Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP

Chapter 339 : Preparations for the War Ahead

Astrid stared at Jax’s burning eyes and didn’t need a single word from him to understand what was happening.

Someone was coming for him. And the second her brain stitched the name Loki together with the celestial he had warned her about weeks ago, the picture finished itself. That bitch was using his love for Adelina as bait, pulling the one string Jax couldn’t ignore.

He still had the letter in his hand, fingers working over the crushed paper like he was trying to wring some hidden meaning out of it.

Astrid stepped closer with his voice softening. "Jax, you must calm down and think clea—"

He didn’t even register her. He just turned away and walked toward the exit like she wasn’t even standing there.

Astrid’s body moved before her brain caught up. She planted herself directly in his path.

"Are you genuinely about to do something this recklessly stupid again?" Her voice cracked sharp. "Look me in the eyes, Jax. Look me in the eyes and tell me why you still believe you have to carry the weight of this massive world and your situation entirely alone."

Jax’s jaw locked. The anger he had been swallowing finally broke its leash.

"Get out of my way, Astrid. You do not understand a single thing about this situation."

The words hit harder than he meant them to. He saw it the moment they left his mouth.

Astrid’s eyes went glassy. Tears formed, but they came mixed with the worse cousin of sadness, the kind of fury that needed tears just to keep itself standing.

"I do not understand it?" Her voice trembled but the steel underneath didn’t. "You are the one who completely fails to grasp the actual threat here. You have entirely lost your senses yet again. Think for one second damn it, because you are walking straight into whatever deadly trap that psychopath just laid out for you."

Jax breathed out hard. "And that is the exact reason I will absolutely never let anyone else walk into that abyss with me. I am not blind to the danger, Astrid. I am just entirely unwilling to watch the people I care about die trying to fight my personal battles."

The word landed like a dropped plate.

Personal.

Astrid clenched her fists until her nails left marks. Then she smiled. And that smile was worse than any scream.

"Personal? Haha." Her laugh broke clean in half. "I was a complete fool to think I had finally earned a real place in your life. I love you enough to walk straight into absolute hell beside you, and yet you still push me away like my devotion is just some unwanted burden."

The whole mall went quiet around them.

Jax saw what he had done. He had taken a blade meant for Loki and somehow turned it sideways into the only person who would actually die for him.

"I should not have said it like that..." His voice came out hoarse. "I am so sorry. I have no idea what I am even saying right now."

Astrid looked at him with that smile still hanging on her face. Then her boot tapped the floor.

Once. Twice. Three times.

"And that is exactly why I need to fix your broken head." Her words came soft. "I am truly sorry for doing this. But you left me absolutely no other choice."

The crowd shifted in a single coordinated wave.

Civilian coats came off. Dozens of hidden grimoires snapped open. Weapons unsheathed all at once. Her personal Order, embedded in the crowd this whole time.

Her finger raised toward him with the same regal authority her father used to command the order.

"I do not care what kind of methods you have to use. Just make sure he is securely locked up in our deepest prison with the absolute minimum amount of physical damage."

Jax raised his hands. "Domain of Authority."

[Skill Activated. User: +30%. Opponent: -50%.]

The reward he had earned from the quest of protecting Tempris. An unfair one-on-one cage with the rules tilted hard in his favor.

The bustling mall melted away like wet paint sliding off glass. Walls bent, color drained, and when the world reformed it was just the two of them standing inside a surreal violet space.

Astrid was completely alone with him.

Jax took a slow step forward, his face pained.

"I know I am going against your wishes and repeating the exact same mistake I promised to stop making. But you have to understand my side, Astrid. I cannot fight with my full strength if I am constantly terrified that this battle might cost you your life. Along with all the other stubborn idiots who would definitely follow us into this trap."

Astrid clenched her fists and her voice climbed into a shout that rattled the violet air.

"You absolute dummy, do you seriously view me as your personal weakness? I am fully capable of hunting down this Loki woman all by myself!"

Then her face twisted into something somehow more dangerous than her entire army. "And how dare that crazy psychopath try to play flirting games with my man!"

Jax stepped right up to her and placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Such a stubborn fool."

Astrid slapped his hand away like it had personally insulted her bloodline.

"You are the actual fool here, Jax, because you are deliberately stacking the odds against yourself. Did you actually read the letter? There was absolutely no rule demanding you show up completely alone, so we can easily bring reinforcements."

"Help from exactly who, Astrid?" His voice tightened. "We have zero time to beg the academy and deal with their endless paperwork or political tantrums. And judging by the sheer arrogance of this enemy, I am absolutely certain something feels terribly wrong."

Astrid stepped right into his face.

"Are you seriously looking down on me again? You know perfectly well the Order I command is not the strongest force on this continent for no reason. My father forged this army solely for his revenge, and he filled the ranks with literal monsters. In fact, one of those beasts is currently just slacking off in my mansion right now. So do not fret, Jax. You just focus on settling your personal score with the mastermind and leave every single minion entirely to us."

Jax released a heavy sigh, finally realizing he had absolutely no chance of verbally winning this argument. He also knew that escaping the mall with her elite guards waiting outside would be troublesome anyway.

"Okay. I accept your help. But only on one strict condition."

Astrid beamed before his tone turned deadly serious. "If you sense even a single drop of true danger, you will immediately run away from the battlefield."

Astrid nodded with a bright smile. "Yeah, I can definitely do that for you."

Jax looked directly into her eyes and knew instantly that she was telling a bold faced lie.

Suddenly Echidna spoke up inside his head, breaking the tension. "Hey genius, are you seriously planning to charge head first at Loki?"

Jax didn’t even flinch. ’I have no other choice, Echidna.’

Her voice came back chilling, stripped of every ounce of her usual sarcasm. "Look, I am not just trying to kill your confidence, but Loki is someone you must truly fear. It absolutely does not matter how much of a tactical genius you are or how easily you manipulate others. Against her, you will always just be another puppet completely wrapped around her palm."

She continued, deadly serious.

"She is someone whose mind fights every single battle for her. She is physically quite weak, but the entire Empyrean absolutely fears her and desperately avoids getting on her bad side. That is exactly why you must take this seriously. I am entirely sure you will walk straight into her trap no matter how many possibilities you account for. You simply cannot predict the unpredictable, because only the gods truly know what she is planning."

Jax completely ignored the warning and turned directly to Astrid. "Then prepare for whatever war lies ahead of us. Tell your soldiers to assemble within the next hour and prepare for an immediate departure."

Astrid looked at him in total panic. "What are you talking about? We absolutely need to take time to formulate a proper strategy."

Jax shook his head with desperate urgency. "Time is the exact thing we completely lack right now. Every single second we waste means Adelina suffers from pure fear or brutal torture while praying for me to save her. And all that stress will definitely not be good for the health of my child."

Silence.

The kind of silence that is not actually silent, but is the sound of two entire brains crashing into a wall they did not know existed.

Astrid froze. Inside Jax’s head, Echidna had gone equally still.

The tiny secondary mana core mentioned in the ransom letter.

His sudden, absurd urgency about Adelina’s stress levels.

The realization struck both of them at the exact same second.

And in perfect unrehearsed unison, they screamed it.

"WHAT?"