The oak doors of the "Golden Griffin" flew off their hinges. The crash shook the main room.
Shnee fell inside. Her breath was shallow. She carried my limp body on her shoulders. Acidic blood leaked from my mouth. The drops hit the floor. The boards hissed. The wood turned into smoking ash. The poison of the mutated soldier burned me from the inside.
A dead silence fell in the room. Elena dropped a dish. She paled, but did not scream. Survival instinct took control of her mind. "Ria! Bolt the windows! Mina, bring water from the back room!" she ordered firmly.
Shnee carried me up the stairs. She placed me on the wide bed. My breath resembled a rattle. My skin took a corpse-like hue. The acid digested my weaves. I felt it through my fading consciousness. My internal mana boiled, trying to fight the intruder.
Luthia entered the bedroom. The dark elf had over two centuries of hard life behind her. She had seen the worst dirt of this world. She approached the mattress. She touched my burning forehead. She lowered her hand to my chest. She closed her eyes for a moment.
"Healing spells will kill him," she stated coldly. "The taint from the forest feeds on magic. His own core fights the poison. It uses all the body heat for this. He is freezing from the inside. If the temperature drops below the critical limit, his heart will simply stop. No blankets will help here. He needs raw heat."
Shnee did not waste time deliberating. She discarded the remnants of shame. Pure pragmatism won over pride. With quick movements, she threw off her ruined uniform. Leather elements hit the floor. Completely naked, she slipped under the quilt. She clung to my back. She wrapped her arms around me. She became the first foundation of heat.
Elena understood the situation in a split second. She got rid of her dress. She got into bed. She snuggled into my left side. Her hot skin touched my ribs. Luthia did not hesitate long. She slipped the material off her shoulders. She lay down on the right side. Seventeen-year-old Mina trembled in the doorway. She wiped a tear. She took off her clothes. She slipped under the blanket. She cuddled up to my arm. Her fluffy tail wrapped around my thigh.
I was surrounded by a living thermostat. The girls took the role of an external furnace. They endured burns from my escaping aura. My sweat smelled of sulfur. The acid evaporated through my pores. They took this pain in absolute silence. Their bodies shivered, but none of them backed away even by a millimeter. Loyalty exceeded suffering.
Eleven-year-old Ria ran around all night. She brought wet cloths. She wiped my face. She changed dirty fabrics. The fight for my every breath lasted until morning. The smell of sweat, blood, and corrosive dark hovered in the room. My vitality clashed with the poison from the fallen kingdom.
Dawn hit the shutters with dull light.
I opened my eyes. I tore myself from the bedding with a hollow roar. I hung over the edge of the bed. I vomited black sludge. The neutralized acid hit the floor. It burned through the boards. My bloodstream was finally clean. The titanic resistance of the Vessel won this clash. Pure logic suggested the worst was over.
I got up from the mattress. I was naked. My right side was covered in black cracks from the corrosive taint. I turned around. The girls sat in a tangle of bedding. They stared at me in disbelief. They were exhausted. Their skin bore minor burns. Zero cheap screams. Brazen chill dominated the bedroom.
I bowed my head with genuine respect. "Thank you," I said calmly. "You kept my foundation whole. You saved my life. You did it, ignoring your own discomfort. I will not forget this."
Elena pulled the blanket up. She blushed heavily. Pride shone in her eyes. Mina smiled nervously. She adjusted her cat ears. Luthia lowered her gaze to the boards. Shnee looked at me with fanatical devotion. We concreted our family in blood.
I approached the balcony doors. I pushed them open with my hand. A downpour raged outside. Lightning cut the sky. Oakhaven drowned in a storm.
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My organism needed a hard reset. I needed raw energy from the outside. I extended my hand towards the clouds. I used volitional telekinesis. I caught a charge in the sky. I changed its flight path. I bent space in a fraction of a second.
A sapphire lightning bolt struck straight into my chest.
The roar deafened the street. The impact force was monstrous. The current invaded my weaves. My skin began to burn. Charred meat cracked. I fell to my knees. A hoarse scream escaped my mouth. I smelled my own gore. The lightning almost tore my heart apart. Pain shut down my senses.
The girls in bed screamed. They froze in pure terror. Shnee rushed towards me. She grabbed my arm. She cried, begging me to stop.
I had no intention of giving up.
I clenched my teeth. I focused the remnants of my iron will. I caught this wild energy. I forced it brutally into my core. I forced the element into submission. I charged the empty weaves to the full.
A powerful aura shot from my body. Blue light flooded the room. A kinetic wave threw Shnee back to a safe distance. The burned meat fell off with a quiet hiss. The black crust turned into ash. New skin shone underneath. Sapphire regeneration recreated the destroyed tissues.
I stood up slowly. Ozone filled the air. I wiped my face. The women fell silent. The fear on their faces gave way to deep shock. A moment ago I was dying in agony. Now I stood before them untouched. I emanated raw power.
"Hard reset," I muttered. I smiled brazenly.
I released blue mercury from my fingers. I focused my will on the structure. I spun the matter in the air. I wove black pants. I formed an elegant vest. I added a long coat. I looked like a gangster from Peaky Blinders.
I approached Shnee. Acid marks were visible on her thighs. I placed my hand on her skin. A blue impulse washed away the burns. Using the same method, I wove a new uniform for her. Silver frost accents decorated the material. She looked awesome.
Luthia rubbed her eyes. "You create clothes from pure mana?" she stammered.
I smiled with satisfaction. "Tailor mode. Rest. I am going to the kitchen. I have to make up for the burned calories. My Vessel devours energy at an alarming rate. I will be right back with a proper meal".
I went down the stairs. The kitchen in the "Golden Griffin" was empty. It smelled of wood and old fat. My superhuman metabolism demanded fuel. I fired up my culinary hyperfixation. The Chef Mode went into high gear. I had no intention of dirtying my hands with fat or wasting time slowly chopping vegetables. I released precise telekinesis.
The space around me began to live its own life. Heavy cleavers rose into the air with a quiet clink. Cast-iron pots landed on the hearth. Water from the barrel traveled in a stream straight into the vessels. I ignored the usual lighting of wood. Fire burst from the hearth, fueled directly by my sapphire mana. The water temperature jumped to boiling in a fraction of a second.
The blades levitating in the air began to spin. A slab of beef floated out of the cold store. The cleavers fell on the meat. They cut with machine precision. The air was filled with the rhythmic clatter of steel against the board. Thick slices of bacon and beef landed in the bubbling broth. Onion, garlic, and hot spices fell apart into a fine dice. Salt poured from above in ideal proportions.
My mind steered this chaos flawlessly. I molded flour into a ball. Invisible fingers of will began to knead it in the air, hitting the counter with a massive snap. I was cooking Tonkotsu Ramen on steroids. A caloric bomb saturated with essence. The broth took on a creamy color. The smell of roasted meat and sharp herbs hit the nostrils.
I heard quiet footsteps on the stairs. The girls stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Instead of entering, they stopped in mute amazement. They looked at the flying cleavers. They stared at the water boiling in the air. Their minds could not process this absurd sight. The beast that yesterday tore monsters to shreds was now conducting the kitchen like a virtuoso.
I finished the process with a fluid hand movement. The water dropped. The fire went out. The cleavers landed on the table.
Half an hour later I entered the bedroom. Full bowls drifted behind me on an invisible shield. The girls pulled loose shirts over themselves. They sat on the edge of the bed.
I put the dishes down. "Eat," I ordered shortly.
Mina grabbed a wooden spoon. She tasted it. Her eyes widened with a massive shock. She started consuming the meal with enormous speed. Luthia ate with grace. A cute surprise painted her face. The taste of this food ignored the primitive laws of their world. The broth restored their lost strength. It saturated their weaves with hard energy.
When they finished, I leaned against the wall. I pulled the crushed tube from my pocket. I found it in the aristocrat's office. I threw the alien object on the table with a clink.
A dead silence fell. The girls stopped eating. They stared at the strange metal.
"The Marquis was a pawn," I stated coldly. "The mutated soldier from the forest was a hound. Someone much stronger released him. Oakhaven is just a weak cover for bigger business. Someone pulls the strings from hiding here".
I rested my hands on the counter. A predatory hunger flashed in my sapphire eyes.
"Since the local underground plays such intrigues, we take the initiative. We pay an official visit to the Red Trail. We will take over their funds. We will clean this dirty arrangement from the inside. We will tear their slave market apart".
Shnee smiled icily. She placed a cold hand on her new rapier. Her murderous instinct woke up anew. Luthia nodded with analytical precision. Mina and Ria looked at me with full trust.
Our war machine started. The warm-up was definitively over.