Chapter 172: Bleeding Hands.

“Elfrafim. Welcome back,” Moonwash walked into the living room and waved to our newly returned friend. Elfrafim had finished going on about her many experiences in the League of Mercanto, and we’d just been shooting the shit for the past hour. The current topic was about the ugliest creature we’d ever fought, and I was adamant that there was none uglier than ‘invisiboy.’ I could just feel it!“Oh hey Moonwash! Long time! What you got there?”

My girlfriend looked down at her hand, and then brought the vial of liquid up. “A potion.”

Elfrafim’s eyebrows rose. “Like, a real potion?”

“Yes. I’ve been learning.”

“Can I see!?”

“Sure. Cut your palm.”

“Okay!” she bounded over, and then did as asked. Her blood dripped on the carpet, before then being sucked by a mystical force further down. The small shift in atmosphere communicated to me that Pandemonium found her tasty.

I clarified with my steps as I walked over to them as well. Berry followed and watched with morbid curiosity as the glittering somewhat oily red liquid was poured over the wound, and then it began to very slowly heal.

“It’s weak,” Moonwash stated.

“It’s… not too bad for a potion?” Elfrafim unsuccessfully countered. It generally harder to heal higher level people. Their bodies were tougher and more complex. They were denser or perhaps outright larger. There was simply more to heal.

“You’ve finally succeeded, come on!” I looped an arm around Moonwash. “Take the time to celebrate! It’s a health potion, if a very weak one!” Far weaker than the healing any of us three could manage. “Anyway. You’ve been at it for… an entire day now? Have you even eaten?”

“A little.”

“Rations?” I sighed, exasperated.

“Yes.”

“Well, in that case, let’s go eat!”

“Okay.”

“Alright!”

Berry looked back at the plates of our previous snacks. “Wait for me!”

The four of us hustled into the kitchen, and prepared entire roasts of boar. The key was to control the flames, and have the fire bury itself all the way to the center of the meat.

“Wow! This is so much better than your old lab!” Elfrafim commented as the four us made our way down to Moonwash’s workshop.

“It is,” my girlfriend confirmed. Because of course it was. Our old lab was in the secret base we made in the middle of the forest when we were .

We gave Elfrafim a little tour of the place, from the packed shelves of books and liquids of different sorts, to racks upon racks of different weapons. Many of them were cursed, and the method used to do it was visible in one corner of the room where an ominous box that was almost a cage had so much cursed energy coursing through it, both from Pandemoniu’s efforts, and the cursed enchantments Moonwash had put into the box. It ran off my cursed blood, and I had to change those out every so often.

This same setup was repeated for other elements too. Weapons, ingots, and other items were placed in other cages filled with either hellfire or blood mana. The other elements that Pandemonium and I possessed in large renewable quantities. Moonwash was trying to make infusions of them just like with cursed weapons, which possible. She was even likely to succeed, and indeed, some of the items we’d stored were already showing signs. It just required so much more time, than the naturally corrupting force of

And then there were the actual cages. They now dominated an entire side of the room. Pandemonium had trapped living specimens with its own metal, stone, and bone.

“This is so cool!” Elfrafim cooed as she stuck a hand inside one of those cages, and then snapped it out as the camelion inside tried to bite her. She giggled happily as she checked and poked her hand into everything, until she came upon one that was just free to roam. It was a lizekto, lounging in his seat, and looking at the newcomer warily. “Who’s this?”

“That’s Arnold,” Moonwash explained. “A friend. He’s the one who provides me with the poison magic I need.”

“Aaaaahhhh. Neat!” Elfrafim extended a hand to either shake or pet, but didn’t go any further as Arnold progressively got more aggressive. He knew enough not to attack most people, but that was only so long as he was left alone. Or if they came to trade. “Fine! Be like that!”

My friend turned away haughtily, and then we finally arrived at Moonwash’s cauldron. This was where she’d just been making her latest potion. But now she was out of the right variety of my blood.

“Haell. I need more of your blood. Blood mana only, please.”

I chuckled, and took the big jar from her. “Sure thing.”

I drained myself, and made sure that only my blood mana was in the blood that I donated, just as Moonwash had requested. “There. All done.”

“Thank you.”

“Me too!” Elfrafim came over with a jar of her own.

She stared at me.

I stared at her.

I shrugged. “. But what will you even use it for?” I conversed while more of my blood drained into the container.

“I don’t know! Maybe whatever she’s doing?” She pointed at Moonwash. “I’ve never made potions before! Could be interesting.”

“It’s super confusing.” I was there for Moonwash’s first attempts. Some of those earlier attempts literally exploded, but now it seemed like she had figured out a proper recipe. The first potion that did what she intended.

I settled in now to watch her work, interested to see what finally yielded results. Elfrafim sat next to me giddily, and I was reminded of a simpler time, where we did not have to deal with other people. Sometimes it was tempting, to fly away and leave all of civilization behind. But what I had now was blatantly better. I had the best of both worlds. I could be in the wilderness for half the time, and the other half was still spent in Pandemonium, where only the people I actually liked were present. And then I could benefit from the city just whenever I wanted, while limiting the time I spent around them. It was a good life.

Moonwash’s potion creation began. My blood was the first ingredient to fall into the cauldron. She explained how it was an amazing base, and the one part of this process that she never once changed. She lit the fire, then waited for my blood to bubble, before she finally began to add some other ingredients. From the sap of a treant, the innermost part of its bark, and then the marrow of a marassa(the clone monkey) that I killed myself. Many other ingredients were then tossed in, mixed well at times, and stirred slower at others. It grew thick, and then thin again, as of Arnold’s own venom was added, and then eventually closed out by removing all the impurities that had risen to the top. As the final step, my girlfriend took out her wands, one of the blood element, and the other of poison. The application of her magic over the course of a quarter hour made the red oily liquid bubble, before eventually settling into the same glittering glow of earlier, which I assumed meant that it had work and that we were seeing in front of us a true potion!

“Does it work!?” I asked.

“Show me!” Elfrafim demanded.

Moonwash poured some of the potion into a flask, and then showed us the bottom of her cauldron. “There’s some leftover to test it.”

I sliced my palm before anyone else. Elfrafim had already gotten to try earlier!

Moonwash poured what little was left of the potion into my palm, and I felt the tingling sensation of healing, along with a fair bit more pain. But sure enough, the concoction worked, and I felt the wound began to knit close!

…There was barely enough to heal a wound that small.

It was honestly hard not to feel… underwhelmed. So much work. So much materials. So much mana. For what would be healing far inferior to our own. But I could see how it might be useful. Granuel had already expressed interest long before Moonwash had seen a single success. Anyone could use it, and it might just mean the difference between life and death for people who didn’t have healing magic of their own. Even if they did, this could be so much simpler and faster to apply. It was an extra layer of insurance for their life, and some people would pay top money for that, instead of just going outside and seizing power of their own.

“Great job!” I smiled, waving my healed palm.

“Thank you,” she hugged.

Elfrafim and I left Pandemonium with a wave, and then walked through the massive clearing that surrounded my home. This entire space had now been heavily fenced in, without a single tent or person left loitering around inside. The two of us reached closest gate, and the guards who had been flirting clumsily snapped to attention.

“H-hael……DEMONQUEEN!” The human woman exclaimed, kicking a chair way too far away.

The other woman, a centaur, hurriedly pulled the gates open so that we may pass. It was early in the morning and no one had used it yet. Few people were allowed.

“Don’t worry about it. Carry on,” I walked past them, and then laughed openly at their blushing faces.

We entered the city proper, and it was… interesting, that most people now showed respect and bowed as I passed. Some of them did so reluctantly, but I was actually liked around half the time by now. Granuel had started his own propaganda wing, and was using my image to promote his government. I allowed it, as I was literally doing nothing else as ‘Demon Queen.’ Although what I done, with repelling a whole invading force, had certainly left an impression.

“This is weird,” Elfrafim commented.

“You’re used to it,” I shrugged, sending my armor clanking. I was wearing my full bone-white deathmetal regalia today. “Some of the stares we’re getting are because of you, you know?”

“Mine are because I’m an elf! We pretty cool. But yours are creepy!”

“…I can’t really argue about getting creepy stares. That’s not my fucking fault, nor my fucking problem.”

“It’ll happen regardless. Some people are just plain stupid,” Elfrafim agreed. “ a few those stares, at least, just a fair reaction to the shit you’ve done!”

I narrowed my eyes, and she stared back.

“Say, Haell,” Elfrafim skipped on the sidewalk. “. You’re stronger now, right? You can take me going all out. You’ve evolved after all, and I know what you were able to do before!”

“Of course I can,” I sneered. “Hold nothing back.”

“Great!” She smiled. “Sorry. You can do what you want, and I’ll always be your friend. But I’m glad you asked to spar, because I have been feeling like I wanted to pick a fight! Which does make me feel bad, considering what you’ve been through while I was away, but I also promise you my help with dragging Eden down from her throne and then slagging her palace entirely! That’s good fun!”

I chuckled darkly. “Hah! We’ll see who’s about to get their ass kicked, then. But I do appreciate the offer of help. I might take you up on that.”

“Do so! I’m staying here for a while.”

“Oh?” The last time she’d stayed put for so long was back when we’d first met.

She thumbed behind herself. “Pandemonium.”

“Ah.”

“It’s very interesting.”

“More than me, you mean?”

“That isn’t what I said!” she protested, and I laughed. “I am staying to help you too, and see whatever crazy new thing Moonwash comes up with. I’m interested in her plan to regenerate limbs without the use of Life mana. Not only that, but potentially WHAT? That’s crazy!”

“Eh, it does have biomantic properties. I think it can work.” We continued to talk about that as we made it through the city that was in construction It was damaged in that last war, even if the actual enemy army never reached this place. Those repairs turned into full-blown overhauls as President Mayor Granuel seized the moment. Broken warehouses were now being turned into massive factories. The walls were beginning to be torn down so they could be extended. Angelslayer stores were present on every block, to service all the many travelers who came through here as he aimed for the creation of a big trading hub. He just took my promises to heart, and to have the nearest cities of Edengar become New Granderan territory once I helped them take it. And yet still, adventurers had been purposely attracted to this place, mercenaries were hired, and soldiers were now being indoctrinated and grown locally so that we may be able to defend ourselves no matter what. Even I did expand New Grandera’s territory, we would remain a target. I was as hated as I was loved . New Grandera itself might someday turn on us, once they had us surrounded from all sides. Granuel… was resistant to the idea, but I didn’t trust those fuckers. Some idiot would act on their own one day, if nothing more sinister happened.

My goal was to be able to trivialize their armies by then. And eventually, The World!!!

“Oooh! Barbeque!” We came across a stall selling skewers, and I immediately bought out half of what they had on display. “Hmmm…” I looked at Elfrafim, thinking. “I’d offer you some, but are you fine that it’s bought with gold? I never actually did check if stalls accept barter, nor did I tell anyone to make sure they do.”

Elfrafim snorted, and snatched half the skewers from my hand. “Of course I’m fine with it. It’s a gift from a friend. Nothing wrong with that. However you got it is of no concern to me.”

“Huh. That’s… clever?”

“Well, I’m not trying to be! It’s not like we’re not allowed to use money or anything. Especially when we’re outside. I just don’t like it, and I draw the line wherever I damn well please!”

“Ah.” I smiled. “That attitude I can respect!”

We’d stopped by a few more stalls by the time we reached the main gates of the city.

People and carriages alike allowed me to cut in line, and soon we were on our way into the unprotected rainforest.

“See!?” Elfrafim pouted. “You get special treatment like that, but you want me to go through your gates and not just climb over the walls? I may have had to wait, or even be asked to pay some toll!”

“Ah… Well, that does suck.” I tapped on my chin. “I think I might want to make an exception for whatever fare there is for… all elves? No… all hero-rank level 80s? Maybe. I think even just Level 40 would be enough. Gives people another reason to try and reach that level. Which is a very good thing. I’ll go talk to Granuel later.”

“I like that,” Elfrafim agrees shamelessly. “How about the lines of people, though? I’d still have to wait if you want me to actually go through your actual gates.”

“Let you cut in line if you’re strong enough?” I wondered. “Same criteria as before. But we need to still check and catalog who comes and goes. There are absolutely many spies in our midst already, but no reason to make their jobs easier. If they wanna see Moonwash’s latest painting of me on full display in the town hall, then they gotta work for it!!”

“Hey! I haven’t seen those yet!”

“You can check them out later,” I waved her off. We were finally surrounded on all sides by rainforest, without anyone else in sight. “Let’s up the speed a little.”

“Okay!”

No sooner had she agreed, that I was sprinting through the forest thunderously, crushing roots and trunks in my way. My eyes widened when I found Elfrafim running right next to me, stepping almost daintily in comparison, but moving just as fast. The air did not whine at her passing, and she didn’t smash through a single tree.

I stopped after only a few minutes, near a good clearing.

“Here looks good enough,” I commented, my body knitting itself back together. I didn’t let it show.

“Sure!” She took out her staff and twirled it around a few times. “Looks like I really will fight my hardest. You’ve gotten so fast! I remember when I used to be able to run circles around you way back in the day!”

“You’re still faster than me,” I said, just a little sourly. I drew Devilcalibur and pointed right at her rouge-ish armor-dress. “That’s infused, right? You’re way too quiet and… light, for the speed we were moving.” She’d mentioned it before, and Moonwash had suggested getting something similar for myself.

“Yep! From the pelt of a leophast. It’s a common thing back home. You look super silly brute-forcing the issue like you do!”

“I look thank you very much.” I huffed. “This is also tougher. I like having a sonic boom. STAND READY FOR MY ARRIVAL, WORMS!”

“WORMS!” she cheered. “It super cool. Especially that tattoo on your chest. That will always be visible through whatever you’re wearing. That’s how it works right? Can I get one!?”

“, just create a living manor, catalyze a big magical event, evolve in the middle of that magical storm…”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Her hands blurred as she started taking notes.

“...You know I’m joking, right?”

“Yep!” she cackled madly. “I can’t get something similar, then. Shame.”

“Eh, if all you want are the aesthetic effects, then I’m sure there’s a way to get it.”

“True, true.” She stared again at The Mark of The Beast. “You know that makes you slower right?”

“Huh? The Mark? No it doesn’t.” It made me faster, if anything. My connection with Pandemonium, and the boost that entailed for the both of us, was permanent and forever active.

“Not that! I mean your armor. As cool as it sounds, having a sonic boom mean you’re slower.”

“Yes.” I rolled my evil eyes. “I’m aware how the wind works. I might get something from the Singing Vortex to counter the air resistance at some point, just to try it out. I’m not convinced that it’s more useful than having tougher armor.”

“We get something for you. Such a beautiful wonderzone.” Elfrafim smiled, as if she could still hear the whistling of that place. She drew her staff and began preparing for the coming ordeal. “Ready?”

“Ready,” I confirmed, and all hell broke loose.

The force of my opening strike was One slash that rang powerfully through the air. The aim was off center, just so I wouldn’t kill her, but the small elf was clearly able to dodge fast enough to not get smudged. Her staff spun up to hit my guts before my own swing could even finish. I snapped my tail leftwards to turn the direct hit into a glancing blow, but it still came denting the side of my armor and jostling my insides very unkindly. The wind was behind that quick strike of hers, making her staff move faster, and releasing a larger shockwave upon impact. It was painful.

The first point was hers. But perhaps I too deserved a cent. There was a small scratch on her arm, yet I never touched her. She was delicate enough to be affected, however little, by my raw unthinking vengeance magic!

I twisted back around and swung Devilcalibur again, but once more Elfrafim managed to pull back in time. A few more exchanges followed, where she was able to sneak in more of her attacks. To my shoulder, thrice to my guts, and a few on my legs. I toppled, and then righted myself, taking a glancing blow to my head in the process.

I growled. My body healed, and I threw myself into battle. I forcefully seized the offensive. I engaged in literal blood sacrifice. I moved faster, even if it broke me. My body twisted itself around just to barely keep up with her maneuvers. Elfrafim was able to dance out of the way, but I continued to incessantly hound her until she could do little else. Now, only a few of her strikes were able to make it through, but never enough to deal significant damage past my armor. She couldn’t regain the offensive. But I too could not actually land a single strike. We were at an impasse. A stalemate. Fighting like this would get us nowhere.

Elfrafim broke the balance first. She used her magic more actively, and the winds buffeted me in every direction, stalling my movements, and throwing off my swings. She used the opening to land a clean hit on my torso, and I threw up blood as my armor cracked open from the blow and the existing dent.

I did not pause to examine the damage. It was healed the next moment. The blow was not kind to my opponent either, as a small patch of rot became visible on her increasingly scratched-up skin. Then my own magic came out like a storm that swallowed our surroundings in a tide of blood-red and black-purple. It met Elfrafim’s magic… and lost. Pushed aside by the winds, like they were the work of a child. Explosions turned against itself, by the conductor that was Elfrafim. Faster and faster she spun her staff, without allowing a single mote of hellfire to singe her leather, and even throwing some of my magic back to me!

I grinned. The heat was painful, but I was used to pain. I lost in sheer magical might, but that would’ve always been the case. The level disparity between us was just that large. Wind was a very good counter against the raw elements I could wield. But in this cyclone building in power was an opportunity I could seize. Because where Elfrafim’s battle staff was built special, to be used in tandem with her graceful dance-like movements; my were grown right on my head, tied closely to my mind, and all I had to do was wish for destruction. Will it into being, and the magic would follow, as strong as it ever would. I swung my greatsword at my enemy, and her counter came just a hair late, busy as she was fending off my magical assault. I proved better able to multitask. I pressed the attack, and she was forced to take some hits from my magic to counter the slashes of Devilcalibur. The situation quickly grew more desparate, as she no longer had the leeway to find even a single moment to strike. I used my intimidation package, and it predictably didn’t work. No matter. I kept pushing. I felt all the insults I’d taken from her over the past day. Who the fuck did she think she was to command me to lose my city? I’d worked so hard to get that for myself. It was and no one would take it!

Devilcalibur slammed down, and Elfrafim was pushed back even as she deflected it. A wave of curse erupted from the impact, and made slight lacerations on her skin. Her eyes widened, but soon I was upon her again.

“Hellfireball!” Blood formed into a magic circle, but I missed. The next one was blown away by the winds before I could even come close to finishing it. I went back to just using my magic normally, while pressuring Elfrafim with strong swipes of Devilcalibur. She was never able to meet my smashes directly, only divert the. A few more exchanges followed, and the wounds piled up on my enemy so desperately and fully on the defensive. I too suffered some damage, but most of it was self-inflicted now, and nothing I couldn’t quickly heal. Elfrafim tried to cut me with blades of wind, but the strongest she could do didn’t penetrate deep enough into my flesh after going through my armor, and the change in rhythm left her more open. I managed a clean if shallow slash on her thigh, and Elfrafim groaned from how the wound by itself.

“GAH!”

She heaved one great blast of wind that tossed me through several trees that were still standing. It didn’t do much damage. By the time I looked back, Elfrafim was already running away. I instantly sprang back up, and followed her through the burning and rotting remains of trees and bush. My friend had fled so far, that the ruined vegetation blurred past, and I found myself in a normal patch of vibrant rainforest once more. Elfrafim was past even that, as I had well and truly fallen behind.

An arrow streaked towards me from the trees.

I barely dodged the thing, but another followed. Then another. I swatted the next one out of the air, and then one came so much faster. It punctured right through my lung, and I coughed another dollop of blood. I healed the damage, but I had no time to pull the arrow out. More projectiles were coming, and I had to evade them. My powerful reflexes ran through my nerves, ran ragged to their limits, as I twisted, turned, and bent with all I had to not get hit. But those arrows still managed to make it through half the time. My spatial senses barely had the opportunity to register their presence, before the shafts were buried halfway into me. I willed my blood to push them out in a geyser of red, before then finally closing the punctures.

I opened my wings and charged with one big flap of them, aiming to turn this back into a melee where I had the advantage. But my opponent skipped away along the canopy just as fast, buoyed by winds of her own design! I was unable to close the distance, no matter how many times I tried. It was a struggle just to survive against the rain of arrows that never stopped. But I didn’t stop the chase, just to increase the pressure on her instead of being a shitting duck. My magical projectiles had no hope of hitting her from all the way here, nor did my own arrows find their target when I tried.

In the end, Elfrafim came back out, looking almost more injured than me, from all the wounds I’d inflicted upon her earlier.

One thing I manage to do in this long slog of a ranged battle, was disrupt her attempts at healing. Nature magic was an easier and more common element for healing, but it had its weaknesses. It was slower and typically required some external plants, which I only burned down whenever she began to recover. , my blood healing was fast, and could never be taken away from me.

“I lose,” she said.

“Huh?” I boggled.

Elfrafim shrugged. “I ran out of arrows. And I’m not beating you in melee. Holy shit, the pressure back then was real.” She frowned a little. “And you destroyed part of the rainforest.”

“Eh, it’ll grow back,” I chuckled and sat down. “I don’t feel like a winner!”

“You pushed me to a corner while

“The point stands,” I huffed. “But I did still win in reality. I’m taking it! I fucking beat you Elfrafim! Ahahahhaha! I remember! But now it’s only a memory! I win! GAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

She pouted. “You know. On second thought. It’s not over until it’s over!”

Wind, hellfire, and curse clashed. Staff and greatsword danced. Elfrafim’s skin gradually peeled away layer after layer, until she finally fell and truly declared me the winner.

This time, I finally feel like I’d won.