Chapter 13 A World Bathed In Blood

"haaa"

Arvell fell on his back while panting.

He lost track of time while single-mindedly refining his Aether Core, and he didn't even notice the flow of time in his surroundings.

He felt a slight chill in his body which surprised him.

Normally if he was lightly dressed during even he would feel quite cold, but despite being almost naked he only felt a slight chill.

This just went to show the difference between the body of a human and a Nephilim.

Arvell looked at his hand and muttered status.

[Status Information]

Name: Arvell Relas Vispia

Species: Nephilim

Age: 13 years old

HP: 90

STA: 60

DEF: 46

SPD: 52

PHYS ATK: 54

POWER STAGE: 1ST CIRCLE 0TH STAGE

BODY REFINING: 0TH REFINEMENT 0TH STAGE

AETHER: 80/80

NETHER: 40/40

Titles: 3rd Prince of Vispia (Exiled), Inheritor of the Nephilim's Legacy, Forever Alone?

Skills: Incomplete Royal Swordsmanship (C+), Diplomacy (B-), Future sight (SS), Inventory (S), Temporal Manipulation (SSS), Warp (SSS), Rejuvenation (S), Undead Summon (S), Vitality Drain (SS).

He felt a sense of pride fill him seeing his Power Stage increase.

While gathering his body's Aether was somewhat easy, the practice of compressing and refining that Aether into a core was by far the most taxing thing he'd ever done.

Mages often get stuck at the gap between Magic Circle ranks and stop progressing, because they simply can't compress and refine their Magic Core anymore due to the immense difficulty.

Before starting Arvell naturally assumed that it would be quite taxing for him, but he did not expect it to be this bad.

He noticed another change. His maximum Aether storage had doubled its original value, going from 40 to 80.

Arvell speculated that Aether and Nether had their own version of Mana Hearts that acted as a form of storage. Since Mana Hearts also functioned to gather abundant mana from the air, he assumed these would do the same.

However, Mana Hearts and Magic Cores were independent of each other, with each requiring its own form of strengthening.

There were more than a few mages with High levelled Mana Hearts but weak Magic Cores, or vice-versa.

Only by increasing the strength of both would allow for mages to be strong and cast strong spells, since strong spells typically required a certain degree of power, while also being quite costly in terms of mana.

Lykos's apparition walked over to Arvell and looked at him from above.

'Aether and Nether Hearts do exist of course, but they function a little differently than normal Mana Hearts.'

He laid down on his back next to Arvell

'Unlike Mana Hearts, Aether and Nether Hearts grow stronger directly by increasing your Power Stage and Nether Body. Mana Hearts would be considered a shoddy knockoff of Aether and Nether Hearts,' he explained.

Arvell looked at his status screen with understanding. It seemed that having to raise an Aether Core and a Nether Body at the same time might be a little easier than what he had originally anticipated.

'You know Arvell, compared to forming a Mana Core, forming an Aether Core is many times harder. Even the members of that tribe took months to do it. From their standards, you would be considered a monster,'

'What tribe? Wait… I am a Nephilim now, so do you mean your tribe?'

Lykos's entire complexion froze over. He turned from a somewhat irritating older brother into a vicious demon within seconds.

Arvell stood up in a panic, feeling an immense sense of danger emanating from Lykos. He felt that his life was in Lykos's hands, and even if he struggled with all of his might, nothing would be able to stop Lykos from effortlessly taking Arvell's life.

His bloodlust even managed to cause Arvell to hallucinate and see a sea of corpses.

A red moon glowed eerily in the pitch-black sky, bathing the dark world in an ominous red light.

Arvell wasn't even able to see the end, as the mass of dead bodies seemed to be never-ending. A river of blood flowed up to Arvell's knees, and the thick metallic stench assaulted his nose.

'Did… Did he kill all of these people all by himself?'

Arvell was frozen in fear, as his body simply refused to listen to him. If he were to compare the fear he felt from Jasmine's bloodlust when he first met her to a drop of water, Lykos's bloodlust was a bonafide ocean.

They simply weren't even on the same scale.

'DON'T EVER ASSUME I AM RELATED TO THOSE BASTARDS!'

Lykos's voice was much deeper, invoking a primal fear in whoever was unlucky enough to hear it.

Arvell's mind nearly collapsed from hearing Lykos's thundering voice. He desperately clung to his sanity and tried to resist the onslaught on his conscious.

He felt that if he were to give in now, he might become all but a hollow shell of himself. A body with no consciousness.

'L-Lykos… Y-you are g-going to… K-kill me'

Arvell mustered up all his energy and forced out these words in hope of stopping Lykos before it was too late.

Hearing Arvell's pained words Lykos realizing his current situation hastily cancelled his abundant bloodlust.

Arvell returned from the blood-soaked world and fell to his knees.

He was already quite exhausted after forming his Aether Core, and with Lykos forcing him to muster up all of his mental energy to not have his conscious erased, Arvell was beyond tired.

"Huff Huff"

'Lykos! What the fuck was that? Why were trying to kill me?'

Arvell felt betrayed.

He began to trust Lykos after he saved Arvell and even gave him access to his new power.

Unfortunately, the recent events forced him to re-evaluate Lykos. Though Lykos did stop when Arvell was about to die, he still believed that Lykos wasn't trying to outright kill him.

Lykos looked down at Arvell with guilt, however, traces of his earlier rage were still visible on his face.

'Sorry Arvell, but that is a sensitive topic for me. I would tell you now, but frankly, this information won't do much for you. At the moment you are far too weak to do anything even if you did know. I'll tell you in full detail when you are stronger, but please for now don't mention them again before me.'

Seeing Lykos's apologetic expression, Arvell took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and slow down his breathing back to normal.

'Fine. Everyone has their secrets, and I am not going to lie. I am quite curious about your past, even more so after seeing your reaction. While I am curious, I don't want to force you to tell me. I owe you far too much, and you are entitled to your privacy.'

Lykos gave a complicated smile after hearing Arvell's words. He looked at the tree where Arvell dried off his clothes earlier.

'We should get you your clothes. They should have dried off by now.'