They’re on a ship to Trinity and Keith is bored. Unlike the ship from Kiol to Seipodon which was a few days, Trinity was only a few hours away. Silon is currently asleep since she spent most of her magic on the cure to deal with the Aimesis disease and Hyacinth isn’t in the mood to deal with people right now. So Keith was left alone with Leonith.
“So, catch me up, how did you cure the disease anyway?”
Leonith looked at him from where he was sitting on his bed. “A mixture of blessed water alongside Silon’s tonic, it took us a while to bond them together in a way that would work but we managed it. The priests were able to take over by having more water blessed by their Pantheon since it would have been ah, improper, of me to leave behind some blessed water touched by my gift.”
Keith nodded along. Sounds like it. It would have been a delicate situation since leaving behind traces of another’s Pantheon in foreign territory was seen as illicit contraband. A lot of people are still touchy about those sorts of things since the Territory War. It would have been a political nightmare if Leonith left behind holy water from his Pantheon in Seipodon.
His tail tapped against the bed. “Speaking of which, you never did explain your gift properly. What was that whole ‘Mercy’ thing?”
“Ah right, you weren’t there for the explanation since Hyacinth was a bit… cautious about bringing you to the receiving room.” He hummed. “My gift is simply put, two forms. Mercy which is my usual form, and Corruption which is a ‘Tainted’ form if you will. Long story short, I got infected with a demon’s corruption and that’s when I was given my gift. My gift holds back the corruption via my second form.”
“Do your emotions affect it? I’ve noticed your colorings fading into one another sometimes.” He asked, flopping onto the bed. While it was very clear that it’s affected by emotion, Keith wanted to know fully what exactly affected it. Was it a sort of distress response?
Leonith paused, and for a moment he feared the other had fallen asleep. “… If I feel too strongly, I fade closer to my corrupted form. Though the emotional stages go from feeding into my ‘Mercy’ side and making my eyes glow brighter to fading into my corrupted form.”
“Alright. I understand. So when you absorbed some of the corruption from the arrows, why didn’t you absorb it all?”
“You still remember that?” He asked.
I would be a poor historian if my memory skills weren’t good, Keith thought to himself smugly. His tail thumped against the bed as he replied, “Of course I do! So, are you willing to tell me the answer?”
“I… want this to be kept secret but if worse comes to worse, then it’s best if you know.” He rolls on his bed, turning away from Keith, his voice soft. “The corruption I absorb is suppressed by my gift, however if I absorb too much in so little time, I temporarily fall into Full Corruption. I only fell into such a distasteful state once.”
He looks a lot more vulnerable curled up on the bed. His blond hair is spilling down his shoulder like a curtain of sunlight. The weak light coming from the cheap quartz somehow makes him seem a lot smaller than he actually is.
Standing up he moved to tap on Leonith’s shoulder. “Hey, I can’t promise it’ll be fine but I’ll do my best to stop it from happening. What are the signs of getting too much corruption?”
Leonith turned around to look at him. His blue eyes gazing into him as if uncertain. Nodding a little, he continued. “Thorns around my neck. I’m sure you’ve seen it once or twice. The thorn markings, that is.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Xba la.”
Ojslcu vbkc bc atf yfv, Bflat jiibkfv tlr wlcv ab kjcvfg. Qlat Ofbclat’r uloa, jr kfii jr atf ygfjxlcu bo atf rfji, atfc tlr atfbgs wera yf gluta. Ktlr tjr ab yf j rfdefi ab atf bglulcji cbnfi. Llr ajli atewqfv jujlcra atf wjaagfrr bo atf yfv.
Lf vbfrc’a gfwfwyfg jcsatlcu gfijafv ab j rfdefi ja jii. Aera… Qtfc fzjmais vlv tf vlf? Ccv, ktja lr tf wlrrlcu ogbw tlr wfwbglfr?
In the other room with Hyacinth and Silon, the two struggle to rest.
Silon sat up, a pout on her face. “I can’t sleep.”
“Oh? I thought you’d be exhausted. You spent so much magic synthesizing the cure with Leonith.” Hyacinth spoke up from his bed, his long hair unbound from its golden bands, spilling like ink behind him.
She huffed. “And I thought you’d be tired since you slept for a long while after that battle.”
“Unlike Keith I don’t need to spend as much magic. His combat style is much more exhaustive than mine.”
Silon blinked. “I thought you didn’t like Keith?”
A droplet of water flicked her on the forehead.
“Ow!” She exclaimed, giving Hyacinth a glare. “What was that for?”
“For thinking I don’t like him.”
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Isn’t it true though? Unless…”
She paused. It wasn’t a secret after Oryath left the group how much Perseus had come to care for him. Everyone saw him breakdown. It was simply a fact that Perseus cared enough about Oryath to be devastated almost as badly as Orionith was.
Could it be that Hyacinth was affected by that? Come to think of it, when Keith was knocked out…
“Let me send a sprite over to Hyacinth, tell them we’re in the Temple of Apollo and that the cure is done.”
With a few movements, she drew a Pentagram, gold leaving trails from her fingertips as she murmured out the spell. The sprite appeared, bowing at her and awaiting orders. Once done, the sprite flew off in a little ball of light green.
It took a while but the sprite arrived back, bowing at her and dismissing itself. Turning to the door, she sees Hyacinth, carrying Keith within his arms like a bride. Hyacinth’s face is blank as he nods at her, sets Keith down on a chair, and collapses.
Leonith rushed to catch him, giving Silon a helpless look. “You don’t need me to make more holy water, right?”
“Yes, go and set the two down, attend to them, I think I know how much blessed water is needed. And besides, Seipodon can bless their own water, so you don’t have to deal with paperwork like I did.”
A water droplet smacked her face, breaking her out of her thoughts. She blinked, looking at Hyacinth who was currently laying on his side, facing her. His head is propped up by his hand, while the other one is lifted up. His mouth in a frown, and blue fin-like ears flaring out in irritation.
“Don’t even think about it.” Hyacinth grouched, giving her an unamused glare. “Keith is… Proving himself capable at least in the battle side though he and I suffer from the same problems: a too big magical core in a currently unfit vessel.”
Silon nodded along. “I’ll have to figure out a way to help you adjust to your magical cores until your physical bodies can use it without getting exhausted expelling more magic than it should. Maybe some exercises…”
“You can think about that problem later.” Hyacinth reminded her. “Go to sleep. You need your rest.”
“… You too.”
Silon flopped back onto the bed, emerald green eyes gazing at the wooden ceiling. She had set the quartz light to dim because it was total darkness otherwise and she’s too lazy to stumble around the room in search of the light dial. Her thoughts changed directions, turning to her family.
Are her sisters okay?
Laying on her side, she tried to get herself to sleep. At least Hyacinth can rest assured that his sister will be fine with the Temple of Apollo.
In the distance of the harbor, two figures watched it, one with a resigned glance, white feathers mixed with silver hair reflecting in the distant light, and the other with boredom, two cat tails swaying slowly to an imaginary beat. The boats entering the town passed as is, oblivious to it all. A shambling zombie cat standing on its two hind legs bowed before the bored one.
Blue and yellow eyes glared down as the zombified cat began to speak.
“Master, Morbi and Nosoi have fallen to two men, Hyacinth of Seipodon and Keith of Kiol. The plan has failed.”
The master snarled, revealing sharp fangs. “Useless little things those were. They didn’t even get enough flesh to feed the army. Lady Tiamat will not be pleased.”
The resigned one spoke, red eyes standing out from white eyeshadow. “Good. I hope you continue to fail-“
“Aksobhya.”
“Hrrk!” He lifted a hand to his head, touching the glowing red circlet. The circlet tightened, forcing him to his knees as it glowed bright, lighting up the woods.
Gasping for breath, he glared at him.
As if taking pity on him, he clicked his tongue and ordered, “Tomare.”
He lifted up his hand in a rude gesture. “Fuck you, you fake cat.”
“Remember, Ren, as long as that circlet is on your head you must abide by Lady Tiamat’s orders so long as I have a say in it.” The ‘fake cat’ said, his face as cold as stone. His words are short and clipped, merely stating facts.
Ren scowled, looking away. As his eyes landed on the ships passing idly sailing away, he could only hope that whoever is in there would leave this place and fast. After all, soon this place will be nothing but ash. Closing his eyes, he can only think of one thing.
I’m sorry. I have no choice. I failed you.
Countdown: 1.
We learned something about Leonith, got a flashback from Silon, and Hyacinth apparently doesn’t hate Keith. Speaking of Keith, our poor little wolf is now left wondering what other things he may have forgotten as well as how exactly did he die? Lastly, Ren and a mysterious figure who has control of that circlet, just who is that guy? Find out next time, on Regret, Rebirth, Relive!
Ehehe, this chapter isn’t as long as the previous ones mainly because it’s rather transitional. But I’ve been looking forward to this one the most because Ren! My Bird son! He’s here! Finally! I’ve been excited for him the moment I made him. And let’s not forget our mysterious ‘fake cat’ whose name I shall withhold >:) Thank you for reading!
Thank you for the chapter 🥰
Poor Leonith, so he got his alter ego because he got infected. 😔 I hope they do find a way to help him. The bridal carry is so sweet!😍 He does everything to help Keith and then collapses after he is done. To sweet! 🥰 Ren? Oh no! Is he a poor boy who got captured by those evil things. 😢 Let’s hope he gets rescued soon from those evil people. 😖