Chapter 44: The importance of time

Tom and Natasha spent a few more minutes with the now awakened Misla and Sairaorg. When the confused woman learned what happened to her and that Tom was the one to help her, she started profusely thanking him and that got awkward really fast.

She wanted to pay him for it and while Tom was quite a shameless individual and proud of it, he refused. Being paid three times for one job sounded damn delicious but unfortunately, Misla only offered money and Tom didn't need that. Maybe if she offered something else...?

It didn't take long after that for Tom and Natasha to 'retreat' and leave the room, letting Sarael deal with the consequences of someone being cured of the Sleeping Sickness.

The old devil was openly cussing and glaring at Tom as he realized the shitstorm coming his way when the Devil Council and the other nobles got to know Misla was cured. Sarael expected months of experiments, which would give him time to prepare. Not even in his wildest dreams, did he dare to think that Tom would just walk in and an hour later, walk out with Misla awake!

Tom couldn't help but show him a cheeky satisfied smile as he teleported home. His goals were accomplished, his theories confirmed, and his path forward clear. Now he only had to walk it.

He decided to wait for the chaos to erupt and for the noble families to start begging Sarael to heal their family members too. That should make Sarael nervous since he didn't have the means to do it and the political pressure on his family should be at least a bit concerning.

Tom definitely did this as revenge for the old devil always messing with him. Serves the prick right.

He planned to let Sarael and the other noble families stew in anxiety for a while. That should make them more amenable to the same secrecy contracts he put Sarael under and force them to give Tom good offers. After all, Tom couldn't really do his thing if somebody observed what was going on.

On top of that, Sarael would want to win political brownie points with other houses too so he shouldn't be averse to being the middle-man and figurehead for these deals between the other pillar houses and Tom, allowing Tom to stay under the radar.

Oh, Tom couldn't wait! He had a few hundreds of sleeping devils just waiting to be milked for their magic and life energy by him!

The best part? Their family will completely willingly pay millions for it.

...

After arriving home, Natasha prepared hot chocolate and they sat on the couch in their living room, Natasha taking up her usual spot on Tom's lap. She didn't instantly burst into questioning mode and rather let the mood between them become comfortable as they cuddled and occasionally kissed while enjoying their drink.

Only when they both were completely relaxed did Natasha slowly ask the question that bothered her the most.

"Why give me the Power of Destruction? It could have helped you to become so much stro-" She started with a conflicted gaze, her arms tightening her hold on Tom. She was grateful. Very grateful. But she didn't want him to deprive himself because of her.

Tom cut her question short by pecking her on the lips, and with his arms around her hips, he pulled her closer to him and spoke, "Because I care about you. You had so many problems getting the human magic right." He smiled at her to let her know he wasn't disappointed, "The Power of Destruction works on a completely different principle and it should come instinctually to you. You are mine, Natalia. Your strength is also my strength so it is only natural I look out for you and give you all the possible advantages and opportunities I can. That and the Power of Destruction would be more of a hindrance to me than an asset." He wryly added.

"Hmmm..." Natasha thoughtfully hummed and put her forehead against Tom's. "What do you mean? Aren't you lacking firepower right now? This would have been perfect for you, no?" She frowned.

Tom looked into her clear green eyes and saw that she didn't really understand the problem. Well, it was natural since she didn't have many accomplishments in magic. At best, she managed to learn mind-enhancing spells and while the ones Tom acquired were one of the best in the magician community, they were still basic low-tier spells.

In short, Natasha did not have any experience with harder higher-tier spells and how hard and time-consuming it was to learn them.

"It's the same as with you learning a new fighting technique." Tom decided to explain it in her 'language'. "When you lack a grappling move you don't go and learn a throwing one. You directly seek to learn a grappling technique, no?"

"Yes." Natasha furrowed her eyebrows at that. Wasn't that obvious?

Tom smiled in satisfaction, "The Power of Destruction is one of the best abilities in the supernatural world. A very few things can match its destructive capabilities. I'd even go as far as to say it reigns supreme in that field." He purposefully paused, only continuing when Natasha's eyes slightly widened at the preciousness of what she was given, "But just because you possess it, it doesn't make you unbeatable. You are still a low-rank being, Natalia. Even if I have a plan to get you up to snuff as far as energy reserves are considered, it will still take you years to become competent at using the Power of Destruction."

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Natasha, who was raptly listening, suddenly realized the message Tom was telling her, "Time." She whispered in surprise, "You don't have the time to waste on training the Power of Destruction."

It was a shock that she didn't think about this. In hindsight, as someone who spent a large part of her life training, she should have known that no skill was for free. Just the instinctual knowledge that she could imbue the Concept of Destruction into her mana and create Power of Destruction made her momentarily forget that it was not as easy as it seemed.

She could summon it...

But that was it. She couldn't shape it. She couldn't control it. She couldn't do much with it. All that will require training. Lots and lots of training. Moreover, Tom was polite and didn't say it but Natasha understood that the chance she would ever master her new power was almost nonexistent.

Hell, now that she thought about it, from the tidbits she remembered of Tom's history lessons about the supernatural world, even the current Lucifer who had the same ability couldn't fully control his Power of Destruction in his strongest form.

How could she measure up to him?

"Yes, darling." Tom, happy that she caught up so fast, pecked her on the nose, eliciting a small involuntary giggle from her, "I focus on alchemy. It's creative magic with a lot of versatility. I am not going to throw that versatility away just because I have access to the most destructive magic in the supernatural world. It's that kind of versatility in my way of interacting with magical energies that allowed you to get the Power of Destruction in the first place."

Tom knew most people would jump at the possibility of having the Power of Destruction but... until now, Tom was walking his own path. The path he made into a possibility with his own ability, Sacred Gear, and ingenuousness.

And it was working.

God. He actually managed to steal a freaking Power of Destruction and nobody had any idea about it! How friggin' cool was that!?

Throwing his future possibilities of creativity just to train a wipe-all type of magic?

Screw that.

Tom was not doing it.

Natasha was in a different position than him though.

"Plus, you are an assassin, Natalia." Tom said and Natasha stiffened a bit.

She didn't like her occupation. She wasn't proud of what she was. And the last blunder with the Jasin Family made her very embarrassed. But Natasha knew her way of thinking was inevitably affected by her childhood. She just... couldn't stop being herself.

"Nobody said you gotta use the Power of Destruction like a hot-headed idiot and charge head-on at your enemy. The ability to destroy anything in the hands of the best mundane human assassin. I want to see it, you know?" Tom's smile turned into a curious grin and his brown eyes gained a peculiar glint as he exclaimed in a firm voice, "I want to see just how far you can go with it."

And that... was all the motivation Natasha needed.

She no longer cared why Tom gave her the Power of Destruction. He had his reasons. It was not important to her. The reality was that she possessed it now and to show how much she appreciated that, she would train it and make herself useful to Tom.

She will show him her worth and become a pillar he could depend on! Her resolve was firmly set.

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