"Say, boy. It's an off-topic question, but what do you think of me?" Nyxia asked with a gentle smile on his, which pierced Rudy's heart.

  "……" Even Rudy was surprised. He placed his hand on his chest and wondered, 'Did my heart just flutter after seeing her smile? No, wait. It's mostly because I have often seen that smile on Rias' face. Yes, don't think too much, Rudy.'

  "Hmm?" Nyxia smiled again.

  "If I have to answer honestly, I would say… you are a mixture of Rias and Jane," Rudy answered with a chuckle.

  "Oh? So should I take that as you have been smitten by me?" she asked curiously.

  "Of course not. I find you extremely beautiful, and you look no different from Rias or Jane. Heck, if you three stood next to each other, people would surely think of you as sisters. But that's it."

  Rudy shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just because you are beautiful doesn't mean you can make anyone fall in love with you, at least not me."

  Nyxia curled and bit her lips before saying, "The way you rejected me makes me want you even more. Boy, it will be your fault if I end up seducing you."

  "Oh? Then you have to get ready to be hated by Jane and Rias," he scoffed softly.

  Nyxia glared at Rudy and said, "Don't bring them into this conversation, boy."

  "I am just stating the future for you."

  "They don't have to know."

  "……?"

  "We can fool around behind their backs, and no one would know. What do you say? And I dare say, the 'fun' you have with me would be better than any of the girls you have slept with," she said in a haughty tone.

  "Oh? So… is this your thing? No offense, but you are giving me the vibe of an unfaithful wife. How many times did you cheat on your husbands? Or rather, how many men have you been with?"

  "How rude, boy. The only man I have been with is my husband. He died around 2000 years ago, so am I not allowed to move on and find someone else?" she asked in a calm voice, which surprised Rudy.

  He expected Nyxia to get angry since what he said was offensive. He questioned her character that would make anyone mad, but Nyxia remained calm, which was proof that she wasn't lying.

  "Oh, I didn't know your husband was dead…" Rudy muttered.

  "Wait, are you thinking that I am some kind of loose woman who flirts and sleeps with every man I see?" Nyxia asked with a disgusted look on her face.

  "Sadly… yes…" Rudy nodded.

  SIGH!

  Nyxia shook her head in disbelief and muttered, "All humans are the same."

  "You gave that kind of vibe, okay! Not my fault. Now, can we get back to the topic where you were supposed to answer my question?"

  "What was your question again?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

  "Why would the other race do something like that for the humans? How did they benefit from them?" Rudy asked again.

  "Love. Many loved humans, both friendly and romantically. Just think about it, you and your friend grew up together and fooled around, but you stopped aging while your friend grew old and one day died. How would you feel?"

  "……"

  "That's what they felt. They wanted to help the humans so they could become bigger. However, out of all the races, one race was against that."

  "Let me guess…" Rudy pondered for a while and uttered, "The dragons?"

  Nyxia raised her brow with an amused expression on her face and asked, "Why would you think that?"

  "I don't know…" he replied awkwardly. "Please don't call me racist."

  "It wasn't the Dragons; it was the Eldritchs," she stated in a neutral voice.

  "I don't know what that is. But it sounds scary."

  "Eldritchs are one of the original race. They were almighty and could defeat both vampires and dragons single-handedly. Just think of them as abominations, supreme beings born directly from the cosmos itself. However, fortunately, they were low in numbers," Nyxia stated.

  "So… you are telling me that they opposed the idea of the other races." He gulped nervously and asked, "What happened next? A war, I gather?" Rudy asked curiously.

  "That could have happened, but sadly, they never got a chance."

  "Hmm? What do you mean? Weren't they the strongest of all races?"

  "Let's say that their arrogance and ego got the best of them. They challenged the Lord and went extinct," Nyxia uttered nonchalantly.

  "It seems they had everything but lacked brains," Rudy scoffed out loud. "Anyway, please continue. We are wasting too much time here."

  Rudy glanced at the closed door of the bathhouse and muttered, "Jane could be coming here at any moment, and I don't want her to see me naked in the same pool as her great-grandmother."

  'She is already jealous. Not to mention how she was acting weird a while ago. Maybe I said too much?'

  "Back then, there were so many ways to use our powers for the greater good. There was nothing forbidden, and almost everything was allowed. Of course, crimes happened back then too, but they were punished accordingly."

  "So, they only shared the powers with one hundred humans as a test. They didn't know if that would work or not, so only the humans who volunteered were permitted for this."

  'That sounds like what happened to me. The super-gene experiment conducted on me and the others was a voluntary act,' Rudy uttered inwardly.

  "They separated a hundred humans into the group of tens to make it easier. First, the vampires shared their blood and successfully granted humans eternal beauty. The dragons shared their flesh and granted humans superstrength. Elves shared their tears and granted them magic. And the other races did the same."

  "However, that was the biggest mistake in history, which led to a thousand-year-long war. Resulting in the separation of all the races and secluding in their own world, created by the Lord."

  "……"

  "Which is why the Lord forbids us to make contact with humans."

  ===

  Thanks, @puremichigan, for the gift!