“Wow. I don’t think we’ve gotten anywhere,” I heard Amy mumble, walking behind everyone.
Mia was high in the air, scouting out the nearby area. She let out a hiss before shifting back into her normal form and letting me catch her. She shook her head and I sighed.
“Nothing,” I said aloud.
“Oh, come on!” Merry complained, her ears twitching. “We’ve been walking all day now! It’s hot, boring, and, if I say so myself-”
“Please don’t,” I muttered.
“-Just flat out annoying! I don’t wanna have to walk all the way to the border!”
“Aren’t you a Fire healer or some shit? Are you not resistant to heat?” I snapped.
“You’re a Flamepreist. You should be fine,” Amy said at the same time.
I looked at her and she looked back at me, clearly frowning. Merry spun around, glaring.
“Don’t act like you’re not searing hot!” She snapped back. “Don’t act all high and mighty.”
“...I’m not. It’s just warm, not hot.”
“Liar.”
I gave her a flat expression and responded with, “My cloak has climate control.”
I unraveled my cloak into its original form, revealing my normal clothes beneath it. But not my horns, of course. I noticed Amy look at my cloak in interest as it writhed around, wrapping around me again and shifting back into my normal attire: a simple shirt and pants. Nothing insane.
“That’s not fair!” Merry spun on her heel to look at Henry, who’s hair was billowing around despite the lack of wind.
Ah.
“Oh, come on! Why does nobody have to worry about the heat except me?!”
I shrugged. “I could put you in a block of ice, if that helps?”
“I-I thought you could only use Void?” Amy stammered, taken aback.
The hell is she so nervous about? I thought.
“I never said I was limited to Void. Same way that you’re not limited to one type of poison, venom- wait. You use venom? How the hell do you…”
I looked at her to see Amy glowering at me from behind her scarf and I shut up, clearly touching on a sensitive topic. Rolling my eyes, I looked over at Mia, who had jumped out of my arms at some point and raced into the forest while we were talking. She was now currently dragging back what looked like a deer with every bone in its body broken, clearly dead.
She looked up at me expectantly.
I sighed. “It’s nice that you tried to hunt, but nobody can eat that thing. The corpse is wrecked.”
Mia let out a sigh, shifted, snapped up the deer and swallowed, and shifted back, running over to me and climbing onto my shoulders.
she said, defeated.
I patted her leg as she deflated, draping herself over my head.
She pulled on my ear, suddenly interested in it. I looked ahead again, not thinking too much about what we were doing as we walked for another hour. Eventually, the sun began to set and the other three stopped. Henry, since he had been carrying our baggage (Except for mine, since I just had it in my Storage), took off the large bag he had on his back and pulled out what looked like a set of tents.
He grinned at me. “Let’s set up camp here,” he said. “Care to help out?”
I shrugged and walked over, setting down Mia next to me. “Sure, I guess. Couldn’t hurt.”
The girls had picked up a tent-kit-thing (specifically Merry), and were currently setting up their own tent. As I helped Henry set up the tent, I learned something about the guy.
He could not stop talking.
“Y’know, I was wondering where your guys’ stuff was, but I’m sure you’ve got it all handled. Or are you used to sleeping out without supplies? We had to do that during training camp. Wanna know about the camp?”
Mia nodded, not realizing her mistake. Instead of using a hammer to push a stake in the ground, she simply hit it with her fist, not even remotely hurting herself.
“Well, it was mostly led by General Maya, I know, shocker. She was pretty strict too, y’know. We did all sorts of things, ranging from hunting, to this, to having to spend a month out in the wild with no supplies with teammates. That was harsh. Though, that’s how the five of us met, you know-”
He suddenly stopped speaking, scrunching up his eyebrows.
“The five of us”? Looking at his face, he was clearly experiencing an unpleasant memory.
“...Anyhow, looks like we’re done! Let’s go check on the girls, okay?” He jumped to his feet and strode over to Amy and Merry, who were obviously struggling a bit.
I stood up with a frown, looking up at the moons… Wait, did I just realize that there were three moons?
~~~
I woke up at around four in the morning, according to the strange watch thing Treia had given to me, and sat up, making sure to move Mia from on top of me to next to me as I slipped out of the sleeping bag.
Quietly, I went through the flap of the tent and outside, the cold night air greeting me. I pulled my cloak out of my Storage, warping it into a sweater and sweatpants as I sat down on a nearby rock.
“You awake, Systie?” I asked quietly.
Systie poofed into existence on top of my head, nuzzling herself against my hair. Yep. What’s up?
I snorted. “I should be asking you that. You’ve been quiet recently. You seem pretty wary of these people.” I lifted her off my head and cupped her in my hands as she looked up at me. “Is there something wrong?”
She rolled around, clearly enjoying herself. Well, that girl, Amy, mostly. She’s immensely suspicious. If you’d Eyed her, you’d have clearly noticed her race wasn’t just Dark Elf; she’s half Vampire.
I narrowed my eyes at the other tent, where Merry and Amy were sleeping.
“So-”
She’s probably not sleeping, no matter if she says she is. Half-Vampires don’t need to sleep as much as normal Elves, Humans, Wolf-kin, ect. Maybe twice a week.
“Huh. I guess that explains the Venom part of whatever class she is. She deliberately left that out of our conversation earlier. Then again, she left out a lot, like how she even does her thing with poisons and whatnot.”
Systie seemed to agree, which was clear from her emotions. Suddenly, she grew confused. My copy that was supposed to be watching her just went offline.
I sighed. “Naturally.”
I pulled my sword from my Storage and pointed it at Amy’s throat, who had attempted to creep behind me. “It’s rude to not announce yourself, don’tcha think?”
She glared up at me, her own knife pushing my sword out of the way. “It’s far more rude to spy on people. Or have your familiars do it for you.”
Says the suspicious Half-Vampire. You really hate him for some reason and I’m interested in why. I’m sure he is as-
“Sys, I have my own voice, y’know,” I interrupted lightly smacking her. She exaggeratedly carenteened into a tree, punching a hole directly through it.
Oh, damn. I didn’t mean to do that. Wait, does that mean you can use my copies as baseballs or something?
“Why would you ever want that? Don’t you still feel it when they are damaged?” I inquired, already forgetting that Amy was there. “Wait, I shouldn’t be-”
That was obviously a mistake. Before I could think, I felt a huge chunk of my Mana ripped from my body and I panicked. Half a dozen Shards hovered in the air as I grabbed Amy with Abyss Touch. She hissed and jumped back, but the damage was already done.
“The hell is this?! Touched? ‘Take Abyss Damage…’”
She froze in place, realizing what that meant. Amy looked at me in terror. “Y-you’re an Abys-”
I grabbed her mouth and shut her up, ignoring the ailment she gave me as she bit down.
“Keep your mouth shut. You cannot tell anyone what I am, damn it,” I growled.
I felt Mia wake up, still clearly groggy.
She, albeit reluctantly, fell back asleep without another word. I sighed and converted my Mana to Abyss, killing the ailment she’d given me. Amy had already taken in nearly twenty thousand Abyss Mana before she suddenly let out a muffled shriek and let go, falling to the ground and begging to writhe.
Stolen story; please report.
Jason…
“I know, Jesus Christ. I’m not a sadist. Just need to prove a point.” I put my hand on Amy and drew out all of the Abyss that she’d consumed, slowly but surely.
Eventually, she stopped shaking and was breathing heavily. I pulled out what I assumed was a pretty expensive healing potion that Treia had given to me, even though she knew I couldn’t use it and poured it into Amy’s mouth. Once her breathing stabilized, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
I hadn’t wanted to accidentally kill Amy, though I wasn’t sure if I should detest her or not. I checked up on my Mana and groaned.
Mana : 9400/934080 [7005.6 Mana Min | 116.76/s] (70056 Mana/Min | 1167.6/s)
Ailments : Mana Drained
Ailment : Mana Drained
An unremovable, Race-Specific debuff that has been given by a Mana Vampire’s. It decreases Mana Regen by 90% and increases Mana Cost by 50%. Only the Mana Vampire can remove this debuff
Duration : 2 Days
God damn, Jason. She put you below the minimum Mana I’ll let you use. Sit down. Now, before you collapse.
I fell down onto my back, breathing feeling far more difficult to do.
…That works as well.
I felt myself black out for what I assumed was a few minutes before I came to, my Mana about a third full. I was about to sit up when I saw Mia’s worried face just inches above mine. When she saw that I’d regained consciousness, she threw herself onto my chest, her horns nearly piercing me.
I put my hand on her horn and she pressed herself against my hand. “It’s okay, Mia. I just had a small… squabble with Amy. Nothing that you need to worry about, okay?” I sometimes forget she’s still just a child sometimes. She’s probably going to worry about whatever I do, even if she doesn’t always act like it.
I could feel how terrified Mia was. Terrified that I was going to die. I hadn’t really thought about this specific aspect of our Bond, only seeing it as a way to communicate with her and purely offensive, but, in this moment, I realized something else. Our Bond wasn’t just that. It literally connected us. By being Bonded, we practically were two, well three, separate entities with a single Soul.
I remembered Systie mentioning that Mia’s Soul had been keeping mine from simply shattering like glass from the Integration. Mia, no matter how small or lazy she seemed, had been constantly working to keep me from… whatever would happen if my Soul shattered. She was small, yet worked harder than any of us.
“I see now. Systie, when you became my Bond, you took a lot of weight on Mia’s Soul, didn’t you?”
Systie snorted. I take plenty of effort off her Soul, even now. Her Soul was exhausted trying to repair yours, no matter how futile it’ll be.
“But you’re trying to repair it with her, aren’t you?”
Systie went silent, embarrassment flaring up within her.
Your Connection with your Bonds has deepened yet even more.
Bond Level has increased to IV.
You’re now able to more easily communicate with your Bonds and sense their emotions better.
I rolled my eyes at the screen. “I didn’t need a notification to figure that out now, did I?” I sighed. “Now get off me so I can get you a cupcake, Mia.”
Mia’s terror immediately was replaced with hunger and elation.
***
Amy shot up and looked around her, immediately seeing Jason Andromeda sitting nearby, feeding his Bond, the Serpent disguised as a little girl, what looked like a cupcake. She jumped to her feet and lifted up her knife,,, which she didn’t have. She blinked and looked through the darkness, which she could see through like it was daytime. She caught a glimpse of a blade catching firelight, which Andromeda had clearly set up at some point, flipping through the air.
Andromeda caught her knife and gave her an exasperated look. “Looking for this?”
She frowned at him. “You do know how corny that line sounds, right?”
He simply sighed. “You can get it back after we talk,” he continued, tossing the knife much higher into the air. It never came back down.
“Hey! That’s my kni-” She stopped mid-sentence and scowled at him, wiping off the blood from her face and pulling her scarf back up. “...I’m literally playing into your expectations aren’t I?”
He let out a short laugh before pulling out another cupcake. “Cupcake? Or muffin?”
His Bond, Mia, grabbed the cupcake and shoved it into her mouth, spitting out the wrapper afterwards.
Amy groaned. “Muffin, I guess.”
“Water Mana infused?”
“...What?”
He shrugged and tossed a muffin over to her. She looked at it suspiciously before pulling her scarf back down and taking a bite out of it. It took all of her willpower to not make a squeak at how delicious it was. She simply hummed and took another bite. “What’d you need to talk to me about?”
“Are you seriously asking me that?”
Amy glared at him. “Well, Abyssal, why should I not tell the rest of the group what you are?”
“Does your team even know what you are?” he countered.
She bit her lip, looking away. “O-of course they know.”
If they knew, wouldn’t they have turned you in? From what I last remember from skimming the library- The floating eyeball that Jason had called Systie
“When’d you go through the library?”
The eyeball hit him in the side of the head. Oi. Let me sound smart. As I was saying, from skimming the library, I learned that any type of Vampire, especially Mana Vampires like you, will be killed without hesitation for a pretty hefty reward.
She grit her teeth. “Well, at least I’m not gonna be chased to every end of the world to be killed. There’s places I’ll be accepted. You, however, will not. Also, I’m half-Vampire.”
You know that makes it worse, right? The eyeball stared at her, unamused. That just means your parents are guaranteed to be killed.
Amy hissed, unable to control herself. “What do you want? I won’t tell anyone! Is that enough for you? Or do you want something else-”
The boy frowned. “What do you even mean? You not telling people is good-”
The eyeball pressed itself against his cheek. Jason. You can literally demand whatever’s in her power to give you. And I, personally, can think of a few things-
He grabbed the eye and crushed it, silencing the voice that seemed to speak in her head.
“You may be worse than Mia, sometimes, you perverted eyeball,” Andromeda muttered. Then he tilted his head as he looked down at the now asleep Serpent on his lap. “Then again…”
“You’re acting like a child can be more suggestive than a full grown adult,” Amy sighed. “That’s not possible.”
Have you perhaps- The eyeball reappeared, the female voice already getting on her nerves. -heard of Succubi children? Those little pieces of shit can be more sadistic than their older counterparts.
Andromeda seemed surprised. “If you, of all people, are calling them that, then it must be bad.”
I’ve done some horrible things to people, ripping their Souls from their body, skinning people alive, breaking people’s minds with thousands of years worth of memories at once, ect. But what those things think of doing and do is beyond what I’d ever do to people. Sexual torture is a horrible thing.
He seemed to think. “I mean, it depends on the person, I guess.”
Well, of course you’d think that, Mr. Zero-Sex-Drive.
Andromeda seemed to be about to retort before he stopped. “Eh. Fair enough. Anyways-” (Seriously? He just accepted it? the eye grumbled.) “-I think it should be a fair trade. My secret is far more valuable than yours is. What do you want? Some sort of Mana gathering Script? Mana rich food? A-”
“Your Mana,” Amy immediately said before she was able to stop herself. She cursed herself. “I mean, I just-”
I have a few straws that can be drawn, and that just drew about 99% of them. The hell do you mean you want my- er, his Mana for?
Some sort of sadistic feeling welled up in Amy, but she pushed it down, unwilling to show that side of herself.
“It’s the densest Mana that I’ve ever… ingested, so to say. Not the Abyss Mana. The mixture of Lightning and Ice Mana that you use to cover up the Abyss. And the touch of Void, though it feels like if I eat too much of that, it’ll rip me up from the inside out…” she snapped her mouth shut, unable to stop the words from flowing out of her mouth. Why am I talking about this to him?!
She looked at him closely as he seemed to think about it. Was it because he was willing to listen to her? Because she’d never had anyone to talk to about this to? What was spurring her to talk?
He hit his fist on his palm. “Ah! You like it, right?”
Obviously. Why does your brain work so slowly for the amount of Intelligence you have?
He frowned at the eyeball. “I don’t like coming to immediate conclusions. If I did, I’d probably be dead.”
Doubtful. You sometimes come to the dumbest conclusions, so I can’t agree.
“Hey…” he shook his head as the eyeball came to rest in his hair. “Anyways, I dunno what that really entails. Also, can you get rid of this damned Ailment? Systie’s about to run out of Mana and I don’t have to ability to give her enough to exist unless I literally kill myself.”
Amy sighed and pulled down her scarf.
“I’ll only do it if you agree with my terms, Abyssal,” she snapped.
He seemed to grow slightly more serious as he leaned forward. “Oh? And what are they?”
He was slightly closer to her and she looked away slightly.
“For the next three months, every other day, you’ll let me feed on your Mana in exchange for me not telling your secret-”
A month and a half, The eyeball, Systie, shot back. I know you’re trying to make a Binding Contract, idiot. I see your Mana.
Amy scowled, slightly drawing back her Mana. “I’d rather not, but I need to make sure. Anyways, I said three months.”
1. Month. And. A. Half.
“Two months.”
Fine.
Andromeda seemed to be sulking as he rubbed the Serpent’s horn. “I get the feeling that I don’t have a say in this…”
***
In the end, it was agreed that, every other day, for 2 months, I’d let Amy feed on my Mana (Whatever that meant), as long as there was no one else around. More specifically, once every other day for two months, she’d feed on my Mana as long as nobody else other than Mia, or Systie were around, up to a Maximum of two times that day.
The contract itself was basically her just pushing some of her Mana into me while reciting the contract details. According to Systie, it didn’t work if the person inserting the Mana was too far below the target’s Level and if the other didn’t consent. There were more powerful types of contracts, but this was a simple one with a non-consequential punishment.
Binding Contract received from Amy Valente (Elf-Mana Vampire Hybrid)
In exchange for keeping the secret that Jason Andromeda is a Voidborn Abyssal, every other day for two months, you are to allow Amy Valente to feed on your Mana, up to twice that day. Unless in emergency situations, the only ones allowed to observe are Miana Andromeda and Systie. This contract will be broken if either party disobeys these requirements or Jason Andromeda tells any other being that Amy Valente is Half-Mana Vampire. Other parties required to keep this secret are Miana Andromeda and Systie. If either of them break this contract, they will suffer a temporary Stat lock of 50%.
If either Jason Andromeda or Amy Valente violate this contract, the violator will be punished with a temporary Mana lock.
Duration remaining : 90 days
“Huh… Sounds good… Wait a moment. If either of us get a Mana lock, won’t we just die? Or do you not need Mana to support your body?”
A Mana lock doesn’t keep your body from using Mana; it just locks your maximum Mana for a time. However, if either of you had something like a Mana Suppression collar, you’d both probably wither away after a time, in the worst case scenario. In the best case, you’d probably be able to make enough Mana to support your body.
I nodded. “Understood. Anyways, about this Ailment-”
Before I finished my sentence, Amy seemed to blur as she sank her teeth into my shoulder and I blinked at her.
Ailment: Mana Drained removed.
“Huh. Thanks, I guess,” I said as she moved away just as fast, wiping the blood from my shoulder as the wound healed. “Hm… that healed way slower than expected. Fair enough though.”
Amy glared at me for a few moments before looking away. “Do you not feel anything? Like seriously…”
Jason’s just weird that way. Don’t lose too much self esteem over it.
I frowned at the two of them. “What’re you on about? I just don’t like her that much.”
Amy grimanced and Systie rammed into my head. That was a bit uncalled for.
“How is disliking someone who attacked you uncalled for, idiot? If someone attacked you, you would’ve turned them into little more than a cloud of blood.”
…Fair enough.
I looked back to Amy. “Anyways, now that that’s over with, I’m pretty sure that one of those two are gonna wake up soon, so Imma just start making some food.”
I pulled out various ingredients from my Storage, including a fire stove and a pot and pan. I looked up at Amy.
“Is there anything specific you wan-” I started.
“YOU’RE KIDDING ME!” a familiar voice yelled from one of the tents. “YOU CAN JUST PULL SHIT FROM YOUR ASS?!”
I grimanced. “Oh, great. She’s awake.”
Amy pulled her scarf over her face and sighed. "I'm... not hungry. I had enough Mana. Thanks, though, I guess."