The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion - Chapter 144: Thea - 2

[Warning: R-18]Lukas had just started making his career in a good company, allowing his family to live comfortably, when he was poisoned by some of his jealous colleges during his promotion-celebration dinner.Everything blanked out in front of his eyes and he thought he was dead.Miraculously, however, he regained his senses but he was no longer the Lukas Adams, the rising star of his company--he was now Lukas Rivervale, the youngest son of Viscount Raymond.Clearly, he had transmigrated.After accepting his new reality, he realized the world he was in was a Magic World, dominated by Mages.In this world, only strong were respected and because he had failed his awakening ceremony at the age of 12, he was despised and looked down up.What a tragedy!Fortunately, the Goddess of Luck seemed to be smiling upon him because he realized he now possessed the Legacy of an Arcane Mage, one the strongest beings to ever live in this world.Vowing to become the strong enough to find a way back to the Earth and take revenge on those who plotted against him, he embarks on the path of a Mage.

In the tenth year after the new era, the world finally came to an end. Zhang Mu truefully waited for his death, but unexpectedly found that he had returned to ten years ago. With his memory about the future, he swore that he would change the calamitous history, saving the earth from being destroyed! Walking dead, zergs, evolvers, and various mutated animals… nothing can stop him! The first step is to retrieve his identity as an era merchant , then find all the treasures he can remember to enhance himself!

- Description from Novelupdates

Enemies to lovers? ✔️Villainous and possessive ML?✔️Fiery spirited FL?✔️Dark Romance?✔️Excerpt:“Wife?” Lady Karina repeated, almost shouting as if she'd misheard him.“I would not marry you even if you were the last man in this world,” she remarked with sweet venom, a poison Van Merikh would gladly drink. “You are a murderer and a thief. I do not want you!”“But I want you,” Van Merikh stated firmly, his dual-coloured gaze leaving no room for argument. “And that is where this conversation shall end, Lady.”Van Merikh threw open the door and practically dragged her to the base of the stairs that led to the upper floors. When she refused to mount the steps, he easily lifted her onto the first step and spanked her soundly on the bottom.“Go to your chambers,” he ordered softly.“This is not over,” Lady Karina growled. “I will fight you with the last breath in my body against this…this madness.”“Go, or you shall feel my hand on your backside again.”**************Magic as the world of Ethuaria knew it came from the distinct markings specific to each bloodline and nation that a person may or may have not been born with.It would appear at birth on different parts of the child's body, bringing about unique abilities passed down in their bloodline from mother to child.And for eighteen-year-old Lady Karina Hyacinth Reinhardt, life had always been one of comfort and peace with the secret abilities of her bloodline.As the beloved, yet sheltered, heiress of Moonveil Keep on the borders of the Kingdom of Caelthywn, she spent her days managing her father's lands and overseeing the affairs of their people, never knowing true hardship.War as she knew it was a distant nightmare that would never touch her.That was until Orpheus Van Merikh, the most feared warlord across the lands, invaded her home and seized it for his claims.Known as the devil himself, Van Merikh does not simply claim Moonveil for its riches, but also for the rumoured beasts that the Reinhardt bloodline conceals from the world.He will stop at nothing to have them.Thrown into captivity, Lady Karina expects cruelty, and Van Merikh, being the brute that he is, proves her expectations to be true.As a calculating and disciplined man who kills without hesitation yet protects what he claims, when one of his knights speaks ill of her, Orpheus cuts him down without hesitation.Lady Karina is his prize, but he would not allow others to dishonour her.However, she is not as obedient as one might think. Thus, determined to reclaim her freedom, Lady Karina refuses to cower as she challenges the enemy at every opportunity.Her defiance amuses Van Merikh, who spares her life due to her efficiencies in managing Moonveil Keep.Along the way, as they battle to find common ground, Van Merikh faces a rebellion among his own knights, who reject his growing attachment to her.They would have her dead before she warmed his bed.And oddly enough, Lady Karina finds herself charmed by the other merciful half of Van Merikh, but when her father returns to Moonveil at her request, much changes henceforth.Conspiracies arise and she soon slips out of Van Merikh's hold when he leaves for yet another conquest away from Moonveil.All hell would break loose when the beast from the depths would return upon Moonveil only to find his angel is gone.

He, since childhood, had followed the Foreigner to practice the Defying Heaven Art, entering the most secretive special forces and becoming a fearsome assassin that made others tremble at the mere mention of his name. After a single failure, he took early retirement, but he ended up as the personal bodyguard for a rich heiress, a school beauty. Accidentally provoking some mysterious Cultivators, he gradually unveiled a hidden world of Cultivation beyond the mortal realm...