Chapter 3605 Bleeding Out (Part 4)
Chapter 3605 Bleeding Out (Part 4)
"The Bleed is attuned to you." Menadion replied. "The energy it stores would poison Friya just like your mana."
"Can we recalibrate the Infirmary with Friya's energy signature?" Lith asked, cursing himself for killing the Awakened before asking that question. "Can we save her if we fill new tanks?"
"No." Menadion shook her head. "It works for Solus only because she's bonded to the tower. I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Friya smiled, her voice gurgling from inside the life support tank. "It's not your fault, Master Menadion. It's no one's fault but mine. I was stupid and conceited."
Small tears streaked from her eyes and were immediately diluted in the nutrient's solution.
"I was so proud of being a dimensional mage, of my success in imitating Master Tezka's spell, that I forgot Mogar is full of monsters much stronger and older than me."
Her right arm disappeared, and her left foot was next.
"Do you hear me, Nalrond? This is not your fault. I mean it. I'm sorry for abandoning you like this. I didn't mean to hurt you. I wanted to give you a wedding gift no money can buy. Someone who can truly understand what you went through.
"Someone with whom you could reminisce the good times in your village."
"Stop talking!" Nalrond did his best to hold back his tears. "Focus on healing. You are strong enough to fight even death."
"I wish it were true." Friya gurgled as her left leg disappeared up to her knee. "I don't have much time left. I know I'm asking you a lot, Lith, but can you take me home? I want to say goodbye to my parents and Quylla.
"They lost Phloria without having the chance to see her or talk to her one last time, and it almost destroyed them. I don't want them to go through that again because of me. I don't want to die knowing I've hurt everyone I love."
"Sure." Lith hated the idea of revealing the tower's existence to Orion and Jirni, but he couldn't refuse Friya her last wish. "Speaking of which…"
He turned to Salman, who was still shocked beyond belief. The Rezar had no idea where he was, what had happened, or what a mage tower was. He had lived all his life in the Fringe and the last few years in Gabash.
Even an enchanted sword was an uncanny artifact to him.
"What is this place? Who are-" Lith's punch to the face cut the Rezar short and knocked him out.
"When he wakes up, makeup some bullshit about a Travelling Infirmary or something." Lith said to Nalrond. "We're going back to the Verhen Mansion, and I don't want to kill your friend after Friya sacrificed her life to save him."
"She didn't sacrifice her life!" Nalrond snarled. "She's still alive. Fuck her parents and fuck Quylla! Bring her to the Trawn Woods, now!"
With no time to waste, the Agni grabbed Lith by the shoulder with one hand and took his communicator amulet out with the other. A mind link shared the necessary information with Lith while Faluel's hologram appeared.
"What's up, guys? How is- Great Mother almighty!" The Hydra stared at the Infirmary in horror. "Friya! What happened to her?"
"Her core is cracked." Nalrond replied. "We are about to Warp to the Trawn Woods."
"I should kill Friya for telling you." Faluel sighed in relief. "And maybe I will, but first, I have to save her. Bring her to me, now!"
"On it!" Solus deactivated all floors except the Infirmary and the Heart, powering up the Tower Warp in record time.
It took just a few seconds to link the two points in space through the dozens of thousands of kilometers separating them, yet they felt like hours.
The tower had just started to charge up for a Mirror Warp to Faluel's lair when the Hydra entered the tower from the door and accessed its control system to reach the Infirmary in one Steps.
"Can you do it here?" Nalrond asked.
"I…" Faluel's voice trailed off as she pondered whether to expose the secret of her bloodline or not. "Yes, I can."
Her hesitation lasted only one second, the time to see Friya's right foot start to disappear as well.
"I need space. Lots of it. Also, something like a huge tub. Large enough to contain Friya and soak her from head to toe in liquid." Faluel said.
"What about the healing tank?" Lith pointed at the tempered mana crystal.
"It might actually make things easier." The Hydra nodded. "But I need it empty and again, space."
"Give me a second." Solus closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in the effort to restructure the tower according to Faluel's needs.
She moved the living quarters right below the Infirmary and then fused the three floors together. She emptied the Elemental Storage, the Armory, and the Cannon Vault, expanding the Infirmary until it was 36 meters (118') high and 50 (164') across.
"Hydra-sized would have been enough, but this will do too." Faluel nodded as she assumed her real form, that of a seven-headed Hydra 20 meters (66') tall.
"Wait!" Lith threw her the Hands, Eyes, and Ears of Menadion.
The Master and Apprentice Hands fused into one, giving the resulting artifact double the output and full access to the tower. The Eyes and Ears amplified Faluel's perceptions and gave her surgical control over every spark of mana in the room.
"Thanks, and sorry." Faluel drained the healing tank and opened its upper lid while biting one of her own heads off.
Blood gushed from the wound, filling the tank and making Friya almost disappear beyond the red veil. Faluel healed her wound and stripped her apprentice naked the moment Friya disappeared under the blood.
The seven heads spoke words Lith and Solus recognized but didn't understand.
'This is Dragontongue. What's happening?' Solus asked via the mind link, and Lith shared what Nalrond had told him with her.
'Do you remember how Syrook's blood saved the traitor Ranger Alman Quaron even after I decapitated him and crushed his heart? Nalrond hopes that Faluel can do the same for Friya by completing the Harbinger ritual.' Lith replied.
The Hydra blood in the tank resonated with that already coursing through Friya's veins, producing a glow that slowly rose in intensity until the crimson red turned into dawn white.
The life essence outside seeped inside Friya's every orifice and pore, carrying with itself the life force and mana of the Hydra. The energy flooded what was left of Friya's body and then converged unto her cracked mana core.
Lith and Solus could see through the Eyes of Menadion how Faluel's life force became one with Friya's. It formed a thick bandage that wrapped itself around the damaged mana core and stopped the cracks from spreading.
The Hydra's mana reached Friya's core second, rebuilding it from the inside and restoring its lost strength. New energy kept pouring thanks to Faluel's breathing technique, Lifestream.
It was an impossible procedure made possible by the now-matching energy signatures of the Lesser Divine Beast and her Harbinger. Any other kind of mana would have been poison for Friya's core, just like no other life force could have made up for the one she had lost after bleeding so much and for so long.