Chapter 48: Double lives

Falling unconscious, Stevens’ body started to slowly heat up, burning away a magic circle drawn on his back, as a surge of power flowed through his body, waking him up violently.

Jumping to his legs, his body had already started regenerating every wound, not like he could feel them anyway. ’’Fuck, this is bad.’’

The wind slowly grew stronger and stronger with every moment, and the floor slowly began to shake as Steven looked around for Merency and their foes.

She was lying not too far away on the ground, only mildly wounded, but the birds were completely gone.

"How did she?" He was confused about what happened as the ground started to shake even more violently, with only the smell of ash filling the air.

His mana was leaking heavily into the surroundings, destabilizing everything around.

Pulling off his shirt, his jade-like upper body was filled with fading scars, and on his right chest side there was a small tattoo of a sword piercing four small circles or different words, overall not taller than his hand.

Checking his back, he only confirmed the disappearance of the seal he had placed.

Looking around in panic, he searched for anything he could use to redraw it, as the floor below him slowly began to rise and fall.

But of course he had no magical tools around, and calling for them from Elizabeth would take too long before somebody would notice him.

Gritting his teeth, Steven sat down on the floor, casting a dark purple flame on his finger and lowering it to his stomach.

With a pained groan, he began to draw on his own skin. As a dark line appeared on his body, pain shot through his body, but he didn’t lower down one bit. With each second, the world became more quiet until it finally rested.

Letting himself fall back to the ground, the magic circle slowly faded into the color of his skin until you couldn’t even tell it apart anymore.

Forcing himself up, he pretty much crawled over to Merency, who was lying there completely unconscious. But her mana was acting strange; it almost seemed different than before.

Not like she was possessed but rather evolved to a new stage so suddenly that he couldn’t really believe it.

Shaking her, she suddenly jumped up fully awake, turning towards him instantly, her hand already raised, ready to cast a spell with a small flame appearing in her hand, but she hesitated.

Instead, she only stared at him as if she didn’t know him, leaning her head to the side; she began to chuckle after a few moments, lowering her arm.

’’So you’re this Steven boy?’’ She spoke, sounding weirdly calm as she inspected him. ’’You’re doing a wonderful job.’’ She spoke once more, closing her eyes.

As she then fell forward once again unconscious, Steven had no idea what was happening or what she was just talking about.

Barely catching her, he let her down to the ground, sitting himself next to her.

Just everything seemed to be wrong. Why had he fainted or lost all his energy in the fight, and what was happening to Merency while he had been gone?

But sitting here didn’t give him any answer, as he stared down at Merency once more; her wounds had also completely healed, only her torn garments showing she had been in a fight.

Forcing himself to look at the sky, as far away from her as possible. Why was she wearing this? And why was he sitting half naked next to her? If anyone sees this, that could be the end for his career.

And he wouldn’t even believe himself in trying to explain the situation. Clearing his throat, he seemed to have woken Merency up; he expected her to jump up or scream.

But instead she seemed calm, almost at peace as she opened her mouth. "Oh, did we win?" She sounded tired, but the sweetness in her voice still lingered.

"Yeah, but sadly they didn’t seem to have any diamond Krystals for us." He shrugged, helping her to sit.

"Oh, ok, but where did your shirt go?" She asked, staring at him. As Steven quickly turned away, reaching for his shirt.

Pulling it over quickly, he wanted to tell her it’s not what it looks like, but she was faster. "That tattoo... You were parts of the apocalyptic riders, right? The special forces from the tower of hell.’’

Letting out a sigh, Steven nodded. She was right; he really had been one of them during the revolt of hell, and it was the only mark on his body he would never cover forever.

Luckily for him, the Brights were famous for being part of them, so his lie could continue easily. ’’We all have hard pasts.’’ He only answered with a whisper.

Noticing his discomfort, she quickly changed the topic. "Well, if they didn’t give up anything, that means we have to go hunt again soon."

’’They didn’t seem to have gotten to you too hard, so I was thinking we could just push it to later today?’’ She added, seemingly as confused at his health as he was at hers.

They both seemed relieved not having to explain anything as they shortly returned back to the cave, the way up having become easier after some rocks fell off the cliffside because of him.

Taking a quick nap, Steven woke up to the sun already signaling noon.

If not for his outbreak, he would’ve at least taken a day to rest and relax.

But Merency seemed to be impatient about finding a diamond beast.

And he too found himself growing bored, especially after every talk between them became more awkward than the one before.

"You ready?" she asked, this time already having changed into new clothes.

’’As much as somebody could be for this place.’’

But Steven also had something different in mind.

While without limits, he felt June’s presence, and she had been somewhere far underground.