Spectral Regalia

Ch 85: A Time to Improve

"I... don't understand, Master?... Could that be a potion of strength?... I had heard from Sir Henreth that such things are quite rare and increase one's power by 2 fold for a duration of time, but I don't see how this can help me in the long run..."

Avrin wanted to laugh at Kael's ignorance but had urged Kael to come over with a finger motion. Kael, without hesitation, followed and stood only a meter from Avrin. The liquid inside the vial was now a glowing blue but began to revert slowly back to the color it had originally been.

Avrin glanced at it and frowned "-Could it not be enough?... Let's try something else then-" Raising his finger over the vial, he formed a small Void Blade at the tip of his thumb. Delicately slicing it under his index finger until several drops of blue blood he had willed to form began to drop into the liquid.

At the sight. Kael's face turned grim, watching the droplets of Avrin's blood enter it, which caused the liquid inside the vial to screech and move around to try and hungrily devour it. Soon, the liquid turned a transparent light blue. The liquid then settled down, as if sleeping after eating a meal.

"Quickly. Drink this before it awakens again..." Avrin spoke while offering it to Kael, who looked reluctant. "Master... This... Isn't there-" Avrin frowned under his mask. "Drink it!.." He ordered, to which Kael took it from fear and drank it. The taste was like drinking cold liquid metal that had electricity running through it, which brought some pain to him, but without leaving a single drop behind he finished it all.

Lowering the vial, Kael took a deep breath and remained silent. Avrin also didn't utter a word, and this had gone on for a minute. "disappointing... Did I over do it?... Such a waste" Avrin felt like that inwardly, as this Enigma potion could be considered a real treasure to those who knew its value.

Kael was even more stunned, as he expected something to happen after Avrin had seemed to put importance on it. "Master...did something go wrong?... Did I do it wro-" Falling to his knees, Kael began to cough violently as his body grew cold. His skin began to shift from purple to blue, then to a shining metallic black as he huddled up on the ground.

"Ahh!.." Avrin immediately got up and made his way beside him as he focused his Divine Sense around Kael's body. "There it is.... Incredible. Simply incredible. It's mimicking the process I use to create Spectrals!?... No, this is deeper... It's converting everything into dark matter at a quicker pace.. Huh?... The Skymetal is devouring it?!!"

Avrin's face grew pale as he watched the Skymetal seemingly want to devour the dark matter. "You greedy little..." With no choice, Avrin could only do one thing to save Kael. Emitting Nebula Mist through the tip of his finger, he stabbed it into Kael's chest, where the Skymetal was near and began to siphon dark matter into Kael's body from his own.

Kael himself was already screaming in agony, as his entire body was on fire while also being chilled. It felt like he was being stretched and eaten from the inside. "H..Help....m..Master!!!" Avrin's expression flickered. He understood he would truly feel miserable and guilty if Kael died because of his mistakes. "You won't die... Relax!" He called out, before surrounding the small, one inch in diameter Skymetal core near Kael's heart with his own dark matter.

"-You little bastard... You're irritating me..- " He spoke threateningly the somewhat sentient Skymetal that quivered with fear, knowing Avrin was indeed more powerful than it. Avrin began to will the core towards the center of Kael's heart while also slowly converting it to that of a Spectral's in hopes of it somehow stabilizing the Skymetal.

Slowly raising his finger from the wound in Kael's chest, a small bit of blood seeped out, as if it were held in by the dark matter stream that Avrin had continued to channel into the wound from his finger.