Chapter 161 – Back to the Bench
“That was amazing!” Velelenra flew and wrapped herself around Anlesa's neck while the latter had been stretching in the waiting room.
Syrus, once the fighting was over and the celebrations had been completed, was dragged back to the mountain by Alraius himself. Apparently, it was considered a luxury to be dragged back by the winner of the thing.
“I’m glad you are having fun, because I feel like shit.” Syrus wanted to push Velelenra off, but she was actually helping her stand up, in her own way.
They walked towards Velelenra’s room, and waiting in the room were the three children.
“Syrus!” Jerry came out running first with Susan close behind him and Billy right behind her. “That was amazing!”
“Thanks…”
Billy asked, “Are you feeling better now?”
Syrus chuckled, “Currently hurting, but at the same time, I am feeling so much better; it shouldn’t be funny.”
Outside of the pain, their body nearly felt light. It wasn’t perfect, but the demon’s crystal did wonders on the damage, fatigue, and long strain their body had endured.
“Well, I am certainly jealous.” Velelenra tightened her hug, and Syrus could feel Velelenra’s chest against her neck.
“You are certainly something…” Syrus replied. She saw Billy and Jerry’s faces flush red watching Velelenra’s action.
[...She is a bad influence… a demon to young minds…] (Luna)
[Congrats, she is a demon; you got that part right.] (Syrus)
“Come on! I know you can’t see yourself, but you should’ve seen yourself! It was a wonderful display!” Velelenra cried out.
The children nodded, and Jerry cheered. “Yeah! You managed to go toe-to-toe with that white demon.”
“Truly an impressive display, so much so, I want to see how well bodies are smashed together.”
[..!] Luna was not happy hearing the demon's remarks.
[Please, we have at least understood by now that Velelenra doesn’t mean anything sexual.] (Syrus)
[She must know what she is saying! It is too egregious otherwise!] (Luna)
While Luna was complaining, Syrus was happy about Velelenra's comments, as they kept Luna distracted. They were both a little worried about Eva, so this cheap distraction was good enough to push Luna’s mind away from the problem.
“Please, I only managed that much by taking advantage of my surroundings,” Syrus spoke a partial lie. While it was true that she did, they only managed to do it while combined. Once again, they were left blank on how the process itself happened, but it was basically replicating what had been done with the dead bodies. However, this time there were different, much more manageable side effects.
Velelenra said, “All is far in the mash pit, and you were truly beautiful in that crimson glory.”
[Too much blood if you ask me.] (Syrus)
[I can still feel the taste of iron in our mouths.] (Luna)
Unlike last time, where their body absorbed many different mana attributes that had to be processed into something usable. This time, they only absorb one type of energy. The energy from the red crystals, or as the demons called them, the redux crystals.
As they assumed from their experiments earlier, the crystal's energy was made up of one part Blood mana, which was very compatible with their body.
Syrus and Luna still didn’t know exactly what else made the crystal tick, and it was something Eva would surely want to investigate when she awoke. They left the topic on her hold until she was back with them.
[She should be waking up soon..? Right?] (Luna)
[Yeah, she is just a little tired.] Syrus replied, Eva being silent for so long hurt. She had been quiet for longer periods of time, but in this instance was completely unreachable. For three people who had been stuck together twenty-four hours a day for the last ten years, not knowing when one of them would wake was genuinely cornering and painful.
Susan asked, “So you wouldn’t be able to perform like that outside this ring?”
“Specifically, the large blood display you saw at the end.” Syrus clarified.
Susan nodded and smiled, as if that was the answer she was looking for.
Syrus noticed Susan was happy and didn’t know why, but that didn’t matter. She gave her a pat on the head.
The healing they received wasn’t just from the centre crystal's final action; however, that was certainly a large portion of it. The entire time for constantly taking in the energy from the surrounding crystal reinforced her body in a mostly healthy way that didn’t worsen any of their original wounds. The side effects of their current display were that their body was still overfilled with the energy, and it wasn’t ready to handle that much, which led to flow
out of the body physically. There was the possibility of doing something to handle the massive intake besides simply expelling it, but that required their body to be in a condition to accept it.Everyone walked back into Velelenra’s room to sit down. Anlesa wanted to sleep, but they managed to hold that off; they wanted to wait for Eva to wake up first. Otherwise, there was the risk of their form shifting while they were asleep.
They spent the next while talking to the children. Jerry was excited and kept saying that what she did was amazing, while Susan kept asking how Syrus performed the manoeuvres she did. Nothing mana-related, simply the physical dodges and the use of the sword and shield.
Velelenra was still there, of course, and pitched in to help answer some questions for the children. Maybe it was Jerry and Susan’s enthusiasm about asking questions that were basically centred around in the demon’s mind ‘how to beat someone up’ that made her happy to talk to them. If she did have any questions for Syrus, she was saving them for later.
[Eva still out of it?] (Syrus)
[Yes… it seems like the strain was bad on her mind.] (Luna)
For the second time, they had merged, and just like last time, they had hated the experience, and this feeling was intensified as they had a slightly better recollection of what transpired. Their recollection of the feelings, actions, and themselves was still vague, but they remembered the experience better this time.
If last time they recalled the fact they didn’t like the feeling, this time they knew they hated it.
After a lot of talking, Eva finally woke back up.
[Ergh… my head…] (Eva)
[Lilly!] (Luna)
“Okay, everyone, I’m going to go properly rest.” Said Syrus.
All the kids nodded, expecting her to say that, thankful she talked to them for so long when she must be tired.
Velelenra took her to a spot in the room behind the bends in the wall, which blocked the view from the centre area of Velelenra’s room, near Velelenra's closet, where the bedding material lay on the ground. This was where Syrus had been sleeping the last few nights.
“If you wake up later, let me know; I would love to have a taste of what you dished out.”
“You can get a chat about it.” Syrus pushed her away as she plopped herself onto the bed. “I’m in no condition to keep fighting.”
“Sad, sad, sad. What must a demoness do to have a fun time with a human?”
“Wait until said human is actually ready to fight.”
“Hehe, for someone who is tired, you are still packing a lot of fight. Making me want to fight even more so.”
“Well, shouldn’t you just wait for it? Build up to the experience so you can enjoy it in full. I will be back one day when I am not injured.”
Velelenra's face glowed bright red in excitement. “You are right, Brilliant.” She flew down and hugged Syrus one more time before flying off. “I cannot wait for that day.”
[You feeling alright, Eva?] (Syrus)
[Could be better, but we were close, right?] (Eva)
[Heh, caring more about our near victory than our body’s condition.] (Syrus)
Eva pouted, [Well, I know our body is better; it feels so much better even with the pain.]
Syrus leant her back on the rock.
[Well, time to recap everything that’s transpired.] (Syrus)
To make sure they were all on the same page, they recapped everything they knew and remembered, as once again their memories from the ‘merge’ were a little hazy.
Compared to last time, ‘Anlesa’ was much more controlled; she was actively speaking and making decisions that were for the benefit of the body.
Unlike last time, when the body absorbed too much of various different attributed mana, this time only one type of energy was taken in, and their other attributes were left unused to not interfere with the process at all. Fire had only been used at the start before the energy started flowing in. If they used any other attribute during that time, there would be consequences for their injured body, but that was avoided by only using Blood for the entire duration.
Because of that, their body was in a better state.
[Look, it ain’t perfect, but I am no longer worried about going at least all out for a bit in a fight.] (Syrus)
[That is the result we wanted.] (Eva)
[I guess the investment was worth it; our body still hurts.] (Luna)
[We will get over it.] (Syrus)
[Yay…] (Eva)
…
[Well, I guess it is time to move out.] (Syrus)
[After a sleep, rushing things now that we have committed seems foolish.] (Luna)
[Of course, sleep first.] (Syrus)
[What about the redux crystals? Do you think we can take one of them with us?] Eva was basically salivating at the chance to experiment with the crystals.
[We… can ask…] (Luna)
[Yayy…] Eva excitedly replied, but after being in the body for a few minutes, the exhaustion from it had been piling back up on her again, and she was feeling sleepy.
Finally, Anlesa went to sleep with plans to finally leave this place.