Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Chapter 546: Let’s see Nidhogg

The warm morning light filtered through the heavy curtains of the royal chambers, scattering reddish reflections across the room still shrouded in disarray. Crumpled sheets, misplaced pillows, and discarded clothing bore witness to the recent chaos with a silent eloquence. On the immense bed, Kael lay on his back, breathing with the calm of someone who had finally found a few minutes of peace, something too rare to be underestimated. Beside him—or rather, partially on top of him—Eleanor rested with a satisfied expression, her red hair spread across her chest and shoulders like fire poured onto silk.

The Witch Queen seemed dangerously comfortable.

One arm was draped over his waist, one leg intertwined with hers, and the lazy smile on her lips suggested she considered herself victorious for reasons that existed only in her own mind. Her eyes remained closed, but Kael knew she was hardly truly asleep. Eleanor treated rest as another way to manipulate her surroundings.

"You’re still too tense," she murmured without opening her eyes. "Even after pleasant moments."

"I’m lying down."

"Physically. Emotionally, you’re still ready to invade three kingdoms."

"Two, at most."

She let out a low, satisfied giggle, snuggling even closer to him as if to test the limits of his patience.

"That’s why I like you."

"You’re my grandmother."

"A bureaucratic detail."

Kael closed his eyes for a moment. That family made any conversation impossible to manage. Yet, despite the constant absurdity, there was a strange tranquility in the moment. The palace was silent. No ritual exploded in the distance. No kingdom collapsed immediately. No ancestral cult attempted to corrupt reality for the next five minutes.

Naturally, this didn’t last long.

The air in the center of the room suddenly distorted.

There was no warning, no knock on the door, no formal announcement. The space simply opened like a torn fabric, and a current of golden energy coursed across the floor to the bed. Before Kael could even move his head, Eleanor was ripped from him by an invisible force and hurled gracefully across the room.

She spun in the air once.

She landed on her feet.

The robe abandoned on a chair flew to her body by magical reflex, covering her the instant she touched the floor. Her golden eyes narrowed immediately, filled with imperial indignation.

"WHO DARES—"

The answer was already in the room.

Elion emerged from the center of the dimensional distortion with the serenity of someone entering someone else’s kitchen. She wore the same fitted black dress that seemed incapable of respecting basic concepts of discretion, her red hair falling down her back in impeccable waves. One hand was casually raised, fingers glowing with gravitational magic. With it, Kael was lifted from the bed and suspended in the air like a particularly heavy suitcase.

"Let’s go see Nidhogg," Elion announced, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Kael hovered a few inches above the mattress, still only partially covered by a sheet.

"I’m busy."

"You were resting."

"That counts too."

Eleanor pointed dramatically at the intruder.

"ELION!"

"Hi, Mom." Elion smiled guiltlessly. "What a beautiful room. Did you redecorate or just blow up half the old furniture?"

"You invaded my quarters!"

"I learned it from the family."

Kael closed his eyes.

The phrase was spreading like a hereditary disease.

Eleanor took two steps forward, adjusting her robe with furious dignity.

"You dragged me out of bed!"

"You seemed too comfortable. That always worries me."

"I was having an intimate moment!"

Elion looked at Kael suspended in mid-air, then at Eleanor, then at the destroyed bed.

"Yes, the forensic evidence confirms it."

"Shameless!"

"No time," Elion replied calmly. "We need to visit a moody cosmic dragon."

Kael continued levitating.

"I can walk on my own."

"Not today." Elion gestured, and he slowly spun in the air until he was upright. "You take your time when you’re distracted."

"I wasn’t distracted."

Eleanor crossed her arms.

"He was absolutely distracted."

"Statistical betrayal," said Kael.

The Witch Queen ignored the comment and cast a venomous glance at Elion.

"Why exactly do you need him now?"

"Because I promised to introduce him to Nidhogg." Elion smiled. "And because Yggdrasil is being unbearable again."

This made Eleanor pause.

Then she brought her hand to her chin.

"Ah. In that case, continue."

Kael turned his face slowly.

"You’re going to allow this?"

"Of course. If Yggdrasil is irritating you, it amuses me." She gave a delicate and dangerous smile. "Besides, I want to know how it ends."

Elion nodded, satisfied.

"I knew I could count on your maturity."

"Don’t push it."

Kael was finally lowered to the ground, landing on his feet with the calm of someone who had already accepted that resistance was futile. With a short gesture, clean clothes appeared from the closet and flew to him. In seconds, he was dressed again, his coat adjusted and his usual expression restored.

"You two are tiresome."

"And functional," said Elion.

"And elegant," added Eleanor.

"Controversial."

Elion walked over to him and adjusted the collar of his coat as if he were still a child.

"You’ll like Nidhogg."

"Based on what?"

"She makes cookies."

"That’s not enough."

"She can also bite dimensions."

Kael considered the information.

"That’s a little better."

Eleanor sat back down on the chaise longue, now fully engrossed.

"If you find Yggdrasil, tell them I still think her root system is overly dramatic."

"You said that during your last war," Elion replied.

"And I’m still right."

Kael walked to the door. "I’ll be back later," he nodded to her.

Kael walked to the door unhurriedly, now composed, his coat adjusted and his expression once again neutral as if the last few minutes had been just another administrative interruption. Before leaving, he turned his face slightly over his shoulder and raised his hand in a short, almost casual gesture.

"I’ll be back later."

Eleanor, still seated on the chaise longue with a fiercely reconstructed dignity, narrowed her golden eyes at him. Her black robe slipped down one of her crossed legs, and her red hair cascaded over her shoulders like an incendiary waterfall.

"You always say that when you intend to disappear for hours."

"Today I intend to disappear for less time."

"How romantic."

Elion was already in the center of the room, twirling a finger in the air as lines of golden magic formed in concentric circles before her. The space began to vibrate gently, folding in on itself like liquid glass. Runes appeared on the edges of the rift, shimmering in shades of green and amber, while an impossible current of wind swept through the room, lifting curtains and scattering papers across the side table.

"There," she announced with satisfaction. "Stable, beautiful, and dramatically efficient portal." Kael watched the dimensional opening grow into a wide arch, within which he saw the distant gleam of colossal roots piercing a starry void. The other side exuded an ancient, living, almost breathing energy.

"Beauty is debatable," he said.

"You’re incapable of appreciating improvised art."

"I appreciate structures that don’t explode."

"Low emotional standards."

Eleanor rose abruptly from the chaise longue.

"Wait."

The two turned to her.

The Witch Queen walked toward Kael with slow, determined steps, stopping right in front of him. Without asking permission, she cupped his face in her hands and stared at him with theatrical intensity.

"If that ancient lizard bites you, come back immediately."

"Nidhogg isn’t a lizard."

"Anything that crawls too much falls into that category."

"They fly," Elion corrected.

"Even worse."

Kael gently pushed his grandmother’s hands away.

"I’ll just talk."

"That’s exactly what worries me," Eleanor replied. "Your family always turns conversations into wars, alliances, or cosmic accidents."

"Sometimes at dinners," Elion commented.

"The dinners were the worst."

Kael let out a restrained sigh and turned back to the portal. The golden glow illuminated half his face, highlighting the almost irritating tranquility with which he accepted everyday absurdities. He took two steps forward.

"If they destroy my room in my absence," Eleanor said behind him, "I curse you both."

"Elion opened the portal on your rug," Kael replied without looking back.

"TRAITOR."

Elion laughed loudly.

"He pulled you."

"I was emotionally vulnerable!"

"You were lying there in lingerie threatening diplomacy."

"Private details!"

Kael stepped through the portal before the argument escalated into spells. The luminous surface rippled around him and swallowed him in silence. Elion cast one last victorious smile at his mother and entered right after, leaving a trail of golden sparks in the air.

The dimensional arc began to close.

Eleanor dramatically extended her hand toward them.

"Come back soon, you ungrateful brats!"

The rift shrank further.

"I still wanted to have sex some more!"

The portal closed with a soft snap.

The room plunged into absolute silence for two seconds.

Then Eleanor stood in the center of the room, arms crossed, staring at the empty space where the passage had once been. Her robe swayed slightly in the residual wind, and a red strand of hair fell across her irritated face.

"Insufferable daughter," she muttered.

She walked to the destroyed bed and assessed the crumpled sheets, pillows on the floor, and evident marks of the recent chaos. Then she sighed deeply, sitting on the edge of the mattress with all the majesty of an unjustly wronged sovereign.

"Interrupting my own mother in a happy moment." She shook her head. "I created a criminal."

With a snap of her fingers, the entire room began to rearrange itself. Sheets straightened themselves, clothes folded in mid-air and returned to the closets, furniture slid back into place. Empty glasses disappeared. The curtains adjusted. In less than ten seconds, everything looked impeccable again.

Eleanor observed the perfectly made bed.

"Now it’s lost its charm."

She stood up, walked to the window, and pushed back the curtains. Outside, the Witch Kingdom stretched out in black towers, violet mist, and impossible gardens. The sun shone obliquely on the rooftops, tinging everything copper.

She rested an arm on the windowsill.

"I sincerely hope Yggdrasil is being annoying," she said to no one. "Kael is more interesting when he’s thwarted."

She turned, went to the table where the two sealed pendants remained within a containment circle, and touched one of them with her fingertip. The runes reacted instantly.

"And I still need to finish unlocking the memories of an incompetent vampire king."

She grimaced.

"My day just got worse."

She walked back to the chaise longue and gracefully let herself fall onto it. A book flew into her hand on its own. Another tray appeared beside it, now with dark wine and candied fruit.

"When they come back," she murmured, flipping through the first page, "I’ll collect emotional interest."

She took a sip.

She paused.

And smiled to herself.

"And maybe I’ll lock the door this time."