Chapter 173: Battle
Deeper shrugged and retorted, "This part of you surely isn’t from us. Ironwood Treants are known for being discerning and cautious."
"I don’t really give a crap about all that," Elian countered. "My only concern is if you have the will to come with me."
The former tyrant paused; he then looked at his own arm before continuing, "Such a misuse of our abilities. In exchange for harder skin, you force all the mana into the shell and keep the insides void of it. Pitiful."
Bianca pouted at his comment. As the creator of Forged and the Weapons, she defended herself by explaining, "You fail to see the benefit, bastard. By imbuing all available mana to the skin, it becomes highly resistant, even immune to magic attacks."
"I can see just fine, Psychomancer; it also means that as he does not have any mana inside his body, he is susceptible to mental attacks, which Psychomancers are known for. You designed him to be a puppet, didn’t you?"
The Witch flinched at Deeper’s accusation, but Elian squeezed her hand to reassure her. Finding strength in the intimate gesture, Bianca cleared her throat and agreed.
"Yes, that was my intention initially. But it proved to be unnecessary. So long as I am present, no one will be able to take control of Elian."
Deeper scoffed and faced Bianca with a sharp glare, "I suppose you did not know that the core you used for your potion was Karnathian in nature. Otherwise, you would not have made such a stupid decision."
"..."
"Let me tell you of your folly, Psychomancer. An inherent trait of anyone from Karnathi is to multiply by sowing seeds with our mana. Your trick with binding souls to metallic vessels? You would not need any of that if you just allowed them to germinate mana inwardly."
Elian felt Bianca’s hand tighten on his. The surrounding temperature also dropped by several degrees. It seemed that his lover understood what Deeper was trying to say and grew disheartened.
Be still, my love.