just for a moment." She thought.

But sleep took her instantly as she collapsed against the wall, watching the two naked patients.

The daylight quickly turned to a dull red glow as night approached.

It was only then that Maria started to wake.

"Ugh... my chest hurts..." She muttered and opened her eyes to see a sleeping Sena, who had her arms crossed.

"Sen—"

She froze upon noticing the naked Julian sleeping beside her with his bandages wrapped around his wounds.

As if by instinct, her fingertips started to brush along his chest, cheeks and body, ensuring he was okay. The softness of his skin, his warmth, the feeling of his chest rising and falling with each breath, and then the rhythmical beating in his chest... told her he was still alive.

"Good... but his body is in bad state... Ngh!"

Maria lifted off the bed, collecting spit in her mouth, imbuing it with mana, changing the taste to a minty flavour and adding healing properties as her chest tightened, causing her to gasp in agony.

'I have to do it!'

As if she was doing something wrong, Maria peeked at Sena before turning back and placing her hands on his thigh.

She kissed his body, letting her saliva moisten his wounds, tracing her tongue along his body while gritting her teeth when the pain in her chest intensified.

'I'm not a pervert! This is a medical procedure!'

Although she tried to reason with herself, her body still grew hotter from excitement.

Finally, as her tongue glistened with saliva, she leaned close to his lips and the moment she was about to kiss him.

"W-What are you doing?!"

Sena woke up.