CHAPTER 853: BUYING ’TIME’ FROM THE REAPER

As Karya finished checking on Allura’s condition, her expression remained perfectly neutral.

No shift of good or bad.

No on else would’ve been able to tell a difference. . . but Allura has seen Karya has never allowed herself to show worry. A furrowed brow, a slight frown, a nervous tick in the voice.

These were all signs that could shatter a patient’s courage faster than any wound. This shattering could quickly spiral into something far worse as fear and panic take hold.

As a healer, as someone who’s responsible for Life, Karya made sure not to make a bad expression when treating her patients.

She wanted them to feel safe while she operated on them, to know that everything was under control. To know that they had a chance of recovering.

At first, she tried to keep a smile whenever she could. Soft, gentle, reassuring.

But after a certain point, she lost that smile. She couldn’t smile in reassurance anymore. All she could do was look them dead in the eye with no shifts in emotion and tell them that everything was under control.

So long as her expression didn’t turn bad, things were ’under control’.

"Be straight with me Arys. How bad is it?" Allura asked.

Based on her understanding, the fact that Karya hasn’t said anything, not even a slightly happy expression, could only mean one thing.

"I can try to stabilize it for now-"

"Arys." Allura cut her off.

Kayra closed her eyes for a moment and sighed, revealing the worry on her face.

She didn’t like showing this side to patients. But Allura was different. She wanted things up front without deception, regardless of good or bad.

And as her friend, Arys decided to be truthful as per her request.

"It’s not just bad. It’s terrible. I don’t even know how you have the energy to speak right now. Your insides are a complete mess and calling you a walking corpse is being VERY optimistic. You could topple over and die tomorrow if we’re not careful."

Allura opened her mouth, wanting to say something before giving up.

She simply smiled helplessly.

"So... What can we do about it?"

"I would suggest overdrafting your lifeforce to compensate. But there’s nothing really left for me to overdraft. But... Well. The conversion is a little sh*t but it’s not like we have a better solution at hand.

"My only question for you is..." Karya hesitated on whether or not she should even ask this question.

"How long do you want to live?"

How long does she want to live...

What a peculiar question.

It’s not a matter of if she wants to live or not. But rather... how ’long’.

She has been alive for centuries now. She has seen sights that many would not see even after spending their entire life looking for it. She has experienced quite a lot of what life can offer.

She has seen the world change with each era and within this time, she has only ever thought about whether or not she wanted to survive.

If it was just that... then the answer was easy.

Yes, she wanted to survive.

But when it came to length... she didn’t know.

Did she live a satisfying life? Allura had to admit that while the end of her life dulled out a little, her early years were the happiest she’s ever been. In that city of Ayr, she had everything she could’ve ever wanted.

If she was to describe the most treasured view in her life... It would perhaps be the moment she returns home.

The moment she sees Kaden greeting her with a snack, or perhaps seeing him come home safe and sound while she’s relaxing.

This mundane moment was a ray of gold for her.

She had to admit that she’s lived long enough.

However... There was one more person she was responsible for now. A little lost girl who’s been hurt by the world around her.

She granted that girl her surname, took her under her wing.

As... strange as it feels, there’s nothing Allura wouldn’t do for her. A sense of protectiveness towards the young chick who has set foot into the vast world around them.

If she was to depart now... She wouldn’t feel at ease.

She couldn’t help but let out an amused chuckle.

She could feel the greed bubbling inside her veins.

"Two... no. One year. If I can just get one more year, I’ll be happy." Allura smiled.

Within that year, she’ll look at how Alice is doing and help when she needs to. It’s... a little shame that she wouldn’t be able to experience Ayr all over again.

But that was a small price to pay to take one more year when the reaper is calling her name.

"One year... You truly are a greedy one aren’t you?" Karya’s smile twitched.

Brushing her hair back, her wings folded themselves away as Karya glanced towards Gin.

She pulled a face of disgust.

"Turd. Come here but don’t come closer than 2 meters. I need to scan you to see if your wrinkly old ass has enough years left in that husk to be of use." Kayra gestured Gin to approach with her hand.

Stopping him once he reached the two meter mark, Karya squinted her eyes.

"Jeez... She’s not the only one who’s been pushing herself, it seems."

Shaking her head, Karya turned back to Allura.

"That year you want... I can give it to you. But I want you to know this. With the way the conversion works, your lifeforce and energy become directly tied together. Your energy also wouldn’t regenerate like normal.

"Each time you fight, you’re fighting with lifespan rather than energy. And when you bottom out after using that energy, you die. So judging from your output... Two uses of severance is all you can handle.

"And that’s not even including your f*ck ass ability of using Oblivion either. If you use that, don’t even think about a second use." She warned.

Nodding her head, Allura had a smile on her face as she could clearly see that despite everything that had happened, Kayra was still deeply worried about her.

"Wipe that dumbass smile from your face. We haven’t even started yet. As mentioned earlier, the conversion is a little sh*t. What the half expired turd can’t provide, I’ll make up.

"Plus, it’s not like I can give you much beyond this one year even if we have spare life force to give. So use it carefully okay?"

Clasping her hands together, a pillar of golden light began to wrap around Allura’s body as chains pierced into Kayra’s chest.

Stumbling back, blood began to seep through the gaps of her teeth. She could feel an invisible hand grabbing something of hers.

Her lifeforce.

Once it grabbed hold, it mercilessly pulled without care for how much pain she was going to go through. The same was for Gin.

And within this light, Allura felt the power flowing into her body.

She could move her limbs again, take a deep breath.

Yet within this comfort, she felt as though she was staring at a long crumbling road.

A road of light and on the other side, a hollow child with her skin wrapping against bone.

It was a countdown.

The moment the child reaches her...

Her time will be over.

No more bargaining, no more second wind.

###

"They just keep coming don’t they?" Nalem gritted his teeth in annoyance while looking at the swarm of hungry fanatics rushing towards them. Each of them forcefully starved and imbued with Famine’s power.

"Doesn’t matter. Just means Deva is panicking if she’s sending grunts like this." Kaden narrowed his eyes, cold as ice.

"Yeah I suppose. But she’s a slippery one." Nalem clicked his tongue.

Even for someone like him, his patience was running thin. Deva has been taunting them despite running away non stop.

"Doesn’t matter. The sooner she exhausts her tricks, the faster I can grab her. I’d much rather deal with these grunts than not have a single clue on her whereabouts."

Tapping his foot against the ground, a giant pool of darkness expanded with Kaden in the centre.

Each of the fanatics rushing towards him were slowed by the darkness as though walking through a thick mire.

The harder they pushed, the stronger the resistance.

And while they struggled, Kaden walked on the surface with ease.

As he approached one of the fanatics who tried to claw their way out and bite him, Kaden didn’t even turn his eyes before...

*BANG!!!

He swung his foot, destroying the fanatic’s head in an instant.

Without the head, the body twitched for a few moments, carrying out the final orders before falling limp.

*CRUNCH!!!

Kaden stepped down, crushing another head as though it was fresh grapes.

With each step, fresh blood would wash over his shoe.

"Deva. This song and dance, surely you must be tired of it." Kaden spoke calmly, snapping his fingers.

From within the mire of darkness, black barbed chains whipped out, killing every fanatic within range.

"So why run away from the inevitable? You will keep running, and I will keep chasing."

"Pft ahahaha! Are you threatening me or are you giving me a love confession? Act calm as much as you want Kaden, I can tell you’re desperate. How long huh? How much time do you have before Allura finally kicks the bucket."

A woman’s voice echoed out from several headless corpses.

"I just have to keep running and make sure you don’t catch me before she dies. Once that happens~ It’s my victory." She goaded with a smug tone.

A vein bulged on Kaden’s temple as he curved his lips up into a furious smile.

"Good. Stay with that thought. Let’s see how well that works out for you."

Black tears began to fall as power flowed through his veins.

Nalem took a few steps back.

Through the gaps of the realm, Kaden reached out and summoned his grimoire.

In order to capture Deva, he was going all out!