NOVEL WEB Sacrifice
Kael ran back to the direction of the village. He witnessed Cadell’s fight against Osbert, discovering that demons still existed in the current timeline. But time is of essence, so he set aside the issue for the time being.
His intuition was right, Elalios did get in danger. He was too late when he arrived, but he still have hope. He snatched Elalios’s weakening body from Seqina, aiming to heal the injured man away from the other servants. He knew Elalios will not last before they arrive in the village, so he detoured from the pathway, and hid themselves in the overgrown forest.
The silver knight layed down Elalios on the ground as commanded by its master. Kael pressed his left hand onto Elalios’s chest, his right hand grasping the severed arm of the demon. He must prepare himself. Just a second delay after he pulled out the demon arm will cost Elalios his life. He needed to cast magic as soon as he pulled the arm.
‘One.. two.. three!’
[Full Heal]
The calming glow of the healing magic enveloped Elalios. Kael see through the flow of magic, mapping Elalios’s chest with ease. He saw the broken chest bones and aimed for all of its pieces.
[Restore]
The pieces mended together, the healing magic was able to fill in the missing parts. Kael looked at the heart, and was relieved that it narrowly avoided the attack. He turned to the other organs that the demon arm damaged and heal all of it.
Kael consumed so much mana doing such intricate task. He felt his mana vessel, and see it looking like a broken bowl. He still have some mana to spare, but in his past life, he never used “Late Cost” as far as he did now. He didn’t know what could happen if he exploit his vessel too much.
But, Kael was still as he was before. It’s not that hard for him to decide. If Elalios needed blood, and he had a way to help him, he will do it even at the cost of his own life.
[Life Blood]
Creating blood is not as simple as growing an organ. The blood holds life, and as such, requires a large quantity of mana fitting for its importance. Kael had six thousand units of mana to spare, he knew it wasn’t enough.
Elalios lost so much blood while the fight was going on. Kael thought at the time that Cadell will get distracted if he took Elalios during the fight. Knowing the amount of blood he needed to create, he regretted not taking Elalios immediately.
Kael’s magic created a few drops of blood, too few for Elalios to live. The mana he had left weren’t enough to even create another droplet of blood. He failed, Elalios will die after the glow of healing faded.
“No..”
The glow was fading steady, Kael looked at it as if telling it to not fade out. He stayed still, not wanting to give up, but he didn’t know what to do next.
“No..”
The healing was about to stop, but Kael didn’t want it to. His vessel looked like a piece of shattered glass, but he just couldn’t let go. He thought of sacrificing himself, but before he did, the silver knight kneeled in front of him.
No words were spoken. Kael knew the message that the silver knight was trying to say to him. It will sacrifice itself, its being a source of mana to fulfill his master’s will.
The knight touched Elalios’s chest. It has no power to heal, it can only fight and destroy, but his hand gestured its desire to relieve its master’s pain.
Kael’s eyes spilled over the grief he felt, as he saw the knight’s action. Whatever he decided, he will make a sacrifice. Sacrificing himself will do nothing, the knight is the only way. And so, he accepted the knight’s offer, eliminating the only thing that can protect him.
[Late Cost: Restore]
Kael ended his access to the mana of his vessel. At the second phase of “Late Cost”, he must repair his mana vessel, by leading the mana he will absorb directly to the vessel itself. The knight disintegrated into concentrated mana and returned to his master.
Kael was not too late. He activated the first phase of “Late Cost” again and the glow of healing became bright once again.
[Life Blood]
The color of life was returning to Elalios. Kael was exhausted, but he pushed himself, and was able to save Elalios from certain death.
Elalios woke up, his body filled with vigor once again. “Kael..”
Kael smiled at him. “You’ve been asleep for too long”
Elalios remembered what happened. He checked his body, and he couldn’t find any injury nor wounds. In fact, he felt like he was way healthier than he was used to.
“What happened?”, Elalios said, looking at Kael in confusion. Before Kael can give him any answers however, the child passed out beside him. “Hey!”
Elalios was shaking Kael, but there’s no response. He felt the heat from Kael’s body, like a fever, akin to what the child suffered in the castle. He didn’t know what to do, but then, his thoughts were interrupted.
“Elalios”
Elalios looked around, and found where the voice came from. His eyes widened when he saw who it was. It was the person, or rather, the creature that wanted him to die. It was Osbert, still in his demonic form.
Elalios wanted to run away, but remembered the unconscious Kael, vulnerable and weakened. He steeled his nerves and stayed on his feet.
“What do you want?”, Elalios asked.
The demon didn’t move nor did it answer. Instead, it gave way to the red-eyed demon, which horrified Elalios even more.
“Kael..”, the red-eyed demon said, then it looked at Elalios. “Can I have him?”
Elalios was trembling, his knees were about to fail him. The demon that asked him the ominous question was without a doubt, stronger than Osbert. He knew the odds of him surviving the encounter.
It’s fair to just give in, letting the demon have his way, but when he felt his heart beating, alive and with such strength, he saw Kael in his mind. There’s no choice to make, he will protect Kael.
“No”, Elalios said with firm conviction.