Blood Magus Chapter 78

Zeth spent some more time practicing with Ephemeral Bloodforge, doing his best to try and Rank it up one more time before he slept. After a minute for each of them, the needles he made melted back into liquid, slowly forming a larger and larger pool next to him. Thankfully, the combination of his Endurance and Self-Destruction seemed to facilitate the replenishing of his blood as he spent it—not nearly enough to fully counteract the amount he was using, but at least enough to allow him to use more than he would’ve been able to without.

As he worked, Astrys came into the room, walking over to the corner where she’d slept before. “I will retire for the night now.”

“Hold on,” Zeth said, momentarily shifting his focus away from his work. The needle of blood suspended in the air began wobbling.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Don’t sleep there. Take the bed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it,” he said, trying to keep enough focus on Bloodforge that the needle wouldn’t fall apart. It dropped into freefall for a moment as he spoke, and he was forced to divert more attention toward keeping it held upward. “Uh, I’ll figure something out. But you should sleep somewhere more comfortable.”

“...I see. Well then, thank you.”

Zeth nodded, immediately turning his full attention back to the needle as he heard the sound of her walking over to the pile of hay.

Eventually, Ephemeral Bloodforge Ranked up to three, and Zeth finally gave himself a break. He hadn’t been physically exerting himself, but the combination of magical labor and blood loss left him absolutely exhausted. So, as he took time to recover, he decided it would be best to just go to sleep.

Glancing over, he saw Astrys curled up in the corner atop the bed of hay. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t gotten around to figuring out a more proper sleeping solution than that. But he wasn’t sure he’d be able to fall asleep lying on hard stone like she had. But the hay was a rather large pile, so it seemed like he’d be able to grab a bit of it without her slumber being bothered.

He walked over to her where she slept, finding his eyes getting caught on her peaceful face for a moment before he tore them away. He was still confused about the way he felt about her. It was like his mind and emotions were in disagreement, but he couldn’t quite tell what they were disagreeing on. He’d hoped in the past that the feeling would go away as he Ranked up Friend of the Unhallowed, but the Skill was Rank six now, and it’d only gotten stronger.

Regardless, he reached down and pulled some of the hay away from the stack, using some spare clothes as a blanket to cover up the hay so it didn’t poke into him as he slept.

It had become clear now that Friend of the Unhallowed would Rank up more quickly the closer he was to Astrys, so he only slid the pile of hay he slept on a foot or two away, making two distinctive beds that were lying right next to each other to maximize his gains.

Once again, as he lay down, gazing at Astrys lying close to him, Zeth frowned, feeling a stirring in his chest that he couldn’t quite identify. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he simply closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

[Friend of the Unhallowed’s Rank has increased four times to 10.

+4 Skill Points. You have 10 Skill Points.]

[Requirement fulfilled: Hellfire Ritual Rank 10, Friend of the Unhallowed Rank 10.

You have unlocked Friend of the Unhallowed Evolution: Foe of the Unhallowed (II).]

Zeth could tell that something was wrong.

There was something new in his mind. Something that had certainly existed for a long time, but had been ignored and shoved aside this whole time.

“...Zeth?” Someone was calling his name. “Zeth?”

He opened his eyes to see Astrys’s face, remarkably close to his. Her face was still stuck in that same neutral expression she always wore, but it looked different. The slight tilt of her head, a curious yet concerned furrow of her eyebrows, the way her dark crimson skin shone in the otherworldly light of the underground base. This had all been present before, but he only noticed it now. “Oh, uh, what’s up?”

She frowned slightly. “Are you not injured?”

His mind was torn away, suddenly pulled into confusion at her question. “What? No, I’m not hurt. Why?”

Astrys looked down. “You are lying in a pool of blood.”

Zeth glanced down at his abdomen, finding that he was, in fact, lying down on red-stained hay. “Huh.”

“I awoke to find you next to me, and thought you may be dying, so I awoke you to see if something was wrong. But it seems you are okay.”

“Yeah, I…” He held up his arms, finding one of them to be red with blood, as well. It wasn’t a huge amount, but the fact that he had no idea where it had been coming from was more worrying than the volume.

But then he noticed something. On his arm was a wound. One that certainly should not have been there, considering the fact that he had the Sanguine Renewal Skill. It was the one he’d made to draw blood out from himself when he was practicing Ephemeral Bloodforge last night. But in all the time that’d passed, a tiny cut like that should’ve been patched up easily.

He frowned. Unless…

“I must’ve run out of blood,” he muttered.

“Ran out? It looks to me as though you have more in your body.”

“No, I ran out of blood that could be used by my healing Skill. It won’t use any below a certain limit. And I guess I just barely passed below that limit when practicing with Ephemeral Bloodforge. So it probably just kept bleeding through the night.”

“That sounds problematic.”

“Yeah. Looks like it’s stopped by now at least, but I need to be more conscious of my limited resources in the future.” 

Zeth’s mind went to the Skill he’d unlocked a while back, Vascular Hypertension. It’d greatly increase the total amount of blood he’d be able to store in his body, which would have definitely helped in a situation like this. That Skill was absolutely a must, now that he had two separate Skills that were fighting over his supply.

It cost eleven Skill Points, though, and he only had ten after Ranking up Friend of the Unhallowed. Which, speaking of…

Astrys finally leaned back from Zeth, turning away, and he let out a breath. The fear aura was completely gone. He hadn’t even gotten a notification of failing an Influence check despite being so close to her. It was fully negated by his Skill. But now that it was gone…

“It is good that you are okay,” she said, standing up. Zeth’s eyes were caught on her body. “Please let me know if you feel in the future that you may be in danger. If you die, I will be unsummoned, and will die as well.”

A certain part of Zeth’s mind took particular note of the fact that she had been worried about him, but he pushed back at that. He wasn’t some teenager who would melt into a useless puddle at that thought. But the sudden, intense feeling was such a shock, he felt like he had no idea how to even respond to this.

Astrys walked over to lean against a wall, running her hands through her dark hair to remove any tangles, and rubbing her fingers along her spiked horns, carefully feeling for any dirty spots which she rubbed off. Zeth watched her do this as he sat up in his bed, feeling like he had to catch his breath. Back when he’d acquired his first few Ranks in Friend of the Unhallowed, Zeth had felt like a veil had been removed from in front of his eyes, allowing him to finally see clearly. But now, it was like he’d only just realized he had been staring at a brick wall the entire time, and had just busted through, seeing the entire world for the first time. Or, rather, seeing Astrys.

She was absolutely gorgeous. And he felt like he’d consciously been capable of recognizing such a fact in the past, but it had somehow never really registered in his mind. It had simply been a logical fact of the world, like how two and two made four. But now, it hit him. It hit him in the spot staring at a beautiful woman was supposed to hit someone.

Most of the demons Zeth had summoned had always shown up wearing the similar leather clothes covering their bodies. He’d never really paid much attention to it. But now, as Astrys absentmindedly cleaned her horns, Zeth’s mind made him extremely aware of the fact that, apparently, people from hot climates didn’t wear all that much. And Hell was very, very hot. Astrys’s leather cuirass covered her upper body, but left her midriff exposed, as did a rather wide split that ran down the center show some of her chest. Her pants had slits running along her thighs and cut off at her calves, allowing Zeth to see much of her legs, as well. Perhaps all of this was done for mobility, or to let out heat, or because she’d normally be wearing plate armor overtop all of this during battle, or maybe it was all three. But Zeth felt like he must’ve been insane in the past for not noticing how she was dressed, and how it clearly drew his eyes to certain parts of her body.

It had been clear that, somehow, the fear aura had been preventing Zeth from noticing how he felt about Astrys. But it certainly hadn’t prevented him from developing those feelings. It was like it had all been building and building during all these days he’d spent with her, and now the cap had been loosened, and suddenly everything had exploded in his mind. The surprise left him feeling completely disoriented.

Astrys glanced over at him. “Are you sure you are okay? You seem…”

“I’m fine,” he said, standing up. “Sorry. Just a bit tired. Uh, I think I’m gonna go out into town for a bit. Get some air, keep up with what’s going on, y’know.”

She frowned. “You are acting strange.”

“Yeah. I Ranked up that Skill that cancels out the fear aura overnight, so it’s maxed out now. Just…trying to get used to how it feels.”

“You are no longer under the effects of my aura?”

“Yep.”

Her frown deepened. “...I see. Well then, I will continue renovating the base while you are gone.”

Zeth nodded, and started walking over to the lair’s exit. He just needed to get some air and have some time away to clear his head. Being around her while he felt like this…It was obviously unwise. They had a professional relationship—they depended on each other, and if Zeth accidentally said the wrong thing while he was frazzled like this, it’d obviously cause issues with their ability to cooperate. It would be best to just discard these feelings and leave them by the wayside. They’d do him no good.

Besides, she was a demon. Zeth trusted her not to betray him at this point, but she herself had admitted that she saw human life in a completely different way than he did. And, quite frankly, he saw her people with a lot of bias as well, regardless of how he felt about her individually. They were two different species, coming from two different realms, with two different brains. Regardless of the interference his emotions would cause with his practical goals, it was also just a ridiculous thing to feel, anyway. He was latching onto the first person he came to trust after the massive life change of becoming a Blood Magus. It was probably just some mental defense mechanism of his brain trying to hold on to someone strong who he felt safe around. The feelings would fade with time.

In the back of his mind, Zeth was reminded of the memories he had of himself as a child, feeling completely overwhelmed with anger and being far too small and powerless to do anything with it. He’d been forced to learn how to push it down, ignore it, and act as though he felt nothing. But at no point had he ever really learned how to erase it. He worried that this feeling would be just as difficult to rid himself of.

No. It’d be fine. He was just caught off-guard. He just needed to get out of here for a while where he could clear his mind, and then come back when the shock wore off and he felt more like himself.

As he climbed the staircase, he took a few deep breaths. He already felt better, now that he wasn’t in the same room as her. Eager to get out into town, around other people where he could shake everything off, he opened the hatch to get up into the forest and reached up to climb out.

But as he poked his head up out of the hole, something caught Zeth’s eye, and his heart rate tripled. Out in the treeline, he saw boots walking in his direction.

Instantly, he ducked back down into his base, closing the hatch behind him, and hoping to the gods that person hadn’t seen him.

He listened carefully, ear pressed up against the crack.

Faintly, he heard a voice. “Did you see something?”

“Hm?” another responded. “Oh, no, just heard something weird. Like a piece of wood hitting the ground.”

“Well, we’re in a forest,” a third spoke up. “Makes sense that a branch would fall.”

“Yeah. It’s probably nothing.”

“Just get back in line. Our job is to not stop searching until we find him.”

“Right.”

There were several voices speaking there—enough that Zeth couldn’t quite keep track. At least three, but maybe four? It was hard to tell. He certainly hoped the number of people in whatever group he’d just spotted was on the lower end. It sounded like they were looking for him.

Just as he was about to retreat back down the stairs to inform Astrys of the threat, though, he heard something else that raised his alarm from worried to downright terrified.

Footsteps. Not just a single pair, or a group—it practically sounded like a stampede of people walking through the forest. It started faint, then grew louder as the people drew closer. There must’ve been twenty—no, fifty people all walking through the forest. And that was just the number that he could hear. From how it sounded, there were likely far more out of his earshot.

Was this more bandits? The cabal? Inquisitors? Whoever it was, they’d mobilized a truly massive force to search the forest for him. There was absolutely no way he could fight them. And, chances were, there was no way he’d be able to safely walk through the forest for as long as they were searching here.

Zeth looked back down the staircase. He was suddenly very glad he’d managed to stockpile some food before this happened. He felt like he’d be stuck down here for a while.