The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] - Chapter 731

Chapter 731: Burning Resolve

There was a sudden chill that came with the breeze, and Luca could tell this was no trivial matter.

In that short, yet relentlessly challenging life of his, he had faced horrors that would have broken anyone. And yet, none terrified him quite like a rampage.

He personally hadn’t experienced going into one, but after being on the receiving end several times, how could he not know what it looked like to everyone else.

Even the nicest people lost control. Forgetting who they are, turning on themselves and their loved ones.

The thought alone made his chest tighten.

But he wasn’t the same helpless child anymore. Nor was his body the cause of such instability.

He was definitely scared. Because who wouldn’t be?

Now, there was no need to hide in the smallest cracks as others collapsed under their own power.

More importantly, this wasn’t just any esper losing control.

This was Xavier. His Xavier.

His most beloved person.

The person who had given him a life he really looked forward to.

Luca swallowed hard, forcing himself to steady his shaking hands as the temperature dropped even further.

Frost began to bloom across the ground, crawling over fallen leaves and blades of grass. The faint mist of cold spread outward from the center of the clearing, and each breath Luca took came out in pale, ghostly wisps.

Xavier stood there, motionless, in the heart of it all.

He wasn’t touching the ground. His feet hovered inches above it, surrounded by an aura of biting frost. Long strands of white hair floated lightly in the freezing air, catching the pale daylight that filtered through the trees. Around him, the frost spread with every passing second, ice creeping over the tree roots and bark until even the forest looked petrified.

And that face—

Expressionless. Cold. Empty.

To anyone else, this would have been the image of an untouchable being, divine and merciless.

But to Luca, it was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Because those same eyes—usually filled with affection—had turned eerily distant, their usual azure now glowed faintly with red at the edges, like cracks of bleeding through ice.

“Xavier…” Luca whispered, voice soft but trembling.

No response.

Not even a flicker of recognition.

The area around them was silent except for the faint crackling of ice as it continued to glaze over the ground and the vegetation.

“Host! Temperature drop is accelerating!” Prompted the concerned little system. For the safety of the dungeon it was managing, the best recourse was to eject the threat. But how could the benefactor be ejected?!

Luca’s breath hitched. He was managing because by default his temperatures as someone who could wield fire was much higher than most people. But that was it in this case. He couldn’t possibly use his own abilities against someone who would immediately think of it as an attack.

Then just as the frost raced for his feet, Sid spoke, “Little Master, it may not be best to engage. Before losing consciousness, the Master was very clear about keeping you away from him if it gets too bad.”

“I’ll be fine.” Luca understood Sid’s concerns, but it was this very moment that made him feel like all that time suffering was so that he could get to this turning point.

“I’m staying.” Because that’s what Xavier needs right now.

That, however, didn’t mean that he wasn’t deathly scared or worried.

Luca’s heart kept pounding, as if he even needed a reminder of how dangerous this was.

And yet he still took one step forward. It was slow and deliberate, but the moment his boot actually touched the ice, a wave of frost shot outward.

The sudden flash of white made him flinch and raise an arm to shield his face.

Cold air bit at his skin, sharp enough to sting, and he realized if he hadn’t raised his arms, it would’ve been his face directly answering to that.

“Host! Temperature spike! Please put up a barrier!”

But Luca didn’t move.

He couldn’t.

Because a barrier might protect him—but it would also separate them.

The man standing before him wasn’t thinking, wasn’t conscious. Xavier was moving purely on instinct. And if Luca used anything that might resemble an esper’s defense or attack, it would only make things worse.

“Host, please advise! What should we do?” There were no such things in the research materials it had deeply scrutinized. Usually, the issue leaned more towards bombing or howling during full moons!

What was to be done with a violent freezer?!

Before D-29 could even finish, the system cut off mid-word.

“Host—?!”

Sid, who had been monitoring the situation from a distance, froze as well.

Because the little Master had vanished.

No flash, no ripple, just gone.

But before anyone could react, he was there again—right in front of the frozen prince.

But he didn’t just appear.

Because Luca’s idea of a “surprise attack” was far from conventional.

Instead of shouting or calling out, he lunged forward, locking his arms around Xavier’s neck and pressing his lips firmly against his.

Sid, witnessing this through his optical sensors, short-circuited for exactly 0.4 seconds. “What—?!”

But Luca wasn’t hearing anything anymore.

The kiss wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t patient. It was a plea.

A desperate attempt to reach the man buried inside that endless, freezing void.

His spiritual energy surged in waves, pouring out through the contact, flooding into Xavier’s frozen sea of consciousness.

It was cold. So unbearably cold.

The place that was usually his sanctuary suddenly felt like an endless abyss.

He couldn’t help but feel small again.

The void didn’t just resist him. It pulled at him.

It wanted to devour everything he gave.

But even when Xavier’s uncontrolled power burst outward—massive ice pillars shooting from the ground, surrounding them—Luca didn’t let go.

Sid shouted something over, but the guide couldn’t hear it.

His entire world was right there in front of him.

His arms tightened around the prince’s neck. His other hand rose, trembling, to cup the cold face before him—one that looked exactly the same, yet carried none of the warmth that had always belonged to his husband.

Even so, his fingertips ached to touch more, as if physical contact alone could pull his husband back.

“Xavier…” he whispered between breaths, his voice breaking.

Again, there was no response.

And it was really too cold.

With that sea of consciousness too vast.

But more than that, the little guide had a better understanding of the problem. This was too slow.

His energy was fading into the storm, scattered by the chill, but Luca refused to back down.

Because who was he now?

He wasn’t the same boy who once flinched away from this power.

Nor was he the same boy who couldn’t read further!

He was someone who had experienced a new world thanks to his husband!

S-so how could he not know what to do about XXX now?!

__

But despite all his determination, there were really things that were much easier said than done.

Because the little guide who had made up his mind quickly discovered several very unexpected obstacles.

For one, there was the stoic husband himself—and all the icicles he had scattered across the clearing like traps just waiting to impale someone.

Then, of course, there was the matter of getting D-29 to go with Sid so that the guardian mecha could carry him off.

Because while Luca adored them both dearly, the two loyalists needed to understand that right now, what he needed was that kind of privacy!

But what to do when neither of them had any intention of leaving?

And just how did Xavier, who always took care of it, do it before?

Luca, the neophyte, couldn’t help but worry.

“Sid, can you please take D-29 and go back?” he said as calmly as he could while wrapped around the prince’s body in an attempt to continue guiding even as he spoke.

“Negative,” Sid replied without missing a beat. “Master instructed me to ensure your safety at all costs.”

Luca blinked, still trying to smile reassuringly. “That’s very sweet, but… I’ll be fine, really.”

“I must decline, Little Master.”

D-29 chimed in, voice shrill and full of worry. “Host! You are already standing within a danger zone! Please allow me to assist with environmental stabilization!”

“Ah, no, it’s alright! I can handle it! Really!” Luca insisted with his usual warmth, but the tremor in his voice made it clear that his nerves were hanging by a thread.

Neither of them budged.

Sid remained rooted like an immovable pillar of duty, and D-29 had somehow latched onto Luca’s consciousness, refusing to let go.

Now Luca was blushing—not from cold, but from a mix of panic and embarrassment.

How was he supposed to guide properly like this?!

“Really, it’s just… a private matter!” he tried again, cheeks pink as he clutched the icy prince tighter. “You don’t need to worry about it. “I—” he started, voice trembling with determination.

Both sidekicks tilted their heads expectantly.

“I just need to—” Luca blurted, before screeching, “I need to do him!”

Sid’s glowing eyes blinked once. Twice. Slowly.

D-29 stilled, processing. Really processing. Or more like conducting rapid StarNet research.

Silence.

Even the frost in the air seemed to stop moving.

Luca could practically feel the circuits turning in both their heads.

“Oh,” D-29 said.

“Oh,” Sid echoed.

Then, in perfect, horrifying unison—

“OH.”

Luca’s entire soul tried to ascend to the heavens on the spot.

His face turned crimson, and he could only stammer, “Wait! It’s just how guiding works!”

Sid coughed, a mechanical sound that somehow conveyed judgment. “Understood. It appears that I stand corrected… Little Master may, in fact, be the Big Master.”

“SID!”

The guardian mecha bowed politely, as if acknowledging some unspoken hierarchy. “We shall take our leave.”

D-29, still faintly whirring, was mumbling, “Page 37…,” as Sid quietly hauled the white and gold mecha up and walked away like a butler retreating from an ongoing scandal.

Finally—silence.

Luca exhaled shakily, still clinging to his frozen husband. His face was red all over. “Why does everything have to be like this…”

After relocating to a much more secluded clearing farther from the dungeon structures, Luca threw a capsule cabin on the ground for privacy.

Surely now things would go smoothly.

But the moment he looked at his unmoving, beautiful husband, another thought struck him like divine irony.

He’d always been on the receiving end.

“…So… now what?”

Hi! Still alive, but our province and city aren’t doing as well as we all hoped. There appears to be significant damage, and the flooding was overwhelming.

Almost 22 hours now of no electricity! After 21 hours, I finally got some sort of signal! So I’m uploading something I wrote on my phone as we sat around waiting for the rain and intense winds to stop! (Disclaimer: will likely have lots of things I need to edit later)

Please pray for Cebu huhuhu!