17.0
Swiveling, tentacle flesh grew on the arm that choked on John’s neck, as John watched the succubus transformed through his redden vision.
How many times has it been for him?
Beaten by others mercilessly, his vision gone fuzzy or became stained with blood, his strength taken away from him, his insistence to defy his captors despite fighting battles that greatly outclassed his abilities.
Each and every time, he would give all he could, resisted the oppressive force that sought to destroy him.
Failure was the usual result for his efforts.
And if he was lucky, things would favor him for just briefly before everything got worse.
If he had the energy, if he had the luxury of time, he was sure he would weep and scream at the series of unfortunate events that happened to him.
Even now, after the hero’s party aided him in his escape, John failed to escape his doomed fate of doomed.
And now, he was to die at the hands of a true demonic being.
Despite him having embraced the accursed demon magic that he had, at the face of the Demon Succubus, John, was utterly, and blatantly, useless.
He knew it to be a fact. His life has only proven so much, even those who he thought to be his parents…
“What good does a child like you do!?”
A man, who had his stature, John’s broad shoulders, his modest height, came at John’s sides with a fist so thick that his whole body jerked and tensed before the bat made contact.
John tried screaming out aloud, his body squeezed the ever living breath out of his lungs, but he could see nothing around him, smell nothing, hear no sounds, feel nothing…
All but the man who came at him once again with his fist, this time aiming for his sides.
“Disgrace!!! You disgust me!!!”
His body tensed yet again. He could feel tears swell up in his eyes, snot coming from his nose, but like previously, all he could see was the man’s furious face, his rage, his oppressive stature.
“You are as useless as the maid you picked up!!!”
John wanted to fight back, he knew he could, he should…
“Disappoint me again, and you won’t be the one who is punished!”
But how could a young child defy his father?
Then, his vision changed.
It was not his vision, rather, the figure of his father vanished. Replaced by the image of a woman who had long lashes, thick eyebrows and intent face, the very features of which John could see for himself when he was by the mirror.
The image of the woman expanded as John felt his body moved closer to the woman with a piece of paper clutched in his hands. Promptly arriving at the woman’s presence, he handed the piece of paper to the woman with full expectations.
“What’s this?” the woman’s voice was temper, but the subtle disdain underneath was clear to John.
Like everything else that John was seeing, the piece of paper was also hazy.
Even John who drew it himself could not very much remember what it was. But he was certain days of effort were placed and poured into, and all he wanted to do, was to show to her that he loved—
Rippp.
The paper was torn into shreds in a matter of seconds, with the woman still having her hands pulling and destroying the broken pieces with all her might as John watched wide eyed at what transpired.
“Like your grades, a subpar artwork like this will not, absolve your inability to keep up with what your father and I have stored for you.”
His body was left frozen, as the woman he knew to be his biological mother left him to the fragments of paper on the ground.
John had no words then and even now.
“The ritual is complete, your lust, your hatred, your love, your disappointment, your desires, your knowledge, your entire being, is all, mineeeee!!!”
In a screeching voice, Prishine spoke in passion, eyes glowed in red as Erin, Saeza, and Theza simply had their heads bowed as though they were before their maker.
“For the appetizer, I shall take away your passion!!!”
One of the fleshy tentacles sprang forth from Prishine’s now grotesque skin and aimed at John's gut, latching itself onto him as though it were a leech that had not been fed for days. The tentacles then secreted a corrosive liquid, melting away the fabric.
Like their demented owner, the tentacles pulsated in excitement as it wriggled eerily around John’s numb flesh, with the various microscopic hooks on the tentacles, the disgusting flesh latched itself onto the immobile John whose had become a husk that barely contained his conscious mind.
Shing!
A bright metallic spark glared in the air, making its way past Erin, Saeza and Theza and all the way to where Prishine’s arm that held John up high above the ground.
A scimitar with a white sash tied to its grip.
“Convert my strength and purify the horrors of my kin! [Serenity’s Cleansing]!!!” a bright voice echoed at the exact moment the cold steel contacted Prishine’s arm.
Thud.
The scimitar became halfway lodged against Prishine's arm, causing the succubus’ grip on John to loosen. As for the tentacle that was stuck to John’s flesh, the white glow on the scimitar melted it along with Prishine’s flesh causing it to drop from John’s flesh before any harm could come to him.
“Grahhhhhhh!!!” clutching her injured arm in pain, Prishine brought her pained face towards the skies.
“Show yourself!!!” Erin, the first to react to what happened and placed her two hands by her spear and pointed to the direction where the scimitar had come from all the while the twins quickly attended to Prishine who had just suffered from a severe injury.
“Impossible, no knowledge of [Serenity’s Cleansing]…”
“...is available in the Empire. All records of devastating holy magic had been eradicated under her Empress—”
“Don’t bother with meeee!!! Where is him!!!???” Prishine hissed as she pushed the twins that were administering to her injuries, completely ignoring her arm that was slowly fizzling away from the effects of a tier six equivalent holy magic.
“Where is…”
“...John Sarvod?”
As Saeza and Theza turned to where John had been moments ago, they were left with an empty pavement before them. All signs of the guy that Prishine was so intent on feasting on had disappeared in a split second.
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Huff, huff, huff!
Rapid panting echoed in John’s ears as the effects of Prishine’s spell on him dissipated as his body rocked from being carried on uneven terrain.
Huff, huff, huff…
With panting became more intense the further John’s consciousness regained. His body was still weak, but at the very least, he could feel his own body and see who was the one who came to his rescue from the succubus’ grasp.
[Heal].
His trusty recovery spell surged throughout his body, jolted his senses anew. His own uneven breath and jumbled emotions returned to how it was prior to the demon succubus’ spell took effect on him.
Huff… Huff…
Without warning, the person who held John tripped upon their own legs causing the both of them to fall to the ground in a loud crash.
“Aurelius!!!” John called to the beastkin who fell flat against the dirty soil, grabbing the wolfkin by his shoulders as to affirm Aurelius’ state of being.
“Hah… I… I’m sorry...hah… I-I c-can’t run…”
“[Heal]!”
Not even letting Aurelius to apologize, John used his magic on his wolfkin friend.
The scrapes on Aurelius' body healed upon contact with John’s now black aura of [Heal], but even with his magic, the expression on the wolfkin was far paler than John had last seen Aurelius.
He said he can’t use magic… Did he do something earlier to free me from Prishine?
John mulled as he watched Aurelius’ panting slowed as [Heal] repaired his friend. But something was albeit off…
“Why is [Heal] taking so long?”
As one of the scrape marks on Aurelius was healed, two more seemed to appear in its place.
“!!!”
The wolfkin himself seemed to be oblivious to it, but to John who was used to seeing those under [Heal]’s effects, having more minor wounds open up while his magic took place never occured.
Even when times [Heal] failed to work in John’s favor, he was certain nothing bad would come of it, but the more he watched Aurelius skin split apart and healed before him, even John whose emotions had long become numb felt a chill in his heart.
“I need to focus! The intensity is too weak, [Heal]!” when he spoke, yet another blast of the black healing aura erupted from John’s hands and enveloped the panting Aurelius.
“John, save your energy, I don’t need—”
“What are you talking about!?” unaware of the building frustration in his own mind, John snapped. “[Heal] works, it’s just my normal process, Aurelius. Y-you...just...keep calm. I’ll patch you up, I assure it.”
Sensing John was not about to relent, Aurelius kept quiet.
Finally, the minor wounds on Aurelius’ body stopped appearing, though he was not completely healed by John’s usual [Heal] standards, it was enough that John’s heavy heart lightened. Still, John had to keep administering his magic to the wolfkin.
He had to.
“How—” John cut himself off, shook his head and replaced his question with another, “Why did you come and find me? I told you to stay away, didn’t I?! If it weren’t for your actions, you wouldn’t have gotten yourself this hurt! What were you thinking!? Did you know what was going on there!?” John spoke with such force, that made Aurelius look like a convicted wolkin under interrogation.
“Heh...”
Aurelius, on the contrary seemed to be lax despite John’s words against him. His ears drooped slightly, the muscles to his body relaxed.
“As expected, it’s just like you to be angry, hahaha!”
“You think this is a fucking joke, Aurelius!?” John snapped when he finished healing Aurelius. “Do you not hear what I told you earlier, you dumb fuck!? I told you I was a fucking demon!!! A being that invites chaos, chaos like that crazy succubus earlier!!! What— Why— WHY!!!!”
John pulled at his hair, albeit seeming to have gone insane from Aurelius’ mere presence around him.
“I told you to stay away, I told you I am leaving the empire, I told you bad things happen to people around me. You were already injured enough as it is, why…”
“It’s nothing much to worry about. I thought it would be fun if I joined your leave from the empire. The succubus led me to where you were.”
“Fun!? Join me!? To what!? To, I don’t know… Have everything around my world taken away from me!? Dude, you don’t even know me that well, we’ve barely known each other for more than a month, why are you so hell bent on throwing your life for me!? Back in the vampire hideout, and now…”
John gotten up to his feet, he shook his head disappointingly.
The sole reason he wanted to keep his distance from Aurelius was because he already put the wolfkin through enough suffering already.
The beastkin, though had a tough and rigid body build, was surprisingly weak to the effects of [Heal].
Perhaps it was because Aurelius belonged to the wolfkin that his recovery magic did not work, but John could have sworn something was just amiss with his body.
Ever since the incident with the vampires, John was acutely aware of how much limited [Heal]’s effects were on his wolfkin friend.
The only was to keep Aurelius safe was to keep the bestkin away from him.
After all, he was a demon who invited death and destruction to the world around him.
Even with [Heal] now tainted and enhanced with the dark aura, it still was not enough to keep Aurelius in one piece.
“Life may be short, or long, depending on how you view it, John. Perhaps to you, everyone else’s safety outweighs yours, but what use is there when you protect everyone but can’t enjoy their presence by your side?”
“Shut up… I know you’ve been with some monks, but that doesn’t mean you are anything wise. Because if you were, we would not be talking here,” John still had his back turned to Aurelius, stubborn to listen to reason.
“Our life, inherently has no purpose. For purpose to exist in our lives, is to make do of what we have. We are not guided by our soul, fate, nor origin for any of that matter, in the very end, everything we do and say, is what defines us.”
“…” John pursed his lips into a straight line.
“Presumably, everything that you are is taken away from you, your birthright, your so called ‘demon’ nature, your adopted family’s deaths. Would you have done the same thing as you’ve always done?”
“Always done? I’ve never done anything of my accord! This life of mine, I’ve been subjected to one thing after another. I just wanted to...”
“Would you still have helped me without question on the other day when you found me by the stairs with my terrible coughing?”
“I… I was just looking for someone the other day, you happened to be there, I used [Heal] out of convenience.”
“That’s not what I perceived. To me, there was a kind man who saw me in a weak state. Not only did he help me without question, he even made sure I was fully fine and escorted me to my quarters.”
“Why are we discussing this? Let’s just look for a way to leave before the crazy succubus finds us…”
John turned to his surroundings.
By the time he noticed it, a frown appeared on his face.
The various lush green trees that surrounded him and Aurelius moments ago had withered away.
The leaves that were previously on the branches were now laying on the ground as though their life force had been sapped straight out of their cells.
“Something is not right, Aurelius. We have to leave before it is too late, let’s go,” John pleaded the wolfkin.
“In my case, I was taken away from my family when I was a child. Aside my family, the monks and the stranger I met in the Demon Dessert, you were someone who had shown me genuine kindness.
“That is why, as your friend, and someone who thinks of you as his younger brother, I would do everything I can to alleviate your loneliness, even the slightest,” Aurelius flashed his teeth, knowing his words probably meant nothing to John who was drowned in misery.
John grabbed Aurelius' shoulders and screamed, “What the fuck are you spouting all this crap for!? If you wanted to talk to me, we can do that when we get out of here!!! Come on, let’s hurry, while there is still…”
“I am afraid they have locked on to us. The moment I tripped, the winds no longer tell me where we are. Even the smell of nature disappeared, all around us is death and decay.”
“What …”
“I was given a prophecy by the monks that took me in. Three important items that I would carry in my life. First, was an empty book, for me to fill my life experiences. The book represents my past.
“After I left the monastery, I received a pair of gloves. Of which I will present it to its rightful owner.” Rummaging through his pouch, Aurelius brought out the pair of gloves that he had given to John prior to them coming to Meastes. “These represent my present, the very present that we are living in.”
“Aurelius please…stop this…you can tell me your life story later.”
“No! I don’t have time! Just listen to me John, please…” the wolfkin looked to him, face dropped, “Just this once, listen to me…”
“I…”
“A-and finally my twin scimitars, the only items that I inherited from my parents. They represent my future.”
Aurelius unsheathed his single scimitar—as the previous one he used to distract Prishine to save John.
“When the gloves become torn, the book shall be filled up, the twin scimitars, like its owner, shall be separated from its kin. They mark the end to Aurelius Velupus’ story.” Aurelius said calmly. “You see, John, the reason I told you to not waste your energy was because, even with what you do, I can never be fully healed.”
“Your [Heal] spell would fail you when you need it the most.”
Remembering a warning he received, John’s eyes grew.
No…t-this isn’t happening… It can’t be!!!
“You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? From the very day we met, I was a sickly dog. On the verge of dying even when my prophecy had yet to come true. I am sure if you did not appear, I would be in the grave by now.
“Thanks to you. I could live a regular life after that. I could go on missions with Team Rectiser, b-bicker with Kirksten like a regular person, despite Kirk’s terrible character.
“Like you, I could fight and hold myself against monsters and beings deemed impossible for me in the past. Without your help John, I, Aurelius Velupus shall never have truly lived. D-do not fear what is to come to me… Or what have passed…. For life has made it so that w-we are able to meet, o-of all the people I got to know, I l-learned…t-that I have a brother, a b-brother from a different blood.”
“Y-you aren’t going to d-die! [Heal] doesn’t work as well on you, but that doesn’t m-mean…”
Aurelius smiled, his canine teeth appeared on his rough face.
“When you said…you would go search for my sister with m-me, I knew it was i-impossible. Even then…your sincerity was enough. In my l-limited time in this world, I have been gifted… I h-have been blessed far more than I d-deserve. I a-am more than content to have things end this way.
“Therefore, I shall e-entrust my book…” with a shaky hand, Aurelius took out his journal, along with it the tattered gloves in his pockets. “The gloves…and my scimitar to you, for keepsake. And if you ever encounter my sister, tell her—”
Krack!!!
A spear appeared from Aurelius chest piercing the wolfkin exactly where his heart was.
Behind the wolfkin was Erin, the force of her spear was so strong that Aurelius’ beating heart was ripped straight from his chest.
“No!!!!”
John screamed and reached for Aurelius, but Saeza and Theza had appeared beside used their magic on him, freezing John where he stood.
“Stay with me, Aurelius! [Heal]!!!”
John trashed his body against the magic of the twins as his pitched black aura sprouted from his hands and enveloped the wolfkin.
The dark wisps of magic touched the wolfkin, but nothing happened.
“Let me go!!! LET ME GO!!! [HEAL]!!!”
Absolutely nothing happened.
“—h-her…brother who had no soul, lived a life he would give his soul up f-for. Thank y-you…John, my b-brother.”
The light from his friend’s golden eyes vanished as John’s magical aura bounced off Aurelius’ limp body.
It was though he tried applying his magic onto an inanimate object.
And if the subject was not living, [Heal] had no effect.
“Don’t leave...”