Percy limped over to the others as he dragged a corpse with each hand, his expression gloomy. He was glad he and Micky had won the fight without casualties, but it would have been better to avoid it entirely.

‘At some point, House Tantalus is going to notice their people are missing…’ he grimaced.

Of course, if they took good care of the bodies and reached the town by then, it shouldn’t be too easy to link the murders to them. Still, the resulting unrest would only make their stay in the Camelot province needlessly complicated.

Reaching his companions, Percy dropped the bodies nearby, before noticing Micky’s state was a little odd. The bird was always keen for a snack – especially when it came to humans for some disturbing reason. Still, his gluttony was strangely exacerbated, but it was tinged with an unusual lethargy. It was as if he was positively famished, yet too tired to go through with his meal. On closer inspection, his plumage was a mess too, many of his feathers charred or torn.

“What happened here?!” he turned to Nesha.

“The guy had a lightning affinity which gave Micky trouble. He managed to push through it but got hit by the bloodline in the end.”

The colour drained from Percy’s face, as he realized how close his familiar had come to losing his life. The only reason he had asked him to take care of the mage was because he’d thought the crow could handle it. And it was true Micky was stronger than the average Yellow, but he could still get seriously injured if he let his guard down, apparently.

‘And so can I…’ he thought sombrely, thinking back to his own fight.

In any case, today’s battle would serve as a good wake-up call for both of them. While they had grown a lot stronger during their stay in the Guild, they had a long way to go still. Right now, however, their priority was to get the hell out of here.

“Micky, do you think you’ll be able to fly like this?”

The bird continued to peck away at his meal for a few seconds. Eventually, he replied, but only through their connection, as he was too tired to speak.

‘Maybe…’

Percy frowned. He did have a few more healing potions, though he was saving them for a rainy day. It wasn’t like he was too stingy to use them on Micky if the bird really needed them, but he’d rather hold on to them for a time they might need them more – assuming his familiar could recover on his own, of course.

“Ok then. Eat the cores first before they dissipate. Then, get rid of the bodies too. We’ll see how you’re feeling afterwards.”

Percy and Nesha scanned both battlefields, erasing any bloodstains or traces of magic they could spot, while Micky disposed of the corpses. At least, he could eat a lot more since advancing. It wasn’t until a few hours later that the trio was done with their respective tasks.

“Feeling any better?”

“A bit.” Micky said.

He did look a little livelier. Of course, it wasn’t that surprising, as beasts tended to recover faster than humans, especially after eating. Still, Percy couldn’t help but exhale in relief after confirming his familiar was ok.

“Let’s hold on to the potions for now then.” he said.

His own injury would make the rest of the journey a pain, but he’d live.

Next, Percy stuffed his enemies’ clothes into the spatial amulet. There was barely any space left, and he didn’t much enjoy getting blood all over his stuff, but it wasn’t like he had much of an option. They couldn’t exactly leave the evidence in the scene of the crime.

He did briefly consider replacing his own stinky clothes with a fine set of silken robes, but he quickly shot the idea down, berating himself for even considering it. Dressing in House Tantalus’s colours while travelling in their territory was about the dumbest move possible.

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‘Right up there with picking a fight with the Divine Order.’ he chuckled bitterly.

After confirming they had cleaned up to the best of their ability, the group left, continuing towards Bogside town. They moved much faster than before, both Percy and Micky ignoring their injuries, their sense of urgency tuned up to eleven.

“Thanks for saving him.” he told Nesha.

“I’d have intervened sooner if I wasn’t afraid of hitting Micky by mistake. Or setting that guy after me.” she shrugged.

Percy didn’t disagree, knowing she was telling the truth. Having been brought up to speed on the fight, he was sure even that final blast she’d killed the lightning mage with had been a gamble. Her poor eyesight certainly hadn’t done her any favours either. Had she hit Micky instead, they’d be having a very different conversation right now. Assuming they were even alive.

“You should really spend some time learning how to use your mana.” he said. “It’s really a waste of a very powerful affinity…” he trailed off, realizing it wasn’t any of his business.

Percy fully expected Nesha to ignore his unsolicited advice, but she surprised him by nodding.

“I know. I’ll spend some time on it once we settle down.”

Leaving it at that, he turned to Micky, looking at him fly in the distance. From Percy’s location, the crow appeared as little more than a black dot in the sky, though he could tell flying was especially painful. Still feeling guilty over letting him get hurt, he was about to send some consoling thoughts over. However, the bird beat him to it, reaching out first.

‘Percy… New spell…’

Contrary to his tired exterior, Micky’s thoughts seemed strangely enthusiastic.

‘During the fight?’ Percy asked, getting a mental affirmation back. ‘Can you show me?’

Micky remained silent for a few seconds, as Percy could tell how badly his familiar wanted to demonstrate his new trick. Still…

‘Later…’ he ultimately replied.

Percy smiled, as he felt the crow’s disappointment oozing through the cord. Micky’s state must have been quite poor if he could resist the temptation to show off. That said, he did send the next best thing – memories of the new spell.

Watching his familiar shift the air mana along his feathers, fine-tuning its effect on his flight and manifesting the green vortices behind his wings’ tips, Percy couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. This was definitely some high-quality stuff – the Status should have registered it.

Opening Micky’s tab, he soon confirmed that was the case.

___

Mictlantecuhtli (Percival's familiar)

Mana cores:

* [Mana core 1 – Yellow – Beast]

* [Mana core 2 – Red – Air]

Spells:

* [Wild Art: Acceleration – Crude]

* [Circulation – Refined]

Decrees:

* [Moirais’ Decree] – Grants a second mana core.

___

‘Wild Art?’

Percy had never heard of such a thing before. His best guess was that it was something along the same vein as his own Secret Art. The latter was simply a spell that involved one’s bloodline – according to baldy. Was a Wild Art a spell involving a beast’s mutation? He sure couldn’t think of a better explanation, though that was still a little odd.

‘Why is there even a term for it?’

As far as he could tell, Micky was a completely unprecedented existence. Back when she created her Decree, countless millennia ago, Phoebe couldn’t have possibly predicted a beast with multiple cores – or even a beast with a Status for that matter.

Maybe the Status was simply flexible enough to adapt to new circumstances. That wasn’t impossible, as it had already done that a few times in Percy’s experience. For instance, he was pretty sure it wasn’t meant to list one’s Decrees, though that had changed when Percy obtained a new one.

‘I suppose even the fact that it comes up with creative names when registering new spells is proof it has some level of intelligence...’

Though it wasn’t perfect. While Phoebe had indeed done an admirable job accommodating for the unexpected, she had clearly not ironed out all the kinks in her Decree. An inconvenience Percy had spotted was that neither he nor Micky got notified when the latter registered a new spell. The only way to know was to manually check the Status later.

‘It’s not the end of the world, really, but I wonder what other variants of this Decree exist out there.’

Gabe had already explained this was a relatively common Decree, so Percy itched to look at a better version. If he got lucky, he might even be able to upgrade his own in the process, unlocking an extra feature or two.

‘Better not get greedy though. I have plenty on my plate already…’

Percy suppressed his excitement, reminding himself he hadn’t even fully digested the gains from his previous trips. He still had to incorporate Sengo’s teachings into his magic, and there was also the project of returning to the Vault.

Impatient to resume his training, Percy picked up the pace some more, while planning out his next steps. Frankly, he couldn’t wait to finally reach their destination.

Luckily, they were on course to do so by nightfall.