Zachariah tried to pursue the Voidre, a desperate scream escaping his lips, but he never reached the enemy. His legs went limp as they separated, and he lost control of his lower body. Zachariah’s massive strength dropped near-instantly, and he collapsed to the ground, every indicator of [Healing Link] marking him as a being closer to death than life.

David should have rushed to Zachariah to tend to him, but he remained unmoving. His hair stood on end as his eyes followed the Voidre until the wolfish creature disappeared into the Black Rift that rematerialized seemingly out of nowhere. A burst of Void struck the surrounding buildings, obliterating whatever remained.

Good. We survived. He exhaled deeply and turned to Zachariah, grimacing as the potions keeping the Regressor alive wore off.

Well, for now we’re all alive.

The timing couldn’t have been worse as the consequences of his actions struck all at once. The result of consuming too many highly potent potions—and the damage from destroying his body by relying on powers his very being couldn’t control just yet—slammed into him.

And David had to fix that mess when the potions he’d consumed were also drawing their last breath. He was already on the cusp of collapsing but couldn’t afford to lose Zachariah. He doubted anyone could handle a Voidre like the Regressor. In the first place, powerful Fragments were already too much for most survivors. David highly doubted he or anyone else would be able to fight a Voidre anytime soon—not without severe external help and numerous fatalities.

He tried to ignore the pleas of his body, mind, and soul as best as he could and rushed up to Zachariah to cast [Weave of Life]. He conjured two dozen [Healing Spheres], attached them to Zachariah, then paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. His befuddled mind was barely of any help, making it increasingly difficult to stay focused.

Exhaustion caught up to him, and he barely noticed the monster corpse as he stood before it. David didn’t know how he did it—because he couldn’t feel anything—but he collected the first monster corpse, quickly followed by the second. He collected the remains of the Void Fragments as well, vaguely recalling what Zachariah had said about burning them. However, David had no power left to burn anything, so he stored them in the spatial storage.

The only thing he remembered doing was to rip the Maelstroms out of the battered bodies. He was sure the Fragments were dead; however, the Maelstroms retained a considerable amount of the Void. The Maelstrom of the stronger bipedal Fragment was, in fact, almost full. Albeit muddy-headed, David considered it best to separate the bodies created by the Void from the Maelstroms, ensuring they couldn’t resurrect the Fragment.

Was that possible? David had no idea, and he wasted no time thinking about it. If the integration had shown him something, it was that everything was possible after all.

As he separated and stored the Maelstroms and corpses, he noticed something interesting. No matter how trashed his head was, David would never forget the presence of the Maelstroms he had touched. And that made it clear that, aside from the first Maelstrom that generated the call of the Void, nothing called to him amiably. As he touched the Maelstroms of the Fragments, that much was apparent.

While not emitting a life-threatening presence, David felt that the Maelstroms were far more harmful than the rest.

But whether that was more than his gut feeling telling him to be careful, he couldn’t quite tell.

Regardless, he had to keep moving. And he was most certainly too exhausted to bother about the Maelstroms right now. That was something he could do later. After a good bit of sleep.

A good, long slumber.

The embrace of sleep was waiting for him, but he wasn’t done yet. David glanced down at his body, wincing at the missing chunk in his side, and moved along. The accumulated exhaustion was worse than his physical condition. He may still be missing a chunk of his abdomen and an entire arm, but he recovered fast enough to leave the rest to his natural recovery and the Sacred Beast’s actions.

David left Zachariah for a little bit longer and collected Maja. He sent a wave of energy into her, stirring her awake.

Maja’s eyes fluttered open and she shot to her feet faster than David could register.

“W-what happened? Is everyone alright?” Maja squealed, her high-pitched voice blaring into his ears. “Oh shit! You look like a mess!”

David would have waved, but the Ancient Relic wasn’t moving and his right arm was no more. He swayed left and right as strength faded and barely mustered the effort to meet Maja’s worried eyes.

“Take us back to the Sanctuary.”

His eyelids grew heavier by the second, but the doubts and worries never left his mind.

“And… wake me up if it looks like Zachariah is about to die.”

His eyes forcefully shut down and his body followed. He barely heard Maja’s mutter.

“He already looks dead to me…”

The Portaligist said more, but he was no longer listening—the embrace of sleep pulling him deeper until he could no longer resist.

***

David woke up disoriented and reluctant to rise. He was still exhausted, but the Sacred Beast did not want to spare him another minute of the bliss of sleep.

What do you want? Restore your Blood? he grumbled, sending a wave of pure Blood toward [Bloodlife Echo], only to notice that it was already full. And so was the Beast Core. Both were overflowing with pure Blood.

Emotions and images, presumably trying to explain, reached him, showing Electra restoring his arm and abdomen. David glanced at his right arm and sent pure Blood through it. Everything worked as it should, bringing a faint smile to his lips.

Good job, though I’m not sure I appreciate that you took my energy.

While it had been a good move given the circumstances, knowing that the Sacred Beast could remove pure Blood from his Source when he was asleep or unconscious didn’t sit well with him. Surely, he could order Electra to never access his Source again. But… was that really what he wanted?

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I’ve already given Electra the benefit of the doubt. Taking it away after it restored my body and filled the Sacred Beast Core and [Bloodlife Echo] so I don’t have to do it anymore helps me. Filling the Beast Core and the Blood Storages would have wasted a full day. Now, I only have to fill the Blood Storages.

He ran a hand through his hair and didn’t order Electra anything. Punishing it for helping him didn’t seem fair.

Instead, he pushed more Blood into the Blood Storages and checked on Serpent Fang and Scalemore. Both were neatly stored within the Sacred Beast Core, but the bound armor was still damaged. Even though it slowly repaired itself, it would take another week, probably longer, before it had fully recovered.

Putting the damage aside, the Beast Core, Scalemore, and Serpent Fang felt a little stronger than before. His connection to the bound weapons and the Core was firmer than it had been, and they could hold onto more pure Blood than before. The difference wasn’t drastic, but it was noticeable.

Thanks for helping out. You did well and deserve some more freedom. If you want to, you can roam the adjacent regions to do… whatever you want. As long as you don’t harm any survivors, Protectors, or anyone else.

The Mythical Electra did not show any intention of leaving him, but David wanted to show his sincerity by giving the Sacred Beast exactly what it had wished for: the power to decide what it wanted to do. He considered his words for a moment, head cocked to the side, and added:

If they do not hurt you first, that is. You can kill those who attack you first.

While he could not give Electra full freedom, he wanted to give it something akin to freedom. It deserved that much for its selfless actions.

The Echo didn’t budge. It was somewhere close but didn’t move. That was fine. It took the opportunity to stay of its own free will. David, on the other hand, couldn’t remain idle.

[Healing Link] was somehow still active, sending him information about Zachariah’s well-being. And the signs weren’t exactly encouraging.

They were back in the Sanctuary, yet Zachariah’s condition hadn’t improved. It seemed nothing had changed.

They probably tried to restore his health but had barely managed to keep him alive. David tried to make sense of the situation. Then again, he wasn’t very confident in fixing the mess Zachariah had caused either. Definitely not within the following 24 hours—and probably not in the next few days. It would most definitely take weeks to heal him.

Not only was his body broken, but it looked like his very being had been distorted by the power he had accessed to fight the Voidre head-on.

David got up from the bed and left, checking on his status as he made his way to the infirmary where the unconscious Regressor was.

Name: David Stears

Primary Class: Lifeweaver

Rank: Gold IV

Secondary Class - [Herald of Origin]

Rank: Gold II

Body: Middle(+)(Apex)

Mind: Middle(-)(Superior)

Soul: Transcendent (0.2%): 103 Droplets

[Modification: III]

[Weave Optics]: [Bloodthrone Dominion]

[Promethean Constitution]

[Deryadus’ Arm]: [Sacred Beast Core]

[Laws: III]

[Law of Blood]: [Peak(Minor)]

Bloodlust: (Intermediate)

Rend: (Advanced)

Origin Attribute: (Basic)

[Legacy Skills: I]

[Dao Comprehension]: [Intermediate]

[Class Skills]

[Lifeweaver: V]

[Equivalent Exchange]: [Tier-2 IV]

[Weave of Life]: [Tier-2 XV]

[Sacrifice]: [Tier-3 II]

[Bloodlife Echo]: [Basic: (250/250)]

[Blood Manipulation]: [Lowest: Intermediate]

[Monk: II]

[Aether Breath: Intermediate]

[Reinforce]: [Tier-2 III]

Body: Elite– IX(99.42%)

Energy Pathways: Elite– IX(91.01%)

[Serene Ego: II]

[Mind Palace]: [Lowest: Advanced]

[Soul Domain]: [High: Intermediate]

[Herald of Origin: IV]

[Archaic Shackles]: [Lowest: Intermediate]

[Phantom Rush]: [Lowest: Intermediate]

[Indomitable Will]: [Low: Advanced]

[Primeval Pulse] [High: Advanced]

[Skill Runes]

[Tier-1: IV]

[Blood Blast]: [Tier-1 XV]

[Blood Armor]: [Tier-1 XVII]

[Heightened Vision]: [Tier-1 XVIII]

[Purify]: [Tier-1 XIX]

[Tier-2: V]

[Bloodbound Bastion]: [Tier-2 V]

[Healing Sphere]: [Tier-2 VII]

[Herald’s Blessing]: [Tier-2 IX]

[Chain of Will]: [Tier-2 X]

[Greater Restoration]: [Tier-2 XXV]

[Basic: I]

[Healing Link]: [High: Basic]

[Intermediate: II]

[Origin Lightning]: [Lowest: Intermediate]

[Vital Weaving: [Low: Intermediate]

Attribute Points: 0