Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 18

Ending my Soulfusion with Volix as soon as the Outsider was confirmed dead was on my priority list. However, it was hard to be certain if there were more Outsiders close by, so instead, I only removed the wings and focused on hiding Volca’s Mark again while maintaining the Soulfusion.The Elemental Phoenix was happy with that and released bursts of fire into the surroundings, while I struggled with that darn Mark. It resisted a lot more than it had any right to.

Just keep it active. The azure flames look very good on you.

Volix chirped happily.

Be that as it may, the Mark had to be hidden. It resisted and tried to stay active, its power feeding me with strength that surpassed my Rank. The struggle was all too real, but I emerged victorious, deactivating the Mark and hiding it with Resh’s camouflage.

The exhaustion came at once. It struck me without any mercy, growing more intense as my body’s heat seemed to evaporate. I shuddered and felt weak from one moment to the next, all while the weave’s branches were searing hot. Burning.

Everything has its price, I grumbled, pulling earthen ether from Aureus’ Gates to circulate through the weave’s damaged branches. It didn’t do much, but it cooled the searing heat a little.

Only when the searing heat eased and the cold permeating my body diminished as a result did my attention snap to the barbed tail. The Outsider was dead, probably for a good minute or two, but its barbed tail was still lodged in me. I only tried to pull once before a wave of pain pumped through my chest.

Maybe? It’d certainly be easier if you activate Volca’s Mark again.

Volix tried to reason with me but was immediately shut down.

I replied sharper than intended, but I was tired of the Elemental Phoenix’s nonsense.

Volix knew as well as I that our lives were in danger. Getting exposed would kill us. For a phoenix who’d died dozens of times, that was probably nothing serious, but it wasn’t like I could rise from the ashes like Volix. We valued our lives differently, or so it felt at times.

Still, the phoenix didn’t want to end up with Raffael Torch. That alone should have been reason enough for Volix to keep his head low. Alas, he was too devout. Worshipping Volca, his creator, was more important than hiding from enemies that were currently too strong to deal with.

“Just melt it,” I grunted after pulling on the tail a second time. It wouldn’t come out. Not without tearing out a chunk of flesh and skin as well.

Volix grumbled something I couldn’t understand, but set the tail’s tip on fire. He burned through the harpoon-like hooks first. Once he did, too impatient to wait any longer, I pulled the rest of the barbed tail out of my chest, grimacing and cursing as blood spurted from the wound in a fountain. The fire in my chest burned even brighter than before, cauterizing the wound and stopping the bleeding.

Looking down at my body, my blood was everywhere. It was more than expected, although it was hard to differentiate my blood from the Outsider’s. Then there was my armor. It was a mess, much worse than the rest of me.

“There’s no way the self-repair circuit will fix that.” I half-chuckled, half-grunted. The only good thing was I hadn’t paid for the armor, or the sword. I could guess how much they were worth, but it didn’t really matter. They were freebies from Kazriel’s armory.

I grinned at the way my mind had shifted over the years. The way my mind worked was nothing like it used to be. When I first became a Blessed, I would have never thought that way. Now…I had a lot of money and even more enchanted gear to replace lost or destroyed armaments.

But that wasn’t important right now. My gear was only secondary to my survival. The armor protected me, doing exactly what it was supposed to, and now I had to–

I hesitated. What now? Glancing back at the civilians who were moving again, I could not help but grimace. They stopped earlier to watch the fight, didn’t they? I hoped they hadn’t, but the way the Wardens were staring at me told me all I had to know. The awe, fear, and newfound respect didn’t appear out of nowhere.

As much as I hated it, my fight with the Outsider would make the rounds. Did I have to leave the Bastion? Abandon everything? Nibbling on my lower lip for a moment, I came up with a simple solution. I was going to ride the skytrain shamelessly. Play it cool. As if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

. I snorted at the ridiculousness but turned to the Warden.

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“I handle it,” I called out as calmly as I could, the flames right beneath my sternum probably still visible. “Keep going! Wait, why are the civilians still here in the first place?!” I snapped at the nearest Warden unit. “Go and help them. Then spread through the seventh sector to clear it out. I’ll move to the eighth and ninth sector. Send some people after me to help clear up the mess, will you?”

Authority didn’t fit me all that well, but all Blessed of a certain Rank carried it like a second skin. I was no particular fan of the domineering act, but it worked wonders. The Wardens and soldiers who’d caught up with us snapped to attention as my voice carried across the main street.

I watched them flinch and suppressed a groan, but kept the farce on long enough to dismiss the others. Then I turned to the corpses, my poker face faltering as I fixed on Idiot and William. Even if Idiot had been a pain in the butt, he didn’t deserve to die. Neither did William.

You didn’t know. The Outsider escaped our senses.

Volix called out in his age-old wisdom.

As true as that was, I felt like I should have done more. Be better. Protect everyone.

But I did not have the power to do so. I lacked the traits to locate the Outsider early.

I know a solution to that problem.

The Elemental Phoenix spoke.

“Do you have some sort of thermal vision trait?” I inquired, probably feeling a little too giddy at the prospect.

No. I can replicate a power similar to what you have in mind but that’s not what I am trying to tell you. Focus on your World.

Volix said mysteriously

Brows furrowed, I did what I was told. My World hadn’t changed much. Resh was all by himself, curled up and resting. Then there was–no, the Mirage Serpent wasn’t alone. The World Tree sapling was still there, and it stirred, trying to materialize outside the World. It failed, too weak to do anything without my permission.

First of all, I was happy the sapling couldn’t do much without my help. Second, its desire to appear amidst the assault on the Bastion made me suspicious. But Volix was clearly talking about the sapling. If it could help locate more Outsiders before they could kill the Wardens and the innocent, taking a minute to learn more would be more than worth it.

I opened my World to the sapling and conjured it in my palms, not expecting much. Surprisingly enough, the tiny seedling, no larger than my pinky’s fingertip, wiggled and rolled around in my palm until it came in contact with dried blood.

My dried blood.

Something within the sapling stirred, and before I knew what to do, a tiny tendril of a root broke free. It surged toward the dried blood and consumed it. The sentient sapling sprouted; more roots burst forth, and it grew at a visible pace. Its power increased, and while no trait formed, the sapling grew stronger, drawing more soul energy than before.

At the same time, something within me shifted. As it grew, my insides itched. So did my chest, right around the wound I’d sustained previously.

“This is… Are you… healing me?”

My mind went blank as the weave’s burning channel recovered. It was not much faster than my natural recovery, yet it was enough to note.

The first thought that flashed through my mind was whether the sapling would form elemental Ether Gates as well. It hadn’t done that yet, but since Aureus could grow Gates, so should the sapling–being the child of a World Tree and all.

I tilted my head and walked over to the Outsider corpse.

“Do you want to eat it?”

It was more that my instincts pulled me toward the corpse rather than knowledge. Or it was the sapling pushing me toward its next snack. Regardless, the sapling stirred and moved, its roots acting as wobbly legs.

Placing the plant on the corpse, I took a step back and watched, unsure what to think of all of this. Was I supposed to be elated because the World Tree’s sapling finally moved, or should I be scared witless?

For now, I was curious. Probably too curious, if I had to be honest with myself.

The sapling ate with gusto as soon as it landed on the Outsider’s corpse. However, it did not devour the Outsider and instead focused on the blood splatters all over it.

“Why?” I bent down with narrowed eyes and watched the sapling slap the corpse with as much strength as its roots could muster. That was odd, but not as much as the sapling’s appetite. It was clearly hungry, yet it wouldn’t consume all the blood. Only some of the blood was acceptable.

My… blood?

It turned to me once it was done, pointed at the wound right beneath my sternum, and motioned to the corpses next. Human corpses. William, Idiot, and the others.

“Nope. That’s a hard no!” I shuddered. “We are not going to do that. No way!”

Shaking my head vigorously, I ignored the frustration oozing from the bond. How the sapling was able to form such elaborate emotions shortly after sprouting, I didn’t know. But that was only second priority to the sapling’s diet. It was as bad as its mother’s.

“I can prepare carcasses for you. Beast carcasses. Or I’ll give you some of my blood if you make a few concessions and promise me to never harm other humans. But you won’t be given any human bodies to consume. Nope. No!”

The sapling wasn’t happy, but neither was I. How was I supposed to know the World Tree sapling would be as bad as Thyria?

A human’s World was considered a delicacy. I tended to forget that, but it came back biting my butt. After all, it was a hard fact and not something one should forget. The sapling only wanted to consume what was best for it, which was only logical. It was understandable.

But that didn’t change my opinion.

Luckily, after some back and forth with the mute yet agitated sapling, we came to an agreement. More or less.

It accepted the compromise. My blood to nurture its growth.