Drip-Fed

In the aftermath of the battle, the demons were silent.

To stun a crowd of these creatures was a feat onto itself. To fight horrors beyond the normal person’s comprehension was their daily life and death. All the same, the creatures from the Hellroots were awed by what they had witnessed. The presence of an Unreav and the power that had smote it.

Apexus’ body filled out. The energy reserves within him depleted, leaving behind a yearning appetite and a complete body. Absorbed power brimmed within him, his magical circuits aching and expanding with every pulse of his empowered magical cortex.

The Monk expectedly beheld the leader of the demons, anticipating that Bulubu would break the silence in due time. Expectation was met with a cackle from the sack of skin, fluids and shifting limbs. Rough mimicries of hands smacked together in something approximating a clap.

“You have thwarted the Empress of Blood, you have indeed! Fabian will approve if ever he lends his ear to my voice!” the Jitter declared.

“What happens next?” Apexus asked.

“You continue to aid us, I presume, I hope? Whatever you did, it has left you so much more powerful.”

“He is a Spark Eater, is he not?!” Another demon interjected. “Do we distrust the Empress and her followers so much to ignore that accusation? That horrid idea? That terrible existence?”

Apexus pulled his shoulders back, knowing he had to project confidence for what he said next. “I have eaten Sparks before, it is true.” The crowd all around, Bulubu included, broke out into instinctive, horrified chittering. “I am no Parasyte, however.”

“Then what are you? What? What?!” The panicked demon bellowed.

Aclysia stepped forwards, her features hardened by the topic. “We do not know what my darling is, but you have my word as an angel that he is of this realm!” The Priest poured as much divine energy as she could behind those words.

It was faint. Only those attuned could sense when they were speaking to an independent actor of divine origin. By her wish, Aclysia had been ousted and that naturally had come with limitations to her authority.

Still, Bulubu was sensitive enough to register the truth behind these energies. “An angel of the Actor God,” he remarked, with some respect in his tone.

“You approve of my origin?” Aclysia asked, lightly confused.

“Not all Unreavs and gods are all about war, not all, not with all,” the Jitter responded. “My Lord of Discord and your God of Acts and Actors have much in common, they do.” Bulubu continued to ripple excitedly. “Most important is, always, always, always, that you annoy the Empress, the Empress of Blood.”

The surrounding demons continued to shift in distrust, though they were appeased enough not to further question the decisions of their leader. If this alien existence was on their side, then they would accept this with a wide girth wandered around it. This worked just as well for the Inevitable party. The extra layer of fear would keep them insulated from creatures that were, deep down, bitterly evil.

“Our stay here is conditional on an answer,” Apexus pointed what remained of the broken body of the Fleshgorger. “Is the Empress of Blood now aware of our location?”

“Lowly am I, too lowly, to speak on the capacities of an Unreavs.” Shifting around, Bulubu observed both corpse and slayer from multiple sides. “Though I do not believe so. No gods are our rulers, no they are not. She existed in short here, set up no beacon. Even if she knows, she must be far away from reaching here.”

Not the assurance that Apexus had hoped for, yet a tipping of the scale. He once more clenched his fist, feeling the increased strength in his grip and toughness of his skin. Had it only been for the aid promised, then he would have weighed it up against the risk and vacated this world.

However, the experiment had succeeded. When next his Level was taken, Apexus was certain he would have jumped up by a considerable margin. What had worked for him could work for the others, in theory. If he refined the process, this was what they needed to close the bridge between who they were now and who they needed to be to aid in the taking down of Apotho.

“We will discuss amongst ourselves. You will have our answer on our stay come sunrise,” Apexus stated.

Bulubu just nodded. The Jitter had seen the new power of the humanoid chimera and, thus, knew that there truly was no room to argue for the diminished host anymore. Previous parity between the forces was no more.

They returned to the ravine and the tree by which the party had decided to stay. The Mobile Estate was opened.

“Huh, that’s a funny consequence,” Reysha, second to enter, commented on the state of their home.

Aclysia squeaked in frustration when she saw the chaos.

The sudden expansion of its owner’s might had caused the scaling mansion to grow in similar rapidity. The walls were each shoved back two metres, adding a massive amount of space to the living room. When this had happened before, the change had been gentle enough that the shelves had been left standing. Now, everything was toppled over, scattered about as if hit by an earthquake.

The metal fairy immediately began to sort through their things. She inspected pots and pans and lamented shattered utensils made of wood or porcelain.

As the maidly woman restored order to her household, the other three did a quick exploration. Fortunately, the other rooms had been affected less. The storage turned alchemy lab had barely expanded. A few flasks had dropped and two of their number shattered, but they were not irreplaceable.

Everything had expanded in size and, perhaps most importantly, the extended corridor had given them access to additional rooms. One had appeared east of the bath, the other between the lab and the bedroom. The third new door, however, was the most interesting. It gave them access to the outside. A stone path ran through the middle of an L-shaped outdoor area that hugged the wall of the mansion. The dirt was deep brown and loosened, awaiting the arrival of seeds. The fence that kept it all contained also served as the barrier between the inhabitants and the expanse around the mansion. An invisible forcefield kept them from climbing across.

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“And once again we have to grow into this place,” Reysha remarked.

“We can enjoy that fact later,” Aclysia put the last book back on its place on its shelf, then joined them all on the couch. “Now, we must decide whether or not we stay.”