Chapter 92

The blood red glow coming off Marian became stronger as she suddenly lost strength, her eyes closing and her body crashing into mine. Her breathing was heavy and I could see her expression grimace as if she was in pain but no matter what I did I could not wake her. I immediately  became worried as I gently rolled her off of me and on the bed. I used Seshat's Library to check her record, though from what I could tell there was only one thing out of the ordinary. The Lust Crest Skill she'd once had was no longer present and I couldn't see a Skill that had replaced it.

My worry only grew as time passed and Marina continued to seem to be in pain while I paced back and forth in front of the bed. I had tried everything at my disposal to ease the pain, but healing others wasn't my strong suit, rather, I was practically specialized at the opposite. Eventually I couldn't bear to just wait out whatever was happening so I scooped Marian up into my arms and began to sneak her to mine and Arya's residence. Arya was much more suited to healing than I was, plus this would let me keep Marian nearby if something did change.

It wasn't an easy task to smuggle the unconscious Marian through the campus but I had the benefit of being able to traverse the rooftops of many of the buildings staying out of sight. I also over exerted myself with Vibro magic to not only silence any sound coming from me but also influence the visible light coming off me and Marian, making it harder to see us. While an extremely useful application, it was extremely difficult for me to keep up as I had to constantly adjust the magic to account for the position I was in at all times. Sound was easy because I could just silence it and no one would be the wiser, but an area of no light moving around would be just as if not more conspicuous than someone running around with an unconscious woman in their arms.

The thought of taking her to the medical ward had crossed my mind, but I didn't know how I could possibly explain the glowing marks and I didn't want to worry Kali or Gabriel, as even if I thought that they might not really care, Marian cared for them and wouldn't want them to know.

By the time I made it into the forest and could safely drop the light refraction magic I was breathing heavily and my head felt like it was on fire, and while it didn't feel painful, I knew that was just Masochism doing its job. Being in the forest allowed my speed to increase greatly as not only did I not need to focus on difficult magic but I could use webs to both navigate and move, Thread Manipulation had turned areas like forests into a place where I could use my abilities to their fullest.

It didn't take much longer for me to reach mine and Arya's residence where I could see some lights on, meaning that Arya had come home, something I had been counting on as I made my way inside and laid Marian down on the bed. Since Arya wasn't inside she was likely still in the hot spring, which was perfect since I could warn her that Marian was here so that she wouldn't walk around naked, though I was sure that if I tried I could probably save Marian from Arya's curse.

I gave a quick glance at Marian as I left the room before heading into the hot spring to find Arya. As I had thought she was relaxing and enjoying the steaming water when I walked in. She had heard the door I assumed as she turned as I walked in, the smile on her face quickly fading as she looked at me. "What happened? Why and when were you bleeding?"

My expression scrunched in confusion as I heard her question, I hadn't bled as far as I was aware, but even if I had it obviously wasn't life threatening though I'd be surprised if it was. "Doesn't matter, something is happening to Marian, I was hoping you could take a look at her, she's glowing like you do when we cultivate, though it's a deep red, unlike yours."

Arya's expression softened as she heard my concern, knowing full well that I would likely be just as worried for her if she was to experience something similar. So she simply nodded and stood up. "Where is she?"

"The bedroom." I said as I turned around only for Arya's hand to grasp my arm. "You should at least wipe your face, Marian wouldn't want to see you in your current state when she wakes up." 

I paused for only a moment as Arya passed by me, her gentle scent calming me down. She was right and as long as Arya was watching over Marian I didn't have to worry about something happening, and even if it did, it wasn't like I would be far away. With these reassurances I took a moment to head over to a mirror to see what Arya had been referring to when she said I should wipe my face.

True to her earlier words my face was smeared with my own blood, the purplish red was a dead giveaway after all. It seemed that my nose had been bleeding along with the inside of my ears. It was likely due to the prolonged use of magic that was above my ability to cast, though thankfully rather than being stunted or killed outright I could regenerate fast enough that I wouldn't have any lasting issues.

I took some time to clean up and change clothes as I was honestly quite filthy from my run here before I made my way to the bedroom where I could see Arya bending over Marian, golden white energy flowing from her hands. I brought over two chairs as I waited for Arya to finish what she was doing, sitting down while placing the other just behind Arya so she could sit should she desire.

The energy faded after a minute or so and Arya sat down and let out a sigh. "As far as I can tell she's fine. The reference books you made for me don't show any issues or potential problems that match what her body is experiencing."

I recalled the medical books I'd transcribed from Seshat's Library since Arya had said that her medical knowledge to properly use Life Magic wasn't enough, though they were only deeply detailed on a human level since it seemed that whenever information of other races came up magic was a factor in wherever the record I read from was, the sole exception being Velen's world, who had no magic to speak of, and only a single race. That said, the physiology of most races was similar enough that Arya had made great progress with Primordial Life Magic, one of the harder Primordial Magic Skills to learn.

Arya continued to speak after a moment, snatching my attention away from the gift I'd given her. "It seems like she is being aged backwards along with some other changes that I couldn't guess as to what they do."

While her words had reassured me to some extent I was still troubled over what had happened. If I had to wager a guess, one of my Skills was responsible, something that while I was used to, I wish would stop. But it wasn't like there was anything I could do other than be cautious and check each of my Skills more frequently. Something I did immediately to see if I couldn't find out the culprit of the predicament I was in. As I looked over my Status I saw three new Skills, one that I was happy to have and was sure it wasn't the cause, the second felt like a possible culprit, but my money was on the third Skill, despite the second Skill having a new section dedicated to it beneath my Skills.

Either way, new Skills meant it was Seshat's Library's turn to shine.

'Multitask: A Skill used to ease the burden of doing multiple tasks at the same time.'

'Pact Magic: Magic based around bonds and contracts. Combos with Primordial #@!$ Magic to increase the types of Pacts available to make.' The section below my Skills was labeled Pact Bearers, and listed both Arya's and Marian's full names, though there was no indication of what sort of Pact had been made.

The last Skill was the one I was most worried about, as I felt it had the same level of dangerous connotation as Heretic did.

'Corruption: A Skill used to convert willing creatures into retainers based upon their nature and desires. The number of Retainers available increases with level. Combos with Pact Magic to increase strength of converts. Combos with Godslaying to increase the chance of creating a Demonic retainer. Combos with Divinity Breaker to enhance retainers strength against the Divine. Retainer of Blood - Marian Eldur. 1/2 Retainers available"

I didn't know what to feel about the Skill other than it was strong and troublesome. Let alone learning how to use it, the fact that it would change the people around me was something of concern. Marian was already proof of the effects, and I didn't even know what effects the Skill was having on her other than it should make her stronger, but I didn't think that was something necessary as Marian wasn't one to be on the battlefield anyway.

Regardless, what happened had happened and all I could was wait for Marian to wake up as I restlessly waited and watched over her with Arya by my side, though she eventually fell asleep as well.